Notes From The Edge of Somewhere
under the weather and on the mend
So I missed a couple days here. And my domain name expired for a day or two and it’s back now. I fried my esophagus pretty good by overdoing it with some really spicy ginger beer. My stomach’s proton pump is the absolute opposite of inhibited, it’s churning out the acid and creating a fire in my digestive system. Everything feels weird, swallowing and food feels weird. The acidity and inflammation have made friends with my asthma and messed with my throat muscle tension. Reader, it’s not good to be hyper aware of your swallowing.
It’s been quite fun, sarcasm alert. Truly, it freaked me out until I figured out what was wrong. Reader, Bad Hijabi has a wild catastrophising imagination.
Anyway.
I had a spirometry test on Tuesday at 08:45. I opted for an Über because I felt pretty panic stricken and it was quite early— I wanted to avoid transit at rush hour and save time. Haha.
Saving time in the morning with a ride share Über, that’s hilarious. It took an hour in the car: we picked up and dropped off four people on the way to my appointment and I was 10 minutes late and had to call and warn the clinic I would be late. I was a weirdo and I cried when the RT put the nose plug on my nose for the test. Panic does weird things to a human. Next step CXR and the respirologist will have a phone appointment with me in June.
On the way home from the respiratory clinic we saw the Lapu Lapu memorial, a makeshift one, where people bring flowers and leave candles and cards. And we went to the coolest denturist on Victoria Drive, his waiting room has one chair and he’s got no receptionist, just himself. Yeah, Robert is getting a partial denture. So that’s fun.
Here’s a photo of the makeshift memorial for Lapu Lapu Massacre, which we passed by on Tuesday, on the way home from my respiratory appointment.
We had a soup and sandwich snack at Tim Hortons while we waited for the denturist appointment. What a different place that restaurant has become from how I remember! No trays, no real dishes, everything throw-away. That’s really wasteful, considering how the city is obsessed with environmental stuff and recycling, isn’t it? They’ve gone full-on eco-fascist by banning plastic bags and straws. But here we have Tim Hortons with single use items, opting out of real dishes and trays. Anyway, the turkey sandwich was good. Since I fried my esophagus I have to re-engineer my diet and eat things like turkey sandwiches. It’s kind of like the ulcer diet even though I don’t have an ulcer. Also Nexium is gonna be my friend for a couple weeks now.
So, reader, for all the talk of Canadian health care and wait times, that specialist referral took five months, it was made at Reach Urgent Care in January. Judge that as you will.
Moving on.
I have been laying low whilst my throat recovers, de-escalating my catastrophising imagination by watching lots of Netflix. I watched the Turning Point documentary about Vietnam. I watched 2 seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer. I watched The Åre Murders, The Glass Dome, Eternaut. I watched both seasons of The Snow Girl. Now I’m sort of watching Murder in the Coalfield. I’ve watched The Two Popes a few times during the period of Sede Vacante. It’s a lovely movie. I watched a bunch of YouTube documentaries about the Vatican and the history from the time of Simon Peter. I usually watch that stuff at night to sleep.
So, reader, I see the Conclave elected American Cardinal Robert Provost as the new pope. Does The Vatican care about children and human ethics? This guy they elevated to pope ignored complaints of sexual abuse, he allowed a sexual abuser to remain in his position, despite knowing about his abuse history and knowing he had child porn on his mobile. He’s got a terrible record when it comes to guarding against sexual abuse amongst clergy and in monastic communities. It’s disgraceful, reader.
An investigative report by the Chicago Sun‑Times in June 2024 noted that the Augustinians paid a $2 million settlement to former student Robert Krankvich but omitted McGrath’s name from their public list of credibly accused clerics, and the newspaper said Prevost never explained why the priest was left in his post. — Jerusalem Post, 8 May 2025
Reader! Like, really? Of all the capable possibilities, they choose the pedophile apologist? So, the Catholic Church simply never changed. Francis was full of crap, like JPII, like Benedict. The Church of The Borgia Throne remains unchanged. And that’s why I left Catholicism years ago. Because it’s corrupt bullsh1t.
