24 March, 2012

Working toward S day

It is 17 days until the surgery. Unfortunately the cortisone that I had in the joint has worn off, so getting around is now difficult. Maybe it was the intense dryness on the plane, so dry it made my skin look like leather.  Since then I can hardly walk on the left leg.


It's time to learn how to use crutches. For the first few days after the surgery I won't be able to put any weight on that leg, so, if I am good with crutches, it will help a lot. The idea of using a walker makes me gag.


I am back on my normal schedule, early morning at the Firefly for a latte. I bought coconut milk so I can use that in place of milk. And the Firefly staff lets me use it. Nice to be in a small town.


Yesterday I went to Franceska, who does acupuncture. I spent an hour there and the leg is much worse. I will give it another 24 hours to see if things improve and if not, I go to the Korean guy in Madison. It is only a bit more than two weeks before I am under the knife, but still, I hate to be in pain the whole time.


I'm reading a book called Post Americanism by Fareed Zakaria.  I do love the way he writes, but he made the statement that Indians worship thousands of gods. That is not true. Though it looks that way to an outsider, and Zakaria was raised in India so he should know better, there are only three gods, Brahma (the equivalent of our Christian God), Vishnu (the god of intellect and spirit) like the Christian Holy Ghost) and Shiva, the god of destruction and rebirth, the practical and sensuous god, like Jesus in the Christian religion. All the other gods are aspects of these three gods. For example, Hanuman, the monkey god, is worshipped for his great loyalty and strength. Many "gods" have many different names, because there are so many different languages in India. So I doubt whether there are thousands of aspects.


Otherwise, I really like the book. Zakaria talks about why we should not be afraid of China, why we feel closer to India than China, He also shows how Britain, that small island, could hold onto empirical power for the number of years it did. It is well worth reading.


Enough for today. But my daughter Clio suggested I begin writing about what I remember about my family. I think I will start that tomorrow.
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