Tired of New York

One of the things that bothers me is that so many of the ideas and advice columns and styles and all of these other things that drive and shape the society that I live in come from New York.

Even at work, what we do in air traffic control more often than not is driven by and supports the New York market.

But I'm listening to a book by an author that goes and tells stories at Moth events in New York City. And he talks about all the things that you see in New York City. And all the people that you can meet in New York City.

Bah! I'm disgusted. Who do they think they are up there that they drive the entire society? Or at least try to? Right down here where I live is where my life happens. And while yeah there are artists and people and things that emanated out from the New York City market there's a lot around me that emanated from right here.

I grew up in Florida. Central Florida. North of Orlando and south of I-10. South of Gainesville. You get the idea. We were right in the middle of the state. And when I was going to middle school and high school I grew up in this area. Most of the people that I grew up around were either from Central Florida or from the Northeast, more often than not somewhere in the state of New York.

This mix of people that I grew up with caused me to not have a southern accent except when I said y'all. And whenever I would go to training classes or events with my employer the people from around the country could never please me because I didn't have the southern accent that most people from Georgia have.

But so much of what we do is dictated to us by these people that live all smooshed together and get on each other's nerves and walk around trying to impress each other with being so different from each other that it disgusts me. I'm saddened that these people that I will never know that move around in the city that is infested with rats and all the dirty things that come with humans living in close proximity with each other. It's just disappointing that they drive so much of what I have to deal with. And what I do. And how I think. And what I have to react to

Although on that subject of learning that I don't have to react any of that at all. I choose what I react to more often than not as I get older. In the past, dripping hormones out of my pores. I would react almost everything. Someone would pull up beside me at a traffic light and I would react to it but revving my engine zooming ahead of them in my full-size station wagon that my parents had me driving around them because that's the only car they could let me use. I would react to people looking at me funny but brushing my hair back to make sure that I wasn't looking bad. As I get older none of that stuff really matters and I just drive were a wanton goal the speed that matches the traffic around me for the most part and I really don't care if I look bad or not. I still care how I look but I'm not driven by all they might think less of me because I look different from them. I found my own style in my own methodology for getting from here to there. And I enjoy it!

I'm tired of the big cities driving and dictating what I and the others around me have access to.

Book fair sign

I had a happy memory come up today.

As I was driving to see my youngest son sing the national anthem a cappella before the last football game of the season and walk on senior night with him and sit in the cold with my mom and my wife watch him doing his band thing I drove by the elementary school he and my other children went to. And in the archway where kids are dropped off every morning and picked up every afternoon they had the "book fair" sign out there.

The book fair was always an exciting time for our children. They always came home and wanted to buy books. They wanted to buy the new whatever series of books they were in. I always wanted to do it in every grade in the elementary school. My wife would read to them or they would read to themselves as they got older. It was always so much fun and so exciting to see that sign.

I don't remember seeing that sign when I was growing up. I do remember getting to go to the library and check books out and what a joy it was to actually buy books and get to read them over and over. But it was fun seeing that sign today. It was fun to feel that thrill of excitement that people will be buying books and reading them and having fun with them and hopefully reading to their children instead of just parking their children in their bedroom with a book in the phone. Such a wonderful time!

I love books! And I love happy happy memories like that!

I am an Uncle

I am the uncle of at least three boys and several girls. I don't know hardly any of them beyond seeing them on holidays in my brother's family's case and the once every 10 to 15 years for the rest of. I feel guilty about that.

Generational blame

Recent post by a friend:
"Me, behave? Seriously? As a child I saw Tarzan almost naked, Cinderella arrived home after midnight, Pinocchio told lies, Aladdin was a thief, Batman drove 200+ miles an hour, Snow White lived in a house w/7 men, Elephants could fly, Popeye smoked a pipe & had tattoos, PacMan ran around to digital music while eating pills that enhanced his performance, & Shaggy & Scooby were mystery solving hippies that always had the munchies.The fault is not mine!"

How sad that people in my generation joke about this but then blame everyone else for issues and inconveniences in their lives.

Worse, the next generation blames us for destroying the planet while they produce more carbon emissions with their internet gaming, electric cars and devices, and processed food choices.

Disappointed by Netflix

I was disappointed by Netflix yesterday. I was excited to see the Arsenio Hall had a comedy special on Netflix. He was one of the comics that was friends with Eddie Murphy, came up and had his own Tonight Show or late-night show that competed against the Tonight Show, and he was funny on TV. And he had that grin that just made you laugh every time he told the joke.

But I got into the comedy special and the he cursed a lot. He used the N word. And it was constant. And I actually turned it off because I didn't want to fill my head with that.

I have enough trouble with my own language and my own thoughts, I don't need an entertainer that I enjoyed in the past filling my head with a bunch of junk that will echo for years.

I wonder if he realizes how he is a promoting the use of the N word? And all the other things that he said?

Communication

Communication in my family is done via various methods that are common today. And because those various methods are scattered and different for almost each person communication is hard.

My wife uses Facebook messenger to text. And so I may get a message from her on Facebook messenger, via text, she may grab email in the middle of a conversation and send an email about something, and for a while we tried Snapchat but that didn't work out very well. She will post things on Facebook and tag me in and expect me to catch it. And sometimes she'll leave me a written no that I'm supposed to catch as a flyby the table doing my thing.

My assignments in college informed me that I don't check the email account that I've used almost all of my life very much anymore, I use this other one now that you never sent email to but that's where I'm looking. My youngest son is all over the map and uses multiple things including the flip phone that we provide for him. My oldest son uses his work email and his phone for texting for the most part, and my daughter and son-in-law both use different methods of communication at different times.

With all of these methods of communication things still fall through the cracks. They will tell their mothers something expecting me to know it next time they talk to me. My mother will do that and expect me to know things and get upset when I don't know them. And what's hard for me is that I will get upset because they're operating as if I already know certain things and I have no idea about anything that they're talking about most of the time.

One of the most egregious examples for my life is when I was talking to my what mother one afternoon on the phone and she was talking about how wonderful it was what my brother and his wife were doing with their newborn son. And how I must feel so honored about what they had done. And I had to finally ask her what the hell you talking about? And she said the deed named him and made his middle name your name after you. This had not been shared with me at all. This is not been told to me by them, by my wife who knew and had known for several weeks, nor anybody else in the family. Surgeries have been that way, where people will tell my wife and then expect me to know it because they told my wife.

So I came up with a simple formula that I share with my family members: telling her does not equal telling me.

People laugh when I share that formula with them but it's true! And it's easy. And it keeps people out of trouble and keeps assumptions at a lower level.

Communication is fun! It's a lot more fun when it actually happens.

Visiting family

I enjoy going to visit family. It's challenging, it's awkward, it's uncomfortable, but I enjoy it.

We got to go and visit my daughter and son-in-law recently. It was great to do life with them for a few days. I'm proud of how well they are doing.

For my wife's birthday we had dinner at my oldest son's house. This was a special treat and made me feel especially proud of my son.

We went to visit my wife's brother and his family. Though we don't do this very often it was nice to spend time with them and see their new house. Very cool.

My wife and I argue about going. We don't want to intrude, then we remind each other that most people seem to think that about us. So we go ahead and intrude. I'm glad we do!