Personal
Personal reflections, comments about things I've been doing, etc.
Waiting for Van Gogh
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 19:40Tuesday evening. Kim and Fiona have taken Wesley to his doggie graduation class. I have stayed home to try to write. At work, I pumped out some emails and a blog post, but even with that, the words were hard to coax.
I do try to write for my personal blog at least once a day. I like to mix it up, sometimes politics, sometimes technology, sometimes other stuff, but inspiration has been lacking. Perhaps I need to go on a long walk, just to clear my head, breathe some fresh air, let my mind wander, and let some new ideas come in.
Yet, I sit down and try to write. I think of Waiting for Godot, “We could do our exercises”. There are times that trying to compose a blog post is like doing my exercises. Did Beckett sit down and try to write when the words weren’t flowing?
My mind drifts to Van Gogh. Miranda visited this weekend and with Mairead, they took Fiona out to lunch and to the aquarium. Miranda talked about Van Gogh. A teacher of hers has a van with the license plate “Gogh”.
What were Van Gogh’s experiences when he did his sketches? Were there times when he sketched and sketched, without inspiration, but with perseverance?
I turn on Pandora and let it stream tunes for me, in hopes that some inspiration will come. First up is Joni Mitchell singing about Richard, “All romantics meet the same fate, they get cynical and drunk, and boring someone in some café…”
Sometimes I’ll have some wine with dinner, a cocktail with friends, or maybe some hard cider that I’ve brewed. I’ve joked about trying my hand at making absinthe, but I don’t drink all that often, and when I do, it is rarely more than a drink or two. I’m not a big fan of drinking alone. However, this evening, I’m thinking of maybe pouring myself some of that single malt scotch that a friend gave me this summer.
On Pandora, Rod Stewart comes up next with Maggie May. Late September has already come and gone and we’re approaching mid October, but maybe I’ll just return to Joni Mitchell and Richard, “I’m gonna blow this damn candle out, I got nothing to talk with anybody about…”
The Old Blue Car
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 19:49Well, it’s gone. The old blue car is gone. It wasn’t always an old blue car. My first wife and I bought it new when we first moved out of New York City. It was the first, and only time I ever bought a new car. Every other car has been used.
We've been through
Some things together
It was twenty years ago. I was making good money, in fact, I believe I was making more then than I am now. We were saving up a down payment to buy a house.
We bought a small station wagon in suburbia. I could walk to the train station and my wife could take our baby daughter to play dates.
We found things to do
In stormy weather
I don’t remember which trips I took that car on. Did I drive it out to a college reunion? To folk music festivals? Was it the car I drove to Canada, or to my daughter’s college? Was it the car I drove to the therapists as my first marriage ended? The car I drove to Kim’s house when we first started dating? Which political events did I drive to in that car?
I’m not sure. But I do remember the last trip I took in it. It was a few years ago, when we moved out of Stamford to Woodbridge. I packed it up with boxes that didn’t make it into the moving van. I brought the cat in the car, and I carefully drove to our new home.
By then, the car was getting pretty old. Just about everything was starting to fail, the brakes, the transmission, the steering. I’m not sure what. My father-in-law offered to get us a newer car, and much as I didn’t want to say goodbye to the blue car, I knew that it needed a lot of work.
So, we got the black car and the blue car sat in the corner of the driveway. I never even got around to bringing in the final load from the car. We let the registration and insurance lapse.
The car got tied up in our financial issues for a while, and it wasn’t clear what we could or couldn’t do with it. Finally, all of that cleared up, and the car continued to sit in the yard.
Finally, this fall, we arranged to have it taken away, and this morning, a flatbed truck came and took it. Kim sent me a photo of the car on the flatbed truck.
Life continues on. The blue car is gone; the first and only car I ever bought new, the car that carries so many dreams gone askew, the car that I’ve had longer than any other car.
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes
Have come
Random Bits
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 10/08/2011 - 20:46It was a warm evening for early October. The day had been warm as well, and Kim, Fiona and I went to watch Yale play Dartmouth in a football game at the Yale Bowl. When I checked in on Foursquare, I found that a friend was also at the game and we spoke with her for a little bit. It is the sort of experience that I like to highlight as to why location based social media isn’t just narcissistic self-revelation. It is about connecting with friends that you see face to face.
Neither Kim nor I had been to a football game in ages, and Kim used to go to a lot of college football games when she was younger. It was a fun time, even though the game wasn’t particularly close. Fiona enjoyed herself and is trying to get friends and relatives to go to another game and tailgate.
Our neighbors had been observing Yom Kippur and couldn’t join us for the game, so we agreed to get together with them for a little cookout to end the fast. At both the game, and the evening cookout, the discussions drifted to the #occupy movement. There are lots of interesting discussions about who the movement represents and if the movement is being co-opted. I’ll save my thoughts on this for when I am better rested and have more time to write.
All of this comes after a long week. Friday, the New Horizons Domestic Violence Program had a Clothesline Project. This entailed t-shirts decorated by the victims of domestic violence, hung out on a line in a public location. It was jarring.
I don’t know why I find it so jarring. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never known anyone involved in domestic violence. Yet that may just be some of it. Domestic violence happens around us, without most people noticing.
It was also the week that Steve Jobs died, the week of Fiona’s birthday, as well as the birthdays of a couple long time friends and Desmond Tutu’s birthday.
There are lots of other things I need to think about and write about, but I am tired and ready for bed.
Fiona's Birthday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 10/06/2011 - 20:50"Yesterday, a child came out to wonder…" Those are the words I used to describe Fiona's birth ten years ago.
"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you…"
Now, after a long day, I try to gather my thoughts, to write something. Fiona seems to have had a good birthday and I struggle to write something upbeat that reflects it, but I'm too tired.
On top of that, all of the reflections of Steve Jobs' life echo around in my head. "Live each day as if it might be your last…"
I write, seeking to improve my writing. I write, hoping to make the world a better place. I write, because I must.
Then, I stare out the darkened window. I think of all that needs to be done. I yawn. I am tired. Lines of various absurdist plays echo around in my head.
October has always been a tough month for me.
I look at the portions of thoughts I've gathered and think about the fragments ungathered.
I'll head off to bed shortly. Perhaps after some rest, words will flow more gently.
Random Stuff
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 21:27Various computers have been running slowly today and I've been having assorted cellphone issues as well. I've been tired, perhaps fighting a low level cold. I've had a lot to get done, but I've been powering through.
With that, I don't have a lot to say right now. The Bridgeport Democratic Primary took place today, and the results are coming in. I attended the Government Access Television committee meeting this evening. I've been a bit more busy on Google+ over the past couple days. It seems like a lot of people have been playing with it over the past few days. One nice feature is that you can now share circles.
Meanwhile, I've come across two videos that are interesting. I learned of one during lunch and received the link on Twitter:
The other, I learned about on Facebook:
