Category Archives: Mindfulness

Intermission

January 25, 2016Art, Mindfulness, Nerd Bait, Pop Music, Rehab, TravelDüsseldorf, Kling Klang Studio, Kraftwerk, Kunstpalast, Rheinturm, stroke recoveryricky

Stroke Bloke and The Fabulous Beth spent Thursday and Friday nights
in Düsseldorf, Germany…

Particularly in Rushmore. — Ja, denn ich liebe die Schwarzweißfotos!

…and our little break means a pause in considering how countries relate a vision of themselves through anthems (1, 2). ‘Cos that’s a big subject, as illustrated by The Prof’s awesome comment to last week’s post.

As we dashed headlong through Düsseldorf, I was instead reminded of #strokier posts. And, indeed, a tweet tweeted from my bed at The Hospital for Joint Diseases during my in-house rehabilitation:

Goal for end of the year. Jogging in Prospect Park.

— Ricky Brown (@ricky_ballboy) November 15, 2012

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2016 AD – Welcome to the Future

January 4, 2016Comics, Dr. Who, Healthcare, Mindfulness, Nerd Bait, Stroke2000AD, New Year, recipes (only joking), resolutions, white coat syndromericky

Each year, The Fabulous Beth reaches five time zones across the ocean on Hogmanay to wish folks a Happy New Year from the future. You’re all here in the future now, right?

It's all getting a bit Sherlock — Wait, haven’t I been to 2000 before? (cover artist, Ian Kennedy)

Well, welcome. Come on in. Have a cigar. Or don’t. There are resolutions to think of. Or not. Continue reading 2016 AD – Welcome to the Future →

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Lies, Lies, Lies, Pt. 2

December 28, 2015Art, Birds Fate, Fiction, Mindfulness, Nerd Bait, Politics, RelationshipsBirds Fate, Christmas, Nerd Bait, The Philosopher's Armsricky

What a busy week it’s been, on and around apoplectic.me.

I’ve put Broken Mirror – The Collected Bird’s Fate Posts back up on the site. These posts have been absent from the site for a while, as they’ve been presented in other forums. But now the true story of how I met Susanne Whyte from Bird’s Fate, and found out heroes are just people like you and me, is back in one piece.
Doing that was inspired by the posting of The Prof’s liner notes to an awesome cover of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You over at nerdbaitband.com.
Meanwhile, my short story Phoenix Park went live over at The Dublin Inquirer. It’s part of their Christmas special fiction issue, which collects stories about superheroes set in Dublin. Pop over and have a look. And if you like it, please do leave a comment.

A brickie from Wolverhampton – LIE!!! PROBABLY!!! — 4. Er… that’s it.

Of course, if you’re on the distribution list for the Apoplexy Newsletter, you’ll be aware of all of this.

So, how could anyone possibly remember where we were last Monday, at the end of Lies, Lies, Lies, Pt. 1…? Continue reading Lies, Lies, Lies, Pt. 2 →

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Lies, Lies, Lies – Pt. I

December 21, 2015Mindfulness, Politics, Relationships, StrokeAlistair Carmichael, Christmas, Love Actually, lying, Matthew Sweet, Orkney 4ricky

Hello, and welcome to the penultimate apoplectic.me post of the year. Maybe. I was thinking that the only post after this one would be some sort of end-of-year round up, but that’s not necessarily true. [It wasn’t – Ed.]

Either way, it’s time to pull together a couple of strands from recent posts, and tie them together in a nice big festive bow.

You have to tell the truth at Christmas. Santa's watching. Right now. LIES! — (A) Christmas tradition, or (B) lie?

[Give yourself a wee Christmas present, and sign up for the Apoplexy Newsletter here.] Continue reading Lies, Lies, Lies – Pt. I →

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Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up

October 26, 2015Economics, Home Care, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Nerd Bait, Science, Uncategorizedfatigue, health, sleepricky

This weekend, Longsufferinggirlfriendoftheblogbeth and I staged a wee karaoke party to celebrate, among other things, the first anniversary of my fortieth birthday.

An old man tries counting — “Carry the one, simplify for x…. Carrot! Is it carrot?!”

Hat tip to @Pab_Roberts for drawing my attention to the lovely fact that the word karaoke is a bimoraic clipped compound of the Japanese kara 空 “empty” and ōkesutora オーケストラ “orchestra”. We had great fun, and were glad that, that night, the clocks went back in Edinburgh (and the rest of Scotland and the other countries that comprise the islands known as Britain, and Ireland, too – Ed.).

