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 |  I've maxed out. Closed this blog. |
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This is a way of making myself write something coherent and grammatically correct almost every day. I'm opinionated and need an outlet. I'm also prone to flights of fancy. Thanks for stopping by. |
| I love a captive audience. I may be a tad shy when one on one. Give me an audience and I am truly happy. Let me talk for hours. I think it's the teacher in me. I can talk in front of 300 people, no problem. And I love the sound of laughter. Especially if I'm the one making them laugh! That's why I want the sound of laughter at my funeral. Someone has to point at my casket and say, "That's just the empty shell. The nut has already gone to Heaven." Laughter has the power to heal. It is cathartic to the grieving, the anxious, and the distraught. Sometimes it heals a relationship. Laughing together can build a friendship and strengthen a family. Maybe laughter is the best medicine. |
| I know that hardly anyone sees this, so I'm including some personal info today. My brother is in between cancer treatments. He's staying with us until he gets on his feet. He's disappointed that he hasn't recovered faster. Somehow in all the many things he heard, it didn't register that he wouldn't feel normal for a long time after having body parts removed, including a rib, and receiving chemo during the surgery. He gets into a state of panic worrying about himself. Yes, he's weak, he's pale, he has no appetite. His muscles have almost disappeared. He does go for walks, he bathes regularly without being coaxed, and he does his own laundry. But going up a stair case winds him; to him, that's devastating. He's tired and sleeps a lot. He's moody. He growls if I ask if he's okay (when he grimaces or looks agonized). I won't know when to call 911, if he gets upset when I try to help him. To make matters worse, he left his phone on the plane when he came home. His life is on that phone. Finally, he's gotten a replacement with the same number, so he got all his messages, but he doesn't have appointments or contacts. That only deepens his anxiety. He missed a telephone conference with his lawyer. Now he feels like a burden to his children and his friends. I don't know how to help him. I know he doesn't feel good. He's worried. He's looking at a bleak, and maybe short, future if the treatment doesn't help. Nothing we do for him seems adequate to him. I know that when he's better, he'll tell everyone how much he suffered with no one to help him. It's not uncommon for people to feel that way. I'll just keep doing the best I can, and hope for the best. |
| I'm always shocked when I see a movie or TV show that rips off the story of the other without acknowledging it. Some movie remakes are done, usually with a reference to the earlier one(s), even with a title change. Hogan's Heroes was a rip off of a movie, but they had legal battles over that after it became a hit show. No one won. There was no acknowledgement to the original movie. Even Sgt. Schultz was a direct carry over. But they're not always so blatant. Yesterday I watched a movie with James Stewart and Rock Hudson from 1952 called Bend In The River. They were going to establish a new settlement in Oregon, needed supplies for the winter and paid in advance to have them sent by riverboat about six weeks later, once they were settled. Meanwhile a gold rush happened, and other settlers increased the demand for the supplies, raising the asking price. The supplies that were already sold, were resold at higher prices by the time Stewart went to check on them. He and a friend hijacked the supplies. He hired people to help, who turned on him when they realized they could sell the supplies directly for greater profits. He tracked them down, got the supplies back and rescued the starving settlers. Today for the 50th anniversary of Daniel Boone, the TV show that ran around the mid 1860's, I watched the original two episodes. It was like watching Bend In The River. The same story outline, minus the boat on the river, and minus the Gold Rush. Daniel Boone would have been in the 1770;s, the Oregon story in the 1870's. Even the girl friend had the same story line, falling for the wrong guy before getting hooked up with the hero. The outlaws did the same things, the merchant used the same lines, Boone tracked just like the Stewart character. It's easy to see the 1952 movie was done before the 1966 TV show. Was there any historical accuracy to how Daniel got his wife? Or to any part of the story? If so, maybe the movie was based on a story the author stole from history. Which one was total fiction? This will drive me crazy. Who plagirized whom? |
| Kind of nothing, that is. It is so nice to have a day to stay home, wear comfy clothes, and catch up. That might mean a little laundry, a little housework, a little reading, or watching an old movie. In my case, a fifteen minute nap is included late in the afternoon. So preparing dinner for 3 was a little delayed with my laid back attitude. The kitchen is now clean, but I have to fix something later for the neighborhood picnic tomorrow. That will require more cleaning. But overall, I feel like I had a carefree day. I'm going to watch Jeopardy, do some reading, and maybe watch an old cowboy show. No, the phone rang just now. Babies are on the way over. Well, a little tension at the end of the day won't kill me. It was nice while it lasted. |
| Sometimes the news is overwhelming. My community is missing an 18 year old year, last seen after midnight with a 30 year old man, caught on film in several places. The suspect is in custody, but the body of the girl missing almost 2 weeks has not been found. Tonight, breaking news revealed that an American who converted to Islam beheaded a woman in Oklahoma. The White House has no response, not even a simple "We're looking into this tragic event". How hard would that be? Our own citizens have lost respect for life, and are consumed with self-righteousness, hatred, and sexism. Why aren't "peaceful" Muslims protesting this violence, this misinterpretation which allows personal animosity to rule personal behavior. Why have a culture cave into the personal whims of certain individuals? ?Where is the outrage? The personal responsibility? Where are the police and the courts? Such feelings of helplessness and despair threaten us. How can we as individuals make it clear we will not tolerate such behavior in our culture? Fear is a good thing sometimes. Let's instill fear in the hearts of those who would be violent to their fellow citizens, especially the elderly, the infirm, children, and women. |
