Things Worth Remembering The three habits that lead to success are: Patience, Application, and Vision.
Take care: The person who will tell others' faults to you - will tell yours to others.
It is always better to be underestimated.
There are three things that are better than riches: Health, Freedom, and Honor.
Think swiftly, speak softly, act wisely.
"The world is neither Scottish, English, nor Irish, neither French, Dutch, nor Chinese, but human, and each nation is only the partial development of a universal humanity." - James Grant on founding the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, 1862
All from: The Book of Celtic Wisdom
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Ric Olie: ….our communications are still jammed.
Obi-Wan : Now stay here, and keep out of trouble.
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
That’s an apt quote. My communications have felt jammed lately. For a couple of months, actually. In the past, I’d have those ‘I have to write about this’ thoughts a couple of times a day or week, but lately… Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. And since I’m of both the If you don’t have anything to say, do us all a favor and put the keyboard down and It’s your blog, so don’t feel the need to apologize if things go quiet camps, I’ve not written and I’m not sorry about it. I wish it hadn’t been so long, but it has been and I guess it needed to be.
Padawan Learner is off watching Tron 3D with the local teen group, Dad Windu is hob-nobbing on shores of the Mississippi with the corporate headquarters crowd, and I find myself in an aggressively Christian coffee shop eaves-dropping on some very interesting conversations. A mom/daughter duo are discussing a felon’s drug/alcohol addiction (sounds like a dad/brother) and his refusal to enter a half-way/treatment house post incarceration which is – specifically – why he’s not being allowed back home. Apparently his parents in AZ are not facing the fact that he’s going to end up right.back.there if he doesn’t get the help he needs. Dad, it turns out to be.
A customer just said, “Happy Holidays” to the latte-maker girl. This has been such a BIG DEAL on my Facebook status update wall, with calls to (and I quote) “force stores to say Merry Christmas” and announcements that people are “not going to have a Happy Holiday but only a Merry CHRISTmas” or that they won’t go to “Holiday concerts but only to Christmas concerts” that I actually shuddered a little to hear him say it. But no one in the coffee shop even blinked.
The guys next to me are discussing a co-worker (not present) that likes to show off his p@rn collection in the warehouse - can you spell F.I.R.E.D? – and the fact that tomorrow is a guy at the table’s birthday. One of the guys just smiled at me. I wonder if he knows I can hear every word they’re saying.
A new guy at the coffee counter is now debating the existence of God with the girl behind the counter – and doing a good job of it, frankly. Respectful, but not taking the “mystery” and “faith” arguments as definitive answers. I just heard, “Come on, Jonah really sat around inside a whale? You know better than that.” It sounds like this is an on-going conversation with a regular customer.
An intense, Save the Whales bumper sticker on the computer case, trio of guys across the room are discussing ways to bring freedom of the press to some country I can’t quite hear from here, but somewhere in Asia from the sounds of it. Wow, I feel like such a slacker just sitting here. I’m not doing anything to save the planet or expand personal freedom to oppressed peoples anywhere. One of the guys looks just like the lead actor from Napoleon Dynamite – without the painfully poor fashion sense. He must have gotten so much crap after that movie came out.
OK, the religious conversation is beginning to grate on my nerves. Time to find a new typing place. But on the upside, I think I’m digging out. It feels good to write again.
“Oh, excuse me. So sorry.” – TC-14, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
I’ve been riding the job search and homeschooling-in-the-midst-of-the-unknown rollar coaster with Dad Windu and Padawan Learner these past couple of months, and, while it’s been going pretty well, it’s had its ups and downs. That’s the biggest reason this place has been so quiet. I’m driving 6 white horses, coming around the mountain, and – what the song doesn’t mention - there’s this cliff on the other side of the path that’s making me hug the mountain more than I’m used to. So homeschooling is keeping on, keeping on and going well. Marriage is going well. Blogging (my release and often-times entertainment), not so much.
At one point we thought we were going to be moving to almost the very northern-most tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In case you don’t know where that is, it’s waaaay the h*ll up there (technical term) and surrounded by Lake Superior on three sides. Average high of 78 F (25C) in July and 16 F (-9C) in January. 208 inches (528 cm) of snow a year on average. I know! There are two seasons up there, if you ask a local - ”winter’s here and winter’s coming.”
Yes, we were pretty sure we were going to be moving there after DW met with the group leader in the company’s Detroit-area office. Couldn’t have asked for a more encouraging guy. The group leader in the UP though, not so encouraging. Not being ‘a local’ was apparently a big point against DW; the two interviewers spent most of the meeting basically trying to talk him OUT of wanting the job. “No shopping to speak of up here.” “Winters are long and hard, so you can’t try to just wait them out.” “Everything’s a long way from here, so traveling other places doesn’t happen very often.” “We don’t have furniture stores to speak of.” You get the picture.
Meanwhile, while he’s in his interview, I was scraping the local librarian’s brain clean about local homeschooling resources and groups and variety. I was getting more and more excited about the homeschooling opportunities in the immediate area. Oh, and have I mentioned that we found the cutest little house – with a cast-iron circular staircase connecting the main and upper floors – for $27,700? No, I didn’t leave a zero out. For approximately the same price of a new car, we could have owned a 2 bedroom, 2 bath home that was as cute as a button. (Just shoot me now). I was getting geared up and ready to go.
Just to make things interesting, of course, the reality of an impending move really hit Padawan Learner up there and … well, it wasn’t pretty. I’ll just leave it at that.
In the end, DW got a FOAD letter in the mail from the UP leader – as vague as can be, of course. The Detroit guy is disgusted. DW is confused and thinking, “WTF was that all about?” PL is feeling bad for DW but also guilty about feeling relieved that we’re not moving – yet. I’m exhausted about putting so much mental effort into finding ways to make sure this transition goes smoothly – for naught.
*deep breathing*
And now we’re hopping back on the maybe this is it train. Dad Windu and I are headed out into the heart of the great frozen midwest this weekend. (PL is staying with friends.) We’re quietly optimistic, but (truthbetold) we’re afraid to get our hopes up too high. There’s been a lot of “Oh, I’m just doing a little Internet surfing” digging by me. It’s what I do. The job appears to be a good fit for DW and the city looks like we’d be comfortable there.
So, happy thoughts everyone. *fairy dust, fairy dust* We’re going to need them.
Lando: Lord Vader, what about Leia and the Wookiee?
Darth Vader: They must never again leave this city.
Lando: That was never a condition of our agreement, nor was giving Han to this bounty hunter!
Darth Vader: Perhaps you think you’re being treated unfairly?
Lando: [after a pause] No.
Darth Vader: Good. It would be unfortunate if I had to leave a garrison here.
Lando: This deal is getting worse all the time.
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
If you’re getting this through a feed reader, you’ll notice that my feeds have been changed to summary versus full feed. I’m sorry; I hate having to do this right now but there is a method to my madness. Just click on the title and it’ll bring you to a page with the full content. Again, please excuse the inconvenience. I’m working on the matter.
OMK
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