Tag Archive for: wheelchair

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In “What’s Really Going On”, John discusses the challenges he’s been facing with his children, particularly their lack of cooperation

He shares the stress and difficulty he experiences in trying to handle this situation, about the frustration of dealing with his son’s behavior and the impact it has on their daily routines. He expresses his hope for a resolution and mentions that it’s the 30th episode of his podcast this year.

The episode discusses various topics, including John’s family life, his children’s behavior, his creative work with Hoppin Hot Sauce, and his experiences at a drum and bass show.

Forming a rock band

What I meant when I said that the fans of What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast could change the course of history is that there’s enough of them to form a rock band

Coffee Annual Deep Cleaning

We took the coffee machine in to get serviced

Pile of Sticks

All of my walking sticks are bent or otherwise unusable and I have them in a pile in the corner. I called in the warranty for one of them, and the replacement will come on Monday.

Drum and bass

I went to the drum and bass show at the Golden Gate Park Bandshell in my wheelchair

Submission

Kind of a milestone: I submitted poetry to ten publications. It’s probably just the beginning.

Hot Sauce

Hoppin Hot Sauce Original Flavor
Check Out Hoppin Hot Sauce On Amazon

Making a new production of Hoppin Hot Sauce, getting everything ready

What’s really going on

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My son is driving me wild, and my daughter is watching and learning

John discusses the challenges he’s been facing with his children, their lack of cooperation in doing homework. He shares the stress and difficulty he experiences in trying to handle this situation, and the frustration of dealing with their behavior and the impact it has on their daily routines. He expresses his hope for resolution and a good night’s sleep.

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A Range Of Subjects

We’re paid through the year

In this podcast episode, John shares personal anecdotes, music interests, and his challenges due to multiple sclerosis. He discusses social experiences, urban planning, wheelchair tennis, and efforts to improve mobility. The episode offers insights into his life and diverse interests.

My wife reminded me of the time I got nervous with her family and I said that jujubees give you “copious fecal matter”

Music Rundown

New adds:

Gabor szabo bacchanal – 1969 psychedelic apocalypse world music guitar centric 

Dad gave it to me

Zum Vol 15: indie experimental playlist from George Chen
sick thoughts on total punk records

This got me into the KBD scene – here is the Wikipedia page

from The Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee

Tremor Control

I’m deep diving into olivia tremor control

Will Cullen Hart has MS

The collected works book, mostly olivia tremor control covers and related ephemera

‘Jazz’ alone will do

Renaming jazz CD genres into just jazz from contemporary jazz, jazz fusion, hard bop, or whatever

Not always social

Being social is hard bc its hard to be social

Baby’s in the corner

I went to my Mom’s birthday and everyone stood around and it wasn’t the right place to hang out

I got out of there and went to a table in the corner of the room

The party was crowded but nobody sat next to me and I received people like the pope. trying hard to recognize them after not seeing them for many years. It was ok. I chose a seat that was very close to the stage.

2.5 Ft/Sec

Read a piece in the times about urban planning for senior citizens

Stir Crazy

hard to get a round

trying not to go nuts

Burning Man attendees got to go home, when will I get to leave

Wheelchair Tennis

Watched the wheelchair us open tennis, Spaargaren NED v Fernandez ARG

Liberation

CALLED the mobility people TO GET THE LIFT GOING

We set an installation date for October 10

Choking on food

Had one of John’s friends for dinner and they ate seconds and thirds, then everything was gone and it was gratifying. Ground beef tomato pasta

Then I coughed on some Watermelon covered with tajin. “This is normal”, John told his friend. I guess it is. I felt bad for him.

