Monthly Archive

Today is our anniversary.

We have been together 11 years. 

I met Someone while on holiday in 1997. I wasn’t expecting this. It was the social hour at Big Ruby’s guesthouse and he was at the table. We started talking.

And here we are 11 years later.  

I sometimes wonder why or how he sticks around. My tendencies to blurt and be distracted drive him bats. He can sit still; I am nearly always in continuous motion. When I moved in 3 years later, I came with all my quirks, cats, season tickets to the opera, and my large and extended (ADHD) family.

If he had only asked a few logical questions when he first met me, perhaps he would have put himself at healthy distance from someone like me.Or at least find a boyfriend-doctor who does a billable procedure !  

But he ‘sticks around’, for which I am grateful.  

It is nice to have him in my life. After 11 years I can not imagine life without him. He takes care of me, and keeps me anchored. Through him I have learned a lot. He is knowledgeable about plays and the theatre and how it works. I have gone on cruise holidays because of him; I doubt I would have ever experienced that sort of vacation if it were not for him.  

We will go to a dinner theatre show tonight. As we will both be ‘post-work’ I suspect we will eat, have a drink and promptly nod off. We are quite the middle aged couple now. But such is life and love and growing older. 

I am glad for having someone – Someone – with whom to nod off and wake up.

Someone has a crock-pot.

I never had one, so I am not familiar with how it can be utilized. He tends to use it for one recipe; he has a very nice recipe for meatballs with pineapple bits. 

Once upon a time, Maddog (the dear) from A Mad Dog in the City sent me a recipe for Spaghetti pie, which is made in a crock-pot. This worked well, so it inspired me to do more. I like to cook, and I like to use the things around the house. I have an itch to learn what can be done with a crock-pot.   

Last week I succumbed to one of the items you see at eye level while waiting for the clerk to ring up your groceries. Between the candies and the gossip magazines was a little book titled “Crock Pot cooking made simple”. It guaranteed easy to make dishes. I bought it on impulse. To justify such folly, I vowed to make at least a few recipes from the booklet.  

Each recipe calls for only a handful of items – some vegetables, some meat, and some additives. You put it all in layers, turn on the heat to ‘low’, go to work and voila! You return home at the end of the day to supper.  

It makes me giddy to have something heating/turned on at home while I am away. I fear that I will come home not to a supper but a burned down house. 

The first dish was a disappointment. It sounded good – chicken with sweet potatoes – but the honey mustard sauce it called for was a nauseated shade of green/yellow. It looked like bile. The chicken and sweet potatoes were overcooked – I got home late so they cooked longer than indicated.  

Anyone out there have a fabulous crock-pot recipe?   

Please share and I will try to make it.

I seem to be in a creative slump again.

The Muses are used to me being in Key West this week; I sense they went away (as is their wont at this time of year). I hope they are getting some sun. Perhaps they are visiting the Furies – it is always a hot time there.  But that leaves me by myself.   

What to write about……. 

Sometimes I feel I have said everything I mean to say. I have a tendency to pick up a hobby, run with it for a while, and then put it down in lieu of a new one. Never fear; I am not closing up the blog!    

Spo-Reflections is approaching its 2^nd birthday in the next month. It makes me ponder what I am doing here. I hope I am adhering to my primary goal of blogging as an outlet for creative writing. I have to watch this. I catch myself eager for comments and sometimes write things ‘to get comments’. This feels wrong. 

Besides, I’ve learned I can’t predict comments. I am continually surprised what scribble of mine get responses. I sometimes write thinking ‘this will be popular’ only to sense no one enjoyed it. At other times an entry written in haste without process evokes a lot of comments.  

Blogging is incalculable. 

My mother is a very nice woman who would not say anything bad about a person no matter what.

She is also a long time member of several women’s church groups.                   
How she does both I don’t know. 

Here is a list titled

“10 statements women can’t say, but at the wrong time of the month might think”. 

I wonder if mother ever thought them. 

1.     That’s the fourth time she has used that excuse.

2.     They are dying like flies around here. If I have to bring in another cake I think I will scream.

3.     Don’t call me for anything. I’m too busy.

4.     Get some of the younger ones to do it.

5.     Let’s cater the darn thing instead.

6.     It’s about time we started using paper plates.

7.     I can’t work (given without an explanation).

8.     I haven’t seen the pastor’s wife get her hands in a sink of water yet.

9.     Nobody wants a big meal for a 3 o’clock funeral, that’s for sure. Sandwiches will just have to do.

10. Let’s keep it simple.

There are two birthday boys today – 

Lewis Caroll  

And  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Act accordingly. 

