Ringing

 I've been having a fairly rough time over the past couple weeks with a loud ringing/buzzing in my head. I provide the word choice because the word ringing (berdering) doesn't make sense to Indonesians, in that it brings to mind the ringing of a phone. Berdengung, which is translated to English as buzzing, strikes them as more suitable. In any case, day by day I have a worsening case of ringing/buzzing in my head which generally ends up giving me a splitting headache as well. I can sleep at night so far, but first thing in the morning the sound returns. Some years ago I had this same irritating problem. I went to a ENT doctor at that time and was told that there was nothing wrong with my ears. It must be a neurologic problem. Duh. So what does one do about that? So far, the only effective treatment, albeit a temporary one, has been to listen to very loud music through my earphones. I prefer either loud Eurhythmics or loud Evanescence. Last night the ringing was accompanied by this sensation of having an electrical storm in my brain. I don't know how else to describe it. I see on the internet that the phenomenon has been called brain zap. In this version of the problem, the consistent ringing is interrupted by sudden pulsations of sound. Very unpleasant. I read as well today that barometric pressure changes can bring on or worsen tinnitus, and we have certainly had extreme heat here recently accompanied by sudden clouds in the evening and night time. So is it neurologic or barometric or sinuses ... Who knows? Pregabalin is also supposed to help this problem, assuming that it is a neurologic problem, but I already take 150 mg of pregabalin in the morning and now have added 75 mg in the evening, and it ain't working. My girlfriend send a YouTube video about tinnitus this morning which instructs that one should place a tablespoon on the back of his head and then tap on the tablespoon with a second tablespoon in a rhythmic manner--and sure, I can try that at home, but I doubt whether it would be considered quite kosher in a restaurant or cafe, and I wouldn't want to have to carry along my own silverware wherever I go. So yeah, if anyone has any additional ideas about tinnitus, give me a ring or buzz me with a message.

IPad

Trying out an old new iPad, complements of my ex-wife who has bought a new new one for herself and handed this one down. This is proving to be a bit difficult, as I am not familiar with the peculiarities of the Apple system. It seems that I will need practice and familiarization. One thing I want to do is to buy one of those attachable keyboards so that I can type like a normal typist instead of pecking at the keypad with my two index fingers. Well this does seem more and more clunky the more I type. If you want to go to the middle of the document and add a missing word, for instance, the damn cursor keeps jumping back to the end of the document as you type. Quite irritating.

Lunacy

 You know, I saw President Biden give a speech today in Pennsylvania and he was perfectly sharp and comprehensive, not showing any signs at all of being cognitively impaired or confused. On the flip side, I saw a town hall (so-called) conducted by candidate Trump which after a few unanswered questions devolved into 39 minutes of swaying stiffly to random pieces of music while the nonplussed audience looked on. Now I ask you, which is the impaired individual in these two examples? Hint: it's a rhetorical question. What I really want to ask is this: what the hell is going on here? How have we gotten things so backward and upside down at the same time? While Trump stumbles through his lunatic, meaningless campaign events, Harris addresses her listeners at campaign events and multiple interviews with intelligence and thorough outlines of her actual plans for the country. No windmills, no bird cemeteries, no electrified sharks, no Hannibal Lecter. And yet the election at this point is statistically tied in the polls? How can it be? Is that the Twilight Zone music I hear playing in the background?

Lizard People

I learned today on a podcast from The Bulwark that some 12 million Americans believe that the country is being run by lizard people. Seriously. I wish I could do the math on this, but I have never been a stable genius at math and math gives me a headache. I will just say that 12 million seems like a significant number, especially when we are talking about something so ludicrous as the existence of lizard people. We do not actually see these lizard people, mind you, as they are also shapeshifters and exist in a separate dimension at the same time that they are existing in our dimension. 🤔 Some of these lizard people are not political figures, but entertainment figures, such as Justin Bieber. Okay, that part kind of makes sense. Bieber has always seemed pretty lizardy to me. His music kind of seems like it's from another dimension where people, and lizards, don't understand music. But that could just be a personal musical prejudice of my own rather than proof that Justin Bieber is a lizard. Apparently in due time, as the story goes, these lizard people will not be able to maintain their disguise as the energy waves from the other dimension begin to weaken 🤔 In short, they will be exposed and no doubt featured on all of the most popular political content venues. It may be that Fox has already signed a reptilian other-dimensional contract with these creatures, because of course the truth matters. As for me... Well, I'm not sure I can take anything seriously anymore when 12 million Americans are taking lizard people seriously.

Debate

 I must say that the presidential debate yesterday was the most satisfying television I have watched in a long while. To say that Harris cleaned Trump's clock is an understatement. The poor guy was drawn and quartered. And then hung out to dry. Trump looked old and incompetent, senile one might say. He was shrill, unhinged, downright nutty. Once he got to the part about immigrants eating family pets it was laughter the rest of the way for me. Of course the ever loyal Trumpers are declaring victory. He won hands down, they are saying. Well something was down, but it wasn't hands. It was him. Down and out. Soundly thrashed. Good show, Kamala. 

Prophet Song

 "What I see now, Eilish, is a black hole opening before us, we have passed the boundary of escape and even when the regime has been overturned the black hole will continue to grow so that it will consume this country for decades."

So writes Irish novelist Paul Lynch in his dystopian novel, Prophet Song; and so it is where the American situation is concerned. One election will not change anything, for the malignant poison of MAGA is now deep in the body of the nation and will afflict us for years to come.

Falling and Failing

 I seem of late to have developed a particular talent for falling. I mean, I have long been at novice level, but I have advanced now in expertise in that I no longer require a very specific reason for falling. One fall was from a chair when I was trying to put a clock on the wall, and I really don't know how this happened. One minute I was standing on the chair and the next I was flat on my back on the floor. Yesterday merely rising from my chair at a cafe and beginning to walk away was sufficient to lay me out. And it's not just the act of falling that I've become so good at. It's more than that. It's the completeness of the falls. No twisting or rolling or gaining a knee or jumping up afterwards. No, this is more like a tree falling in the forest and then just lying there. 

I note that Donald Trump has also developed an advanced expertise in falling. Not physically of course. Mentally. We have for instance those electric boats and sharks, and now we have bacon and windmills, as well as the disappearance of all the cows on earth. I guess he can say at least that no one fails in cognition better than he. Scientists, I suppose, have told him so. Or professors. Or maybe Putin mentioned it. In any case, good work, oh stable genius. And please do keep up the good work right up until you work yourself out of being the president again.