Doctor's Appointments Are So Weird Now
Grill your braises. Don't yell at strangers.
My dad has been sick for a few years. When he was first diagnosed with cancer, I accompanied him to oncologist appointments, took him to radiation, and chilled in the infusion room while he got chemo and we watched golf or baseball on an iPad. But now? We can’t even go in with him. It’s so weird.
Covid has—very obviously!—flipped everything upside down. It has spared no one. Everyone has a story: bartenders and working parents, frontline workers and regular dudes like me. These days, my mom drives my old man to his appointments. Once the doctor comes into the room, my dad calls me and conferences my mom in from the parking lot. We run through our questions over speakerphone. The oncologist is very kind and warm. I take notes and send them to the family group chat. (My sister can’t join the calls because she is a third grade teacher doing tech support for all her students on Zoom and taking care of her two children under four. Everyone has a story.)
Sometimes I get unnecessarily mad at strangers (I’ve written about this before). Usually when a car nearly kills me on my bike on a country road. That’s a suitable and justifiable time to get angry, because a stranger piloting tons of steel was reckless and all they see is a middle finger in their rearview. But I’ve also been known to, like, randomly yell at a stranger on the street in New York or at an unassuming guy cutting in line at the farmer’s market. It’s not healthy! It’s not good! Don’t yell at people! It’s stupid! This was bad enough in the Before Times, but it’s especially useless and hurtful behavior now. There’s too much shit going on. Doctors appointments are weird. The economy is broken. Our health care is humiliating. The west is on fire. Our pets heads are falling off. So my mantra these days when I don’t want to get angry at a stranger is everyone is going through something, everyone has a story.
This has been Deep Thoughts with Bill. Onto the links.
A Book
STILL: A 60-day photographic journey through New York City during the COVID-19 lockdown.
When New York City shut down, photographer and Three Point Four friend John Midgley hit the streets. The photos he captured were equal parts mesmerizing and dystopic. You should put them in a book, Noah said. So here we are. Noah edited it and the great New York Times infectious disease reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. wrote the intro. New York ain’t dead. Buy the book.
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An Article
The Only Thing I Have Control Over Are My Biceps
Alex wrote about getting jacked during quarantine. Welcome to the gun show.
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A Recipe
Grilled Rosemary Lamb with Juicy Tomatoes
Grill your braises, folks. Continuing in the Summer 2020 tradition of Cooking Cheap Cuts Right, I made Carla Lalli Music’s grilled lamb shoulder. Lamb gets a bad rap because it’s never cooked right—overcooked at a Greek restaurant, tough and dry at Grandma’s. But cooked properly it’s grassy and buttery and delicious. My good pal Justin got me on the lamb train 10 years ago and I never looked back.
If you have access to a grill, I implore you to make this while tomatoes are still in season. The lamb is marinated in red onions, herbs, oil, and red wine vinegar. Then when you take it off the grill it rests on tomatoes and thinly-sliced red onions for 20 minutes. Lamb-y tomatoes? Yes, please. (Apologies to the vegetarians who subscribe to this newsletter and made it this far.)
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A Bike Ride
Rode 50 miles on Labor Day. We passed by Jeff Daniels’ house. I ate this wonderful leftover blueberry tart. I will run again, someday.
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