Physio and cookies

I fed the folks roast beef with Katie made gravy, green salad, brussell sprouts, taters, unyums, carrips, and since S. is a vegetarian, a lovely cheesy baked fusilli with garlic and basil.  Also, lightly sauteed mushrooms.  The beast was a standing rib roast two for one so there’s another sitting in the freezer waiting on another family meal occasion.

Lu the physiotherapist reading me the riot act last Monday had a salutory effect.  He’s such a pleasant individual (and he’s a dead ringer for TJ Thyne…) I hate to disappoint him.  So when he said I was basically fucking up the rest of my life by not getting enough shoulder exercise (put much more pleasantly than that) I did much strength and stretch last week and he pronounced himself pleased with my progress.  I got to mimic the Titanic position while prone and with a TENS machine strapped to my shoulder.  I am MUCH improved; there’s another ten degrees of extension more to achieve and then I’m back to normal and all I have to work on is strengthening exercises.  I have all the equipment needed.  In about 3 – 4 weeks I can start swimming again although I can of course do whatever aquafit stuff I want right now.

There are oatmeal chocolate chip drop cookies in the oven right now.

Church yesterday was about how to address the social ill of loneliness.

Jeff and I have finished reviewing the family photos for mOm.

Cookies are now out.  Jeff likes them but says they are too sweet – I’ll have to find another recipe.

I paid $287 to the dentist today for Katie’s last extraction. She’s gone, but the bills keep coming in.  I said I wouldn’t complain, but being the everlasting upsucker of other people’s shit doesn’t sit well with me.  Yes, it was nice to see her last night, but I am still very angry and disappointed about the shop.  A lot.

A potential buyer will be talking with me later this week.

The funny things the characters say

Jeff took me for breakfast… the leftovers will make a loverly brunch.  We also did a shop, including two for one standing rib roasts.  Nom.

Teaching the homeless to code.

I said I wouldn’t, but I did volunteer for something at church; I’m doing esthetics for Sally’s birthday (which is also a choir day so she can’t sing and set up at the same time).  I will be talking to Sue about what she wants, since the Board is doing the service that day. Sue returned my steampunk hat and we had a lovely visit.  It was weird; I thought of her because I knew she was back from vacation and I hadn’t talked to her in yonks, and she rang me up within seconds of this thought occurring.  Ah, the message in the wind.

Trip to Toronto is not yet booked, but it is tentatively 26th Nov to 5 Dec.

Good news for prostitutes and women at high risk of HIV everywhere.

I just had a character whisper in in my ear “Shiny is health, sparkle is magic”.  It made sense in context. (Kima, if anybody cares.)

Jeff and I are watching Cheers.  Shelley Long as Diane makes me want to alternately slap her and make counted crossstitch samplers of her dialogue, but the rest of the characters, especially Coach, are so funny my occasional cringes are worth it.  It’s one of the many shows in my tv blackout period so I never watched it the first time.

I am reading Foucault for Dummies.  There’s probably only one person who reads my blog on a regular basis who will find this amusing.

We are also watching Caprica, which is way, way better than I expected it to be.  As I remarked on another subject, all this and Bear McCreary too.

pOp is feeling poorly, so I am sending him a big hug and a wish that he recover his normal level of grumpiness with all due speed.

 

 

 

 

Odds about the house

I had to yell at Eddie again, he keeps teasing the dog next door.

In no order this morning I mailed the rent cheque for the shop, made popcorn, degunked Margot, ran the dishwasher and put it away, nuked myself some leftover home made chow mein and tea for lunch, sorted and put away some laundry, sanded the bedroom door down so it quits sticking and irking Jeff, tightened the bedroom door handle, and contemplated the sunny day with some enjoyment.

Jeff has returned, and I do believe he brought a milkshake for me.

It’s a meme

This is me.

Why are hoomins moosical?