This brought my attention to the issue of sleep and fatigue, which I’m surprised to find has rarely been discussed on the blog…. Continue reading Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up →

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The Golden Lasso of Truth

August 3, 2015Comics, Healthcare, Mindfulness, Rehab, StrokeContraint-Induced Therapy, Jeremy Corbyn, Wonder Womanricky

If the Edinburgh International Festival starts in four days, then it must be the beginning of August. It’s even a nice day in Auld Reekie, as if the weather is any guide to what day time of year it is around here.

Shades in the rain? Cool! — Oh, it’s sprummtumner!

And if it’s the beginning of August, we must be approaching the third anniversary of The Event – as suggested by last week’s post. I which case, it must also be time that my mindfulness practice, in its largest sense, calls for a check-in.

[What else has been going on? Check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter to find out!]

Continue reading The Golden Lasso of Truth →

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Savaged by a Dead Sheep

June 16, 2015Books, Death, Mindfulness, RelationshipsEddie Mair, Julian Barnes, Robert Pestonricky

During the past couple of weeks, for no particular reason, I’ve found myself relating to a number of different people – independently – the experience that Longsufferinggirlfriendoftheblogeth and I had at Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief’s death cafe not long after we moved to Edinburgh.

Scott Norwood relives Superbowl XXV — Oh, good grief.

Continue reading Savaged by a Dead Sheep →

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Free Fries Here!

May 11, 2015Edinburgh, Mindfulness, Nerd Bait, Podcasts, Pop Music, ScienceDavid Hume, free will, The Atlanticricky

Nerd Bait’s Prof Paul pointed me to an interesting article the other day. But before we get to that, here’s a track he wrote that has apparently been generating a lot of hits in Japan:

We’re not entirely sure whether this is because we’re getting hits from real people, or a Japanese robot. Nor are we quite sure which which would be cooler. (Spoiler: the answer’s at the bottom of the page….)

Anyway, about that article from The Atlantic… Continue reading Free Fries Here! →

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Brain of Mutilation

January 19, 2015Books, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Science, StrokeBrain of Forgetting, Iron Maiden, multitasking, neurosciencericky

I’m back in uni for the second semester (well, trimester) of the 2014-15 academic year.

Well, there’s an opening line to strike excitement into the hearts of men. Didn’t they say in first semester to start a flash piece strongly? Yep. So, if you’re looking for that sort of thing, please think about checking out my piece in the first issue of the new international journal of English-language poetry and short fiction, Brain of Forgetting.

I shouldn’t have been able to see Glen Coe from Brooklyn. It’s thirty-two hundred miles. Yet the last thing I saw was a cairn.

And this, too. — Kurt sez, “This is how you do it: ‘All this happened, more or less.'”

You can pick up a free digital edition of Brain of Forgetting #1: Stones here. It’s a good-looking, 106-page book that’s also available in hard copy. Continue reading Brain of Mutilation →

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It’s Been a Great Year…

December 29, 2014Mindfulness, Relationships, Sci-fiBlack Mirror, Conscious Uncoupling, Facebookricky

As we journey through the winter solstice festivals, it’s a time for reflection. My pal Andy likes to use Shabbat as a weekly milestone to gauge (and possibly adjust) his trajectory, noting that it’s a bite-sized amount of time that lends itself to this kind of exercise.

Passing from one calendar year to the next lends itself to a similar exercise, but taking a view of longer cycles. Having passed solstice, while dawn is staying at roughly the same time in Edinburgh, we’re slowing digging out from absurdly early sunsets and striking out towards the long evenings of summer. This is to say, I’m looking forward to packing up 2014 and embarking on 2015.

Charlton polishes his persona for the US market — “Thank you for watching. Now go away.”

[Though, not until you’ve subscribed to the apoplectic Tiny Letter here.]

Continue reading It’s Been a Great Year… →

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Apoplectic Me

the scribblings of a bloke who had a stroke…

Category Archives: Mindfulness

Intermission

2016 AD – Welcome to the Future

Lies, Lies, Lies, Pt. 2

Lies, Lies, Lies – Pt. I

Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up

The Golden Lasso of Truth

Savaged by a Dead Sheep

Free Fries Here!

Brain of Mutilation

It’s Been a Great Year…