In honor of the day  - this quote hangs in a big picture in my office.  

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” 

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. 

“I don’t much care where – “ said Alice. 

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. 

“ – so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation. 

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”  

Now, go play some Mozart !!

The week was far too busy.  

There is always a time crunch when one of two things happen – I get a lot of new patients or there are evening events.  New patients mean I need to find time to dictate the notes. Normally I do this in the evening after work. If we are doing things in the evening then there is no time to dictate. “Having a life” interferes with work. 

So I have 10 reports to do this weekend.  

These 10 new people didn’t lack variety; there was an 87 year old man having panic attacks and a few young men devastated their wives are leaving them.  One poor sod came home from a his Christmas holiday back East only to discover his house burned down.  

I went to the doctor to get a work-mandatory TB test. My kvetch was I had to return after 2 days to ‘have it read’. I tactfully pointed out to the tech I could read it as well as anybody and I would call her with the results. This was not acceptable; so I have to go downtown for the 5 seconds it took her to see the (negative) results.

My lipid profile is slightly better, attributed to exercise.  

Speaking of exercise, my personal trainer continues to torture work me hard. I give the fellow credit; I would not do a fraction of this stuff left alone. Most of his proposals evoke either ‘you’ve got to be joking’ or ‘you’re effing mad’.  But his job is to push me.

I have not gained a pound but apparently the body fat % is going down, so I am turning adipose to lean muscle mass.  

I got as far as cutting out the pieces for my new holiday shirt (see 7 January). I’ve not had time to start sewing it up.  It should be fabulous though. 

We are being cheap still haven’t turned on the heat; I think we are trying to go for a winter without having to turn on the furnace.   

So the weekend is here – I need to tidy up the messes around the house, and do more laundry.  For some reason I generate 3-4x as much laundry as Someone.

And – I am overdue reading my blogs. I suppose I could cut them down or out but I really like to see how these 40-50 people are doing.

Good night and see you all this weekend.

With rare exception, I eat alone at lunch time.

In the past 15 years, my jobs have been such that I don’t have co-workers with whom to have lunch or the co-workers can’t connect to have lunch. And there were some times the co-workers didn’t make such good lunch company. There was also the temptation to run out when I can, gobble, and get back to work as soon as possible. 

Eating alone has its benefits. I often read journals and papers. Unfortunately I tend to spill when I am not paying attention to my plate – it is one of the main reasons why I wear bowties.  

Sometimes I get to hear other people’s cell phone calls or conversations. People think that people eating alone are deaf. I have heard many a fanciful conversation at counters and in fast food joints.  It is free entertainment.  Sometimes it is annoying – today I overheard a rather loud man talking nonstop about his operation.  

Overall eating alone is either a dull or a sad past time. I think too much about the lonely situation I have at work.  Eating alone touches a memory of the times I was growing up and ‘forced’ to eat alone or elsewhere (although there is some consolation these kids have grown up to become my patients).

I get tempted to ask a fellow ‘eating alone’ person if they want to join me for company, not unlike the scene in Moonstruck where Olympia D asks another person eating alone to join her for dinner. 

Ah well. It is not a major issue, but I experience it every work day.

A Spo-fan sent me this from the on-line encylcopedia.

In the fictional universe of Babylon 5, spoo is a valuable and highly desired food product. Made from the alien worm-like creatures of the same name, spoo is considered to be the most delicious food in the galaxy, regardless of which species is asked. Although it is a universally loved foodstuff and an actively traded commodity, the creature itself is regarded with contempt by the races that consume it.

Since its introduction on the Babylon 5 television series, spoo has remained popular among fans of the science fiction saga, spawning everything from attempts to cook their own version of spoo, to fan fiction related to the creatures. “Spoo” is also used variously outside the Babylon 5 universe and fan community as a nonsense word.

Today is St. Agnes day, traditionally the coldest day of the year; from now on it only gets warmer - except in Michigan, where it will remain cold only to suddenly go to hot in early June.  Every year on this day I read the poem ‘Eve of St. Agnes Day” by Keats.  

