Private

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Photo Credit : Dayne Topkin

Yeah - you aren’t covered for public health - we’ll put you in touch with a private clinic.

See my other Commentary here.

Headspace

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Photo Credit Daniel Korpai

Until 2 weeks ago - I knew of the app - I hadn’t bothered with it. That in itself is a story.

It is now part of my morning routine.

Each Day. Every Day.

They even have a cancer module.

One of the founders is a monk called Andy Puddicombe - an Englishman that trained as a buddhist monk in his early 20s. He is my go to voice for ‘talking me down’.

You can find them here.

They have even done a deal with Netflix. NOt watched it yet (even the trailer) but it’s an interesting direction.

See all the Apps I have referenced.

Calm

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Photo Credit : Shashi Ch

Another app that I was aware of, but hadn’t tried.

So I tried it.

It didn’t bite me for the process - but I do like the ever changing library of stories. calmness, music, sounds - so I still got it for a year. Headspace is my main space though.

You can find Calm here.

See all the Apps I have referenced.

Nuance

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Photo Credit : David Boca

Yep! Not covered.

No rant. Just observation.

For my part, caught twixt the rock and the hard place. C’est la vie.

The point of writing is not to complain - but to highlight. Eligibility rules all surround the idea of someone living in a place, either as a citizen or legal permanent resident.

It actually makes sense until you realize that the small print provides an exclusion for pretty much anything.

If you don’t fit the precise rules, then you are going to pay. End of.

People often write about America and the lack of healthcare support, but the fact is every country in the world faces the same challenge.

Number of residents and citizens living in a country multiplied by however many thousands of pounds / dollars that country seems to be the average of what it takes to keep an average person healthy … and that’s your budget.

£2,000 * 65million

$3,000 * $350million

See my other Commentary here.

Mask Day

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Photo Credit : Larry Costales Apparently, when you get this kind of radiotherapy, they need to fit your head into a purpose made mask. So as I type this waiting in reception to get that done. Once it is finished … they put it in and lock my head in place - so that every time I come the head is in exactly the same place when they shout the blast at me - no target practice allowed - it’s all pre-programmed. Like this.

Photo Credit : National Cancer Institute Things I didn’t think about two weeks ago, much less knew. Funny how so much changes so quickly.

See my other Commentary here.

Nils Frahm

Photo Credit : Unknown

Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upright piano, Roland Juno-60, Rhodes piano, drum machines, and Moog Taurus.

Wikipedia Entry

An interesting aside : Nils Frahm Surprise Releases Album for Piano Day - I never knew there was such a thing as Piano Day. Apparently it is celebrated on the 88th day of the year … there being 88 keys on a piano keyboard.

See the full list of music posts here.

Health

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Photo Credit : Myriam Zilles

The U.S.A. is renowned for exorbitant healthcare - but this is not about that. We all know the story. And this isn’t about the U.S.A. It is about how we pay for this.

This is more an observation that regardless of whether you think you are covered. Really - are you sure? If you are living in a country like Canada, New Zealand, the UK - healthcare is ‘a human right’. But what kind of healthcare? And which humans? With no limits?

Again, no need to get into it - the arguments around all of this will be … are being … made in other places.

Bottom line on this story - it turns out that while I THOUGHT I was covered. Turns out that MAYBE I am not. Turns out that there are nuances in language as to how something gets interpreted and yes - of course all healthcare isn’t free. Somebody has to pay for it.

But that financial pressure is just one more thing to add to the weight of what ‘came down’ just a couple of weeks ago.

It’s all part of the journey.

I will write more later.

See my other Commentary here.

Enigma

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Enigma is a German musical project founded in 1990 by Romanian-German musician and producer Michael Cretu. Cretu had released several solo records, collaborated with various artists, and produced albums for his then-wife, German pop singer Sandra, before he conceived the idea of a new-age, worldbeat project. He recorded the first Enigma studio album, MCMXC a.D. (1990), with contributions from David Fairstein and Frank Peterson. The album remains Enigma’s biggest, helped by the international hit single, “Sadeness (Part I)”, which sold 12 million units alone. According to Cretu, the inspiration for the creation of the project came from his desire to make a kind of music that did not obey “the old rules and habits” and presented a new form of artistic expression with mystic and experimental components.

Wikipedia

More Music

See the full list of music posts here.

Why I Am Writing This.

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Photo Credit : Corrine Kutz

I’ve never been a big self promoter. I’ve never let people know what’s happening to me at every given moment. Why? Who cares? Why should they?

Maybe I am old school. I know who is my immediate circle. Who I want to share things with. That is what I do. What I am doing.

But … BUT … why am I being so public with this writing I hear you ask?

Easy! I write!

Getting things out of my head by writing is what I have always done. I am keeping a daily journal that is mine. Not published, Private. But a friend suggested to me that writing a public journal might have benefit to others. It might. I guess if just one person finds this and finds it useful - it will have helped.

So - here is that public journal. It’s all about me. I know that, because I am writing it - reflecting on my experiences and feelings - but without specifics. Public reflections on my life since receiving the news and all ‘Hidden In Plain Sight’.

At least now you know where the name and URL comes from.

I hope that someone, somewhere will find this, read it, and reap benefits. You have no idea who I am - much as I have no idea who you are … but together, we are sharing this common journey. Our experiences are likely to be different. There are no rules. But at least this way, you know you aren’t alone.

See my other commentary and observations here.

Music

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Photo Credit : Simon Noh

Someone once said it was their first love … and probably their last! I know what they mean.

There are two aspects of the Music category on this blog.

‘inspirational’ and ‘gorgeous’.

I find some of the best music really does fit into both - but the subtlety of the distinction in this case can be described as follows.

Inspirational

There is an https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/hidden-in-plain-sight/pl.u-8489sWW2oB of these songs that drive you. Hit your heart. Make you sit up and realise just how much good there is out there. Not my idea - someone mentioned to me that I should do this - quoting songs like ‘We Are The Champions’ …. I like the idea - I did not like the song suggestion.

Gorgeous

Funny, as you dive into the Headspace and Calm worlds … soft rolling tracks that are designed to relax you seem to be the 🎼 they drift towards.

Yoga/Massage businesses tend to utilise similar music that I generally reference as ‘New Age’ … a genre that I do not naturally gravitate towards. That said there are many albums I listen to that could fall into the category. Not sure that I can truly explain why some I absorb, where others I reject.

The point is that it got me to thinking. If I don’t want to fall into bland rolling ‘New Age’ music … what would I listen to?

Turns out, in my collection there are a number of artists that for me that allow the gentle passage of sounds to massage my ears. I will document them under a new category … which I have rather creatively called ‘Music’.

So far I have counted

Nils Frahm

Enigma

B-Tribe

Tangerine Dream

(Each link takes you to a new post)

Curiously, all of them have at least Germanic influence, if in fact all of the involved artists are not German. No idea why.

See the full list of all the music posts here.