Normally, I go to dump No. 9 (“number 9, number 9…”). But Saturday, I cranked it up to 11 (thank you, Nigel Tufnel)…
It started with the B-12.
I had been dragging recently in the mornings, so I thought I’d take some B-12 my wife had in a kitchen cabinet, but had quit taking. I let one dissolve under my tongue on Saturday, and it seemed to work. I loaded up my truck with stuff from our garage that we needed to get rid of, and set out to rapidly accomplish a series of tasks:
- Went to the pharmacy to pick up a refill.
- Wanting to give away anything charity might accept before going to the dump, I drove to His House over on Meeting St. The lady who came out said right off she wasn’t taking that mattress, but I assured her that was going to the dump. I was there about three things I thought someone might want. She accepted two of them, but not the almost unused Christmas tree stand (we went back to artificial several years ago). It seems they had too many of them.
- On a lazier day, I might have gone on to the dump. But not today. I headed to Goodwill, and they gladly took the stand.
- Then I headed to the dump — I mean the county Collection and Recycing Center. Not the one near me, but to one almost half an hour away that I had heard was more likely to take the mattress. I went out to the one at 325 Landfill Lane, Gaston (I assume no one’s trying to sell residential real estate there). And they took everything else. Done and dusted.
- As I left the dump, I regretted I hadn’t thought to bring my golf clubs, or I could have hit a bucket of balls at the range next door. I was still full of pep.
But that didn’t last long. When I got home, I tried working out the measurements for another complicated bookcase I plan to build, but I started making mistakes on the arithmetic and spatial relationships. So I quit and took a nap. By dinner time, I had a sore arm. And I never even ate dinner.
That’s because, in my get-things-done mood, I had done one thing too many. Right at the start, at the pharmacy, I saw a sign urging folks to get the next COVID vaccine shot, and it reminded me I was due for my second shingles shot. So I stopped and did that, because I was up for anything. And the guy who gave it to me assured me I’d never need another one. Which is good news, as it turned out.
Once it took full effect, I was sick the rest of the weekend. I couldn’t remember whether this had happened with the first Shingrix shot, but it had with every COVID shot I’ve had.
My immune system goes nuts in reaction. It feels like having the flu, only there’s no measurable fever. I can’t do anything. Sitting at my computer is too difficult, even something fun like working on my family tree. I just sat and watched movies on the TV. And I had to take periodic recesses from that, for a nap. Watching TV was too tiring.
But this is a good thing, you see. I think it means I have a strong immune system, and it’s doing its thing. No, really. I must have the immune system of Superman. Even though I can’t fly. I just have the one superpower. Apparently, if I was given a choice, I didn’t choose well. Reminds me of something my 9th-grade English teacher said to a classmate: “Boy, when they were handing out brains, you took a ham sandwich.” But while it’s not as cool as moving at super-speed, it’s what I’ve got.
I was pretty much recovered by this morning, so I took another B-12. And look — already, two posts!…
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Got my first Shingrix last week. Felt bad that evening and the next day…but I don’t want shingles that’s for certain. I read where Shingrix may last up to 10 years, so it may last my lifetime.
Which reminds me… My doctor was reviewing my medical history and reminded me that my next colonoscopy was due in a couple of years. But…he said it would be my “last” colonoscopy. Geez, kinda brings things into focus. Thanks for the downer, doc.
Take a B12 and D3 gummie every morning. I think it helps.
Think of it this way — take enough of those vitamins, and maybe you can have ANOTHER colonoscopy.
Sorry, couldn’t resist that. Don’t mean to make light of your longevity (or mine). But hey, you started it…
Yeah, I don’t want shingles, either. My wife had a case of it several years back, and it was quite unpleasant. And that was AFTER getting the vaccine. But the doc told her it would have been worse if she hadn’t.
That’s why I’m encouraged that I felt so bad. Maybe that strong immune response means I won’t even get a mild case….
Fried chicken livers from Nick’s gyros and seafood(Augusta Road) will cure you of all your ills…
This has turned into the Brad Warthen diary. Sigh! Miss the good ole days of political discourse. But all good things must come to an end.
Well, I’m glad you consider it a good thing…
And what do you call this? And this?
Anyway, I’ve got something coming up about Nikki haley, so watch for that. And maybe one about Bobby Kennedy, based on a conversation I had with our friend Phillip.
But, yeah, as I’ve said before, most of what gets said and done in the world of politics these days — the talking points from the ones and the zeroes — just bore me to tears. The conversations out there, on the front pages and elsewhere, have grown so tediously stupid. Just the same stuff over and over. So I write about other things. I will continue to do that. Sorry, especially since you enjoyed the politics. But there will still be some of that, too.
Politics used to matter a great deal, because it was about things that mattered. And no, this isn’t the old guy getting nostalgic about how great things were in his day — although I can give you plenty of that, too.
Right now I’m reading the second book in Edmund Morris’ trilogy about Teddy Roosevelt. And the issues argued about were real things. Instead of everybody yelling and throwing mudpies at each other over Kulturkampf stuff, they talked about … well, I just finished a chapter about how Teddy got mine operators and striking miners together and jawboned them into working something out so that people didn’t freeze to death that winter because they NEEDED that coal to stay warm.
There we’re talking about politics that matters. And there was a lot of good journalism done about it. Because it was worth writing about…
But you see that’s where you’re wrong. There are very important and immensely important political issues today. And much more urgent than a coal strike. For starters global warming is probably the most existential issue of our time. The border stuff is of great importance as a humanitarian crises. The USA has dropped to 54th in life expectancy world wide. Causes include gun violence, COVID, fentanyl, car crashes, suicides and other factors not prevalent in other developed nations and even some not so developed. These are urgent and hardly boring issues. This is our time and these are our challenges. Let’s not wax nostalgic over a bygone era while todays imperatives are ignored. So get that shingles shot but don’t minimize the importance of what we face.
Oklahoma school board votes to approve first publicly funded religious school in the country against their attorney general’s clear guidance that it’s against the state constitution’s plain language.
I guess these “constitutional conservatives” only adhere to the constitution when they feel like it. (Nothing new to those that follow the news on their various positions)
One school board member was replaced just before the vote by the governor who appointed a friend to the board. That vote swung the vote on the decision.
The Catholic school in question has been silent on if they will still discriminate against some children based on a number of factors (disallowed in public schools but often practices with religious schools).
If somehow this passes through the very expensive legal fight that is coming now, other groups like local Satanic temples are preparing to start their own state funded schools.
Oh, it’s Catholic? What’s the problem, then? 🙂