Self Help Radio 012519: Destiny

(Original image from here.  Apparently, My Destiny is a Filipino soap opera.)

Do I have more to say about destiny than is said on today's show?  Boy, do I!  But I hardly think this is the appropriate place.  No, this is the place where I tell you, yes, this week's Self Help Radio is available, & yes, you can download it at the regular place, & oh yes, there's a playlist below which will tell you not only what songs are on the show but also what interviews I conducted.  It's a time for the sharing of information pertaining to the program, not for me to catch up on things I could've or should've said during the show.

That being said, I have one more thing to say about destiny - NO!  Stop it!  You had your chance!  A week's worth of blog posts & two hours of Self Help Radio!  No one cares after this!  Move on!  Move on to the next episode!  Get it done on time!  For fuck's sake!

All right.  Today's show.  At self help radio dot net.  Password is selfhelp, username is SHR.  Playlist is below.  I guess it's my destiny to be the king of pain NO! You don't get to quote Police songs you didn't play this week or last week!  Just move the fuck on!

Self Help Radio Destiny Show

"Do You Believe In Destiny?" The Fresh & Onlys _Secret Walls_
"Destiny (Acoustic Demo Version)" Mark Bacino _Prspctv: Beikoku-Ongaku # 19_
"Destiny Calling" James _Fresh As A Daisy: The Singles_

Synonym Or Not? The Game Show

"Destiny Street" Richard Hell & The Voidoids _The Groups Of Wrath: Songs Of The Naked City_
"Destiny" Simple Minds _Life In A Day_
"Destiny" Otis Redding _Live On The Sunset Strip_
"Dance Of Destiny" Tony Martin _The Best Of Tony Martin_
"Destiny" The Cleaners From Venus _Martin Newell's Jumble Sale_

Interview with The Great Destino!

"She Said It Was Destiny" Richard Thompson _Ducknapped!_
"My Destiny" The Fastbacks _The Day That Didn't Exist_
"Anatomy Is Not Destiny" Ludus _The Visit/Seduction_
"Destiny" Blue Swede _Hooked On A Feeling_
"Destiny Cryin'" The Gaslight Union _Every Now & Then_

interview with Chris of Aural Decomposition, featuring their song "Destiny"

"Destiny" Cast King _The Sun Country Box_
"Destiny" Sons Of The Pioneers _Sing Legends Of The West_
"Destiny" Space Ghost _Yeah, Whatever_
"Me & My Destiny" The Sir Douglas Quintet _The Return Of Doug Saldaña_
"Date With Destiny" Mental As Anything _Essential As Anything_
"Devil City Destiny" The Halo Benders _The Rebels Not In_

interview with author Neil Gaiman insurance agent Neil Grayman

"Malaya! (My Destiny)" Yma Sumac _Inca Taqui_
"My Destiny" Wanda Jackson _The Complete Singles As & Bs 1954-62_
"Destiny" Candi Staton _Young Hearts Run Free_
"My Destiny" Anne Marie Hurst _Day Of All Days_
"Doom Or Destiny" Blondie _Pollinator_

conclusion, goodbyes, & a dedication

"Dan Destiny & The Silver Dawn" The Chills _Brave Words_
"Destiny" Brilliantine _Vainglory_
"Destiny Stopped Screaming" Adrian Borland _Harmony & Destruction (The Unfinished Journey)_
"Destiny" Eat Static _Prepare Your Spirit_

Whither Destiny?

(Destiny of the Endless.  Image from here.)

Looking at the picture - I have to admit, I couldn't name all the Endless to Magda today.  I remember Dream & Death, of course, & Destiny, Despair, & Delirium, but I forgot Desire & Destruction, which seems appropriate.  Wow, wouldn't it be cool to have an entire radio show about the Endless?  People should write songs about them!  If only Neil Gaiman were married to a musician...

No, just a bunch of songs about destiny & - spoiler alert - mostly the songs suggest that one's destiny involves being with a particular person - the object of their affections.  It's funny how it works out that way.

My confession: I thought about doing this show while listening to Richard Hell.  I worried that it would resemble the Fate show I did about two years ago, but it turns out, nah, not so much.  But I'm still worried!

Are you destined to listen?  I suppose we'll both find out tomorrow at noon at selfhelpradio.net, won't we?  See you then.

Preface To Destiny: Wait, Didn't You Already Do A Show About Fate?

Yes.  Yes, I did.  & barely two years ago.  So what?  I didn't play any songs about destiny on the fate show.  What're you complaining about, imaginary complainer?

Here's what I'm complaining about.  Oh wait, let me italicize what I'm saying so it seems like it's a different person talking.  Here's what I'm complaining about: aren't fate & destiny the same thing?

Not at all!  According to this website: "Destiny is the ultimate purpose of your life. Your destiny is what naturally unfolds when you use your fates to guide you - rather than allowing your fates to embitter, harden or stall you."

But, isn't that just a lot of nonsense?

Why are you yelling at me?

Sorry.  I thought I was italicizing when I was bolding instead.

Yeah, it was weird.

But hold up.  You think bolding is like yelling?

It is!

I THOUGHT ALL CAPS WAS YELLING!

Can't two things be yelling?

Like two words can mean the same thing?

Of course!  Those are called synonyms.

Like, I don't know, let me think a bit of a for instance, maybe, could these two words be, you know, fate & destiny?

Curse you, imaginary complainer!  You exist entirely in my head & yet you tricked me!

Ha ha ha.

Bold italics look like they're the devil's speech!

What the fuck, dude.

