Tag: dailyprompt

What do you think gets better with age?

Cheese and wine.

What are you most worried about for the future?

Global warming, which will not effect me much but will impose major challenges to millions or billions of todays youth who will have to deal with rising sea levels, worsening droughts, floods and forest fires, and migration from areas of the world that become uninhabitable.

How important is spirituality in your life?

As the term is generally used, not at all. As it is used very loosely by some to indicate meaningful connections and deep awe of the mysteries of what we don’t know, it is quite important.

Beef tongue and sour cream raisin pie with meringue.

Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

My leather wallet that I made in shop class in high school.

In my preteens and early teens I was a farm hand. Then I was briefly an orderly in a general hospital and later at a psychiatric hospital. I worked à an extern at a city run nursing home and at a psychiatric hospital during medical school training. After graduation with a M.D. I worked as an internist, a gastroenterologist, and a hepatologist until I retired.

Are you a leader or a follower?

I sometimes lead, such as when I am discussing a book I love at our book club meeting. But my inclination is to hang back and listen to what others have to say before doing anything. I follow m’y own instincts rather than the mainstream, so in that sense I guess I am not a follower. and when I am in mixed company, I deliberately try to hang back and be quiet lest I be seen to dominate the conversation.

What is your career plan?

My working career is over. My aims now are to stay vertical and ventilating as long as possible and to be of as much use to friends and relatives as possible for as long as possible.

What do you do to be involved in the community?

My community is the whole world, although I no longer travel much. I connect with local people for bridge games and some dining out, keep in touch with a host of friends on four continents on Facebook, and volunteer at a curling club in the winter and at an innovative regenerative farming project in the summer. I belong to a group of old men who meet weekly on Zoom to solve all of the world’s problems in one hour!

I always vote. One shouldn’t complain about what our politicians are up to if you haven’t voted. I research my choices carefully, but I like to throw the pre-election pollsters for a loop by telling them I will vote for the Communist Party candidate or the one from the Marihuana party. In the past I have asked the first candidate to knock on my door to put a sign on my lawn as it acts like pest detergent for the others that come by.

Do you vote in political elections?

Have you ever been camping?

Many times. Mostly in northern Ontario at fishing camps or bicycling.

What topics do you like to discuss?

It largely depends on who I am conversing with but I enjoy discussing current affairs, anything related to science, and history. We are told to avoid discussion of politics, sex, and religion with people we do not know well, but those are never off the table if someone else introduces them.

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

When I left a secure position as an associate professor at Western, after being denied a promotion to full professor, I had concerns about my future as a private practitioner dedicated solely to hepatology. But my research, teaching, and patient care flourished without the restrictions of university and hospital politics, And it proved at least as remunerative as practice within academia without all the stress and boring committee meetings. No regrets.

How do you unwind after a demanding day?

Usually I would just go for a long walk, preferably in the forest. “ Forest bathing” can work wonders on my psyche.

How do you use social media?

Obviously, I use this site to publish my book reviews. In addition, I use Facebook to keep in touch with many friends. I use Safari to find answers to questions that pop into my head, And google maps to plan trips, mostly to local spots. I play Scrabble on line with a few friends, subscribe to three magazines online and borrow ebooks or audiobooks from the library. Since Covid, I have used Zoom to connect into three educational outfits. I guess some of these uses are not strictly social media, but more just internet use.

What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?

The interior of Antarctica. I have been as far as several stations on the Antarctic peninsula, and greatly enjoyed that but the loneliness, endless whiteness and desolation of anywhere closer to the South Pole would be pretty boring.

What is your favorite restaurant?

Close to home there is a great Italian restaurant called Viamarzo, that has a good selection of unusual combinations including lot of choices for vegans, and great wines at reasonable prices. We take guests there quite often and have never been disappointed.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Probably as organic compost nourishing a growing sapling somewhere of my survivor’s choosing.

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

Horizontally in the nude with a nude partner.

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

Tom Sawyer. Personable, persuasive, fun-loving, honest.