Friday, August 31, 2012
HE BUILT THAT
The Romney video we never saw because of Clint Eastwood's overtime.
INSIDE BASEBALL
A little bit about how large the political malpractice was around Clint Eastwood's startling show last night.
I know a little about this as well.
The higher you go into the political stratosphere, the more that staff and writers and producers and campaign professionals guide the process. Just to avoid the kind of freak show that happened last night.
People may be amused or pleased about it but as a piece of political work it was a goatfuck.
Now all the CYA memos are floating around.
It is not a big deal and I don't imagine it has a lot to do with anything except that it is one more symptom of the Romney machine's gear slips and slaps.
And didn't they know that Eastwood is an apostate on birth control, gay marriage and other signature issues?
Labels: republican whack jobs
ANOTHER LIE?
This from TPM:
Runners World: We Can’t Verify Paul Ryan’s Sub-3-Hour-Marathon ClaimThere are no photos of Ryan running on Google images either. Every runner has pictures. Everywhere.
Runners World magazine is looking into Paul Ryan's claim that he ran a marathon in less than three hours.
"Runner's World has been unable to find any marathon results by Ryan," Scott Douglas wrote Friday. "Requests for more information from Ryan's Washington and Wisconsin offices, and from the Romney-Paul campaign, have so far gone unanswered."
As the magazine writes, a sub-three-hour race would make Ryan the fastest marathoner to be on a national ticket.
Well, I don't know and I am not sure that I care but I do know this.
Every time I ran anywhere they had the stats out and the times for everyone. Regardless. It is the main thing about running as a sport. The numbers.
I can tell you when and where I ran alone and how long and all that because I kept a fucking diary. I never, ever read it afterward but it is all there.
Now. Is this important? Not really. Is it another piece of data that Ryan is a douche? Yes.
He is a braggart and a one upman. I have seen this. His little steely eyes gleam and he leaps on arcanity. He is a tireless self promoter.
They talk about Obama never having a real job. Paul Ryan went to Washington when he was 21 or something and never ever worked out of the public sector. He rose to the top.
Now, a politician's job is self promotion. But when it is based on foolish lies, it somehow smells bad.
We do not know if this is another lie but he has sure been in the mode for the last few weeks.
Labels: republican whack jobs, running
FAMILY
Today's Claire Denis film was
Thirty Five Shots of Rum (2008)
A NYTimes Critics' Pick.
Daughter and Dad live together smoothly and with great love. Then a guy comes into the picture. A guy who has actually been in the picture as a friend and now a lover.
This lovely, quiet, contemplative film shows the family and extended family in wonderful vignettes. The Dad is a subway driver and the metaphor of tracks and travels and switches is not lost. Nor is it hammered in.
I saw this before and loved it. Loved it again. Great moments. Wonderful story. So human and warm.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films, films
Thursday, August 30, 2012
I LOVE THIS PHOTO
Obama runs into Sissy Spacek on rope line in Charlottesville, VA.
She had been waitiinf for awhile, photographers spotted her and voila!
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
BELONGING
Now, three films by Claire Denis. Today's is
The old colonial Africa, Cameroon, as remembered by the daughter of an officer stationed there. Blacks and whites.
A quit lovely, quiet examination of the subtleties of race.
Visitors come and go and the little girl sees it all. She watches her beloved "boy" who interacts with her mother. The father is often gone.
People are beginning to not know their place. Contrasts with those who think they do.
Gorgeous and gentle and sad.
At the end we see that it is not only race. It is nationality. Country. Rural and city.
Differences. Barriers. Boundaries.
A wonderful fiver of a film. 5 out of Netflix5.
It was a NYTimes 1176 Best Film.
Labels: best films
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOP CONVENTION
Gail Collins boils it down.
I am trying not to spend too much time looking at the spectacle.
I read that Christie did a belly flop. More about him than Mittens. Ego.
There was a lot of funny trivia but any convention will have that stuff.
I was a bit worried about Ryan's speech. He obviously wowed the kool-aid, sorry, tea drinkers, but had a lie a lot and cover up his agenda to do so.
Those eyes are spooky.
I thought it was interesting that Ann talked about tuna and noodles. I thought that kind of poor mouthing went out with Pat Nixon's cloth coat.
But no. Ryan did it too. His dad died when he was a teenager but left a bundle. Working was an option not a necessity. He should get some props for that, I suppose but come on.
Tonight, the big event will be the appearance of the candidate himself. There will be lame jokes and funny chuckles. A laundry list of distortions and lies. A robotic leaning on the rostrum and an appeal the the "base" which Ann would refer to as "those people". Pandering.
The good news is that it will be over soon.
Let us just hope that there won't be any Demos making as big fools of themselves next week.
Labels: republican whack jobs, Romney
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
STUFF
Busy week so far.
Went to see Dr. Jim on Monday. He is deliriously happy about my new blood pressure numbers and nearly fell off his stool when he found that I have lost ten pounds.
It is true. It is amazing what eating about a third of the normal food and totally omitting a bowl of frozen yogurt every day can do.
Onward and upward.
Tuesday is all about gathering our resources to get John to the plane for SFO where he will spend a day with friends.
As it turned out, he spent three hours of that day sitting in Palm Springs waiting for the plane to get there.
We went and got him this morning. Today's "shuttle" went very well. Good.
With John gone I had the privilege of walking with Booker this morning who took me on the "big block" past the shopping center and around on Ramon to the Lutheran Church. A sharp right on Caballeros and then the home stretch on Baristo. He chooses his own walk and today was vanilla. The standard fare.
I have visitors today. Talking with friends. No movie.
I am planning oven fried chicken tonight. I will eschew the skin, well maybe a bit of it.
My "diet" is nothing special. I eat a very balanced diet. Just too much of everything.
So I am just cutting down the portions. If any.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
AGIT-PROP
I have to say that the anti-Obama movie worried me. Then I read that it had a high attendance over the weekend (fourth I think). That really worried me.
But I feel better now.
Kevin Drum went to see it so we do not have to.
Here is his report.
2016: Not As Scary As You Might Think
He reports a Palm Springs type crowd, less "the gays" of course. Old farts. Who already think that Obama is.....well, it is racist and scurrilous so why repeat it. And a lot of filler in the film focused on the producer, writer and director D'nesh DeSouza. Check it out.
There is not, apparently, anything in the film that has not been bandied about for four years one way or another. More about how Obama is the "other".
