My paper copy In-Box is always overflowing, much of it with now useless stuff. Recently I decided to clean it out. That’s when I came across a copy of a March 2013 post from my friend Bob Lowery at satisfyingretirement.blogspot.com. The post was an interview about my life as a deaf person. As I scanned the copy, it came to me that I have never … Continue reading An In-Depth Story about One of My Disabilities…Part 1
Except to investigate the possibility of being officially diagnosed as an Aspie, I have never been to a psychologist or therapist. But, I kinda do the same thing here on RJsCorner. I talk about what makes me depressed and how I am handling them. I talk about things that get me out of bed in the morning, that I am ready to tackle. Blogging, especially … Continue reading Blogging Is Therapeutic…
To officially start out this new project of the Philosophy of Life I need to set a few things straight. I have no intention of giving you a dissertation on philosophy. You will not learn the many branches of philosophy, nor will you be exposed to many of the terms used. Instead, I will give you a down-to-earth lighthearted Will Rogers style look at the … Continue reading Philosophy of Life#6 – Getting Started With Socrates
I used to have a round To-it, but I seem to have misplaced it. But, I do have a crystal ball, as shown above. It is part of my collection of glass orbs. I am simply fascinated by the art of glassblowing, so I have visited many such sites around the country. But, this particular ball came from Amazon. Of course, you know they have … Continue reading EPS#5 – A Round To_it & A Crystal Ball.
I have been busy lately with my trip planning and other such things and just haven’t had time to do a sketching lesson! Shame on me! I promise to get one done next week. So, how about just an artsy picture for today. This one was taken during my trip across the Gulf Coast States a few months ago. I have no idea what it … Continue reading Artsy Saturday – Just A Pic??
I simply don’t know what the world will look like, even in five years time. Given the “pitchfork” mentality that has struck so many of us in the U.S., I kinda wonder if something that happened starting about 200 years ago will do a flip-flop. Will people start migrating back to Europe to escape what the U.S. will soon become? I know Europe is facing … Continue reading Reverse Migration…
I don’t know specifically why Mystic Connecticut got on my life’s bucket list, but I think it has something to do with the 1988 movie Mystic Pizza. I was in my second year of marriage to my lovely bride, and still couldn’t imagine why she loved me as she did. My dating life bordered on tragic. Then she came along and loved me for who … Continue reading On-The-Road: Fall of 2022- Mystic CT
Henry Ford’s assembly lines certainly accelerated the age of automation and expanded the middle class to a level unheard of before its invention. That was a good and a bad thing at the same time. It increased the number of goods available to almost every one, but it also created a mass of people who were basically turned into brainless machines who did the same … Continue reading Blame It All On Henry Ford
I don’t think there is a chef alive that doesn’t welcome a new recipe. In that vein, I want to share some of my personal favorites with our RetCom chef. I will be doing that over time. I don’t want to flood him with them all at once. So, in the first post on this new subcategory “Making Things Better”, I give you and my … Continue reading RetComLife: Greekish Salad
Before I get started here, I guess I should say a little about the title of this post. It comes from a song in a 1966 movie and is about the most basic questions in life. It was sung by many artists including Dionne Warwick, Cher, and others. If you are currently bored with what you are doing or just want to see the lyrics … Continue reading Philosophy of Life#5 – What’s It All About, Alfie…
This might seem like a strange picture to base a story on, but it has a lot of memories for me. A couple of weeks before our 32nd wedding anniversary in 2018, my wife proclaimed that she wanted to go see Punxsy Phil. In case you forgot he is the groundhog that determines whether we have an early Spring. It had been a couple of … Continue reading EPS#4 – Going To See Punxsy
Let’s set up a common format for these sketching posts here on Artsy Saturday-Sketching. Just giving you the lessons I covered during the week would be, well, BORING. So, I want to spice it up a bit with some artful meandering stories of whatever pops into my mind while composing each weekly post. Also, I have decided to skip the numbering of the posts. If … Continue reading Artsy Saturday – Baby Steps
The title is the most fundamental part of life for all of us. But, what we do with that middle part is mostly up to us. My sagely wisdom after 75 years of life is to appreciate everything that comes along, both the good and the not-so-good.☺︎ Too many of us go about living our lives focusing on the high points. Yes, they do come … Continue reading You’re Born, You Live, And Then You Die
My retirement community apartment is just across from the assisted living wing. When I open my curtains every morning and close them every night, the window forty feet away has a person watching a news channel. I can’t tell which channel, but watching any of them for so many hours each day is certainly very detrimental to your life. If you are constantly exposed to … Continue reading Being Bombarded By The Same Message…
As I get older, the world around me seems to disappoint me more and more. Part of that is due to an extreme narcissist who has conned so many people who would never dream of thinking for themselves, that he is the answer to all our problems. But, the other part is people just seem to get dumber a dumber as each year passes. Maybe, … Continue reading The Only World That Won’t Disappoint…
I came across an article over at the Medium a while back that kinda struck a nerve. The title was as above. Yeah, I do kinda think that I am meaner than I used to be. It’s just that I have always lived with the idea that as time goes by we, as a society should constantly improve. Quite frankly, it pisses me off what … Continue reading Why Old People Are Mean?
