Cough medicine with codeine it is, young Padawan!

So I finally went to the walk-in clinic (and only got in by the skin of my teeth as they weren't accepting any more patients at that time. Fortunately for me someone else canceled.)

Basically my coughing was driving me crazy. I couldn't really sleep, because of the BWH (Body-Wracking-Hacking.) And the more tired the worse it would get. I was getting headaches from coughing so hard. I went to the first half of my Restorative Justice class Saturday morning (Juliet made the mistake of sitting next to me... sorry!) but then left at the break because I just couldn't handle it. When I wasn't coughing I was desperately trying not to cough. I headed down to the cityplace clinic, but it was closed. (Anticipating a wait, I'd stopped at a bookstore and tried to decide between Brian McLaren's Generous Orthodoxy and a graphic novel, but then I realized I'd forgotten my wallet.) So then I walked home. Later in the day Melissa's family came in for her father's birthday dinner (we got him Stargate DVDs) and they gave us a ride to the St. James clinic. The doctor said I had a mild fever and that three weeks was too long for a cold to last, so she prescribed me antibiotics and cough medicine with codeine in it.

It's good. It's helping. The coughing is reduced, though it hasn't disappeared entirely. But I feel less tense. I was able to sleep fairly peacefully for awhile so far tonight.

Anyways, I'm skipping all sorts of story details, like going glow-bowling with The Youth, and having George growl at me because A) he didn't realize that I was home and B) he'd never heard a pile of blankets start coughing. Amalia kindly offered to give me rides to the clinics of my choice, etc. (thank you!) And Melissa has been treating me with great compassion. Oh, and my Restorative Justice project has been given an extension - we all get an extra week, since now our prof does not have to go defend her thesis until after the term is over. Which is very good, since my whole world has been largely defined by coughing/not coughing of late. I've done some research but I remember almost nothing.

After meeting with the wonderful, wonderful doctor, I rented some DVDs, because I foresee much codeine-induced laying around and slacking. I picked: Star Wars Clone Wars volume 1 ; Ghost in the Shell Stand-Alone Complex volumes 1 and 2 ; The Magnificent Seven (I've seen The Seven Samurai approximately seven jillion times so I thought I should move on); Blade II and Blade Trinity. So, yeah, the plan was: Dumb action movies (Kris Kristofferson: "We're in some kinda chamber, deep within their lair!") that require a minimum of concentration.

I'd heard that the animated Clone Wars, made by the magnificient Genndy Tartakovsky, was far, far better than all three Star Wars prequels combined, and now that I've watched the first volume, I must say: Yes. Yes. I suggest all of George Lucas' resources be given to Tartakovsky to do with as he sees fit. Lucas will whine and complain, but he's had several second chances. Mr. Tartakovsky will just coolly reply: "Looks like there's no money for you, crazy round man!"

A thought which occurred to me long ago and which has reappeared is that Master Yoda's peculiar way of speaking ("Verbs at the end they must go!") is awfully close to the grammatical structure of Japanese. My guess is that it's meant to convey the idea of a wizened Asian Zen master who speaks broken English. While that's all fine and good, Lucas has some fairly insulting stereotypes in the prequels: Jar-Jar Binks as a clueless dreadlocked Jamaican and the Trade Federation commanders as technocratic Japanese executives. Plus I thought the portrayal of the cigar-chomping junk-yard dealer Watto was... questionable. Most artists use pre-set archetypes to save time. But there's always the chance those will tip over into stereotypes.

One entertaining thought came with the segment featuring two green-skinned Jedi women (a teacher and student) talking about blades and crystals and sacred ground. They were in a temple of some sort, and the context seemed to hint that, among the Jedi there are a plurality of traditions. That is to say, some live in temples and talk about sacred ground ; others meditate on tatami mats ; some are secularists who chalk it all up to metachlorians in the bloodstream. Now, I'm reading way too much into this, but after reading parts of Returning To The Teachings I have been reminded of the overlaps between aboriginal and Christian spirituality (if not always in theology, then sometimes in practice). This is also something I've noticed in practicing karate and learning about Asian traditions. So it's a pleasing, if trite, thought to imagine Jedi Knights arising from different religious denominations and spiritualities. The evil Sith seem more monolithic. This seems to be a theme that appears in The Lord of the Rings: The Free Peoples consist of a plurality of races who have to work together with some tension, while the evil forces are united under one iron rule.

But I've rambled on long enough. It's time to try sleeping again, thanks to sweet, sweet metachlorians. I mean, uh, codeine.