Brendan Shea's Blog, page 33

Summer Breeze… dandruff?

FitzGerald on Health

Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, but then I gently massage my scalp and am mortified to sense cakey flakes back of my head… I wrote previously of my main helps for dandruff, but my mom gave me a shampoo recently, that she didn’t want, and I found the scent and texture to be pleasant, the results helpful.

So, the Seals and Crofts song came to mind, as I’m writing during what feels like midsummer, and the nice, citrusy scent of the afformentioned medicated goop, that doesn’t seem like a dandruff shampoo at all, is refreshing and cool. A shampoo? Yes, it’s the little things in life sometimes.

Anyway, I find as said in other blogs that stress and diet play into dandruff as much as heredity, at least for me, and perhaps even sin, but whatever the cause, there are remedies: reform, medical applications like Selsun Blue, healthy eating, and positive calming practices. Here is what this scalp cleansing shampoo product is made of:

Active Ingredients:

Salicylic acid 3%Purpose: Antidandruff

Inactive Ingredients:

Water, ammonium laureth sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, PEG-10 sunflower glycerides, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, cocamidopropyl betaine, fragrance, cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed rice protein, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) flower extract, lavandula angustifolia (lavender) extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, acacia farnesiana flower extract, tocopheryl acetate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, panthenol, cocamide MEA, sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate, benzyl alcohol, lauryl glucoside, polyquaternium-67, linoleamidopropyl PG-dimonium chloride phosphate, potassium hydroxide, citric acid, disodium EDTA, benzophenone-4, isopropyl myristate, propylene glycol

As I prefer to vary it up, and as a dermatologist recommended the same to me in the past, Selsun Blue Naturals is an important part of my shampoo repertoire, part of the rotation. I use the Itchy Dry Scalp, Extra Hydrating Formula, and its grapefruit-like scent is really nice as well. As the Irish Springs ad would quip, I hope you’ll say, “I like it too!”

HOT-Dog!

FitzGerald on Food

I am not a carnivore, but not necessarily a full-on vegetarian and certainly not yet a vegan. I have periodic convictions around eating animals, but they are seldom felt. I suppose people will have differing views, but the Bible says in Romans 14 that the “stronger” is not to compromise the “weaker” and the “weaker” is not to judge the “stronger”.

Anyway, at our home, we eat hot dogs with some frequency in two basic dishes. As such, and not being a big fan of hot dogs anymore, I’d abstained at times from that key ingredient. But the shopping bags entered the house one day, and something was different, but it was not until dinnertime that I learned of the switch.

When I dug into my bowl, I realized the nixed ingredient had returned, but was better cooked, more savory, and altogether more satisfying. The regular Oscar Mayer franks had been replaced with Oscar Mayer’s newer Selects Natural Angus Beef, uncooked beef franks. I’m not sure it was, love, but it was definitely a much better, “like”, than before.

I don’t know that these tasty meats are extremely healthy, but the ingredients listed seem to be more benign that some:

Angus Beef, Water, Cultured Dextrose, contains less than 2% of the following: Dextrose, Salt, Cultured Celery Juice, Paprika, Distilled White Vinegar, Sea Salt, Cherry Powder, Dried Garlic, Black Pepper.

[image error]Oscar Mayer Selects

If you’re not into the average hot dog and want something a little different, try the new Oscar Mayer Naturals, also available in, “Turkey” meat version. However did I segue from Romans 14 to Oscar Mayer? I guess recalling John McClane today, I tried to beat the Kobayashi Maru1 by thinking slightly outside the box. Need to find a way to entertain myself during SiP

Liberal/Conservative/Liberal

I grew up in a “democratic” household. 1976 saw the election of Jimmy Carter, and rejoicing in my home. I still need to ask my mom all the why’s of that, but I don’t doubt that my dad having left us due to Vietnam was loosely related. Later, we criticized Reagan, for saying ketchup was a vegetable in school lunches, but long after he was out of office, I learned he did well in helping to get the Berlin Wall taken down.

