Behind the username

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.