Fitting in is a cultural expectation. From birth, we are told that this is the way you get along with others. It starts with your parents telling you how to behave, and, if you let it, it continues throughout your life. We are told you must wear a mask and hide who you really are so that you fit in. I have been doing a … Continue reading Fitting In…
I read an article in the New York Times last week with the title above. I have let it be known here on RJsCorner that I don’t think they really thought out putting Asperger’s Syndrome into the Autism Spectrum. To me, that attached everything bad and nothing good. But, it was easier, at least for the deciders. I think the same thing goes here with … Continue reading How Long Should It Take To Grieve?
For this Sunday, I give you fire and brimstone. I don’t know what brimstone is, but I probably deserve a lot of it. I have made it clear here on RJsCorner that I am no longer religious, but I am an avid follower of the teachings of Jesus. I know I have fallen short of his words, but at least I think I do better … Continue reading Fire And Brimstone…
The inspiration for this image came from a picture I took a few years ago at the Fort Wayne IN “Feast of the Hunter’s Moon”. This was one of the events that had the most people “in costume” . These young ladies were a perfect example. Continue reading Getting Into Costume
Yesterday, I talked about the John Steinbeck book Travels with Charlie – In Search Of America and how it has affected me for all my travel life. I have always dreamed of making a similar trip and that is about to become reality. The trip itself will start on May 2, but I will spend much of April giving you stories about my preparation for … Continue reading 60 Years In The Making…
By featuring this book as its own post I think I have made it abundantly clear how it has influenced me during my traveling life. I originally read this book in 1962, soon after it was published and have re-read it about a half-dozen times since then. In 1962, I was in the middle of my high school years. That was the time when I was … Continue reading Travels With Charlie
The picture above looks like it might have come from a SciFi movie. I do like those, but it actually came from my wife’s screen door to her hobby room. She was fascinated by bugs, as long as they weren’t too close. 🥴 If anyone can identify it I will add it to the caption of the photo. Bugs just aren’t my thing… Continue reading SciFi??
This post will be about the benefits of traveling. I am now knee-deep in the process of preparing for my first farewell tour, which will be into the South, and Southwest of our great country. When I am starting such a focused project I like to step back and ask “why am I doing this?” That question helps me to keep things in perspective and … Continue reading About Traveling…
I found this at the Mississinewa re-enactment in 2020. Little did I know that that would be the last event of that I would attend for almost two years. Getting to the point of this post, I wonder if any of you know the name of this instrument? To give you a further hint, below is the full picture of the guy using it. Continue reading What The Heck!
I know I am no longer surrounded by forests, but I still found some signs of Spring right outside my patio door here in my retirement community. The birds still haven’t picked off all of last year’s crop of tiny crab apples, but more are on the way. I hope this Spring is without the masks of the previous two. Continue reading Signs of Spring
Most of my photo portfolio now resides on Amazon Photos. Every morning they email me pictures I have taken on that day in years past. This one was taken on March 25, 2013 looking out my patio door! Don’t get too anxious for Spring 😎 Continue reading Don’t Get Too Anxious
Ignorance is bliss, but it’s also a hand grenade waiting for the pin to be pulled. I am excruciatingly tiring of all the bad news that seem to be all around us these days. I can’t wait for a day to go by where the news media don’t mention the word “Trump”. I can’t wait for the virus to fade into the background, and where … Continue reading Ignorance Is Bliss, But…
Some people go through life with little or no changes. They live in the house they inherited from their parents. They have never been away from the area they grew up. Change just doesn’t happen to them, UNTIL IT DOES… Adjusting to serious unexpected changes tests the metal of all of us. How we respond to those events is up to each of us. I … Continue reading Adjusting To Unexpected Changes…
I was barely a teenager when I discovered several of my fundamental lifelong heroes. They were people who spoke to me at a very deep level. Their words moved me. I’m sure my early infatuation with them drove me to be the person I am. I didn’t know it at the time, but they would stick to me throughout my life. They all seemed to … Continue reading My Heroes In Life Say Something About Who I Am
The phrase above was first published in 1602 as the first line of an anonymous poem in Francis Davison’s anthology Poetical Rhapsody. I don’t remember the first time I heard that phrase, but I have come to realize that, at least for me, it is very true. My wife died about eight months ago, but I still think a lot about her. I will admit that … Continue reading Absence Makes The Mind Grow Fonder…
I have to warn you up front that his post is kinda surreal, so hang on. If the title above doesn’t show you that this post is bizarre then let me tell you it is a fictional town full of fictional people. Why would I want to adopt a town? That is what this post is all about. Before I get into the main topic … Continue reading I Have Adopted A Town
If you are not the author of your story, who will be? No, one knows you better than you do. I make it a point here on RJsCorner to tell my story, flaws and all. It doesn’t embarrass me that I am not anywhere close to perfect. In fact, I am quite flawed and have squandered much of my life because of lost opportunities. I … Continue reading Be The Author Of Your Story??
