Oh, I Think So

Today is my sister's birthday. She always likes to do something different and/or unusual on her special day and because of Covid, anything different or unusual has to be an outdoor thing. This year brought us the work of Jim McCall, a retired fashion designer who lives at 2080 W. Touhy in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago. Mr. McCall decorates for Christmas as only a retired fashion designer could. There is a Nativity scene. Creatures from under the sea or from the fiery bowels of Hades are represented. There are brides and other fancy people. This is a serious display and while we were there, Mr. McCall turned on the lights so we could enjoy a fuller effect even though it was not quite dark enough. I took pictures. Here they are. Thanks, Mr. McCall. This is seriously wonderful.

Yesterday was my birthday and thanks to Covid-19, I pretty much did nothing except got to Starbuck's to get my free birthday drink. Anything I wanted and what I wanted was a grande decaf latte with skim milk. I've not had a Starbuck's beverage since mid-March and it was not the best coffee I've had from Starbuck's but the price was right and it's a drive-through location. I drove home and drank it there. There was a Starbuck's location in my former location of work and I would get a large decaf latte with skim milk every day at least once. It was an exciting location -- the trains would arrive and passengers would queue up and get things like a barranquilla mastricatto with oat milk. Perhaps it was called something else but the oat milk was real. How does one milk oats? I am curious. My sister and brother-in-law cooked me up my fave chicken with carrots and rice dish and brought it over in the early evening. I got into my apartment and tucked right ...

Chicago is a wonderful city with plentiful parks. Some parks go blocks from streets down to the lake and there are lots of them. People love parks and people love the beach especially in the summer. Soccer players lover the beach and they don't care what the weather this as they out there when it's crappy and there they are when it's a lovely day. Today, I had visitors -- my sister and brother-in-law -- pay me a visit with cookies and the offer of a walk. It was delightful! It was 37º but sunny and lots of people were out with their dogs and significant others with birds at feeders enjoying the sun, free seed, and plentiful suet. Christmas is in less than two weeks and who the hell can tell? This is one of those times when we have to let it go. Christmas, New Year's Eve and Day, Christmas Eve, all are on the back burner as we will not be gathering in large groups for large dinners and lots of decorative papers going the way of recycling. Getting delightful v...

https://youtu.be/BNGv0ivUsqE The above -- apologies, you will need to copy and paste to view as YouTube refuses to imbed -- is the YouTube entry where this fine Scottish fellow builds a castle for his cat, Nala.  It is a magnificent thing to behold and Nala would be skulking around, bragging what a lucky cat she is, except for the fact that she's a cat and cat's know they need to be idolized.  It's a castle, y'all, and she is the queen of it. I found this YouTube channel - 1bike1world -- when I was attracted to the picture of Nala in the basket of the bike, cruising down the road, being driven by her chief architect and castle builder.  She is not just a well-traveled kitty, she is loved. These two make the most adorable of companions.  I want to hug the kitty because I just want to hug kitties. Courtesy of 1bike1world, Dean Nicholson, and Nala

Teranofuji, seen last week just trying to use the men's room, came in second in the November Basho. It had to go to a playoff because he beat Takakeisho in the regular match and they both had a 13-2 record.  For the playoff the wrestlers go back to the dressing room and then come back out again.  (When it's the highlights they don't show the re-entry, just the tidied up sumos, dirt washed off from maybe touching dirt or slamming into dirt, all clean, maybe a different belt, ready to go again.)  Takakeisho was not going to go home without the giant Emperor's Cup and he quickly dispatched Teranofuji. Endo did much better this week and had three wins including today but he was so inconsistent that he will no doubt be demoted.  This makes me and all his fans -- of which he has many -- quite sad.  See you when you're promoted again, Endo. In January, it's back in Tokyo!  I am excited!

The November Basho is usually held at Fukuoka but the pandemic has it in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugijan, the Ryogoku Sumo Hall again and it is even more fascinating than usual.  As I learn more about sumo and recognize the players by face and name it has captured my imagination.  Wrestlers will come and go -- if someone drops out because of injury or illness they will promote someone for the day so that there are not daily wins due to the scratch -- but sometimes they just can't catch a break or an arm or a belt and don't win enough matches and end up being demoted.  And so it is for Enho, my favorite sumo.  He is 5'6" and when I first heard about him he weighed 216 pounds.  He has lost weight and is now down to 190.  He has opponents who are literally over twice his weight who don't seem to be falling for any of Enho's sumo tricks this time. This tournament has passed the midpoint and his record is 0-8.  After next Sunday, I will not be seeing Enho in Gra...

