Matching words to thoughts

Brilliant anomalies

2012-01-31T23:56:00.000-06:00

Today was a beautiful day. It started nicely - 60 degrees, increased to 73 during the day, and is back to 62 at the current hour. Most of the morning was cloudy with the sun popping in and out of clouds. The afternoon was the opposite, mostly sunny with the clouds covering the sun just every once in a while.

But today is an anomaly. There aren't many days that have been close to this one in the history of record keeping for January 31st. I love anomalies. They happen in life once in a while. And, when they happen, life is as brilliant and radiant as a nova burst. There is still light in my life from my most recent anomaly because nova bursts are intense and shed light for many light years.

Patterns of behavior

2012-01-31T01:19:00.002-06:00

I love the term Language Behavior. I never knew the term until I was about 30. I had never really thought in terms language having behavior. It's a personification, however, that has a lot of meaning. Language does behave a certain way because of all the patterns in it. Patterns show up in language in nearly every linguistic area. Grammatically, patterns fill the language books, such as the regularization of verbs. Prosodically, patterns fill our tones and melodies, such as the way questions are intoned. Semantically, patterns can be seen in ways that signal what a listener would expect if sentences are said a certain way, such as the use of a stock phrase, a dialectal phrase, or a borrowed phrase from another language. There are many patterns language fits into.

This idea makes it possible to reduce language to quantifiable terms and measure it. For example, if people in their writing would have certain sentence lengths, like t-units, then their writing would be much more readable. If sentence length and vocabulary frequencies are combined, then those that read written language can be measured into imaginary units, such as the lexile. And, if stretches of utterances are recorded and sifted for repetitive words versus unique words, such as the Type-token Ratio, then one could find topics of discomfort for those who are speaking.

Knowing the behavior in language, one can start to draw some conclusions. For example, it seems ludicrous for vocabulary study to be undertaken without an eye toward frequency in language. Likewise, it is absurd to teach any part of grammar without the noticeable patterns that occur with words and their placement in sentences. And, it's impossible to teach writing with any competence unless the writing follows patterns to organize around or the strategic use and placement of words exhibiting sophistication.

Our language behavior gives us away in every area of life because people know how to read the behaviors. And I'm guilty. Very measurably my patterns have given away exactly where my heart is. And it underlies my hope and faith so obviously.

Front

2012-01-28T00:00:00.001-06:00

Facades are great because people use them to present what they want people to see. They can decorate them and make them beautiful to gaze at. Facades have something very different behind them than what they represent on the front of them. Movies use facades often. They can create, for example, a whole main street of a western town - a general store, a saloon, a hotel, a bank, a jail, a blacksmith shop, and a doctor's office. But if you were to go through the front door of these facades, you would see nothing of what you would expect. Go in the door to the jail, expecting to see a cell, and you see nothing but dirt. It's a facade. Go in the door to the general store, and you don't see rows of things to buy. You see dirt or mountains or desert or whatever is behind the facade. Go through any of the facade doors and you know that nothing is behind the front of the building. It's just a store front.

What I see everyday in myself as I work or go about my daily business is genuine in that I work at what I want, but I know that behind the door of the job is no heart, no real passion. What is all the busy-ness fronting for? For something? For someone? My heart presents what I want people to know and see. Deep care and reason for life have been deep-sixed.

Facades can be replaced with the real thing, of course. The heart can show its passion, its life, its reason for carrying on. I trust that that will one day be resurrected. It's just not this moment in time.

A champion at 9

2012-01-25T00:21:00.002-06:00

The Stars played Anaheim tonight. It was a pretty good game, nothing to write home about, but enjoyable nonetheless. If one were to look at the shot count, Dallas never should have won. Anaheim had to have had twice the number of shots. Much of the game's action took place on the Anaheim end of the ice. But, Dallas was lucky. They won 1-0.

It's a thing of beauty to watch talented athletes skate over the ice at high speeds all the while working on maneuvering a puck into a goal. Talented skaters every one. As I was watching this game, I was reminded of a young man who turned 9 today. He's a hockey player. He's talented at skating and works hard at being a great athlete. He's a champion. His amazing mother has raised him to be the best he can be in hockey and in every other arena in life. In a year and a half he'll get to go to the camp for champions in the Hill Country. Happy Birthday my champion young man!

Cycle of the sensational

2012-01-24T00:24:00.002-06:00

When I was growing up, I never heard of what is going to be happening tomorrow. The phenomenon had not been discovered yet. As a young adult, I heard of the discovery because NASA had begun watching the sun. Just 5 years ago, I had heard of this recently discovered happening and seen a few catastrophic scenarios of the sun's hyperactivity during one of its anniversaries in an 11-year activity cycle, but it was not within my daily experience.

But today, the phenomenon was reported with the weather as if it was a common occurrence. The weather anchor reported a coming rain storm that would have 100% coverage of the area. He reported on the drought. And, yes, as if he was reporting the same routine information, he reported that the sun was at its peak in activity and had released a flare that would reach earth tomorrow. Three pictures showed the flare, but there was no fanfare. The anchor merely reported that people could expect interrupted cell phone service periodically, broken internet service from time to time throughout the day, but not particularly strong radioactivity. Only in some parts of the world would people get radiated to the extent of taking an x-ray.... Next item.

Wow. What a step forward in weather reporting. Sun activity and its effects on Earth as a part of the daily routine. I wouldn't want to live in any previous age.

I think there's a lesson here. As civilization progresses, it gets smarter. And, the sensational becomes the mundane as time progresses, making way for something else to be sensational. That's the normal pattern. It works just like short and long term memory. Our educational system needs to also learn this lesson. They seem to hang on to what was sensational behind us in time and perpetuate it as sensational. But, the landscape is ever-changing, allowing the stupendous discoveries and events to be important for a time, then cycle through to the ordinary.

In August of 2012, a very sophisticated Mars laboratory will land on that planet. I look forward to hearing the weather of Mars on newscasts not too long after that. Sensational today, ordinary tomorrow. That's the natural way. I wish those who teach would follow the natural way, not keep youth looking backward.

Closing in on signature time

2012-01-22T00:54:00.001-06:00

More on the disappearance of reading and writing:

The new commercial advertising Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet shows the user flipping screens. The narrator's voice is telling what the Kindle can do with each flip of the screen. It streams movies for you to watch. It contains apps for you to touch and go to. It lets you play games. It plays YouTube videos that people make or attach to Facebook or other social media. It contains programs for you to work in. And then, as if by after-thought, the narrator says, "And, of course, you can read..."

The very reason for Kindle in the first place several years ago has now been relegated to an after-thought because, in order to keep up in the modern world, a user has to do many more important or rewarding jobs on a screen than simply sit, do nothing, and read. The message is that reading is pretty unproductive... which it is in the future... life is interactive, so any device worth its productive weight will be interactive as well. Amazon is right on target following the money path to the future - streaming and allowing people control of what they want to SEE AND DO... oh, and still allowing something passive like reading, too... but it's last, and outmoded, and a really unproductive use of time.

The death warrant for reading and writing will be signed at the close of 2017.

Watching the note

2012-01-21T03:41:00.000-06:00

I happened to watch the decade memorial showing of the 9/11 episode of CSI:NY on a replay earlier tonight. It was very well written. The writer had the major characters of the show in modern day flashing back to where they were and what they did on the day the twin towers fell. It was moving. The main character, Gary Senise's character, Mac Taylor, was shown in a flashback sitting with his wife on a subway, then getting off at his stop to go to work. They sat lovingly next to each other during the ride and kissed before he left her. He didn't know at that time that it would be their last moment together.

At the end of the show, Mac went to a waterfront beach near the towers at the end of a memorial ceremony a decade after 9-11 and placed a note to his wife in the water letting the tide drag it out to sea. He missed her, and the camera showed Mac in a pensive mood watching the note of his expression of love being washed out to the larger ocean. In the background a voice repeated the last words on the note, which had been shown a little earlier when Mac wrote them... I will wait.

We wait on people who are really important to us. Sometimes we get separated from them... but our hearts still send the message... I'll wait.

Dynamic and deep

2012-01-19T00:44:00.000-06:00

When a person learns the vocabulary of a language, (s)he learns that words fit into grammatical categories that start with a root and subsequently use suffixes to represent grammatical categories. These categories using the same root are often referred to as word families. An example of this is found in the root beau-. This root yields the verb beautify, the noun beauty, the adjective beautiful, and the adverb beautifully. A great number of words follow this model.

But, occasionally, a word doesn't change or add suffixes even when changing grammatical categories. One such word is love. The verb is love; the noun is love; the adjective is love (as in love interest). One could add some suffixes if wanted, for example, love-r and love-ly. But, the additions just enrich the word with more forms than other words have. Stock is another such word. The noun is stock; the verb is stock; the adjective is stock (as in stock item). This can be enrichedby adding a noun suffix (stock-er). There is a trade-off, however. In these two cases there is no adverb. The family line is cut short in one place, even though enriched in another.

It seem to me that much of life happens according to models that families have, their family traditions. My family certainly has its share. But parts of life aren't meant to be according to some steady model. They take on other characteristics. Some of life seems to act on its own, enriching us in some areas, keeping matters the same in some areas, cutting off some of life's known forms in other areas. Like language, life is dynamic, a thing of beauty. Sometimes places and times cause life's enriching moments, sometimes it's people. I have such vivid pictures of those times and places, and such enjoyable snapshots of the people along the way... and such an awesome, amazing, revered spot for the one whose dynamic place is deep, so deep within.

Plee-ready

2012-01-17T02:05:00.001-06:00

Words do funny things through history. In Rome, the people didn't mind talking about movement and maneuvering, using the word plicare. It was an action. The action form, verb form, was retained in the languages that derived from Latin after the Roman Empire died out. One version of the word, in French, had quite an influence in England where the American version of English derived. So, when the French during the early Middle Ages wanted to speak of movement and maneuvering, they didn't mind using their derived action word ployer (modern plier). The British turned the French word into two words because speakers of English dialects heard the word differently. In the north, Scotland, people used ploy as an action and combined it with prepositions em- and de-. The British in the south, London and Sussex, pronounced the word a little differently, ply. But, Londoners spoke the prestige version of English, so modern English adopted this form of the word when needing a word for maneuvering something if they meant to shape it. Those hillbilly Scots didn't know anything, of course. So, their usage of ploy was stripped of its action. It was left in the language, but only as a noun.

It's strange to see words move around in the history of language. People too often think that the language they have learned is static. And for the most part it is - during our lifetimes. But, history teaches that the language we speak is dynamic. I don't know what will happen to ploy in the future. It could be that the word will drop from the language altogether in favor of maneuver, shape, or bend. It could be that it will be stripped of its priority status over ply and be reduced to a noun. Then, it would compete for survival with ply. It could be that a new pronunciation of the words will merge the two words by pronouncing them both the same. If so, the spelling might be changed to reflect that new pronunciation. Then both words would become one, maybe plee. And, if writing were to disappear, plee would survive in spoken form only, captured, of course, by video and holograph of people speaking it in speeches, movies, and music.

Both the current forms, ply and ploy, don't resemble the original Latin word plicare much, nor would any future derivative. But, following the history of the word makes the changes plausible and traceable. My own life resembles this word's history so much. I began with a certain form, but as life has happened, changes took place and for good reasons, much like the influence of the prestige of Latin on French, French on London English, less influence on Scotland, and London and Scotland on America. My latest form doesn't resemble much the original form, I know. But it's OK; it's to be expected; it's the natural order. And, I am looking forward so much to the catalyst that will change both ploy and ply to plee, making my journey complete.

I have looked over

2012-01-14T02:02:00.002-06:00

Experiences in life are classified using a number of different analogies. One classification is the mountaintop experience. That analogy is used for only the very best experiences in life. They are the ones that add majesty to your life, and laughter, and unspeakable joy, ecstasy in time, clarity of vision, and reinforcement of the moment for recreating at any future time. Whenever I do think of those mountaintop moments, one peak is higher than any other in the range. To look at that peak is to see the shining splendor of feeling whole.

When my mind goes to that one peak, I am reminded of the inspiring words from a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have been to the mountaintop... I have looked over, and I've seen the promised land."

I have no greater enjoyment!

Holes of enjoyment

2012-01-12T00:35:00.000-06:00

How many times do we find ourselves at various junctures in life wondering how in the world something happened? Life didn't ask for permission to take. It simply took. I should have known life was like this when it took my favorite college professor, whom I was taking for the second time, in mid-semester. I learned from this man like I had never learned anything before or after him. But, I wasn't asked if I approved. Life took him... He vanished. But I do some of my work in life based on what he taught me, and it gives me joy.

I look in my heart these days. It has much for which to be thankful, no doubt. So, in that regard my heart is full. There are also these times when what is absent comes to the foreground. I ponder those times and see the holes. Life did some more taking. So, when I look deeply into my heart, I try to see what is joyful and appreciate the fullness those times bring. And I see the holes and fill them with the one whose essence has supplied me with much laughter, joy, and zest for life. The holes disappear for as long as I can maintain those thoughts and give me periods of sheer enjoyment.

The character of this year

2012-01-02T00:19:00.000-06:00

Years have different characters to them. 2010 was a year of taking three steps forward and two steps backward. There was a net gain perhaps, but at what cost! 2011 was a year of learning to be content with what life dealt out of its hand and trying to make sense of its events. I look at it and tell people it was all right, but there was something missing. 2012 is hidden right now.