Note: I watched Pope Leo XIV present himself on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and observed him as visibly emotional. I don’t recall seeing a new Pope so emotional. I see this as a positive, and even a bit redeeming.
I wanted Cardinal Robert Sarah to become Pope, for what it’s worth.
So, anyway—moving on.
Every week in Vancouver it seems like there’s more crime and more horrible violence and no political will to address any of it in a meaningful and efficacious way. The criminal justice system sucks sh1t, reader. There was a fatal stabbing and a shooting in the DTES—Strathcona on Monday and non fatal stabbing in North Burnaby on Tuesday.
Readers may or may not remember the Peterhans Nungu case. Here’s a quick recap of facts pertaining to Nungu.
Nungu assaulted a female tourist from Toronto in the Sea Wall in mid-April.
The vicious attack on Stephanie from Toronto happened after police arrested Nungu in a domestic violence incident.
Nungu uttered threats of violence against his wife, he threatened to destroy and burn property and he assaulted a peace who attended the scene.
On April 24th my co-operative housing community discovered that this bloke was ordered to serve a house arrest sentence with his mother, who lives down the hall from me.
Members of the cooperative community discovered the information about the house arrest ordered to take place in his mother’s one bedroom apartment from a Global News story in which reporter Kristen Robinson interviewed Nungu’s quadriplegic mother.
Yours Truly appeared on Global News to express my concern about this situation.
A neighbour friend started a petition — check it out here and please sign it and share it.
Reader, imagine our surprise. We, the members of this cooperative housing community, were not impressed. And yet the leadership seemed surprisingly non responsive in the face of this crisis that has struck our housing community. Reader, I’m floored by what I see as a lack rigourous knowledge about the workings of civic and administrative processes, ie how the system of local governance and the administration of justice works. Readers already know that I’m generally annoyed by what I see as weird kumbaya attitude toward violence against women, and a lame weak-willed approach to taking a stand against the violence and dangerous psychiatric illness.
Reader, it baffles me how anyone thought it was ok for any housing complex to simply accept a court order of house arrest for a non member non resident non guest! Reader, he’s a recidivist violent offender with a serious psychiatric condition and a recent history of noncompliance with taking medications! He can’t return home because there’s a restraining order preventing him from being with his wife and children. But somehow he can live here, in a family housing complex? Why?
Oh it’s a court order we can’t override it. Ok, that’s not exactly true. Reader, yes we can refuse that house arrest from being served here—as a legal entity, as a housing cooperative with rules about who can live here. Why would anyone think we couldn’t refuse to let him serve a house arrest sentence here? Why would we have any obligation to someone who doesn’t live here and isn’t covered by any housing agreement here?
Reader, it’s been 14 days since the story about the Nungu family aired. From the beginning it seemed to me as simple as the cooperative community taking a stand about this issue as a member driven entity represented by BOD, then that BOD making a statement and notifying the appropriate authorities. Instead we saw the we don’t want to offend and exclude mindset dominate the discourse. This approach to the crisis sent several frightened and anxious residents down a spiral of extreme panic for several days.
Reader, this response mirrors the societal perspective on violent crime and dangerous mental illness. It reflects societal views on violence against women. Tolerance and inclusivity have become a weird progressive shield that enables non-action as well as a bizarre dismissal of institutional solutions to severe violent mental illness in Vancouver. Reader, this is the mentality that lead to the closure of Riverview and the dismantling of our institutional psychiatric system. It’s not okay.
Nungu remains in custody, he remains an inpatient and he has his next court appearances on May 20th and 22nd.
We have a few irons in the fire regarding this situation.
Anyway.
I’m halfway through my second 6-week Biblical Hebrew language course and it’s getting more intense and challenging and it’s fun and I need to spend more time on my practise and drilling myself. Yes, I’m learning Biblical Hebrew so I can read the Tanakh in its original form because, reader, I’m cool like that.
My mother will be dead for 3 years on Sunday, May 11th, the evil Hallmark holiday North Americans call Mother’s Day. I really hate Mother’s Day, it hurts my heart and I want to cry when I think about it. Losing my mother sucked a lot. And the illness and death of my father was crappy and it damaged my relationship with my mother.
So, that’s a few notes about what’s been going on in the world and in my weird life.