I NEED MORE CARPE DIEM IN MY LIFE

I am coming to the realization that I am no longer living in the past, (thanks to all those years of therapy). Rather, I am constantly looking ahead at the future planning on what is coming up next when I SHOULD be living for "today".    

My calendar hangs on the kitchen wall looking like a botched Jackson Pollock painting.  Every box for the days of the month is filled with notes, scribbles, arrows and lines, all of which are color coded. I DO have a system, insane and colorful as it may be.  Each day contains something that either The Man or I are scheduled to do and in order to help keep our appointments straight all his dates are highlighted in blue while mine are highlighted in pink, (naturally). But then we have the appointments for the both of us together so those are highlighted in green. There are some yellow highlights on there also but I have long since forgotten what that denotes.  Without this highly visible calendar I would be lost. I have all these dates noted on my phone and some I even have "alarms" on so I will be reminded a day or an hour before but it is the kitchen wall calendar that we constantly refer to.  

Let me rephrase that,  It is the kitchen wall calendar that I refer to. The Man is oblivious of the wall no less anything hanging on it.  There are the rare occasions when we are perched at the kitchen counter eating dinner and The Man will glance across at the calendar and question if he has anything going on in the next few days.  I HAVE explained the color code system to him but it still does not register with him that any blue notes are pertaining to him.  

All this being said I have realized that I am living in the future, constantly looking ahead of things that are coming up. As a result of always looking ahead my life is FLYING by at the speed of a super sonic jet breaking the sound barrier. It was just yesterday that I was 32 years old and suddenly I am about to turn 76!  Hell, it was just yesterday that I was celebrating my 75th birthday. Where did this year from Hell disappear to?  You would think that this past year would have dragged by with our quarantines, lock downs and fears but instead here we are a full year later wondering where all those days went ?  

The Man and I came back to Florida last October and I rejoiced at the thought of all the months ahead to be here with my family and friends.  Michigan is wonderful but it is the people in Florida whom I love that I miss the most. The anticipation of spending seven months here kept me going all summer up in Michigan. Every day I would wake up and tell myself only "three more months", or "twenty seven more weeks", or "36 more days" until I returned to Florida. Yet here we are heading into April with the trip back to Michigan looming on the horizon only a month away.  What happened to the winter ????  

This morning I decided I needed to stop thinking ahead. All the anticipation and angst of what is coming  is making my life pass by way too fast.  There are days when I wake up and tell myself, "I just have to get through today" and then things will quiet down.  In reality we all know things never quiet down. What I have to start doing is when I wake up I should savor the fact that I am still alive and just enjoy that moment. Maybe by doing this the days will seem longer and I will appreciate the moments more.  I mean, how come the hours DRAG by when you are sick or in pain?  Sitting in a hospital room staring at a clock on the wall watching those hands move ever so slowly can drive you nuts but when I am trying to get out the door for a fun day with the grand kids I never have enough time to get everything done.  

Carpe Diem . . .  Seize the Day . . .  I really must start doing that more often.  I'll be sure to let you know how that works out  . . .   If I have the time !

MOVING TO MARS

 I'm moving to MARS . . . .  Oh wait,  if Men are from Mars I don't want any part of that planet so maybe I'll move to Venus, or Saturn or even Pluto, even though it's not actually a planet any more.  The point being, I want off this insane planet because everyone has totally and completely lost their minds. The fact that Pluto was once a planet and now its not is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Fox News has a name for it . . .  CANCEL CULTURE . . . it's a form of "Now you see it, Now you don't".  Things that we have known, loved, accepted and believed in are no longer "PROPER"  so they are cancelled. 

I mean, banning Dr. Seuss books . . . REALLY ???????  Banning cartoons because they are stereotyping certain cultural groups . . .  REALLY ??????????    Have we all gone insane ???  The answer to that is 

                                                            YES !!!!!!!!

But no one uses that word any more either.  Does anyone say "Yes" any more ?  It's "NO", you can't do that, and "NO" you can't say this. I am sick of where we are headed with all this nonsense.  

