As kind of a crazy thing, I haven’t given a live presentation in fifteen years. But last week I was asked to give a two-hour talk about writing and editing, and after that I decided to create this video presentation on YouTube, titled, Almost Everything I Know About Writing. It’s a 33-minute long presentation that’s based on the introduction to the original presentation, and if you’re interested in technical writing, I hope it’s helpful.
In case this might help anyone else, I thought I’d share this information. I was having a weird problem where some mornings when I woke up my blood pressure would be really high, so long story short, I did an at-home sleep study a few weeks ago, and went over the results with a doctor this morning. I’ll include the doctor’s notes with each image.
In the first image, “A+H” is the main metric they use. It measures the average number of apnea events that occur per hour while you’re sleeping.
In my case, a 19.4 overall average means, “Yes, you have apnea.” The 36.8 value means, “you have really bad apnea on your back, don't sleep there.” Interestingly, 0.7 means “you have no apnea when sleeping on your left side, so sleep there as much as possible.” I’ve known for years that I sleep better on the left side, so the doctor encouraged me to sleep on that side as much as possible.
“Do that thing that will charm you, that will make you say, ‘Yes, it’s the real me.’ Do that, and you’re alive.”
(I don’t remember where that quote comes from,
but I like it.)
[Note: This is a chapter from a currently-unpublished book I’m (slowly) writing on meditation and mindfulness.]
As a spiritual being, one possible way to think of life here on Earth is as a “game” that serves as a training ground for the soul. It’s a game like other games, so it has many levels, and they get harder and harder as you progress. So in this case, the better you become at the game of spirituality — The Soul Game — the harder the levels become.
“Remember, remember, the fifth of November.”
~ from the movie, V for Vendetta
Peter Gabriel, discussing a moment of “enlightenment” that reminds me of the movie V for Vendetta:
I was doing some gigs in Germany with Frank Zappa ... we were supporting Frank Zappa. And his audience in Berlin were very much old hardcore hippies, and they thought I was just cheap shit, and the boos was just ... this rain of stuff being thrown on the stage. It was very humbling.
Next night we’re in another German city and I thought, “Oh shit, here we go”, and we go out there again, and a similar sort of reaction, they hate it. But it wasn’t just the music, it was me, personally, you know, they meant it.
And suddenly I had one of those moments and I thought, “That’s it, I’m no longer afraid.”
You know the thing you’re most scared of when you get on stage is being rejected and booed off, and I suddenly realized I’d been booed off and I was still out there. They didn’t like it any more, but I was still doing it, and they couldn’t stop me.
And I just started giggling. And Tony Levin looked over like I’d gone crazy. But it was a fantastic moment of enlightenment.
Coach Billy Donovan called Dosunmu “fearless’’ once again.
“My motto is just fear God, so I don’t fear anything but God,’’ Dosunmu said. “When I go out there and compete, I trust in what I can do.”
~ a quote from this page
After several days of intense programming, I thought I'd take a break for something much less serious: Funny bumper sticker quotes and sayings. :)
These are a variety of funny/joke bumper stickers quotes/sayings that I've seen over the last year or two. A few others were sent to me by friends who know I like a good bumper sticker ... well, as long as it's not on my car.
Continuing along with my great diverticulitis adventure (or, “How I spent the Spring of 2015“), yesterday I took another trip to the ER, had another CT scan, and to my great surprise I found out that I don’t have diverticulitis, but instead I have something called Epiploic appendagitis:
A note from June 7, 2015:
“So, you want to go out with me, right?”
“I have to be honest with you,” she said, suddenly looking serious.
“Uh-oh. I’ve heard that before.”
“No, not that,” she said, with a little smile.
“Okay ...”
“I have MS.” Long pause. “Do you know what that means?”
“Yes, yes I do.”
“In order to understand a man, you have to understand his past.”
~ Columbo
It’s noon. There’s a knock on the door. I open the door.
UPS guy: “Hi, I have a package for you.”
Me: “Um, hi. Gosh, sorry I’m still in my pajamas, and I haven’t shaved in a few days, and don’t look at the apartment, it’s a real mess. It’s because blah blah blah ...”
“We don’t judge, sir. We just deliver. Have a nice day.”
“When you practice as though this were your last moment, you will have freedom from everything.”
Shunryu Suzuki, not always so
June 13, 2016: The possibility that I have a tumor that could kill me any day has made many relationships different. Some people check in daily, “How you doing?” Other people have disappeared almost completely. I guess everyone has to deal with it in their own way. I just try to follow the Shawshank advice: “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Possibly because of the mast cell disease, I have had a Vitamin D deficiency on and off for many years. Per the latest blood work it’s really low right now, which may be why I have been having muscular weakness, bone pain, and difficulties concentrating. This list of symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency comes from this healthline.com page.
This nih.gov article states that Vitamin D helps to stabilize mast cells. I always thought my Vitamin D levels were very low because of mast cell disease, but maybe something else caused the Vitamin D problem which made the mast cell problem worse, dunno.
I’m spending my weekend moving the HTML version of my book, How I Sold My Business: A Personal Diary, over to this website. I had it on a separate website, but I’m trying to simplify my life, and I also like the idea of having all of my content searchable on this site.
When I watched the movie Coffee Shop I knew that Laura Vandervoort wasn’t singing the songs in the movie, and I assumed that the artist singing was Norah Jones, but it turns out that was wrong. The actual singer’s name is Mandi Mapes, and the two songs are called “Dance With Me” and “In Your Arms.” Videos for both of the Coffee Shop songs are shown below.
“Man is drawn between two paths: One drags him downwards towards fulfillment of desires and sense gratifications, leading to bondage and destruction; the other guides him upwards towards purity and realization of his inner Self. Desires fog his mind and veil his true Self. It is the mind alone which leads to bondage or to liberation. It is his reason which either controls his mind or allows itself to be dominated.”
~ from the book, Light on Pranayama
Just for now,
Without asking how,
Let yourself sink into stillness.
Just for now, lay down the weight
You so patiently bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive you,
And the infinite expanse of the sky grow even wider,
As your awareness reaches up to meet it.
Just for now,
Allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience.
Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth.
Just for now,
Be boundless, free,
With awakened energy tingling in your hands and feet.
Drink in the possibility,
Of being who and what you really are,
So fully alive that the world looks different,
Newly born and vibrant,
Just for now.
~ A poem by Danna Faulds that a friend shared on Facebook. I don’t know what book of hers it’s in, but it sounds like it might be in a book titled, Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga. It also sounds like things my yoga teacher used to say, and the title reminds me of my Back To Now app.
