Boomer Randomness

Well, I was pretty lazy this weekend.   Part of me wants to excuse it because I’ve been working my ass off for the past few weeks and I needed to change some patterns and take a break.   Another part of me wonders why I am sometimes incredibly lazy.   I did make some progress in my ongoing ‘finish unpacking U-Haul boxes’ project but some of those boxes contain important papers, documents and bills and those items remain in the boxes. My guest room needs to function as a guest room soon and there is now almost enough room in it to achieve that purpose.   That room also serves as a home office and eventually a home studio.   The walls will also provide display space for some of my art prints and photographs.   The walls remain bare in that room. It is Monday night, the end of the third day of my three-day holiday weekend.   The weather was great but I barely stepped out of my apartment to enjoy it.   I went to the grocery store, one block away, ...

This blog started out as a collection of observations about the ‘baby boomer’ generation so I should probably observe once in a while. Today is Memorial Day, a day to remember those military men and women who gave their lives in the service of our country.   I didn’t always have such a positive attitude toward the military.   I was coming of age at the end of the Viet Nam war.   It was a tumultuous time in America and I clearly remember the peaceful and not-so-peaceful public rallies and demonstrations, especially those protesting the war.   I did not like the military and did not believe we should be sending our citizens to fight someone else’s war. Then I found myself in the Army.   I learned that every job in the military was designed to support the fighting, from cooks to truck mechanics to accountants to medics.   One huge killing machine.   I still hated the military but as I met soldiers returning from Viet Nam I began to understand their p...

So I’ve been on my own about six months now and I’m still happy I finally did this.   Is it what I expected?   Yes and no. In the yes column: I have control of my life in a way I haven’t had in more than 15 years.   I do what I want, organize things to my liking, pursue my interests without having to justify my actions.   It is a liberating time in my life.   I have said this before … marriage is a great thing when both people are fully engaged in it, paying attention to each other’s needs and interests, are supportive of each other and build a life together without sacrificing their individuality.   I didn’t have that.   Now I am building a life by myself. In the no column: I expected to accomplish all my goals at once, to instantly transform my life from the frustrating struggle of the past eighteen years into the exciting, diverse conglomeration of all my interests.   Who the hell was I kidding?   No matter how flexible and spontaneou...

I spent a few days in New York this week, on business.   Right.   My business is a business but it’s fun so it’s almost hard to call it business . I now get to New York a couple of times a year and I am starting to actually know a little about it, even beginning to know my way around a little.   Some random observations: - Like the song says, New York is the city that never sleeps.   Places are open late and people are on the move at all hours. - It’s called ‘the Big Apple’.   I don‘t know why.   Maybe I’ll look that up before posting this. - Some say New York is a dangerous city.   Maybe it is but the only time I don’t feel safe is in the hair-raising taxi ride from the train station to my hotel each visit.   I am shocked that none of my taxi rides involved a wreck and none resulted in the death or injury of a pedestrian or bicycle courier. - This visit I walked down to the site of the most horrible catastrophe in American history...

Today was my radio station’s annual music festival at a local outdoor venue.   The reserved seats are under cover but the lawn seating area and the concession area that rings the venue is out in the open.   We do have a catering tent for our staff and I did spend some time in there between showers. Some randomness: - The event is in May or early June every year, which means there is always a chance for rain.   We often get downpours, then the sky clears and there rest of the afternoon and night are great.   The last two years saw almost no rain.   We got rain today; no downpours but definitely periods of steady rain. - The waterproof rain jacket I wore is no longer waterproof, which shouldn’t be a surprise because I bought it in 1999.   It was definitely waterproof then because I wore it in driving rain on a beach in North Carolina the day after I bought it as I was preparing to evacuate the approaching Hurricane Floyd.   Now it is water re...