Brendan Shea's Blog, page 19

Paging Uncle Billy

“All things work together for good”

So remember Uncle Billy from Frank Capra’s faith-filled Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life? The one who loved to commune with a raven, some rabbits and others of God’s creatures?

The one who drank a little too much and lost thousands of dollars when he misplaced the deposit for his family’s building & loan firm?

The one who was eccentric and single, but lovable and forgetful?

Don’t we all have a bit of Uncle Billy in each of us? Or maybe you don’t. Or maybe you think you don’t…

Billy Bailey was a perfect example of God’s principle of the following verse:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

-Romans 8:28

It’s hard to see it when it’s happening to you, just as Billy’s nephew, George Bailey, found it hard to see the goodness of God when the law, the bank examiner, and many others, were threatening him with penury, jail and ruin, due to the missing money (which he took the blame for, shielding Uncle Billy).

So George prays he’d never lived, and God grants his wish.

You probably recall the story: George sees how terrible life in Bedford Falls would have been if he’d never lived, and as a result, prays for his life back.

He is given his second wish, and witnesses an entire community come to his aid, with testimony, support, love… and thousands of dollars to fix the problem.

As the story closes, we see that because of Uncle Billy’s failure with the money, a terrible thing, George Bailey comes to know the love of Christ, and to see how important each human being really is.

So if you’re going through the muck, if you’re misbehaving, you might want to do a 180, but if you’re generally not, and the chips are down, if you call on God, He’ll bring something good out of it… not just for you, but perhaps for others, too.

Binging Castle

I’ll watch reruns for a year

So I watched Castle during its original run from 2009-2016, and I loved it. It reminded me loosely of me and my wife. I’m a writer, married to a woman with good looks, a high EQ and who is totally no-nonsense, so I’m like Castle and she’s like Beckett… to a point

The show opens with playboy writer Rick Castle, wooing his lovely fans, and Detective Kate Beckett, taking names and solving crimes. Her two detectives, Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito, round out the cast along with the precinct Captain and the attractive ME.

Lovely Stana Katic plays Beckett, who is as smart and sarcastic as she is lovely and skillful. Nathan Fillion is great as the title character, “ruggedly handsome?” and with a cheesy sense of humor and wild imagination to rival mine.

Seamus Deaver and Jon Huertas (the latter also later of This is Us fame) are Ryan and Esposito, and don’t forget pretty Molly Quinn as Castle’s daughter, Alexis, and veteran Susan Sullivan as Castle’s lively actress mom, Martha Rodgers.

The show is not R-Rated and has some slightly slinky content, but nothing too bad. There is some graphic content with regard to the various murders. However, overall, the show seems tame by today’s standards.

I watch two to three episodes per week after work, before my wife comes home. We used to watch it together, but she’s moved on to newer things. It will probably take me a year to binge the whole seven seasons, so it’s more of a saga watch than a binge watch. A retrospective I can savor for months.

I hope you enjoy it for the first time or with nostalgia. It’s got great writing, fine acting, and plots to please any fan of mystery, drama, suspense and wry humor.

Part of the cast, today:

Genesis of a Book

My process of coming to write new work

I’ll be waking up in the morning, or walking my dog, or out to lunch, or getting ready for bed, and I’ll see, hear or think of an idea. I email, text or voice-dictate the idea to myself; if I’m at a device and I have time and attention, I add the idea to a Google doc.

Later, when I have some chapters, a blurb, a sentence, the germ of an idea or a series of blogs, I make a new copy of an existing book, so that everything is formatted in advance, delete the content of that book, and paste in the body of the book I have so far, updating the title, font and so on.

Then I begin the work, typing, dictating, writing, and I can have an unlimited number of books going at the same time. The trick is to work on it when it is on my mind, do other things to feed it, and not be afraid to do other things or work on other books as it gestates. Don’t see that wait as the spinning wheel of death, but as the time when the fields rest so that the harvest is full.

If you want to chime in as to how you write a book, or a related writing experience, please do so in the comments. So many of us write, and we all likely have a different process. There is a proliferation of words in the world today, but some of them, special ones, make our moment, day or life. I hope the words you encounter bring you peace and joy, directly or indirectly.

Here are some photos of places I’ve visited. I find that when I get away from it all, I come home ready to write up a storm…

Six Degrees of Michael Connelly

(… or, how I started reading Ballard, Bosch and Haller)

So I was up at my in-laws one time when my one mother-in-law (I have two) told me to look at the bags of in the guestroom where we always stayed. They had a few different rooms for visitors, but the one place where we stayed was the more conventional lodging.

Excited at the prospect of having some new books, her words ran through my mind, “You can take any of the books…” I reverently scoured the several fancy, colorful, handled bags around the room and landed on two titles.

I picked Baldacci’s The Last Mile first, an Amos Decker series title, and Michael Connelly’s The Crossing, number 28 in the Harry Bosch universe.