Often on this day we are either preparing or already on our winter holiday. This year it is delayed until middle February. We are going with DougT of Gossamer Tapestry and his partner Leon AKA the Wild One on a week long cruise. We four set up our shore excursions. Douglas has us all hiking to someplace named the “Island of Desolation”. Sounds jolly, no?  

Last weekend was filled with decadent homosexual lifestyle behaviors – we did a lot of laundry, I ironed some shirts, we went to the grocery store, and did some exercise.I just hope I did not wreck anybody’s marriage in the process. 

When we get visitors, we get them starting about now – family and friends wanting to escape the Midwest winter. Before spring time, our “B & B” will host my parents, my friend Joel, Jack Radcliffe, and Someone’s niece.  

I will fly back to Michigan at Easter time to hear my mother sing Mozart’s Requiem. I hope to get to Ann Arbor to see some friends as well.  

The home computer is being difficult. I have a theory it gets overheated and thus slows down. Someone thinks this not likely.  So it must be due to gremlins or Mr. Gate’s crafty minions reeking havoc to annoy and generally make life irritating.  

Several of my blogging buddies are dealing with sickness or depression or financial stress. I hope and pray for their well-being. I believe sending them positive energies is helpful.     

On the first day of my psychiatry rotation in medical school, the professor welcomed us and announced we were to attend a lecture that afternoon with a Dr. Feldman, who would be teaching some introductory topics.

The professor asked me to ask Dr. Feldman the following question – 

“Dr. Feldman, I see you are graying and balding. How come you don’t dye your hair or get a rug?” 

I was dubious to say such a rude thing, but I sensed I was being set up for something.

That afternoon we met Dr. Feldman who was indeed graying and balding. I said my rehearsed statement. Without batting an eye (or hitting me) he replied: 

“Because this is who I am. Self-esteem ultimately comes from inside, not from outside trappings.” 

He went on to talk about how growing up and growing old and being content with who we are – ‘warts and all’ – was one of the main goals of our lives. 

I think about Dr. Feldman whenever I see people with face lifts, botox treatments, and (obvious) plastic surgeries.  Would he approve? Do these maneuvers count towards self-esteem or divert away from working on one’s true Self?

A neighbor (who has a history of ‘having work done’) gave me at Christmas a bag of grooming products to help with baggy eyes, balding scalp, bad skin and dull teeth. At first I was touched, then amused; now I feel a bit off by it.  

I once dyed my beard to take out the gray but thought it looked ‘not me’. I have earned that gray. I have never felt bad about growing old – I know too many people who did not live to grow old and complain about baggy eyelids.  

In the past years, a few acquaintances with plastic surgeries have dropped off contact with me. I suspect it is because we are the same age or they are older – yet they look younger. I may make them look bad viz. “You can tell the other one has had work.” 

I suspect I will be leaving this world mostly ‘as is” 

And Dr. Feldman would be pleased.

Help! 

I confess!

Facebook has me confused! 

People are very kind to ask me to join things and participate on Facebook. They send me all sorts of invites and things to do and read.
And I don’t know what to do! 

Could a few of you send an email or leave a comment as to what are the goals of Facebook, and how it differs from blogging?And what are all these invites that I have yet to follow up?  

I appreciate people’s kindness to include me; the ‘lack of going along’ is not from snubbing but from ignorance. 

Thanks, Michael AKA Urspo AKA Mr. Stupid-tech.

Several Spo-fans have asked about dream analysis, so I thought I would write on this.

The interpretation of dreams goes back to ancient times; dreams have always been thought to hold meaning or herald the future. Whatever dream analysis approach is used, the common principle is dreams get us into contact with material the conscious either can’t or won’t address.

There are so many ways to interpret dreams. One extreme is dreams do NOT have any meaning. Dreaming is a sort of neurological necessity of cleansing the mind. (and why this is necessary for the mind to do, we do not know). I don’t agree with the approach dreams are meaningless, but this is more true when people take antidepressants that effect serotonin levels (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and Effexor and Cymbalta to name a few). These medications play havoc on dream work – patients who take them often report ‘vivid and weird dreams’. I have to assure them it is a side effect of meds and the contents are not worth analyzing the majority of the time.

While I believe dreams hold meaning, there are a lot of dreams that are not important or ‘numinous’. Analyzing dreams is like panning for gold; most dream contents are sand; but a few nuggets are golden.

