Mood Swings

Remember when email, the internet, and cell phones started becoming plot devices in books and movies. Gordon Gecko used a cellphone in Wall Street (1987). A very young Sandra Bullock got tangled up in The Net (1995). I'm sure these technologies made earlier appearances, like Maxwell Smart's shoe phone or the 1982 version of Tron. A plot device that Faina has pointed out that totally makes her cringe is cancer. This is not just an obvious, logical response. It is that is gets thrown in as a surprise plot twist. For the last year she has been reading novels by some of her favorite writers and then boom, three-fourths of the way through the book, cancer is the surprise plot twist. A writer who knew that she would be reading their latest best seller could just as easily have chosen something else, but no such luck. Last night Faina was enjoying Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and Antonio Banderas in The Other Man when, three-fourths of the way through the film - Pow! You guess the plot device. (Don't consider this to be an endorcement of the film. Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a 16%, their top critics a 6% on the Tomatometer.)

Yesterday Faina continued with a gloomy, pragmatic mood. It is not rare that she mentions my next wife. The qualifications she churns up are vastly different from what I had in mind when I met Faina at a Hanukka party 30 years ago. She has also exacted a promise that we be buried together, that particular rabbis be a part of her funeral service, and I keep the house for at least few years. She is also identifying which daughter gets what jewelry. She treads lightly around what happens with her car, which she knows I don't particularly love, although I can authoritativly attest to its durability in a crash. 

Faina had a pretty good day today. She went back to the Fentanyl patch and started with a strong, liquid version of Oxycontin (Rush Limbaugh's drug of choice) called Roxicet. Pain relief - stay tuned. She also received a CD from Betsy that got her really excited, Earth. As Betsy acknowledged, back in the day, we called these "Books on Tape." She is a huge Jon Stewart and the Daily Show fan. She was also deeply touched by an envelope full of refuah shlaymah cards from Shuli's third graders.

Shabbat Shalom