Tag: hip hop hip op

Here am I sitting in a tin can – dreaming

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

—

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still

David Bowie

——

Outside it is chucking it down. We are due 15mm in the next hour or so.

The recovery from the hip hop hip op seems to be going well. At a guess I am doing slightly better than “normal” for a fat bastard of my age and previous substance intake. It seems that physically I will be more able than I have been for a couple of years.

The residual fate question remains unanswered. We could try to sell the house and move. We do need to downsize but we can afford another year here.

So far the dreaming has not pointed at any obvious option aside from doing “dreaming courses”. There has been some hint at uncovered knowledge. And I did once get a suggestion for a new book. Whilst I could write one, I doubt it would get published unless I self-published. I don’t have the kind of provenance which makes a good sales pitch. I am not airy-fairy and flaky enough. I am conservative. Nor am I in a university neuroscience or psych-ward {psychology department}.

The take home message that I have received from the world so far is , “don’t start anything, it will get complex and then go pear shaped”. 

There is an ancillary, “don’t try to get in contact with anyone it will be ignored and/or cause a massive drama.”

People have busy lives and they do not want to be disturbed by the rattling chains of ghosts from days gone by. I do not seek to inflict myself into the lives of others.

I have done zero SEO on this site. The idea being if someone finds it they were kind of meant to.

I am reasonably clear that I have very little to offer anyone who might be embarking on a meditation/soul searching journey. I might be of more use to some who has travelled a bit. It is moot.

I could easily be kidding myself.

I am not convinced that anyone needs to take refuge in a sangha. If you want to liberate, read the text meditate and get busy. A sangha could hold you back…by peer coercion and FOMO related drama.

There is a reasonable notion that I could generate around five grand in the January to June pre-exam “A” level science tutoring period in the UK {2027} . Some people are charging shit loads per hour. We could just about afford to live in the UK. In the second year with good “Trustpilot” reviews I could easily double or quadruple this. I could probably sustain this for a couple of years before I rebelled against the dogmatic marking schemes. This might take me to state pension age.

Not really any the wiser…

It is still early doors for 2026…given what orange-boi in DC is soap boxing about anything might happen…

Why do Americans keep having old men as presidents?

It is not really my business but the ill-will generated there does impinge and echo around the world.

Disharmony…selfishness and unpleasantness…

A misuse of power…

All that optimism of 1989-90 has faded…

With dread I wonder what lessons humanity is calling forth for itself… how will the world look in a decade?

America may be powerful but by no means is it great in the fullest sense and meaning of the word. The example being set is retrogressive. It is old…

What is on the cards for 2026 ?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

In a little over ten days we will get to see the orthopaedic surgeon for the post-operative check up. This will provide some ideas as to when / if they might operate on my left hip. There are a number of factors. Operations are not carried out unless there is an obvious need. {I am already more mobile than before.}  It is probably wise to have two new joints at the same time so that the wear and tear is shared offering perhaps overall greater joint longevity and my ability to recover from major surgery. Aside from the sleeping, I have recovered in a satisfactory manner. In France they tend to use the sledgehammer approach. Do it all in one go. We shall see what he thinks and the outcome of that meeting will advise as to how a fair part of the year will be. There will be at least 2 months needed for operation and initial stages of recovery. Spring – early summer?

So far the wife’s Myeloma is on hold. Long may this continue.

The housing market in France is still stagnant. But like everything in France it is seasonal. There is more hibernation here. The French are not overly fond of the cold and the wet. This market could change as the sun comes out. The decision about hip operation feeds into the thinking on selling the house.

If my mobility continues to improve the pressure to downsize and move house eases. It is still on the cards, a when and not and if.

My application to be allowed to stay in France has been submitted. We shall find out if I am allowed to stay in the next few months. There may be some administrative difficulties. If I am not allowed to stay then that means a move back to blighty. We cannot submit the wife’s application for a couple of months. The outcome of these applications might close off one option. A change in government in France could change everything.

The world is volatile right now.

The statistics for the blog views show that in December I had around 250 views with Council Bluffs, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Manilla and Phnom Penh being the most frequent visitors at around ten-twenty views each.

It is safe to conclude from these data that the readership of the blog is very small. On the basis of measurable data the blog has only a minuscule impact. It is a something of a hobby to keep the grey matter ticking over. That is about it, no biggie.

The next big thing here is the early February toad migration. I will need to lift the bottom wires of the electric fence so as to avoid electrocuting toads migrating towards the pond. Last year we had over a hundred randy toads and frogs.

I should be able to do more gardening. I have already laid some more mole traps and can do some work to clean up after the wild boars. I should be able to drive the sit on mower. There are a number of DIY projects in the house.

Hopefully 2026 will have less medical merry-go-round…they have already done all the major tests.

There is no real world physical evidence for anything more complicated than this. It looks like more of the same…

As usual spring brings with it much beauty and much to do in the garden…we will go up to the coast more often until the summer approaches and the tourist number density increases. We will then go country to return to the coast in Autumn.

A couple of simple decisions hold the key to how the year looks to be panning out…

Vampire DNA at Imperial College and Hip Replacement Update

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I started watching “A Discovery of Witches” whilst in hospital after my total hip replacement. The other night we started series three. The main protagonists “academics” from Oxford University, also a vampire and a witch, had just gotten back from time walking to Elizabethan London in search of an alchemical text. They want to understand the vampire “blood rage” so obviously they go to Imperial College London to do some research. The TV programme had footage of the main entrance on Exhibition Road and drone views of the South Kensington Campus. The wife and I looked at each other.

