Slow Down

Rush! Rush! Rush!  That's all I seem to do; hithering and yonning until there's nothing left of the day but pieces of evening....and even they are sliced into moments of gotta-dos.

It seems a common complaint. And I wonder how we allowed ourselves to get like this.

Is it our quest for success or at least the physical attributes that denote to the world? Are we so busy trying to prove ourselves to others that we leave no time to live for ourselves? And if so, why?

I used to obsess over getting approval; from my parents and family, teachers, church.....just like lots of other people, eh?
Truth be told, between seeking approval from others and trying to force life to bend to my  will, I wasted a lot of valuable, unreplacable  time!  And no matter what, Time Chasers never catch their quarry.

We all have done it...get so caught up in making things go according to our plans that our plans end up getting us caught up in them.  And then we're left to wonder why we feel like fragments by day's end....and life goes on as it did before we started muddling with it.

I'm not saying making plans are bad. Just that adaptability is a key ingredient that we should start teaching kids at a young age, so they know how to deal with life as it really is.

So for today, Fifty Five is the Slow Down, because the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.

April 2011

It's the first day of April.  Tradition has it that one should play pranks or practical jokes on others on this day.  I wonder how that began, and why they picked the first day of April to do it. 

Maybe all that waiting around for winter weather to clear up.....just had to put all that pent-up energy somewhere....why not put a whoopie cushion under the boss' butt during the conference?  Sounds perfectly logical to me!

Of course, April is a lot more than tom-foolery...'tis the month which houses things like Easter (lots of the time, but not always), the day Lincoln was shot (and died), the day the Titanic hit the ice berg (and sank), and of course April 15th....tax day.

Suffice to say, it's a jam-packed month!

And, oh yes....my 56th birthday lives in this month too.  Gee.  How time flies when you're living it!

I'm hoping Jack will feel well enough to go out today; I want to get us some fresh air now that the sun is shining.  It's been raining and nasty for weeks, but finally there's a break in the weather.

It might just help Jack feel a little better to get some sunshine and a change of scene. He's just so tired these days....wish we could help him somehow.  We're stopping by the clinic while we're out....getting some blood work done.  I hope they can find out something to help Jack.  Maybe he just needs an adjustment in his medications.  I hope that's all that's to it.

Right now it's fairly early in the morning; I'm listening for the trash collection truck to come beep-beeping up the hill.  That can happen anywhere between 5:30 AM and 7:30 AM.  Some times there's more than one visitation.  The condos up the street require special  attention several days a week.  They must generate a lot of garbage.

I wonder where it all finally goes.  Landfills, I guess.  Although there are a couple of "garbage islands" floating around our oceans.  That's got to be an incredible sight.  Islands made of garbage.  Who knew we'd make enough rubbish to form our own land masses.

Anyway, I'm just babbling at this point. So I'll leave it at that.

For today, Fifty Five Is The New April 2011....because that's what it is.

Look Forward

Randi at 1444 Market St. circa 1997

It's getting down to the final days of this blog....after over a year of writing what Fifty Five Is the New might mean, some might wonder if I've come to any conclusions.

Yes, I have.  I'll be summing it all up as April 13th  turns into April 14th and I enter into my fifty-sixth year. For now, there's still so much going on....in the world, in the country, in the city and in my own life.
To even think of a conclusion at this point would be beyond premature...it would be patently unfair.

Today there's news from Japan that radioactivity continues to be found in the ocean, the milk and produce and in areas outside their government's original danger zone.

In the Middle East, people continue to take to the streets...demanding an end to despotism and tyranny.  Our country helps some of them, while others are left to fend for themselves.

It's a sticky wicket trying to figure out the difference between political expediency and humanitarian activity sometimes.

And then of course we have our own problems here in America; the economy, the unions, the military actions....on and on. With all that, thinking about personal things seems egotistical and somehow improper.
But what is one to do?

I don't have the answers for the world's problems...let alone my own!  I can only struggle through day to day, dealing with things as they come up and hope for the best.  That's what we all do here on this mortal coil. That's what living is all about.

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New Look Forward because next is what's coming up!

Neighborhood Revisited

It's time to take a break from all the revolutions, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, recessions and other mayhem.

I seem to be doing that a lot lately.  I still watch the news, gotta keep up with it all!  So while it rambles on via the t.v. in the background, I turn attention to something different.

We live in a great part of town; Russian Hill.  Situated between North Beach and Chinatown, we get the best of both worlds.   Since we first moved to the City, Diane and I wanted to live in this area; sure wish she was alive so we could enjoy it together.

