I'm not going to be here tonight. I have family coming from out of town and we plan on having a party this evening. Hubby's daughter didn't make it for Christmas because of the distance and her work schedule. She has the weekend off and will be spending time with us today and tonight. Her brothers and their families will be joining us, we're looking forward to spending time together.

I'm reposting the Project playlist that's been playing all week with a few additions from yesterday. See you when I get back.

With obesity becoming the problem it is in America, the number of gastric bypass surgeries has increased. I personally know 3 people that have had it. My Aunt had it last year at Christmastime with few if any problems. My sister-in-law had it last month. My sister-in-law is having problems. A co-worker had it done, and I know of no problems she had except she doesn't seem to have lost the amount of weight she should have.

I don't pry into other peoples weights but I suspect that my aunt doesn't weigh too much more than 100 pounds now. She's quite happy since it did improve the general state of her health. Her blood pressure was way out of control requiring large amounts of medications and she was plagued by pain from joint problems. Since the surgery and the large weight loss her blood pressure medications have been reduced to a quarter of what she was taking before and she lives nearly pain free now. The only problem that I know she had was a bout with a bacteria called C-Difficile, commonly referred to as C-Diff. It's usually caused by overuse of antibiotics. However, it may be a complication of the surgery itself. It's a very nasty form of diarrhea.

The co-worker missed no days at work following her initial 2 weeks off for the surgery. The recovery time is supposed to be quite short. I know of no problems she had but since I'm familiar with my aunts remarkable weight loss I've begun to wonder why Peggy isn't that thin. I suppose I could ask her, but I don't particularly feel that she is a friend enough that I should be prying into her business. Most doctors that perform this surgery are telling their patients they will be wearing a size 6 in a year. Peggy wears an extra large 18 months later.

My sister-in-law had it done the beginning of last month. Unfortunately she is having unforseen health problems. She's tired all the time, and her electrolytes and other chemical levels are seriously out of balance. She was off work for 6 weeks because of the malnutrition she is experiencing, and she hasn't been released to exercise yet. Due to the electrolyte imbalance and the seriousness of it's effect on her system, she has spells of fainting. She trembles terribly and can't stay on her feet for more than half an hour or so. She's been doing research online after the fact and now says had she done so prior to the surgery she wouldn't have had it...at all.

For the recipients of this surgery, the reduction in the amount of food intake places the persons body in near starvation mode. This is controlled by vitamin and mineral supplements. However, there is a number, a large number of people for whom near starvation mode causes malnutrition. Due to the malnutrition, they also experience malabsorption of minerals from the small amount of food they can eat and from the supplements. According to the Beth Israel Center For Weight Loss Surgery this malnutrition problem occurs in a "substantial" number of surgical patients through no fault of the patient or the surgeon.

This gastric bypass surgery should be used only in cases where the patient is morbidly obese and has health problems that are serious enough to warrant it. Essentially in my sister-in-law's case the surgery was performed to prevent future health problems, which makes it less life saving and more cosmetic in nature. Which makes me wonder how many are having this very dangerous procedure for cosmetic purposes rather than health reasons?

She went in to this procedure all excited about becoming a size 6. She's now wondering whether that size 6 is worth it. My problem with all of this is that I believe it's becoming a cosmetic procedure. Is all of this another case of doctors who should know better, letting patients tell them they want it? Insurance companies pay for this procedure automatically if the body mass index is over a certain number. Do they factor in any other medical information? I don't know.

All I know is that my sister-in-law was not on any medications for any problem except arthritis. She had knee surgery last year because of it. Losing weight takes the strain off the joints, but she had managed to lose 40 pounds on her own. If she could do that, why did her doctor find her to be a good candidate for this procedure? She wanted it, so she had it. At no point was she ever told what could happen as a result of it. Post surgical problems were never mentioned, except as the usual disclaimer about all surgery being serious. She wasn't told how her body could respond to it. She was told that she would have to take supplements for the rest of her life, that she would never be able to eat normally and that she would be a size 6 within a year.

I have no children living or visiting in my house. Why am I up this early? Hubby got me up. The truth is out...I live with a 59 year old kid. He says he isn't excited but he got me up at 6 AM. We don't need to be anywhere until 10. There isn't any housekeeping to do because I did it before we left yesterday and we weren't home last night long enough to mess anything up. So, if Hubby wasn't excited, why am I up? I was sleeping so peacefully, when the blaring television and all the lights in the house turned on, woke me. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep but the cat decided that I was awake so it must be breakfast time. I am outnumbered here. Trying to sleep in was a losing battle so here I am and it's only 7 o'clock. Are we having fun yet?

The new coffee maker and the microwave, the Nickleback 2 disc set with all my favorite tunes on it (the second disc is DVD, I even get the videos), the slippers, sweater, Christmas print dish towels, the absolutely gorgeous glass bowl, money, and the fun fur winter scarf have all been unwrapped. The paper has been disposed of in the woodstove and I'm on my second cup of coffee. Some of those gifts were acquired last night at my Aunt and Uncles house. The gift giving will continue through the day with visits to step mom's house and then Youngests, where we will be having our dinner. It's a busy day ahead. One that requires sleep. Sleep that was interrupted by Hubby's Christmas spirit. I wasn't planning on being up this early, but here I am. It's only once a year, I don't really mind...much.

There's something about this Christmas that feels special to me. The entire last week feels as if I've woken up in a "perfect" Walgreens commercial. One without Pepto Bismol Pink which makes it really perfect. It's not an absence of every day worries, it's not a lack of things that go wrong, it's just a certain feeling that everything will be manageable. Maybe not exactly the way I want things to be, just all right. I am surrounded with positive energy and a feeling of comfort. A sense that I love and am loved in return. A sense of connection to the joy of the season that I haven't been feeling in awhile.

