Yet Another Case of Tail Wagging the Doglly

In my youth, before my injury, before college, before my mustache, I always thought leggings on ladies looked a little declasse.  Even when my research told me that Dutchmen (I'm 75% Netherland Dutch and 25% German Deutsche) have a fondness for women in leggings, I was leery.  However since I've decided that my signature affectation will be a really classy cowboy mustache, ala Sam Elliott which I also found declasse in my youth, women in leggings, spandex, lycra have a newfound appeal to me that heretofore I did not have.  I believe that my Dutchstache brought it out in me, or is this  proof-positive of the  theory that as one ages, genetics play an ever increasing role.  Yet one more argument for nature vs. nurture.

Sunday Afternoons with my Pastor from Another Mother

Awhile ago I reconnected with an old schoolfriend from Elementary, Middle and High schools. He's now a pastor at a church across the Phoenix megalopolis. Our afternoons are chocked full of dialogue, in fact in future meetups he's going to use his connections as a primmer to help me weightlift at a neighborhood gymnasium. He knows a little bit and can access resources to help train me.  I took weightlifting 2+ semesters. One for college credit and one one as independent study (where the instructor would help me individually). On pumped to have a buddy who will repurpose his skills to assist me. Once again giving credo to the phrase, "it's not what you know, it's who you know." I'm being to love the Good Old Boy System.  It's mightily more intuitive. Simpler is usually better.

New Facial Hair Quaffage

They call me csionallyowboy.  I recently purchased the Phillips Norelco OneBlade, and use it to trim my o moustache into an overgrown chevron.  Think Tom Selleck's Magnum p.i. crossed with Dr Fu Manchu, and then just left to grow wild, pruned occasionally.  Exemplars include Sam Elliott in Big Lebowski, Kurt Russel in Tombstone, et cetera.

Clothes may Change, but Style Pervades

After the dawn of the new year, I intend on updating my wardrobe, freshening my style.

My clothes do seem to be shrinking as the years progress.

Henceforth, less denim, more paisley and  plaid fabrics.

I'll use Amazon.com  to shop (just makes more sense to bring the mountain to Mohammed).

Haste Makes Waste

I pace myself, turn, turn, turn. 

Haven't recently been accused of moving too fast

Ala that ancient wisdom doled out by Asian wise men on old TV programs (Kung Fu, etc): you moved to quickly, Grasshopper. I don't wish to lose track of things (that happens despite my lack of alacrity); so I figure, 'why chance it?'.  So often to the consternation of those around me, I move at glacial pace, making sure all the i's and j's are dotted, and t's, f's and x's are crossed.

Introspection, Baby

Realizing that the preponderance of life is out of our individual spheres of influence, I have gotten into the habit of ending all my correspondence, be that e-mail, SMS, or casual conversation, with the alliterative throwaway phrase 'Whatever Works.'

It marries my love of linguistic flair and my Libertarian leanings; id est, it's tantamount to  saying "If God wills it..." and President D.J.Trump's, "We'll see what happens."

Per Bob Frost, taking the lesser trod path

Before my injury, resultant of a car accident, I was a good student (took the PSAT as a Sophomore cold (no prep) and would've been eligible for college scholarships for my score, were I to have taken it as a Junior..  After my hospital stay, following my Traumatic Brain Injury, I opted to return to school to finish my last two years of classes (took me three, including the reintegration year).

Before my physical rehab was completely finished, I resummed high school, but since the diligent rote knowledge portion of my inculcation was behind me, I started with media productions, taught by my former (pre-injury) Speech teacher, who was also my debate coach.  Mostly I used my creative computer skills to concoct whimsical and interesting morning announcements textual verbiage, while also doing the core class projects.

But that soon wore thin, and I added high school Physics on to my regimen. I took it from my chess coach (pre-injury).  Because I've always been sort of a science nerd, I did well. However, at the high school level, I couldn't handle AP Physics (too much complicated math).  I'd have to save that joy for college.

While still in high school, my last two summers, I took English 101 from my freshman high school teacher) through the local community college via email correspondence.  And then I took ENG 102 at the college the next year.

Thing is, I could've taken the GED cold, and pass.  However knowing that colleges apprise rigor, fortitude, the ability to endure as much as raw intellect, I returned to school.

And in Frost-like manner, 'that has made all the difference.'

My intended itinerary for next Saturday

I shall work out per usual.

I shall go to the Target store and pick up m-n-ms per usual.

I shall go to Warby Parker (Scottsdale) to try out new foksrames and order new glasses.  Now that I have my prescription, that is possible.

I shall go to Verizon (Glendale) to get a new phone.  I was charging my old phone and accidentally knocked it on the floor.  It now has big black vacancies (looks like the La Brea tar pits).  Quite inoperable..

In the Words of Yogi, "'Twas Deja' Vu, All Over Again.," or It's All Been Done Beforeee

Today a roommate and I took a sojourn to 'a day ihe country,' a bucolic event held by We're Moving Forward (the neurologically injured activity group). It was fun; however, it revisited activities I'd done previously,on account of the fact that I'd been there before.  It was old hat.  Fun to see old friends.  But in the end ,I made the same vow that I vowed about Camp Can Do.  Id est, "Never again." Cost benefit analyses are all left wanting of a positive result.  Echoing the words of a BareNaked Ladies song: It's All Been Done Before.   fully hold to the premise that fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.  In the words of Pete Townshend (the Who), "Won't get fooled again."

Sometimes Intentionally Looking Ignorant is the Best Route

Even if you can remember someone's name, it is always a good thing to at a good moment, inquire anyway. Put other people in the spotlight, puts them at greater ease. Ever cognizant that it's never a good tactic to play the fool, nevertheless at times it can be the desired notion, once all the implausible is tried, anything that is not impossible is bound to work. 

Realization, Really

I've come newfound revealed truth that lo these years of inculcation that oom pretty smart, and that if I have even a slight rudimentary knowledge of a subject (either via my 8 years of post high school education or the school of hard knocks) that I ought not be passive but take a leadership role. After all, that was one of the central foci of my graduate school studies.  Leadership of small groups and organizations.  Time to trust myself.

A Hope Renvisioned

I recently got in touch with an old school buddy, from some of elementary, the bus stop in middle, and freshman year of high school.  He tapped my computer and research skills in the start of his new ministry, which hopefully dovetails with my extant mission. Ala the Blues Brothers: I'm on a mission from GOD.  With  any luck, I will at least get more involved with a younger spiritual cohort.  Hopefully in my travels, I'll meet a nice young woman, with whom to start a family.  As my newfound credo states: any step forward is a step in the right direction. Can't hurt for trying.

