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The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I cannot go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree, but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
--Theodore Roethke
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Joy's Updates - Straight from the Horse's Mouth.
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Saturday, January 29, 2005
Pop Down
These pop-up ads are driving me crazy!! There must be a way to banish them. The thing on here that's supposed to suppress them isn't doing its job. It keeps a count of the number it blocks just to make me think it could be worse. I will not buy things from those places that pop up no matter how much I might like them. That means it could be a good idea for me to take time to notice where they are from before I delete them, I suppose.
Breathing
I'm feeling much better! The cough and sniffles linger - germ warfare, possibly. I have my moments of being a conspiracy theorist, so I have to make paranoid statements from time to time. Anyway, back to health issues. I can breathe. My lungs work. It's a miracle! Perhaps oxygen is getting to my brain now! I do have more energy and am in a better mood. Yay!!
10:49:00 AM
Quiz
Many thanks to all the regulars and new participants who answered the trivia quiz. Keep up the good work! It makes it more interesting and fun, and I appreciate your doing it.
from the Pop Culture Edition of Trivial Pursuit ...
1. MOVIE - Who played the title role in the 1996 version of the Jane Austen novel Emma? [Aha! The TP people spelled it Austin ... I've had to edit them before, and we've found mistakes ourselves .... remember Cymbric? I think that was the word.]
2. TV - What rampaging celebrity monster did Leonard Maltin, Sidney Poitier, and the Cure's Robert Smith defeat on South Park?
3. MUSIC - Who wrote the Monkees' "I'm a Believer"?
4. SPORTS & GAMES - What arcade game did George Costanza try to rescue from a pizza parlor? [did I ever tell you about one of my horrible and shuddery blind dates, Don the Baptist, who looked sort of like George and was more of a nutcase?]
5. BUZZ - What L.A. improv comedy troupe had Conan O'Brien, Phil Hartman, and Lisa Kudrow as members?
6. FAD - What foul-mouthed teen became the Candie's shoe model in 2002?
from the "Know-It-All" Edition ...
7. PEOPLE & PLACES - Who was the now-famous inhabitant of 263 Princengracht, Amsterdam? [I've seen it from a boat ... I like those canal cities]
8. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT - What disorder did Jack Nicholson's character suffer from in the movie As Good As It Gets?
9. HISTORY - What two Middle-eastern countries are separated by the "Good Fence"? [apparently they've read Robert Frost's "Mending Wall"]
10. SCIENCE & NATURE - What bacteria responsible for food poisoning in humans may be found living on the skin of iguanas? [let this be a lesson to you, kids ... keep the iguanas away from your food and wash your hands after playing with iguanas and never put your fingers in your mouths .... we did as children and look at us!]
11. SPORTS & LEISURE - What colorful St. Louis Browns manager once used 3'7" Eddie Gaedel as a pinch-hitter? [how did he do?]
12. WILD CARD - What was the first country outside the U.S. to sell Ben & Jerry's ice cream? [my idea of a menage a trois - me with Ben & Jerry]
How esoteric some of these are - as usual! Have fun!
10:17:00 AM
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Puffing
If it's not one thing, it's another! I have bronchitis-induced asthma. The bronchitis was bad enough and now this lingering cough that the inhalers haven't cleared up yet. Inhalers really help, though. At first they caused my lungs to work and feel better than they have in a long time. I keep entering new worlds of health woe and malady. I'd rather not. It sort of feels as if I'm doing something illegal getting out the inhaler and spacer and then assembling them before I huff and puff.
I have a suggestion. How about if we just feel really good all our lives until we keel over dead sometime. Maybe we could have a kind of warning in order to prepare for it and then poof! We're gone. I'd prefer that.
6:43:00 PM
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Johnny Carson
The sad news of Johnny Carson's death came as a shock. I've missed him since he retired from The Tonight Show and remember the many entertaining hours spent watching him and discussing his shows and jokes with others. Thanks and we'll miss you, Mr. Carson.