If Obama is "the other" then what does that make a guy named D'nesh DeSouza? Just sayin'.
THE WEST
Today's film was Wim Wender's
with the screenplay by Sam Shepard.
Harry Dean Stanton is the main guy here. Lost, walking in the desert. Found by his brother, Dean Stockwell, and brought "home" where Stanton's son has basically been adopted into the brothers family.
This is about family, brothers, men, women, fathers, mothers somehow strained through the sensibility of the West.
I get it but I can't explain it.
The lost brother heals and goes off to find the boy's mother. Nastassja Kinski. Also gone to God knows where.
Houston. How is that for a destination.
There is a lot going on here and it all holds together as a riveting film but somehow resists being a story.
It is now beautifully restored by Criterion and that is why I got it. I saw it when it came out and remembered Harry Dean walking and walking but not much else.
Now that I have seen it again, I would say that this is enough for now and will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. I will check it off my list of must see films.
Labels: films
Monday, August 27, 2012
PREVIEW OF THE GOP CONVENTION
I think that the Obamas are gonna get tougher and rougher.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama, Romney
ALCOHOLIC HAZE
Today's movie was the cult British movie
Two out of work actors live together in an unbelievably sordid dump and drink a lot.
Withnail is by far the most outrageous and irresponsible. "I" is the person who keeps saving his bacon.
The humor here is on going. Continuing. Like a mash up. Line after line which cultists, to this day, still repeat and quote to one another with great belly laughs.
Some of this went over my head. It is British. It is delivered totally straight. And, it is all very very alcoholic.
As Ebert says, only hard drinkers are likely to identify with a lot of it. I have to say that I was not that kind of drinker. And, I don't drink any more. I suspect that the latter is a qualification.
Nevertheless it is a lot of fun to watch and if the viewer can watch the absolute grunge of constant rain and messed up living arrangements it is enjoyable.
I am glad I saw it. Once is enough. A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Sunday, August 26, 2012
POST POST MODERN GAY
Today's film was a gay film, famous actually, which just came out too late for my gay film fest.
Two men meet in a club, go home together, talk, get together again, talk, get together again and then say goodbye.
Goodbye because one of them is off to America for two years.
One gets the feeling that is not the end but that will be up to the two men.
Both are changed radically by their time together and there is love too.
This film is quintessentially gay without one single stereotype or typical reference.
First they are British, which actually doesn't mean much as gay is as global now as everything else. Second, they are beyond the coming out, working it out phases. Sort of.
That is the substance of the interaction between them.
Most importantly they are quite different types. I don't mean gay types. I mean that one is introspective, an introvert, close to friends and acquired family (who are mostly straight) and the other is outgoing, almost mean and aggressive. Outspoken and opinionated. They clash and mesh. Very nice.
Very contemporary. How do I know? I know a hundred very contemporary gay men and this is a lot about what their life is like. I am a fly on a lot of walls.
This film is definitely worth seeing over and over. I watched the "making of" part and the people here are quite serious. They know what they are doing. They have worked the ground over and over.
Oddly, the film was done in sequence which is hardly done at all any more. Studios and budgets and all that.
But this is alive for it. You can feel the buildup. It is the sequence of things that make it work.
This film was picked up by the Sundance production people and is distributed by Criterion which is now doing special films. This is special.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films, gay films
Saturday, August 25, 2012
JOY
Today's best film was John Hughes' masterpiece
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
What can I say? I just said it. Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
One of the best comedies ever made. What would be the other best? I can't think of any.
Another thing. One of the most humane comedies every made. Aspiration. Optimism.
The features on this disc are very well done.
The story of how they made the "Twist and Shout scene" is worth the price of admission. Also how they got the Ferrari to fly out the window.
Love it. Love it. Love it. A real treat.
They did this all on one day with 10,000 people. Amazing.
Did I say this was a triple 5 out of Neflix5?
Labels: best films, best movies
Friday, August 24, 2012
WHAT A TRIP
We have been at or right near almost all of these places.
Full screen, please.
Labels: America, United Sates of America
I LOVE THIS
Obama's fun with GIFs here.
It was so good on the email, so startling, I immediately hit the donate button.
I do not know how to put GIFs like this on my blog.
If anyone out there knows how to do it, please comment or send an email.
Labels: blog, fun, Re-election of Barack Obama
FRIENDS
I finished the second half of the George Harrison biopic by Martin Scorcese. Very nice.
He had a host of friends. Not just acquaintances.
Ringo and Paul are again prominently included as well as his wife of thirty years Olivia. And his son.
It was just heart filling.
The documentary is easily worth a 5 out of Netflix5 although I doubt that I would watch it again. It is quite long. There are lows and highs. The highs are quite worth it all, nevertheless.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
CHICKEN LITTLE
I find it hard to believe all the hand wringing about our education system going to hell.
Sure there are problems. There were problems when I had Miss Bush hitting me on the fingers for some infraction. She also wrote our names on the board like demerits. Or Mr. Price who painted one fingernail red and mostly sat in the back of the class having kids go up and read stuff.
One of my kids got hit with the new math and never learned how to do long division. And so on.
There is always shit going on.
My Dad was on the school board in our town for years. The stories he would tell (and probably shouldn't have) were certainly not very encouraging about how the educational process was going on in the schools.
But I got into MIT. One of my kids got a PhD and another is working on one. All are useful citizens.
WTF is the problem?
If you are a ranter and raver read this.
American Education is not in a Catastrophic Decline.
Labels: education
A LIFE
Today's movie was the first half of Martin Scorcese's documentary
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
This half is about the Beatles. It is intense. There is no underestimating their popularity or the heat of their lives during the time they were together.
I have so looked forward to seeing this production which was made for television. Harrison has always been quite special to me.
When he died it seemed so unfinished. He did.
Well, any of us would be. He knew this more than anyone. The uncommon common man.
There is a remarkably small amount of talk on this film. It is all Harrison's own words or the other Beatles. Ringo has a major part. Paul too. George Martin, their record producer. A wonderful man. Eric Clapton with whom he had a relationship so close that his wife went from one to the other. George was first. Patti. Quite a piece of work in the film.
The first half is an hour and a half. The second, longer. I will watch that tomorrow. In the meantime, it is riding near 5 out of Netflix5 territory. Thoroughly engrossing.
Labels: best films, music
RETURNED
I got back from San Diego this morning at 7AM. Left around 4.
