Shamanism

I'm not sure if I've written about this before, but it continually ?shocks? humbles? astounds? me how physicians almost seem to be the modern medicine men, the shaman, the grand priest, straddling the divide between life and death... It perpetually surprises me to no end when patients just want the assurance that they are normal, even though they felt fine, and they think that they are probably OK, but still needing the reassurance that yes, they are right. It's odd in that it seems that individual autonomy in actually understanding and feeling one's own rhythms aren't sufficient; one needs an outside source to confirm or deny one's own instinct. Very odd... like being able to get into that confession booth, and being 'free' to walk out the other side... like having chicken bones and tea shaken around in a bowl, and having an incantation being said, in order to be liberated... like having a liturgy or prayer said over you, and the blessing of life is now yours for the taking...

Glory

Boy, so many things and blessings have occurred this weekend, it would be hard to articulate what was all jumbled up in that, however: I think I am feeling more strongly that labels such as conservative/ evangelical/ liberal/ fundamentalist/ radical/ heretical/ left/ right is not how I'd like to be labelled. I would like to be humble enough to free others from those labels as well. I think I just want to follow Jesus. I think I would just like to be known as a Jesus-follower, a foot-washer. That's all. I know I don't do it well most of the time, and I mainly mess it up most of the time, but I think that if the only label I ever get is that of Jesus-freak, that would be enough for me.

Feeling somewhat wretched...

I know I'm wayyyy past the point of being able to party all night, so I'm not entirely sure how I managed to find myself at the Horseshoe at 1am on a weeknight, yelling at people over a few pints and several decibels of funk-rock.... and then dragging myself to work the next day... oh wait, I know... you know who you are, you musicians.... all I need is a few musicians to tell me something will be cool, and I'm there, even if I feel like passing out...

Granola or goofball?

I am well aware of the fact that sandals and socks are a big fashion faux-pas, but I still like doing it with my Birks. I think (or at least, I fancy to imagine) that it lends a wholesome air... certainly, I don't think I'd do that with Tevas or with flip-flops, but I think Birks fall into a different category. I only note this as one of my friends belongs to a group that celebrates the socks and sandals phenomenon, so I feel like perhaps there are enough of us in solidarity for things to be alright...
I am so sorry that I have been much less than profound as of late; I think I have been a bit too busy to be pondering much. That being said, I have been lately thinking about how the ends causes the means, as least in terms of pre- and post-millenialism, which I admit I only understand on the most peripheral of terms, but is still fascinating to think about...

Domesticity... not... more like pre-plane panic...

I must admit, it takes quite a lot to motivate myself to actually do non-food-related household chores... cook? Sure, no problem. Do the dishes? Absolutely! Almost anything else in the house, well, uh... man.... can we hire someone to do this??? I feel like I've accomplished much today, as I've swept up the front walk, dealt with the garden, did the laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and, most impressive of all, I finally cleaned out my car! That had come to a head when I realized I couldn't really drive two other passengers in my car due to all the junk in it... so, I finally hauled out all the paperwork, journals and magazines that had accumulated in my makeshift bookshelf and dealt with it. I can actually (almost) seat five now, which is impressive... all that, while entertaining and playing with my nephew, who is, of course, the cutest thing to walk the planet... you'd think that was a totally goal-orientated day, wouldn't you? Too bad I'm not really that goal-orientated...

Lullabies

I just came back from a really great obstetrical conference, and it was so super in talking with others who are interested in the same things that I am. I really love delivering babies; it is totally the best thing! However, I must say that, on occasion, we (and by that, I mean the system) are very medicalized about childbirth. It doesn't help that many, many patients are totally on that train, and WON'T let us get off of it. But it bothers me that many 'midwifey' techniques that I've used in the past have not been of much use since I've returned to the GTA, where we epiduralize and medicate everybody, because patients expect and want us to...

Hooray for the CBC... and not just for hockey!

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I think I nurse a small addiction to CBC Radio One... maybe it's Matt Galloway's reassuring voice in the afternoons, or Ideas in the evenings, or Barbara Budd's mildly annoying voice, or just Andy Barrie chatting away (sometimes way out of his league) in the mornings, but it's a bit strange at how attached I've gotten to the public broadcasting voice of Canada... I like Rita Celli, even though I'm not sure what the point of her show is, I miss Global Village, have yet to catch Dispatches, laugh like crazy when I catch the Debaters (yay Shaun Majumder!)... sigh... it's good stuff.... I think I am particularly struck, as I was just listening to a Mr. Lawrence Wright give a Munk lecture on the current clash of civilizations, and how we ended up at this point after 9/11, on my way home this evening, and it was articulate, heady stuff....

Hint, hint, nudge, nudge...

What's really brilliant is creating a wish list of books I'd like to eventually own on Indigo's site... it does help keep track of library building...
Furthermore, I came across this website, which, I think because of the ascerbic humour, makes me laugh: www.hellokittyhell.com....

Free the Koreans!

Sigh.... I'm not going to turn all victimized and everything, but it makes me wonder about the plight of the Korean-American.... now a judge in Washington is suing a dry cleaners for $65 million (!!!!!) for losing a pair of his pants, even after the elderly couple offered $12,000 (!!!!) in compensation (despite the fact the pants were only worth $500). Thankfully, some of the lawyers involved think that the judge should pay them for all the legal bills and mental anguish... I should hope so... ridiculousness in oppressing my people...

FFT

When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten.
And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there's a tornado.
Reagan, 10