Two days ago, I had four medical appointments at Swedish Hospital, the location of my Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in Seattle last November. It was beyond strange to return after two months of no visits, and I found myself fighting…
A new day
The progression of Parkinson’s is similar to the concept of “boiling a frog”: life’s natural coping mechanism—time—tends to mask the true weight of the illness from the afflicted. Now imagine if the emotional distortion of time did not exist; what…
Not Today: a 4.5 minute video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PBlzRR7ySg
When life moves fast
I was introduced to the concept of “Pretenders” and “Contenders” in 1985 by Master Gunnery Sergeant Bearup, United States Marine Corps, while attending Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) in Pensacola, Florida. He had been assigned to AOCS as the Chief…
Happiness: on considering self
Some dates and annual events are particularly well suited to marking the passage of time and the accompanying growth or decay of the human spirit. There was a time when I was so anxious to believe in my self-worth that…
A bump in the road
Dawn’s patiently eager specter, Schemes sickly in brightening day, Cruel with well-honed diversion, Silently awaiting its prey, Decomposed jabs of distraction, Blunt needles plunge slowly and deep, Masking a stranger’s true nature, A shadow’s faint outline of sleep, A fluttering…
Memorial Day. Memory: apart from time and distance
I try not to dwell on things; whether good, bad, or indifferent. Focusing on one aspect of life for too long tends to warp perspective and turns what was likely a good and positive reason for considering a matter into…
Saying goodbye to Ron Akeson – my final lesson
Death is the great unknown, a fact that if viewed objectively by anyone who enjoys adventure would seem to be a final-days positive, a climax of exploration to cap life’s end with a curious optimism, if not actual excitement. But—as…
A damn fine day…
Today was interesting, initially in a bad way, but I managed to turn it around and pushed the PD flat on its back (for a time…). The last two nights I have experienced extraordinarily deep sleep (for me), deep enough…
So I lied a little…
The military was supposed to teach me never to “put myself on report,” not to admit to an error: if an act were truly an egregious offense, you would be caught. Otherwise, getting away with something was fair game. More…