Big, Old Crazy World...
...with thanks to John Prine.
I don't often watch TV, or pick up a newspaper for that matter, but every once in a while I have a yen to catch up on whatever is going on out there. After having done so I can bury my head again for a month or two knowing everything will trundle along just the way it is supposed to quite nicely without my input, influence or even noticing. So - a few points of note...
The world waits and watches for developments following the elections in Zimbabwe. With no results being reported publicly more than a week after the fact suspicions grow regarding vote fixing by Mugabe and his supporters. Will they walk away?? Does the future hold a smooth transition of power?? Do the people face civil war??
The Olympic Torch Relay has turned into an organized protest PR fiasco with no winners. Not the protesters, not Beijing nor China and certainly not the Tibetan people. This is one situation where protest may worsen the circumstance it hopes to improve. What are the determinants of successful protest? Now ex-patriate Chinese nationals are protesting the way western media are handling the story.
Kudos!! Bob Dylan has been awarded an honorary Pulitzer prize; a first for anyone involved in popular music. - a ‘Special’ Pulitzer “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” I know; my bias is showing but..... BLOODY WELL ABOUT TIME !!! Now go listen to his latest CD 'Modern Times'.
As noted on her own blog 'Miss Music Nerd' takes our national radio broadcaster CBC Radio 2 to task for seriously messing with their programming. After having devoted years and years to good programming which brought about an informed listening audience the powers that be have decided to 'dumb it down' to make it more accessible to the masses. I'm a pretty recent devotee and I'm more than a little cheesed off ..... I couldn't agree more with those posting to the R2 blogs to air their grievances. Please keep the mandarins meddling little fingers off the Lord's Prayer lest it be all f*cked up, too. (Nice to have you listening from across the border MMN - we'll have to wait and see how this plays out)
On a personal level - nice of you to ask..... I've laid myself low today - not feeling 100%; a little flu-ish. Got up later than intended and managed to get a few loads of laundry out of the way. Had two calls from my boss - the first to see if I could work one of those 26 hour overnight shifts on Friday; the second; a last minute request for me to work tomorrow. Yessir and yessir, two bags full. So much for my plan tonight to spend it with Lynda........
Cousin BJ and I have been anxiously awaiting any word about Fave Uncle's bypass surgery - it's awfully late in the day and no word as yet, dammit.
Oh, for anyone keeping track it's 4 weeks today smoke free; WOO-HOO!!!! The insomnia is still in full force but I had a couple of good chemically induced sleep sessions. Had to - I was beginning to see 'stuff' - not good. Maybe that will kick me out of this rut though and allow me to get to sleep naturally.
I don't often watch TV, or pick up a newspaper for that matter, but every once in a while I have a yen to catch up on whatever is going on out there. After having done so I can bury my head again for a month or two knowing everything will trundle along just the way it is supposed to quite nicely without my input, influence or even noticing. So - a few points of note...
The world waits and watches for developments following the elections in Zimbabwe. With no results being reported publicly more than a week after the fact suspicions grow regarding vote fixing by Mugabe and his supporters. Will they walk away?? Does the future hold a smooth transition of power?? Do the people face civil war??
The Olympic Torch Relay has turned into an organized protest PR fiasco with no winners. Not the protesters, not Beijing nor China and certainly not the Tibetan people. This is one situation where protest may worsen the circumstance it hopes to improve. What are the determinants of successful protest? Now ex-patriate Chinese nationals are protesting the way western media are handling the story.
Kudos!! Bob Dylan has been awarded an honorary Pulitzer prize; a first for anyone involved in popular music. - a ‘Special’ Pulitzer “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” I know; my bias is showing but..... BLOODY WELL ABOUT TIME !!! Now go listen to his latest CD 'Modern Times'.
As noted on her own blog 'Miss Music Nerd' takes our national radio broadcaster CBC Radio 2 to task for seriously messing with their programming. After having devoted years and years to good programming which brought about an informed listening audience the powers that be have decided to 'dumb it down' to make it more accessible to the masses. I'm a pretty recent devotee and I'm more than a little cheesed off ..... I couldn't agree more with those posting to the R2 blogs to air their grievances. Please keep the mandarins meddling little fingers off the Lord's Prayer lest it be all f*cked up, too. (Nice to have you listening from across the border MMN - we'll have to wait and see how this plays out)
On a personal level - nice of you to ask..... I've laid myself low today - not feeling 100%; a little flu-ish. Got up later than intended and managed to get a few loads of laundry out of the way. Had two calls from my boss - the first to see if I could work one of those 26 hour overnight shifts on Friday; the second; a last minute request for me to work tomorrow. Yessir and yessir, two bags full. So much for my plan tonight to spend it with Lynda........
Cousin BJ and I have been anxiously awaiting any word about Fave Uncle's bypass surgery - it's awfully late in the day and no word as yet, dammit.
Oh, for anyone keeping track it's 4 weeks today smoke free; WOO-HOO!!!! The insomnia is still in full force but I had a couple of good chemically induced sleep sessions. Had to - I was beginning to see 'stuff' - not good. Maybe that will kick me out of this rut though and allow me to get to sleep naturally.
Labels: CBC Radio 2, Dylan, Miss Music Nerd, Olympic Torch, Pulitzer, Zimbabwe
posted by Norm at 4/08/2008 06:15:00 PM
2 Comments:
congrats on the smoke free milestone!
btw, have you ever tried melatonin or tryptophan?
i bought some in the states, cos we can't get it dowunder, and it has been nothing short of miraculous in helping me recover from a 48 hour trip home across 5 time zones
they reckon melatonin is great for shift workers . . . for what it's worth
Thanks Kel for your good wishes and the reminder about melatonin and trytophan.
Time was that I had to cross the border to get melatonin. Not any more, but I haven't re-tried it in the years since I quit drinking. (Not in a sensible, regular way)
Tryptophan - I'll have to check but even though it's a naturally occuring substance I'm pretty sure it's a one I have to either stay away from or be careful how I use.
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