The perils, the problems, and even I daresay the pluses of having a babyface

Growing up with a babyface (looking decidedly youthful), it was always easy to hang around older groups, to be that token younger member of the cohort.  Still few took me seriously, unless and until I proved my bonafides, which I always did in due course. Additionally, all the girls I liked as a youth always saw me as either a little buddy or younger brother-type.  But now as my cohort, Gern-X, has aged and matured, I don't mind being mistaken for so 10-15 years younger.  I like being misunderestimated. It will probably come in as a net-net plus in the next leg of my mission, the finding and courting of a mate.  I believe it was Sun Tzu, writing in the Art of War: When strong, appear weak. And when weak, appear strong..  I'm not that old but looking even less old could be a distinct tactical advantage

Didn't Pat Benatar liken love to a battlefield?

Sometimes Breaks Can be a Cool Things

After being under the weather the last few days,  yesterday afternoon I was gelling indubitably better. My fever had broken and by morning before church, I was over the hump. Id est, I was in that post illness euphoria...

Phase I/Phase II

Stuff about childhood being a time of exploration and learning. Transformational (trading college courses during the s summers of my high school, just to get a head start, keep the machinery lubed, stay in the. L learning frame of mind, save money,  etc).

Stuff about once those childish things are mastered, stuff getting transactional, mundane and rote.

About really learning that in my last  course of my M.B.A.- marathon.

Per Nirvana's.song, Serve the Servants:  Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old.  There are amazing parallels in that thought...

During Phase I, I was being prepared, schooled, trained.  This was fueled by the motivator of angst. 

During Phase II: The schooling gets utilized, training unleashed, processes implemented

If Phase I is undertaken properly, Phase II seems like a veritable let down.  No more restrictive training wheels, life gets much more scatalogical.  Like the opening scene in Temple of Doom, "Anything Goes."  Within reason and maturity.

Burn Baby, Burn

The wildfires, by some estimates, have cost more than $2bn in property damage. Both ciis is totllvilians and firefighters have lost their lives.  This is mostly preventable.  The cause is dead wood which accumulates on the forest floor.  That combined with the leaves makes it a veritable tinderbox awaiting the smallest spark or flame to conflagrate into full inferno.

Industry would happily rectify the situation.  But even sensible logging is a boogeyman.

Government,ble greenpeace, environuts, et al. have combined to light that fire(s).

The realization of my part in His plan

Ala G (Eddie Murphy) in the movie Holy Man, it's time for me to get back to my Mission, quest, thing (Lord of the Rings).  I see it as my calling to try to get a wife and have children, help raise a family (hopefully in that order).  But it is not for me to judge the outcomes.

Ubiquity over precision

Now that we're older, it's oftentimes better to just be vague and hint at things. Let others take your ideas the rest of the way to fruition.

New roles must be developed: the leader and the sage, while new to my generation, they are nevertheless vitally important.

If Nominated, I won't run; if elected,I won't serve... OK, OK, you twisted my arm, I'll serve

Recently my counselor, who facilitates a brain injury support group that I attend, tapped me to t brick wallsadministrate the group's facebook page.  It should be challenging and a fun growth opportunity.

Hey, at least I can Google when I hit brick walls, which I imagine happening quite frequently at first.  Such is the peril of endeavoring at any denovo stretch goal.

I love it when a plan comes together

After an initial miscoordination, my pastor buddy, Justino, who's a longtime friend from elementary, middle and high school, finally met up, and week meet up again next week, such that I might help him start this ministry that he's looking to start. Good meet up today; hopefully good pretends for a future endeavor.

A Distinguishing Feature of the Species

Seeing into the future and acting accordingly. No other species does this.

Savings and investment, delayed consumption. Better uses of energy can be imagined and ran through thought experiments.  Deferring gratification leads to savings which in turn lead to investments, the Lynchpin of the creative endeavor.  That's  one characteristic that makes Homo sapiens the apex predator.  We outcompeted all rivals.  Darwin's survival of the fittest, or survival of the smartest.  Oh yeah, that demonstrates another characteristic championed by Gen-X: brains over brawn. 

Reunions (a retrospective)

Well, my reunion with my high school buddy got off to a weird start. While using the weight machines, my phone pinged, I received a facsebook Messenger message that he'd missed the train stop and would be doubling back.  We finally met in the lobby, had a nice chat and are giving it a try again next week.  Let's just chalk it up to a trial run; id est, nothing was lost but information was gained.

At the We're Moving Forward event later in the day on the same same campus as the gym where I exercised in the morning, different building, same campus, I saw a guy with whom I shared many a rehab facility--that was unexpectedly neat.

Echos from the past

Recently when I've been looking in the mirror, someone else has been gazing back-- the ghost of my maternal grandfather.

There was family lore of us (the royal, familiar US) having some Irish in our sugar code. The D in DNA being deoxyribose, a permutation of the sugar compound,  ribose. My mustache is ruddy, the color of my grandfather's hair in his youth. Red is a telltale hair color pigmentation trait of the Irish.

So, I suppose that makes me German (on my maternal grandmother's side) Dutch (on my paternal and maternal grandfathers' sides, as well as my paternal grandmother) with strong Irish influences. It's no wonder, I'm quite opinionated ands stubborn.

You can never know where you're going, unless and until you know where you've been. If not you, at least your sugar (code). And all this without 23 and me. I'm not cheap, I'm frugal. And I've staked out that position; so, I'll stubbornly defend it. More traits that are in line with my ancestry.

Doing the twist, ala the Grateful Dead

To clean my moustache throughout the day,of salt, sugar, et cetera, I t wist my moustache ala Kid  Twist. (Harold Gould) from the movie The Sting (1973).

After studying for exams, doing course projects during college, my best buddy and I would often relax by watching the Sting and eating dinner.  We bonded over the time we spent endeavoring to study that with which she blinded Thomas Dolby:Science.

However, in my moustache, I've been noticing a 'Touch of Gray.'

The debut of Master RMH, MBA

On August 25, my right hand man and I are going to go to an event sponsored by the WMF, an evening of trivia, poker and blackjack (my game is poker).  There I will premiere my moustache all buttered up with Maestsro's beard butter, an agar of moustache oil and moustache wax, available at Target, which I bought awhile back and have been keeping for a less mundane time to use. By then, since facial hair grows three times as fast as scalpal (?) hair, I should have some good growth going.  (Bet you can't say that three times fast)  It should be fun.

Reunion

The other day, an elementary school classmate, who was a middle school and high school friend, hit me up on facebook's soutaving grace, messenger.  We are going to confab at my quasi-local gym.  Anytime I can help a buddy out with very little effort on my part can be nothing but good.

I shall expound on the tet-a-tet after the fact, but I shall not peer into the future.

