Walter Mitty's World

I do not know if I am boring but I can tell you I am hardly ever bored. Somehow a very long time ago I learned how to keep my mind busy. Maybe I'm simple minded but it apparently doesn't take much to amuse me. I don't mind being alone. I'm not a lonely person.

It certainly helps that I enjoy reading so my mind is often occupied reading something even if it is just the back of the cereal box. My curiosity tends to keep my mind active as well as possessing a healthy imagination
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Visually I'm always scanning, noticing the environment surrounding me. I admit to being an avid people watcher, not critical more quizzical. In airports, I'll make up little stories about people, where they might be going and extrapolate regarding their traveling companions
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I'll make a further distinction that my mind is not obsessed with worried thoughts. Actually there is a large portion of randomness and free association that often prevails. I'm always having internal conversations with myself and humor is often on the edge of whatever thoughts my mind generates. I'm not afraid of my thoughts and just about anything is fair game. Once in awhile I shock myself but since it is just me and my thoughts I'm not likely to get myself in any trouble as long as I know it's not reality.

The difficult task is to remain in the" here and now " and to be careful not to over intellectualize. Being present is a wonderful place to be and life can be as interesting as I choose to make it.So I may be a bit of a day dreamer at times but that does not mean that I am preoccupied with my own thoughts to the extent I miss what is going on.

Okay, so I know I'm a bit weird sometimes......but usually harmless.

Flash from the past

Not everyone is engaged to technology. There are more and more people though regardless of age who are growing more comfortable with using the computer for recreational purposes. I have a few acquaintances who use their computer all day at work and so do not really have much of an interest in sitting in front of the screen and keyboard to catch up with friends on facebook or blog. "Not everyone has a blog. Oh really?"

I recently ran across a site which involved the hometown I grew up in and there were several people on facebook that I was able to remember from my childhood and from the old neighborhood. It was great fun catching up. This led to my coming upon a site for my old high school where you just type in the year you graduated and "poof" there it all is. Many female classmates that married no longer have their maiden name anymore but with a little detective work I was able to determine that one of my friends from high school was listed. We grew up together all the way back in grammar school and used to occasionally engage in our own form of mischief and rights of passage. We pierced eachother's ears and she taught me how to shave my legs for the first time.

I decided to take a chance and contact her via facebook and it was her. We grew apart as friends around 7th or 8th grade when she began to hang around with a much older group of kids and I had not quite gained that level of maturity or interest yet in the opposite sex. We were always friendly towards each other but just began to move in different circles. These things happen. She never attended any of the high school reunions that I managed to get to so there was always a bit of mystery about how her life might have turned out. When I would get together with old friends whom I remained close with since childhood invariably her name would come up when we would talk about old times but no one knew what happened to our old friend Gloria.

Now we have begun to catch up a bit with each other and I have also given her the names of a few of our old pals on facebook and we're all connecting again. Her life is not any different than mine, the usual work, kids, family, etc. Nostalgia is a great thing. We're talking about maybe arranging to meet for lunch with a few other old friends when my travel plans include a trip "home".

True or False?

A Blogger friend at http://thunderfromaquietstorm.blogspot.com recently received a tag to post 5 quirky characteristics about himself that are outlandish but true and one of those is false. Despite pleas,you are never supposed to divulge which one is false. Here are mine, there are many others too numerous to mention:

1. I was once engaged to my best friend's brother.
2. I am geographically challenged, cannot name all the united states nor their proper locations.
3. When I was a small child I went thru a phase where all I would eat was tuna fish.
4. I can whistle thru my fingers.
5. I have a tattoo of a Husky dog on my butt.

She Doesn't Travel Light

I'm not one to throw a few things in an overnight bag and breeze out the door for a weekend getaway. All contingencies must be prepared for; warm weather or cool temps, rain or sunshine. Every ensemble must be planned with matching accessories and shoes of course.

I have improved though with mixing and matching specific color schemes. Sometimes I'll choose a few basic neutral color pieces of clothing and then build around those, however then layering becomes a challenge. I seem to get carried away. Must have short sleeves and long sleeves, be prepared for changes in the weather and temperature fluctuations.

My exasperated mate wobbles his pate with resignation and hides the involuntary eye roll so as not to display disdain, but more likely a restrained sentiment of confusion."Why do you need to bring so much stuff ?" My lament is "I just have to!"

If I wear a red jersey I must have matching shoes. Doesn't everyone? I have a female friend who shares the same affliction and we understand each other while our husbands feel like lackeys or porters wrestling multiple suitcases. My lady friend and I compliment each other on our attire as we merrily go on our way to buy more shoes while the men go golfing. Hey they tote those big golf bags around so what's the difference.

