Real Life

Life. Some people are so full of life. They live life to the fullest and get all they can out of life. To some life is a white knuckle ride. But others throw their hands in the air, hair flying in the wind, face up drinking in the sunlight as they yell "look Mom, no hands." Those people are fun to be around. They climb the highest mountains, sail the seas, dive to the depths and take in every bit they can take in. They jump without testing the waters, they taste every aspect of life, they seem fearless. They are the ones who really know how to live. They set the bar for the rest of us. When life ends it was a life well lived.

New Years Resolutions

I don't know who invented New Years Resolutions, but I think it was a conspiracy. Perhaps it was a foreign power trying to keep us preoccupied during an invasion. Perhaps it was the predecessor of the computer hacker planting a virus in our society. Whoever it was, I don't appreciate it. How many people actually keep their resolutions past April? How many people make the same resolutions over and over each year hoping to actually make a change this year? How many people feel badly about themselvesfor not keeping them? I am not a fan of New Years Resolutions. If there were a facebook page I would dislike it. I have actually made one Resolutions I've kept: Eat more Chocolate. Mostly I find Resolutions to be a plague I should avoid, an exercise in futility, and a useless way to waste time planning. I have found one and only one way to overcome this monumental conspiracy. I gave it up for Lent.

Simple Holidays

Holidays are nice. I like holidays. I get a break from work and I get to do something different. But I would like a holiday dedicated to nothing at all. I would like a holiday that doesn't involve work. Spring Break is nice. We often cram too much into Spring Break and end up not rested. But it doesn't require the buying of presents, preparing of special foods, decorating anything, or in any way thinking of anyone else. So many other holidays involve feasts, family gatherings, special preparations, parades, and even gifts. I think Christmas is the worst. Trees, decorations, lights, parades, feasts, gift giving, and huge family gatherings. Why Christmas Trees? Why not just a simple manger scene? Why all the lights and reindeer and Santas? (Maybe we could keep a few lights) We could have a special meal with just a few simple church services. No pressure to get the perfect item or have the perfect decorations or set the perfect table. Just a holiday would be nice.

Sometimes life feels like juggling. I actually know how to juggle three objects. But I cannot juggle more than three. I imagine a juggler with 7 objects in the air going round and round. A partner comes up and they begin throwing some of the objects back and forth and the number of objects increases to maybe 10. Each object represents some responsibility in life like work, friends, bills, yard, ...etc. The juggler started out at some point with only two objects, then increased to three. The juggler then practiced and learned how to add more and more objects. But at some point he will reach a maximum number of objects. As the partner steps out he will not be able to keep all ten objects in the air alone. some of the objects will fall to the floor. Alone that juggler can only keep so many things in the air. And even the seven objects he originally had, one will occasionally fall to the floor. Sometimes there are just too many things to keep in the air. Only so many responsibilities one person can keep going.

The Christmas season is definitely here. Santa arrives in town this evening. He will greet the little kiddies in the park accompanied by Mrs. Claus and one of the elves. Last night I went to my first party of the season. Totally fun. Today I need to be Christmas Shopping, but I don't know what to get anybody. I have been knitting gifts for some folks, but I really need to get to the shopping. I don't understand what people want for Christmas. I don't even know what I want for Christmas. I do look forward to the time off work. I look forward to getting to see a few friends. I look forward to some of the special church services. I look forward to going to Firefly and painting pottery. sounds like fun to me.
This year our town is not having a Christmas parade. There is a rumor going around that there will be a parade this evening. I think it would be funny to get several vehicles with people and go park by the highway at the appointed time and sit in our lawnchairs waiting for the parade. We could see how many people stop to join us.
Happy Baking, singing, decorating, or whatever it is that makes you happy.

Life

Each day I get ready for work. I climb in my red truck and head out. I stop by my favorite bookstore / coffee shop then head to work. At work I turn on my computer, I insert my memory stick in the usb port and send a worksheet from my computer to the photocopy machine, and I get ready to use the document camera connected to the projector mounted from the ceiling. I check my cell phone for the time. I may receive a call on the phone sitting on my desk. I check attendance on the gradebook website, then send an email to a parent or another teacher. I google for a senior t-shirt pattern. I attach a dvd to projector and I show a video. After work I go to the bookstore to visit the friends I've made there. At home I check facebook to see what my friends and family are doing and I send messages to my friends. I go to another website to read the newspaper or check the local radar. I google to see where the college football games will be and how long it will take me to travel to another town. I make hotel reservations and look up books I would like to read but know I will never get around to. Then I ask myself how we did things before document cameras, cell phones, computers? What did I do before the bookstore was there for me? How did I keep in touch before facebook? How did I learn anything before Google? And what did I do before I had a truck to drive to school?
And my biggest question of all: These devices were invented to save time and to make life simpler. So how did life get so complicated?

Adventures in Eating

Last night I went to a Japanese / Chinese restaurant. It was my first experience with the Asian hibachi grill. This restaurant was rather small and built in an old fast food restaurant. They did not serve wine or sushi. So we elected to go with the grill instead of ordering off the menu. I was expecting the chef to come out and cook on the grill in front of us. I was not expecting the noise or entertainment factor. The chef came out and spoke broken english with an asian accent ( I suspect that was part of the act). He twirled his spatula, created a huge fire, flipped an egg around and broke it on the grill, stacked up an onion and filled it with oil to make a volcano, then pulled a train whistle out and made it choo choo across the grill. There was a little six inch plastic boy filled with water. The chef picked it up, pushed on it's head and caused it to "pee" on our food. The chef seemed especially pleased with that as he did it several times. After some other antics we finally had filled plates and he had a clean grill. Then he pulled out an harmonica and played Yankee Doodle. If I'd had anything in my mouth at that moment I think it would have spewed everywhere. Nothing can compare to Yankee Doodle from a man with a heavy asian accent. The food was good and the dinner was definitely an experience. I'm glad we went, but I don't think I'll go back. It was just a good Friday evening adventure.