One of the differences this year will be that the hope I have had is swallowed by faith. That's a game of semantics to a lot of people. But, not to me. Hope is about a journey with a brilliant palette of colors against the backdrop of the sky. Faith allows me to see what has been invisible... the rainbow, for sure, but the pot of gold at its end too. It's still about a journey, but it has a destination at some point.

So this year, I strike out in faith.

Oh, it's all right

2011-12-30T22:54:00.000-06:00

The day started beautifully. I went out to eat at a restaurant I had never been to before for breakfast. It was good, but it was overbilled in its recommendation to me. Next came working some on projects I had going. That went well enough, but not perfectly. For the day I was up on currency trading, but it was down for the week as a whole (but the month was in the positive column). On other projects, I made about 50% progress on them. Tonight I went to a movie. I watched the entire film - almost. With about 5 minutes to go, the picture disappeared from the screen. It was a mystery movie, so the last 5 minutes were important to the ending of the movie. The explanation by the manager was that the end had been erased from the memory chip. We all got free passes for that happening... but still. My aunt called out of the blue after I returned home. She wanted to know how my day went. I told her it was all right.

Today's description is so much like life... trade offs, dissatisfaction, work getting accomplished but not all of it, anticipation of a good time, actual good moments, disappointing moments. All in all it's all right, I guess. It seems, though, there should be more. Something's missing... I figure that is what 2012 might be for.

Shift in the natural order

2011-12-30T00:12:00.000-06:00

The brain has a function by which it takes information, particularly from the past, and reduces it to the gist of what was said or what happened. This is proven in a number of different studies. So, what does it mean when a thought doesn't ever get reduced to its gist? It means that what was said and what happened get replayed so often that they are reinforced to the point that reduction is virtually impossible. It means that the emotions involved in the event are held intact. It means that storage networks connecting what was said and what occurred have top priority of all networks. It means that, in the world where events occurring a long time ago normally overshadow recently occurring events, a shift of the natural order has occurred. Simply, it means the thoughts are the most treasured in the mind.

My mind contains just such treasured places, cherished words, and closely held happenings. They are irreducible... sacred... highly prized... eternal!

The weather today

2011-12-28T23:26:00.000-06:00

Today was a little cool to be outside. I was waiting on my daughter for several minutes while she had to make a brief stop in a shaded area. However, I had to move to the sun to wait on her. It was warm and made the whole environment around me comfortable. After those several minutes, I had to go back into the shade where it was cool and uncomfortable since I had not exactly dressed for the cool weather.

Warmth in life is like that. Much of it catches you in an environment you haven't exactly dressed for. But, there are those pockets of warmth, those events that allow you to enjoy life, that someone who makes the whole environment warm and worth living.

But today it was a little cool to be outside.

It is proper

2011-12-23T23:41:00.000-06:00

In the midst of busy-ness it's always proper to stop and award honor to whom honor is due. Such a beautiful person... for all kinds of reasons... making sure your son is a champion among peers and your daughter is a princess among all other daughters in the world... giving generously of your talents... sharing the smile that makes others' day... performing flawlessly and efficiently on a hectic, draining job... ensuring that your friends receive encouragement. Happy Birthday!!... to an effervescent, prescient, dazzling, and grand person!!!

Enduring embers

2011-12-22T02:39:00.000-06:00

My dad did a lot of visiting to people who needed help with their mental states. He also did a lot of speaking. He told a story in his speeches of a visit he made to a person who had not visited the group he spoke to in a while. He sat by the fireplace in which a fire burned while they talked. Finally, when the fire died down, he took the poker, separated an ember from the rest of the glowing coals, and watched it die out. He made the point that the person need not stay away too long or he was in danger of having the ember's life.

While that story does make a good point, there is another point about embers, one that tells a different and polar opposite story. Heat and oxygen keep embers alive. Blowing on an ember provides its needed oxygen, thereby fueling and heating it, keeping the ember alive... indefinitely... until the ember completely burns itself into ash. My heart holds such an ember. Not the kind that is separated from the fire and soon dies, but the kind that lives, continuing to glow and burn until it turns to ash someday in the very distant future. The oxygen of life's most pleasant moments gently blow over this ember, fueling its life... producing an eternal flame... closely guarded from ever being extinguished... always replenished by the breeze of the most enjoyable minutes life has offered.

SD^...n

2011-12-18T00:58:00.000-06:00

Right now I am working on a project requiring a touch of statistical analysis - the standard deviation. It's all about the bell curve, norms, and the extremes that don't fit inside of norms. The extreme ends are graduated outside the norms, the standard. So the first gradation out is standard deviation 1. It's possible to have a number of standard deviations if the data set has a lot of numbers over a considerable spread. But, I am used to dealing with a smaller set of numbers in a distribution, thus one or two standard deviations to catch anomalies in the way people word their thoughts.

It's beautiful to work with SDs. It shows where the worst of the worst is, and conversely, the best of the best. Of course, I am always interested in the best of the best end of the curve. It's for one who finishes well, particularly when the journey has been hard and exhausting. And, that is the measure that my heart uses... the anomaly... space for the distinguished one no matter how many are in the distribution (...n). SD^...n. The set of a single, heavenly element.

Flashes of life worth living

2011-12-11T00:05:00.001-06:00

Reflection helps us see ourselves and our surroundings. That's why I like reflecting pools. They're the physical representation of a worthwhile habit. Reflecting helps us monitor our current status and highlight what works in our lives and what the source of vitality for life is. Living in the past really doesn't lead to progress. Very few want to live a stale, status quo life. But valuing moments that have made life worth living are worth their weight in gold. Flashes of those moments keep me centered and keep my conscious direction on the path I want life to occur on... because... they allow hope, happiness, and faith.... And because... they allow me to know where dots are connected and remind me to always cherish the one who is my source of life.

Sure, surer, surest

2011-12-10T01:28:00.001-06:00

I had a professor once who would always stop when he was teaching about the stories of the ancient world and ask, "What is right? What is good? What is true?" Then he would apply the story to the modern world and ask the same three questions. Many times the answer changed. His point was to show that right and good and true were terms with relative meanings, depending on era and issue, or sometimes just era. As life plays out, those are the three questions that have to be satisfied to live fully. Even from one decade to another in my own life, the answer to those 3 questions change sometimes. The trick is to align the 3 questions with the same answer. That leads to being surer about matters. Even then, the alignment can have a different answer when gauged just a few years apart. Nevertheless, I think being sure just hinges on charting the direction with a satisfactory sense of right, good, and true and working to walk the path charted. I have done this. I am the surest I have ever been.

Treasures in thought (3)

2011-12-07T01:30:00.001-06:00

In English and in a couple of the Romance languages and in Greek, the idea of the number of 3 represents truth and completeness. This idea has popped up in books, so it is not just an individual observation. I first came across this idea in 1978 in a book called Three Times and It's True. In the 1990s, I encountered it again, this time in a book by a linguist who wrote about the legal application of having someone testify about matters in groups of three so the jury would gain a sense of completeness and truth.

In that vein, I want to say that people comment about my sleeping habits. Some people say I never sleep. Others say I don't seem to require much sleep. But, I would like to say that that is a recent phenomenon for me. I have always liked to sleep. I require 7 hours and 20 minutes to feel rested. I seldom get that much during the week, but the weekends are usually kind enough for me to catch up on the average hours for rest. But it is also true that over the last 2 years, I have slept much less than the 7 hours and 20 minutes I need. That's because of a striving in my mind. I have many wonderful, colorful, beautiful, pleasant, desirable, and bright thoughts that are captured in my mind which lie unmaterialized. Nevertheless, these thoughts bring great happiness, so I lie awake sorting through these wondrous images or write late at night because the happiness of these golden thoughts creates energy for the next day. There will be a day when sleep will be deep, pleasurable, and long. It's just not now. In the meantime, I have an entire treasure trove of scenes to flash across the screen of my mind's eye that eventually leads to sleep (with a smile on my face, I might add). This treasure trove gives me the energy to face the next day. I know I have written about this treasure of sparkling times a 3rd time. But, that makes it the immutable truth.

Splendor of Heaven

2011-12-06T03:36:00.001-06:00

The function of light is to disspell darkness. It does so by piercing through it. It displaces the darkness and takes over the space darkness once occupied. As a result, darkness is denser along the edges of the light that has displaced it, making the contrast greater. The Latin idea for this phenomenon was in the word "splendere" from which we derive splendor.

I find that principle to be true. I have areas of darkness in my life that are dense along the edge where the light shines through it. The thing about light is that it is celestial. So are those special human beings that help us overcome our darknesses. They are heavenly too. We all have them and are grateful for them. And, we all have one who shines more brilliantly than the others for us. For me, that one is the Splendor of Heaven... and how totally beautiful, colorful that person's refracted light in my life is.

2014: a milestone year

2011-12-04T23:40:00.001-06:00

My nephew and his wife recently had a child, so I went to see them in the hospital. During the course of the conversation, my nephew mentioned that he had a friend with a two-year-old girl. The girl was given a magazine to look through while my nephew conversed with the girl's father. But, the little girl didn't know how to turn the pages of the magazine. She was trying to swipe the page with her forefinger to get it to change. Just love that story.

I have been on record since the year 2000 as saying that reading and writing were an endangered activity. At that time, I thought that the year 2017 would be the end of a technological war in which books and reading and writing would become rare. If holographic devices come out by the year 2014, then the prediction will be true.

In August, a niece on the other side of my family reported that her two-year old figured out how to circumvent the password she had put on her iphone and played Angry Birds. The school district in Frisco, Texas, was reported on the news as teaching their 2nd graders keyboarding instead of printing. Advertisements on TV and news programs continue the trend to use more and more iconic/graphic controls instead of words to control their stream of information. A current ipad2 commercial shows a basketball coach using the ipad2 to draw a play for his team during a timeout. Another shows a complete fireplace built out of tablets, all showing fire dancing in a fireplace, one on each screen. Cars now have displays that control everything in the car from phone to temperature, not counting the other features such as the GPS. Although not all linguists agree, some think that learning java script is the same as learning a language. One school even offers Java to fulfill the language requirement.

Humans will always need to communicate. But the format of that exchange of ideas will change. Writing will no longer record those exchanges. Reading that writing will be replaced with eyes recognizing iconic/graphic symbols. Already reading patterns for web pages have changed children's reading pattern from the Z pattern to the F pattern because web pages use left navigation to move around a page and children learn to scan words rather than read them in order to get quick and sketchy information. That could be the real reason children find it painful to read books.

I look forward to 2014. It will be a landmark year in the turn in the battle for how communication will go for the 25 years following it. There is a war being waged right now by those of the old guard who don't think the replacement for reading and writing is adequate. In fact, iconic/graphic scanning is a quantum leap ahead of the old way of communicating and those of the avantgarde will win this war in every field from technology to business, from music to education. Children 4 and under today will not have to learn the scrawls and runes of communicating for they will have a speedier, much more efficient way of expressing themselves. If social media teaches us anything, it is that people love their pictures and will tell their stories in that manner.

I will love the change. I will not be attending the funerals of those who decide to die first in keeping ancient scripts alive. The children I am responsible for will be ready to enter the new world.

Flood of sudden light

2011-12-04T04:26:00.001-06:00

Where once there was hope, now there is faith.

Ever after

2011-12-03T00:17:00.001-06:00

I used to read The Frog Prince to my daughter when she was in her pre-school years.

She would listen raptly. I don't think I was reading it for her to take notice that she might meet a guy that wasn't good looking, that if she would endure with him, then she would have the prince of her dreams. Well, even if I had read it for that reason, it didn't work. Marrying during adolescence prohibits a young girl to see anything but the outside. But the Frog Prince is not about just masking appearance; it has everything to do with meeting someone who makes you so much more, so much better. You know you have met that person when (s)he makes you feel like a prince(ss). Through a series of hardships, she understands the principle now.

I still like the The Frog Prince because of what it teaches, so I find the principle of the story in music that inspires me. I love Dierks Bentley's music because it feeds my soul in just that way. He sings of the passionate spirit the frog had in pursuing the princess in Feel that Fire. He writes of the magic the kiss brought about in the song Come a Little Closer. And the lyrics to High upon the Ridge metaphorically recreate the story and show the frog appealing to the princess for the kiss that would turn him into a prince. In return, the frog promises the moon.

Won't you come with me upon the ridge where moonlight drips into your eyes. I just want one little kiss when we get high upon the ridge. The rest of the song implies that the frog became a prince, and he and the princess shared their passion.

Dierks is all about the inner fire that two people share, enjoying true love. The magic of moonlight dripping into their eyes on a ridge ignites the two to be so much more. And that spark leads to a sun to ride off into... happily without a doubt!

So much more... better.

Night rain image

2011-12-02T01:51:00.001-06:00

Pitter-patter. The rain came. I looked out the window into the dimly lit courtyard. The reflecting pool was dotted with the small splish-splashes of the raindrops. The drops came constantly. It was not one of those flash storms that is over in 10 minutes. It was a steady rain. It seemed like it could stay for hours.

The sounds of the rain pouncing off the leaves of trees and bushes was soft and relaxed my mind. The hour of day wasn't important, but the darkness of the 2:00 AM hour amplified the rhythmic music played by the rain. And the tune was so soothing! My mind flashed an impression of an image of another soothing, rainy night at the same hour, a mid-autumn occasion a couple of rainy seasons ago. The image grew stronger. I reached out to touch it, but my hand came back wet from the pitter-patter, splish-splash of the current picture of bushes and trees glistening and concurrent rings rippling from the heavy splashes of drops in the reflecting pool.

