Recently my wife and I went to a church service at a church that is not our normal church. We've been there before and enjoy the production value and always enjoy the messages.
This church is in the city so it's somewhat challenging to get to. And parking is always a challenge. The people at that church seem to be upper-class. There are always a lot of very expensive cars in the parking lot.
The people seem genuinely happy and like they're having a really good time. But as we were leaving this church service my wife commented on how she felt so lonely there. She hardly ever talks about being lonely, and so it was a surprising comment from her.
I understood it because I felt it too, but that's just part of my deal. But I've thought about her comment, and I even told her that day that I think it's because we're not committed here. We don't have a smaller group of people that we can look for in the crowd. And we can't say we contribute to this church.
That boils down in my world to we're not committed to them. And commitment is a lot! It's something that's lacking in what I'm seeing around me.
When we set up gatherings or parties and ask people to RSVP to let us know that they're coming very few responses ever come. At the church we normally go to, things are put out there and very few people commit until the last minute, if at all, because they're trying to keep their options open.
Maybe something better will come along and so I don't have to do this. I've watched that in members of my own family, where they don't say yes or no until... the day of, and maybe two hours beforehand.
That's not the way I operate. If I commit to something, or if I decide that I want to do something, I go ahead and commit, and I let people know I'm coming, and it's happening. And then I turn other things down, and fight to keep that spot on my calendar. And I do my best to be five minutes early, because early is on time.
But I think that more commitment would help a lot of things happening around me. And it would help us all not feel as lonely.
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Sunday, December 28, 2025
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
The Color Inside ~
Almost 30 years ago my wife and I went to Europe on a tour with a group. It was a motor coach tour. We flew into London and spent a couple of days there, then rode a motor coach down to Dover, took a ferry across the channel to Belgium, and then picked up another motor coach and rode all throughout Western Europe for ten days.
It was a great trip. We were with a group of hearing impaired people, so my wife interpreted most of the time. I sat and messed with my gadgets that I had brought. One of the main gadgets that I had brought was a digital Walkman with AM/FM radio.
I had my audio tapes and I was ready to listen to some music. And I was so excited to get to listen to European radio. Sadly, my digital tuner only went in two tenths steps of frequencies and was tuned to the odd tenths so that it could tune in 94.1, 95.5, 104.7 and the like. I learned when we got over there that European FM radio is set to the even tenths of frequencies, and so everything I listened to was fuzzy if I could actually listen to it at all.
Through the static, yeah, that song FM, no static at all was not true. But through the static I did get to listen to some songs and some different things. One of the songs that I heard over there was the song The Color Inside.
I had not heard the song in America before we left, and I didn't really hear it after we got back from the trip, but it was hot in Europe. It was all over every radio frequency that I could almost listen to, and it was a good dance tune.
I really enjoyed it. I captured it on my eight millimeter camcorder to try and find later.
25 or so years later I did find it online and found two or three different versions of it. It's a really good song that says that we all have a color that we live inside. I still enjoy listening to it.
You can check it out here:
https://youtu.be/nRULkAGIOd8?si=84am0cF-yUU6RDZW
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It was a great trip. We were with a group of hearing impaired people, so my wife interpreted most of the time. I sat and messed with my gadgets that I had brought. One of the main gadgets that I had brought was a digital Walkman with AM/FM radio.
I had my audio tapes and I was ready to listen to some music. And I was so excited to get to listen to European radio. Sadly, my digital tuner only went in two tenths steps of frequencies and was tuned to the odd tenths so that it could tune in 94.1, 95.5, 104.7 and the like. I learned when we got over there that European FM radio is set to the even tenths of frequencies, and so everything I listened to was fuzzy if I could actually listen to it at all.
Through the static, yeah, that song FM, no static at all was not true. But through the static I did get to listen to some songs and some different things. One of the songs that I heard over there was the song The Color Inside.
I had not heard the song in America before we left, and I didn't really hear it after we got back from the trip, but it was hot in Europe. It was all over every radio frequency that I could almost listen to, and it was a good dance tune.
I really enjoyed it. I captured it on my eight millimeter camcorder to try and find later.
25 or so years later I did find it online and found two or three different versions of it. It's a really good song that says that we all have a color that we live inside. I still enjoy listening to it.
You can check it out here:
https://youtu.be/nRULkAGIOd8?si=84am0cF-yUU6RDZW
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Saturday, December 20, 2025
Social media issues ~
Recently, one of the gurus that I've kept up with for several years now had an email about how social media has changed. He started his email by talking about how more and more we interact with people through the glass of our screens.
And with the advent of artificial intelligence that interaction is calling into question whether we are interacting with real people or just machines.
It's a good premise. He started it out by talking about obsessing about ghosts. He even joked about how he could be an AI and we wouldn't know it. Which I found hilarious.