The Art of Moving Slowly (and the Science of Telegraphing Your Moves Ahead of Time)

In this congested world, there is no want of action or actors. It would seem that planning and patience are very much prized.  Some mught say that acting strtiWith enough creative coordination, almost anything is possible.  hers. Realizing that thal this may seem a little fatalistic, it's meant to be more spiritual and zan; but if one moves slowly and methodically, stuff just seems to get moved out of the way.

I think that if the laconic pace is telegraphed and ensconced in a consistent pattern, others readily adjust their actions accordingly.  I am reminded of that ancient eastern warning, 'you moved to soon;' so, I never do.  Moving without thinking is too reminiscent of the groupthink intrinsic in socialism.

Exemplari gratis; it's much more polite to arrive at a party fashionably late than to arrive during setup. 'ff one acts early, there's good chance he'll get in the way.

I was taught to 'Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you told 'em.'

It's quite declase to always rely on shock and surprise to be impactful.

Evenflow, thoughts arrive like butterflies

I get inspirations late at night, but no matter how much i try to hold on to them, by morning, they are gone with the wind.

As such, I employ several compensatory strategies. Either I start to compose a'am email and leave an outline of bullet points to flesh out on the morning, or my personal favorite, I compose an SMS (text message) and schedule it to be sent at a more appropriate hour for correspondence.

Ain't modern technology grand? Much like business never stops, the digital age never sleeps. We are living in a truly global/mobile paradigm, where barriers are reduced to a gossamer thinness. The veil need not be ripped, for it's practically translucent.

B-List Movie Reviews: Rampage

For a film based on a 1980's-era pub crawl video game, Rampage was worth precisely the $4.50 I paid to watch the film.  The CGI graphics were quite ccomparable to the horde of Godzilla retreads produced near the turn of the century.

I suppose that's to be expected after all, didn't Canada's BareNaked Ladies echo that sentment with the refrain: 'It's all been done before.'  I guess everything is just a rehash or permutation of either s wroteomething that some Classical Roman author, a Gospel writer, or Shakespeare wrote.

My verdict on Rampage is 4 bottles of beer  the wall.  Good but not great repose of the monster movie genre.

In the 1980's, my parents owned a sign painting comp, and in an adjacent stripmall there was a working neighborhood bar; that's where I played Rampage. It's not very fun sober, or so I can imagine.  I suppose same could be said for the movie.

Don't Know What'cha Got 'Til it's Gone

We are at that point in the curve where many in my beloved Generation-X, where many men are balding. Sure my hair is thinning, but I still have a mop of unkempt hair, a thick moustache (one of my roommates even nicknamed  me stachio. Bni   I figure. if ya got it, flaunt it.  I have fedoras for when I go out in public.  Problem solved.

Doing the Hustle

The side hustle.

Blah, blah, blah, Jen-Luc, blah, blah, capitalism, blah blah, memory, blah, blah.

These are the notes that I uploaded to the cloud on the wakes my way home from my day's outing. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  This morning, as per usual on Saturdays, Jen-Luc and I went to the local, across the metropolis, adaptive gym, where I proceeded to use the weight machines Jen-Luc, my Congolese caregiver, works at a different house, but he takes me to support groups and concomitant events, schedules permitting; however, the main company, the umbrella company of the houses, is quite accommodating.  He is, in all seriousness, doing it as a side hustle.  Also, on my weekly excursion, I stop by the store and acquire supplies of which I am running low.

This is only possible because of the power of capitalism, which made the internet and mobile phone usage ubiquitous.  And allows him to exchange his  free time for my money.  A veritable win-win.  We both come out ahead; he exchanges his free time for my money.  He values my money more than he values his time; I value his time more than I value my money. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

 I wouldn't be able to have held these thoughts in my head, gone about the daily routine, and then have been able to cogently codify my meandering missive.  All thanks to modern human magic.  Magic simply being heretofore unknown science.  Hey, it's with what she blinded Thomas Dolby. Science.

I compose my missives better on my Chromebook than on my Android, but my phone is more portable.

Role Reversal

Whereas the United States broke away from England (1776), the British are now in process of breaking away from the European Union, the Common Market, European Commission,  et cetera (2018).

U.S./U.K. bond is being strengthened. Our two countries' special relationship is  enduring. Common language, shared values, mutual histories all contribute to a transatlantic partnership that is quite perdurant.

New trade deals will need to be negotiated, and who better to lend a hand than the author of the Art of the Deal.  We can help the Britis with their emancipation, we've  been there, done that.

My Curricular Journey

Going through the traditional gauntlet of educational institutions, I started in Kindergarten, progressed normally, sure I was excelling on the Gifted Track, through 8th grade.  Then, following greener pastures for her career my mom and I moved to Colorado.

There, mid-October, I entered the brand new Middle School, at first I felt a little out of place (city mouse surrounded by country mice or more aptly mountain mices.  I grew to adore that place, but again following the job opportunities, my mom an I moved back into the house we'd left mere months earlier.

Freshman and Sophomore years I excelled on the accelerated track. Summer after Sophomore year I was passenger seared at the impact proint in a nasty T-bone carnt 5 years in collet collision. I suffered a brain injury. After my 10-day coma, I spent another year ans a half in various hospitals and outpatient  rehabilitation.  I then transitioned back into my former high school.  After a year of integrating, I was ready to resume my journey, albeit at a slower pace (more English and Writing courses, less math) for a shorter duration. AP Biology, AP English, AP Government my last year (6 calendar years, 5 curricular years)

After high school, I spent 5 years in college. I went in undeclared, spent some time pursuing business and politics, but ultimately went back to my beeloved Biology. Graduating cum laude, I incorporated my business, politics and English into a Social Sciences minor.

I then followed my business interests to the local wing of the State university. My favorite courses were business law and Finance.

Turning Japanese, I think I'm Turning Japanese, I really think so

I studied Japanese as my foreign language in my Sophomore high school Freshman and Sophomore years, I loved it; I wanted the challenge, and I thought Spanish was too prosaic (I bve in Arizona, Spanish is pretty common), French in my opinion is too fruity. Japanese to me combines honor, history and rigor.  I very much venerate Japan, the people, the language, the culture   To that end, the Monday after Thanksgiving (2017), I began regrowing my moustache, and soon thereafter, decided to grow me a fu Manchu and style it ala Sam Elliott. My mother really liked him, and my appraisals of his acting chops are positive.

Near the end of next month (August 2018), I will be attending a brain injury associated group event.  There I intend to butter up and style my moustache with beard butter (an amalgam of moustache oil and moustache wax).  It's looking pretty good now, definite potential, but with another month and a half growth, it should look really good then.

