Day 2453: The “Why should I care?” test

Yesterday, I witnessed somebody telling a writer that their  story did not answer the “Why should I care?” test.  Why should I care about that?  Well, sometimes I wonder why my loyal and lovely readers should care about the personal words and photos I share in this blog.

Why should you care if I went to the dentist yesterday and got a new dental crown that was created, before my eyes, in a 3-D  printer?   Why should you care if Michael and I took Oscar to the vet and he got a clean bill of health?  Why should you care if Harley escaped going to the vet by scratching Michael, hissing, growling, and making it impossible for us to corral him in time to make the appointment? In other words, why should you care about what I care about?

Why should you care about how I recorded some of yesterday’s moments?

Why should any of us care about allowing cats and people to communicate their stories in an authentic,  personal, and full-bodied way?

Why should anybody care about this video I took of the creation of my new dental crown?

 

Why should I care about the comments you make on this blog?  There are SO many reasons I care.   I can only hope I convey that caring in every post and every answer, every day.

 

 

Day 2449: This & That

I’m on vacation this week & next!

During my vacation I’ll be

• staying at home & traveling overseas,
• taking Oscar & Harley to the vet,
• seeing a lawyer & changing my will,
• attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival & performing there,
• doing this & doing that.

I noticed this & that yesterday:

 

 

The Stop & Shop and this & that appear in this song by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers:

 

When I feel great, I fear that something bad will follow. Good things & bad things happen, but not necessarily in that order.

 

Last night, when I was feeling great about this week & next, that crown fell off.  My dentist — who is wonderful & enjoying a much earned vacation in Florida — reassured me & texted another dentist at Beacon Hill Dental Associates.  On Tuesday, I’ll take the cats to the vet & see that dentist.

Are you reading & commenting today?

Thanks & more thanks to all who helped me create today’s post & to you (including my wonderful dentist!) for reading, here & now.

Day 2091: Open with care

When I open, with care,  every new blog post, I also open, with care, my photo app.

Today I care to open with this photo:

I open my car door with care and I also open with care other things, including:

• My mind.
• My heart.
• My mouth.
• My eyes.
• Every blog post.
• Therapy groups.
• Meetings.
• Communication.
• Presents.
• Books.
• Conversations.
• Songs.
• Poems.
• Emails.
• Packaging.
• My laptop.

What do you open with care?

I shall now re-open my photo app with care.

“I’m not anti-social” (displayed with care on those socks, above) is an interesting way to open a conversation.

Note that I opened my list of favorite movies with “Singin’ in the Rain.”  I’ve opened up, here, about how much I love musicals. Today, I opened my eyes and thought, “I’m seeing Hamilton today!!!”

I now open YouTube with care, looking for relevant music to share.

Later today, I shall open WordPress with care to see how people open their comments.

I open each blog post with care and close it with gratitude, so thanks to all who helped me create this open-with-care post and — of course! — YOU.

Day 2018: 2018

What kind of number is 2018? The website Numbermatics tells us that

2018 is an even composite number. It is composed of two distinct prime numbers multiplied together. It has a total of four divisors.

2018 squared (20182) is 4072324
2018 cubed (20183) is 8217949832
The square root of 2018 is 44.9221548905
The cube root of 2018 is 12.6368953011

To count from 1 to 2018 would take you about thirty-three minutes.

It takes me about thirty-three minutes to create my daily blog posts, including one where the number of the post equals the number of the year.

2018 is also approximately the number of thoughts I had about how to mark this special number today. I spent about 2018 seconds searching for “mathematical puns” and I found Yan’s One Minute Math Blog, which included these mathematical puns from Stewart Francis:

I’m the youngest of three, my parents are both older.

Of the twenty-seven
students in my maths class,
I was the only one who failed.
What are the odds of that, one
in a million?

What are the odds of my blogging consecutively for 2018 days?  What are the odds of 2018 being the kind of year it’s been?

The number of photos I’m sharing today is approximately the cube root of 2018:

 

After spending approximately 2018 seconds creating this blog, I can see glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel.  Can you?

Here‘s what comes up for “2018” on YouTube:

One more mathematical fact: that has 6.5K likes and 6.7K dislikes on YouTube.

I wonder what number of comments I’ll get on this 2018 post?

I’ve been grateful 2018 times to those who help me create this blog and — of course! — to YOU.

 

 

Day 2005: Here are the questions …

If you’re searching for the answer behind today’s title, here it is:

Here are the questions …

• Who is welcome?
• Where are the safe places?
• How should we enter?
• What is the next step forward?
• Why don’t more people vote?
• What will they vote for next?
• Who’s in charge?
• What is justice?
• Who are the justices?
• Who is corrupt?
• Who is fighting for the rights of the people?
• Why should we build walls?
• What would make you happy?
• What endures?
• What does it mean to be strong?
• When will strong women no longer be called “bitchy”?
• Why should I smile today?
• Who  listens to radio?
• What are people listening to?
• Why can’t I get to sleep after checking the news?
• What important questions are missing here?
• What other photos did I take yesterday?

