Am I deranged enough to embark on another review project? While cleaning toilets and vacuuming radiator nooks and crannies this evening, I thought of how difficult the next few months will be.* This was Best Friend’s favorite time of year, starting with Halloween and continuing through Christmas. I grabbed some of his music and video […]

“I shoulder a burden you will never understand,” a woman scolds her daughter in Pearl, the 2022 horror movie Crankenstein half-watched last night while finishing some work. The character’s middle-aged husband is paralyzed and unable to speak, and the 1918 influenza pandemic has driven their small family deeper into isolation. “Spend my days feeding and

This evening I opened my browser to write something here but glanced first at the news and saw that Kris Kristofferson, despite seeming immortal, was dead at 88. Cranky readers might recall my fascination with his performance in A Star is Born, and excessive linking to “Watch Closely Now,” but his legend was infinitely larger

By the start of its fourth season in 1979, Eight is Enough was struggling with how to reorient itself. Most of the Bradford ‘kids’ were now adults and its dramedy formula, which previously favored comedy, began emphasizing turgidly dramatic plots and two-part episodes: Susan and Merle’s separation, Tom’s estrangement from his father, Mary’s doomed affair

In the words of either Lady Gaga or Deanna Durbin — it’s so easy to get them confused — I’m a free bitch, baby. LSVT is over, done, finito, and the SLP said it might be years before I need a formal refresher if I’m diligent about continuing my speech and respiratory exercises. Crankenstein brought

Consultative exams are ordered by DDS adjudicators when they want to know more about your condition and the limitations it causes. Often this is because your disability application or medical records were incomplete, outdated, or contained conflicting information. There’s nothing nefarious about a CE request, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary; it’s an opportunity to

“It seems fitting that you view Eight is Enough as a form of erotica,” Best Friend recently joked after I mentioned that Nancy, Dianne Kay’s character, attracted saucier subplots — and occasionally wardrobes — in season three. We moved on to other topics and a week later, he was gone. As you probably deduced from

“I’m optimistic that tomorrow will bring a welcome opportunity to move past the gloom and grievances of the last couple days and write something fun,” I wrote yesterday. Famous last words. This morning I learned that Best Friend passed away.* I’ll be back tomorrow but don’t know what to say right now other than I

The manometry results are in and — here I’ll pause to scream silently into the void — further evaluation is recommended. No specific cause of my swallowing issues was identified but only half of the recorded swallows were considered intact; the rest were marked failed, ineffective or fragmented, and the velocity of my esophageal motility

We’re halfway through September and it’s still too hot and humid here for spray painting (and priming) on the patio. I’ve done the prep work on my resin models (some of which will complete the lighthouse interior), I have the paint and the 3M respirator and other supplies, and every weekend I glance at the