AI Cooking School

AI Hoppin Hot Sauce food photographs are impressively strange

Challenging Juju

1919 market warehouse party spot is still for sale 20 years later

For the nth time

last day of summer at the jelly belly factory cover

Welcome to “Last day of summer at the Jelly Belly factory” on What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast. I asked my artificial intelligence tool what this episode was about, and it summarized it thusly:

The main idea of this episode is a stream of consciousness narrative where you share updates on various topics, including your experiences visiting a Jelly Belly factory, your interest in music, your thoughts on different sayings and maxims, an accident where you hit your head and had to get staples, and some personal reflections and anecdotes. The episode covers a range of topics and thoughts that are currently on your mind.

Without further ado…

Reggae bible study

Have you been studying your reggae bible? I haven’t, but on Dj Robert Rankin’s Solid Foundation reggae show I heard the lyric, “The race is not for the swift, but who can endure.” I googled it, and it’s from the Bible, a riff on Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 11.

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9.11

This could relate to people in wheelchairs, who aren’t very fast, but who have the strength to endure what is happening to them.

Hotter than rats in a sack

The family went to Fairfield and Suisun City for the kids’ last day of summer break. It was 98 degrees in Fairfield, but the Jelly Belly factory was climate-controlled.

Afterwards, we went to Retroactive Records and Games in Suisun City.

More Maxims

Mean what you say and say what you mean.
Those who say don’t know, and those who know don’t say.
Smile now, cry later.

Pile it up high

They put me on a medication that causes drowsiness and I’m like add it to the pile. Thankfuilly, that was last week and now I’m off it. Meanwhile, I am working on reordering the shoes in my correct size, but its not exactly going smoothly.

To top it off, my AFO brace is still broken and tough to walk in. Trying to get up, I fell and hit my head and cut myself. After some cajoling, I went to the ER and got four staples. I admit that I’m glad I did. Next week, I’ll go in to the office and get them removed.

New music adds

Looking over the list, I can see that this week’s music run-down is guaranteed to freak out the squares. Nine Inch Nails do soundtracks, Portishead stepped on a Lego, Gravy Train go up-market, and extreme hardcore vocal interplay – this week’s music adds have a little bit of something for everybody. Don’t let your life go silent.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Original Score) by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Enemy of Love by The Body & OAA

No Jack Swing by Brontez Purnell

CHOKE! SPLIT by XGRIFOX

This Week’s Selfie

last day of summer at the jelly belly factory selfie
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Video podcasting

In “Security Shirt,” I’m experimenting with creating a video version of this podcast. With video, it’s proof. I’m going to focus on trying to make movies, then seeing if I can integrate them into the podcast

Shout outs

  • Shout outs to Wylie
  • Shout outs to the Sandman who wrote Jack Tar & I about a live Buddy Guy concert on TV yesterday

Reframing

  • Thinking back to “Hit My Head On The Bed,” maybe I should get a bed frame with posts or other hardware on the bottom so I can hang on to that – because there isn’t anything to grab on to at the lower end of the bed.

Sao Ichikawa wins Akutagawa Prize

Photo/Illutration
Sao Ichikawa, the winner of the Akutagawa Prize, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on July 19. (Takuya Isayama)

Security Shirt Movie

  • Security Shirt story – “a man is blocking the stairwell”

AFO drama

  • My AFO brace has come unglued again
  • I’m falling a lot, getting bruises, and taking lots of ibuprofen

Thor Raining Down Lightning

  • Trigeminal neuralgia was like lightning coming through the clouds. The clouds came from the carbamazepam and gabapentin I was on at the time. But then the lightning of trigeminal neuralgia in electrical nerve disease was like being in an area where there are lightning storms. The lightning is pretty unpredictable and there are mostly clouds, but once in a while the lightning strikes or there can be a lightning storm that breaks out and there are many, many electrical strikes. It causes a lot of anxiety because of how unpredictable it is. And having gone through many many of those lightning storms, I am kind of traumatized. I am on the same medication today and under more or less the same clouds. But there is no lightning when there is any feeling at all it is very muted. But like I said I’m traumatized. I’m anxious and I’m fearful. I have to recognize that

