With all this free time on my hands, i seem to be getting pretty good at just padding around the house and filling my day with mostly inconsequential chores and tasks.

Sitting here sipping my decaf green tea and taking stock of what i've accomplished today (not much)!

Umm, i reordered checks online. Searched high and low for one of my mom's Xmas presents (real postage stamps with her art on them), can't find them anywhere, hoping i didn't accidentally throw it out with something else with all the paper threatening to bury my desk, so i decided to reorder another sheet of stamps, just in case. If the 1st set shows up, then she'll get 2 sheets of stamps with 2 different pieces of art on them.

i was supposed to walk today with H., but she called to cancel. She just wasn't in the mood, i guess. It's a very gray day and looks like bad weather is indeed coming our way. Could be icy in the a.m., they say.

My bone density test yesterday came back normal for my age. There were 3 different speakers talking about osteoporosis, 2 doctors and a nutritionist. It kind of seems that even if you eat well, get enough calcium/D3 and exercise, the gradual loss of bone density is nearly unavoidable as a natural part of the aging process; it's just the degree to which it happens that depends on your lifestyle choices.

I think one of the stats in the slide presentation by one of the doctors said that x% of women over the age of 80 have osteoporosis, and i think it was a very high percentage. So the first thing i did when i got home yesterday from the exam was to take a 50-minute walk.

I watched the most wonderful DVD last night. I mostly rent foreign and independent films from Netflix. This one was called Zelary, made a few years ago in Czech (has subtitles). I've seen many movies made during that war, from many different perspectives. Even if it's not about someone who was killed in the gas chambers, or soldiers on the front lines, the impact of the war was so far-reaching, even for those fortunate ones who fled parts of Europe before the army arrived. I don't think people today really grasp how tenuous and unstable life could be under these circumstances.

I live in my comfortable little home with all my possessions around me accumlated over many years. I've enjoyed a lifetime living in a country noted for its prosperity, stability and democracy. If you look at it this way, none of us has ever really "had it rough."

Can I imagine having to leave all I've accumulated behind and flee my country to save the skin on my back? No, I really can't imagine that. Can I imagine a seige-like atmosphere where soldiers might arrive at my doorstep, pilfering, raping and looting whatever they pleased? Despite the shock of 9/11, we Americans have never had to endure anything like that, not in my lifetime, not in any time going back to the Civil War. (Not unless you were black.)

(I used to work for someone who felt all this could change if there were a serious terrorist attack in NY, something involving chemicals or gas, and to protect himself from the anticipated panicky hordes of New Yorkers fleeing north, he had electronic gates at his driveway, German shepherds that patrolled the property and numerous firearms.)

There is so much unrest in the world, not just during WWII but especially so today. There are those countries caught up in civil wars, ruled by brutal dictators whose only interest is in enriching the lining of their own pockets. Other countries that never seem to get out from under the repeating cycle of famine conditions worsened by AIDS epdemics while other countries may be experiencing economic instability, rampant political corruption or social mores that here in 2007 still allow women to be treated pretty much like slaves with few rights.

Sometimes all this makes North America, western Europe, and Australia seem like tiny islands of peace and prosperity surrounded by unrest that is ever threatening to spill over across borders.

Sorry, this isn't a very inspirational Christmas message, is it? But i think it's worth it to take a break from our silly worries and stop to think of others who are dealing with true hardship. All things being equal, we're pretty damn lucky.