Nearly April

But I'm calm - because I decided to follow some advice I found online…

I’m brewed up and ready to go!

The fun begins tomorrow - see you then!

Sooo Excited!

These guys are coming to town...

          and I HAVE MY TICKET!

After battling income taxes for a week, I think I deserve a treat.

(You know, for ALL the senses... *whoa baby*)

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take my silk brocade to the dry cleaners.

(And my fan...)

A Perfect Storm

I wanted something a little different for today, so I went down a Spock rabbit hole on Google…

and landed here:

Spock Socks

(from www.thesockspot.com)

Well, those are certainly different!

Snorting, I followed the link… 

and discovered a back view that is even more ridiculous than the front:

I was so distracted by the absolute absurdity of these beauties that I almost missed the comment displayed in the customer survey field.

Why Did You Buy These Socks?

“as a gift for a 62 year old Trekkie who just had a tumor removed from his brain”

...

... ...

... ... ...

I think I’m going to just stop right here.

Theme Reveal Dance Party!

Yes, I’m mad enough that I’ll be doing the April A to Z Challenge again this year.

(Did somebody say, “masochist”?)

I thought of a theme that I figured would be fun to play with, got all excited by it, and then ran smack into a brick wall trying to describe it.

I told SP it was going to be an A-Z Bucket List - and he practically spat at me. 

He hates the term bucket list, says that to his mind, bucket lists make a persons life too goal-driven, that they keep us focused on the future and not appreciating the blessings in our lives. And, well, I may not fully subscribe to that viewpoint, but I definitely see his point.

So I thought some more.

I got briefly excited when my mind lit on “desiderata” - things desired, right?

But in many listed definitions, the word “essential” can be found. Which adds an overtone of need to your desires, and leads right back to that point that SP was making.

Okay then, how about, “wish list”? That’s softer and less driven… except there are also a number of items on the list that are nothing but pure, unadulterated fantasy. (Unless I were to “W - Win the lottery’ - which is itself a fantasy… ooh! a nested “if”!) Meaning they are not really feasible wishes. Nor is the term strictly accurate, because a couple of the wishes are better described as Aspirations.

*sigh*

It’s just not easy, is it?

However, there IS a theme, and I really do need to call it something…

So, coming soon, to a blog near you…  Jz’s Perfect World - From A to Z

And while we’re talking about that perfect world… how about a weekly dance party with these guys?

(The first time I saw men hula dancing when I was a kid, I giggled.

"Giggling" is no longer the approriate word for my response.)

The Monday Grumble

Dear Meme Creators,

I have a bone to pick with you. 

I honestly appreciate your creative efforts, but please, I beg you... 

  if you’re tempted to use a big word, first make sure you’ve got it right.

Check the word, check the spelling.

          You undermine your own wit when you don’t.

Not to mention all the work you make for the Photoshop-less rest of us, who want to share your joke but cannot bring ourselves to promulgate sloppy writing. 

It’s a pain in the backside to convert this:                        to this:

Nor is this the first correction I've had to make.

Vocabulary ... Spelling

They matter.

So please get with the program, people.

Thank you.

*puts soapbox away*

Change of Shirts

Dang It!

National Pancake Day and I missed it!

I sure hope someone was able to pick up my slack…

Thanks, dude.

The Weekly Earworm

You're Welcome!

:-D

WRW Goes Under The Knife

Today on What’cha Readin’ Wednesday we look at, 

“Under the Knife : A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations” by Arnold van der Laar.

I slightly misunderstood the jacket blurb for this book:

From the story of the desperate man from seventeenth-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room.

What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery? 

With stories spanning the dark centuries of bloodletting and amputations without anaesthetic through today's sterile, high-tech operating rooms, Under the Knife is both a rich cultural history, and a modern anatomy class for us all.

I know, you’re wondering how I could have gotten confused by that, aren’t you? But I had somehow put the subtitle and that description together and come up with, “Herein you will find 28 stories of amazing historical operations that altered the course of surgery.” 

(And, really, when the first chapter opens with the story of Jan de Doot, a Dutch blacksmith who is said to have cut a stone the size of a hen’s egg out of his own bladder, I’m not sure I can completely fault myself, either.)

But I realized as quickly as the second chapter (Asphyxia, which explains why President Kennedy needed a tracheotomy after being shot in the head) that I’d gotten the wrong end of the stick. In actuality, this interesting book is more an explanation of 28 fairly common ailments or injuries and how the surgical treatments for each condition have evolved over time. Indeed, I learned more about circulatory challenges and the intricacies of blood pressure from the chapter on shock than I have from any pamphlet my doctor has ever given me. The historical anecdotes are there to illustrate the impact of each condition, not as some sort of surgical Believe It Or Not!. 

The book is informative, well-written, well-translated, and fascinating. Each chapter stands alone and is generally somewhere between 10-15 pages, making this the perfect book for when you can only squeeze in your reading a little at a time. 

If you’re intrigued by the workings of the human body, I urge you to give it a try!

Wheee!

I had to wait all the way until March, but finally… 

Me!
It touched ME!!

Spock Prepares For Mardi Gras

I think he’s nailed it - what do you say?

Friday Night Fan Club?

I have been reading “Dreaming Spies” by Laurie R. King, in which Holmes and Russell go to Japan during the early 1920’s. The book has immersed me in a soothing world of verdant rice fields and tranquil wooded spas (as well as ninjas and intrigue!), so I was inspired to find a traditional Japanese dance to share with you tonight. 

Unhappily, most of the traditional dances that I found on youtube did not have the graceful, lyrical feel that I was looking for. Many had beautiful, fluid dancers, but filmed on home-use devices that produced unbalanced audio - creating a somewhat strident tone that completely overwhelmed the serene beauty of the performance. I found a lot of superb modern fusion dances, and a wonderful Awa dance being performed in a street parade, but nothing in the mood I wanted. I was beginning to despair. 

And then I came across this little gem and peace returned to my heart.

(As I hope it will to yours.)

Also, I know it’s early, but today marks Day One of Question and Answer March, where readers ask the questions and bloggers provide the answers. So...