A Most Unreliable Narrator Issue #148 The White Lotus
No, I did not lose a kidney.
(ed: This issue is image heavy and as such, the issue will be cut off. You’ll need to read in the browser for the full experience.)
Dear Internet,
I don’t know what I’m going to do without a vodka and pineapple in my hand.
We’re back from our first, but not last, all-inclusive vacation. My back is peeling, I have various tan lines from all the different shaped bikini tops and bottoms I wore. I got my feet into the Gulf of Mexico / Caribbean Sea (location of where we’re at straddles both). I had a good time. I don’t think I’d go a full seven days again; there is only so much reading / pool time / sunbathing / drinking I can do. We can do. We had six full days of pool time, but we hung out only for five. Day six we meandered around the resort and chilled in our hotel room until dinner. We drank with Beth and Matt (our travel companions) until about 9 p.m. Monday night and were up at 5 a.m. for our 6 a.m. pick up to head to the airport on Tuesday.
NAFTA, enacted in 1994, not only allows free trade between Mexico, US, and Canada but it also made crossing the borders easier. You only need a passport card, not a passport, to travel to Mexico and Canada (from the US). Having traveled to Canada last year with only the passport card, I should have been able to travel to Mexico on said card. I wasn’t taking any chances, so I brought my passport.
Entry into Mexico was easy enough. We swiped our passports through an electronic terminal to cross the border. Since we did electric entrance, we were given a receipt in Spanglish that said we had to download and fill out a return VISA or else we would not be able to leave the country.
The receipt was very clear on this directive.
Me, being me, started to have a bit of a panic a few days before we were to depart to fill out the paperwork. The Spanglish instructions were difficult to follow but after an hour, J figured out what needed to be done. We saved the docs to our phones and went along our merry little way.
The day we left I brought up that doc to have it handy at passport control. We get in line at the international terminal with our ticket and passport. We flash them to the guard, they let us pass, and then nothing. No one asked for that document (which made it very clear in Spanglish and in bolded large print we would not be able to leave without it). We were in the heart of the terminal. Starbucks in front of us, restaurants, shops, and gates to the left and right of us.
Fuck, I was pissed. I had a panic attack and frustration for this damned document, and no one gave a shit.
¡Adios Mexico!
Some pictures!
Taco Tour
A local company offered a taco tour in the city. We hit four spots and at each spot, we had a taco and a beer. These are the highlights.
Sweet mother of god. A proper birria taco is ultra-tender beef, stuffed along with cheese in a tortilla and then pan fried. You take this amazing concoction and dip it in the broth. The broth is made with the drippings from the meat. You can also add cilantro and onion to the broth and treat it like a soup. Fucking amazing.
More photos!
Saturday night was Thunder Over Louisville which includes a fireworks show that is apparently the largest fireworks show in the US. Waterfront Park, where Thunder is held, is overrun with a carnival and food trucks. The fireworks last 30 minutes. It’s fine. It’s fireworks.
(Allegedly, 250K – 500K people are at the event on both sides of the mighty Ohio River.)
Other newsletter updates
lisa rabey writes stuff issue #10 swears
What I’m Reading
This year I’ve committed to read 75 books via the Good Reads Reading Challenge.
Glenarvon Byron’s ex-lover was so distraught about their breakup; she wrote a roman à clef about their relationship
Pride and Prejudice Read this a zillion times but doing a read-a-long for Austen Mondays
Waiting for a Scot Like You (Union of the Rakes #3) When Major Duncan McCameron meets sassy Lady Farris, passion and misunderstanding ensues
This Time Tomorrow Time travel with romance or romance with time travel
Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies (Pies Before Guys Mystery #1) Daisy Ellery makes magical pie for men who wronged women. Can she get herself out of a sticky situation?
Triple Jeopardy (Daniel Pitt #2) Daniel Pitt defends a British diplomat
Natural Beauty “…follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.”
Golden Age “cerebral and sarcastic narrative is a reflection on the failures of individuals and the enormous political, social, and personal changes in 20thcentury China”
Murder in Westminister (Lady Worthing Mysteries #1) A darker twist of Bridgerton
Dark Fire (Matthew Shardlake #2) A young woman is on trial for murder, can Shardlake help her?
Chef’s Kiss (Chef’s Kiss #1) “A high-strung pastry chef’s professional goals are interrupted by an unexpected career transition and the introduction of her wildly attractive nonbinary kitchen manager in this deliciously fresh and witty queer rom-com.”
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself “a bold debut novel that examines the long shadow of grief, the hard work of parenting, and the power of queer resistance”
Galatea “reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion”
Wordslut “A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language”
A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet #1) “When the children learn that Mr. Murry has been captured by the Dark Thing, they time travel to Camazotz, where they must face the leader IT in the ultimate battle between good and evil—a journey that threatens their lives and our universe.”
The End of Everything “an accessible and eye-opening look—in the bestselling tradition of Sean Carroll and Carlo Rovelli—at the five different ways the universe could end”
Check out the media I’ve consumed for 2023!
Wonderful Thing
Immediate Care
The other day I was cutting a bagel and tussled with serrated knife and lost.
The cut looked deep but not quite deep enough for stitches. We bandaged me up and went on our day.
After dinner that night, we swapped the bandage and while it had stopped bleeding, the skin was puckering. I was telling Bad Kitty about it and she with her past experiences and medical knowledge told me that if I didn’t get it looked at that night, it wouldn’t heal quite right. I consulted Dr Google, who agreed with her, so I took myself to Immediate Care. Dr. Gibson decided that while the cut was deep not quite deep enough for stitches. He dribbled on medical super glue and called it a day.
A treatise on American medical care is complicated so I won’t give the background because good lord this issue would be enough to fill a library.
But I will talk about immediate/urgent (names are interchangeable) care.
Immediate/urgent care is a brilliant concept. It’s cross between ERs and doctor’s office. Need stitches and can’t get into your doctor’s office or want to spend hours and hours in ER? Go to immediate care. Allergies? Cold/flu? Sprains or minor breaks? Host of other minor issues?
Immediate care.
Louisville has three major hospital networks in the city with the primary hospitals for each located downtown within blocks of our condo. Last time we went to the ER, we were there for hours. My boo boo was minor, so I hauled myself to immediate care instead.
There was zero wait time, so I went through triage to get weighed and vitals, seen by the doctor with amazing tattoos who declared I just needed medical super glue and then I was out. It took an hour.
At least some health care we got right. Mostly.
Have a good week!
lisa x