Easier dressing

  • Relaxed fit clothes fit my AFO easier but they are going top be a change for my wardrobe

From the Corrections Desk

  • Correction from my wife. We didn’t use carvana that we use CarMax. The same one we use the last time

Smoke Signals

  • Burping after eating Taco Bell vegetables tastes like cigarettes
  • I was about to tell this lady at National Mobility and Seating right when the guy told me I was at the wrong place and he was behind the window at first so I didn’t see him
  • My wife was relieved

On The Beat

  • I saw Kerry in the park at 8:30 a.m. trying to do what he can for as long as he can

Frank Fat’s

Revenge Against All Odds

  • Crippled Masters. One with no legs, the other no arms.
  • Disabled self-representation in a martial arts film.
  • An avant garde film.
  • Ended with no falling action

This Week’s Selfie

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With my wheelchair
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Welcome to “New Van” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

In this episode, I get a new van that accommodates a chair lift, host a friend from out of town, and start to plan the heavy metal concert at my burial.

News Smash

Shout outs

Custom Hoppin Hot Sauce vans
Sand Man’s idea
  • Shout out to Rocky and the Sand Man

Burial Music

Terrible Cemetery cover
Terrible Cemetery
  • A terrible cemetery would have no benches
  • Metal changes tempo
  • You can only slam dance to it
  • The dancing people stay away
  • You can’t dance to it
  • Nami replied, “and maybe that’s the point.” A metal thing to say

No Police Escort

  • little league baseball season was a disaster
  • The police escort didn’t show up and the parade was canceled
  • In the middle the A’s decided to move to Vegas

Visitor

  • Buddy came from out of town

New van

New van
New car smell
  • They picked up the old van for donation
  • We purchased a 2020 Toyota Sienna.
  • Its coming on Saturday

Pick Me Up

AL6000
  • Finally, we are going to get a wheelchair lift in the trunk.
  • I am trying not to get too excited

On The Contrary

Clean - Crisp - Clear
  • Admittedly, I can be a contrarian, so when KFJC got a little too carried away playing an all-vinyl marathon that extended to almost a week, I proposed an all compact-disc marathon, called The Plastication.

This week’s selfie:

new van selfiae
New Van selfie
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Welcome to “Air Time” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

Across the street they had that place with Coffee & Tea, remember that? It was coffee with a black tea bag in it.

Best Sauce In The World

Stay For The Selfies

  • Surf it on over to Subscribe page and never miss an episode
  • Makes No Sense: Is the plural of selfie also selfie?

Air Time

  • KFJC radio is an outlet for neurodiverse people and people with speaking differences and it has been that way for a long time
  • Shout outs to the people who download every episode
  • Watching the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony on ESPN
  • Disabled people can be hard to organize
  • I’m glad they got airtime

New glasses

air time glasses
  • Went to Costco and got new prescription & frames
  • I made Chili with chile de arbol in it

Good For Ex-New Yorkers

Paralyze my muscles

  • I went To the doctor to get botox
  • Botox is cosmetic but also relieves tension, llike spasticity caused by MS

I was embarrassed by my parents too

  • John was embarrassed to have me drop him at camp in my wheelchair

Salad is healthy

  • The internet thinks franks and beans are healthy

Pox on our house

  • Koko has Covid

Sellout

  • Rollins plays with the Rolling Stones, uncredited, on Tattoo You

Don’t know how

  • I need to sell my car

Early fall

This week’s selfie

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Hanging in there
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Welcome to “Burnin’” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

In this episode, I’m still recovering from my last rhizotomy procedure, managing to get to get new footwear, and get out to a show in my wheelchair

Burn Victim

  • Chemical Burns melt your flesh.
  • I have 5 Burns about as big as a dime each.
  • I am using Medihoney, and I was initially confused by the name

They Look Like Sneakers

  • I got new shoes to wear when I’m on my wheelchair. For the past couple of years I’ve been using Minnetonka
  • I’m switching to white Vans slip-ons

Tiitration Blues

  • I am scared that if I reduce medication that the pain will come back.
  • But I need to reduce the medication so I can enjoy my life.