Saw the sun rise over the desert, well the mountains first.
I came back to cool weather. The heat and humidity seem to have broken.
I had a good time there doing nothing. The usual.
Weather was in the 70s, partly cloudy, day and night. The usual.
I went to the boat ramp and watched the fisher people go out and come in. I saw the seal. I saw the pelicans. The usual.
I smelled and felt the sea air.
The deck to my room overlooked the marina. I watched the activity here and there. Yesterday I was rewarded by the sight of a guy being lifted 50 plus feet up a mast on a bosun's chair.
There is always something going on. The usual unusual.
I had a great time and never left the hotel. Good food, better this year it seemed. Nice people.
I was ready to come home just about the time I started packing my bags last night.
Glad to have gone. Glad to have returned.
My boys were happy to see me when I rolled in. They had done their morning walk.
I am edging into the routine. 120 emails. No bills. One package. Nice.
HEROINE
Not the drug. The woman.
Phyllis Diller, Sassy Comedian, Dies at 95
I don't want you to think I only collect heroes (men I admire who live to be 90+).
Diller has been a companion through life. There were some years when I missed out on the old girl but there was always the memory which could be conjured very quickly. I thought she was hilarious.
I only saw her work clean. Television. I can only imagine her being blue.
It was all one liners and, while she wrote her own stuff, she hired some writers who had the format down and the rhythm she used to keep it going. She modeled her act on Bob Hope. The one liner, then a followup, then a build up to a grand finale on the same theme.
She was a good looking woman and fit as a fiddle most of her life. She had to use costumes and hair to make her look as freaky as she needed to be to support the laughs.
I admire anyone whose business is to make people laugh. Some more than others. Today, only Louis Black comes to mind. Same deal. One liners, buildup. Black is gloriously blue.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
END OF THE STORY
Today's movie was Walter Hill's
I got this as it was highly recommended in an article I read. A true, true story instead of the "based on" stuff.
The last days of the Apache and their great chief.
Two young officers become the last remaining positive possibility for the cornered Apache but they and the Apache are betrayed by a duplicitous general and the US government.
The good general, Gene Hackman, and a civvie guide are removed from the case. Jason Patric and the very young Matt Damon are left to try for peace. But it is a sham.
It is a sad story. Much of the film is in Apache with Wes Studi playing the great chief.
I really did like it as hard as it was to see the painful end of an era. Another holocaust.
They all went to Florida in cattle cars.
Jason Patric is wonderful. And hot.
The transfer is not the best, a bit washed out. Probably got to it too late. But that passes and you can see how a good director uses the land that he has been given to tell a story. It is enjoyable to see how the same 100 acres serve for so much in the film. No it is not obvious. I just watched closely. I live in the desert!
This is a 4 out of Netflix5. I would not mind seeing it again sometime.
Labels: films
BREAK
It has been steaming hot here. Hot and humid!
Time to get away.
My annual trip to the Bay Club Hotel on Shelter Island. San Diego. Across from that great city skyline.
I leave tomorrow morning and will stay four nights. An early morning drive back home on Thursday.
The weather is scheduled to be in the 60s and 70s with sun. The usual for mid August.
I hope to do the regular drive over the mountains, the back way. Route 74 and on. There has been a forest fire in that area for the last week but it was 100% under control yesterday.
I would not like doing all freeways but I will if I need to.
I have done this so many times, I have a routine. I will arrive about 1130 AM. The room will not be ready. I will have lunch at their great restaurant. The room will be ready about the time I finish that off.
If not, I will stroll across the street to the boat ramp which is one of my best places to sit.
Boats in. Boats out. Seals. Pelicans. Gulls. People walking along the long Island walk paths.
Air and sun. Of course I have plenty of that here. But it is different air and sun. Sea air and sun.
My three days will be the same. Up early and walk vigorously from the hotel to one end. Go back. Have at the great buffet breakfast. Go to my room, sit on the balcony on the marina side where hundreds of boats are tethered. There is always activity. People coming and going. Workmen doing shit.
Read a book.
An early room make up. When the maid arrives I take the second walk and go the other way and back. Vigorous of course.
Then back to the balcony or the boat ramp.
There will be lunch. A nap. A lot of sitting and watching.
That is it.
I will be alone. No computer. I do not turn on the teevee. There is a free daily paper. I will read that.
I have been going to this place for years. First for work. We trained trainers there in the little conference rooms.
Then, when we moved here I wanted an "escape" but I wasn't too interested in going very far. I went back there and the rest is history.
I always liked new places but the old favorites have a special resonance. I know where I am. I know how it works. I feel at home away from home.
Friday, August 17, 2012
THE OBAMA WHITE BOARD
Fighting back.
A tip from an ex management trainer. Never, ever put a white board on a shaky easel.
And get a big one that you can actually write on and people can see.
And stay with it. Don't fade as you are writing.
I wrote, usually on paper, this kind of shit week after week. I was a champion "white boarder". But I knew enough to get the right equipment.
Of course, it figures. Mitten's proposals are shaky. Everything they do seems made up and lame.
Obama at least got the whiteboard to go digital although, routinely, WhiteHouse.com still has hand done white board presentations. On big easels, clearly done.
Romney is such a fucking tool.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama, Romney
LONG TREK
Today's Jim Sturgess movie, and the last, for now, was
also with Colin Farrell, Ed Harris and others. Well, there are always others.
This is a big panorama escape film with the twist that these guys make it out of a Siberian gulag and walk, way, way long.
It is pretty good. Sturgess is the star in that he is the head of the escape and it is his story that we see in the arc.
Everything in here is familiar. There are a few holes. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I will not be watching it again. Too much wilderness for me.
Only three make it out of six. I won't tell. But I already told one of them.
Labels: films
PHANTOM
Timothy Egan looks for the real Romney in today's NYT.
This is a thoughtful but damning piece.
Egan shows how Romney has even made it impossible for himsef to tell his personal history (Mormon pioneers, fierce battles), talk about his business career (vulture capitalism) or even his somewhat positive career as a governor. (Romney Care!!!!).
He his hoist by his own petard.
You won't feel sorry for him.
He drips with disgust and disdain at gays.
He hates the unwashed millions who he will need to support him. "Those people". He is so out of touch that he can't even laugh honestly, the heh heh stage laugh, and certainly not at himself.
