Labor Day 2013

Ah, let’s celebrate our Work with a Day Off! Paid, that is, and I’m all for it.

We’re planning on driving down the Jersey shore to stay overnight with my dad-in-law. He and the girls will go spend hours and hours and hours sweltering in the heat on the Atlantic sands. Me, I’ll be cozying up in the AC with a couple of good books (The Wilderness Campaign, The Day Christ Died, plus others). I’ll have my laptop, too, so I’ll do a bit of writing. If there’s an internet connection, I’ll blog; if not, you may not hear back from me until September 2.

Anyway, hope all is well with you. I do. We have Little One fighting a cold, but other than that we’re healthy. Physically that is; mentally, the verdict’s still out. Financially, well, let’s just say I could still use that 1.5 million I mentioned earlier. Spiritually, guess we’re okay. Socially, ay caramba! Too much on the Refrigerator Calendar. But I love you all, even though as an INTP / INTJ I don’t express it!

(Speaking of Briggs-Myers personality types, did you know that INTP / INTJ types represent 1 out of 50 to 1 out of 20 people of the general public? Yep. I’m a real unique character. But you could also say that you, no matter what you’re type, are one, too.)

So, hopefully World War III won’t break out in the Middle East with Pharaoh bumbling his way through an inconsistent and purposeless foreign policy. Read something witty earlier today: if we really wanted to hurt Assad, we’d send ’em Obamacare. My prediction is for a 75 percent chance nothing will happen, 25 percent chance an aspirin factory will be bombed. I honestly don’t think much will come to this. It’s just an attempt of our president to save face (“red line”).

Remember a few days ago when I was searching for something abstruse, complex, etc. at one of my local libraries? Well, I didn’t find it. But here’s what I’m looking for: an ancient language. Specifically, ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, or Aramaic. A book by Victor David Hanson I’ve skimmed stated that prior to the, oh, 1960s or so, a rigorous education included several years of ancient Greek or Latin so that the Classics could be read in the original tongue. This appeals immensely to me. Also the fact that on the myriad of Catholic websites I peruse there’s always differing interpretations on the meaning of Biblical texts based on the meaning of the original Hebrew or Greek. For the longest time I’ve wanted to wade into that argument. So, the radar’s out on a book on the ancient Big Three languages. Though my slugging percentage with language is pretty darn pitiful (some Spanish and a speckling to a smattering of German, Latin, and French plus a few phrases of Russian, Czech, and, uh, uh, uh the Quenyan and Sindarin Elvish languages … )

Alright – enough of this! Have a great weekend! See ya later!

Little Victory

Well, here’s some good news on the personal development front (a front that’s long, long, too long been laying latent):

Passed out about 10 pm last night only to wake up wired around 2:30 am. The noise from the bedroom air conditioner – and, truth be told, anxious worrying over how much money it cost to run it (what, a dollar overnight?) – made me get up and try to resume sleep on the downstairs couch. No dice. Finally went down to the basement writing office to waste a few hours playing freecell and listening to Leonard Nimoy In Search Of youtube clips.

Or so I thought.

Somehow I stumbled across a motivational article written by – of all people – Donald Trump. I read it, then read another article written by someone else. Then another. Then, an epiphany.

I can’t wait until I’m healthy to improve my health. It has to start now.

So …

At 5:30 I went outside into the misty darkness and threw open the creaky garage door. With iPad in hand I did 10 minutes on the exercise bike, then threw around the dumbbells for a couple of sets. Back inside, I stretched the hams, calves, quads and lats while my bowl of steel-cut oatmeal, with half a cut-up apple and cinnamon thrown in, cooled on the counter. I ate reading more motivational stuff, downed some omega-3 and CoQ10 capsules, then tiptoed upstairs, showered, shaved, dressed and headed off to work an hour early. On the way out I made little Patchie some breakfast.

Wow! That’s about five times as many positive things by seven a.m. than I normally do all day.

A little victory. Trick is to string seven of them in a row, then thirty of them, then three-hundred-sixty-five of them, and on and on and on.

The Saddest Thing Ever Written

“Ephemera,” by Irish poet W. B. Yeats (1889)

“Your eyes that once were never weary of mine
Are bowed in sorrow under pendulous lids,
Because our love is waning.”

And then she:
“Although our love is waning, let us stand
By the lone border of the lake once more,
Together in that hour of gentleness
When the poor tired child, Passion, falls asleep:
How far away the stars seem, and how far
Is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart!”

Pensive they paced along the faded leaves,
While slowly he whose hand held hers replied:
“Passion has often worn our wandering hearts.”

The woods were round them, and the yellow leaves
Fell like faint meteors in the gloom, and once
A rabbit old and lame limped down the path;
Autumn was over him: and now they stood
On the lone border of the lake once more:
Turning, he saw that she had thrust dead leaves
Gathered in silence, dewy as her eyes,
In bosom and hair.

“Ah, do not mourn,” he said,
“That we are tired, for other loves await us;
Hate on and love through unrepining hours.
Before us lies eternity; our souls
Are love, and a continual farewell.”


* * * * *

Such sad words, on so many levels! Romantic, spiritual, metaphysical. The cynic in me thought immediately of No Fault Divorce. No matter when or what, though, the sentiment evoked with these beautifully crafted words and lines thrummed a chord within. Actually made a sensitive bastard like myself choke up, but for a moment. Couldn’t share it with anyone, so I am sharing it with you.