Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

 

    Yvette had talked to me about Cryotherapy several times. She persuaded friends of her to try it.  She said it’s worthwhile trying for my hip and now my foot. She said it also does wonders for your face. If I can be guaranteed it won’t shock me and cause a heart attack, I’m game. She told me that it had a dramatic effect on one friend’s mental state. This guy was crippled by his anxiety.  Not exactly, crippled. He maintained a job and is considered an excellent worker. He was just overwhelmed by anxiety by the simplest task. After doing a session, he was able to take on some chores that are annoying, if not downright frustrating, for most people without anxiety.  Wow!  I looked up the positive and negative effects of the procedure. There are no screaming warnings. I’m sure someone will have a negative side effect, especially if not properly administered. The positive results are also in question. Temporary relief from muscles damage or strain is possible, but not much else. Will this make a difference to the muscles surrounding my hip and running down my thighs and calves, affecting my ankle and foot? They have been damaged for years. Is there tissue in there left in there to revive?

  I called my friend Jean in Arizona. She is recovering from her knee surgery.  She was told there were no limits on her activity immediately after surgery. She got up the following day and went about her day. Two hours later, she experienced crippling pain and sat there weeping.  Her doctor told her they had administered a local block without telling her. The pain set in when the block wore off. Oh, boy.  She was doing better this morning. She’s on the mend.

   I was supposed to have one session with 3rd grade A. I signed onto Zoom and texted his parents. Nothing.  After five minutes, I called.  Nothing. Did they have a crisis, or were they ghosting me?  Their behavior towards me has been distant.  It didn’t use to be that way. It changed after a family member on the mainland died.  I do see they have burdens affecting them. I don’t know how much it has also affected their relationship with me. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this was their way of terminating our relationship. Their son is almost on grade level. He has made a great deal of progress. About an hour after I signed in, I heard from the mom. She was on the mainland with her husband. Her boys were with the babysitter, and she had no Internet. All classes were canceled for the week. If the mother and father were both on the mainland, there must be a family crisis of some sort.  Boy, these folks have had their fill.

   I spent most of the day doing more leisurely cleaning and walking.  I finally went back to read the article I wrote on my reading method about a year ago to see if it held up or not.  I liked what I read so far. I made a few changes. I get criticism that I flop around from topic to topic too much. That is my thinking style. I see the relationship to everything.  It’s hard for me to reduce something to its simplest element.

 

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Musings:   

    The current political situation has me in a tizzy.  I am not optimistic about what is happening in this country or the rest of the world.  As Sinclair Lewis said, I see Fascism coming to America, “wrapped in the American flag and carrying a cross.”   

    A government can be overthrown by a foreign nation.  The Allied Forces overthrew the Nazi government.  But most successful coups are led by the domestic military, not some fringe extremist group.  That can happen. Note the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. For the most part, the military takes over and establishes a dictatorship suppressing all challenging views.  At this point, what I consider the extreme right, has the support of many in the military and the police force, all fully armed.  Thanks to Trump, we have a court open to relaxing any existing restrictions on the right to bear arms.  I’m sure many of these people will kill each other. Nothing corrupts like victory and success.  Once that happens, the groups that were unified under a single cause will see the difference between their point of view and their political bedfellows.  It’s like waking up in bed with the enemy. Unfortunately, these groups have hate lists: people of color, Jewish, Muslims, and intellectuals.  While I don’t blame these groups for feeling ignored and demeaned, and even deprived, they don’t wish anyone else well either. I fear this group wants revenge even more than it wants improved conditions.  They certainly only want it for their own and not for other groups – who clearly ‘don’t deserve it.’  Oh, boy.