But I can't complain too loudly because it is all the fault of our own genius way of living.  Think about it . When was the last time you ironed anything ?  When was the last time you repaired anything ? When was the last time you took the time to redo something that didn't work the first time ?   

When I was growing up we did not live in a disposable society.  We kept things forever and fixed them when they broke. We would buy something with CASH, (remember cash?) that we had saved up over years. Money was set aside each week in a small white envelope in a drawer in the desk or secretary or dresser. When the envelope contained enough cash to purchase an item, car, refrigerator, washing machine, you went out and bought what you needed.  If you didn't have the case you didn't buy the item. Once you bought something you took care of it.  Things were built to last decades. If it broke either you fixed it or had a friend fix it. The same thing went for clothing.  When you bought an item of clothing you took care of it to keep it looking as new as possible for as long as possible.  You ironed shirts and pants, you washed things by hand so the washer wouldn't beat up the fabric. If it got a hole or lost a button you got out the sewing kit and repaired it. When was the last time you sewed on a button ?????  Ironed a shirt??????  "darned" a sock ??????   Does anyone EVER do these things anymore ?  I remember my mother teaching me how to sew on a button and to mend a hole in a sock.  Now we just throw it away and buy a new one.  

It is only natural that we would progress from throwing out old items to throwing out our history.  Tear down that statue because we don't like it anymore.  Throw out that book because it offends some one, get rid of TV shows and classic movies, (Gone With The Wind is under attack ? SERIOUSLY????). 

This dangerous way of thinking is so so very wrong.  The past happened !  We don't throw it away because you didn't like something that happened a hundred years ago. You look at it more and more and learn from those mistakes.  That's what evolution is.  GOD did NOT make us perfect. He gave us the ability to try to be perfect but being human we don't always get it right. Because we are human we screw up over and over but we learn from those screw-ups and we try to make it better.  Keep the mistakes front and center in your brain so you remember not to make them again.  The idea of erasing things we don't like is ludicrous !!!  How the Hell do you expect to evolve if you don't try and fail till you get it right?  How long did it take Oog the caveman to figure out how to make a fire, invent the wheel, kill a wooly mammoth ??   He didn't throw out the round rock the first time it didn't roll, he kept at it and learned from his mistakes.  

Unfortunately no one is learning SHIT from the mistakes we have been making for the past century.  And because we aren't learning anything we are now allowing idiots to destroy everything from the past. I am soooooooooooo PISSED and frightened by this trend. If you find illustrations in a Dr. Seuss book to be offensive then don't read the "F" ing book.  Some of us LIKE Dr. Seuss and some of us have used Dr. Seuss as a learning tool to educate our children about the differences of people through out the world.  

NEWS FLASH . . .  NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE THE SAME !!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is NOT "racist" to note that people come in different forms.  It is FACT !!!!!!   Do you remember educating your children to the fact that some people are Handicapped ?  You took your kid to the store and met a person in a wheel chair. Your child stared at them and asked in a loud voice, "Mommy, What's wrong with that person?". And so you took the time to explain that not everyone had legs that worked like theirs. You took time to explain that the person in the wheel chair was still a person, just like you, but had to use a wheel chair to move around.  It didn't change who they were inside.  HOW in this day and age has that changed to being offensive ?  The first time you met a person from another culture wearing a different type of clothing or looking different from what your child was used to were you racist to explain to your child that we live in a very big wonderful world where there are all different sorts of people?  No !  You were a responsible parent educating your child.  We may look different, we may speak different languages, we may eat different foods and wear different clothes but we are all God's Children and we love our neighbors no matter what they look or sound like.  Even when they prove themselves to be "A" holes.  You don't need to look or sound different to be an Ass. That comes from a choice that person has made and if they are an Ass you don't have to play with them.  

Come on people . . .   step up and stand up.   Stop the bull shit.    Stop calling everything racist.  

Stop the world . . .  I want to get off.   