Back in the old days, we used to haunt the streets of Chinatown...the dim sum shops, oriental art stores and especially the herb stores and vegetable stands.  We experienced Hot and Sour soup for the first time together....beads of sweat hatching across our foreheads, eyes almost watering from the spice. 

The place is still there, although it's been remodeled.

One place that hasn't changed is Sam Wo's....entering through the kitchen, diners ascend the narrow staircase that leads them to several floors set up for dining.  Fortunately for the serving staff, a dumb waiter delivers food rather than them having to carry it.

It's not the best food, certainly not the worse....what it is mostly is Sam Wo's.....cranky waitress and everything. Diane and I shared many a happy time there....Jack and me, too.

 

It's good to reflect on happy times, especially when things are going rough.  And looking around at the world today, I'd say things are a bit rough.  It is exciting to see people rising up for freedom; prayers that they are not over run by folks with alternative motives, trying to steal their thunder for their own purposes.

But for today, for this moment anyway, Fifty Five Is The New Neighborhood Revisited....because sometimes ya just gotta look around and appreciate what's there.

Day

March is leaving us with sunny skies and warmer days than we've had in months...it's good to feel the dampness leaving my bones.  But I do wonder what kind of damage is being done to our atmosphere by the continued radiation leaking from the reactors in Japan.

Call me paranoid, but that stuff can't be good.

Not that I think we should do away with the entire science of Nuclear Power....but we do need to figure out how to make it, and all the other sources and potential sources of energy safer.  That's a given.  But it needs to be done on a global scale, because if only one nation does it...it's useless.

 

But right now, I'm going to enjoy the robin's egg blue sky and glorious, streaming rays of yellow sunshine!

It's beautiful!

So today, for me, Fifty Five Is The New Day...

Sign of the times

It seems that every day we're being told about protests, wars, violence....not just abroad.  OUr own streets are becoming alive with a sense of anger.  It bristles as I walk by some people....my usual cheery "hello" stifled a bit since a experience where my head was almost torn off just because I said "hello."

What is going on?

In Flight....rcw

Beck shows diagrams on blackboards, lining up connections between George Soros, the old Weathermen, President Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Scary in that he's able to show films of some of these people saying things.....is able to show books like "The Coming Insurrection" and outline pending scenarios....and they seem to be coming down.
In fairness, I watch other news stations too and am sometimes alarmed in their lack of coverage and/or inaccurate portraying of some of Fox News persons.

I consider myself a "liberal," but am not interested in having my country overthrown.  I believe that sis, earning a living is a good idea, I believe that a flat tax would be fair, I believe that disabled and retired persons who are currently on benefits shouldn't be kicked off but also believe that if you don't need it, there are others who do.

There's a certain amount of "socialism" that works....but not as much as I sense is trying  to occur on a global level.  The EU doesn't really work; it's robbed the possibility of individual nations to save themselves because their hands are tied. It's like when a person moves into a condominium or housing community...they have no rights about how the lawn looks or even, in some cases, what curtains are put in the windows!

I don't want to live like that....don't want to have my thoughts, my life censored.

My parents used to talk about the Communists.  When we were kids, probably during the Bay of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis, we had air raid drills. Mom said we were fighting the Communists; that the Virgin Mary said they would take over the world if we didn't pray the Rosary every day.

I remember Nikita K. hammered his shoe on the table and the translator saying something about "we will bury you".   Later he or someone else said that they didn't have to worry about burying us, we would fall from the inside out. 

As the '60s marched on around us, Mom surely thought the end was near back then. Now? She thinks it's really going to hell in a hand basket.  She may be right.

I am not pleased at how these so-called social navigators are out to destroy "capitalism," because that's not all they are destroying.  In truth, a mix of capitalism and socialism would work best....but they don't want that, and even worse...they want to use violence to get what they want.

Every other revolution of this type usually ends in Tyranny.

If anyone is counting votes, I'm not interested in destroying America.  I am interested in fixing it. Without bloodshed.

What I envision is transcendence....I believe it is possible. Into what? I don't know, only that I pray it is better that the road on which we presently tread.

May the Holy Spirit of Peace and the Healing Power of Love abide and grow in the Hearts and the Minds of All, Amen.

For today, Fifty Five Is The New

Hearts to Action

January 10, 2010 an earthquake struck Haiti.

They're still cleaning up from it all.

Regardless of what some say, not all the aid is getting through....and that which does get through is never enough, never enough for all the help that is needed.

I don't ask readers of this blog for anything.  Personally, the writing is its own reward... But places like Haiti, Japan....locations where hell has truly visited....they need help, so please.  Do what you can....be it money, time, or prayers. It's all needed.

For today, Fifty Five Is The New