Life in progress


by 36 Comments

JusJoJan 19 – All That Warm Technology

In the warmth of my living room, watching through the window as the snow flakes drift into fifties-style wannabe hairdos and watching my son play Wii Fit in his underwear, I realize how good I actually have it. Modern conveniences have given us such luxury. I mean, what if I was sitting, on a rock, in a cave right now (on my laptop of course, with full internet capabilities) worrying about whether or not I could scrounge up enough wood for the fire, wondering how far I’d have to walk because I’ve depleted the local fauna. I’d really be bitching to you over the web, wouldn’t I?

But no. I’m sitting in a warm living room, on a couch, with a kid giggling his head off every time his character jumps off the side of a floating platform to its flailing demise. Nothing bothers this kid of mine. He’ll play happily, as active as ever, while a machine pumps formula directly into his stomach as though this were the most natural thing in the world. I wonder if he’d still think so if we were sitting in a cave, watching the snow fall. Of course the machine would still be around. If I can have internet, he can have his feeding pump, right? And the manufactured formula that keeps him alive with all its non-yummy nutrients that don’t bother him in the slightest because he never tastes them.

All we’d be missing is the warmth. And the Wii.

Modern technology, I tell you. We could live without it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!


by 29 Comments

There Are Days

stroll

There are days when I wish I could just run away – escape even for an hour. To drink a cup of coffee without being interrupted, or to close my eyes and hear nothing but the snow falling.


by 25 Comments

JusJoJan 18 – Dodged a Bullet

It’s both a blessing and a curse having a child who enjoys going to the hospital. Obviously it’s nice not to have to fight with Alex every time he gets sick – he gets sick a lot. He enjoys the attention he gets there; he loves to charm nurses and doctors alike, and to him, it’s an adventure. The downside is, he’ll pretend to be sicker than he is and then beg me to take him to see a doctor. And what better way, at this time of year, to actually catch something nasty, than sitting for hours in an emergency waiting room?

Last night he almost managed to convince me that he’d aspirated food into his lungs again. He complained of pain in his chest, that he was feverish, (he wasn’t) and he was just plain miserable, the same as he was on Christmas Eve. I suspected he might have been exhibiting symptoms from the flu shot he received the day before yesterday, so I decided to call Telehealth Ontario, a service we have here so that we can talk to a nurse, so see if our symptoms are worth taking to the emergency room.

The nurse asked me all the protocol questions before she would talk to me about Alex – is he responsive, is he in pain etc etc. I answered as honestly as I could. Yes, he was complaining of chest pain, yes he was turning blue around his lips (I explained he always does whenever he’s upset – it’s due to his heart condition) but no, he doesn’t have a fever. Finally she asked me a question that was relevant. When did he last eat? It was three hours ago. She told me that if he’d aspirated, the symptoms of that would have shown up earlier.

So while I was relieved, she was telling me to call 911 and have an ambulance take him to the hospital because of his blueness and his chest pain.

Why didn’t I? It was the sparkle in his eye that told me all he really wanted to do was visit his beloved nurses. Today there’s not a thing wrong with him.


by 75 Comments

JusJoJan 17 – One Lovely Blog Award

one-lovely-blog-award2

I am so very very far behind in accepting the awards I have been nominated for. Busyness and laziness are my excuses, though not necessarily in that order.

I feel I must accept the ‘One Lovely Blog Award,’ however, without delay, as it was presented to me by the lovely Ursula at An Upturned Soul in a post dedicated to me alone, as she has decided to have a separate post for each of her nominees. Ursula is a talented, wonderfully expressive writer, a courageous Narcissist Slayer, and an amazing artist and photographer, not to mention a kind, and generous person. I urge everyone not only to check out and follow her blog, but to see all she has to offer on Tumblr, DeviantArt and Pinterest.

Thank you so much, Ursula, for this wonderful award. I am truly honoured.

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Nominate 15 bloggers.

4. Notify the nominees.

5. Put the logo of the award on your blog.

Seven things about myself that I may not have mentioned. Hmmm…

1. I love listening to music on vinyl. I have many of the albums I bought as a teenager, and a twenty-four year old turntable to play them on. The last album I bought before I started purchasing CD’s was “Love at First Bite” by the Scorpions. The first rock album I ever owned was “Frampton Comes Alive.”

