Too Busy For Joy [Warden]

"Like I have time to read!"

This exclamation, one I've heard about a half dozen times over the last few years, is always followed by a contemptuous sneer. It's a response to one of my social icebreakers, "Read any good books lately?"

I'm always a bit taken aback when I hear it. Truth be told, it used to make me feel a tinge of guilt--like I'm a bit of a loafer who neglects his adult responsibilities.

That's not an accident, of course. It's meant as a rebuke.

I don't feel that way anymore. These days I think to myself: Well, then you've chosen a life that doesn't make room for such things. And if you're bitter that I've chosen otherwise, then that's your problem to work through.

Americans are strangely proud of creating misery for themselves--as if running yourself so ragged that you no longer enjoy life is something to be admired.

Please don't misunderstand. I know that some people have unimaginably difficult schedules due to circumstances outside their control. An adult taking care of a sick parent, for example, may not have any time at all for leisure. I understand, respect and admire this.

But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people with options--educated, upper middle class families with healthy families. For them, how they spend at least some of their time is a choice.

I had dinner the other night with another married couple, old friends of ours. I couldn't wait for the evening to end. As my wife and I struggled to keep the conversation afloat, all I received in feedback was grouchy, stilted responses and a vague sense of judgment. Apparently we're not busy enough, tired enough, stressed out enough to relate.

They're chasing a business dream and I sincerely hope that they make it. If they do, they'll probably have a wonderful retirement. Assuming they're still alive to enjoy it, that is.

Meanwhile they're in what should be the best years of their lives--in their adult prime with a house full of children young enough to still be cute, sweet, and bursting with love and enthusiasm--and yet the primarily emotion I detect is a grim, joyless obligation.

"Like I have time to read!"

No.

No, that's not correct.

You choose not to read just as you choose not to go to the gym or take a bike ride or go fishing or visit with the neighbors or go for a walk with your kid or call your mother or meet friends out for coffee or watch the sunset from your porch.

You choose.

I choose.

And we live with it or change course.

Couching it in any other terms is not being honest with yourself. One of the most sobering things about growing up is the realization that, no, you can't have it all. Adulthood is ultimately about trade-offs and how you manage them.

It strikes me that who you are is largely just an accumulation of your daily thoughts. Surely, there's a genetic component (I've always been a moody person, for example), but one's core being is mostly a matter of self determination, even if not recognized as such.

I suspect that there's a tipping point when your accumulated thoughts overcome social and genetic factors like intelligence, health, wealth, physical attractiveness, etc... in determining your general level of happiness. This occurs somewhere around the age of 40. It's no coincidence that this also happens to be roughly the age when people experience a mid-life crisis.

I wish people were happier. Life can be a wrecking ball. Even some of the luckiest people I know are struggling in their daily lives. I don't consider myself to be an overly joyful person. I'm a brooder and a worrier by nature. But the more I look around, the more I realize that I'm nearer the top of the happiness scale than I am the bottom. Humor helps. So does finding joy in little things. It doesn't take a lot to please me, less and less as I grow older, in fact.

As a point of perspective, I attend church with a woman who survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. I think of her sometimes when I'm feeling sorry for myself. The horrors she experienced are unimaginable to those of us who were born in the United States.

But she is not that thing. She is what she thinks and has thought about that thing. Her thoughts are beautiful, loving and full of God's grace. She is an amazing human being.

She has time to read.

She has time to think.

When you talk to her there is pain, but also great hope, joy, and a relentless determination to make the world a better place.

If this person who has had such nightmarish events thrust upon her can choose happiness, then so can we. It's a choice. No one is too busy for joy.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:50 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Awesome essay!

Posted by: Jade Sea at May 04, 2017 08:42 PM (QzGX6)

2 You are so right about attitude and, to your post the other day, gratitude.

Posted by: boomstick at May 04, 2017 08:43 PM (MQBkB)

3 Insightful piece. I admit to having been falling into this trap a lot the last few years. Crawling back out is like correcting any bad habit...difficult.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 04, 2017 08:44 PM (66CWr)

4 I'm learning how to read again - dead tree that is.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess (T) at May 04, 2017 08:46 PM (tHwdc)

5 tl:dhttr

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 04, 2017 08:46 PM (oVJmc)

6 This occurs somewhere around the age of 40.

"Every man over forty is responsible for his face."

Posted by: Stuff Lincoln Said at May 04, 2017 08:46 PM (3C9q2)

7 Yeah, I don't have time to read the posts. Just the comments /

Posted by: The Jackhole at May 04, 2017 08:47 PM (M+Lyo)

8 I'm busy but I choose to be happy. (I have a personal preference for talking about being happy, rather than having joy.)
One of Jonathan Edwards' life resolution was to be as happy as possible. And I believe that is almost an obligation.
I believe there are studies that shown people can be happy under the most extreme circumstances--Londoners during the Blitz for instance.
Those circumstances leave no energy for being pissy.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 08:47 PM (hJrjt)

9 The ONT a few nights ago featured the 1946 Waller photo of a six-yr-old Austrian orphan, who was the happiest child on Earth because the American Red Cross had brought him his first pair of New Shoes. My God, the way we have contorted our lives today! I printed that photo and posted it in my daughter's room as a reminder to her to be joyful and appreciate the gifts of her privileged life.

Posted by: boomstick at May 04, 2017 08:47 PM (MQBkB)

10 Warden, I always love reading your articles. Please continue to post them.

I have also found that being happy is a choice. It is SO easy to be miserable, caught up in the daily disappointments and frustrations. But I find with myself that I need to occasionally step back a moment, take stock of all of the many blessings that God has showered upon me and remember that to be thankful, and happy for what I have been gifted.

Posted by: Mordineus at May 04, 2017 08:48 PM (u4xKN)

11 I don't have time to read! I have to watch all my DVRd episodes of John Stewart... and my 12 other TV shows...

Posted by: Lefty Leftowski at May 04, 2017 08:49 PM (NgKpN)

12 The internet is your joy, are you not amused?

Posted by: Jean at May 04, 2017 08:50 PM (UmkRj)

13
I only read the comments.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at May 04, 2017 08:50 PM (mbhDw)

14 I have recently gotten into this shitball way of life. I am working with a new business for crap money with the promise of dividends in the future. I am not liking it one bit. I am too far in to go back now but hopefully it pays off.

Posted by: The Jackhole at May 04, 2017 08:50 PM (M+Lyo)

15 I read about 80-100 books a year, plus articles etc, there's always time even if you work subsistence. The question is what you chose to budget your time in (largely true with money as well, to a point). I'm an author, its my job to read; the more I read the better I get at writing. There's nothing shameful about not being a reader, any more than my not being an athletic type. I don't go to the gym -- no, I do not even lift. Its a question of budgeting your time.

Other choices are a bit more difficult; largely how you respond to life is shaped by how you were raised and the influence of people around you, but another large part is simply who you are as a person. Your personality, your soul will determine how happy you are or how depressed you are.

Circumstances can be significant as well. Struggling with continual illness is depressing, loneliness is depressing, stress is depressing. I try very hard not to judge people's cheerfulness or insist they can be happier or less bummed. We all fight our own battles.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 04, 2017 08:51 PM (39g3+)

16 For them what care one of the reasons I prefer to speak of happiness rather than joy is that I believe there are Christians who haven't smiled or laughed in 30 years but insist they have joy.
The word happy is more of a plain, good old Anglo Saxon, immediately understandable word.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 08:51 PM (hJrjt)

17 I used to have a friend who suffered from the "I don't have time" syndrome. "I don't have time to read" is IMHO, a subset of this.

