New Era

Facebook was supposed to be fun, a word here that means, posting funny memes and keeping up with your peeps.  Peeps: people you actually know, or at least pen pals with common interests.

Unfortunately, I've let it become a major time waster, sometimes a stressful one. My newsfeed has become all about politics, and I've contributed to it. It's not my intention to be thin-skinned, and I certainly don't think anyone is trying to upset me, but I find that some of the links shared by people I barely know from high school  are--upsetting me. So, I've unfollowed and made up a restricted list, because I'm sure I've upset them, too.

It's become a belated resolution for 2017: spend less time on Facebook. Look to see what specific friends are up to, then get off.

An example of newsfeed mania: President Trump Declares 20 January 2017 "National Day of Patriotic Devotion."  Yes, it's hilarious because it sounds just like him, but according to Snopes, this is just fancy verbiage, and President Obama also had a special name for his inauguration date.

The Women's March in Washington was a meaningful experience, and people everywhere were very nice and friendly. I enjoyed the speakers I was able to hear. Most of them I caught later. Gloria Steinem was, as usual--well, The Bomb. Michael Moore was excellent, and there were a couple young celebrities who were charmingly earnest. The only one who annoyed me was Madonna. We all know who she is, but it's not cool to mention bombing The White House, even in jest.  Also, I'm not offended by The F Word, but I thought the idea was to out-class Trump. Still, her heart is in the right place.

SO. It's back to reading my mountain of books--and yes, calling my representatives, because I can do that. It's our civic duty. Even those who voted for Barack Obama sent him petitions about drone strikes and Chelsea Manning. I want to participate in our democracy, not obsess over it. It cannot be my new hobby.

And now for something completely different:

It made me laugh, so here it is.

Happy Tuesday!

Dreary Day

Last night, my sisters and I went to the movies. This is news, because I hardly ever do that. We saw Lion, a film that follows a little boy's life after he becomes lost and separated from his family in India. It's based on a true story, and it's moving and parts of it are particularly sad and hard to watch--it's especially hard to watch adults shooing away homeless children, as if they were vermin.

This particular story reminds me a bit of Dickens; the boy, Saroo,  has a few misadventures until he is adopted by a nice Australian couple and gets to live a more privileged life. Still, memories haunt him, and the second part of the story is about how Saroo discovers who he is and just how far he's traveled.

Lion is the latest big film that reminds us of the more typical life much of the world experiences. India, in particular, has so many messy problems--population, sanitation, missing and homeless children, and extreme poverty, just to name a few.

Today seems like a dark day in more than one way, and yet--we are not India. With all the graphic news we receive online every day, we should cherish all we have, and all we stand to lose, instead of feeling that our "middle class" lives are normal. I know young people who seem to think that there is some law that would prevent congress from taking certain actions, such as repealing ACA without a replacement. See? Naïve. For granted. Not paying attention.

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MY CORNER: I'm feeling well, walking about three miles most mornings...I do plan to start physical therapy, aimed at treating lymphedema, in the near future. At this point, nothing is visually obvious, but I have a lot of tightness in my arm, and some spots, especially around my wrist, are feeling sensitive. I'm able to stretch the arm and live normally, but I do want to learn how to manage the symptoms as early as possible. I've been referred to a practice very close by, just down the street from my oncologist's, so if they don't receive my faxed script in a couple days, I'll have time on Tuesday to simply be my own messenger...

AND tomorrow, we'll go to Washington, D.C., and yell. Democracy is messy, indeed, and it will me messy in many places tomorrow.

And look! It's finally time for me to get dressed and go into work. What a shame, it's raining on a parade somewhere...