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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 8 to 32 of 43. Go back in thread:
Posted by fallsfall on September 29, 2015, at 21:28:15
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » fallsfall, posted by Dinah on September 29, 2015, at 20:29:30
Dinah!!
How are you? Please do tell! So good to see you.
Falls
Posted by fallsfall on September 29, 2015, at 21:29:54
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » Dinah, posted by ClearSkies on September 29, 2015, at 21:01:35
Hi ClearSkies,
Are you clearer than PartlyCloudy these days?
How are you?
Posted by Dinah on September 30, 2015, at 17:59:57
In reply to Re: Reconnecting, posted by fallsfall on September 29, 2015, at 21:28:15
I'm doing fine, thanks. :)
Nothing dramatic, my life stays more or less the same. But I think menopause has been very good to me.
Posted by Dinah on September 30, 2015, at 18:00:30
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » Dinah, posted by ClearSkies on September 29, 2015, at 21:01:35
Hi Clearskies!
Posted by baseball55 on September 30, 2015, at 18:48:36
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » ClearSkies, posted by Dinah on September 30, 2015, at 18:00:30
Sorry, I think I started on babble after you had already left, fallsfall.
But Dinah! You've been AWOL for a long time. It's good to hear from you again.
Posted by ClearSkies on September 30, 2015, at 18:51:27
In reply to Re: Reconnecting, posted by fallsfall on September 29, 2015, at 21:29:54
> Hi ClearSkies,
>
> Are you clearer than PartlyCloudy these days?
>
> How are you?Well, I feel well enough to change my name to a better climate. Have been on full disability for several years. I am getting my divorce finalised this month, and I moved across the country.
Been pretty busy, too!
Posted by ClearSkies on September 30, 2015, at 18:52:57
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » ClearSkies, posted by Dinah on September 30, 2015, at 18:00:30
> Hi Clearskies!
Welcome to the ghost town.
i hope you're well!
My life is upside down, but it needed a good shake up.
Posted by Poet on October 1, 2015, at 11:16:12
In reply to Reconnecting, posted by fallsfall on September 28, 2015, at 8:33:48
Hi Fallsfall,
I'm around, but don't post much. Glad to hear you are doing good. I remember hanging out in Toronto with you- wow that takes me back.
Poet
Posted by fallsfall on October 1, 2015, at 17:23:30
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » fallsfall, posted by Poet on October 1, 2015, at 11:16:12
Hi Poet!
Toronto was a good time. I still have my nametag hanging on my wall.
Nice to see you!
Posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2015, at 3:32:29
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » ClearSkies, posted by Dinah on September 30, 2015, at 18:00:30
aw, people, yay.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2015, at 16:46:27
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » fallsfall, posted by Dinah on September 29, 2015, at 20:29:30
how are you, dinah? i've missed you? what is your son up to these days? he must be in college now or something. don't tell me he's finished a degree already :-p
Posted by Dinah on October 4, 2015, at 22:59:32
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » Dinah, posted by ClearSkies on September 30, 2015, at 18:52:57
I hear a good shakeup can help sometimes. Good for you!
My life, as always, is almost pathologically stable. I'm terrified of change. I am doing now what I've been doing since I left my parent's home to be married. :) Life goes up and down and I, of course, get older, but my life circumstances remain the same.
Posted by Dinah on October 4, 2015, at 23:01:17
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » Dinah, posted by baseball55 on September 30, 2015, at 18:48:36
Hi Baseball!
Has it been that long? I swear I find that time has definitely gotten faster as I get older. Things that seem like they were just yesterday weren't.
Posted by Dinah on October 4, 2015, at 23:01:49
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » fallsfall, posted by Poet on October 1, 2015, at 11:16:12
Posted by Dinah on October 4, 2015, at 23:03:44
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » Dinah, posted by alexandra_k on October 2, 2015, at 16:46:27
Not quite. :) I'm just barely starting to deal with empty nest syndrome. Thank heavens for dogs!
I think I understand that you're in a new field?
Posted by pontormo on October 5, 2015, at 10:47:25
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » fallsfall, posted by Dinah on September 30, 2015, at 17:59:57
Hi all of you,
I haven't been to babble even on a marginal basis for a few years now. Just thought of dropping in and seeing if it had picked up.
On 'admin, I found a long and debilitating thread between Lou and SLS. Unreadable, of course-- I can't imagine why anyone would put his head into Lou's particularly malign maw-- Lou's prose alone immediately makes my brain wince-- the aroma is just so overwhelming
other than that babble seems to have fallen into a strange calm, with one or two people still carrying on.
Maybe the internet has mesmerized all of us, and created distractions so various and amusing as to persuade us we have no need to deal wiht life or at least our life problems.
