rem

picked up a double cd plus dvd of rem's early years

they used to be good. certainly, they werer just coming to fruition when i went flatting and i had all of their albums. i was listening to fables of the recconsruction when i heard granddad had died

rem and the smiths. every time i hear them it brings back all sorts of memories, not all of them good

across the universe

on paper, this sounds like a bad idea. a musical based on the songs of the beatles? i mean it's been done before-i've always wanted to see sgt peppers lonely hearts club band, generally regarded as one the worst movies ever made wherein peter frampton and the bee gees save the world from (if memory serves) aerosmith

but i'd heard some good things about across the universe so on a damp sunday, i tuned in and....

well, visually its stunning. julie taymor is an underated director. i remember seeing her version of titus (andronicus) a few years back and being knocked out by it

i was surprised to see that the screenplay was by dick clement and ian la frenais. it didn't seem to have any of there ususal with or warmth

and the beatles knew how to write a good tune or two (i still prefer ray davies though)

but bono is not an actor (worst cameo ever?)

after about half an hour, i stopped trying to make sense of it all and just let the film wash over me, enjoying the tunes and spotting the beatles references.

all in all, not a bad film for a low blood pressure post-dialysis wet sunday afternoon

and i think i'd like to see it again at some point

inevitable

LOS ANGELES - An openly gay teen has been voted prom queen at his Los Angeles high school in a campaign that began as a stunt but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and popularity.

Sergio Garcia said he felt "invincible" when he was crowned queen of the Fairfax High School dance at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Prom is a formal spring dance that is a tradition for American high schools.

Days before the dance, Garcia told fellow students that he was "not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye".

He also promised that he would be wearing a suit on prom night, but "don't be fooled: Deep down, I am a queen."

And he made good of that promise on Saturday, wearing a grey tuxedo topped off with the prized tiara.

Garcia, 18, said he saw fliers advertising the prom and the election but they didn't specify that the queen must be female. He thought the role would suit him better than prom king.

"I don't wish to be a girl," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I just wish to be myself."

Senior class president Vanessa Lo said she and other students were initially against the idea but became convinced he wasn't just an attention-seeking clown.

"It just goes to show how open-minded our class is," Lo said.

Unique Payne, 17, said she voted for Garcia because she supported the gay community.

Although many students were supportive of Garcia's run, others were upset and didn't understand why Garcia chose to run for prom queen.

"I'm not really happy about that," said 17-year-old Juan Espinoza. "He should've run for prom king."

- AP

and i agree with jan espinoza

when i first read this, i thought it was mildly amusing, but on reading it again, i started to think

the fact that he ran for prom queen comes across as a bit of a joke, especially as he says that he doesn't want to be a woman. fair enough, but i think it would have made more of a point if he had gone dor, and won prom king. if elected that would have shown that his fellow students accepted him for who he was-a gay male

n.b. did you notice the name of one of the students? unique payne. i wonder if she has a sister

who needs a comment section

one of my go-to blogs is the dim post. its often a standard political blog, but from time to time danyl indulgences in sharp and very funny satire.

if you've read blogs regularly, you'll notice the real battles take place in the comments section.

in this post, danyl shows that you can do without a comments section at all

the wire season one

just finished watching this and can i say-brilliant

i meant to ration it out-one episode a week-nut as the show reached its climax i couldn't help myself and watched the final two in one session

i've even been ear-wormed by the theme song (tom wait's song "way down in the hole" performed by the blind boys of alabama)

admittedly i had to watch it with the sub titles on because of the slang used and the the fact that some of the actors mumbled

i was a big fan of homicide: life on the street, which was sourced from the same writer (david simon) and same situation (crime in baltimore) but the wire takes it to a whole new level. because it was made by hbo, rather than nbc as homicide was, it seems a lot more...ahem...authentic. (i.e more swearing). in one scene where homicide detectives mcnulty and bunk are working a crime scene, the dialogue consists entirely of the word "fuck" or its variations.

