What book are you reading right now ?

I admit I have a book problem. If only there was some type of support group for people like me. I have this terrible habit of buying my next book before I’ve finished my current book, and since it takes me about a month to read a book….well they just keep piling up. I know what you’re thinking…just get a bookcase. Alas I do have a bookcase and it’s filled with books because my second problem is that I tend to keep the books I’ve already read. Occasionally I might lend a book out to a friend or family member and sometimes I even tell them to not give it back and pass it along to someone else but the majority of books I’ve read sit on the bookcases….yes bookcases, plural, more than one. I will peruse my bookcases periodically and think I need to thin out the herd but instead I’ll usually take a book out and read a few pages and realize why I enjoyed it in the first place and put it back on the shelf to sit there, grow dusty and take up space.

There’s a simple solution in today’s modern world of digital access……the world of Kindle and e-books. My wife who reads way more than I do has completed the transformation and is now a total e-book believer. Oh at first she resisted, she liked holding a book, liked the feel of the book and of course kept a majority of the books she read, but now she’s a total convert and thankfully so as I said she reads more books than I do and faster and we would be buried by her books if she actually had the physical version of each of the books she’s read. So it’s a good thing she’s converted….she’ll sometimes tell me all the books she has stored on her Kindle to be read in the future….it’s in the hundreds or maybe thousands as I really wasn’t paying attention, and a lot of her books are really inexpensive which is also a good thing. Yes she’s a total convert, but I still like a book to hold and keep.

The current book I’m reading is called The Disenchanted by Bud Schulberg. I heard about it on a podcast I was listening to and I was able to find a copy. It’s an old book written in 1950, the story takes place in Hollywood in the early 40’s. The main character is a young writer trying to get noticed, trying to get his screenplay made into a movie. He’s assigned to work with an older writer to help him polish the script so that maybe it gets green-lighted to be made. The older writer was once very famous, he wrote perhaps the seminal book of the roaring 20’s. He was wealthy, he partied, he traveled and everyone wanted to be seen with he and his wife….they were the epitome of the time period. But times changed and the famous writer grew old but didn’t change….when he’s assigned to work with the young writer he’s bitter, forgotten about, divorced, broke and in failing health. He still talks about the old days as if they were last week and of course he talks about writing one last, great novel.

The podcast I was listening to said that the author of this book, Bud Schulberg, worked in Hollywood as a young writer and he was assigned to work with F. Scott Fitzgerald and this book is a depiction of their collaboration. I googled Fitzgerald and it’s true that he did work in Hollywood at the end of his career. The entire time I’ve been reading this book I picture a bitter, washed up Fitzgerald, divorced from his crazy wife Zelda trying to earn a paycheck and be relevant again. It’s fascinating and I highly recommend it.

I purchased this book as I now purchase all my books off the internet on a used booksite. It’s called Better World Books and they get old books from libraries and donations and sell them at deep discounts. Most of the books I purchase are less than $10 and most are less than $5. It’s perfect for someone like me who still buys books.

One more thing….on one of the first pages before the copy right page is a page that states this book is a limited edition specially made for presentation to The Booksellers of America. I have no idea who this group is or if they still exist in some form but this book is numbered 463 and it’s written in a colored pencil. I have no clue how many of these limited edition books there are but I think this is a book I’ll keep and put on my bookcase to grow dusty and occasionally pull out to glance thru and remember why I liked it…..I’m going to need another bookcase.

Peace and Love….like, comment or subscribe….tell me about a book your reading

John

The writing prompt asks what’s the most important thing you’ve found ?

I sat and pondered this for a moment. I’ve never found a pile of money or even a gold nugget. An old valise never was uncovered in the attic with hidden treasures or at least old stock certificates. I think I found $5 lying on the ground once and I felt extremely joyful for that, but then it occurred to me that I was thinking about this all wrong, the most valuable things you find aren’t monetary. The most valuable finds elicit an emotional response or an awakening. I know it sounds cliche to say but the most valuable thing I ever found was myself.

I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of how people find their way both in life and into their chosen profession. Does the plumber grow up fantasizing about snaking a toilet the same way an athlete dreams of making the winning score. Likewise for the tree-trimmer, the truck driver and the painter just to name a few. Yet these are wonderful professions that provide a comfortable life-style. I speak from experience here as I never thought I’d be driving a truck but once I started doing it I found I rather enjoyed it. I think most people who find their way into a lot of professions never thought they would be there, and what comes first, finding your way in life or finding your way into your profession or does it go hand in hand ?

