Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 The Year that brought the selfie out from the Cold!

Selfies are as old as photography, but it was 2013 that brought it out from the cold into acceptable territory. So what about it?

Well who else but the widely circulated photos of the taking of the selfie that the Danish PM (lady) indulged in with Cameron and Obama, that took the wind off the almost boring and ill conceived memorial for Mandela that took place in a football stadium, that looked half empty. The funeral itself was a much better affair, that I watched on broadband not having a TV this year.

Of course the taking of the selfie itself at such an ostensibly solemn occasion caused much debate, some of which even I engaged in via FB. I wonder what Nelson Mandela would have thought of that. 

It is a lighthearted ending for a very busy year that in my opinion is one that has passed by the fastest for me! What can I say, time has just flown by, and I wonder if I thought I will be in this state now a whole year ago.

In my case the tragedy was my leg has still not healed. The accident that the Police Escort Vehicle of the Minister of Justice, did to me at the end of January 2011 is hardly a distant memory for me. I was told in mid year that the steel pin in my leg, was broken in two inside, and the bottom half was permanently enshrined, and unable to be removed. Further I was told that an operation to do any correction would have to be done only at the National Hospital as they only had the tools that could remove the screws that were originally put in. All this does not sound much, but the clanger all along was the fact that I only found out in October 2013 after a doctor friend from the US asked me to do the test,  that my Vitamin D3 levels were low, and may have been a cause for the lack of improvement in bone growth on the leg.

It beats me that Orthopedic Surgeons in their rush to operate are totally ignorant of the need for a medical team to investigate the causes of why my leg has not healed, and not just left to remedial orthopedic intervention, until all the probable causes are  eliminated.

If this had been done in June 2011, the story now would be different as the bone graft was done on the assumption that the bone was NOT close enough rather than the calcification was not taking place due to a lack of vital Vitamin D3 to make this happen!!
So I am none the wiser, having lost faith in the medical establishment, and wondering what to do next. So this question mark lies in my mind at the end of this year, which I hope will not carry out to this time next year, where I hope I will have a better report card as to this particular disability of mine.

Heres to a particular bad year for me, that I wish to forget, as it pertains to my health in as much as it is confined only to the unrepaired injury, that the Govt . of SL has so far determined it does not wish to have anything to do with along with the thousands of other injuries caused by their servants which they refuse to acknowledge blame, responsibility, and in the end some form of compensation however small. Main culprits being Ministers, Forces highups.

So heres to all of you, the many thousands dead and walking wounded, who due to the culpability and bloody mindedness of the State, are in a state of desrepair, don’t give up, we will change the laws so that Govt. vehicles are first of all insured, so they take some action to prevent future occurrences and brazen heroics on the roads at the expense of people’s lives and limbs.

I for my part will keep on at it, first to return to full normalcy in time, and then to ensure that the culprit who is ultimately responsible for this state of affairs never forgets his inaction on causing it.

Back to selfies, and the photo was taken above a few minutes ago, before writing this entry, the first selfie I have attempted after the selfie became a talking point, though I have taken selfies for as long as I can remember as a photographer in years gone by before the advent of the smart phone.

With advances in technology, the issue next year will be something more mundane or way out beyond the comprehension of us in 2013, such is the pace, with the new Samsung 100+inch TVs that are many times clearer than the best we have today making it into the market in January at over US$100K a pop and orders streaming in. 


Goodbye 2013, I go home in a few minutes to my normal sleep routine, so I can get to office in the morning for the tradition beginning of year rituals as a director of a company who has to give a small pep talk to the staff, to give them a morale boost that things can only get better, and to be optimistic that their lives will take a turn for the better. No 31st night dances for me, as I cannot move around the floor in a way I would like without a crutch, and would rather be comfortably in dreamland ready for the new dawn in a New Year! 

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