Living In the World, Not on It

No one is more surprised than I am that the Saturday Six has now reached its 400th edition! By my calculations, that represents about 7.6 years, with an asterisk: these 400 editions have only spanned 399 consecutive weeks, because there was one weekend in which I gave readers two different editions on the same day. I’m glad you’re reading this, and I hope you’ll enjoy this week’s set of questions! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. While going through ...

Not that I’m trying to connect this week’s set of questions to Halloween or anything, but death is the topic. What can I say? Every week can’t be all fun and cheery, right? Thanks for stopping by and playing along. And I hope you have a long, healthy life for your participation! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. You have the chance to learn either the date, the location or the method of your death: would you accept an envelope that w...

1) If you're reading this, the world has not ended as Harold Camping has predicted. After a previous failed prediction of the rapture earlier this year, Camping said the world would end on Oct. 21, 2011. If you did know when the world was ending, what is something you'd like to accomplish before its final day? Um, I'm actually in good shape. I really do live each day as though it might be my last. I'm sure I have plenty on my bucket list, but at the moment I haven't the income to do much about it. 2) A judge ordered actress Lindsay Lohan to do community service at a morgue, mostly doing janitorial work including cleaning and stocking restrooms, mopping floors and washing sheets that the facility uses. What do you think would be the worst part of working in a morgue? I suspect I'd love it. I have no problem with the dead - not like I haven't seen enough of them. I wouldn't have any problems with it. Quite frankly, Lindsay Lohan should be...

Q1 - Life : Talking about yours for a moment ( i.e., the fact that you're among the living )... Do you think of life as a right or privilege , and how does your answer impact the way you live your life? It is a privilege . I have a genetic condition, so I consider each day above ground a good one. I enjoy every day, even the ones when I feel terrible, and do my best to see the magic in them. Q2 - Unexplained : Incidents of mass animal deaths have been reported in the U.S. and around the world in the past two months. Thousands of dead birds fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, following a massive fish kill just 100 miles away days earlier. In the week following, other mass bird deaths were reported in nearby Louisiana and Kentucky. Birds were also reported to fall dead from the sky in Italy and Sweden, and more recently similar incidents have been reported in California and Alabama. Mass fish kills have also been reported in Chicago, Maryland, Brazil and...

I have a list of seven (maybe eight) items to blog about that I worked up last night before going to bed. This tells you how much free time my brain has on it. It was too late to really sit down and focus, but I didn't want to forget this stuff (all minor). My goal this morning was to clean around the house in the morning and erase the Luis-depredations of of the weekend (having that man home for three days is a hardship), then dress for success in living in my hammock with laptop in han-- lap --to catch up on my various musings. It was not to be. Around 10h30 I get a call from my father... which is a bit on the early side and surprising since I spoke to him last night. So he told me that Ma threw up last night/this morning and the doc's consensus was to send her to the hospital. So Ray called me right after Wayne Ambulance took her to go to St. Joseph's hospital. It's not my favourite place, but it beats Chilton and it is livable. By the time 1230 rolled around, I mad...

This week was the worst week in a long time. I lost a good friend. Over the weekend, Todd went fishing, had a great time, came home, played with his kids, went to bed and did not wake up. He had a severe cardiac arrest (not sure if it was classified as a massive myocardial infarction, but those are most often the silent killers when it comes to the heart). Any way you slice it, whatever you call it, a wonderful, warm, intense person died at age 42. Death stinks. It isn't often as much for the deceased that we grieve as much as for the survivors: his wife, a sweet person who is suddenly bereft; their two kids, 5 years and 2 years; his parents and siblings; his coworkers and friends. We are all devastated and lost because someone we called friend is gone, irrevocably taken from us. It is unfair, it is wrong, it is horrible. Nothing can be painted as positive in this save for the fact that his death was a peaceful as one could want. It came 40 years too soon, but other than that, he h...

Yesterday was a very, very bad day. I find out yesterday morning that a former coworker of mine from my last job, died Monday morning of no apparent cause. (I can make a terribly educated guess, but it won't change the facts or bring the dead back to life.) I feel awful. I'm going to the wake today from 1600 to 2000 and then the funeral tomorrow at 1000. His wife, who spoke to me frequently, must be a wreck. When I looked at them each year together, I knew I was looking at two people madly in love. I know I would be destroyed by losing Luis. I also went to the pharmacy and discovered that my major medical insurance was terminated! WHAT the hell?! I realise this is an error of (to me) epic proportions, but there are few errors in the world that cannot be fixed. The free trial acupressure session I had at 1600 did help a lot, as it followed all the bad news but I still need to move through the first (as is always the case with great sadness) and try like mad to be patient until t...