  Courtesy of the New York Times, November 7, 2020

 Vote!!!!!  And for Biden/Harris. Thank you.

Yes, yes, y'all, Halloween is in six days and it's time to get ready to decorate your head with frippery even if it's just for your own amusement.  Do you want to create a t-shirt?  We turn to Oonaballoona on YouTube who will teach us how to make a graphic t-shirt.  Want a face mask for the face that will fit over your regular face mask?  Thanks to the New York Times for teaching us how to make one out of paper mâché.  These things can be worn whenever you need a lift.  Boo!  Let's hope that Halloween is the scariest thing that happens in the next two weeks. And here is for the mask -- yes, you will need to copy and paste it. https://nyti.ms/35o8NUa

I have voted via mail, choosing to deposit the ballot in a secure box at the early polling place in my neighborhood.  My vote has been received and will be counted on November 3rd as that is how they roll in Illinois.  The only political thing I have to say is this:  A certain someone has some very unpleasant followers who know neither history nor facts nor the Constitution nor any other law.  They could make things go unpleasantly faster than anyone can imagine and so I tell you this:  Stock your pantry, buy toilet paper, have bottled water on hand.  If you can't go out then you can at least have food and drink and a way to wipe yourself.  Perhaps have some Wet Wipes on hand in case you want to freshen up and the water's not suitable for bathing. Meanwhile, here are Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan, and Fred Astaire from "The Bandwagon."  It would be fun to shoot the other two and be only one.  It was a different time, y'all. (Movie clip courte...

The person to whom I sent the postcard last week called our mutual friend and said, "I think I got a postcard from Lena."  I see her maybe once a year but she knows my sick humor and that is wonderful.  Another friend to whom I've not spoken in many years called other mutual friends and said, "I think sent me this card."  Yes, he laughed.  And yes, she had laughed, too. I talked to a friend on Friday for her birthday and I asked if she got her birthday card and a postcard.  "Postcard?" she asked.  I described it and she laughed and laughed.  She said she couldn't figure out who had sent it but laughed as if she had just gotten it in the mail. This week I sent out some more, including two that were not at all political; they were me, wearing a Covid mask and a sleeping mask.  My hair is awful and as one friend said when I sent him the picture as a text message, "Really?"  One recipient has already received it and she said she laughed and l...

 It has been a crazy busy news week.  Unfortunately, I've turned into my parents and convinced myself that I must follow all current events always which as hobbies go is depressing, overwhelming, disheartening, and exciting all at once.  This week featured the biggest clusterfuck presidential debate of all time.  It was described by one CNN reporter as a shitshow.  It was not even that dignified.  President Trump mocked Vice President Biden for wearing masks. Big masks.  The biggest masks you've ever seen. On Friday, we all woke up to find out that Trump had tested positive for Covid-19.  Later that day he had to be admitted to Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.  A big military helicopter went from the front lawn of the White House -- why from the front lawn?  He could have gone from the back just like always.  (I think Mr. Fella wanted some sweet attention.)  This time he wore a mask.  Suddenly it's a serious ill...

In these very weird times, I've had to find something to make me laugh.  In his column of today, Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times shared a quote from George Orwell:  "Every joke is a tiny revolution."  I've been making as many tiny revolutions as I am able. Only one person has gotten two cards and there have not been too many sent but enough that I think about it and it makes me smile. Years ago on the website ICanHasCheezburger.com, before it is was bought and changed, before many of the categories like politics and graphs were removed, I used to have a delightful time writing memes.  It was a wonderful hobby.  There was a beautiful day that I had three different memes on the front page of each of three categories -- cats, politics, and graphs.  But the site became unwieldly as the new owner added in so many ads that it was hard to read the memes, let alone create them,  and I just gave up. My hobby of political memes is back in the form of postcards!...

