I was saying on here, very recently, that in some fundamental way this blog is a kind of modern \u2018cyber-journal\u2019. A record of some of things I\u2019ve done or am doing. And very much a way to remind myself that I exist at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the main ways of doing this we have in our contemporary society is \u2018I spend, therefore I am.\u2019 And now, with social media such a large and powerful force, I \u2018tweet\u2019 (or whatever), therefore I am. It\u2019s a continual performance. Surely this is a form of unbridled narcissism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, leaving such worrying thoughts aside momentarily\u2026 it\u2019s Thursday. Thursday is a non-school\/non-teaching day. Such days are usually spent on a variety of things: from pure rest (for reasons I go into elsewhere on this blog I\u2019m often utterly exhausted), to working on home\/DIY stuff, or my teaching prep and admin, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier today I revisited a drum score – Led Zep\u2019s \u2018Good Times Bad Times\u2019 – because whilst teaching from it yesterday I was reminded that it has a number of errors of interpretation in it. I corrected as many of them as I felt able to without spending all day on it, and then emailed the revised score to the pupil who I\u2019m working on it with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s all to the good. And it enabled me to tick off two items on todays \u2018to do list\u2019. But that list is pretty massive. I feel little crushed by the oppressive weight of obligations. This feeling isn\u2019t helped by physical issues: I have various headaches, my eyes are streaming, and I have post-nasal drip! Such stuff very rapidly begins to feel like it a form of chronic attritional torture!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s hard to be dynamic, energised, pro-active, and all that, when you feel crushed by mountains of stuff to do, and beset by physical issues that drain you of energy and vitality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As many will know from bitter personal experience, years of anti-NHS Toryism (some of it implemented by the Labour govt\u2019s of Blair\/Brown, to their everlasting shame), are slowly but inexorably grinding the NHS to dust. Trying to see one\u2019s GP, where I am, has become an Orwellian dystopian nightmare. And people are literally dying as a result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mention this because the anger that this generates is one source of harness-able energy that could motivate me to more action. But before I go down a ranting rabbit hole, back – in proper \u2018age of me\u2019 blogging style – to more personal matters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Numerous visits to the local GP surgery – at 90% of which I see a nurse or \u2018clinical practitioner\u2019 (what is that?) – have failed to clearly unpick my numerous ongoing issues. One line of inquiry is to treat me for hay-fever. I\u2019m taking the meds. No signs of improvement yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, having got up pretty late, about 10am, after a very<\/em> good nights sleep (first time in three or four nights), I did the work on the drum score in Sibelius. Then I took a break for lunch. Made myself a three egg omelette, with onion, mushrooms and cheese, with a weak coffee to wash it all down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m still cogitating over whether I ought to try this FODMAP diet experiment. I think I ought to. But I\u2019m not sure I have the discipline (or even the funds to buy the required alternative groceries!?). But my constant bloatedness and wind argues that I really really should<\/em> make the effort. I\u2019m 50, fer chrissakes, and still don\u2019t know my body\/health like I ought to!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some other symptoms of less than ideal health are my profuse sweating, IBS style bowel movements, and – especially noticeable overnight – continually dry mouth. Reading about this stuff online, along with stuff I\u2019ve gleaned from the treatment of my psoriasis and arthritis, suggests high blood pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So once again improving diet and increasing exercise are indicated. The only real exercise I get at present is the home\/DIY stuff I do. Such, for example, as the earth moving I\u2019ve been doing recently in preparing a base for the shed Ken gave us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll take a break from this post now, to go back to some of that work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was saying on here, very recently, that in some fundamental way this blog is a kind of modern \u2018cyber-journal\u2019. A record of some of things I\u2019ve done or am doing. And very much a way to remind myself that I exist at all! One of the main ways of doing this we have in … <\/p>\n