It seems to me that my tendonitis has started acting up again, undoubtedly the result of bad ergonomic desk setup and working from home where I sit on a wooden chair all day.
My CTS started when I was doing my MA work, which was about 14 years ago. Wow. Time certainly flies. It flares off and on, and usually I can manage it with high dosages of Ibuprofen, B-6 vitamins, and some massage/electric stimulation.
To top it all off, the ulnar nerve in both elbows is exposed, so if I try to bend my elbow now, I get very sharp pain from my upper arm down to my fingers.
Perhaps I should stop typing for now.
B bought me a massaging office chair for my birthday. It's supposed to arrive today. I can't wait!
Our apartment just got hit with a strong stench of skunk. My eyes are tearing it's so caustic.
Incidentally, this corresponds to how I feel after watching the worst piece of cinematic excretion called "Frankenstein's Bloody Nightmare". I would much rather have shoved a stinkin' skunk in my ears rather than have watched this piece of monstrosity. While it completely lacked any semblances of a plot (which is not necessarily bad), the visual and aural regurgitations that took place on screen made my entire body shriek in agony, and if it weren't for the fact that I just took muscle relaxers to help with the pain in my back, I would have jumped off the couch, gone to the airport, purchased a rather expensive ticket to Pensacola, FL, flown over there, and probably taken a very expensive cab ride to go to the director's house, just to knee him in the groin repeatedly while playing music from Diamanda Galas, so that maybe he would feel the pain that his viewers have experienced watching his ordure.
Anyone how knows me, knows that I am a fairly kind person who is, for the most, rather compassionate to people's situations that justified their behavior. But, in the first five minutes of the film, after observing that it looked like it was made strictly for a class project, I said "I hope he failed the class," which was then followed by:
- I don't only hope that he failed the class, but that he got kicked out of school!
- I hope his mother beat him senseless!
- The cinematographer should be beat senseless!
and so on...
The director actually has a website, and he has the galls to criticize and rant on other films! http://www.pulsingcinema.com/
We got the film from Netflix, and B. actually wrote on the sleeve, "THIS MOVIE SUCKS! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!"
Yup. My sentiments exactly. I feel like I should go take a bath in some tomato soup just to get the stench out.
Stewie's reaction to Will Ferrell is exactly how I feel right now (Sorry about the quality).
As a medical anthropologist, this is a fascinating read, and very easy and accessible to the general audience. It's now required readings for literally millions of students in all sorts of classes. The entire incoming freshman class at Clark U. had to read it.
Now, I have to admit, I've actually not read the full thing, but have skimmed it. I have resisted reading it because everytime I tell people what I do, they say, "oh, like that book The Spirit...". So, I don't want it to influence me while writing my dissertation.
At the end of the book, Anne cites Dr. Arthur Kleinman, who is a leading medical anthropologist, and cross-cultural psychiatrist. Brilliant doctor, and a personal favorite. The end of the book contains eight questions that he came up with that doctors who are faced with a cross-cultural situation can ask of their patients. The goal is to reach an understanding of cultural categories that doctors can use as a bridge with their patients.
In my experience, doctors still resist the whole idea of cross-cultural communication. Many have a very difficult time stepping out of their culture and biases to see their patients' point of view. And, patients, especially those who have not been exposed to Western biomedicine, have a difficult time translating their beliefs to the doctors. The clinical encounter then becomes a jumbled mess of miscommunication.
At the end of the lecture, I asked Anne how she has been able to convince doctors to adopt she is proposing. I have had to deal with doctors who have been incredibly resistant to even considering anything other than what they know to be the "RIGHT" way to go. And, many put their ethical and moral standards first and foremost in dealing with patients. Her answer was really not very satisfactory. She said it was not an either/or situation, but that doctors and patients need to recognize their assumptions and biases, and work through them with the other. Errr... that's really not all that helpful, Anne. As a medical anthropologist who is in the hospitals trying to serve as a cultural broker, "they both have to come to the table" is not a very useful and practical thing. She said if there's no harm in what the patients are doing (whether it be through the use of allopathic medicine or seeing a shaman), then the doctors should respect that. But what if the situation is harmful. Then what? She merely mentioned it without offering any useful suggestions.
