Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.
–Alfred Edward Housman
And at the moment it is Memorial Day, a day on which a grateful nation gives thanks to those who lost their lives in defending our freedom.
I always take a moment to pause and remember my great uncle Frank as well.
Other than that, there is not much to differentiate today from any other day in my life. Same with yesterday and probably tomorrow. I’m not complaining mind you. I’m doing what I want when I want and I reckon when I don’t want to do that anymore, I’ll figure out something else to do. Isn’t that what retirement is supposed to be all about? Sure, there’s more to life than walking and drinking. And I’ve done a lot of those things. Walking gives me peace of mind and drinking takes the edge off my brain’s tendency to overthink things. So it’s all good.
Last night I dined at a small Korean restaurant here in Barretto. I’ve walked past it numerous times and never saw any customers which made me a little leery of the place. But I recently read a couple of positive online reviews so decided to give it a try. Of course, I had the place to myself.
What else? Well, this gave me a chuckle:
Oh, and any grammatical errors here at LTG may be an indication that all those beers are taking a toll.
Anyway, life is what it is and for me it is mostly good. One day at a time, just taking it one day at a time.
If this life is one act
Why do we lay all these traps
We put them right in our path
When we just wanna be free
I will not waste my days
Making up all kinds of ways
To worry about all the things
That will not happen to me
So I just let go of what I know I don’t know
And I know I only do this by
Living in the moment
Living my life
Easy and breezy
With peace in my mind
With peace in my heart
Peace in my soul
Wherever I’m going, I’m already home
Living in the moment
I have a good friend who used to write “for all intensive purposes.” He also used to spell “university” as “univercity.” I once corrected this friend when he wrote about a “character arch” [when he meant “character arc”], and again when he wrote “afterall” as one word. And he keeps making up excuses for his gaffes, e.g., “It was Auto-correct” or “I was tired” or “I was in a rush.” Sigh… He’s always tired or in a rush or using Auto-correct. Excuses, excuses.
But after a while, you stop correcting such friends because you realize your corrections simply aren’t sinking in. It’s hopeless. He’s a great talker, this friend of mine—a real raconteur. I’m not, but I’m a fairly fastidious writer. It’s enough to make me wonder whether it’s mutually exclusive, being good on paper versus being good verbally. A lot of raconteurs whom I know are horrible at writing—especially spelling. It’s as if they don’t care, or they expect others to do the editing that they themselves ought to do. They’re not self-conscious enough to clean up after themselves, linguistically speaking.
That’s not true of everyone, though: I was happy to see “samgyeopsal” above, instead of the eyeball-bleeding “sam-gyap-sal.”
So, switching gears: just how walkable are the usual trails in the PI when it’s rainy season?
Thank-You Uncle Frank. And Thank-You to all the other Uncle’s and Fathers and Sons and Brothers who gave me the opportunity to live my life in a free country. And damn you Pelosi and Occasional Cortex and all the other Libs who try to undermine what Uncle Frank did. Peace Out!
Kev, I’m guessing my errors are more about sloppiness and laziness than ignorance. Sometimes when I go back and re-read something I’ve written I’m like “seriously?” I was thinking their and typed there or some such stupidity. Granted, as you’ve noted in the past, I could use some education on proper use of commas.
But I am capable of learning! As a matter of fact I made a point of looking up the correct spelling of samgyeopsal. Didn’t want your head to explode!
As for rainy season, I’ve only experienced the one and it was like the worst in a decade. Even the paved streets were under water in lots of places. The usual trails in the mountains get muddy which makes them more treacherous than usual for slips, trips, and falls. We still did them though, avoiding the steepest paths and using extra caution. And usually always came back on-home with dirty and wet shoes.
Soju, do not despair. I honestly do sense a rising tide against the ignorance perpetrated by the likes of the extremists on the left. In fact, I think the election of AOC and company opened a lot of eyes and the “silent majority” are not going to stand by and lose everything so many gave all for throughout our history.
At least I hope so.