I uttered an expletive... I wanted the image to be real more than anything in the world!!!

Over and over

2011-11-30T00:35:00.001-06:00

This is the season for giving gifts. I have given my fair share over the years. I have given to people I love like my children and to people I have not known because they could not afford the gifts. I have given when it was anticipated and unanticipated. I have given presents that caused surprise and given presents that were deliberated upon ahead of time. But, the gift I enjoyed giving the most was one not expected. I knew one of the person's favorite stores and searched that store for just the right gift, going four times before deciding. I flew halfway across the U.S. with the gift, at one point being searched by airport security because the glass in it contained lead. But it was pure pleasure to give that gift. So, when people speak of gift-giving during this season, I remember most the one that gave me the greatest pleasure, and I still smile just thinking about it, wishing I could give that gift over and over.

Treasures in thought too

2011-11-28T23:49:00.001-06:00

This morning started out cold. I don't drink coffee, and I was out of tea which I sometimes drink hot, so I had to just let the cold shroud me. Tonight was pretty cold, too. I have a coat, and that helped. But it's having a warm heart that makes the body warm all over. Then it could be sub-freezing weather and it wouldn't matter.

Every day this week is supposed to be cold. But, my brain sends my heart sensations of a cherub's voice and an angel's eyes, and tender scenes of unparalleled joy and beauty that I have stored and treasured there. So, I know I won't feel the cold... The scenes make my heart warm... Nothing else matters.

Confluence

2011-11-26T23:33:00.001-06:00

10,000 years ago a tsunami crashed into the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. At least that was the theory of an Italian archaeologist. No one believed him. So, he set out to find his evidence to prove his case. He found villages on the eastern side of the sea that are underwater now, but that had been above water at some point. He found artifacts at those settlements and dated them - no surprise - to the 9th century BCE. He also found that the water of the Mediterranean had been at lower levels during the 9th century BCE that would allow the settlements to be above water. He found evidence off the coast of Italy in the ocean floor that a plate in the crust had moved about the same time. He found a confluence of evidence all pointing to the truth of his case.

One can look at my life and draw some conclusions. One is that in my 20s I was certainly a different person than I am now. A quick interview of some my friends then would certainly tell that tale. One could also ask me about impact people in my life. They could hear their names and see the trails of their influence in my life and work. My Greek professor in college was one of those people. And a person can see his influence in every decade of my vocation and avocation. But there was a tsunami that left its mark on everything I think and do now. I doubt that people would see it and believe it at the moment. It takes a while for evidence to mount. However, a day will come when people will have a confluence of evidence that my Earth's floor suddenly moved a couple of years back, setting a wave in motion that crashed the shore on the other side of the sea.

I am not sad about it. It was a beautiful event. The life I have after is so much better. In fact, I bask in the hope of a splash to come.

Sacred scroll

2011-11-24T23:15:00.001-06:00

Tucked away in the deserts of Israel were some scrolls that had great value to many people. Jews regarded them highly because they were lost Jewish writings of a sect that had disappeared about the turn of the 1st century ACE. Christians liked them because they corroborated some of the books of the Bible and shed additional light on the culture of the 1st century in which Jesus lived. They were sacred because they were regarded highly because of what they contained.

I regard those same scrolls highly, maybe for different reasons, but there are some other writings that have a very special place with me and are esteemed more highly than anything I possess of a personal nature. On this day of giving thanks, I am most thankful for this other writing. It is a poster rolled up like a scroll, lying in a place much like the caves around the Dead Sea. Last week, I decided to take in its contents again since it had been a while. I could not take my eyes from the pictures of the three most special people in the world standing there talking at a festive occasion. When finally I did, I read the poem associated with the pictures, then scanned the meaningful songs and places next to the poem. I spent quite a bit of time, sacred moments, letting my mind once again soak in all that was there. Finally, I rolled the poster and returned the scroll to its container, but it refreshed my day. My mind was caught up in this moment, caught up in the smile of those in the picture, full of thought, full of reconstitution, full of sheer happiness.

Some consider these two types of scrolls to be on different levels. Maybe. I do know that the effect on me was exactly the same with the second type as with the first. And if the effect is the same, then any difference that may exist is gone. Sacred scroll... sacred moments... sacred feelings!

Yes, I have seen this one

2011-11-22T23:54:00.001-06:00

In 1986, one could look to the sky and see a beautiful, bright star with a tail as long as from the Earth to the moon. It would not be the first time that celestial body would have been seen by humans. There are tales of this "star" showing up on a regular basis since 240 BCE. Other and older reports also exist, but it is unknown whether or not they pertain to this beautiful, bright, long-tailed star.

It was the good fortune of Isaac Newton's friend, not Newton himself, who calculated the periodic return of this fiery but majestic celestial body every 76 years. Edmond Halley gets the credit for predicting this comet after years of scientific study of its phenomenon.

A person is lucky to see it once in her/his lifetime. When the average mortality age was 65, one would just have to be born strategically to view the comet's appearance. Now, with an average mortality age of 80, one has the chance to see it twice. Still, though, that's a very small class of people. Once is what most people will see this splendid comet. Human lives are short, no doubt. And many people do not see this comet at all in their lifetimes.

It is my experience that people meet just the right person, their Halley's Comet, once in a lifetime. Some get that lucky chance early in life, some later. But, a person always knows when (s)he has met the one. His/her lips cannot stop smiling. The joy of living is unmistakable. The buoyancy of meeting the routines and other mundane matters in life with zest cause life to suddenly be an adventure worth living out. Having someone to believe in and be believed by is the rare, once-in-a-lifetime pass-by of someone beautiful, bright, and full of vibrance and inspiration. And, yes, I have seen the one celestial, beautiful, bright Halley's Comet!

Even that is telling

2011-11-15T01:03:00.001-06:00

Recently, I got to carry on an extended conversation with a man who was keenly interested in the idea that the way someone says something, that is, the choice of words and phrasing a person uses to word an utterance, can have significance. He dabbles in language, but it is limited to phonetics because he works on reducing foreigner's accents. He had not been exposed to the study of semantics, pragmatics, grammar theory, or forensic linguistics. I love having those conversations.

How people word their sentences does reveal volumes about them. Syntax, word choices, and phrasing all work together to expose one's personality, perspective, orientation, and emotional attachment or detachment. It also reveals their maturity with articulation. Piaget pointed out that adults can develop in their cognition to a concrete stage and then plateau. I think the same is true with language. Adults can reach a plateau in their ability to manipulate it. But, even that is telling. The point at which articulation is arrested says something about the person's personality and perspective.

I listen to people talk. It has helped me understand what they are really about. That has saved me a lot of time and breath.

Let it go

2011-11-14T00:20:00.001-06:00

"Let it go." I hear this phrase a lot in life. It's good advice from time to time. I most often hear it said about matters that are minor irritants. But, I also hear it from professional counselors on television when they advise people to move on with their lives. They are told to let go of abuse, neglect, kidnapping, verbal lashings, submission, and other behaviors. It is hard for people to let things go of such a major nature. It takes time and the willingness to move on without allowing the matter to influence their futures.

So much happens in life that it is easy to let most matters go. Experience allows a person to learn which battles are the important battles, the matters that one shouldn't let go. This experience also helps a person build a priority list, values in ascending order. The higher up the priority list a matter is, the less likely it is for someone to let that matter go. If a matter is at the top of the list, a person is not going to let that matter go.

Sometimes, the top priority is a hope someone has; it will remain intact.

The person won't let that hope go... ever. I know this first-hand. It is the hill worth dying on.

Sentiments for deep sleep

2011-11-10T02:34:00.001-06:00

I really, really like the group Sugarland because they blend their voices so well, and their choice of songs to sing are on the themes I identify with. So I was listening to the CMA awards tonight and heard them sing with Matt Nathanson the song Run. Love that song for several reasons, but two reasons above all others.

My son used to play the drums for a band. He was very, very good at them. In particular, he would play songs using the toms. The song Run highlights both bass guitar and tom drums all the way through the song. That sound is so pleasing, and it reminds me of my son's ability on the drums. For that reason alone I could listen to the song all night long.

The song has tremendous words to it, among them, "When you're beside me, I am so much more," a theme of several of my blogs. The words occur in the middle of the song, the bridge between the chorus and the verses. Although subtly placed, the words are not subliminal, but significant. They speak volumes because I know the person I am when I stand alone.

So, tonight I sleep, savoring two of the closest sentiments of my heart. It will be a deep 5 hours of sleep before rising again.

Star scenes

2011-11-09T01:56:00.001-06:00

Franz Mesmer lived at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. He developed a new theory for the world called animal magnetism. His great test case came when he tried to heal a blind woman, a young musician. Many thought he was a charlatan for so doing. But he was merely trying to direct the body's energy to one area in order to heal that area. To do so, he asked her to concentrate, trance style, on the area needing healing.

This method came to bear his name in English as a verb when people wanted to mesmerize someone. However, the term hypnotize became more popular in the late 1800s, so mesmerize took on a new meaning - to hold someone spellbound.

Tonight, a glance at the night sky holds my eyes there. It engages my thought. It directs my body's energy to my fascination of space, and by association, the fascination of those times that have given my life its happiness. I have been mesmerized. Reality returns, but not before the stars have bathed my thoughts with spellbinding, healing visuals of the one who inspires me.

Treasures in thought

2011-11-08T03:19:00.002-06:00

Treasures come in two varieties - those that you can hold and touch, buy and sell, and those that you can think of and memorize, mull and replay. I know that a lot of people put stock in the physical type. Their value can bring an appraised price, something tangible. But I put stock in the cognitive type. Their value is personally appraised, something in the deep recesses of the mind.

Treasures of this second type are always available and their replay seems, like wine, to taste more robust with every swish across the palate. I have a very special set of them that are placed in vintage bottles. I bring them out for tasting when life needs more vitality. They're not just empty scenes that flash across the monitor of the mind. They have life, sounds, laughter, silences, touches, and vibrance. They derive from a voice, a face, a time of day. They immediately bring a spring to each step, a reason for living.

Their value cannot be appraised for there is not currency enough to buy, sell, or trade even one of these treasures. They can be embodied in songs or captured in movies. Books and poems can represent the feelings created by them. They provide the flames I want to live beside in life, as in Dierks Bentley's song Feel That Fire and the inspiration I need to live fully as in Blind Side, the movie.

These treasures in thought cast a more radiant glow on life than the brilliance of the sun on Earth!

Choosing from a spectrum

2011-11-07T02:10:00.000-06:00

Proverbs reflect the values of people and are good to follow many times. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush is a saying worth understanding and valuable when it comes to negotiating a deal involving money. But, proverbs are only as good as the people's experience that make them up. When experiences differ, then proverbs differ. And those proverbs seem to reflect the rub in life. Some things in life derive from spontaneity, passion, love for the moment, and fire in the soul. Other things are driven by planning, implementation, and determination. Thus, Plan your work, work your plan is in diametric opposition to Stop and smell the roses. So are the phrases, Stay on the beaten path and The beautiful things in life are off the beaten path. The proverb The best way to project the future is to look at the past ignores completely the idea that The only constant in life is change. Some people see decision making as choosing between two colors, black and white. Others approach decision making as choosing from a whole spectrum of colors, each color rendering scenes having their own distinct and particular beauty.

I lived a rather principled life early on, but in doing so I suppressed much of the input given to me by my heart. I was wrong. That led to a Spartan life. While hedonism is probably the opposite extreme, guided only by desire, there is something to be said for allowing passion and beauty to balance the austere principles. Every life should enjoy the beauty and hope of springtime, not merely the winter of despair, the dropping leaves of autumn, or the dog days of summer. Listening to the heart permits us to drink from the wellspring of life.

Comfortable sleep in due time

2011-11-06T23:01:00.000-06:00

At the end of last month, it was two years ago that I walked away from the comfortable and routine and ambled toward a rainbow of possiblities. There was one aspect, however, that I didn't want to leave. :( Since then, I have been able to accomplish some of the possibilities afforded in that rainbow. The sweetness of the potential of most of the rest of the color array isn't complete, but will be realized I am pretty sure... except one aspect.

Life cycles around, sometimes slower, sometimes faster. I just have to remember... Everything in its due time. Until then, I will only somewhat sleep at night.

At the root of language learning

2011-10-31T02:09:00.000-05:00

It's very interesting to hear scholars speak about how language (in all of its aspects) is learned because most of them assume an evolutionary origin for it. If one follows the logic of evolution, then the reason for its development in the beginning was to give an edge to the human species for survival purposes. This it has done because humans now dominate all of the other species. Through language, humans could hunt, know where to go to get the best kill, make the best tools, and migrate at just the right times. That stage was followed by knowing what plants would grow, when they would grow, how long and in what regions. Then came civilization along the river valleys. At that point, language took a bent it had not had before. People learned to control others through language. Other facets for having language surfaced, such as to provide posterity with a record and to serve as a medium for perpetuation of progress. There are a few other facets as well.

So, when I hear about learning language (in any or all of its aspects) and the origin for language is excluded, then I have to wonder about the accuracy of such a learning. At the root, language is learned to survive. After that need is insured, then other reasons come into play; however, one has to still ask the question of what need is being fulfilled for learning language. One learns the language of utility in order to survive. Then, there has to be an external and internal motivation involved in learning or nothing would get perpetuated. The external motivation can be either negatively or positively reinforced. Beyond that a person might just have an interest in something or a respect for someone or something which creates a need to learn.

