This is one of the weirdest surgical recoveries I've ever experienced. I've been home just over 48 hours and I keep thinking it's been a week. And I've slept for nearly two days straight (although mostly during hours when I shouldn't BE sleeping). And I have almost no appetite, even though we have wonderful food being provided by our church family. But my own family is glad I'm down, if for no other reason than the variety in meals!

While in the hospital I watched the movie Into the Wild. Very sad, as was the true story on which it was based. Well told, as are all of Jon Krakauer's works. Fairly flatly acted, with the exception of the always exceptional Hal Holbrook. And slightly preachy, as if all of us should spend more time reading Walden's Pond and heading north to live on (hopefully non-poisonous) berries. I think I'd have preferred a different lead than Emile Hirsch, one who wasn't trying so hard to be Leo DiCaprio. But overall I'd say it's worth watching, if for nothing more than to be aware of the dangers of a college education :-)

And while all of Krakauer's books are worth reading, my favorite is Under the Banner of Heaven. I plan to see Banking on Heaven, a tangentially related DVD soon. I've already seen parts of it on TV. Many of the books and DVDs shining light on the Mormon fundamentalist sects have riveted me...

It is so nice to have Nathan home for a week!

The past week has been no less interesting politically than the preceding ones. It seems that on the Dem side there's a train wreck coming somewhere, and it's impossible (for me, anyway) not to look. I may be wrong...there may be a soft landing on the way, but it's hard to see a scenario without blood.

Three hospitalizations in four months have me formulating this working theory: Every day eating hospital food (or being forced to reject it for some tastier but possibly less "wholesome" alternative) shortens one's life by one year. If my theory is correct, there is an entire series of rather complicated calculations in which one must engage in order to determine whether the proposed benefit of the hospitalization outweighs the potential drain on the back end of one's life (not to mention one's back end). In my case, I fear that the outcome of said calculations was not on the favorable side. My funeral, therefore, has been moved up by eight years, nine months.

Thanks, Val, for the book gift while I was in the hospital. It's obviously one in which I (and the A team) have a personal interest!

Okay, now for another nap....

Labels: Books, Health, Movies, Political Observation