In high school I was always trying to fit in….sure I had friends but we were never in the popular crowd, we always seemed to be on the outside looking in. Sometimes I would wish I was somebody different and I would even have a different name and start over. College helped a lot. Being independent and making decisions is an important step to discovering yourself. A college campus is a wonderful place offering a wide variety of experiences. It’s so often the place a teenager transitions to a young adult and that may be the most valuable aspect of college. Although in one respect I was still lost….I entered college thinking I knew what I wanted to do and I left having no clue about my future. In that respect I kinda failed…….I didn’t take full advantage of all the opportunities to discover potential careers. I didn’t fully explore both myself and where I might fit in as I transitioned to adulthood. I didn’t fully understand myself, most importantly nor had I accepted myself for who I was and what my strengths were, and so I spent the first years out of college bouncing around from one meaningless job to the next. Looking back at that time I realized I wasn’t even participating in activities that made me happy, I was still trying to fit in instead of being myself.

I don’t know when it happened or how it happened, perhaps it has something to do with growing older and not caring what others think, maybe I just realized I need to live the life that makes me happy or maybe it occurred around the time my profession became my career but somewhere along the way I discovered myself.

I have fun, I laugh, I try to make others laugh. I’m there with a kind word or I just listen when others need to talk. I set an example for my son and I’m always available and supportive for my spouse. I no longer care or worry what others are doing, in fact I would rather not be around most people as I relish opportunities to be alone with my thoughts outside doing things I love. I don’t know if this makes me different but it’s what I discovered about myself and it was the greatest find of my life

as always Peace and Love….

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I sometimes joke around that there’s a podcast for everything and everyone has a podcast. It certainly seems that way and yet I do know of numerous people who don’t listen to any podcasts. Perhaps it depends on your daily habits and I think it largely depends on how much time you spend commuting to and from work, or if your like me and your job involves driving on a daily basis then you might be more inclined to listen to podcasts.

One time I tried to explain podcasts to my mom, she’s 82, so I tried to keep it simple and the best way I could describe it was to compare it to a radio show, but not just any radio show because if you’ve tried to actually listen to a radio station it’s….well let’s just say it’s difficult with the endless commercials and very little content you want to hear. Which make podcasts great….you’re listening to subjects you want to hear with minimal interruptions. That’s not to say there aren’t commercials…there are but you also have a way to fast forward through them if your so inclined and can do so without losing focus on whatever else you might be doing….like driving.

Whatever your interest, hobby or guilty pleasure, there’s a podcast for that. Most of the podcasts I listen to have weekly episodes or bi-weekly episodes and then there are special podcasts taking a deep dive into one particular subject. I just finished a podcast by the author Michael Lewis on the trial of Sam Bankman- Fried and the collapse of his crypto exchange FTX. It helped me understand a subject I find fascinating and yet no matter how many times it’s explained to me I still don’t understand crypto or the blockchain. I enjoy Michael Lewis’ books and podcasts as he has a very wonderful way of writing and explaining things that make them relatively easy to understand.

I tend to like podcasts that aren’t about a bunch of yelling and screaming and taking sides on issues….so I tend to stay away from any political podcasts. They don’t seem to convey much relevant information or accomplish much….much like our political system.

Podcasts like Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History which reexamines subjects in a unique way or tells interesting history are favorites of mine. Along that line is a wonderful podcast by Mo Rocca called Mobituaries which gives an oral obituary of someone or something that’s been forgotten.

I enjoy a couple of business podcasts with Freakonomics probably being my favorite….again it tends to look at things in an entirely different way and discuss subjects that I’m generally not exposed to….they recently did a 3-part pod on the history of whaling…it was way more interesting than I would have thought.

In my free time I do enjoy watching sports so I do listen to some sports podcasts and of course there are many to choose from, and for sheer entertainment there is a hilarious podcast that finds stories about people screwing up and doing stupid, relatively harmless things and a trio of comedians pokes fun at their stupidity….it’s aptly named Dumb People Town and if you’re stuck in a commute that’s taking longer than expected it certainly helps pass the time.

Peace and Love……as always like, subscribe or comment….leave a podcasts recommendation as I’m always looking for new ones

I’m not always sure it’s a good thing but people always tell me I don’t act my age. Now I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to act because to me I’m just being myself and truthfully it took me a long time to accept myself and all my quirks and idiosyncrasies. I was always trying to fit in….fit in to a group or fit in to a ideal. I don’t even remember when it was but I finally just embraced who I was and really that’s just a kid at heart.

I tell my wife that I was more mature at 18 than I am now in my 50’s. Thankfully she has also accepted me although I think she becomes exasperated with my behavior sometimes as she often complains that I “act like a kid” or that our young adult son is more mature than I am. Sometimes I think she wishes that the man she married would act like a maturing adult, but truthfully we balance each other out as she tends to be more serious.

