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    • Nov

    21

    Hate the News

    Filed Under away from home, current affairs, media, rants | 1 Comment

    I cannot believe the so-called quality of news reporting. Am currently watching CNN’s Prime News and apparently it’s big news that several people have been arrested for the killing of Natalee Holloway. The police have said they have “new evidence” but haven’t yet revealed what that is. So I love how the newscaster gets a newspaper editor from Aruba on the line and proceeds to ask her, “Any ideas what that new evidence is?”

    No, the woman does not.

    Later, a story on two young brothers (ages 4 and 7) outside of Chicago, whose father is suspected of setting them on fire in a “botched murder suicide attempt.” The father hasn’t been charged with anything, and teachers, neighbors, and family all seem shocked, but the newscaster is very excited to report: a friend of the wife’s family reports that in 1997, the wife expressed that there were some problems in the marriage - which (*hint, hint*) was arranged.

    *pulling hair out*

    Some celebrity rag may have broken the news about Dennis Quaid’s twins (who, by the way, were birthed by a surrogate mom, just in case you needed to know) being given a dangerously high dose of Heparin, a blood thinner. So of course it makes total sense to bring on two doctors, unrelated to Cedars-Sinai where this screw up occurred - and ask them, “How did this happen?!”

    And then the most recent story I saw was about a NY police officer who doesn’t understand what could be “offensive” or “political” about having a license plate that says GETOSAMA. He blames it on the Department of Motor Vehicle’s lack of patriotism. He says the proposed plates are his way of expressing “support for the troops.” Hmm. Maybe GOSOLDR was taken.

    Whew! The grandparents are out of the room - I think we can change the channel!

    p.s. I Love Lucy is still funny after all these decades.

    Popularity: 24% [?]

    Nov

    21

    Seven Things I’ve Learned in LA

    Filed Under away from home, lil things, small happinesses | 3 Comments

    List follows:

    1. What some residents refer to as fog I would refer to as smog.
    2. White people really do seem to be the minority - at least on the freeways.
    3. If you live here, you should get a car you really like, because you’ll be spending a lot of time in it.
    4. Retirees are a lot of fun!
    5. What limes look like on a tree.
    6. I’m the worst at miniature golf.
    7. Women here are far more into accessories than woman in the Pacific NW; it’s almost unfathomable.

    Popularity: 19% [?]

    Oct

    31

    Less Need, Less Tolerance

    Filed Under away from home, from the heart, lil things | Leave a Comment

    I already learned this, but it’s easy to forget: how well one can get by with so little. And I’m not interested in disputes, or uncharitable conversation of any kind.

    I’m thinking of my new pair of beautiful, dark blue dishes with the cherry blossom pattern - I bought them just a few days before I left home. All of the sudden, while standing at the sink in my grandfather’s tiny kitchen, I remembered them. But the chicken and rice my great aunt cooked for me didn’t taste any less good in a stained, white, plastic bowl.

    Popularity: 16% [?]

    Jul

    27

    Colorado

    Filed Under away from home, being creative, health, photos, small happinesses | 1 Comment

    As it turns out, I’m having a GREAT time at the Take Shape for Life health coach convention. Tons of great, friendly people and wonderful information sessions. Not to mention, the beautiful scenery. Tomorrow morning, Robert Fritz will be speaking to us - he wrote a book I loved, “The Path of Least Resistance.”

    Today I’ve been in workshops, but yesterday I managed to take a three hour walk from one end of the resort to another.

    3 Trees at Keystone

    River View at Keystone

    Condos at Keystone

    Popularity: 22% [?]

    Jul

    26

    Pain, and Foul Language in Colorado

    Filed Under away from home, being creative, events, health, photos | 2 Comments

    HS & the DH at Keystone Resort, workingI arrived at Keystone Resort yesterday with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was an opportunity to be in a beautiful place with my sweetie and other nice people; on the other, it was forcing me out of my comfort cave of introversion, a place I’d somberly retreated to after General Assembly and the US Social Forum. This convention will be much smaller - 400 f

    olks instead of thousand - so perhaps it won’t be such a drain on me.

    Yesterday we didn’t do much. Just settled in, picked up some groceries (we’re renting a comfortable condo), and somehow ended up watching The Kill Point and a really good episode of CSI in which Grissom went head to head with his former forensics mentor.

    While flipping channels I thought I heard the “s” word - okay, shit - in a movie that was playing on AMC. I dismissed it, thinking, “It must be one of those garbled attempts at replacing a cuss word with something corny.” Then, while watching The Kill Point I was shocked to hear the “s” word twice. It took a moment to register and then I exclaimed to the DH, “What the hell is going on!?” I thought for sure that the censors had fallen asleep, and someone was going to lose their job! But no, the DH informed me that one can now say shit on cable channels after a certain night time hour.

    He said, “Don’t you remember that South Park episode called “Night of a Thousand Shits” where they tried to say shit as many times as possible?”

    I’d heard vague things about that, but somehow interpreted it as some kind of special deal the Comedy Channel had finagled, kind of like how Spielberg persuaded a broadcast network to air Schindler’s List without commercial breaks.

    Man, I felt old. I remember when you couldn’t say bitch on tv. Or ass. I felt strangely nostalgic for the days before one could say shit on cable tv.

    But I felt older still when my legs started hurting. The throbbing pain went from my lower back to my hips, and down my thighs to my knees. The DH massaged my legs but the relief this gave me was woefully temporary. Eventually, I went to sleep, but woke up at 4 in the morning in so much discomfort that I cried. I’m not sure what’s going on. I looked up the symptoms and it looks like I might be having sciatica. We’ll figure this out when I get home, I guess. Not looking forward to that process. My faith in doctors being able to tell me what is actually happening with my body is somewhere between zero and forget-it-about.

    Still, after this I’m off for a walk/jog around the resort and take more photos. Lying around won’t make me feel any better!

    Update: It looks like the leg pain might have been due to altitude. Keeping fingers crossed it doesn’t come back.

    Popularity: 23% [?]

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