Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  Assuming this is a question, not just a polite
AH>  greeting...

JB>  Well... I guess it is some of both. I'm not so
JB>  bombastic all the time. <-;


         I'm not particularly concerned about the formality level... people
do the same with "How are you?"  But you recognize that such
expressions can be a bit of both, so it seems we're on the same wave length
there....  :-)



JB>  I too have to chuckle when asked if I've spent time
JB>  in a hospital. Besides the time as an infant, [I was
JB>  frightened by (The dream of...?) a dog.]


         You too?  I had an experience when I was a child which resulted in
my being afraid of dogs for some time.  I was having a nightmare, but
realized it was only a dream & tried to wake myself by opening my eyes.
 The first thing I saw upon waking, unfortunately, was one of those
patriotic prints from WWII of the British bulldog defending the Union Jack.
 Now I understand more about the temperament of bulldogs... they're devoted
to home & family, and they never go around an obstacle if there's a way
over or under or through it.  They're very gentle & tolerant with young
children, although they may have to be restrained from knocking adults down
& licking them to death, and they have a great sense of humour.  A
rough exterior... a heart of gold.  I didn't know that until I'd actually
met some & shared my own home with a couple of them, however....  :-)



JB>  I had more than a few episodes of road rash while
JB>  exiting my bicycle ungracefully.


         I didn't have a bicycle & my parents didn't have a car, so I
walked a lot.  When I was ten or eleven I slipped on a steep woodland
slope, but didn't realize until years later that I'd broken my tailbone
& rearranged my spine in the process.  Now, unlike you, I sit on
anything *except* my tailbone....  ;-)



JB>  One of those disagreements with gravity must have
JB>  induced a malignant tumour called a liposarcoma.
JB>  From the operation that followed up the removal of
JB>  it, my pain is constant, and only being managed by
JB>  non-narcotic medications at this time.


         I'm a minimalist as far as drugs are concerned.  I've heard some
very sad stories from people who used the heavy-duty stuff, only to find
themselves in worse shape later without it.  I also understand, however,
that many of the alternatives may seem somewhat less than adequate when one
is in pain....  :-/



JB>  I don't recall there being any backlog of messages
JB>  here in this echo, hence my query to bring me up to
JB>  speed.


         There hasn't been a lot of traffic lately & I didn't know
whether you had access to older messages.  I do because I'm the
co-moderator... [chuckle].



JB>  I too wonder about 'lurkers', but as I figure, they
JB>  are all trying to fix their Windows machines, and
JB>  there's enough there to keep them awake all night. 


         Uh-huh... or they're busy "doing the Aged Parent bit",
as some of our contemporaries put it, or looking after kids with special
needs, or struggling with various problems of their own, or all of the
above.  I think we have many regular readers who tend not to say much, but
I can certainly relate....  :-))



JB>  I was trained in drums and percussion a bit, and did
JB>  exhibit some skill in my days.


         Ah... Nora plays percussion with Dallas & me in a community
band too. At first she played maraca (singular).  She had a stroke 2 1/2
years ago which left her completely paralyzed on one side, but now she's
progressed to a point where she can use a modified drumstick to make some
reasonably musical sort of noise with both hands.  Fortunately, the
conductor is very understanding... he lets Nora sit beside me, and that way
I can provide assistance as needed.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+