WORDS FROM WEIRD PLACES – THANK YOU JIM CARREY

GOOD MORNING WORLD

This morning started like every other day with the exception that t is Saturday and I have no gatherings or meetings or people to see.  I have essentially a free day.  This in itself is amazing.  I started as I did most other days.  Got my beverage – today it is coffee, some days it is tea – and headed to the computer to check emails and facebook and scrabble.

As I am scrolling down my facebook page I came to a post that said “What Jim Carrey Explains In 1 Minute Will Change Your Life Forever. Seriously.”  Now I am not a big Jim Carrey fan and would have moved quickly on had it this link not been shared by a friend  from a past life who is a sweet, very quiet, unassuming and kind lady.  I actually hope one day to be able to be with her again.  Years ago we had the most delightful day touring a plantation house in Louisiana.  I clicked on the link to see what she had shared.

The link took me to a video (1)of Jim Carrey making a graduation speech in 2014 at Maharishi University.  I had no idea where that was so of course did a quick wikipedia search.  It turns out the University is in Iowa. (2)

Maharishi University of Management (MUM), formerly Maharishi International University, is an American non-profit university located in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded in 1973 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and features a “consciousness-based education” system that includes the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique.[6][7] Its founding principles include the development of the full potential of the individual, fulfilling economic aspirations while maximizing proper use of the environment and bringing spiritual fulfillment and happiness to humanity.[8]

The university is accredited through the PhD level by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and offers degree programs in art, business, education, communications, mathematical science, literature, physiology & health, Vedic Science and sustainable living.

Interesting search into the credentials of the University.  The average cost per student it said was about $16,000 in 2011.  With the costs of some schools this appears to be fairly reasonable.  You be the judge of its programs.

The speech was what held my interest.  I heard what had been shared then went back to hear more.  I had a new appreciation of Jim Carrey.  Besides his movies, he has written and children’s book (3)and is a painter (4).  In fact in his speech he references one of his paintings.

I will not go into all of this.  I will simply leave you with the links and a few of his words.  Got to say my day has taken a different direction.  Has listening to this speech changed my life forever?  Who knows.  It has impacted my morning for sure.

At this time of graduation and transition for many, it simply seems like a good thing to share.

From the speech……………

“…all there will ever be is what is happening here and the decision we make in this moment based is either love or fear…”

“You cannot fail at what you don’t want so you might as well take a chance at what you love.”

“….the effect you have on others is the most powerful currency there is.”

“Your need for acceptance can make you invisible…..risk being seen.”

“….to find real peace you have to let the armor go…….”

I also liked what he had to say about faith – take a listen it might interest you today.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

(1)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V80-gPkpH6M

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_University_of_Management

(3)http://www.amazon.com/How-Roland-Rolls-Jim-Carrey/dp/0989368009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432999450&sr=8-1&keywords=Jim+Carrey+books

(4) http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/January-2012/Something-to-See-Here/

GOOD NIGHT ALL – I HOPE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I understand that there are many people who function perfectly well on a few hours of sleep. I am not one of them.  Last night I got 3 hours from 11 – 2AM.  I was awake the rest of the night.  I have no idea why.  Then the birds began so I got up.  I wrote about this part in another blog in 2012. (1)

I am not a violent person by nature.  I love all of God’s creatures, even snakes.  While I do not want much interaction with these slithery things I do appreciate their spot in the scheme of things.  I actually touched one in a zoo on our sons 1st birthday outing.  Trying to be a good mother I did not want to scare my son.  When the snake came by I did a dutiful touch and was amazed to that it felt like a fine leather glove.  The violence was awakened this morning at4:30AM.

Sleep and I are like strangers that pass in the night.  Sometimes we meet and others we just wave at each other.  I can be found roaming around our house anywhere from1-3AM just trying to GET to sleep.  Or perhaps I have slept for a couple of hours and cannot get back to sleep.  The phrase ‘sleeping like a baby’ really applies to me at these times.  Babies may have a hard time falling asleep and then only sleep for a couple of hours before they wake again.  It is a battle I fight.  A good night’s sleep is like a rare jewel.

The requirements I have read for a good night’s sleep are a dark, cool or chilly quiet room.  I actually have been sleeping okay these past couple of nights as we have the windows closed and the air-conditioning on fulfilling all the requirements.  We were in a heat wave with some rain.  Yesterday the air cooled.  I opened the windows to enjoy the fresh air and cool breeze the day offered.  It was almost cold last night so the windows remained opened.  At 4:30AM the Bird Anvil Chorus began.  I had had a good night’s sleep so far and really wanted more.

Last night’s effort was a pure failure.  As I am sitting here typing with heavy eyelids it occurs to me I may be brilliant.  Do they not say that Einstein lived on little sleep?  Leonardo de Vinci is said to have created Mona with only 2 hours per night.  Are there not other creative people who do well with few hours of shut eye?  Napoleon was also one to live on little sleep.

