CULTURAL NORMS

😍 I like people, and I'm intensely interested in them, but I do a double-take when accosted by a stranger. If he has sufficient reason, it's fine, like maybe my pants are on fire. If not, he is rude and aggressive and not to be encouraged.

One does not approach strangers where I come from. That's where broken noses are born.

I'm picking berries one day when a stranger, a young man, maybe 35, comes sidling up, very hesitant, to say, 'Please excuse me for bothering you but could you tell me please what kind of berry you are picking?'

'Certainly', I sez. 'I'm picking red currants, also known as high-bush cranberries. They're not a desirable berry, but useful as a filler for cranberry sauce.'

'What's a cranberry?' he says, I swear to God.

So, I told him all about cranberries and Thanksgiving and we jawed awhile and parted fast friends.

 Don't Lose Money in Your Investments

If your investment balance dropped 50%, what has to happen to

get it back to where it started? 

IT HAS TO DOUBLE to get back where it was.

Say today you have $1,000 invested, market drops 50%, so now you have $500.

Tomorrow the market goes up 50%. So your $500 goes up 50%, that puts your investment at $750, not back to $1,000, so even though the market is back where it was you are still down $250.

You lose money twice as fast as you make money in the market!

 

Making Use of Everything

🤔 A bad mood can be productive, like scrubbing pots and pans, or kicking the can down the road.. with angst and attitude ..

A Blood-Pressure Miracle!

At the clinic my blood pressure (bp) was high, like 170 over something. It always is at the doctor's office --white-coat syndrome.

So I worried that they would again recommend an rx which I would refuse and then maybe be labeled noncompliant.

I told them (the truth) that, taken at home, my bp ran around 136 over something, but I hadn't bothered with it in a long time.

I was told to take a reading every day for the next five days and report the results. At home, after a nap and a couple hours relaxing, I took my bp. It read 147/89!

A friend, now deceased, always meditated to lower his out-of-control bp. It does not work for me. So. I read all I could find about lowering bp without drugs and here's what I did about this small problem.

1. I ate my main meal of the day, thoroughly enjoying it.

2. I entered instant relaxation meditation for 15 minutes. (For me that means Solitaire. For others it might mean a coloring book or a crossword puzzle or a light-hearted book.)

3. I rose and walked for ten minutes, just a comfortable pace.

4. I returned to my chair, relaxed completely, breathed for ten minutes playing Solitaire, and took my bp. It read 115/72! I took it again: 112/71!

5. This morning, fasting, having risen two hours ago, it reads 148/96.

This has convinced me that four small meals will serve me better than my normal two solid meals.

We don't want high blood pressure, it's not good.

**My mother buried three husbands and two of them were only napping. --Rita Rudner

 FACTS OF LIFE

1. Because I do, I think everybody does.

2. Progress cannot be stopped, AND it will be used. That is why the bomb was dropped. That's why we got Dolly the cloned sheep (a mammal!). That's why AI will be brought to conclusion, whatever that might be. 

3. Things can always get worse. 

 Not a Good Day

So, I'm in a Baaad Mood this morning because

I'm not feeling well because

I ate a couple pounds of raisins reading myself to sleep last night because

of sugar cravings because

my diet has been slipping for awhile because

I haven't been cooking because 

of the total distraction of cataract surgery.

So I'm trying to snap out of it because

I want to live a happy carefree busy life.

**I keep chocolate nearby in case I have a grievance which I also keep nearby.**

 We're better than lawyers, therapists or financial planners. We're seniors.