2. I’m scared of Macs – I have owned five HP computers and a dread the day my Autistic son, Christopher, says to me that his MacBook is broken.

3. I have daddy longlegs living in my basement and I don’t kill them because they eat spiders – and I hate spiders more than daddy longlegs.

4. I love looking at the work of talented photographers almost as much as I love listening to a great guitar riff.

5. Speaking of great guitar riffs, Brian May is my hero.

6. I’m dying to go back to Japan. (I might have mentioned that at some point.)

7. Apart from going to Japan, my idea of an ideal vacation is sitting on a beach under a palm tree, reading a book.

Okay! That wasn’t all that difficult.

Now on to my nominees. Now THIS is going to be hard. There are so many lovely blogs out there!

In no particular order, here are the lovely blogs:

1. Sue at It Goes On

2. Pamela at Poetry by Pamela

3. Myas at Myas – A Tragic Lady But No TB

4. Belinda at Idiot Writing

5. Joey at Joeyfully Stated

6. Aussa at HACKER.NINJA.HOOKER.SPY

7. Cindy at Dreams In Alaska

8. Samokan at Maniniyot

9. Willow at Willowdot21

10. Paul at Paul Davis // My Creations, Life and Musings

11. Bruce at A Story A Day

12. Ian at ianstarttoday

13. Kevin at idiot.with.camera

14. Paolo M. at The Pirate Horizon (an adults only site)

15. Opinionated Man at A Good Blog is Hard To Find

Congratulations to all the nominees. I understand that some of you may not accept – more than anything I want to highlight your sites and encourage everyone to visit. These are some amazing blogs!!!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!


by 16 Comments

My Neighbourhood

I love old houses. Today while I was slogging away on my paper route (it’s the big one on Thursdays – flyer day) the sun came out, even though big flakes of snow were fluttering down. Unfortunately the snow didn’t show up well in the picture, but I did get a shot of one of the many 100+ year old houses I deliver to.

owl


by 33 Comments

JusJoJan 16 – Sometimes I Have the Strangest Conversations

Yesterday I had to take my son, Alex, to the doctor to get a note for school. It wasn’t for a high-risk field trip; it wasn’t because of some strange sort of disease the school needed to be assured he was free from – nothing like that.

I needed a note to say that he was allowed to eat. The first conversation on the phone with the doctor’s secretary went something like this:

Me: Hi. I need an appointment to get a doctor’s note.

Secretary: Okay, what is it for?

Me: Well, you see, the nurse at his school won’t let him eat until he has an all-clear from the doctor.

Secretary: Soooo, when was the last time he went to school?

Me: Today.

Secretary: How long has it been since the school didn’t allow him to eat.

Me: It’s been about a week.

Secretary: ….

Me: So can I get an appointment soon? Or…

Secretary: I don’t understand.

Me: Neither do I.

All of this, of course, came about because he aspirated (inhaled and had lodged in his right lung) a piece of food on Christmas Eve. For the most part he is tube fed, but the school wants to make sure it’s safe for him to eat before they’ll let him do so.

So today I went to the doctor. That conversation went as follows:

Doctor: Sooo… what do you want me to write?

Me: Just say he can eat. OH, and drink. I don’t want to have to bother you again in case they decide that’s against the rules as well.

Doctor: And he’s been fine when he eats at home, right?

Me: As fine as he’s ever been.

Doctor: Oookay.

(She starts typing.)

Me: I guess this isn’t something you write a note for every day, eh?

Doctor: Err, no.

Today, Alex went to school with the note in his backpack. After not being allowed to eat with the other kids for a week, he’s a happy camper.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!


by Leave a comment

JusJoJan : New Dictionary

My first re-blog for today’s prompt is from willowdot21! Some hilarious new definitions – come and have a look. 😀

willowdot21's avatarwillowdot21

NEW DICTIONARY

IN REPLY  TO LINDAGHILL’S PROMPT.

 

Jousting : Not long arrived

Royalty  : A posh drink

Saloon    : Female mad person

Hopeless  : Proper use of crutches

Ruthless   : Open air house

Corpulent  : Money lent to the deceased.