Here's the part of the post where, ala Fresh Prince, everything gets flip-turned upside down.  According to the Vapors' lyrics: No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark.  That's been my life, heretofore (sequestered in school, hospital, home) , but I believe with my newfound facial hair and rediscovered chutzpah, ala John Lee Hooker & Carlos Santana,'Things Gonna Change' so I should just 'Chill Out.'

X-Perspective: On Cultural Appropriation

"Don't hate, appreciate "

In high school, I took Japaneseas as my foreign language, not because I secretly despine the Nihonjin, far from it.  I'm actually trying to style my moustache in a Western, Country=Rock variant of the fu Manchu, ala Sam Elliott or Freddie Mercury or an intermediate form, which as its name would imply has its roots in China.  Guilty as charged; I love the Japanese, a derivation of the China-archetype.  Oops, whatever.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if its not mocking, its all to the good.

Everyone appropriates everything at every moment  All the more true in these highly connected, uber global, constant communication times  According to Canada's Bare Naked Ladies, 'It's all been done before.'  Pop culture, rock and roll, media, et cetera are widely adopted by non-U.S. entities.  We're social organisms. America takes the best of the world, adopts it, adapts it to her needs, then disemanates it.   That reminds me, the Internet.  "World, 'you're welcome,'" he said with a wink, a wry grin, and a slight nod.

Of Memes and of Genes

Memes are like societal mind viruses, they can infect the cultural zeitgeist, mutating and replicating with every utterance in whatever social eddy they may drift.  Slogans, tropes and limericks can change the societal direction.

Taken to the extreme, memes can become integrated into the permanence and replicability of the human genome through the standard paradigm of isolated interbreeding populations.  Take as exemplari gratis, the physical differences between species of animals, begin as location memes that are then ensconced in DNA, the Camel vs the goat: water conservation vs Alpine rock scaling. Or rabbits and elephants, totally different reproductive strategies (r vs. K)..

Two Wrongs Really Can Make a Right

In mathematics, when two negative numbers are multitelplied together, a positive product results.

Quite similarly, when my roommate, Brad, goes into one of his schizophrenic (just my lay opinion, not diagnosed) fugues, it is my wont to tell him,"Shut up, Old man. "

When anyone else tells him to hush up or even be quiet, he gets very put out. 

Telling him to shut up is an insult, a negative (-) comment, as is calling him an old man (I'm ~20 years younger than him).  I knew that from the start.  I juxtapose the two phrases to soften, mititigate, and diffuse the impact of my rhetoric.  I always say it with a smile on my face and always get a chuckle in response.  And half the.time, that's the intended effect, the other half of the time, I really do want him to shut up.  Either way, it still works.  When you have a hammer, the world seems full of nails 

Sure, I could be very polite and deferential, but then that would be tantamount to lying, because it's just not in my nature.  As one of my other roommates wryly tells me, "you've got jokes for days."

I suppose I use humor as a defense mechanism, a tool in my arsenal; and, oh what a pluripotent tool it is.

Bob Frost's Writing on Division May be Germane to Our Current Age

Early in the last century (1914), poet Robert Frost wrote in his iconic poem, Mending Wall: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors.  For what purpose does one erect a fence?  as Dexter Holland sang with the Offspring, 'You gotta keep 'em separated.' What is a better partition than even a fence?  That's right, a wall.

In sparsely populated areas, fences work just fine.  Id est, on the back 40 of a large acreage farm or some remote ranch, where the fence is used to keep animals on the property, or on the wide open hinterland of the Canadian/United States border where crossings are infrequent. On the other face of the coin, at the frequently traversed, United States/Mexico border,  if fences are good (and they must be, for they are not unusual down Mexico-way), wouldn't a wall be even better?

It could also be beneficial (term is inapt, but gets the general point across) for Mexico as well.  To become a modern society, one not so socially stratified and riddled with cartels, the underclass would have to revolt.  As it stands currently, whenever the underclass gets restless, they are just directed across the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) to El Norte (America).

As Thomas Paine wrote at the birth of our nation,']T]hese are the days that try mens' souls,' I'd also posit that the current era is trying in its own right

:Per the Meat Puppets, I'm taking it to the next Plateau

Well Thursday, I made a quantum leap with my weight training routine.  Heretofore, I'd not been pushing myself and had been only chest pressing 75-lbs for like 3 sets of 25 reps.  But that day, I stepped it up to a set of 10 reps at 100-lbs and a set of 15 reps at that same 100-lbs

Right from the outset, I knew I'd be stepping it up.  Two sets of 50 at 200-lbs on the leg press.Two sets of 25 at 30-lbs on the crunchboard

That regiment is sufficient to use up my allotted workout time thrice weekly.
Per the Tempe college band Meat Puppets:

Nothing on top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds,
     There's a lot up there,
     But don't be scared,
     Who needs action when you've got words.

I've been accused of being both indecisive and lugubriously locacous.  I plead guilty on both counts. The former, ala Jason Mraz, I'm trying to remedy; the latter, I wholeheartedly embrace.

I think I'll increase reps, while maintaining weight.

Also quite similar to when I took Weightlifting as my P.E.credit and then independent study in college, I initially lost weight (presumably from loss of adipose), but then I've been, ever so slightly, gaining weight (quite assuredly from slight muscle hypertrophy).

I maintained that schemata at my Saturday workout.

In War, We Must All Choose a Side

I yearn for a simpler time, irregardless of whether such a time truly existed. I like constancy, or in Tevia's words, "TRADITION."

It is in that vein that I support Coca-Cola over Pepsi. Over the years, I've grown to love the bite Coke has that Pepsi does not.

Pepsi is sweeter, sure, more saccharine sweet but in this age where sugar is verboten because it is the source of most  weight gain, I find Coke's crispness a pleasantly subtle reminder to try to shy away from the allure of the seductive carbohydrate.

Additionally, to me Coke is more associated with the masculine and Pepsi, the feminine; id est, my dad drank Coke, my mom, my aunt, my grandma, Pepsi.

Even in their color schemes, Coke is red, Pepsi blue. And I tend to align more with the rebellious red Republicans than the blue of the collectivist Democrats.

And as I opined in a previous post, i tend to align more with the red British than the blue Continentals (read: French, Germans). That despite being mostly Dutch and a fair bit of German.  But hey,  my grandfather was a rancher of Dutch descent,  and he got a kick out of Benny Hill and the rest of the comical Brits; so, I suppose more than a little of the old cowboy survives in me.

A Leopard Changes His Stripes

It is summertime, time fro a wardrobe update.

I think I'll embrace my Libertarian leanings and start wearing zany clothing. Plaids will be juxtaposed with stripes. Polka dots and paisleys mixed.  Hawaiian shirts and golf pants/board shorts ala Magnum P.I.  But, ala Tom Selleck, I do wear a mustache; however,  i sport a fu Manchu like Sam Elliott not a chevron like Tom Selleck's Thomas Magnum. Ala Nirvana's motto: Oh well,whatever, nevermind.