its not a show you can dip in and out of, as i've said before its like watching a book, but the benefit of this is that the effect of the story is cumulative.

if you like crime dramas, or enjoy quality televisison, i cannot recommend this highly enough

my depression at having finished the series is leavened with the joy that there are still two series to watch.

the karma of jokes

there is a running joke at the dialysis based on the premise that no one really wants to be there

("where do you want the needle?" i was asked last night. "in someone else's arm " i replied)

a common one is trying to finish our sessions early, you know like telling the nurse techs that when the countdown clock says 2 hours to go, it really means 20 minutes, that sort of thing. yeah, its joking but not really if you know what i mean.

last night, the guy in the bed next to mine was trying something of that sort on with jills, one of the nurse techs, when beth (another nurse tech) came up and joined in the fun telling jills that the patient was checking to see if she was a soft touch (she isn't incidentally)

"do not let him off early" says beth

i look up and decide to put my two cents in: "you'll notice," i say to jills. "that she didn't say not to take me off early"

beth turns around to me "did i hear you say you wanted to do an extra hour?"

of course i backed down immediatly. we all had a good laugh and then each of us went back to what were doing.

cut to 9.47pm as i finish my session. it had been pretty good, only my nurse-tech shelley had worried when my bp dropped below 110 and dropped my blood flow to 350ml/min. (i've been pushed up to 400ml/min since i saw the specialist last week).
but this is when the problems start. first of all when the needles are removed, it takes ages to stop bleeding (as the needles go directly into an artery, you can imagine that there is a lot of blood). when the needle is eemoved there are two band aids and a special piece of material put over the resulting hole. i get a piece of gauze and press down hard on it until the bleeding stops. ususally this happens afeter 2.5 to 3 minutes, but last night it kept bleeding for five minutes. on each needle.

after the bleeding stops they do a final check on my blood pressure to check that i'm not going to faint on my way home. shelley does things by the book (101 ways to delay your patints getting home) and so insisted that i do this check standing up. bad move, as i stood up, everything started getting blurry and my bp came out at 95/36. so i did it again, sitting down. 88/33 and again. 86/30. and so it went. i had a bit of water and eventually, shelley got another needle and put 200ml of fluid back in. eventually my bp climbed to 108/45. "thats close enough" i say, grab my laptop and run (well, shuffle slowly) out of there.

as i'm leaving, i pass beth and note that the time is now 10.55. i had indeed spent an extra hour there

"i'm sorry" i say to her "i'll never joke about leaving early again"

juno

i have noticed a depressing tendency for "independent" films to become somewhat homgenous:
1. a coming of age story ehere the protaginist' intellegence and/or artistic sensitivity is brutalised/ignored
2. a quirky or repressive family
3. a soundtrack featuring songs by obscure alt-rock/folk bands
4. a vaguely episodic plot structure
5. pacing based on thne speed that paint dries

gone are the people who have their own vision like lynch or who can put a new spin on an old genre like the cohens. where are the dazed and confuseds, the pis, the happinessess? the films that have an edge.

these days it seems like the back stories of the fimmakers are more important than the film itself

for instance, late last year i saw waitress. a pleasant enough film which i enjoyed at the time, but which i would have to go back to imdb to remind me of the best lines. i think that much of its critical success was because the writer-director adrienne shelley was murdered just before the film's release.

similarly with juno. arguabbly the first thing that anyone knows about this is that it was written by an (ex) stripper, diablo cody. are we taliking about the susan boyle effect here?

ok, i have to admit that she wrote some good lines and the cast, especially lead ellen page (who was so much better in hard candy) delivered them well. and there was a good solid support cast. but its not all good. rainn wilson's cameo was trying too hard to be hip and the film was trying too hard to be wryly funny.

i didn't hate it (but then i'm still suffering post traumatic stress disorder from seeing meet the spartans; any film looks good after that) and i'd say that it is worth a look, but its never going to make my top ten

plants need to be watered

WESTERLY, Rhode Island - A Rhode Island Democratic lawmaker says he'll donate $100 (NZD$164) to charity for every second former President George W. Bush withstands waterboarding.

