When the umpteenth variation of “Dead of the Living Night” comes on television, it’s tempting to deride the caliber of entertainment available today. And I do, but as human beings we’ve always had something of a spotty track record when it comes to spectacle. Imagine a huge tent filled with people waiting for somebody to be shot out of a cannon. Not long ago, that was entertainment. Before that, it was bear-baiting and feeding people to wild animals. Maybe we’ve come further than we think.
Big Shot
By Jimmy Johnson
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402 responses to “Big Shot”
There is no possible way that time moves at the same rate in a hospital as it does in the rest of our space-time continuum.
Ghost: It depends on where in the hospital you are. It zips by in the operating room or in the ER when interesting things are going on. It drags when you are stuck in bed and leashed to a dozen tubes. I have been in both places.
“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” – Albert Einstein
And my favorite Einstein quote: “The faster you go, the shorter you are.: – Albert Einstein?
LOL, that’s what I tell my friends when they complain about me zipping around!
Lilyblack and Jackie, I have found something that works for me without leaving me sleepy in the morning. It is a compound of melatonin and a few herbs and the tablet will dissolve without water. It comes in a brand name version and CVS has it under their store brand. I like it better than the melatonin tablets alone because it has a lower dose of melatonin, making it easier to wake up in the morning.
Mark, thanks, but no thanks. I have tried melanin in large doses and it doesn’t work for me, at all. I have used both Xanax and Valium and they work, but take a long time to act and a longer time to wear off. Vodka is cheap, readily available, works fast and is gone in an hour or two. What could be better?
I have already mentioned I don’t care a rap for living a long time, thanks very much!
That is, melantonin. Stupid auto-correct 🙁
Slowest of all is when you’re sitting by the one in the hospital bed. Waiting for a hospitalist to show up. When there only one on duty. When he starts his rounds on the bottom floor. When your patient is in a room on the top floor.
Lily, I decided I wasn’t interested in living a long time back about 2000, but I’m still here. Anyway, as John Lennon said, whatever gets you through the night is alright. And someone will probably link that song now.
Something you notice when you are stuck in a hospital room that you can’t help but be concerned about (if you are me, anyway):
The Number 3 story on Yahoo News right now is about US military forces re-engaging in Iraq by carrying out an airstrike against IS fighters. The Number 1 story is about Leann Rimes accidently tweeting a picture of her butt.
I am not making that up. Also, I am still worried about our society.
And I guess they don’t call it “Yahoo News” for nothing.
Jimmy said above, “Before that, (entertainment) was bear-baiting and feeding people to wild animals. Maybe we’ve come further than we think.”
Perhaps not, if you consider agenda-driven cable news programming.
Can you tell that I’m bored?
Someone on The Dark Side has noted that the originator of the obscene comment this morning had just jointed yesterday; had made 8 comments since; and all 8 have been deleted. Is there perhaps a pattern there?
Ghost: I always carry a book that I have meant to read but haven’t got around to when I have to sit with somebody. I tried the Bible, but I was always making notes and comments and looking through my purse for a pen or pencil or highlighter tool, as well as a notebook. It is a rule of my life that when I need to make a note, I have left my notebook in my other purse. So it was kind of self-defeating.
Ghost: accidentally, my…foot 😛
You know, considering how much these various “celebrities” have bared in print I wouldn’t care if they tweeted full frontal close-ups, rear end close ups where you can count the stretch marks and cellulite, male or female or indifferent?
I am hardly prudish, that would be total hypocrisy but why should it be considered “news”?
Lawdy, lawdy Miss Claudy. Yesterday’s big news was Madonna followed by little imitator shooting their crotches!!! Madonna needed a bikini wax.
Ghost, I feel so bad for you. There is nothing worse than sitting in hospital room in limbo, waiting and waiting and waiting. Except waiting for more than one of them to show up. My youngest, “The Little General” (named for Napoleon, not the car)
was a pro at that. She’d corner anyone she knew that knew something and skillfully quiz them so they didn’t know they might be violating HIPA laws!
Love, Jackie
Jackie: Napoleon the Corsican general or Napoleon the pig from “Animal Farm?” 😛 I swear that the pig was the first ting that popped into my mind when I read that. But, then, I have been told (often) that I have a very strange mind, never mind my sense of humor!
Napoleon the General from Napoleonic Wars. She is less than 5 feet tall, brilliant mind, dynamic, organized and unstoppable. You do not want to contradict her, she is a great tactician and charming to boot.
Her dad gave her the nickname when she was just a kid. She was born that way.
Love, Jackie Monies
Not an accident she showed her butt, Lil? Ya think? 🙂
Yeah, Jackie, I knew you’d understand about hospital waits. But what’s that about Madonna and a bikini wax?
We were for awhile plagued by trolls on a variety of boating forums and blogs with comments. And scammers and any number of infectiously vile critters. I learned the names and covers of most of them but they were clever and took in a lot of people who felt sorry for them.
Now we usually have screens in place to keep them out and if anyone violates profanity, politics, racial comments, that sort of stuff we can ban them or put them on approval only.
I rarely read TDS but I also rarely read comments anywhere because I HAVE to read so many to watch for trolls and spam.
Love, Jackie
To celebrate her birthday Madonna shot her crotch up really close without any filters or air brushing in a “selfie” and then Miley Cyrus who idolizes her did same thing. I did not bother with the second, having somewhat accidently seen the first. She was wearing a black leotard bottom I think with high cut legs.
Just google Madonna crotch shot.
Love, Jackie
Yeah, I knew I could have googled “Madonna’s crotch” but I was truly afraid to see what I’d get. I’ve always thought Madonna was gross, and that she wants to shock just for the sake of shocking, rather than to actually prove some point. And I think age has just made her worse. I hope no one is offended by the phrase “attention whore”, but I don’t know of a better way to characterize her.
Why google it? What Rosie ODonnell said about her character in A League of Their Own fits her very well.
How’s your mom, Ghost?
Ew, Madonna. She reminds me of somebody you might meet at a party that just won’t stop talking about herself. And no wonder Miley C. idolizes her. Little floozy.
Jackie: I collected nicknames when I was a kid to the point that in my early twenties I insisted on being called “Susan,” which nobody did and used to annoy me. The Boss Of My Life caught me in a snit about it and told me that I was not dignified enough to be a “Susan,” so I just go with the flow, nowadays. My dad has always called me “Sweetie Punkin Girl,” or a variant. My family called me “Wild Girl” or just WG for a while. Nowadays I get “Smurf” or “Short Stuff” or even “Shortie.” Whatever. I know who they mean. At least I am not like a character in not one but two books by different authors I have read, “Itty Bitty.”
And yet in “Evita” she could actually sing and channeled Eva Peron who had been the 1950’s media maven kinda like the Kardasians, coming from nowhere to power. She did that one well I thought to my shock and fascination. I say that because this was period I was living in South America off and on and thought Eva Peron might take over the southern Hispanic world someday. She was so idolized.
Love, Jackie
Doesn’t sound like she was acting much. Sorry, Jackie, Eva means nothing to me, nor South America, either. I have always wondered why such big areas of the world matter so little to history