Skip to main content

What's the damage?

I was led to believe that I was born about this time of year over four decades or so ago.  There is this moment in time when one gets to ponder what their life has been and that day is their birthday.  That if memory serves can be an interesting exercise esp not knowing what the future holds because -

1.  No one knows what is round the corner;
2.  What is round the corner or at an angle from the corner may or may not be as exciting or worthwhile as what already has been.

Now I am told that I was extracted from my mother's womb by an aunt who specialized in such matters and assigned a name which in Sanskrit (language) translates to the "Dawning".  A lot of things true to that nomenclature are still dawning on me so all is well there.

While it can be said that the first two decades I was growing up I was in India the latter couple plus to date were in America, where I continued growing except laterally.  I plan to address that as part of the coming few years before I might classify as round.

So going back to reflect on the past some decades I also was hit by this fact that as a species we really do not know anything about our beginnings nor our end.  When we are born is a fact that we know nothing about.  People tell us our birthday and the atmosphere that prevailed at said time and how the general populace in the vicinity may have reacted on hearing the news of your arrival.

The same about death.  If I completely stopped right now, as in ceased to exist I could not know what time this event happened because as it happens I am already dead.  What knowing there is comes between the time we begin thinking (for some it can be few days after birth and for some a few years) till we stop (for some it may be few years before they officially cease).

So I decided to do some of that amazing activity as I began writing this blog.  All in all it has turned out all right.  Began with some basic education followed by an archaic process of earning a couple of degrees from institutions that may or may not have any vested interest in the kids they graduated.

A marriage and a child followed along with several years of servitude to bosses in various types of corporations that may or may not have any vested interest in our existence.   Speaking of the child we both (spouse and I) share a common interest in ensuring her well being and provide her with enough ammunition to launch while removing obstacles that might seem non-essential to her progress.  I personally remember mosquitoes were a big part of the non-essentials when I was doing the growing up.  Fortunately where we live those pesky critters are not a factor but Facebookers might be.

On paper I am an engineer with a business degree but neither seem to have influenced in the life choices I made nor the career path I trode.

So there is a nagging question of 'return on investment' - the time investment that is.  Of course left to my devices I found art, whether written or multi dimensional (as in structures) or places to visit with history and character, food to dissect and enjoy or criticize and in all that shared the joys with the family.

That in the final tally was worth while and might if I get lucky continue to titillate round the corner.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New England is gleaming in the fall

 This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest.  Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one.  Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list.  Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD  - school f

Searching for a lavish 'fill in the blank with other adjectives and gender' in bed

 Many of the readers of this blog have experienced this. Strange sounding messages popping up in your text or WA or emails all day long from some exotic sounding locale with an out of this world individual looking for love, sex, money or other paraphernalia to get a high. I mean granted that electronic spamming is a low cost enterprise and all but the sheer volumes and the variety in these exhortations is beyond imagination. Having a desire to engage you in some sort of sexual payola or invest in some arcane crypto scheme must be a profound algorithm that someone from Oklahoma to Odessa is cranking on through the night and watching one in a few million fall for. Otherwise this nonsense would not exist I suspect. It would be funny to watch the lifecycle of some such persona that creates said content and that of a prospect for this invite becoming an unwilling or willing participant. Then that whole thing could go on some social channel and earn likes and subscriptions for someone else a

Lakeside frivolities

 We moved to the Charlotte area not knowing where exactly our new home would be. Turns out it was by a popular lake formed by the damming of the Catawba river which flows north to south in the Carolinas. Local electricity generation utility built a series of dams along the waterway for hydro and couple nuclear plants as well to supply the state grid.  The lake our house butts into is Lake Wylie. While tract home build has picked up in the Carolinas the developer often carves out parcels that they can get their hands on leaving behind privately owned lots that the individual owner may not want to sell. Our house is part of a subdivision but backs into actual lake front yardage that has always been part of legacy family owned properties who chose to build a cabin or getaway and did not sell to a corporation wanting to build in the hundreds. As such we can see the water through the year but it does not afford actual water access.  That privilege is to our neighbors who still maintain thei