A few Measly Steps a Day

Revu2

It's about 4 items long. Began at the top and worked down. Then, after a meeting where I used my computer, left my adapter cord. Hope it's still there and I can pick up tomorrow.

What I'm dancing with is how these little things affect my moods. Right now, I'm miffed at myself for forgetting the cord. Last night, I was upset with USPS for sending back a certified letter when I never got a notice and thus a chance to pick it up. Talking with clerks is like a May-Nichols skit. I think it's the second worst managed Post Office in the country. Funny that PO are the initials for Post Office and Pissed Off.

Second worst is from Laugh In. Actually, when I make rankings I often call something the second or third best or worst. Prevents a lot of needless haggling on who's number one.

I guess I have to abandon my goal of getting my notes done of a book I'm peer-reviewing. My goal was to get most of it done before leaving for a 3 day staycation sleepover. If I can settle my nerves I might work some on it tonight. On the other hand, putting on music and working on it might settle me down. There's a hope. R.

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delightful

I get your feelings, R. Things that wouldn't have bothered me twenty years ago drive me crazy. And I hate returning things. If it's not too expensive, I'd rather just throw it away.

Me - crossed fingers, I might be finished editing. We're having a fundraiser at our church - an Italian Extravaganza in a week and a half. and I'd like to have my book available then. Yay!

I started physical therapy for my frozen shoulder (rotator cup) Right now it's stiffer than it was before. Apparently, this is going to take a long time. I'm not surprised. The shoulder hardly moves.
Good wishes for all our challenges.

delightful

Good wishes that we defeat them, that is.

SquarePegGuy

I had my neuropsychological exam two weeks ago. My primary care doctor let me know that the results are in and said I could make an appointment right away to discuss the results. Or, I could wait until my check-up in November. I'll try to get in next week -- I'd like to know what's going on before my next Quarterly Review.

Usually I can see test results in "The Portal." But this provider is outside the system.

Keep up the good work Revu2, delightful!

Revu2

Whoa, SPG & Ms D, keep strong and get better through your medical issues.

My brain today is flat-lining it. It's after 8.00 pm and I'm calling the day a loss. This morning I couldn't focus much and then had a fund-raising lunch followed by a bit of shopping and errands.

Tomorrow's another chance at everything. Tonight I'm putting on music and doing catchup housekeeping like putting away my summer clothes and getting my warmer stuff out. G'night.

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delightful

I'm plagued by mediocrity. My mediocrity, not someone else's. it's my first paragraph. It has to be really good because that, the title, and the blurb on the back is what sells a book. In addition, next Saturday, we're doing an "Italian Extravaganza" an Italian dinner plus a lot more, and I'll get a table to peddle my books. I want to have this one ready to go (might be wishful thinking) because it's the best one I've written.

In other news:
I have to call Apria and ask if they forgot me, or if I accidently hung up on them because I assumed they were a bogus call. They're supposed to contact me about a CPAP.

Physical therapy is going okay, but apparently, it's going to be going and going and going for over a year.

I've been watching too many medical movies. I started wondering if my hip is leaching cobalt. I'm tired, have mood swings, am dumber than I used to be and have no energy. There are many other explanations for this. but . . . Also my hips are titanium, which might have cobalt in it, but shouldn't have a lot of it. Also, per the internet, leaching cobalt is rare, but can happen.

I'm still throwing money at my house. (I thought I was done with expensive repairs.) The floor under my bathroom has rotten wood. I'm looking for someone who replaces rotten wood, but so far I haven't found anyone. Meanwhile they are withdrawing insurance on our lake property house. The house isn't worth anything, so it's probably no big deal, but . . .
Seriously, it isn''t worth anything.

That's most of the story of my life.
Good luck to all of us. May good things and easy fixes surround us. Also good friends and loved ones.

Revu2

Hi Ms D. I remember the afternoon (or was it morning)? when the Lit teacher at Yale Summer High School broke down the first line of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. "In the town there were 2 mutes and they were always together."

Tale of 2 Cities: "It was the best of times and the worst of times."

Chromos by Felipe Alfau: The moment one learns English, complications set in."

From Google Search AI:
The best opening lines can serve multiple functions, including:
Setting the scene
Introducing characters
Setting the tone
Piquing curiosity
Evoking shock
Introducing conflict
Starting in the middle of action
Provoking thought

Here are some famous opening lines from novels:
1984: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen". This line sets the tone for the dystopian world of the story.

Invisible Man: "I am an invisible man". This line is enigmatic and introduces a man who is ignored by society.

A Frolic of His Own: "Justice?—You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law".

The End of the Affair: "A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead".

Moby-D i c k: "Call me Ishmael".

Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife".

Gravity's Rainbow: "A screaming comes across the sky".

Actually, technically, "Call me Ishmaei." Is after a chapter or 2 on, I dunno, the history of whaiing? Found this:

Yes, Chapter 1 ("Loomings") of the novel begins with Ishmael introducing himself. But the so-called first chapter is more like the book's third, thanks to two rambling introductory chapters respectively titled "Etymology" and "Extracts." In these sections, Melville introduces us to two fictitious researchers (a grammar school usher and a "sub-sub-librarian") who begin to educate us on cetology, the study of whales. Many novels begin with an epigraph, a little apropos quotation that precedes the opening lines. But these two chapters go way beyond that, supplying no fewer than eighty epigraphs. They foreshadow the novel's frequent digressions away from the nominal plot into the minutiae and lore of whales and whaling. And they're absolutely part of the novel proper, which means that the first line of Moby D*ck is not "Call me Ishmael," but rather this beauty: "The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now." Hmm, maybe Melville would have sold more copies if he'd tightened that beginning up a little.

My note: HM started this way to mimic the long periods of boredom involved with this trade.

No pressure, R.

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