These five governing principles interact with the plethora of inherent personality traits and that dictates how much of a language a person will learn and which dialects/registers one will learn, and everything else about learning a language. Techniques for learning a language play into language learning very little, maybe not at all.

Even if a person were to negate evolution as the origin for language, there would still be the need to answer the question of why people learned language to begin with and why they still need to learn language. Answering why keeps one from straying onto the path of trying to straightjacket young people into learning sets of words that are meaningless outside of the context of language learning principles and personality.

Behind the username

2011-10-28T22:34:00.003-05:00

I saw this email address today: empty_perspective@____.com. I don't know what the person had in mind; I could only guess. At first, besides thinking the address odd, I thought the address was sad. It looked like someone had nothing to offer. Then again, the person might have thought (s)he was a blank slate, tabula rasa, waiting to be filled. Or maybe the person wanted to claim neutrality and didn't want to side with any particular perspective. I have no idea. I have chosen usernames before for email accounts. That is not one I would ever adopt. I am left to wonder about what kind of person wants to be known by empty_perspective.

Email addresses usually indicate some trait about a person that the person wants to tout or be known by. Some monikers people choose are not traits but just something meaningful. Some fit the attitudes of the people making them up. Some monikers are memorable for one reason or another. And then there are special ones for the people they represent, among them, THEspec1@___.com. That one never gets lost in cyberspace.

Matrix matching

2011-10-27T01:24:00.000-05:00

E-Harmony came at a time when people were exploring a new way to "hook up" with others. It worked well because it asked its users to fill out a several-hundred question survey about themselves. Then it placed the information in a matrix and made compatible matches between people. It was one of the few places to use a matrix for personality traits and connect the dots between people.

Picking up a language, its vocabulary, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics is much the same. It in great part is due to personality. Other factors enter in, such as exposure, but to know what words a person knows or what native nuances a person will use (like the appearance or absence of an s at the end of backward/s, anyway/s, or toward/s) depends not on schooling but on all the blanks that have been filled in on a 20 X 20 square matrix with personality traits. Someone who is gregarious, for example, might have an eye out for the syntax or phrasing of something that would make her/him desire prestige in someone else's eyes. Someone who is extremely studious doesn't worry about prestige much, but would want a choice word or semantic meaning that would make him/her look educated or "smart" in someone's eyes. Response to language learning is dependent on what traits fill those 400 squares. Get someone to fill that out, then you might have a clue as to the type of language (s)he might use or the type of words (maybe even number of words) (s)he might know.

Personalities that match make people compatible. Compatibility between people is something I will leave for another day although I believe in it and have experienced it to my good fortune. Personalites make for a match with language markers, including style and vocabulary, as well. Try it sometime. Fill out a matrix, then match it to your vocabulary, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. It's a match made in Heaven.

Slice of life mirrors

2011-10-26T01:12:00.001-05:00

The reality show Jerseylicious has some interesting characters. It probably shows a fairly accurate picture of people in their early 20s in their relationships with each other. You have all the different personalities all in the milieu trying to get along with each other and still coexist at some level of civility. Olivia seems to have the most going for her. She seems to have direction and a degree of diplomacy with others. Anthony seems to have the most moral outlook in that he has a sense of right and wrong and tries to live by his code as much as he can. One of my least favorite characters is Gigi. She is definitely still in the late adolescent stage of finding herself even if she is in her 20s. Her boyfriend is not much better or different.

You wouldn't think much profundity would come from such a show, but it is such a good slice of life that a person can see something of great value in each episode. The episode in which Olivia faced up to kicking Tracy in the head was one such episode because it took great character to admit to a not-so-good friend that she was responsible for something that the friend knew nothing about. Or the episode with Anthony trying his hardest not take employees from his friend and sometimes partner, Gail, was one because he tried so hard to take a stand for what he thought was right. Then there was one in which Gigi, who had been away from Frankie for quite a little while realized she could not live without him. When she did get together again with Frankie, she told Frankie a person knows when someone is right (Absolutely true!) and she was glad to be together again.

I've learned a few other lessons from watching this reality show. As complicated as life gets sometimes, there's nothing that replaces the hope one has of things in life that could really turn out well. I am happy for the characters on the show when their hopes become realized, and I struggle with them when their hopes go unrealized. It's a reflection on the lake that I peer into.

Shaking my head

2011-10-25T01:06:00.002-05:00

There is an ongoing discussion on the Language Expert group I am a member of right now. Someone posed the question about how the best way to learn vocabulary was. I have been amazed at the experts' answers in the group. It reinforces my already shaded view about vocabulary after a great number of courses in language acquisition (both first and second), after 5 years experience teaching a native language vocabulary course to 17 and 18 year-olds, after raising two children as they acquired language in all its various forms, and after doing first-hand field research in the area. The experts prefer methods that will only work to get a very basic number of words learned, which is probably why public schools have circulated some very soft research concerning the importance of vocabulary learning for its secondary students (elementary too, for that matter, but the angle is usually a little different).

For the record, it's really, really simple. Stephen Krashen captured the idea in an eloquent equation on the same order that Eistein captured the eloquent equation to base his theory of relativity on. V=i+1. Learning vocabulary is a matter of input +1 more word (or phrase or term or semantic domain).

It's really that simple, but for those who want complex, the second phase of learning vocabulary is that there are 5 reasons for learning vocabulary. These reasons govern the entire vocabularies of people whether you talk about reading, writing (typing nowadays), or speaking. The reason for the soft research is that very few true field tests exist for those learning words above the age of 6. And there's a great reason for that. After age 4 really, the backgrounds of children are so different and the personalities of children mixing with those backgrounds are so different, that there is no uniform way to know the true extent of people's vocabularies. Tests cannot be constructed that fathom the number of words children know, much less know which words they have in common above the 8,000 word level. So, getting children to learn vocabulary according to a particular method or with an established regimen of lists is ludicrous. That is simply not how people learn words!!!

Cognitive and memory studies have contributed some to how people learn words, and language acquisition has contributed as well. These are two areas unknown to most educators. So, the researching arm of educaton is left to guess basically how words are learned. They have turned to one of the softest and most recent areas of education to be developed - reading. Heaven forbid that reading should inform vocabulary learning. Most of those studies ignore completely how children come to the task of learning to read. Most reading teachers and scholars ignore Krashen and Richard Gentry (himself a reading expert) and pursue some sort of universal way of reading acquisition model, following Marie Clay usually and Louisa Moates.

I guess I shouldn't care so much. Reading will be dead in the water in 10 years or less anyway. It's just that I have friends in education and I hate seeing them bang their heads against the wall. People's judgments are only as good as their information. I wish my friends could see the information I have seen, but they are going to have to go outside what is being fed to them by the school systems to get it. School systems perpetuate circular reasoning, ideas that feed their preconceived notions. That's really not a good educational model, but it is an absolutely abhorrent model for word development and the associated subjects using words.

The sorting aid

2011-10-24T02:07:00.000-05:00

It's amazing to me how many people want to be your friend, but then not really. Maslow's hierarchy of needs addresses the need of people to belong, but according to him, it happens before self-actualization. Of course, Maslow's is just one hierarchy of needs. There are others. But, I like his because I think it is accurate of human behavior or at least human development on the path to self-actualization.

My simple test for those who really want to be my friend is how many of their sentences start with "well" when speaking to them. "Well" can be considered a hesitation at best or a hostile marker at worst. Its meaning ranges from trying to sort for common ground to being a prelude to a disagreement about a point. It's not a hedge per se because it is not a filler or because it is not hiding anything. It is straightforward and people don't hesitate to use it for what it is intended to show - that two people are not on the same page.

So, when people begin a statement with "Well," I know to beware. They may seem friendly, but they're wolves in sheep's clothing. Besides that, they will either get stuck in the need for belonging category or move on to self-actualization. Either way, insincerity is the trademark, and people leave you high and dry, for the group they're stuck in or in realizing they can accomplish goals without you. I love the word "well." It sorts out my friends for me.

Horizons yet again

2011-10-23T00:12:00.001-05:00

I decided to stroll the beach on the north end of the Boston Harbor about 9 AM on a Monday morning. Not too far in the distance was a paddle boarder already plying his craft. A few others walked the beach, but very few. In the distance where the peninsula intruded somewhat across the bay were the wealthy houses. They had the money to escape Boston and enjoy the quiet of the waters.

On the other side of the peninsula, 11 miles further, was the skyline of the city. It would take an hour to travel around the bay by road to the city, but only 20 minutes by ferry from the tip of the peninsula around the harbor's lighthouse.

I could hear the gulls above me, but the small breeze was the only other noticeable sound in my ears. I had never been to any beach in mid-autumn, much less a Massachusetts beach. It stretched my horizons yet again.

I generally don't stretch my horizons or let others stretch them for me. But it happens once in a while. Sometimes the scene is in the right place. Sometimes you're with the perfect person. Sometimes both. Then it's a beautiful thing, I allow it and willingly say, "Stretch on!"

Course change

2011-10-22T00:57:00.000-05:00

Over the years, rivers change courses. The river supplying the water to Niagra Falls has changed several times. The river flowing through the Grand Canyon has majorly changed its course at least once. Fortunately so. Otherwise we would have the Grand Valley. And, the Yellowstone River is not even close to the place it started.

The changes are not geared to human life spans, however. They operate on a span of their own. Humans will never live long enough to see a river change. We just see the evidence it leaves behind. They are the results of tectonic plate shift, glatiation, wind erosion, meteorite impact, and other forces.

I have a few course changes in my life as well. You'd have to know me from a time before now or talk to me about the past in order to see the evidences of those course changes. They happened over time. They are the result of forces like experience, sudden tragedies, idealism without basis, and other forces.

Like river changes, the force of change is not pleasant to endure, but once the cracking, moaning, and melting is over, oh what a beautiful landscape is created! It's true about the landscape of my life, too. And I am due a couple more, probably, just because life is not static. And if I could pick that course change...

Oh how full of splendor life would be!

Moonlight glints

2011-10-21T01:04:00.001-05:00

I was already in a thoughtful mood. So, when I looked out the window across the bay a little after midnight, I was struck by its inviting, inspiring tone. The moon was not but halfway to its peak on the horizon. The sky was clear of clouds, enhancing the brightness in the sky of the moon's reflection of the sun's brilliance. But the moon was more noticeable as it glanced from the dark Atlantic's waters. The harbor was silent... no boats, no noises from flights overhead. It was just the moon reflecting from the Boston Harbor in the early hours of a Monday morning.

Soon the noises would return. With the advent of day boats and planes would reappear. The sun would replace the moon. The dark waters would turn to deep blue. The beach would emerge from dark shadows. Reality would break open.

But in this one magical moment just after midnight, in the silence of moonlight glints off the waves of the ocean, I was lost in thought... of the sound of the cheeriest voice on earth, of the sight of the most infectious smile of any face on the planet, and of the awareness of the most pleasant disposition I have ever had.

Immersed in those thoughts, Midnight became 1 o'clock without any time passing, then came slumber. I awoke a whole new person, having experienced the magic moment of a midnight moon.

Beauty - strength

2011-10-16T23:50:00.000-05:00

There's a beauty in the forest. It's quiet. It muffles noises. It creates great think time. Its leaves provide a scenic panarama during certain times of the year, fall being one of them. It serves as a boundary around people who make their homes there. And it sometimes forbids too much commercialization of human markings. It offers so much to the environment scientifically and aesthetically that it is a force to reckon with. So there is beauty in a forest, all right, but also strength. I admire both qualities. I like being around both the forest and people who share the forest's qualities.

Worthy attributes

2011-10-13T00:07:00.000-05:00

Nelson Manela's story is intriguing to me. I like anyone's story who has helped change the world, but his has an element in it that I greatly respect.

He worked for change all his life. He was groomed in South Africa to lead, but when he did, he was imprisoned for it. That jail stint was not just a few months or a year or two. It was for 27 years. That's a huge chunk out of someone's life. The movie Invictus picked up this part of Mandela's story to show the impact of those 27 years. It inspired South Africa's soccer team to be better than they would normally have been.

But 27 years intrigues me, also, because it is way outside the norm for stamina and patience. I admire that kind of patience and stamina. At times I think I have patience and stamina, separately usually. But, I don't know if I could have done what Mandela did. That's what intrigues me. When Mandela got out of jail, due to pressure from the rest of the world put on the government of South Africa (otherwise who knows how long he would have stayed in prison), he still worked for change as he was groomed to do and as was consistent with his personality.

Amazing to me. 27 years he waited, but the taste of his life after that was soooo sweet. Waiting for something you want is the attribute I am most impressed with. Very few things are worth the wait, not a 27 year wait. I know not to say that I would wait on something or someone. I know that waiting is tiring, and it's easy to give up. That's why I respect so much what Nelson Mandela did. Only once have I told someone I would wait. In that instance, I would join Mandela in patience and stamina no matter how long, hoping for a catalyst as he did. It all ended well for Mandela. He's 93, living in the tribal village he grew up in. Good for him.

Whirling eddies

2011-10-12T02:01:00.000-05:00

There's something renewing about a brook that bubbles by your feet when you dangle them just under the surface of the water. The water swirls by, bubbling sometimes, washing completely over your feet at other times. Running water is quite renewing. I think of the swirl of life's events as I watch the eddies float by. Each eddie represents a different event, but the eddies are all connected by the rocks and water that surround them and cause them to whirl. And, I really like the events that line up as A=B=C. Not many of them do, so when several swirling eddies remind me of connected events, I smile.

