The shoulder in question
Inexplicable pain without causation. No fall. No injury or accident. And as of yet, no definitive diagnosis. A torn Rotator Cuff? A pinched nerve? A strain? A sprain? Family doctor, orthopedic specialist, radiology, pharmacy. physical therapy. Repeat. The days are blurring into doses of time. A few hours of sleep here, there. A few pills. The only constant: the couch, my ass.
There is much to be said for the idea of a soul, a proposition which has often been discussed amongst scholars and philosophers.
Throughout time, there have been numerous references to the soul. Different perspectives have been put forward.
One of the perspectives which I thought was quite interesting was the idea that the soul was an external element of the humankind, that it could survive beyond the body and therefore transcended humanity’s form.
This view was held in numerous different periods of time and, although now seen as a redundant view, it does still have some bearing upon our thinking.
For example, if one examines the Christian definition of a soul, or what is seen as a definition, it presupposes that the soul exists within oneself and that it does indeed ‘transcend’ man itself.
This argument is proposed, however, in relation to life or death. It is supposed that the soul cannot live without the body unless it is in an ethereal world, otherwise known as either Heaven or Hell.
Mahatma Gandhi was quoted as saying this about the soul:
In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
He was therefore suggesting that, although our soul is an essential part of our life, it goes beyond the mere figurative and directs us towards a path in life ‘in a clearer light.’
Ecclesiastes was quoted as stating the following:
Give not over thy soul to sorrow; and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. Gladness of heart is the life of man and the joyfulness of man is length of days.
The main argument with this quotation is that the word ’soul’ could be interchangeable with ‘life’ and the word ‘life’ could be interchanged with the word ’soul’.
It would look something like this:
Give not over thy life to sorrow; and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. Gladness of heart is the soul of man and the joyfulness of man is length of days.
Although the intented effect is less so through the manipulation of meaning in language, I believe that this best suits the meaning of the soul and its importance in our life.
The soul is that which defines our life. Should be glad, our soul will represent that. People often speak of an ‘aura’ which surrounds us and it seems that this ‘aura’ whether it exists or not is the metaphysical symbol of our soul.
Our life is defined according to the soul; it needs nourishment.
One must indulge in those things which one takes pleasure in. Life is an active word. We must live as active beings.
Only then can our soul be fulfilled and satisfied.
The following quote from Oscar Widle best defines my view of both the soul and life:
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.
We happily received our very first wedding gift in the mail last week. It was from our dear friends, A & B. It was an Oster Express Breadmaker. I was super excited when this was added to our registry, because just the idea of making my own bread sounded so very…..domestic. And I am not one who has a history of being overly domestic, but I am taking the months leading up to my pending nuptials (only 2 more months to go!) to get some extra practice in.
I used it for the first time this past weekend when my parents came up to visit us. For dinner on Saturday night, we decided to have various forms of meats, mashed potatoes, salad, and then to top it all off, fresh bread! My first batch was French bread, and it was absolutely delicious, and simple to make! There were very few ingredients (bread flour, water, olive oil, sugar, and yeast). The *only* drawback (and I really do not consider it one) is that it takes 3 hours and 50 minutes to make it. So, planning is involved, but that is what being domestic is right, planning ahead? 
The best part of it is that there is a time delay timer, so you can have it start while you are out (doing…outside…domestic things!) and come home to the invigorating smell of fresh bread.
In short, I highly recommend this product, easy to use, the end product tastes great, and it is relatively inexpensive.
If you eat, drink, dine, go to restaurants, like tattoos, loud music, crass behavior, the Food Network, or have a personality, you should read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.
Likewise, if you have ever worked in a kitchen, a restaurant, a take-out joint, served food as a waiter/a waitress/a waitron, I am guessing you have already read this book. If not, take a few days, read the book, and come back a better man, woman, or animal.
This book will change your dining experience. Most likely examples:
Whatever the press says about Anthony Bourdain and his book is probably true. This book should come with a warning. High adrenaline zone – enter at your own risk. (There were a few nights when I actually had to put the book down for fear of my own anxiety attack.)
