May
3
2013
Old habit die slower (???). We usually have a limited budget (as many others). Once I had a unlimited budget for food shopping and still I was pinching pennies. I just was so used to comparing prices and getting the best deal that I could. I could not break myself of that habit and was still looking and comparing the prices of different items. Old habits die slowly.
May
3
2013
The “kiddies” were all taking pictures of the different fish in the aquarium with their I Phones and I Pads. Everyone had them. I read, presently, more photos are being taken with those devices than regular cameras. These kids grew up with that technology so it really should not be that surprising to see that. I am a dinosaur: I am still using a film camera. I am about to buy my first digital camera. Prices have come down considerably. I am slow to take up new technology except it is not new anymore. I am just old.
May
1
2013
My friend pointed out I might live till seventy-five–ten more years. This conversation was kindled by my discussion of buying a digital camera and what kind. I just get exactly what I want. Maybe, I will live another ten years. Maybe, not. I should get the camera with the features I want. I do have some birthday money. It is certain I will not live another sixty-five years so he had a point.
Apr
26
2013
I really do not feel sorry for my financial state. One of my friends made some reference to that. I never made as much money as him or leave (???) in such a beautiful house. I am content with what I have. There is less and more in this world. That is the way it is. God has blessed me abundantly. I know that and I am content.
Apr
21
2013
The poor are always among us. This was a letter I wrote to a friend of mine who was doing surveys for the department of welfare and he said how could we let people live like that:
There is something important you can do about the people you visit and interview. You can pray for them–each person and their circumstances. You said, ‘People should not live in such poverty.’ The poor have always been among us.
Pray for each person you meet. If you have to, make a list of the households and people you meet. People are poor for different reasons. Sometimes alcohol or drug abuse is involved. Sometimes it is mental illness. Other times it is just plain bad luck. Someone lost a job, ran out of unemployment or a bad illness was involved and they did not have health insurance or it did not take care of their needs.
There are all kinds of reasons people live in poverty. Pray for each person, the children or their parents you meet. Never stop praying.
Everything is by grace. Praise the Lord for your health, your living quarters, everything. Everything is by grace. Continue to pray. Prayer can move mountains.
Your friend
Mar
31
2013
The first time I ate out was at a White Castle in the sixties. Does White Castle still exist? I don’t know. Eating out was not some thing our family ever did. Now it is not that unusual to do so although it is still special when I do. I really do not take dining at a restaurant for granted. I usually avoid fast food restaurants. I would rather dine at a finer restaurant. I do occasionally for special events. I don’t take it for granted.
Mar
30
2013
Somehow I felt relieved after both of my parents died. I could be my own person easier. They were not telling me I did not match up any longer or something I was doing wasn’t right. My father never told me exactly how I did not match up. I just knew I didn’t. I had gotten into debt and that was a cardinal sin and I did not make much money. That is what he was impressed by–money. Nothing I did. Mom was overly concerned about appearances. Looking right to the rest of the world. I did not have to deal with any of that any longer. They were not looking over my shoulders any longer. I was just relieved.
Mar
29
2013
It is a travesty there are more mentally ill in prisons than in hospitals. Part of that is there are few state hospitals and often the money disappeared. It, often, did not go for the necessary community services to provide the support some people needed. In fact, the budget for service for the mentally ill already bare bone keeps getting trimmed. What ever happened to the idea we are our brothers’ keeper. Now the jails are being forced to treat the mentally ill. And they want to use as little money as possible, use the cheapest drugs when other new ones would be more appropriate. If you are manic they force you to take Thorazine for it is a cheap but is an outmoded treatment. If you are a prisoner and happen to be mentally ill you have no civil rights or say about the matter. It is really disgusting and inhumane.
Mar
26
2013
‘If you don’t count your money, it will count itself,’ my father used to say something like that in his broken English. He had a point: if you are not careful with the purchases you make, you will run out of money. You have to budget, so you have enough money for all your essentials. Otherwise if you spend unwisely, you run out of money. I think about my father’s words every once in awhile. He was a wise man in his own way.
Mar
15
2013
This is in praise of Bic pens. I don’t use expensive pens. I would only lose them. Bic pens are cheap. When one does not work, I simply throw it away. I just make sure the caps are on it when I put one in my pocket. I have ruined too many pants that way when they leaked. I store them all over my house. I don’t like being too far from a pen when the urge strikes to write so I keep my pens in strategic spots in my house. I get a little bit nervous when my supply of Bic pens dwindle. My wife, of course, thinks this is all ridiculous. And criticizes me when I feel compelled to replenish my supply in the nearest Office Max (or Wal Mart).
Mar
13
2013
‘Only poor people use laundromats,’ my son stated. I don’t know how true that is but I remember being happy there was one in my town when my drier broke. He has made a comfortable living for a number of years and would not even consider using one. He is relocating and needs everything for his unfurnished apartment. I simply was glad there was one in my town. I know what it is to be poor. He has forgotten.
Mar
1
2013
Why is it your own “blood” does not validate you? My writing growing up was always taken for granted by my immediate family–my mom and dad and two sisters. In the beginning it was my letter writing. In the sixties I started keeping a journal. In the late seventies I wrote poetry. And now I am going on the fifth year of keeping a web site and blog. Both of my parents are now dead. I am not sure if my two sisters ever go on my web sites. They usually don’t comment on them. My writing is who I am, what is going on which is important to me.
Gratefully my wife cares about my writing, as well as other friends. I found out I had a talent for making people laugh at open mikes. And that is a validation of my writing although humor is not the only type of writing I do. I keep getting hits on my web sites and that is encouraging. And occasionally I get a poem published in a literary magazine. I guess we choose our friends. We can’t choose our family. Up till his dying day my father who lived until ninety-two was more impressed with money than anything I wrote. I was a failure in that area. That still hurts. Sometimes you have to go outside of your family for validation. And that was my case.
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