When I became a Christian, I became super-conservative, probably not with regard to the poor, because I’ve often been poor myself, but not realizing some conservative bootstrap philosophy, I embraced the republican party due to their pro-life and anti-gay marriage stances, according to how I viewed the Bible’s dictates.

Today, I know the Bible is clear on its message, but how to apply those truths politically? I have personally seen the ravages of abortion on a few women I know and love, and wish it were not a thing, but I’m not sure a vote for Trump would really bring it into decline, nor that a vote for Biden/Harris would increase it.

As to gay marriage, I have come to believe that while the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, that adultery and fornication are also sins. There are federal laws in some states that provide penalties for adultery, but they are seldom enforced, and I don’t think we should legislate gay marriage. These are adult individuals making decisions, and it is not up to me to make their decision for them. If God lays something on the heart of any sinner, that will likely be the greatest weight they’ll ever feel. And I’m not directing that towards any one group, I’m just speaking from experience.

With abortion, a child in the womb is helpless and not fully developed, so I feel like they need more protection through the law. I appreciate women’s predicament with rape and incest and so on, and can’t begin to understand, being a man, but there you have it, it seems wrong to me, and again, I’ve talked to one of the women I know, and she came to me when at odds with me to find comfort after her abortion, so my personal opposition to abortion and existing understanding were further bolstered. I do not however want to judge, nor does God give me that right, according to His word.

Some have said to me, knowing me to be a Christian, on learning of my support of the Biden/Harris ticket, “Don’t you know Harris is anti-Catholic and pro-abortion?”, and I may research this, but my answer is, “Trump has done a lot of harm to people while in office, and I don’t seek to vilify him, as if I were free from sin myself, but I think it is time for a change in leadership; I think that is what our nation needs at this time. If God agrees, then Biden/Harris will win.”

If Reagan helped bring down the oppressive Berlin Wall, then Trump is oppressive in building a border wall with Mexico; what is this country coming to, Escape from L.A.?

Please vote this November.

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Here are two songs that may explain:

Jill Biden, Mic Drop

Jill Biden made a great speech today, and while no man can do what God can, her case that Joe can do great things to bring us together, was well made and well received… by me, and doubtless many others. She also brought it all back to God in the best way possible. Here is a link:

[image error]MILWAUKEE, WI – AUGUST 18: In this screenshot from the DNCC’s livestream of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden joins Former U.S. Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden in a classroom after she addressed the virtual convention on August 18, 2020. The convention, which was once expected to draw 50,000 people to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is now taking place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by DNCC via Getty Images) (Photo by Handout/DNCC via Getty Images)

Re-blogged: Jamaican, Tamil descent: Who is Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s VP candidate — The Stringer

Kamala Harris, 55, was announced as Biden’s vice presidential candidate on last Tuesday New Delhi(CNN)In 1958, Shyamala Gopalan arrived in Berkeley, California, after traveling thousands of miles from her family to pursue a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology. Gopalan was a precocious 19-year-old student. She had already graduated early from the University of Delhi, but […]

Jamaican, Tamil descent: Who is Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s VP candidate — The Stringer

(An outstanding reblog, telling about democratic VP candidate, Kamala Harris; click red hyperlink above to view the blogpost)

[image error]With her mom: Snow Cone in Harlem



[image error]At Her Mom’s Lab

Glad to Hear about Kamala Harris

I don’t know too much about Kamala Harris, or if I’ll agree with her policies and practices or not, but I can see she’s tough, she’s sharp, and she’s younger than Biden, in case he does not last through a whole term as president, should he be elected this November.

I don’t know if I’ll agree with all of Biden’s policies either, but we are called upon by God to respect our leaders. David even respected King Saul, when Saul was actively trying to kill David. I guess I fall short of David, because I feel compelled to note Trump’s inappropriate comment that Kamala Harris is, “nastier than Pocahontas“, referring to Elizabeth Warren, as he exemplified his own brand of ignorance, typical for Trump. King David would not have said anything though he might well have thought it.

