July 27, 2001
"Be More Careful"
BAD chair...
. . . ANYWAY, the darling baby is opening her eyes a lot more now, and has a strong grip.
But, I've digressed again. I was talking about Laura and her 'owies'. We were in the midst of happy baby conversation, when all of a sudden Laura and her chair toppled over, causing Laura to hit her head on the nearby low endtable.
Cynthia was afraid Laura had 'blacked out', but Laura insists that didn't happen. I blame her chair, however. Okay, it isn't ALL the chair's fault. Laura has a bad habit of leaning backwards in that chair. This makes the whole package of chair and large Laura very unstable. She's been leaning back quite far, and just the slightest move to her right would have been enough to send the unstable package over.
Anyway, over she went, and we were all there with our mouths agape for a second or two. I helped her and the chair upright again, and she sat in it again, with the same dangerous backward lean. Cynthia was going on about blacking out, and I kept saying ''Look at the tilt of that seat! It's not stable!'' Wisely, she moved the chair to the kitchen and took a more stable white chair that won't let her push backwards. That other chair probably would have been okay, if Laura were able to resist sitting in it as it was not designed. But she isn't, and so a change of chairs is wise.
This isn't the first time Laura has fallen. Our chinese coffee table took a hit a couple of weeks ago. Laura's side, however, looked worse. She worries she's losing her 'sense of place' as she's getting older. I'm not sure that's it, but Laura definitely has to learn to be more careful. We worry about her. Depending on how Laura's head contacted with that TABLE yesterday, it COULD have been fatal. As it was, she had a huge lump of swelling behind her ear, and her neck was sore. Today, the swelling has gone down considerbly, but she's still sore.
This makes THREE falls since the bad one in February. Laura must really be more careful.
She's lucky she doesn't have osteoporosis. Our friend Serena has osteoporosis, and her recovery from a fall off a chair back in January has been slow. Her doctor said she can now start cautiously putting some weight on her leg. Serena said in a recent email:
|
''I keep visualizing that x-ray - that middle part has healed some, but my
god! It is still very weak - the only thing holding my leg together is
the hip joint, the metal plate and the density of the thigh bone close
to the knee. You can't see it in those x-rays, but the bone is darker in the pictures than it is in the upper parts. It is scary just how little IS holding this leg together. I know I have to continue to be cautious, just hope for the sake of my recovery I am not being overly cautious.''
|
She's been housebound since January. Hopefully, now that she is allowed to put weight on her leg, she'll be able to get out a little. Laura's son James and her nephew George are going to build a ramp so Serena and the walker can go outside more easily.
Laura's third fall (and my recent denting of the fence) should be a reminder to us all to be more careful. Watch yourselves on ladders, in tight passageways, and especially behind the wheel of a car!
July 30, 2001
"Sunny Or Not"
Oh, how I wish I had another of those delicious 'Tazoberry' slushie fruity tea drinks from Starbucks, like I had earlier today. It would help to cool me.
But the music is cool.
Rain, it did, last night. Poured in buckets. Some of the areas here were flooded in for a while. The last song on the radio before I exited the car to go home after a l o n g work shift, someone didn't show and I had to stay for 13.8 hours . . .
. . . anyway the last song I heard will forever be associated with that rainy night. ''It's a rainy night in Georgia, and it's raining all over the world . . .''
It might just as well have been raining all over the world. Now the blue skies have lots of grayish, but still large and puffy clouds. And the air is humid.
But the music is cool.
Laura found items to fuel her re-awakened interest in cartooning. She isn't drawn to playing Everquest, as she's been. That world was a necessary escape for a while, especially after the death of Shayna, but now the game is getting monotous. Happy she is, to have time for other things. Indeed, she is lot happier these days.
And that is good.
Time for natural evolution of things, it is.
And that is good.
On the way home from our outing, we laughed over the silly things our current President has said, as collected in a book called George W. Bushisms, edited by Jacob Weisberg. I read the items out loud to Laura, while she drove.
Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President
Maybe We Haven't . . .
''They misunderestimated me''
* * *
Even worse at math than I . . .
''It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.''
* * *
What happened to New Mexico and Arizona . . ?