Sorting through the bits to separate the messages from the random typewriting is a challenge.

Before I get to Jung, let me tell you about the Freudian approach. Based on the Freudian axiom the unconscious is trying to work through repressed conflicts, dream work displays repressed and conflict matters in disguised and symbolic form. The goal of Freudian dream analysis is reductive; distill all these mysterious elements down to ‘the point’. The dream work is personal, about your own psyche.

Jung took an a different approach; the Freudian approach is applied to only some dreams. In Jungian dream work, the dream components are expanded rather than ‘shrunk’. The elements in a dream are developed to learn more about them. And a crucial difference – some dreams are about the Collective Unconscious. The numinous dreams coming from the Collective are about your relationship to the Archetypes, not to personal past events. Jung thought these dreams more relevant towards the growth of the Self.

 The main influences in a dream are –

What medications, drugs or alcohol you are taking.

What you did and ate in the past 24 hours.

What is coming up in your life

What is on your conscious mind.

The elements of the Personal unconscious

And (for Jung) the elements of the Collective Unconscious.

In Jungian analysis of dream work, everybody in the dream more or less represents an element of yourself; they are complexes in your Psyche. So the people you recognize are not really just about ‘you mother’ or ‘your partner’. These everyday characters play roles for things ineffable. Like a director in a play, your mind borrows every day people to be actors to play out complexes and archetypes. After expansion, the elements are examined to see the present structure and strengths of your Ego to the complexes. Once in a while an image seems to pack a punch or seems ‘raw’; these are usually coming from the collective; they need more careful attention.

No therapist relies solely on one way to analyze dreams. Sometimes a dream is ‘nonsense’; some times the Freudian approach feels apt. Sometimes dreams are more superficial and simple; they don’t need much analysis. Once in while they are ‘numinous’ they are directly connecting you to something more than yourself.

Patient fret if they can only recall a bit of a dream that felt important. Not to worry – you will remember the important bits, or the important items will return.

Psyche keeps knocking until you get it.

Recently Brother #4 called; he joked his wife (whom he married last year) was ‘without culture’. She hadn’t seen “Le Miz”, or “Phantom”, or even “The Lion King”.   I held my tongue to point out he was in his mid 20s before he first say a stage play, but I digress.  It did make me think on ‘culture’ in general. 

While I am a fan of classical theatre – opera, plays, chamber music etc. I hardly think these cover all “culture”.  

I am fortunate that I grew up in a family interested in classical ‘culture’. My mother took me to young people’s concerts at the Detroit Symphony. My father played records of classical composers and conveyed they were marvelous. I had piano lessons; father played the guitar; mother sang – she continues to sing to this day. We went to musical theatre and the opera. In junior high school we went to see a local production of ‘As You Like It’. It was my first Shakespeare production. I am sure the high school performance was broad and not very good but I was mesmerized –for life. 

Like a lot of kids, I thought my household was ‘the norm’ and everyone was interested in the same things. Of course this is not true. I met lots of people who have never been to a play or the symphony or a musical, let alone the opera.  I initially felt sad and sorry for these folks. “Who managed your childhood?” I wanted to ask. In response, they were dumbfounded that I didn’t know contemporary music or gone to a rock concert. (My first rock concert was a Jethro Tull concert attended in my freshman year of college).   

So I learned not to make value judgments as to what is ‘culture’. I may attend the opera but I have not been to a professional football game. And pro football is arguably more ‘culture’ than anything I mentioned. 

I have gone to a boxing match.

An aside note – Spo-Reflections is about to have its 40,000th visitor. I thank anyone and everyone for stopping by; it remains an honor for me! 

There remains a generational gap when it comes to seeing a shrink. People over 60 are dragged in kicking and screaming by their relatives. They would rather drop dead than see me. Seeing a shrink means “they are crazy”. They believe I can lock them up at a drop of a hat. This makes me feel like something out of horror movie.

In contrast, 20 year olds come in already self-diagnosed via on-line tests and talks in chat rooms. They are certain of their diagnosis and they already know what medications they want to be on. This reduces me to a cocktail waitress.  

A young woman with a bad alcohol and marijuana problem, who does NOT believe any of this is correlated to her complaints of stomach upset and having no motivation. She refused therapy and sobriety; I dismissed her.  She came back later to demand her co-pay back. And, she interrupted me seeing another patient! 