Truth is I do often act with a kid like view on the world. Everything is so serious that I tend to look for and embrace the whimsical, the funny and the absurd. I look for laughs throughout the day and most importantly I try to make others laugh even at my own expense as I tend to have a self-depracating way of poking fun of myself and situations I’m in.

Beyond that I still enjoy doing kid like activities. For instance, I always keep a frisbee in the back of my car and I’m always asking people to throw it around with me. They usually look at me funny and they remark they haven’t done that in years but if they do join me in a toss they are soon laughing and having a blast.

Last spring I bought a kite, a spiderman kite. Now I really have no deep affection for Spiderman, I just wanted to fly a kite and I thought it would be cool and fun to fly a Spiderman kite. And so there I stood in my front yard on windy spring days flying my kite as my neighbors drove by. I like to think my behavior doesn’t really draw attention as my neighbors are used to my goofy ways but I’m sure it does. I really don’t even care what other people think anymore, which is truly one of the advantages of growing old….I just like to have fun and what’s more fun than being a kid so I fly kites and throw frisbees around. I goof off endlessly and see humor in situations where others don’t.

It also helps to find a kindred spirit so I’ll leave you with one last example. I had a co-worker who would laugh and roll her eyes at some of my kid-like behavior but she would also join in my antics. One time we were leaving work and walking to our cars in the parking lot. As it happened our vehicles were parked directly next to each other and so I naturally challenged her to a race to our cars…..she rolled her eyes and remarked much to my dismay that she wasn’t going to accept my challenge and then a few seconds later she took off running shouting over her shoulder

“last one there is a rotten egg”…..

“you brat”….I yelled after her now trailing by a good 5 feet, a distance I never made up as she arrived touching her car seconds before me. We stood there panting and laughing uncontrollably for at least a minute, each enjoying the others behavior before we climbed in our cars and headed home to our families to start adulting again. As I said before….it’s nice to find a kindred spirit.

So be a kid again….it’s fun and not very many others are doing it so you’ll stand out and maybe bring back some wonderful memories of days gone by

Peace and Love…..like, share, comment or subscribe and thanks for stopping by

Daily writing prompt

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

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This may seem surprising as I sit here at my keyboard typing this, but most people don’t know that I write. To be fair I didn’t really start writing this blog until about 5 years ago, and I really didn’t tell a whole lot of people when I started. It was never my intention to have a huge following so I only told a few close friends and co-workers who I thought might be mildly interested. They were kind enough to humor me and read some of my postings. They gave me some positive feedback and I enjoyed doing it so I continued.

Nobody in my extended family knew about my writing until only recently. It’s funny, those closest to you always think they know you best but yet that’s based upon how they view you from years ago. I’ve always been interested in writing but I never really felt I had the time to do it. I only started it because my son had reached an age where he no longer wanted to spend as much time with me on the weekends. He had reached an age where he was growing more independent and hanging out with his friends and being involved in school activities. So writing gave me an outlet, an outlet to be creative, to observe the world around me, to find humor in odd situations and put my own thoughts to them.

Some of my earliest writings were just observational humor…..I’ve written an inordinate amount of postings about grocery shopping….it’s my belief that the grocery store and the Department of Motor Vehicles are the two places where you see everybody in society, everybody you normally never see in your daily travels eventually ends up at the grocery store or the DMV. Which make them the perfect setting for finding odd situations, odd people and wonderful stories.

I also wrote an entire blog post about my love of Nutella and some interesting facts that I discovered about it. When I first started writing I made it a goal to write something once a month and for the most part I did for the first couple of years. Then I hit a dry spell where I hardly wrote at all and my wife questioned why I had a blog and why I paid for my site if I never actually wrote. And to be truthful I still don’t write as much as I would like. I still have a day job that leaves me too little time and I do kinda like to have a quiet area and be in just the right mood, but lately I’ve been paying attention to the daily writing prompts and I find it helps me to think creatively. At least now I’m writing about once a week.

Instead of writing just observational humorous type stories I started dabbling in some non-fiction. I wrote a Christmas story last year and the few people who read it seemed to enjoy it. Also I wrote a story about my father and the wonderful coincidence that happened to our family after he passed away and the story was published in a faith based book. Not only did my family discover that I write but it gave me more confidence to expose my writing to others. Now I actually want more people to read my blog and my stories. Maybe I’ve been bitten by the publishing bug but I want to try to get more stories published or at least try to publish them myself.

I’ve had a few friends tell me that I have a gift….I think they’re being overly kind but I also realize that not everyone writes, in fact it seems very few people write. I’ve always found it to be comforting. In school I was terrified of giving speeches or even book reports in front of my classmates and even today I don’t do well in front of large groups, perhaps that’s why I drive a truck around. Some of my best writing happens when I’m alone in my truck and my brain is just being creative and open. I often think I should turn on the voice notes on my phone and just let it all tumble out and listen to it later and try to make a story out of it. I think the key to writing is being open and honest…..something that is difficult for a lot of people in today’s society where it’s much easier to create a persona on social media and gain likes and followers based on a false image.

