the repatriation of onebluegreen

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LOC, M1nerva & an ulcer [or the bracket & blockquote entry]

Today I got my L1brary 0f C0ngress (L0C) researcher/reader card. You can tour the Great Hall, see the exhibits including Jeffers0n's L1brary but you cannot use any of the reader/research rooms with a card. < href="http://myloc.gov/ExhibitSpaces/GreatHall/Pages/default.aspx">The Jeffers0n Building & Great Hall are beautiful.

One element that surprised me is the depiction of the G0ddess M1nerva.

West C0rrid0r>After entering the Jeffers0n Bldg through the Br0nze D00rs - you will be in the M1nerva f0yer. ...Around the border of the ceiling, eight pairs of statues, ..., represent the G0ddess M1nerva. Each pair contains a M1nerva of Defens1ve War, carrying a t0rch and a sh0rt sw0rd, and a M1nerva of Peace, carrying a g1obe and scro11. M1nerva, known as the protector of civilization, and the g0ddess of universal knowledge, and her symbol the owl are repeated throughout the Great Ha11.

The Jeffers0n Building/L1brary of C0ngress was opened in 1897. I cannot imagine a g0vt building being built today with a several goddess images. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think so.

This reminded me of something I read recently -- church membership was 17% at the start of the Rev01uti0n.

I've been curious as to whether or not that is true and tonight I found this

As for the re1igi0us beliefs of the general population in pre and post rev01uti0nary times, it wasn't nearly as Chr1st1an as most people think. 1ynn R. Buzzard, executive director of the Christian Legal Society (a national organization of Christian lawyers) has admitted that there is little proof to support the claim that the colonial population was overwhelmingly Christian. "Not only were a good many of the revolutionary leaders more deist than Christian," Buzzard wrote, "but the actual number of church members was rather small. Perhaps as few as five percent of the populace were church members in 1776" (Schools They Haven't Got a Prayer, Elgin, Illinois David C. Cook Publishing, 1982, p. 81). Historian Richard Hofstadter says that "perhaps as many as ninety percent of the Americans were unchurched in 1790" (Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1974, p. 82) and goes on to say that "mid-eighteenth century America had a smaller proportion of church members than any other nation in Christendom," noting that "in 1800 [only] about one of every fifteen Americans was a church member" (p. 89). Historian James MacGregor Burns agrees with these figures, noting that "(t)here had been a `very wintry season' for religion every where in America after the Revolution" (The American Experiment Vineyard of Liberty, New York Vintage Books, 1983, p. 493). He adds that "ninety percent of the people lay outside the churches."

I have not gone from being on Vestry to being anti-Chr1st1an (although some people don't consider Ep1sc0pa1ians to be Chr1st1ans) but I am tired of int01ance and ug1iness spewing. I am tired of lack of imagination and the insistence of literalness.

Seeing M1nerva and reading about the various places she appears (including on top of the Cap1t0l Bldg and on the Meda1 of H0n0r -- I had no idea) intrigues me.

For years I have been interested in symbols and stories but my interest has deepened. I am more curious about literature, myths, magic, symbols, and other ways of creating a representation of something else. Language and etymology, maps...you name it.

I have even thought of taking Latin again! I liked Latin although I don't remember much about it. I know it is kind of silly to take Latin for fun. It would be more useful to take Spanish. I would like to learn Italian. But Latin appeals because "root word" aspect.

Anyway, back to L0C. I visited two reader room (Jeffers0n and Adams). I called up a book on L1thuanian f0lk magic, medicine, incantations and charms. Only part of the time and a second page table of contents were in English but it was still fun.

