I found this in a plastic-covered folder in my Rubbermaid file drawer: My physician at that time, the late Ed Kamski, ordered these tests as a baseline after giving me the results of my “positive” HIV-antibody test. (He also told me that a blood sample taken about a year earlier, in May of 1989, had [...]
I join the outcry today over the sentencing of convicted serial pedophile Graham James to two years in prison for the sexual abuse of Theo Fleury and Todd Holt. Counter-intuitively (because I knew it would just get me stirred up) I watched the news coverage of the lawyers’ statements and victims’ reactions. Graham arrived at court [...]
It’s been quite some time since I had the run of tests for HIV and diabetes, in part because of my fear of the results, so today’s news was quite satisfactory with clear room for improvement. My viral load, a test which measures the activity of HIV in my blood, is below levels of present-day [...]
Please read this from Scott Dagostino, whose writing makes me admire the way his mind works. Being someone who might preemptively describe myself as naive (which endears me to world-wise friends and the ne’er do-well-alike), I must say the title of Scott’s post took me in with more than its most obvious sarcasm and led [...]
When this link Mindfulness and Psychotherapy nudged itself toward my consciousness today on my Facebook page I thought it worth exploring if only because I have too often come down hard on myself for having let slide my mindfulness mediation practice. (Such self-flagellation is, need I say, not part of this discipline – nor, come [...]
Everything I am feeling in this moment is in the context of having watched, via television and Twitter, the roller-coaster of events in Egypt these past 18 days, of having just listened to the Feb. 6 (2011) edition of Tapestry from CBC Radio with Mary Hines, and of having made the seemingly Herculean effort to [...]
This is Bell Let’s Talk Day. Multiple Olympic medallist Clara Hughes, lead spokesperson for the campaign, was on CTV News in Toronto today. From among the calls she fielded came this articulate gem, “To kill the pain too often means to kill oneself.” However, and this was Clara’s message, help and hope are available to [...]
“I brought a book I think you’ll find interesting,” my cousin said as we sat down for lunch recently, handing me a paperback copy of The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. I believe, now having read it, that she might have been nudged to give me this book because she knows, perhaps as much as [...]
A really great read from Torontoist: Michael Kimber Is Out.
I cannot remember a time when music was not a vital part of my life. Music is in my genes, especially from my mother’s side of the family, with my grandparents having been matched up in the early 1920s as a violinist/fiddler being accompanied by his pianist. What I wouldn’t give for a cell-phone video [...]
I’m home from picking up prescription refills to paint a story-picture. Note to self (the umpteenth): always, always carry a pen and paper! Having dropped off written prescriptions for repeats of my head meds, I walk briskly in the fresh cold wind over to the Cabbagetown location of Buckstars to wait. A grande Americano should [...]
I know I’ve been on worse lists! Top 50 Blogs About HIV and AIDS
During a lunch meeting with friends today someone spoke of past states of generalized anxiety which professionals often tried, unsuccessfully, to pin down – fear of flying, fear of social situations, “What are you afraid of?” That didn’t work. Then, my friend recounted, while sitting with people she didn’t know she blurted out her frustrations [...]
Each writer in this series has generously given me permission to post their work. The views and experiences shared are their own. Where applicable, links will also be provided at the end of the piece. The best thing that I can say about Kim at this point is that she blessed the world with her [...]
