The Serenity Prayer:

"God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things that I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference."

I don't believe in God, but I do believe in this prayer. It's one of the only things that I got from 12-step meetings that ever really helped me. Even though I haven't been to a meeting in years, I still find myself repeating these words by rote whenever I'm in a moment of crisis, like during turbulance on an airplace. I've found myself repeating those words ever since I got out of surgery today.

The pain is manageable. It's more the uncomfortableness of my throat, which I'll explain later, when I have the concentration to be able to do so.

I actually managed not to forget about Wally before posting today's blog. Here he is from about a year ago, when we hiked to the top of Echo Mountain via the Sam Merrill trail in Pasadena. There are ruins from the late 1800s where an expensive hotel once stood, that burned to the ground only about 10 years later.


The song for the day is "Into the Groove" by Madonna. Those who know me will be surprised by this pick. I was never much of a Madonna fan. I didn't appreciate her until the 80s were long gone, but this is one of her songs that I've always liked. It hails from her 1987 album, "You Can Dance," and I believe it was her 5th LP release. I'll tell you, I had absolutely no idea when I heard her back then that she would become the performer she is today. I saw her as a flash in the pan. But it's no surprise that she DID succeed. She became somewhat of an inspiration of young girls, could dance like hell, and actually wrote much of her own music, unlike other manufactured pop artists of the day. She also pushed the envelope every chance she got. Obviously, I never would have made a decent record rep. I would have signed a bunch of bands who had single hits, and passed on acts with staying power like Madonna.