Colors of clothing will be selected for maximum impact.  Like MTV's Real World once claimed: it's just what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.  After all we only go around once on this big spinning planet of love.

Time to embrace the chaos.  Ala Sellers' Strangelove, it's time I stop worrying what others may think and learn to love the chaos.  After all, randomness is the most sustainable, durable pattern. Either go with the flow or get trampled by the herd. I opt to chart an individualistic course, as is my Libertarian wont and ethos.

Dark Day Dawning

Tomorrow will be the 22nd anniversary of my injury.  Seems high time for a retrospective.  Well,  let's demarcate my  accomplishments:

1. Survived a brain injury with some modicum of wit and aplomb.
2. Returned to and graduated from the high school I attended before the injury. Sure it took me 5 academic years to complete (4 usual and 1 reintegration) and I did slow my courseload, but where there's a will there's a way, and I have been called willful on more than one one occasion. Who am I trying to kid, I wear the appellation of 'stubborn Dutchman' with pride.  To wit, most people being called a stubborn Dutchman would be an insult, but I think of it as tantamount to being called unwavering and independent.
3. Graduated debt free and with honors from the college of my choice. Sure it took 5 years, but I did change majors once and then resume my original plan. But those weren't wasted years; I incorporated much of those curricular wanderings into my minor. And what's more, I followed the general, while in college, path of that course of study (social sciences: mostly economics) on to a master's level study (business administration: mostly big think leadership and investing). I never really aspired to be an academic (honestly, I kind of looked down on them).  I always esteemed businessmen. My favorite scene in all of cinema is from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when they visited the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
4. Graduated debt free, and on time, with an M.B.A. from the really local branch of the State University. I live in Glendale, a west valley suburb of Phoenix. ASU West is literally only a few blocks north of my house.  In fact, when I was in high school, my neighborhood buddy and I  Rollerbladed up to the campus one summer day, it was quite the summer sojourn. Also,for a Vertebrate Zoology course project, my college brother and I did a study on desert rat burrow configuration, utilizing the population of desert rodentia on the spacious northwest Phoenix campus locale.

5,  Past is prologue.  Id est, I probably have more exploits ahead of me than behind me, but I must be ever cognizant to never waste one moment.  I know that's not realistic, but carpe the most diem that I can.

Once more unto the breach dear friends, again

This evening I went to that support group thing I alluded to in a previous post.  It was pretty good.  I saw people I'd meet previously. Makes connections (id est, friendships, acquaintances, et cetera) stronger. I'm pumped that I'll be better able to maintain the processes reinitiated (?) today. I had been going before, but my aunt was having trouble dusk-driving. I'm now riding with the caregiver who takes me to the local adaptive gym on Saturdays. Prospectively, I'll have him take me more places. Good pattern initiated tonight. Humans are pattern recognition, paradigm initiation, machines. So, what I'm saying is at least thrice more unto the breach, probably more, dear friends.

Prospective social group

Arrangements have been made to ensue my attendance at a local brain injury social group facilitated by my counselor.   It should be hood.  Change will be good.   As is my wont, ' Any steep forward is a move in the right direction, even if only in baby steps, ala What About Bob. After all, my first name is Robert,

A Rose by Any Other Name

The founder of the binomial nomenclature organismal classification system was 18th century. Swedish taxonomist (Latinized) Carlous Linnaeus.

My own name Robert Mark Heemstra is a river with many tributaries: My first name is taken from my maternal grandfather's first name, which is itself, as family history reports, taken from the Confederate General of the Civil War. My middle and last names are taken directly from my dad's middle and last names. I've always gone by Mark in common parlance.  However for my legal signature, I followed the Linnaeus formula and retained my grandfather's name with the leading initial R.

While pursuing my undergraduate biology degree, I noticed that the second author on academic papers was usually denoted as the first two initials and a last name; so, I adopted that formula for all of my papers and tests.  My college brother, a guy with whom I matriculated in many a class, was baptized, I was even a groomsman at his wedding, id est, we're birds of a feather.  He noticed that and began referring to me as simply RM.  I like it.

When I was trying to set up this website, heemstra.com was already taken; so, instead of trying to make a whole loot of permutations to my name or use a more esoteric and expensive suffix (e.g. .us, .biz, .me), I simply reverted back to a form of my scholastic nomenclature: rmheemstra.com.

Although my site currently hosts my blog, Gen-X-Perspectives, I reserved the site from my Google overlords; such that, as I change, evolve, and mature, I can repurpose the site to meet my eventual growing needs. In the words of Fleetwood Mac, I thought 'don't stop thinking about tomorrow.'

X-Perspective: On Roseanne, effects, comparisonsn

Roseanne said (tweeted/0 something that was offensive, oh my, let me clutch my pearls.  Bill Maher did something similar proximal the events of 9/11,  and I don't remember quite the same vitriol.  Hypocrisy thy name is liberalism.  But am I surprised? No, I'm not.  What's the phrase; birds of a feather...

I've never really been a fan of Roseanne, but what's good for the gander, should also be good for the goose...

UK shenanigans

A Dissenter, activist journalist Tommy Robinson, was arrested for purportedly breaching the peace.  The Islamoficatiion of England is quite onerous.  Arrested, tried,sentanced, jailed in only an hour's time.  The 13 month verdict is a death sentance, since he was protesting the Islamofascist creeping Muslim grooming rape gangs.  Can anyone say canary in the coal mine?  Achtung,baby; let this serve as a reminder that liberty is not certain in these perilous times.

X-Perspective:Conformity May be Desirable,but as for Me it's Quite Tenuous

I really try to do things as instructed, 'by the book,' at least the first time. After that, my ample university inculcation usually rears its stubborn head and shortcuts and alternative processes are employed.

Mostly that's because I have been conditioned lo these past 24 years of schooling to think both critically and independently, because school is about more than just facts and figures, but about the development and deployment of a mixed bag of processes.

X-Perspective: Second Day

The second day of my internship/volunteer thing was quite elucidating.  I should get my login next Tuesday.

It does seem interesting,though.

X-Perspective: First Day (a Retrospective Analysis or Analyses)

My first day as basically a wink and nod, back of the envelope orientation.  Nothing starts on my end until next week.  That said, should be fun, or at least enlightening. 

My university, collegiate, even high school curricular background should avail me well.

X-Perspective: First Day

In a few hours, I'm scheduled to be picked up for my first day at an internship, purportedly doing computer work.  Well, computers are in the portfolio of my competencies, even if they are not core, I have working knowledge of basic systems, and I am a quick stud; so, this should be fun.

