Revive

Wow, time flies. I haven't touched this thing in ages. What's new?

1) Exercise. I know it's only been one month, but I'm sticking to my New Year's resolution of keeping more active :) I'm trying a weekly yoga class, although it's not going so well. It's way harder on my back than I had imagined. It's a beginner Iyengard yoga class, but it clips along at a pace faster than I can manage half the time. When the classes are over, I won't be signing up for the next session. I'm also jumping back on the elliptical trainer for a bit of cardio. The main drag about that is that it's located in my ugly basement, so there's nothing interesting to look at. I much prefer to be outside. I have been going on the occasional walk in Fish Creek Park, which is great, but I can't get my heart rate up without breaking into a jog. Jogging more than a block squishes my herniated disc too much. Even doing the elliptical two days in a row is bad for my back. I found this great video on YouTube by Alain Gonzalez. He demonstrated 4 easy exercises you can do at home to build up your deltoids. I'm going to do that. I just bought a new sleeveless dress, so I gotta shape up the arms! I also bought a Groupon recently for some sessions at a local dance studio. Me dancing? What a (disastrous) sight that would be. I'm a terrible dancer. They've also got fitness classes, so I hope to try the abs and buns one. I'll join when we get back from holidays.

2) Upcoming Holiday. This will be different from our usual escape to child-friendly all-inclusives. We are spending 8 days in Arizona and Nevada. We're flying into Phoenix and will be spending a few days in the Scottsdale area. We hope to see some museums, botanical gardens, Old Town Scottsdale, the Apache Trail and do some outlet shopping. Then we'll head up to Sedona and stop at all the sites along the way. The Grand Canyon will be our final Arizona destination before we drive to Las Vegas for a few days. We're not gamblers, but just want to take in the sites along the strip. We're staying at Treasure Island, and have tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere, one evening.

3) Writing. I've wanted to write a Fun Trivia* quiz on Jean-Michel Basquiat for a while now.  About a year ago I saw Tamra Davis's documentary, "Jean-Michel Basquiat:  The Radiant Child", and was absolutely fascinated.  I had heard of him many years ago because of his association with Andy Warhol, and was curious about him back then.  Then the movie about him came out, but I never did get around to seeing it for some reason.  Finally, this documentary fell into my lap and revitalized my curiosity.  I still needed to know more about him, however, so I searched hard for a biography.  On Amazon.com I found a used copy of Phoebe Hoban's "Basquiat:  A Quick Killing in Art".  It was packed with details about the art world and satisfied my interest in the man.  I had hastily deleted the film off my PVR though, and wished I hadn't. The film came on TV again recently so I recorded it again. After viewing it for a second time and taking some notes, I think I will now go ahead and write the quiz. I need to revisit the biography again first, as it's been about a year since I read it. Sometimes when my quiz writing has lain dormant, I get suddenly inspired to write one again. In most cases it's such a laborious process. I'm not a talented writer who can just whip something off quickly. I usually study the subject in depth first, unless I already know everything about the topic. Anyway, there is only one other quiz written about JMB on the entire site, so I think he deserves another contribution. Trying to think of appealing questions for an artist most people know nothing about will be challenging. I know writing this will feel like homework, but I feel like I absolutely have to do it. RIP JMB, you were truly a genius.


*Fun Trivia is an international trivia website, filled with games and quizzes.  I am a contributor to the database of quizzes on the site.

Light a Candle

Before and After:

 

Happy Birthday Jeff!  You must be jamming up in heaven.  Miss you much.

I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover

I've not had time to keep this blog updated, but I will soon.  I signed up to do some volunteering at my sons' school, and some fundraising for soccer.  I also bought a new car and get to pick it up in a couple of days.  I'm behind in my art classes and have some homework awaiting me.

Yesterday, my eldest son, Kai, had a pre-season soccer game outside against another team (he will be playing indoor soccer this winter).  After the game we were waiting around for a team meeting and my 5-year-old son, Kalen, decided to look through a patch of clover.  Lo and behold, he found, not only one but, TWO four-leaf clovers.  Maybe that was some kind of mutant patch, but I consider him quite lucky!  Kai found one when he was 6 years old and it's framed in his room.  Hope my boys will be lucky in life :)

7 Inches

Move over Neil Pasricha, I've got a few happy things to share...