Feline Rescue

 

A few weeks back, I wrote this post about a cat the wife & I helped after it showed up all beaten & bloody.  I didn't follow up on it - I thought I had - but it turns out I did it on my personal Facebook account.  I present to you what I wrote here:

In case anyone cares: the stray cat that's lived in our garage for two weeks - who came to our neighbor's porch quite beat up - who was treated by a vet & taken by us to recuperate - was accepted by the Fort Worth animal organization Animal Hope this afternoon. They're going to have their vet look at him, & while the space he's in isn't quite as large as our garage, it's far warmer, & once he's used to it, he'll get to move around a bit more. We'll go visit him until he's adopted - he's a good old tom & deserves to be the king of the household. I miss him & hate to go into the garage now.

Well, the story didn't have a happy ending.  The people at Animal Hope - who kept insisting that they were the only "no-kill" shelter in North Texas (which isn't true) & who gave us a nice note that read, "We promise we'll find a nice home for him" - tested him for FIV, found out that he was FIV positive, & planned to euthanize him.  Should I mention they would only accept him if I gave the organization a donation?  That we gave them a hundred bucks?  Should I also mention that the director of this "no-kill" shelter lectured me about how sometimes they have to kill animals?

In any event, I wasn't going to let him die.  I went to get him.  The same director actually complained that his staff should have made me sign papers to give ownership to the organization so I couldn't take him back & I guess their bloodlust was foiled.  They seemed to think I wanted to simply release him in the wild, despite my protestations to the contrary.

He came back home with us.  I had been telling his story on Next Door but chose not to continue there, mainly because of annoying personal emails I was getting.  But someone on that weird site had mentioned a place called Best Friends which took in FIV+ cats.  But they were way out in Utah, & I'm over here in Texas.  Not that I wouldn't drive to Utah, but I thought I'd better explore options close to home first.

Magda around this time renamed him Ziggy.  Sometime later his infection returned & he stopped eating.  My neighbor & I took him to a different vet & he got more antibiotics plus steroids.  He recuperated & was soon back to his lovable, often persnickety self.  He liked to bite me, he never broke the skin, but he would just walk up to me & bite me.  The truth is, he liked everyone else more than me.  Magda, my neighbor, the vet tech.  I was like the person who fed him & changed his litter but I got all the bites.

One of the places I spoke to, Texas Litter Control in Houston, gave me a ton of information about FIV+ cat sanctuaries (they have one) & I texted back & forth with a nice person there who asked me lots of questions about Ziggy.  That seemed to be his fate: an FIV positive cat sanctuary.  I figured it was probably the happiest outcome.

But then: Magda reached out to students at UNT & a graduate student showed interest.  He came over to meet him & was somewhat difficult to read.  He had never owned a cat before, but was, according to Magda, a smart & responsible student, & after a week or so he indicated he wanted to adopt Zig.

Last Saturday we took the cat over to the apartment.  The grad student had bought lots of food, bowls, a litter box, & a little cat hole thing that I guess Ziggy was supposed to sleep in.  Ziggy came in & promptly went under the sofa, but once I opened up some food, he came out to eat, & stayed around us the entire time, begging for love & exploring tentatively.  He didn't seem like a cat who'd lived outside most of his adult life.  He seemed like a cat who had come home.

It's been a few days & the grad student & I text often.  He tells me they've become "besties" & sent me the picture of the cat that graces this post - who's now named Vincent, by the way, you know, because of his bad ear - lazing with him on the floor.  The grad student has a patio that's enclosed so the cat can't get out, but Vincent has shown very little interest in going back out there.  Smart old thing!  He's put that life behind him.

You know, I had my first cat when I was close to the grad student's age, & I think cats are perfect pals for someone at that point in their lives: not terribly needy, comforting when you want it, cool if you're busy studying or what-not.  I've offered myself if he needs to go out of town, I'll gladly go over there to visit & change the litter & feed him.  I miss him terribly.

& there are issues - his bum ear, the remnant of a long-ago brawl, still bothers him, & he sometimes scratches it until it bleeds (!).  & of course there's the whole FIV situation - there's definitely heartbreak somewhere down the road.  (My first cat had feline leukemia.)

Still - Vincent is home now.  His wounds have almost completely healed, he's eating well, he gets sunlight & love.  It's by far the happiest ending to this story that could possibly be.

New Post Who Dis?

Oh shit it's the end of the day & I haven't written anything.  Maybe I'm afraid you haven't forgiven me for my self-indulgent birthday show?  If it helps, on my birthday night, the moon turned red.  I'm sure I'll be talking about that with my therapist for, well, moons & moons.

There's also an update about the cat who lived in my garage but I'm way behind with gathering stuff for the Tuesday Morning Blend tomorrow.  I'm also rather tired.

Can I get a raincheck on today's blog post?  Or is that how it works.  Maybe I should give you a rain check.  It occurs to me that I didn't know why we called rain checks rain checks.  There used to be a store near where we lived called TG&Y & I remember my mother wanting something that wasn't in store & being offered a rain check.  She refused, & I asked her what a rain check was & she said she didn't know but it probably would cost her more money if she took it.  I wonder if she ever found out what it was.

Anyway, here's what the Wikipedia says about the origin of the phrase: "Since at least 1870, baseball teams would reissue tickets in case of postponement due to rain, which became known as rain checks."  Fascinating how a baseball term found its way into five & dime stores, & grocery stores, & all manner or places.

This, this is why I don't get anything done!  My brain is a sprawling mess.  Well, maybe tomorrow there'll be some focus.  But.  Don't count on it.