A n a r c h i c _ U n i v e r s e ®

Mars through Phoenix Lander

Today my day started at four. The royal highness Kitty started meowing. Time to feed her, the dog, our faithful Lucky, and myself. Nicolas has a silent bit part today. Thank goodness for small favors. Men should be out of the house except when we need someone to kill surboard-sized cockroaches. Yikes!
Our son went to take his SAT 2, I think that is what it is called. Somehow, my blogging day has started late.
I would like to leave with you a link to Mars Phoenix Lander. It's da bomb, not the nuclear bomb, but a great link to unbelievable images. It's a whole site, pass it on to your friends, to those who have kids, to those who love sci-fi, to those who believe in our potential.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/main.php

It's awesome. This is a time when I forgive my husband's lover, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. You must know that joke. A painter, an engineer, and a lawyer are asked what they'd do in case the wife were out of town. The painter quickly declared he'd contact all of his lovers. The lawyer said he'd meet his lover freely at his house. The engineer, very excitedly exclaims,

"Great! I can spend my whole days at the Lab!"

See you later, maybe. Busy day with gate problemas, our child still needs to get another project out of the way... Ay, ay, ay. Below:
My engineers: Nicolas and Gabriel. Click to enlarge.

Photo on  Nic's birthday, the first day of summer, 2001.
 

What's a hydrocephalus surgery like?

Many people ask me what Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus is and how one gets it and how to cure it, and, and, and... It's as if I had Google stamped on my forehead. It's a syndrome. A syndrome is something wrong doctors haven't found the etiology for. Some other syndromes are: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, irritable bladder, and so on and so forth.
If doctors know not the reason for syndromes, that means they know not a cure for them. NPH is a chronic accumulation of spinal-cerebral fluid in the skull. This fluid compresses the brain. The brain slowly shrinks to give space to the fluid.

How do doctors deal with this condition? First of all, the diagnosis is extremely difficult to get. You'll need an MRI of your brain, which means having a referral. I don't know how long I have had this. Maybe since 2003, when I got peripheral neuropathy of my  left hand. Or since I had bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction in 2001-2002. What I do know is that I have had had writing problems since 2005. NPH impairs both your muscles and your brain. Another possibiliy may have been lithium, which induced a hypercalcemia in the summer of 2007.

I started falling in 2006. At first I could pick myself up. Then I fell in the bathroom of the Arpoador Inn. I shuffled my feet, and I couldn't walk. My friends said I was obese. I led a sedentary life. I went to see a great doctor. Neurontin was to blame and I had myasthenia as a diagnosis.

Finally, at the beginning of December 2007, I had an MRI of my brain. I was falling a lot and emotionally unstable. The NPH was diagnosed. Nicolas and I found the UCLA-Westwood Hospital and the Big Kahuna, Dr. Bergsneider. My appointment was scheduled for sometime in March 2008.

Hydrocephalus- Spinal Tap, Good Rockmockdocu

I was selecting our links for tomorrow, March 6. I have practically wrapped my day. Today I want to talk about how estúpidos some people are. Click to understand it's a false cognate. Especially family. They are very estúpidos.

I have had hydrocephalus for at least four years.  It's extremely hard to diagnose. My kind is Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus or NPH, nothing to do with insulin brand. Maybe the cancer I had in 2001 triggered it. Maybe it was President Bill Clinton's toxic handshake in 2004. He has long fingers, and the smooth skin of intellectuals. His eyes are robin's egg blue.
He's very charming. Very tall. Kind to each person who went see him. I spent all night memorizing what to tell him. POTUS Clinton is inspiring. Obama is perspiring now with increased scrutiny from the media.

The surgery is not that simple. In my case it must be in my neck. I must see all kinds of specialists to get clearance. And more importantly, I must get a date with the Big Kahuna, Dr. Bergsneider.

So I got to a point I could no longer walk, was unable to coordinate the keys of my Apple, and finally was dragged to UCLA's emergency room, more exactly a gurney in the corridor for a few days. It's a Student-Hospital: that means student-doctors experiment on you. The GP crowd decided I had a need for cortisol. That increased my glucose level. Now I shoot, not like rock stars, just insulin. My cortisol level was normal. And that was when my pseudo Christian cousins decided to call me. Familiarity does breed contempt.

At UCLA-Student Hospital I had a great team of neurologists headed by Dr. Wu, then there was Guillermo, from El Salvador, and a resident from Afghanistan.
Their spinal tap made me functional again. I'll never be 100% of what I used to be, but a shunt is better than nothing. The latest political news is a hint of Hillary's of a co-presidency with Barack Obama. Hmm.

Spinal Tap, the fake-docu about a metal band, is in its entirety on YouTube. It's very funny. Enjoy.

The Ills of Century XXI

While we debate on the mini-MZD Seth A. showed and I added in the links of today recently, I would like to open this blog to a quote I found revealing.

The ills of century XXI are psychiatric or syndromes.  People go mad or weirded out like flies today, the way romantic writers invariably died of TB.

( Anon)

Os Mutantes - Geriatric Rock ? That's Me!

I'm 55.  Rita Lee will be 60 on December 31.  Arnaldo Baptista turned 59 in July.  Sérgio is 55. We are part of what Rita herself called geriatric rock. Os Mutantes, the rock bridge along history.
A friend who belongs to the Dylan generation boasted she took care of her body. True. and? uhn-hun? So?

Mine is the contrary of an herbalife© infomercial.  I was so  cutie pie thin.  I'd like to believe I'm still a cutie pie.  A big round oatmeal smart cookie.