I saw Trump in Manhattan in the ‘eighties at his Plaza Hotel as I was completing a casual walk-through and he was entering the lobby from his limo, and I enjoyed his role in Home Alone 2, but I’m sorry to say that I voted for him at the last minute. I didn’t want to vote for him but trusted Hillary Clinton even less. I’m glad at least that I did not actually help him get elected, as Clinton won California.

I don’t get into politics much, but many campaigns tout change, and this election coming up, probably more so. Biden/Harris may not have all the answers, no ticket does, but I’m hoping if they are elected, we can balance out some of the negatives from the Trump/Pence era.

Kamala Harris is only a few years older than me, and she grew up in my home town of Berkeley. I’m proud that an African American woman from my home town is on the presidential ticket, and I hope if she becomes president later, that she’ll prove a success. Color might not win or lose a battle in and of itself unless perhaps to overcome, but it’s high time African Americans and women had equal status. Way past time.

Somewhat apolitical – FitzGerald Press

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More Double-Dutch Anyone?

Chapter 8 – No He Didn’t!

(a second preview of my new book, Double-Dutch Life… and as I’m adding the featured image just now, AGT Live is on television, showing a woman on a “wheel of death”, jumping rope forty feet up!)

You see I had just kept on working non-stop. I’d learned that good lesson when I’d errantly dropped out of high school, but here, I was overdoing it by not taking a rest. Stressed as I was, I kept ending up in mental wards, making friends, but not overcoming my illness. My diagnoses changed and most hospital staff were excellent, but I kept coming back; that was obviously not the desired outcome. 

The series of hospitalizations did seem to result in a clearer understanding that my brain chemistry 24 was not balanced correctly 25, and that understanding allowed for application of pharmacopoeia to address and stabilize that chemistry. 

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Further, a great friend helped me get into a program at Princeton University where elaborate testing was done to analyze the vitamin therapy needed to stabilize mood, independent of psychotropics. I trekked over one-hundred miles north and east, to Princeton, was poked, prodded, and generally put ‘under a microscope’. 

After being given a list of vitamins that could replace my “meds”, I opted to not take advantage as the regimen was severe, with a very large list of pills to take. I regret wasting the time of the experts who saw me gratis, however; I should have anticipated that possibility, and left a space open for someone who’d have been more receptive.

So there is a pattern I have of initially accepting offers of relationship, assistance, and information, and then going my own way. This is something common to human behavior, but I think I take it pretty far… or ugly far.

In the Garden of Eden, we had love, sex, food, comfort, companionship, and no pain or hardship of any kind. Then some idiot came along telling us that God was holding out. He planted the seed of doubt. 

One of our number then violated the terms of living in the garden, while the other stood by passively, thereby also falling short, also sinning.  Maybe moreso, as he failed to prevent the woman by reminding her of God’s faithfulness. Then, perhaps to be part of things, the man partook also.

The Bible teaches that Christ created us, came back to pay the penalty for the fall, and will return for all who receive his gift of dying innocent, without sin. We still try to do things our own way. My particular brand is to say no to good things when they are offered, and then to try and get them back later. 

I once had a pastor who said that life was like a feast, and that you could do a dumpster-dive or eat at a luscious banquet. Why choose the dumpster-dive? Is it a predilection based on low expectation or upbringing? Or perhaps people undervalue themselves. Whatever it is, it is to be damned if I had my druthers.

There’s a band 26 who sing about some getting ahead of things in life and others falling behind. The Double-Dutch 27 life is the life of people trying to jump into action at the right time with varying degrees of success. Bipolar Disorder and other similar conditions make this process more difficult. 

I used the phrase Double-Dutch in my book title because I grew up with some neat, predominantly African-American ladies, who practiced this sport, and because later, I became aware of my mental issues, largely in Pennsylvania-Dutch, Amish country. 

