Some have experienced the "lightness of being" - apparently even an unbearable lightness, whatever that could be. I, on the other hand, experience more pain.
Yours truly will be heading out in an hour or so to again try my hand at golf, which has gone better than expected in the first three rounds after a full year away from the clubs to play a round of surgeries. And I know just what pains to expect as I make my consciously slower and gentle swings. Naturally I will walk much of the course, trying desperately to rebuild my physical strength; however by the last three or four fairways, I will give in to the need to ride along with a playing companion who will have his EZ-Go and will nicely have hauled my clubs for me the whole round.
From experience I know to stay upright and erect as possible to avoid some of the pain in my back. No, this is not related to my cancer or surgeries - it's simply some of the familiar pain I have lived with for decades. During the first part of the golf match, while forcing myself to walk as straight and tall as my back will allow, I am forced by time considerations to "hop" into the cart at four of the longer sections of concrete and asphalt (street) crossings between greens & tees. Each time I then need to exit the cart for the next shot, my back screams at me for the change of position and I usually have to grab the cart to hand-over-hand pull myself back to the fully upright stance for walking. My playing buddies, when noticing this, always ask whether I am going to be able to finish the round, to which I have to answer, "I wish I knew."
This morning's round is already in question as I practically collapsed on my first step from the bed. But since I walked for the length of my home and started the coffee brewing, I have been able to manage a convincing uprightness. Now the next problem is leaving this chair I have occupied for over half an hour. The challenge is a bit daunting!
But life, as I know it, is still worth while.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Punctuation is Still a Good Thing?
One fellow who contributes often to a forum I read is guilty of this manner of ending sentences with question marks - hardly ever meaning it is an actual question. I use it here just to highlight the fact that punctuation is important.
The comma is the feisty little punctuation mark that I have always found helpful in writing. Yet over the last few dacades, critics of "good writing" have tried to limit the use of commas, thinking that people have fallen into an over-use of this punctuation. But a comma, properly placed, can clarify meaning. Commas can aid in allowing a reader to virtually hear the little nuances in the spoken word.
I was startled this morning when I happened to read again a post of mine from two years ago - startled because in my effort to limit my use of commas in that writing, I left myself misunderstanding my own sentence. Had to laugh out loud.
An early line of my post was: "My sweet wife found out back in December that the awesome child prodigy was to perform . . ."
When I began to read it this time, the meaning was lost after the first few words, in the comical idea that "my wife was found in December - out back." Out back of what? Or maybe at the Outback Steakhouse? So now I wish that I had used, more freely and correctly, the commas I am prone to employ. Meaning, the sentence would be more properly read as: "My sweet wife found out, back in December, that the awesome child prodigy . . ." That is much to be preferred over the humorous misread of: "My sweet wife, found (out back) in December, . . ."
My sweet wife can be found right here, right out front in my daily life; the need for commas was found out, back in December! (Actually, found out just today, but - you get my drift.)
The comma is the feisty little punctuation mark that I have always found helpful in writing. Yet over the last few dacades, critics of "good writing" have tried to limit the use of commas, thinking that people have fallen into an over-use of this punctuation. But a comma, properly placed, can clarify meaning. Commas can aid in allowing a reader to virtually hear the little nuances in the spoken word.
I was startled this morning when I happened to read again a post of mine from two years ago - startled because in my effort to limit my use of commas in that writing, I left myself misunderstanding my own sentence. Had to laugh out loud.
An early line of my post was: "My sweet wife found out back in December that the awesome child prodigy was to perform . . ."
When I began to read it this time, the meaning was lost after the first few words, in the comical idea that "my wife was found in December - out back." Out back of what? Or maybe at the Outback Steakhouse? So now I wish that I had used, more freely and correctly, the commas I am prone to employ. Meaning, the sentence would be more properly read as: "My sweet wife found out, back in December, that the awesome child prodigy . . ." That is much to be preferred over the humorous misread of: "My sweet wife, found (out back) in December, . . ."
My sweet wife can be found right here, right out front in my daily life; the need for commas was found out, back in December! (Actually, found out just today, but - you get my drift.)
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