To thine own self be true

I never used to keep notes on my days through university, but when I became a teacher in 1972, I began to organize my days more, knowing that I, like so many adults, had lousy memories. I began to write down dates on the calendar and leave notes for myself. In 1981, Post-Its came to Canada and the process got easier, especially in conjunction with day calendars which I started using in the late ’70s.

Life was so busy with family, deadlines, teaching, writing books, and conferencing that it was absolutely necessary to know what was happening or due on any given day.

Though retired from teaching in 2002, I still use day calendars and Post-its (the latter for each day to help keep me organized as ever). I find that there are still many things to get done, many important dates and occasions to remember, and a need for lists.

Looking back on my life, I would have to say that, apart from imagination, dreams, sheer will, and hard work, that at least 50% of my various successes have had to do with organization and memory devices such as Post-its that keep me focused and aware of what is fully going on and happening in my life and work. (I would also add that keeping day calendars allows one to go back years later to look up events and verify dates which add another layer of structure and permanence to this whole process.)

If I was to make one suggestion to people who are mired and unfocused, it would be to buy and use Post-its and day calendars. You will never forget anything again and have an invaluable record of your life process. And you will get more done and have a stronger sense of present, past, and future in your working and personal life.

A nice gift from my daughter.

“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.”

Exactly what Trump has done. Creating a major lie and then propagandizing it to the point of many people accepting it as in-common reality and the truth. Too many Americans now accept his corruption, over 1500 lies, and what he says without any critical questioning. Trump is Big Brother now, make no mistake of that. His fake news and propaganda Tweets have become the new daily reality in the U.S.A.

A total history ignoramus who doesn’t read books or do research, Trump did not know most of the names and events he was reading off the teleprompter that his speechwriters had written. Trump was responsible for none of his speech except for slighting John McCain and adding the coarse Trumpism–“poor bastards which brought a typical self-satisfied smile to his smirking face.

In fact, Trump was a military coward (buying his way out of the draft) with a cynical view of war (how he avoided STDs). He has exploited and manipulated the military as props and pawns to suit his ends, flatter his ego, and falsely portrayed himself as a patriot (having committed treason and consorted privately with Russian, North Korean, and Saudi killer-tyrants against America), He is, ironically, one of the dictators he mentioned in his speech.

Trump remains totally out of touch with reality and, consistent with his past behaviors, did not mention the California earthquake earlier yesterday (he doesn’t believe there are any ecological or climate issues and has no feeling for his fellow Americans), the border crisis (with the suffering of children and non-whites), and the plight of military veterans and their families (Note how he hasn’t given any money or resources to help them). Complimenting the military for tanks and fly pasts is frankly not being truly and genuinely supportive of the military.

From the get-go, all his blathering propaganda about American equality, equal rights and freedoms are everything this dictator-king is opposed to, He is destroying Western democracy, the Constitution, the law and court system, institutions, traditions, and the livelihoods of many Americans. With the nasty gutless Republicans, he has divided the country on political lines through means such as voter suppression, gerrymandering, and shutdowns. He is the single-most destructive, corrupt president in history. He personifies Lord Acon’s “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Re. women getting the vote, remember his many sexual assaults and “grab ’em by the …..”, exploitive immoral attitudes and behaviors toward women.

Re. his ‘salute’ to the black man refused service at a lunch counter, recall his “Get that sonofabitch off the field” comment.

After wrapping himself in the military, the flag, and the genuine accomplishments of notable Americans, he did a final sleight-of-hand by wrapping himself in “Almighty God”. All of this to get re-elected, to avoid jail, and to create a stupid mindless frenzy among his followers and the rest of any other not-so-bright Americans who might have been impressed or dazzled by his false, hypocritical speech and performance last evening.

There is no better overwhelmingly sensuous fireworks show anywhere. (If you missed it or have never seen it: Set your PVR next time around for the last half hour of this annual spectacular musical-visual major event.)
Far eclipsing the Washington show complete with flyovers and Trump’s scripted eighth-grade review of AmHis yesterday.
And the major music orchestra and band selections are wonderfully complimentary to the half-hour eye candy of the year. Truly a visual feast to stir the most jaded, non-American viewers.

of the young blue female Arctic Fox who travelled 3,500 kms. in 76 days from Norway to Nunavut. She travelled an avg. of 46.3 kms a day and one day 155 kms! Unfortunately, her fate is unknown since Feb. this year when her tracking device stopped working.

