This morning (?) I slept until about 12:15 PM. I only got out of bed because of shame. Last night we went out to dinner with Mike (Col. Pickering) and Helen (Queen of Transylvania). He wanted steak so we went to Longhorns, one of our favorite hangouts. Helen is a very bright and educated lady who is quite active in the City of Hope. Mike is a thespian who has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary. We were having very animated conversations when the manager began moving tables and chairs right behind us...many tables and chairs stuck together until there were 20 places. This event sent shivers up my spine, because I was wearing my hearing aids and expected the noise of 20 people to sound like 20,000. However, when this group came in and sat down, it became a guessing game for us as to who they were and what were they doing there. Before they came, we figured it was a kid's birthday party and made plans to move out of there. But there were no kids, so we figured maybe it was a wedding party, but they were all dressed out in jeans and t-shirts for the most part, and wonder of wonders they were quite peaceful and quiet. Then our waitress revealed the mystery: they were all former addicts out of rehap, and met there for dinner once a month. Go know.
We did see a number of kids that night; some were teenagers carrying wires hanging out of their ears and IPods in their hands. Kids today all have IPods, cell phones hooked onto their belts, laptops in Florida, and computers with little cameras in their bedrooms so they can see their friends while IM-ing. Some even carry credit cards. Amazing. When I was a boy, in order to communicate with our friends we attached a string to two cans and stood about 6 feet apart to talk. Why didn't it occur to us that we didn't really need the cans? Credit cards were still in the fetus stage; instead of computers or ball-point pens we had inkwells and blue fingers. For music, we had a victrola to play 78s. I even had a chrystal radio which picked up two stations while I was under the covers. How did I ever grow up?
Every month Huntington Lakes puts out a newsletter with articles about all our clubs; the January issue has this blurb in the "Library News
" section:
Norman Ross will present a program Friday, January 11, 2008, at 10:30 AM in the Terrace Room. He states the title of his program as "The Power and Passion of Poetry and a Pot Pourri of Me." Through readings and discussion of excerpts from some of the classic works of poetry as well as a selection of poems from his newly published books, ADDENDA and SHADOWS in the SUNSET. Dr. Norman Ross will attempt to show how to "reinvent" yourself through the magic, the mystery, and the dynamics of great poetry--and to convince you that poetry is a part of your life.
I don't know how many of you out there have an interest in poetry, but I do best with a very large audience. I will attempt to do all that's promised in 7 minutes. l k k k k k.
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