CONCORD PARTY POST BRAIN-OP OBSERVATION

Took the train to Concord, Mass., with my soon to be 13-year-old to visit an old friend and celebrate his fiftieth birthday. It was a pretty big party, new friends he's met in his fairly new home, old friends from where he grew up in Lowell, Mass. (Kerouac's home town, whom my friend can not only quote at will from poems and novels of Kerouac's, but sounds dead on like him as they have the same regional accent) and family.

He comes from a big Irish-American clan like mine, so even his siblings I hadn't met or didn't know at all seemed familiar. It was a fun time, great party, but despite the fact I've been mostly okay now for a while in crowded rooms, after maybe the first twenty people arrived, I found myself having a difficult time with the sound of their conversations filling the kitchen and other rooms. I had to remove myself to the front steps for a little while.

Maybe fifty people or so showed up, and I had some terrific conversations, but I noticed that I had to have them out of the way, in a room where there was no one else, or a spot at the end of the kitchen where no one else was, etc. But, despite being tired from having gotten up early etc., I found once the dancing started, I was fine.

I think it's because the focus was all on the music and the rhythm and other folks were moving to the beat so the distractions were minimal even though the music was loud, etc. Just thought I'd note that I'm still not completely back to "normal" (for me) and still find it very interesting.

Also interesting was that it wore me out and today, writing this back in Jersey, I'm having much more trouble than usual typing, having to correct pretty much every other word, sometimes more than once. I suspect once I get a good night's sleep that will improve again.