The inspiration for this pic came from a wedding present some 40 years ago. I still treasure it after all these years. Continue reading Life Is A Bowl Of Cherries
When I moved into the small rural town that become my home twenty-one years ago, I was proud to proclaim that I was no longer a big-city guy. When I went back to church after a twenty-year absence I was proud to proclaim that I was part of a congregation once again. But then, everything sort of changed. The last nail in rural/church life coffin … Continue reading Small Towns…. And Churches, Have Changed
I am now starting to plan for my farewell tour, but let me explain. I am taking my µRV on a “John Steinbeck – Travels with Charlie” type trip. I read that book for the first time as a teenager, and it thoroughly hooked me on Steinbeck novels. Before I left my teenage years I had read all his books. As I mentioned in a … Continue reading My Farewell Tour?
Vicariously is not a word I often use here on RJsCorner, but it has been entrenched in my being from a very early age. I began life as a very dysfunctional kid in an ultra-dysfunctional family. I didn’t know that at the time, wisdom showed me that fact much later. I know I am not unique in this situation, everybody has their own story, but … Continue reading Vicariously … (800 Words)
We all set out to control the moments that shape our destiny. Once in a while that happens, but mostly it doesn’t. No matter how much we plan it just doesn’t happen. I love the quote People Plan, God Laughs For the most part, I believe that our destinies happen on their own schedule, and often not even close to the way we thought they … Continue reading Destiny
I am trying to expand my creative side here at RJsCorner, beyond text that is. I caught a picture of this young lady one dewey morning at my old homestead. (click on the pic if you want to see a larger view). Continue reading A Doe In The Dew
I read a recent article over at The Medium about people, like me, who refuse to give up the Aspie label and be dumped into the ocean wide autism spectrum. Here is a quote from that article. (Click HERE to see the rest) The Asperger’s class is overwhelmingly white people who have been given enough advantage to turn a profit on what they couldn’t stop … Continue reading Hanging On To The Asperger Label
My father was one of those people who just didn’t want to think about death. He would almost leave the room whenever that topic came up. He was two years older than I am now when his end came. He just didn’t like the idea of walking through the valley of death. I, on the other hand am thoroughly attuned to these times being my … Continue reading Walking Through The Valley Of Death…
For some reason, history is on my mind, so let’s start off where we finished yesterday. Let’s face it, our founding fathers do not live up to current standards in many of today’s regards. Most were slaveholders who had little or no respect for those who had been kidnapped from their African countries to do their manual labor. In fact, one, and probably many, of … Continue reading Using Perspective When Reviewing History
I am a history nut. I have read many more books on the subject than even I can remember. My main interest is U.S. history, but other countries have also been in my purview. From experience, I have learned that there is never just one version of history. I know that the term “history is written by the victors” has serious meaning, and in some … Continue reading Rewriting History…
I want to tell you a little story about my retirement community home. Due to Omicron, they shut down the “sit and wait” dining room service in February and replaced it with a cafeteria type carry-out service. That proved to be almost ideal for me, as I don’t have to make every meal here an uncomfortable social event. Due to my Aspie traits I don’t … Continue reading RetComLife #30 – The Lucy Moment…
I thought I had resolved to thinking of my Aspie traits as just being part of the autism spectrum. With that resolution, I was ready to move forward and start advocating for autism in general. But, I was wrong. I am just too uncomfortable with throwing Aspergers into the autism ocean. I just don’t see the benefits of doing that for us Aspies. When I … Continue reading Having Aspie Traits Is Not A Handicap Or A Disorder
When I left my very forested homestead last year, I thought I was giving up the pleasure of seeing my feathered friends. Well, not quite. I have a couple of trees outside my second-floor patio doors. This picture was taken a week or so ago. I was wondering if some birds would ever come to get the crab apples, or whatever they are, left from … Continue reading Another Sign Of Spring
I am approaching the end years of my life, and as a result, I am yet again contemplating “why I am here?”. I have always been concerned that maybe all I am doing is sucking air. I know I have done some notable things, but I still get the feeling that there is “something” out there that I am still supposed to do. I think … Continue reading Looking For The Greater Meaning… Perhaps There Is None
I have been a planner all of my life. For some reason, that has been a basic part of who I am. Maybe it is the fact that I like to think I have the answers to my life, but sometimes you just have to catch them out of the air. Some people call that praying to God. To others, it is something altogether different. … Continue reading Just Catch Them Out Of The Air…
There are too many in this world today who are fixated on being “right”. They grab onto one thought and cling to it as if they would die without it. Of course, that goes very much against my mantra Question Everything, Think For Yourself, Never Stop Learning If life were only that simple. If everything could be neatly put in the “right” or “wrong” box … Continue reading QUESTION EVERYTHING, Including Yourself
I have decided that starting today, I am pausing my scheduled weekly posts and just writing about what I am feeling each day. That is, I will be treating RJsCorner as what its title says as a daily journal of “Having My Say”. I will put away much of the reference material I have collected for informative stories and just write from my gut. I … Continue reading Taking A Different Path…
As far as I am concerned, everyone wears a mask. It is just the way we cope in the world. I have read so many articles in the last few months from those who have autism about wanting to tear off their mask and become their “real” selves. If everybody did that, the world would become totally unhinged and chaos would likely become the norm. … Continue reading Unmasked vs Unhinged.
Just a simple picture for this Saturday. It was taken 13 years ago today at our 21-year homestead. We were surrounded by hundred-year-old oak trees that were home for too many birds and other critters to count. This little guy and his clan made daily trips to the yard feeder. I miss him… Continue reading Simplicity…
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