Labels: Romney
Thursday, August 16, 2012
HARRY REID NO LONGER NEEDED
Because today, Mitt, himself exhumed the almost buried idea that he had not paid any taxes for ten years. Even I had sort of forgotten about it.
But now comes Mittens with a lame explanation and an insult to me and anyone else who has an inquiring mind.
Romney makes his tax-return troubles worse
I read another guy this morning who says that Mitt is a "digger". A compulsive soul who can't put the shovel down. He got hurt by this thing and he is going to clear it up, goddammit. Well, forget the goddammit part. Mormons don's say that.
Gosh Darn.
He doesn't say what he paid "13 % or something like that" on. Gross income? Taxable Income?
More whining about why people would want to hear about this. Well, only 2/3 of the people in the country Willard.
What is funny about this is that it would be very easy to release the returns and get it over with.
It is a scab. He keeps picking on it.
And they always mention their charity giving in this connection. WTF?
He is such a sanctimonious bloviator.
I got a chuckle out of this "comment" under the article.
the hilarious thing between him and his wife is like...
how dare you peasants question us?
it reeks from every pore of their being.
and we, the peasants are like..
Mofo, just show us the damn tax returns.
Labels: Romney
DECADES AND CHANGE
Today's Jim Sturgess film was
with Anne Hathaway.
A young couple meet in the 80s and we look at them every year on the same date. They decide to get together then but that is less the point as some years they do not get together.
They are the best of friends who also have this thing that they can't quite work out.
I liked it a lot. The two actors are very good and guide us through the possible rough spots and the artificiality of it. It all makes sense eventually.
They are not always the nicest of people. Even to each other. But they always connect. And we do see the folks around them.
The director Lone Scherfig comes from the dogme school (all natural lighting, all off the cuff, etc) but does not seem to be pushing that here as much as a free form catching of vignettes from this couples life together and some apart. We get to assemble the pieces.
Nothing is left dangling really except a bit of critical information that ends up not being critical.
This is a 4 out of Netflix5 for me.
A great part for young Sturgess who is on as much as Hathaway. It is their picture.
Labels: films
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
DOCS
Two docs yesterday.
Eye doc to review the second cataract operation. She was very happy with the result. So am I.
I have 20/20 vision in both eyes with glasses needed for close viewing.
I will go back to her in three months when she will dilate and look further at the results.
The close viewing "clics" that I bought are great. I wear them pretty much throughout the day. Not awkward.
I also have glasses stashed in the bathrooms for the occasional reading done there.
On the same day I went to Dr. Jim to review the medication for my blood pressure. I had doubled the prescription he gave me as he authorized me to do and so we have settled on two pills a day. The diuretic and the statin. One is a salmon color and the other ochre. Or light khaki.
The bp is holding pretty well at a "good level" and is expected to go down a bit more as the new single prescripted pills are a bit more than the original double dose.
It is odd have a condition in which the medication is "titrated" against the actual body conditions and response. Nice.
Labels: cataract surgery, health, hypertension
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
GRITTY AND VIOLENT
Today's Jim Sturgess film was
Double agent shit about the IRA and the troubles in Ireland and all.
Ben Kingsley as his handler.
He does a pretty good job when you can figure out what they are saying and doing exactly.
But in these things there are standard bits that have to happen and they do and they are well produced.
I wouldn't want to see it again. If I enjoyed torture porn I might want to as he does get the shit kicked out of him.
He is also heroic, warm and somehow heroic even when the script lets him down.
I will give this one a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
HERO
Johnny Pesky dies at 92; beloved member of Boston Red Sox
Enough said.
I was a baseball fan until they tarted it all up on the teevee and I moved and then kind of lost interest.
But Johnny Pesky was in the mix for a very long time with me.
A funny, irreverant and wise commentator on the play, he was always good for a laugh and a lot of enthusiasm.
I can hear his voice. And his laugh.
Johnny Pesky. Let's here it folks. Now off to the big show.
Look into those eyes.
Labels: heroes
Monday, August 13, 2012
WINNER
I am watching a few Jim Sturgess films. A young British actor. Nice looking. Sweet. I have a crush on him.
Today's Sturgess film was
This is about the MIT kids and prof who went to Vegas and cut them down until they were caught.
It is pretty good fun and a lot of MIT and Cambridge locations. Very nice opening of the Harvard Bridge. How did they do the swoop?
I have limited patience with Kevin Spacey who is a bit subdued in this and type cast as a bastard.
Laurence Fishbourne is the heavy in a nice way.
The practice of "counting" is not illegal but it is frowned upon by the casinos and so the muscle is used to drive counters away.
This film is too long. It is good but keerist.
I skipped which would normally earn it a 2 but I think I did a better job than the director and so I improved the film into a 3 out of Netflix5.
Sturgess is great in it. Love him.
Labels: films
Sunday, August 12, 2012
OOPS
Pawlenty stares into the headlights.
He knows he is caught. Stare. Mumble. I don't know. Smile. Look back into the headlights.
Labels: Romney
SUNDAY TALK
McCain puts the kiss of death on the Ryan nomination.
Sen. John McCain said on Sunday that Mitt Romney's selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate reminded him of his own game-changing choice in 2008. Choosing Ryan was "a pretty bold choice," McCain said, just like his pick of Sarah Palin.Yup. That is what he said. I read it in three places.
"I am still proud of my running mate," McCain, R-Az., said on Fox News Sunday. "I am proud of Sarah and her family."
Fucking amazing.
We saw how well that came out for John didn't we.
Overshadowed and thrown off course like a ballooned tire the Palin distraction took the McCain campaign off and running into the fever swamp and it never, ever got out.
Where will Ryan take them? Into the mind of Ayn Rand?
Labels: Romney
BIG DAY
I went and spoke at another Meeting this morning. One I do not normally attend.
It was a good thing. A different crowd. Many from recovery houses. Nice. Newcomers.
I don't go around to other Meetings much and this was a nice puff of new air.
I came home and picked John up and we went to a party for one of my sponsees. Ten years clean and sober. Very nice.
Almost all the people there were "related" to me somehow. One of those things where one just walks around and says hello, eats lunch and an hour has gone by.
I have to admit that this was a pretty good party especially for an orthodox introvert.
It helps when people already love you and you don't have to earn it in any way.
If you know what I mean.
They had lots of young men in and out of the pool. Never hard to take. And some older ones as well. Me included. Out of the pool.
