And so ends April. May should be even more interesting for me (a hint of irony there) since I have read all my emergency books, have watched all the DVDs I once borrowed from a friend, and now I am more or less banned from Facebook. (Any links to my blog are blocked, and all previous posts have disappeared.) I can check in and make a few comments, but that’s about it. Oh, wait — I can also post links to my books on Amazon. So, I can’t post links to my blog, which is not spam, but I can post links to my books, which can be considered spam. What a bizarre situation!
For the past twelve years, Facebook was a safe place for me to hang out with people, to chat a bit, and make new friends, but now, not only am I isolated in real time, I am isolated in e-time too. I considered fighting the ban, but I think I’ll wait. It would probably do me more good to stay away from the inane and sometimes downright nasty remarks people make about those who don’t agree with them, and I have had my fill. I’ve also had my fill of following the progression of The 
Bob, and especially I have had my fill of trying to make sense of all the stories that don’t add up. But still, not checking in with Facebook and the friends I’ve made all over the world will be make a huge hole in my life.
Adding to the complication, my knee is acting up again. It had been mostly healed, but clambering up and down the very steep threshold to my backdoor (I had to see what the workers were doing!) has exacerbated the injury. I’ve been babying the knee again, going in and out the front door (where there’s a ramp) and it’s doing better, but still not well enough to go tramping around town.
When the garage is done, they will build a walkway from the back door of the house to the pedestrian door of the garage, and when they do so, they will eliminate that treacherously deep step. Until then, not being able to use the back door just adds to the complications of my life. (Though admittedly, by comparison, this is a very tiny complication.)
So, to recap what May is beginning to look like: no books. No movies. No connecting with friends off line. (Although the governor has removed some of the restrictions, seniors are still locked down.) No connecting with friends online. And no walking.
With any luck, the workers will be back on Monday or Tuesday, but for now, there’s just me. And me. And me. And not much else.
As I said, May should be interesting.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator.
Even Comment Spam Can Sometimes be Tasty
February 4, 2010 — Pat BertramSpammers have discovered one of my more obscure blogs, but some of the spammers got wise — instead of the usual gibberish (which I was going to post here to show you how totally giberishy it is, but decided I’d better not attract their attention) these spammers post quotes, and it works! I don’t delete them. Just goes to show that not everything is all bad, not even comment spam. So, here are a few of the quotes left on the blog, author unknown (at least to me):
I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters.
The ‘Net is a waste of time, and that’s exactly what’s right about it.
God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
Memory feeds imagination.
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all.
Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it’s important.
Get pleasure out of life…as much as you can. Nobody ever died from pleasure.
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down.
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
Temptation rarely comes in working hours. It is in their leisure time that men are made or marred.
I write because I’m afraid to say some things out loud.
As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.
Part of being creative is learning how to protect your freedom. That includes freedom from avarice.