Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Under the Knife

In a couple of days (Thursday 1st of February) I go 'under the knife', a title I borrowed from an HG Wells story which begins "What if I die under it? ..." This unwelcome thought has crossed my mind too.

Death is such a waste of life.

My cutting is to remove a kidney that according to a bevy of specialist has a not-so-benign growth attached to it. They call it a tumour, a Renal Cell Carcinoma, RCC for sort; CANCER. It is oft said that Cancer is just a word, not a sentence; this I thought a fine pun until they applied the word to me.

I been told that RCC is not amenable to chemo or radiation therapies, the only treatment seems to be removal of the kidney before it metastasises (spreads beyond the kidney). Removal is supposed to be a complete and permanent cure. Notice how cleverly I couched the above - 'I've been told ...' , '...seems to be...', '...supposed to be..' Nothing is certain.

The real problem is this: no one can tell me at what point it metastasises. The last test I had, showed it hadn't. Left alone, some time in the future it probably will. So the sooner it comes out the better, however, it's possible it could metastasise in the period between the last test and when I go under the knife. What then?

Well that's just bad luck, or god's will, which ever you prefer. Not that I'm scared of the actual dying only of leaving an unfinished life.

Monday, January 8, 2007

Once more into the blog dear friends ...

this post reprised from the old blogger.

Monday, May 22, 2004

well blogger me

The problem I continue to have with blogging is finding time to write anything at all let alone my blog. One might think finding time to write would be a prerequisite for a writer. Writer : 'one who writes'. But as John Lennon once sang 'life is what happens while you're busy making other plans'

Why then, one might ask, did two years elapsed since setting up my first blog and posting to it? Good question. Answer: dead silence. I twice forgot not just my password but also my Blogger user name - One might be tempted to ask why bother? Another good question which does have an answer.

It has to do with why I write.

I have always had a lot to say about life, the universe and well you guessed it, everything and being somewhat into computers and the internet I thought: What better way to get it off my chest than to post it to the world. But on second thought: A better way would to put everything I wish to say into my novel - why waste the words? Oh my aching fingers he exclaims as the penny drops! I abandoned the blog to recast my pearls more profitably. But it didn't work did it. Except for doing your own thing on the net it is and has always been difficult to get published and unpublished is unread.

To be read is an essential part of why I write.

For a while, while I still attended the writers group I founded, I did have the satisfaction of being read. Even more so from the virtual group we set up - topics being unrestricted - but as oft happens the flame wars that erupted became bitter and twisted. This might be alright with people you don't know but when you next have to face someone who has gone into print about your ancestry it is sometimes difficult to remain objective in your comments on their latest story.

The virtual group banned all the interesting topics (sex, religion and politics) and in reality died. As it happened, at about the same time, 2004, I relocated and getting to the live group became too hard. The upshot is that once again I became unread and unread words are not worth the medium they're expressed in, hence my return to the blog in 2005.

But Barely two entries in, life happened - some more, and my blog dried up, became legend, legend became myth and the myth a joke.

'Blog. You have Blog, Where?'
'Out there'
'Out Where?'
'Out there ... somewhere.'

You know the story; mice and men. Well here I am at it again, only this time it's all in-house; Blogger for all its fine attributes is too hard and too restrictive. This time I get to scratch two of my favourite itches at once writing and web design.

"Bob's Blog" a.k.a. "Blob's Bog" n.k.a. "Eye of the Robot"

ps Just after I wrote that last paragraph I went looking for these thoughts and found Blogger had changed. I have to say - it is much easier to use now, so I'm gunna give it another go starting with the two posts I had on the old Blogger, the above being the first.

Once more into the blog dear friends ...

this post reprised from the old blogger.

Monday, May 22, 2004


well blogger me

The problem I continue to have with blogging is finding time to write anything at all let alone my blog. One might think finding time to write would be a prerequisite for a writer. Writer : 'one who writes'. But as John Lennon once sang 'life is what happens while you're busy making other plans'
Why then, one might ask, did two years elapsed since setting up my first blog and posting to it? Good question. Answer: dead silence. I twice forgot not just my password but also my Blogger user name - One might be tempted to ask why bother? Another good question which does have an answer.
It has to do with why I write.
I have always had a lot to say about life, the universe and well you guessed it, everything and being somewhat into computers and the internet I thought: What better way to get it off my chest than to post it to the world. But on second thought: A better way would to put everything I wish to say into my novel - why waste the words? Oh my aching fingers he exclaims as the penny drops! I abandoned the blog to recast my pearls more profitably. But it didn't work did it. Except for doing your own thing on the net it is and has always been difficult to get published and unpublished is unread.
To be read is an essential part of why I write.
For a while, while I still attended the writers group I founded, I did have the satisfaction of being read. Even more so from the virtual group we set up - topics being unrestricted - but as oft happens the flame wars that erupted became bitter and twisted. This might be alright with people you don't know but when you next have to face someone who has gone into print about your ancestry it is sometimes difficult to remain objective in your comments on their latest story.
The virtual group banned all the interesting topics (sex, religion and politics) and in reality died. As it happened, at about the same time, 2004, I relocated and getting to the live group became too hard. The upshot is that once again I became unread and unread words are not worth the medium they're expressed in, hence my return to the blog in 2005.
But Barely two entries in, life happened - some more, and my blog dried up, became legend, legend became myth and the myth a joke.
'Blog. You have Blog, Where?'
'Out there'
'Out Where?'
'Out there ... somewhere.'
You know the story; mice and men. Well here I am at it again, only this time it's all in-house; Blogger for all its fine attributes is too hard and too restrictive. This time I get to scratch two of my favourite itches at once writing and web design.
"Bob's Blog" a.k.a. "Blob's Bog" n.k.a. "Eye of the Robot"

ps Just after I wrote that last paragraph I went looking for these thoughts and found Blogger had changed. I have to say - it is much easier to use now, so I'm gunna give it another go starting with the two posts I had on the old Blogger, the above being the first.