State Rep. Rod Driver also included former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in his offer. He sent letters to all three.

Bush's administration allowed the interrogation technique, which simulates drowning, to be used on terror suspects. Driver says that, if Bush is so confident it isn't torture, he should try it for himself. His offer was first reported Thursday in The Westerly Sun.

A spokesman for Bush didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Cheney has defended waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, saying they yielded important information.

-AP

i think that its been a long held dream of servicemen that the leaders who put them in harms way should have to suffer the same privations as those on the ground.
american soldiers were waterboarded in world war two, and the japenese interogators were later tried for torture

i'd rather see cheney rather than bush waterboarded as i think that cheney was actually the giy in charge
sadly, i can't see any of them taking up the challenge
if they do, i hope its televised

creative

An extortion racket has taken a new twist with would-be victims being offered protection from the extortionist – in return for cash.

At least two businesses have received calls asking for $2000 protection money, The New Zealand Herald reported.

The calls come as police investigate reports of a Mandarin-speaking man calling Asian businesses asking for sums ranging from a few thousand dollars to $20,000.

Counties Manukau police spokeswoman Ana-Mari Gates-Bowey said the caller claimed to part of an Asian gang.

"Police employees in the wider Auckland area have been deployed to the targeted businesses and are ensuring that there is no fear within the region," she said.

"Police advise the public if contacted by the caller to not present themselves as vulnerable and to not be intimidated."

Ms Gates-Bowey said the Asian community had responded well so far and urged anyone who was contacted to get in touch with police as soon as possible.

Police said anyone receiving these calls should note down all details of what was said, and whether any threats were made.

"Do not give out any bank details or pin numbers over the telephone and be alert around your business place. If you notice anything suspicious contact police immediately," Counties Manukau police's Asian liaison officer Justin Zeng said.

Police said no one had yet reported giving any money to the callers.

i saw the original article about the initial extortion attempt a couple of days ago.
at that stage, the potential victims were being asked for protection money. they were refusing to bite and reporting this to the police.

now someone is offering them protection for the previos extortionist

i wonder if its the same guy

the smartest guys in the room

just saw this documentary
it was made in 2006 before the current erecssion, and its interesting to watch in light of recent events. the behaviour demonstrated by lay and skilling is not dissimilar to the hubris and arrogance demonstrated by the executives of merryl lynch, leamen brothers and so on
in fact, the list of those banks who suppported and acted as cheerleaders for enron sound awfully familiar (citibank etc)-the same ones who have either gone under or required bailouts

as ever, the executives came out of the exercise with millions of dollars while the rank and file lost everything

some things to note. skilling was big fam of richard dawkins book the selfish gene and had applied the evolutionary theory to business. essentially selfishness was the order of the day, most notably when they exploited (and to a large extent caused) the california energy crisis

it was also interesting to note that at the height of their crisis enron were insisting that their grred was not the problem, but that their market was too regulated.

i noted that several right wing blogs have claimed that the current recession was not caused by greed, but by (left-wing) governements and agencies forcing banks and financial institutions to loan money to people who couldn't afford to repay.

at the time, there were suggestions that enron's behaviour was an aberration.

apparently not

definatly a filem worth checking out

new zealand justice

A

man who tried to steal grocery items from a Blenheim supermarket has been ordered to shout the staff a $200 morning tea.

In Blenheim District Court yesterday Judge Tony Zohrab said Steven Gary Page, 26, unemployed, should pay the $200 in emotional harm reparation to the manager of Redwoodtown Super Value after he put $9.77 of groceries in the pockets of his shorts on May 13.

