Catch up on my vinyl countdown (blog version)

Below are some links and excerpts from stories I wrote about my new status at AL.com

It’s all good. Really good.

Bottom line: I’m now going to be writing full time as a columnist. Here’s part of what I wrote and published  on AL.com Friday.

A little over a year ago I wrote a column that pulled out the tried and true trope: I have some good news and bad news.

My ‘good’ news was that despite what I had previously announced in a column, I did not have Parkinson’s disease after all.  I did not have that dreadful brain degenerating disease that left Muhammed “The Louisville Lip” Ali speechless, and makes Michael J. Fox shake and tremble like he has just been pulled out of an ice fishing hole.

I didn’t have it. But I had something else.

There was that word ‘but.’

Oliver listening to and writing about one of his 678 vinyl records stored on bottom shelf. Despite a degenerative brain disease, he vows to review them all. (Mike Oliver).

My wife, Catherine, scolds me when I use the word ‘but’ after a declarative clause. “When you say ‘but,'”she says, “You are negating everything you said in the first part of the sentence.”

But, but, but  … I argue. (I always argue semantics).

But it’s true in this case. Not having Parkinson’s was NOT good news. I was misdiagnosed (not uncommon). I didn’t have Parkinson’s; I had Lewy Body dementia, which in general leaves its patients with a shortened lifespan. The average lifespan after diagnosis is five to seven years, usually much shorter than the lifespan expected after an Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diagnosis.

I was diagnosed about 18 months ago at age 56. So, I have a little time, I think.

For more go to this link :

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/i_am_a_writer_with_a_brain_dis.html

Today I wrote more specifically (to theAl.com audience ) about my  countdown and record review:.

So I’ve told you earlier I was going to be doing more writings on AL.com, and some of it will relate to the countdown of my vinyl records.

I have vowed in my blog that I will count down my collection of 678 vinyl records before I succumb to a degenerative brain disease called  Lewy Body dementia.

I’m 58 now and it appears I have enough records to last me about two years, although I am feeling deadline pressure.

You can  read that story here:

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/catch_up_to_my_vinyl_countdown.html

It gives my blog an exponentially larger audience. And  that’s good.

Keep reading my blog and  be on the watch for other columns at AL.com