Spiritual Intervention

I lost a good friend last week. A lady I had worked with for almost twenty years.  Her funeral was last Saturday.

Originally, I had not planned on going due to my issues with bowel and bladder control.

I almost never leave my home for more than a half hour unless my bowel is empty because if it is not, I am prone to accidents, both urinary and bowel.  At this stage in my recovery, I don't mind too much peeing in my pants, but I really try to avoid pooping in my pants.

The funeral was scheduled to strat at 9 A.M., and though I usually have a bowel movement each day, it is around mid-morning. The thing is, even though I know stool is ready to come out, I can't force it, and have to wait until the body is ready to expel it. So, the consequence is that if I am not near a bathroom during this window of time, I am prone to leak, and sometimes have major accidents.  Similarly, if the stool is ready to come out and I'm not less than two minutes away from a toilet, it would be even more of an embarrassment.

I would have to leave by 6 A.M.  to make to the service on time.  I told myself that I would have to wake up , have a bowel movement and get dressed by 5:45 A.M. for me to consider going.

As it turned out, I woke up at 4:30 A.M., had a bowel movement at 5:00 A.M., and was dressed by 5:30.  But I still considered not going because even though I had a bowel movement, it wasn't complete, and I knew I'd have another one by noontime.

I sarcastically had my friend telling me, "Steve, I woke you up early, got you your bowel movement. Now, come over to say Good-bye to me."

But my friend would never say that.  She would say, "Steve, I got you to wake up early, got you to have a bowel movement.  I would like for you to come and say Good-bye, but if you don't feel up to it, that's okay. I understand."

I decided to go, and decided that I would worry about my bowel movements on my way home, if it came to that.  As it turned out, two other friends who attended the funeral gave me a ride home.

I'd  like to think my friend made it as easy it could be for me to attend.  A form of spiritual intervention.

I'm glad I went.

She had a reassuring smile and hands down, was one of the kindest people I have ever known.  I am going to miss my friend, RA.

I am pretty much done with the editorial portion of my new book, Toe Up to 10K, which chronicals my recovery from spinal cord injury.

I hope for the book release to be mid-July, 2014.

Here is the tentative front cover:

Fun and Determination

The band, "Fun," is one of the hottest bands around, now.  They are also one of the most refreshing sounds.

When I see sales of my writings sink to the lower depths, I see where this band started from and where they are, now. And it gives me hope that my writings will have a fraction of readership that they have achieved with the amount of listeners.  It is really up to me to provide a great product and work hard to get it out there.

Here is proof that success is not instant and easy, but requires hard work and time.

Here they are performing at a local record shop in Long Beach, CA, in 2009.  Singing Take Your Time at Fingerprints Record Store.

And this past June, 2013, singing Some Nights at a music festival in Germany.

Well deserved!!!

I Know I am Recovering Nicely From Spinal Cord Injury Because...

there are things that frustrate me more than the speed of my recovery.

like when my current books don't sell as I'd like for them,
or when I have a short story that hasn't sold even one digital copy,
or when I forget to bring my cell phone with me when I go out,
or when I forget to bring my re-usable shopping bag when I go grocery shopping,

I read somewhere that last Saturday was "gratitude day." I am grateful for my recovery, thusfar, and the people who have helped me during this time: family, friends, caregivers.  And though not a religious person, grateful to God.

Writing as Therapy

For those who don't know, for the past 15 months, I have been recovering from spinal cord injury brought about by an unknown agent - the doctors were never able to determine whether it was a virus, or of my body reacted with a severe auto-immne response - but my ability to walk, talk, and other bodily functions went kaput - and slowly, these finctions have returned.  The talking came back within a week, but the others ares till awork in progress.

As happy as I am with the current state of my recovery, I still get frustated at the pace, and writing about it provides me with an outlet.  I am working on a book journaling my recovery, but as a time out, I wrote  a short story and created an alter ego for myself, who had transverse myelitis as a child, and still walks with a cane - but when needs be - he turnes into an agile ninja.  It is a short story, and is currently available on Amazon Kindle. Please check out, Zombie Brawl, or Rants and Raves of a Mass Transit Commuter the Day the Zombies Attacjked the Train.

Just too funny

Just adding to the number of people sharing a version of this television clip from Japan.

Dinosaur in Office Hallway

0% discount? I think I'll pass up this offer

I recently got an email offering a 0% disccount on a tour.