Life in progress

Category Archives: Opinion


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JusJoJan 4/26 – Arms

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “arms,” was chosen by Cheryl. Check out her blog here!

Unless you really try, you rarely notice how good you’ve got it until something comes along to make things worse.

I’m thinking, at the moment (because I’m really trying) of how wonderful it is to have the use of both of my arms.

A few years back, I had a frozen shoulder. My right arm was essentially useless, because every time I moved it, it hurt like the dickens. Then it got better and my other shoulder went. I never really regained the full use of my left shoulder joint, but I’m grateful for what I have.

So this is just a reminder … to remember. Remember the last time something hurt (something that got better, that is) or even the last time your nose was stuffed up, and take a moment to move and to breathe.

And enjoy doing it.

This grateful post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Cheryl for the prompt!


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JusJoJan 2/26 – Magnify

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “magnify,” was the word choice from Barbara. Check out her blog here!

The bots are at it again, scraping this website and artificially boosting my visitor and view numbers in order to feed AI.

I used to get an emotional lift out of my increased stats on WordPress. They made me want to do more, work harder; they provided incentive to keep writing.

Now?

The bots, to me, magnify the effect AI is having on our humanity.

Why bother trying when there are machines that can surpass all our efforts? Write books in the blink of an eye, draw anything we can come up with on a whim without ever putting pen to paper?

We are important, damn it.

Our efforts are important, and so are our talents. The details we envision when we create CAN NOT BE INCLUDED when a simple prompt is typed into a machine.

We must never lose our appreciation for what we create. For what we imagine. For what our lifetimes of experience supply to our work and make it human.

This soapbox-elevated post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Barbara for the prompt!


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A small life

I don’t live a big life. My world is small.

Where once I used to travel to places like the Caribbean and Japan, my trips are reduced to the distance between my house and the grocery store, Alex’s day program, and the pharmacy. And occasionally out of town for appointments.

I don’t fly—I drive or if it’s close enough, walk.

So it’s no wonder that I live much of my life outside the confines of my office by exploring online.

And lately, the world online is nothing to write home about. Or if it is, the letter home is overshadowed with fear.

I know I said I’d try to stay away from talking about politics, and I really do try to avoid doom scrolling, but it’s all getting to the point where it affects me personally. And I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to hold out.

I don’t want to be consumed by the news. It’s not good for my health.

The question is becoming whether I want to bury my head in the sand and be surprised by whatever is going to change my life, or if it’s better to see it coming.

Stay tuned.

I’m still trying not to talk about it.


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JusJoJan25 the 13th – Embrace the chaos

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “embrace,” comes to us from Laura. Check out her blog here!

I’m trying. But it’s hard, I tell ya.

I mean, there’s always going to be chaos. Life is unpredictable, right? And no matter how determined we are to make our plans come to light, something is bound to throw its own brand of poopstorm into the mix.

So what is a girl to do?

Embrace the chaos.

Make friends with it, tell it to come on in and do its worst, because its going to come in whether it’s invited or not.

All the things that can go wrong, from the little stuff I’ve learned to deal with like WordPress absolutely refusing to change the title of a copied post unless I go out of it and come back in again (am I the only one?), or putting stress-related heartburn in my life almost every day for the last five years … I’ve got to try to go with the flow.

Because fighting it just isn’t helping.

This surrender-y post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Laura for the prompt!


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JusJoJan24 the 7th – But what’s your motivation?

Back to our regular prompts, this post is part of Just Jot it January, and our prompt of the day is courtesy of Dan. Check out his blog here!

As a writer of stories, I do my best to make my character’s motivations clear. Like, not only are they doing this or that thing, but it’s obvious why they’re doing it.

And to take a step beyond that, I do my best to make sure they’re not doing something just for the sake of doing it, especially when the action is dangerous or stupid.

Which is why I don’t watch a lot of horror movies.

Why does the girl who’s about to be killed really need to go into the room where the killer is? Curiosity? Don’t be stupid!

I get that it causes tension for the viewer, but ugh!

If it makes me scream at the screen, it’s obvious to me there’s no plausible motivation behind the action.

If the character is walking into a dangerous situation, for instance if there’s a killer at the door and she answers it because she’s sure it’s someone she’s expecting, that’s good motivation.

But “ooh, what’s that weird noise in this dark room when I don’t have a pet and I believe I’m alone in the house?”

RUN! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!

Because we all know curiosity kills more than the cat in a horror film.

This frustrated post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Dan for the prompt!


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#JusJoJan the 12th/23 – Important question of the day

Our prompt word of the day today is “donut.” Thank you so much, Liz Husebye Hartmann for your fun suggestion!

Okay, today for me is going to be a true jot.

Ready?

I have an important question:

Is a Bundt cake really just a huge donut?

Discuss.

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This jotty post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Liz Husebye Hartmann! Thanks again, Liz Husebye Hartmann, for your yummy prompt. Please be sure to check out Liz Husebye Hartmann’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/12/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-12th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#SoCS – If I knew the new thing

Oh hey! Look! It’s me writing a SoCS post!

Who could have guessed that would ever happen again?

Really, I’m just here to complain like an old lady.

About all the newfangled thingymajigs these days—why are there so many?

But no, really. Why can’t things stay the same? Sure, you say, you’ll get used to the way things are now.

But I knew the old way. I was familiar with it. And it wasn’t broke, so why fix it?