It was very hot but the house was perfect size for the gang that was there and going in and out.
There was a disc jockey (working outside, in the shade, but still) and one of those twenty foot long sandwiches. Very nice.
Labels: Party
Saturday, August 11, 2012
RYAN
Why are these men laughing?
Not a great surprise.
I think that we just may have won the election.
This is very risky for Romney but he needs a change up.
There is a lot of blather about it.
I just think that Ryan is way to right. I would say to the right of Romney but we don't really know where the Mitter stands on anything.
Ryan is definitive.
Joe Biden says he is a nice guy and I think he is.
He is OK on gay issues. He is an ardent Randian. Ayn Rand.
I knew one of these believers many years ago. Unyielding.
The Ryan plan which is now Mitt's whether he wants it to be or not, steps on three third rails. Social Security, Medicare and middle class taxes.
Blah blah.
He is inexperienced. He is raw.
I did used to say that Obama was callow. Ryan is callow.
But he is the only show in town. The other possibilities were boring and of no help to Romney at all. I think that for the GOP this is the only viable choice. But it is not a winner.
KEVIN DRUM.......Overall, I think Democrats got the better of things today. They can attack Ryan's budget proposals, they can mock his jejune Ayn Rand fixation, and they can credibly start demanding that Romney and Ryan put more flesh on their policy proposals. The tea party crowd thinks this is great because they're convinced that Middle America will really and truly come to love their scorched-earth approach to the federal government if only someone is brave enough to stand up and really sell it. This is a fantasy, and smart Republicans like Romney know it, which is why he's so assiduously avoided policy specifics. But having Ryan on the ticket is going to make it harder to keep the fever-eyed contingent under control.
In any case, I'll repeat what I said this morning: Ryan's just the VP. He presents plenty of opportunities for attack, but he won't radically change the course of the campaign. Liberal firepower should remain mostly trained on Romney. He's the guy that voters care about, not Ryan.
Time will tell. We will have to work as hard.
It took less than an hour before I got a text message from the Obamas about it. A URL to go to. They were ready for this. There is even an ad with ominous music.
Interesting times.
Orion and Ryan on the same day.
Labels: Romney
ORION
It happens every fall.
I am outside in the morning with Booker. Waiting for him to pee and sniff out the overnight activity.
I look up at the sky and see it.
Orion!
The only constellation that I know and can always find in the sky when it is there. Which will be about six months.
Then he is gone.
I belonged to the Astrology Club and our first night, Mr. Ravelli took us up on a hill near the school to look at the sky. The first constellation he showed us was Orion.
The club either never met again or I never returned. Whatever. So this is the only constellation that I every learned. Hence, the only one I know.
Oh, I know the Big Dipper when I see it but I don't really look for it or know where to look. Finding it is an accident. I have never, ever been able to locate the North Star.
There are the Pleiades. Where are they? Dunno.
But always Orion. And he is still here all the way out here in California.
Today!
The first morning I have seen him.
Labels: astronomy
STAR
Today's movie was the documentary
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (2012)
This charming film does what nothing else has been able to do in my entire life. It has made me enjoy an hour and a half of Carol Channing.
I have never really been a fan and I am not sure that I am now but the film was so enjoyable that I, at least, ought to say some nice things about her.
To me she has always been a one trick pony and if you don't like the pony then you are left out of the picture.
In the film it is easy to see how she has grasped hold of a persona and stuck with it tenaciously until the very last drop is wrung from it.
This is not always pretty but it is very entertaining.
Here is what I liked about the film. Early on, she is walking down Schubert Alley in NYC and encounters some chorus boys out on a break. She flows right out of the film they are filming to be with these adoring guys and you see the hold she has on people in her profession. It is amazing.
This happens again and again in rehearsal footage. Beautiful bonding.
The other thing is the story of her childhood romance which, many years later, revived itself after she had been abandoned and totally robbed by her first husband who ruled her career. This late romance is just wonderful to see.
There is a lot to see in this film.
Once is enough and I was moved by a lot of it. A 3 out of Netflix5. And I have heard enough of Hello Dolly to last the rest of my life.
Labels: films
Friday, August 10, 2012
CYCLING IN
I got my first MIT prospects today.
25 young people from all over Riverside County CA and beyond.
There are the usual mix of Mexican kids. Particularly from a top school just on this side of the border.
The last admit that I had was from that school.
What happens now?
They are to get in touch with me and arrange an interview.
It could be very soon. There are always a few early birds.
I have a routine now that works pretty well for me and, I think, for them. I will meet with them any day of the week at 1PM in the center of Palm Springs and we will have coffee for an hour. And talk.
There is no structure. There is no assignment of what I am supposed to give or get.
I have a small agenda. But it varies.
The main thing is that after the hour, whatever happens, I will go home and write an essay and make some recommendations. Mostly ratings to certain questions.
Pretty straight forward.
I will get to say if I think that this is the one out of a thousand. Since I have only interviewed about a hundred and something kids I am not near a thousand but I try to have one outstanding kid every year. Maybe one "never saw such a good one" before.
We have some influence. Not a lot. We live in a backwater. There is a cultural and intellectual gap with other places. The school ratings are not that high. Even if the kids are at the top they are often at the top of a school that isn't at the bottom but perhaps is in a middle somewhere.
Then there are the SATs and what they are looking for at the Institute.
It has taken awhile to get used to the fact that I am farting in the air but it is good farting and I do the best I can. I try to take out of it what I get in the hour itself. With the kid.
I still remember the kid who did card tricks to finish off the interview. The girl, poor girl, who had a fantasy about the rest of her life which was almost crazy. I talked her down and she wrote me an email thanking me for getting her headed in the right direction.
I remember the big blond boy whose Dad brought him and told me about the boy's older brother who was doing so well at MIT. Two years ahead. The big blond boy was stoned and had no interest at all.
I remember well, the smart alec who came late, talked up a storm, took control of the interview and we laughed a lot. He got in.
I remember last year, the first candidate who came out to me and felt safe in doing so. What a nice moment. He didn't get in but he stays in my heart. He was very good and could have been admitted. Big frog, small puddle.
This was me. I came from a town that had all twelve grades in one building. 21 in my graduation class. I got in.
This year I have a home schooled kid and two from the worst school in the county. Gangs. These kids are often the best kids. Adversity has sanded off the edges and made them hungry.
I love doing this. It is so good for me.
