The Ground Rules

This is where I set down some ground rules concerning this blog. Some of these stories have absolutely nothing to do with Cancer. But I have Cancer. I am like you, or someone you know, or someone you have lost. My story speaks to all of us. You will read these stories, and find out a little bit more about who I am. You will find out about growing up in Michigan, where there are many small towns and villages that are cold and hard, and where the people are poor. You will also find out something about this marvelous adopted city of mine, which is Portland, Oregon. I am telling you the story of my life.
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It is very important to me to use no last names in any of these stories. These are people who were kind enough to share very personal moments with me. They will all remain anonymous. I could just have easily made the whole thing up.
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I cannot, and will not betray confidences.
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This is all about helping other people who have Cancer, like I do. It has nothing to do with money. You can alway get more money. What I am doing here is important work, which is trying to reach out to people with this horrible disease of Cancer. To offer up a little hope, and a philosophy about enjoying life while we still can.
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I refuse to post pictures and photos up here of any kind. You know that they say that a picture paints a thousand words. The hard part is to come up with a thousand words to paint the picture. This blog is, and will always be about writing. Plain and simple.
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During the course of the telling of my story about who I am, you might learn something new, which is always a good thing. I know just a little bit about Art, Architecture, Botany, Literature, Film History, and Music, and Motorcycles, and a whole lot about things that are just plain Arcane. These are all my strong suits, as well as trying to be entertaining and funny. You will hear stories about my friends' lives, and how my story has inspired them to become better people. I also intend to publish posts that will make you cry. Cancer is, after all, a very Emotional Affair. I have no intention of offending anyone with these stories, though I may occaisionally take a Jab at the French, and anyone else who might be within reach. It is not my attention to hurt anyone's feelings. People always take themselves so seriously! And they shouldn't.
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I will always be on the lookout to improve the appearance of this blog. I write in green, which iis supposed to be a psychologically neutral color. Someone complained that this was hard to read, so I changed the background to make it easier to read. After all, I want as many people as possible to come up and read my work. I should do something that makes that task easy to do.
The print is on the large side, but I am also writing for old people, and they have a hard time with small print. One lady in Michigan, whom I hope to see, prays for me. Her name is Genevieve. She sent me a gift, which is a large print King James Bible. It is small enough to keep with you in your pocket. This was the perfect gift to me, since among all my books, I did not have one of these. I will visit Genevieve while I am back there. Today I added buttons at the bottom of the page, which will make it easier for someone to email a good story to their friends. I am always looking for ways to improve.
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Genevieve worked with my Mom for years at a nursing home, where they took care of old people. My Mom was especially good at this, and would talk with them when no one came to visit, and made little gifts for them at home, and would give them these trinkets. It is now my turn to take care of old people, and I will do that if I can. If I can survive Cancer. What else do I have to do? Nothing.
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Today somebody pointed out that I should maintain a high level of fact checking, which is not my strong suit. He was right to point this out. Jody gave me the idea about the debate over National Health Care when she came across these statistics in Investor's Business Daily. I went back to verify this story. It was published on June 7 of this year. Of course they had a different agenda wth their stuff than I do here. But I think I managed to write a better story. At least one that is funnier than theirs. I invite you to be the judge on that one.
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That's about it for the ground rules. Today will be another long day of Chemo. I will have a chance to see My Delightful Oncologst, who happens to also be one of the smartest women I have ever met in my life. Earlier this year she told me: "We are going to have to buff you up". I have never been the kind of guy you would find at a gym. I have always had long hair and a beard, until Cancer came along. I have always looked like some kind of crazy terrorist. Any one who knows me will testify to that. It was my way of testing people. If they could accept who I was in spite of how I appeared, I deemed them most Worthy in my book, and we became friends. If not, then they had a problem judging a book by its cover. Naturally, these are the sort of people you want to avoid cluttering up you life with. They are stuck with their small ideas, and as it turns out, these ideas are not very interesting. "And so it goes". - Vonnegut.
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But I am doing what I can to follow My Delightful Oncologist's advice. I have been busy monitoring my diet. I have been spending a lot of time in the kithchen, and I do not smoke in the kitchen. I have been busy eating about 5000 calories a day to put on the weight. I was at 168 a week ago. Maybe I will tip the scales today at 170. My goal is to eventually hit 175, which is about normal for me. It is within my reach. I just have to keep motivated to do this. I do not cook with either sugar or salt. Sugar is bad for my delicate teeth. Too much salt can ruin your life too. I have to avoid both of these things. I cook up lots of pasta because it is cheap. I then add some sauteed onions and green peas and canned olives and Salmon for protein. I top this off with good old Mozarella cheese, which I get at Safeway. I use Garlic Powder for seasoning. I get these at the Dollar Store for a Dollar. I steam fresh vegetables every day, and have been enjoying lots of asparagus lately, which is a cancer fighter too. I do not mind spending an extra Dollar to buy organic either. My Fred Meyer at Hawthorne has a most complete selection of organic vegetables. I also live fairly close to a Trader Joe's, and they offer a lot of organic products. I am trying to be smarter about what I choose to eat and what I choose to cook.
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The last thing I need to mention here is that I have been getting plentyof physical exercise. This is important for all of us. We are turning into a nation of Diabetics. We eat the wrong foods, and as a Nation, we are all way over weight. If we were all just a little smarter, we could avoid the horrors of Diabetes, which is another killer. You may never see me inside of a gym (although last year I did visit an LA Fitness while visiting Crazy Al in Los Angeles, which proves that I might even to be willing to give that a shot). I have been very busy riding my bike, playing a little tennis, and going for walks and hikes with everybody I know. In my own way, I am trying to get stronger.
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Finally, I want to say that I have been the William Burroughs poster child for smoking. I have been a complete a complete junkie for something as stupid as cigarettes. My friend MJ has inspired me to try to give them up. I am now writing down each one that I have, to become conscious of how many I go through in one day. MJ managed to quit for twelve whole days. Her nerves were wrecked, and she broke down and had a smoke. The longest I have gone without one has been two days, when I was broke. My friend Mark used to smoke like a fiend in college. Even he gave them up. I started smoking when I was nineteen. It is about time that I give them up too. All cigarettes have done for me is to give me lung Cancer, and to make me smell bad. They take your breath away from you, and breathing is the fundamental cornerstone of Meditation. Meditation is good for the soul, and will create in you a better person than you are today. Cigarettes have just the opposite effect.


Mr. Charming