Talk about rabies

 Q: What do you do with a rabid  dog ?

A: Terminate it. Kill it. Euthanize it.

Q: What do you do with a rabid president?

A: Oh! You mean Trump?

Q: Yes

A: Gee...we negotiate I suppose

Q: Does it work?

A: Not really.

Q: Then what's the point?

A: I dont really know

Q: So, what you are saying is, if the US has a rabid president, he simply continues being the president?

A: I suppose...gee...I dont kow how to answer that!

comedy one needs today to get away from/ avoid/recover from/from Trump's evil

 

 comedy skits

Rudy Ayub

Guido Gagootz

Elaine Carroll 

I will add to this list as I discover them.

The world needs more of these guys (and ladies) above and less of Trump, Vance, Putin, etc

I have been watching Very Mary Kate (Elaine Carroll's comedy) for the last two hours. They are so funny! I love Mary Kate, her bodyguard and her poor professor! Hope she continues to make these skits forever!

Things I had not thought off, before my swimming lessons

 For the first time in my life, I started taking swim lessons this year (Feb 2025)

After several hours of swimming (lessons I mean: I still cant swim) I started realizing that what is shown in movies makes it really hard for the actors doing the swim scenes.

1) swim caps: The lovely lady actresses with long blonde (or black) hair swimming in the sea/pool or river in the movies and TV shows, swim WITHOUT the caps. I find it impossible to swim without the cap as my hair gets in my eyes and if I stop to push my hair back I start sinking as I have stopped kicking! And, I actually have pretty short hair and not long enough to really block my eyes! With swim cap, I am definitely not photgenic!

2) Swim goggles:  Without the swim goggles on, I close my eyes when swimming. Period. Even if I try to keep my eyes open, I can't see much or I can't keep my eyes open for long in the water. ..Barely a couple of seconds. 

Also, without the swim goggles, my eyes turn  red (due to chlorine?) and it takes hours after stepping out of the pool for my eyes to stop being red.

 When I wear the swimming goggles, as I often do, they leave an ugly mark round my eyes as they are tight. I look quite awful after I take off the swim goggles, until the marks disappear. Definitely not photogenic!  These marvellous actors swim with eyes open in the water, unprotected by goggles and look gorgeous! How the hell they do that!

3) The two old swim suits I have make my belly look awfully fat! The new one I got from Joe Fresh, improved my looks but one  b... had popped out when I was doing the back stroke and I did not realize that ! The male coach, treading water next to me was probably too embarrassed to tell me and the female coach, at the other end of the pool came running to tell me to pop my b back into my bikini top! 

This incident made me realize that the swim suits and bikinis which look gorgeous in the photos are impractical for swimming! Parts of your body will pop out of the clothing piece, because of a range of different things:  strong currents in the water, with the different kicks and arm pulls you make, etc. For example, my skirt keeps floating up if I am near one of  water return jets. My thin strap constantly falls off my shoulder and I have to keep pushing it up. (Though it is the right size)

4)  I enjoyed as much as anything else, the swimming scenes in movies, the water scenes, boating, etc but  had not given much thought to these issues...until I started my swim lessons. I now realize that what looks so damn easy and effortless (swimming) is actually hard: one needs strength and skill which is 'not naturally present in me' but I need to practice, practice, practice, do exercises to improve my strength, change my diet and also change my thinking, behaviour and emotions! I need to stop worrying that I look like a fool and others are mocking me and focus on learning the skill; I need to be disciplined enough to reach the pool on time, not miss classes, etc. I need to pay attention and 'obey' instead of trying to do something else (thinking I know better and what the coach says will not work)

5) Only after my swim lessons did I learn so many facts (I have been seeing youtube videos and reading up a lot after I started the swim lessons).  Before my swimming, I did not know facts such as 

1) Human bodies float! They don't sink!( I always thought if I drown, I will be at the bottom of the pool because my body is heavy)

2)  Even though I have seen oil float on water, all my life (when I am cooking) , I still think of oil being heavier than water. It's only now I know that  I realize water is more dense than any oil. ( at the back of my mind, I still can't get rid of the idea that oil is heavier or denser especially castor oil, which is so bloody viscous!)

3) I did not know that scuba divers have weights which make them go down; that it would be impossible for them to go down without those weights.  I did not realize the extent of buoyancy of our bodies! To my 'previous' thinking, only wood and light plastics float. 

I am really enjoying my swim lessons and I hope I will be able to swim a length of the swimming pool in a year's time at least. This is one more reason, I am grateful to moving to Canada. In my home country/town, there are very few pools, too far from where I live and there are more things to put me off swimming than inspire me to learn swimming. 

The lines from Julius Caesar I am reminded of today, the 250th year birthday of the American Army

 "...why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more...

Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him. As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it. As he was valiant, I honor him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him...(In the case of Trump, I would change this line to "As he was vain, I despise him; as he was a corrupt, immoral, brain-dead, greedy asshole, we should impeach him")

ANTONY Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; (To wipe out the evil, Trump has done, it will take centuries!..or can never be wiped out...he has caused permanent damage to USA and the wolrd) 75The good is oft interrèd with their bones. So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it. 80Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest— For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, all honorable men— Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me. 85But Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 90When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal 95I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And, sure, he is an honorable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 100But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause. (Honestly, you must be pretty naive to have ever liked or respected Trump: he has been an asshole since his teenage years)

Please stop showing bottle shooting for target practice outdoors...It's impossible to clean the glass pieces from grass, mud and sand...Think of the poor wildlife hurting their paws, glass in the grass they eat in their stomach!

 I wish all move and tv show makers all over the world stop showing shooting glass bottles for target practice!

Hopefully people stop it too.

Why cant you shoot something like wood?

Trump says, Xi is extremely hard to make a deal with...read it as, Xi is extremely hard to bully, push over, cheat, take advantage of...Trump is frustrated that Xi and China refuse to be screwed by him

I regret I did not travel more....

Over the last few weeks, I have gradually started to appreciate the magnitude of the Covid-19 virus's effect on my life. I now regret that I did not travel a lot more than I did. I wish I had travelled more and visited these places...which I have never ever visited.
Italy...Rome, Venice, Florence
Netherlands:Amsterdam
Spain:Barcelona
Portugal:Lisbon
Germany:Berlin
Japan
Cambodia: Angkor Wat
India: too many to name...Rajasthan, eastern India, Bombay, Calcutta.
Nepal
Tibet
Bhutan

No anger toward the people of communist and dictator lead countries but I do not want to visit them.
I believe a large portion of the tourist dollars goes to the corrupt leaders of the country indirectly and tourist dollars keeps them in power.

It looks like I cannot travel over the next three years. I will be 3 years older and weaker and travelling becomes that much more difficult and challenging.

I pray that this Covid19 recedes and disappears....and let me the freedom to travel

what we need to survive Covid-19 effects: a mental health professional's perspective

Here is what I think we need to exercise as we go through the Covid-19 lockdown and wait for the future upheavals brought about by this tiny, invisible but powerful germ

1)Flexibility: Be flexible. Accept as calmly as you can, the unwanted and unexpected changes brought about now. "I wish this did not happen."; "I wish things were like before." "I hate this". are sentiments we all experience but should not wallow in this state but get out and move on. That is possible if one makes efforts to be flexible.

2)Adaptability: One well rounded definition of intelligence explicitly maintains that adaptability to novel situations is a part of intelligence. This adaptability/intelligence was never more needed as it is today! In the past, we were used to having 'time' to adapt slowly to situations. We had the luxury of adapting to 'one thing at a time'; we had the luxury previously of going back to an old pattern we were used to if we could not adapt to the new situation. But now, we don't have the 'option' of adapting if we want to or rejecting if we don't. All of us or at least most of us have to adapt to change in some way or many ways. The sooner we get on board regarding adaptation, the better it is for us. We may have to adapt to many things, all at once. Get used to lesser income and all that a lower income entails for people who were asked to take paycuts or work lesser days. Get used to unemployment until the next job comes up. Get used to maintaining physical distance. Get used to new rules and regulations, Get used to giving up travel, entertainment, eating out, etc which gave us so much joy in the past.

3)Maintain hope and optimism: This is not the time to become pessimistic or lose hope! However bleak things look, one has to maintain the feelings of hope and optimism as these give us the energy to row our boats in turbulent storms toward the safety of a shore we will reach in future. If we lose hope and give in to pessimism, we will stop rowing the boat and will drown immediately.

4)Altruism: The bleakness of the situation makes one, think that if we help others we may be short-changing ourselves. That is not true. By helping others in these difficult times, in whatever way we can, we are actually helping ourselves. Helping our souls, helping ourselves to feel satisfaction and joy of helping others, building a sense of community, friendship, trust and joy.

5)Grit and Resilience

6)Take 'one day at a time' so as to not feel overwhelmed by whatever is happening to us now...it maybe job loss,  death of someone to Covid-19, loss of income, losing one's business, mounting bills and mounting interest. If we remember that people all over the world are in the same boat as we are and we are not alone, it helps us feel less stressed out. Taking things 'one-day-at-a-time', helps us to maintain hope and deal with issues(one at a time) while having a sense of control.

7)Count your blessings

8)Do NOT compare yourself with those who are better off or facing lesser problems than you at present. It is not really helpful.

9) 

The gift of time...presented to us by Covid

Since the last one decade, I have felt that time is running out. I want the time to stretch longer and feel that time is simply going by too fast for me.

And this has become a completely opposite experience since this forced stay at home due to Covid. I  now feel time hanging heavily on my hands. I wake and think, it's only 7.40am. Not "Oh my god! It's already 7.40!"

I now have ample time to do all things I need to do at home...cleaning, throwing out things, fixing things, cooking, etc. BUT...I don't feel like doing anything!

Now all things anyone would want, we have but cannot use... Time. Lower gas prices.  Zero crowds in places we dreamed of visiting. etc.

This Covid has given us things we wanted but taken away the things we need to enjoy them. Fate  plays her tricks in a really dirty way!

How do I cope with retirement?

I may retire in ten to twelve years time. This forced quarantine due to corona is making me wonder if I can cope with retirement!

