Day 3718: Fun facts

My fun facts for today include the fact that The Russian Tea Room in NYC has four floors that hold hidden treasures like a giant glass bear that has fish swimming inside it. I know this fun fact because my friends and fellow group therapists Jen and Patty saw that after I left the restaurant early last night because I was tuckered out after a too-full day with too-little sleep.

Here’s another fun fact: the incredibly fun and funny Mel Brooks, who is listed as a “noted guest” in the Wikipedia page about the Russian Tea Room, has a new TV show, “History of the World Part II,”which Nick Kroll talked about on the Stephen Colbert show attended yesterday by Jen, Patty, and me.

Fun fact: Stephen Colbert answers questions from the audience before every show taping, which yesterday included a reveal of the many pencils he throws around as a homage to his admired talk show predecessors David Letterman and Johnny Carson.

You’re bound to discover other fun facts if you click on the links I’ve embedded on this post so far. (Fun fact: when I type “fun facts” it often comes out as “fun cats.”)

Do you see fun facts in the images I captured yesterday?

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Here’s the first thing I find when I search for “fun facts” on YouTube:

Thanks to all who help me share fun facts in this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 3688: Coasting

Two days ago, in my “Defining Moments” blog post, I declared my intention to commit to coasting after 70 years of climbing.

What do I mean by coasting? I mean I’m going to stop trying so hard to get everything right and I’m going to enjoy the ride more. It means that I’m going to believe that over my life I’ve built up enough energy and accomplishments to just let go and say “wheeeee! as I go coasting along. Coasting means that I stop worrying about what other people think or anything else, for that matter.

Coasting doesn’t mean that I stop trying; it just means that I really commit in a new way to an old resolution — to lose my investment in the outcome while remaining present and committed to the process.

Coasting sounds like more fun, doesn’t it? Let’s check out a definition of “coasting.”

As Mel Brooks might say, sorry about the word “creep.” Do you see coasting in my images for today?

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Sounds like a good day to be coasting, doesn’t it? Here’s what I find when I search for “coasting” on YouTube.

I look forward to your coasting comments, below.

Thanks to all who are coasting together with me, here and now, including YOU.

Day 3459: When you’re feeling down

When you’re feeling down, know that you’re not alone.

When you’re feeling down, remember that you’ve felt down before and made it through.

When you’re feeling down, resist the temptation to get down on yourself and beat yourself up.

When I’m feeling down, I share my heart with people I trust, observe what’s around me, set an achievable goal, access good memories, and get in touch with humor.

When you’re feeling down, get down with the Daily Bitch (and maybe eat a creative ice cream flavor or a ginger snap).

When you’re feeling down, listen to music that brings you up.

When you’re feeling down, get in touch with gratitude. Thanks to all who help me get up every day and create these blog posts, including YOU!

Day 3102: Tell me something I don’t know

Tell me something I don’t know, preferably about you.

I’ll tell you something YOU don’t know: I’ve been serving on the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy for eight years, which is ALL of my 60s, and tomorrow is my last day!

I’ll tell you something else you don’t know — I’ve been listening to the original cast album of In the Heights and I love this song:

Am I telling you something you don’t know in the images I captured yesterday?

Tell me something I don’t (or do) know in the comments section below.

I am grateful for what I know, for what I might know in the future, and for YOU.

Day 2739: No longer

I am no longer President of the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy, so I am no longer worrying about acting Presidential (although “acting Presidential” no longer has the same meaning it used to).

Carl Reiner is no longer on this earth.

This sentence, at the end of the Wikepedia entry about Carl Reiner, is no longer than 20 words:

Reiner died at his home on June 29, 2020, aged 98, in the company of his family.

This episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which Carl Reiner wrote, produced, and created, is no longer than 25 minutes:

This 2000-Year-Old Man Routine, co-created by the no-longer-with-us Carl Reiner and the-still-with-us-as-of-this-writing Mel Brooks, is no longer than four minutes:

I am no longer able to say that I never saw that before. It’s been no longer than 55 years that I’ve known Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks as comic geniuses.

Mel Brooks, who describes himself on Twitter as “Writer, Director, Actor, Producer and Failed Dairy Farmer” and who no longer can have dinner every night  with his old friend and co-writer Carl Reiner, posted this no-longer-than-280-character tribute yesterday:

Carl was a giant, unmatched in his contributions to entertainment. He created comedy gems like The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Jerk, and Where’s Poppa? I met him in 1950 when he joined Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows, and we’ve been best friends ever since. I loved him. When we were doing The 2000 Year Old Man together there was no better straight man in the world. So whether he wrote or performed or was just your best friend — nobody could do it better.  He’ll be greatly missed. A tired cliché in times like this, but in Carl Reiner’s case it’s absolutely true. He will be greatly missed.

It took me no longer than a few seconds to find this great photo of Carl Reiner, Annie Reiner, and Mel Brooks that was taken no longer than two days away from Mel Brooks’s 94th birthday and Carl Reiner’s death day:

I hope it is no longer debatable in this country that black lives matter.

I am no longer worried about other people’s incorrect assumptions or my inadvertent miscommunications, like Mel Brooks’s birthday and Carl Reiner’s death day being the same day (which they aren’t — they are one day apart).

This post is no longer focusing on words as I share my images from yesterday:

I am no longer expecting comments but I will welcome any you choose to make.

It takes no longer than one word to express heart-felt gratitude.

Day 2178: Fall in love every day

Yesterday, I fell in love with the HBO documentary If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.  This lovely movie about vital and thriving people in their 90s lovingly showcases Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Norman Lear, Betty White, Iris Apfel, Tony Bennett, the late Stan Lee, and many lovable non-celebrities. I love this tag line for the film: “What’s the secret to living into your 90s — and loving every minute of it?”

