Being ill is a lousy way to lose weight and keep your BP low. I’m still shaky today but might be feeling a tad more strong. I’m basically spending the entire day sitting in my chair. I made coffee when I got up. I had an apple while waiting for Eileen to get up. Then when she got up and I ate breakfast with her. We boggled which is our routine but I got fatigued after two games. Usually we ply four.

I sure hope the antibodies I am taking help fix whatever’s gone wrong with my body. As you might expect I haven’t had a martini since Saturday. If I can beat whatever’s wrong with me, giving up martinis is the least of my worries.

I think Eileen is feeling sorry for me because she asked me about the books I wanted to order from Readers World but didn’t. Hey I’ll take pity. I just ordered The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution  by Eric Foner.

and Mendelssohn: A Life in Music by R. Larry Todd

and Fanny Hensel: the Other Mendelssohn by R. Larry Todd

and Ways of Seeing by John Berger

and Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them

and Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language Paperback.

The Webster’s 1828 is the version that Dickinson owned and comes into play in research about her.

So here I am facing the grim reaper but getting to order books. Plus I don’t feel that bad, just shaky and low on energy. I’ve also stopped daily exercise. Pluses and negatives I guess.

We are planning a weekend trip to see Elizabeth and Fam. At this point, we (Eileen probably) will drive over to Delton on Saturday and spend the night. Go out to eat and see a show. Crash at Elizabeth’s and come back after that. It is possible I will have enough stamina for this. I guess I’ll take it as it comes. I do think I am feeling a little bit better but this might just me being over hopeful. Stay tuned for future adventures.

Went to the Doctor this morning. Eileen drove. I’m still kind of shaky both from whatever’s wrong with me from fasting. They tested my urine. There was scant blood in it but enough white cells that my Doctor ordered an anti-biotic treatment and asked me to come back after that and retest my urine. Then if she’s not happy she will refer me to a urologist. Blood in a man’s urine can indicate many things but the thing Fuentes stressed is that it’s not good and if we can we need to figure out what it is. If the urine is without blood cells at the next test she said we would drop it until my August check up. This is weirdly reassuring.

I do like having Eileen along on these visits. She comes along with me into the patient room and is very helpful.

I guess I didn’t need to fast for this morning’s office visit. Silly me.

I am madly trying to finish Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria. The book is due to be returned to the library tomorrow. I have also ordered myself a paperback copy which is supposed to arrive this evening. I am finding it very helpful in figuring out stuff about native Americans especially from the point of view of how white Americans have treated and typed them.

After writing yesterday’s blog post I went back and re-read The Zoo Story by Edward Albee. I found the section about all of life can be a bit of narcissistic existence.

(Jerry : speaking to Peter who seems to be hypnotized)

It’s just … it’s just that … (Jerry is abnormally tense now) … it’s just that if you can’t deal with people, you have to make a start somewhere. WITH ANIMALS! (Much faster now, and like a conspirator) Don’t you see? A person has to have some way of dealing with SOMETHING. If not with people … if not with people… SOMETHING. With a bed, with a cockroach, with a mirror… no, that’s too hard, that’s one of the last steps. With a cockroach, with a … with a … with a carpet, a roll of toilet paper …no, not that either … that’s a mirror, too; always check bleeding.

So you can see I misremembered that actual line from the play. But I suspect that David and I talked about this scene as well as others and I remember our conversation more clearly than the line.

What Happened to One of Classical Music’s Most Popular Pieces? – The New York Times

The piece is Franck’s Symphony in D minor. I remember studying this piece in under grad school. I liked it okay. But this article sent me back to the recording plus a study score I have. After listening to this I figured out that it’s no better than Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Both words have incessant repetition of small musical ideas.

John Waters Is Ready to Defend the Worst People in the World – The New York Times

I admire Waters. Have for a long time.