But I think that's why a lot of people just feel hollow and empty when they look at social media. They have to wade through all the commercial junk and then, even worse, they have to wade through their friends commercial junk because often people are posting about what they're selling or trying to do to make money and setting up parties to sell stuff.
He lamented about how so many social media platforms started out great but devolved into the marketing machines that they are. And how he wanted to have an app that he could either develop or get somebody to develop that would be like the dating apps but for different subjects. But that didn't devolve into the commercialized baloney that we have so much of today.
I enjoyed his email and I've thought a lot about it.
I think because we're so transient now and so able to skip interacting with our neighbors and even the people at our church, if we go to church, that we feel lonely even when surrounded by a mob.
Opinions are so inflamed right now that people are scared to even react to things, let alone express an opinion. There's genuine fear in the air and that fear is being used to herd people in directions.
Oftentimes it's down the sales funnel to part you from your money or down the election funnel to part you from your vote. I just wish that we could interact differently, and like he said, come together.
And I do that in my own life, in my small little ways. I hope you're doing that too.
Because together we can save the world.
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And with the advent of artificial intelligence that interaction is calling into question whether we are interacting with real people or just machines.
It's a good premise. He started it out by talking about obsessing about ghosts. He even joked about how he could be an AI and we wouldn't know it. Which I found hilarious.
But I think that's why a lot of people just feel hollow and empty when they look at social media. They have to wade through all the commercial junk and then, even worse, they have to wade through their friends commercial junk because often people are posting about what they're selling or trying to do to make money and setting up parties to sell stuff.
He lamented about how so many social media platforms started out great but devolved into the marketing machines that they are. And how he wanted to have an app that he could either develop or get somebody to develop that would be like the dating apps but for different subjects. But that didn't devolve into the commercialized baloney that we have so much of today.
I enjoyed his email and I've thought a lot about it.
I think because we're so transient now and so able to skip interacting with our neighbors and even the people at our church, if we go to church, that we feel lonely even when surrounded by a mob.
Opinions are so inflamed right now that people are scared to even react to things, let alone express an opinion. There's genuine fear in the air and that fear is being used to herd people in directions.
Oftentimes it's down the sales funnel to part you from your money or down the election funnel to part you from your vote. I just wish that we could interact differently, and like he said, come together.
And I do that in my own life, in my small little ways. I hope you're doing that too.
Because together we can save the world.
+++
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Fanny packs ~
I've used fanny packs for years, even before children. I carried a lot of stuff in my pockets. I was taught that there were pickpockets everywhere and so I carried my wallet in my front pocket.
One time I got locked out of my car and had to break in through the sunroof. It leaked after that so I carried around two sets of keys. A fanny pack relieved me of some of the load in my pockets so that I didn't look like I had rocks in my pants.
When my wife and I had children, we had our first two children within 18 months of each other. As they got to toddler years and older I felt a need to carry snacks and drinks with me.
There weren't very many easy ways to do that, but I found a fanny pack with two holster holes for bottles or drinks on either side. I loved it! It always drew comments. from people around us, and I had drinks and snacks and belongings and sometimes even toys in that thing.
It was very handy to just spin it around and walk around with it actually behind me and then spin it around to the front when I needed something then spin it back around. But I really looked like a doofus and I didn't care.
As the kids got older, I got away from using the double bottle fanny pack. I bought a leather fanny pack and used it, whick always drew comments when I traveled. It made me feel safer because the pickpockets that I had been warned about by my parents couldn't get my stuff without feeling around on the front of me.
But I never had anybody pick my pocket. At least not that I know of. Although, there was one time at Disney World when I looked down and a woman had her hand in my coat vest pocket, but there wasn't anything in there.
Once the kids got older I got away from using a fanny pack. I also stopped carrying around two sets of keys, and I made them start carrying some stuff. For a while I didn't use a fanny pack at all.
I still had a lot of stuff in my pockets and I still carried my wallet in my front right pocket, but I didn't use a fanny pack the way I did.
In the past year or two, I bought a new small fanny pack made of buffalo skin. It's nice, soft supple leather, and I really like it. I've started using it instead of carrying my stuff in my pockets the way I did for so long. One, because I'm not working anymore and so I don't have to worry about people laughing and making fun of me and having to explain to each type a personality that I worked with why I had a fanny pack on. And I find that it's just easier to pick up my keys, my pocket knife, and put on my fanny pack when it's time to go somewhere. I keep my mints and my notebook and my wallet and my other things that I may need along with money and drink packs. It doesn't have holsters for drinks but I use those singles drink packs to make a bottle of water into green tea.
I enjoy using a fanny pack. I do tend to wear it in the front instead of in the back where many other people do. I don't carry a gun in my fanny pack. It's got a pocket for that purpose, but that's where I keep my notebook and pen and my index cards.