There is no getting away from the place. It is everywhere like a rash. Like an antibiotic resistant STI it keeps popping up. Since the COVID days it is often in the news.

The story looks at the so-called vampire DNA of the de Clermont blood line and has quite a lot of London footage so-far including mews shots etc.. I do not look back at my interaction with that institution with fond memories. I am sometimes embarrassed to have been associated. And now it is in a bloody TV programme too!! FFS.

I am now four weeks into the time after hip replacement. I can walk around the house unaided, no crutches. Yesterday we walked the hills of Lannion centre and today my muscles ache. The actual joint pain in the hip is markedly reduced from before. There is enhanced flexibility and it seems that the functionality will continue to improve. There remains some problems with early morning-late nocturnal pain in the sacroiliac joints and where the sacral spine joins the lumbar spine. This kicks in around 5 AM. I am down to only one co-codamol a night taken around 2 AM. If I get up and move around, do some back stretches, I can sleep on a bit. I am sleeping through the night. We go to bed about midnight and I am up 6 – 6:30 AM at the moment.

It is not ideal though is tolerable. I could easily take some more dope – some more codeine. But I don’t think that is a good idea. When I am able to lie on my right hip, the operated one, I may be able to sleep better. The pain goes away within minutes of getting up and moving around. The incentive is not to lounge around like a hippie in bed.

The problem is I am not looking forward to going to bed. I am not looking forward to waking up in the morning. A non-ideal situation. Not sure what to do. I may try some back stretches later today. The pain may not go and I might have to resort to my previous medication which worked before the operation. Too early to tell.

There could be an enhanced vigilance at play. The last time I went to sleep, I woke up with an eight inch scar and a lump of Titanium…that is what happens if you doze off..

Luckily I know that many things do indeed pass. The hip progress seems OK. The sleeping and pre-dawn pains could be better.

On the whole the now is a whole lot better than the before….

Hip Replacement – Three Weeks In

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Last night following the themes of Metatron and Seraphim which have cropped up in my dreams we watched a film “Legion” in which a disappointed God sends his angels down to cleanse the world of humans. In that Michael goes against God’s orders. He chops off his wings. He ends up fighting Gabriel and a human baby is saved from slaughter, to provide hope. The film was OK…the plot was a bit formulaic.

What is clear to me is that in the collective consciousness there is vast speculation and extrapolation for only a very few verses in religious scripture. Humans have invented vast tracks of images and iconography to do with angels, the messengers and perhaps heralds of God. Most of those images are very idealized with virginal female angels and muscular homo-erotic male ones. Angels have caught the imagination. Angels, it seems, are rarely ugly. There are no middle aged men angels partially shaven and with beer guts. Although perhaps wise, angels rarely have advancing age. In modern psychology visions of angels might be treated as psychiatric illness. Though they have been a part of religion and hence historically a cause for war over the centuries.

The notion of angels pervades into modern culture. Highfalutin beings with special powers are popular in the “mind”. Supramundane entities are nevertheless anthropomorphic and made in the more idealised aspects of our physical images. Just as we might make God an old geezer, we might make an angel a pretty hunk with flowing locks and wings.

I am genuinely surprised as to the extent of extrapolation from only a few words in religious text.

Far out…

Back here on earth yesterday I managed to walk for around a kilometre with only one crutch along the seafront up at the coast. Because it was a nice day there were others taking their disabled and spastic relatives out for a spin. There were a few wheelchairs, one of which looked off road. As the lunchtime witching hour passed more locals were wheeling out their disabled. It was a nice day and the sound of the waves a pleasure on the ear.

Overnight I have my first night without getting up for a shit-TV and KitKat break. I am sleeping upstairs and had a cumulative 6-7 hours with only four wake breaks last night.

This morning I have been out in the garden. In a 2 acre garden it is easy to walk far. We inspected the damage done by the wild boars and looked at the repair to the fence which the wife made. The little buggers have not been back since the hunt visited. Maybe some families had boar for tea. I used the leaf blower to clear the oak leaves from the gully by the pond. I was able to re-tension the five strand electric fence, the coypu deterrent. If we keep them at bay the lotus display next spring-summer will be ace. As winter deepens they come to ours for food. I have indoor and outdoor crutches now. One of which is now very muddy.

I have started to think about doing a small plumbing job.

There is some semblance of normality returning. I did a roast chicken dinner on Friday night and today we have lamb chops in a teriyaki marinade.

The scar is healing well. It is a bit itchy but no longer raised. The pain levels during the day are fine. The flexibility is already better. I can pick stuff up off the floor without kneeling…It is pretty weird feeling a hip joint click and not having painful bone on bone grind. It will take a while to become accustomed. I am happy with the progress at three weeks. I can walk unaided around the house when not tired. It is easy to imagine things getting better.

It is hard to know how well I am doing relatively speaking. We had prepared for more difficulty which has probably made things easier.

As usual preparation nearly always pays off…

My normal physiotherapist will probably freak at how far he can stretch my right leg when I see him next week!!

There is a semblance of normality returning…