The Islamic Faith emphasizes hardships followed by benefits. One appreciates benefits, most grateful for benefits if they are preceded by hardships. I have spoken of it many times on the blog. Typed Hardship and Benefit into search engine of blog, discovering 35 entries. One recounts a similar experience to this. April 25, 2024 Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire: I am Escaping the One Star Kohbar Hilton Garden Hotel; The Five Star Bahrain Ritz Carlton So Happy I am Coming They are Sending a Driver; Be Like Her; You Be Like Him; Laughing With My Malaysian Sister Who Edits my Blog For Dates.
Shall read it an get back to you – I was checking out of an inferior hotel and into a superior one back them as well. It was amusing but not exactly relevant. Certainly am glad that those days are over (and done with).
This from June 18, 2024 summarizes the situation. Hardship and benefits were discussed in a special podcast for the Day of Arafat. A learned scholar spoke of it in readily understandable terms He said that hardships are necessary using a heart monitor analogy. There is constriction and then an expansion. If the heart keeps expanding it would go off the charts – there needs to be the construction of hardships to balance the benefits.
Lexis Suites was once a benefit and was for many reasons but seems to be turning into a hardship for some stays, . This makes the E & O absolutely off the charts. I am so happy here that I radiate happiness and joy I have been told.
You should see how the bellman is dressed. I will include a photo. I laughingly said:
Me: Dr,. Livingston I presume.
One has to be old and rather educated to appreciate this.
A woman sat nearby. I told her of my great joke. She laughed. Amazingly she was from Melbourne, Australia. I am considering going to live here – do not go she said. It has not recovered since covid days, go to Sydney instead. Hmmmmm. The Melbourne connection is not exactly working out, shall we say. Oh well. Easy come, easy go. Google tells us: The meaning of this idiom. It \ is pretty self-explanatory. It means that something that is achieved easily is also lost as easily. There is a famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt: “Nothing worth having comes easy.” Somebody else said:: “What comes easy won’t last long. And what lasts long won’t come easy.”
So this guy – the “Melbourne connection (shall we say), did come very easily. I guess he might go very easy. I shall write about him on the blog. He does not read the blog – which did seem rather strange to me. He is most athletic – one of his nicknames is MAJOR – it stands for Mon Ami Jock Oops (the initial of his last name). There is a funny YouTube reel, made by me of course, about me and the gym of a hotel . I shall find it and direct you to it at the conclusion of the blog.
Now September 25, 2024
Well, a lot has happened since the beginning of the writing. I had my cataract surgery. I went bare back, as they say. Although gas (as I call it) was offered, I declined. What a mistake!!!! I had a false impression of what cataract surgery entailed. Will inform the doctor (at the time of my follow up appointment) that he should have explained prior to surgery the nature of the procedure. Needless to say, I will have gas when the same surgery is employed on my right eye. You shall see a selfie at the conclusion of the blog. This was the WhatsApp conversation that followed.
Me: Not bad for five hours post op
He: It actually looks like nothing happened,
Me: It did!! Hahaha My credit card says it does. Hahaha
That man was my emergency contact. He took his responsibilities VERY seriously. He called me in the early morning before surgery, Sent me amusing stickers during the interminable waiting period. Called me immediately afterwards, making sure I was okay. Called the hospital in the meantime at least twice. Worked int he office so he would be sure to take the calls if anything went amiss. None of my three husbands were that attentive. At one point he texted:
He: Ouch. You are at least well and looking good. The quote “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” Is an old Buddhist saying that conveys the idea that suffering is a choice and it is impossible to let go of the suffering by accepting pain and realizing that it is temporary This quote has been attributed to many, Identifying the first person to share this wisdom is less important than recognizing the the inspirational nugget at the core of this simple mantra.
