The Cancer Diaries, Part 20

Cancer / Daily life / Musings / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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A weekend off from the long, daily drive and the treatment certainly seems like a treat these days. On weekends, I get to have an easy morning, leisurely cups of tea, do some writing, play some computer games, take a long walk with Susan and Bella (weather permitting), then enjoy a quiet afternoon of reading, more tea, and maybe some online gaming with a friend. The prospect of spending another five or more weeks driving back and forth, suffering increasing side effects while missing my leisurely mornings, doesn’t thrill me. What choice do I have? That’s one of the things ……… click below for more ↓

The irony, the hypocrisy

Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Ethics and behaviour / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryLeave a comment

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There’s a letter on the council consent agenda that will either make you shake your head in wonder at the brash irony of it, or laughing at a writer who plays a fawning Rudy Giuliani to Saunderson’s Trump. It’s from Claire Tucker-Reid, the co-chair of the former Central Park Steering Committee (SPSC; our current mayor was the other), the committee that can be argued to be the cause of this recent and expensive turmoil that led to the town wasting more than $8 million of your money on a vindictive judicial inquiry (or, as some believe, a vendetta). The inquiry ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 19

Cancer / Daily life / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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I was fortunate in being able to get my tooth fixed within 48 hours of losing a portion of it. I hadn’t expected to be able to see my dentist for at least a week, maybe even more, but there was an opening, a cancellation, and I grabbed it. I had a vision of having to spend a week or more eschewing tough or crunchy foods to avoid having another piece of enamel break away from around the old filling. No morning muesli, no peanuts or crunchy peanut butter, nothing too chewy or crusty like the sort of bread I ……… click below for more ↓

On growing old

Books & Reviews / Classical period / Classics / Critical Thinking / Musings / Philosophy / Stoicism & classical philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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“We truly can’t praise the love and pursuit of wisdom enough,” wrote Marcus Tullius Cicero in one of his last works, How to Grow Old (De Senectute; aka On Aging or On Old Age), “since it allows a person to enjoy every stage of life free from worry.” “Ancient wisdom for the second half of life,” is how Philip Freeman subtitles his translation of Cicero’s little book in his 2016 Princeton University edition. Cicero wrote his essay (not really a book as we think of them today) in 44 BCE, when he was already 62 years old. I’ve been reading ……… click below for more ↓

I’m Struggling With Julian Jaynes

Behaviour & Psychology / Books & Reviews / Classical period / Learning & Education / Science & Technology / What I'm Reading Now2 Comments

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I first came across Julian Jaynes and his controversial (or at least provocative) book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, back in the late 1970s. I bought a copy, and read part of it, but my life was in a bit of turmoil back then, and I didn’t get too far along in it. Over the years, the book left my shelves, possibly given away or traded in. It wasn’t until two years ago that I came across a used copy (the 1990 revised edition with Jaynes’ extensive afterword) at a stand in Kensington Market. ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 18

Cancer / Daily life / Personal ReminiscencesOne Comment

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Radiation treatment, 2nd session Same process as the first one, albeit a little shorter time to get ready since I already knew what was expected of me, and what items to disrobe. No hiccups or delays. I lie down, get positioned by the therapists, then the bed moves back towards the machinery (the linear accelerator, or LINAC). Like some hulking scifi machinery, the arms swivel, the X-ray panels extend, and they slowly rotate over my abdomen. their work done, these panels retract and the radiation machinery is positioned. It, too, rotates around me. And then it’s done, and the bed ……… click below for more ↓

No Enemies; No Accomplishments

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial InquiryLeave a comment

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Have you ever read this poem? I hadn’t, until recently. But now it makes sense. Take a moment… No Enemies You have no enemies, you say? Alas! my friend, the boast is poor; He who has mingled in the fray Of duty, that the brave endure, Must have made foes! If you have none, Small is the work that you have done. You’ve hit no traitor on the hip, You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip, You’ve never turned the wrong to right, You’ve been a coward in the fight. As Wikipedia tells us, Charles Mackay (27 March 1814 – ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 17

