The Biggest Kid At School

One of my granddaughters is in kindergarten in a French Immersion programme. She is an enthusiastic student of French so I thought that I would talk to her in French while we were together. She wanted to know why I could speak French. I told her that I was going to school where I was learning French. She stood up, her eyes wide open in surprise, and said "You must be the biggest kid at school."

Back Home

I am back from visiting my family in the northern City By The Lake. Visiting my family is usually enjoyable, but this was possibly the best visit ever. I missed seeing one of my siblings and two of my daughters and their families because they live elsewhere. Other than that my visit was everything it could have been. I am tired and happy. What more could one want out of a visit? Chocolate ice cream? There was lots of that in the freezer, thanks to a certain grandchild.

Christmas Dinner

I went to a Christmas dinner with two of my neighbours. It is an annual event that is organized by a senior's club that they belong to. My partner and I have been going with them for a few years. The meal and the entertainment are always enjoyable and it is nice to go out with friends. I was not thinking that anything would be different this year, but I forgot that I have been hanging around with people who are much younger than I am. It was strange to be one of the youngest in a large group (300+) after almost always being the oldest person wherever I go on campus. Most of the people at the dinner were of the same generation as my parents. The turkey dinner was tasty and the people at our table were interesting which made the two hours go by all too quickly.

Reconnected

My high speed is back. The modem was defective. There is so much to do now that I am back on. I am behind in my online reading and I have a project that involves some online research. It is not due for some time, but I want to get an early start on it.

I finished all of my exams and have gotten the results of two of them. A B in stats and an A in psych. The stats mark is the final for the course and I am relatively happy with it. Under the circumstances, I think that it is good. Next term I am taking a half course in finite math. We are joining a class in progress. It can be taken as a two term full course or, as a second term half course.

The work on the house is progressing well, but I am taking a Christmas break of about one week, plus another one of about three days. I will be visiting family on those occasions. I need a break and I will enjoy acting my favourite age, six. I love playing with my grandchildren. Oh yeah, I do like to visit my children, my siblings, my mum and all of the other adults too.

Lots On The Go

I'm very busy even though my exams are finished. I am doing all of the work that I did not get the crew to do when they were here. I will not get it all done this year, but I have gotten a good start.

I am back to using dial-up until my internet service is back to normal. It has been down for several days. I did not bother to do anything about it when I was studying for my exams. I forgot how slow dial-up is.

I've been holed up, here in my house, for a few days and other than the two items I already mentioned, there is nothing happening. Little did I know that dull and boring were to remain my theme after I finished studying. I am quite anxious to get the work finished and I am concentrating on that for now.

Study Notes

Talk to children more often. They remind you of what is important.
Keep the freezer full of chocolate ice cream,
especially during exams.
Take note when someone tells you where the dishcloths are.
Play more.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Have more fun.
Go swimming with friends.
Make someone a present.
Share a meal with family and friends.
Share with people you don't know.
Spend more time with your neighbours.
Laugh more.
Live your life.

Studying

I am spending most of my time studying. My exams are all next week, with the last one on Saturday. It will be nice to get them over with, but I don't have much study time. I need to concentrate on my stats. The final exam is worth 60% of my final mark. I am spending most of my time alone here at home so I won't have any interesting stories about happenings at school. Dull and boring are going to be my two middle names for the next ten days or so.

Under The Weather

Those three days that I slept through were just the beginning of my feeling very sick. Things got a lot worse early Tuesday morning. I think that the worst is over and I am getting better. My brain is very tired and refuses to cooperate with me. I'll just have to show it who is the boss of me.

Meditating

I found a new way to make my time on the bus productive. I decided to meditate. I was having a problem reading because of my foggy glasses in the morning, so I meditate instead. It is a bit hard to get past the picture that I have of myself. I imagine that some of the people around me look at me and think that I am sleeping. I know that people sleep on the bus, I used to do it when I was a lot younger, I even got good at waking up just in time for my transfer and destination. It is just the image that I think that others have of me as some old guy sleeping on the bus that gets to me. A bit silly I know, I don't have any problem with my age otherwise.

I usually meditate before exams. Before I went in to write my French exam, I found a quiet corner and meditated for a while. When I finished, a guy asked me if I had been meditating or sleeping. He meditates, or at least he does when he finds the time. We had a short conversation about the need to meditate whenever and wherever one finds the time. Time is one thing that I have to spare on my bus rides.

Weird Dream

I had a very weird dream this morning just before I woke up. I was standing before a portal of some sort; it reminded me of what a black hole might be like. I was hesitant but unafraid. I don't know whether I stepped forward, or was pulled through the portal by some force, but I, very suddenly and quickly, was pulled through or along a tunnel of some sort. My body was torn apart, not into its physical parts, but into the elements that make up my body. It did not hurt nor did it frighten me. All that was left, was me in some form that was aware of my surroundings and could process thought. I was blasted out of the tunnel into a new, exciting, colourful and very beautiful universe. I was very peaceful and content, just taking in everything that I saw with a sense of wonder.

December

December is here already, I can hardly believe it. Where has the time gone. I know that time flies by when you are having fun, so I guess I must have been having fun. I know, that is not very logical. It is just my attempt to lighten the mood.

One of the, undesirable, side effects of the work that was done here, is that my breathing has been impaired. I have asthma and the fumes from the paint and the new flooring will cause me problems for at least ten days. I even had two windows open yesterday for several hours even though it is below freezing outside. Breathing is good. I prefer to keep on breathing for a few more years.

I was so wiped out yesterday, from the difficulty that I have had with my breathing for about the previous 24 hours, that I turned off the phones and went to bed at about seven pm. I only dozed on and off until about ten when I went to sleep for the night.

So, here I am, it is not even six am and I am awake and have been for a while. The air is a bit better in here this morning. I vacuumed the whole house and washed the tile floor that runs from the back door, through the kitchen and to the front door. I also cleaned the hardwood floor in the living room and vacuumed the furniture and dusted some of the flat surfaces that I had not covered during the work. Maybe it was just the housework that did me in yesterday.

I have one more assignment to do before classes end. It is not very long, but does entail some reading and analysis and comparing and contrasting two different approaches to combating sexism through language use. There is only one copy of each of the books in all of our libraries so they are on a two hour hold. I just missed getting the books two times before I finally got to hold them in my hands for only one hour and fifty minutes. I got gypped out of ten minutes because the person in the library rounded the time to the hour. I got my reading done and then photocopied the two chapters that I decided to analyze. I did all of this the day after the work was assigned. Imagine how I felt, when, as a result of many complaints about access to the books, our prof said he would get the two chapters of the one book and all of the other book scanned and online. There are about fifty people in our class, so I do see why it was difficult for some of my classmates to get to the library and do the reading. I went in the evening and still had to wait.

I woke up to a nice email of support from one of my friends who knows what happened. I had not expected it and was pleasantly surprised. It is especially nice when someone does something unexpected like that. Those small acts of thoughtfulness can make more of difference in other peoples lives than we realize.

It is 6:10 am and the whole day awaits. I like to think of life as being on an adventure. My life has certainly been an adventure since my application to university was accepted. It has been a mix of apprehension, excitement, joy, tragedy, sadness, loss, friendship, acceptance and new beginnings. Maybe next year will be dull and boring.