Daily thoughts

So what's to learn is that if I don't write first thing, I'm not going to, at least not the way I've been managing my time. The truth is I haven't really been managing my time.

But I have gotten a bit accomplished. I rowed 19 kilometers last week, which isn't bad for being here. I got on the court to hit balls three times and then played with Dahlia. Let's just say hitting is good, but it's nothing like playing with someone else. I actually got a bit of a workout.

I've seen more of Riverdale than I needed. I put it on in the background, but it doesn't always stay there.

I reached out to the bank, counted money, took care of an overdraft, paid for mom's tax preparation, filed a bunch of statements, paid an outstanding tax bill (OP-424), corresponded with the WealthDox folk about their software, spoke to the people at Schwab, spent a bit of time with the New Law Business Model program, and played a few games with mom.

The program today is to close three accounts that are left over from MDDH and the Joachim Herz Revocable Trust, choose a trust platform, call Irwin (done), buy a toilet, and maybe a bathroom cabinet, find out about whether we can get a home mortgage (in progress), and row (done).

Hello again people. I am now spending what is the rest of my morning tennis time writing. I got up in plenty of time to both write and hit a few balls over the net on the way to pray. This is not what I ended up doing.

Instead, I wandered into the office. I was looking for my father's revocable trust. I seem to have trusts on my mind. And lots of other things that need wrapping up. Among them is my father's trust's car, although the title still has his name on it.

The car was transferred to the trust, and this document was attached to the trust. The funny thing is I actually found that page. The rest, I have no idea.

The things some count as useful, I don't understand. There was a lot of my father still in that office when I last left less than six months ago. There was a folder of old work announcements and such. They are also gone. It was a glimple I had put aside, but apparently in the wrong place.

I'm left torn. There's a part of me that very much sees possibility in the actions I am taking. They are indeed given by a possibility. But then, they might just be given by a strong suit as well, or a "trying to prove something." And maybe I am, and maybe I should. And we never can know if it's "right" or not, but I suppose we can always choose it to be.

I'm going to pray now. I'll make some time to continue my thoughts later.

So My Dear Son:

I promised to write yesterday, or the day before, and I do so enjoy writing. Well, maybe it's not the writing. Maybe it's just the sense of clarity it sometimes leaves me with.

So since my time is limited, I'll start by sharing with you what I just shared with my group of Itroduction Leaders. I know. I shouldn't have even been there because my promise was to write before I do anything else today. And instead:

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Hello dear people. I've had a request for work to do over the break to make you just great at English. So, I've been thinking about this over the weekend, and here are my top ten ideas:

• Read books. Start with children's books. Read them over and over until they are easy, and you know every word, and you understand the use of every phrase, or at least appreciate the use of the tenses. Then move up to something a little harder.
• Read children's books to children. If you have children in your life, read them English children's books. They'll learn. So will you. But mostly, as you read them over and over, you'll really start to get the flow and cadence, which will help you to read and understand as you move forward.
• Watch an English language movie, over and over and over (It's best to find one you really like). You'll find the first few times is mostly about the vocabulary you don't know. Then you'll start to notice the grammar and special turns of phrase. Again, you'll get into the cadence and the flow, and you'll get a better idea of when it "sounds right."
• Find a reason to write, to someone or just for yourself. You could keep a journal. If you are given to sadness, you might find Shawn Achor's recommendations useful.
• As you all know, I'm hot for you all to come up with a compelling why for your life. You've got anywhere from a few minutes to a hundred years ahead of you. How nice it would be to be excited to get up to put your special dent in the universe. So you could design your life, in English, or your own language. Dr. Peterson's Self Authoring Suite will cost you about 50 sheq a person (find a friend to split the two for one with) to do just that. But as we're talking English, that might be the better choice.
• If you are a musician, and there are English songs you like, learn them in English, but also make it a point to understand them. Be careful though, because musicians and poets do often take license with grammar.
• Listen to, and maybe memorize, great speeches.
• There are many commencement (graduation) speeches on line that could be worth your time. Here are some I like by Amanda Palmer, and Admiral William McRaven.
• Read and memorize some poetry.
• Read and memorize some Shakespeare.
• If there is something else you like, take a course or get some coaching on that. There is something on almost everything available.
• Or just spend time with English speakers speaking English.
• Follow me on Quora, or Facebook,
or my personal notes, or my other Blogs or pages
• Or just write me and keep in touch.

You should all have a great Summer.

I love you all.

Everything comes at a price. I guess the price for my having been a bit busy this year is that I have not written as much as I'd like. Even now, I've a number of competing claims on this time.

According to Policeman Yakov (I still really hate the first name culture between youth and adults), a person is an alcoholic if he needs to drink just once a week. By that definition, I'm an addict to all sorts of things. The one that just came up again though was Microsoft's Solitaire Collection.

“Just the daily challenges,” I say, and reinstall, but then I do them as soon as it passes midnight. And then when I'm on another call, or watching a video (that might also be an addiction), I open up Spider or FreeCell in the “background. ” And it's not like most of the videos I watch are needed. Some are the guidance for my business, but others are just a little more Jordan (Peterson), or even worse, some Netflix drivel.

I tell you I really don't need that many breaks.

So now I think about them and I'm opening my WhatsApp to invite them again for Shabbat, this time with enough time for them to do something about it. I should probably find and plug in my phone.

So I completed this school year. It has been interesting. The thing is I love my students (the ones I don't want to kill anyway), and they love me (the ones who actually show up, mostly anyway). The other thing is I don't get to teach. Yesterday, my last chance to be with them, the school decides it's better to be with Policeman Yakov. I was supposed to have a double with my ninth graders, and it just wasn't. I'm there to teach, not to get a double dose of Policeman Yakov talking about the evils of alcohol, especially as it hasn't been that long since we viewed the discussion between Theo von Clips and Dr. Peterson on alcohol. Some of my students and I were actually laughing at the content yesterday.

So as we're wrapping up the year, I'll come to some of the highlights. I lost my dad, and I'm still stuck in the conversation of “Did I ever have him?” Particularly bothersome is his decision to be burned. It still burns me. I couldn't resist the pun. He probably would have thought the pun was stupid (if he thought about it at all), which it is, but it amuses me.

I said to myself last August, as I was coming home that I'd say yes to the adventures that present themselves, ended up meeting Yehuda Rothner, and substituted for two teachers along the way, teaching seventh through 12th grade (part time). I don't know how the full-timers do it.

I seem to have lost Dahlia, but I don't much care. She can be all the Scorpio she wants. I spent enough time walking on egg shells for my parents, wife, kids, everyone else, that I don't need to add her to the mix.

My kids are a year older, though I'm not sure as much smarter as they could be. On the other hand, for all the nothing I hear from Immanuel about what he learned, his teachers report hem to be a hard worker who moves and inspires them.

And with that, my alarm rings, and I'm off to pray.