Yesterday was church, soup lunch (yay), a showing of the shop (we’ll see…), another nibble on the shop, meeting Ayesha, Paul and Keith’s new kitty (and dropping off Paul’s church directory for 2013 since it just was reprinted and heaven knows when he’ll be back at church with his crazy schedule) and it all started when Jeff took me out for breakfast, so that was yummy.

I loaned my camera to Rob W (as he was headed overseas) so he didn’t have to buy one.  Forgot to send him the transfer cables but I can deal with it when he gets back.

Breaking Bad.  One show to watch and finale next week.

Physio this morning.  I’ve been exercising lots.

It’s been rainy any cold.

 

 

 

showing the café today

I will be showing the café this afternoon after church. Funnily enough it’s to a gent named Paul.

Did ALMOST all of Mt Washmore yesterday, now of course the seemingly impossible trial of you know, like, folding and putting it away.  The challenge this time is to siphon off about a garbage bag’s worth of clean clothes to take to the second hand store as I have far too many clothes.

Eddie peed on my wellies recently.  Miss Margot pointed it out yesterday.  They would have been impossible to clean as he managed to get the pee inside the boots as well.  So, they are gone and I’ll be picking up some more as those are what I mow the lawn in and we have to mow the lawn at least once more before Thanksgiving.

It’s pouring rain right now.

 

 

 

 

Nairobi

Woke up this morning, checked facebook and found out that relatives of a friend of mine were under fire in Westgate Mall in Nairobi.  I told Salim that I could only hope that I’d never get into religion or politics to the extent that I felt shooting my neighbours was appropriate.  Twenty dead at least, fifty injured at least.  What a world.

Saw Keith briefly yesterday, and read the Shiduri sequence out of the Epic of Gilgamesh to him.  I liked the new translation / new gloss of it so much I actually bought it.  As a writer I guess I feel I should own the oldest surviving story (there are older documents but they are storage related…).

My stop digging exercises have commenced; the kitchen is coming along and I’ll be poking at other piles of disorder gradually over the next few weeks.  Rome wasn’t destroyed in a day.  Also, wrote stuff yesterday, put a song into Songwriter, did some ‘work on my projects’ stuff as well as cleaning and watching tv.  Also, applied for a job, since one of my contacts hailed me and gave me the frequency.  Nothing is likely to come of it, but I can’t look any gift horses in any particular elevation.

The exercises continue apace.  Next physio Monday, next doc appointment a month.

I tried the cpap again last night and MAYBE got two hours.  I think my sleep disorder is actually a little more nuanced than this machine can deal with.  Also, I really think I’ve got the wrong mask.

I got a really good and extremely cheap back rest for the driver’s seat in Ziva.  She has been very well behaved since she was smacked in the parking lot.

 

Another nibble on the café.

 

I leave you with a John Shirley quote (from New Taboos).

People who are quadriplegic have stated that they feel less emotion than they could when they could still feel their entire bodies. The projection of the self into our electronics reduces the relationship to the body, the seat of our emotions, and for several reasons that might lead to an increase in psychopathology.

 

 

 

 

The two of Cups

So, I was processing one of the cards for Tarot for Atheists, and I had been dodging the two of Cups because I never felt comfortable with it.  This time I really meditated on it for a long time… and now I have my new interpretation of the card.  Here it is in poetic form, but you get the general idea.  As a standalone, it’s fine, but the card interpretation changes radically in readings.

 

the two of cups

 

in profile stern

bearing a grail, or great stirrup cup

she stands so that her tabard barely stirs

against his touch, against his moving will

no occasion of beauty or grace

as they part

their attachment sundered

by disease

body-borne and spirit-lowering

see the winged lion flying expressionless

the cabin announcement of bad news

cruising into crazy danger

and l o  o  k the lion’s got a caduceus

jammed up his ass

the point of which is resting on

the young man’s hand, and wow

garlands of paper flowers or hell

maybe he sprang for roses

(they got the picture done professionally

after all)

you can tell this young man putters

over his appearance

he is in full vigour and sweetness

and wants you to choke on it

to eat the entirety of his cruelty, which is

of two fold kind;

that he is young and beautiful which he

need not say for it is for anyone to say

and that he must make you drown

in your own decay, hating the smugness

and hatred of the old, you get reflected

decades later.  It was you who did this, you.