I will give more elaborate posts in the future; after all, this is my first day.  My first day is nie be
But hey, I'm university trained, should be easy peasy.

X-Perspective: Henry V, Act III, scene 1 (kn a sense)

Today I went to the 'local' disability gym.  it's in a different city, across the metropolis..  I had a good session, excepting the fact that I tried climbing the rock wall, but could not. My left hand is still weak from a procedure meant to do just that. It worked too well; lesson learned. But at least I'm gonna say that I tried to scale the wall; id est, 'Once more unto the breach dear friends,once more'

All this means is a delay; I shall remain undeterred in my quest to get back to good.. Just have to wait for my hand to strengthen, the damaging drugs to dissipate from the injections.

While waiting for my opportunity to try to scale the wall, I took a detour to a Target store proximal to the disability center. It was fruitful, mostly because I did my internet due diligence on the products at a more local Target; their offerings are pretty ubiquitous.  I procured Noxzema, for I've noticed some nascent breakouts resultant of dry skin, and also oily skin. Noxzema should mitigate both maladies.  I also bought some beard butter to try to train my mustache; part of it is diffuse, the other kind of flowing like a fu-man-chu should.  I wish to bring them more into alignment.  Once more unto the breach, and away from the razor.

All that is my attempt to bring hirsute back; my fight against modernity and its prejudice against the hairy; but I suppose that has been a trend, ever since our ancestors swung from branch to branch.

X-Perspective:A Step Hopefully Forward

Tomorrow morning, I will be going to the much-lauded Ability360 exercise/training/recreational facility. I took a tour when they first opened their doors.  Looked impressive.

This will give me 3 days a week where I'll be lifting weights, a definite step in the right direction.
Three days training with resistance, cutting the carbs, just plain getting out and doing more should advance the ball of my life down the field.  Stretching the metaphor to its breaking point, hopefully I'll be the 'belle of the ball;' but I'm a guy; so, perhaps I should set my aspiration to be the 'beau of the ball?'  I'll just settle for being me.

And I think I should start having a driver once a week on Wednesdays, which means that I'll be able to start attending this support group that meets once a month, but I'm pretty cognizant that I should be able to find  some utility for egress the other weeks

To quote my favorite bard from my youth:

"Oh well, Whatever, Nevermind. "

X-Perspective: On MBA Heemstra, or: how I learned to stop worrying and love my mustache

James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, et al. discovered the DNA process for replication, offering a methodology for Darwin's theory of evolution.

In my youth, my dad always wore a big, thick mustache.  I always told myself that I'd always be clean shaven. Well, that went on fine until after my injury when I went bacbrrk to high school and later in college where I'd grow finals beards.

I always thought that the simple mustache was kind of hokey, but beards cause my face  to break out.  However, being an American Dutchman, my mustache grows very quickly, my college brother noted that my mustache would show its shadow by like 3 o'clock afternoon.

The Monday after Thanksgiving 2017, i started to grow the latest iteration of my mustache.  In a Seinfeld sense: it's thick,it's bushy, it's spectacular.  Ala Justin Timberlake, I'm bringing hirsute back. Hopefully, I'll start a trend.  Nonetheless, I've come to the realization that I can't fight my genetics; so, I just stopped worrying and learned to love my mustache.  Ala Travis Tritt,' I think I'll grow me a fu manchu.

X-Perspective: Nevermind the Bollix

This morning, i wheeled around the neighborhood in my electric wheelchair.  I did well.  On my first couple of excursions, I mad small errors. This time was much better;instead of past being prologue,past is a learning experience, past foibles forgotten. Hopefully.

Any step forward is a step ahead.

X-Perspective:It's Good to Revisit Old Patterns from Time to Timetl

While the house was gone getting bottled water for the water cooler this morning, I revisited the local Fry's:Food and Drug.  I was in search of some electric toothbrush heads and shampoo. My current assortment of brush heads are getting slightly worn.  I could not, however, find my particular brand of brush.  But after some searching, I found shampoo.

After a semi-fruitful venture to Fry's, I suggested that we go to Burger King.  After navigating the intersection concrete safety barriers, blocking direct traversal from one parking lot to the next.  There I had a milkshake and some french fries.

After adequate consumption, I suggested that we peruse the local Goodwill establishment, if for no other reason than merely to take inventory of their offerings.  I did find there two pairs of shorts that are just ever so slightly too large, but hey, that's what belts are for.

In more than one sense, and I will elaborate on this further in future missives, mission successfully accomplished, or to borrow the words of Ice Cube, a Gen-X-icon:'Today was a Good Day.'

X-Perspective: Looks like honesty is not always the best policy. Whatever, you gotta do what you gotta do.

OK, so mere moments ago, I received an SMS from my spiritual brother. we matriculated together at a Christian college for 4 of my 5 undergraduate years, we were perennial partners and teammates on group projects, study sessions, et cetera.

After college we attended a local church and were baptized together, in the same ceremony.  I refer to him as my baptizimal brother.  Recently he 'came out' as a Christian Conservative to his, apparently secular, cohort in this web design program that he's pursuing. It was not well received, so I suppose that's the swan song for the grand liberal inclusiveness.  And all along, I gave at least lip service to the notion that 'diversity is our strength.'  But I suppose that only refers to superficial diversity.

He implored me to pray for him, and because he is one of my good brethren, pray for him I shall.  It'd be great if some of my readers did as well. 

X-Perspective: Rationale for My Slightly Unorthodox Diet, a Tale of Two Cities

I saw the other day on a YouTube podcast, Mike Cernovich comment that the food pyramid was flip-turned upside-down.  Id est, when the pyramid was first conceptualized/published (1974), the populace was still largely agrarian/industrial/ physically intensive, carbohydrate energy was readily burned.

As is I'm sure the case with most  of my X'er cohort, my metabolism has somewhat ebbed.  I've noticed this past day that I musts adopt a somewhat Adkins-esque dietary restrictions.

From my biology background, I've discovered that carbs burn quick, a use it or store it proposition. Once upon a time our animal ancestors, needed the stored energy to hibernate, etc.  And over the generations the genetic artifact remains

Lipids (fats, oils) have a triglyceride (3 sugar molecules) backbone and 3 fatty acid chains.

Fatty acid molecules actually contain much more energy per molar unit than do carbohydrates, but lipids burn slower, molecules cleaved and burned as needed.

Flowing from my above tenets, I eat mostly meats and cheeses, with the occasional carbohydrate to keep the food flowing down the alimentary canal.  My carbohydrate dujour is high fructose corn syrup found in my nightly can of Coca-cola.

Full Disclosure: I'm a little biased, for I own s few shares of Coke (KO) stock.

I have some idea that my protocol works for I'm not the youngest guy in the house, but I am the thinnest.

