Groundhog Day, reconsidered

There’s a classic movie called Groundhog Day that I’m sure you’ve seen. With Groundhog Day fast approaching (have you done your Groundhog Day shopping?) I thought that the movie was worth another look.

You probably know the story, but forgive me if I recapitulate: In the movie, Bill Murray plays a vain, ego-maniacal weatherman stuck in Punxsutawney, PA after their traditional Groundhog Day festival (due to inclement weather that he failed to predict). He is somewhere he doesn’t want to be, surrounded by people he doesn’t like and doesn’t want to get to know. I’m sure we can all relate to that.

But here’s the plot’s main gimmick: He goes to sleep on the night of February Second and wakes up the next morning…on February Second. He has all of Groundhog Day, which for him was fairly miserable the first time, to live over again.

And every morning thereafter, it’s still Groundhog Day. Every morning he wakes up and it’s February Second. Every day he has to see the same people, live through the same events, face the same blizzard that keeps him in Punxsutawney forever and/or a day.

His reaction is predictable, and predictably narcissistic. He can only define what’s happening to him in terms of how it affects him. Eventually he realizes that his actions will have no long-term consequences…he can do whatever he likes and never have to face the end results of said actions. As he puts it, “I am God…well, a god.”

But these “god-like” abilities aren’t enough for long, as he comes to realize that there are some things that he just can’t have no matter how many times he reaches for them. He becomes suicidal, and tries various creative ways to end his life. Without success…every morning still wakes up in the same bed to the same song playing on the radio (I got You, Babe by Sonny & Cher) in a town where the weather is always the same (miserable), the people are all the same (boring), the theater is always playing the same movie (Heidi) and the TV station runs the same episode of Jeopardy for all eternity.

Then one February Second he stumbles over a homeless man he’s been stumbling over for months (years?) of February Seconds and hardly noticing, and he buys him a meal. When the homeless man later dies he assumes the responsibility of saving the man’s life.

He can’t. No matter what he does, no matter how hard or how often he tries, the old man dies on February second.

As he comes to realize that there are some things that he cannot do, he starts to focus his life toward changing the things that he can. There are other lives that can be saved in Punxsutawney, other people that he can help in many different ways. And that’s where his life begins to change, though stuck seemingly forever on the second day of February.

This is when he makes what I think is his greatest discovery; that learning is his salvation, that learning will never be repetitive if he never stops learning. Every day becomes a new challenge, even when it’s all the same day.

He begins to improve himself. He makes use of the city’s library and becomes a voracious reader. He takes a piano lesson…the same lesson every day, but starting from a slightly more advanced position each time. Eventually he becomes a good jazz pianist. (I can only speculate how long that took; certainly years of February Seconds.)

And for years of February Seconds, he gave of himself to the community that he could never leave. Whenever a life was in danger, he was there. Whenever anyone needed help, with a flat tire or a personal crisis, he was there.  As often as necessary, because tomorrow they’d face the same difficulties, the same crises, and the one man who knew it would always happen would be the only man that could help.

He didn’t do it for personal gain, since any gain or recognition would never carry over to the next day because, in his world, there really wasn’t a next day. I remember him berating one boy he’d just saved (for the x-thousandth time) saying “You have never thanked me!”

He wasn’t doing it to be thanked. He was doing it just to do it. To make a difference in someone's life even if that person would never remember what he had done for them.

And eventually he came to a February Second that was perfect. He’d helped as many people as he could, saved as many lives as he could, made as many friends as he could, and managed to win the heart of a woman who, on February First, had hated his guts. And when he woke up the next morning, it really was the next morning—February Third—and he was in the arms of that woman.

(Please forgive me if my memory of the film is inaccurate in spots; it's been years since I've watched it.)

OK, so what have we learned?

Well, you should have learned that your life cannot advance unless you advance. Or something.

I was due to be born on Groundhog Day, but I was born the day after. (The joke I’ve always told is that I poked my head out, saw my shadow and went back in.) In recent years, this has not been a happy time for me; my late mother’s birthday has just passed, my late brother died at the end of January and his funeral was on a February Second. I haven’t felt like celebrating my birthday for years; at this time of year I tend to think about death.

But I keep hoping that each year will be different, that I will see life in the middle of winter, that I will be able to do something other than mourn for what I have lost. I think that’s why I wrote this missive about a movie that is generally regarded as not much more than a comedy, albeit a good one, and that I think deserves to be given more consideration. Perhaps I am looking for February Third to dawn with hope this year.

So did it work?

I don’t know. Ask me on February Fourth.

The Blues Viking
The thoughts expressed here are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.

The Mathematics of Diabetes

I have been trying to sleep for over an hour, and it’s just not happening. The problem is math. Or rather, I have a mathematical problem. Or rather, Meijer’s (where I fill my prescriptions) has the mathematical problem and thus I have a problem with Meijer’s.

Ok, so here’s the problem. I keep running out of insulin. Specifically, I kept running out of Lantus (one of the two types of insulin I take daily). This wasn’t such a problem when I could just go to the Allegiance Diabetes Center for another vial, which I have had to do more often than I like (blaming my own carelessness for any shortfall I experienced) but since the Diabetes Center is now closed, I am forced to rely on the Meijer’s pharmacist(s).

But being short (often way short) has been happening regularly, so for the last month I have carefully monitored my intake of insulin. What I found has not made me happy.

OK, this is where the boring math comes in, so please stay with me.