One Year Anniversary of Blogging

It's amazing how fast a year can come and go. The one year anniversary of my blog has arrived and I am making note of the occasion to reflect back on some of the year's activities.
The first post I wrote was "Ten Things I Dislike About Brad and Angelina". I haven't changed my mind about anything I wrote that day yet some of my cohorts were a bit taken aback by my vitriolic display of negativity. I guess one of my reasons for starting the blog was to have my own forum to say what ever I wanted and that is basically what I've been doing. You can't write honestly if you care too much what other people think.
I haven't been able to observe any trends or themes which I was somewhat surprised about really. There appears to be attempts at a sense of humor which probably took a bit of effort to compose. I'm not known for my spontaneous wit but there are times when I think I'm quite funny. My post about "License Plate Slogans" had some humor to it as did "Innies and Outies and "My List of Lists".
When I decided to initiate my blog the title "Confessions Of A Hope Fiend" was borrowed from Timothy Leary's book of the same title . I do see myself mostly as an optimist and wanted to express some of my thoughts, feelings, and ideas. It was never my intent really to write for anyone else except myself. If you start to allow yourself to get too distracted by what other people think about your writing it changes things. I think I've stayed rather true to that but admittedly my candor is more on the mild side and I haven't taken that many risks. This has lead me to consider starting a third blog and keeping that totally anonymous but already having two blogs seems like it takes up enough of my time already without devoting more of my free time to the keyboard.
There really is no difference between "gaf 85" and "Confessions Of A Hope Fiend" they could probably be consolidated into one blog but since they are separate I 'm just going to leave it that way.
I've met some truly nice people whom I admire, especially their creativity, and honest self disclosure. It takes all kinds and I have enjoyed reading a cross section of other people's blogs.I still visit other blogs randomly from time to time however most of my activity revolves around the other bloggers who read my posts and I in turn read there's, basically forming a loose group of associates.
To all of you I say thank-you for all your constructive comments and sincerity in your responses to my posts. I guess I'll keep doing this awhile longer until I get bored with it at some point.

incongruity

While I'm out and about doing errands one of my usual stops is Walmart. Many people criticize their business practices and employing people for minimum wage keeping them under full time hours and not having to provide benefits. This is not what this post is about.

I live in St. Lawrence County which is rather rural, off the beaten path, with individuals tending to be hearty souls who brave very challenging winter weather and then are rewarded with (mostly) amazing summers and the Adirondack mountains in their backyard. There are a few subcultures including old hippies escaping the city life in the fast lane and enjoy hiking and the outdoors. Many of the locals continue to maintain small family dairy farms. Unemployment is staggeringly momentous and many young people leave the area for college and upon graduation choose somewhere else to live due to the lack of jobs. There are a few colleges in the area which at least provides some culture and opportunities. We also have an extraordinary number of prisons. What better place to dump society's miscreants.

As I ramble on here and make my point, we have a large Amish population which most of the local people are used to seeing on a fairly regular basis and are very casual about their presence in the community. Motorists slow their cars down not so much to gawk but to give them a little extra safe distance to steer their horse and buggy down the road. For awhile they were patronizing a little convenience store a few miles away and the owner of the store asked them to shovel the horse droppings while parked in the lot. Apparently a misunderstanding developed and the poops were not picked up so the owner banned them from his parking lot. It made the local newspaper. I think alot of people thought the Amish should pick up their horses's crap.

Since I am a regular but guilty patron of the big box store known as Walmart the first time I observed the Amish in Walmart I was a bit taken aback. What could they possibly be buying? Let's face it most everything in the store reeks of consumerism and plastic which seems counter to their basic beliefs of rejecting modern society.Although curious, I kept a respectful casual distance, not making direct eye contact. There was a teenage Amish boy wearing a straw hat in the greeting card section checking out the wrapping paper and bows. What occasion could possibly warrant his interest? They don't observe any "English" holidays I am aware of so who knows what that's about until a little while later I encountered an older Amish women whose age I could not discern because her bonnet shielded most of her face and she was in the aisle looking at pain relievers, Tylenol and Motrin. So was I. I need my Tylenol Arthritis to keep some of my aches and pains at bay as needed. She did not seem unfamiliar with the products and knew what she was doing so I guess Amish people medicate with over the counter medicine.

I wonder if they scoop their horse's poop out of the parking lot while visiting Walmart or if some young kid who chases the shopping carts has to go out there with a shovel and perform the task? I bet the young kids who take turns out in the parking lot fight over whose turn it is to remove the equine droppings?

Everyone is from somewhere

There are a multitude of reasons why people move from one location to another just as there is a myriad of reasons some people choose to live close to where they were born. Society of course is now much more mobile and international involving patterns of migration and immigration. Oops, we're talking about humans here not animals.

I grew up in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, which while a kid I assumed was the center of the universe. I lived within a small community which was rather homogeneous with few visible signs of minorities, religious, cultural or otherwise. I was aware that certain ethnic groups had their predictable stereotyping, however grew up somewhat insulated within a Catholic upbringing where most people were of European descent. It was only later in life that I began to realize how self reinforcing it can be living amongst the same type of people as myself with only small amounts of variance. Middle class people living in a similar environment can be rather featureless in the larger picture of things.

When people make a decision to move away from what's familiar to them they take the inherent risk of experiencing something different than what they might be used to.It may involve a job opportunity somewhere else, moving to a different climate, or being near (or away) from family.Relationships may also be a factor, wanting to live near someone we love or the hope of romance and socialization.

Such a melting pot our country has become, although I'm fairly certain there remain some isolated areas that do not experience much change. When moving into a new community it is an adjustment trying to figure out how the locals do things. I'm a dead give away because of my accent. I often get comments "you're not from around here are you?" When I encounter people who grew up in the south I often have a difficult time understanding them if they have a thick accent. I think it is probably challenging for southerners to move to other areas of the country without being noticed as talking different. I think I kind of know how they feel. It must also be rather noticeable when a "Yankee" moves down south.

Do people ever develop that deep sense of loyalty and identification to a region they move to in adulthood after growing up somewhere else? Although I have resided in northern New York for 24 years I still feel like a transplant and unless you were born and raised "here" you'll always be considered an outsider by people who have generational longevity. So when someone asks me where I'm from I say I live in northern New York but grew up in the suburbs of Boston.