I have been home, sick, from 13th to 19th. During that time, I watched endless TV (shows on Netflix, Crave, Bell) and fortunately restarted work before I went crazy. I have about 5000 books at home, many of which I have not read, but either due to my illness or whatever, I did not feel like reading them. I had tons of work to do at home such as cleaning, laundry, etc but due to 'no mood' and physical weakness, I did not feel like doing anything. Not even things which don't need much effort.
I called and chatted with a few friends but not all. I have no hobbies or interests which are "useful" or where I "learn" or use a skill. I don't think I will ever be motivated to do volunteer work. Not for now at least. So how am I going to deal with retirement?

When I was younger, I never even considered that a day will come, when I will have to retire. I was too busy with my studies and then the anxiety of whether I will get a job, get married, have enough money, anxiety about my family member and so on. Now that those anxieties have subsided, it's nearing  retirement time.
For a few months (or maybe years) I ruminated about  retirement when I was frustrated at work or with life. Thinking of retirement at those moments felt really good. It was something to look forward to. I would imagine a life with even less discipline than now. I day-dreamed of waking up late or not at all; eating breakfast at a diner followed by a visit to the library or walk round the mall. Spending time reading a book in the garden under a shady tree. Subscribing to many shows such as HBO, Amazon prime, etc and watching endless TV; Subscribing to magazines. Travelling.  Spending time in my favorite cities such as London or New York; Bangalore or beach towns. Reading philosophy. Catching up on all my favorite shows I wanted to see but did not have the time to. Enrolling in some courses. Trying weed ... to hell with what effect it has on my aging brain!

But the boredom I experienced, when doing these activities  during last week's quarantine-time at home opened my eyes.   "Wanting" to try these  and "waiting" for retirement to try these things is a lot more fun than actually having the time to try out these activities. The long unbroken stretch of free time (one week) has not been a blessing but actually been pretty tedious.
I need goals and I need to experience that slight bit of anxiety to actually appreciate and enjoy life.

With regard to being with people when I retire, there are very few people I actually want to spend time with, either now or when I retire. I seem to have little in common with my family, friends, neighbours, colleagues  from both  India and  Canada. There are only a handful of people  I can "enjoyably" spend large amounts of time. I seem to have grown apart in thinking, attitudes, likes and dislikes from most of them. Also I am experiencing lesser need for being with people than I did in the past. No. I am not depressed. I am  happy interacting with few people and happy with my own company. I don't seem to need the friendship of a lot of people to be happy.

I do know I have less ambition than most of my peers. Maybe less passion too. I wonder if that explains my lack of goals. Or am I nihilistic? Life to me seems like an endless passage of days and nights which we try to fill up with things to do until we die. For some reason, most of us do not want to die but continue to life through this infinite and endless passage of days and nights, trying our best to get what we like (pleasure)  and trying even harder to avoid what we don't like (pain).
 We get older,  the body weakens and slows down...so we find things harder to do  and perhaps,  we are getting lesser pleasure out of life than before ( because we have seen and done most things before...the novelty has worn off or we have become jaded or ...not). Yet, most people do not want to die now or would prefer to die later. Most people do not see life as an endless cycle of days and nights, which they try 'their best' to fill up with endless activities that give pleasure or avoid pain. When they are done with one goal they move on to the next; when they are done with one pleasure they want the next one. There is no end to their wanting and this wanting makes us want to continue life forever.

I don't want to die for the sake of dying. I don't want to die to "put an end to these countless days of the future". I want to find something meaningful to do each day. I want activities, whatever they are, to be exciting till the day I die. I do not want to live beyond the point when I am not able to find any activity interesting. I do not want to live beyond the point when "everything is boring but I got to do something and got to do things to stay alive". What's the point of staying alive when you don't find anything exciting or interesting enough to stay alive for?

And this point of not finding things exciting, this point of feeling jaded...I am seeing this in such young people these days! I am shocked, when I see youngsters who do not find anything exciting and seem to lose interest in things after a brief while...even before they complete the activity. They seem to be constantly seeking things which are 'fun' or exciting for them...be it a new set of clothes, makeup, game, movie, restaurant, place to visit, whatever...they are bored easily and want to move on. This really saddens me 'for' them. If they are so jaded in their twenties, how are they going to go through the next 5-6 decades of their life?

If you, dear reader, think I am depressed when writing this, rest assured that I am not! Today is March 21, 2020 morning. I am waiting with eager anticipation to eat the masala dosa my husband is going to make now; then watching twin peaks on TV ( a weird bizarre show but still got me hooked to it!). Then I got to make chitranna as I want to taste something sour after this week-long sore throat, etc  did a number on my taste buds.

Turtles in Big Island, Hawaii

 The only turtle I saw on the beaches of Big Island Hawaii, basking in the sun, on the sand, The rest were in the waters. It was great to see this one! He/she was at least 2 feet in length and maybe 2.5 feet wide. Apparently this is only a youngster and they grow to four times this size!

 Above...algae covered turtle...they are called. green back turtles not because they are green but because they are covered with green algae. Below the sea turtle from the same family but not covered with algae.