2/8/24

Thursday, February 8, 2024

In bed at 9:35, and up at 6:30, but sleepless and on LZB during the night with pain, mostly shoulder.  38°, high of 49, a cloudy day ahead, wind S at 12 mph,6-18/33.  Sunrise at 6:59, sunset at 5:12, 10+13.

View from the front door, 6:30 a.m., letting Lilly out.

Treadmill; pain.   It was a very rough night with pain, especially in my left shoulder, hard to get out from under bedding and out of bed for pit stops and to spend sleepless time on LZB.  Around 3 a.m., I managed to get my undershirt off and to apply a dose of DICLOFENAC to the shoulder.  The instructions say this med should not be in contact with any clothing for at least 10 minutes after application and is to be applied 4 times each day, which means effectively that I'll likely be in my bathrobe all day since the shoulder pain makes it impossible to get into and out of clothing 4 times a day.   00:00 & 0.00

I'm grateful for my bodily joints, limbs, and digits, even those that hurt.  Without them, I would be like an amoeba or perhaps like a jellyfish, carried wherever currents may carry me.   I hope to develop a mindfulness practice that protects me from emotional currents uselessly carrying me away - anger, disgust, sadness, guilt, fear, . . .  Am I too old or too beset with physical problems or too undisciplined to start and benefit from developing a mindfulness/meditation practice?  I don't think so but time will tell.  

Pretty inactive day today after the rough night dealing with shoulder and wrist pain.  I spent the first half of the day in my heavy winter bathrobe, not wanting to struggle with getting into an undershirt only to have to take it off to apply the analgesic cream.  I finally figured out I could avoid the undershirt problem by wearing a zippered sweatshirt or loose oversized denim shirt, which I did.  I applied the analgesic at 3:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., and 2:15 p.m. and will again in the evening (or before bedtime?).  I listened to the SCOTUS oral arguments in the Colorado ballot access case, all of them very professional, very competent, and very impressive.  The lawyer who appeared for DJT was especially impressive.  The questions from the members of the Court were also impressive.  It became clear early on that Colorado was going to lose the case.  The big question in my mind is whether CJ Roberts can get the other justices to agree to a per curiam unanimous, unsigned opinion without concurrences or dissents.  It's hard to imagine since there are several interpretive, legal issues on which one might expect different opinions:  Is the president excluded from those to whom Art. 14, sec. 3 applies?  Is the relevant language 'self-executing'?  Does Congress need to enact enabling legislation, etc?  The big decision will be whether they agree to grant Trump's expected Petition for Certiorari in the presidential immunity case.  My unrealistic hope is that they would simply affirm the D.C. Court of Appeals decision without written opinions.  That seems pretty unrealistic.  My secondary hope is that they simply reject the petition and let the court of appeals decision stand, unreviewed unless and until the case results in a conviction.  If they grant the petition and continue the stay of proceedings in Judge Chutkan's court, I will be, to put it mildly, disappointed.

Obayashi's Seven Weeks.  I re-watched the film's last 40 minutes or so this morning, and it was still rather confusing, especially the enigmatic character played by the beautiful Takako Tokiwa.  I'll read some reviews to see if someone smarter than I am can set me straight.

Factoid from Fortune and Food for Thought.  "As of 2023, there are a mere 735 billionaires in the U.S. The millionaires are more plentiful—almost 22 million."  America is home to 40% of the world’s millionaires.  The 400 richest people in the nation have a combined net worth of—gulp—more than $4 trillion. That’s a staggering figure when you consider that there are 12 zeros in it.