Author: RJ Walters

I am a guy who has a lot of interests. One of the biggest is blogging about my view of the world and the times we live in. I live a joyous life of a nuanced skeptic. I also happen to be deaf and have some rather distinctive Aspie traits. Because of my life experiences I have a pretty unique view of the world that you may find interesting, maybe even enlightening.

Seeking a Joyous Journey – “Seeking”

RJ Walters

For this joyous journey post I am going to tell you another secret. I know I might be getting myself in trouble here giving you all my secrets too early and not have more to share later. But personally I don’t think that will ever happen. 🙂

I suspect that at least 95% of you are totally unaware of the tweaking I have been doing to the “Joyous Journey” project. I think I finally have the title in the header above where I want it. The word that I was seeking all long was in fact the word “Seeking”. That perfectly caps off my way I am approaching the subject of having a joyous journey during these retirement years.

Forgive me but I want to go off on a little tangent here to make my point. There are some brands of Christianity, maybe more that I fully realize that believe that Christianity is a very passive religion. I know, I was in one of them for more years than I want to realize. Their version of Christianity goes something like this: All you have to do is proclaim the right words and your getting to heaven is guaranteed. Just say the words which start off with “I believe…” and then go on with your life as you please. Then when you die you are automatically ushered to heaven.

I can’t tell you how wrong I think that practice is. Christianity is very much a active thing. You must take to heart the words of Jesus, and then spend every day of the rest or your life trying to put them into daily practice. Some days you might just succeed and other you might fail miserably, but you MUST keep trying.

Finally, getting back to the point of this post, having a joyous journey through life, especially in our senior years, means you are constantly seeking what gives you joy and discarding what doesn’t. You will never have a joyous journey any time in your life if you just sit back and wait for it to come to you. Doing nothing is an absolute guarantee that your joyous life will never happen. You will also never have a joyous journey if you make that goal all about you.

I can certainly attest that most of my joyous time in my senior years occured while I was serving others and I mean that quite literally. I spent eleven years of my retirement life volunteering at a local soup kitchen preparing and serving meals to those less fortunate than me. The friends I made there gave me a very joyous life.

You can’t just sit back and wait for a joyous life, you must continually seek it out.

Dear Church

RJ Walters
Click the Source below to see the entire post

The Exodus has begun …

it’s not going to stop…

People are leaving and & not coming back…

People are leaving you because you are silent right now in ways that matter to them…

The singular thing you can offer them is a clear and unflinching voice that emulates the voice of Jesus…

Source: Dear Church, Here’s Why People Are Leaving – John Pavlovitz

Alternative Reflections – Drummer Boy

RJ Walters

The foundation of this Alternate Reflections post is a photo from my recent visit to the Vincennes Rendezvous. He was part of a drum and fiffe corp. Why I singled him out here is because the drum was almost as big as he was. But, when he struck it with fury even I could hear (or at least feel) it.

Here is to you my friend. I look forward to seeing you again if a few years. Maybe by then you will have grown to oversize the drum you proudly play.

Joyous Journey Rule #8 – Take the Dark Side In Small Doses

RJ Walters

The dark side of life is kind of like a black hole, or maybe a Venus fly trap, it can suck you into its depths. and won’t let you go. If that happens there is no way for you to even fully dream of a joyous life.

I must admit that much of the news from the world today is “dark side material”. Especially when it comes to politics. There just seems to be nothing good happening there recently.

We shouldn’t drop out entirely from our political processes, but instead we need to take them in small doses. Kinda like a drone level view. But one thing we do HAVE to do is to turn out on Election Day 2020 to have our collective say on who we want to lead our country, and maybe secondarily how long we want it to survive.

Rule #8 – Take The Dark Side in Small Doses.

Introducing … RJs Reviews

RJ Walters

I seem to be full of creative ideas lately. I don’t know why but I want to preserve them when I can. So I am hereby introducing yet another category at RJsCorner.

As you can see from the new banner, it will be where I want to encourage you to read up on the subject more. But, I realize your time with me here on RJsCorner is pretty limited, so I will give you the suggestion in 50 words or less. Let me explain a little further. My Snippet posts are where I give you my words about the topic.

For upcoming RJsReviews, the words will be taken from the source article with no additions by me.

When a RJsReview is posted, if you want to see more just click on the identified source to see the whole article.

I promise I will limit this new project to topics that will not raise your blood pressure too much, but I hope they do get you to thinking about the subject at hand and maybe studying it a little more.

The Next Battery

RJ Walters

It seems that almost everything now is powered by batteries and everything that isn’t has a USB port to charge up batteries. Those of you who have been around long enough know that every few years a new generation of batteries is developed. There were alkaline batteries, then Nicad batteries and now there are Lithium-Ion batteries. Each generation of battery is better than the last generation but they never seem to catch up with the ever increasing demand for more power.

Our electronics, while they consume less power per task than they used to, continue to evolve in power and need more and smaller sources to drive them. From what I have read recently the next generation of batteries is on the horizon. Here is a quote from the article:

New research out of a Columbia University Engineering team, via phys.org, has uncovered a method to stabilize solid electrolytes in lithium metal, a.k.a solid-state batteries. Utilizing a boron nitride nano-coating can produce batteries that offer up to 10 times the charge capacity of graphite based Li-ion batteries. In addition, ceramic electrolytes often used in solid-state battery design are non-flammable, reducing safety concerns.

Source: https://www.androidauthority.com/solid-state-battery-978899/

Ten times the capacity and are finally non-flammable! Maybe that will meet our need for at least a few years. 🙂

Finishing this post off slightly off topic, I want to give you a short history lesson about electricity. In the early days, meaning the late 1800s there was a battle for what would be the standard for distributing electricity. It was similar to what has happened recently, well at least my recently, between BetaMax and VHS. Edison started the distribution scheme with DC electricity, but since it could not be transmitted more that a few miles it required power stations in almost every neighborhood. Along came Tesla. No, I am not talking about the auto manufacturer who simply borrowed his name, I am talking about the one who invented AC electricity. The very distinct advantage of AC is that it can be transmitted for almost unlimited distances. Long story short, Tesla won. But, given what the future might be, maybe not.

Now that alternative energy source are getting a major market share, it won’t be long before individual households with have the own power generating capabilities and that power will be DC electricity. Finally getting to the point here, when batteries are able to store the household energy everything will likely turn to DC powered. I don’t know how long that will take but I for one can certainly see it as a reality.

Seeking a Joyous Journey – Find Something

RJ Walters

I’m going to let you in on my secret of life.  It has taken me seven decades of continuous searching to discover this secret.

Find something you might enjoy and then do it.

But maybe the real secret is to find the things you don’t enjoy and get rid of them as soon as possible. Personally looking at the back end of the process, I have found that the most freeing time in life starts with your retirement from the working world. This is a time you are no longer shackled to that 9 – 5 job. You can do whatever you want. Don’t spend too much of it in procrastinating indecision. If you don’t know what you want just pick something and if that doesn’t work out then throw it away and try something else.

I have been retired from the corporate world almost twenty years now and I have tried scores of things that I thought might give me joy. I have settled on a half dozen or so that indeed make me jump out of bed in the morning, at least when my back and knees let me, to tackle each day! One of those things is, of course, RJsCorner. I can’t wait to browse the Internet each morning for things that catch my attention and might also be of interest to you. I can’t wait tohave my say about them. I can’t wait to give you some of the lessons I have learned in life.

But, RJsCorner it not my entire life. If I were to suddenly lose interest, which I can’t imagine doing right now, I could fill up the time I spend here with other things that also give me joy. Never get stuck in thinking that you have no options.