I like this that Roger Ebert wrote about him. I have to admit that I'm getting tired of seeing Bette Midler's singing "One for the Road." It was touching when she sang it on his last show and a couple of times after that; however, now they are running it into the ground. Just had to mention that.
9:48:00 PM
Saturday, January 22, 2005
My Son the Sweetie
At the risk of sounding self-serving, I just want to say how much I appreciate what Brian wrote about me online. Aww, how sweet! Thank you, Brian, for the kind words. You're pretty neat yourself.
2:40:00 PM
Words
Some of these we can start using as soon as possible. I especially like bozone, foreploy, sarchasm, glibido, ignoranus, and decafalon. Any words you can alter we might enjoy? This could be fun.
The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners -
Intaxication - Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation - Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
Bozone - The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
Foreploy - Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
Cashtration - The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
Giraffiti - Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm - The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Inoculatte - To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Hipatitis - Terminal coolness.
Osteopornosis - A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
Karmageddon - It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
Decafalon - The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
Glibido - All talk and no action.
Dopeler Effect - The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Arachnoleptic Fit - The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
Beelzebug - Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
Caterpallor - The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature...
Ignoranus - A person who's both stupid and an asshole
1:47:00 PM
Friday, January 21, 2005
Quiz
Let's have more participants in these quizzes. It makes it more fun. Go on and try the ones you know, guess at others, and be funny whenever possible. Most try not to look at the other responses until they answer theirs and then comment on them sometimes. Have fun and entertain me.
from the Pop Culture Edition of Trivial Pursuit ...
1. MOVIE - Who played the cuckholded husband in Indecent Proposal? [something about him I just don't like for some reason]
2. TV - Who, when collecting her Emmy, yelled, "This is for all the fat girls!"
3. MUSIC - What band headlined the 1992 edition of Lollapalooza? [who might know this one?]
4. SPORTS & GAMES - Whose son did J.T. Snow rescue from the field in Game 5 of the 2002 World Series? [if anyone other than Michael knows this one, I'll be surprised. My niece Amy and nephew Andy would as well some others who don't answer the quizzes]
5. BUZZ - What hit Fabio in the face while he rode a rollercoaster in Virginia?
6. FAD - Who is Strawberry Shortcake's evil nemesis? [find a young girl and ask her]
from the "Know-It-All" Edition ...
7. PEOPLE & PLACES - What nation relies upon the Irawaddy River as its chief economic lifeline? [hint: I panicked]
8. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT - What is the name of the pig in the children's novel Charlotte's Web?
9. HISTORY - What words were required on all gold and silver U.S. coins after 1908 according to an act of Congress?
10. SCIENCE & NATURE - What kind of fish is a sockeye?
11. SPORTS & LEISURE - What collectible card game won the first patent for a "Trading Card Game System"? [never heard of this]
12. WILD CARD - What masculine, white-clothed product character wore an earring long before it became fasionable? [masculine - that eliminates Poppin Fresh]
11:34:00 PM
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Observations and Whining (Whinging)
I've been wondering about these people who still have their Christmas decorations up and shining. At last I noticed some of them have been removed and unplugged. I suppose after all that work of putting them up before Thanksgiving, they wanted to be sure everyone had the full experience. I more than did. Enough is too much of some of that.
Since I know this is my last year to teach, I'm deveolping a bad attitude. In the military it's called a short-timer's attitude. Apart from being obnoxious about how it is the last time I ever have to help with homecoming, fill out forms for the magazine drive, do too much with the writing assessment, worry about scores, grade final exams, and teach (most of the time I keep it to myself but have mentioned it enough to be obnoxious - it doesn't take too often), I feel a nonchalance I didn't expect. But then it might be the drugs.
I spent most of the 3-day weekend in the bed or on the couch coughing so much that my sides, back, and lungs hurt. I guess it's bronchitis. It's miserable whatever it is. Have any of you had it?
Earthquakes, floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, avalanches, mudslides, the tsunami - is the earth trying to get rid of us? Maybe it wants to start over.
