"The People's Pope"? i Just Thought he was "Padre Jorge",I'll Admit It! I've Got Pope Fever!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

I was primed to tackle some weighty brain topic (This Week:  Brain Tumors and Junk Food Eating Bears - They Both Need to be Removed) and then this happened: You know what happened this week, unless you were living under a rock (even if you were living under some stone social media delivered the news) the Pope came to the US!  It doesn't matter what your religious affiliation is, the Holy Father has "star-quality" in spades!  Plus, he's just adorable. He has a great vibe and he rides around in a snappy, little Fiat!  I mean, did you see him?  Is he cute as a bug's ear or what?

He had a real message too; one for everyone in America.  I listened to all his speeches delivered in Spanish in the same soft voice (with a translator), and he repeated the same message: take care of each other and take care of our planet!

What struck me the most about the Pope?

He seems really happy!  He looks full of joy, like he has seen something wonderful and  will happily share it with the world!

Seeing anyone so joyous is very appealing, and everyone adores the Pope!

He could sell anything!  A Pope Diet?  The Pontiff's Secret to Healthy Living?

Last night he killed them in Madison Square Garden!

Today he's owning Philly!  CNN reporters are speechless!

I feel happy all the time!  I don't smile very often, but I laugh a lot and I'm always in a great frame of mind (Thank You, HA!).

I'll take humor and inspiration wherever I can find them!  And Pope Francis inspires me to drive harder and work longer towards neuroplasticity.

The Pope's "takeaway message?"  People are all that count.  Love is all that matters.  Nothing else comes close.

It's a universal message.  Christians and non-Christians alike respond to that message. How, who, or even if you worship ceases to matter. They instantly become non-issues.

Bill Maher was predictably dissing The Pope on HBO, but he just doesn't get it!  Francis is everything you want in a Pontiff and more (which sounds less like a Holy Father and more like a mid-size SUV!  My bad! But you get my drift).

He's an "old-school" Pontiff with an inclusive "new" message for everyone in the world!

Pope Francis is a beam of sunshine streaming through stained glass!

"Simplify, simplify..." Henry David Thoreau or "You don't see no hearses with no luggage racks!" Don Henley

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Pictures of Northern California fires burning out of control, remind me of just how little protection of any kind is actually there when something "big" happens.  There is nothing that can protect you from your fate, it's how you deal with your circumstances that define who you are, what you're made of.

Lately, bold haircuts (hair is dead, after all), minimal furnishings and even more minimal eating (meaning less actual food) have a great deal of appeal for me.

I want everything to be short, simple and plain.  Hair, food and floors.  Unadorned, natural.  The only colors I want are found in the sea and the sky (and possibly in the forest) or in a piece of glass when the sun is shining through it.

If you could get all necessary nutrition from a pellet, I would stock up on pellets!  I'll be very happy in a pellet driven universe!  Amazon can deliver the pellets to the door!

Nothing but glass and sand to live in, though.

And water everywhere!  Water to look at, water to drink, endless water!

Antiques (or more to the point; antique shops) make me claustrophobic!  I used to be able to describe what the stores were marking down and who was going out of business!

It's been four years since I've been in an antiques shop!

 I'm like Yosemite, I've been stripped down to my "granite" and this is what I have to work with.

Maybe I'm like Northern California since I had cancer (And Nor Cal had the;drought.)  I'm profoundly different and fundamentally changed.  I feel sharper, faster, happier, far more focused, far less complicated.


After cancer ripped through my brain (and I survived, Thanks, HA!) I have had only one goal, one objective, it makes almost everything else pale in comparison - and that goal is to walk by 10/2015.

That doesn't leave much time so I'll have to be extra prepared, extra ready for whatever dangers lie ahead!

PS - I was watching "Game of Thrones" (Season 5/HBO) and it gave me this great idea!  Instead of being a feeble "mute", I have taken a highly noble "vow of silence" for an indeterminate period of time!  Pretty cool, no?  I must be protesting something pretty important, right?  Wrong!  I just can't talk!  Ha-ha!   I just think taking a "VOS" has a little more mystique to it!

My Journey from Brain Cancer Has Put Me Here For A Reason! I Have No Clue What That Reason Might Be Either!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

I was going to complain about-marvel at the very dry status  (drought-stricken, more like drought-besieged!) of Yosemite but the PS is away and I couldn't figure out how to coordinate our devices ("A picture is worth 1000 words" usually isn't accurate but a picture of a dry Yosemite says it all!)

That will be next time.

This week, however, I'm all alone for what seems a really long time but is, in reality only a few days.  Like the Cheeto-Cheetah-Slingshot Master says, "This is where all your skill and training will be put to the test!"  (And then some kid launches a cheesy snack at some unsuspecting adult.)

Likewise, I am seeing this time alone as an opportunity to put everything I've learned (so far) into practice.  I won't be chucking any Frito/Lay products at anyone's tush  though.

I could ask for help, but I want to see what I can do!  So what fun would that be?  (Asking for help, that is)  No fun at all!  Fun doesn't really factor into my life these days (I'll be sure to have  some  when I have time to nap.  Like, when I'm dead! ) but measuring my athletic progress does weigh in, heavily.  The less I weigh, and the less assistance I need, the better for the Patient Spouse and his back.
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For those of you keeping score at home, I recently added an elliptical machine to my daily routine, so I can use that time at the gym to focus on something else.  My short term goal is just to be able to stand unassisted.  I know it's kind of ,lame (OK, I'll just say it, "It's really lame!"  There!  I said it!   Happy Pappy?) but it' all about keeping the bar set low, very low.

I'm more imbalanced than ever!  The great part?  I feel tremendous!  Physical pain?  Bring It!  Extreme Rehab?  Bring that too!  I'm ready!