YES!  It's Joan Ruth "Kiki" Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  One of the brilliant legal minds of ours or any age, Justice Ginsburg passed away on Friday at the age of 87.  Her dying wish was that her replacement be appointed by whoever wins the November election.  Trump and his dear friend, Moscow Mitch McConnell, will try to make sure she doesn't get her wish. When asked about being compared to Notorious BIG, wearing a crown and sunglasses in a meme like he did, RBG said, "He and I had lot in common."  The audience laughed and she said, "We were both from Brooklyn, born and bred." RIP, RBG. Bill Clinton introducing RBG as his choice to serve on the Supreme Court. Courtesy of NY Times Martin Ginsburg, standing, at the Senate confirmation hearing of RBG. Courtesy of NY Times A normal woman with an extraordinary mind and heart. Courtesy of NY Times

 

YES!!  WEEK OFF!  Next week I am BACK!  BACK!  And we will talk about things.

 On August 18, 2020, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitition was ratified, giving women the right to vote.  That is not the story here. What can women do that men can't do?  Everything but two things -- donate sperm and pick up large, heavy things from the floor. What can men do that women cannot do?  Nothing but those two things. That about covers it.  Make sure you're registered to vote!

Last week's post, "Scared White People," brought some interesting responses, surprisingly favorable, but two people asked me what I was so pissed about.  I said, "Scared white people." Scared white people piss me off as they are scared for all the wrong reasons.  They hate Jews, Blacks, Asians, Latinx, Native Americans, and any combination of those.  There are many things they should be afraid of but they are too dumb to accept these as a threat. Dictators.   When the leader of your country admires dictators and despots, there is a real problem.  It probably means that he wants to be a dictator or despot, too.  Or maybe he just wants to be like a Mafia don:  No one questions him or his actions and he is blamed for nothing.  He takes the Teflon presidency of Ronald Reagan to a whole other level.  Guess who I am talking about?  It's Trump!  Did you not guess? If you did not then why are you even reading this blog? Covid-19.   Thi...

Think of some of the embarrassments in American history including before we officially broke from the British and became the USA.  Everything lousy that's happened is because of the fears of white people.  I wanted things to be more cohesive in what I've written below but I am so annoyed by these facts that I will do the best I can. SLAVERY    In the eyes of scared white people, slavery forever  made black people -- originally brought here when they were rounded up in their villages by force and thrown into the holds of ships for the voyage -- to be considered inferior to  whites just because they were forced for years to be sold as if they were not human beings.  We now have a name for it:  Human trafficking and it's against every law on the planet.  The fear?  The lazy-ass cheap fuck white folks were too scared and cheap to pay people for an honest day's work because they wanted to keep the money for themselves.  When there w...

Working on this one!  It will take more than just today to complete.  Come back next week!  Thanks!

Isn't it weird that when someone wears a mask on a TV show as a bank robber that no one knows who it is but now in these weird times that we all instantly recognize friends and acquaintances and people in your building that you only know on sight? There is a guy in the building who cannot bring himself to wear a mask but is okay with a closely wrapped bandana.  His wife wears masks but I've seen him enough times to know that he just can't do it.  They're a lovely couple, looks and personality, and they look like an Old West central casting couple.  He could be the bank robber with a heart of gold; she is the indigenous woman who made him walk away from his bad ways and do only good things now like farm the land and be happy she let him into her life as she could do much better. There is a the chain smoker who goes out to the garage to have a smoke several times an evening, never smoking in her own home.  Her job made her go to work in the office throughout the pa...

Various iterations of Star Trek have featured episodes where an individual is used as a human vessel for a pathogen that will kill the Borg or as a way to combat overpopulation.  North Korea has been bragging that they have zero cases of it ... until yesterday. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/world/asia/north-korea-coronavirus-kim-jong-un.html?smid=em-share The infected was a North Korean who had defected to the South and was living in Gimpo, west of Seoul, and home of the smaller of Seoul's two international airports.  It makes sense that he was exposed somehow and then made his way into North Korea where he fell ill.  He only made it as far as Kaesong City, just over the border and has been quarantined along with anyone with whom he came into contact, Kaesong City, and anyone who has been to Kaesong City in the last five days.  Of course, it's not known if they even have any testing kits. Their border with China is closed to prevent the illness from getting ...

So dinner was nice with family!  There was no hugging but there was laughter and good food and eating in a garden and being in a house that was not my own.  Thanks!  The next time I have anything like that planned is election night when I am going to spend the night at the house of my friends.  We are going to get good and sauced and we will either cry from horror and depression if the loser wins or cry from joy if the winner wins. Haircut and blondification at the end of August!!!  For real!!  It will be just a week shy of six months since my hair was last professionally visited and I must say that I like it longer except when it's hot which it has been.  Maybe I should just shave my head and wear wigs.  Hot weather?  BALD! Other than this, everything is wildly unspeakable and I probably -- almost 100% probability I think -- will not be going to Japan at the end of November.

