Thursday, January 15, 2009

Life is a Highway and Navel - less - Gazing

Wow, what a nice sunny day. I don't care how cold it is - give me sun any day and I am happy regardless of the temp. This morning was for me just as lazy as all the others this weekView over Toronto Island, Hanlan's Point, taken from my bedroom window - but I had to get myself out and together to get a mammogram done at noon. I had a nice morning just thinking and lazing and listening to music - K.D. Lang's new Album which I downloaded via iTunes yesterday. The album, Watershed, has has one of the songs which is going to end up on the top 10 of the Obama Playlist, I think. The song is Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

It always amazes me where the time goes. I hadn't even started writing my blog when I had to leave to go for my appointment. Don't know how I am going to find the time to blog once I am back to work but I am determined to do just that! I think I will need to do some shorter things during the week and make up with more expansive content during weekends.

This week I have really been cocooning - quite unlike me. Not really getting much of anything done in stark contrast to my usual busy busy self. I had earmarked today to catch up on some chores but the day is marching on. We will see how much I am able to do once I put the check mark against today's blog entry.

By the way, I decided to spend a paragraph on a brag about my kids - shown here in a pic taken maybe 3 years ago. They are a great bunch and if I have done nothing else with my life but produced this bunch I will have done well!The Moon Children: Ryan, Tegan, Jeff, Laura (aka Lilly) and Eric
From the left: Ryan, Tegan, Jeff, Laura (aka Lilly) and Eric.

I walked home from the lab (according to mapquest 2.6 miles) and picked up some coverup makeup on the way back. I was bundled up warmly and the sun was shiningAll bundled out to go out in this cold winter dayg - a great walk. Decided that I am fit enough (after coverup makeup) to go out tonight and catch Greg Wyard at the Brazen Head Pub. Been stuck alone in this apartment for too long! Tomorrow I go up to Barb and John's in Collingwood and then back home on Sunday. Sunday night it is my first night out with my Documentary Film Meet Up group and then Monday is back to work. Busy days ahead!
Looks like I am ready to rob a bank, eh?

If you are not one for navel gazing you can skip this next part:- instead you can go here:-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3477046/No-belly-button-model-Karolina-Kurkova-sets-fashion-world-navel-gazing.html and see how one woman (a gorgeous model) found a way to prevent herself from navel-gazing.

For the rest:-

I have an observation to make and I wonder if it is true for more folks than just me. Over the years I have found my world expanding exponentially. Every year I enlarge what I might call my "sphere". I experience more, connect with more folks, do more, want more, have more. My "sphere" is larger and larger. The world seems smaller and smaller. I dream bigger and bigger. Is this a function of aView to the south west over the CNE from my bedroom windowage or a side effect of our shrinking globe? Or is it because of the life I live here in the hustle bustle of a huge busy city working with a diverse community of folks who use their brains to make a living? Ok, so the first 3 items might have to do with the shrinking globe, but what about the last two? Do I want more because I see and experience more? Do I have more because I want more? (shades of "The Secret"!).

Social networking will greatly accelerate our ability to expand and connect immensely. My blogging connects me (albeit this is a one way connection) with so many of my friends and family in a way that is not possible without the Internet.

Social Networking world map
Social networking is a global pastime which has the capability to put us all into that "great collective" (for the Trekkie's I am thinking of something nicer than a Borg like state of joinedness.) For more on this go to the site where I stole the above map from:http://search.creativecommons.org/#

That brings me to explaining the title of this blog: "Halfway Along Life's Highway". I am sure everyone gets the life's highway part. Life is a journey we are on. Where our life takes us depends on our choices - which cutoffs and meandering trails we take instead of staying on the highway - how many pit stops we make, scenic tours we make... I could go on and on. Tom Cochrane wrote a song about it "Life is a Highway"




This song always makes me jump up and dance. I love it! (I can hear my kids muttering in the background"Mom - Don't Dance!")

So I am half way along this highway. My expectation of longevity has changed as the years have marched on, just as it did for my Dad. I can clearly remember him saying when he was (I am guessing here) about Mary and Don Hilliard, my folks30. He said that he didn't want/expect to live past 50. His mother died of cancer when she was 64. My Dad's Dad died not long after I was born. The man my Dad's mother remarried (the one I remember as "Grandpa Norm"), did not live too many years longer. Their lives were tough. They didn't have much and they spend the time they had on earth just getting by. After retirement they really just sat at home. When my Dad neared 50, I noticed that he was talking more like he would live for quite a while longer. He retired at 55 but has always kept very physically active (thanks to my Mom who hates to see him just sit around :-p ). He is now nearly 80 and in good health. He still likes and can hold his own in a good debate. My Mom is 74. I am not sure but I think her Mom wasn't much older than that when she died. She has always been quick witted , spunky and funny, although I notice she is slowing down lately. I can see them both living another 10 or even 20 years. Based on this, I fully expect that I have a good chance of seeing 100 or even 110. So I am only half way down my highway.

I had better have an ever expanding "sphere", if I have 50 or more years to live. I think part of the winning ticket is never to be bored, never give up learning and growing, wanting and doing more. Always planning new things to experience and ways to learn and grow. As far as wanting more leading to having more - well wanting is only the first part. As I said yesterday, the having more depends on how much you are willing to work for it. Enough said.
To end with a thought that will make you gaze at your ring fingers:
I found this in Digg today:
Ring finger length linked to stockbroker success
telegraph.co.uk — Study found that the most successful stockbrokers had long ring fingers in relation to their index fingers. The trait - which is associated with higher exposure to testosterone in the womb - is thought to be linked to attributes such as confidence, risk-taking ability, extra vigilance and quick reactions.

So who in the crowd have longer ring fingers? Can you guess how my measurements fared?

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