The Marlborough Express reported that Judge Zohrab told Page, who had pleaded guilty to shoplifting, the money should be used to buy morning tea for the staff.

"Dealing with people like you is not the most pleasant part of their job," he said.

Judge Zohrab sentenced Page to 80 hours' community work. He said Page had a long history of shoplifting and stealing.

- NZPA

everyone knows that a couple of sausage rolls and a cream filled scone helps with post-traumatic stress disorders

kids today

LAROSE, Louisiana - A Louisiana middle school student stormed into a classroom and fired a gunshot over a teacher's head yesterday before shooting himself in a bathroom, authorities said.

Investigators found a suicide note and plans for a rampage in the teen's journal.

The 15-year-old student, whose name was not released, fired once around 9 a.m. local time inside a classroom at Larose-Cut Off Middle School, then shot himself in the head, said Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre. He was in critical but stable condition. The teacher had never taught the teen.

Webre said investigators found a note describing the boy's plans to "gear up" before his spree, along with a drawing of how he'd dress. The boy also scribbled "I am king" and "y'all will die!" on a sheet of paper investigators found.

Although he apparently was intent on killing people, he was armed with only four bullets for the .25-calibre, semiautomatic pistol he had taken from his father's home during the weekend. The boy's mother noticed he seemed nervous before school, but he said he was just worried about seeing his standardised test results, which were released Monday, Webre said.

About 500 sixth, seventh and eighth-graders attend the school in a rural community of about 7,000 people, some 72 kilometres southwest of New Orleans. Webre said the boy had no disciplinary problems at school and hadn't been in trouble with the law. The teen had no reason to be in the classroom, he said.

He was a year or two older than most of his classmates, who described him as a quiet boy who never talked about guns or violence.

Webre said investigators found inside the boy's bookbag a completely filled journal and two loose sheets of paper that appeared to be a plan for the shooting and a suicide note. The school has both standing and handheld metal detectors, but they aren't used all the time and weren't in use on Monday.

Webre said the boy arrived at the school in uniform - white shirt, khaki pants - but changed into camouflage pants shown in his drawing. In an expletive-laced note, he wrote, "First, I will tell my art class teacher that I had to go to the bathroom. Then I would go to the last stall and 'gear up.'"

The school was scheduled to reopen today with enhanced security and several counsellors on hand.

-AP

it has been ten years since columbine (yes, really) and sadly school spree killings are still going on

still, is this the most inept pree killing ever?

only four bullets and the first is a warning shot

i think there may be another story behind this

my new favourite blog

check out "editing the herald"

vantage point

i like "clever" movies-it can be quite fun trying to figure out falshbacks and flash forwards and fanatasy sequences, especially when they all come together

one of my favourite films of the last few years was run lola run. i've lent it out at the moment but i really must watch it again. (also momento, now that i come to think about it)

when done well, they can be a quite staidfying watch, although there is an alternate point of view that they are just gimmicky (what? even rashoman?)

which brings me to vantage point. here's the scenario. the president of the united states is in spain announcing a summit on anti-terrorist action, when he is shot and building explodes.

these events are told from eight different point of view-a television producer ccoverinng the event, a seccret service agent, a tourist with a video camera, a couple of the terrorists and so on. a vantage point of the events is shown, then the film returns to 11.59am, just before the president makes his speech

the last third of the film continues on the events as the characters begin to interact.

so far, so clever, but for all the visual flair, and the strong underlying concept, trying to deal with so many characters in a short space of time (the film only lasts for 90 minutes) means that many of the characters come across as underwritten. b ack stories are hinted, or ignored completely, as are motivations-why is the tv producer so determined not to mention the protestors, what are the terrorists trying to achieve (duh, they're terrorists)

i liked the jigsaw concept, but unbfortunatly like a jigsaw, once you've put it all together, its falt and two dimensional

health status

its been a weekend of medical professionals

on friday, i saw my gp-nothing too major, just a "hi-how-are-you-that-will-be-$39.00-please" thing (and a 45 minute wait)

on saturday, my case manager looked in during my dialysis session, but we mainly talked about music. he is looking for a copy of metallica's black album. i'm always a little worried about medicos who are heavy metal fans-i'm scared that one day i'm going to fall unconcious during a session and wait to hear a doctor say "accept this sacrifice, oh dark lord"

this morning, i went to see the specialist and the dietician for reviews on my case.

