Keeping on Track day Two

As most of you know I believe that while we may not have a choice about growing older ( I'm not sure about that completely ) but we can choose not to grow up. ( Millions of males agree with me just look at how we behave ) However, I also believe if we stop seeking after knowledge and trying to better ourselves we do start to age.

Tracey commented on her niece who is fluent in several languages, very impressive. I know one of the people who read this from Toronto and emails me rather than commenting to the world ( in many cases a good choice, ) is fluent in most of those languages. AS the writer lives in Toronto I should mention for readers who do live there while I lived there the board of Education offered courses at Central Technical School ( an excellent trades oriented school normally ) in 14 languages not common in High School. It is where I took my first Japanese course ( second year I and 4 other adults mistook a line in the course description and assumed intermediate meant difficulty level not second year of a 3 year course. There were only enough students registered for it to run it if no one dropped out. As none of the five of us needed to pass it having all graduated high school years earlier ( I think all five of us had at least one college diploma as well, one was a Doctor of Chinese Medicine ) we stayed and the teacher worked very hard to teach two years at once. Even in the Army I have never seen so dedicated an instructor. Also in the Colonade ( not sure how it is spelt ) on Bloor street on the second floor the Japan Foundation has an office and a Library free to the public ( or next to free ) run by the government of Japan which also puts on art exhibits etc and has a lending library. There are also two cultural center buildings ( quite large size of a typical mall ) where you can study anything Japanese from Origami to Karate to Sword fighting with the steel swords to Flower arranging or tea ceremony. If you are interested in something Japanese which they are not teaching at the time they will find a teacher and start to teach it even for just a few people. There is also a smaller version in Hamilton at 25 Hempstead Rd on the mountain ( I took language lessons there and took part in my first tea ceremony ).

The coffee is starting to kick in and a very mild headache on the rare side is fading an asprin should take care of the rest shortly. I am a little slow waking today. I do often get to bed late and as a result sleep late. An unfortunate effect of 21 years working either night or afternoon shift. In my near mindless ( or male you can decide ) state this morning I found myself having opened the fridge about to take a pee when I realized this was not the toilet. I have only done that a couple times in my life and never soiled the fridge. For some reason I wake with a bit of a jolt at that time.

Getting Back to Abnormal

Today has been my first day of feeling like myself since my brother's passing.

It has also been the first day of the year to hit 50 degrees F which may have a bit to do with it though it has been very windy.

Last night I went to sleep with a DVD with 45 hours of mp3 Japanese lessons on starting at the beginning. I think I feel asleep just into the second of the half hour lessons. I slept about 10 hours and when I woke it was at a level I had trouble following. So my plan ( if you read my resolutions you will know I am planning catching my Japanese back up to where it was and then advancing it ) is to again start at lesson one and increase by one lesson every second night. I also plan on doing a lesson of a level of Rosetta stone each day as well. I did all parts of the first lesson today and it was not easy. I scored a 97 but it was not a give away by any means. I may move on then review I haven't decided the best way to use it yet. The audio lessons are not terribly hard. Japanese has fewer sounds than English so with only two that are not in English it is not a hard language to learn to speak or understand. Writing it is another story, I am probably at a 6th grade speech level but only a 2nd or 3rd grade reading level. A nice side effect is the Chinese Kanji I can figure out the meanings of. No idea how to pronounce them but reading them is a bit like figuring the markings on pyramid walls. you know what the symbol means sort of and from the string of symbols you can get the meaning. One of the first I got to recognize was if a Chinese restaurant was licensed to serve booze. Not that I'm a drinker but the symbol sticks. I can also tell men's and ladies restrooms in oriental languages.

Also my bad cold is gone and I am back to working out. I may even go with twice the workouts I had planned. Two cardio workouts a day plus rotating body parts with weights. My one spare bedroom is a computer room, the other a gym and the treadmill in the living room is where I can run and watch TV at the same time.

From my time in the Forces I know the human body ( and even mine I rarely claim to be human. ) can handle and it is far more than most people would believe. Noticeable results should be at roughly the six week mark.

Wish me luck, guts, and determination.

1st Resolutions Revisit

Today is my Dad's 83rd Birthday so if your reading Happy Birthday Dad and I will be visiting as soon as I can make the needed practical arrangements. Transportation, Pet & House sitting etc. I am trying to do it in a way in which everyone comes out a winner or in which everyone benefits. So Far it looks very promising that it should happen before months end. As you know right at the moment we have just had one of the largest snowfalls in years. I will let you know all the details as soon as I have them.

Also kudo's to Jessica my Step-Daughter in whom I am very proud she just finished her second week back at college.

Resolutions. In the diet weight Blood Pressure, Sugar Levels, and Heart Rate all is going at least up to the resolutions for them. My treadmill got ate into by pretty bad hell blisters which have forced me to use it barefoot of late. I will use fabric bandages on the heels till the heels and new shoes are broken in as soon as the blisters are completely gone. ( the fabric bandages are less costly than mole skin and also I am forced to always have them on hand. Those who know me well know that I have the best stocked first kit around. I'm not going to change that.

Books Read, A Book of Mantras ( was an Xmas gift ), H Rider Haggard's novel "She", it is one I had read before kept recommending it to someone and wound up reading it again myself.One called Nature's Medicines, and I have been looking over some old texts and notebooks on electronics in preparation for getting back into it as a hobby. I'm thinking of taking up fishing again. I used to make all my own tackle etc with the exception of Rods and reels and made enough not only for myself but also for the eight other guys I fished with on a pretty regular basis. There was one lure I designed and had each of the other guys I went on an annual fishing trip with the legion ( branch other than my own ) that there were 25 or us and I gave each of them 4 on the annual trip to try out. The next year they all claimed the ones I had made them had done wonders and wanted more. I used up all the parts I had with me for the guys and also gave them all I had in my own box. I'm digressing here but only to note that I am thinking of adding making my own tackle to the current list.

I have started on the book of rules for myself and will post it here once it becomes enough of a list to warrant doing so. I am also carrying a book with a list of all my dvd's on me whenever I go out as I often see a bargain and pick it up only to find when I go to put it into the bookcase ( alphabetically ) that I have got it already. When I do so I give the extra one to someone I am pretty sure will enjoy it. It makes me happy to do it especially if the person in question has a limited amount of spending income.

Not bad overall as this is my first update which is only just over two weeks since I started them and I had and still plan on posting the updates every six weeks or so.

One more I am adding is I will be blogging more often. I am thinking of splitting my blogging by subject. I already sometimes write trying to see my Dog's point of view in "Warp Drive Canine Mind UnLeashed" My next article will likely be there as I am for the last few days thinking how much more Like Ladies & Gentlemen we would be if we more often behaved with what the more noble attributes of these noble beasts show without hesitation. My challenge will be in wording as some take umbrage at being compared to dogs even when it is to their most noble attributes.