X-Perspective: Always bet on America, on Freedom, on Yourself

Starting from scratch, the first step was forward, any move not in directional congruity with that first step is either backwards, stalled or sideways, a real Hobtson's choice.

A bet on America is a bet against the authoritarian global mob mentality.

A bet on an acolyte of freedom is tantamount to betting on someone who bets on himself, he buys in .to the premise of a better tomorrow.

If you aren't willing to bet on yourself, you will inspire less confidence in others to bet on you.

Bet on the future, for since Man first ventured from his African grasslands, he's always been hopeful of a brighter tomorrow, for if he didn't, what inducement does that give to venture out of the house or the hut or the cave?

X-Perspective: After much introspection and prayer, I finally figured out my spiritual gifts/core competencies

Throughout my life, I've always been kind of lazy, would rather engage in the big think, direct, tweak strategy, write  than plod through the busy-work or worse yet, manual labor.  One time when my dad and I were mucking his horse's stall, I opined that, "Manual labor sucks." and it does, but what I got a kick out of is the fact that dad alwayslway remembered that line.

Core competency 1: Malaise


Sciences always interested me; so, I pursued science, mainly Biology in high school and college, but finding that rather limited, I wen to business school for a Leadership MBA, following my passion for investing, but along the way.

Core competency 2: Leadership

,From an early age, I was always more interested in excelling at the domains of maths and sciences; however, my English teachers always gave me high marks. so, I enrolled

Core competency 3: Writing

After my injury, I became intensely interested in the stock markets; so, at the undergraduate level, I tried my hand at business, but I again disliked the drudgery; so, I went back to my sciences pursuits However, I did very well in my Economics courses; thus, during my MBA pursuits, I did quite well in my finance courses (dealing with investing).  After graduation, once I cobbled together enough seed money together, I opened up a brokerage account.  I took climbing a s

Core competency 4: Investing

When I was 15 years young, my life plans were tossed topsy-turvey, and my fears of being swallowed up by a large State school were palpable; so, I enrolled in the local Christian University.  I figured I could always get a graduate degree from a state school.  And that's just what I did.

Core competency 5: perserverence/stubbornness

X-Perspective: Directed Human Evolution is Inevidble

As a precept of Darwin's theory of evolution, it is presupposed that animals will breed up to the limits of their habitat/ resources/ predator pressures.  Given that the human animal is the apex predator; per Star Wars, episode 1, there is .no bigger fish. We use or comparatively massive brains and tribal cooperation to out-compete all rivals.

Another leg in the stool of evolution. natural selection, is less restrictive with the Internet and global travel/migration. However, the most abundant 'fit' genes will still win the popularity contest.

Having wrested the reins of selection from nature, man will start selecting for more universally desirable traits. Boom, evolution; however in a more directed form.

Ir's a basic tenet of the evolutionary process that it's a gene race, id est, the ones that get there first, get propagated more frequently and the slower genes atrophy, and die.

This parallels organisms and genetic populations as a whole.

X-Perspectives: Eventually it Happens to Everyone

During our group of homes bi-weekly gathering for crafts and other enrichment activities today (Thursday),  one person was missing.  He had died enroute the crafts center.

The real kicker is that from the scuttlebutt, it sounds as though he was in his mid-thirties.  I'm in my mid-thirties!

RIP Mike

X-Persprctive: Every Ending Elicits A New Beginning

Floating down the timeline of life, ala innertubing down the Salt river, as my mom. my neighbors, and myself were wont to do during my childhood summers, something occurred to me: we utilize everything,  past successes, past failures, all capital, all reserve cash, all energy, all relationships in preparation for future endeavors. Past truly is prologue.  And that really is quite hopeful to me. I now realize that all efforts are accretive more than discrete scenes from some choose your own adventure paperback book with all the plot points thrown in a bag, like so many scrabble tiles.  Id est, much like the second law of thermodynamics, experiences can be neither created nor destroyed, the flow of the stream can only be diverted, tacked subtly to one embankment or the other. Life's experiences really are quite bomodal, in a Yoda-esque sense, either do or do not, there is no try.  Every trial is incorporated into the final product.  And that is quite reassuring, that everything I do, even the brainstorming will be additive to my "mission, quest, thing." Just to quote one of Tolkien's hobbits.

X-Perspective: Coincidences just don't happen...or do they?

Over the past while, I've been noticing that commentators have been noticing something in the aether
Mike Cernovich talks of energy shift, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame prognosticates the coming Golden Age, where we realize that all our issues are psychological, id est, our limitless potential for problem solving.  Enter Donald Trump, who won the both the Primary and General elections by utilizing unorthodox procedures. During that interval, apropos of nothing, I wrote a coupe of missives: Ch-cha-changes and Familiar Feelings.  Both point to a brighter future in the zeitgeist.  And there's always the power of positive thinking thing.  If you believe it, you can achieve it.  Good portends in the future, methinks.

X-Persprctive: Why We Err

After intense meditation and prayer, I have come to the conclusion that we make mistakes, to allow us the ability to act creativity.

When everything goes according to plan, which is less likely than everything goes amok. There are infinite ways things cab go awry, but less than an infinite way to get hings right.

Thus, every mistake offers people different ways of doing things; sure, they may be technically wrong, but in a pinch, sometimes wrong is better than nothing.  Of course, less wrong is always better.

Protocols are good to follow, but sometimes ad hoc processes are the order of the day.

X-Perspective: Don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today

My church is changing the internet system that they will be using to collect tithes.

I had intended to stay after church tomorrow, and have some of the people at the church help me migrate my tithing to the new platform.

But then I got to thinking, 'I'm a Gen-X'er  for Christ's sake (pun intended), I should be computer/internet savvy enough to do this on my own; so, I shouldn't need  assistance from the antediluvian crowd (again, pun intended).

And lo and behold, I didn't need help. The system allowed me to use my debit card, instead of a check. After all they both draw from the same pool of money.  And this IS the 21st century.  And I AM a 21st century digital boy.  The debit route just seems less cumbersome, and we all remember that mantra of the Lazy Middle-class Intellectual (of which I am a card carrying member): KISS (keep it simple stupid). Simple is better.

Never put off 'til tomorrow, what you can do today. Or better yet, right now, in the ever-flowing stream of consciousness. Life on a string, baby.

X-Perspective: Changes in the format

Henceforth,I'm going to let my political philoosophy (conservative Libertarian Republican) bleed through. I'll write very stream of consciousness.

X-Perspective:On Syria Chemical Conundrum ...

Chemical weapons hearken to thoughts & stories of WWII,where the Axis powers, chiefly the Germans utilized chemical strategies to try to win the war..Hitler (Germany) gassed the handicapped, Jews, other minorities, collectively thought of as undesirable.