We have had our contretemps. Arnaldo Baptista's presence on stage is no short than a miracle. Rita Lee herself talks about her inner demons.  I flipped and got committed to an asylum. No lobotomy; just electric shock treatment. Seven treatments and woke up. Sid Barret wasn't  so lucky.

We are scarred but saved by the music we dig and make. Loki.  Rock exorcises us. (I'm gonna run and TM this before the evangelicals co-opt it.)

What about our siblings and family? 

Look at the Brighter Side; Stay Alive

Most of us rockers or mods or mockers know Neil Young was misquoted by he who wanted to die, Kurt Cobain. When I met Nina Hagen at Joe's Pub, in NYC, she was into reincarnation, I think. She imitated his voice and apologized to his fans and family.
The only reason I see for a young person to kill himself is a belief of having it better or having nothing as solace on ... the other side. The old New Orleans song goes, "Everyone wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die."
About the young in Brazilian middle class, I can tell you in a few words: spoiled bored kids without a challenge addicted to RPM and Second Life anomie hatred for their own country... Not that the concept of country is cool. I love both cultures, my US heritage and my Brazilian one. I have to learn to love the Frrrench; heck, vive la France where a movement asks for a day without mention of Sarko-fasho.
Why does he always greet with his palm stretched next to his shoulder? After I learned about Nazi_Israeli, everything is possible.(CNN)
In Brazil there are maids for the cleaning, for the wash, for the cooking, nannies, some middle class people had five maids. It is fashionable to fill one's lungs - cough-cough-they smoke there and say "I don't know how to _ _ _ _ _ "(fill in the blanks.) If women know how to be pretty, indeed, their face-value economy towards the "good life" -- el dolce far niente -- and may be convincing in faking orgasms at twelve for their equally lousy-in-bed seventeen-year-olds, they are unhappy. The middle class is either pissed off or pissed as in drunk or down. Or bored into depression for lack of travel to the world of fantasy, NYC, or not having iPods.
It's fashionable to look sickly, pale, heroin chic, emo, bitch about a non-life. Not so fast, parent of a kid like that! Maybe your kid is indeed ill.(CONT.)

Boys and Girls, Condoms for Both

This might be scare tactics from Johns Hopkins researchers. It is Johns, there were two of them. This news will be in its entirety in my delicious links. Tomorovski.

Sorry to break the news to you without any foreplay, double entendre meant. Both boys and girls should wear rubbers, male and female. The obnoxious HPV virus is catching up with you, boys and girls. If you practice the art of "soixante-neuf"... I guess a mouth condom is appropriate.

The price to pay for no protection is baaaaad: throat, tongue and tonsil cancer. Can you imagine? Cancer has two possible cures: cut and/or cook.

Women who are promiscuous are at a much higgher risk than those who are quiet --"you are the one" type girls.

Look for the news in the links after midnight. My delicous links, gathered by our gang of five now, come up at around midnight, great jazz song, film, Click, please.

My personal opinon is this:

flegma, schmegma.

Nite-nite!

Are You Interested In a...

I just read a Google Alert-Orkut too good to pass. Orkut is the primeval MySpace Google created back in 03-04. Most of its users are from Brazil. Actually most of YouTube users are from Brazil,too. And from Viacom.
Many Orkut users are selling their body organs in order to raise money. That is a great idea! I make nada from this blog, I'm getting closer to the end of my life than I am to its beginning. So there come my ads, in an experimental trial. Should you mail me and show interest, I will make sure I post on Orkut.

• For sale: both my auditory organs. In good condition, slightly clogged. Nothing a doctor can't solve. Slightly deaf. Anybody who listened to rock and roll and taught elementary school brats knows what I mean.

• For sale. One eye. Iris is brown. Myopia and astigmatism. If Sammy Davis Junior survived with one eye, why not me, especially in the days of karaoke?

• For sale. My left hand. No hair grew on it, perfect size for a woman. Nice manicure. Some numbness, nothing an orthopædic doctor cannot heal. Since the numbness is a back problem, who knows the hand will be just perfect?

• For sale . Both knees. These are shot. Arthroses and menisci. One was operated on. Ha! I ain't tellin' which one. I want plastic ones, anyway.

• For sale. Both hips. I have reached an age,35, when I can replace them. Worn from grinding to rock and roll, samba and you-know-what. Advantageous to stiff dancers.

• One kidney. I never drank anything other than water. It's in perfect condition. That'll save me money I spend o Depends©. Will consider trading for a Mercedes S-class with a chauffeur. C-class offers need not apply.

• One anus. In mint condition. Will succeed in any military check. All creases perfect. Not too dilated, not too constricted -- a pity or I would be producing diamonds from carbon up my arse. Constriction can be increased. Exit only, no entry. A great asset if you plan to go Greek.

• One vagina, recently reconstructed, in mint condition. No use for 18 years, too much use at different times. No use at
delivery. As tight as Uncle Scrooge. I have no need for it in the mad house I'm in.

• One lung, one only. I admit I smoked, but I stopped. Recently checked, excellent condition. I did not yell at this club.

Should any of these be of interest, please contact owner of this Anarchic Universe. After my death, I will gladly donate my heart of gold, or my heart of stone, depending on the viewer, my bowels of great capacity for I am full of s__t, my face, I am pretty. Anything goes. I need to send my son to college. You see, he goes to SAMOHI every day, he is a hardworking student, has high distractability and visual processing-syntactic disabilities but SMMUSD cannot pay for his tutorial. The money goes for a kid who didn't go to school, partied for a year or two and needs a boarding school my taxes are paying for.

"Such is life," Nelson Rodrigues used to say.