my anemia is worsening slightly, do my recormen is increasing to 2 injections per week

my blood pressuere has reduced, but a little to far. it was 90/60 this morning, so my bp medication has been cut in half

phosphrous and calcium are fine (said in doubtful tone) so no change there, but they still want to cut my throat open to play with my glands-i said no.

happy pills are not having the effect hoped for, so that dosage has doubled as well-i think they are determined to get me playing the happy game (if you remeber pollyanna)

the lukeamea is still asleep

the dietcian seemed cautiously pleased with my project-she did a quick check on my typical menu and seemed to have no problem with it

the two issues were fluid intake, which is mostly under control. but there was a warning to watch what i eat-fluid hides in food; and exercise.

i said that the principal problem with exercise was that i was either on dialyis or recovering from dialysis. they are hoping that the reduction in bp medication will stop me from feeling as wretched on the post dialysis days.

i restocked my meds and as out after an hour and a half.

as usual, i am using the low bp as an excuse not to do anything else today

hmmm

i was reading an interesting article in idealog the other day (i was at the GPs, and the doctor was running 45 minutes late)

it was an arguement that tv is not being dumbed down, but that the quality is actually improving. as an example, he compared the old seventies show "starsky and hutch" with "the sopranos". using that comparison, i can see his point, but i think that he only used the sopranos as it is an example of "quality" programming reaching a major audience.

I am currently working my way through "the wire' which as it works in the same genre of "starsky and hutch" would be a better comparison.

S&H is about two policeman, who always manage to solve their crimes within the commercial hour and is effectivly shown in bright primal colours-cops are good, criminals are bad, goos always triumphs over evil, usually involving an exciting car chase, the odd gun battle and some well-timed quips

"The Wire" is about a series long investigation into a drug crew. I've seen eight episodes so far, and it looks like getting the crims arrested is still a long way away (and even if they do, it won't solve the problem of drugs in the community

it shows both the cops side and the crims. the cops are not angels-there are brutal cops, and a lot of political game playing. the crims are not total villians either. one of the main characters, d'angelo, who has already killed two people and is in charge of sales in the pit (as they call it) is musing on why they need to kill people.
another crim, wallace, who is in his early twenties, is having a crisis of consience about having told his bosses over the wherabouts of a rival, only to find the rival haveing been obviously tortured and killed and dumped in his neighberhood.

overall, i'd say the wire is a deeper, more satisfying watch. it is like reading a book; its certainly not a show you can dip into from time to time, you actually have to watch it.

but the differecne is that S and H was one of the most popular shows of its era. the wire is at best a cult show. some of this is the time it screens (in nz, the fifth and final series is screening at 1.40am on a tuesday morning), but ai think a lot of it is that it is a show that you have to concentrate on. i would suggest that more people have watched the show on dvd than have actually seen it live (extra bonus, you don't get the ads interuppting the narrative flow. because this was made by hbo, they didn't feel the need to put an artifical cliff hanger in every seven minutes or so)

prime time is full of "reality shows" and more generic cop, doc and lawyer shows. some of the best shows of the last few years; deadwood, firefly, veronica mars and so on tend to get shoved into unflattering time solts and quickly get cancelled to the dismay of the few fans who find the shows.

they say that the future of television is the internet. i'm not so sure. the increasing sale of dvds of shows indicates that in many cases people will start to collate and programme their own home channels from their dvd collections.

