Kubler-Ross and the Autumn

The Stages of Fall:  Transition Into Winter

I've noticed the stages of dealing with the autumn mimic the stages of Transition here in Maine.

First, we work through our denial.  It isn't just the people, the plants are just as busy trying to outgrow each other.  Winter won't come our way if we don't look at it. 

With the first early winter snow this year before Halloween, we have moved into the anger stage.  Racks of shovels adorn every store.  The armamentary of snowblowers and snow melters and heaters line our sidewalks.  We will battle snow with every ounce of our will.

But already we've moved into the bargaining stage.  We're trying to limit the damage.  I've already said, "no more than twelve feet this year."  As if somehow I could bargain with the winter winds.  Will six inches really make a difference to my year?

And I've seen in my patients the depression beginning.  They talk about the cold winter months and getting out of Maine for the season.  Many will, but those that do will be gone by November.  The rest of us will hunker down for the season.  Days will shorten to mere slivers, and the long, windy nights will swallow up the sun. 

Even as I write, I feel the creeping of acceptance.  It is a relief to let go of having to be everywhere on time.  Whole days can just come crunching to a halt.  Plans will be remade, or cast aside.  And the sun will come again. 

Here's a link to Kubler-Ross' stages of grief. 

Live First, Work Second: Understand the Young

New book out with a lovely title: Live First, Work Second.  Thanks to Candyce Carden-Deal of Candidness for bringing it to my attention.  She has a great blog post that describes the book.

Is Andy Kaufman dead?

There is a documentary out about Andy Kaufman asking whether he really is dead.  I was intrigued because the director shares my name.  But really, if Andy was alive, he'd be doing something else besides laying low.  On the other hand, the weathermen taught us that you can hide in plain sight.

Walking Dead: Shocking? Really? Isn't Everyone Supposed To Die?

I had the misfortune to develop an interest in the Walking Dead recently.  Blame it on the recent Austen/zombie book.  I wanted to see what a drama would be like played out against a zombie backdrop. 

In the first episode, we begin with the hero blowing away a young blonde girl turned zombie.  So children getting shot is how the series begins.  Imagine my surprise when in the opener of the second season they...have a child getting shot. 

Evidently my memory is longer than the reviewers, who are all atwitter (pun intended) with what it means to the morals of television now that a child has been shot.  Really?  Did you miss the horse getting eaten?  How about the walkers getting beaten to second death with bats?  Did you close your eyes during the moment when a man has to shoot his walker wife in the head? 

My biggest issue with Walking Dead is that I do not believe our hero survived the initial slaughter lying comatose in his hospital bed.  First, the walkers can smell people, so a bed across the door isn't going to deter them.  Second, there is no way he didn't die of thirst while his beard grew to the length it did.  World full of zombies who never die, fine.  But don't fake dehydration. 

I also found that I don't really care about the characters, so I stopped watching. 

Dead Sea Scrolls: At Last Something Worth Reading Online.

Well, the scrolls are out!  http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/ has all the scrolls, but I was severely disappointed that, unlike the Great Isaiah scroll, the war scroll isn't readable as an instant translation.  Come on, we'd be talking endless online comparisons to end-time current day war activity as everyone and their brother tries to fit different players into the narrative. 

But we do have some pretty exciting reading.  Here we have a PG 13 section:  Chapter 3 : Verse 17
"Therefore the L-rd will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and HaShem will lay bare their secret parts."  A bit further on: Chapter 4 : Verse 1  "And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: 'We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name; take thou away our reproach.'"

We also have some poetry:  Chapter 5 : Verse 18
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope,

So I'm looking forward to lots of sermons and interpretations from our biblical preachers worldwide.  Not just the scholar types, but the ones who preach everyday from the current texts.  How will the scrolls factor in?

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

I just finished listening to the book and I was pleasantly surprised by the author's ability to pay homage to Austen without losing a reasonable, though implausible, storyline. 

How Do We Undo The Obesity Epidemic? The Australian Solution.

Fat, Sick & Nearly DeadIt's hard to make weight loss into a movie, and it's harder to make it inspiring without a hard sell approach.  I was impressed by Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  Unlike almost any weight loss program I've seen, it really is about people getting well without any money in it for the producer. 

The movie is available at Netflix streaming, but you could also get a copy (so you can hand it to your relatives where it will sit on the shelf gathering dust until they have heart attacks like Bear in the movie did). 

If anyone is looking for someone to monitor the fast and do blood work, this is one I can get behind.  It's not permanent, but it is sustainable over time, and it's based on fruits and vegetables.
You can just look at the diet, but I'd watch the movie.  It's not often you see a trucker become an actor and make the transition gracefully.