Tuesday, I went out for coffee with a neighbour, the first time I’ve been out to a cafe since before my surgery. It was nice to get out and feel like I’m getting back to normal (and to taste coffee again). There is a regenerative sense to normality when you feel not so much an invalid, but a participant in everyday things.
I find it easier to get into and out of cars now, too, because I can bend my knee enough to make it almost painless. But only as a passenger. And later, we had company in the afternoon through dinner in the early evening, so I was unable to complete all of my third set of exercises, but I will try to make up for it tomorrow. I still have some time to fill in a few of them before bedtime, though.
I managed only one walk today: 800m. I did pedal my bike, though.
My scar is healing, and nearly smooth, although the central line remains quite visible. It almost looks normal, unless you look closely, although the skin is still sensitive and the knee itself still aches. But it seems to me rather undramatic looking now. I don’t mind that.
Doomscrolling: Today, the dictator Trump (aka the racist Clown Prince) made a fool of himself and, as usual, embarrassed the USA, at a speech to the UN General Assembly. He basically rejected everything the UN stands for, boasted about his alleged and entirely fictitious successes, whined his grievances about everything he felt slighted by, threatened delegates that their policies about green energy initiatives and immigration was going to destroy their nations, again promoted himself as a candidate for the Nobel peace prize (to which he deserves as much as Hitler would have done), as he rambled for about an hour, throwing in such segues as his campaign hats, singlehandedly saving the world, whines about the UN floors, blaming climate change on immigrants, telling delegates he is always right about everything, and boasting about violating international law. It was a truly cringeworthy event by a supreme narcissist with way too much power for his limited and declining intellect.
Trump was miffed that the UN’s escalator he was riding on broke just as he stepped on it, and he had to walk up a whole flight of steps — probably the furthest uphill he’s had to climb in decades. His rabid base went ballistic with conspiracies and threats against the UN. Turns out one of his staff tripped the emergency switch… oh, the irony.
Wags online suggested he blamed it on Antifa, which would not be inappropriate, given his ‘blame someone’ attitude to everything. After all, he has already declared that particular adjective is a “terrorist organization,” and perhaps such mischief would not be beyond the nefarious work of the word itself. How a descriptive word can be an organization, let alone engage in acts of terror, he has not explained. Perhaps a dictionary frightened him as a child. And if you don’t already know, the word antifa is merely short for anti-fascist, and anyone who opposes it is therefore pro-fascist. Which is, of course, all of MAGA: a fascist organization. The administration will now label anyone or any organization it doesn’t like, dissents, or fights back as “antifa” so they can pretend they are terrorists and lock them up or break their group.
He was equally pissed that the teleprompter didn’t work immediately and he blamed the UN for it at the start of his speech. But it turns out delegations “bring their own laptops and teleprompter operators.” The UN wasn’t responsible for Trump’s teleprompter’s failure: Trump’s own incompetent staffers were. The irony multiplies.
A photo of the dictator and his immigrant trophy wife Melanoma caught on the escalator (above) vividly captures his pissed-offedness at being inconvenienced by radical leftwing stairs, and her disdain and dislike of him at the same time (do her nails make you think of Vampirella?). Escalator-gate has been pushed to comical extremes by the rightwing propaganda media and influencers, with calls for investigations, punishment, even bombing. Anything to deflect attention from the Epstein files and Trump’s role in them.
Wednesday: Jimmy Kimmel was back, although two of the pro-fascist MAGA-loving networks (Sinclair and Nexstar) still refused to broadcast his show unless Kimmel made a public apology and promised to help canonize the hatemonger Kirk. MAGA hates free speech, and reserves a special hatred for satire and comedians who mock their narcissistic dictator. Who, himself, despises all forms of free speech and only wants to hear praise and thanks from his cronies and sycophants. I caught a bit of Kimmel’s monologue on YouTube. You should see it too, if you haven’t.
I did a 1km and an 800m walk, pedalled 12, 10, and 10 mins. I pushed the bike’s tension up a notch from the low 2 to 3. Just to try to get more work from it for my knee. Otherwise, just the usual exercises today. Didn’t feel like I was progressing at all. None of the milestones that seemed to big a few weeks ago. I wonder if I’m pushing the pedalling a bit too much too soon.
Today I’ve been a bit off my feed; feeling sluggish and more stiff and sore than in previous days. Might be the cool, damp weather, but any time I rest (sitting or feet up), when I stand again my knee really complains. It takes a moment to get it settled so I can walk. Or it might just be the lack of sleep. We’ll be having more of Susan’s chicken casserole tonight. Maybe that will sort me out.
Thursday: At my physio session today, my knee bend was measured at 98° with a therapist-assisted push to 103° (maybe 105; I can’t recall what she said); that’s somewhat better than last time but still short of the expected 120° expected of me. Better, of course, than what I began with, but still some way to go.
