Comments on Comments (July 21st Edition)

Below, as is my hoped for plan to continue.... on Mondays I will try to reply to select comments from the prior week.  I tend to like this approach more than trying to reply directly to a comment as they sometimes are not noticed by folks because most folks do not go back to a previous post.  The way I reply below has the person and their comment or comments in bold and my reply in normal font.  

AC

You mentioned that your vacation was short and partially work related. I am not sure if getting away for a few days like that meets the need that you might possibly have. Although that sounds like a diagnosis, it’s just a passing thought.

You are very possibly correct.  There is a challenge that is coming up too.  My wife has a few day "vacation" planned for us soon that involves challenging co-participants.  It does not seem like it will feel relaxing to me.

About the lack of passion: maybe it’s because sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. lol

Hah!  Freud has said many things worthy of joke material.  Fortunately, the time spent last Thursday at the shop with the others was quite relaxing and pleasant.  

I was wondering about the picture until you got to the end. Well played. Someday, you will be the bread.

I am glad you commented on the "Panini" picture.  It is very true that my wife's and my position in life can have us both feeling rather "pressed".  

As for your wife, she knows. I imagine it’s like being overweight. We all know but can’t help ourselves although I seem to have finally found the key that works for me.

Yes, she does know.  It is just a challenge in that she tends to "yo-yo" about her goals quite a bit.  Sometimes she is VERY gun-ho and does all the things to help her health improve, but then after a week or two or three, she then gives up for several weeks.  It is hard to see.  And, it is hard to adapt to.  

Finally for AC as well.... I thought you had a comment about how my "comments" post was so long that it could have filled several days of posts.... but now I could not find that comment.  Did you excise it?  If you did, there was no need to do so.... I thought it was a very valid and true point.  The comments days posts can be rather long.  But, somehow for me, it seems better to have them in one, rather predictable spot each week.  

DMP

The movie, ( and it's various awards for that matter) were products of its time ... lauding counter-culture tomes and anyone fighting against " the establishment".

True, I agree with you.  But, I did not actually expect the focus to be so primary on the most NEGATIVE of the counter-culture tomes.  There were MANY counter-culture tomes/norms that WERE very positive, and I had hoped that THEY would have been what formed the basis of the movie (especially with regard to all the awards the film earned).  I guess with Kesey being the author of the novel the film was based upon, my idea of the movie being more "positive" was a foolish pipe dream.

GaP

Saw it once. Probably won't see it again. I've veered off from cinema trips myself, but MAY make an exception for James Gunn's SUPERMAN, comic nerd that I am.

My youngest son convinced my wife and I to watch the film "F1" which was surprisingly quite good!  We had thought about seeing the "Karate Kid" revisited movie... but it left our theater too quickly for us to get there.  Our theater is overly focused on playing MOSTLY horror films lately.... they seem to occupy 80% of the space available year-round.... ever since Covid passed. 

 

Margaret

I liked it when I first saw it decades ago but I bet I wouldn't necessarily enjoy it now for many of the reasons you noted. It's strange how some films and books age well whereas others don't at all!

I cannot say for certain, but I think I would have been equally disturbed about this movie even if I had decided to see it in 1975.  I am finding I do not seem to actually like Jack Nicholson as an actor much.  I DID/DO like the films "Easy Rider" but thought Nicholson was not anywhere near as interesting as Dennis Hopper or Peter Fonda.  I also found "The Shining" to be reasonably good, but Nicholson's character still felt "performative" and not as real as other folks in the film.   

Thinking is OK, but overthinking is definitely ruinous to our peace of mind. It keeps us from living in and enjoying the present moments. (in my humble opinion!) In teaching, we can never leave our jobs at work, even when we're at home. I envy those who have the types of jobs where they put in their time and then forget about work when their shift is over.

What you say is indeed true.  OVERTHINKING (a more accurate term) does ruin our peace of mind.  And, teachers DO NOT generally leave their jobs at work, even though I technically think it SHOULD be possible to do so.... I should be able to do so after 40 some years of doing it now!  I have that as a more prominent goal for me.... namely, UNLESS I specifically PLAN to do work from home, I want to figure out a more successful way to leave work AT WORK at the end of the day.