I copied the table of contents because they would make horror writing prompts.
I. Death walks the earth
II. Death entices man
III. The shape of a soul
IV. Temporary dead man comes to life again.
V. Dead man walks visits the living ones
VI. Dead mother takes care of her baby
XII. Return from the Dead to stop weeping
XIII. The Sham and the real Dead man
IX. Revenant vengeful due to unfulfilled last wish
X. Revenge for desecration of a corpse
XI. Thieves persecuted by a revenant
XII. Bold bargain
XIII. Will-'O-Wisp
XIV. Wrestling with a Dead man
XV. Vampire
XVI. Ghost pulls blanket off sleeper
XVII. The roads and paths of ghosts
XVIII Not to sleep in a cemetery
XIX. Revenant laid by a decapitating body
XX. Revenant overpowered by boldness and cleverness
XXI. The struggling between two revenants
XXII. How the dead are doing penance
XXIII Church service for the Dead
XXIV. The souls of children asking for baptism
XXV. Messages from the Other World
XXVI. The restless Dead man haunts

They seem focused on the dead. Since the stories were in Lithuanian I couldn't read any of them but based on the Table of Contents there doesn't seem to be anything about love or money spells. And although the title includes the word medicine I am not sure how it would fit into these stories.

When I told Blackbelt about the book and the Table of Contents he said but you can't read the book. I explained that I couldn't but I still enjoyed looking at it, esp. since there was the odd English Table of Contents. I also said the titles would make great scenes in a movie but I am not sure he understood what I meant.

After LOC, I walked back to the Metr0. There is a Mex1can restaurant next to the station that I think I drank, possibly ate at, in 1989 with the Comedian. I stayed with him a couple of times that summer while I was having almost-free dental work done for me by my college friend's dentist brother. The dentist was in Northern VA so I would drive up from Lexington, stay with the Comedian (for free) and have my teeth worked on (for cheap).

The Comedian and I had gone out at the end of my first year of law school (the end of his second year). But when he left my apartment (he stayed with me b/c his building was being worked on) he met his non-law school girlfriend. I didn't know that -- one of the Comedian's other roommates told me. Apparently the non-law school g/f was kind of p1ssed b/c he was suppose to see her a week or so sooner than he did. (I remember what the Other Chicago (aka the Comedian's roommate, not to be confused with my roommate that I call Chicago -- although the year before last she got engaged to someone from her hometown in Mississippi and moved to Yorktown, VA. Hmmm. I might have to rethink her name) Anyway -- the Other Chicago, who could also be called Chicago Elvis (huge fan doesn't accurately describe it) told me that the non-law school g/f had been calling, was pissed and when the Comedian left me, he drove to her and was holed up in some Bob Newhart state. -- even at the time when I was crushed, I though Elvis' description of a New England state whose name he couldn't think of was funny.)

Anyway, later that summer after the Comedian started his internship at NPR in DC, I went stayed with him a couple of times. It was all on the up and up. He told me the first night that he was renting from the non-law school g/f's friends. In fact, the room I stayed in had a picture of them sitting on a blanket making faces. I think his roommates believed we were just friends but his softball team didn't. They thought the whole dentist thing was a cover. The second time I was visiting we were eating dinner with them and the Comedian started making some weird noise. Maybe bird-like, I don't really remember. This guy turned to me and said, Does he sound that way in the morning? The question flustered me. I said, How would I know? But drunk I later confessed in the bathroom to that guy's girlfriend that the Comedian and I had had a thing but I thought it was over.

And it was. Mainly. But that is a story for another day. I will say this though -- the Comedian is important to me not because of our short-lived romance or the excruciating long time my feelings hung on even after he ended up dating another law student while he continued to date the non-law school g/f. Maybe how and why he is important to me is also a story for another day.

Back to Today's story. The restaurant near the Metr0 looked familiar and I am pretty sure in a whirl wind bar, restaurant, party tour via cab I had one night with the Comedian we met a group of people there when the place was new. It just looked familiar although I haven't been to this Metr0 stop ever.

I walked around the block to look at the neighborhood. I could easily live in the city. It might be tricky to find some place affordable, with enough room, that takes two cats but it might be possible. I looked at a rowhouse that has been reduced to $1,195,000 -- I don't remember the original price, but I think the price has dropped about $100,000. It would need to drop a million before it would fit into my current budget.

I was hungry so I ate dinner at the I-am-sure-I-was-here-before restaurant. I asked the waitress how long it had been in business. She said about 22 years, which makes it the right age. The food was good but I wasn't able to eat much. After my early dinner I made my way up to C1eve1and Park.

