Talk about “the best laid plans of mice and men.”   I thought today I would use the quote book and write about whatever my finger fell upon.  But could I find the quote book.  No siree.   Nor could I find the famous speeches book.
I know they are not far away, and I will find them, but right now I could not.  I had done some tidying up and where they were they were no longer.
I did find other books that interest me and I have done some reading of.  One was on aging.  I do look into that a fair bit as many I have met act like life has past them by and the best years are behind them.  Guys especially can be like “bulls in a China shop.”  So much was achieved in times past, but a new generation has taken up the mantle and the older ones who had been “go get em” types, are frustrated.
To me that is totally understandable.  Knowing when to step aside is a hard one.  I have seen people hang on too long.  The feeling seems to be “give someone else with a passion for it a go.”
But others know their time is up doing what they were doing successfully.  But to me it is really important I know it is not like there is now a void.  The key to me is finding what’s next and doing that.  The profile may not be as public, but the work is just as important.
The older someone gets, the more their world shrinks.  Travel becomes less and less viable and more and more of a challenge.  Eventually  it becomes better off not to pursue.  Getting around the house becomes more and more of a challenge.  Eventually around the clock “ability to respond” becomes desirable and necessary.  Ultimately the number of “incidents” become such that the one going through it knows they are better off with care – if only to satisfy the peace of loved ones.
That can be frustrating particularly when someone knows they were capable of more.  But for the present, life is becoming more limitated.  Yet I do not for a moment believe someone needs to go out with a whimper.  I am a great believer in everyone going out in a blaze of glory.
The end of one thing is the beginning of another.  Maybe it is less public.  Maybe it is more confined.  Yet definitely it is just as important.  A change of season does not need to mean a cessation of life.

This will be post 2531.  When I divide that figure by 365 it is very close to 7 years worth of posts.  I make a point of doing one daily and have only ever not done it for a few days as a mark of respect for someone that has passed away.
It is funny I have been a bit like the ad on tv that shows people seeing their speedo in the car pass a milestone number.  For some it is like 1,000k and for older vehicles it is like 300,000k.  Whatever the number is it is seen as significant and worth noting.
I used to do that when I passed a multiple of 100 like 1,500.  I will never say never as I may do it again but in recent times I have been busy writing and realized too late the post was something I was going to highlight.
One thing that I have seen big time though is the diversity of subjects I can write about.  Sometimes dictionary day throws me a curve ball and I need to look into something to know anything about it.  At other times the subject matter is something I am familiar with and need to come at it from a particular angle as there is so much to the topic.
Writing a post I know it is something I do not need to do but it is something I want to do.  What I find about random topics is the challenge they present.  That I find is good for me.  As is trying to put my thoughts on paper in a logical manner, something that is bread and butter too me.
I have decided to expand the random inputs.  I have been using dictionary day and the weekly email from James Clear.  Recently I thought, “I will do the same with a book of quotes I have plus a book of famous speeches.”  I will approach them the same way as dictionary day.  That is, shut my eyes and choose a page at random and write about whatever is on the page.
Not long ago I read something that said, “how boring life would be if we listened only to our own insights.”  I want to hear and consider what others are saying.  I love hearing about and reading about other traditions and cultures.  For any culture (including my own) there is both good and bad.  I feel it is like any technology that is developed.  There is often great potential for good and great potential for bad.  It all depends on the motivation of the user.
I am happy to explore the ideas of others.  Some I will agree with and some I won’t.  But I reckon whatever the case I can reach my own conclusions about what is being presented, and I will be the richer for it.

Dictionary day again.  My finger fell on the word “concerted.”  I thought you beaudy, as I was thinking in terms of making a real effort, as in, “they made a concerted effort to finish the task.”
But no this was the musical definition. “arranged in several parts of equal importance.”  I did not even know it had such a meaning.  It does make sense to me that it does, as it is a word from the “concert” family.  I can also see how it has come to mean what it does when I look at even a “concerted effort” being an effort done by more than one working together to achieve the desired result.  In music there are several parts working together in the one piece, while in industry or whatever there are several working together on one piece.
Apparently it first started to be used around 1700.  It has found its way into our usage mostly as the non-musical definition.  According to one site I visited “concerted” has four meanings but I did not explore them as I needed to acquire a subscription to access the rest of the site.
I did go elsewhere and found four definitions: 1 A concerted action is done by several people or groups working together; 2 If you make a concerted effort to do something, you try very hard to do it; 3 mutually contrived, planned, or arranged; combined (esp in the phrases concerted action, concerted effort); 4 arranged in parts for a group of singers or players.
Some of those meanings are to me very close to one another.  My takeaway from it all though is a “working together in harmony to achieve a desired result.”  There is one definition that relates to an individual achieving but the other three (75%) relate to groups of people.  It does not seem to matter if it is in music or in a task at hand the important thing is working together to get something done.
Who would have thought?  That word was not on my radar.  But I need to use the individual definition right now and make a concerted effort to prepare for the air conditioner guy coming.