Approaching the Far Edge of Life

Sorry I haven't been posting. I'm staying with my 85 year old auntie again. She went into hospital last Friday for a procedure, with an overnight stay planned. She was far weaker than they thought, so kept her an extra day. They were insisting on kicking her out Sunday, even though she couldn't keep any food down at all. She finally came home Wed. I was on the phone to her friends and my mom for about 3 hours nightly, plus was stressed off my face, so had no energy for further chats or emails or anything. On Sunday, I was so worried that they were going to send her home, and I'd be 100% responsible for her care. I considered not going to collect her, and then they would be forced to keep her!

It was a long w/e here last week, so I couldn't organise any nursing care for her for a couple days, and I was flat out worried that she would die due to something I screwed up. She was so weak, hadn't really eaten in a month, and had already scared me a week earlier as I wasn't sure if she should be taken to the hospital then. I just don't feel qualified to decide on my own, about whether she is sick but could stay home, or sick and needs to go to hospital. How wobbly and weak is acceptable for home stay? And she keeps saying, "Oh, I'm fine. Nothing wrong with me." Except hummingbirds eat more than her.

Anyway, Tuesday was a regular work day, so her entire medical team finally saw her and assessed her, and kept her yet another night. The doctor made her sit up, and made her drink some juice while he was watching, so now I know she can drink and eat semi-solid food. The problem is that her cancer of the esophagus has returned, and the lump is like a speed bump as she swallows. Food would get hung up, and give her hiccups. Or worse, she'd regurg it back up. The edge of the speed bump has been rubbed raw, so it's painful for her to swallow. So she stopped eating a while ago. And then lost her appetite. And lost 20 pounds or more. And got weak and tired. So didn't get up. And didn't feel like eating. And slept more. And then tried to eat, got hiccups, and stopped mid-meal. So went back to bed.

Anyway, the dietitician told me to aim for 1500 cals a day, so I've been counting calories for her. And my mom, a retired doctor, arrived on Thursday. So the Big Pressure is off me.

Yesterday, my aunt had managed only 350 cals by 5 PM, and had slept nearly all day. She said to my mom, "I don't know know why you and Tara are here. I'm perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with me." Then went back to sleep.
She's so weak and confused at this point, we're not sure she knows what she's doing. We don't know if she realises she hasn't been consuming enough calories to sustain life.

So the Really Big Questions are: Do we work hard to get her to eat? Do we just encourage food, and offer food, and let her figure it out? Do we let her just fade away quickly? Or get her to regain her strength, just so she can go through the same thing in 6 months?

Where in The World is Tara?

Many have thought I should wear a GPS collar, but it's big, ugly and chafes my neck, so I've done the next best thing:

I've worked with my superstar web designer Tanya, to create a corporate website for my wee consulting firm, Taramatarra International Consulting Services. She made a page that has my location and local time on it, plus an estimate as to how long it would take me to answer an email.

http://www.taramatarra.com/contact-taramatarra.html
Please save the link, and click whenever you are wondering "Jeez, where is Tara now?"

And if you want to be extra-groovy, have a look round the site, and tell me what you think. Yes, I do know it's gorgeous (that was in the initial bid offer from Tanya), but do you have any comments about content? Do any links not work? Typos? Strange things? What does it show my business does? How could it be improved? And do reply back and tell me it's beautiful, or anything else you liked.
Just follow the link on the contact me page, or send a note to: teleduc101 at gmail dot com.

RBS London

yes, you are right. I have not posted on my blog in a couple weeks. This is because things have been AMAZING and busy for me. And I'm a bit lazy and disorganised....
After being in LA for a month (really, a whole MONTH) I am back in the UK. Been moving around a lot. I returned to the UK to attend the Responsible Business Summit in London.
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/rbs/?t=europe%202007
It was amazing! I had such a good time! The topics covered everything related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - ethical sourcing for raw materials for manufacturing; partnering with NGOs; reducing your company's carbon footprint; community engagement; CSR in developing countries; ways to limit corruption; and a few case studies/reports out on successes companies have actually had with their CSR programs. Why do large corporations do green and/or ethical things? How does it affect their bottom line?
Perhaps an invigorating chat on the realities of child slavery and how children's wages may help a family to survive, had with the head of UNICEF Europe, is not everyone's cup of (ethically sourced, fair trade) tea? But I was thoroughly engaged, thrilled, excited, pumped...... WOW.
In addition to the man from UNICEF, I met lots of other incredible contacts. Some were people at a lower level, some were consultants like me. But others were "CSR Royalty": CEOs, ground breakers, people who regularly meet with Bill & Melinda, the White House, the UN, sit on councils that discuss international trade in Africa, etc. etc.

So I think it's clear how fits into my Big Picture of What I Want To Do (= ethical and profitable work in Africa). But how does it tie to the small picture? How will I actually pay my bills? I did get head hunted by an executive search firm..... Probably the job is not quite what I want at this point, but it does seem that something will shake loose. I met people with Big Influence, and Big Budgets, who don't need to be sold on the wisdom (and positive effect on the bottom line) of working with communities.

"I can feel it coming on the air tonight." --Phil Collins

Bowled Over by the Coolness

Last night I went to the local comedy club. Jay Leno was headlining. Totally funny.
Strangely, the absolute highlight for me though was.....Jerry Seinfeld's Puffy Shirt was in a framed box on the wall.
How cool is that?

Not Politically Correct

I was biking on the beach path on Saturday, when I spotted a midget with no shirt, riding a skateboard. I thought, "Holy crap! That is a midget on a skateboard. That is a really funny sight. California is hilarious!"
I guess because I was totally staring at him, with a nice smile on my face (he likely didn't realise it was a smile at the Comedy I Find in Southern California Beach Goers), he smiled back. A really, really cheezy smile.