I close up for the night with the lingering thoughts of the events that do line up, a smile on my face, and a nod of approval as eyes close.

At the core

2011-09-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you have to wonder what keeps people going. I have often wondered that of others who have undergone hardships in life. The other day someone mentioned something to that effect and referred to recent events that had happened to me. Although the question was not asked, I know what keeps me going.

I just close my eyes... thoughts flood my mind of the period of life when joy was as rampant as swiftly rushing water in a mountain river -

lots of laughter, lots of getting up in the morning to meet a joyful day, lots of glia overproduced in the brain as a result of happiness... visuals appear of days when extraordianry events happened as exhilirating as soft snow in contrast to a blue or gray sky overhead -

lots of soft strains of the voice you cherish most in all the world, lots of pleasant feelings, lots of anticipation of potential.

No question has to ever be asked for me to know what keeps me going or for me to want to keep those events ever fresh by simply closing my eyes.

Early week symmetry

2011-09-28T02:34:00.000-05:00

My brother's wife's mother died over the weekend, so I flew to Dallas to the funeral. On the way to the airport from my town, however, I drove by a place that represents what is sacred to me. It's a little known place very near the airport, and passing by it always takes me to my mind's innermost sanctum because something beautiful and meaningful hallowed the ground there.

I think of this place, not just now and then, but often. And, coming back into town from Dallas today I passed this place again.

I closed my eyes... to see the happening and the three faces again and to honor such an affectionate, memorable event.

I thought the symmetry was perfect. To help honor the events happening with my brother and his wife, I needed to honor the beauty and truth of my own event both before traveling to Dallas and after.

I opened my eyes, looked in the direction where the sun sets, and said aloud, "I am eternally grateful!"

Words and their derivation

2011-09-21T02:11:00.000-05:00

It's a proverb in our language that actions speak louder than words. Maybe. But, I know it to be true that actions can be or "say" one thing and words, coming from the treasure of the heart, can say something different. That allows someone to do one thing, but think something totally different from the axiomatic loudness of the actions.

Masks can be put on either words or actions, I realize. But, if one wants to judge between the two, (s)he should go with the words. I do not find it more often true that actions speak louder. A person's heart shows up in words.

Actions matching words, now, are a different animal because they make a strong statement. Absent that, however, I would want someone to know where my heart is. They would find that in my words.

Strong mettle

2011-09-20T02:30:00.001-05:00

The word mettle (as in "We'll see what kind of mettle he has now.") hasn't always been spelled that way. In fact, in the 1500s and 1600s, it was just another way to spell metal. That's a whole story of its own with applications. But, tonight I want to say I have seen a great amount of metal or mettle. With either spelling you get the fabric people are made of. And I have seen very strong metal/mettle today. I am proud to have seen it. It's a beautiful sight, a brightly shining light, allowing others to walk a path when they can't see so well.

On fortune and trademarks

2011-09-17T03:28:00.001-05:00

Tom Brady is a work of art to watch as he quarterbacks a team. He is pure perfection. I enjoy watching him for that reason. I have been a Patriots fan for a number of years starting back when Tom was back-up to Drew Bledsoe. Boy did fortune strike. Bledsoe went down with an injury and thus appeared the best quarterback the game has ever seen. Last Sunday Brady showed once again why he is the elite quarterback of the league. He passed for 516 yards. Who does that? Of course, it has been done. Brady was the 11th quarterback to do that in NFL history. But, put with other stats, he comes out better than others.

I think I like his story so much because it represents what I would like to have happen to me - fortune to strike and then perfection to be my trademark. I like to think that I am good at what I do, but perfection it isn't. And fortune (not money) has not struck yet. I'm hoping that it will... and should it strike, I will have the beauty in life I need... then perfection will be my trademark.

When the slipper fits

2011-09-16T03:35:00.002-05:00

My niece ate lunch with me today. She has a true Cinderella story. She was a single mother raising her child in a small east Texas town working herself to the bone and starving as is the case with so many single moms. One day Prince Charming found her, slipped a sparkling heel on her foot, and it fit perfectly. They were married soon after. He was well off, so she never had to work another day in her life, and they have lived happily ever after (so far, because the events are recent). Good for her.

The early part of my niece's story is not so pretty. She lost a brother to suicide, married three times to people who were taken to prison for various reasons, and struggled to gain sole custody of her son since his dad was a molester type. Then... she had the Cinderella story. Really, good for her.

I guess the reason the Cinderella story has been around so long is that it has universal themes like being rewarded for overcoming hardship, finding your one true love, finding joy amidst adversity, and hanging on to hope when there seemed to be no reason for doing so. Long live the story of the prince who found the maiden whose foot fit the glass slipper perfectly!

Delayed justice

2011-09-15T02:56:00.000-05:00

It seems that evil is winning the day in the case of Hailey Dunn of Colorado City. Since the disappearance of the teenager, things have really changed in the lives of the those in the town who were the main characters. Hailey's mother has moved completely out of the county, to the Lake Travis area near Austin. Her boyfriend is apparently still the boyfriend even though he is the only real suspect in the case. Hailey's father who started out valiantly trying to canvas the towns in a 3 county area to find his daughter has grown bitter with the handling of the case and completely given up and lost hope. The school counselor who tried so hard to organize the searches for Hailey week after week is not even listed as working at the school any more. The police chief who started the investigation is no longer police chief. The lawyer who represented Hailey's mother in the first arrest, had to bow out temporarily because he crossed the law himself and got into trouble.

I have to believe that justice will be done. It's just waiting in the wings at the moment. All four quarters of this game have not been played. I do believe that two people in Colorado City know what's going on. I hope it is a matter of time before they will face the consequences of their actions.

This whole incident is a movie waiting for a script writer.

Contrived is not worth a flip

2011-09-14T01:01:00.000-05:00

I follow an internet group called Critical Discourse Analysis. They begin dialogs on various topics. Sometimes I comment, but mainly I don't. I just see what others have to say mainly. One of the topics started the other day began on deception in general, which I did comment on, but then it turned to lying in political speeches. Now that topic I have read literature about, but mainly I leave that to the experts who actually enjoy it.

One of the people in the group decided to comment on my comment. But, it was really an answer that seemed intuitively right, but ended up being rather irrelevant. It was about the use of irony in testimony. The comment used contrived speech from a Shakespearean play to prove its point. I shake my head when people used contrived speech as examples. It's not the same. Real speech can be captured in writing and analyzed, but to use contrived speech as an example of spontaneous, real speech is a fault that braggarts and novices make.

I read an article last week about experts who tried to use contrived, experimental data or contrived examples of speech to prove a point about lying on the stand in a courtroom. The author ripped the people to shreds on a number of counts. Rightly so. The experts were proud of their new-found, theoretical, psychologically based knowledge and didn't have any experience in analyzing real speech. They also used language indicators that only work in experiments using contrived data. There is a saying these people should pay more attention to. "Get real, people."

It's all in the dialect

2011-09-13T03:37:00.000-05:00

I think some people forget that the word "fortuitous" has a semantic domain (implicit meaning) other than the meaning of something happening to one's advantage. Nearly always the first meaning is that an event occurs randomly, by chance, or at the very least, not planned. Nonetheless, some just use the word to mean that good things happen to them.

I would have to say the good things that have happened to me have been fortuitous. Then again, I have heard people talk of the things that were planned for their lives as fortuitous incidents, which flies in the face of the two semantic domains of the word. I think they meant fortunate, but when told that, they say they don't believe in fortune. Things happen for a reason.

Words truly are arbitrary in that speakers of a language have to agree on their meanings. If there is disagreement, which happens more than traditional grammarians want to admit, then dialectal usage occurs. Then there are two or more meanings in the dictionary for a word.

Trying to interpret the semantic domains for life is rather arbitrary as well. Some people opt for one interpretation, others for a different interpretation. So there pops up interpretations on what's best to do in life based on how people interpret events. Take these two sayings, "Carpe diem," and "Good things come to those who wait." Or these two, "The early bird catches the worm," and "Stop and smell the roses." That leads to a dialectal difference in semantic domains in life interpretations. That makes it as hard to understand someone else as trying to use the same semantic domain for the word fortuitous.

It's always interesting to see how people connect dots or interpret dialectal differences.

Unexpected excitement

2011-09-11T00:17:00.002-05:00

It's always exciting when a golden business opportunity happens that you didn't know about but that included you. And then, after discussing it, it promises to be a springboard into new horizons and much benefit. So exciting. It's just that... I'm not whole. But for the half of me that goes on down the road singing, I'm very excited.

Wash and wear cycles

2011-09-07T21:54:00.003-05:00

We can see life through any lens we want to. That's why we have words like optimism and pessimism, cynicism and reality, ecstasy and agony, and denial and defiance.

Life puts us through washer cycles at time - soap, rinse, spin, drain - to get us ready for the dryer where we come out ready for wear.

The lens we see life through we can control. The cycles we get put through we cannot control. It's a nice blend. Striving for upbeat consistency throughout the cycles is not the only way to make us ready to wear, but it is the one that allows people to live longer and be happier than those who choose otherwise.

A few, short steps

2011-08-30T23:00:00.003-05:00

The Longest Yard was a movie about some prisoners who wanted (and needed) to beat the guards in a game of football. Whether they would win or lose came down to scoring a two point conversion from the three-yard line. But it was the last one yard of the three that became the longest yard.

I think in life we have challenges that make us what we are. We constantly make lemonade from lemons because we don't control all of the factors of the environment around us. But there is always that longest yard. It is the one thing in life we desire (and need) the most. Out of all the tall mountains we are given or forced to climb, there's always that tallest mountain. And the last 36 inches of getting to the top are the hardest.

Our feet are an average 10 inches long. If we could just make 3 1/2 steps... to happiness.

Bucket cards

2011-08-27T21:12:00.002-05:00

In talking with my sister the other night, the now famous bucket list was brought up. We mentioned a few places that we would like to go. I am excited because most of them could easily become reality. Nothing on the bucket list is in Africa although I would like to see the island of Madagascar someday. That is on my wish list, but not my bucket list. Once 2012 begins, I think I will go to work on the cards in the bucket. I don't know exactly where I will start; it depends on whether I travel alone or with my sister and her husband. But, there are enough cards in the bucket that one will fit the occasion.

Reality

2011-08-26T23:55:00.004-05:00

I remember when the show Truman came out. People watched it and said that would never happen, or that if it ever happened, then the world would be too Big Brotherish to live in and they would just as soon move to another country. That was in 1998.

Little did anyone know that the advent of reality TV was not but 3 years away. Of course, it started subtly. Survivor was one of the first hugely successful reality shows. Then came others. Now watching Jersey Shore or some equivalent is very close to Truman. No one even flinches to watch it, much less leave the country. In fact, among people under 40, reality shows are preferred to other types of programming like drama during the day especially, but also during late prime time.

Of course, reality TV is still in its childhood, so the more mature reality programming that will show up in about 10 more years is going to be every bit as inviting to the under 40 crowd of that day as reality is now to the same crowd. And if you were to go just 10 years before Truman, then Americans would have not even known the term "reality TV."

Americans in the 1700s never even experienced TV. Their reality was experiential - and long and drawn out. Americans of 2100 will probably be just the opposite. Their reality will be virtual - and short episodes of many visuals. I'm in one of the transition ages, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else except in 2100. I would love it.

In space there is no up or down

2011-08-25T22:55:00.004-05:00

Success is good, but it is so short-lived. Failure is probably good although it doesn't feel that way. It shows where the weak spots are. The funny thing about that is that every situation is unique, so the failure just insures that if the same situation were to happen, it would be better because we presumably learn from our mistakes. But, very rarely does the same situation happen twice. So, we make mistakes time and again.

There are a number of sayings about failure. Ben Franklin is said to have penned, "I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong." Stephen Kaqqua wrote, "Try and fail, but don't fail to try." Colin Powell said, "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

It is true, though, that failure teaches us. In both our efforts put into a situation and our reaction to the results of our efforts, we learn about our personalities, our limitations, our desires, and our need to try again for success. And it this latter, our need for success, combined with the short-lived nature of success that keeps us pedaling forward, not becoming complacent. So, failure and success really have the same outcome. Maybe we don't need the two words since they have the same effect. The only difference in the two words is the way we feel. One feels good, one feels awful. Even the feelings can be harnessed, though. So, we should just have one word for the outcome of efforts.

Stonehenge reminders

2011-08-24T22:35:00.002-05:00

I watched a documentary about Stonehenge last week. It was probably the 5th special I've watched on the subject. Archaeologists don't really know what to make of the megalithic monument. They have finally excavated enough of it to know how it was made, the stages it took to construct it, and the whereabouts of the stones used. But, I have yet to hear an explanation that definitively tells how it fit into those ancient people's daily lives. It's not a mistake that the lintels of the largest stones align with the summer and winter solstices. But, a whole monument taking years to build would not simply be a meter to read the shortest and longest day of the year by. This last special on TV tried very hard to link the monument to daily activity, but it failed in that the people who lived close by did not live close enough to include it daily - only on special days. There was no evidence shown for daily activity, so the archaeologists were hesitant to go where the evidence did not lead them. That's good science, but not good as an explanation for why the monument was built. So, I await the next special that National Geographic might put out in a couple of more years.

