TOO DRIVEN

“Driven in -- Driven to the edge

Driven out -- On the thin end of the wedge

Driven off -- By things I've never seen

Driven on -- By the road to somewhere I've never been….The road unwinds towards me

What was there is gone .

The road unwinds before me And I go riding on” Neil Peart of Rush. From the album Test for Echo


It’s amazing how therapeutic sleep really is. I ran out of Lunesta several days ago and Benadryl is inferior because you have a sense of grogginess (while Lunesta allows you to wake up “fresh as a daisy”.)
If it wasn’t for the dreadful metallic taste in my mouth, I would call Lunesta a miracle drug!

So, the accommodating secretary from the Doc’s office gave me the refill @ Walgreens and it remains to be seen if my venerable ex, MB, gets it today. I'll get it if I have to b/c I'm writing this at lunch and don't feel very good. UPDATE: It's the next day, & Lunesta didn't help only 3 hrs. of sleep.
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If you have not watched, Easy Rider (released in 1969 by Peter Fonda) you really, really should! People think that it’s a movie about motor cycle riding and drug taking, but it really isn’t. I firmly believe it’s an anti-drug movie. In a pivotal scene, Peter Fonda clutches a female statue in a New Orleans cemetery. The statue resembles the Statue of Liberty.

Peter Fonda’s mother (and Henry Fonda’s wife) committed suicide. Zoom and flash into the movie Easy Rider. Towards the end of the acid trip, when the LSD will not permit one to sleep, Peter Fonda’s character in a drug-induced plaintive sob, cries, “Mom? Mom? Why did you leave me? You left me, mother; you “copped out”; AND I HATE YOU FOR THAT!!!"

Since I rented the DVD of Easy Rider, there are bonus parts (35th Anniversary Edition DVD). He explains the immense embarrassment he later felt after they filmed that scene where he is sobbing and bemoaning his dead mother. He wanted to yank that scene out. He was persuaded by Dennis Hopper to leave it in. Dennis Hopper was pretty compelling, and he yelled just enough to finally convince Fonda. (“I’M THE DIRECTOR”, yelled Hopper). I believe had that scene been yanked as Fonda initially wanted it to be, the movie would not have won as many awards. The intense sadness of abandonment is one that millions of people feel on a daily basis.

Easy Rider was an award-winning movie at the Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated 3 times by the Academy of Awards, yet the “uptight” film academy of 1969 refused to glorify this “drug” movie (NOT!). It clearly was one of the best movies depicting the whole counter-culture wrought during the 60s. It speaks to the racism in the South (where it is still present in certain politicians, journalists and sadly that region), the utter lack of control when one takes certain illicit drugs. Sadly enough, it graphically depicts the pain and mental damage one suffers when they lose their mother at a tender age. Peter Fonda wasn’t even a teenager when his mother suddenly killed herself by slitting her throat.

I thank God that I have a stable mother who has been a great influence on my life.

Lunesta and the butterfly

Last fall, there seemed to be a lot of stress that I was going through, and I couldn't sleep. Taking over-the-counter medicine didn't really help that much. So, I went to my psychiatrist, and he prescribed me Lunesta. Lunesta is pretty effective, and I was able to sleep better.

There was 1 side effect my doctor didn't tell me until the next appointment.

"Vince, you're not taking that Lunesta everyday, are you? You could get addicted", he casually noted.

"Oh", I replied, "Well, I won't take it everyday now".

Which brings me to the butterfly. The company who makes Lunesta (whatever rich pharmaceutical corporation that is) has a big, BIG advertising budget. So when the Lunesta commercial comes on, you hear this soothing music with a butterfly shown above, symbolizing Lunesta, that swooshes around and spreads beautiful stars that puts everyone to sleep. OOPS, THERE'S ONE CATCH!

Do you see the butterfly on that person's nose as it gently puts them to sleep????? That's in the commercial. They don't show you the part where the butterfly climbs into their mouth, onto their tongue and takes a big dump. This brings me to Lunesta's other side effect.

When you take Lunesta, you get a metallic taste in your mouth. The sleep is great, but when you drink something like coffee, tea, milk (especially milk!!!), you don't taste milk or your desired beverage, you taste metal. It's kind of like licking a metal I-beam (not that I have ever done that!).

The good news is that I'm not addicted to Lunesta. How could I be with that tricky butterfly doing something bad on my tongue? So if you see any butterflies speading stars or looking like the ones in the picture KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED!! (hee, hee)