The Stand - What I'm Reading

So, I’ve been sick with the flu for the last week and a half. I took 3 days off from work last week, was sick all weekend and tried to go to work this week. Monday I made it. Tuesday I was sick again. Wednesday I made it. Thursday I’m home sick again. I think tomorrow will be okay to be at work. If I have a coughing fit (which is what plagues me most these days) I can just go into the conference room and cough my brains out for awhile until it is over. Hopefully, by tomorrow I won’t be having them anymore.

Anyway, I’m on the mend. It’s been a tough flu. My temp got up to 103.8 when I visited the doctor last week. Not swine flu, but enough of a flu to lay me low. My diabetes numbers have all been real high. On a brighter note, I lost 6 pounds which hasn’t come back on yet, so maybe will stay off. Haven’t been this low since I quit smoking more than 8 years ago.

Anyway, early on in the course of this sickness with all the H1N1 news going on in the world I decided it would be appropriate to re-read, “The Stand” by Stephen King. This was the first King book I ever read and the one that got me hooked on him as a writer. I’ve read it at least 3 times. This version is paperback and was updated somewhat. Also, there are parts that were cut, but I’m still enjoying it.

So, I’m about half way through. Frannie has a bunch of excerpts from the diary she is keeping as she, Harold, Stu and Glen Bateman make their way first to Vermont and now on to Nebraska. They’d met up with 2 people, both dead now, so their group swelled briefly is now back to their smaller size of 4. To bring you up to speed, Glen is a sociologist who absolutely cannot help himself but to ponder the existence of mankind after the Superflu (Captain Trips) hit. The Army had developed this horrible flu. There was an accident and it got loose and in the space of a month’s time it killed most everybody in the world.

Harold is younger than Frannie and they knew each other before. Frannie is pregnant, though nobody knows about it and Harold pretends that he is in love with her, that he is the smartest in the group, that he should be leader and he is an absolute butt. Frannie feels obligated to take care of Harold because he is the younger brother of her now deceased best friend. Stu was almost at ground zero when he and his town were exposed to the people who had escaped the accidental release of the flu. The army moved in to quarantine everybody and became extremely interested in Stu Redmond when he did not develop the flu. He escaped their clutches. These are the survivors.

Anyway, I want to wrap this up and get to the point of what I wanted to say. Had to take 20 minutes out for a horrible coughing fit and I don’t think it’s quite done yet.

In Frannie’s diary she’d been recounting a discussion they’d been having about the dreams they all seemed to be sharing, especially of the guy they’d started to refer to as, “The Dark Man”. Purely evil and out to stalk all of them. On the other hand was Mother Abigail who is 108 years old living in Nebraska who represented what was good in the world. Some were being drawn to The Walking Dude and others drawn to Mother Abigail. But, the discussion they were having was how odd it was that they were all having the same sort of dreams. Glen, the sociologist said, “Whenever something overtly paranormal occurs the only explanation that really fits well and holds its interior logic is the theological one. That’s why psychics and religion have always gone hand in hand, right up to your modern-day faith-healers.”

Now, remember, I’m a psychic channel. That’s key to what’s really funny here. Because just as I read that part one of the guides said to me, “Well, who are you going to talk to in the dead of night?” Maybe it’s just me, but I thought it was funny.

Smoky Skys

Am finally getting over my cold. Boy, but it lasted a long time. Our air is still full of smoke from all the fires burning in California. I just took a picture of a very red sun at 8:00 pm.

Rolling Stones and Other Things

I think it’s important to have lots of entries in a blog. Personally, when I’m surfing the member blogs at Blog Explosion I get irritated if I see the same blog day after day and the person has not updated it.

But, I can also understand because sometimes I’m just so dry that I don’t even want to talk about what I’m doing. So, to bring everybody up to snuff with what is going on in my life….

I’m losing weight. Slowly, but surely. I’m going to Curves and yesterday marked the 4th day in a row that I’d been. I’m figuring on going again tonight after work. Half an hour of activity every day does seem to help me. I’m aiming on getting my back to stop hurting and with a combination of exercise, drinking more water and having a glass of lemonade every day I’m hoping to strengthen my back muscles and if I do have a kidney stone move that sucker right along. Time will tell if this is a good plan. I have a feeling it is.

Do I Have a Cold?

It might be that I'm coming down with a cold. We've got a chilly, overcast day going on today, but that is not at all unusual for morning weather in these parts. What matters is about noon it all burns off and it turns into a sunny, summer day. However, I'm sneezing. I am not generally affected by the cooler mornings in any fashion and, in fact, love the chilly part of the day to bits. Except, today I've been sneezing up a storm.

I went back to bed for a couple of hours, but that also isn't unusual because on the weekends I do relish a mid-morning cat nap on Saturday and on Sunday. I had one yesterday and one again today. Just woke up from it a little while ago. And, I'm sweating. It's cold out and I'm sweating. Is this a menopause fritz? Or, do I have a cold? I really can't tell right now because the other typical symptoms for a cold are not present, like headache, chills and fever. Well, I won't worry about it. If I've got a cold I've got a cold. It'll go away. In the meantime I'll just keep Kleenex close to hand.

The Dentist

Guess what I learned today? You’re only supposed to have your upper and lower teeth touch when you are chewing, swallowing or talking. Otherwise, your teeth are supposed to be in a resting position; uppers and lowers not touching.

Guess what happens if that is not the case? They might tell you that after all these years you’ve got Bruxing, or grinding and gnashing of the teeth. By the way, the set pictured in this entry are not my own, but are courtesy of the website I linked to above.

It happens during the day if you go around with a clenched jaw. The condition can be attributed to unrelieved anger or stress. What it leads to is sensitive teeth. It leads to your enamel wearing away. It can lead to periodontal disease, locking of the jaw and a tendency to bite the inside of your cheek. It can lead to headaches, jaw aches, neck and shoulder pain, teeth that are chipped or worn down and broken fillings and busted up dental work.

Lovely. The solution is to get a night guard. It solves the problem of unconscious night grinding and can eventually help you to not clench your teeth during the day. Even while I was writing this I caught myself clenched up. Maybe I can wear it during the day too.

The psychic side of all of this? As I was sitting in the dentist's chair this morning I was being amused with scenes of Egypt. It was pretty terrific. Then, they trailed off saying they've never found my burial crypt. Interesting. What a crock you might say. Well, it helped to keep my mind off of what was going on in my mouth ...zzzzzzzttt... whhhoooooossshhhh... zzzzazzzztttt.... sssppppooochcchhhh....

I kept saying bad words silently and then apologizing to the guides... damn.. sorry... Jesus... sorry.... Oh, shit.... sorry. That's when they started with the Egypt stuff. Remind me to tell you about the time I had nitrous oxide and they started cracking the funnies for me. They don't call it laughing gas for nothing.