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"Let's all be careful out there!"
Well, the past 2 days have run the gamut of emotional extremes.
Yesterday (Tuesday 20-JULY-2010) I was informed that after 2 years of legal battles with the Social Security system that I have been granted disability. The end result is a nice sum of money in a lump payment and a 30% increase in my monthly stipend. Exact amounts are still pending while the bean counters crunch the numbers, a process that could take from 3 weeks to 6 months. Govt's aren't always efficient but they are methodical. Thank god that patience is one of the few virtues that I still have.
That was the "YING."
The "YANG" hit today, naturally. My oncologist made the following statement:
"I wouldn't be surprised if you are still alive 2 years from now. I also wouldn't be surprised if you are dead one year from today."
So that's the gist. As we get closer to the inevitable he'll be able to refine the parameters but what he said today represented the extremes. So, lets split the difference and say that I probably have 18 months left, give or take 6 months or so.
Whatever, its been a fun trip these 62+ laps around the Sun. Wouldn't have missed it for anything. But, alas, all good things must come to an end.
Besides, the pain-killing drugs I take are rather pleasant.
The funny thing is that while the gov't is going to have to pay me extra money, they won't have to do it for very long.
Feel free to make a comment but go easy on the sympathy shit. I don't really need it. I have no regrets. I only ask for one very small favor. As long as you are alive, please celebrate my birthday (November 13th) by having a party and raising a toast to me. That's not too much to ask, is it? Call it Wil's Day. Maybe the idea will catch on globally and it could mushroom into a big event at some point in the future. The theme will be "Screw the multi-nationals and the governments they run. Spit in the bastard's eye."
"Let's all be careful out there!"
THE EUROPEAN Space Agency (ESA) has released the first whole-universe image captured by the Planck satellite. Launched in 2009, its mission is to help cosmologists understand the very earliest years of the universe and explain why it is shaped the way it is today.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Thomas Jefferson, until this year, was revered in American history textbooks as the Founding Father who wrote the Declaration of Independence. His document is the reason we celebrate the fourth of July as this country's independence day. This is a holiday to remind Americans about the history and significance of that document.
But earlier this year, religious conservative members of the Texas Board of Education decided to push for a revision of this history by downplaying Jefferson's influence in the founding of our nation because the notion of the "separation of church and state" has been traced to him. These religious rightists believe this country was founded as a Christian nation and decided to make their point by revising American history in their public school text books. The effect of this kind of revision of American history would be to celebrate the founding of this country as a religious event rather than the secular event it is.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Those who fail to learn history correctly--
Why they are simply doomed.
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