May You Live in Interesting Times

Well, this was certainly a dramatic week. The failure of the bail-out bill in the House of Representatives, the subsequent 770 point fall in the DOW, shock and awe in Wall Street and Main Street, a credit freeze, yesterday's vice-presidential debate, and a new, even fatter bill passed by both houses of Congress. Whew! I can't add anything that hasn't already been said by people from all points of view. It's just been a roller coaster ride. Terrible.

I think it had to happen though - the failure of the bill to pass. Only when the "worst" actually happens can it finally convince people that the dire consequences we were hearing were true. Congressmen were deluged with angry phone calls, letters and e-mails from constituents who didn't want to bail out Wall Street from their own mess. They rightfully feared losing their reelections after voting on this unpopular solution. After seeing the free fall of the stock market and the loss of over a trillion dollars on Tuesday, we all knew that action had to be taken before the economy stalled completely. And it doesn't end at our shores - the stock markets all across the world were negatively affected. It's a global economy, after all. Now let's see what can be done to prevent this from happening in the future, and hopefully the taxpayers money can be recouped. What a mess.

The debate was riveting. I listened to every word, and some of Palin's answers and non-answers alarmed me. The bar had been set so low for her that anything she managed to do above falling flat on her face would be viewed as a success. I learned that she is very good at memorization. Anything not on her talking points was ignored. I was put off by her cutsie behavior - the winks, folksieness, using her femininely wiles - in what is a serious format and subject matter. She's not, after all, competing again for Miss Congeniality, but for the Vice-Presidency of the United States. The old "one-heart-beat-away-from-the-president" job, as we all know too well.

I blame McCain and his crew for putting her in this position. She's in way over her depth. Totally incapable. And by the way, McCain's positions are totally opposite of my own views.

I had another Herceptin treatment on Wednesday. I still have one or 2 more to go, and need to get yet another MUGA scan before the next appointment in 3 weeks. I've totally lost track of how many I've undergone so far - six? seven? More? The nurses at the oncology office are really understaffed just now. They are down from 4 to 2. Their shifts are normally 4 10-hour days, and since they are now understaffed, they are working 5 10-hour days. They are recruiting for another nurse, but by Wednesday, still hadn't found one. I hope they find one soon, I can see the stress they are under.

Had another art class today, and finished another painting. This one was a log covered with lichen. The point of the exercise was learning to capture the texture and colors of a basically mono-colored object. I enjoyed painting it, although it could have been done a lot better. Next week I'll be painting metal. That should be good.

PHOTO: An ivy-covered cottage shop along the shore of the Providence River in Rhode Island.