Several folks recently in hospital discharged to me for follow-up care. They don’t have a clue as to why they were started on their meds, or what the discharge diagnosis was. I see this a lot; I find it incredible people would take something without knowing the reasons why.

On the other hand, people take all sorts of herbals without knowing their contents. 

A man who ‘has no time to make appointments’ wants his prescription renewed. Not seen him in a long while, he is annoyed I won’t prescribe until I see him again. 

I have a patient who states she sees and talks to Abraham Lincoln. Either she is one of the sickest persons I have seen in a long while, or she is full of BS. The diagnosis of Malingering is a tough one to sort through.  

Several elderly folks are coming from nursing homes. Reading between the lines; somebody wants them medicated so they won’t holler or pull at the staff or take off their tops. Medicating someone with demented agitation is controversial; I am in the dilemma that if I don’t ‘do something’ the staff with kick these poor sods out.  

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. One middle aged man announced he was going to kill himself rather than pay out his lawsuit. Trying to keep him alive has been a challenge. He announced last week there was a mistake in the lawsuit and it is dropped. He didn’t acknowledge any gratitude towards my approach.  

Apparently sharing your meds, and dropping them down the drain remains a fun filled activity for people to do.  Try it some time; only the Xanax and the Vicodin will go down the sink.

Apparently yesterday’s entry was a dud judging by the lack of comment. It was either too boring or upsetting. Perhaps it was too lofty.

Time for a little nonsense.

Here is a list of words that make me feel good to say out loud. 

Nerdle 

Spo 

Nertz to you

Gunga la Gunga (accompanied by thumping my chest) 

Bullocks 

Stinko 

Oh, dearohdearohdearohdear 

And  

Fabulous! (said a few different ways)

Now it is your turn; tell me your favorite nonsense word(s)

This one is about the Child Complex.  

There is some debate in contemporay Jungian psychology as to what archetypes are more important. In my own work with patients, I too don’t find everybody in need to explore every complex and archetype. For example – I didn’t run into many patients who need to get in touch with “The Musician”.  However, several archetypes seem to be ‘popular’ that nearly everybody has to/wants to deal with them.  

The Child Complex is one of these. After all, everybody was a child.  

I got through 4 years of intense psychoanalytical theory training without hearing any professor say the words ‘Inner Child’. “Getting in touch with your Inner Child” became popular in the 80s. It is a popular process as many people have obvious hurts from childhood that continue to haunt their present. It also allows them to be ‘childlike’ again, and allow some parental figure (the therapist usually) to be the adult who will take care of them.  

Like all archetypes, The Child is neither good nor bad but with good and bad attributes. You know the good elements of the Child– being carefree, open, innocent, playful, and curious about the way thing are. When you are a Child you have all sorts of growth potential. On the negative – well, we all know how nasty children can be to each other, and we’ve all seen the negative elements – screaming, selfish, ill-behaved creatures. In brief; brats.   

I am wary when people want to get in touch with the Child archetype. What is their goal here? If it is to work through hurts to move on to being a less traumatized and victim-driven Adult, than the process is a good thing. In no way should the Child complex end up ‘running the show’. 

We all know child-like or childish adults; they make lousy mates and co-workers and bosses, as they are acting like children, not adults.  

An element of the Child Archetype is a child’s sense of justice. It is punitive and concrete.

If you are good = you deserve a reward. 

If you are bad = you deserve to be punished.

And –

If you did not do anything wrong = life should not be punishing you. 

When I hear patients upset they are good people, they haven’t done anything wrong, or they are trying so hard to be good, yet ‘look how bad life is screwing me over’ I know I am dealing with someone with a Child in charge of the Psyche. An inflated inner Child is shown by anger at the world when it hasn’t given them what they feel is fair. Sometimes this ‘Dog in the Manger’ won’t let anybody else have happiness or growth until it is satisfied ‘justice’ is achieved.  

Like all complexes, the Child complex needs to be examined and ‘put in its place’ with just the right amount of psychic energy.  (this diminishing of an inflated complex is where we get the word ’shrink’).

The Ego is driving the van - the Child is in its chair.

