Here are some facts about high blood pressure.
One in three adults in the United States have high blood pressure. Much of this is probably related to the fact that one in three adults is also obese. (I think I've mentioned this before, but being obese is the notch above being overweight - & something like 2 in 3 Americans are overweight.)
I confess I have high blood pressure, & I take medication to deal with it. I'm not in the best of physical shape - I never have been - but when I found out, I stopped putting salt on my food & I gave up caffeine. My doctor also suggested I stop drinking, to which I said, "Ho ho, you're funny!"
Most, if not all, of my siblings have high blood pressure, & I've been told it's genetic. One of my sisters even told me how she lost a lot of weight & still had high blood pressure, all the while puffing on a cigarette. I personally think it's probably more related to our health than our genes.
I take stumbling, half-assed steps to try to get in better shape in order to one day lose the pills, but I lack commitment & follow-through. But I was raised by a fearful mother to take fear very seriously, & my reptile brain is kept alert by reading things like "high blood pressure greatly increases the risk for heart disease & stroke, the first & third leading causes of death in the United States."
A stroke! Parts of your brain dying! That should make everyone go see a doctor!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Look Ahead In Anger
There are things you can do to make sure you're not angry all the time. I have several myself.
I don't watch local news, or any show about celebrity gossip. Unless you count the Soup, which makes fun of shows like that but also sometimes makes me angry.
I don't listen to commercial radio. Classic rock or pabulum rock stations ensure that shitty songs that are stuck in my head because I listened to radio when I was younger are more permanently etched in my brain; modern stations remind me how sad & soulless the music industry really is.
I mean, the same songs that I loathe now that I had to listen to over & over when I was ten are not only still being played, but if you're a ten-year-old & your parent is listening to whatever godawful radio station plays the ordure that you might see at a Grammy or American Music Awards ceremony, you're now, years later, in the same boat we all are: we know all the words to fucking Billy Joel songs. There's got to be some way to make our parents pay for that.
I don't engage in any online discussions ever. About two years ago I had a simple question I asked a conservative friend & she decided to respond by shitting vitriol into my eyes. It's already a cliché that people are bigger assholes behind their screen names than they would actually be in real life. But Christ, why even bother? Have you ever been swayed by a rational argument on a message board?
I don't always tell people my opinion about something. It's much easier to smile & nod while someone talks to you about a transcendent experience at something they did which was so obviously horrible that you wouldn't wish Gitmo detainees to experience it. Oh, & I hope they do the same for me.
I do try not to be so negative. I try not to say "don't" all the time. Especially in lists.
I mean... Oh hell.
I don't watch local news, or any show about celebrity gossip. Unless you count the Soup, which makes fun of shows like that but also sometimes makes me angry.
I don't listen to commercial radio. Classic rock or pabulum rock stations ensure that shitty songs that are stuck in my head because I listened to radio when I was younger are more permanently etched in my brain; modern stations remind me how sad & soulless the music industry really is.
I mean, the same songs that I loathe now that I had to listen to over & over when I was ten are not only still being played, but if you're a ten-year-old & your parent is listening to whatever godawful radio station plays the ordure that you might see at a Grammy or American Music Awards ceremony, you're now, years later, in the same boat we all are: we know all the words to fucking Billy Joel songs. There's got to be some way to make our parents pay for that.
I don't engage in any online discussions ever. About two years ago I had a simple question I asked a conservative friend & she decided to respond by shitting vitriol into my eyes. It's already a cliché that people are bigger assholes behind their screen names than they would actually be in real life. But Christ, why even bother? Have you ever been swayed by a rational argument on a message board?
I don't always tell people my opinion about something. It's much easier to smile & nod while someone talks to you about a transcendent experience at something they did which was so obviously horrible that you wouldn't wish Gitmo detainees to experience it. Oh, & I hope they do the same for me.
I do try not to be so negative. I try not to say "don't" all the time. Especially in lists.
I mean... Oh hell.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
But Is It Art?
I had to sit at a table today while incoming freshmen & freshwomen were accompanied by their always-embarrassing parents during - I guess it's orientation? - & student groups were showing off what they were & what they do. I was of course at the WRFL table. We had very little swag - unlike the Student Government table next to us which was giving away UK sunglasses, lip balm, & even hand sanitizer. That was popular with the always-embarrassing parents. They scorned us for not even having a pen to snag!
Really, there were horrible-looking women from some holler in Kentucky with bags just throwing things in them as if it were some kind of Halloween buffet.
The thing is, incoming students at this or any other university are not very likely to even know what radio is. When my co-tabler, the station's Program Manager, told a parent we played "alternative music," the parent turned to his couldn't-have-cared-less kid & said, "You like alternative music, right? You listen to that channel on Sirius!"
I'm not really in any position to advise the station on how to do outreach but it was a big waste of time. It's best to either have a station-centric event - which could have food or music or some other kind of incentive or enticement - or to let people find the station on their own. Radio is not something kids really think about.
This made me think of a friend I have recently reconnected with. When he knew me, I wanted to be a writer. If you've read any part of this blog, you have had the same realization that I did many years ago: I'm not very good at it. He seemed to think that me saying, "I'm not a very good writer," was some manifestation of low self-esteem, & tried to tell me that, no, I was a good writer, & I inspired him as well!
