Month: October 2020

Feeling like I belonged in a time past. Except I was there for most of them. The emergence of rock and roll. Computers being born and immersing themselves in our life. Drugs getting illegal (LSD 1968) and popular. The riots of 1968 (Chicago for the Democratic Convention) and a worldwide set of riots I did not know of until later. The invention of “Chicken Nuggets” – rolled in sugar and fried in fat, that was 1982 or so back then. Disco, killing music or so they said. (Pengilly’s was alive them and I understand it is alive now. If I make it to Boise) “Rubber Soul” inspired by Bob Dylan, or so I read. Cities with “tall” buildings being five stories high. And “First Interstate Bank” when they legalized that kinda thing. My longing for those days ranges from early 1960s to mid-1980s. Anything earlier and I don’t remember and well I was just a toddler and don’t recall any of it. After the mid-80s is just too recent. Too recent? Thirty-five years is “too recent” har!

There were some things that I bet people now are feeling the jones for. A minimum wage that could fund time in college. Or beers for 25¢. Or … they were my good times. And I went down a rabbit hole today. Rubber Soul, Revolver, 1969 (CSN), and a typewriter.

I bought a typewriter from my high school English teacher (and debate coach) for $25. I lost it in the late 80s. I was getting into computers. Because I could do it and I needed to have a way of living.  Yes, I was stumbling through life. Well, so much for my typewriting of the time.

I used to watch bats catching bugs around the lights of the stadium’s parking lot. This was on the walk home from the bar with 25¢ beers. I do not recall why I was walking home those nights. It may have been a mile or less, but the memories! This came after “Rumors” a year or two after that time. I was just going through life. Not knowing if I was going to live or not. A couple of years out of being treated for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,

Perhaps I don’t go beyond the early 80s because I passed through the “5 Year” he is still living point. Perhaps. But I have the nostalgia for those days,

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

I should be happy today. We have passed a big landmark. I have not been a patient in a hospital for a year and a day. Well, yes, I did have many years without being admitted to a hospital. But this retirement just has not been a time span without visiting the hospital. Last year I had a mother of all prior conditions. In 1977 they really didn’t wave a solid grip on treating cancer, Hodgin’s Lymphoma. So they blasted me with Cobalt 60 and poisoned me with, another other things, Mustard Gas. As it turns out the radiation planted the seeds for heart failure and, in my case, a weakening of my lung. 1 woke up one morning puking up blood. Only this was the second time. The decision was made to remove the upper left node of my lungs. 1 was done with that last year on the 25th and then home. That whole thing came after my other adventures. So I am out of the hospital.

You would think that I would be happier. This year makes it less happy. This year has been the pits. I am looking forward to a more normal time.

I must apologize to a writer, a poet, who wrote this. I have missed getting her (I am pretty sure it is a woman’s) name. And going back on Facebook to find a thing you have left is pretty damn hard.

We isolate now
So when we gather again
No one is missing

Hope you are also.

Hey! Out of hospitals for a year! Yay!

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

I think I need a new obsession. Who am I kidding? Pens, fountain pens are great. But I am adding to it, Yep, another obsession to go with it. Making my handwriting legible. Sure I can, mostly, write things that other people can read. Well, sometimes. Heck, I cannot even read my own handwriting. It should be called my scribble. You would think that after five years plus and around 4,000 pages written I could read it all. Nah. Not a chance.

I did spend a lot of time going as fast as I could. I would spend 40 minutes, an hour each day at it. To what end? Yes, there are benefits. Waking up my brain being a huge one. But still, it would be great to be able to go back over the past. And so I am now working on my script, my handwriting, to make it legible. When I have that done I can work on making it beautiful. I have seen quite a few examples of people’s handwriting. It is gorgeous. I would like to have handwriting like that.

I got out today for my One Daily Walk. Still working up how far I can go. Last year I did a ten miles stroll. I was shooting for a half marathon, a little over 13 miles. I still hold that goal. But the lung surgery (removing the upper left node) put a dent in my aerobic conditioning. So most days I get out and go up the hills here (it used to be easy) and keep going. If it ever gets too bad the city busses can get me home.