I believe that my writing shows that I’m not afraid to reveal vulnerability and weakness and I think people connect with my authentic nature and that’s part of the reason why they tell me I have a gift…..also they like my stories about grocery shopping.

Hit the like button and subscribe ….I really do want to reach more people with my writing

Peace and Love

Daily writing prompt

What have you been putting off doing? Why?

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I’m not a procrastinator but I definitely tend to put off things I don’t want to do. There are times when I’ve ignored a problem or task and it’s taken care of itself somehow. This has given me the idea that most problems just work themselves out without me having to do anything which is actually a bad habit to get into, and obviously this doesn’t always work out.

There’s a saying that goes…..once begun it’s half done…….and I kinda use that saying to get myself to start on a situation I’ve been putting off. I tend to not like confrontation so it’s very hard for me to begin something if I know that there will be a disagreement involved. I think that’s why I tend to let things go and use my philosophy of letting things work themselves out on their own.

Lately tho I’ve been putting off anything where I have to go online and set up a profile and establish a password. I hate all of it. I have a small book of passwords for all these different websites and I dislike the idea of creating another one. But I know this is the wave of the future as fewer companies actually mail documents to you anymore and everything becomes digital and paperless. I like holding something in my hand and reading it and then keeping it in a designated folder or throwing it away.

It is the one problem that I know won’t take care of itself and I will have to do it myself and I’ll have to get out my book of passwords and write down yet another one and hope I don’t lose it. I know this makes me sound old and I dislike that too, but I’m still not comfortable with a paperless society with everything on the computer or on my phone.

Peace and Love

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Daily writing prompt

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?

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My parents instilled in me a belief that hard work is a good thing. A strong work ethic was something to be proud of, something that other people would notice and respect. They believed that through hard work you can control your future, control how your life turns out. I remember as a kid working with my parents in the yard on the weekends cutting grass, raking leaves, trimming trees, painting the picket fence.

I would have friends stop by to see if I could go “play” or ride bikes. I would sheepishly have to tell them that I couldn’t, I was expected to help my parents. My parents believed there was a time to work and a time to play…..and work came before play.

Most of my friends seemed perplexed by this. I could only guess that they were not expected to help their parents as much as we were, and to be honest there were a lot of times I was angry with my parents for requiring me to help so much. There were times I felt I was missing out on whatever fun my friends were having and I think some of the time my parents did it so I wouldn’t be spending so much time just hanging out and getting into trouble with my friends. They figured if I was home working then they knew where I was and I wouldn’t be causing trouble in the neighborhood.

Of course now I appreciate the hard work they put into their lives and careers and the work ethic they instilled into me. I found a career I enjoy, I work hard and I’m compensated for my time which allows me to provide for my family and enjoy life as much as I can.

I read somewhere that men get more fulfillment out of completing tasks. They enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor, the end product. I must admit I enjoy a day of yard-work, seeing the grass freshly mowed, the hedges trimmed. I feel a sense of accomplishment after an afternoon of raking leaves. I often wonder if it’s the male DNA of me or the days spent helping my parents as a child.

Work fulfills me……do I day-dream of retirement and having more time for my hobbies and time to travel….of course I do. But that is still a ways away and even in retirement I’ll find something that seems like work but still gets me out of bed and gives me that sense of accomplishment and that exhausted feeling of knowing that I put in a day of work.

Comment, hit that like button and subscribe…..

Peace and Love

John

Daily writing prompt

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

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I don’t even remember where I heard this. It wasn’t from my parents or a teacher I had in school. It wasn’t from a mentor I had in one of my jobs….I just heard it somewhere.

The best piece of advice I ever heard was…..just show up.

It’s amazing what good things can happen when you just show up, and it applies to so many situations.

When I was in college just going to class every day put me ahead of everyone else who didn’t.

When I started working I learned that by just showing up you learn how to do the job on a daily basis, and you show your superiors you can be depended upon. My parents instilled in me a strong work ethic and a commitment to the people I work with. Now don’t misunderstand me, if I’m sick I take a sick day, but just not going to work because I don’t feel like it or it’s a sunny Friday…nope that doesn’t happen. I would feel I would be letting down my employer and my co-workers who would have to cover for me.

Also when the boss asks who can take on another task….be that person who volunteers to do it, and if it’s something you’ve never done before you’ll probably learn a new skill and show the boss your willing to have more responsibility.

So just show up and do your job…you’ll be way ahead of those people who constantly seem to need days off….you know who I’m talking about.

Comment or hit that like button and subscribe if you like my writing

Peace and Love

John