Like the new WordPress blocks. I don’t know about you, but I always choose the classic blocks.

I don’t like my paragraphs split up every time I want a new one, thank you very much!

*sigh* It takes so long to learn these new unnecessary things. I have plenty to learn of my own choosing, though! I don’t have time for your crap!

Get off my lawn!

This ranty-type post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2022/12/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-31-2022/


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An important article from The New York Times that may save your life

I read this article this morning. It contains a lot of valuable insight on what ER doctors are seeing in Covid-19 patients. But I thought it was missing a few important points that you might look for at home.

Here’s what I wrote on Facebook with the attached article:

 

Reading this article from The NY Times might save your life.

But …

It doesn’t tell you everything you should know.

At the end of the article, the author suggests buying a pulse oximeter (shown in the photo), but not everyone will be able to find one or afford one. As the mother of a cardiac patient who has had numerous pneumonias and RSV, I can tell you what I look for, and what triggers our trip to the ER where, 90% of the time his x-rays show that he needs to be admitted.

As the article states, Covid-19 patients tend to have low oxygen levels by the time the shortness of breath starts. Here are the ways you might be able to detect the otherwise invisible symptoms the article describes. Unless you have an underlying condition that lowers your oxygen levels every day of your life, these might help. Note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR A NURSE.

Blue lips, fingernail beds, and duskiness around the eyes: Are you healthy now? Look at yourself in the mirror. Check the colour of your lips and your face in general. Look at your fingernails. All the colour they should be (pink lips and fingernails if you’re Caucasian)? This is your baseline. If your oxygen levels drop, some or all of these will change. Your skin may take on a dull, shadowy tone, like dusk as the sun goes down. It does not mean panic and run to the hospital! But if it persists and you have other known symptoms of a cold, you might want to call your doctor or health unit.

Indrawing (subcostal retractions): When we can’t get enough breath into our lungs, we breath faster and deeper. As the article suggests, people aren’t detecting that they’re doing it. Indrawing is when the belly pulls in beneath the rib cage. It’s easier to detect in children, so keep an eye on your kids, too. Again, if there are any other symptoms and if it persists, especially when at rest, contact your doctor or health unit.

Tracheal tug (suprasternal retractions): Much like indrawing, this happens when we’re not getting enough air into our lungs. It affects the area just above the collar bone. As WebMD describes it, it’s “When the skin in the middle of your neck sucks in” when you breathe. My son, being a heart patient, has this all the time when he exercises. I only worry about it when: he’s not stuffed up with allergies; he’s not exercising in any capacity; AND when he’s his normal energetic self.

If any of the above are present combined with unusual fatigue or signs of a cold, I contact a doctor. I believe these are things we should all look for, after reading the article.

Again: I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR A NURSE. I’m just a mom who has nineteen and a half years of experience watching my son for signs of pneumonia every time he’s sick.

I’m only sharing these symptoms that I look for in my son because COMBINED WITH OTHER SYMPTOMS, and according to the attached article, they may help you detect Covid-19 IF YOU CAN’T GET YOUR HANDS ON A PULSE OXIMETER. If you can, rely on that.

Note also that this is not an exhaustive list of what to look for, but it might help you to detect what your body isn’t readily telling you.

Here’s the link to the article again.


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#SoCS – Wired for sound

I don’t know if it’s old-fashioned thinking or if there’s anything to it any more, but I’ve always been a great believer in physical connection where sound is concerned.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, it won’t surprise you that I love vinyl records. Computer-generated sound can’t compare to the literal depth of a needle riding the grooves of a vinyl disc.

But what about wires as opposed to wireless? Surely the connection, without physical contact, can be interfered with. Having said that, if speaker wires are frayed or dusty or missing, that can cause as much of a problem as any imagined interference in the airwaves.

I lament the day in the future when my old-fashioned stereo breaks and can’t be fixed. Not that I use it these days as much as I wish I could.

Yet, to get back to the wireless thing, I’m sitting here on my wireless internet connection with my wireless house phone (landline) sitting beside me and my wireless cell phone in my pocket. And none of those interfere with one another.

I’m probably just old-fashioned.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This wireless post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link to find the other posts in the comment section and see how you can join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/03/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-14-2020/


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#SoCS – The Grand Scheme

In the grand scheme of things, I’m not that bad off.

When you think about suffering, there are many degrees. There’s having your house burn down around you (that’s really suffering), and then there’s sitting in your living room and being hot but the fan is aaall the way over on the other side of the room (that’s also suffering, but to the 1/1,000,000th degree).

Do I feel empathy for both of those people? Sure. In about the same degrees in which they’re suffering.

I try not to complain about my personal challenges because I have it relatively good.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel sympathy for those who have it even easier than I do.

Because a struggle is a struggle. And you never know where someone else’s breaking point lies.

Right now I’m in my own living room, drinking a beer, the dog sleeping beside me. I finished work for the day at 1am, and I feel good about what I accomplished, even though I didn’t complete what I set out to for the day.

I’m grateful for all the well wishes for my MRI–I should get the results this week coming.

For now, my eyesight is good. And there’s no rain in the forecast–the barometer is holding steady, which is likely why I can see.

Now, it’s almost 2am, and I still have writing of my own to do.

With that, I’m signing off.

The water level is going back down.

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other prepositional posts and join in. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/08/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-24-19/

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/