The monument is a good reminder of at least two seeming truths about life however. Some of what people see is transparent, but much of what people see has to have evidence that would lead them to understand it.

Love a language challenge

2011-08-24T00:32:00.006-05:00

It's not everyday that I meet someone with dysgraphia. But, it's so obvious when I see it. I love a challenge. I'll get to do a little linguistic work. Trouble is that dysgraphia in high schoolers is not something easily fixed. It definitely allows me to see the truth of the Critical Learning Window hypothesis. That hypothesis states that if someone misses a window of learning something during which nearly all people learn that something, then (s)he will not be able to learn it or not learn it fluently.

Expression of thought has such a window. The norm for people to pass through this window is from ages 8-10. If the three year window is missed, the person has a problem that can't really be fixed. The person learns to compensate for it, but (s)he'll never be fluent. Right now, the challenge is with someone who hasn't even learned to compensate even a little.

But, I love the challenge. The first order of business is to work on the easy part of the fix. That would be the representation of the middle syllable of three syllable words. "Beging" for "beginning" and "creted" for "created" are two examples. The larger problem of representing the whole thought in written words rather than missing thoughts represented by no written words will come second. It's hard knowing that the individual never will really be able to express himself proficiently in writing. But, I will offer some compensation skills.

Of course, the beauty of the time in which this young person lives is that writing will have less and less importance over the next ten years. Thus, one of the strategies is to beef up oral presentation skills that merely reference periodic writing or iconic writing.

No better, no worse

2011-08-21T13:42:00.005-05:00

Sometimes I like to listen to songs that just have the same rhythm and beat that last for a good long thinking time. It allows my mind to travel wherever it wants. Occasionally, I listen to it and affirm the thoughts one at a time from an earlier thinking time.

A lot of times I will select the Phil Collins song Take Me Home. It's been around a long time and I never tire of its rhythm and beat. The words and drum beat are repetitive, but that is what my mind depends on to let it wander from thought to thought.

I have to go down paths I never wanted and tried hard to prevent, but life doesn't work like that - for anybody.

Take that look of worry, mine's an ordinary life,
Working when it's daylight and
Sleeping when it's night.

My very good friend from high school called today. We hadn't spoken in a long time, so we talked for quite a while. His life... well, I'm sure he didn't want it and tried to prevent it. He has two children that delight him, but beyond that he has really had it hard. We played basketball side by side in every game, every practice. Who would have guessed.

Take that look of worry I'm an ordinary man,
They don't tell me nothing,
So I find out what I can.

Recently, I found out that a colleague I had worked with for a little while developed cancer for the second time and in a stage way past early detection. She had already fought the battle of raising three sons by herself and been away from her family working. I am certain she tried to prevent the cancer's recurrence. She seemed focused and pleasant when we worked together. Who would have known she was just a short span of time away from her body being ravaged a second time.

Seems so long I've been waiting
Still I don't know what for
There's no point escaping
I don't worry anymore

Not long ago I found out that a friend of mine whom I had not seen in about 3 years had been taking treatments for prostate cancer and had developed dementia. The dementia has improved, but the cancer has been with him two years. He was a good friend for me because he always made me think, countering my thoughts with examples I had not thought of. He brought homemade bread to me a number of times during my son's extended illness. Who could have seen what time had in store for him.

So take me home...
Oh, I don't mind,
No, I don't mind.

I have a cousin that I get to see whenever I go to my lake place. He is raising 3 children, his grandchildren. His adopted daughter who had them has herself been down dark paths and lost the ability to raise children. So, my cousin is raising a second family. No, he didn't want to do that. It wasn't what he had in mind for his life when he was 25. Who could have told him the second half of his life would mirror the first part.

So, the extreme high of two years ago in my life that has meteorically dropped to the other extreme makes me know that I am ordinary, and that I have to find warmth from the fires that burn everywhere around me even if they scald and sear.

There's a fire that's been burning
right outside my door
I can't see, but I feel it
And it helps to keep me warm.

So, I am thankful for the warmth provided as a buffer against the cold all around it.

A matter of 60 seconds

2011-08-19T23:13:00.004-05:00

The rays of the sun invaded the peace of the dusk - but not for long. The dark crept ever-progressively toward the horizon, swallowing the beams of the rays. It was just right for the pensive mood I was in. The day had been easy enough, fortunately, but the evening was striking a different tenor than the day.

My mind was considering the past, present, and future simultaneously. It entertained the conversation that I had had with my mother last night. She had told me that my learning had changed me for the worst (and other things). Then it moved to the present, thinking of the work I have at hand in order to get things in order for a better second half of the year than the first. Finally, it slid into the frames that were fuzzy. Events or matters that have not happened yet are out of focus for me. I hope, but the pictures are not there. All of this in just a matter of 60 seconds. The mind is fast.

Then the outside picture of the rays being consumed by night overtaking the day returned to my consciousness. Slumber will come soon, then the matters that appeared to me for just about 20 seconds as I planned my day will be enacted when I rise. But I'll be ready. And tomorrow, I will have another 60 second frame just like this one, setting the tone for the evening. The remembered conversation will be from someone else; the work at hand will fade into some other project; and the blurry picture will change outlines.

That's how time passes.

A wrestling scene

2011-08-04T22:50:00.003-05:00

Hello Darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again

I have played this song so many times since it came out on the radio that I can't count them. Through the years I have had a number of moments in which I have had running conversations in my head, sometimes out loud, about a circumstance I have found myself in. Sometimes, I am angry, sometimes discouraged, sometimes befuddled. So again tonight... Hello darkness, my old friend...

Because a vision softly creeping
Left its scenes while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains within the sound of silence.

The vision is usually of the circumstance that has happened. It always makes me restless. Many times, it disrupts my sleep. I have to wrestle with it to get resolution. The scenes I wrestle with usually recur over several days while I fight with it. And the whole battle is inside my head - within the sound of slience.

In restless streets I walked alone
Narrow streets of Cobblestone...

I don't know that I ever reconcile in my mind the reaction I have had to the circumstance with the thoughts that finally allow me to walk away from it. I just have to return to life putting one foot in front of the other.

But it's always true that

Silence like a cancer grows...

Sooner or later, I guess, I'll get the big picture. I think I have it. Time will tell. But it's time that gets my mind to thinking of all the possible scenarios. One of the scenarios will contain the truth. And I'm not always better because the truth comes out. But, at least I know the truth, and it helps in not making mistakes that cost me emotionally.

Just that little note

2011-08-02T22:33:00.003-05:00

What a fine day. 104 degrees sizzled outside. Watering restrictions apply so the grass is so yellow green it looks putrid. Cars are hot to the touch when you sit in them. Steering wheels take 5 minutes to cool down. The work load is experiencing the calm before the storm.

But the day wasn't a downer. It had a note of anticipation to it. Just that little note changed its tenor from hot and dismal to one that makes you gaze out the window - hoping.

What's in the stream?

2011-08-01T22:43:00.003-05:00

Where the Day Takes You was a movie from about 15 years ago. It was about teenagers and their escapades as they began a drug habit. The movie was very much in the stream of consciousness style. These young men and women just moved from one place to another smoking marijuana and then taking harder drugs. It was a good commentary for the way the drug habit is formed and progresses to more serious drug taking. The terrible toll it took on the teens was the main message and an effective one at that.

I used to think that one of the messages of the movie, that of not taking control of a day, worked against a person, so that aimlessness was the result. As it turns out, no one really has control of a day. Sometimes it goes as planned, but more often than not, it doesn't. It is my reaction to the day that makes or breaks the day. So, many times, I just let the day take me somewhere. Sometimes, I work a plan, and occasionally it turns out according to that plan. But, most days...

If I look back, I know where my very happiest days were. Living in the moments of those days was easy; I was high on life like I never have been. I know retracing steps is not where a day takes a person. But, if days like that are anywhere close to where my future days would take me... What I wouldn't give!

The suprarelative degree

2011-07-30T21:55:00.006-05:00

All languages have a way to compare. In the Romance and Germanic languages, the way to compare is to have a language marker that indicates one item or person who is in some way compared to another item or person. English does this with the word more (as in Your furniture is more padded than the furniture you looked at in the store) or with the suffix -er (as in Your grass is greener than your neighbors. This way of indicating two items' juxtaposition is called the comparative degree. Another way of comparing is to take three or more items and single one of them out for some reason. English does this with the word most (as in Your furniture is the most padded of all the furniture in the stores we went to today) or with the suffix -est (as in Your grass is the greenest on the block). This way of indicating three or more items' juxtaposition is called the superlative degree. One can also use less and least should the comparison be opposite in nature from more and most.

I have gone around the block more than a few times when it comes to comparing people. So, it's easier these days to spot the people I want to be around. On one of the first trips around the block I learned to compare people from Central Texas with those from West Texas. On another trip around the block I worked in education then in the corporate world. So, I was able to compare the kinds of people who worked in those two environments. I also did a little traveling in the state of Texas on one trip around the block. I compared people from different regions of the state. Not too long ago on a trip around the block, I was able to compare people in Canada with those from the US. In a very recent trip, I was around the people in another region of the country and so was able to compare those people to the people I have been around for a long time.

So what is the comparison verdict? If I stay with the comparative degree, then basically, all people fall in the same categories. They have very similar personalities, but still, some stand out over others for being deceptive or honest, friendly or unfriendly, personal or impersonal, coherent or ditzy, even flattering or hostile. With each trip around the block it became easier and easier to judge character and personality.

But what should happen if I move to the superlative degree? I know exactly who to single out as friends, those who are friendlier than just the run-of-the-mill friends, those who will help me the most in life. I have learned to recognize those who reciprocate with trust, forming an inner circle of friends or of business partners.

There is not another degree of comparison in English although some people have developed a way to show a superlative of superlative degree. It is not accepted by grammarians who like to judge such matters. Some people like to use most with a word that is superlative by definition (as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is my most favorite movie of all time). People make this comparison regularly. I would call this extra degree of comparison the suprarelative degree. I would know how to use it. Singling out someone or some event with someone as a pinnacle experience is not hard.

Having gone around a number of blocks, I absolutely know for whom and what I have reserved the suprarelative degree. I am forever grateful for such a pinnacle experience. It keeps me going since I mainly exist in a mere comparative degree world.

Finally the light splits the darkness

2011-07-24T23:07:00.004-05:00

I'm feeling a little vindicated. Since the year 1998, I have had the perspective (and have passed it on over the last 12 years through presentations) that Shakespeare didn't write the Shakespearean body of plays. There are 37 of them, all world class plays. A number of candidates have been suggested, but the strongest three candidates are Edward DeVere, Christopher Marlowe, and Frances Bacon. A year and a half ago, I met a world renowned history scholar, Ross Dunn, a professor at San Diego State University. He and I had quite a few conversations, one of them centering on the possibility that Shakespeare didn't write the plays. He was quick to send me a book he had bought about the matter while he had been in England teaching one summer.

The matter has been around over 200 years, but has come to light in an irreversible manner over the last 20 years because of scholars getting involved. A dissertation has even been devoted to the subject.

So, imagine my great surprise and immediate feeling of vindication when I saw a commercial for a movie coming out this fall that began, "What if Shakespeare didn't write a single line of 37 plays he reportedly wrote." The commercial went on to show a few scenes of the movie that apparently takes the view that Edward DeVere wrote the plays. The commercial contained the lines, "All the world's a stage and we merely the players," and a few others, then ended with the words, "We've all been played."

Love it! Finally... and in a format the world will actually see and understand (not in a book, that is). You know where I will be on opening night in September. Loving every second.

Beautiful #3

2011-07-21T23:56:00.005-05:00

I know a precious little princess who turns 3 years old today!!! Happy Birthday!!!

The world will be in good hands in the next generation when it gets handed over to her. She is already good-hearted. She loves people, is gentle, enjoys a good time, smiles everywhere she goes, and wears stylish sunglasses that her sheepish grin peeks out from under. She looks cuddly and inquisitive and makes you just want to hold her forever.

Of course, I would expect her to be just like her amazing mother who also has every trait mentioned above, including the sunglasses. Superb job!!!

Happy birthday my princess!!!

Champions

2011-07-17T22:34:00.006-05:00

Ranch Road 1431 winds around across 2 counties. A lot of roads do that, but this one is a memorable one. I have a place in the middle of one county off of road 1431 and near the opposite end of the other county is a special camp. Coming across the two counties I pass three camps, The Retreat, nearest my place, Camp Peniel, and Camp Champion. Tonight as I passed the three camps only one took my thoughts to deeper thinking... Camp Champion!

I know a young man who is just about a year and a half from getting to go to the camp. I know he's excited to get there. I'm sure he'll return for a number of years once he starts. And I look forward to the time when he starts because I know what will happen to him once he goes. I know this because I know another product of Camp Champion. That person is of the noblest ilk, sits atop every endeavor attempted, rides head and shoulders above anyone I've known in the academic world, and amazes everyone as a parent.

The young man is already a champion at all he does, so I can only imagine what his future holds. I'm a betting man, and I'm putting my chips on this young man already! It's not much of a bet. The other person I know who is a product of the camp, I would bet on any day, any second of the day, any year... any time.

Back spin

2011-07-16T22:25:00.006-05:00

The sports segment of the news tonight highlighted pro golf. One of the golfers shot a beautiful stroke. The ball hit the green about 3 feet from the pole. But, the best part of the shot was that the ball had back spin on it, so after it hit three feet from the hole, it spun backwards the 3 feet to fall in the cup. The golfer was ecstatic; he had hit an eagle.