Children can be cute passengers but they are lousy drivers.   

i got this one from Tony at “Being Normal”

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?  a few empties that I plan on putting in the recycling bin at home.
2. When was the last time you threw up? I despise throwing up; alas I have a nervous stomach and it is not uncommon to do so. Happily, I have not done so since 2/07 and my Costa Rica experience.
3. What’s your favorite curse word?  Stinko.
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? No one made me smile today.
5. What were you doing at 8 a.m. this morning? Seeing my first patient. They put the ‘easy ones’ in the morning – people I need to see once in a while to continue their medicines.
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Reading blogs
7. Where were you born? Detroit, Michigan
8. Have you ever been to a strip club? Yes.  We called it the Windsor Ballet.
9. What is the last thing you said aloud? Survive the day (said to Someone).
10. What is the best ice cream flavor? Raspberry Sorbet
11. What was the last thing you had to drink?  White tea.
12. What are you wearing right now? khaki pants, white shirt, no tie and a green sweater vest.
13. What was the last thing you ate? The vegetarian platter at Daphne’s
14. Have you bought any new clothes this week? No.
15. Where were you last? At lunch  
16. What’s the last sporting event you watched? Bits of the Lions game last Thanksgiving.
17. Who won? Not sure as I didn’t see the end. The Lions usually loose.
18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message while blogging?  Homer, at Homer’s World (the dear!)
19. Ever go camping? Yes, with the Boy Scouts, a long time ago!
20. Where do you live?  East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
21. What song are you listening to? The awful piped music to make the clinical hall noisy. I am hearing ‘Where is the Love?”
22. Do you tan?   Yes, slowly and to a dark brown.  
23. Do you drink your soda from a straw? No.
24. What did your last text message say? I don’t think I have ever sent a text message.
25. Who’s your best friends? Scott and George
26. What are you doing tomorrow? More patient appointments.
27. Where is your mom right now? In Grosse Pointe Woods, MI
28. Look to your right, what do you see? A collection of teapots, cups and an old CD player – presently playing the music from “Angels in America”.
29. What color is your watch? I do not wear a watch.
30. What do you think of when you think of where you live? Strip malls, nasty traffic and bad air, with hotheaded people who don’t like Mexicans.
31. Ever ridden on a roller coaster? Yes, but not in a long while
32. What is your birthstone? Ruby. I have one set in a Ring of Power.
33. Do you go in at a fast-food place or just hit the drive through? I try not to eat fast food, but I would ‘go in’ to avoid sucking up the exhaust in front of me.
34. What is your favorite number? 367
35. Do you have a dog? No but we are in the process of the limitations to getting a pooch.
36. Last person you talked to on the phone? My mother.
37. Have you met anyone famous? Sure. The most famous I suppose would be Marilyn Horne.
38. Any plans today? going to the gym for a half hour run on the treadmill.
39. How many states have you lived in? Michigan, Illinois, and Arizona.
40. Ever go to college?  4 actually.
41. Where are you right now? In the guest room, looking out onto the citrus bush in the back yard. I see we have a lot of lemons.
42. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Filling out credential papers
43. Are you struggling to forgive someone right now? No, I think I have forgiven all.
44. Are you allergic to anything? Ragweed and a few other pollens. I am also allergic to sulfa based medications.
45. Favorite pair of shoes? Cha-cha heels but nice girls don’t wear them.

Someone maintains the house hold budget. Being a banker, he does this very well. The 2007 budget is finished; the findings are always intriguing. For example; we eat out too much and don’t buy enough groceries. The biggest ‘over budget’ item of 2007 was ‘Entertainment’ viz. tickets to theatre and opera and shows etc. I don’t think we see a lot of staged entertainment – I suspect it is because theatre is so expensive.  

Someone told me Mel Brooks’ new show “Young Frankenstein” costs 450$ a ticket. Holy Gus! As my grandmother would say. Apparently they get enough people to charge that? I can not throw stones as we shell out 100-150$ a seat to hear the Lyric Opera of Chicago (there are less expensive seats but we are tired of sitting in the rafters).

I am not a sports fan, but I hear the price of a game is not cheap.

The Super Bowl is in town; I can only imagine the cost of a ticket.

Rock concerts and Las Vegas shows cost an arm and a leg too.

And Babs doesn’t sing cheaply either.  

