I call your name but you're not there. Was I to blame? (The Beatles)

Wie geht's?

Names are interesting things, right? A name quickly becomes synonymous with the person, and quickly fits the personality, or is it, the personality fits the name?

Choosing names for our children is a key moment in our lives, because that name becomes the person and the person becomes the name. For life. Unless the person dislikes it and changes it in some way officially, or otherwise.

Some people change the emphasis to their middle name (never an option for me).

As far as our children go:

• Keegan came from a book of names. Jacky liked it and I thought it was unusual, so - cool. Keegan it was.
• Adam was a name both of us liked.
• We had no girl names sorted before Samantha came along. We were convinced the baby was going to be another boy, so Ethan was on the list. It took a while to settle on Samantha - I wanted a three-syllable name or a one-syllable name.  
• Jade was a one-syllable name that was inspired by our friend Liz. Her stepson was Jade. We loved the name. 

I can't envisage any alternative names for our children.

Jacky suits Jacky (even though her name is Jacqueline), and I guess I suit Warren, but I don't have any distance on it. Whatever, I do like my name.

I'm thinking about names because I'm trying to remember about 120 names that my new female students have in my classes at Iona College, plus about 30 staff. That's not easy.

Some of the girls walk up to me and say, with a mischievous glint in their eye, "What's my name?" 

I'm getting there. It takes constant repetition for the name to match their personalities and lodge in my brain. Certainly, if they are in my classroom, it's easier, but if I come across them away from that context, I tend to make noises like a blocked drain.

Which they obviously think is hilarious.

There are also many girls with the same name, or a close relative like the Ellas, Ellies, Evas. Girls that look similar are also problematic. I always get them switched around for a while.

Then there are the tricky ones to pronounce. I got Farah wrong on Friday which brought hoots of laughter from the class. It's Far - rah, not Fair - rah, she pointed out. 

As I said, names are important, so I need to lock in and get it right.

Love and peace - Wozza

Well, there's them that do and them that don't; them that will and them that won't (The Hollies)

Wie geht's?

My post on The Purdzilla Show yesterday has had me thinking today as I had that root canal procedure in Palmerston North.

Yes, two hours lying on my back staring at the roof while my endodontist does his thing will do that to me.

In case you missed it - I highlighted a passage where Mrs. Marsh shares some advice to her daughters in Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women:

Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life becomes a beautiful success, in spite of poverty. 

It's a challenge employing your time well in such circumstances which is exactly the point. The assistant asked me what playlist I'd like to listen to so I chose WTWMC - Fresh finds and settled back to think about all the meds I'd been taking for the last 10 days to manage that pesky tooth (Prednisone, Codeine, Amoxicillin, and Panadol).

I also thought about Samantha and Irene, football, school stuff, and a colleague's comment at lunch one day that my words were slurry thanks to being hopped up on Codeine.

When I mentioned it to Jacky, she agreed!! What the...

So, I've appeared as a Codeine addict at school for the last two weeks? Sheesh. I had no idea.

The two hours drifted by, my back got sore, my mouth ended up so numb Jade told me afterwards amidst guffaws that I looked like a stroke victim.

But this morning, my smile was back, no codeine, and I ate my three Weet-bix with cold milk for the first time in two months. Huzzah!!

Love and peace - Wozza

You know you'll have to pay it all. You'll pay today or pay tomorrow. You fasten up your beaded gown, then you try to tie me down (Steely Dan)

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Dental work. As a colleague said to me this week - hard to know what hurts most - the actual dental work or the bill.

I liken dentists to hair stylists, as in I can't cut my own hair, nor can I perform complicated dental procedures on myself. Asher recently took great delight in removing one of his wiggly teeth to assist the tooth fairy, but he's much more adventurous than his papa.

So - off to a variety of specialists I go for a root canal on a complicated molar that is dying a painful death. First was the consulation and fancy as scans. Twenty minutes work costing $400.

I lay back and thought of England.

Love and peace - Wozza

Now the darkness only stays at nighttime. In the morning, it will fade away. Daylight is good at arriving at the right time, it's not always gonna be this grey (George Harrison)

Wie geht's?

The Truman biography remains a fascinating experience, (I'm up to page 558) and it is inevitable that I would compare Henry S. Truman with the present incumbent in The White House. 

