Hi, Hoddlers! Happy Tuesday to you and yours. And happy Tuesday to Fitzie, wherever he is. Welcome to MennoHoddle 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Yesterday was a unique experience for me. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from the marketing department at the local Cancer Center where I receive treatment. Marketing was looking for patients who have compelling stories and also good experiences with the Cancer Center as they create a new marketing campaign for physical and online stories. I was apparently referred
by my Nurse Practitioner as someone who she thought would be a good person with a good story to contact. I’m also not dog-ass ugly so I guess that was also a plus.
So today I took a half personal day off of work and went to a local business to have an outdoor photo shoot taken, and I also got interviewed to share the story of my cancer diagnosis, treatment, and experience at the Cancer Center. This has never happened to me — I’m dreadfully self-conscious about getting my photo taken, so it was a stretching experience. But I’m also pretty passionate about sharing my story and experience, so it felt like a good opportunity for me to do that with an audience that might not otherwise know. I’ve always said that if a couple of people learn about me and are inspired to get their colonoscopies or other preventative medicine done that otherwise might not have done so, then all of what I’m going through would be worth it. I still feel that way.
Anyway, I wore a Hawaiian shirt to the photo shoot. I decided after my diagnosis and when I learned I’d be undergoing chemotherapy that I’d wear a loud, colorful Hawaiian shirt to every treatment. A cancer diagnosis is a dark, scary thing. Hawaiian shirts are the complete opposite. I’m also now a (cough) person of a certain age that’s old enough to wear a Hawaiian shirt and actually pull it off. I told this to the marketing team and explained why I decided to wear a power shirt… and they loved it. I felt gratified. The shirts are my shout of defiance at this disease and everything that I’m having to go through, and the staff at the Cancer Center now look forward to my visits because they know what each new shirt means.
So anyway, within a month or so there’s going to be a new billboard going up in my hometown with my face on it. I’m going to be on a billboard ferchrissake. It’s wild. I might have to avoid that part of town from now on.
Song of the Day: “Window Shopper” (Andrew Marlin)
Your Daily News Links
Cape Verde is one of the stories of the World Cup, and their fans are enjoying every second. (BBC)
Tunisia sacked their manager after their heavy loss to Sweden on Sunday evening. (CBS Sports)
Crystal Palace name Lens boss Pierre Sage as manager, replacing Oliver Glasner. Hard for Palace fans to herb their enthusiasm — he’s kind of a big dill. Hope Palace give him plenty of thyme, he’s mint to be there.
Former United boss Reuben Amorim was appointed AC Milan’s new manager, giving United a boost since they no longer have to pay him gardening leave.