My brain chemistry imbalance has at times been diagnosed as Bipolar Disorder, and to me, the phrase, “double-dutch”, in this context, speaks to a mercurial energy that requires harnessing and grounding.

I have never possessed scientific acumen, so I don’t know how mercury works, but I saw some once in Berkeley, and it was in liquid form, silver, and fascinating. I know my mind works very quickly when it functions at all, but as I am in my 50’s, it has mercifully slowed down somewhat. 

Some things, on the other hand, take me ages to cog, things that most people apprehend as children and young adults; these are rudimentary things; elemental like mercury, but I miss them for decades.

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(scheduled for release to Amazon in late 2020/Early 2021)

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© Text & Illustrations Copyright 2020 Brendan Shea, FitzGerald Press

Connelly: The Black Echo

This 1992 debut novel of Michael Connelly, and of his classic police detective character, Harry (Hieronymus) Bosch, is nothing short of genius. Harry is a rebel in every way, but his motives are good. We know that the road to hell can be paved with good intentions, and Harry reflects at one point that he thinks his heart is hardened, but his actions are those of a man who has made mistakes, hates falsehood, and takes good turns frequently, no matter the cost to himself.

His partner in “crime”, Eleanor Wish, is somewhat of a kindred spirit, and she works with him from her FBI perch. The crime is a bank caper, but the details are far grittier and complex than the word, “caper” usually evokes in me. Vietnam, street hustlers and tunnel digging figure strongly, and the 508 page paperback edition I read was a slow burn that turned into a page turner halfway through and a raging fire at the end.

Peripheral characters include a pair not unlike Shakespeare’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern if not seemingly anti-semitic, an IAD higher-up who seems like a stooge, and some allied to Bosch, often risking their careers to aid the trusty detective. These characters alternatingly provide dark comic relief, realistic scientific aspects and fraternal help. The supporting cast lend to the plot machinations and contrast that added to my enjoyment.

I was at a family member’s home a few years ago and got my pick of several paper shopping bags of books that the person was getting rid of. She said that I could take any and all items wanted, with one stipulation: If I was to dispose of any, I had to sell or donate them; I was not to throw them out. This caveat was not difficult for the son of a book-buyer/librarian, but I am finicky or hesitant, and I only took two volumes of maybe two dozen.

One volume was The Last Mile, by David Baldacci, my Star Wars-like introduction to the great Amos Decker character, the second in the series, thus the Star Wars reference. The other was a book by Michael Connelly about Harry Bosch. I started with the Connelly book, but could not get into it, feeling it was “monochromatic”, with little coloring, no variety.

I then delved into The Last Mile, by Baldacci, and was immediately pleased to identify with the pathos, struggles, successes, and later, even wry humor, of the characters. There was no romance, but there was some chemistry with the primary female character, and the story won for me, hitting on all cylinders.

A couple of years later, my Mom loaned me a book by ‘Connelly, The Black Echo, a paperback from Grand Central, an imprint of Baldacci’s firm, Hachette Book Group; a behemoth publisher. She mentioned its story about the detective and his mother, but later I learned she was referencing a different Bosch story.

I kept The Black Echo in the console of my car. Much like my reading glasses, I like to keep accompanying books everywhere I may be: A book in the car, an audiobook in that vehicle’s CD player, something on our coffee table, dozens in our office that I like to think of as the library, some on my phone that I’m writing, and more.

When I was parked somewhere waiting, I’d read the book, but only got a little ways in. It seemed like the other ‘Connelly book I’d tried: a little singular in style, no variety. Much later, having exhausted other best reading options and wanting to find something new, I decided to give The Black Echo another try.

This time, I really got into it, and it was highly original and intriguing. There is some lurid content, but I didn’t find that the author was tempting me, rather being factual and realistic. There is a lot of bad language, but not to a degree that I felt the writer either wanted to offend or was unable to tell the story without expletives. I had entered a dark tunnel, but while scary and forbidding, I wanted to get to the other side, and see the picture.

