Month End Musings ~ July 2009

I've been thinkin' about . . .

Those messages you get when you call a utility or a credit card company informing you that their menu has recently changed. I don't believe that their menu has really changed at all.

Sounds. I've been thinking about sounds that sound better from a distance. Trains. If you live next to the train tracks, the whistle of the train--loud and harsh--is far removed from the sound heard from just a mile or two away where it is rendered romantic and stirs the imagination. And lawnmowers. The sound of a distant lawnmower doing its business on a Saturday morning is so much more appealing than the roar of the lawnmower whacking the blades on your own front lawn. And fireworks. Need I say more? And the slightly muffled sound of a dog barking a block or two away is much more pleasant than the incessant barking of the neighbor's dog.

The woman at Mass in the pew in front of me a few weeks ago who was writing out a check to pay a bill during Mass. Go figure.

Kids today. What do Moms do when it's time for dinner and little ________ (fill in your feminine name of choice) or little ________ (fill in your mascuine name of choice) isn't home? When I was growing up (or, as they say now, "back in the day"--a phrase I really do not like), my Mom opened the front door and called my name. And if I hadn't heard her, a playmate somewhere in the vicinity would inform me, "Hey, your Mom's callin' ya." Recalling my Mom calling me home (or recalling my friends' Moms calling them home) fills me with nostalgia. I suppose now kids are probably not outside but are at their computers or if they are outside, they have cellphones. I'll take "back in the day" any day.

The fact that five months from today I will officially be retired. That's pretty much all I think about. I don't want to. I don't think they want me to. But I must. It's been a long, long, long time. And it is time.

Rainier cherries. I'm thinking about them right now, and it is very late. Too late to eat cherries. And there are some in the refrigerator. I just discovered them at Safeway a few months ago. They are sublime. I guess retirement isn't all I think about. I think about those Rainier cherries quite a bit.

Furloughs. The California State University System is putting its employees on two-day-a-month furloughs. No work and no pay. Time to do other things. Perhaps good training for retirement. See what I mean. Retirement!

This lousy digital television revolution. What a pain. What next?

Sherlock Holmes. Watched one of the 45 minute British television episodes on PBS. Scary. Perhaps suspenseful is a better word. But it was scary. And the actor playing Sherlock is odd, very odd.

Bed. It's time to go to . . .