Every single moment of her life was scheduled. She never had a day off where she just stayed home and relaxed. If she did, and she didn't have something specific on tv (tennis) she would get so depressed about being at home alone, she'd end up crying.

Busy= "important"

Busy= "I'm busy so my life has meaning"

Sad, but she is content with her life and it will never change. EVER.

Posted by: shibumi at May 04, 2017 08:51 PM (8zWAk)

18 If this person who has had such nightmarish events thrust upon her can choose happiness, then so can we. It's a choice. No one is too busy for joy.

Mom's side of the family survived Hitler. And yet family events were filled with uproarious laughter.

A lesson for us all.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at May 04, 2017 08:53 PM (mbhDw)

19 I'm content to read the content.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at May 04, 2017 08:53 PM (U6f54)

20 I am too busy for Joy Behar. Got tin foil to chew, and a bunch of other stuff I rather do.

Posted by: josephistan at May 04, 2017 08:53 PM (ANIFC)

21 I have plans to leave my present job because I'm too old to work at something that doesn't make me happy. That is one of the reasons least.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 08:53 PM (hJrjt)

22 I will admit that I do schedule my reading time.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 08:55 PM (hJrjt)

23 I have to admit to loving Text-to-Speech. I wouldn't recommend it for in-depth study, but it's great for novels and books that you just want the general information from.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 04, 2017 08:55 PM (sEDyY)

24 I was doing IT work in a real estate office, and the Female Manager was going off... raked me over the coals for things that I had nothing to do with...

I finally suggested she should call my Boss, and allow me to fix her system... because I couldn't do it while she was yelling at me...

Which of course, set her off even more...

The Owner, a guy I'd known for many years... camp up and apologized later (but would not get in the middle of her tirade)....

He asked me... how I could remain so calm in the face of her yelling.....

I told him... 'its a matter of perspective... no one was shooting at me.... today.....'

Posted by: Don Q. at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM (NgKpN)

25 20: i usually even up my shoe laces rather than watch that shit. they always look good.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM (KP5rU)

26 I choose not to choose.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM (GsAUU)

27 Thanks for this. Truly.

A recent traumatic change in my life has the nice side effect of getting me back to books -- which I've adored ever since I was small. But in the past several years, I'd gotten away from my old love.

Nice that they were still waiting for me, welcoming me back with open pages. ha

Posted by: Shopgirl at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM (SKSB+)

28 tl:dhttr

Posted by: Mr. Peebles

*******

IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE...WELL...JUST BECAUSE IT'S FUNNY, DAMMIT!

Posted by: BEN ROETHLISBERGER at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM (wPiJc)

29 12 The internet is your joy, are you not amused?
Posted by: Jean at May 04, 2017 08:50 PM (UmkRj)

Happy happy, joy joy?

Posted by: Don Q. at May 04, 2017 08:57 PM (NgKpN)

30 People used to ask how I had time to knit with several small children. My response was that my children were *much* safer if I did (although I did get quite a bit of help from my mother-in-law as well).

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 04, 2017 08:57 PM (sEDyY)

31 Humans are great at relative. how are you feeling today? Well, less awful than usual, so... good! How are things going? Compared to last year? Terrific!

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (39g3+)

32 -. . ...- . .-. / --. --- -. -. .- / --. .. ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ..- .--. --..-- / -. . ...- . .-. / --. --- -. -. .- / .-.. . - / -.-- --- ..- / -.. --- .-- -. / -. . ...- . .-. / --. --- -. -. .- / .-. ..- -. / .- .-. --- ..- -. -.. / .- -. -.. / -.. . ... . .-. - / -.-- --- ..- / -. . ...- . .-. / --. --- -. -. .- / -- .- -.- . / -.-- --- ..- / -.-. .-. -.-- --..-- / -. . ...- . .-. / --. --- -. -. .- / ... .- -.-- / --. --- --- -.. -... -.-- . / -. . ...- . .-. / --. --- -. -. .- / - . .-.. .-.. / .- / .-.. .. . / .- -. -.. / .... ..- .-. - / -.-- --- ..-

Posted by: ronsfi at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (WC165)

33 26 I choose not to choose.
Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM (GsAUU)

----

*** high pitched singing ***

YOU STILL HAVE MADE A CHOICE

Posted by: G Lee at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (vChNs)

34
I choose not to choose.
Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre

You still have made a choice.

Posted by: Geddy Lee at May 04, 2017 09:00 PM (IqV8l)

35
IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE...WELL...JUST BECAUSE IT'S FUNNY, DAMMIT!

---

it's not, cause he beat me to it.

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at May 04, 2017 09:00 PM (vChNs)

36 Warden, I love reading your posts. Keep it going.

Posted by: Pug Mahon aka the Deplorable P.U.G. at May 04, 2017 09:00 PM (1Z57K)

37 31 Humans are great at relative. how are you feeling today? Well, less awful than usual, so... good! How are things going? Compared to last year? Terrific!
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (39g3+)

LOL.... when someone asks me 'how are you today?'...

I sometimes pause... then actually answer...

Posted by: Don Q. at May 04, 2017 09:00 PM (NgKpN)

38 My wife is, by nature, busy. She will be the busiest in the care home some day in the future. Sometimes she gets to feeling overwhelmed and stressed but I believe she's happiest when she's working or, with family.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:00 PM (hJrjt)

39 I choose not to choose.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM

If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice

Posted by: AltonJackson at May 04, 2017 09:01 PM (KCxzN)

40 Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 08:47 PM (hJrjt)

Traveling in Jerusalem in '96 my husband and I were struck by how the Jewish people, in general, *chose* to focus on the positive and do things like ride a bus that had been the target of a bombing.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 04, 2017 09:01 PM (sEDyY)

41 I choose not to choose.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre at May 04, 2017 08:56 PM

You still have made a choice

Posted by: Amy Schumer at May 04, 2017 09:01 PM (ANIFC)

42 Do you have time to Reid?

Posted by: Harry Reid at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (vRcUp)

43
The same people who claim to not have time to read probably watch every episode of Dancing With The Stars, Shark Tank and Iron Chef. Or have an unread copy of Hawking's book A Brief History of Time prominently displayed on their coffee table.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (quw2O)

44
I choose not to choose.
Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre

You are free to do that.

Posted by: Milton Friedman at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (IqV8l)

45 OK, now it's not funny cause I wasn't unique, just quick.

scowleyface

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (vChNs)

46 42 Do you have time to Reid?
Posted by: Harry Reid at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (vRcUp)

Time out!!

Posted by: Andy Reid at May 04, 2017 09:03 PM (ANIFC)

47 Did anyone read a good write up about today's healthcare bill that does NOT come from CNN, NBC, LATimes, etc.?

Posted by: Tami at May 04, 2017 09:03 PM (Enq6K)

48 I'll admit that my traditional book reading has come to a screeching halt, even though I have a few good ones on hold like The Pity of War.

However, I have read a good amount by multi-tasking. I love to read while I eat, and that's so much easier with an e-reader than with dead tree. We all gotta eat, so there's just no damn excuse for not reading books. I also have gone through a few Audible books (right now I'm splitting time between Tom Sowell's Migrations and Cultures and The English and Their History by Robert Tombs), and a lot of it is just turning on the handy-dandy timer on my Fire and listening in bed until time is up, then just taking off the headphones and going to sleep.

