Feb
9
2010
Clothes are just like books. If you have too many, you can’t find your favorite ones too easily for they are buried. For example, I would rather have an hundred favorite books than another additional nine hundred that hide the other hundred. In fact I did that with my office: it has my favorite books in it. Just a thought.
Feb
7
2010
I don’t care how good an iPad is it won’t replace a book or library. I know the new device can rapidly turn pages in a book but still it is not the same.
There is nothing like having a library and quickly glancing at your shelves, pulling out just the book you want and opening it up to any page.
I like physically handling my books, touching them. I am not dependent on any batteries. I am not so quick to run out and get this latest technological gadget from Apple.
The brain can not be replaced by this latest development. The brain has the ability to review thousands of paragraphs you have read and know what book a passage came from and then find it.
There is nothing like an old book store to browse in. None of these things can be replaced by the iPad. By now, you get the idea I am skeptical of the value of this item.
I don’t want to pore over an instruction manual just to figure out how pick up a book and scan it. Or even turn it on. It is just too hard. Call me old fashioned.
Jan
28
2010
I spend an inordinate amount of time straightening up my house. It seems I mess it up, then I reach a point I can no longer tolerate my own disorder so I have to do something about it and then this cycle repeats itself. And over and over.
I remember the few times my family went on vacation without me (I raised a boy and girl) things actually did not move. They stayed in the same spot.
But I have to live with my own messes. So does my wife. I try to logically place items I put away. Currently we are running out of space for books. And we still buy more. And I have run out of space for newly recorded cassettes.
We have empty cassette racks but we have to agree where to place them. And that has not occurred yet. It would take me another lifetime to play all the cassettes I have not heard. Don’t ask me where we got them that is another story.
All this drives me crazy (and my wife). Sometimes parts of my house actually looks neat and organized. Until next time.
Jan
1
2010
I do not know why it is so hard to let go of things. I am no different. There is always another book or CD. I can never have enough. Let us talk about books only.
We have too many in this house. The bookcases are bursting from the seams. There are also boxes of books all over the house. And it is difficult for us to give away any one.
I want to give some away but a lot are not mine so I can’t make a decision unilaterally to part with those. I have reasoned with my other stating when you have too many unfortunately the superb books all too easily get lost or buried. The argument was futile.
Nothing has changed. I am also part of the problem: I keep bringing new ones in the house. I must have given my wife this year an half a dozen books for Christmas gifts. And my wife also gave me books for gifts.
I am at wits end. Some book shelves are doubled up. As many as I have if I can not find a particular book I go a little crazy although I am usually successful in finding the book although I might take me awhile.
A running joke is Bob Dylan’s autobiography. I keep misplacing that book although I have looked high and low for it. He is just plain elusive. I might have to buy another copy.
I read in all positions–standing up lying down even walking. The bathroom must have almost two dozen books on the shelves there. I can’t miss any opportunity to read.
Someone is going to have a real job deciding what to do with our book collection. We can’t take them with us when we go.
Dec
23
2009
(1) My wife whose support makes it all worthwhile
(2) The extension of our fence so now all four dogs can run wild within it and we don’t have to worry about them getting out
(3) The seventh Christmas we are spending together
(4) The purchase of a “new” used vehicle
(5) another year
(6) my illness if you can call it that has given me a keener sense of the time bestowed to me
(7) my two sisters who are always there when I need them
(8) The four books Marilyn sent to me
(9) all my friends
(10) The safety of my trip to Boston during a difficult time: I know angels were watching me during my ride to Boston and back.
(11) I finally made it to “Walden Pond”
(12) All my animals particularly my four dogs who never ask for anything and just love you unconditionally
(13) For providing for all our needs
(14) All the people who take care of us: from Bob our mechanic to our dentist and all our doctors. They just serve us.
(15) My wife, the editor, lover and friend
(16) John, you know who you are
(17) The heat in our house
(18) My web site and “Siggy’s Blurbs”
(19) Sara’s support, you know who you are, also
(20) My two, Emma and Saul
(21) for everything I have forgotten to be grateful for
(22) Pastor Pete and his flock
(23) only “You” who without I can not do any thing
Nov
25
2009
When death is knocking at your door, money fades in importance. It is so easy to delude ourselves: that your time on this earth is forever. But when the realization comes it is running out (often due to illness or old age) your money (and possessions) are no longer that important.
All of a sudden other things come to the forefront: your relationship with loved ones, maybe your legacy also. Your possessions which maybe you spent a lifetime accumulating do not matter that much.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the richest person in the whole world, realized that when he founded with his wife what is today’s largest private foundation pouring in it more and more of his energy and resources (billions of dollars) in that endeavor.
In my case, I can not take my journals, books and music I spent a lifetime collecting with me when I go. I have to figure out what is truly important in my life. I do not want to waste time.
