August 10, 2017. Somehow even without a playlist the Bluetooth earphones are still going strong with all the music I own. It has given me a Mozart symphony and more; now it has moved to my Kingston Trio album. Currently, "Tom Dooley!" Life is good, even when it hurts a lot. Well, well, the device has gone back to Mozart piano sonatas. Oops, back to the Kingston Trio. What on earth? I must figure out how to make a playlist.
August 10, later that same day. I had something else to write about when I was in the bathroom a while ago, but now I have forgotten what it was. I think what first inspired me to open this weblog today of all days was that i am reading a novel by Michael O'Brien called Voyage to Alpha Centuri. The novel is a first person narrative told by the scientist who is responsible for making the nine year "voyage" to our nearest heavenly neighbor possible, a drive or mechanism of some sorts that enables a space ship to move at a little over half the speed of light. The novel is, thus far, told in the form of a journal narrative. Since the space ship on which he is a passenger is huge with room for over 1500 persons, and since the voyage will take nine years, the journal recounts the character's experience on the ship. The earth that he left has become carefully regulated, and the ship is somewhat that way too. There was a 180 page contract that he signed before he could become part of the trip, though he neglected to read it, which gets him into a little trouble once in a while, though nothing serious. Dr. Neil Hoyos, the protagonist (ha), is 68. The entire voyage out and back is scheduled to take 19 years. The passengers and crew know that there is a planet awaiting them, but they know nothing about it yet whether it is life-supporting or not, etc., only that it is a little large than earth and that it is in the "habitable" zone, like earth. The uncertainty about the nature of the planet and, indeed, the journey itself creates a delightful suspense and sense of anticipation. What keeps me reading this book rather than the three others I have also started (sigh; I love retirement) is that I love the character. Now, I have read only 11% of the novel according to my kindle's record keeping, but still, Dr. Hoyos, Neil is a delightful character, one I would really like to know and spend time with and with whom I can truly identify, even though he is a bit younger than I. In fact, I can't wait to get back to the novel and I desperately hope it continues to interest and delight me. Oh, just finished Michael Connelly's Late Show, and am also reading Daniel Silva's House of Spies, Richard Bard's Brainrush Series, #1, and several non fiction works by our emeritus Pope, Benedict XVI, especially God Is Near Us. As I said, Life is good; choose life, especially when there is a little dog by your side who undoubtedly loves you, whatever that might signify to a scrappy little dachshund who spends most of the evening by your side, especially when you are eating cheese, or under his blanket on the sofa, when the cheese has been gone for quite a while.
Retirement. There was another reason I opened this essay back up, but I have forgotten what it was too. This entire day has felt like Sunday. Retirement does that to me. I mix up days, miss appointments once in a while, and still have my pajama bottoms on at 6:30 p.m. Time to feed the creatures, Simon, Schuey, Frollie (sleeping peacefully by my side all afternoon, unlike my bosom buddy Simon who is nowhere to be found in my new room!), and Dexter our neurotic Beagle. Perhaps I can get another ten pages read before duty calls.