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.’
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