Often when someone faces his/her deathbed and realizes the way they spent their time really does not matter. Your impending death shifts your priorities and also forces you to reexamine your value system.
Too many people die alone because they did not invest time in others. Did not Jesus say, “When you lose your life, you find it”. I think that is a paraphrase.
When you are in the dusk of your life, you find out the most valuable commodity you possess is time. All the money in the world can not buy you one more minute on earth.
That realization forces you to examine your life carefully. It is never too late to make a change although it is easy to regret the time you lost in fruitless endeavors. You can never turn back the clock but there is always today.
Nov
24
2009
For a long time there were two forms of education I was undergoing: one, my formal education and the other, the education I was receiving on my own.
All during my schooling I continued to read what I wanted to, whatever came across my path, whatever interested me. As far back as I can remember I had a library card to the local library and made many trips there. At home we always had plenty of reading material–magazines and books everywhere.
I did do my school work and received good grades but I had no illusion: my independent reading was far more important and really my true education.
Yes, it is true some people get educated despite themselves but I always found the time to read whatever came across me and whatever interested me. I felt most of the time I just went through the motions in most subjects in school.
There were some subjects that interested me particularly in school like Latin and mathematics and biology. And maybe, I put forth extra effort there.
If the truth be known I was far more interested in participating in gym and in high school playing for the tennis team. In fact, I was excited that in high school we had gym every day.
I felt these sports instilled an attitude to never give up until the game is over, which was no small lesson to learn which stood me well later in life.
I no longer go to school but I still read widely and for pleasure. The literal translation of the word “education” come from the Latin “educare” which means to lead. Education means “to lead toward”. It is a process, not an end point, not an degree. It is an unending journey. And I am still on it.
Nov
23
2009
I don’t compelled to read a book in any particular order. Of course, that is easier to do with non-fiction. You certainly can’t do that with a novel and know what is going on.
It is very rarely I read a book sequentially. For that to happen I have to be riveted by the subject content and writing. I can count on my one hand how many books I have read that way recently.
Usually I skip around a book and read it in quick bursts. For someone to feel they have to read a book every time page by page in order is a trap: after awhile you don’t want to read any more. It is too much like work.
I do not feel that compunction. There are really no rules to the way you read. You make your own. And you can break them any time.
Nov
15
2009
The grass is not greener elsewhere. It is so tempting to believe that but it is not. Sometimes paradise is right in front of you. This year I discovered a large raspberry patch within an hundred yards on the street I live on the edge of some woods.
This was to be the second year I was going to pick raspberries in a patch I discovered last year on my property. And then I discovered this patch. I did not know who the owners were. The berries were wild. I picked enough at the new patch for at least two pies.
It amazed me I never noticed that patch before. It was ten feet in from the road and I happened to notice it when my dog was sniffing around there. What else am I missing right under my feet?
I was going home from church and took the long way because the land was wilder and I never knew what wildlife I would see from this road.
I was not disappointed this time: I flushed a dozen wild turkey hens. I do see wild turkey around here but I had never seen so many at one time. I was thrilled to say the least.
I never know for sure what discovery I will make next time. We have thousands of books between us and there is an universe in each of them so I have no need to travel too far to explore the next universes.
And that does not even include universe after universe in my music– thousands of LP’s, cassettes and CD’s.
I never run out of things to explore. I do not have to go to far but don’t get me wrong I do enjoy traveling once in a while. I just don’t feel I have to.
Sep
25
2009
Why do we care so much about things?! You can not take your material possessions with you when your time comes. It says in the bible ‘from dust you come and to dust you shall return’.
I am as guilty as anyone of this. My music, my writings and journals and books are far too important to me. Yet when my appointed hour comes, I can no longer hang on to any of these things.
Why do we act as if we can take our possessions with us when we die? We try up till the last moment to retain some control of our most valuable possessions. We make wills.
The fact still remains we can’t take them with us. Wouldn’t it make more sense to invest in the things that really have more lasting effects? Wouldn’t it make more sense to invest time while you are on earth in relationships–your immediate family, your friends, your kids?
Once you are gone all people have are their memories of you, the love and care you have demonstrated toward them. You can have far reaching effects if you have invested time and love in others while you were on this earth. People you have loved have memories of you long after you are gone.
Far too many people do not invest time in others. They spend their whole life in accumulating things. No one remembers how hard you worked in your lifetime. They remember the love you have demonstrated toward them. So before it is too late, do something about it. Examine your priorities. You have one life.
Mar
7
2009
This is often no need to leave my room. My music is here. Each note, each song, each LP, CD and the cassettes I have put together from my vast music collection, they are all universes within universes. That does not even mention the many books on my shelves. Then there are the birds I view when the sun comes up and spend hours doing so. I never have to go too far to explore the next universe. My mind roams all the time. And that is just one large room in this house.
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