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Well, it has begun. Today I drove to RVH for my first radiation treatment session, the third stage of my treatment. One hundred forty-one days since my prostate surgery, and roughly 290 since I was first advised of my dangerously elevated PSA level. This is the first of approximately seven weeks of sessions, one every weekday. I have to admit I was somewhat anxious about it when I left home. Going through something for the first time can do that, and, of course, having cancer is already enough to make someone anxious. I had been told by hospital staff that ……… click below for more ↓

We’ve Seen It All Before

Ideologies / Politics / US PoliticsOne Comment

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“[They] are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy… Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.” Sounds like someone knowledgeably writing about modern Trumpist Repugnicans, or maybe even any (all?) of the populist, conservative parties worldwide. It was actually ……… click below for more ↓

Synecdoche, Universe

Computers & Programming / Games & Gaming / Software reviews / Theme & CodingLeave a comment

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In the delightfully quirky, postmodern film, Synecdoche, New York, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a movie director obsessed with creating a set that realistically represents New York City for an upcoming movie. But as he tries to incorporate more and more people and bits that represent the city, the set grows and grows into a micro-city itself. As Wikipedia describes it: The plot follows an ailing theater director (Hoffman) as he works on an increasingly elaborate stage production whose extreme commitment to realism begins to blur the boundaries between fiction and reality. The film’s title is a play on ……… click below for more ↓

Still Watching the Three Stooges

Culture / Daily life / Film & Reviews / Humour & Satire / Personal Reminiscences / TVLeave a comment

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There’s a bittersweet pleasure in watching the Three Stooges these days, knowing about them, their careers, their lives. What seems like zany comedy on screen was, like so many celebrity stories, much more complex, contentious, and even tragic at times. But there’s also an insuppressible joy in their work that keeps drawing me back to watch more. Moe, Larry, and Curly (and Shemp) will always bring a smile to my face. The subsequent replacements for Curly sometimes will, too, although not as often. And with more than 200 film credits to their names, running from 1930 to 1970 in both ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 16

Cancer / Daily life / Musings / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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Yesterday, I went for my second bone density scan — aka bone densitometry or dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry — the one that had been planned, but scheduled then delayed twice previously. My first bone scan, like my first CT scan, was done in June, before my surgery. This one was ordered by the oncologist prior to my radiation treatment. Bone density scans are used for many types of diagnoses, including measuring bone loss and osteoporosis, but also to detect the spread of cancer cells. My previous scan showed the cancer had not spread into my bones (a tremendous relief). I hope ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 15

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“… my only object was that all the world should enjoy itself and live in peace and quiet, without quarrels or troubles; but my good intentions were unavailing to save me from going where I never expect to come back from, with this weight of years upon me and a urinary ailment that never gives me a moment’s ease…” Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote of La Mancha, chap. 22 I was listening to an audiobook of Don Quixote while driving to the hospital recently, and heard that bit. It just seemed appropriate. And a bit funny. Last week I got ……… click below for more ↓

Remembrance Day thoughts

Family history / Festivals & Events / History & Biography / Manners & Civility / Social Order & Disorder / War & MilitaryLeave a comment

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An article on the Global News site titled “Fewer Canadians plan to wear poppies this Remembrance Day, poll finds” made me think again about what Remembrance Day is for. The article opens: Fewer people plan to participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies or wear poppies this year, according to a poll from Historica Canada that also suggests knowledge of Canadian military history is dwindling. To be fair, I’d suggest knowledge of pretty much everything factual is dwindling. One only need look at social media posts from anti-vaxxers, or anti-maskers to see how much knowledge of science and medicine has been lost ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 14

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More back and forth to RVH, this time for another CT scan today. I arrived early, as usual, and then spent most of my time there waiting and reading. Not as long as I’ve had to wait in the past, but still a lot longer than the process itself. Like I always tell people: bring a book. Or books. You remember me writing last post about a mixed-up bone density scan I was supposed to have last Wednesday? Well, by Monday morning, I hadn’t been informed of any re-scheduling, so when I registered at the imaging department for my CT ……… click below for more ↓

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