Yours Truly

Yours Truly
Janet Fauble at home

Monday, December 30, 2013

Old Year Out; New Year In

It has been 14 years now since the millennium began.  Weather crises dominate the news more often than manmade events but those get blown up sky high occasionally.  Some effort is being made to turn the disclosures of Edward Snowden into front page news but sadly his comments about privacy and surveillance are given attention only by a few insecure officials.  Whether he is traitor or whistle blower depends upon what you want to believe I guess.  His Christmas message about privacy for future generations was a pretty weak excuse for him thinking that he is still working for the NSA but they don't realize it. HA!  He has found asylum somewhere to avoid his critics and prosecution.  It always changes as to where he is located. Last I heard he is still in Russia.

On the entertainment stage, Miley Cyrus was front row and center to help cheer Britney Spears in her Las Vegas show debut.   What a pair!

Looking ahead to March, Talking Stick Resort has two biggies coming to town.  Julio Iglesias and Burt Baccharach will appear in person at the resort.  Il Divo will be appearing downtown at the former Dodge Theatre the same evening as Julio.

My one on one at Apple is about to expire but I have an appointment this coming week for photo.  I have to learn how to get that s.d. card out of my computer correctly. I still don't know exactly how to do it so I will practice it big time.

I went to Barnes Noble today to request Scrivener for Dummies so she ordered it for me to be at this store so I can look it over.  I may take an online course from the woman who wrote it but I am not sure yet about that. I want to see the book.

I hate spending so much money on all this computer stuff.

The University of Michigan lost to Kansas State.  Guess Susan will be lording it over my brother now that her school has won.  Unless she went to the University of Kansas.  I just know that she went to Kansas.  

Now we are pushing Michigan State University to uphold the honor of the state by winning the Rose Bowl.  I remember when Stanford did not have a mascot and we called them the thunder chickens. Actually it was my neighbor who did that. I had nothing to do with it at all, but she had it plastered on her doors about it.  I still don't know her connection to Stanford but I remember the times and the signs well...It was a joke I guess.






Sunday, December 29, 2013

New Years is Wednesday

It is probably 50 days before my next birthday.  Maybe I will go to Vegas or L.A. this time.  I will turn 75 which frankly is bothering me.  To be 3/4's a century old is mind boggling to me.  When I was a kid, I wanted to live to 100 but not so any longer. I don't want to live past much in my 90's and if I should die sooner I will not mind one bit.  I cannot imagine being unable to drive a car, to be in a home of some kind, and to be in what a classmate of mind called the waiting room for God.  As I age I think totally different each and every day.

One thing changed my life and my attitude about death and rebirth forever is when I was able to go back into times past to learn of my identity then.  Not only was it a surprise to me but a blessing as well.  I was able to actually learn of feelings and thoughts then, so that I realized our so called lives are truly forever, eternal, or non ending...The ease to which we can open those doors is not something that I care to discuss as I have no definite formula for that except to believe in the adage, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and it shall be opened.  For each individual, I am sure it is dependent upon that person's character and personalty. I don't try to advise except to know that in my case, it had an impact on me in a way that made me a believer.

How can one not believe in one's own experiences?  I accepted it, but am also aware of all the arguments about it.

I will admit to the fact that this life in which I find myself now is a bit like coasting through life. It has not been one of extreme hardships or battles.  It has been a relatively easy and passive lifestyle.  I have endured emotional and personal problems early in life that did affect the rest of my life. I was a victim of child abuse, both sexual and emotional, and it took me many long years to overcome my fears and hopes regarding intimacy and romance.  I stayed virginal and chaste long enough but eventually had a romantic affair that was very happy for a "first time" experience in deep love affairs. Being so young and restless, I did not want to marry this man despite my being "in love" with him, but it took me many years to value that relationship for what it had been.  He was an encounter but a long lasting memory...someone I can never forget.

Now after learning of past lifetimes, one wonders at who many of these men of my past may have been in previous lifetimes.  Are they someone who I had known and loved in a previous life? I cannot honestly say as I went through several romances early in my twenties, each as serious as the previous, even though different.  None ended in a long term permanency which I rather doubt now is ever possible for anyone if they ever think about it.