I never did a fucking thing for the school until I started this five years ago. It has brought everything back to me.
I am somewhere in the crowd here. Class of 1958.
Labels: MIT
MASKS
Today's movie was
with Michelle Williams and Eddy Redmayne. Also an overstuffed Kenneth Branagh unsuccessfully impersonating Laurence Olivier.
The movie survives this one burp however with Williams' embodiment of Marilyn and Redmayne's portrayal as a third level gofer who befriends her or visa versa. It is mutual and sweet.
The story is based trueness. But that is less the point than the intimacy between the stars. Even Branagh's bluster cannot penetrate the intensity of the innocent flirtation and friendship between the two.
I liked the film very much and would be willing to see it again if it popped up somewhere. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Thursday, August 09, 2012
LIKE A BIG PIZZA PIE
Today's film was Norman Jewison's
with Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello and some great character actors along with five shaggy dogs.
It was as good as I remembered it to be and probably better as I am more able to give my heart to these pictures than I used to be.
It is probably Nicolas Cage's last good picture. He pissed on his career.
We will never forget him in the basement bakery with his wifebeater and a really bad attitude. Nor the first time they have sex--a half hour later. "Take the skin off my bones" "There will be nothing left".
Also enough La Boheme to make you jittery.
Everyone has a secret here except for Cher and Cage's love bites which they can't hide. Moral of the story, you are as sick as your secrets.
Five five five five out of Netflix5. The best. Just great.
Labels: best films
MEDS
Two days of lower, healthier blood pressure numbers in the "safe" range.
Sweet.
That would mean, provisionally based on my Doc's approval Tuesday, that I can have the lightest possible dosage of the two drugs usually used to control it.
That would be hydrochlorothiazide--12.5 mg #30, a diuretic, and lisinopril 10mg tabs #60 which is, historically, the third ACE inhibitor (after captopril and enalapril) and was introduced into therapy in the early 1990s. It is used for a lot of stuff. Heart, blah blah blah. Look it up.
Both are generic. Two dollars at the copay - for me.
He had given me permission to double both doses which is now one a day.
I am not that worried any more but I am still on my program of weight loss and salt reduction.
Labels: hypertension
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
WEDNESDAY
I just got back from picking up my "new" sunglasses. Old frame, new clear lens with a half moon #200 inset for closeup.
The Volvo says it is/was 120 degrees F. But it overreads. It is 110 at the airport. Hot enough but not that hot.
The week has been one of those that prompt people to say "hot enough for 'ya"?
At least that is what I say. I can't tell how it goes over. I am amused.
My blood pressure was down to normal this morning, well, a high normal. Just one more pill did the trick. I am relieved. The new pill is not a diuretic. Something else. I try not to take undue interest in my medications so I haven't looked it up.
This is a big day for my "recovery" family. Two people I sponsor have the same date. Two cakes. Both great people. I love them. Different years, same day. Ten for one, thirty-three for the other.
Two sessions with other sponsees today. It is a big Program day.
Good.
Another Obama fund appeal. They are really hitting me up as they know I am about 4 donations away from a full quota and they want it NOW. It is the first time I am getting a little ragged over the constant emails but it is OK. I know that Early Money Is Like Yeast. I wonder what happened to Emily's list, the old lefty fundraising outfit. They are not big players any more. "Elect Pro- Choice, Democratic Women in 2012!" is their current campaign. Not too far from the original purpose.
In any case, I will give the money. I want it done. And done. And over.
It may be my last hurrah. I don't say that fatalistically or morbidly. It is just the truth. Four more years of Obama would please me more than almost any other thing I could think of. I will send the money in due course.
Labels: cataract surgery, hypertension, Re-election of Barack Obama
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
MARVIN GAYE'S GOTTA GIVE IT UP LIVE IN MONTREUX 1980
Why is the telephone on the stool?
Labels: fun. music
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
If you are upset about all the anti-Obama money that is going to wash through the sluice over the next three months, you might want to read this.
Mitt Will Play the Hand He is Dealt
Here in California we have the latest model of money's power to advance a lackluster, even disliked candidate in the case of Meg Whitman who ran for the Governorship of the State.
She spent record funds out of her personal fortune. Every one knew this and it actually, I think, worked against her. Buying an election is not a very popular activity. We talk as if it is done all the time but it is really not.
You have to have the other stuff.
Mitt, arguably, doesn't have it. He is a second rate candidate who is disliked and probably more so because of his and his supporters big bucks.
Just a theory that rings my bells.
Labels: Romney
RESTAURANT FARCE
Today's Fatih Ahkin movie was his comedy
with many of the actors of the other tragic/drama film that he has made.
A great exuberant release of energy. It is fun to see them become totally opposite characters.
There is plenty of suspense and anxiety and close calls and circumstantial plot turns but they all serve the purpose of the comic art. Beautifully done.
You must see this film. It is why I watched all the other excellent Ahkin films.
Go. Go see it. Rent it. Now.
It is a NYT Critics' Pick.
It is also a 5 out of Netflix5. My rating system.
Labels: best films
GARDEN VARIETY HYPERTENSION
Went to Dr. Jim this morning about the blood pressure.
It turns out that there is nothing exotic about my problem. No steroid effects. My working theory to avoid the truth. He says that would be minimal.
I am like many other people with high blood pressure. Careless about my eating to the point of being overweight.
I eat too much salt and salty foods. They told us, didn't they? Did I listen? Well, yes with a reservation about me.
And old. Don't forget old. The body can't fight off the artificial rigors I put it through. Food. Salt. That.
I will have drugs. They start today. He says he will get me down to where "it" is supposed to be. 100 on the bottom scale as in 135/100. That 100. I always thought it was the other one they worried about. Now I will worry about it too but not the top. The bottom. Did everyone else know that?
The change of diet has started. Rather a change back from all the caloric tweaks and compromises I have done in ten years. You know, like daily ice cream. Well, frozen yogurt. Which is better for me, right?
He read off my weight since he first met me. In 1997 I weighed 165. My new goal. I have thirty pounds to go. I wanted to lie about this but I need to start telling myself the truth. I am thirty pounds over weight.
I have taken as models those family and friends who have taken the lard off so effectively. Having put it on, I can take it off. A day at a time.
I had less salt already today. Next the yogurt.
I will monitor my own bp every day. Take an additional drug he gave me and be in his office next Tuesday at 800 AM. I have to run to the next doctor to have my cataract followup at 840AM. They are not that far apart. Good exercise.
