Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

 You would be surprised at how many people tell me their stories.  It happens to me in all kinds of places.  At my job as an administrator in construction.  In friendships, both intimate and just-met.  In people that I meet in different places I go, both casual and professional. The funny thing is, I can always just tell when someone wants to talk......wants to share.  There is something about the way they look at me, the way they test the water and then dive in.  I know they want to unburden themselves.  I'm no priest, but I'll be your confessor if it helps you. And it helps that I have taken on "auntie" status as deemed by a young coworker of mine.  I'll take that.  I'll take the title of Auntie every day and twice on Sunday. In the protestant fundamentalist branch of the church, your testimony is the path you took to find salvation in Christ.  Maybe you got there by the school of hard knocks: addiction, abuse, a lifetime of bad c...

 

 If you're not sure who Mike Nichols is, chances are you have enjoyed at least one of his films.  I'll wait here while you check IMDB. Mike Nichols as a director, comedian, actor, and person......each embodiment is fascinating.  He is a man who has presented his foibles, triumphs, failures and sensibilities to his audiences with each performance. In listening to his story on audiobook (which I highly recommend for the unpretentious tone of the reader) I was intrigued by his early story of Jewish immigration to America, trying to fit in as a boy without hair and eyebrows, and how he navigated his own feelings about his parents and his new country. I had NO idea who Nichols and May were and IMMEDIATELY had to go back and watch their old sketches.   I was immediately jealous because I have tried to create a heterosexual writing partnership for years and have never been able to make it happen. I also loved the honesty of this book in addressing Mike's downfalls........

 

 The Elizabeth Holmes/Theronos scandal is fascinating to me.  The idea that someone could take a simple idea and con millions of dollars in funding, start a company without perfecting technology and then wiggle into a reputable pharmacy like Walgreen's to set it up?  That's friggin amazing! I've watched several news pieces and docs about Elizabeth Holmes herself, but to see Amanda Seyfried tackle this multi-faceted persona is a whole other deal.  Is she a psychopath or a sociopath?  On the high end of The Spectrum?  A pathological liar?  It's hard to tell. Holmes' idea was a fantastic one, had it worked.  An invention that would only need to take one finger prick of blood to perform all kinds of lab tests for diagnosis was meant to be a medical savior for folks undergoing treatment that had received multiple blood draws for years.  It would have been wonderful, had it worked.   The thing is, the invention didn't work.  It never...

 So I had a not very good late winter, early spring.  I turned 50 in February and within a few days, I got very sick.  The weird thing is how long it took for my medical team to figure out what was wrong with me.  I realized that having a previous diagnosis (asthma) clouded the judgement of every medical professional I saw.  What kept being called a "flare up" or "ongoing bronchitis" was a growing, walking pneumonia. I remember very well the night I got sick.  It was a night of sleet and I was out in a strange place with a man who paraded me around like arm candy.  By the time I woke up the next morning, I was feverish and had lost my voice.  I don't think it was a coincidence.  By the time I was diagnosed, I had been to the pulmonary specialist once, with a phone call follow-up for meds.  To the general practitioner 3 times with an ER visit in between.  To finally a go-straight-to-the-hospital-right-now for a CT scan.  Then fi...