 

in the meantime they are going to break up

he gave her clap, or his coke addiction

cost something. or she went crazy

or got in a car accident and couldn’t fuck anymore.

me, I’m hoping that red roof

in the background may be an inn.

wotcher

How’s everybody this morning?  Good?  Not so good!? Hm. Let me see what I can do about that.

Just when La Mami Naturaleza seems to have shot her last bolt in the weird department, along comes something like this.  Do please watch the video.

I bought and now have used a bunch of equipment for my rehab.  I am already stronger and more able to extend my arm forwards at 90 degrees.  Jeff rolls his eyes when I do exercises while watching TV, it’s quite distracting.

Jeff’s first impressions of the Mac Mini. There’s something useful in there about the Home/End issue which people transitioning from pc to mac always trip over.

Hey, I don’t mind fashion when it looks like this.  Possibly, erm, not suitable for work.

More evidence, although it didn’t need to be adduced, why Stephen Fry fucking RULES.

The Nepean Redskins will be changing their name and logo at the end of this season.  VERY PLEASED ABOUT THIS.  On the other hand there is this piece of dreck masquerading as a sports common tater.  In a hundred years we will look back and wonder why the hell we did this to ourselves.

And in this Brave New World, homeless people use Bitcoins.

I could do this without breaking a sweat. After all, I’ve already done it, just ask Jeff.

 

 

 

Hot sauce

There has been some of this stuff in my fridge pretty much continuously since I met Paul.

We finished Long Way Round.  I loved it.  If you love motorcycles, OR love travelogues OR are a fan of Ewan McGregor it’s worth seeing the whole thing.

May I just state for the record that Archie Panjabi is amazing in her role as Kalinda in The Good Wife.  She could play Kiaya Khatun or Roxelana Sultan if Lymond ever came to the screen…. that would be so awesome.

Breaking Bad is coming to an end within a few weeks. Here are a couple of articles I enjoyed.  Albuquerque.

and also A Pictorial History.

Keith dropped by yesterday.  Paul and he have a new tortoiseshell barn cat  they imported from the US.  Her name is Ayesha, and she does not want to be a housecat. She is, however, quite mellow.  I haven’t met her yet and look forward to making her acquaintance when she is better settled in.

Eddie let me clip his nails the other day with only one low wail to indicate his opinion of the indignity.

It’s been rainy and blecchy.

Cpap machine for a couple of hours last night.  I took it off when I couldn’t actually sleep with it on.  This is turning into a sore trial…

 

 

 

Bertrand Russell’s Liberal Decalogue

  1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
  2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
  3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
  4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
  5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
  6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
  7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
  8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
  9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
  10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

It’s a sad long story

But if you want a brief good death, you might want to consider it.

There was a LONG convo on facebook this morning about people always wanting to know how somebody died.  I want to know so there wasn’t any suffering.  However, some people want to know so they can shame the dead for asking for it.  It was a really interesting conversation and I’m glad I participated.  I just don’t want to say the wrong thing, yanno?

Fraser Health is coming by the shop tomorrow to inspect it.  Good thing it’s clean and free of vermin.

I guess I have to announce a re-opening date.  I will advise the inspector that this will entirely depend on what my doc says.

Got some mando time in, happy sigh….

Great, there’s a new, big, formal, scary climate change denying group of scientists.  If they look right, they’re right, right?  The basic tenet is that nothing humans can do can change the climate.  Everything problematic about the climate is external to human beings.  In a sense, they are right, I suppose.  When it comes down, nothing humans can do will help, I spose.

Funniest thing about this is not the SKY DRAGON of bad climate science they want to slay, it’s the methane that’s going to come out of the ocean.  So let’s worry about SEADRAGONS instead.  Go on Jeff, I know you heard that the same way I did…