Faithful readers of this blog, of which there appear to be a few, will have noticed that I have not been posting much lately. In part this is because I find the world excessively depressing and it is not, as they say, ego syntonic for me constantly to be crying “alack and alas.” But it is also that after a lifetime in the Academy I have not developed the routinized work habits so cherished by capitalist employers.
Sometimes words pour from me as water from the tap, filling
the page and lapping over onto the margins. But then there are times when I
simply am not moved to write. My thoughts never stop, but the need to express
them publicly is quiet.
These days I am obsessed by the efforts to push myself to
walk faster each morning so that my heart rate gets up to the level at which,
so the doctors have told me, I shall postpone the development of my Parkinson’s
disease. For amusement, I do complicated jigsaw puzzles which I find oddly
satisfying. That and rereading the texts that I shall be assigning next
semester keep an 87-year-old man adequately busy.
Never fear. If experience is any indication, I shall soon
enough be troubling you, if not deaf heaven, with my bootless cries.
My doctor pushed me into getting the Shingles vaccine and Prevnar for pneumonia. Now I'm not so sure about the Prevnar but it's too late for me now.
ReplyDeleteIf pneumonia is the “old man's friend”, should it be prevented by vaccination? An ethical analysis
Abstract
Because pneumococcal disease is a major problem among the elderly, pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination is widely promoted. However, Sir William Osler called pneumonia the friend of the aged, leading to an ethical discussion. Mortality from pneumonia is higher with increasing degrees of underlying illness, outweighing the age effect. Although some symptoms are less common in the elderly, other symptoms are not and the duration may be longer. Problematic criteria for limiting pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination include age, social value, and quality of life. Recommended criteria for limiting vaccination include autonomous patient refusal, imminent death, and lack of medical benefit, as would be seen in hospice cases.
I wish they worded it differently. Like, if you take this vaccine, you'll probably live long enough to get Alzheimer's. Or age-related macular degeneration (AMD), i.e., old age blindness. How many people would say yes to that?
Despite the "Problematic criteria for limiting pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination," which is the absence of any social value judging from the response to my comments here,I too was encouraged to get the Prevnar vaccine, since I was getting the flu shot.
ReplyDelete"For amusement, I do complicated jigsaw puzzles which I find oddly satisfying. That and rereading the texts that I shall be assigning next semester keep an 87-year-old man adequately busy."
ReplyDeletePersonally I'm looking forward to finding out how Mr. Shatner's flight next Tuesday, to space and back again, is going to turn out. Hopefully, he'll have a very successful voyage. Astrophysicist Neil Tyson would probably comment that we're all astronauts since we're on a large object that travels through space called planet Earth. But that's a general experience and not a specific one. Mr. Shatner will experience the G-Force of lift off, observe the boundary between the highest part of Earth's atmosphere and space, and what it means to float in zero-G. Not only that but he'll also get a pair of cool Astronaut Wings and brag to people forever that he became an astronaut in his lifetime. I hope this all works out for him because I believe he is a great man & great actor and that he deserves it.
My writing motto is provided by a couple of consecutive days' entries in Kafka's diaries (I quote from memory): Day 1: Wrote nothing. Day 2: Wrote a little. It was no good.
ReplyDeleteKafka in the 1965 version
ReplyDeleteOK Professor- if you are not going to show up and work on schedule with your blogging, consider yourself fired.
ReplyDeleteNot that I have been paying you. Makes it difficult to fire you. Especially since I value whatever you do write when you write it. Maybe we could work out some deal where you write things when you want and I get to read them for free... And get to throw in a few very difficult questions once in a while that you answer.
Well, it seems I'm not in a position to fire you and from a labor perspective- you should go on strike. I won't cross your picket line if you do.
87-year-old Frankie Valli is keeping busy. He's on a national tour with The Four Seasons.
ReplyDeleteRossini lived to the age of 76.
ReplyDeleteFrom the age of 20 to the age of 37, he wrote a total of 39 operas.
He wrote his last opera, William Tell, in 1829. He retired and did not write a another opera for the next 39 years.
The William Tell Overture will live forever.
Well, I had to look up what ego syntonic meant. Which is okay for me. I have already mostly forgotten what it means. Which is also ok by me. Since I never have met anyone who actually used that term in a conversation, I figure it will be ok if I forget what it might mean and just try to extricate myself from that as soon as possible if it did occur.
ReplyDeleteI suppose even Diogenes occasionally tired of rolling his tub. Wonderful story- wouldn't know it without you.
Is the 'bootless cries' similar to Stalin's 'how many divisions does the Pope have'? Or is this a more difficult puzzle?
Jerry,
ReplyDeleteThe term "bootless cries" refers to General Armstrong Custer's reaction when the Sioux warriors removed his boots.
I must admit that jigsaw puzzles have become a fun pastime for me too lately.
ReplyDelete