Howdy Y’all!
It’s been a week, and it’s only Tuesday here in the overcast rainy Kingdom of Cambodia. The school year started on Monday, and I’m teaching four subjects: ELA, math, science, and social studies. I’ve never taught math before, and I haven’t taught the social studies curriculum at this school. It is a steep learning curve.
Also, my kidney stones are giving me heck for the first time ever. I usually pass two or three stones a year. I never know until they’ve passed. They get hung up in a ureter, now and again — three times this year alone — but until this last time, they’ve never caused me significant discomfort much less outright pain. That’s bad because you don’t want urine backing up into your kidneys. That pain tells you to get your butt to a doctor to figure it out. Instead, I’ve had to do periodic ultrasounds of my abdomen to monitor the passage of stones.
After we got back from Europe, I had surgery to remove a large stone from my ureter. So large that it had to be cut with a laser. I think I mentioned that before. Then I had the Muhammed Ali treatment three times in five days. By the third treatment, my left kidney was felt like a wet rag. Wet with blood. Usually, I sleep while they punch my kidney for 8,000 times over two hours. This time I felt each and every one of them.
Now I’m passing the shattered stone. I can feel it coming down the ureter, pause at the foyer to my bladder, hangout and party in my bladder, and then mosey on out. It isn’t excruciating, but it ain’t fun, either.
Suffice it to say. I’m exhausted.
And, I’m dying to write about the Jacksonville shooting as THE example of what happens when Republicans promote racism and violence. We’re seeing shootings everywhere. We’ve had the most mass shootings in the first eight months of a year ever. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for our children. Gun deaths and injuries have gone up substantially year-on-year since 2021.
The fruits of loosening gun laws, stand your ground laws, hateful and violent rhetoric have come home to roost, and all I can do is whine about the pain in my lower left abdomen and hustle to cobble together my lessons for the week. The horror of being a part-time blogger and a full-time citizen.
Huzzah!
Jack
Image Attribution
“Drown” by margot.trudell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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Categories: Housekeeping
The Psy of Life 
Here’s to better days! Less uncomfortable, anyway.
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Howdy Ali!
Thank you for the well wishes. It’s only gotten worse, though. I’m no longer passing stones. My “side” still hurts. And, I have a cold. Barely made it to Friday. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I hope it is better. Sheesh! Sending healing energy into the universe for you.
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Thank you, Ali! Today has been a better day.
Jack
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Math is fun to teach … when you know the answers
(the answer is never the answer, what’s interesting is the mystery)
Stiff upper lip, never let them see you hurting …
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That’s why god made codeine.
Math is fun to teach, but the techniques used now are new to me, so I’ve got to carefully think about each and every lesson and sort out how to do the various word problems. Just all of that kind of stuff. It just takes time and energy that I don’t have.
Thanks, though.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I feel for you. I have been lucky in the sense of that in my 45 plus medical problems, conditions, and/or issues kidney stones has never been one of them. I am just wondering, is it something you eat, like calcium, or other mineral that builds up? Certain minerals cause me other problems, and they can be extremely painful too. The body needs them, but apparently in smaller doses for me. I do my best yo svoib them now.
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Howdy Rawgod!
Like most things, kidney stones are genetic and life style. I should avoid salts, which I do anyway because of hypertension, but that is about it. I’ve been passing stones every year for the past twenty or so. They’ve never caused an issue. For whatever reason, I’ve grown some boulders and now they’ve got to pass.
Learning what your body needs to be healthy is one of modern life’s biggest lessons and one that many of us don’t ever really learn.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Having had the stone passing experience, bladder stones, not kidney type, and small, but through a bladder exit nearly shut by an overgrown prostate, I feel for you my friend.
The gun violence story just never seems to stop, an just gets worse. It turns out that that young man in Jacksonville first tried to go to the nearby HBC campus, but apparently wasn’t ready to take on the security guards and then went to the store. It’s no surprise that Governor DeSantis couldn’t bring himself to say the word “racist”, or “racially motivated”. He got appropriately booed at the memorial.
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Howdy Bob!
Because I’ve been examined, prodded, and poked in the general region of the prostate, I have it on good authority that mine is within acceptable bounds. Thankfully. I’ve known too many people to have prostate issues. Not a fun process.
For DeSantis to have said that they would not tolerate decisions being made because of the color of someone’s skin, just made my blood boil. The absolute gall of going into that situation and issuing a racist dog whistle like that. And, after being booed and needing, whoever that woman was, to admonish the crowd to behave because they needed the state aid. I may bite the bullet and write the post tonight anyway.
Huzzah!
Jack
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He does seem to have that effect on people. He’s probably thinking about how to either shut that school down or turn it into a fascist indoctrination center anyway.
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I can’t remember the name of the university that he’s basically forced into being a fascist indoctrination center. That’s not going well.
Seriously, between impeaching Biden — it may play to the rabid MAGA-types, but not to anyone else — abortion, the climate disaster that is clearly upon us, and the clear link between Republican racist policies, violent rhetoric, and acts of violence happening daily, I think the GOP is in for a very rude surprise in November.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Don’t forget the GOP radicals in the House going for government shutdown next month, threatening default in the Spring, and shutdown again next Fall. And, DeSantis refusing a big pile of IRA money for Florida. The list goes on.
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I just don’t see how the Republicans win much outside of the Red States and districts, but not the presidency.
In other news, Mitch McConnell had another episode. It seems like he’s having mini-strokes. He’s going soon. That’s been my experience. It is a matter of weeks or months.
Jack
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I really does seem as if they are trying to piss off as many non-MAGAs as possible. They may actually be that lost in their illusion of majority and inevitability, but then this is a generation of GOP politicians who grew up in a rhetorical environment of talking points and policy plans that the Reagan generation spouted with a wink and a nod, sometimes, even with a snicker and smirk at the rubes.
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Howdy Bob!
Here’s one of the most interesting analyses of the 2022 mid-terms that I have seen. I’m going to try for a closer look and try to incorporate some of the material in a future blog post. This geographical culture bug has definitely bitten me.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I think the link didn’t copy.
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Oops! Sorry about that.
https://www.nationhoodlab.org/the-2022-midterms-and-the-american-nations-regional-differences-trump-rural-urban-divide-most-everywhere-with-a-couple-of-important-exceptions/
That orta get her done.
Jack
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Thanks, got it, and it does look interesting.
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Get better soon.
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Thank you, Burr. We are, of course, doing our best, but sometimes our best isn’t good enough. I’m sure, though, that this too shall pass.
Huzzah!
Jack
PS See what I did there? This too shall pass? Pass as in kidney stones? Hunh? Hunh? Man, sometimes I just crack myself up.
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I got it what you did, lol. As one of your readers who has spoken to you in person many times over the decades, I get a kick out of how the way you write is an accurate reflection of you talk, right down to the frequent ‘huzzahs’. Sincerely hope you’re feeling better, even a little better, soon.
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Howdy Paul!
Thanks for dropping us a comment. It really makes my day.
I am not, however, feeling better. In fact, I’m worse. I’ve stopped passing any stones at all, still have a pain in my side, and now, I have a cold. Fuck.
Hope all is well in your world, Paul.
Huzzah!
Jack
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