My strong feeling is that I was well rewarded. The Bible says that we can’t hop the fence into Heaven, but must go through the strait gate and not slip around it. I’m not sure what path the fictional Harry Bosch, with his anger towards evangelists and people in authority is on, but I hope it has a good end. In this book, the character is one I very much admire, plunging into the darkness of humanity, in search of justice for those hurt by the caper.

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BACK – to FitzGerald Press Blog

Sorry I’ve been away, readers. Day job is crazy-busy, home-improvement projects, COVID-follies galore and more.

Thanks to my followers, many of whom read some older posts they may have missed, and to some new followers, who read/liked some posts they’d newly discovered.

I’ll try to provide some consistency for a good while, but am working on my new book, Double-Dutch Life, and also pursuing additional publishing outlets. I have worked hard to properly develop my Amazon Author Page, and feel that I need more visibility, as I’ve not sold many units.

If you read any of my books, please provide a review. I appreciate ratings and reviews, but reviews reveal more about what I need to improve. Already, I know that in blog posts, I can develop themes adequately, but that in my books, I don’t like filler, but need to develop plots and characters for more depth.

I was also told I need to create more conflict in my fiction caper novels. I’ve avoided too much conflict, as there has been too much in life, and this was my way of coping. As late beloved author of the hilarious and yet poignant Fletch mystery series, Gregory McDonald said,

“Writing is not a profession, occupation or job; it is not a way of life: it is a comprehensive response to life.”

I suppose writing is all of the above things, but for me and probably many, it is certainly the latter thing.

Again, I appreciate my readership. The internet is glutted with a ton of good writing and graphics, much like a delicious scalloped potato or crème brûlée dish, so if even a few, come to the table to read my blog, I’m proud to serve up some posts to entertain, inform or inspire.

… back to FitzGerald Press blog…

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The Monster (good) Smash!

The Monster Mash

I’m not into monsters or monster movies since growing up, having psychiatric and spiritual struggles, and being influenced to watch things I no longer wanted to watch in media, but there was a fun song growing up called The Monster Mash, and when I wanted to blog about a great dessert I had recently, made with thawed from frozen mixed-berries and Steve’s Moroccan Mashup (requisite) non-dairy ice cream, the song came to mind as a title, due to the old, loved song.

Good/Not Good?

Again, Halloween is not hallowed to me, though I loved it in my youth, and I don’t go in for horror, but the song was fun at the time and I don’t want to ‘make’ everything into something bad. I won’t post the song as the video is still a bit troubling, but if you watch the singer with Dick Clark and his fun audience, you have to wonder, is this the decline of civilization? Or is this just some good folks poking fun and making each other laugh…

Back to the ice cream!

I was finishing up my dinner when offered some frozen-mixed berries, and when told how to prepare them, I figured they’d go well with my ice cream. Being allergic to dairy as I am, I try to eat very less real dairy, instead opting for substitutes at times, especially at night when breathing can sometimes be more problematic.

Steve’s Ice Cream’s are great, and the ones I’ve had are made primarily with coconut milk. The first one I had was “Burnt Sugar”, a delicious treat whose noted sugar tastes like an authentic crème brûlée topping.

The ingredients in Steve’s (wonderful) Moroccan Mashup are: Water, Cane Sugar, Organic Coconut Cream, Sunflower Oil, Pomegranate Swirl [Sugar, Water, Cornstarch, Pomegranate Juice Concentrate, Beet Juice Concentrate (Color), Aronia Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavors, Locust Bean Gum], Honey, Roasted Almonds (Almonds, Canola Oil, Salt), Pea Protein, Cornstarch, Natural Flavor, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum.

In addition to the above yumminess, there are only about 36 grams of sugar in a serving.

Now as I mentioned in this saga, I had some frozen berries, so per instructions, I microwaved them for 2 minutes and stirred them into 1/3 pint of the Moroccan Mashup.

Heavenly

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