"I cannot live without books." --Thomas Jefferson

Posted by: logprof at May 04, 2017 09:03 PM (GsAUU)

49 I only have time to read between the lines

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at May 04, 2017 09:03 PM (vChNs)

50 I don't choose not to choose. So there.

Posted by: freaked at May 04, 2017 09:03 PM (BO/km)

51 I choose not to choose.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre

I chew snot. Choo-choo!

Posted by: Joe Biden at May 04, 2017 09:04 PM (vRcUp)

52 And I always make time to read. Even if it's for a few minutes just before bed when my eyes are getting droopy. My dad and grandpa were voracious readers. Always had at least one book going.

Posted by: Pug Mahon aka the Deplorable P.U.G. at May 04, 2017 09:04 PM (1Z57K)

53 Heh. 'Creature From the Black Lagoon' is on TCM. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:04 PM (OdK9v)

54 I have a neighbor who is sooooo busy with self imposed obligations that she has other people carting her kids to all of the stuff she signed them up for. She has a rotation of a dozen people coming over during the day to feed and walk the puppy she just adopted.

And everyone tells her how awesome she is for taking on soooo much!

Its crazy.

Posted by: Elliot at May 04, 2017 09:04 PM (p2sa0)

55 31 Humans are great at relative. how are you feeling today? Well, less awful than usual, so... good! How are things going? Compared to last year? Terrific!
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (39g3+)

The joke in the old unlamented USSR: "Today was average. Worse than yesterday, better than tomorrow."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:04 PM (SRKgf)

56 46 42 Do you have time to Reid?
Posted by: Harry Reid at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (vRcUp)

Time out!!
Posted by: Andy Reid at May 04, 2017 09:03 PM (ANIFC)

---

I think we've stretched this as far as it will go

Posted by: Reed Richards at May 04, 2017 09:04 PM (vChNs)

57 And I always make time to read. Even if it's for a few minutes just before bed when my eyes are getting droopy. My dad and grandpa were voracious readers. Always had at least one book going.
Posted by: Pug Mahon
--------

My grandfather worked crossword puzzles in bed.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:06 PM (OdK9v)

58 I choose not to choose.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Sartre

Inability to make crisp decisions is, in the military context, one reason you Frogs end up getting bent over the kitchen table and nailed in the squeaker.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:06 PM (SRKgf)

59 I am a great book accumulator (photos forthcoming to a Book Thread soon), but I only really read during my breaks at work. I miss the commute of my old job, an hour on the train to read, and an hour lunch break.

Posted by: josephistan at May 04, 2017 09:06 PM (ANIFC)

60 Reading books is for nerds.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:07 PM (wmaTe)

61 The same people who claim to not have time to read probably watch every episode of Dancing With The Stars, Shark Tank and Iron Chef. Or have an unread copy of Hawking's book A Brief History of Time prominently displayed on their coffee table.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (quw2O)

I have an unread copy of the Koran in my bathroom.

OK, it's now missing pages, but still ...

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:08 PM (SRKgf)

62 Did anyone read a good write up about today's healthcare bill that does NOT come from CNN, NBC, LATimes, etc.?
Posted by: Tami

Rush was talking about it this afternoon on the radio.

He was moderately optimistic about parts of it. I think people are prematurely pessimistic because it is not a complete repeal. It will allow states to set insurance standards for coverage, which will get rid of the all inclusive mandates from the Secretary of HHS.

It will also allow the states to allow the insurance companies to determine who they can cover.

The money from the FedGov will help cover people that are high risk, ie, already "sick" with pre-existing conditions.

These two things will mean a premiums for most of us will go down.

It's going to be an incremental thing, going forward.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:08 PM (S6Pax)

63 Yeah, but when it's a good book, and you're *not* sleepy, then, "Yikes! It's 2:30 a.m.!"

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:08 PM (OdK9v)

64 If this person who has had such nightmarish events thrust upon her can choose happiness, then so can we. It's a choice. No one is too busy for joy.

Mom's side of the family survived Hitler. And yet family events were filled with uproarious laughter.

A lesson for us all.
Posted by: J.J. Sefton
---
Hear! Hear!

My great grandmother had 7 children and yet only 2 lived into adulthood. The flu, drowning, electrocution, and scalding took the other 5. And yet, the woman unfailingly had a smile and kind word for all.

God gave me life. And even though the death of my late wife and son were very dark days, the least I can do for Him and myself is to enjoy the hell out of each one I have.

For me, at least, to do otherwise would be ungrateful. I'll see my kin again and they will be well and pain free then.

Isn't that a wonderful thing to anticipate?

Posted by: Tonypete at May 04, 2017 09:08 PM (tr2D7)

65 Dangit, there's a Jesse Ventura sock joke in there somewhere, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Posted by: Bilwis, Devourer of Gluten Free Souls at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (a3sfz)

66 37 31 Humans are great at relative. how are you feeling today? Well, less awful than usual, so... good! How are things going? Compared to last year? Terrific!
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (39g3+)

LOL.... when someone asks me 'how are you today?'...

I sometimes pause... then actually answer...
Posted by: Don Q. at May 04, 2017 09:00 PM (NgKpN)

I have, on occasion, responded with the following question: "Would you like the polite, superficial answer society expects, or would you really like to know?"

Posted by: Insomniac at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (0mRoj)

67 I usually have three books going--a dead tree book I read at home, a kindle book I read in coffee shops and an Audible book I listen to while driving.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (hJrjt)

68 62 - I have my doubts, but given the total hysterics the Left is experiencing over this thing maybe it's not so bad.

Posted by: josephistan at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (ANIFC)

69 Crap! creature from the black lagoon is crawling onboard... and the satellite signal was lost.

Heavy rain.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (OdK9v)

70 Tired of people, businesses, groups and the government always exclaiming they are determined to make the world a "better" place.

Live your life the best you can, take care of your family and those close to you. Don't harm other people. Serve God as best you can. Happiness comes from that and that alone.

The world is what it was before you got here and will be when your gone.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (5VlCp)

71 Thanks to Ace, I'm learning Spanish. I started a new contract gig with an hour-plus commute one way because the money is irresistible, so there's two hours of my day in rush hour traffic both ways. I tried a week or so of just listening to music but couldn't help but feel I could be doing something more constructive.

I took three years of Latin in high school and then some obligatory German in college but how often, exactly, would I be running into Germans? So Spanish. Besides, that high school Latin might finally come in handy since Spanish is a romance language and all.

I bought some books too, and started watching Spanish language television. I'm beginning to think Mexican soap operas are the most unusual viewing experience on the planet.

It's all good.

Posted by: troyriser at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (nSXub)

72 I listen to audiobooks in the car and when I'm doing mundane tasks. Amazing how much time you spend driving in a week. I generally listen to a book a week. The local library has an excellent selection. Currently I'm listening to "Shattered". Makes me laugh like a kid on Christmas hearing over and over how the reason Hillary didn't win is because she's Hillary. Even with the liberal authors trying to humanize her, it is readily apparent she's a total elitist.

My favorite line, which conpletely sums up why I hate her an why I held my nose and voted for Trump was something like, "Hillary had to figure out how to bridge the gap between what they (Americans) thought they wanted and what she knew was best for them."

Posted by: Oil Field Trash at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (l4jpd)

73 Obligatory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVGINIsLnqU

Posted by: Boogie Boy at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (vRcUp)

74 Warden, Thanks for this insightful essay. I've had years of trying and ridiculous schedules, like a lot of people. One of the benefits of getting older, at least in my case, is being able to find joy and beauty in life and all around me. The corollary is spending less time on matters (and people) that are depressing, enraging (except when driving), and wallowing in a constant state of annoyance. I notice my health has improved as I spend more time enjoying life.

