Doctor, doctor, give me some news

Thank you for those of you who send my mom good wishes for her recovery. She had to be hospitalized for pneumonia. She was in Whittier's Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital for five days! She was lucky that she had the same doctor assigned to her case. Last time she was in the hospital for Congestive Heart Failure II kept meaning one doctor after another. This time only had to deal with one during most of her stay. He was a wonderful doctor, always checking in on her each morning and also taking time to make an extra visit to address my issues and concerns. I know I can be a bitch on wheels and very demanding but Doctor Abbid Shah, M.D. was always considerate of my feeling and answering my questions. hey, I have only one mother! Doctor Abbid Shah,MD was always very detailed with his supervision over my mother's case, he was also as handsome as a prince from the Arabian Nights yet spoke with an English accent which was rather surprising. Poor man must have a nightmare when he and his family travel by air! I had a gal pal with the last name of Said and she was always having to go through that extra baggage check experience. He may sound like Ringo Starr but looks like a Shah but he does not look like a terrorist! But iI don't want to get onto my beef with this so called HomeLand Security. I was very pleased with how the whole staff at PIH treated my mother. The hospital is very clean and the offer great services like Free Valet parking but no matter how lovely a hospital is there is something so depressing the whole atmosphere in a hospital. I don't know how people handle working in one. I don't understand why there are so many TV shows about doctors and hospitals, for I see nothing glamourous about hospital or the people who work in one. I had a college girlfriend who's main ambition was to married a doctor, so after she graduated she moved up to the Bay Area and sure enough I got an announcement that she was engaged to a doctor. Talk about the power of the secret! Still, what a shallow dream! I don't dream of being married to an award winning writer such as Neil Gaiman, I want to BE an award winning writer like an Neil Gaiman! Be the dream don't marry the dream! Besides I think marriage and relationships can be dream killers! Does anyone watch the TV show "Madmen"? Last Sunday's show was great, it showed Betty Drader drinking wine, smoking with the intensity of Ibsen"s Hedda Gabler and dreaming of a love affair like a 1960 Madame Bovary. It showed how the frustrated house wife isn't interested in have a sexual affair (like her lustful husband Don), the show showed she wanted the adventure of a romance. If you wonder about why we had a woman's movement watch that show, for poor, cold Betty Draper is detached from her husband, children and most of all herself! Well, I guess I got off the subject again! I just want to say my mother is home and thank you all for your kind words of support!

Excuse me?

Our President Obama has just won the Nobel Peace Prize! EXCUSE me! He has just escalated the war in Afghanistan! What part of peace don't they get! I support our President; I voted for him! But damn: the man isn't walking his talk! I want all our troops HOME!

Catch 22

Damn: the nightmare never ends. Today my mother is weak and her breathing is labored, the home nurse says her pulse is low and we called the doctor to make an appointment. Eight thirty a.m. Wednesday morning. Asked nurse if I should take her to ER but I know if I take her to the ER it will wear her out more , waiting around for hours just to admit her! He said to monitor her so it's no sleep for me tonight! I know that the ER would be very hard on her. Feel like I'm caught between the proverbial rock and hard place!

A pretty face is like a melody

I was going through the photos I took while at the World Con in Montreal and noticed this one I took at the signing wall, that gave a quick bio of each writer, (as if people at the con needed to read a bio of who Neil Gaiman was!) I remember this photo gave me a good laugh, for that man hasn't look that pretty for at least a decade! Made me wonder why they used such an old photo of the Dream King? I must admit, when I first saw the talented writer, five years ago, I was impressed by how handsome he was! He was showing signs of aging, there was white hairs in that famous jet black mane but still a damn, rock-star handsome man! I had seen him often from a distance but due to his huge fan base never bothered to go through that pain in the proverbial ass of waiting in a signing line (God Bless you DreamHaven Book Store!). So not until I went to the world con in Montreal did I notice how much that poor man has aged! And not in a good way! I was shocked to see how haggard and gaunt his face looked! He looked like a man in his mid-fifties pushing sixty than a man who is going to be 49 this year! Plus he had a bit of a gut, which was real odd for his arms were very slim and lacked muscle tone. It was so depressing! The first day I saw him walk by me, I wanted to break out in tears, for it was so sad to see once such a handsome man change so.

So why did they post this glamour shot? It reminded me those flyers I get from yoga studio, advertising a workshop and on the flyer they show a youthful, buff , sexy man and when you attend the workshop you realize that this photo was taken YEARS ago and the yoga teacher is no longer young and often a bit heavy set. Do they they think we woman are as shallow as men and are only interested in a pretty face?

Love among the ruins

This is my favorite photo of the Dream King Neil Gaiman, for he's wearing color! Not exactly an unattractive man but far from the glamour short above. The poor man bags under his eyes had excess baggage and his complexion was so swarthy and blotchy. After seeing him I wondered what a 33 year old Amanda Palmer saw in him, but then when one is a 48 year old famous, talented and wealthy man, it's easy for a man to attract a much younger woman. Then to be fair , Mr. Gaiman can very very charming. Still, I was rather shock and depressed to see how much he had aged!

Once apond a midnight dreary

The heat is triple digits hot and the foothills are a blazed, it hard to believe that it's actually Fall and soon it will be sweater weather and we will be sipping hot cider and sharing ghosts stories on a chilly Fall evening.I believe the reason I love ghost stories so, is because I find comfort in thinking there may be another reality than this, My heart has been broken too often to bring me faith in this one.

Danger, danger, don't talk to strangers...

I was reading Miss Canary's blog and she was writing about being in a new town and how wonderful it is to meet new people. In this country we are so paranoid about trusting strangers. As a child I was taught the American mantra :"Danger, danger , don't talk to strangers" but that is just a great injustice to our spirit, Yes, there are BAD people OUT there! And some wicked , sick,evil people out there wishing to cause us harm but most victims of violent crimes know the person who commits the crime to them. And some mass murderers get away with their crimes because they count on strangers not coming to the aid of other strangers. So we American's keep up this emotional fence of defense around them but I believe that most people are really kind. I love to travel because it gets me out of my comfort zone and makes me go out and communicate to strangers. If you are careful and keep your awareness of your surrounding you can avoid being a victim of crime and most people just want your money. If if comes down to it SHOW them the money and run like hell. It's just money, let them have it! Still in the everyday world most people aren't out to harm you. I notice that now people are hiding behind their BlackBerry or I phone, chatting to strangers they'll never meet (sharing more details than they share with their co-workers who see them everyday!) So instead of sitting in a Starbucks or even a Sport's Bar and sharing a simple thought with a stranger we choose to remain ALONE! Put down the damn phone, look up from your laptop and connect with the human being next to you. While at the WorldCon I smiled at a woman wearing a Worldcon badge and I asked her what she did for a living. She was a writer and invited me to join her group at the bar. That evening I met a group of wonderful, fun people , (one who I still write to on Facebook , the amazingly, talented Virginia O"Dine) we dined then went out and explored the night-life in Montreal. Now, if I wasn't the type to talk to strangers or had my head buried in my BlackBerry I would had spend a lonely evening in my hotel room instead of having a good time in a super town with super people! So Talk to strangers!