TYPES "A", 'B', & "C"

I have come to realize there are three basic types of Senior Citizens. Type "A" are the over achievers. Their calendars are filled to bursting with daily activities.  They are up at dawn and out the door by      7:00 AM  to begin their busy days. 

Years ago when Husband had just retired we bumped into a couple that we had taught with years ago.  They had retired a few years earlier, moved to Florida to a retirement community like the Villages and seemed to be very happy with their new lives. When we suggested we find a day and time to get together the wife pulled out her pocket calendar that was the size of Websters Unabridged Dictionary. She began flipping through pages that were filled with scribbles and notes of things they were scheduled to do.  Their days were filled with activities like golf, shuffle board, dance class, cooking classes, water aerobics, spin class, pottery, theater group, pickle ball, trips to the casino, concerts, Bridge and Mahjong to name a few.  After ten minutes of flipping calendar pages we gave up and never saw them again. Clearly they are TYPE "A" senior citizens. No moss grows between their toes so to speak and they are never at a loss for something to do.  

Moving along to our Type "B" senior citizen we have The Man.  The Man does not own a calendar. (That's what he has me for.). Type "B" seniors get up anywhere between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM. They shuffle out into the kitchen in their PJ's and slippers, barely stay upright long enough to make a cup of coffee and then sit down to read the paper, check their e-mail and see what is new on Facebook. After about two hours they are ready to move over to the couch to turn on the TV to see what is new in the news.  An hour or so after that it may be time to get dressed and head out to the one or two doctor appointments that are scheduled for the week.  Once back from the appointment, having stopped at some fast food establishment for a nourishing lunch of a burger and fries, it's time for the afternoon siesta that can last anywhere between one to three hours.  (It's exhausting walking out to the car and back)  When waking from the nap it's time to move out onto the lanai for a drink and an hour or so of sitting watching the squirrel run across the screen roof.  By now it's time to move back inside to catch News Max at 4:00 PM, Fox News at 5:00PM, local news at 6:00 PM, Wheel of Fortune at 7:00 PM and then three or more hours of Netflix, Hockey or Football depending on the season or day.  By 11:00 PM it's time for showers and bed so he can be rested to begin the cycle all over again.  In the case of our Type "B" senior citizen there is no calendar but their days are pretty much the same routine day after day with slight variations of which doctor is being visited at what time. 

And then there's me,  Type "C" to be sure.  My life can be described as a "Crap Shoot", a game of chance in which you never know what will happen.    I can wake up anywhere between 4:00 AM and 10:00 AM,  but when ever I wake up I am fired up and ready to go. Some days that fire lasts for hours and some days the fire burns out before I even make it out of the bedroom.  I never know how I will be feeling or where the day will take me.  Don't misunderstand . . . I HAVE a calendar and it is filled with appointments for The Man and myself but there are so many unforeseen factors that enter into my days.  When I wake up filled with energy I can get into all sorts of projects like gardening, baking, laundry, cleaning, visiting with friends and family or going out shopping. The days that I wake up dragging my butt I can spend hours doing puzzles, playing video games or writing. Some days I wake up with my mind racing with ideas for the day but then I fizzle out and nothing gets done. Each day is a complete surprise to me and I LOVE IT THAT WAY !!   How boring to have a ROUTINE and never be surprised with an adventure popping up unexpectedly.  I may not get much accomplished as far as keeping an immaculate house or having a garden with no weeds but I sure do enjoy each and every day. 

Every night when I go to bed I never know if I will sleep through the entire night or be up every two hours to wander through the dark. It's amazing how I can find something to entertain myself at 2:30 AM on those nights that I can't sleep.  I love the surprise of waking up at 7:00 AM to realize I DID sleep through the night. If I can't get my self back to sleep for another couple of hours I do what I did this morning . . . I start thinking about what I can "get into" for the day. This morning I found my brain zooming in on blogging and so here I am sharing my nonsense with you. 

I do still have some energy today so I think I'll finish this up and get doing something productive.  I have no idea what that may be but I'm sure it will be fun.  