We were expecting wildfire smoke but haven't gotten it yet. Fingers crossed! I think ours is coming from Eastern WA though. Hope the Cigar Group energizes you a bit. Now I'm wondering if I go through periods of apathy and if so, what knocks me out of them?

I have been happy that since late last week, our region has had reasonably healthy outdoor air quality which has allowed running outside.  Attending the Retiree's Cigar Group was the most peaceful, relaxed thing I was able to do last week.  I am grateful I have found that group and those new friends.  Being outside of work friends, work folks, and family is sometimes very helpful.   

Pat M

Professor, would I be correct to understand from your musings that your pipe smoking was formerly an auto-pilot pastime that didn't require great thought while providing a joyous background for all the thinking you had to engage in? 

Back in the "good-old-days" my pipe smoking was sometimes a somewhat autopilot pass time.  But, that only lasted until perhaps the early-to-mid 1990s to be frank.  When more and more regulations began to be established, it lost the "autopilot" aspect.  But, there has always been a purposeful aspect to my pipe smoking as well, and that is what persisted until I started on this sans-pipe journey more than seven years ago.  Truthfully, the "autopilot" aspect was somewhat superfluous (albeit fun and enjoyable) and so the transition to being only mindfully indulging was not overly challenging.  My mindful pipe smoking had always been the most pleasurable.  And, regarding my "thinking" time, it typically was a more purposeful time and was hence also a purposeful time with my pipes as well.  

...When you now write about indulging in your pipes, that seems to have changed; the theme now seems to be that you feel you could only indulge if you were to exert tremendous thought/will so as to control that indulgence in your formerly happy pastime. 

I believe that any pipe smoking I have done since at least the late 90s was always more "mindful" pipe smoking.  Mindful in that it would be more "planned" and "thoughtful" and not so much, just to fill time, if that makes sense.   I see the need to find a way to be "controlled" if I were to indulge today, to be a different question, a different idea.  This "control" I wish I definitively knew how to muster, would be simply to help ALLOW me to indulge in a bowlful in a valuable way that is both "mindful"... and also "unfettered".... but I am meaning unfettered as in without worry or without guilt or without fear of not doing what I say I will do.  And, for me, what I say is that I would want to return to smoking my pipe in a way that is metered.... meaning I can successfully turn it on and turn it off temporally.  As I had mentioned before, I KNOW I could accomplish this "metering" but I am not sure how much energy I would have to use to do so, but I suspect it may require a lot of my energy.  I fear that with a taste again of a beautiful pipe, I may LOSE the willingness to exert the needed energy TO meter myself. Currently, with the Retiree's Cigar Group, it feels easy and requires minimal energy to stop.  The talking and friendship is wonderful, and the cigar is pleasant, but because I never had a particularly strong bond or affinity for cigars, and had no real established pattern with them.... when I finish at the group, I do not feel a longing or even much of any worry about "falling off the wagon" to immediately want another one because the cigar is enjoyable, but it is NOT the wholly different and enchanted experience a pipe can be and typically is.   I am not sure if that actually makes sense for anyone reading the above, but it is the best way I can figure out how to state it at the moment.   

Professor, how often does your wife join you in swimming? 

She comes with me MOST of the time.  Perhaps once or sometimes twice a week, she has a conflict.  When we are together, our major focus is on brisk walking in a lane of the pool.  For me, I purposefully walk BACKWARDS..... for two reasons..... a) so I can face my wife and we can talk and chat more about our days, and b) so that the walking motion I do is oppositional pattern to the range of motion I do when running.... in effect, walking backwards helps me to stretch out the muscles that tighten through running forward... especially when I walk using deep, backward lunges which is the primary pattern I adopt.  I do the backwards walking anytime I am in the pool, even when alone, as it is a significant help to me stretching more fully.  I swim usually when my wife is not with me, sharing a lane.  

and

Furthermore, as you know from experience, exercise can also serve well as a mood regulator. If your wife is consumed with worries, a daily (or at least several times weekly) swim might help her cope better with the various family stresses she's facing.

Yes, we both feel the need for swimming (aka brisk lane walking) not only for the wonderful companionship when we are together, but also because it lets us each to shed some of the difficult moods that have accumulated across the day.  We both typically feel quite relaxed at the end of our time in the pool.   

So, I guess that is it for this week's comments.

PipeTobacco