But, I always came back because A.B.’s writing is as addictive as his ex-heroin habit.
When you are finished with this book, trust me, you will lick your fingers and beg for second helpings (speaking of, where is the server’s tell-all retort?).
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Bacon is good. Google is good. Bacongoogle is better.
1) Carry a tub of aquaphor around. It’s nippy out, and no one wants some chapped lips on their nippys! (Sorry, I forgot to mention that this post wasn’t PG).
No, but really. For us college gals (Me and……) it really is hard to find an outfit that’s appropriate for a party and the cold weather. So, I guess the JMIT is stumped. I’m really unsure what to do in situations like this. Obviously you can wear a coat. But then that stirs up all kinds of sanity problems. Where to put it? Can you trust leaving it on a dirty bench? What if someone steals it and you’re back at square one? Oh woe is us. So, this is your time – JMITs and JFITS (fathers in training)! Help me survive this winter! If you don’t have any tips, maybe you can sew me a cute wool dress that has a built in heater.
2) Buy snow boots. Seriously, I’m sick of people falling. Well, no not really. I’m sick of watching people fall, offering them help, them saying “no i’m fine”, and then seeing them waddle away because they broke every single vertebrae in their back. Get some traction, fools!
3) Wear layers! I mean, come on, everyone knows that once you enter into a building you’re going to need sunglasses, flip flops, and a snow cone.
4) Go sledding, ice skate, make a snowman. It’s always fun to be a kid once and a while. Then, after you’ve had your fun, trip a kid on the ice, knock down a snowman, and show these kids they have nothing to look forward to but 4 years of annoying school work and a lifetime of boring jobs.
oh man. i’m dreaming of a white christmas.
-your favorite jmit
I live in Wisconsin.
Wouldn’t you expect the string cheese to be so good here? Well it’s not. It’s nothing compared to polly-o orange and white twist-ums. (This is where I would insert a picture for all of you who don’t know what polly-o twist-ums are…but I just looked on google and all of the pictures are very small so it would be a waste of my time and yours).
Anyway, the reason I am bringing up this dairy post is because of this funny event that happened 2 nights ago….
I am in a film and TV class and every thursday we have a screening from 6-8 pm. This week we watched All in the Family, Kate and Allie, and The Mary Tyler Moore show. So since these are television shows they obviously had commercials (duh). Well, one of the commercials during The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the “happy cows come from California” commercial. You know what I’m talking about? Here.
Well, anyway, you would have thought I was at a sporting event after that commercial played. Everyone was booing, screaming, fighting, throwing things. It was bad. Then the show came back and everyone was normal again.
I guess the point of this post is that…people from Wisconsin are always like “we’re the country’s dairyland” (that’s what their license plates say) But like….their dairy isn’t really THAT good. So, Pennsyvlanians, I know most of you are, we need to hype up OUR dairy! Why do California and Wisconsin get all the credit when pollly-o string-ums are SO good and are not sold anywhere in the midwest or west coast? AND, how come i can’t find any smart food (white CHEDDAR – still dairy talk – popcorn) at any grocery store here? I’m very angry.
So….lets make buttons! posters! flyers! PENNSYLVANIA DIARY IS BETTER THAN WISCONSIN DAIRY.
you hear that, Lonnie?
[Warning: This post is written with the best intentions at heart. It may not be politically correct but it's also trying to be honest. Will accept comments, feedback, or virtual hand slaps as you see fit.]
For those of you who are pho virgins, pho is a Vietnamese soup dish served with rice noodles. It’s delicious, plenty filling, and, best of all, it’s cheap. Even if I’ve “splurged” at a pho restaurant (e.g. ordered a coconut milk or a mango smoothie or both), I’ve never spent more than $15.
The basic problem that I have with pho is that there are no instructions on how to eat it and what you can eat.¹ Pho is the type of food that you need an experienced person to introduce you to. Unfortunately, I’ve had a pho craving ever since I tried it about a month ago and I can’t always find an expert pho’ist to come with me.
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