I find it sad ‘theatre’ is so expensive. I can’t imagine a young family going out to a show. My parents used to take my brother and me to the Detroit Symphony and to the Fisher Theatre – can you imagine what it would now? This may explain why the audience median age at ‘the classics’ seems to be about 60.  Younger folks can’t afford it; and how would they know if they are interested if they can’t go check it out? 

I am glad some places like the Shaw and the Stratford festivals offer discounted family rates to entice younger folks to come in. 

Meanwhile, Someone and I are cutting back on theatre tickets in order to fill the gas tanks. 

I sometimes ‘read’ books by listening to them on CD. Sometimes I get a book for the delight to hear a good actor read it. The works of Dickens or “The Flashman” series do well this way, especially when the reader does a good accent.

Sometimes I choose books that are challenging to read due to its length or complexity viz. I am not disciplined enough to keep at it.  

I recently finished hearing the unabridged reading of James Joyce “Ulysses”.

I purchased it last August; I finished it the other week.   It took 40 CDs.  

Phew! 

It is a splendid book. To read it is the literary equivalent of climbing the Mt. Everest.  I’ve read it before, but the sheer volume and the difficult parts caused me to skip vast amounts of it miss a lot.  

For those who don’t know this 20^th century masterpiece, it is about a man named Leopold Bloom who goes through the entire journey of the Odyssey in one day’s time, in 1904 Dublin.  It finishes with his wife’s introspective thoughts done in free association –“ and yes I said yes I will yes”. That is one of my favorite lines from literature. 

Speaking of hearing things, last year I discovered the “The Teaching Company”. They put college level lectures on CDs so you can learn history, economics, science etc. for the joy of learning. I like history. So far I have heard fantastic courses on Greek, Roman, and Russian History. We just ordered the lecture series on the history of the Vikings, How to listen to the Opera, and the history of the Medieval Ages. Yum.  

They are good for road trips and the long drive to/from work.    

I recently got a compliment from Jake at Jake’s Life -

 http://www.jakeslife.net/wordpress.

 He gave me an award!  

I thank you Jake, for such an honor.

It is the closest thing I will get to that Nobel Prize in Literature!!

I am so happy!  I found a much coveted fabric to make a new shirt! 

Some Spo-fans know I make tropical shirts. In 2007 I did not make any – I could not find any fabric that caught my fancy. I have so many shirts; nowadays it takes a fabulous fabric to become a member of the “Spo line”.  

Someone and I are going on a cruise next month and I want to make a new shirt (lest there is “talk”)  

In 2002 I found this fantastic fabric in Key West. I made a shirt for the Best Friend. Since then I have hoped to find more of the same fabric.   

This is called ‘Beach Boys”. It is full of spry young lads with surf boards and hibiscus flowers. Isn’t it fabulous?  Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, I found ‘Beach Boys’ in red and in blue.   

As soon as the fabric arrives I plan to buckle down in making matching shirts for Someone and me - just in time for the cruise.

Ain’t that sweet?  

Tommy Bahama – suffer!

I thought I would write out some more Jungian Psychology.  This one is about depression. 

I have to go carefully here. “Depression’ is a loose word used to describe many different types of things. The treatment of depression depends on your definition of it and what model you use. For example, nowadays I work primarily in the ‘medical model’ of depression, based on the disease and physiological models.  I am not going to write about that model. I am going to write about a psychological theory of depression.  

Spiritual depression is not the same as clinical depression although they can look a lot alike and have very different treatment plans.  

Several schools of psychology see depression not necessarily as a bad thing to eradicate ASAP. In the object relations theory ‘depression’ is a GOOD sign of healing when split off parts of the psyche are melded back into the whole. In the Jungian theory, depression is a symptom of a wrong direction, or a necessary step of discarding false matters to make room for real psychological growth.  So, in Jungian psychology, depression is not an ‘illness’ per se – it is a signal; sort of like a ‘red warning light’ that comes on when your engine has a problem. 

Depression is a state of being where libido (psychic energy) is sucked down from the conscious state into the unconscious.  ‘The well is dry’. The waters have retreated down into the depths. According to Jung, the Unconscious or the Self does this as a protective measure – your psyche wants to you sit up and pay attention to something awry in your life. And your Psyche doesn’t want you to squander libido foolishly – so it is withdrawn for your protection and for your attention.  