At least Phillipa's not here to intone yet again that babble is dying. that also drove me batty-- she seemed so happy to rehearse that refrain.
I do miss that brief season when it was lively though. I was thinking a few days ago of the time when the chat line was often populated and we used to try to meet as a ragtag group. It was fun.
So it was a surprise to come upon a few familiar voices. I guess all of you have been overlapped with me a bit-- but maybe we never got to know one another well-- introductions being sparse
Im still painting-- and taking a few classes downtown to improve my technique-- and finally getting valuable and meaningful critiques. That it such a relief-- such an amazing relief, I should say-- I almost feel part of the human race.
My new obsessions are Lovis Corinth and Tiepolo--
I hope you are all well-- really-- and Alex is on her way to whichever path she's chosen, Dinsh is productive and not over-burdened with stress and self-reproach. I wonder about so many others though.
I'm still too demanding of others and not demanding enough of myself-- but I hope becoming more accepting of difference and step by step a bit sterner in regard to my own lacks and flaws.
Posted by Phillipa on October 6, 2015, at 9:40:20
In reply to Re: Reconnecting, posted by pontormo on October 5, 2015, at 10:47:25
What makes you feel I'm not here. I stopped posting when babble indeed did die with the disappearance of the administrator. You never know who might be lurking. Since I gain the newest in any medications or treatments with my RN newsletters,. I've chosen facebook as a fun place to go. Phillipa
Posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2015, at 15:08:06
In reply to Re: Reconnecting, posted by fallsfall on September 29, 2015, at 17:18:00
Working for 7 years now, wow.
I don't know that I am doing great, but I am doing okay, I suppose. Feasible. Just. Optimism for my future sometimes. Mostly... Not so much, honestly.
I feel like I'm learning that most of this country is engaged with the project of wasting peoples time but having them feel happy about it. That is the most highly prized skill of all. Charming incompetence. It has infiltrated everywhere.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2015, at 16:19:04
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » alexandra_k, posted by Dinah on October 4, 2015, at 23:03:44
It is hard for me to keep track of time. Children growing... A different perspective on time, that's for sure.
I'm not really in anything, Dinah.
I'm learning a lot about the way things are in this country... Where we are... As the least developed of the developed nations... About troubles that we have with health and education because of that. About the clash of values between the developed and the developing. About how education here has basically been hijacked to serve the local needs of communities (according to them / the bullies that run them)... How health has gone the same way (spending less proportion of gross domestic product on health because... Infant mortality has only recently come down which makes life cheap)... On how our legal system is sort of caught between the Treaty of Waitangi on the one hand and the Bill of Rights (and international law more generally) on the other...
Sigh.
I don't know that they will let me in anything. I think law would. I think they like me because I am sort of oppositional (in case you hadn't noticed) which means I'm naturally drawn to defending the underdog. Which not very many people are suited for. And people burn out when they do it and have moral problems with doing it, I think. But... I'm not sure. I don't think that law would be a happy life for me.
Medicine is harder. There is a radical divide between the needs of local communities (charm the people since they aren't in the position to identify or notice clinical competence). Since infant mortality has dropped recently (birth rate still needs to be adjusted) we have an awful lot of unskilled people... Or... The educational system was swamped and couldn't really teach them... Or... We don't really value developed educational skills anyway... Or... We like the loud and gregarious ones... We couldn't really ignore the bully boys... And some of the girls are so pretty / charming... They stood out as the best kids. And the best kids deserve degrees in the name of equity... And they will get them. And they will go back to serve their local communities. To charm and / or bully them into being grateful for the healthcare they have.
We spend less on healthcare as a proportion of gross domestic product because... The value of a life here is less. You could have 1 or 2 kids and invest your resources in them... Or you could have 12 or 15 on the assumption that only 1 or 2 will survive to adult hood. What happens when you have 12 or 15 who all want to go to university in the name of equity? You get thousands of them all wanting to be doctors... All chatting amongst themselves about how they are lost during lectures so that the students around them can't hear / understand either.
It is like the opposite of dissociative ientity disorder. It is a ... Syncitium of a person. A person that is the fusion of 12 or 14 people. They can't function independently. When all goes well they function as a person... When there is a leader amonst them, I suppose. So that there can be a coordinated effort to achieve meaninful / productive action...