This is all a little embarrassing. I thought I was going to get a pass on this careless way of living. No deal. You would think that I would have figured this out 33 years ago when I got caught drinking a little too much. Hard to learn.
I am immensely relieved to know all this and to accept it.
I got scared. A good thing. For me.
Dr. Jim says that is unlikely that I will have to be carted away to the dread hospital. At least not for this.
Labels: health, hypertension
Monday, August 06, 2012
SO CLOSE SO FAR APART
Today's film by Fatih Akin, a NYTimes Critics' Pick was
Auf der anderen Seite / The Edge of Heaven (2007)
A father and son, and two mothers and daughters are thrown into an intertwining, beautifully evolving evocation of expectation versus reality, lost love, death and, well, transfiguration.
This is a wonderfully soulful movie. There are no secrets and yet everything is a secret for the people we are so involved with.
We see them coming and going and passing each other when they are not running into another character.
A tour de force which I will surely see again.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
PS: I am done with the "best films" thing that I did with the NYT so I think that I am going to revive the category for films that I believe would be in such a list if it was updated. This is one of them.
Labels: best films, films
Sunday, August 05, 2012
BOTTOMING OUT
Fatih Akin writes and directs today's film in far darker colors than yesterdays road picture.
Gegen die Wand / Head On (2004)
Two suicide attempters meet in hospital and start a relationship.
Actually, the woman is seeking escape from a rigid Turkish Muslim family. The guy just wants to drink.
Not a good start.
This is a very smart film but very dark.
Lots of twists and turns.
They do fall in love eventually but is it too late?
You will have to wait and see,.
Akin is a Turkish German so we are right on the wavelength. Orthodox versus non-practicing is a big part of it. Also active alcoholism. And a lot of sex.
This uses all the new wavish kind of perspectives. A lot of twists. No romantic approaches. Gritty. And a "greek chorus" of a turkish band between acts.
A big award winner in Europe.
I would not mind seeing it again.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
GOOD NEWS
Certainly premature but I have been watching a lot of the numbers and most of the time I figure that this is true.
I can concur on all his sources. It has been like this for at least a month.
But it takes away from the tension and doesn't sell papers. And lot could happen between now and then, huh?
So far all those things that have happened have helped Obama.
Conventional wisdom is out. Today an article about how the Obamas have been burning money. On infrastructure. Offices. On line fundraising. Way ahead of Romney in all these categories. There is very little Romney on the ground.
Does organization trump money? We will soon see.
They can do a whole new fundraiser after the conventions. No limits.
I am saving my donations in the second round and going slow.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
LIFE'S LESSONS
If you work hard and save your money here is what you can do.
You can retire early and live someplace that no business would be able to endure. It is the sybaritic factor. You will not want to work anyway. Even if there was a business there.
Here is another thing you can do. You can make friends with whoever you want whether they are of any use to you at all. No networking. No ass kissing. No going to "conferences" which are really a lot of penis waving. Even by the girls.
You will not have to please anybody. If you want, your motto can be "fuck off".
You do not have to explain. Anything. Except maybe to your husband but that never works anyway. Whatever it is, "it" is not a rational issue.
One of the best things is that you can go to the gym every day and have buddies who have no idea of your life outside the gym and don't give a fuck. They just sort of like you and are willing to stick to a few words of one syllable. It is all smiles, fellowship and indescribable mutual attraction. No one cares what your workout plan is either. If any.
The biggest payoff for some diligence during your work life is to have the time to read all the books you want to read and see all of the movies you want to see.
You do not, after all, have to discuss any of them at the water cooler anymore.
Ever.
And you don't have to see blockbusters or oscar pictures or any fucking any of that crap.
You can, incidentally, if you have saved your money, buy a book whenever you want to.
Hard cover.
And even with overnight shipping.
And if you don't like a book you can throw it across the room and put it in the library donation pile where almost all the books go.
They are consumables.
There will be a few that you will want to read again and again. I have about 20 such books. You will know when you hit one.
The other thing being well to do (not rich) allows is being in the Netflix 6 disc plan and have movies to wallow in. You can also buy a few that you really, really like so that when they die in the Netflix disc inventory, which they do and fall out of the queue, you will be able to watch them.
If they have DVD players forever. If not, there are plenty where those came from.
There is a lot of bullshit about retirement and how difficult it is for people who have been working hard and have a lot of responsibility. This is the propaganda put out by the military industrial complex to scare people into working longer for less money.
I retired at 60 and have seen more movies and read more books than anyone I know. And I have a superb life. Especially the part of being able to tell people I do not like to fuck off. In a nice way.
Labels: life
Saturday, August 04, 2012
WILDLIFE
Yesterday morning, while putting in my many eyedrops, I saw a flash out of the side of my eye and thought that there was something wrong with the new eye.
Then, it flashed again.
Shit! A mouse in the bathtub, trying to get out.
Up the sides and slipping back and dropping a turd every time.
This could be the mouse that ran into the house the other morning when Booker went out to pee. He was right at the corner of the closed screen but there are at least two inches there so Booker flushed him, he ran and went somewhere. For awhile we thought into the broom closet. Booker looked three or four times.
So. Now in the tub. And I was not going to call Booker. No way. He would end the episode but not in a way that I would like.
So I threw my sleeping shorts over the mouse, maybe a rat, and then picked him up in the folds and went outside.
The last thing I saw of him he was running for the bushes.
I am so compassionate that I actually thought perhaps I should have released him out front which was the side he came in on. No, not this time.
Today about noon, there was a line of ants from the trash area to the sink. We have not had ants in a long while. Now we do.
There is no way out of having ants here. We can slow them. I use Johnson natural insecticide. Ground up marigolds or something. And, I brought out the ant traps again. They work too.
OK. So then later this afternoon, I was peeing, sitdown and heard gurgles. Twice. Three times. I thought maybe my stomach growling.
No. I got up to flush and there was a baby lizard in the toilet water.
Too much. I have tried to capture lizards before. They break their own tails, the wiggle, they are impossible.
I like lizards, I really do, so I gave him a fighting chance. I flushed the toilet three times.
They are amphibious and I am sure that there are many lizards in the sewer lines. If not, there is one now.
I feel a little guilty but not too much. On average, I saved a life, spared some lives, the ants I need to visit the ant traps, and did an chancy thing with a lizard. I don't feel too guilty, well, a little. I will get over it.