I have a wound on my right ring finger from when I was in Salt Lake City (the week before Thanksgiving) that hasn't healed. Some chemical was dropped on my hand during a manicure. A huge blister formed and hurt like hell. When I complained the woman touched my blister, which popped it. She insisted there was nothing that could have caused the blister but two other spots on my hands were burning so I think the woman who set up the manicure bowls must have had some sort of cleaner or other chemical in her hand that dropped on my hand.

The wound hasn't healed. I really realize that until last weekend when I was visiting Blackbelt. I thought about going to the doctor but I didn't. I put some tea tree oil on it and it looked better. Tuesday I showed it to my acupuncturist. She put a Chinese herb on it that is suppose to promote skin growth but by Friday night it looked bad again. Weeping. Red.

I haven't found a GP here. I went to one walk-in clinic that is nearby for a yeast infection. The dr was good but it took FOREVER to be seen and make my way through the process although there was only one other person in the waiting room. I kind of expected it because online reviewers complained about it but I was still surprised.

I knew I wanted to go to the LOC today so last night I found a DC walk-in clinic that had good reviews. It is on the red line up past the zoo. By the time I made it there tonight, they were 15 minutes from closing.

The receptionist said they had taken their last patient but suggested I could come back tomorrow. When I asked what time they take the last patient, she said 4:00 pm. The close at 6:00. I guess it makes sense but if that is the case it seems like they should close their doors at 4:00 while they finish their last appointments.

A nurse asked why I wanted to be seen. I pulled back my band-aid and said I knew it was kind of silly but I had had the wound for a couple of weeks but it wasn't healing. He said they would see me. I thought that was so nice.

Intake was pretty fast. My blood pressure was disturbingly high 143 over 93. It is always low like 118 over 68. I don't think I have ever seen it over 125. I had just walked up a long escalator but still... Both the nurse and the doctor checked to see if I had feeling in the finger. They both asked more than once if I had diabetes! I know diabetics have trouble with getting wounds to heal and that it is a logical question to ask but it was disturbing. The doctor also asked if I am thirsty, pee a lot and I forgot the third one. I do pee often but only when drinking caffeine.

I denied peeing a lot or being thirsty. I haven't had any fever or pain. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic that is geared towards skin infection. She said it is a mild one. The side effects on the bottle say may cause severe diarrhea now or weeks or months after taking. (weeks or months afterward? huh?)

The doctor said the wound is ulcerated. I didn't know what that meant (I knew people get ulcers but I didn't know what that really meant. Turns out, an ulcer, sore on the skin or a mucous membrane, accompanied by the disintegration of tissue. My wound looked like a little volcano & that is exactly what some of the internet images look like. Apparently bedsore are also ulcers.

Here are the common causes:

The wounds from which ulcers arise can be caused by a wide variety of factors, but the main cause is impaired blood circulation. Especially, chronic wounds and ulcers are caused by poor circulation, either through cardiovascular issues or external pressure from a bed or a wheelchair. [5] A very common and dangerous type of skin ulcers are caused by what are called pressure sensitive sores, more commonly called bed sores and which are frequent in people who are bedridden or who use wheelchairs for long periods. Other causes producing skin ulcers include bacterial or viral infections, fungal infections and cancers. Blood disorders and chronic wounds can result in skin ulcers as well.[6]

I really am trying not to be negative or freak out but I am a little.

The doctor said if it doesn't start to heal in four or five days I need to come back for a strong anti-biotic shot AND blood sugar testing.

This is the second incentive I have received in less than a week to re-commit to exercising (the other was last weekend I was looking at an ip0hne and testing the camera. The camera was turned towards me. The store had harsh lighting and the angle was awful but the photo showed the weight I've gained. It was yucky.)

So starting tomorrow better diet, more sleep and exercise every day for a min of 20 mins (no matter how busy I am I can squeeze in 20 mins). It is a do-able start.

After the appointment I wandered around Cleveland Park. I caught the train to Dup0nt Circle to have my prescription filled (it seemed easier to do it on my way to my car rather than me driving around trying to find a pharmacy that is open late). After I went to the drug store, I walked around the circle and looked at stores. I went to one of the bookstores and then I caught the train to my car.

Overall it was a good day. LOC was interesting. I had good food. I found a doctor I like (I am going to go back to that clinic for my yearly physical, which I am two years overdue). And I am finally motivated again.