Hospital Notes #3

Hospital Notes #3

The worst time for me in this hospital stay, is the nights.  My sleep patterns are all screwed up.  I sleep in the afternoon and agonizingly ponder, at night how to fall asleep.  At night I try counting but I can’t do it.  I get to about ten and my mind fills with other thoughts.  I wish these thoughts were solving a problem like Einstein dealing with a physics problem.  But my mind is occupied merely minutiae.

I pass the time on my phone which surely is contributing to my sleep problems.  I spend time reading ebooks I have on my phone, listening to music I have stored on my phone, looking at X, reading articles on Feedly, using prayer apps and watching YouTube videos.

On YouTube, I’ve watched Marshal McLuhan videos, video of 1969 and 1970 US college football games, and rock videos.  McLuhan is hard to understand.  Still, he had wise things to say on a lot of topics.  But it’s hard to pin down his framework of thought, to put him in a nutshell.  I think like Chesterton, he saw the paradoxes of existence.  For instance, he talked about how the new mediums used nostalgia.  For example, on YouTube, I watch old 60s and 70s NFL highlights.  I can’t be bothered to watch any highlights from the 80s and beyond.  

The 1969 and 1970 broadcast videos of Texas against Arkansas and Arkansas against Mississippi were fascinating to watch.  The equipment the players wore was different than you would see today: maybe not high tech or over elaborate, but still classic in design.  The uniforms the players wear today are gawdy and ugly in comparison.  The shots of the spectators show them dressed in a civilized manner.  There were no images of sixty year old adult children wearing the jersey of their favorite player like you would see today.  

I watched old footage of this band MC5 performing at a college field near a freeway.  The band rocked with fabulous gestures that would put current generations of bands to shame.  But their performance ultimately was barbaric.  The cultural rot was there so many years ago.