Read any good books lately? Absolutely!

Posted by: JTB at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (V+03K)

75 One of the gifts of cancer for me was that it changed my view of life. From that time on, my philosophy has been: Happy is more fun that sad,
sad is more fun than dead.

Posted by: Wenda (sic) at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (Kr0FZ)

76 70 Tired of people, businesses, groups and the government always exclaiming they are determined to make the world a "better" place.

Live your life the best you can, take care of your family and those close to you. Don't harm other people. Serve God as best you can. Happiness comes from that and that alone.

The world is what it was before you got here and will be when your gone.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (5VlCp)

It's good to realize you're not the centre of the universe.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (hJrjt)

77 I cut Comcast cable yesterday now I have more time on my hands.Let's see, what can I read?

Posted by: dantesed at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (88xKn)

78 Always have a book going and at least one waiting to be read. Without books, I am, well, like Barack without his nose snow.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (/xKV7)

79 Live your life the best you can, take care of your family and those close to you. Don't harm other people. Serve God as best you can. Happiness comes from that and that alone.

The world is what it was before you got here and will be when you're gone.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (5VlCp)

This.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:12 PM (SRKgf)

80 Joy, happiness, peace, contentment...these are not in my repertoire.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 04, 2017 09:12 PM (0mRoj)

81 Do you have time to Reid?

Posted by: Harry Reid at May 04, 2017 09:02 PM (vRcUp)

I laughed out loud at this

Posted by: The Jackhole at May 04, 2017 09:12 PM (M+Lyo)

82 you know who has plenty of time to read books bow?

enjoy that free time Hilary

Posted by: buzzaw90 at May 04, 2017 09:12 PM (vChNs)

83 It will also allow the states to allow the insurance companies to determine who they can cover.

The money from the FedGov will help cover people that are high risk, ie, already "sick" with pre-existing conditions.

These two things will mean a premiums for most of us will go down.

It's going to be an incremental thing, going forward.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:08 PM (S6Pax)

Thanks! I was looking specifically for the pre-existing conditions part. So that's now up to states/insurance companies?
I was also curious as to what they define as 'pre-existing condition'. That seems kind of important. I have a thyroid problem, like AtC was saying she had earlier today. I wouldn't consider that 'high risk' but it is pre-existing.

Posted by: Tami at May 04, 2017 09:13 PM (Enq6K)

84 It's good to realize you're not the centre of the universe.
Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (hJrjt)

Yep. As I've said to students, "your coordinates are not (0,0,0)."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:13 PM (SRKgf)

85 >>>As a point of perspective, I attend church with a woman who survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

How did a Christian immigrant get in here? Must've been that Nazi Bush who let her in.

Posted by: Barack Obama at May 04, 2017 09:13 PM (vRcUp)

86 sadly I now have 90 minutes of time to ride my elliptical.

Posted by: buzzaw90 at May 04, 2017 09:13 PM (vChNs)

87 82 you know who has plenty of time to read books bow?

enjoy that free time Hilary
Posted by: buzzaw90 at May 04, 2017 09:12 PM (vChNs)

I understand prison can be a good time to catch up on all those books you've been meaning to read.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:13 PM (hJrjt)

88 Geeze raining *very* heavily. I blame the Russians.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (OdK9v)

89 Warden.......Thank you!

Posted by: westminsterdogshow at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (mMeIQ)

90 77 I cut Comcast cable yesterday now I have more time on my hands.Let's see, what can I read?
Posted by: dantesed at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (88xKn)

good for you!

cut the cord years ago, uncut it briefly when we got a deal that was basically $10 a month intro rate for cable included in our price for internet, then recut it when the promo expired.

It really is a huge waste of time. If you want to veg out and watch something, there's more then enough to watch on netflix or hulu. If there's a MUCH WATCH show, download the channels app and use a friends cable login to watch it.

Trust me, when watching tv takes even that small amount of effort, you find out there really arent too many if any much watch shows, and you'd rather do something else then look up shit on netflix and chromecast it to the tv.

There's something about the passive nature of cable tv that makes it so easy that you can spend hours getting sucked in watching complete nonsense that you'd never actually take the time to seek out.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (wmaTe)

91 must watch*

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (wmaTe)

92 I cut Comcast cable yesterday now I have more time on my hands.Let's see, what can I read?

Posted by: dantesed at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (88xKn)

Get a library card, they are an amazing resource!

Posted by: Hrothgar at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (gwPgz)

93 i read all the time:

when you have ulcerative colitis, and spend half your life sitting on a toilet, what else are you going to do, knit?

as for being happy, the only thing between me and that is 40-50 IQ points.

if i could lose them, and never knew i had them, i'd be like the idiots all around me, entertained by television, People magazine etc, and informed by the MFM.

as for joy, they sell that at the liquor store... doesn't everyone know that?

Posted by: redc1c4 at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (o/2ws)

94 Don the Con , gives a speech commemorating the
Battle of Coral Sea.

What a selfish jerk.

Posted by: Mortimer - Finish Her! at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (Uxokn)

95 Posted by: troyriser at May 04, 2017 09:11 PM (nSXub)

I'd suggest supplementing that program with Duolingo. It's wonderful and ... free!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (SRKgf)

96 69 Crap! creature from the black lagoon is crawling onboard... and the satellite signal was lost.

Heavy rain.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:09 PM (OdK9v)

--The Shaun the Sheep episode that was a parody/homage was hilarious.

https://youtu.be/q7NiflRNurc

Posted by: logprof at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (GsAUU)

97 94 Don the Con , gives a speech commemorating the
Battle of Coral Sea.

What a selfish jerk.
Posted by: Mortimer - Finish Her! at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (Uxokn)

I initially read that as shell fish jerk.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:16 PM (hJrjt)

98 So Spanish. Besides, that high school Latin might finally come in handy since Spanish is a romance language and all.

I bought some books too, and started watching Spanish language television. I'm beginning to think Mexican soap operas are the most unusual viewing experience on the planet.

It's all good.

Posted by: troyriser

Come over to the dark side...

Posted by: Darth ¡Jeb! at May 04, 2017 09:16 PM (vRcUp)

99 I initially read that as shell fish jerk.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods
==

He just did it for the halibut.

Posted by: Mortimer - Finish Her! at May 04, 2017 09:16 PM (Uxokn)

100 Signal back, creature gone.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:17 PM (NBHj5)

101 Thanks! I was looking specifically for the pre-existing conditions part. So that's now up to states/insurance companies?
I was also curious as to what they define as 'pre-existing condition'. That seems kind of important. I have a thyroid problem, like AtC was saying she had earlier today. I wouldn't consider that 'high risk' but it is pre-existing.
Posted by: Tami at May 04, 2017 09:13 PM (Enq6K)

Typically, insurance companies use actuarial tables -- so "pre-existing conditions" (ie: sunken costs for medication) are added to your premium. For something somewhat minor, it would be a premium increase commiserate with the cost of your monthly medication.

The people who were unable to get insurance had serious, chronic, and possibly terminal illnesses that would cost more for the insurance company to pay out on then they could possibly get in premiums.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:17 PM (wmaTe)

102 I told him... 'its a matter of perspective... no one was shooting at me.... today.....
---
^this^

i used to repo cars in all the best parts of LA.

like i'd tell people with me at a code blue at the hospital. "calm down: we're just under stress... they're the ones having a bad day."

