I normally write this blog at 6 AM, before I start my day. On days when I’m doing Moulage (casualty simulation) at an exercise, I’m elbow-deep in nose and scar wax at that point. So I have to wait to blog until after I’ve finished and scrubbed my hands of all the fake blood.
One intense day done, and I’m in the middle of intense day #2. I am so tired. I’m getting 5 hours of sleep a night, and I can tell. I’m dreaming of sleeping in tomorrow.
No pictures from the event, because all mine are gory.
Writing late today. I have already done morning moulage, making up several people to look like victims. I’m dragging a bit even though I got enough sleep last night. It’s a long couple of days. Wish me luck.
Am at my destination. Participated in an excellent leadership workshop (which continues today) and didn’t get enough sleep, which is par for the course for New York Hope.
In four more days, I will have done a whole year of daily blogging!
Still on the road — it’s amazing how much sitting in a van for 12 hours really tires one out. Nothing to take pictures of in Elkhart IN, but here we are. See you tomorrow!
Eight days till my Big Audacious Goal of blogging every day for a year is realized! The only problem is that, starting tomorrow, I am on the road for my annual disaster training exercise in New York State. (As a reminder, I do casualty simulation for this and another exercise in October.) This means two days in a van in each direction, and a disrupted schedule. If there was any time I could fail, it would be this week.
I am probably going to write short blogs those days, because I will likely be writing some of them from the van, and I am the sort who gets carsick if I do too much writing in cars. I will try to keep it interesting enough, though, and write a minimum of “contractual obligation” posts.
Maybe I’ll take pictures. I don’t take pictures often enough. I’ll try not to get gross casualty simulation pictures, though.
“Township bonds won’t be certified”. Maryville Forum, July 10, 2025
The assignment was to find some uninteresting news and tie it into my life. I find most news interesting, but this article from my hometown paper about three townships in Nodaway County, MO, not getting road bonds certified failed to capture my imagination.
The townships in question failed certification because they had not advertised the election to pass the bonds in local newspapers, which happened in part because newspapers in the area are no longer daily.
This affects me because I am a Nodaway County resident, and although I don’t travel through those townships often, I pass through them occasionally. If this delays roadwork in the townships, I may ride some bumpy roads. Some roads in this county could use some repair, especially the more rural county roads.
The hardest part of this assignment was finding uninteresting news. I find news interesting, especially human interest news. Writers of news articles don’t try to write boring news. My attention got hooked on an article about a lawsuit. The lawsuit was against police in St. Joseph for withholding information that would have exonerated a woman wrongfully imprisoned for 45 years.
Everything connects to something, sooner or later. I suppose it would have been harder connecting some shipping news to my condition, but I could have done it, because my mind works that way.
Well, I hold doors for everyone behind me, but I include men in this. It seems only polite, although it was not something I was brought up with. I’m sixty-one, after all, and in the era of my childhood, we didn’t hold doors for men. If you were a man, you were on your own.
It’s not a big act of kindness, but it is one that I can exercise daily. A common courtesy, in fact. Something that just makes sense, especially if someone has held the previous door open for me.
I don’t know how men feel about this. They seem to appreciate it.
I don’t think of habits and joy in the same sentence. Habits are things you do, often out of health or obligation. I don’t get a sense of joy in brushing my teeth or doing a load of dishes.
There is one habit, though, that I get joy out of, and that is going to sleep. I love sleeping. It’s like a reset for my mind and body. My dreams are sometimes annoying (I have a lot of ‘not being prepared for class’ sorts of dreams) but often they’re interesting and pleasant.
I smile as I fall asleep. It’s a relief and an experience.
I seek out medical topics. Not so deep that I am reading medical cases and playing “name that diagnosis”, but I look up diseases and learn symptoms. I would make a perfect hypochondriac if it weren’t for the fact I’m often right in my self-diagnosis.
I am interested in molecular biology, but not enough to study it. I think it’s fascinating that each of our cells has a miniature version of the systems that input, use energy, and output.
I am curious about rumors. I hear this is not a good thing to be, but nonetheless I find myself wanting to know more.
I wonder about about how my cats perceive me. I have read that they don’t consider me an overgrown kitten, but why do they insist on cleaning my face?
These are just a few things I’m curious about. There are more. I am a rather curious person.
Words Like Me 