Someone I want to see is coming to town and has advised that I cannot be in on the seeing excitement unless I get a negative result on the Covid-19 test and then quarantined from the time I had the test until I actually see the person. I took an hour of personal time and drove downtown to my usual hospital for a drive-through test.  Long story made short, they took a swab and shoved it up my nose to where the nose and the throat meet (as a former ENT of mine said, "The nose bone is connected to the throat bone.") and then rolled it around up there 10 times. This was not a surprise as the nurse said, "I am going to put this up your nose and roll it around 10 times," and then proceeded to do so.  She put the swab in a vial and sealed it and then had me look at it to make sure my name and date of birth were correct and she said if it's positive, they will let me know within 24 hours.  I then drove home and sealed myself into my home. The next day I called my do...

My deadline for deciding if I would take the retirement package came and went yesterday and I decided I wanted to get on all the amusement park rides until I've no more rides to take.  I am grateful for the job I have as they are not going to get rid of us it seems, so I smile and ride on.  Life now is a Tilt-A-Whirl without the safety bar but I scream like a little girl and laugh like I'm brave. At least now I have 18 months to figure out what I am going to do. One friend was furloughed and then was offered the package which she is taking.  Her husband has a job he loves so she will be on his insurance and will finish all the projects she's toyed with and then will perhaps volunteer.  Another friend and her husband had sold their home and bought another in the suburbs to be near their daughter and her family.  She said the job just wasn't fun any longer and once they are moved into the new place,  she said she will get a job at Costco or Woodman's or Jew...

I have five days to decide the rest of my life.  I have to submit my request to take the retirement package by July 3rd or let the chips fall where they may.  What a conundrum!  What a pickle!  What a piece of shit situation!  I am okay with being me but this week, what a pickle! Years ago when "24" was on, an episode would end in such a mind-boggling bit of what-the-fuckery that I would say, "OH MY GOD!" right out loud.  I would go to work the next day and my dear friend, Michael, would look to me and say, "What a pickle!" Yeah, this is like that.

With the weird events of late and things coming out of the mouths of both Donald Trump and Mike Pence that made me say, "Huh?" right out loud to the TV, I looked up the definition of magical thinking.  This is what I found. Magical thinking  is the belief that one's own  thoughts , wishes, or desires can influence the external world. It is common in very young children. A four-year-old child, for example, might believe that after wishing for a pony, one will appear at his or her house. So Trump and Pence have been saying there is no need for Covid-19 testing as the statistics would be much lower if no one tested for it.  Covid-19 is the pony and Trump and Pence have their own saddles. Jimmy Fallon gave some very good examples of it in a monologue and I have a personal one.  If I don't get on the scale, then I weigh just what I did five years ago! If only my pants would cooperate.

We've all been unfortunately tossed into a situation where we are forced to decide something faster than we'd every imagined.  Stay or go?  Yes or no?  Burial or cremation?  Baked or mashed?  Now or later?  An alcoholic beverage or nothing, thanks? This week, my job advised they are again offering an early retirement option, for the second time in their history.  I am very close to when I wanted to retire -- just a year and a half away! -- at which point I was going to get some other job and work until I didn't want to do it any longer.  I have three weeks to decide if I want to retire and take five months of compensation plus money to supplement insurance or stay and risk getting laid off and then have nothing.  I have to decide the next few decades of my life (I hope!) within three weeks and I am not ready to do so.  I will have to get a new doctor as mine sees no one using Medicare and I like my doctor.  I have to call my derma...

This time in history has devolved into a very unspeakable time but I've found some words.  Trumpy probably had a party when he realized he didn't have to make something up to take attention away from the fact that 108,000+ Americans had died from Covid-19.  The jobs report came out and he had the sheer freaking stupid goddamn audacity to say that George Floyd would be happy because the jobs report was so good.  How dare he even say Mr. Floyd's name? Jobs for African-Americans went down, you fucking unprincipled yutz.  You know what would make Mr. Floyd happy?  Being alive!  Not having to die a murderous, tortured death so horrible that he called for his mother!  You know what would make me happy?  You resigning in disgrace, Trumpy, just like Nixon.  He would have been removed from office had his impeachment gone to trial so he resigned in disgrace.  He would gone to prison but Gerald Ford committed political suicide and pardoned Nixon. ...

