End of the line

I think this blog is finished because I don’t have the inclination to write as previously.

Saturday Morning

I feel really good today. I have been making an effort to break out of my rut.  I started the day at the Dunkin Donuts eating breakfast and listening to ld music from the 50s, and I have been more talkative with my coworkers. .

Had a good time the other night at Paddy Quinn’s which is a new pub run by my brother-in-law. We had a surprise party for my wife’s birthday. Unfortunately, one of her brothers was drunk previously, and had told her to get her hair done that they were throwing her a party.

Mr. Anxiety

When I teach, I feel as if I am the only one ever who hah to teach in the whole world.  The idea of facing 16 faces every month terrifies me. I know the logic. I know more than  them, but it does not help, and the fact that I am teaching every month does not give me much leeway in getting over the stress of teaching again. I do not want to read; I do not want to do much of anything except prepare for the class, and that clock moves much too quickly for me. It is almost time again, and I can feel the fear in the pit of my stomach.

Reunion

One of my cousins knows how to organize and move things along. We will have the reunion at Wading River, and then who ever is interested will come to Maspeth to explore our memories of greenhouses, Thom houses including our grandmother’s house which still stands, cemetaries especially the great grandparents’ grave and maybe even Polark Alley for real Polish food.

Global Warming

It’s almost mid-January, and one of our shrubs is in full bloom with pink flowers, and the bulbs are shooting up from below the ground. What’s the sense of planting bulbs if they won’t come up when they are supposed to! Seriously, this is scary. Global Warming is affecting us now. Albeit, not dangerous, but it’s happening. This past summer we had so much rain, I only needed to setup the sprinkler once on the lawn. There is always talk about reducing emissions from fossil fuel by some percentage over so many years, but we need to make changes now. Later is too late.

Favorite Books of 2006

Here are books that I really enjoyed reading in the past year:

The Children’s War by Monique Charlesworth

Please Don’t Come Back From The Moon by Dean Bakopoulos

Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell (translator)

Magic Time by Doug Marlette

Angst

I’m 51, and I feel adrift.  I’m not a creative. I can do little things for myself which are good, but I don’t know about lasting impact. How will I be remembered and by whom?

Thoms

Michael and Louisa Thom are my great grandparents. They came over from Germany with their children in the early 1900s. This summer we are planning a reunion for all the branches of the Thom family. Everyone who is descended from Michael and Louisa are invited. This involves three generations spread through the country. We used to have family parties on Pallm Sunday (the week before Easter). No one has had a family party especially an all inclusive one for a long time.

Classes

I am gettinng self-absorbed again in another class. This time it is Excel. I have to face the same internal fear which seems to be getting morre conscious as time goes on. The Mrs. is helping me to prepare. Without that help I fear that I would just freeze and not do well when I teach the couse. It’s important to do well because it means so much to the people that are taking the course, and I think that stresses me out too.