''I was raised in the West, the West of Texas. It's pretty close to California, in more ways than Washington, DC is close to California.''
* * *
Yup . . .
''I think we agree, the past is over.''
|
Yes, the past is over, and the future awaits. We await the days, sunny or not, that lay before us.
July 31, 2001
"Code Red"
Code Red is also the name of a nasty computer virus going around. ''The malevolent program is expected to launch a powerful attack on the Internet starting at 5 p.m. Tucson time today, '' the Arizona Daily Star online warns us. That's almost five hours away. Will these pages show up with the words ''Welcome to http://www.worm.com! Hacked by Chinese!'', as those pages did that were hit with the first incarnation of this virus? I checked the Dreamhost main page, and on the 18th, they did enact some special security measures, so hopefully we are safe. At any rate, I'm sure they've made thorough back-ups of everything, should such a disaster occur. I shouldn't have to upload nearly 2000 files all over again.
The internet is such a vulnerable place. The ultimate designed destination for this virus is the White House Web site. Whatever would THAT do? I'm sure all the top security stuff is securely hidden away, and not stored at the site designed for PUBLIC use.
At any rate, the whole world is in suspense, wondering what will happen.
August 1, 2001
"Take The Time"
|
(Oh there'll come a day of finality,
So, there you are
Stop, breathe,
|
August 3, 2001
"Up To Our Necks In It"
I nearly got all the necessary tasks done at work, just before six am, I did. There remained only the 'fronting' of the shelves. 'Fronting' is placing all the items to the front of the shelves in neat rows, so the product is more readily visable to the customer, and it looks like the shelves are completely full. I started with the big, fat two liter bottles of pop. The clear green Sprite bottles were at top left, so I began there. I was rushing, so I was hurrying them into place. Maybe I hurried too much. ''Crra-a-shhhh! Pssssssssst!'' The first bottle on the left went tumbling. Two liters of liquid makes quite a spray when it hits the floor. I mopped it up as best I could, but no doubt, once the floor dried, there would be traces of a tell-tale stickiness. And you know these things happen especially when some upper division dude comes to make his inspection, you know.
You know, because similar things have happened to you, have they not? Oh, yes, we are up to our necks in it. Laura called the septic tank man today to have our system reamed. Too often, there's been an unpleasant sewer smell coming from the bathroom.
The man informs me, original estimate may not be final price. The thing's really quite flooded. It may not be all full of, you know, nasties that go down the toilet drain. It seems the constant slow dripping of our toilet has been enough to flood it. It apparently doesn't matter what KIND of substance is causing the back log. It still costs to drain it.
So I listen to the hum of his machine as he goes about draining. Each second of hum means that much more dollars of expense.
Oh, yes, and we WILL have to call a plumber. The old toilet needs overhauled. Wait, this whole mobile home is only twenty years old! Back in parts of the country more eastern-ward, where one hundred year old homes are the norm, the toilets seemed in better shape. But my Dad was a plumber, so we may not have noticed his quiet and regular repairs. Also, this house, no doubt, was installed with the cheapest of fixtures, and that's what we've got.
He pointed out the two guilty items. He advised, that if the toilet can't be fixed, we should turn the water off.
Turn the water OFF?
Aiiiiiii-i-i-i-i-i-i-i!
August 7, 2001 - A
"Problems We Don't Have"
Now, that's one problem I don't have. I'm not starving. Oh, yes, I eat whatever I want to. Peanut M & M's are a particular weakness. Oh, and I should admit to the frequent Snicker's ice cream bar or Klondike ice cream cake, and the freshest of donuts, right after the 'donut lady' brings them. Well, you work in a store that sells FOOD, and it's got to be understandable that some of your income is gonna right back to that store, albeit with that 10% discount. It's surprising I haven't gained more weight than I have.
No, starvation is NOT one of our problems here. We now have a working toilet and septic tank. Three hundred and seventy four dollars later, for the pumping, and replaced toilet parts, labor courtesy of Laura's plumber nephew Georgie, we are now functional. Oh yes, and we also have a fixed back passenger side tire that had been low.
So we have all these delightful things fixed. The dishwasher is churning its way through a load of dishes I just put in it. I may even get a load in the washer later. We're just plugging right along here.