Jerry Seinfeld, who is not in his 90s and who I hope gets there (because I love him), is also in the movie. He describes his ideas about how to live well into your 90s, which include “Fall in love every day.  I don’t mean romantic love. Fall in love with your parking space.”

Maybe I WILL make it into my 90s, because I fall in love every day, with my parking space and many other things.   Do you see the love in my photos from yesterday?

I love so many things about those photos, including the penguin-that-looks-like-a-monkey Starbucks cake pop. I also love that my new and lovely co-worker Alice and I went to Starbucks yesterday not wanting to buy anything but just to smell the coffee (which some lovely researchers say can revitalize you), and the lovable Starbucks barista (not pictured) opened a giant container of roasting beans (also not pictured) and let us smell their lovely aroma.

One of the lovable social work interns at work has fallen in love with the music of jazz drummer Brian Blade and he suggested I listen to him, which I did.   I fell in love and maybe you will, too.

What might you fall in love with today?

I’ve fallen in love every day about thanking those who help me write these daily posts and also my lovely readers (including YOU).

Day 1411: It could be worse.

It could be worse. It could be raining.

It could be worse. It could be a world without

• Mel Brooks
• Young Frankenstein
• Other hilarious movies
• Laughter
• Blogging
• People who care
• Friends who send you poems like this:

“Good Bones,” by Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

• Sons who want to FaceTime with their mothers

• Cats

• Signs

• Fire hydrants

• Mittens

• Pumpkins

• My readers, who I hope will leave a comment about this post (which could be worse)
• Gratitude, which I’m expressing for all who helped me create today’s blog and for you– of course! — no matter what you think could be worse, here and now.

 

Day 1392: Depends

What’s my attitude about life?  Depends on what’s going on around me, how I’m perceiving things, and people I depend on.

How am I feeling as I recover from my recent open heart surgery?  Depends on how much sleep I’m able to get, which depends on how much pain I’m having.

How do I answer questions from myself and from others? Depends on the question, my attitude, my experience, and what I know.

How  do  I come up with a title and topic for each of my daily blog posts?  Depends on what’s happened the day before, usually.

How do I decide which pictures to share here?  Depends on which ones I think you might like.

How well do I quote other people in this blog?  Depends on my memory and what they have to say.  Yesterday, the dependably hilarious, brilliant, and charming Mel Brooks responded to a question from the audience as follows:

Question:  Boxers or briefs?

Mel Brooks:  Depends!

My choice of music for each post depends on several factors. Here‘s the theme song from Blazing Saddles  — the movie Mel Brooks showed and discussed yesterday:

 

Will you comment on today’s blog post?  That probably depends on what you have to say.

I depend on others to create every blog post and on you to read them, so many thanks to Mel Brooks, to my neighbor Karen for driving me yesterday to a realtor’s open house AND to see Mel Brooks, and to you — of course! — on whom I depend more than you know.

 

Day 1391: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

To start telling this story, today’s post title is a quote from the musical Hamilton.

 

Who lives, on the day I’m writing this?

• I do, against all odds and even though a team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic  essentially killed me* on September 21 in order to repair my heart before they brought me back to life.
• Mel Brooks, thank goodness, even though he is 90 years old (and whom I’ll be seeing today in person in Boston).
• Approximately 7.5 billion people, according to this link.

 

Who dies, on the day I’m writing this?

• Kevin Meaney, suddenly at age 60, who was one of my and my son’s favorite comedians.
• 151,600 people, according to this link.

 

Who tells your story?

I’ll tell you who tells my story —   it’s me, through this blog.  Perhaps because my story has included so many doctors and medical institutions from the moment I was born, it’s VERY important to me to be the expert of my own experience — the primary teller of my own story. Of course, I can’t control how others will tell my story after I die, but to quote Kevin Meaney about that, “I don’t care.”

Here’s how I photographically choose to tell my story of October 21, 2016, when I went to  one hospital for cardiac rehab and then to another hospital to get blood work to prepare for ANOTHER surgical procedure on November 2 and also to drop in on my  amazing cardiologist Dr. Deeb Salem:

 

And because we do need help from others to tell our stories, I want to thank my friend Carol, who is such a wonderful woman, for capturing the story of those last four photos.

Here’s the last photo that I took yesterday, to tell my story:

Now, how would you tell a story in a comment, below?

I’ll end today’s story with live gratitude to all those living and dead who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — no matter how you tell your story.

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* I’m glad you lived to read  this part of my story from the Mayo Clinic surgeon’s report on  September 21:  “The aorta was occluded, and 800 cc of cold blood cardioplegia was infused into the aortic root obtaining satisfactory asystolic arrest.” Doesn’t that sound like they satisfactorily killed me?

Day 1298: How to Not Die

As I approach my 1300th consecutive daily post here at WordPress, I am thinking that important topics, for me, include “How to Not Die” both as

• a blogger and
• a human being.

How to Not Die  as a blogger could very well include changing the title of this blog from “The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally” to  “How to Not Die.” Don’t you think that new title would

• attract more readers and
• be a better representation of my life-long story of figuring out how to not die from heart-related challenges?

Unfortunately, this picture, taken yesterday, proves that my using “How to Not Die” would be a deliberate act of plagiarizing a beloved celebrity and author:

I guess you and I are stuck with the title of this blog, as I look ahead to the next 1300 consecutive daily posts.

How to Not Die, for me, includes getting up and out and taking photos of what’s alive around me, including these:

What music might you choose for a post titled “How to Not Die?”

“Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees?

 

Please help this blog post not die by leaving a comment, below.

Staying-alive thanks to Mel Brooks, the Bee Gees and everybody else who helps me create this “How to Not Die” blog, including you!