Back spin represents beautiful execution. I know it can be misconstrued as back lash, but to me there is a huge difference. Spinning backwards can offer initial opportunity as in the golfer's case, or it can offer additional opportunity as happens a few times in life (because the general principle is that opportunity knocks but once). Back lash is ugly and happens as a result of something a person does not try to have happen. Back spin is something a person works to have happen, and it happens to one's advantage. It proves that one is at the top of his or her game.

Eagles don't happen much in golf or in life, nor does back spin so accurately executed. Calling it beautiful is an understatement. There may not be a word for it in English.

Perfect symmetry

2011-07-15T22:50:00.004-05:00

I hadn't ever seen Good Will Hunting even though a number of friends told me I should watch it. Finally, I happened on to it on one of the movie channels earlier this week. So, I watched it. Yes, I should have taken everyone's advice who told me to watch it. It was good on several levels.

One feature I like about a movie or a book is for there to be some line or some episode referred to again in the end. In one of the scenes in the middle of the movie, Robin Williams, playing an esteemed psychologist, relates to Will that he married the one true love in his life. So he enjoyed his marriage to the very end. He was passionate about going places with her or compromising his own thoughts if making her happy would be the end result. When she fell sick before she died, it was not a chore for him to care for his one true love in life. He related that story because Will had earlier flippantly suggested to the psychologist (without knowing the story behind the psychologist's state of being single) that he was scared to marry again because he married the wrong woman. Thus, Robin Williams found the right moment to relate having met the woman of his dreams to Will. He had given up going to a historical baseball event just to be with this woman for their first date. And, he never regretted it. In fact, he would have regretted attending the baseball event and missing the meeting with the woman of his dreams.

At the end of the movie, Will had a job that would catapult him to fame and show his unique abilities as a world class mathematician. But through his therapy with Robin Williams, he had learned to care about people again (which he had lost the ability to do through a series of events). In particular, he wanted to go reclaim a relationship with a woman so that he would have no regrets. So, he left a note with Robin Williams to tell the person offering him a job that he had somewhere else to be, with the woman of his dreams that he was going to meet. Beautiful symmetry. In literary terms, it's the perfect way to highlight a major theme.

From my observation of married couples, I would have to say that precious few individuals find their one true love. So seeing it portrayed in a movie is moving. Seeing it highlighted as a theme by seeing such a unique passion for another human being pass from one individual to another is even more touching.

In reality, just a taste of it for a few precious moments in time would be life's single most treasured event. Living it would place one in the most enviable position in the whole world.

Friendship

2011-07-12T23:08:00.003-05:00

My college roommate came by today for a short visit. He was passing through after spending time in the cool mountains of New Mexico. It's always good to visit with him. He represents someone who knew me back when... who has known me throughout the happenings of life as the years have passed. We get together periodically; it probably works out to be about once every 3 years. We have shared the ups and downs of both of our lives - with kids and spouses. In a number of ways we are alike. He's a bit more reserved than I am and much more informal. Whereas, I analyze language, he analyzes the human mind. So, we have a lot to say about speech communication. If I ever need a psychological lift, he's the go-t0 guy.

It's good to have life-long friends. They help you measure your success or failure in life. They have some history to compare your present status to, for showing growth in both character and philosophical viewpoint. I'm grateful for such a friend.

Reunion time

2011-07-11T00:06:00.003-05:00

It's time to meet with my colleagues again. Once a year I get to have a reunion in Dallas with those who went through the trenches with me, languishing in classes analyzing language in all of its various environments. I look forward to such meetings. They usually last about 4 hours, and we compare notes on all the types of environments we have encountered with language over the last year. These are not the normal class reunions, but they are reunions of great value to me. Over the last 8 years, we've been able to meet 6 times. This one is particularly good since one is coming from Nigeria to be there. He should have some interesting stories. He already has contracted an illness and had to take medicine for that. But, he remains devoted to his work. Another is from the Dallas area, but he works with people connected to Ethiopa. And yet another is working in Mexico with an indigenous clan of people for whom he has developed a written language. He always has good stories of both culture and language. I anticipate these usually annual meetings greatly and learn more about language than I otherwise would.

Only one reunion would be sweeter than this one. And when I look up to the stars at night and say "I wish I may I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight," I renew that very special hope that is part of the fabric of my soul.

Mesmerize me

2011-07-08T22:20:00.003-05:00

The beach is a mesmerizing place. It has all kinds of activities associated with it. You can take a ship to deeper water to fish for the big ones. You can ferry to particular spots to watch dolphins. You can find a boat to hook a parachute to and go parasailing. You can, of course, grab your surf board and catch the big wave back to the sand. Of course, there's always the crowd that sits on the beach to soak in radiation from the sun, those who wade into the ocean to enjoy the water rush against the skin and fill the nostrils with that ever invasive saline smell. You can comb the beach for shells, crabs, and sand dollars.

The waves that come onto the beach are the most mesmerizing art of the whole scene. They endlessly smash, roar, roil, glide, billow, and slide across the sand wave after wave after wave, ad infinitum. They cause a person to pause and think, stop and consider, dawdle and laugh, and wade and reflect. It's beautiful, rejuvenating, relaxing, comforting, and calming. Long live the beach!

Fudge

2011-07-06T22:23:00.002-05:00

The outrage from the Casey Anthony verdict derives from the fact that people thought she was lying about the murder and that she waited too long to report the missing daughter to the police. On this second matter, I hope that there never is a law about time periods for reporting things to the police. That would mean I am living in a police state. That would be a travesty. Of course, we're close enough to one already that I refer to the US as a police state from time to time. On the first matter, I find myself loving the jury. Who among us doesn't lie?

I'm no better. I have 2 friends that I am completely transparent with. I know that lack of transparency is not the same as lying by most definitions, but for these 2 people it is for me. I was talking with one of the two the other day and I made the statement that my work was less than desirable after a certain event. Although that statement is true, it was not transparent enough because it was an understatement, and I didn't present it as such. I should have presented my outlook with the strength it deserved. My whole life has had a hole in it after that event. That's a whole lot different from saying my work wasn't enjoyable. I fudged the truth. Fortunately, I didn't have a jury sitting in, watching what I was doing, deeming me guilty or not. But I know that I didn't tell the truth, that is, I know I was not transparent.

Filtering thought is what we do best to preserve our images. But, I have 2 people that know my true, unfiltered image. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to "unfudge" the truth.

#1 invention

2011-07-03T22:56:00.005-05:00

According to a radio report last week, 50 engineers were sent a list of inventions recently. They were to rank the top 25 inventions of all time. Of the top 5, the personal computer was 5th. I couldn't believe it. I thought that was the driving force behind everything modern. More surprising was the radio, which came in third. But, after thinking about it, I can see that that allowed the world to start its march toward globalization.

The number one invention of all time was the smart phone. Really no surprise there. It allows one to control everything in her/his environment if (s)he wants to. For example, I have an app that controls the thermostat, the alarm system, the door locks to the house, a light, motion sensors, and a camera inside the house. In fact, I set the temperature of my house just the other day from my phone. Love it. The smart phone also contains a movie camera. I love these. A person can send and receive videos of people that are important and special to him/her. My daughter and I exchange still pictures through text occasionally and keep each other updated that way instead of through words. But, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is that to the tenth power. They're the most special of all the features to me. They record the precious moments of precious people in our lives, including the sounds that bring a smile to the lips. Love them!!! The smart phone is a great choice for the number one invention of all time.

A golden lode

2011-06-30T23:42:00.003-05:00

Today was one of those days where good things happened. My brother signed a contract to become a partner in an oil company. The doctor was able to move an appointment up 3 weeks. And my company signed a major contract that will take my business to the next level. What a deal. I felt like a gold miner in California in the 1880s who had made the dusty, long trip mined a few streams for gold and found nothing, only to wake up the next day to land a really huge nugget that allowed him to continue with his dreams. Let's call it a mother lode day.

As good as that may be, there is yet one thing that could top that. It is my greatest wish. And it would be the whole vein of gold in the rock around it... the mother of all lodes!

Tapping the reservoir

2011-06-29T22:58:00.005-05:00

The Ogallala Aquifer is the world's largest underground reservoir in terms of how large it is. It covers 8 states in the midwest of the U.S. It can't be seen from the Earth's surface, but it irrigates much of the heartland of America. It's named after a town in Nebraska because the town was where the type of reservoir and the type of water filling it were first identified.

Inside of me is a reservoir of thought that irrigates the drought of mundane living. It is large, and it refreshes the thoughts in every area of my life, enriching them all. Even though rain may not be falling in my life right now to make things green and vibrant, I look to that Ogallala reservoir within. From it, thoughts are watered and life gets better. I call its very special name often. There's nothing like this reservoir in the whole wide world.

Letting Scorpio center me

2011-06-25T22:48:00.002-05:00

Looking at the sky from the front porch tonight, I was staring at the constellation Scorpio. It's the shape of stars known for its long tail. I'm enamored enough with the night sky with all of its constellations. But, tonight it seemed that Scorpio was shining a little more brightly. I'm sure that it was lower light level in town. But, I like to have my imagination run away sometimes. The Greek mythology behind Scorpio isn't consistent. It has at least 3 stories of how it got in the sky. None of the stories make a person love the scorpion. It is like the serpent in the creation story. People disdain scorpions as much as they do snakes. But tonight my thoughts were not about the scorpion's sting.

The location of the constellation is near the center of the Milky Way. And perhaps, that's why I couldn't lower my gaze tonight from looking at Scorpio. It signified things and people who anchor or center me. I was in need of that reminder tonight. A little time with the night sky put me at ease, calmed my soul, and touched my heart with the flash of a face.

Applying Tombstone

2011-06-21T23:45:00.004-05:00

Tombstone is a well loved film by the American public. It continues to run on the movie channels. I don't know exactly why the public loves the movie, but I think part of the reason is that the bad guys in the movie get exterminated en toto. People love to see justice served and many times, justice is harshly served. In this movie it is extremely served. And, that's the reason I am using this movie tonight.

I have commented on the Hailey Dunn case before, but the most recent move on the part of the Colorado Police Department defies understanding. They arrested Hailey's mother again. It appears the PD is trying to squeeze her in an attempt to get her to talk about her involvement in her own daughter's disappearance. So, they round her up for lying to authorities back in December when the disappearance was reported.

That correlates to two scenes in Tombstone which motivate me to action. After Wyatt's younger brother gets killed, Johnny Ringo invites Wyatt to a duel and tells him where to meet him. Wyatt, just before going to meet Ringo, visits with Doc Halliday about whether he can beat Ringo in the duel. Doc tells him he can't. In the next scene, Doc shows up in the shadows of the place Johnny Ringo is waiting to duel Wyatt. Doc approaches Ringo and opens with the line, "I'll be your huckleberry." At that point, the viewers are very much behind Doc because they know Doc will be Ringo's huckleberry and Ringo's demise is about 60 seconds away, as it should be since he is so evil.

Another scene is when Wyatt and company are confronting the Cowboy gang at a river. After killing many of the gang at the river, some in Wyatt's company are talking to Doc about Wyatt's boldness. They mention that revenge has made him so bold. Doc weighs in by saying, "Make no mistake about it gentlemen, this is not revenge. It's a reckoning."

I can't stand it anymore. The PD is making one move after another to deflect attention from themselves to a person who most of all would like to see her daughter again. Enough is enough! I'll be the huckleberry. Someone in the town knows what happened and is being allowed to remain undetected and taunt all who show up to search for Hailey week after week for 6 months. I say it's time for total exposure of the deflections that have occurred. It's time for their reckoning.

Sacred belief

2011-06-19T23:33:00.004-05:00

The Green Lantern is a movie mainly for kids. It has great symbolism that kids need to hear, namely that fear can be overcome by will power. One's will power can wane and a person has to work at perfecting the will, but eventually it will overcome fear even if no one else believes that he or she has enough will power. The movie is a great lesson in personification of abstract ideas.

During the course of the movie, the hero has to admit his human limitations and his failures in life especially in relationships. He also has to admit that he has let fear get the best of him in a number of situations. However, the one person he wants to have a relationship with, in a scene near the end of the movie, tells the hero she sees courage in him even if he doesn't, and she knows he can be the Green Lantern who will overcome the fear facing the people of Earth with will power. It is a touching scene, and it turns the tide in his thinking. From that point on, he fights the fear that has descended on the Earth and wins the ensuing battle. He had it in him all along, he just needed a catalyst to bring the best out in him.

All of us need catalysts from time to time. Those points keep us believing in ourselves and our abilities. In particular, it's nice when someone tells us that they, too, believe in our abilities. When that happens, it's a sacred moment. It makes us better than we normally are, better than we would otherwise be. In a world that sends so much negativity our way, I'm thankful for the sacred moment when that one special person voices belief in us... so very thankful... so very beautiful... so very, very sacred!

Great meaning in an uncoined phrase

2011-06-14T00:07:00.004-05:00

The phrase, "the winter of my discontent," is understood by nearly everyone whenever it is used whether or not one knows its original context. Funny... the opposite is not even a coined expression. I guess it would be "the summer of my great content," or "the summer of my greatest satisfaction."