AND I'm at the start of a two day weekend. Two days in a ROW!! Leaving work last night, I felt like doing the 'Snoopy Dance'. If by chance you've been marooned on a desert island these past thirty years, Snoopy is the loveable dog in the Peanuts cartoon. He's got quite a personality, and the ability to express JOY most eloquently.
My Snoopy rendition . . .
(look Ma, no stolen copyrighted images!
So, the 'weekend' awaits, and I feel like dancing. That's good.
August 7, 2001 - B
"If You Pay Attention"
That I found an intriguing CD, Battlefield Band's 'Happy Daze', is probably predictable. That I bought it anyway is also probably predictable. After that extravagance, I went about in search of interesting art books. I sat down at a large walnut wooden table with a pretty book of Japanese architectural motifs and savored the unique oriental beauty therein.
Across the other side of the table, a father and child sat. I was careful not to stare at the brown haired and lightly bearded father, with his blond haired boy. But I could hear them, as I pretended to only have interest in the book before me. The father was teaching his young son how to use scissors. He was so gentle and patient, I could not help but be impressed. He told him how someone taught him how to use scissors when he was young. ''Who did?'' the son asked. ''My first teacher, Miss Berry, showed me just like I'm showing you.'' With that, he showed him how to hold the scissors, careful to not push right-handed use. ''Small cuts,'' he advised. ''Small and slow. If you take too big a cut, you won't be able to stay on the line. You'll do fine if you pay attention.'' How true that is with most everything in life.
By the time Laura found me, the son had already begun to achieve some success with cutting on those printed lines.
August 8, 2001
"When I'm Out On A Ramble"
And shall this be another meaningless ramble? Enough of those insipid platitudes which only state the obvious. Boring as hell, that. No, we don't want THAT. We can do better. We WILL do better. The intensity of my desire is only matched by the intensity of my . . .
Well, the intensity of my desire SHOULD be matched by the intensity of some real action. It is not enough to just THINK about something, however good at thinking I may be.
And I do like to think. Well, it occupies nearly all of my waking hours, and in sleep, the dreams take over, and that has its own thought process.
Oh, but I'm boring you to death, aren't I? But maybe I'm so self-absorbed, I don't care. But maybe I'm NOT boring you. You haven't ALL rushed to click on some destination elsewhere, by now, have you? ''Eh, Joan's AT IT AGAIN. Sigh. Where's the meaty stuff of her day to day life? Where's some good observations of her surroundings? Not this dribble AGAIN!''
Sorry, this dribble AGAIN. Pardon this horrible self indulgence. But I'm 'at it again'. Stick around if you dare. It might not be so bad.
Joan's on a ramble again. Says whatever silly thing comes into her head. Oh my, what fun we've been having watching movies. Well, not movies, per se, Japanese anime is more like it. Laura, Julia and I are all caught up in the Mysterious Play of Fushigo Yugi. What an emotional ride it is of the 'Priestess of Suzaku', an ordinary girl from the present who falls into this adventure from the 'past', and the 'Suzaku Seven', the seven warriors destined to protect her! We've seen all the tapes from the first set, except the last two! Anton loaned us his set, as he's collected it so far. Now we are all left in mystery, waiting until those two tapes arrive.
One review of it said ''The show is a consistant winner among unmarried girls (as was shown by the fansub), and several large shrines have been dedicated to just about all of the male characters . . .'' I figured the target audience was women, as the emotional interactions between the characters are given more importance than just 'kick-ass' fighting. Being a 'girl', I eat this stuff up. And, yes, the male characters are all SO PRETTY. One of them, Nuriko, is even transsexual in nature. And, as you can imagine, that does add to the piquant appeal for me.
So, there we are left waiting. Miaka and Yui, the two high school girls from the present, have just been transported back to the present times. But it looks like Miaka's beloved Tamahome has followed her there, too. And have others of the Suzaku Seven? Oh, but we must WAIT until those tapes can be acquired. Sigh . . .
. . . and I am all panting, like a silly school-girl! But, hey, it's fun!
Cover of one tape, featuring the whole Suzaku team
The beautiful Nuriko, along with Miaka