I’m going to kinda change tracks for this Philosophy Monday to discuss the Christian Bible. But, there is a serious connection, which I will end up talking about. During my eight-year serious study of the Bible I read it from cover-to-cover three times. The Book of James ended up being my favorite mainly because of its emphasis on works, not faith alone was what Jesus … Continue reading Philosophy Of Life: The Difference Between Theology And Philosophy
For this week’s “Every Picture Has A Story”, I give you Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough. The story behind the picture is very emotional for me. I don’t really remember when I first saw the picture above, but it immediately drew me in. It was just something about all the crude swirls. When I read about Van Gough’s life the hook went in deeper. … Continue reading EPS#3 – Starry Night & A Mini Meltdown
For this Artsy Saturday let’s step back and look at the broader view of things. Artsy Saturday is a part of the trilogy of new projects I am starting at RJsCorner. The banner above shows the other two. For the most part, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays are now dedicated to becoming a better artist, storyteller, and thinker. Part of my “Never Stop Learning” mantra is … Continue reading About Artsy Saturdays (and other such things)
Yesterday’s post was about one of the two things I am doing to basically change where I am going with RetComLife. Today’s post is the second shoe I don’t want to be one of those people who simply complains about things, but yes, I do find many things to complain about here on RJsCorner. One of the categories that houses the most complaints is likely … Continue reading RetComLife – The Second Shoe – Making Things Better
I now have over 40 posts in the category of RetComLife (retirement community life), so I have decided to now forego the numbers in the title line. My RetComLife posts up until now, have been about the “dos and don’ts” and possible choices of selecting a place to live in our senior years, or finding the right place for a loved one. After much search, … Continue reading RetComLife – Stories About Fitting In (aka becoming one of the gang)
The last ten years of my wife’s life, I was in the caretaker mode. That became a bigger burden as the years went by. Towards the end I started dreaming of being able to use the rest of my life as I finally wanted. But, now that more than a year has passed since her death, I have come to realize that She wasn’t holding … Continue reading I Thought She Was Holding Me Back…
I have let you know at least a couple of times that one of the things I enjoy the most about my RetCom (retirement community) is the three-quarter-mile walkway that runs along the perimeter of the property. One reason is that it gives me daily cardio-exercise. The other is that it gives me time to think, really think. To go along with my new special … Continue reading The Thing About Walks…
At first glance philosophy appears for the most part to be esoteric. It is mysterious, cryptic, and obscure. Some of the things that are debated make no sense at all. But, then along comes something that is essential to our existence. I just went through a book by Bertrand Russell entitled The Problems of Philosophy. In that book, he shows some of what I think … Continue reading Philosophy of Life #4 – Is Philosophy Esoteric?
The Story – Calming The Savage Beast My late wife was a picture puzzle addict from the get go. Over our 35-year marriage, there was almost no time that there wasn’t picture puzzle pieces strewn across her “puzzle table”. Yes, she had a table specifically in her hobby room for that purpose. Frequently during those 35 years she tried to convince me to take up … Continue reading EPS #2 – Every Picture Has a Story… A Picture In Pieces
The title of this post sounds kind of mysterious, doesn’t it? But it has a lot to do in the practice of sketching. Let’s talk about that first, then some exercises. This week I got through the 39 pages of the book. The first part was about the mental side of sketching. Liron, the author, assured me that I can learn to be a passable … Continue reading Artsy#4 – Sketching Is A Mind Game…
I am a forward thinker, and rarely a status-quo type guy. That often gets me in trouble here at my retirement community. All of my life I have been in the “Mr. Fix-It” mode. I am always looking to how to make things better. In my mind, there is no situation that can’t stand improvement. I think many of us baby boomers grew up with … Continue reading RetComLife – I Am A Forward Thinker…
They say that envy is one of the most common emotions. There is even a commandment about it. I never thought of myself as having envy, but in reality I have probably lived with it most of my life, and sometimes it even seems to drive my life. Except for my electronic gadgets, I am not much of a “things” person, so I don’t envy … Continue reading I Am Secretly Covered With Envy…
In the last year, I have spent a lot of time trying to discover the source of happiness, or maybe it is the source of unhappiness. Solve one and the other solves itself. I have even put out a ten-post series on the subject. Many of my other current focuses are indirectly related to this search. I know that China is not so much in … Continue reading The Real Secret To Happiness
I recently read a post over at TheMedium.com where the author stated nine reasons why Neurotypicals (NT) don’t like people with Autism. I don’t really agree with her basic premise that most NTs just don’t like us. Yes, I do come across some of those types, but for the most part, NTs just don’t care to know much about us. They have enough troubles of … Continue reading Oh, Poor Misunderstood Me…
Let’s start off this post with a broad definition of philosophy. At its core philosophy literally means “The Love of Wisdom”. In its broadest sense it is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, and the world in which they live. That seems to be at the core of RJsCorner, so maybe I am a philosopher? 😎 I certainly … Continue reading Philosophy Of Life #3 – Just What Is Philosophy?
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