My cousin was taking pictures of us last night as we were nearing the end of gift opening. I had put my fun fur scarf around my neck and was mugging it up. I think the best picture of me taken last night was taken by him. Just as he snapped the picture, I had covered all but my eyes with that scarf. I didn't realize he was aiming the camera at me, I thought he was taking pictures of his wife who was seated to my left. It wasn't until I heard his somewhat amused yet annoyed "Sherry!" that I realized I'd spoiled his shot. I covered my face again and giggled. I can't help it, I take lousy pictures. I mean really bad pictures.

We sang (off key) Christmas songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" in an effort to teach little Emily the words. We ate golombkas, pierogis, kielbasa, salad, baked ziti, cheese and crackers, and cookies. We talked and laughed and watched the younger ones open gifts and squeal with delight. It's been a truly happy holiday so far, even if Hubby and Bashful woke me up at 6AM.




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Sometimes Success isn't wanted, Click Here

In some respects I covered the final segment of the 7 Ages of Rock when I did the Saturday Blogstream crawl post on Shoegazing. Unlike it's American counterpart, it became Mainstream in Britian. It wasn't as angry. It was satirical, more sophisticated in it's approach to the problems of society. It is music that stated the younger generations knowledge that the older generation screwed everything up, but nobody was really angry about it, they were just going to do a better job. No damn you to Hell you no good SOB, just an I can do it better so get out of my way attitude. As an added bonus, one could dance to it.

The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Suede and Blur seemed to be the most popular groups in Britian, but they didn't appear to be able to tap in to the American market the way that other British Groups in the past did. I don't know why because much of it is very good. I suspect that they didn't want to. Success for some people isn't measured in dollars and cents. Some measure it by a different standard.

When I did Saturdays post I peeked (nobody noticed I spelled it wrong on Saturday lol) at the BBC site to get names of the groups that would be covered. I never looked at the information on them because it's Christmas time and I had some things to do on Saturday. After getting the information I went to listen to the chosen groups, Oasis and Suede and without any real knowledge of them, chose their break out hits to post. I have lived through every one of the 7 Generations of Rock. I don't claim to know music in the way that some of my fellow bloggers do. I don't pay attention to the names of the people who play instruments in the groups I like, I don't really care who the front men are. I'm not a fan of the group exactly, I am a fan of the song. The only exceptions to that would be the Doors and the Rolling Stones.

I'm not particularly sure that I understand the way I relate to music. Without that understanding I'm not sure I could explain it. The one kernel of understanding that I do have is the knowledge that when I'm listening to a particular song I experience the voice of the singer, in relationship to the instrumentals, as keenly as I do any other instrument.  Suede's "Animal Nitrate" and Oasis' "Wonderwall" were their break out hits. They were for me the best of what I was hearing, and I chose those songs for my playlist. Do I fully understand the message of these two songs? No, they just sound the way I believe they should.

Visual art appeals as a feast for the eyes. It's the sum of the total of the work that attracts initially. That will draw you in to a painting or a sculpture. If there are too many errors in the piece and it doesn't engage all of ones senses, it is less successful for some. Others might find it enthralling because art appreciation is subjective. It's the individual taste of the viewer that must be considered. For me musical art has to be a feast for my ears with all components drawing me towards the experience. The sound of the voice singing has to fit in my mind with the sound of each individual instrument to create a total experience for me. It occurs to me that the way I appreciate music may be why I could choose those two break out hits from groups that I had little knowledge of.  I may not understand it, I just know what I like.

Someone "Unplugged" the Lights ..Click Here

Passion and authenticity. That is what Alternative brought back to Rock music. Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, REM and the Pixies. Some of the finest Alternative Rock groups you could only hear on College Rock stations found at the extreme left of the radio dial. No stadiums for these groups, just small venues in bars and pizza parlors. There was a circuit of places these bands played. One they had developed for themselves. Then the record companies started seeing that there was money to be made and they started signing them to contracts

REM made the transition to commercial success without sacrificing their ideals. Any changes in their sound occured simply because after nearly 10 years of constant touring in order to make any money they were tired. They weren't angry anymore, just tired. When the record companies saw that REM became commercially successful they started signing any of the other Grunge bands that they found. Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain thought that if REM could be successful without giving up anything so could Nirvana. They had self produced their first record album, and it had given them a taste for success.  Success they thought they wanted. Success that Cobain believed would solve all his problems. Maybe he thought it would heal his anger, stop his torment. He didn't know what it was nor what it would eventually do to him.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was written after a former girlfriend spray painted a wall with the phrase "Kurt Cobain smells like Teen Spirit." It was a reference to a current girlfriends use of the deodorant Teen Spirit. He had no idea that Teen Spirit was a deodorant, he just liked the phrase. He wrote what became the grunge anthem of the early 90's from what was meant to be an insult to him. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". Only this time the fury became money in the bank. Unfortunately for Kurt Cobain and his fans, money in the bank didn't solve his problems. It just gave him the means to bring about his own end.

While Kurt and Michael Stipe became brothers under the skin, he didn't get along with too many of his fellow Grunge rockers. Pearl Jams lead singer Eddie Vedder came from similar backgrounds, but Kurt could never seem to get along with him at all. It might have been jealousy because Pearl Jam outsold almost every other Grunge band including Nirvana and REM.

Much like Punk, Grunge lyrics expressed the anger, depression, social and political concerns common to Generation X. Unlike Punk, it focused on melody and rhythm. The Pixies had experimented with using sound that was alternately soft and then loud. Sometimes the lyrical emphasis was on the softer vocal expression sometimes on the louder, almost screaming vocals. It was a style that Nirvana used as well. No matter whether they were howling or whispering to the microphone, Grunge Rock was Rock and Roll for the 90's and beyond.