Sequelae

I’ll tell you why meditation’s important: at least once per day, people need to get in...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:27:00 -0700

I’ll tell you why meditation’s important: at least once per day, people need to get in touch with what makes them human. Or become less so, over time. There are no other options.

Maus and Horse

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:52:34 -0700

Maus and Horse

This winter’s house shoes

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:00:15 -0700

This winter’s house shoes

This book and meditation are going to have to save me from...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:45:21 -0700

This book and meditation are going to have to save me from myself.

before

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:57:03 -0700

I am beginning to fondly reminisce about the way life used to be pre-H1N1. Now it’s just once crisis after another, all day long. I guess I could think of it as good training for the autonomic nervous system — another week or so and I should have the kind of guru-like control over my hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that normally takes years to develop.

Maus at band concert

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:12:01 -0700

Maus at band concert

if you drive a bus

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:49:31 -0700

Arthritis has returned — I guess I know what all those symptoms were leading up to now. Hip and shoulder. Just over the past week or so, with intensity increasing daily. I am having to force myself through every single action other than sleep. If you drive a bus, I am praying for you to come and run me down as I cross from the parking lot to the hospital where I work. Don’t disappoint me like everyone else.

Gupi getting some exercise

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:06:07 -0700

Gupi getting some exercise

The Worst>

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:12:33 -0700

The Worst> is having a day where you’re afraid to go to sleep because you know you’ll wake up and think about the previous day, and it will suck.

more random glurge before I resume edumecatin

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:18:26 -0700

The Crackberry takes no better photos than the HTC Touch. The gupi needs more social attention. The bottom feeders grow faster than anything else in an aquarium. My neighbour’s poplar, stately and full to epic proportions this last summer, provides excellent privacy but ejects its effluvia directly into a handy container created by the stacked arrangement of fence, deck, deck stairs, shrubs retaining wall, and patio — a perfect leaf funnel.

You can have Hallowe’en in Canada with the brilliant trifecta of above-zero weather, an extra hour via Daylight Savings Time, and a recession, and because of the pandemic, there will be fewer children than ever before making the rounds.

Daylight Savings Time is terrible in the spring, but glorious in the Fall. If I could have a gift of one extra hour for Christmas, I’d be happy.

My Maus and friends

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:34:28 -0600

My Maus and friends

Holiday projector — side of house

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:25:33 -0600

Holiday projector — side of house

Boo!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:58:37 -0600

Boo!

Suicide is painless…

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:14:19 -0600

Suicide is painless…

Area 51 in our foyer

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:43:48 -0600

Area 51 in our foyer

More of The Best>

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:25:36 -0600

You know what’s The Best>? Those moments of mutual respect.

a great day

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:58:07 -0600

I got up shortly after 5 AM today so that I could be in at work early enough to get both flu shots — I can’t spare the time to wait in line, so the only other solution is to be there at 0630.

That accomplished, I had a meeting with the clinical site lead, briefed my subordinate of all developments during her week-long sick absence, delivered a letter of expectation to a PhD, had two staff meetings with the most contentious groups in my portfolio, prepared several pandemic reports, and troubleshot the usual 15 or so problems people bring to me in the course of a day. I ate lunch at my desk responding to email. Every hour contained at least one “crucial conversation,” which basically means I was telling people things they did not want to hear.

About halfway through the day, I began to experience mild flu symptoms: ague and myalgia. I recognized this as my artificially immunosuppressed physiology trying to respond to the vaccine — I blame the H1N1 adjuvant. Once home after a 12 hour day, these symptoms grew worse and I was unable to concentrate as much as I would like to on schoolwork. So I gave it up for the night.

But it was a great day. Because I never once even came close to losing my temper or using external stress levels as a reason to be inconsiderate. And I smiled when I thought of all the wonderful people who provide me support. How can a day be any better than that?

A little behind on my housecleaning…

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:40:35 -0600

A little behind on my housecleaning…

The Razor's Edge (1984)

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:18:21 -0600

Larry Darrell: When Piedmont died, I had to pay him back for my life. I found out there's another debt to pay - for the privilege of being alive. I thought Sophie was my reward for trying to live a good life. Uh uh. There is no payoff - not now.
Tibetan Monk: The pathway to salvation is as narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor's edge.
Larry Darrell: It's easy to be a holy man on top of a mountain.
Mackenzie: I never lend books to coal miners.
Larry Darrell: Squaw, fix dinner... nice job on canoe.
Larry Darrell: This isn't the old Mister Sunshine.
Mackenzie: You've never read The Upanishads? You don't know so much... you really don't know anything do you?
Tibetan Monk: I am sad because I am losing my cook.
Larry Darrell: It's very easy to love someone like you.

does it matter?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:59:25 -0600

Many times a day and especially when I wake up, the words spill out of my mouth directly from my head with no filter, always either profanity: “Go $(&# yourself!” or self-destruction: “I’m going to kill myself.” What purpose this can possibly serve, I don’t know. I would turn it off but it is entirely involuntary, like hiccups. It does not always limit itself to when I am alone. It is (usually) not ego-syntonic.

The less meaning I give to it, the more likely it is to leave me alone.