A Saturday Well Spent!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Marching in Sactown - It Was Epic!

I'm not very political.  I vote (mostly because I complain a lot), but I usually refrain from taking a position on anything.  I gave my "gravitas" (Silent/stern-but always moving) to this cause. I felt compelled to participate in the gun law reform march at The Capitol (Sacramento) partly because kids and school employees should not worry about getting shot. Ever!  Gun violence is a little like brain cancer - deadly and unpredictable.  Unlike cancer, guns in schools is a completely man-made disaster, entirely preventable.  Nobody should suffer for getting an education.  Teachers suffer more than most, molding young minds is a noble endeavor that probably doesn't pay much. School is hard enough as it is.  Those plucky kids in Florida saw what I saw - Death - and the ones who survived told us what they saw, what to do.  

A neurologist (brain doctor) called last week with my MRI results: I learned on Friday that I'm still a "medical miracle" - whoopi - the MRI came back clear - big deal - I could have told you that, I know that much.  What I'm still "processing" (a thing?  Like "air quotes"?) is that having annual MRIs is  permanent.  I'll always be looking for cancer's return (I can't speak, I can't wear heels, I'm a Weeble, (but I fall down, a lot), but I'm a cancer-free Weeble!).  Moving on...

Remaining among the living is a necessity.  Higher learning, neuroplasticity, memory function are all pretty useless if you're dead.  Guns in schools are not conducive to anything but death.  I've given money and school supplies to teachers - I do NOT expect (or want) an instructor to "be packing heat".

The "March" was meaningful on several levels:  Lots of citizens, clever signage, and many, many, natty pets!  There was chanting!   There was chatting!  It was Democracy-In-Action!  I had been waiting to object to Trump's stupid wall, then Parkland happened.  I rolled, (was pushed) with a boisterous-but-happy crowd to the state capitol where the signs were funnier, the chanting was louder and there were speeches!  It was awesome!

I met some kids who are close to voting age, they see their journey ahead and they are determined to change the rules.  It works!

The Best Things Are Green!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

GOT Wyldefyre - Glowing and Green - Beautiful

On New Year's Day, 2000, a family of amazing women gave me a beautiful piece of blue-green art glass It's a multcolored flask, stunning.  This flask is a calliope of color naturally, but it holds a secret:  In the sun it glows green from the inside..  I've always appreciated art glass but living post brain surgery has given my appreciation new depth.  Colors are more vivid, artistry is more obvious.  I can look at a flower, a piece of tile, a rock and see new facets, textile patterns and see infinite, beauty.   I have 0 patience for pointless tragedies, sorrow sewn through sheer stupidity.

I'm speaking, of course, about the idiots losing (killing?) beloved pets on United Airlines.  I can't walk.  I can't speak.  Who thinks I'm in any mood  to view horrific stories of a family having their adorable French Bulldog stuffed for three hours in an overhead bin where it died?  United Airlines must think we all want profound sadness!  Well, they're wrong!  Nobody wants to see a dead puppy!  Ever!   What's their slogan? "Dead Pets Fly Free"? I'm not in the mood for sadness, pain.  United created that cruelty.  Innocent travelers paying money to jerks who lose/abuse their cherished pets. Yet, I carefully followed that sad tale. Who didn't?  Heartbreaking. Turns out United is pretty good - at losing/killing pets.  I followed another tragic-sounding (happy ending) journey: an older, sick, German Shepherd who was mistakenly flown to Japan!  Kids were involved in all these situations.  Sobbing, grieving, Kids!  Children!  This is horrible and completely airline-made.  One time might be explained away as an accidental event - an anomaly, but the PS tells me there's a third "United Four Legged Tragedy".  He says I don't want to know the outcome.  OK, he's right, I don't want to know..  What I do know is  that more than one tragedy is a pattern!

"Fly the friendly skies" my ass, boycott these puppy killers!  Mistaking a Great Dane for a German Shepherd?  Nobody should be subjected to this level of incompetence.  Flying is bad enough.  I'm forever sentenced to the middle seat, I can't be bothered with heartbroken families, There is no shortage of airlines that want your business.  United will always be the airline of neglected/misdirected/dead pets!  Enough!  None of us should have to concern ourselves with the life or death of a pet!  Don't use United!  They never have the cheapest flight anywhere so it shouldn't be hard.  Puppies are dying!  Children are crying!  United's answer?  A very unsatisfactory "we apologize".    Uh, yeah.  Not nearly adequate.  We already know they mishandle humans.  They are rarely the most inexpensive or only carrier so why does anyone use them?  Dogs are dying people!  I haven't checked on cats yet, I'm afraid to.

There is no shortage of tragedy and sorrow.  Suffering is everywhere.  Colors, nature and mysterious glass are what I surround myself with, study,absorb.  My PS is playing "The Rover", Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

MRIs Revisited - Still Difficult But Illuminating

The New "Denali" Bed - (I joke, but there is a mini weather system at the top)  It's fabulous!  Requires A Pole Vault And Carabiners! It's Got Two Cedar Drawers!  I Love It!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

I'm still trying to climb up to the "Summit of Sleep" every night.  The bed has two, cedar-lined drawers so I'm determined to figure out a way to traverse it!

But figure out a way, I will!  The two dovetailed, drawers at the foot of the bed are large, easily accessible and hold everything.  So if my sprawling onto the top following a desperate leap utilizing all my strength and agility is required, I'm all in!  So what if after a death-defying jump (and very ungainly sprawl landing - no grace whatsoever) I reach the top?  Reaching the top is all that matters!  It's similar to boarding a boat, getting aboard is all that counts.  I took a page from a prison cell on "Game of Thrones" - no doors because a fall would be death.  I stay away from the edges of Denali.  A fall would be disastrous.

Dangerous?  Probably.  But it's a calculated risk -  It removes any impulse to nap or oversleep  Ascending to the summit requires precision and strength - and practice.  Repeated practice.  This bed is more than a piece of furniture to me, it's part of my lifestyle now.  Those two cedar drawers are integral to our method for streamlined living.

One challenge I thought I was done with after five years was the Magnetic Resonance Imager or MRI.  I recently changed insurance providers and was told I needed a new MRI, and would need a new one for the next three years!

Naturally my first response was "No, I don't think so.  Five years are enough, I'm done."  However, the PS has a totally different take on brain tumor vigilance and MRIs- knowing sooner is always better.  I have barely tolerated this annual foray into hell thinking I'd be finished at some point (I'm extremely claustrophobic, and an MRI is like being in a coffin) but now I at least have a reason for annually subjecting myself to the longest, scariest, 20 minutes imaginable!  Previously, I had believed a brain scan would be nothing but a reaffirmation that there was no cancer, I'm still a medical anomaly, and who cares?  Moving on...

The PS suggested in the unlikely event that cancer reappeared, if it was identified early enough I might be able to fight with non-surgical treatments.  That got me thinking: I can't tolerate more brain surgery but I could survive chemotherapy.  I probably would live after radiation.  So as horrific as MRIs remain, they do serve a purpose, so I'll "embrace the suck" and endure the belching,  cacophonous crypt-like machine - for the rest of my life (or until they invent something better).