I have one of those summers whether or not the expression has ever been coined. It was the summer I went to Canada. I went with my siblings, and the trip went well and I enjoyed the mountains of Canada greatly. But, as immensely satisfying as that experience was, there was another part of that trip that wasn't present with me that gave me the greatest satisfaction. It was what was contained in the deepest place within me, my fabric, that made the Canadian experience so bright. It was not the faces around me although they were pleasant enough. It was not in the rugged, jagged mountains that surrounded me although they were majestic and beautiful. It was an essence locked deeply within me that gave me my "summer of greatest satisfaction."

And that essence still satisfies me on a daily basis.

Finding the soul

2011-06-08T22:17:00.003-05:00

Tonight on the Science channel, a special was aired that dealt with the soul. It's amazing to me that people are trying to define that idea in scientific terms. Mainly, though, the soul is the mind, or the way the brain's neural network is designed. The documentary included a neurosurgeon, a couple of psychologists who monitor the subconscious, and a neuroscientist/cognitive scientist who all have tried to track what happens in the brain during both waking and sleeping hours. The bottom line is that we still do not know, but some clear direction is starting to emerge on what areas to study.

Interestingly enough the word in Greek for soul is psyche. So they were on the trail of the right pursuit all along. It's the mind that gives rise to the idea of what outlives the body.

The most interesting idea is that our minds with all of their philosophies and views (the sum total of the connections we make daily and cumulatively) are nothing more than an amalgam of every influence from events or people that we have either encountered or that we allow to have even the smallest influence.

All I know is that my mind or soul or psyche or substance that makes sense of experience definitely bears the stamp of one experience I have had in life more than any other. Wouldn't it be nice if it would be that experience to outlive my body. I would be buried with a smile and my mind would fully enjoy infinity.

Atlantic sunrise

2011-06-07T07:54:00.005-05:00

There is a certain energy and newness to watching a sunrise. This morning the clouds were over the horizon, so I had to wait 30 minutes for a peek at the sun.

But as the sun began to create its aura and brighten the water, anticipation heightened as to what was about to happen.

The sun reflected off the water, which made me, in turn, reflect on thoughts running through my mind. The scene added clarity and hope to my thoughts... hope that the deal in the works here in Georgia will actually materialize and clarity on the exact steps to closing the deal... and clarity that the warmth the sun represents is not a figment of the imagination.

Ahhhh... the brilliance finally appears! The day holds promise that what can be accomplished will be accomplished... And I immediately felt the warmth of the rays... both on my skin and in my heart!!!

Watching majesty

2011-06-06T21:00:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day I will get to be at the beach, so I am going to go to the seashore and watch the gorgeous, majestic sunrise. I think it will inspire me. I will have about 20 minutes to watch it. I am usually busy and inside, so I rarely take in a sunrise (or a sunset for that matter).

The symbolism of watching a sunrise is whatever one wants it to be, but tomorrow I am looking to see the sun come up and think of all that it means to be as full of energy as the sun. That energy should bear results in my business and will allow me to appreciate more the one whose rays warm my life.

Another beach moment

2011-06-05T22:18:00.004-05:00

Last summer I spent a weekend at Peak's Island off the coast of Maine. This summer it worked out for me to spend a weekend at Jeckyll Island off the coast of Georgia. The terrain is wholly different. The island was forested with Spanish Oak trees featuring the characteristic Spanish moss hanging from the limbs. The coastline itself sported 8 miles of a narrow strip of white sand and sand dunes separating them from forested area. Both islands have their own beauty. The beach is a place I love walking on. Instead of walking in the park back home, I get to walk with the scent of salt in the air, the constant roar of waves in my consciousness, and the endless stretch of wave after wave in my vision. That makes for a nice walk.

I thought I would walk down the beach a couple of miles to a restaurant to eat and walk back. That way I would be sure to get my exercise for the day. Well, I did get my exercise, but on the way back the sun disappeared behind the horizon, so it got dark. Of course, there are no street lights on the beach, and the moon was a very small crescent, so I was walking without much light at all. I couldn't see the path back to the hotel, so I overshot it by a half mile. I finally found the main road, and walked back to the hotel on it. 4 miles turned into 5 pretty quickly. It took a good hour to cool down from the extra long walk.

You have to laugh at experiences like that. It shows how disorientation can lead you way off track even though you think you know where you are. I saw a gift book today, too, called Lessons of Life from the Ocean. I'd like to add this one to its pages. Walking on the beach after dark turns a decent walk into a disorienting one. Life is seldom a beach, but if it ever is, don't let walking on it lure you into staying on it after the sun disappears. It causes more than one anxious moment.

Optimizing an encounter

2011-06-04T00:08:00.004-05:00

Learning is a tricky business. Having a goal helps. Then a person has an open mind, which is what it takes to learn something. A person who has no goal in mind doesn't know what will apply to something (s)he might encounter, so (s)he follows the path of least resistance - not to learn. It takes too much energy to learn. So, when the encounter finally does come, the person doesn't know to expect it or what to expect during the encounter, didn't learn the principle that would apply to the encounter, thus cannot capitalize on what the encounter might offer. Sometimes opportunities happen twice, but more often than not, opportunity knocks but once. So, many people lose chances to succeed because they are unprepared.

There are a few other reasons why someone might not learn something, but by and large, transfer of knowledge, that is, learning, happens because it is utilitarian for a person. This is especially true of adult learners. But, the energy factor is hard to overcome even for adults. Life gets more complicated the farther upstream a person gets from adolescence. One's energy has to be distributed among more people or more encounters. Thus, transfer of knowledge happens for a person in a narrow band, one that is utilitarian. That leaves just enough energy to meet the demands of children, friends, family, and problem encounters.

One lesson from this is to learn while young, before life gets too complicated and scatters one's force. Another lesson is that adults should force themselves to not have such a narrow band for transfer of knowledge to happen. Perhaps they should be aware of and act on the driving forces, whether extrinsic or intrinsic, or develop interests outside of their main interest in life, their job. Maybe someone they identify with a great deal would like to talk with them about a subject if only they knew something about it. That's all wishing. The world rocks on. "You can't change the stripes on a zebra," so they say.

But I personally want to be around and with people who learn, learn more, and learn a lot. For them, life is much more than an existence within a narrow band of knowledge. They're prepared for many kinds of encounters. It's the cut between men and boys, women and girls.

My lot is through a lens

2011-05-31T01:03:00.003-05:00

The History Channel has been running a special program on the search for life on Mars for the last 9 months. It's an interesting documentary. They talk about the history of Mars in which one era had the right ingredients for life. It has long, long since disappeared. They talked of the images on Mars' surface. It appears that traceable channels and lake boundaries still exist there on the planet. But, the most compelling evidence comes from readouts of methane gas on Mars, which indicates that organisms that make methane gas could have or still do exist on Mars.

I would love to be able to take a vacation on Mars (even the moon for that matter), but I don't think that will happen in my lifetime. I would love to live on the moon or Mars in a colony before settlement takes place on either body. But, that would happen only toward the end of my lifetime. So, I look from Earth through telescopic lenses presented on television and on the internet at a celestial body that I would really like to inhabit and dream of what could have been had I been born a generation or two from my location in history. Life tantalizes us like that. But, it keeps us young in mind to explore and dream and wish.

Hot wind only on the outside

2011-05-30T01:26:00.006-05:00

Tonight the wind is high. I can hear it rustling through the leaves of the tree right outside my window. It's been blowing for about 3 hours now. The rain, thunder, and lightning rumbled in the distance a little earlier. The most we got out of the clouds was the smell of rain. Not a drop touched the crisp, brown blades of grass that still form a yard.

So the hot wind blows. Yes, hot because it has barely slipped from the 90s at this time of day. That's hot enough. But spring was totally different this year. I blogged about it back in March. I knew the summer would hold something extreme or irregular. And it has. The reason for the brown grass this year, even in the park nearby, is that water rationing has taken place because of the severity of the drought. So, a person can't just turn on the sprinklers at will.

The events of the year have been about like the weather... extreme, irregular. But, the beauty of the year is inward, in my thoughts. There it is green every day. Waterfalls come to mind regularly, feeding rushing rivers that produce the swirls of thought that freshen my mind and life. There is no such thing as a drought there for my thoughts are fed by the springs of a familiar voice. The events of the year, regardless of how barren, are light years away from the scenes accompanying the voice in my mind. The events may blur the vision, but they cannot dominate the landscape of my mind.

Let the hot wind blow. It's on the outside of the window of my soul.

Truth in proverbs

2011-05-27T00:43:00.003-05:00

There is a saying in America that patience is a virtue. I have seen that the platitude is true. Another saying follows on its heels, "Good things come to those who wait." Waiting and patience go hand in hand sometimes even if they are not equivalent terms . Another adage close in meaning to the above two is that something or someone is worth waiting for. This, of course, doesn't happen often, which is why there is a proverb capturing its truth.

These three proverbs work closely together. If something or someone was worth waiting for, then of course, something good would come from waiting, and patience would have been a virtue in that situation. I have been told I am patient. Maybe that's true. If so, then it's a virtue. It would mean that I have the ability to wait for something or someone... a moot point, of course, if I had not ever thought or said that something or someone would be worth waiting for. But it is not a moot point for I have thought and said that. It is the truest thing I have ever said.

Soft rain

2011-05-26T01:11:00.003-05:00

Ray Bradbury wrote a short story called, There Will Come Soft Rains. It is a story about realized dreams of reaching planets in space and having regular space travel. The title is an analogy about how sweet spring is when it arrives like the sweetness of the arrival of regular space travel. The USA is not quite to the level of regular space travel as a means of transportation to other celestial bodies, but almost. I can see the rest of the story from my place in history. But, I do like the title and what it is an analog for.

The meaning, there will be a time for dreams to be realized and how sweet it is when it happens, is also indicative of how to rise above the ebb and flow of life. First comes the dream or the great hope. Next comes the regular work, taking into consideration that regular work is how the goal, the object of hope, is reached. Then comes the regular gauging of the intervals that serve as the milestones toward reaching the dream and realizing the hope. Finally, comes the day when the soft rains begin.

It's the only path that works in realizing a dream except for encountering dumb luck. And, since I am very, very, very short on dumb luck, I have to rely on the one-step-at-a-time plan. The second step above is the step many people cannot do. It takes patience and discipline. Both drive you crazy, and it is true that some dreams do not get realized. So, being driven crazy is a hazard of working hard to realize a dream and failing. But living daily is hazardous to your health, so I'll be satisfied with being crazy, because you can never see around the corner. And, who knows but that your realized hope lies around the very next corner. Soft rain is so sweet to hear.

A new take

2011-05-22T02:46:00.003-05:00

Sometimes you hear words all your life but narrowed to a certain situation, never outside of a certain context. Then, out of nowhere, you hear a couple of words put together that you have never heard together. I was in a doctor's office not long ago and a nurse practitioner came in. He was entering notes about the condition into a computer and was talking aloud to himself as he typed. He came to a couple of words that I had heard in other situations, but never had I heard the two words together. He uttered that the bane history consisted of blah, blah, blah...

I've heard bane, and I've heard history, but never bane history. That's all right. I knew immediately what the combination meant. My mind wandered at that point for about 15 seconds. I had always heard of bane used with the word boon, as in Every circumstance has a boon and a bane side to it. Then, I thought about what could be written if the nurse practitioner had said boon history. Of course, I wouldn't be in the doctor's office if he was writing my boon history.

But I have a boon history. It's the history of the one who makes me better than I am, who puts the sunshine in my day, the laughter in my world, and the happiness in every second of time. I'll have to remember to use that sometime... boon history.

I have a bane history, for sure, and it's not just relating to health although it certainly affects health. And, I was just going through life, living my bane history out when I suddenly hit the boon era. Love it when that happens, and I definitely loved it when the boon era came.

Yin and yang, boon and bane, mountaintops and valleys. Life sure has them. But I have enough of the bane history already written. I'm glad to have encountered the boon history. What a difference it makes.

Treasuring Yellowstone

2011-05-16T01:58:00.004-05:00

I don't know exactly what the allure was to going to Yellowstone National Park, but I think it was everything that it offered. by the time I was 15, I had visited Yellowstone 9 times. I enjoyed seeing Old Faithful, the geyser that erupted in water spouts every hour (at that time vs 90 minutes now). I remember the bears that inhabited the campgrounds and picnic areas. Sometimes they would cross the roads and back traffic up because people would cut their engines off and start taking pictures or trying to feed them. One trip I counted over 100 bears. Regularly I would count over 70. (Today people make trips without seeing them at all). One of the main features I enjoyed was the hike to the Paint Pots. Different colored mud came boiling out of the ground in spots. Sometimes the mud was pink or orange, sometimes it was dark brown and rust, occasionally ruddy red. I remember also staying at the foot of the majestic Grand Teton mountain in Jackson Hole Wyoming. I could hike around on the lower elevations of the mountain, always dreaming of climbing to the top. Jackson Hole would have a actors at dusk ride out on horseback and act out a shooting in a saloon and an hanging in the town square.

Today I look back on the Yellowstone experience and see good times, full of beauty and excitement. Even though they are days gone by, they were and still represent the good that life has to offer. In my adulthood, I have been able to recreate that experience only once... days of beauty and excitement. I looked forward to what each day would bring during that time period... days as idyllic and majestic as the outline of the Grand Teton on the landscape, as colorful as the Paint Pots bubbling from the ground, as spectacular as the heated water of the geyser spewing 50 feet into the air at regular intervals, and as mesmerizing as the bears crossing the roads by the picnic grounds. And because the Yellowstone experience has been recreated only once in my lifetime, I hold it in the highest of highest esteem. It is sacred ground. Nothing can touch it.