FEELING FINE

Another beautiful day. Cloudy now, but still gorgeous, like everything seems to be these days.

It was sunny this morning driving to the first of many appointments to get various tests and talk to docs to make sure everything's kopesetic for the operation. About a third of the trees around here are bare already, but the other two thirds on some streets were so lushishly vibrant with Autumn colors I felt like I was inside of some heavenly gift made just for me, especially since Autumn is and has always been my favorite season and one of the reasons I finally moved back East after seventeen years in the L.A. wilderness.

The tests and the docs say I'm fine and they expect the operation to be easy and my recovery to be swift. So from their mouths to...

Meanwhile, it's Veteran's Day, and being a vet myself (of The Cold War mostly, though Vietnam was heating up as I was getting out) I just want to give another shout out to the Democrats for passing the New G.I. Bill. They may not be great at some things, and they may be susceptible to the vices of power and access and all that jive. But in the end, they're the ones that made the first G.I. Bill happen, and kept it going so that I could benefit from it by partially paying for a college education. And after the Republicans cut it and then neglected the veterans of the two wars they started which we're still in, it wasn't until the Democrats got back in power in the Congress that they passed the new G.I. Bill (with the help of the few half way "moderate" Republicans left).

I heard three veterans of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq on WNYC this morning, all recipients of the benefits of the new G.I. Bill and attending Columbia University. They were articulate and moving, and so grateful for these benefits that were helping them to avoid the veteran under the bridge fate.

Veterans are just people like everyone else, and only a relatively small percentage actually face the kinds of dramatic war events immortalized in movies and books, but still, for even putting themselves in a position to make that kind of sacrifice, they deserve our gratitude, and our help.

Anyway, this space may be inactive after tomorrow's entry for at least a few days. After which I plan to run a more revealing account of what it was like to go through this whole process, from the perspective of the subtitle, or description, or whatever you call it up there under the name of this blog. So stay tuned.

[PS: Oh, I meant to thank everyone who has left such supportive and loving mesages on my past few blogs or sent me emails or phone calls. I'm hoarse from talking to people making appointments or looking for lab results or giving insurance information etc. etc. as well as family and friends—my voice gave out entirely by 8:30 last night—so thank you everyone for being so loving and kind to this old hipster activist poet actor jazz musician...etc.]