(from an e-mail today to a friend)

I find you have to keep putting things back into the mind daily. Reading and rereading is very important. I’m glad I was a film classifier for three years and I still point out details in commercials to K that she misses. I often share memory things with old schoolmates; last week the big blizzard in Wpg on Mar. 4, 1966, that kept us out of class for 3 days.

Having a spouse at this point is like 1 brain with 2 people recalling at times. I can still hear and identify about 90% of retro pop piped into restaurants. Songs, titles, where I first heard them, contexts. Relating this info to old school chums causes them to recall, too, which enlarges the memory field.

I still use yellow stickies for daily reminders and chores to do. Then see how many of these I can remember on my own. Staying organized is a key part of the memory process.

And I can still, on the spot, spontaneously conjure up memories from various past moments like seeing Elvis on Ed Sullivan or RFK being shot in the Chicago hotel. I believe a lot of this visual inner recall comes from the no. of tv and movie hrs. logged.
I can also ‘roll thru’ entire relationships and teen years.

Memory and accumulated memories are largely who we are and have been. This is a nonstop process of past and present experience held together by memory.

There is also a lot to remember and I believe our overloaded minds dump a lot of the trivial and unpleasant.

When I watched Skyfall, I was revisiting the Bond movie experiences, comparing and contrasting, but letting myself feel the movie, too. One thing I’m conscious of is the lost first excitement stuff and so I go back quite often to how it felt to read Frost’s or Keats’ classics for the first time. These are touchstone kinds of experiences for me though nothing beats live in person with old friends, as I did last summer in Wpg. Feelings do come back under those circumstances. Magical time machine stuff. Do I still have a 6, 15, 21, 38,57 sensibility? Yup, regardless of changing physical exterior.

Hence, the shame and tragedy of Alzheimer’s and dementia when people lose that core consciousness.

I recognized the fact of Time early on, and after I retired, memory, which had also been important from 17 on in a real way, became core and much of what I dealt with and still maintain in various ways.

Today, some musings about Canada, it’s history and geography–favorite places for sure.

pain is the main, recurring physical reality. But pain affects emotions (you might walk around with a frown or grimace), the mind (you are constantly reminded of pain and can think of little else), and the spirit (pain does wear one down).

As Orwell notes, you just want the pain to cease so you can get a respite, a sleep, some comfort, some release, and any amount of freedom from pain.

And pain is, essentially, a personal thing; it is difficult or impossible to communicate its severity to others. You only know and really experience pain on your own terms, through your own senses.

In the end, pain potentially becomes the main and only enemy when individuals suffer from whatever injury, cancer, or condition. It is quite isolating and one ceases the usual person one is or was. Pain changes, limits, and often defeats people despite all our wonder drugs.

is Skyfall (2012) artfully directed by Sam Mendes. (There is not one bad choice or weak, unnecessary transition between sequences.) Daniel Craig makes a superb Bond on all counts again. Javier Bardem makes a nasty, kinky, sadistic villain. Judi Dench has a lot to work with as a feisty M in her final role in the series. And Albert Finney shows up in one of his last performances as a likable, tough gamekeeper on the old Bond estate in Scotland for the unforgettable shootout. The music by Thomas Newman is strong throughout and worth a listen on its own. The five countries locations, production design, and Roger Deakins’ photography are all outstanding.

The other Craig to see is, of course, Casino Royale. Both Craigs are up there with the first four Bonds done by Sean Connery, of which Goldfinger and From Russia with Love remain his best.

It’s on the YEG police scanner online. Read the reader’s comments and postings in relation to the non-stop 24/7 crime reports. In one example, the scanner reports a guy with an axe going through garbage who is finally collected by the cops. Then, in response, a reader posts a color cartoon of Donald Duck chopping at a tree!

We’ve long arrived at a point in which Theatre of the Absurd exceeds the chaos and bizarreness of general reality. Writers certainly need not make up absurdist literature anymore. Reality, which has always been absurd anyway, can now be shared live with anyone, anywhere in real time with its weird and wild juxtapositions as in the case of this online scanner.

And the ironies and juxtapositions, like naked people running thru the busy streets of Edmonton, play out quite comically much like the old Theatre of the Absurd dramas. These crazy, grotesque, meaningless narratives are acted out by a never-ending parade of pathetic, ridiculous, clearly imbalanced characters.

The scanner also reveals the stupidity, ignorance, and craziness of human beings played out against the surface background of a ‘dull’ prairie city and its unsuspecting, largely unknowing denizens who are, for the most part, largely unaware of the kind of underbelly nuttiness running amuck in their neighborhoods hither and yon.

Clearly, Theatre of the Absurd has met social media and is now enjoying a major hybrid exposure/comeback in our burgh.