Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Stuf
A bunch of unrelated observations as I continue my long climb out of the happy abyss of painkillers:
1. The surgeon said I could start driving today, now that it's been 48 hours since I took my last pain pill. All well and good, but at $4.24 per gallon of gas? Huh? Going for a drive just to feel the breeze in one's hair is a non-starter these days. And I'm not sure I could squeeze myself into the thrifty Civic, though I'd have no problem with the thirsty Odyssey. Good thing I won't be flying the Cessna until late August at the earliest; aviation gas costs more than $5 a gallon most places (and it's $7.57 at O'Hare!).
2. Geovany Soto is my current culture hero. The chunky Cubs catcher's inside-the-park home run the other night against Houston thrilled slow-footed gimps like me everywhere. It is said that it took Soto only 15 seconds to circle the bases but 20 minutes to catch his breath. What a guy!
3. A certain newspaper political writer wrote this morning that Barack Obama has problems reaching the "white middle class," judging from the Kentucky primary. Appalachia is white middle class? Maybe she really means the lowest rungs of that class: the bitter, uneducated and ignorant who find racial hate easier to hang on to than to grasp meaningful change in their lives. It was folks like these that James Carville had in mind when he not so cynically observed that politically Pennsylvania was "Ohio on the west, New York on the east, and Alabama in the middle."
4. The best book I read during my downtime was Jane Gardam's 2004 novel Old Filth, a brilliant and often hilarious character study of a British barrister during the waning days of Empire. (It was part of a postsurgical CARE package brought over by my neighbors Bruce and Barbara.)
5. God help me, I want to see the new Indiana Jones movie!
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my stuf.
ReplyDeleteAs you recover, Bob is recovering from his third knee surgery. (Same knee) Someone goofed. Was it the local butcher disguised as an orthopedic surgeon, or was it he or I who somehow introduced evil germs into his wound? Any way our house has been redecorated with wheelchairs (transportation to the local cinema to see see the new Indy movie), walkers and several styles of crutches and canes. The invalid transportation industry has all kinds of accoutrements for your chair or walker including baskets, bells and bangles. We have opted for a simple cloth bag to hang from the walker.
Should I feel guilty as an old feminist who supports Obama and not Hillary?
Some of our family is starting letterboxing. As this was described to me, I kept thinking ,"Where have I read about this?" Anyway, this weekend we are going on our first letterboxing adventure.
This white middle class, female, protestant, geriatric, overweight,(but beautiful,) right handed, college educated, retired, Iowan with a nodule on her thyroid gland is for Obama.
Heal well and rapidly.
k.
Getting old ain't for sissies, is it?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the oil industry has nothing to fear from me. I had a mild setback yesterday (pulled muscle) and had to go back on painkillers, so will not be driving just yet. Par for the course, the surgeon assures me.
Come on, come on, tell us about your surgery and recovery -- every last detail. We want to know. What's the point of blogging if you're not open and honest about everything in your life?
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