As a gen-X'er, I was born under the chill of the Cold War; however, my birth was near the end, but still the mindset remains.

War, as a general precept, is hell; no one 'wins'  wars, they only endure them.  Whomever is the last man standing is declared the winner. But what have they really won?

Now, with what I know: Syrian gas attack perpetrated by unknown attackers; very well could have been Assad, but what I'm hearing is that it was probably the rebels.

The airstrike, by Trump, on Syria could be beneficial for a number of reasons.
Unfortunately, the world needs a strong America..
Without a clear show of strength, ancillary actors run amok.
Russia needed to be kept in check..Syria as a subordinate proxy state of Russia was a ready made vector to that end.

Ultimately, jury's still out.  In this 24-hour news, speed of thought internet information access, we must be ever cognizant of knee-jerk opinions.

Familiar feelings a-brewing

Recently a sense of ennui has crept over me.Now this usually occurs just my life before I make a quantum leap in life; id est, a paradigm shift feels in the offing.  After all, that's the point of most experiences; preparation for things to come.  College was my launch into grad school, apropos of nothing.  Id est, they were different fields of study.

Most endeavors are primers for future endeavors (at least in youth/young adulthood).  Much as in a career. You have your childhood summer jobs, your first job, the centrality of a career,late stage career, and maybe a reboot if retirement is too boring.

Well, positing in my youth that it would behoove me to concentrate on doing well in school, I bypassed the summer jobs-route.  After my injury in the summers that followed my junior and senior high school years, I would take one course per session at the local community college, trying to regain time lost during hospitalization/rehabilitation stints.

It also staved off ennui and the inevitable summer slump, where knowledge is lost from laziness.
I didn't do well with idle time.

Back to something more in-keeping with the title of this post, whenever I had idle time was a harbinger of a change.   Id est, that old familiar feeling of inflection has returned.  I feel the itch.

Hopefully it foreshadows good portends and not some dire downfall.  But that happen less with boredom, and more with cockiness when I let arrogance creep into my character.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

I'm kind of rudderless; id est, everything I have wanted since I can remember, now seems so faraway or impossible to attain; however, that will not stop me from trying to achieve those ends.  After all, what's that old stand-up routine: guess what happened on the way to the forum...?

Credit for the title: Douglass Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Cha, ch, ch, changes. The more things change, the more they echo the past

Ever since Monday after Thanksgiving (2017), I've been growing, or more aptly re- growing my mustache. I grew one when I went back to high school, shaved it off before college, grew one sophomore year, shaved it off before business school, grew one third semester,  shaved it off when my mom got sick.  I'm pretty certain that this time it's here to stay,  at least for now. Why do I grow a mustache, when while growing up I always thought my dad's was hokey.  But I guess generic propensity finally won the day. I guess 'tis true, you can't fight your genome.. Shit, now I'm a proud mustachioed American Dutchman...Ala Seinfeld, 'It's thick, it's real and it's spectacular.   I ponder, 'why not?'

Victim of the season

Since Wednesday, I've been battling what I can only conclude is influenza.

I will write more as health and inspiration ductate.

Reunited and it felt better than I thought it would

Saturday 3/3/2018, my church buddy and I went to my 20 year high school reunion.  It was fun to see the panoply of my old schoolmates.

One thing struck me boy had they gotten old  After all, 20 years apart the slow, gradual aging process is inevitable.  But all at once, the whole 100+, it is a shock.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ease that I fit in and was recognized.  One cool thing is that a former teacher whom helped judge some of my debate tournaments, I remember having dark hair came up to me and shook hands.  Good guy.  It was much like the transformation of Gandalf the Gray into Gandalf the White, stark.  It hit me, we are all quite old.

There was music, pasta and friends.  However, the music genera was pop, and ever since I started middle school, I haven't been into pop music, id est, I knew scant few of the melodies (being generous) coming from the main staging area.

But my buddy and I did have fun.  Worth the price of admission.  Good time, looking forward to the 30 year, but not rushing it.  Looking forward to making accomplishments in the mean time.

New Eqipment

I recently purchased a Chromebook using Amazon; it arrived at my aunt's house yesterday; she brought it down to me this morning; I've been setting it up since lunch, but since I am already pretty ensconced in the Google ecosystem, it was easy peasy; definite upgrade, good buy.

Respite

As Arnie says, "I'll be back," posting more after my class reunion in March.  Until then, I'll be gathering my thought.  Missed my ten year, won't miss my 20 year.  That conveyed, please wish me luck, should be fun.

It's gettin, it's gettin, it's gettin kinda hectic

I have recently been perusing the web page for my 20 year high school class reunion.  Less than 3 mos. away.  "Whoa," as Joey Lawrence would say.  March 3, "Whoa."

I really didn't graduate with that class, I matriculated with them for ten years.

March 3.  That's really soon.  I'm kind of pumped about it.  It'll be nice seeing high school friends again.  Nineties nostalgia should be the order of the evening; that'll be awesome; good food (I did my due diligence, researched the menu, it's Italian buffet-style fare), old friends (it's been 20 years).

Snafu

As all too often is the case,  some technical issue rears its head. This latest gremlin is of the log in variety.  Before I even get the opportunity to enter my credentials, my computer goes into the hibernation/sleep mode. Its an hp all in one, and from my research via my smartphone, I have discovered that my malady is not so  unique..

Something like this happened before, and it just needed time to update. So here's hoping...

When I went to dinner, I shutdown my computer; when I returned, I rebooted, updates were installing.  I'm pretty confident that did the trick.  Seems to have helped; one last glitch, but such was the case last time it updated; fingers ctossed...

Technical difficulties (updated)

My PC is acting real glitchy again,  almost as though it needs to update.  Later today/ tomorrow,  I'll try to, in the words of Mike D, Adrock, MCA, Beastie Boys, et al. try to check,  cha,  check it out. And see whether I can ameliorate the functionality of my computer. As of right now,  I'm composing on my smartphone. Wish me luck.

Just checked, my system is up to date.  Hopefully the glitches get stitches.  Id est, here's hoping that it is less glitchy going forward. Seems to be fine, fingers crossed.  So far, so good.

Since it is still glitchy, I now access most functions from other devices (smartphone, Wi-Fi enabled TV)

Etymology

Auld Lang Syne.  Here're my thoughts on the origin of the phrase...  Auld: The scottish form or old.  It contains the 'base' of 'Au' signifying truth.  E.g. Gold, Lt. aurum.  Chemical symbol: Au. Ear drum, Auricle.  True sound?

Lang: languishing.

Syne: union, uniting.  E.g. synthesis, synchronize.

Putting it all together.  True yearning for being with true friends.  These are my thoughts on the origin of the new year's phrase.