Feb
09
I should apologize ahead of time for this review. I am in a snit, a tizzy, a bit of a funk and maybe even a little jealous. It’s all because I watched The Tree Of Life as the final missing link in my Oscars viewing. That’s two hours and nineteen minutes of my life that are gone for good, evaporated.
Feb
04
Me, Bill and Magi
Peculiar things, casinos. They’re smelly, loud and their inhabitants wear expressions drained of joy, hope and probably money. Everything you do is furtively watched as you slurk around with a dirty-ass plastic cup filled with an ever-decreasing jangle of quarters. I’ve always felt somewhat guilty going into one. Maybe that’s just my personality makeup. I feel guilty for all sorts of things; drinking a late-night beer in the tub; not always dropping a coin in a collection kettle; saying the word “ass” earlier in the paragraph.
Jan
04
If you happened to be glancing up at the sky in Westland yesterday and noticed a suspicious helicopter buzzing around in circles, don’t worry. It wasn’t a cop chopper searching for nefarious evil-doers. It was just a goofy photographer and a very lost pilot, using their iPhones, GPS and the Metro Airport tower trying to find their way.
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Herman Cain dropped out of the presidential race and blamed the media for hurting his wife and family. You would think the four or more women accusing him of sexual misconduct would have had something to do with it. Read More
Nov
09
Haven’t we learned over the years that insurance companies know best? Why, just today I received a phone call from my doctor saying Blue Cross wasn’t allowing me to take a drug she prescribed. I’m glad that a faceless person in a call center somewhere denied me my medicine. Obviously they have access to all the most advanced medical technology in the world and can judge, far better than my doctor, what’s best for me.
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Oct
19
There are no mountains.
That’s the first thing I notice around here at The Mountain Workshops, the absence of mountains.
Hills, sure. Ridges, you bet. One could even argue there are crags, escarpments or even bluffs. But mountain may be pushing it a bit. Not that I’m one to talk. Coming from the decidedly flat suburbs of Detroit, our biggest “mountains” are converted garbage dumps that developers covered with dirt and ski lifts then waited for snow.
But the term Mountain Workshops adds a sense of majesty, purple and above fruited plains. That sort of thing.
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Sep
18
I wasn’t in the mood, a few weeks ago, to show a movie on the side of our house. I’ve done so a few times in the past, born from a crazy notion that bored into my brain while mowing our lawn. The last time we did the “drive-in” movie was moments before I found out about my cancer. We were also shut down by the authorities, the buzzing mosquitoes which dive-bombed our ears and any exposed skin they could find.
But my daughters kept pushing me to “do the house movie thing,” so I agreed and told them to invite their friends. Read More
Sep
13
Imagine being in a room where everyone has had the same shared experience. Some had it decades ago, a few had it less than a year ago like you. Now imagine a whole conference — a symposium if you will — where room after room of people spoke your language, knew what you’ve gone through and showed you, simply by being there, that normal life continues on.
That’s exactly what the past four days presented me with. Celebrating a Second Chance at Life sponsored by bmtinfonet.org threw so much positive energy my way, I didn’t even notice I was sleep deprived and running on Atlanta’s fuel, Coca-Cola. Meeting person after person who dealt with cancer then a bone marrow transplant was one of the best experiences I’ve had over the past year.
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