There are no words.

Who tells you "no"? When you ask someone to tell you the truth, do you really want the truth? You can eat anything right now.  What is it? You have to give up one thing you like right now.  What is it? You have to flee right now and have not put together a bag you can just grab and go.  What 10 things will you bring? Time to have something natural chez vous.  Plants or cut flowers? Get going!  On vacation!  NOW!  Where will you go right now. You can only wear one color for the rest of your life but it can't be black or white.  What is it? SOMEONE TOOK ALL YOUR BOOKS!!!!!  Which one will you miss most? Someone will pay to have that thing done that you've always wanted done.  What is the one thing?   How cool is this picture? Yes, semi-low level fog at sunrise but what lurks below?

If you had more power than almost anyone in the world and there were laws that governed the place where you lived but you liked to do things your own way like a petulant child, would you be an adult or would you remain the petulant child? Who do you allow to tell you no?  How do they need to phrase it?

Drought and overuse of lake water or a very high lake and beach erosion? Which would you rather I talk about:  Japanese baseball or Sumo wrestling? You have gone to meet friends at a bar.  When you get there, everyone in the entire bar is wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and a t-shirt.  You are wearing a pair of black pants, a top, and a turquoise wool coat.  Who is right?  Is there a right? You know that gossip is just a stanky, low form of conversation but sometimes you like to hear the details.  Should you be pistol-whipped for this lack of unintelligent conversation? You tell me.

I do enjoy a trip to Tokyo and I like Japan.  It's tidy.  People are polite.  I have been regularly watching a few You Tube video channels that are based in Japan.  The channel called Paolo fromTokyo takes you where the food is good and shares what's going on his adopted home city.  Rachel is an American married to a Japanese named Jun and they live in Fukuoka with their three cats, Haku, Nagi, and Poki; their channel is RachelandJun. Jun has a channel by himself called JunsKitchen and it's pretty freaking fascinating.  I watched the video below yesterday and I am so impressed that I can barely describe it.  I can't do what Jun does here.  Maybe you can do this but I'd have caused some serious arterial damage and be whisked to the ER which is not where you want to go in a pandemic.  Bottom line, Jun has mad skills.

My sister has given me three and I made one that was an old towel and it left lint and bits everywhere like a trail.  My friends have made their own.  Sometimes it's a facial mask but the result is ominous.  So here are mask pictures of me and my friends.  Most of us live in Illinois and if you're going out you best be wearing a mask. The lint machine My sister.. ... is very ... ... talented! This killed less than five minutes of time and created a wonderful mask and picture. A facial mask + acting talent = the Chicago Chainsaw Spa

At the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, which is nowhere near the sea, you can pay good money to have a great experience and SWIM WITH WHALE SHARKS! When COVID-19 has made its way around the world and done its virus thing, I am going to plan a trip to Atlanta, Georgia, for late fall and I am going to have at it with those big boys! More to which I can look forward, y'all, on the other side of this worrisome business. Stay safe, be careful, stay awesome, y'all!

Or watch some jellyfish? Yes, please!

Hey, who needs to go to China or Japan, Italy or Iran, or any of the other Lands of Covid-19.  It's here, it's no cheer, get used to it.  Because my client isn't going anywhere for a while, they are cutting our hours to 35 per week which is not something you want to happen when you are going to start taking Social Security in the next two years.  You want big old amounts of chunky change to be pouring into your bank account to give you a bigger ultimate payday at age 70.  There is also the rumor that we have to take 10 days off without pay. Again, big old amounts of chunky change need to be pouring in.  To top this off, my dear, lovely younger niece is freaked out about me taking public transportation, which I love.  My dear, lovely younger niece said one of the nicest things to me that anyone has ever said and with that in mind, I will be driving to work for the next few weeks and carrying my lunch.  I am even considering working from home because she...