Later, when I loved the Baldacci, but didn’t get into the Bosch, I recalled my mother-in-law’s other words, “… but don’t throw them away if you don’t like them; donate them to the library or sell them.”

I recall donating The Crossing to the library.

Then, sometime later, my mom suggested Connelly’s book, The Last Coyote, about a cop investigating the death of his mom, who was murdered in his youth.

She didn’t have the book, so she gave me her copy of Bosch and Connelly’s maiden voyage, The Black Echo. I kept the book in the console of the old minivan I got to drive for a while between other cars, and a generous gift from my other set of in-laws.

When I was in the vehicle, waiting for something or someone, I’d open the console and read a few pages. After a while I was hooked. The book had a caper, a cool detective, humor and romance; and the story was great.

Since then, I’ve read fifteen of Connelly’s books, and there was only one I didn’t totally go for, Fair Warning; and that was mostly because it was too episodic for me (though my own writing often tends to be that way).

Michael Connelly is one of the best authors I’ve read, and that’s among at least 437 books read, according to my goodreads profile! Why? He knows how to put a book together, has three of the strongest characters in crime fiction, and his stories are totally compelling.

Given how much I enjoy his writing, I subscribed to his updates, and in about two weeks, I’m going to see him speak in Northern California. It’s an opportunity I’ve been waiting for, since he spoke here last year, at a more expensive locale.

I hope the visit goes well, and that I get to chat with him for a bit; and I hope to have him sign my copy of his new book, The Waiting, a Bosch and Ballard outing, due out tomorrow.

So that’s my story about Michael Connelly; I began reading him almost by accident, but have enjoyed every minute of the journey.

My diet has changed…

So my diet is in flux. I am on a campaign to eat only my portion. My share. Biblically, it was suggested in a group I attend that if one is in habitual sin, one might not be in the faith. I thought of my food addiction and took the statement to heart. I also have some goals in life and figure the more obedient I am to God, the more He might allow some of those things to happen. Due to my kidney disease, moderation might lead to a longer lifespan.

With CKD, I avoid taking in large quantities of certain foods. To keep from overdoing it on potassium and phosphorus, I keep my intake low, of the following foods that were often staples in my diet:

OrangesOrange juiceBananasColaRoot beerMilk (as a beverage)PotatoesTomatoesRaisinsRed meatPrepared foods

But what I can do, as I enjoy those foods, is modify how I take them in. So, to that end, I might eat a mini-orange now and then, I put an ounce of orange juice in my drinks frequently, I’ll eat a few dried banana chips in trail mix now and then, I drink occasional sodas that are light in color. I rarely drink milk as a beverage but put it in cereal and tea. And I only eat half of my occasional baked potato at a meal and I eat dried cranberries instead of raisins.

I love to go out and have a nice burger now and then, but French fries are out (potatoes) and red meat is to be eaten sparingly. When I feel like having a nice juicy burger, most restaurants now offer a vegetarian option. I like a good bean burger, but I love some of the ‘impossible’ burgers available.

So I often avoid the red meat, enjoy the ‘burger’, remove the extra tomatoes (I usually eat one slice only), and for the fries substitution, I can often get steamed broccoli, tempura green beans, or opt for onion rings, which are always on the menu. Sometimes I have a salad instead of fries, or soup. Once, I got mac n cheese, but that was probably high in sodium. The portion was tiny, so it was likely okay.

Another way I can help preserve my kidneys is to moderate my intake of liquids, so my usual Crystal Light and natural iced tea are appearing slightly less often, and I still drink hot tea, but I’ve read varying reports on how much to drink with any stage of kidney disease. I am at stage 4, and one source said that 33-50 ounces per day was good. 

I drink at least 64 ounces of fluid per day, so I hope I’m not pushing it too hard. For those on dialysis, 32 ounces is all your body is able to process.

ꭥ

“Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink

“At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.”

— Daniel 1:12, 15

Francis’ Gamble

A book review

Felix Francis’ mystery, Gamble, was published in 2011, but I just read it this past month or so. It is one of the younger Francis’ novels, his late father, Dick, having written about forty of them previously.

I grew up with Dick Francis… in the sense that my first mystery book was his Reflex, probably my favorite in the canon. A tale about a jockey who moonlights in photography, tries to find his missing sister, and stumbles into murder and intrigue.

I first read Reflex in the early 1980s, and since then, I have read and reread most of the the elder author’s books multiple times. With son Felix, he co-wrote Dead Heat, a very good entry in my estimation.

Since Felix went solo, I have had mixed feelings about his work. Damage had an interesting subplot, and Iced was very good, but Guilty Not Guilty was slow out of the gate, and I did not finish it.

With Gamble, he has a winner. There are a few technical elements that distracted slightly here and there, but the suspense, story and characters are good, and the denouement is outstanding, rivaling even some of his highly awarded father’s works.

I hope the junior Francis keeps on writing. I, for one, will keep giving his books a look-see; they are often worthwhile jaunts, and I’m glad he’s still on the literary scene.