Just Right. My pillow got too flat so I bought a new one, but it was too high and firm. I went back to using an old cervical memory foam pillow and I kinked my neck badly with it one night. Finally, I found a nice gel-fibre pillow. So far it’s great!

Smells Good! I found an old forgotten cologne sample I had gotten years ago and decided to try it out. I really loved the scent so I ended up buying a whole bottle. It’s my new favourite scent, and I’ve gotten a few compliments on it.

Great Find! I bought a silver filigree ring off E-bay for cheap. When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised at the quality -- seven grams of fine craftsmanship. I love it! It’s my new favourite ring.


Never Let Me Go. I loved that book by Kazuo Ishiguro. I just found out the other day that it was made into a movie this year! Yay! I can’t wait to see it. One of the central stars is Andrew Garfield, the British actor recently cast as the new Spiderman. Should be interesting.

Tea Time. Since my MIL fell and broke her hip I’ve been spending a lot of time with her. She lives alone and needs a lot of help during her recovery. She’s the sweetest lady, and I’m really enjoying our chats together.

Nasty Whole Grains. It took years but I discovered that I have some sort of sensitivity to whole grains - namely rye, barley, oats and whole wheat. I underwent a Celiac’s screening, but it came out negative. However, by eliminating those grains from my diet I feel so much better. No more mysterious bloating!

7 Inches. I had a huge belly laugh recently. A girl in my art class got a pixie cut and dyed her hair black. It looked really good on her so I told her so. Her reply was, “I’m trying to look like you.” Oh, I laughed so hard. Obviously, she was being facetious. She looks hot, but acts cool, a self-effacing cool. I told her I wanted to look like her -- if for anything, her height alone.  She’s about seven inches taller than me :)

Spewing Molten Rock

Lava looks so serene when it's in a lamp, but doesn't it look furious when it spews out of a volcano?  I feel like that volcano when I think about the Alberta health care system.  The wait times for publically funded surgeries in Alberta are well above the national average.  Earlier this year Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky and Alberta Health Services president Stephen Duckett made an announcement that they will inject $8 million into health services to increase the number of surgeries by ten percent over the year.

$8 million?  That seems pretty paltry to me.  It's unacceptable when people have to wait 6-9 months for a knee or hip replacement.  At one time it was a 5-year wait for cataract surgery.  What really makes me laugh is Duckett calling this latest effort a "blitz".  Oh come on!  It's a drop in a bucket!

I've been shafted for years in this floundering, inefficient quagmire of a health care system.  I'm all for a 2-tiered medical system.  If it shortens the surgery queue, why not?  If I can pay to not be in pain, why not?   Look at me.  I'm already out thousands of dollars trying to find some relief for my chronic back pain.  I would have gladly paid all that money from the start to someone privately who could help me.  But, here in Alberta, good help is hard to find.  Heck, I can't even find a spinal surgeon.  The average wait time for a general practitioner to find a specialist for a patient is supposedly 10 weeks.  10 weeks?  That's nothing!  I'll be waiting over a year for a referral to a spinal surgeon!  Those were words out of my GP's mouth, over a year!!!

I'm waiting for a nerve ablation procedure for my lower back.  The spinal care centre took years to decide that I should be tested to see if I would be a suitable candidate for the procedure.  When they finally decided, I had to wait 6 months for the testing.  When I got the results they told me I'd have to wait about 9 months for the procedure.  I thought that was lousy, but I accepted that.  And I waited in agony.  I kept it touch by calling and asking about the queue.  Shucks, the wait time grew to 12-15 months!  Incredible.  I was angry.