Delivery     : ” Home boys” uniform

Hybrid        : Tall Bread

Sofa             : Up til  now

Complain      : Plane arrives.

Common       : Hurry up!

 

Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky…

View original post 41 more words


by 12 Comments

JusJoJan 15 1/2 – Words

On this, the fifteen and a halfth day (yes, I made that up because I want there to be a middle) of Just Jot it January, I’d like to refresh things by getting as many people involved as possible – with a prompt!

My dear friend Myas, last week reminded me of a post that went up on The Community Storyboard – again, a prompt – where we were challenged to find new meanings for ten words. Here is Myas’ post: http://preziosofrye.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/jusjojan-11th-word-geekery/

It was so much fun for me that I’d like to see what you can come up with. Yes, YOU! Find ten words of your own and redefine them. Post them on your site and then link your post back here in the comments so we can all see them. As an added incentive, I will re-blog the first three people who link back their post.

The following was my contribution from last July:

1. Barrage – how old you are when you can legally drink
2. Brandy – comes after brand C
3. Mystical – a foggy giggle
4. Ineffability – the spontaneous and continuous use of the eff word
5. Donut – a person enamoured with the expletives of Homer Simpson
6. Aftermath – period of time when one must go to history class
7. Morbid – before the end of the auction
8. Philosophize – speculate about something hardening (tell me if you get it)
9. Summarily – …and some miserably
10. Distract – the opposite of dat tract

Get yours in early!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!


by 26 Comments

JusJoJan 14 – How Can I Kill Thee…?

The first thing that comes to mind is the Black Plague, though it was hardly the worst case of mass death in the world. Genghis Khan is reported here, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1350272/Genghis-Khan-killed-people-forests-grew-carbon-levels-dropped.html to have killed as many as 40 million people. Thousands die in any given year from natural disasters as well. But technology is working to change all that.

Science has come up with ways to keep people alive in the face of disease, improved warfare and methods of gaining information have been designed to ensure Hilter never happens again, and warning systems are being developed to alert people to get out of the way of impending doom due to tornadoes, tsunamis and the like. So how do we keep the population of the world down now?

Through the very same technology that claims it is trying to help us. Pharmaceutical companies provide us with life-saving drugs which only kill us in other ways, and pesticides to make our “quality of life” better in that we can enjoy our food more. Cell phones – the best way yet to receive information – are apparently giving us brain tumors. So what’s left? War, of course. Government-run, huge conglomeration-funded wars. And who wins in all of this?

The rich bastards whose gain comes from our hides.

Now watch this. It’s beautiful.

Nature happens, with or without us – but are we making it better with technology? Or are we simply allowing a certain few to stand upon a pedestal and dictate to us who we should be and how we should live our lives?

But, you say, there’s only so much we can do, isn’t there? Even if we overthrow our governments, more of the same will replace them. If we refuse to buy the products sold by the huge corporations, how do we live?

To know ourselves, to care for ourselves and each other is a good way to start. From our immediate families and outward, to our communities and our countries. We have to realize that everyone and everything on the planet is equal. We are all connected – the Earth is its own organism, just as each of our bodies are. Imagine how it would be if we were all self-aware. Not self-centered, not self-involved, but so aware of ourselves and how we affect those around us that we could do so for the sake of good.

If you haven’t watched the video by this point, go back and do it. It’s eleven minutes and eighteen seconds’ worth of footage everyone should hear.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!


by 34 Comments

Balance

DSC00089

Life is all about focus. Some of us focus mostly on how we feel within ourselves. If we are unwell, it’s the only thing on our minds, unless there is something more important going on outside our illness. When we are well, some of us focus on what is closest in our lives – our family and friends, our homes – and some of us set our focus to our jobs, the weather, and even what is happening in the world. We’re all different that way.

We focus on what makes us happy, and depending on our circumstances, what makes us sad.

In other words, we tend to focus on things that stir our feelings. But what if we could focus on contentment? Balance: that which makes us feel nothing at all. That fine line in which everything is perfect. Nothing is particularly wrong, or right. Everything just… is. The middle ground.

It takes practice, but it can be done.