(This conversation was all texted, by the way. What a shitty way to communicate.)
I shut him up by saying, "I never loved writing like I love radio. Radio is my art form."
If radio is an art form - it may not be, but it can be a means of expressing oneself - it's certainly becoming something as rare as the fine arts of sculpture & painting & etc. Which is why the WRFL table at the college orientation wasn't very successful - it was as successful as someone in a beret wearing a smock asking people to join a sculptor's club would be.
I think you can teach people to be tolerably good deejays, but you can't teach them to love & appreciate good music. I know that fully 99.9% of the people in that building at any given time had terrible taste in music. & that's because 99.9% of everyone has terrible taste in music. Have you heard what people like recently?
Really, there were horrible-looking women from some holler in Kentucky with bags just throwing things in them as if it were some kind of Halloween buffet.
The thing is, incoming students at this or any other university are not very likely to even know what radio is. When my co-tabler, the station's Program Manager, told a parent we played "alternative music," the parent turned to his couldn't-have-cared-less kid & said, "You like alternative music, right? You listen to that channel on Sirius!"
I'm not really in any position to advise the station on how to do outreach but it was a big waste of time. It's best to either have a station-centric event - which could have food or music or some other kind of incentive or enticement - or to let people find the station on their own. Radio is not something kids really think about.
This made me think of a friend I have recently reconnected with. When he knew me, I wanted to be a writer. If you've read any part of this blog, you have had the same realization that I did many years ago: I'm not very good at it. He seemed to think that me saying, "I'm not a very good writer," was some manifestation of low self-esteem, & tried to tell me that, no, I was a good writer, & I inspired him as well!
(This conversation was all texted, by the way. What a shitty way to communicate.)
I shut him up by saying, "I never loved writing like I love radio. Radio is my art form."
If radio is an art form - it may not be, but it can be a means of expressing oneself - it's certainly becoming something as rare as the fine arts of sculpture & painting & etc. Which is why the WRFL table at the college orientation wasn't very successful - it was as successful as someone in a beret wearing a smock asking people to join a sculptor's club would be.
I think you can teach people to be tolerably good deejays, but you can't teach them to love & appreciate good music. I know that fully 99.9% of the people in that building at any given time had terrible taste in music. & that's because 99.9% of everyone has terrible taste in music. Have you heard what people like recently?
Monday, June 18, 2012
She Said What?
What did she say? Did anyone get that? Should I have been listening? Was it important? Why am I asking you? Did you even hear what she said? Don't you think if what she said was serious she should've said it louder? Maybe cleared her throat or something beforehand, like people do when they want to get someone's attention? Will anyone tell me what she said? Or do I have to listen to an entire radio show to find out?
Bingo! Find out what she said at the Self Help Radio website. If you want direct links to what she said, she said this first & then she said this second. A preview of what she said is below.
Seriously, she said that? Wow.
(part one)
"She Said" Hasil Adkins _Out To Hunch_
"She Said" Holly Golightly _Truly She Is None Other_
"She Said" Yeah Jazz _She Said_
"What She Said" The Smiths _Meat Is Murder_
"What She Said" The Feelies _Time For A Witness_
"She Said" Longpigs _The Sun Is Often Out_
"All The Things She Said (Peel)" Cinerama _Peel Sessions, Vol. 3: Holiday_
"He Said She Said" Bruce McCulloch _Shame-Based Man_
"She's Sad She Said" The Judybats _Down In The Shacks Where The Satellite Dishes Grow_
"She Said She Said" The Beatles _Revolver_
"She Said Yeah" Larry Williams _Bad Boy_
(part two)
"Just A Girl She Said" Dubstar _Stars: The Best Of Dubstar_
"Molly's Lips" The Vaselines _The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History_
"My Baby Said She Loved Me This Morning" Chris Hills/Everything Is Everything _Comin' Outta The Ghetto_
"She Said Goodbye" Billy Hambric _Nitty Gritty_
"Jennifer She Said" Lloyd Cole & The Commotions _Mainstream_
"Sylvia Said" John Cale _The Island Years_
"Melody Said" Bill Pritchard _Happiness & Other Crimes_
"Ooh, She Said" The Wonder Stuff _The Eight Legged Groove Machine_
"She Said" Scratch Acid _The Greatest Gift_
"She Said" Red Lorry Yellow Lorry _Nothing Wrong_
"Drive, She Said" Julian Cope _Peggy Suicide_
"She Said" Gang Of Four _Content_
"She Said Go" Private Dicks _The Heartbeat Singles Collection 1978-1981_
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Whither What She Said?
It's really because of this song:
But it has become a lot more! Tune in tomorrow morning from 7:30 to 9:00 am in Lexington on the 88.1 fm frequency, or online anywhere at wrfl dot fm to find out "what she said." I'll archive the show later at the Self Help Radio website, but what if doing that destroys some of the magic?
Assuming there is magic. How would I know?
But it has become a lot more! Tune in tomorrow morning from 7:30 to 9:00 am in Lexington on the 88.1 fm frequency, or online anywhere at wrfl dot fm to find out "what she said." I'll archive the show later at the Self Help Radio website, but what if doing that destroys some of the magic?
Assuming there is magic. How would I know?