Posted by: redc1c4 at May 04, 2017 09:17 PM (o/2ws)

103 I do a ton of reading, but it's mostly online nowadays.

I have lots of books that I haven't gotten around to reading, but that's nobody's fault but mine.

If the internet ever goes dark, I won't lack for reading material, that's for sure.

Posted by: rickl at May 04, 2017 09:18 PM (sdi6R)

104 Great post Warden.

Posted by: Max Power at May 04, 2017 09:18 PM (QCc6B)

105 88
Geeze raining *very* heavily. I blame the Russians.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (OdK9v)

Been doing that here for 4 days (and nights). Shit ton of major hwys are closed in Missouri due to flooding.

Posted by: Tami at May 04, 2017 09:18 PM (Enq6K)

106
Trust me, when watching tv takes even that small amount of effort, you find out there really arent too many if any much watch shows, and you'd rather do something else then look up shit on netflix and chromecast it to the tv.

There's something about the passive nature of cable tv that makes it so easy that you can spend hours getting sucked in watching complete nonsense that you'd never actually take the time to seek out.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (wmaTe)

Another advantage of teh torrents. You have to make an effort to download, and you have to wait until it's complete before watching. Makes it easy to cull all the bullshit from your TV time.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 04, 2017 09:19 PM (quw2O)

107 If the internet ever goes dark, I won't lack for reading material, that's for sure.

Posted by: rickl at May 04, 2017 09:18 PM (sdi6R)

Thanks to the Book Thread, I have a backlog of real books that should hold me for a year or so!

Posted by: Hrothgar at May 04, 2017 09:19 PM (gwPgz)

108 The world is what it was before you got here and will be when your gone.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy

Just several degrees warmer, because of all the carbon you inflicted on it.

Posted by: Al Gore at May 04, 2017 09:20 PM (vRcUp)

109 O/T Son just texted, GA has just voted for open carry on college campuses.

Cue snowflake outrage.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:20 PM (PY9jH)

110 Another advantage of teh torrents. You have to make an effort to download, and you have to wait until it's complete before watching. Makes it easy to cull all the bullshit from your TV time.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 04, 2017 09:19 PM (quw2O)

yeah but you could get an angry letter from your isp about copyright infringement on teh torrents.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:21 PM (wmaTe)

111 Bah!!

Posted by: Soona at May 04, 2017 09:22 PM (nNLzv)

112 Geeze raining *very* heavily. I blame the Russians.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:14 PM (OdK9v)

When you point a finger at the Russians, there are three fingers pointing back at you.

Posted by: Al Gore at May 04, 2017 09:22 PM (vRcUp)

113 Been doing that here for 4 days (and nights). Shit ton of major hwys are closed in Missouri due to flooding.
Posted by: Tami
------------

Yeah, I saw that. We've had quite a bit of rain, but west and east of us have had it worse in the last couple of weeks.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:22 PM (OdK9v)

114 I have my doubts, but given the total hysterics the Left is experiencing over this thing maybe it's not so bad.
Posted by: josephistan

There are going to be some changes, but really, no one knows how it will play out.
The Democrats played this as a total crap shoot. To fix it will take years of incremental changes.
Flat out repealing and trying to go back to the status quo ante of 2010 probably wouldn't have worked and created a lot of chaos.

Things were screwed up in health care coverage then, and aren't going to spontaneously get better. The government and insurance companies have been screwing things up for about 25 years prior to now

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:23 PM (S6Pax)

115 What! Dennis Miller hosting TCM?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:23 PM (OdK9v)

116 A tornado touched down near my husband's company. Roof ripped off buildings.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:23 PM (PY9jH)

117
yeah but you could get an angry letter from your isp about copyright infringement on teh torrents.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at May 04, 2017 09:21 PM (wmaTe)

True, but by the same token, you probably won't download enough stuff to be in danger of getting cut off either. I get several hand-slap emails a year, but I've never had problems.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 04, 2017 09:24 PM (quw2O)

118 No one asks me what I've read. It's all such weird shit anyway, not fantasy sci fi that's so cool now. I like old Victorian novels, and nonfiction stuff I find at the library.

No one would understand. Only on the nets do I find an occasional like minded soul.

Posted by: Jeanne del Norte blanco grande at May 04, 2017 09:24 PM (B9dAp)

119 Dennis Miller is announcing the movies on TCM tonight.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 04, 2017 09:24 PM (IqV8l)

120 When you point a finger at the Russians, there are three fingers pointing back at you.
Posted by: Al Gore
------------

I only have one finger.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:24 PM (OdK9v)

121 Humans can adapt to anything, but we're at our absolute best when we instead say, "adapt, hell, YOU change!"

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 04, 2017 09:25 PM (66CWr)

122 I'd suggest supplementing that program with Duolingo. It's wonderful and ... free!
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (SRKgf)

I just did and it's awesome. Thank you.

Posted by: troyriser at May 04, 2017 09:25 PM (nSXub)

123 until the Senate gets done sticking their grubbies into the bill, i wouldn't spend too much time analyzing things.

we all know those idiots will screw up anything good in it, and make the bad shit worse.

Posted by: redc1c4 at May 04, 2017 09:25 PM (o/2ws)

124 Thank you. I really needed to read this after what is going on at my work.

Posted by: WinLinBSDAdmin at May 04, 2017 09:25 PM (k6kXg)

125 Not quite like books, but a fascinating documentary on Nat Geo about the wildlife of the Alps. I had no idea there were so many cool lakes within 10 miles of Neuschwanstein Castle, and even some impressive eagle aeries right next to it. What a lovely and rich corner of the world, smack in the middle of Europe.

Posted by: logprof at May 04, 2017 09:26 PM (GsAUU)

126 On shore winds have pushed the rains away from us. Damn it.

We're still on a waiting list to have seven trees taken down, post hurricane Matthew.

And I won't go into how much we hate our neighbors, whose tree people took out a wall of azaleas on our property, and tore up our sod. They had their entire yard re-sodded and re-landscaped, and came a couple of feet over our property line.

The limey bastards have just escaped to England for the summer.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:26 PM (PY9jH)

127 I like old Victorian novels, and nonfiction stuff I find at the library.

No one would understand. Only on the nets do I find an occasional like minded soul.

Posted by: Jeanne
--------------

So far as novels go, I generally read pre-war stuff. Certainly Victorians also. Every now and then I'll read an escapist intrigue or notable contemporary novel.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:27 PM (OdK9v)

128 we all know those idiots will screw up anything good in it, and make the bad shit worse.
Posted by: redc1c4

McCain will be on it. Hold on to your butts.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:27 PM (S6Pax)

129 Thank you, Warden, wonderful essay. You explained how victimhood can be a state of mind. How people born into poverty can feel happy with very little.

Posted by: fly gal at May 04, 2017 09:27 PM (x5QuF)

130 ronsfi

-.-- --- ..- / .-. .. -.-. -.- / .-. --- .-.. .-.. . -.. / -- . / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . / .-.. .- ... - / - .. -- . / -.-. .... .- -- .--. .-.-.- / -....- -- . -. - .- .-.. / ... -. .- .--. -....- / .... - - .--. ... ---... -..-. -..-. .-- .-- .-- .-.-.- -.-- --- ..- - ..- -... . .-.-.- -.-. --- -- -..-. .-- .- - -.-. .... ..--.. ...- -...- .... -.. --.. ----. .-- . .--. ..... .. -.... ---..