Lantus comes in 10 mL (milliliter) vials, and each mL equals 100 units per mL. I’m supposedly prescribed insulin for a 90-day period. They give me three vials at a time. 10 mL x 100 units per mL = 1,000 units per vial. With me so far?

My dosage is 36 units twice a day, or 72 units total per day. For one month I would need 72 x 30 units, or 2,160 units per month. For three months I would need 6,480 units.

I am given three vials, a total of 3,000 units.. Less than half of what I need.

Does anyone besides me see a problem with this?

In part, I am to blame. The print on the vials is too small to easily read even with my glasses, so I didn’t bother. Instead, I trusted the pharmacist(s) at Meijer’s (I’d be a bit surprised if they had more than one) to know what they’re about. But apparently they don’t.

My own damn fault for trusting a trained professional.

Tomorrow I hope to be able to get a ride to Meijer’s, where I will lay my case before them and ask for satisfaction. And if I don’t get it, I imagine they’ll hear me yelling all the way out to the Cascades.

Which, coincidentally, is very near where the Diabetes Center once served the needs of Jackson County’s growing number of diabetics—since closed for committing the unpardonable sin of not being profitable. (Heath care is, unfortunately, no longer about taking care of people’s health.)

It is to the memory of the Allegiance Diabetes Center and the service they provided that I dedicate this rant.

I’m going back to bed now.

The Blues Viking
The ideas here expressed are mine and if you don't like them you can get your own damn blog.

"Moore, Moore, Moore..."

“My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse” - Michael Moore’s actual tweet

This week filmmaker and Liberal icon Michael Moore made an unguarded and ill-thought-out comment on Twitter (alert the media…someone on Twitter made an unguarded and ill-thought-out comment!) but the content of Moore’s tweet does not (quite) support the vehemence that has been directed toward him.

I have to agree that he didn't think very far ahead, and I can't (and don't) agree with his opinions on snipers, either ethically or historically. But whether I'm on his side or not, he deserves to have his side heard. Whether it's rejected or not is another matter, and personally I think that his side sounds like bad damage control, but it deserves to be heard.

The problem with "social media" (Facebook, Twitter, Instawhateverthefuck, et al, but in this case Twitter) is that its immediacy tempts people to type without thinking about the consequences of what they're saying. I think that's what happened here; I think better impulse control would have served Moore well.

I should point out that regardless of you're opinion of Moore (or mine, for that matter) he is a brilliant filmmaker, witty and unflinching in the face of whatever foes he chooses as his targets. That he also chooses to have his opinions shaped by family tragedy is something that most of us have done. But he should learn to think a bit before he tweets. And a bit of research into what snipers actually do would not go amiss.

Over all, while what he actually said probably had to do with Kyle/American Sniper the actual tweet wasn't specific, and I'm willing to give Moore a bit of the benefit of the doubt--but he doesn't get all of it. Moore stands somewhat diminished in my eyes.

Well, he could stand to be diminished a bit.

The Blues Viking
The opinions expressed here are mine and if you don't like them you can get your own damn blog.


One more thing...Referring to the quoted text below, I object to Moore's characterization of James Earl Ray (Martin Luther King's murderer) as a "sniper". He was an assassin. 

Michael Moore's comments on his original comment: 

A lot has been said about Michael Moore's remarks about "American Sniper". I thought it might be informative to hear what Moore himself had to say about the controversy. His opinions are *his*, and not necessarily mine.- MSR

Michael Moore
January 18 at 10:14pm · 

Lots of talk about snipers this weekend (the holiday weekend of a great man, killed by a sniper), so I thought I'd weigh in with what I was raised to believe about snipers. My dad was in the First Marine Division in the South Pacific in World War II. His brother, my uncle, Lawrence Moore, was an Army paratrooper and was killed by a Japanese sniper 70 years ago next month. My dad always said, "Snipers are cowards. They don't believe in a fair fight. Like someone coming up from behind you and coldcocking you. Just isn't right. It's cowardly to shoot a person in the back. Only a coward will shoot someone who can't shoot back."

So I sent out this tweet today: https://twitter.com/mmflint/status/556914094406926336

And then I sent this: https://twitter.com/mmflint/status/556988226486169600

But Deadline Hollywood and the Hollywood Reporter turned that into stories about how I don't like Clint Eastwood's new film, "American Sniper." I didn't say a word about "American Sniper" in my tweets. 

But here's what Deadline Hollywood posted (note how they changed "snipers" to "shooters" in their headline): http://deadline.com/…/michael-moore-american-sniper-oscars…/

Hollywood Reporter has since corrected their story: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/…/michael-moore-blasts-ame…

If they wanted to know my opinion of "American Sniper" (and I have one), why not ask me?

So here's what I think about "American Sniper":

Awesome performance from Bradley Cooper. One of the best of the year. Great editing. Costumes, hair, makeup superb!
Oh... and too bad Clint gets Vietnam and Iraq confused in his storytelling. And that he has his characters calling Iraqis "savages" throughout the film. But there is also anti-war sentiment expressed in the movie. And there's a touching ending as the main character is remembered after being gunned down by a fellow American vet with PTSD who was given a gun at a gun range back home in Texas -- and then used it to kill the man who called himself the 'America Sniper'.

Also, best movie trailer and TV ads of the year. 

Most of us were taught the story of Jesse James and that the scoundrel wasn't James (who was a criminal who killed people) but rather the sniper who shot him in the back. I think most Americans don't think snipers are heroes. 

Hopefully not on this weekend when we remember that man in Memphis, Tennessee, who was killed by a sniper's bullet.