Patrick "Swoon" Swayze

I watched the interview he did with Barbara Walters. It is terribly tragic and sad what the actor is having to endure. I never thought much about him, he was never one of my favorite actors although I really did love Dirty Dancing. Ghost was only so-so for me but Demi Moore was adorable in it. I did swoon over Richard Gere in An Officer and A Gentleman and I'm one of the very few people who liked him in the re-make of Breathless. But, my really favorite actor at the time was William Hurt, like Kathleen Turner said in the movie Body Heat to Hurt's character, "You're not too smart, I like that in a man." What's not to love about a fella like that?

Back to Patrick. I always recognized his ability to dance his heart out, there's no denying that talent in the man. He would've been fantastic as a regular on Dancing With The Stars but I think you are either a dancer or a star wanting to be a dancer but you can't be a star who is a dancer dancing with a star who wants to be one. Phew, I think you know what I mean. Patrick's wife is an accomplished dancer, too. She's a beautiful lady. I had never seen her in an interview before and I was impressed, very impressed. She's beautiful, intelligent, caring and supportive. They've been married for 33 years and admit to having some pretty ugly battles but they stuck through it all.

Modern medicine most definitely has a place in the world. I don't support anyone being over-medicated but I believe medicines can make life better when administered and used properly. Acting, to me, never really seemed like a big deal. I never considered actors heroes or heroines or mentors. Acting is more like playing make-believe and isn't what I consider serious business. Having said that, I love celebrities, I'm fascinated with their lives and really enjoy photos of them. Call me "shallow gal", I deserve it. I'm so shallow that the book on my nightstand is Here's The Story by Maureen McCormick. (I borrowed it from the library and so far I haven't found any food or scribbling in it). Anyway, back to Patrick. He suffered through horrendous chemotherapy and worked 12 hours a day on his new series, The Beast, for A&E. The schedule, he said, was really tough and made even tougher with the treatments and the cancer. He refused to take any pain killers because, he said, it would take the edge off and his performance could possibly suffer. Yikes! It's just acting, right? I can't imagine I would put acting before my own comfort. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain but I am pretty sure it's not that high. I don't know why he would want to suffer so much pain just for a TV show. It's not really admirable. It's puzzling beyond puzzling to me that acting would mean so much to an individual. I wonder if it's more about the money. His treatments must be very costly and Swayze hasn't really done anything notable for a while. If it is about the money I think it's very uncool beans he had to have more suffering piled onto what he's already trying to manage. Health care in this country is so expensive people are forced to great lengths to stay alive and be able to afford it.

I'm wondering something else, too. Jett Travolta - I hope, I really hope, that he wasn't taken off the medication to control his seizures because of anything to do with Scientology. I don't know much about Scientology but I do remember Tom Cruise blasting poor Brooke Shields (who, BTW, probably gave him his start in the business in Endless Love) for taking meds to battle post-partem depression. Like I said, sometimes medications are needed.

Anyway, it's very uncool beans if people can't afford health care and medications while Laura Bush buys a set of dinner plates for the White House to the tune of $475K. I sure hope Malia and Sasha don't have to do the dishes like my sister and I did!