Alaska in June

During WWII, my father was stationed in the the Aleutian Islands. When boarding the troop ship, the lieutenant gave a talk on ship safety, lifeboats and how to use a life vest. One wise guy private asked, "So how long with his life preserver keep me afloat?"

The Lt. replied, "Long enough to find your frozen body."

and I'd join you, but during that time, my wife and I will be on a river cruise in Europe. sorry.

Andrew

Andrew,

My Dad was on Umnak. Send me your Dad's unit info - to my email. If you are interested, I have some info on that time.

Did the trip 2 years ago. Experience of a lifetime. My favorite part was helicopter to the top of a Glacier. [and the food on the boat 😱]

My father was a staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps in WWII. Among his duties was processing orders for newly trained fighter pilots -- and also notarizing their wills. One of the pilots returned to the training base after an assignment in the Aleutians. He said he thought he lucked out when he got his orders to Alaska instead of Europe. But said they probably lost as many pilots to fog as they would have lost in combat.

You meant Summer Solstice, of course. I very much enjoyed Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union and would like to visit all the places he writes about someday. I suppose that with the retreat of the glaciers and the recent approval of oil & gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it's a good idea to visit sooner rather than later. Any extra funds this year are going towards getting a hole drilled in my head (have you heard that excuse before?). Coincidentally, my sister is on her way to Antarctica as we speak to check out the places and things I wrote about in Thaw's Hammer.

Here's what I was thinking:

/youtu.be/XGZ0K5Rpacw

It's for deep brain stimulation for essential tremor. I'll have a battery pack installed too.

Tall One,

I remember you mentioning your essential tremor before, either here on the forum or in an email. I assumed that the hole in your head thing had something to do with that. Hope it helps.

I'm a little disappointed that nobody complained about my trepidation/trepanation semi-pun. It ought to be something of a groaner.

PDA-
You always make me laugh - and it was a clever play on words. I should have started with an LOL. BTW - Pi is an interesting movie, as most of Daniel Aronofsky's movies are. I seem to be the sole fan of "Mother!"

Garyi- You got that right! I will be fully awake. They use a local on the skull, but because the brain has no pain neurons, one feels nothing when they insert the wire. They actually do expect the patient to show them when they hit the right spot. It's my first step towards becoming a cyborg. PDA is way ahead of me in that regard.

Probably June. I haven't even interviewed any neurosurgeons, carpenters or electricians yet.

TA -

I got a new pair of glasses not long ago, which involved my sitting in an exam chair, looking into a machine, and answering the optometrist's repeated questions at to which line I saw in the thing was higher than the other, which was fuzzier, etc., as he accordingly made adjustments in what I was seeing, thanks to my verbal input, all to the goal of determining the best prescription for new glasses for me.

So I already have a pretty good idea of what it would be like to participate, in a similar kind of way, verbally back and forth, with a surgeon operating on my brain.

Like heck I do.

Of all the medical marvels of our age, I have often considered this one to be the most amazing of all, that one can actually become involved in one's own surgical brain repair in this extraordinary, cooperative, way. Remarkable!

So while you might understandably be approaching this experience with some trepidation (that word again), consider that it may also be offering you the extraordinary opportunity to get a glimpse and better understanding, firsthand, of just what it is that makes us conscious beings, and to be aware of our surroundings in a way that the rest of us will never experience.

And if you would like to come back later and tell us all about it, what it's like to experience one's world in this unique way, I'm sure you would have in us here a captive audience indeed.

Oh, and since we seem to be offering up well-intended videos of encouragement, consider and possibly learn from Mr. Spock's plight. (But at least you won't be having your entire brain removed!)

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWNP93ZqCoQ

In any case, absolutely the best of luck to you, and our every best wish will be with you for success!

That's Forbidden! You can Plan It.