I decided to do a bit of research about this.  I discovered there are many different kinds of sleep.  We have power sleep,  polyphasic sleep , regular monophasic sleep, biphasic sleep, and free-running sleep.  Seriously?  There are too many suggestions about how many hours one needs for health to even hone in on any one specific  one.

It is thought that da Vinci used polyphasic sleep.  This is a the practice of sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour period.  It is thought to be good for you.

It was way too much and I am now sleepy at 7:30AM after a cup of coffee and working since 5:30AM.  This is ridiculous.  I have too much to do.  Perhaps I will follow da Vinci? Perhaps I’ll take a nap.  Perhaps the sun is out so those darned birds will be quiet…perhaps……..

……ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

(1)https://ktsquaredtreasures.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/430-am-really/

(2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep

GPS, SMART PHONE, PAPER MAP – ALL WRONG

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I love to travel.  In fact I inadvertently met my husband from a one sentence line in an old teen magazine that brought my pen-pal to me.  ( I know I have written about this before) The line read “I love photography and I love to travel”.  At 12, from a very modest income family  and living on the coast of Maine, the most I had actually traveled in any one direction was  2 hrs from my home.  I loved it though!!!

The very same husband, as I have only had one blessedly, also loves to travel.  We like to take the long way around as much as possible.  After 46 years we still enjoy each other’s company even with no conversation.  The silence is comforting as we whizz along the highways and byways encapsulated in our own little world on four wheels.  We are in our own enchanted carriage touring the world in which we live.  This past weekend was one of those times.

When the invitation for my Aunt Pauline’s 90th in Bass Harbor, Maine arrived, the date was one week before a meeting we had to attend in Rochester, NY.  Now we could have stayed home and each weekend driven to the destination spot and back.  The trip to Maine would have been a 24 hr trip up and back and staying over in between.  The one to NY would have been a 12 hr up and back and a stay over as well.  I immediately looked at this as an opportunity for some vacation fun.  I asked my groom if he could take vacation for the week as I wanted to go to Maine and meander to NY.  No route was planned as the idea was just beginning to form.  Once it was certain I began looking and plotting and planning.  I love maps.  I also like the map engines on the computer which can change a direction with a drag of a key.

I will not bore you with all of that.  I will end the suspense with the fact that we took route 2 out of Bangor, Maine and stayed on it over the top of New Hampshire, the top of Vermont, right up the middle of Lake Champlain until it ended on the Vermont New York border where we picked up route 11 to wend our way down to Rochester NY.

Let me take a paragraph to share that route 2 took us by two favorite Inns at which we had vacation multiple times at each.  One we knew we would see and the other a pleasant surprise to be so close.  Fond memories of both.  Route 11 took us through my husband’s college town ad we got to see his old fraternity house.  Unfortunately since it was closed up it appeared all had gone for the summer. Route 11 also took us close enough (30/45 minutes off the path each way) to be able to stop and see one of our nephews and his wife.  I had never had the chance to visit though my husband stops every year with the family fishing trip.  All went well until we left Rochester on Sunday.

We have done the route from Maryland to Rochester before.  We know that at Corning/Painted Post there needs to be a redirection of sorts up and back.  Our route at this time is 15 coming north out of Pennsylvania connecting to 390.  This is not a big deal and as I said we had done it before.  On this particular Sunday it became a situation.

I had fallen asleep which is not a surprise to the driver of our carriage!  I happens often.  I trust his driving and do not sleep well some nights so the baby carriage effect comes into play here – trust and constant movement equal sleep!  He woke me as we approached the turn off of 390 as we traveled south.  We knew we had to get on 15.  The problem was there were no rt 15 signs.

This is the situation.  The GPS or IDA (Instrumental Directional Advisor) as we call her was telling us to get on 86 and go to Elmira to pick up 81 south.  We knew we did not want highway as we wanted 15 and scenery.  She clearly showed 15 as well.  My smart phone was showing the same intersection and 15 was a registered route number on it.  The atlas was agreeing with the other two sources.   The road showed no 15.  We saw signs for 17 East and West which is also known as the Southern  Tier Expressway.  We saw 86 for Elmira.  We saw 414 as well.  No 15.  There was this major blue highway sign with the numbers 99 on it.  Interstate  99 was not on the GPS.  It was not on the smart phone link.  It was not on the map.  We were hapless travelers.

As we traveled it was certain we had motored to highway 86 and 414 and wanted neither.  We got off the highway and started back through the village of Gibson to Corning.  Once in Corning 17 appeared and we knew we needed to go West to connect with 15.  Then at one turn we saw a 15 sign.  Relief until it too disappeared.  At this point I am using the smart phone and the map application and watching the car on the screen move as we did and kept us on the right road.  Eventually we came to an intersection that had 15/17 and 99 and we got onto 15 south for home.