6:02:00 PM
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Quiz
from the Pop Culture Edition of Trivial Pursuit ...
1. MOVIE - What author wrote the novels which Jackie Brown, Out of Sight and Get Shorty were based upon?
2. TV - What role does Zorak play on Space Ghost's talk show? (huh?)
3. MUSIC - What group had the No. 1 album on Jan. 1, 2001?
4. SPORTS & GAMES - What kind of sports equipment is a "Big Bertha"?
5. BUZZ - What radio host lost a battle to prevent nude photographs of herself from being released? (heh heh)
6. FAD - What three words made Clara Peller famous?
from the "Know-It-All" Edition ...
7. PEOPLE & PLACES - What young, talented singer-songwriter was responsible for composing Frank Sinatra's hit "My Way"?
8. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT - What English father begat twins Hamnet and Judith in 1585?
9. HISTORY - What South American country is named for the nineteenth-century Venezuelan revolutionary who fought for independence from Spain?
10. SCIENCE & NATURE - What food product was first dyed red in the 1930's to distinguish it from similar products in vending machines?
11. SPORTS & LEISURE - What is the name of the indoor tennis game similar to racquetball, in which players may hit the ball off the wall?
12. WILD CARD - What Native American group gave us names such as Manasquan, New Jersey, and Kennebunk, Maine?
1:49:00 PM
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Great News!
We got the results from the biopsy of the polyp, and there are no signs of any malignancy! Major relief! This is how I thought it might be and am so glad. Mother is going home today and was told to keep eating what she has as long as she can tolerate it. That's what I told her I'd do and am glad the doctor said it since she follows what they say. I just thought since she's 84 and hasn't had any problems from the diverticulosis by now that she could eat what she wants to. If there's a problem with anything, don't eat it again. Makes sense to me. However, I might not be a good role model about a lot of this.
I might spend the night or at least stay until her bedtime tonight and maybe tomorrow night. We'll see when I go by after school.
1:07:00 PM
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Mother
Mother is doing really well. She started eating real food today and has been walking around. We don't know much since Dr. Wiser hasn't been to see her today. It's possible she might go home tomorrow, but we haven't heard yet.
I'm pretty tired and relieved.
7:44:00 PM
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Hospital
Butch and I spent most of the weekend at the hospital with Mother. Emily was with her (and us) quite a while Saturday. Mother's doing really well. She got to have liquids today (broth, juice, jello) and got unhooked from the pumpy leg things and catheter but not the IV. We had her up walking around some and sitting in the chair a while. All in all, things are going well. We'll know more tomorrow.
10:03:00 PM
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Mother
Mother got the tube out of her nose this morning and has been able to walk around a little since they also took off those pumpy things on her legs to help with circulation. She can still have only ice chips and might get some liquids tomorrow. What an ordeal she's going through! Thanks for all the good thoughts, prayers, and wishes. We all appreciate it.
No quiz this week.
1:03:00 PM
Friday, January 07, 2005
First Week of the New Year
It's been an adjustment getting back into school. New classes, schedule, and students take a while to get used to. The main thing that's happened this week involves Mother. She had a colonoscopy in November which necessitated a couple of other procedures to determine the nature of an irregularity. She went to Horizon Wednesday for another colonoscopy to remove a polyp; however, they couldn't get to it and kept her overnight for surgery the next day. She had the surgery yesterday afternoon and will probably stay in the hospital for five days to a week, depending on how she does. She's feeling pretty rough now but is doing well.
Mother still can't have anything to eat or drink, not even liquids - just ice chips. She hasn't had anything to eat since Monday and won't for a while. That makes sense because part of her colon was removed. Janelle stayed with her last night, and we took turns today. I taught and went by this evening and just got home while ago. She's still groggy and sore, of course, but alert and sharp mentally. Amazing for 84 however you look at it.
11:10:00 PM
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Happy New Year!
Hope all of you have a wonderful 2005!
2:15:00 PM
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