I enjoy using a fanny pack.
One time I got locked out of my car and had to break in through the sunroof. It leaked after that so I carried around two sets of keys. A fanny pack relieved me of some of the load in my pockets so that I didn't look like I had rocks in my pants.
When my wife and I had children, we had our first two children within 18 months of each other. As they got to toddler years and older I felt a need to carry snacks and drinks with me.
There weren't very many easy ways to do that, but I found a fanny pack with two holster holes for bottles or drinks on either side. I loved it! It always drew comments. from people around us, and I had drinks and snacks and belongings and sometimes even toys in that thing.
It was very handy to just spin it around and walk around with it actually behind me and then spin it around to the front when I needed something then spin it back around. But I really looked like a doofus and I didn't care.
As the kids got older, I got away from using the double bottle fanny pack. I bought a leather fanny pack and used it, whick always drew comments when I traveled. It made me feel safer because the pickpockets that I had been warned about by my parents couldn't get my stuff without feeling around on the front of me.
But I never had anybody pick my pocket. At least not that I know of. Although, there was one time at Disney World when I looked down and a woman had her hand in my coat vest pocket, but there wasn't anything in there.
Once the kids got older I got away from using a fanny pack. I also stopped carrying around two sets of keys, and I made them start carrying some stuff. For a while I didn't use a fanny pack at all.
I still had a lot of stuff in my pockets and I still carried my wallet in my front right pocket, but I didn't use a fanny pack the way I did.
In the past year or two, I bought a new small fanny pack made of buffalo skin. It's nice, soft supple leather, and I really like it. I've started using it instead of carrying my stuff in my pockets the way I did for so long. One, because I'm not working anymore and so I don't have to worry about people laughing and making fun of me and having to explain to each type a personality that I worked with why I had a fanny pack on. And I find that it's just easier to pick up my keys, my pocket knife, and put on my fanny pack when it's time to go somewhere. I keep my mints and my notebook and my wallet and my other things that I may need along with money and drink packs. It doesn't have holsters for drinks but I use those singles drink packs to make a bottle of water into green tea.
I enjoy using a fanny pack. I do tend to wear it in the front instead of in the back where many other people do. I don't carry a gun in my fanny pack. It's got a pocket for that purpose, but that's where I keep my notebook and pen and my index cards.
I enjoy using a fanny pack.
Friday, December 12, 2025
Handled bullies ~
When I was growing up I remember going to a neighbor's trailer to try to take care of something.
I rode the bus to middle school and high school. I had to walk down our long driveway and then half a mile down the road to the corner to get the bus.
There were other kids that did similar things and we all met at that corner. Two of the kids were bullies and would regularly call me names and beat up on one of the little kids. One day I had had enough.
That afternoon they had the little kid over on the side of the road. One of them was holding his arms behind his back. The other one picked up rocks in his fists and then punched the little kid in the gut repeatedly.
The kid couldn't even defend himself. So I was outraged. I sat at home and thought about it for a little while and then I went out to the garage after are talking to my mother about it. I went out to the garage and got a walking stick. I walked down my driveway and then down a little ways and then into the trailer park to go back to these two bullies' parents' place.
The parents had the nicest trailer in the trailer park. I think they were the managers and oversaw things, making sure rent was paid and all that. They did not own the place though. I knocked on the door but before I got there the two boys were pestering me as I walked up the driveway wanting to know what I was doing and why I had that stick.
And what was I going to do? The reason I brought the stick was I was going to beat them up if they made a move on me, but they didn't. I knocked on the door of the trailer and the elderly man came to the door.
He was their father and I explained to him what had been happening and how concerned I was. I asked him if he could do anything about it. I was a teenager that couldn't drive yet. I can't imagine what the guy was thinking.
But I do know that if I were approached that way, I'd probably laugh it off and then tell my boys to cut it out. My boys weren't anything like that. So I didn't have that concern.
He said he'd talk to his boys and it got better for a little while. They called me more names, but they never got very close to me.
They never got close.
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I rode the bus to middle school and high school. I had to walk down our long driveway and then half a mile down the road to the corner to get the bus.
There were other kids that did similar things and we all met at that corner. Two of the kids were bullies and would regularly call me names and beat up on one of the little kids. One day I had had enough.
That afternoon they had the little kid over on the side of the road. One of them was holding his arms behind his back. The other one picked up rocks in his fists and then punched the little kid in the gut repeatedly.
The kid couldn't even defend himself. So I was outraged. I sat at home and thought about it for a little while and then I went out to the garage after are talking to my mother about it. I went out to the garage and got a walking stick. I walked down my driveway and then down a little ways and then into the trailer park to go back to these two bullies' parents' place.