i already do that already to a large extent

if the audience wants quality programming, they will have to find it themselves

with extra cheese

everyone has a secret shame when it comes to music-some band or singer who they secretly like, but will never admit to in public.

for many people, that band is ABBA. they were once very popular (yes, i admit i had one of their records-i was 11 at the time) then punk came along. and then, it was kind of ok to like them again, so long as it was, you know, ironically. eventually the ironic part faded away and you has all these people noting what skilfull writers benny and bjorn were. several music critics even consider "dancing queen" the greatest pop song of all time. (i disagree; i find it lyrically awkward)

i'm not a diehard abba fan; i could go the rest of my life without hearing fernando again, but i have to admit that they do have some catchy songs

last night, sky screened "mama mia", the film based on the musical based on abba songs.

firstly, the scenary was terrific. there is nothing like sitting in a warm room while there is a full thunderstorm going on outside to make you appreciate summer in the greek islands.

however, the problem with trying to write a story around of unconnected songs, is that the ultimate story is less than it could be. in the end, mama mia is a series of disconnected sub plots, some havr a begiining, some have an end, a number of the ends seem to come out of nowhere. but that's not the point, is it. the point is to get to the next song. (i beleive that the dvd has a karioke version of the film)

other bad points? well, pierce brosnan can't sing, julie walters looked really frumpy, there were too many slow songs.

the best singer was amanda seyfried, who played the daughter. the best performance was (naturally) meryl streep, who seemed relish that she was getting paid to spend several weeks in the greek islands. the exception was her performance of "the winner takes it all". her singing was ok, but she was flailing her arms around like marcel nmarceau on speed. musical highlight, for me, was christine baranski's performamce of "does your mother know"

i won't be buying the dvd, or the soundtrack, but i may pick up a copy of abba's greatest hits. if i find it in a bargin bin

i've been cinematically violated

i intended to note the death of don deluise, largely becasue of his work as one of mel brooks' stock company in the seventies, although it seems that most of the tributes focused on his performance in "cannonball run"

however, i discussing his death with rob, i remebered that he had appeared in a truly horrendous film called "the silence of the hams". yes, its a parody film and for a long time, i considered up there wikth sister act 2 as one of the worst films ever made.

then yesterday, i saw the first 40 minutes of "meet the spartans" ( idin't see the rest as i had to go to dialysis".

yes, i get the joke, the spartans were repressed homosexuals, homosexuality is funny, reality tv shows are funny, celebreties are funny, farting is funny, ripping off other people is funny.

i disagree. i did not laugh once. i almost vomited, but i did not laugh once.

compared to eatching this film, having two ten inch needles shoved into my arm came as an absolute delight.

the saddest thing about this fil? accoring to wikipedia, it grossed $84 million dollars.

question of the day

channel surfig through the fm band this morning, i came across a radio station "for the over forties", coast fm. since i'm over 40 i listened for a while.

why is easy listening music so hard to listen to?

just because it sounds like a good idea

A primary school has caused an uproar by asking students to come to school dressed as a disabled person as part of a fundraiser. Ramco Primary School in South Australia wrote in a newsletter that it would hold a "disability day" fundraiser. The aim of the dress-up is to raise money for a clinic in Bangladesh that repairs cleft lips and palates in children. Its newsletter stated: "There will be prizes for the best students dressed as a person with a disability. Get your thinking hats on and see what disability you can represent." (Source: News.com.au)

no, nothing could go wrong with this idea

you've got to think these things through, people.

i wonder if they have any kids that are already disabled. they would surely have the inside track for the prizes.

i think that if i was in the contest, i'd go as an autistic person. that way i could dress in my ordinary clothes and i wouldn't have to speak to anyone

swine flew

what happened to the big swine flu panendemic? it seems to have vanished.

does this mean we can go back to panicking about the recession?

