How to Beat The Blahs

Getting old has some unsuspected pitfalls. Perpetual idleness is a trap. It has some severe consequences that lead to worse problems.
I blame myself for feeling idle, useless, and unproductive. The cure for these problems is purposeful activity. Whining and excuses don't improve this picture, but there are some factors that contribute to the condition. I no longer drive. I blame this for much of my inactivity. (Don't whine.) 

The real cure lies in focusing on filling time with challenging and meaningful activity. Learn something new. Read a classic you never read before. Explore a subject you have avoided: physics or astronomy. 

I write this like it's advice to others who rare facing this boring extreme, but it's really realizations I have embraced. I may still watch the mind-numbing fare offered on TV, but when that becomes a drag, I do know the cure. I can read Winston Churchill or G. K. Chesterton or study calculus or work out, even just a pleasant walk beats boredom. Just do something, anything will do.

Did You Know That Today Is Pi Day?

I didn't, but now I'm enjoying that I even know what pi is. Oh, by the way, today is also Albert Einstien's birthday. Since he was a brilliant and renowned physicist and mathematician I think is an appropriate day to remember him and pi.

Pi is the ratio of the radius of a circle to the circumference. Aren't you impressed that I know that? Don't be. It took a very good teacher several years of algebra to impart that to my brain.

One of the exciting things about this being Pi Day is that it has all kinds of facts associated with it. For instance, Pi is an irrational number. That means it is an infinitely repeating decimal. It never decides on what it's value is. Maybe that's not the way to state it. 3.14 may be as close as it can get.

I'd be a little more certain of things if it was pie day. Pies are more common in my experience than pi.
 

I Love to Remember!

Sometimes remembering is hard. Sometimes I remember things that make me sad. Or shame me. Or overwhelm me. I remember when I was in the first grade, my mother was Santa Claus for my class. I don't guess she did it for any other classes. I felt very special that she did it for mine.

I didn't say anything to anybody, but I knew as soon as she gave me whatever she had as gifts for everybody. She had gotten the suit from somewhere and was covered completely by the wig and the red suit. But when I took the candy or trinket, I saw her rings. She wore a large opal ring that was very distinctive; I didn't say anything to her or the other kids until I got home. She thought she had fooled me. She didn't think about the rings, I guess. But it was a kind of secret we shared that made me feel very proud and honored to have her do this for my friends. 

Memories have special significance to each of us, and enjoying the memory gives the same special feeling the original event carried. Oh, I love to remember!