Sourdough bread, yeah everyone is doing that now. But hey! I was doing it before others were. In the fan group who were doing it, not the bakers who do it because they prefer the levan that way. There is a loaf to be rising up now. I am hoping for it. I have been waiting for three loaves in a row that I consider good. Seems like I have the third on its way. Then I can start in on experimenting and making stuff that isn’t what I want but it is a learning loaf. That is fun. Fresh bread and home roasted coffee, those things make a day great.

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

I am obsessed. My name is Michael and I am obsessed.

I don’t know when it started. It grew on me. I did not admit to it early in my life. But now, well now, I need to admit it and live up to it.

I find something that is neat, bicycling, Linux 0S for computers, roasting coffee, watercolors, woodworking… the list of things that I have been obsessed goes on and on. I hear about something I read up on it. I buy a thing. Then another. And another. And it goes on. At least with software for Linux it is all free. Want to do video editing? Which one do you want? Download the top three or four and try them out. Yes, that is cheap. Not so with everything. But, you know, I have to have things and try them.

Lately, my obsession is with fountain pens. Why? They do write beautifully. Especially colors! I have a set of cartridges there are six colors there. But the blue is not quite right. So I bought a set of three Japanese, ooohhh Japanese!, a sampler set. And then, as I do I was in a group on the internet, there is always a group on the internet, I heard about a company in Pennsylvania that made inks. Oh so pretty! “Weathered Brick” is a brownish-reddish I am waiting for, along with two other inks. They are only nine-ounce ones. And pens. I am looking at four pens, all different. I “needed” to have the four pens to find out what one is right for me. Well, there is a set coming from China – eight pens for $10. I had to try them. And then today. Yeah, today. I was watching reviews. Wouldn’t you? And there was one on “Five Best Pens for under $5” OK it was put out in January but it was also Australian. Hey, that means 71 cents USD to one AUD. Wow! That means pens for around $3.50. I watched. Hey! There is a pen I ordered today! And those! They are like the TWSBI pens, err sorry, pen I have. I checked eBay and still today you can get a set of four pens for $7.50. Holy cow. I did.

Because I am obsessed. What is a couple of weeks of waiting for a shipment from China Post? I could have bought one for $7.95 … but I am obsessed.

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

P.S. – Why have so many inks to choose from and only a pen or two?

Do you recall the library card you had as a kid? If you had one there were columns for date checked out and date returned. Four or six columns per side. One summer I filled up the card. A librarian didn’t believe I was reading the books, until she asked me about the four I was returning, four was the limit for a kid, and I went on and on about them. This was a time I had read all of The Bobbsey Twins (don’t do that now) and the other youth books they had available. So I started in on the adult stuff. I was pre-teen then. But I recall checking out the Gone With The Wind and the Autobiography of Eddie Rickenbacker, a WWI flying ace. Both of those books were 2,000 or so pages long.

A couple of years ago I was in Goodreads, an online book tracking place. Do reviews, track of what you had read, set goals, that kind of stuff. I was into 30 books or so in the summer and revising my goal of books to read. Ahhh! Retirement! All that changed when I had a stroke. Eventually, I was able to read. But not like I used to read. I have slowed down. My stamina is much less than it was. I have been working on it.

This weekend I finished 330 pages of NOIR, from Christopher Moore. It was a bad thing to do to a nice book. When the book started I kept my nose down and continued to read. Until finally, FINALLY, I finished the book. It is the longest thing I have read in two years. Mostly because it is a great book. A noir novel written in the last 10 years? They quit writing noir style novels … a long time ago. OK, it was set in 1947. So that fits. But wow! There are enough metaphors in that book … nah, no slick wordplay from me. Read Moore to enjoy the words. Because they are good.

OK, I am mostly asserting it is a good book without giving any examples. Know that it starts with the protagonist discovering his boss dead on the floor. Then he backs up a week and tells how it happens. Thanks mostly to “toots”, a woman you can see on the cover of the book. It helped me get through my lack of stamina and onward, I hope, to more reading. I have a TBR pile from the library.

—— MichaelRpdzx :: h3k

P.S. The international Hermes 3000 is awaiting some good cleaning. I have a can of PB Blaster. This is a first for me. Wish me luck.

P.P.S I am looking forward to not getting too caught up in Fountain Pens. They arrived. A hat tip to Joe Van Cleve for including Twsbi pens in his video on them, They are great pens. Now to work on my scribble and turning it into writing.