a fluid situation

there has been some confusion over my dry weight
you see, since i'm not expelling fluid naturally, at least not in the volume i used to, dialysis has to do it for me. the problem is, i still need some fluid to keep the body functioning. so i have to aim for a target, or dry weight.
as you can probably imagine, estimating the dry weight is by no means an exact science. you only know when you've got it wrong when the patient passes out or gets cramps in their legs.

after my incident last thursday, the put my dry weight up,bout, as i said there seems to have been some confusion as to what it should be.
tuesday's session wore me out, and while i felt fine after thursdays's seesion, on friday i greyed out a couple of times. i didn't faint, but for a couple of moments there it felt like a distinct possibility.

we have now settled on a number-138, and i came out of last night's session at 138.8.

the next step is to reduce my dry weight, since according to the bmi calculation, my ideal dry weight is 115. more sacrifices ahead, i guess.

oh, i'm feeling fine today, or i would be if the neighbour hadn't decided to do a little gardening with a chainsaw

why not?

from yahoo news

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Award-winning entertainer, businesswoman and education advocate Dolly Parton has a new title.

"Just think, I am Dr. Dolly!" she said Friday after receiving an honorary doctorate of humane and musical letters from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Always joking about her buxom figure, she added, "So when people say something about 'Double-D,' they will be thinking of something entirely different."

The audience of 1,069 new graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences roared with laughter and gave Parton a standing ovation.

Parton, a Tennessee native who is the fourth of 12 children from a poor Appalachian family, is well-known for her philanthropic work. Her Imagination Library sends a book to about 500,000 children each month from birth until they start school.

ha ha. imagine giving dolly parton an honorary document. i have seen some comments on this, most of it sneering.

however, i country music circles, she is actually well respected-not for her crossover stuff, but for her hardcore bluegrass albums. amongst fans of serious country music, she's up there with alison krauss and gillian welsh.

i was never a fan of dolly parton-dad had a copy of her duet with kenny rogers "islands in the stream" which is horrible. plus all i ever really saw was her public image-how could you take that seriously.

then, a couple of years ago i heard a documentary on national radio about an album that she was making where she was returning to her bluegrass roots. it was something of a revelation. skilfull playing, hearing her as part of a group rather than as a star. her interviews showed that she did know where she came from, as it were.

another surprise was hearing her original version of "i will always love you." if you're used to the bombastic diva version done by whitney housten that infested the airwaves a few years back, then parton's original version is actually listenable. its a wistful afterthought of a song.

ok i'm not rushing out to buy any of her albums, but i would suggest that in terms of her skill, her knowledge of appalachian music, and most of her songwriting, yhe idea of giving her a doctorate is not as ridiculous as it sounds

up and down and down again

i had a bad session on thursday.
they put me in a chair, which seems to hate me because everytime i get put in a chair i go flat

so with an hour and a half to go, i start getting cramps, so i try to adjust the chair so that i can put me feet on the floor.
i blink, and when i open my eyes again, there are four nurses standing around me and an oxygen mask over my face. and i still have cramps. and then i throw up.

so, as you can imagine, friday was a bit of a write-off. i felt seedy all day and for some reason my knees weren't working properly.

so, as you can imagine i approached last night's session with some trepidaton. as indeed did the nurse-tech. i was in a bed and only targeted 3.5l (i usually try to do 4 on a saturday)

the nurse-tech hovered, taking my blood pressure every 45 minutes and asking me if i was alright everytime i cahnged position on the bed.

my arterial line kept clogging, so i reduced my blood flow to 300 ml/min after and hour and after my bp dropped to 103/39 (which is about average for me during a session) she reduced my target to 3.1l.

i kept telling her that i was fine and i was. it was adrian in the chair(!) next to me who started going flat, although she never passed out.

i did my four hours, came off at 120/47 and felt fine

up until this morning when i was hanging my washing out on the line, and my bp took a sudden drop and i had to sit down before falling over.

i now have an excuse not to do anything else for the rest of the day. there is always an upside.