Brendan Shea's Blog, page 13

Songs of the Week

Here are two disparate songs, one to cheer you up when the world is wacky, reminds you that Fred Sanford (God, really) has everything under control.

The other is a nice romantic song about how important the fair sex is to us men, and I dedicate it to my wife.

Sanford and Son – Theme Song

By Quincy Jones

More Than a Woman – Bee Gees

By Barry Alan Gibb / Maurice Ernest Gibb / Robin Hugh Gibb

Awesome

When I’m excited about something or when I feel someone did a great job or I want to encourage someone, I use the term, “Awesome!”, but what is truly awesome is the presence of the Almighty God Jehovah.

Jesus is the creator of the universe, and when I see something really and truly AWESOME, I think of Him and His Father and The Holy Spirit of Truth.

We went to Lake Tahoe this week, and I witnessed the enormity, the awesomeness of God in the wilderness of Lake Tahoe and its surrounding mountain ranges.

I suppose if you live in an area like Tahoe, with massive and majestic peaks, trees and water bodies, this might seem elementary, but I live in a small home in a large city, and Tahoe’s mighty landscape holds me in awe.

I hope to stand in the Bema (or Judgment) Seat of Christ and not in the Great White Throne Judgment, as I’ve tried to live my life surrendered to Christ, but the enormous crags of the mountains around Lake Tahoe, and the fatigue I felt at the high altitude, and considering I’m in my fifties, I felt the immense power of God and my relative insignificance.

I hope you will stand in the Bema Seat and are forgiven, because I wouldn’t want either one of us to suffer in Hell for eternity.

I am not trying to judge you, I am just telling you what is on my heart.

-A writer

Peripheral Neuropathy?

Excerpt from my new book about chronic kidney disease

I noticed pain when life slowed down and if I was not helping a customer at work, or not engrossed in food or books, a burning pain in my feet. I ignored it most of the time, and my wife got me a foot roller, and I thought I might have plantar fasciitis.

Today, after months of such pain, kept in the background, eased a bit by the foot roller, I looked up the pain symptoms and thought I might have peripheral neuropathy. Now, this seems a common ailment, but when I looked it up, it recommended a few remedies up front:

Soaking the feet
Elevating the feet
Taking Tylenol

I’m not a big fan of lying down and putting my feet up. I had to do it when I fractured my left fibula, but soaking my feet and taking Tylenol sounded okay.

Into the shed I forayed, locating my small plastic basins from when I had my big toenails removed. I’d had to soak my feet for several minutes for a couple of weeks to keep them from getting infected. Filling them in the bathtub, I sat on the uncomfortable rim of the shower. Next time, I think I’ll sit on the toilet seat instead.

I put on my phone timer for ten minutes and took two painkillers
After the drenching was complete and Tylenol had maybe kicked in, my feet felt much better. I emailed my doctor for any advice and decided to keep the basins on hand for future deluge.

I don’t know if I have plantar fasciitis, peripheral neuropathy, or just need some better footwear, but as a sedentary desk jockey who does take daily walks, I do want my feet to feel better.

It has been a week or two since I’ve had these symptoms; am I just a hypochondriac? Or will the pain return? Or was it just a season of pain? I may never know. God is good, and I’m not having the pain right now, so that’s something good.

ꭥ

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

— Philippians 4:8

Song of the week

Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8N6G0RVeFBQ&si=XIMhqbuujtdtEV9Q

I get so lost, sometimes
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
When I want to run away
I drive off in my car
But whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are
All my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
In your eyes
The light, the heat
(Your eyes)
I am complete
(Your eyes)
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
(Your eyes)
The resolution of all the fruitless searches
(Your eyes)
I see the light and the heat
(Your eyes) I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
Love, I don’t like to see so much pain
So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive
And all my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
In your eyes
The light, the heat
(Your eyes)
I am complete
(Your eyes)
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
(Your eyes)
The resolution of all the fruitless searches
(Your eyes)
I see the light and the heat
(Your eyes) I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
Accepting all I’ve done and said
I want to stand and stare again
‘Til there’s nothing left, woah
It remains there in your eyes
Whatever comes and goes
Oh, it’s in your eyes