Ironically ‘being depressed’ is considered a good thing as it is seen not as disease but as a blown fuse – something the body does to avoid further meltdown.  When depressive symptoms occur in Jungian analysis, the patient isn’t quickly rushed into ‘curing it’. He or she is made to ‘be’ with it and look at ‘what is going wrong in your life’. ”Getting you less depressed as soon as possible’ is not high on the agenda.

When you are in a desert, you should not too run fast to get out of it.  

Going through depression, or the Dark Night of the Soul, is no fun but it is the start of real growth.  

A very different approach - indeed.   

I recently read most high school kids are clueless about history.

I recently found a history quiz that made me smile. I thought I would pass on to you –

Which of the following men was president of the USA –

A) George Washington

B) Lionel Jefferson

C) Gomez Adams

D) George Hamilton

Name the Civil War poem that became the national anthem -

A) “The Battle Hymn of the Republic’

B) ‘Free Bird’

C) ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’

D) ‘The creepy theme from the X-Files’

The most famous Indian Chief in US history was

A) Sitting Bull

B) Cher

C) Bobby Cox

D) That guy who cries when we litter

Who was president during WWI?

A) Woodrow Wilson

B) Mr. Wilson, the neighbor of Dennis the Menace

C) Brian Wilson

D) Flip Wilson

Who flew across the Atlantic in 1927?

A) Charles Lindbergh

B) Charles Parmesan

C) Charles Cheddar

D) Chuck E. Cheese.

You should take four weeks off every year for holiday, vacation, time off etc.About one week’s worth per season is what I recommend.  Not only does this contribute to mental and physical health, it promotes better work attendance and happier people.   

There are a lot of impediments preventing taking this proper amount of vacation time. Most Americans barely take two week off. Some are snookered into the great American Lie the world will fall apart if they don’t work OR their finances would suffer too much.  Most people work for somebody else, and ‘somebody’ is usually rather stingy giving time off – on the other grand Lie that somebody won’t make enough money. Irony! By giving enough time off, people are less likely to ‘make time off’ via calling in sick or really getting really sick. 

The clinic where I work used to be open on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and day after Thanksgiving. The previous doctors either had nothing else to do or were worried about losing money.  I upset the clinic culture when I arrived. As a white collar professional I am not going to work these days AND I am taking 3 weeks off per year – so I come across as being selfish. That is what you are labeled when you take care of yourself – selfish.  Translation; I am not putting the ‘needs’ of others first.  

As it is the new year, I am thinking of the places I want to visit in 2008.

I will be going on a cruise in middle February.I will be going this summer to the Stratford and Shaw festivals. So, what do I do with the other two weeks? I may ‘nickel and dime’ it by taking several long weekends.  

-I really want to get back to Palm Springs.

-I want to hear my mother sing Mozart’s Requiem this Good Friday in Michigan.

-This Memorial Day the Best Friend is in charge of his town’s beer tent and I am well experienced in handing out the brewskies. 

-There is an exposition at Seed Savers Farm in Iowa this Summer.  

Perhaps I can even squeeze in a trip to Portland or Florida or NYC to meet some blogger buddies. Now that be a treat!   

Some Spo-fans suggest I reprint some of my writings from the journals I mentioned last week.

                Here is the journal entry date January 3^rd, 1978.  I was 15 years old.

 “School is lousy. (I) Had a lot of homework, especially (from) Mr. Montle. [he taught geometry] Lifesaving class is awful since we have to do the breast and side stroke, both I can’t do. It is hell. “Soap” was fair and I’m watching Johnny Carson the lousiest comedian in the world. Tomorrow the librarians are striking but I think I won’t. They were wrong. I may regret it. Johnny Carson is awful. He sucks. Good night and good luck tomorrow.”

Yikes!

The year is not starting as smoothly as I hoped. 

Between work responsibilities and social obligations, I haven’t had any time to write a decent blog entry or visit my blogger buddies.  

And all I wanted in 2008 was peace and time! 

Now that the holidaze are past, I hope there is more free time and life settles down. I rather liked January back in Michigan as it was too cold to do much or go anywhere. So it was a relatively quiet month. May it be so this year. 

One of my many New Year resolutions is to become a bronzed god get into better shape by 2009  - only way to do that is to get to the gym.

To avoid bad backs, daily stretching is indicated. 

And I have got to something about taking down the Christmas tree.   

So Spo-fans may see only intermittent entries here for a while.

Everyone hang in there.