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 04, 2017 09:28 PM (u82oZ)

131 Warden's right. Who has time to testify?

Posted by: Susan Rice at May 04, 2017 09:28 PM (HwVbl)

132 Thank you, Warden, insightful, heartfelt and wonderful essay.

We choose to see beauty or not. We choose.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 04, 2017 09:29 PM (u82oZ)

133 Life is so full of cool and interesting things, but we ignore them because we get stuck in these weird loops.

Politics is one. A deadly one, actually.

How much more is there to say, really, about this shit?

Posted by: Warden at May 04, 2017 09:29 PM (YOnlm)

134 Tits McCain on The Five fired up, auditioning for a full time gig.

Posted by: Rick in SK at May 04, 2017 09:29 PM (K2T58)

135 --The Shaun the Sheep episode that was a parody/homage was hilarious.

https://youtu.be/q7NiflRNurc

Posted by: logprof

I cried tears of anger at how bigoted those sheep were just because their friend looked different. We are all the same under the skin.

Posted by: Lena Dunham at May 04, 2017 09:30 PM (vRcUp)

136 How much more is there to say, really, about this shit?

Posted by: Warden at May 04, 2017 09:29 PM (YOnlm)

Not much, really. You've encouraged me to do what I keep swearing I'm going to do everyday.

Listen to music.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:31 PM (PY9jH)

137 Fantastic post Warden.

Thank you.

Posted by: NJRob at May 04, 2017 09:31 PM (oDR3U)

138 122 I'd suggest supplementing that program with Duolingo. It's wonderful and ... free!
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:15 PM (SRKgf)

I just did and it's awesome. Thank you.
Posted by: troyriser at May 04, 2017 09:25 PM (nSXub)

Thank you. I'm kinda the Johnny Appleseed of Duolingo!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:31 PM (SRKgf)

139 Logprof,. Walking about Switzerland is a much better thing to do in Europe then Paris and Rome

Posted by: Jean at May 04, 2017 09:32 PM (zZb/S)

140 Joy, happiness, peace, contentment...these are not in my repertoire.
Posted by: Insomniac

Dude, I know, in part, how you must feel. This last year has been nothing but a downward spiral for me. I keep hoping things are going to change, and maybe they will. At least I am working and have a good paying job and am staying up with my bills and such. And I'm healthy. I know four people that have had heart attacks in the last year, and two of them are dead, including my best friend.

I really want to find some peace of mind and recover a little bit of joy in living. Maybe it's out there to find, maybe it's not.
We all have to keep up some kind of hope. I'm praying for you, brother.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:33 PM (S6Pax)

141 Politics is one. A deadly one, actually.

How much more is there to say, really, about this shit?
Posted by: Warden at May 04, 2017 09:29 PM (YOnlm)

+++

I just want to be mentally prepared when the shit hits the fan. There are so many areas on concern right now. We've got the left-tards always on the warpath with some new rule they've imposed, the Russians are playing Marco Polo around Alaska, Kim is threatening us with a "super-mighty missile". And that's just the major stuff.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 04, 2017 09:33 PM (/xKV7)

142 Amen, Open Blogger. Joy in many cases is a choice. I've become much happier recently since I started reading books again, instead of spending so much time online. (I still visit here, obviously!)

Posted by: iwuzhere at May 04, 2017 09:34 PM (jiGGU)

143 What a lovely and rich corner of the world, smack in the middle of Europe.

When it comes to beauty, the Alps, its towns, and its villages are ridiculous.

Posted by: t-bird at May 04, 2017 09:34 PM (ZIFyZ)

144 We all have to keep up some kind of hope. I'm praying for you, brother.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:33 PM (S6Pax)

Praying for you guys.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:34 PM (PY9jH)

145 The limey bastards have just escaped to England for the summer.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:26 PM (PY9jH)

Sue their limey asses and the tree company as well!

Or if you hate lawyers as much as I do and don't want to sue, tag their property with the best spray paint you can find. Shakespearean quotes would be a nice touch, although "Britannia sucks!" might work!

Posted by: Hrothgar at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (gwPgz)

146 The absolute worst invention ever is the Kindle. Damned thing drains the money out of my bank account. I've got books virtually stacked up for miles. Most of which I've read, but still.

Posted by: tcn in AK at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (NXsWM)

147 I practice daily Thanksgiving, for many things, material, spiritual, familial. I am not sure if I saw it at AoS or a religious blog first, though I have see it many times in the past.
I read everyday, maybe just 10 minutes waiting for my next case, but I can read. I can be happy despite so many aggravations.
Trade offs. That is the essential of adulthood. You choose, to study or goof off. Current pleasure vs future reward. It's a free country, wish we all had more wisdom at birth.

Posted by: Joe Mack at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (L7t0A)

148
Kim is threatening us with a "super-mighty missile".

I instantly visualize Wile E. Coyote

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (IqV8l)

149 I love Duolingo. For our last trip to Italy I worked with it for six months and was able to understand and question our Italian tour guide at an archeology site for the Italics

Posted by: westminsterdogshow at May 04, 2017 09:36 PM (mMeIQ)

150 Reading. Well, The World of Jeeves, Rome by Greg Woolf, the latest issue of First Things, City Journal, and Nosler vol. 4.

Posted by: Skookumchuk at May 04, 2017 09:36 PM (/WPPJ)

151 139 Logprof,. Walking about Switzerland is a much better thing to do in Europe then Paris and Rome
Posted by: Jean at May 04, 2017 09:32 PM (zZb/S)

--I've love to hike Switzerland and Bavaria some day. --and damn, the shots on now of the Slovenian Alps are gorgeous. There are Atlantic eels that hatch of the coast of the USA and migrate across the ocean, through the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, then up the rivers into the Slovenian Alps to spawn. Just crazy.

Posted by: logprof at May 04, 2017 09:38 PM (GsAUU)

152 Reading Tribe by Sebastian Junger and listening to Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:38 PM (hJrjt)

153 148
Kim is threatening us with a "super-mighty missile".

I instantly visualize Wile E. Coyote
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (IqV8l)

+++

My fear is that unlike Wile E. Coyote some day soon he's going to get lucky.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 04, 2017 09:38 PM (/xKV7)

154 And I won't go into how much we hate our neighbors, whose tree people took out a wall of azaleas on our property, and tore up our sod. They had their entire yard re-sodded and re-landscaped, and came a couple of feet over our property line.

The limey bastards have just escaped to England for the summer.
Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:26 PM (PY9jH)

It is for just such occasions that Roundup was invented.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:38 PM (SRKgf)

155 135 --The Shaun the Sheep episode that was a parody/homage was hilarious.

https://youtu.be/q7NiflRNurc

Posted by: logprof

Bitzer is my hero.

And shaun the sheet got me through the toddler years without cracking.

Posted by: tcn in AK at May 04, 2017 09:38 PM (NXsWM)

156 Oh and for me....has to be dead tree books. No kindle or audible here

Posted by: westminsterdogshow at May 04, 2017 09:39 PM (mMeIQ)

157 32 -.-- --- ..-

Posted by: ronsfi at May 04, 2017 08:59 PM (WC16

------------------------

.~.. ~~~ .~..

Posted by: EyeTest at May 04, 2017 09:39 PM (5x9My)

158 Sue their limey asses and the tree company as well!

Or if you hate lawyers as much as I do and don't want to sue, tag
their property with the best spray paint you can find. Shakespearean
quotes would be a nice touch, although "Britannia sucks!" might work!