Because I fell down and smacked the hell out of my right knee and leg last week and not only had the swelling not gone down but there was a bruise that went from knee to ankle on the right side of my leg, I finally had to break down and go to the urgent care clinic.  After x-rays and an examination by a nurse practitioner, I found out I had no breaks and I had to go home and have my leg up.  She suggested that I don't drive to Milwaukee.  I was not going to listen and I finally decided I wanted the swelling to go down so I had to disappoint myself and stay home.  I basically spent 36 hours in bed and frozen corn on my knee as instructed.  There was a Sex and the City marathon to watch in the bedroom as the premium TV is in the living room. And when I woke up this morning the swelling was WORSE.  The bruising is WORSE.  So much for elevation, applying ice and compression, and rest.  Eff that.  I could have been in Milwaukee. At urgent car...

I was going back and forth and back and forth and forth and back about going to Tokyo today, March 1st.  This very morning at 10am!  This past Monday, Tokyo announced they were closing 50 museums and venues until March 15th.  No Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama.  No Sumo Museum.  No Edo Museum.  No Metropolitan Tokyo Office Building Observation Decks, a five minute walk from my hotel.  I know that things in Tokyo are bustling and moving along and shops are open and people are out and about because of the You Tube videos to which I subscribe show people out and about and life for Tokyo citizens seems quite normal.  I am not a Tokyo citizen so I would not have day-to-day things keeping me occupied like working, commuting, meeting with friends, grocery shopping, getting ready for the work week, cleaning one's place, going about one's ablutions.  I would be walking the streets looking forlorn. So here I am at home and here is where I will be exc...

The US Embassy in Tokyo has raised the threat level to yellow which is don't come for nonessential travel if you have a chronic illness or are an older person.  I have no chronic conditions.  I am an older person. My drop dead last date to cancel was to be February 27th but it's now February 28th. I'll get to work early tomorrow to see what vacation I can have in October or early November.  I will see what precautions the Japanese government sends out about the illness.  I will see if there is waiver from the carrier.  I'll investigate what hotel bargains I can find. In honor of this epidemic, I've acquired approved face masks.  If I don't go there and it comes here, I am all set. Regardless of go or no-go, I am taking the next weeks off.  Unless I don't.  Ha.  You have to read to find out.

The Americans evacuated their citizens on the Diamond Princess and they will complete -- or extend -- their quarantines in California.  Forty Americans contracted the virus on that floating petri dish.  Hong Kong has done the same.  Britain doesn't want to do it yet.  But things are being carefully controlled and Japan had things well in hand or as much as things could be had in hand when you've a cruise ship -- which viruses love -- and 2,000 people. The Cambodians were not as careful.  They let almost everyone go and then found someone with the virus as they went to Malaysia.  Retesting there, the 85-year-old husband and wife were sent immediately to hospital for isolation.  Those who were still on the ship have to remain on board and those who were not tested or asymptomatic were sent home.  This is a colossal slip up because on a cruise ship if there is one, there are two or twenty or 221 as there are in Japan thanks to the cruise ship epi...

The coronavirus in China has already started its path to devastating world economies.  The supply chain from auto parts manufacturers in China can't get product to Hyundai in South Korea and so Hyundai has shut down production.  South Korean workers get laid off.  Hyundai dealers around the world can't get cars and if you have nothing to sell, you can't make money.  If you can't make money, you can't get groceries or pay your mortgage or, well, you get it. At work on Friday, with tongue in cheek my coworker said to me, "No reported cases in North Korea!"  I said, "Because they're dropping like flies and Kim Jung-Un is on a respirator in Switzerland."  "But no reported cases!" he exclaimed.  Correct!  Nor will there ever be.  When 250,000 to 3.5 million -- they will never tell for sure -- died of the North Korean Famine, also called the Arduous March or the March of Suffering, did we really know the scope of it?  Nope, because of ...

About five or six years ago, I tripped over my nemesis, an uneven Chicago sidewalk, and fell down.  Unlike my fall three years ago where I hit my head and trashed my favorite glasses -- which I believe saved my life -- I had my hands out that time and sort of stopped the fall although my purse smashed so hard that it broke a mirror deep inside a cosmetic pouch.  I also sprained the living crap out of my left hand and the muscles below my thumb.  I wore an Ace bandage -- clips and all -- for several weeks.  I've had hand surgery that required wearing an Ace bandage and thanks to take first aid in my early 20s, I am quite adept at putting a figure-eight wrap which is very secure and also firm.  Admittedly, when I first did this decades ago, if I wrapped it too tight, I had to unwrap it and wrap it up again, sometimes three times because if it's too tight, you are working against the point of it.  You want support, not painful squeezing. So like that Bunion-...