Yes, I've been more noticeable by my absence that my usually witty and urbane thoughts on this or that. Except for articles posted once in February and a few yesterday and this morning, I have not been around or online to digress or empty my monkey mind. Which is still screaming and scratching at its groin. I suspect it is not swinging through the trees, as that takes more energy than I can muster. My health is suddenly deteriorating very, very quickly. In the last two or three months, I've been getting more tired a lot more quickly and in the last two or more weeks, I'm having flare-ups almost daily. So when I get home, I take my "before I go to bed" nap. I usually hang out in my sky chair and maybe I watch the telly, but more often I read. Reading is much more worth it. Not that the telly is so bad, but it will never be as good as a book. So my last day of work is 18 March. A little weird, a lot unhappy, but also a wealth of relief. I've been pushing myself ...

When one saves a life, the last thing one wants to find themselves asking is, "Was this worth it?" I find I ask more often than I like. It is one thing to bring back someone who had a heart attack that was a freaky thing. It is entirely another to bring back people who are 20-something or 30-something who helped themselves to get to this point with drugs. (Sadly, the drug of choice in Parsippany is heroin. This is a bigger death sentence than the usual drug choices.) When you walk into a room to find a young person receiving CPR, it is shocking. When I did CPR on people who were in their 50s and up, it is fairly cut and dry. Overexertion leads to too much stress on the heart and someone who has been ignoring their health goes down. When we have a positive outcome, that person almost always goes on to use that second chance to really turn their lives into healthy, active living. It's amazing. And if you run into them on the street, you see a wholly different person. The de...

Some kid in the Pacific Northwest is on a crime spree and - for reasons passing understanding - are idolising this loser. He's a hit on Facebook and has a cult following complete with tee shirts. This is not the best looking kid in the world and I'm offended that anyone wants to make him an idol. Colton Harris-Moore is loose and stealing airplanes and crash-landing them (a pity none of them have killed him), hot-wiring boats, breaking into homes and stealing. The police have been unable to apprehend this stupid kid. I feel for the police. They have a million things to worry about and now they have this kid creating more headaches than they need. I get the feeling from what there was printed on this that the mother, Pam Kohler, is rooting for her son. Yikes... what a responsible parent. (I'm not sure what is up with the kid's name, but that is the least of anyone's problems...) She seems to be less than interested in seeing him apprehended. But crash-landing planes s...

I'm rereading John Grisham's The Runaway Jury and enjoying it immensely. The main focus is the jury that has been selected for a Big Tobacco trial and what the two sides of the case are trying to do to see the outcome they'd like. Personally, I have no trouble believing the bad things I hear about the tobacco industry. Including: 'The 1998 legal settlement between the states and the tobacco companies prohibited the tobacco companies from taking "any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth... in the advertising, promotion or marketing of tobacco products." However, since the settlement, the tobacco companies have increased their cigarette marketing expenditures by 125 percent to a record $15.1 billion a year, or $41.5 million a day, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Much of this marketing is still targeted at kids. One of the tobacco industry's most outrageous new tactics is the introduction of candy-flavored cigarettes and smokel...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 18 6 May 2009 -- As of 16:00 GMT, 6 May 2009, 23 countries have officially reported 1893 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 942 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 29 deaths. The United States has reported 642 laboratory confirmed human cases, including two deaths. The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths: Austria (1) Canada (165) China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1) Colombia (1) Costa Rica (1) Denmark (1) El Salvador (2) France (5) Germany (9) Guatemala (1) Ireland (1) Israel (4) Italy (5) Netherlands (1) New Zealand (5) Portugal (1) Republic of Korea (2) Spain (73) Sweden (1) Switzerland (1) United Kingdom (28) WHO is not recommending travel restrictions related to the outbreak of the influenza A(H1N1) virus. Individuals who are ill should delay travel plans and returning travellers who fall ill should seek appropriate medical care. These recommendations are pr...

Wondering what I'm doing up at this perfectly hideous hour? Me, too. I'm not particularly interested in being awake now. But sleep simply was not possible. I went to bed around 2030, my standard bedtime. It felt okay, even nice, for the first 120 seconds... then my legs began to ache. I moved around a bit and it worked for a while. By ten I realised that sleep was not going to come, at least not the way I'd like. Luis came to bed and commented that I was really hot (no, it was not meant as "baby, you are smokin' !" More's the pity...). He was very gentle with me and softly rubbed my skin and I did finally doze off for a bit. The pain in my hips - unbelievable, burning pain - woke me up and while I tried to find a position of comfort, none was to be had. It was just criminal. I ended up getting dressed and coming out here. I don't know what the hell to do. The doctor, with a difficult to pronounce Russian name, saw me at around 1540. She checked my hist...