Me: Thank you for that. Not heard it before and it is so inspiring. It is so true. As each day goes by the pain of the procedure will disappear and my eyes will work. All the better to see you with my dear. (The man is definitely eye candy)
Eye candy is defined as visual images that are superficially attractive and entertaining but intellectually undemanding. That is not descriptive of him. He is attractive and entertaining but, as you can see MOST intellectually understanding.
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I am back at the hospital again. Waiting impatiently to be seen by an Orthopedic Surgeon. d. I have a photo of my two knees, both left and right. It too shall be attached to the blog, After a wait of an hour and a half (I had a ten o’clock appointment) I was seen. This caused problems as I needed to put in my eyedrops (once every two hours). I did have a mild hissy fit, a man from the hospital administrator’s office came to see me and was most helpful. Nurses put eyedrops in my eye, giving me surgical tape. I was forced to use E & O scotch tape yesterday. I am still here waiting to be seen for an eye doctor follow up appointment.
Good news and bad news. Not sure which you would like first. The good news, the best news, is that I was misdiagnosed. Never did I have a TIA (mini stroke) – instead it was post traumatic stress attacks. That not altogether good news but the attacks, so frequent when I had to be taken off anti-depressant medication have lessened during the years particularly since I reverted to the Islamic Faith. No treatment available for post traumatic stress attacks, however, my mantra – “that was then and this is now” It gets me through. One must never overthink, worrying about what caused the attack is not counter indicated.
Now with the possibly bad news. Once I finally got to see the orthopedic surgeon he opined d I was too old for a knee replacement. I argued; asserting that my good health, my mental health, my immune system differed me from other oldsters. However, he had old patients die on him and he did not want to repeat the trauma, he learned from his mistakes. I could perhaps go elsewhere but will not do so at the moment, perhaps never. The surgeon said he was wary – if he was wary he would not have peace of mind to assure the best results. I appreciate his honesty. Not only that, he did not charge me for the visit. Hahah
Laughingly texted.
Me: I guess Allah (SWT) is saying – you need your eyes to write, not your knees.
Received no response as yet.
This has been a serious blog. I will now bring you something to cheer. Of course, it is Andy Borowitz. Signed up to be a regular subscriber for one whole year. This should make my US viewers happy.. Title was Staff of Nude Africa Quit to Distance Themselves From Mark Robinson.
NORTH CAROLINA (The Borowitz Report)—In an official statement released on Tuesday, the entire staff of the pornographic website Nude Africa has resigned in order to distance themselves from Lt. Governor Mark Robinson.“We have long been proud of our association with Nude Africa,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, Mr. Robinson’s posts on the website have tarnished Nude Africa’s good name.”In order to “restore the stellar reputation of Nude Africa,” the ex-staffers urged the porn site’s proprietors to “demand that Mr. Robinson drop out as a commenter on Nude Africa’s message boards at once.”Asked about the controversy, Sen. JD Vance said, “Before I comment, I need to spend a few more days looking at Nude Africa.
That is called killing two birds with one stone. Not only Lt. Governor Mark Robinson is made to look foolish but also JD Vance who is taking a few more days looking at Nude Africa.
The phrase: ‘kill two birds with one stone’ simply means solving two tasks at the same time or with one single action. This phrase apparently dated back to the Roman era – when they literally killed two birds with one stone.
An example is provided which I found most interesting. I was around when all of this happened – the Patty Hearst kidnapping.
To kill two birds with one stone means to achieve two goals with one action. In 1974, Patty Hearst was kidnapped by a terrorist group called the SLA. They chose to kidnap 19-year-old Patty because she was the granddaughter of a very rich man. With Patty, they could kill two birds with one stone.
The End
Go now to the Menu of the blog; there are four links, go to You Tube. Scroll through Shorts, the reel is Going to the Gym in My New Hotel. So far it has had 299 views. It is funny. While you are there go to Mecca Travel with 433 views. I cry whenever I watch it – my reaction when I saw the Kaaba.
(ed. I’ll just link straight to it here Alexis!)
