Participation

If the book club’s selection doesn’t appeal, you can still “participate” (in a way) in the club’s discussion of the book without taking time to read the book.  AI can summarize the book for you.  You can buy a summary of the book from Amazon or other sources.  You can make interested comments or general questions during the discussion of the book.  You can just nod occasionally and smile once in a while thereby getting credit for being a participating member without interrupting your own schedule.

Talk! Write! Communicate!

When I try to examine what makes for educational success, I often see communication from the student as a major focus.  You can imagine that if lectures and books and educational films were totally memorized but a student never took any tests, wrote no papers and never spoke in class, teachers would have no way of seeing the mastery that student had achieved. Of course, some students could speak or write on and on about difficulties with the material or the tests’ format or getting papers written and not show any mastery of the curriculum. But in general, students who speak and write well master the work and show they have done so.

Our supply of gasoline is running out

Our supply of gasoline is running out.  But 1.5 MILLION electric vehicles are sold in the US annually.  In addition, we have more and more things we can do digitally.  It’s true that we are bipedals and we need to move.  We have many ways of putting muscles to work and more of us are learning to keep moving.

Old characteristics

As a person getting nearer the end of his 80’s, I wanted to list some of the older person’s phenomena that I have experienced.

Newly shrunken food capacity - we often had standard sizes for meals and now we can only eat maybe half or ⅔ thirds of that much.  

Words, especially names, don’t come to mind as quickly, or even at all.  Relatedly, my speech recognition is much more erratic than it was.  It is bad enough that I often ask Lynn what she said when I find that I did understand her but my recognition of that is slow.

I have habituated myself to a half hour nap every day.

Fiction books and movies are too repetitious.  It is always a bad guy with a gun or knife or it is a slow awareness of attraction between her and him.

Email fake not from me

An email titled “Remember to celebrate with me” is a fake.  Delete it!  Bill

Into the Christmas season

Local schools start tomorrow but we two are already into the Christmas spirit.  You may recall that the Christmas season includes gift-giving.  If you are a local potter, the calendar is such that you need to get cracking with ceramic gifts for the season.  You need to fashion appropriate figurines and vases and objects that would make a nice gift for Uncle Harry and Grandma.  Such art doesn’t make itself. There is working with clay, drying clay, firing the object to harden it, glazing the object, firing it again.  Every firing requires baking in the kiln at a high temperature which takes time to reach.  There is cooling involved, transporting to the gallery, adding it to your inventory, printing a label.  Better get started!

My fingernails

Growing up, I didn’t pay much attention to my fingernails.  My stepfather did make me show him my nails before I ate sometimes.  I learned to use a nail brush, the little plastic kind with a curve at each end of the handle.  Before a wrestling match in high school and college, the referee would sometimes examine my nails.

I am surprised at how often I use my nails: pick up paper and other fine, delicate, hard-to-grasp things.  I have been tempted to have an attendant in a nail salon that takes care of my toenails paint my fingernails.  There are so many gorgeous colors!  But, I think painted fingernails and toenails for that matter would send the wrong signal about who and what I am.

He says he can't think anymore

There seems to be too much thinking so when my friend says he is old and can’t think any more, it may be a good thing.  You may know that women tend to live longer than men.  Maybe that is because they dredge up wild-assed questions less.  You know, what is the purpose of life, why did my parents produce me instead of somebody else - stuff like that. 

My sister

I don’t have any brothers but I have a sister.  She was a steady companion throughout childhood.  Here are some blog posts about this marvelous person:

• Still Have the Treasure 8/26/2009

• The Little Sweetie 1/1/2010

• What Does It Mean? 8/28/2022

• My Sister and Stairs 10/27/2023

• Bring Her Home 7/102024

All of the above are posts in Fear, Fun and Filoz.

Israel Loring, 1712

Israel was a Protestant minister in New England.  He was one of the ministers who refused baptism for a baby born on a Sunday since he was one who thought a baby was born on the same day of the week as he had been conceived.  Sunday was God’s day and must not be profaned by sex on that day. Then, his own wife delivered their child on a Sunday!  The couple knew they had not engaged in sex on Sunday so this idea of a duplication of the conception and the birth on the same weekday must not be valid. You gotta live and learn!