Shirtless, tanned, cheezy, skateboarding midget.

Little Person. Whatever.

Trouble in Paradise

view south to Redondo Beach

Since I've been in LA for the last couple weeks, I've settled into a bit of a routine. I have an unlimited pass for yoga at a studio down the road. I have taken over Lianda's beach cruiser bike, so I have wheels, and use this to go everywhere - the movies, the grocery store, Target, exploring, biking along the beach. Every day, I go walking or biking or yoga, or a combo of all those. L noticed I'm getting a tan.



But it's not all margaritas and Happy Hour sushi and sunshine. This morning I had an accident! I was rushing out to yoga, when the mat fell out of the basket, I braked too hard, caught a flip flop, and crashed on the pavement. At first, I looked like I'd been in a gang war or something, as every body part that hit the pavement had ugly deep purple blood blisters. But after an hour, I just have a big weepy raspberry on my knee and a stiff neck. My manicure and pedicure both got destroyed. (OMG!) I didn't put a hole in my yoga pants, so there's no permanent damage.



So this afternoon, I guess I'll recover with a trashy novel, by the pool. I guess I've just been doing too much, and I need to take it easy.
this is not the bike I fell off, nor are those the flip flops that flipped me...but that is the beach path!

Hermosa Beach Pier

Trip to MOCA

Last weekend, Lianda and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. I am certainly no Fancy Pants Art Critic, but I like looking at cool stuff and pretty colours, so this should have been fun. After seeing this museum, I now believe that many contemporary artists are playing a huge joke, and trying to see just how bizarre a creation they can make, give it a description like, "Is it what it is. Just be." or "I like to allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions about reality and society," or any such bullocks. Then, and this is the tricky bit, convince some unsuspecting Patron of the Arts with more cents than sense to pay them vast sums.

I've attached a few shots, so you can see my fave parts of the exhibition:

You may know that I am familiar with rhino dung, after one of my trips to Africa. I saw this picture, and thought, "Hey, wait a sec....those huge lumps look awfully familiar." I checked the listing of the media used to create the art, and saw this was multi media using acrylic, push pins and elephant dung.

Lianda is for scale, so you can tell just how big this is. She is 5`10 plus platform flip flops, so about 6`1 here.

Also, the picture is sitting on little feet....of dung.

detail....of an Elephant Sex Bomb from the Monkey's Bong??

OK, now what is this? Feel free to submit your best guess. Here are mine:

a) ritualistic dance from Papua New Guinea

b) exerpt from a leaflet: How to Be a Hot Homosexual Lover

c) doodle from a Grade 8 notebook

d) a comment on the Cold War Super Powers

e) none of the above

f) all of the above

I like the helpful up and down arrows. And the great haircuts.

I took this picture myself, outside the museum. I have no idea what that guy is doing. Feeling the feeling from the Art, I guess.
This must be worth a cool $2 million USD, doncha think.

Repent. The End is Nigh!

It's April 20. Yesterday, Julie sent the photo of the SNOW on her back deck. She lives in Summerland, BC. Catch that - SUMMERland!

Now, all those who are not from Canada are probably saying, "Wow, the weather in Canada is really bad. No wonder they get around by dogsled and live in igloos." I don't want to to tell you that's not true. It is.

But, here's the deal - heavy snow in Summerland in February would be a drag. Heavy snow in March would be exceptional and crazy. Heavy snow in late April is PURE MADNESS and likely marks the start of Armageddon. I can only assume Noah is building a boat right now.

I have received requests for some beach photos, so that folks at home can live vicariously through me. So here you go:

Me at

Manhattan

Beach Pier

Santa Monica Beach

Venice Beach

(notice the dread locks? Venice is supposed to be soooo cool. But actually, it's a lot like visiting the stalls at any folk fest in BC. So you've really already seen it, know what I mean?)

Don't hate me for my beautiful life. B-))

Touristing

I spent a few days in London. I love London. So much history of humanity, which I like to explore in the form of great storytelling. I took a whole bunch of walking tours with the London Walking Tour company, and there were all awesome. The guides are really knowledgeable, and I believe they are all actors, as they are animated and fascinating to listen to. And very funny, in that terrific dry english way.
www.walks.com
I learned a tonne of cool stuff, like that London was first named Londonium when it was founded by the Romans. I cannot believe I never clued in that London was a Roman city - of course it would have been! I did one tour inside the ancient city walls. The wall is 95% gone now, but we did walk on a street called 'Wall Street" (in the financial district, coincidentally enough). The old Londoners were pretty literal in their naming of streets, so you can guess what business was done on Shoe Lane, or Stonecutter Street. When I spotted Love Street, and asked about that, he said that during those times, there were 2 streets with legalised prostitution: Love Street and ............ Cock Street. :-P

Could Be True

[For those who have been reading my emails for a while, you will already know the term 'tubab'. It's a slang term for 'white person', pronounced 'TOO-baab'. It's used extensively in The Gambia, as in children see me and shout "Tubab! Tubab! Tubab!" The Congolese know it as well, so maybe it's a common word in Africa?]

A taxi driver told me the story of where the word 'tubab' comes from. He said that a small amount of money in the UK used to be two bob. This is true. So, when people saw a white person, they would say 'give me [in local language] two bob'. Over time, this has changed to just shouting 'twobob, twobob, twobob' with an accent. Tubab.

I guess now I should be called "Five pound! fivepound! ...fiepown! fiepown! fiepown!"