Being sick

I have been feeling a little down for a while, but I ignored it.  Yesterday I felt that I was in imminent danger of dying.  All systems were shutting down.  I was coughing and sneezing, my head was stuffed up, I could not remember how to add, subtract, multiply of divide.  So either the grim reaper was coming for me or I had a galloping case of Alzheimer's.  To make matters worse, I was choking on a piece of raw cauliflower.  What an ignominious death that would be!  To choke to death on a humble vegetable!

The doctor did not agree that i was dying.  He thought I had a sinus infection, and prescribed some generic antibiotic.  After one day on this medicine, I feel better, although my mathematical skills are still shaky--but that might be because I am trying to do my income tax.

What a miracle!  What did doctors do for patients before antibiotics were discovered?

About Oscar Wilde,English history, and other harrowing events.

I saw the most marvelous film tonight--"Oscar Wilde," starring Robert Morley, who was perfect for the part.  Wilde's undoing was a libel lawsuit he instigated against his lover's father.  The film was 90 percent about the trial, and brilliantly done.  Of course, British actors are the best in the world.  Now I have to look up Wilde, Carson and the rest of the principal characters and see how true to history the film was.

The Marquess of Queensbury was represented in court by Ralph Richardson, who I finally figured out was playing Sir Edward Carson, a brilliant lawyer and, I believe, member of Parliament.  Carson, born in Ireland--as was Oscar Wilde--but of Scottish descent,was a firm Unionist,  and a real pain in the neck to the Irish Parliamentary Party. How I wished Mr Charm were still around to talk about the movie with.  He could tell me all about Sir Edward Carson.

Mr Charm took his PhD in English history.  His specialty was the late 19th century and early 20th century and he loved reading and talking about Sir Edward Carson, F E Smith and other brilliant lights of the period.  He really loved his studies.  He was the first person in his family to attend college and appreciated the opportunity to do so.  How I miss him!  We always watched the Olympics together.  They were not the same without him.  We always made presidential elections a special event, staying up till all hours to watch the results.  I don't find them very interesting without him.  Funny how that works.

Mayans and Muslims

The Mayans had some really neat art forms, civilization, yada yada.  Pyramids!  They also practiced human sacrifice, but hey, that was their culture and we mustn't be judgmental.   These wonderful folks are all dead.   The Spanish took care of them.  Does anyone wonder why the other mesoamerican tribes allied themselves with the Spanish invaders?  Perhaps they didn't want to be human sacrifices--just guessing, of course.

I would suggest that today's Islam operates under the same value system as the Mayans.  Their vengeful god demands human sacrifice, only in this case the humans in question are non-muslims.  Their god is the meanest in the Pantheon.  The Greek gods were pussycats compared to him.

We are wrong in considering Islam one of the Abrahamic faiths,   a religion of peace as our leaders keep repeating ad nauseam.  They are not like the Christians or the Jews, who consider all humans made in the image of God, all worth redeeming.  They are like the Mayans, a warrior religion which wants to rid the world of non-Muslims.   If we don't get tough with them, they will outnumber us soon.

   Being sick.

For the past year I have been under the star of some malignant force that has it in for me.  I got sick last year just about about Labor Day and spent several days in the infectious disease area of a local hospital and then 21 days in a nursing home.  I had a super-duper infection that required a special antibiotic and had to be administered by infusion into a port which they installed in my upper chest.

That was just the beginning.  After that I went to California where I suffered numerous urgent health problems, which I won't go into. And it's still not over.  The worst of it is the feeling of debilitation which leaves you helpless and angry.  It's difficult to snap back after a health crisis; your first impulse is just to turn your head to the wall.

The only thing that helps when you get that sick is physical therapy.  I felt immediately stronger after every session, and almost got back to my original state of health several times, but when I got sick again I went downhill fast.  Then I came back fast, though.

I am hoping that this Labor Day will see the end of this cycle of debility and despair.