I'm scheduling an appointment with the doctor. They are not open between 1200 - 1300 so I have to call back at 1300. I should be able to get in today, they are really good about not overbooking. At first I figured this is an off-day for me, but the thing that drove the decision to stay home has gotten a lot worse and I am not interested in being out tomorrow. One of the less pleasant side effects of distrophia myotonia II is the sleeping problems. I can't sleep. I use something to bring sleep on, and it works well usually, but I have been on it for around 5 or 6 years and it is not perfect. This week is a good example. The problem with not sleeping is two-fold. One, of course, is that I don't function without sleep. Forget I don't function well - I just don't function at all. Most people are not at their best without some kind of sleep; but I am completely stulified by it. The second problem is that I don't move when I lie in bed not sleeping. It tightens everyt...

Who's next? With consumers shutting their wallets and corporate revenues plunging, the business landscape may start to resemble a graveyard in 2009. Household names like Circuit City and Linens 'n Things have already perished. And chances are, those bankruptcies were just an early warning sign of a much broader epidemic. Moody's Investors Service, for instance, predicts that the default rate on corporate bonds - which foretells bankruptcies - will be three times higher in 2009 than in 2008, and 15 times higher than in 2007. That could equate to 25 significant bankruptcies per month. We examined ratings from Moody's and data from other sources to develop a short list of potential victims that ought to be familiar to most consumers. Many of these firms are in industries directly hit by the slowdown in consumer spending, such as retail, automotive, housing and entertainment. But there are other common threads. Most of these firms have limited cash for a rainy day, and a lo...

Sunday, January 25th, 2009 New meme from this site . I know it’s not real content, but in a way, it can be. It depends on how you answer these. Some of the questions on memes can be prompts for real content, albeit short content. Anyway… 1. If you could say anything you wanted to say to George Bush, what would you say? Thank the gods you are done in the White House, and what were you thinking? Or were you? 2. If you had to be the mother of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, who would you choose and why? Oh, ye gods. You have some really hard questions... they are both awful. I would have to disown them. OK. Seriously... I would have to pick Lindsay Lohan... for all her fuck-ups, which are considerable, she has not had any children. I'd recommend she'd get her tubes tied. I'd feel that at least while she doesn't have a good place in her life, at least she is only responsible for hers and can take the time to get it all in a better state. Britney has missed that boat and sh...

January 23, 2009 Four For Friday Q1 - Salary: Earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum revealing his intention to freeze the salaries of approximately 120 senior White House staffers who make more than $100,000 per year, saving the government about $400,000 over the next 12 months. Ironically, President Obama currently earns $400,000 per year, along with a $50,000 expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and a $19,000 entertainment allowance (the same as President George W. Bush). Do you think the President of the United States should be paid a salary? Why or why not? Well, that is interesting. I was still under the clearly outdated impression that the President of the United States only earned $250,000 - $300,000 a year. Nice to see they have brought it more in line with CEO type salaries. Of course he should get some kind of salary! What a bad deal that would be to do the world's most thankless job for no money! On the other h...

Smoke is rising from the houses People burying their dead I ask somebody what the time is But time doesn't matter to them yet People talking without speaking Trying to take what they can get I ask you if you remember Prospekt, how could I forget? Drums, here it comes Don't you wish that life can be as simple As fish swimming round in a barrel? When you've got the gun Oh when I run, here it comes We're just two little figures in a soup bowl Trying to get to any kind of control But I wasn't one Now here I lie on my own in a separate sky Here I lie on my own in a separate sky I don't wanna die on my own here tonight But here I lie on my own in a separate sky

...do I live under? It seems that of late I have had too much drama of the bad kind in my life. (I wonder if that is proper English usage... is all drama inherently bad or is it just serious, but can be good? I don't know. Stuff like this prays on my mind.) Anyhoo... too much bad drama. It isn't necessarily my own drama, it is a lot of things: 1. One parent has had a second hip replacement (ultimately a good thing, but still worrying and stressful while in progress) 2. One parent has had multiple strokes and is in the acute-care facility still (and not happy about it) 3. One parent has had to put one of his two cats to sleep and is wrecked by it (keep in mind I've two fathers) 4. I had to put my second cat to sleep exactly three and a half months after putting the first one to sleep 5. I'm a little on the broke side 6. Now I've been sick (I will live; something I've ingested pissed off my stomach enough that I have vomited and the diarrhea has been appalling. I...

For the last few months, since around the time that Ariel died, I had also discovered the strange but unique world of Memes and Questionnaires. Both are features that I enjoy, but the real need to blog has always been cogitating on paper (well, so to speak). Lately my head is so overloaded with home issues and my emotions are in such a crazy state, that a real post has not happened in quite some time. I'm certainly well overdue. A friend of mine, though, was the one who pointed it out. So here is a real post, life as it is right now. The hardest thing for me personally is dealing with the death of Chelsea, my cat. Ariel died in June and that was torturously hard, but there was still Chelsea waiting for me to come home. Now my house is echoingly empty. Chelsea, like Ariel, was 18 years old, so I am sure old age had a role. They both lived a really long time and were with me just under half my life. Chelsea was diagnosed four or so years ago as having kidney degeneration, but there w...