On second thought…

An excerpt from my book on kidney disease…

When I told my friend I had few symptoms, I began to realize I was not entirely correct. I had the following symptoms that might be related and some that might not:

Occasional extreme fatigueWeaknessPain in sidesDizzinessDehydrationLess energy throughout the daySlight variations in digestive function

I then concluded my health was in some respects like that of an octogenarian. I could work at my home office, read, write, do most household tasks, help out at church, go on most outings, but physically, my endurance was not very strong overall.

I began to think more seriously about plans for how I wanted to do dialysis if unable to do a transplant.  I am staying with peritoneal overnight dialysis for now, so I can keep working, but that would probably be a bit of work, as I’d need to sleep on one side only, and then there were other implications.

I wondered about disconnecting from the dialysis machine for restroom visits, thinking that by then I wouldn’t be drinking more than a few glasses of fluid per day17, so I wouldn’t likely have to go as much. I drink a lot of fluids, but so far, I have not had to curtail how much I drink, just what I drink.

I thought about traveling with dialysis, and recall even in the nineteen eighties, that dialysis machines could be moved. But what would become of the annual camping trip? And would my wife and I still be able to stay overnight in a motel, or go away for our anniversary for a few days? Those were questions I might need to get answers to.

So I became somewhat sober-minded about things, despite my optimism and jokester mentality. I can be profoundly negative, but my daily demeanor tends to be otherwise lighthearted…

ꭥ

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

— 1 Peter 5:8

17 Most dialysis patients need to limit their fluid intake to 32 ounces per day. (Google, National Kidney Foundation)

Quite a haul…

A journal for today

My wife was wanting to get some stuff done and I needed to get out and do something so I went to my local library, one of my favorite places around town.

Unusually, I could not find one book I wanted to borrow. I tried nonfiction (not usually my thing), fiction (sometimes my cup of tea) and mystery (my main fare overall), but there wasn’t a scrap of paper that caught my eye.

I knew that in the next couple of months, three books would come out that I did want to read; David Baldacci’s third Travis Devine installment:

John Grisham’s new one, Framed:

And Michael Connelly’s latest, The Waiting:

A blessing for me is that the last time Michael Connelly spoke in the Bay Area, it cost about $95 (I did not go), but this time, he is speaking in the North Bay for much less, and I get to take home a copy of his book. I figure I can get an autograph, and maybe chat with him for a second or two. That’s a great thing, and I hope everyone gets such opportunities as wanted.

So there I was at the library, and I was feeling bored and peckish, so I did what I often do, I went to Panda Express for some eggplant tofu and honey walnut shrimp with chow mein. To save a few bucks, I had it with a cold cup of water, and it was the tastiest drink I could have chosen.

So, where to now? I thought… To the bookstore! They’d have an old Dick Francis, and it would only cost a few dollars. I made my way to that location but noticed I was near another library at that point. Venturing in, I found a boatload of books to please and entertain… this was my haul:

I walked to the library parking lot to stash the books in my trunk, and as I got into the car, I saw a preying mantis on my windshield, and after photographing it and taking in the wonder of it all, I got a piece of bark, and eased it back into the lot’s desert grasses area, not wanting it to my new friend to lose its’ hitch when I got on the freeway.

I never went to the bookstore because the library had all I needed this time out. All in all, a good day, but I think I need to clean the inside of my windshield ;-]

#thankful

Reblogged: Yolanda (and her creative scream)

Where the lift is.

A photo reblogged from…

Yolanda and her creative scream

~ Asperger’s syndrome, bipolarity, photography, art, poetry.~ Asperger’s syndrome, bipolarity, photography, art, poetry.

Where the lift is.

I’m good!

Excerpt from my new book on kidney disease…

Someone asked me recently how I was doing. I said what my doctor said, “I’m doing well, for someone who is not doing well”, or words to that effect. Basically he was saying that for someone with stage four kidney disease, I was tracking reasonably well, but that having that diagnosis was not classified as ‘doing well’.

Then, I gave them the lowdown: I said I didn’t have any real symptoms, but later remembered some mild pain and fatigue, but maybe nothing major. I did say that I realized when doing physical activity that I can’t be out doing that type of thing for too long, and even idling, if in the sun, I could dehydrate quickly, and my kidneys could be damaged.

The friend had thought I needed a transplant right away, and I explained that my GFR was then 23, and said I now know that for someone older than eighty-five years, 35 is normal… and I am 56… my GFR should be in the fifties.

I said I wouldn’t be able to apply for transplant most successfully until the GFR was 19, and that I wouldn’t necessarily need a dialysis until my GFR was 13, if it gets that low before I (possibly) get a kidney donor.

It comes to mind that I’ve only known about CKD in any real way for about three years, whereas before, the disease was a vague set of circumstances not on my radar.

ꭥ

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”

— 3 John 1:2