But memories always remain, and the intensity of the relationship when recalled is exactly as it had happened.  That is why learning of past lifetimes is so interesting.  I had had many loving relationships in the past that were seriously important to me then.  When reliving those past lifetimes, the people with whom I was "in love" are just as real to me today as they had been then.  Yet, today I do not know if anyone in this present lifetime is someone I can definitely say is a person of the past then so that we encountered one another again in the present.  There are some few people who I have had the good luck to learn of their identity then and now but very few.  I think that there is a reason for that, depending upon the relationship.  Those persons have the right to their own personal privacy too. Just because you have been loved or have loved someone does not give you the right to violate their privacy.  I found that the only feelings or thoughts that I experienced were of the person in whose soul I was inhabiting.  Giants on the stage of life but within myself just simply me.  Interesting, isn't it, to realize that...

I had to deal with the magnitude of the past, realizing that today I do not have that kind of fame or distinction for which frankly I am very grateful.  I consider this lifetime a bit of a recess in comparison to the previous lifetimes.  I have valued being a woman with few responsibilities more than you can ever know once I learned of the terror and might of the previous times.

I have learned of my own spiritual powers many years ago so that i am careful with how I use them, and how I ever acknowledge or share them with others. Frankly, I do not want anyone to know all that I am capable of spiritually.  I have fought the limelight for years as I had learned early in my teaching career that my students and I were so called models upon which television entertainment based many stories.  Room 222 and Welcome Back Kotter being the obvious, but there were many more...so much so that in Hollywood it is known as a one horse town...for those in the know that is the simple truth.

But I don't want to go into that again here today.  Today I am thinking of 2014 in which I will turn 75, and wonder at how and why time passed so quickly.   Will I take that course to use Scrivener's properly?  Maybe? Will I get to Greece this next year?  I want to see the battlefield of Chaeronea since I have decided to enlarge upon it in my story on Alexander.  Will I finally publish my book on ATG?  Most likely....it changes format and presentation all the time.

Will I stick with book writing and publishing after I get one book published?  I have no idea.

I have to get that first book done before I can decide.

So 2014 has me thinking to travel, weight loss plans, and a get riddance program of cleaning out all the past from my closets now...I tend to be a keeper too much but in the end I am glad that I am. However, that is because I still have mental and physical capabilities to enjoy it.  I hope that I have a good year in 2014 so that this time next year facing 76 I will be singing a different tune.  We will see.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Holidays

I went to a Christmas performance at the Scottsdale Bible Church which was truly uplifting and fun.  It has been a long tie since I have participated in a church service.  For people who go to church regularly each and every Sunday the experience is always spiritually rewarding but for those of us who seldom go we seem to think that we have not missed much.  The reason for that thinking is both because the message is always the same and unchanging...love God first, and then love your neighbor as yourself.  Done and told in many ways in many different places...The message is the same...the learning and internal believing leaves much to be desired for it seems to evaporate as soon as one exits the door.

Hey. Each one of is guilty of "hating" something in our neighbor...the neighbor who abuses his child, or the little boy who maliciously hurts an animal, the step-father who murdered his girlfriend's daughter and threw her body into a dumpster...who can blame any of us for hating these neighbors?

Church goers think that if they only had Jesus in their life instead of alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine, or heroin they might not have done it.  So most Christians try to convert the sinner to a life of doing good instead of evil.  But the news tells of all the evil that is done in the world instead of all the good...None of us hear about the kid who devotedly travels with his invalid mother on a bus, and helps her to move around shopping centers, or the old man who cheerfully kisses and hugs the old lady who is sitting in a wheel chair hoping for attention...  But these scenes happen too.  They just pass before us, seemingly unnoticed.

So it was fun to see children attend a performance that was both fun and enjoyable, telling the story of the birth of Christ finally as the conclusion to an evening of talent and inspiration.  It was all good theatre, free, and even had good hot chocolate at intermission.   Free cookies also.  Jesus gave freely so we should all imitate his lifestyle of addressing the needs of the poor and following his way to Perfection.

Holiday Time

I am an old grouch this morning.  I woke up from a dream which had me working on some project that frankly wears me out to even think about it...I was being so neat and well organized in this dream and I am wondering all the time what are dreams all about anyway...I hate those kind of dreams.

I watched a hypnotist explain how he set up his Christmas lights around his house.  Lord, what an expense that is, and so much trouble. These people who do go all out spend not only a fortune on all the props but also on the operations of these orchestrated light shows. They are beautiful to see but mercy!  The light bill alone is an outrageous fortune for me to consider.

Fortunately, our cold spell has changed so that we are having warm weather once again, and therefore, I do not need to run the heat except in early morning.  My heating bill was pretty high for the few days that we had to use it.  I won't put Christmas lights up this year either because I do not want to pay a high utility bill.