The parents had the nicest trailer in the trailer park. I think they were the managers and oversaw things, making sure rent was paid and all that. They did not own the place though. I knocked on the door but before I got there the two boys were pestering me as I walked up the driveway wanting to know what I was doing and why I had that stick.
And what was I going to do? The reason I brought the stick was I was going to beat them up if they made a move on me, but they didn't. I knocked on the door of the trailer and the elderly man came to the door.
He was their father and I explained to him what had been happening and how concerned I was. I asked him if he could do anything about it. I was a teenager that couldn't drive yet. I can't imagine what the guy was thinking.
But I do know that if I were approached that way, I'd probably laugh it off and then tell my boys to cut it out. My boys weren't anything like that. So I didn't have that concern.
He said he'd talk to his boys and it got better for a little while. They called me more names, but they never got very close to me.
They never got close.
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Monday, December 8, 2025
Learned something new again ~
I learned something about tuberculosis this past weekend. I was told about a book that said tuberculosis had shaped a lot of things in our society and in the world. The person telling me about that book said that it was fascinating because when the United States was settling the west, western towns that were in the arid desert areas like Arizona and New Mexico actually advertised themselves as health getaways for people with tuberculosis because the dry air and heat was supposed to ease the symptoms of the disease.
It's funny because Doc Holliday, the guy that was part of Wyatt Earp's circle of law enforcement friends at the O.K. Corral, had tuberculosis, and part of his deal was coughing and spitting up and all that stuff.
The town where he's from has a Doc Holiday Festival and I was hoping to go to it this year but we didn't make it. But it would have been interesting to learn a where he came from and whether or not they know that he moved out west because those towns advertised relief for tuberculosis sufferers.
So many cool things to learn.
Book "Everything Is Tuberculosis"
https://a.co/d/gi3clDl
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It's funny because Doc Holliday, the guy that was part of Wyatt Earp's circle of law enforcement friends at the O.K. Corral, had tuberculosis, and part of his deal was coughing and spitting up and all that stuff.
The town where he's from has a Doc Holiday Festival and I was hoping to go to it this year but we didn't make it. But it would have been interesting to learn a where he came from and whether or not they know that he moved out west because those towns advertised relief for tuberculosis sufferers.
So many cool things to learn.
Book "Everything Is Tuberculosis"
https://a.co/d/gi3clDl
+++
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Different adventures ~
It's fun how my wife and I are going on adventures together now They tend to be more thrill -seeking than some Recently we went ziplining in Tennessee and that was a blast she ziplined upside down part of the time because she started out scared and they convinced her that it was perfectly safe and that she could even zip line upside down. So she did. I did not.
I went skydiving with my two youngest sons. That was a blast and it felt like my whole body was infused with adrenaline afterwards.
Before that we went parasailing at the beach on the Carolina coast. That was a lot of fun too and it was something that I had always wanted to do but it so cost prohibitive to it.
I finally realized why we're doing more of those things that are more expensive and it's because we are older but it is also because our kids are grown.
My wife and I have four children and whenever we would go on trips it was expensive. It cost a lot to move six people around the country to fun sites and do fun things. So when we would go somewhere and one of the adventure/thrill seeking things cost a hundred bucks each we wouldn't do it because of the cost. We drove and we took peanut butter and bread and had picnic lunches and enjoyed the scenery and sometimes just sat and watched people. It was a blast!
But now that it's just my wife and I more often than not we're tending to want to go and do things that you pay for and we budget accordingly. It's a lot of fun and it's funny listening to our adult children wonder why we're so adventurous. Part of the reason is because we can afford it now.
That sense of adventure was always there. In fact, they were our big adventure while they were growing up. And I'm so proud of how well they're all doing. What a blast!
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I went skydiving with my two youngest sons. That was a blast and it felt like my whole body was infused with adrenaline afterwards.
Before that we went parasailing at the beach on the Carolina coast. That was a lot of fun too and it was something that I had always wanted to do but it so cost prohibitive to it.
I finally realized why we're doing more of those things that are more expensive and it's because we are older but it is also because our kids are grown.
My wife and I have four children and whenever we would go on trips it was expensive. It cost a lot to move six people around the country to fun sites and do fun things. So when we would go somewhere and one of the adventure/thrill seeking things cost a hundred bucks each we wouldn't do it because of the cost. We drove and we took peanut butter and bread and had picnic lunches and enjoyed the scenery and sometimes just sat and watched people. It was a blast!
But now that it's just my wife and I more often than not we're tending to want to go and do things that you pay for and we budget accordingly. It's a lot of fun and it's funny listening to our adult children wonder why we're so adventurous. Part of the reason is because we can afford it now.
That sense of adventure was always there. In fact, they were our big adventure while they were growing up. And I'm so proud of how well they're all doing. What a blast!
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