| I just discovered a very real thing called cowboy poetry. There are conventions for the very thing all over the country. They're not all old poems, like from the late 1800's, but are still being written. They have a lot in common with each other and meet certain standards. First, they don't have to be written by a cowboy or someone who has lived part of the cowboy lifestyle, though generally, it happens that way. Cowboy poems have certain topics, like horses, cattle, homesickness, old times and old ways that are now gone, the girl at home, the trials and tribulations of the trail, tributes to famous or infamous cowboys, or humorous tales. They can be contemporary because cowboys still exist in western Canada. the western U.S., Australia, Mexico, and Peru, even though the cattle drives have been replaced with the railroad. They could be free verse or modern poetry, but that's uncommon. They usually stick to familiar rhyme and rhythm. That makes them easy to remember and to tell in every saloon or on any ranch or camp site. Especially in the early days, since illiteracy was common in the profession, poetry was a way of memorizing a tale. Frequently, these poems can be set to music. At contemporary poetry gatherings, popular on certain ranches, people like to try their hand at poems, story tellers give verbal presentations, and singers give their mini-concerts. Books are sold, and new artists are encouraged. Old legends are revived and history is taught. New entertainment is presented. I particularly liked one about an "educated man", who at first impressed the cowboys, but then got on their nerves. They agreed to play practical jokes on him, and gave him a wild horse, but he proved to be adept at horse handling. Then they tested him with a gun; once again, he proved he was worthy. They agreed if he could handle a rope that they would respect him. He could rope cattle faster than all the others. The moral of the story was that "every educated man is not necessarily a greenhorn". |
| I've heard doctors complaining of all housekeepers being Indian (they include Russians and Iraqis). I've heard patients claim that all the nurses were foreign terrorists--probably Asians or Polynesians. The doctor made me mad, but they're too arrogant for argument. I told a patient, an acquaintance, that Asians and "Polynesians" (he doesn't know) are not terrorists. They tend to be Hindi or Buddhist, and currently do not fall in the ranks of terrorists. Even Arabs, who are Caucasian by the way, are not necessarily terrorists. There is still so much misunderstanding and lack of cultural education. Even after 9-11, most people still don't know what to do in emergencies and don't have an understanding of who presents a danger. The danger has less to do with how they look, the skin coloring, or slant of the eyes, than what they talk about, and how they behave. And in a hospital setting, in order to get the best possible care, it is important to be patient and understanding on both sides. Doctors, nurses, and support staff all have to put the patient first and get past their prejudices and lack of knowledge. Pick up a map once in a while. Study some history or geography of other parts of the world. A more knowledgeable staff will provide better service. A more open-minded patient will receive the best possible care. A kind word goes a long way to establishing a mutually helpful relationship. |
| Oh, my. The headlines today! Kaley Cuouc who plays Penny on Big Bang Theory premiered her haircut Monday night. The fans hated it. And I had thought how cute she looked. It plays up her nice facial features which seemed hidden by comparison to the long hair look. If only people could be as outraged by social injustice, by homelessness, by disease in third world countries, or by the raging costs of health care in this country. If only bartenders and waiters cared as much about selling alcohol to underage students who go out intoxicated after dark and end up missing, never to be found again. If that same energy over a haircut could be put into creating jobs and teaching people to speak and read English, we'd all be better off. Hair grows back. Styles change. Everyone, including actors, have freedom to express themselves in these mild ways without the negative feedback. :Penny" has a slightly different role to play now, and the new "do" is supportive of that. |
| I know it's early, but this time of year flies by for me. It's over before you know it was here. So I'm planning ahead. There's only four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'm not spending all my time shopping. I have some long work days in there, too. And I want some entertainment and a little social life. So, I'm starting now. Some lucky child on my list is going to get a set of drums. Another a tambourine. I didn't like the idea of paying more for shipping and handling than I would for a toy guitar, so I skipped that. But my goal is to have a little band Christmas day for 6 years and under. The adults are getting books. I know the adults, who will take these children with their musical instruments home with them, will hold a grudge against me. But that kind of gives me a little pleasure, too. (I'm sadistic, okay.) I love Thanksgiving. Got to invite some guests besides family. We have enough food to feed about 50 people, but we'll have about 16. So the more, the merrier. It won't look like something out of Southern Living, but everyone gets well fed. And we're sort of nice company. There's a neighborhood picnic this Sunday, so I'm trying out a recipe from Family Circle. Then there's a family reunion in late October. I'll have a lot for that. A lot of cooking, cleaning, decorating for Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. So I'll get my gifts early, wrap early, and hide in my bedroom, since that's one of the few places guests aren't allowed. Bring it on. It's fast, it's tiring, it's exciting. |
| There's another missing girl in my community. The college girls get drunk, go to parties or concerts, then go outside alone, and every two years or so, one ends up missing until her remains are found some time later. It's very sad, and it tears families apart. What will it take for these young people to know they cannot go outside alone after dark in a state of inebriation and be friendly to anyone? It's unfortunate they have to live in fear, but their possible demise is a risk. Drinking to excess impairs judgement and ability to defend oneself. I know she was out after midnight, but someone could have helped a woman alone at night. They could have seen she wasn't operating at full capacity and offered to call her a cab or get police assistance. We had over 2000 volunteers show out yesterday to search for her. The search party continued with new areas mapped in and with plans to search again some areas investigated yesterday. There is a suspect this time. The last one perpetrator still hasn't been found. The world has always been a dangerous place. Today we are closer together, and it's harder to distinguish the bad guys from the harmless ones. Young women still need to practice discretion, travel in groups, and remain sober in public. |
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