William Parker’s New Heart Trio

  • I rode my wheelchair to see the bassist William Parker (71) at the chapel
  • In the New Heart tTio with William Hooker (76) and Isaiah Collier (23)
  • My buddy Joe was the driver

Titration Blues, Pt. 2

  • I reduced my medication and the pain came back in the night

Parting Shots

  • I need a new butt cushion for my wheelchair
  • My son is at home because he has Covid
  • Max Headroom was a guy wearing a mask

This week’s selfie

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Burnin’
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Welcome to “Rolling Around The TL” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

Lots of people use wheelchairs in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, a pretty rough area between Union Square and Civic Center

Shout outs

  • Shout outs to rocky
    • she’s listened to every episode
  • Shout outs to the people listening through the past episodes
  • Send me a n email via the contact form and I will give you a shout out that is quite possibly the best one you’ve ever received and the maybe best that you ever WILL receive

Dad Butt

  • Dad butt-dialed me again

Travels by wheelchair

RF Rhizotomy Number 2

  • Had trigeminal neuralgia face pain 5am Wednesday morning & had more drugs,, surgery one day away
  • I had surgery and have been clear from major pain since then. But I am still on pain drugs.
  • My nose has triggered some zaps but they are lesser in intensity than they had been, with the caveat I’m still on some medication

I Can Go Down

  • My AFO brace is broken and it’s very hard to walk.
  • I have to walk all on my heel, and if I put my weight on the outside of my foot or on the front Of my foot I can go down.

Rolling Around The TL

ride in rotary park
  • I went to the deerhoof show in my wheelchair
  • Rolling in the TL, I saw a lot of wheelchairs, but mine was the only one that was electric
  • We ate at Osha Thai which was accessible, a blast from the past, and sadly due for an upgrade
  • We got into the car after midnite- Rock & Roll!
  • I called ahead to the Great American to let them know I’d be coming in my chair, they reserved me a table behind a pillar against the wall. It had poor visibility, but decent sound
  • I started focusing on the audience. Nowadays people wear their pants wider and hemmed higher

This Week’s Selfie

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Rolling Around The TL Selfie

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Welcome to “Multiplex and Talent Show” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

This week, I used my wheelchair to go to the multiplex in Dublin and the talent show in the auditorium at my children’s elementary school. The movie we saw was “Inside” with Willem Dafoe and the elementary school talent show had a few truly bizarre, fun memorable moments.. Using my wheelchair made it possible.

Spicy Nut and Pretzel Mix

  • Whipped up the David Lebovitz snack mix because our dinner guest brought an extra pie. I think you could say it was burnt, but it’s still so addictive that it didn’t matter – it all gets eaten every time

Welcome in

Big Blood

At the Multiplex

  • I went to the Regal Hacienda Crossing Spaceport in Dublin. It is a multiplex at an outdoor mall
  • Shout out to Anjela the hair-cutter who told me she went to movies there when she was in high school
  • I went with Nami to the movie in my wheelchair. I like going to the multiplex in a wheelchair because multiplexes are big and huge and I don’t know if I’d be able to make it otherwise
  • We saw the movie Inside with William Defoe
  • It’s about an art burglar who gets trapped inside a smart house which more-or-less tortures him and features the destruction of millions of dollars worth of of art and furniture.