Doug Geary died on December 1.  Doug is a classmate of mine who was so funny and humorous when I was at our class reunion that I remember when leaving the Sunday brunch I stopped and nailed him with a kiss...His was the sweetest kiss as Diane had just done that to me so I passed it on. Her kiss likewise was the sweetest so there you go, two of the sweetest kisses in Van Wert at one reunion.

I had worked at Bill Derry's with Joyce Rawlings who married her high school sweetheart Bob Friesner of Middle Point Ohio.   He was a big basketball star then.  He just died on Dec.11 so these two deaths are taking their toll on me.  Bob had come up to me at the reunion to tell me this wife wanted to see me so he took me back to where she was waiting. Joyce was so different from when I had known her as not to be recognizable.  I would not have know her walking down the street she seemed so different to me.

So having suffered a big pain in the small of my back this morning I am contemplating when my last days will be.  Our family lives to ripe old ages so I always figured I would probably live to my 80's and I am hating the 70's so I cannot imagine what the 80's may be like.  People never seem to tell.

Holiday Time

I admit that I have no Christmas spirit at all.  I did buy some poinsettias at Home Depot on Black Frideay at 99 cents a pot and have them out in front of my patio.  That is as much Christmas as I want to put up this year. I have seen the Zoo lights and also now have toured the Princess Resort lagoon lights via the small train but I have no desire to put lights myself.   I did take them out finally to see what I have that works and found several strings of lights are not working.   What to do?  Throw them away or keep the bulbs...have not decided as I am a keeper and have a hard time throwing anything out.

I did print a map of the houses in the area which feature huge displays at night so I do intend to visit a few of these places.  My video camera at night is wonderful.  I wonder if I can import a video onto this blog.  I did it at Apple but when at home things don't always work the same here.  I will be getting back to them after the holidays. I did not want any obligations or commitments this month so after the last photo I said I would wait till January to make an appointment.

Frankly, I find the problem of videos annoying as all get out.  It seems to take forever to get them transferred from one place to another.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Holiday Time

Everyone seems to think that saying Happy Holidays nullifies the occasion  of the celebration of the birth of Jesus. I don't think that it does at all.  After all holiday means Holy Day, and thus, it is the same as saying Merry Christmas.  Just my little insight into a too picayune generation.  (Guess what...my computer made a spelling change for me.)

I digress...what a shock to learn that.

Change of topic...this will be a lot of briefs all at once...I have not worked on my Alexander novel for a while...all kinds of excuses but the most important one occurred the other night...I do feel a need to travel to Greece soon and maybe to other places where Alexander journeyed.  But the real reason I have had to stop to even think about any of the  plots that I might devise is that I had one of those go back in time experiences where I saw him as a young boy and then another vision of an older, much more matured and harried adult male who was frightening as all get out to my eyes.

With visions comes inner perceptions that are quite amazing to me....as I had no idea that he had looked like either one of these images until now because they are certainly seldom depicted in any source I have read...but I believe in them nonetheless, and I gleaned some interesting facts that  did help me to understand today a whole lot better too.

One thing came clear to me and that is the depth of emotion and the amount of real labor that took place in this long arduous trek that Alexander made across the continent from Greece to India.  Since I have been pretty much emphasizing his childhood more than his later campaigns it hit me hard to realize the change within him. It made me also realize at how sad it is for really human campaigns to be reduced to sentences and paragraphs that are set in cold type.  This was a savage and cruel age for any who suffered it. And believe it or not, there was little then to enjoy.  How can one really enjoy long marches?  Enduring laborious and tiresome disciplinary exercises.  These were soldiers, men who had muscles developed from cutting and carrying tree limbs fashioned into towers and weapons. They were hardened, toughened, and blistered in a long, arduous walk from one country to another. Those who rode horseback had sore thighs, calves, and arms and shoulders from curbing and controlling horses in swift and speedy runs.  Weapons and armor were carried both by man and beast alike as they trekked the many miles it took from one battle to another.  How one could keep and maintain a positive spirit is difficult to comprehend.   Encountering savage and cruel opponents was expected.  Preparation was everything, and nothing was left to chance.

Well, you see, once I get going, I just have to state it as I see it.  I saw the look on Alexander's face, and I picked up the serious trauma that he had endured so that it made me rethink all this. I felt all his years of glory seeking which is way over played for in reality, the compulsion was not for glory so much as for conquest and achievement.  It is only today's historians who seem to believe so many of the writers who spoke of the journey who conjure up the idea that it was all for glory. Not so.  The glory is a secondary motive.   The real motive is to conquer and to rule.

More on this later...am making lunch and have to watch my macaroni now.