Posted by: Hrothgar at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (gwPgz)

My husband is as angry as I've ever seen him. He asked them what they intended to do about our destroyed side yard. The horse-faced wife asked if we'd like to "share" in re-installing sod. My husband told her we had no damage whatsoever to our yard with the exception of their tree company running over and uprooting large azaleas, and digging trenches in our yard. She just shrugged and walked off. We're not the only ones who can't stand this couple. The husband loves to brag that he's friends with the British Royal Family (he managed their polo horses, and rode).

*types* *deletes*

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:39 PM (PY9jH)

159 Or if you hate lawyers as much as I do and don't want to sue, tag their property with the best spray paint you can find. Shakespearean quotes would be a nice touch, although "Britannia sucks!" might work!
Posted by: Hrothgar at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (gwPgz)

Or "bloody Poms!"

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:39 PM (SRKgf)

160 Viktor Frankl, who suffered beyond what most of us can imagine, has written about the necessity of not dwelling upon what might seem the meaninglessness of life, but rather on the absolute meaningfulness of life.

Attitude is, in a way, all that we have. Dennis Prager has made a similar point.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:39 PM (OdK9v)

161 Well, we're off to bed. Husband won his war with VW America. Huzzah!

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:41 PM (PY9jH)

162 I just want to be mentally prepared when the shit hits the fan.
*********

You aren't going to be.

Neither am I.

We grew up in a stable, peaceful civil society. All we know is what we know.

The best you can do is acknowledge how paper thin civilization truly is and make some physical preparations in case things break down.

Beyond that? Fuck it. Enjoy right now.

Posted by: Warden at May 04, 2017 09:41 PM (YOnlm)

163 Don't make me break out my key.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:41 PM (OdK9v)

164 143 What a lovely and rich corner of the world, smack in the middle of Europe.

When it comes to beauty, the Alps, its towns, and its villages are ridiculous.
Posted by: t-bird at May 04, 2017 09:34 PM (ZIFyZ)

--Alas, although I've seen Mont Blanc from a London-Rome flight, and Salzburg is sort of on the edge of the Alps, I have never seen the heart of them, and not sure if/when I ever shall.

Posted by: logprof at May 04, 2017 09:41 PM (GsAUU)

165 Simply...thank you (from a forty-something)

Posted by: Kevin at May 04, 2017 09:42 PM (HBGMZ)

166 Jane, did you guys take pics of the damage and have you tried contacting the tree company?

Sometimes just a letter from an attorney lights a fire under their butts.

Posted by: Tami at May 04, 2017 09:42 PM (Enq6K)

167 Speaking of botox, this Black Lagoon guy must be botoxed to the max.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:42 PM (OdK9v)

168 148
Kim is threatening us with a "super-mighty missile".

I instantly visualize Wile E. Coyote
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 04, 2017 09:35 PM (IqV8l)

I thought of the song "Brick House".

Posted by: rickl at May 04, 2017 09:44 PM (sdi6R)

169 Oh and for me....has to be dead tree books. No kindle or audible here
Posted by: westminsterdogshow
------------

Same here. No 'books' that require a battery.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:44 PM (OdK9v)

170 TL, DR:

Adulting is hard.

Posted by: MJ at May 04, 2017 09:44 PM (F4B2z)

171 Beyond that? Fuck it. Enjoy right now.
Posted by: Warden at May 04, 2017 09:41 PM (YOnlm)

+++

And there's the paradox. This place is a laugh riot much of the time which keeps me from taking things so seriously.
Plus, I learn so much with the horde's vast knowledge on almost all subjects.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 04, 2017 09:44 PM (/xKV7)

172

*types* *deletes*

Posted by: Jane D'oh

Serve them now while they are back in Merry Old, then when they don't post, get a summary judgement and slap a lien on their property. Depose the landscaper immediately, I bet they were given faulty instructions. Get a quote to fix from another company AND the one they used.

Posted by: Jean at May 04, 2017 09:45 PM (zZb/S)

173 Or "bloody Poms!"

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:39 PM (SRKgf) ['/i]

"Pommy Bastards!" is what I grew up with!

Posted by: Hrothgar at May 04, 2017 09:46 PM (gwPgz)

174 Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at May 04, 2017 09:33 PM (S6Pax)

Thanks. I'm really sorry about your friend.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 04, 2017 09:47 PM (0mRoj)

175 The limey bastards have just escaped to England for the summer.
Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:26 PM (PY9jH)

It is for just such occasions that Roundup was invented.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at May 04, 2017 09:38 PM (SRKgf)

You need to use the roundup to spell out all sorts of naughty words on their new lawn.

It's not like they can trace it.

Make sure you say something nice like, "Fuck Prince Charles and his horse-faced wife."

For the sake of neighborly relations, and all.

Posted by: tcn in AK at May 04, 2017 09:47 PM (NXsWM)

176 Well DONE, Warden. I'm grateful I made time to read your essay. Thank you.

Hanging out here and lurking is what I do sometimes instead of reading my books. Looking for friends, but I'm not quick enough, or I don't look at life quite the way some do here.

I've tried so long to overcome my self, and I haven't quit yet. Your example of the survivor will help me and others, too. Bless you.

Posted by: booknlass at May 04, 2017 09:47 PM (8mO0Q)

177 The Soca River is a beautiful river in the Slovenian Alps.

It used to be home to one of the largest species of trout. Unfortunately, during WWI hungry soldiers dynamited the river to get the trout, and it suffered the fate of the Wake Island rail. Since then the river has been restocked with North American rainbow trout.

Posted by: logprof at May 04, 2017 09:48 PM (GsAUU)

178 Oooh, Jane. Who do you know that has horses? An accident with the shit wagon might just be on the horizon as well.

Posted by: tcn in AK at May 04, 2017 09:48 PM (NXsWM)

179 washrivergal

AoSHQ is an amazing community of self-selected individuals. Ace and the Horde kept my sanity for the last 10 years. This blog is like a Paris Salon without the armpit hair. Very mind expanding. And funny in many different ways.

Thank you, one and all, well except for you Moo-Moo and Bill Wynn.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 04, 2017 09:48 PM (u82oZ)

180 176 Well DONE, Warden. I'm grateful I made time to read your essay. Thank you.

Hanging out here and lurking is what I do sometimes instead of reading my books. Looking for friends, but I'm not quick enough, or I don't look at life quite the way some do here.

I've tried so long to overcome my self, and I haven't quit yet. Your example of the survivor will help me and others, too. Bless you.
Posted by: booknlass at May 04, 2017 09:47 PM (8mO0Q)

The main reason lurk around here is there are really good and intelligent people here. I should do other things but I can't quit them.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:49 PM (hJrjt)

181 Someone should do a parody of Shaun the Sheep called Shaun the King.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 04, 2017 09:49 PM (vRcUp)

182 ONT in da house!

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (66CWr)

183 My time in Africa last year was a happy time, despite the grime and fatigue because I was doing something I'm genuinely gifted at genuinely love.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (hJrjt)

184 The main reason lurk around here is there are really good and intelligent people here. I should do other things but I can't quit them.
Posted by: Northernlurker
-------

Come for the intelligent exchanges, stay for the tinged humor.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (OdK9v)

185 I think my fave Shaun the Sheep was the one with the damned goat that ate everything. Either that, or the time Shirley got thin. That was truly entertaining as well.

