Month: June 2012

Posted on

Sometimes you can’t just “Walk it off”

For the past couple of months I’ve been having problems with my sinuses. I was annoyed and thought that I’d had 3 minor colds over the past four months.

IMG 0581

Like most guys I ignored it. I’d apparently get over the cold and be good for a few weeks then have a new minor cold again. These bouts were irritating and I was thinking “Wow, getting old is a stone bitch.” I’d begun to wonder if a cold a month was what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life.

Then about 2 weeks ago I developed yet another cold. This one however was different. I was coughing and hacking, my throat was swollen, I was sleeping sitting up and my sinuses were completely shut. If you’d held a hand over my mouth I’d have suffocated.

I was thinking, “OK, the previous colds have just run me down, now this one and all the pollen in the air has just combined to form a perfect storm”. Well After a week of getting a little better during the day then not sleeping at night… then a particularly rough night of coughing and hacking (I could get maybe one or two breaths between coughing bouts) I finally called my Doctor.

I described the symptoms including nose bleeds and colors of sinus discharges (who knew greenish yellow was bad?). The receptionist relayed the information to the Doc and he phoned in RXs to my local pharmacy.

After two and a half days on the meds I’m feeling pretty darn good. Most of all I’m sleeping… a lot! Tuesday & Wednesday escaped me. I happily napped and slept deeply both days and nights.

I really ought to pay more attention… My first clue that I was really sick should have been that I hadn’t been interested in sex for over a week. That’s sex of any kind… alone, with someone, naughty videos, nothing. I think the new rule is going to be if I’m not interested in sex… Call the Doctor stat!

I’m actually happy that the pollen and everything else brought this to a head. I’m planning some Summer trips and feeling crappy while you’re supposed to be enjoying yourself is never fun.

One friend described me as the Black Knight from Monty Pythons Holy Grail “It’s just a flesh wound“.

I’m antsy now. There are so many things that need to be done in the yard. The grass / weeds combination is out of control. I’m itching to get the weed whacker and go to town. There are a lot of little projects that I wanted to be done with already.

I suspect that’s how I’ve had a low grade infection for months on end… I’d start to feel better and then overdo it. So I’m going to relax… rest, watch TV maybe even a naughty film or two and wait for my body to finish the repairs.

There’s time enough to do the projects and those that don’t get done… well maybe they just didn’t need doing.

Posted on

Paraprosdokian Of the Week

A Friend sent me a list of these. I thought it would be fun to share them

Paraprosdokians are phrases or sentences that lead us down the garden path to an unexpected ending.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on my list.

Posted on

Farewell Ray Bradbury

As I read the notice about Ray Bradbury’s death I couldn’t help but reflect on the impact his stories had on me growing up.

Mars atmosphere

The Martian Chronicles first acquainted me with the fact that “Alien” was truly a matter of perspective. I’ve wondered how often earthly conflicts might have been avoided if more people had read The Martian Chronicles

Several of his short stories have stuck with me throughout my life. Of those, There Will Come Soft Rains and The Veldt  are my favorites.

I appreciated his writing style. When It came to book reports in school, Bradbury & Verne were my go to authors. I suspect that I would not be the person I am without their tales. I developed a joy in reading because of them. That joy lead me to Clarke, Heinlein, Vonnegut, Herbert, & Michener.

By the 3rd or 4th grade I had confidence in my reading ability and was fearless in any library because of an early acquaintance with Mr Bradburys’ writing.

Not so much because of information contained in Bradburys writing, but because I COULD READ his stories without stumbling too often on the words.

Bradbury painted such vivid word pictures I could see the plains of Mars, or the silhouettes  of a family playing burned forever into a wall.

It’s not just the entertaining stories writers such as I’ve mentioned give us, it’s collateral effects such as joy in reading, new ways of looking at the world & ourselves, and sparking the imagination of a ten year old on a Summer day.

There will be many people writing many words about Mr. Bradbury. I doubt none will be truer than these;

Thank you sir, for a lifetime of joy, inspiration,  and new ideas.