taysteewonderbunny

I remember a conversation I had with an ER surgeon. I asked him what he thought the creepiest part of his job was. He said that what bothered him most was not his job, in particular, but knowing that the moment of death is really a more indeterminate thing than most people realize. He said that in the movies, they'll show the EKG thing or whatever that is and you will know a person is dead because it completely flatlines. He says it's really more messy than that. The heart, he says, continues to contract, albeit often irregularly and not at all in concert up to four hours or even days after a person is declared clinically dead. It's just that after a few minutes of poor heart tissue coordination, areas of major organs experience enough tissue death that resurrection becomes increasingly less likely, but not impossible. If the heart does begin to beat in an organized fashion, even if it beats only a couple times per minute, it might provide enough oxygen to the heart, lungs, and brain that the person could revive, even days afterward. That's when I remembered an article, in some collection like "News of the Weird," about a lady who fell in her house from a stroke and lay undiscovered from what coroners on the scene estimated to be three days. Her abdomen was bloated from rot and her legs badly deteriorated. She wasn't dead, though. Her heart had continued to beat and though the manner in which she fell prevented the blood from circulating to her lower extremities, this condition did, weirdly enough, provide just enough oxygen to her brain that she was still alive and soon conscious after they loaded her in the van. They took her to the hospital, but she didn't survive the amputations. How gross is that?

1) We were twelve, she was heterosexual, and I didn't know if it meant I was a total freak or what, so we buried it. 2) I just hooked up with him to find out what this sex thing was--it took me four months to work up to it and then seven months more to have the courage to break it off. Yeah, I know it was callous to use him like that, but at least it weighed on my conscience for seven months. 3) He was a sociopath and I was weak. Once I realized that it was never going to end except in either my death or my walking away, I walked away. 4) She cheated on me, first with her physically abusive ex-girlfriend, and then with the wife of her drug dealer. 5) The (nearly) greatest eight months of my life. True, my heart was completely broken and I was a wreck for two years following, but, WOW, what a ride. I was her first girlfriend, and, given that all her hetero relationships had a two-week expiration date, I think I did astoundingly well by her. 6) He didn't have a visible dark-side. The man even smiled during the recounting of how a freak plane accident (plane crashed in their backyard) killed his father when he was six right in front of his eyes. He never seemed to get upset about anything. I couldn't help thinking that either he was REALLY dumb or he was hiding something so evil that it was beyond my imagining. 7) I tried. For nearly five years, I tried, but he just wasn't capable of the psycho-emotional closeness and support I craved. 8) I don't know what I was thinking. He had the emotional depth of a hairball, but he was, in his bland, pablum-seeping sort of milquetoast manner, the nicest boyfriend I'd had until then. But when it came to the discussion of drama, he couldn't comprehend why things shouldn't always have a happy ending. And, regarding children, he preferred a lifestyle that would enable him to take frequent naps. So, not what I was looking for. 9) Well, they are the reason I'm here. All I'm going to say is that I broke it off and we weren't the best match. 10) It's not over. It's not nearly over.

imdb lists him as having over 107 titles in his filmography (inclusive of television appearances). He has had a good long life and made an excellent contribution to film and television. Farewell, one-eyed friend!

That's good news!

Congrats on the publication, SK. So nice to see you have second listing in authors. WTG!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday!

What was it? *hoping it was a highly confused woodpecker*

Oh, the hips are fine. I mean, the bones never go quite back like they were, but their wider stance also makes the waist look narrower in comparison. It's looking like a truck ran over your belly that sucks.

Soups and stews can be made in a crock pot and cook while you're away from home, then be divided into portions and frozen. It's an easy way to stick to a diet. And, hey, who doesn't love turkey chili?

Maybe you have the special edition with extra materials catering to the interests of arborists and interior decorators...which is exactly the kind of stuff I'm reading right now: books on tree pruning and wall painting.

Here's the AMC website with the info.

This can't be serious, can it? In case it is, could someone please tell her about women's lib? She doesn't get to escape being an adult, but there are more options than housewife, trophy wife, or, failing these, tasteless and desperate.

Phee, you just need a diesel car.

No, you still have to eat right, but drinking water helps you do that. Commas make it so that you don't have to eat, right?

I want to clarify something I spoke about. When I talked about encouraging your daughter in the destructive (not the planned) messy play, I meant it as kind of a "reverse psychology" ploy. Just like cats escalate behavior by doing things they KNOW get a reaction from you to try to make you cave in and feed them, let them outside, whatever, HUMANS, even five year old humans, have caught on that they can aggravate parents to a purpose. Not reacting to the mess-making with anger may decrease the reward for her if she learns that no matter what, Mommy will stay calm and in control and will not give in to manipulation. Not saying that you do, just saying. If making her clean up--and doing this consistently--is not eliminating the problem, this could be a sign that there is a need not being met. Whether that's a need for extra attention and play, or it's reaction to a recent potentially traumatic event and your daughter needs reassurance, or it's a sign of another issue where mood and impulse control are affected, is not for me to say (or know), but you might want professional advice.

I thought I heard something about that--that many of the foreclosures in Wayne County may have been performed illegally. I hope those who lost their homes get it back plus compensation.

Hello!

You know that phrase about the shit hitting the phan?

Keen observation regarding doubt. I wonder if it's true...

In my house, I was always pudgier than was my brother who was a very lanky and normal weight boy. It had as much to do with our different personalities (and corresponding activity levels) as it did our home environment. Would I have been thinner if my parents didn't keep junk food in the house, stressed the importance of and positively rewarded daily active play? Probably. But I still would have food issues. I was sedentary, clumsy, withdrawn, and socially retarded. I was also a sugar addict. My brother had as many, if not more--seeing as he was often at friends' houses where access to sugar may have been plentiful--chances to eat junk as I did, but he didn't have the taste for it. Really. My Halloween candy was gone two weeks shy of Thanksgiving; he'd cry because he hadn't eaten all of his Halloween candy by Easter and it was too stale to eat then. There's video of us at Christmas '78. I'm two and just walking, but I'm going around the party stealing sips from the adults' pop cans when they aren't looking. Nolan's not quite a year old, but hates the icing my mom gave him a taste of. Lucky bastard.

I like dandelions. I think they're pretty. I don't like the way they taste, though. A friend says that's because they're only really good when you cook them, but I've not tried it yet. If the subdivision didn't have rules regarding lawn appearance and if the house we live in was actually ours, we'd have a "moss" and wildflower lawn. I like wood sorrel, white clover, purple clover, wild violets, and evergreen "mosses" and rather have them than grass anyway.

I don't know what you are talking about. Harvey is great fun and an excellent conversationalist. I'm all for the Puka, actually.