BOBKAT'S INTRODUCTION TO 2016

The Good News:

Gas prices are way down from where they were! Gets me wondering what happens when the other shoe drops?

Other good news:

Marijuana is now legal in 4 states and several cities for whatever use they choose to use it for, if 21 years old or older.

Gosh... must be more good news, but rare these days.

Bad News:

ISIS
Turkey (the country)
Syria continues to be a threat.
Bad outlook for this year's economy
Increase in questionable deaths by police initiated shootings
No raise for over two years
Trump as the Republicans leading candidate



Need I go on?

I thought not. Yeah so Christmas and all the holiday stuff/crap is over. Time to start doing out taxes. In the north shovel snow.

Our human exposure to the Sun becomes limited leading to all sorts of maladies. Depression in particular. Just remember, you're not alone and this too will pass.

Careful as always what you wish for! Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. And remember, "love is perennial as the grass".

2016, here we come...

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET'S WELCOME 2016 !!

Wow! What a year!! 2015 was.

Started the year off with two friends, who are still friends, threatening to call the sheriff to evict me from my room. I had lived with my friends in that room for about 8, maybe 10 years.

Bought a house - my first at age 60. Same state as Stephen King.

Wonderful summer that found me learning to sit outside in my yard and enjoy that, along with my cat.

A year unlike any other. My mother, whom I have a jaded past with, diagnosed with cancer only to find out now it's not cancer and they don't know what it is. My mother with a mysterious illness. Of course.

And I have my illnesses... matters not, not that it matters.

A full year on FaceBook. Maybe not something to write home about. But at 61, looking back, it's extraordinary how things have changed. No more phones. Chat online or even make a call with video online. Had a video Christmas in fact with my family. 700 miles a part and we were together while unwrapping presents.

A difficult year.

New Year Goals:

1) Get exercising.
2) Resolve issues at current job of 16 years or find a new one.
3) Relax while still being productive.
4) Get out and meet people. Or decide to become a recluse.
5) Work on improving the new house.

I would like to write again, like fiction to publish, and found a place to do that: Nelson Algren Literary Awards. It would be a good thing to write again.

Have a Hppy new year :)

BobKat

REFLECTIONS BEGINNING AGE 20

I'm 61 now. I was born in 1954. Milk was delivered to your door. Phone numbers were composed of 5 numbers and a Phone company operator. Much of the area that is now heavily over-run with construction and houses was then woods. That's where I often went, there and many places by age 8.

Age 20 I was renting a room with 6 others my age in a rooming house. We shared the bathroom and the kitchen. Overall not a bad experience... great women, music and good drugs in those days. The house was at the edge of the campus for the local city community college. I got a job with the college as custodian at the Fine Arts Building, called "FACE". As an artist myself, or interested at least, it was the cornucopia of my life. I worked 3PM to 11PM. A 3 story old brick building. I was responsible for the top floor, and one half of the basement.

Often I feel myself back then. I feel the confusion, the unknown sense of uncertainty. I discovered magic - true magic.

I took courses there too, and began to write a lot. Two alliances I call my mentors happened. Both happened to be English professors. Actually they became my surrogate parents, as my own were acting nuts. Doug turned me onto Henry Miller - "The World of Sex", like "The Rosy Crucifixion", a trilogy. Most know or have heard of the author from writing "Tropic of Cancer", which Jimmy Steward famously used in one of his movies.

Then there was Virginia. I had a crush on her though she was 10 years older. What the reason was why she became my mentor, was I heard rumor she was a "white witch". Religion fascinated me, as I'd been brought up by a devoted mother. But I wanted to know something and more about all religions. Virginia helped me learn all I could. Enough to satisfy my craving to understand.

There would be a year I'd have a lot of sex. Every time it mystified me and seemed paranormal. Feeling awkward, except during the actual sex, was beyond enduring. Blue balls are real... yeah I know you women think it's a myth, but at that age many men suffer aching balls, called blue balls, and there's only one real remedy. Sex. So a lot of time goes into what today are called "hook-ups".

I'm still single. I remember it all.

APOLOGY MY FRIENDS!

I live in America. In the NE. I have a BA in English and many minors, skills and talents. I have been at my current job over 15 years - software technical support.

I cannot go into detail. Too few workers, too many managers.

Was threatened with the rest of the small dept that unless we did the impossible, we would all be fired, that the boss/captain work not take the fall. Not very noble of him.

This tension at the company has been growing in the past two - three years. I've been through drama and threats before. Many good people have quite, and one very good tech was fired, and as I'm the senior tech I would know. Management obviously has other ideas.

I did buy my first house, it needs work, but the work will wait. A lot will have to wait including my blog, and I'm sorry for that because I was just getting the hang of it.

I'll try not to be long... just wanted to say I appreciate all the views and especially the comments.

BobKat