Truman was an exemplary leader. He showed exceptional diligence in his job. He was, according to those who worked for him in The White House, 'an extremely thoughtful, courteous, considerate man' who 'spent virtually every waking moment working at being president'. 

The staff was continually amazed by the President's knowledge of the country.

Truman would say sitting in the Oval Office, "It is ignorance that causes most mistakes. The man who sits here ought to know his American history, at least".

Check out this clip from Jimmy Fallon.

If ever there was a "clean break from all that had gone before," Truman would say, the result would be chaos.

That's certainly the reality of now. Screeds have been written about Donald Trump. A lot by him on social media. He thinks he's great. This is known as Figjam. He thinks he's the least racist President of all time. This is known as denial.

He has a pathological need to sow chaos and dominate the headlines. He is at the opposite end of the Presidential continuum to Harry S. Truman - who was a principled, hardworking man with integrity. Everyone who ever knew Truman said he was a man of great character.

In comparison, Trump is a Shakespearian villain like Edmund in King Lear. A bastard and a schemer, wreaking destruction upon virtually all of the other characters.

At the moment we all have to live through Trump's frippery and chaos, but, as George Harrison says: All things must pass away.

Pretty soon he will go the way of all things; history will have its say on the Trump Presidencies, and he will slip into the past like everyone else. No longer relevant. No longer a stain. His name will live in infamy, while Truman's will continue to grow in stature,

Back to the book. It really is a tonic!

Love and peace - Wozza

Camp is very entertaining, and they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining (Allan Sherman)

Photo by Fredrik Öhlander
on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Life has got hectic again with last week's return to work. Normal routines have yet to re-establish themselves to boot, and that adds to the hectic-ness of life. I need to guard against impatience at such times.

Next week will be even more disrupted, as I head off to Year 9 Camp with other staff and about 60 Year 9 girls. That will mean a few days without my daily blogging regime. I shall cope.

Some of my fondest memories have been on over-night school camps, but I haven't been on one for about a decade. I think the last one was while at Woodford House. 

Funny having to pack up gear again and heading off into the relatively unknown for challenging experiences.

Should be fun, I'll report back next week.

Love and peace - Wozza

What is not brought to consciousness, comes to us as fate (C. G. Jung)

Wie geht's?

This post's title was the quote for the weekend just gone. I've been puzzling it over since then.

It's made a lot more enigmatic by the fact that it's half a quote.

The full quote is:

“That which you do not bring to consciousness comes to you as your Fate, that which you do bring to consciousness, whether it was what you thought you wanted or not, is your destiny.”

This suggests that our unconscious thoughts and feelings can become predetermined outcomes, often beyond our awareness (we haven't consciously thought of them).

Jung believed that our unconscious selves play a significant part in shaping our experiences and decisions. Because of this, our perception is that fate is at work, rather than free will.

In a recent post I wrote about my need for ongoing challenges. These are part of my conscious decision making - like moving to a new school. It is part of my destiny.

Darth Vader tries to impress upon his son a conscious thought and he labels it 'destiny'. Luke decides against this course of action - he hasn't thought of this previously, so his repudiation of his father's idea becomes his fate.

Here's a personal example.

In this blog I have previously explained how it was fate that led me to my first teaching job in New Plymouth and then meeting my future wife within weeks of moving there. 

The circumstances of meeting Jacky were unconscious on my part - a move to New Plymouth, flatting with two girls, a chance meeting at a fancy-dress party after a birthday dinner for one of my flat mates. I just went along with everything and, zappo - love at first sight. 

Fate (according to Jung - it was predetermined). 

Over the next few days in late February 1983, my consciousness kicked in big time, and I had to meet her again somehow.

Destiny (according to Jung).

Love and peace - Wozza

Forward

Photo by Danka & Peter on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

I'm off to an induction day today. I start a new job next week so this is my first opportunity to note down the important things I need to know as I transition to a new place of work (Harry S. Truman's advice to 'shut up, watch, and learn' is key).

This is exciting, but I know plenty of people in my whanau that wouldn't be thrilled with this prospect. Change and disruption to routines are things I need from time to time. No one who knows me is surprised that I have moved from one thing, which I enjoyed, to another, which comes with risk.

Standing still, and avoiding the need for fresh challenges is not part of my make-up.

What I learned from today will feature on my next Baggy Trousers' post.

Love and peace - Wozza