Kids Got Talent

  • I went to the children’s talent show in my wheelchair, but beforehand i emailed ahead of time to ask if they would save a space for me, which was no problem. they saved a space for me at the front of the room and a really sweet girl wearing a tap outfit helped me to get settled
  • There were great embarrassing song and dance routines, solo Hamilton, martial arts, gymnastic cartwheels I & II, Water Under The Bridge interpretive dances and SO much more. It was more interesting than I thought it would be.
  • My son told me he had a crush on a girl who did a gymnastic routine. When his mom asked why, he said it was because she “ran really fast”
  • “A pint is a pound the world around”
Indie rockers weigh in

Only one thing left

  • subscribe to the whatsthematterwithme podcast and you’ll get a very fancy nice email version of the podcast every time a new episode comes out its very handsome be sure to click subscribe right at the top of the page, just a name and your email is all we need to get goin and then youll always get the selfie

This Week’s Selfie

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In the studio
I Got My Teeth Back cover

Welcome to “I Got My Teeth Back” on the What’s The Matter With Me? Podcast

I went to the dentist, and he attached some teeth to the posts the periodontist implanted in my jaw. It’s been almost two years since I had buck teeth in my mouth, and it is a big change. I made a lot of squash soup, adapting the method for one hand, and I’ve included the recipe in this post.

Shout outs

  • Shout outs to Klaudhopper, who asked about Hoppin Hot Sauce stickers
  • Shout outs to Tall John who called me up after I tweeted about not going to Japan

Teeth

teeth

These are the images I gave to the lab that fabricated my new teeth when they asked for pictures of what my old teeth used to look like.

teeth 2

Goes By Cam

  • Scam Likely probably goes by Cam
  • He calls everyone and no one takes his calls, on the answering machine he’s like hey it’s me, Cam- Cam Likely

Brain Lesions & Disease Progression

Slow

  • I had infusion which is a really long slow injection

Roasted Squash Soup

Recipe by John Hoppin

Roasting winter squashes face up concentrates flavor, and using convection during the roast increases tasty browning reactions. Using an immersion blender makes it easier to puree using only one hand. We eat leftovers for lunch with a grilled cheese sandwich and Hoppin Hot Sauce.

Servings
8 Servings

Cooking Time
75 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3lbs winter squash, cut in half, seeds taken out
  • 4T unsalted butter
  • Yellow onion, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 4 cups stock

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F {or 325 if using convection).
  2. Roast pumpkins until easily pierced with a fork, at least 1 hour. Let cool, then scoop out the flesh.
  3. Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and once it is foamy, add the onion. Cook 5 minutes until soft.
  4. Stir nutmeg & cinnamon into the onions. When the smell permeates the room, add the stock.
  5. Add squash flesh, bring to a good simmer, stirring.
  6. Remove from heat. Leave to steam for a couple of minutes.
  7. Puree thoroughly with the immersion blender, using a stirring motion. Be extra-thorough to find any chunks of squash or onion that may be hiding under the surface.. It should be thick. I don’t do any extra sieving, so I want to take my time and be sure it is well-pureed.
  8. Add maple syrup, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sonny At Rikers

  • Sonny Rollins got 1-3 years for having a gun. He was searched without cause. In 1952 he was at Riker’s Island. He arranged hymns for a hip chaplain at the Protestant Mission House, and he was paroled September 11, 1952

Theme Song

  • The theme song candidate for this month is less jazz & more industrial
  • I am considering whether it might have lyrics, maybe it’ll sing the intro part

Tiny Tooth Wrench

When they reattached them, the radio played Lionel Richie’s 80-s smash hit “Hello”. Neither the dentist nor his assistant knew the song. Turned out that the dentist was born in 1987.

teeth 2
  • The dentist used a little mini Allen wrench to attach them to the bases. there was pressure, it made my eyes water
  • I have teeth now, so I ate Ramen and spaghetti for the first time since my bridge broke and took my front teeth with it in August 2021

My Gumbo History

  • Cousin Emily came over for gumbo on Saturday
  • I made gumbo at the Rockridge Fish in Market Hall in 2003-4

Last night for dinner

  • i made red sauce italian sausage with leeks

This Week’s Selfie

I Got My Teeth Back Selfie
I Got My Teeth Back