Here is what came up from Google images when I typed in lizard and mouse.
Labels: wildlife
DROPPING
My blood pressure is dropping (see below). Today about 15 points. I guess it isn't supposed to go all at once. I will not take two of the pills instead of one a day.
I might even wait until I see my own doctor on Tuesday morning before I draw any conclusions.
I feel fine. A little tired from the surgery as I did the last time. But nothing worrisome. And you know I am a worrier.
Labels: cataract surgery, health
ROAD TRIP
Today's film was Fatih Akin's fine early film
I am seeing this because I already loved his Soul Kitchen and wanted to see the earlier films.
This is a wonderful, happy and upsetting oddysey across Eastern Europe by a romantic and sometimes hapless german math teacher in pursuit of the love of his life although, at times, we are not sure who that might be, nor he.
Things happen, wildly and quietly. These are sometimes scary and often whimsical.
Does he make it to Istanbul? Does he find his love?
That is the whole point of the picture as well as all the stuff that happens along the way.
The Times review also points out that this is a sort of postcard for a part of the world that we never see, both the countries and the undersides of them.
I would happily see it again. There are a lot of lols and also some get-up-out-of-the-chair-and-walk-around-moments. 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Friday, August 03, 2012
GOOD NEWS
So you don't get upset when I start with my going to Urgent Care (the new one just up the street) for very high blood pressure.
I mentioned that I left the surgery on my eye with high blood pressure and and then over the days it increased so that today, on the new machine I bought off Amazon, I was measured to be in dangerous territory.
So I quit being my own doctor and went to see a real one who was really great. This new facility just around the corner from us is state of the art.
It seems that I have had some kidney disfunction. We knew this but were not alarmed. Swollen ankles. Like that. But the surgeries, the stress and the addition of daily prednisone steroid drops flipped a switch and the body cried uncle. Very good long answers and a prescription which will work for me until I see my own Dr. Jim on Tuesday morning. A diuretic that will make me pee more out and take off the pressure.
Dr. Jim uses the urgent care as his emergency room.
I am OK. I am getting better. I am monitoring my blood pressure daily with my new machine and I am enjoying the process. Once I knew what was going on.
Don't worry.
A small price to pay for the great vision I am having. If I could only show you the sparkly frozen food cabinets in the super market. Or the layers, actual three d layers of the clouds. And mountains.
And so on.
Labels: cataract surgery, health
Thursday, August 02, 2012
LIFE STORY
Today's film was Steven Soderburg's documentary of Spalding Gray made from Spalding Gray's own autobiographical sketches for which he became famous. It is a NYT Critics' Choice.
And Everything is Going Fine (2010)
We say Gray perform a couple of times. It was some show.
Gray had a long career inventing his particular art and was quite successful.
He had a colorful young life and then just built upon that with his career in the theater and then doing readings, films and books of his own life.
There are no talking heads hear. Just Spalding Gray.
The film does not note that Gray walked into the water and disappeared. The body was found later.
This fact puts a peculiar slant to the film which is quite good. Inventive. It is all in the editing.
I would not want to see it again but I did like it. That makes it a 3 out of Netflix5. I did not like the "making of" which I bailed from. It began to feel like a little too morbid. But that is me.
No doubt he was a great guy and when he pulled his on plug he had been through some horrendous recovery from an auto accident. And so on. He left three kids who he had later in life. I have trouble with that.
Labels: films
EYE TOO
The report on the second eye is the same as for the first one.
Success.
20/20 vision. No pain. A lot of gain.
The operation was a little different in that, at first, I could feel her operating. Not painful. Just a bit anxiety producing.
Anyway in this morning's followup, all was well and that is the end of it. I go back for another checkup in two weeks.
I am very pleased.
A "oh boy" moment came last night when I walked into the kitchen and saw my gladwrapped salads sparkling. I guess sparkle doesn't go well through glasses.
The big thing is that, for perhaps the first, time as glasses don't promote it much, I am seeing three dimensionally. I can see the shapes of the mountains!
Very good.
There is a lot more but I don't want to go on and on boringly. I will save it for my book.
Labels: cataract surgery
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
I WONDERED ABOUT THIS
He didn't forget Poland, but he skipped Afghanistan
Romney. Who wants to be our world leader. The Commander in Chief.
The trip to show us what he was made of.
Of course the whole thing was a fantasy production in the first place.
And it was an utter FAIL.
I have seen it posited that he went to burnish his Olympic credentials. The only part of his career so far that he is willing to talk about.
Well, we know how that all turned out.
Where is he with the war? What about the troops? What is his policy?
Jesus.
What I liked about McCain, the last time, is that he had balls. He had ideas. He took positions. He had a record that at least he was proud of.
This guy is, well, let's stop here. A disaster.
I googled images of "romney with troops". There are virtually no images available.
HALFWAY THERE
So I went in at 630A, had my second eye surgery and left the building at 830A, came home and ate all my postponed food, took a nap and removed the bandage.
I was told that it all went well. But of course I wanted to SEE for myself.
At 230 PM it is still a bit blurry (they put in a lot of ointment) but it is pretty "clear" that the blur is passing and the view is getting sharper. I am guessing that it is the same sharp vision as the first one--eventually. It also seems to be more recovered at this time than the first one was.
There is a side issue. I had a high blood pressure and they didn't much like it. So I have called my Doc as instructed and told him what the numbers were.
If he wants to see me, I will go.
I tend to think that it was situational but then I am one to always put a rosy (?) tint to the picture.
I wish the report was more dramatic but this is the best I could do.
I am rather pleased and look forward to seeing it all by later this afternoon.
I go tomorrow at 810A for a look by Dr. Ho.
Labels: cataract surgery
JUST IN TIME
I am leaving for my 630AM date to have my second cataract operation.
Look at this!
Improved Vision After Cataract Surgery Lowers Risk of Broken Hips, Study Finds
In this morning's NYT!
The study adds to findings from earlier papers indicating that the benefits of cataract surgery, a relatively safe outpatient procedure with a high success rate, may significantly enhance the quality of life for the elderly, improving sleep, enabling them to be more engaged and mentally alert and curbing depression.Improving sleep?
OK. Although I sleep like a log.
We are about to leave. John and Booker will do their walk there and I expect to be out around 8AM.
If this is as good as the first one was/is then I will be very happy.
Labels: aging, cataract surgery