 

SAY THE SECRET WOID

 Remember the old Groucho Marx show ?  If you do you are dating yourself for sure! For those of you who don't remember it was a game show called, You Bet your Life",  hosted by Groucho Mars back in the late 40's.  Groucho would have guests come on and answer questions to win money. Part of the show included a SECRET WORD, (pronounced WOID). At the beginning of the show a duck, (not a real one), would be lowered down for the audience to see, and in its beak was a card showing the secret word for that day.  When the contestants came out on stage the duck was removed and the audience listened carefully to see if in the course of the show a contestant would unwittingly say the secret word.  If they did bells and whistles sounded and confetti fell from above. The reward was $100 which was a huge amount at that time.  It didn't happen often but we viewers were always on the edge of our seats in anticipation.

This is all brought to mind because of yesterdays frustrating and curse word filled interaction with the Florida SunPass web site.  As usual the encounter was initiated by The Man.

 Several weeks ago The Man was notified by email that his Sun Pass account would be terminated at the end of February unless he up dated his credit card information.  Previous to this email The Man had been notified by his credit card company that his card was about to expire so they were sending him a new one.  This is a HUGE issue because it involves the United States Postal Service, which we are coming to realize is is dire need of a major overhaul. (Mail goes missing on a regular basis around here and letters sent from my address to my grand kids who live a mile away either never arrive or take two months to make the trip.) 

Upon getting the SunPass notification The Man contacted his credit card company who assured him, "the card was in the mail".  Two weeks later no card had yet arrived and SunPass was about to expire. (This is not a huge issue right now because The Man goes no where but when we make our trek back to MI in a couple of months we will need the pass working. Because The Man's home address is Michigan the new credit card was supposedly sent to the Michigan address where it should have been forwarded to Florida. (At least that is what would have happened in a perfect world.). A month later and the card STILL has not gotten here.  Soooooooo, The Man places a second call to his credit card company and they issue him another card, same number, new expiration date but it will be sent to the Florida address.  Two weeks later THAT card has not yet arrived.  BUT . . .  the credit card company has given the man the new expiration date and security code so he can now go on the SunPass web site, open his account and update his information.   SIMPLE . . .       NOT !!!!

And so we arrive at yesterday morning"s debacle.  Because we are A MAN we can not handle any of this computer web site stuff on our own so The Man comes to me and asks me to assist him in updating his information.  Being an idiot, I agree.  In we go to Computer Central and I attempt to log onto his SunPass account.  At first it actually worked and I foolishly though how easy this was going to be.  HA !!!!  In their infinite wisdom Sun Pass has upgraded their system from a four digit "Pin" number to a password. And of course the password must meet certain requirements . . .  "No less than 8 characters, including capital and small letters, a number AND a special symbol, as in hashtag, exclamation point or question mark." But before you can do all this you have to put in your old password . . .  except we don't HAVE an old password . . . all we have is a PIN number.  By now there are many curse words flying and I am about hit The Man over the head with the damn computer.  FINALLY . . .   I think I have gotten the job done and we can log in to his account only to find that because I was working on MY computer I have now changed MY password and we still can't get into his account NOR can we now access my account because it is not recognizing ANY of the twelve million passwords we have just been trying to get the account to accept. 

I have NO idea if I even still HAVE an account with SunPass, no less how to log into it !

And still we have not gotten to the point of getting The Man's information updated so he can use the SunPass when we travel.  That was the point we started at this morning when I gave The Man a phone number to call SunPass and try to straighten out this account thing. I foolishly thought he would call, get his password straightened out and then add his new credit card number. SILLY ME !!   He did make the call but simply put a different credit card number on his account. This was all done via automated help. Why he did not do this a month ago when the whole credit card issue first reared it's ugly head I have no idea.  What I DO know is that in a year from now when this credit card expires I will NOT offer to help him change any information.   

As for my SunPass account . . .   who the hell knows ?  Maybe if I say the secret woid I'll win a million dollars.