Posted by: tcn in AK at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (NXsWM)

186 Nood ONT

Posted by: josephistan at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (ANIFC)

187 Jane, did you guys take pics of the damage and have you tried contacting the tree company?

Sometimes just a letter from an attorney lights a fire under their butts.

Posted by: Tami at May 04, 2017 09:42 PM (Enq6K)

Husband is thinking of reporting them to the neighborhood association. The assholes just slipped out of town yesterday. The association can report them to the Club and put a hold on their membership.

Thanks for all your ideas.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (PY9jH)

188 We grew up in a stable, peaceful civil society. All we know is what we know.

I know that there are things that I don't know that I don't know.

Posted by: Donald Rumsfeld at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (vRcUp)

189 Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 04, 2017 09:48 PM (u82oZ)

Amen.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 04, 2017 09:52 PM (/xKV7)

190 Lovely post - thank you. And how right you are about the lessons others can teach us. Until a few years ago, there was a woman across the street from me who was so easy-going, so funny. I'd seek her out on days when I felt overwhelmed by job, home, kids. She raised 8 kids in a house half the size of mine; they had one bathroom. Five minutes of talking to her and my problems were gone.

Posted by: Tired Mom at May 04, 2017 09:53 PM (X6wMH)

191 Posted by: Donald Rumsfeld at May 04, 2017 09:51 PM (vRcUp)

LOL. Takes me back.

Posted by: washrivergal at May 04, 2017 09:53 PM (/xKV7)

192 The Boy Scout Law identifies several qualities that scouts have a duty to live up to, one of which is being "cheerful." As a grump, that's always sounded like a tall order to me, and maybe a little absurd--a duty to be cheerful. But the older I get, the more wisdom I see in it. We really make our lives and the lives all around us better with cheerfulness (or happiness or joy or whatever word you prefer).

Posted by: Curmudgeonly Ex-Clerk at May 04, 2017 09:54 PM (C+n+z)

193 When the subject of retirement comes up where I work, at least one American who can easily afford retirement will say "If I didn't keep working I wouldn't have anything to keep me busy." As if being busy were a worthwhile goal regardless of what you are busy at. I don't get it either.

God bless your lady from Rwanda, who has gone through hell. May she live out her days happily here.

Posted by: Pogonip at May 04, 2017 09:56 PM (qmOf1)

194 I don't travel; that is, I go to work and come home and that's it. I don't watch much TV beyond sports and the local news. I have responsibilities for the house and dogs from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.

In the little interstices of time that belong to me (and from which I can be called at any time) I listen to and learn about classical music. Right now I am working up a playlist - now numbering over 1100 - consisting of one (1) work per composer, from Renaissance to modern. Fascinating to learn about composers I never heard of or whose music I never before heard and how enjoyable much of it is. There's two kinds of music: good and boring.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at May 04, 2017 09:57 PM (4HbHy)

195 Great essay, Warden!

Posted by: Ladylibertarian at May 04, 2017 10:02 PM (TdMsT)

196 Everyone poops, thus everyone has time to read.

Posted by: VAR1ABLE at May 04, 2017 10:04 PM (GkpWM)

197 This post is rather snooty itself. I used to read a great deal but the problem with books is, they are a one-way form of communication. It's like being lectured to with no input, i used to believe that reading was informative and educational but not anymore. Yes, it is important to read some, but much more important to live, experience, do the things others write and read about. Books have become a fetish.

Posted by: Wtp at May 04, 2017 10:05 PM (YzYK4)

198 A man who managed a drugstore (while his wife got her Ph. D.) told me about the one time he had wanted to actually hit a customer. The customer had told her kid "Naah, you've got enough books -- I'll buy you some candy."

Posted by: Whiggish Boffin at May 04, 2017 10:06 PM (1+h3K)

199 Warden,

Thank you for your wonderful, insightful post. I am one of those who has loved books from the time I learned to read, but in recent years have allowed life's daily tribulations and obligations to rob me of that pleasure. Anymore, on the rare occasion that I do indulge in reading a book, (or taking the canoe out, or spending an afternoon hiking or a couple days camping--any of the things I truly enjoy doing) it feels like guilty pleasure--as if I've stolen something I didn't earn or deserve.

I always thought that by the time I reached "a certain age" my life would feel under control and there would be time to relax and enjoy all the things I love doing, but now it feels like I'm chasing some impossible dream.

The first book I remember reading all by myself was about dinosaurs. The cover pictured two children playing in a small water-filled stone indentation, the outline of which was shaped like a dinosaur's footprint. I'll never forget the feeling I had after reading that book. It was exciting and powerful...as if a magical door had opened up into a whole new world. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next book, and the next one.

I miss reading.

Posted by: EyeTest at May 04, 2017 10:30 PM (5x9My)

200 Thank you for your wonderful, insightful post.
about me : http://www.okyalo.com/

Posted by: zhou at May 04, 2017 10:49 PM (Rjsb2)

201 It's an unusual person who lives in a first world country that doesn't have more liens on his or her time than they can possibly ever satisfy. Now that our kids are out of the house, I definitely have more time to read than before, but there has never been a time after college where reading at night in bed wasn't part of my ritual. Transitioning out of daily life into a story, biography, history, how-to, polemic--whatever--redirects my thoughts from the mundane. And no cracks about sex, wise guys. When that's on offer, the choice is obvious. When it's not, gimme a book.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
-Groucho Marx

Posted by: Lawrence Larson at May 04, 2017 10:57 PM (d/r2I)

202 Wow man, great read. Thanks for that.

Posted by: ninjacop at May 04, 2017 11:06 PM (CAnc/)

203 Thanks for the great essay, Warden. I find myself attracted more to essays and less to books these days.

Posted by: KT at May 05, 2017 01:17 AM (qahv/)

204 Amen!

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at May 05, 2017 02:06 AM (Ndje9)

205 I'm at the point in life (middle age), as an avid reader, enjoyer of music, etc., that I realize with increasing despair that there are books I will never get to read, music I will never get to listen to, places I will not visit ... because there is just too much "stuff" and not enough time left. It's quite crippling on an existential level.

Posted by: Moron Labia at May 05, 2017 04:39 AM (fw2WT)

206

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 05, 2017 06:03 AM (mpXpK)

207 A late comment to a really good post. I used to be a rabid reader of books, but I now read mostly long form journalism online. In some ways, this is just more convenient. I've begun reading novels again, usually on my Kindle. The problem I'm encountering is that there are so many bad books. One of my great pleasures in life used to be walking through bookstores. Now it's one of my greatest disappointments. So many books out that just seem to be a rehash, series, or from authors I don't know. The book thread is great, but I want to read great new books, not just classics.

Posted by: IanDeal at May 05, 2017 07:11 AM (teGBX)

208 Great post. Thanks!

Posted by: Alan at May 05, 2017 10:28 AM (rRcsq)

209 This was the most awesomely profound thing I've read in forever, and yes, I do read. Thank you for this.

Posted by: Cathy at May 05, 2017 06:29 PM (L7E8X)

210 I read four or five books a week, minimum. That's just what I do. I had a boss for about 6 months who seemed appalled by it. She'd come in every day and talk about the details of trashy television she'd been watching (think Honey Boo Boo). She'd ask what we watched and seem eternally surprised to hear that my family didn't watch TV in the evenings and say "What do you do?". Then, when we'd talk about books, she'd claim she didn't have time to read books, in that same contemptuous tone you talk about.

Posted by: Steph at May 08, 2017 12:08 PM (d8GaD)

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