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Peter Gabriel
In Your Eyes lyrics © Real World Music Ltd

Reblogged and very important to many

Buried in Desperation: The Human Cost of South Africa’s Illegal Mining Crisis

 The Quill Collective  Mining and Industry  January 16, 2025 1 Minute

A note from another author

I am on Michael Connelly’s mailing list, and the author of the Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller, Renee Ballard series, and other great books wrote this on the L.A. fires. I wanted to re-post it as I find it very meaningful:

Los AngelesIt’s hard to express what I am feeling but I feel I should express something. It’s just hard to come up with the words. Los Angeles has always had its ups and downs, from devastating earthquakes, fires, floods, mudslides, even riots. It is part of the bargain in living here. You trade immense beauty and opportunity for the possibility of calamity. But when the calamity comes, this place has always been resilient. It has always bounced back. I think that is one of the things I love about the place and why I write about it. This latest catastrophe raises the bar for sure. There is no one in this place who has not been hit by the devastation – either directly through life or property loss, or indirectly through the psychological hit of seeing the place you love burning and seemingly in chaos. You don’t have to be directly touched by the flames to not feel burned in some way. But I know we will bounce back.
 
I know so many people who have lost everything, who don’t know where to go, or what to do. Or what comes next. As I write this there are red flag warnings all over the place in regard to the winds picking up again. We may not be finished with this. But we will bounce back.
 
You can’t say anything about this disaster without mentioning the fearless work of the first responders and their efforts to combat mother nature. I watch the water-bearing helicopters fly over my house every day. Whether in the air or on the ground, they are heroes through and through. They inspire us. Already the outreach from the community to those who have lost from those who have not is growing exponentially. We are already bouncing back.
 
I write very contemporary novels. They are usually set in the year they are published. Last month I began work on a novel to be published in the fall. I set it in this month, with the start of the new year coinciding with a new challenge faced by the Lincoln lawyer, Mickey Haller. Now I must start over and rebuild the story to include what has happened here in the last week. I don’t want to be exploitative or merely put it in as background. I have to find a way to make it mean something in the story and maybe to the people who read it in the fall.
 
Meantime, the greater question I grapple with is what this means. Is this the new new? Will we need to face the possibility of nature turning against us again and again in these extreme ways? Are we now to pay the price for building a city in a desert so long ago? I have no answers. But I think that whatever happens, we’ll be ready and committed. I still love L.A. We always bounce back.
– Michael Connelly, January 13, 2025

An actor mistreated by the industry

Djimon Hounsou is a very popular and highly skilled actor who is very underpaid…

Reblogged from the New York Post:

(with photos from other sources)

Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou says he’s ‘still struggling to make a living,’ blames ‘systematic racism’

By 

Eric Todisco

Published Jan. 12, 2025, 10:08 a.m. (New York Post)

Djimon Hounsou is “struggling to make a living” despite his Hollywood success

Djimon Hounsou hasn’t had a fairytale career in Hollywood

Despite being a two-time Oscar-nominated actor who has appeared in blockbuster films, Hounsou, 60, recently revealed that he’s “still struggling to make a living” in the industry.

Djimon Hounsou at the “Rebel Moon Part One” premiere in LA in Dec. 2023.AFP via Getty Images Djimon Hounsou at the “A Quiet Place: Day One” premiere in NYC in June 2024.FilmMagic

“I’ve been in the filmmaking business for over two decades with two Oscar nominations and many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially,” he said on CNN’s “African Voices Changemakers.”

“I’m definitely underpaid,” he added.

Djimon Hounsou in “Amistad.”DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection

From Positive Press:

I saw Hounsou in Amistad, The Island, Blood Diamond, A Quiet Place: Day One, and many more; he is prolific, talented and appealing as a character actor. I hope he starts getting paid what white actors do. It is a disgrace that he has not, to date.

Not only that, but if studios are featuring him in movies (like Amistad, for example) about racial injustice, but not paying him well, that is hypocritical as well.

