"MeO'clock"

Every now and then (maybe once every three months) I think about the "selfishness" of my "freetirement." I am getting in touch with me , especially my artistic side.

Then I think, that my life has been about others with little time to think about exploring things which were of interest to me. I have been the ultimate volunteer so I have not yet had those needs to fulfill. I am volunteering now, but for self. I am volunteering my time to gardening, drawing, painting and whatever I feel like doing.

Actually, I have written three lessons for the Sunday School classes at church, so I guess that is a volunteer activity. I do other things too, but I don't think of them as volunteer activities because volunteering seemed much more labor intensive when I worked. Now it just seems like "stuff I do, because I have the time." I still do not want to have a schedule imposed by anyone but me.

I didn't know that this selfishness had a name until I happened to see it in the paper this week (I read three newspapers a day-). It is called "MeO'clock."

Now when someone asks me what time it is, I will respond 'ME O'CLOCK. Oh, Joy!

A Drive-By Vacation

I was amused by one of my FSF's (Former Student Friends) story about a relative. He is driving to Northern California up the 101. This highway has a beautiful view, I've been told, but it is much too scary for me. I have never taken the drive because of that reason. Although his wife is flying, he still decided to drive because he wants to see Hearst Castle. When asked if he was going to actually go into the Castle and visit, he replied, "No, I am just going to drive by."

That struck me as hilarious, but on the other hand, one of the joys of life is to do exactly what you want regardless of what others think (even if it's your child). It's his "bucket list" and he is doing it in the way he wants to do it. As I thought about it, there was an article in the travel section of the San Diego paper about people who visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa. All the people want to do is take a picture of them trying to hold up the tower. How stupid is that? The writer said that the only reason to visit is so you can buy all of the junk they sell there (you can probably get it on line). Pisa is out of the way and probably inconvenient for a drive-by, but that is probably all it deserves. I am going to think about those drive-bys--maybe more things in life only deserve a drive-by. Drive-by friendships; Drive by meals (so we don't eat too much); Drive by marriages (when people stay too long when they know it's over; Drive by church (for those who just go, but are not really paying attention; Drive by school (for the same reason). Fill in your own drive-by event.
One of the best tours I ever took was on one of my first visits to San Francisco. My friend's mother took me on a two day visit to everything in the area--all the way to the Muir woods. We stayed at each place for maybe five minutes. She told me that the reason for that was so that I could get a great overview of everything and then decide, on another visit, what I really wanted to spend time doing. I use that rationale for most of my visits to places. It was really a version of the "Drive By."

"Stay Away from the Yam"

I was very amused a couple of weeks ago when I saw a lady on Good Morning America talking about her sleep-talking husband. He talked in his sleep each night and she recorded everything he said. He spoke complete nonsense--one of his comments was "Stay Away from the Yam." Exactly what could that mean? I suppose it depends upon what we think the "Yam" is.

If your Yam is a friend you don't need--stay away! If your "yam" is a bad habit, stay away from it! If your "yam" is something or someone totally irritating, stay away from it! Think about the "yams" in your life--if you need to--stay away from them.

It is so much fun to have the time to make sense out of nonsense! Make your life "yamless!"