We had no idea what we had just experienced nor from  where Interstate 99 came.  Aha I said I will google it using the smart phone as we were feeling very confused. Perhaps the smartness of the phone could illuminate the answer.   I googled route 99 New York and there it was…………..

From Wikipedia I give you the explanation we found and a related link to the whole story.(1)

Interstate 99 (I-99) is an Interstate Highway with two segments: one located in central Pennsylvania, and the other in southern New York[4] in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at exit 146 of thePennsylvania Turnpike (I-70 and I-76) north of Bedford, where the road continues south as U.S. Route 220(US 220). The northern terminus of the Pennsylvania segment is at I-80 near Bellefonte. The New York segment follows US 15 from the Pennsylvania–New York border to an interchange with I-86 in Corning. I-99 passes through Altoona and State College—the latter home to Pennsylvania State University—and is entirelyconcurrent to US 220, within Pennsylvania. Long-term plans call for I-99 to be extended southward along the US 220 corridor to an interchange with I-68 in Cumberland, Maryland.

Unlike most Interstate Highway numbers, which were assigned by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to fit into a grid, I-99’s number was written into Section 332 of theNational Highway Designation Act of 1995 by Bud Shuster, then-chair of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the bill’s sponsor, and the representative of the district through which the highway runs. I-99 violates the AASHTO numbering convention associated with Interstate Highways, since it lies east of I-79 but west of I-81.

In its infinite wisdom the Congress of the United States made some road changes.  The problem seems to be that map makers and related resources were not made aware of when these were going to take place.  As we traveled further south on 15 into Pennsylvania we saw the signs that said Future 99. These signs would have been helpful in NY State which evidently dispensed with 15 without a care.  Oh the sadness for other travelers looking to stay on course.  ADVICE – stay alert and check with local DOT sites for road change information and still take the long way home!!!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_99

TIME MACHINE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Disclaimer: This is not about Jules Verne’s “Time Machine”.

Yesterday on a social media site I took a quiz.  It had been posted by one of my younger cousins.  The quiz was about which “Avenger” I would be?  Being a comic book junkie, loving super heroes  and quizzes I had to take this quiz. (1)

[Before I go into the depth of my thoughts on the quiz,  I must take a minute and share how happy I am to have so many of my younger cousins as friends on social media.  I am talking 50 years younger.  They keep me interested, honest and involved and I love it!  Thank you Kids! Back to the quiz.]

This quiz was aimed at your capabilities and looking to find out what kind of a leader you are or want to be.  From this they decide which one of the “Avengers” you are most like.  For those who are not in the realm of super-heroes, I went to Wikipedia as easier to explain……….

(2)The Avengers is a team of superheroes, appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963), created by writer-editorStan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, following the trend of super-hero teams after the success of DC Comics‘ Justice League of America.[1]

Labeled Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers originally consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, theWasp, Thor, and the Hulk.

All of the above has no relevance to what I found fascinating and all relevance to the scattered brain with which I live.

In this quiz was a tantalizing question that gave me pause and I have been thinking about it ever since.

You just found a time machine! Where are you going?

THE DISTANT PAST — HELLO, BRAVE OLD WORLD!

MY RECENT PAST — I HAVE SOME THINGS TO CHANGE.

THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE — WHERE IS MY LIFE HEADED??

AS FAR INTO THE FUTURE AS POSSIBLE — I WANT MY FLYING CAR     ASAP.

NO, THANKS. I’M STAYING IN THE PRESENT.

How would you answer this question?  I think I said that I would stay in the present.  Would I?  Would you?

I have been examining this question.  To go to the future would be interesting.  The future is defined by our actions in the present.  Our lives change daily depending on the influences and our own actions.  How could I be certain that the future I am visiting would actually be the future I would live?  Would it not be too dependent on the present?  Would I live my present differently to preserve the future I have visited?

I could go to the past and meet the ancestors that I have discovered in my genealogical quests.  I could meet the first man that came from England to Massachusetts and married the native girl.  I could meet my mother as an adult myself.  Could I relieve some of the events in my life and change them?  Would my going back change my present?  Too many questions.

All are interesting thoughts.  They have been bouncing around in my brain for over 24 hrs now and I think I answered the question exactly right when I said “NO THANKS! I’M STAYING IN THE PRESENT.”

Then again it surely explains why the futuristic “Avengers” and the past/present series “Outlander” are such big hits.  The topics are tantalizing either way.

So what about you?  Future?  Past?  Present?

Me…..I am cleaning house today and ever…………

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

(1)http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/fn8Dkigi3zm/Avengers+Age+Ultron+Character

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_(comics)

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/fn8Dkigi3zm/Avengers+Age+Ultron+Characterhtt