Magnetic Fields -- Distorted

For those of you who love Magnetic Fields as much as I do (Oh, 69 Love Songs -- who can resist lyrics like "I can keep it up all night, I can keep it all day; let's pretend we're bunny rabbits, until we pass away")!? you can listen to their new album, Distorted, for a limited time streaming on their myspace page. And, other exciting news -- they'll be on tour soon. Perhaps worth a drive to Chicago. hmm.

Flight of the Conchords Ep2 She's So Hot - Boom

Megan is the boom queen. She's so hot, she's making me sexist.

Grieving

Well, I suppose it could have taken me longer. But seven years is rather a while.

Walking on through the little community library here in the country, I found myself in the self-help section, looking for pain management books and hoping to find the one Laura suggested. And then there I was in the grief section, and I decided to pull one from the shelf: Never the Same: Coming to Terms with the Death of a Parent by Donna Shuurman. And today I picked it up to leaf through it while the coffee was percolating. It isn't quite right for me, since her text, as well as the Dougy Center, where she is executive director, cater to those who lost parents as children. But otherwise, the ideas underlying their work resonated with me, and thanks to their center locator, I have found my way to free grief counseling, so I am going to try a group and see how it goes.

I'm browsing self-help books. I guess I must be in grad school.

This should be fun . . .

This New York Times article on violent offenses by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans conveys exactly the kind of human costs I knew this country wasn't prepared for when George W. Bush pushed us into this war, and I wept as I walked down the street in Austin, marveling at the futility of us 10s of thousands of anti-war protesters in the capital of his home state, railing against the inevitable. I felt embarrassed at the time, that I couldn't hold it together. Now, I think there was a kind of premonition in my reaction.

What is absurd to me is that there isn't thorough treatment for all the military personnel coming back from this war. Given the military culture, it's unreasonable to expect a questionnaire to be an adequate screening tool, and it's irresponsible to do anything less than an individual assessment for each and every person who is expected to make the transition from holding a weapon with the express purpose of causing injury and death to an enemy, to going about everyday life in a civilian world. I believe the US government bears far more responsibility in these cases than the NYT is in a position to argue. And I believe that this article is a fine illustration of how woefully underestimated the enduring costs of this war have been, and continue to be, by this regime.

Thawing

Above, an image from cross-country skiing last weekend. And below, three photographs from the past few days, after days of rain melted the knee-deep snow. The lake is back to a flowing entity, from a solid surface holding the huts of the ice fisherman just a few days ago. The changes take my breath away sometimes.

By the way, I've finally posted some photographs from the New Years trip to Yosemite. :)

Just a friendly reminder

. . . coming from somebody with chronic neck and back pain, since that MF in a sports car rear-ended the SUV behind me into my car over a year ago now . . .

Be ergo!

And thanks to Laura, I've discovered New Zealand physiotherapist Robin McKenzie's short little book Treat Your Own Neck, which I'll hopefully be getting by inter-library loan shortly. People have lots of positive things to say about her book Treat Your Own Back, so I'm hopeful about the results.

But I think it may also be time to go back to physical therapy again. I just wish there were affordable acupuncture here, and/or that it were covered by our medical insurance.