4/11/24

 Thursday, April 11, 2024

Lights out by 10, pit stops at 12:02 and at 1:30, let Lilly out at 1:55, pit stop at 3 something, and at 3:55 Lilly, sleeping near me on the BL had a dream with soft yelping, twitching, breathing, and at 4 I turned on the lamp and Lilly got up to resume sleeping somewhere else in the house, somewhere darker, quieter, 'to sleep, perchance to dream' again.  Sometime later, I dozed off again and woke at 6:35.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep, perchance to dream . . .

Pain, etc.   RE 'the natural shocks that flesh is heir to:"  Last night Geri applied a Lidocaine patch over the left acromion and another under it where the acromioclavicular pain is normally worst.  I aalso took 1,000 mg. of Tylenol.  Before lights out, I slathered Diclofenac over my right wrist and the palm and upper part of my right hand, especially on the right edge where the pain is usually worst.  Although there was some pain during the night, the patches and Diclofenac appeared to have helped.  I had a YouTube Brown Noise sleep app on during the night to help mask my tinnitus and otherwise operate.   At 5 a.m., I have intense shooting pains in the fingers of my right hand.  When I woke up at 6:35, my left wrist hurt as badly as did my right shoulder.  My pains are getting more symmetrical.  I'm using my homemade walking stick like a canoe paddle, avoiding BritStick because of hand pain.

I filed the tax returns today.  I delayed doing them for weeks because of feeling crappy b/c of pain, sleep.

O. J. Simpson has died at 76.  I'm wondering what role, if any, his trial and acquittal for murdering his wife, contributed to the development of Trumpism and White right-wing extremism.  I'm thinking of all the images of crowds of Black Americans joyously celebrating his acquittal while almost all White Americans, convinced of his guilt, were stunned.  I'm thinking of the racial aspect of the crime: Black man, beautiful White wife.  Long record of spousal abuse.  The wife was almost decapitated.  Millions of Blacks cheered his acquittal, many really jumping for joy.  Many Blacks viewed the trial as against the LAPD with its long history of abuse of Blacks, notoriously including the Rodney King case with the police officers acquitted in overwhelmingly White Simi Valley, home to many police officers.  Did the case contribute to the belief that 'the system is rigged', that Blacks 'get away with murder,' and that if you're rich enough to hire highly-skilled lawyers, you can get away with anything,