They screwed me over this year. Advertising a 'language rich' pathway to medicine... Where the idea was to reward the birds who could spout their contradictory nonsense so charming... So charming... We don't need doctors because doctors are expensive! doctors are hierarchical they won't pay sufficient time / attention to us! they won't listen all day to the 12 or 14 voices of the allied health professionals! they didn't even blind grade because they would have had to much difficulty figuring out which of the charming birds / gregarious bullies to give the A's to... but hey, welcome to nz treaty of waitangi (local community interest) takes priority over bill of rights under international law... we choose to opt out of developed society and education / health must follow. it helps a lot that the kids who survived infant mortality are voting now... that they are (thanks to their education) so swayed by what they see on tv...
what's to be done? people seem to leave. the most knowledgeable / skilled ones. the problem is mostly that the ones who are left don't seem particularly capable of identifying the skills that are valuable / would help. E.g., the teachers who do talk sense / who are capable of teaching hard stuff vs the teachers who delight in confusing people because they are so sick and tired of being forced to teach students who can't shut their mouths for long enough to allow any person around them to open their ears.
we need gates dinah. otherwise... what little developed we have would be crushed.
the internet... it was better earlier because the people who had computers before were different...
now... every 12 year old wants to offer worldly wisdom... without gates... and then the advertisers came...
Posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2015, at 16:58:09
In reply to Re: Reconnecting » Dinah, posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2015, at 16:19:04
If we don't look at what is happening - then how can we change it? If we go 'oh my gosh - that is so racist!' or whatever... Then we don't look at what is happening - then how can we change it?
Fact:
There are an awful lot of people here who get 'suddenly out of the blue' diagnosed with a terminal condition and all that can be offered is charm until they pass.
Occasionally people wonder why it didn't get picked up earlier... Or why something (some surgery, some medication) can't be done... But not usually... The people are so nice... Clearly they are doing everything within their power...
How could we make things better? For EVERYONE?
First rule: Don't prevent people from working / learning.
Then we have to teach them how to be good learners. So they can learn from the people who know.
We need to teach them how to identify the things that can be learned. To identify the experts.
Those pre-conditions on learning...
Then people can make informed decisions about whether or not they want to learn what is actually on offer.
I don't care if they want to offer degrees for what they value -- they should do that. I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem with false advertising. I am just as angry about the students who are failed for chemistry because they thought chemistry was going to be about flirting with their lab instructors. Someone should have disabused them of that notion BEFORE they wasted thousands of dollars of (student loans) in doing that course... Similarly, I wouldn't have thrown money at a course that wasn't planning on rewarding things like hard work, doing the readings, having a basic standard of literacy. To each their own.
Instead of this 'everybody must come down to the lowest common denominator because people are equal didn't you know'
Noone is allowed clinically competent medicine because some people don't value it?
Is that the idea? Education, too?
Do you think about this stuff any more, Dinah? Maybe you left so you wouldn't have to...
Posted by Poet on October 8, 2015, at 13:46:30
In reply to Howdy! (nm) » Poet, posted by Dinah on October 4, 2015, at 23:01:49
Howdy to you, too. You'll never have an empty nest as long as you have dogs or in my case since I have no two footed children to begin with, I will always have cats. And someday a dog.
Poet
Posted by baseball55 on October 8, 2015, at 20:06:05
In reply to Re: Howdy!, posted by Poet on October 8, 2015, at 13:46:30
> Howdy to you, too. You'll never have an empty nest as long as you have dogs or in my case since I have no two footed children to begin with, I will always have cats. And someday a dog.
>
> PoetI just adopted to 8-wk old kittens. They are now 4 months. Best thing I ever did. They are a delight. I look forward to coming home (and I didn't used to since I live alone) just to hang with them and watch them tumble about and play.
Posted by Dinah on October 8, 2015, at 22:05:02
In reply to Re: Reconnecting, posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2015, at 16:58:09
> Do you think about this stuff any more, Dinah? Maybe you left so you wouldn't have to...
Well, no. I left because Dr. Bob changed the framework of the board to something I didn't much care for. The framework mattered to me.
It had nothing to do with topics of conversation (or with the posters of Babble).
I haven't quite decided if I have a more optimistic view of the world. Mostly I think people are capable of astonishingly goodness. Sometimes I think I have a rather pessimistic view of the way things are going, but I figure that's part of getting old. The ways of the world as I knew it go away, and I will soon enough (in the scheme of things) go away as well. It's the circle of life.
Posted by Dinah on October 8, 2015, at 22:07:21
In reply to Re: Howdy!, posted by Poet on October 8, 2015, at 13:46:30
Yes, dogs never go away. They may die, hopefully of extreme old age, but they never leave of their own free will. They never desert me. I appreciate that a lot.
In the end, I think I will be the odd hermit dog lady I always intended to be. :)
Posted by Poet on October 9, 2015, at 17:55:12
In reply to Re: Howdy!, posted by baseball55 on October 8, 2015, at 20:06:05
Hi Baseball,
Kittens are so much fun. I love it when they fall asleep in weird places: one of mine when she was a kitten used to sleep in the litter box.
Poet
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