I finally decided to get to the heart of things.  Through various calls to the hospital I talked to someone who really knew what was going on.  Apparently I had my information all wrong from the start.  Ablation procedures take 18 months from when the hospital receives the patient's paperwork.  Oooh, not good at all.  But the kicker is this:  the radiologists who perform this procedure at the hospital come from the very same spinal care centre that I've been going to for years.  Uh, wait a sec.  The spinal care centre has been stringing me along and deceiving me into thinking that I will get the procedure done much sooner that could ever realistically happen.  Did they think that would pacify me?  No, I'm a volcano -- an angry, erupting volcano with a geyser of hot lava spraying everything in sight.

Most health officials would agree that to wait 6 months in agony is too long.  It's inhumane.  It's a putrefying pile of bullshit.  Well, how about waiting 3 times as long as that in agony.  How about waiting 18 months in horrific pain?  Spend a day in my shoes Ed Stelmach, and then tell me you'd wait 18 fucking months!

I paid $770 out of my own pocket for an MRI.  No doctor wanted to give me a requisition for one, mainly because the wait time for one was too long.  Yes, another one of those unbelievable stories.  What the MRI did tell me was that I have a tear in my L5/S1 disk and it's bulging on my left side.  That was just another tidbit of information that no one seemed to care about.  My physiotherapist, who calls the shots at the spinal care centre, basically told me to take drugs and don't do anything to aggravate it.  Well, every day things aggravate it, and I'm allergic to the two prescribed anti-inflammatories.  Why am I listening to a physiotherapist anyway?  Why don't they have real doctors running this clinic!?

Finally, today I bit the bullet.  I collected all the (incomplete) records I could obtain, and I sent them to a spinal specialist who works in a private clinic in Vancouver, British Columbia.  I'm seeking a consultation, a lovely $750 consultation and I want some answers.  I've stayed at this two-bit operation, they call a clinic, in Alberta for too long.  Why have I been going to a spinal care centre where a physiotherapist makes the decisions, and a part-time general practitioner oversees these decisions?  I'm not even in the care of a specialist to begin with.  I'm an idiot.  I've trusted the medical system for too long.  Now I'm going to pay my way out of this hellhole.  If this Dr. in Vancouver thinks he can help me, I'll be out thousands of dollars.  There is no cure, only temporary relief.  However, at this point I have no choice.  If I don't find help soon I will go mentally insane.

Live Long and Prosper Leonard

I finally got around to watching "Star Trek", the 2009 version with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.   Not always logical, but whew, what an action packed movie.  It brought back childhood memories from when I used to watch reruns of the original series on TV.  I still have a fondness for Spock :)

When I was a kid, Spock was, hands down, my favourite character on Star Trek.  He was smart, he was cool, he had that awesome Vulcan salute.  Also fascinating were his abilities to mind meld and render a victim unconscious with his Vulcan nerve pinch.   Most of all, he had those irresistibly shiny black bangs!  Talk about dream boat material for a seven-year old!  One of the most memorable episodes, I thought at the time, was when he fell in love!  I was always intrigued by his half Vulcan/half human persona.

Who better to portray Spock than Leonard Nimoy?  He was perfect for the role -- tall and lean with a deep voice that was calm yet compelling.  And he could sing too!  In the 1970s my brother and I used to watch the TV show "In Search Of...".  That was a show about the paranormal and unexplained and hosted by Leonard Nimoy.  It used to spook me a little, but at least Leonard was a small source of comfort.  It's probably not a coincidence either that as kids we had a pet goldfish named Leonard.

In April 2010, Leonard Nimoy actually came to visit the small town of Vulcan, Alberta, which is only about a two-hour drive away from where I live.  He was there to help the town celebrate its new status as "The Official Star Trek Capital of Canada".  Spock was also immortalized with a bronze bust and plaque of the Vulcan hand salute.  I kinda wish I had been there to see it.  Live long and prosper Leonard.

This is the Life

Butterflies and daffodils
Fresh baked pies on window sills
I watched a sparrow build a nest
Observed an ant fulfill its quest


I waded through a sparkling creek
Marvelled at a chipmunk’s squeak
I gazed at cloud shapes in the sky
Laughed at fledglings trying to fly


I sauntered through a valley pass
Swam in waves of meadow grass
I came upon the bluff’s sharp ledge
Then tripped and fell right off the edge