So, while on the one hand I really like what she's done, and truly appreciate the groundbreaking project she undertook, I'm not satisfied with her conclusions.
I'm still debating whether I would use this book in a class. Maybe I should read the whole thing before I make that decision, though.
I have this weird habit (talent?) of being able to hack almost any programming language, including PhP, Visual Basic, Coldfusion, etc. Actually, I got pretty good at CF, having designed two websites with it.
In this job, I have a new challenge. I have to develop an entire software that would allow integration between Excel, Access, and Visio. The best thing to make them all talk to each other is VBA. I requested an installation of Microsoft Visual Basic on my computer, and I'm determined to learn it before too long.
I want to be able to sit down and write an entire script from scratch.
Hmm... I wonder why my neighbord decided that it would be cool to just set a huge branch of dried leaves on fire. Strange. I don't think he sees me. Hopefully, he's not going to set too many more things on fire anytime soon.
Since Saturday, I have written a ten page paper, put together an entire application for teaching a new course, which included writing my teaching statement, and have revised a paper for publication. That's not counting all the "work" work that I do every day, and the website that I manage.
So... why do I have this nagging feeling that I am not doing enough?? It's very strange!
I have also realized that if I am trying to concentrate on one thing, and try to do another, neither one of them gets done in a timely fashion. I have to finish something completely before I can have enough focus to move to something else. Transitioning between tasks is still very difficult to me, but it's worse if I am trying to do two things at once that require concentration.
So, now I have finished all the writing I needed to do (which in itself a procrastination from actually writing a grant proposal). I just have to bite the bullet, so to speak, and just get to it. Mentally, I'm prepared. Just have to do it.
Tomorrow, I will write about my rant about the ASA. Right now, however, I need sleep. My brain is exhausted!
I just signed on to twitter.com (see link on the right). It's the ultimate tool of self-indulgence. Why would ANYONe care what the hell I'm doing at any point in time? Although, it is a neat snapshot into a daily life, because it archives all twitters in one profile page.
I don't have time to read the public timeline, but it's fun to know it's there if I want to read anything...
And, I have to say... Why would anyone on earth leave their wireless connection insecure? I'm working from the kitchen now, and connected to the net because someone left his or her connection WIIIIDE open!
Silly people.
Definitely adding this to my calendar. It's in Boston!
--------------------
Call for Papers
The Wormy Corpus: Worms, Parasites and the Body in Religion, Medicine, and History
Boston University Department of Religion American Academy of Religion
April 19th and 20th
Across cultures and disciplines, worms and parasites are a source of revulsion and fear that reflects a deep-seated association with death and decay. The fear of worms (helminthophobia) or fear of worm infestation is visceral, for worms pose a threat to personal identity and boundaries as lowly but powerful invaders-the extreme other. As a topic of inquiry, worms and parasites invite an interdisciplinary discussion between Religious Studies, History/ History of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts, Anthropology, Sociology, and the Medical Humanities. The goal of this conference is to gather together scholars from diverse disciplines to discuss not only worms and parasites but also their role in the development of culture, history, and
religion--and thus illuminate the semi- permeable boundaries between academic disciplines, religion, and medicine, as well as between the body, soul, environment, and cosmos.
We welcome presentations from individuals across the disciplines on religious, literary, and medical texts, the fine arts, film studies, sociology and health studies, anthropology, and the healing arts and sciences from cultures across the globe.
For more information, visit our website at www.bu.edu/religion/wormconference or email the conference organizers, Brenda Gardenour at brensga@bu.edu and Misha Tadd at mitadd@bu.edu