A bonus song

Newsboys – The Orphan

Lyrics

Maybe I push when I’m meant to be still
Maybe I take it all too personal
Jesus, how to reconcile
The joyful noise
The ancient land
The tug from some invisible hand
The dying mother weaving bulrushes
Along the Nile

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We’ll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry her (an) orphan’s cry
Don’t you worry, child
I wrote a lullaby

I try to settle, but I just pass through
A rain dog, gypsy
A wandering Jew
All those homes were not ours
Then I slept one night
In Abraham’s field
And dreamt there was no moon
The night he died
Counting stars
Selah

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We’ll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry her (an) orphan’s cry
Don’t you worry, child
I wrote a lullaby

Building you a home
Building you a home
Building you a home
We’re building you a home
Selah

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We’ll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry her (an) orphan’s cry
Don’t you worry, child
I wrote a lullaby

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We’ll be waiting for
A tailwind to bring us your sweet cry
Don’t you worry, child
I’m gonna sing you a lullaby

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jeff Frankenstein / Peter Furler / Steve Taylor

The Orphan lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Capitol CMG Publishing

GFR holding…

An excerpt from upcoming new book on chronic kidney disease:

So I was not dieting super-well. I was having two pieces of bread minimum per meal, my pizza had pepperoni & sausage action, and I was having some salty food and a fair amount of red meat.

And when I got my lab results, my GFR was up one point. For those who don’t know, GFR going up is GOOD. So I was glad, but didn’t know what to attribute the higher level to.

I supposed I’d been trying to be obedient, and maybe the Lord was rewarding me. Also, I don’t use a salt shaker at all, and I am cognizant of most foods that I take in. As mentioned before, I only eat one egg with breakfast. That’s 1-3 times per week, and I don’t eat much of the yolk; maybe 10% at most, and that’s mostly residual yolk that sneaks happily onto my toast. 

I do eat two hard-boiled eggs per week with lunch, and that’s two egg yolks, so I keep that meal to a minimum; two per week is my refrigerator dry-erase board schedule, but I stick to it. 

I avoid drinking a lot of milk. I do have milk in my cereal and very seldom a four ounce glass of milk with a sweet, but otherwise, I only drink milk with tea and cereal. Might I succumb when craving a milkshake annually? Maybe, but milk is high in potassium and phosphorus, so I limit my intake of the tasty beverage. 

If I have the choice between an apple and an orange, I choose the apple most times. As to orange juice, I only have about 2-3 ounces per half gallon of Crystal Light. 

I take in sweets on a limited basis: The occasional splurge on bag of mini-chocolates and gummies, a delicious oatmeal rasin cookie now and then, and ice cream maybe 4-5 times per year; but we don’t do dessert at our home often, nor out much, so my sugar (which my Zyprexa keeps borderline diabetic), is probably reasonably okay.

So I’m not pouring or sprinkling any salt on foods, I watch how much potassium I take in, this all curbs my snacking somewhat, and the Lord is good to help me stay on point personally (and sometimes I do maintain good life practices), and that is all I can imagine allowed my GFR to not go down. I don’t want to jinx it, but for the moment, it is holding steady.

ꭥ

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.”

— Psalm 16:5

Song of the Week

Ron Kenoly – Heal their Land

If My people
Who are called
By My name
Would humble themselves
And pray
And turn from their wicked ways

If My people
Who are called by My name
Would humble themselves
And pray
And purpose to seek My face

If My people
Who are called by My name
Would humble themselves
And pray
And turn from their wicked ways

I will hear from Heaven
I will hear from Heaven
I will hear from Heaven
I’ll hear and I’ll heal their land

If God’s people
Who are called by His Name
If they will humble themselves
And pray
And purpose to seek His face

If God’s people
Who are called by His Name
If they will humble themselves
And pray
And turn from their wicked ways

He will hear from Heaven
He will hear from Heaven
He will hear from Heaven
He’ll hear and He’ll heal their land

(Repeat 2nd chorus 3 times)

He will hear from Heaven
He’ll hear and He’ll heal our land
He will hear from Heaven
He”ll hear and He’ll heal our land
He will hear from Heaven
He”ll hear and He’ll heal our land

2 Chronicles 7:14 New International Version

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

-The Holy Bible

Artist: