I am he as you are he as you are me a nd we are all together (The Beatles)

Wie geht's?

Thanks to reading Anne Tyler's A Spool Of Blue Thread, I've been thinking a lot about the various stages we go through in life between being a child and old age.

Then Seth Godin put this on his blog:

And who are you really?
There’s a desire to celebrate our “authentic” self.

But perhaps our considered self, the one that shows up when we’re doing our best to be consistent, generous and professional–that’s our authentic self. And the voice that slips out when we’re tired, stressed or busy is simply an incomplete and lesser version of who we actually are.

We’re the sum total of the interactions we choose to create and the changes we contribute.

This made me reflect on my 'authentic' self and I tend to think it's just the present tense me. Whatever you see right now - that's my authentic self. So, yes, the sum total is the real me.

I do like how he has the 'considered' self, though. I take it that's the reflective self that you are reading right now.

Currently, I'm reading The Vivero Letter, an old Desmond Bagley adventure book. It was first published in 1968 and I first read it as a young boy.

Reading it again now is quite fun, as in the real world of 1968 John Lennon and The Beatles existed and they are alluded to a few times in the story as a cultural reference point for the times.

I'm certainly a very different person to the young boy of 1968 (I was 11) but yet I'm still very much the same person in 2021.  

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. In my previous post I indicated that I may have been inconsistent with my own children re a movie on a birthday tradition. However, Jade reminds me that there were quite a few - including Tarzan (the Disney animated one); The Great Mouse Detective; Corpse Bride; Nightmare Before Christmas; and various Star Wars movies (the reboots plus Episode 1, 2, 3). I'm pretty sure the other three will be able to remember others.

The influence of every experience in your life is determined by the meaning you assign to it (James Clear)

Wie geht's?

According to James Clear - The events of your past are fixed. The meaning of your past is not. The influence of every experience in your life is determined by the meaning you assign to it.

Recently, I spent six hours in the company of my work colleague, Thomas Te Pou, as we journeyed in the Purdmobile, up and back to Gisborne for our athletics day.

Thomas has a prodigious memory. His capacity to recall events in minute detail is amazing. He knows the names of all the players and minute details about all the games of rugby he's played or watched, it seems.
 
I do not share his recall ability.

However, I was sick this week and off school for two days and had time to think about this (and many other things).

I've mentioned before how when I was a kid my mum would take me and my brother to a movie of our choice on our birthdays (which are 18 days apart so I'm sure we shared the movie at times).

Anyway, I decided to make a list of those movies for my own gratification.

Here they are:

• 1964 (I was seven, Ross was 5, and this is when the tradtion started) Mary Poppins
• 1965 That Darn Cat; Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines
• 1966 El Dorado
• 1967 The Jungle Book
• 1968 (This was a weird year - I can distinctly remember seeing these 5 movies at that time - although, they came out in 1968 but may not have screened until 1969 in NZ or else we saw some, like Shalako, outside of our birthday tradition) Villa Rides; Bandalero; The Scalphunters; Where Eagles Dare; Shalako (dad joined us for this one so it definitely wasn't a birthday special - I suspect Brigitte Bardot was a major drawcard)
• 1969 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
• 1970 Kelly's Heroes 
• 1971 Diamonds Are Forever (at this point - I was now 14, Ross 12, the tradition stopped but I can't remember any discussion about it at the time)

A few things about this seem noteworthy, apart from the obvious love of Disney (3), westerns (5), war movies (2), James Bond (2). 

• This was clearly a bonding exercise (mum and us). Our father was never involved. We would always head into Queen Street from Royal Oak (in mum's mini).
• Obviously mum had no problem with the cartoon violence on offer (Scalphunters! What was she thinking? Ross was only 8 or 9).
• This 'tradition' only lasted 8 years. It was a narrow window from age 7 to about 14. Actually I'm not even sure those last couple were with mum along - there's that awkward stage where you want to be dropped off with your mates (same with most families I guess).
• Yes, I aimed to do the same thing with my children but I wasn't as consistent as mum was.

Love and peace - Wozza

And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house" And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife" (Talking Heads)

Michał Lis on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

I've struggled to embrace NZ's hot topics lately, things like Prince Harry and his wife, and America's Cup racing.

Although, thankfully, Harry/Megan is no longer part of the news cycle, and America's Cup fever will surely die down now that we have retained it.

After NZ's yacht (named 'Te Rehutai' - the Māori word for sea spray) beat Luna Rossa, Wednesday's TV One 6pm news had only one story! Yes - one!

Thursday's had room for the rest of the world again, and even Covid news made a return with talk of a trans-Tasman flight bubble.

That's how fickle the news is.

That helps explain why I couldn't raise much enthusiasm for Megan and The America's Cup?

Plus, those worlds of royal celebrity gossip, and billionaire yacht owners hold little interest for me. 

Airing family grievences to a global audience seems mean spirited to me, especially when it's so one sided and I just don't understand yachting - jibes and foils and such.

It didn't help that I was at work or travelling home when the races were being broadcast (I thought I'd gone to the wrong beautiful house when I walked in and my beautiful wife was watching the race live on TV - I did a double take and said - Jacky? Is that you?).

Sorry, but like skiing and equestrian events, yachting doesn't appeal to me at all. Too much faffing around, too much specialised equipment and too much of a specialised playing surface. And far, far too expensive.

I prefer a football that I can play anywhere at any time. 

As a kid, I'd take myself off to Seymour Park with my brother and we'd spend hours kicking a ball around. 

Simple things. Less is more. Occam's razor.

I'm still glad we won though and my Royalist sympathies remain intact, in case you were wondering.

Love and peace - Wozza

The driving of the year nail (Leo Kottke)

Alex Jones on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Each week, this is the blogpost that is hardest to write. Because life is mostly the mundane stuff that happens every day: feeding pets; making the bed (which we've just done with fresh sheets - that's a weekly routine); feeding ourselves; buying food; travelling to work; working; stacking firewood (Saturday's job); picking up horse poo...

As John Lennon knew, life is what's happening when you're busy making other plans.

So when Sunday afternoon family zoom time rolls around we often don't have any news as such - we talk about the daily lives we all live and someone (usually Adam these days) asks a penetrating question and we mull over things for a spell.

This is all weirdly life affirming (without being earth shattering). Thankfully, it seems we (our children and us) are coping pretty well in their day to day tos and fros.

Last week I travelled a lot and that included a couple of days in Gisborne. My visits there have taken on a routine of their own and while I still dislike being away from home, I can take comfort in those routines.

I aim to visit The Spellbound Wax Company record shop each time I'm in Gisborne. It's handily placed by the hotel I'm usually staying at, and the gentleman who runs it is chatty, friendly and knowledgeable. I found a David Sanborn album for $5 and he helpfully asked me if I'd found the other Sanborn record in the racks - I hadn't so he found it for me. Helpful!

He's on the move because the beautiful old building he's in needs earthquake strengthening. Hopefully he manages to find a suitable location close by. If you're in Gisborne stop by - it's a fun place to visit.

Love and peace - Wozza

It's ok to be sad (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Photo by kilarov zaneit on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

The title of this post comes from her song of the same name (on her latest album - The Dirt And The Stars).

The rest of the song's opening verse goes like this:

It's ok to be sad, it's alright to be lonely

You won't always feel bad

Somebody told me

The album's lyrics pretty clearly detail some recent bad times for Mary. As she sings -  all broken hearts break differently.

I really like the song -  It's Ok To Be Sad. She sums things up by saying, 'These feelings like weather, they come and they go.'

I guess we all have those moments. 

I often get blindsided. 

It could be by a colleague's comment (as it was this week), or a song lyric (usually it's that), a storyline on a television programme, a line in a novel, a poem, or a phrase someone says. Anything. 

And I'm back inside myself.

It's ok to be sad sometimes.

Love and peace - WNP

Signals Jerry, signals (George Costanza)

Wie geht's?

Not that I'm advocating alcohol as any kind of panacea but this is the before shot for my Friday night after a frenetic week at work.

I see on the card attached to it that it was an end of year gift from a Year 13 student. The wine label reads Theory and Practice. 

Phew. Freaky!

In other news: I'll be eating dinner, consuming said gift while sitting here tonight:

It's an Art Deco 1920's six seater oak table and chairs, that Jacky scored during the week to replace a table we brought back from the UK in our kitchen/diner area.

It has a cool winder to extend the table (two oak leaves make up the set).

 

She did really well!!! We love it!

Love and peace Wozza