Where is there a space reserved for your comments?  Below.

Here are questions and answers by Pat Metheny:

 

Who is grateful for all who helped me create this questionable post and for all who are reading it? Ann is.

Day 1991: Untold stories

I’ve told many stories in this blog over the years, but many remain untold.

We all have untold stories, including Boston’s Public Garden.

In my profession as a group and individual therapist, I hear many previously untold stories.  Because of patient confidentiality, those stories remain  untold outside the room (unless the story is mine).

Every picture tells a story, I’m told, but there are many untold stories in my pictures today.

 

 

 

 

I know there are untold stories in the news these days, but hope, respect, joy, peace, kindness, patience, healing, inspiration, comfort, and love seem to be missing in the stories that are being told.

Here‘s “Untold Stories” told by Sinead O’Connor:

 

I look forward to reading some untold stories in the comments, below.

My gratitude — for all who help me create these posts and for all who read them — is not untold.

 

Day 1895: Forget Regret

Yesterday, in a group therapy session, people talked about regret.  I said, “Regret is really present in this room. Should we invite Regret to sit down?”   People looked a little less regretful when they invited Regret to sit in a corner.  They also asked Regret questions like “Why won’t you go away?”  I answered in the voice of Regret: “I won’t go away because I think I help you. What would you do without me?”  People said that as the session went on, Regret was still there but was getting smaller.

Near the end of the session, I went over to the chair where Regret was sitting, picked it up by the scruff of the neck, opened the door with my other hand, threw Regret into the hallway, and slammed the door.  I asked people how it felt now that Regret was out of the room.  “Wonderful,” was one reply.

Later that day, I went to physical therapy for my torn rotator cuff, and Regret visited me there.  I got so discouraged about my lack of progress that I focused on my regret for slipping and falling on January 31.  Then, I remembered the group, took Regret by the scruff of the neck and threw it out the door.

Here‘s the song I heard yesterday with the lyrics “Forget Regret.”

There’s only us

There’s only this

Forget regret

Or life is yours to miss

No other road

No other way

No day but today.

Kind and wonderful people — like Dr. Maria Gonzalez Del Castillo and Kate at Beacon Hill Dental Associates — help me forget regret.

Taking photos for this blog helps me forget regret.

 

Forget regret but don’t forget to comment!

I never forget to send a big thank-you to everyone who helps me create this daily blog, especially YOU.

Day 1613: Home

Welcome to my blogging home, dear readers.

Yesterday, in the home office of a major medical institution in Boston, a therapy group discussed the topic of “home.”   This hit home for me, because soon I’ll be changing my current home for a different one.

I asked the group to write, draw, or otherwise express thoughts and feelings about home. Here’s what I did:

From my home this morning, I’d like to share this music about home.

As I look at my list of “What Makes a Home a Home?” from the comfort of my home,  I see that I wrote “pictures.”  Here are more pictures from yesterday.

 

 

I also wrote that “People make the home” and listed gratitude on “What makes a home a home?”  Many thanks to the people in my therapy groups, to  my bass-playing dentist Dr. Del Castillo, to my friend Deb, to Simon & Garfunkel, to all the other people who help make this my blogging home, and to you — of course! — for visiting me in my home, here and now.

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In honor of the 50th anniversary of the release in the USA of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, here’s another Home song:

Day 1494: Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day is my birthday.  Can you guess how old I am today? Here‘s a hint:

While there are many things out there on Groundhog Day 2017 that are making me afraid of my own shadow, there’s still a lot of sunshine.

Do you see shadows or sunshine in the photos I took the day before Groundhog Day?

Happy Groundhog Day to all my readers and Happy Birthday to me!

Day 1172: The most amazing thing I’ve ever seen

Amazingly, yesterday somebody said to me, “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

The person expressing that amazement did so during one amazing moment of an amazingly busy day for me, when I did individual and group therapy at work, went to my amazing dentist’s office, walked around Boston and its amazing environs, went to an amazing group psychotherapy organization board meeting, and took photos of many amazing things.

Would you be amazed if I asked you to guess which amazing photo below shows the amazing thing that person found remarkably amazing?

The most amazing thing I can think of doing right now is to try to remember if I’ve ever said, “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” out loud.   I’d be amazed if I haven’t, at some point in my amazing life,  but my memory isn’t amazing enough to come up with amazing specifics. My amazing guess is that I could have easily said that about

• my son, Aaron,
• my father, Aaron,
• one of my cats,
• my very unusual heart,
• a new place I’d never seen before (like Yosemite, Monument Valley, the Yucatan, London, Edinburgh, etc.),
• a live stand-up comedy performance,
• professional dancers,
• a work of art,
• a piece of architecture,
• the Beatles,
• a Pat Metheny concert,
• another amazing person, or
• a kashmillion other amazing sights.

I just googled “Pat Metheny most amazing” and found this site, which recommends this amazing performance of this amazing Beatles song as one of his 10 best:

Amazingly, it’s time for me to end this amazed and amazing post with one more amazing photo from amazing yesterday.