I plan to do extra exercises at home to push that. I did two 12-minute pedalling sessions at home, and another 7-minute session during physio. I got in another 6 minutes before bed. We did an 800m and a 1km walk today, plus we went grocery shopping. Most of the exercises I do call for 15 repeats, but I usually do more, up to 20. I’ll try to push them all with more repeats in order to improve that bend. I have a meeting with the surgeon next week and want my progress to be as good as possible.
Tonight I’m making an insta-pizza: using a small frozen pizza (four cheese), I’ll add some toppings (mushrooms, onion, garlic, tomato, with sliced olives on my half) and probably sprinkle some more cheese on top. Yes, it’s a cheat, but there are times we just want something fast and easy. We’ll have some condiments on the side, and I’ll have some sauerkraut, too. Usually, I make a pizza using a flatbread as a base and make up a sauce myself.
I’ve been rewatching Darkest Hour, the film about Winston Churchill’s first weeks as Prime Minister after Neville Chamberlain was forced to resign as WWII began. Gary Oldman as Churchill is simply brilliant. It’s quite a remarkable film and uplifting, at least towards the end. I’ve been thinking a lot about WWII and the fight against fascism, since we seem to be reliving history, albeit in another form, and need to stand and fight them again, in the form of the Trump administration. Well worth watching, and I recommend you also read Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, by Lynne Olson, if you want more depth about this period.
And for the first time in several weeks, I have been playing one of my computer games, Sniper Elite 5. I’ve played the Sniper Elite games from 2 through 4 and enjoyed them all. I began 5 about a year ago, but didn’t enjoy it as much as 3 and 4, especially the latter. The maps in 5 just seemed too big in comparison and the scenarios not as tightly scripted. But it’s been a while, so I felt I ought to give it a try again. Playing a game in which I get to shoot Nazis just seemed appropriate, although only metaphorically, since I don’t believe in actual violence against humans. Just against game toons. But it sure feels satisfying. Perhaps I should re-watch the 2009 Tarantino movie Inglourious Basterds or even the 1978 Italian movie of almost the same title: The Inglorious Bastards (which inspired Tarantino, but his was not a remake of this one).
Friday: Had coffee with an old friend this morning, so I missed our first walk with Bella. Second coffee in a week! Since I don’t get a lot of caffeine on my diet, I always make the second cup decaf. Otherwise, I get too wired.
I did an 800m walk in the afternoon, two 12-minute bicycle sessions, one 10-minute, and the usual round of exercises. I’m trying to push a bit harder in some exercises to force my knee to bend more, lunges in particular. More exercises tonight, of course.
In response to a YT video by Bill Kelly, I posted in a comment a list of political books that I had read recently and felt were worth sharing with others. It’s not all of those I read, just those whose titles I could recall (and could find on my bookshelves to confirm). These books include:
- Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, by Ingrid Robyns;
- The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age, by Archie Brown (also author of a good book on the rise and fall of Communism);
- How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century, by Frank Dikötter;
- Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Eliot Trudeau 1968-2000, by John English (second volume of the biography);
- Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, by Lynne Olson (if you enjoyed the film Darkest Hour, you should read this);
- Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, by Nancy MacLean;
- Party of One: Stephen Harper And Canada’s Radical Makeover, by Michael Harris;
- The Third Reich in Power, by Richard Evans (second of three volumes about the rise and fall of the Nazi party);
- The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith (the book he wrote before Wealth of Nations; not so much a political book as one about how human empathy is necessary in our interactions and commerce);
- The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth, by Linda McQuaig;
- Not Here: Why American Democracy is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself, by Rob Goodman;
- The Last Days of Stalin, by Joshua Rubenstein (I also recommend watching the movie, The Death of Stalin, one of my all-time favourite films);
Doomscrolling: As expected, the dictator Trump has lived up to his promise to pursue, indict, and punish his political and social opponents regardless of their innocence. Trump has been obsessed with revenge against them for years. Former FBI director Jim Comey was indicted today simply as proof that Trump has the unlimited power to hurt people who stood up to him and his sycophants and the corrupt SCOTUS will carry out his demands no matter how illegal. The ever-angry Trump wrote on his Untruth Social a post claiming Comey was “guilty as hell,” pre-judging the case against Comey even before the indictment. The whole “rule of law” in the USA has been eroded so that the dictator can do as he pleases without regard to law, justice, or due process. The USA is in full fascist mode.
PS: Good news: the MAGA TV networks Sinclair and Nexstar both caved in to public pressure and will show Jimmy Kimmel again starting tonight. Shows what the public can do when engaged. No impeach Trump… and release the complete Epstein files.
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