Emily Bloss

My friend Jane sent this to me (thanks, Jane!!) and I thought it was very good and wanted to share…

Paradox of Our Times

Today we have bigger houses, but smaller families
More conveniences, but less time

We have more degrees, but less common sense
More knowledge, but less judgment

We have more experts, but more problems
More medicine, but less wellness

We spend too recklessly
Laugh too little
Drive too fast
Get too angry too quickly
Stay up too late
Read too little
Watch TV too much
And ponder too little

We’ve multiplied our possessions,
but reduced our values

We talk too much, love too little and lie too often

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life
We’ve added years to our lives, but not life to our years

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers
Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints

We spend more, but have less
We buy more, enjoy it less

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back
But have trouble crossing the street to meet our neighbors

We’ve conquered outer space,
But not inner space

We’ve split the atom
But not our prejudice

We write more, learn less, ———————- plan more, but accomplish less
We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait,
We have higher incomes , but lower morals

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies
But have less communication

We are long on quantity,
But short on quality

These are the time of fast foods and slow digestion
Taller people, and short character

More leisure and less fun …..more kinds of foods …… but less nutrition
Two incomes …..but more divorce
Fancier houses …. but more broken homes

That’s why I propose , that as of today , you do not keep anything for special occasions, because every day you live is a special occasion.

Search for knowledge , read more , sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to the time.
Spend more time with your family and friends , eat your favorite foods, and visit the places you love.

Use your crystal goblets…do not save your best perfume for best…throw a party for no good reason.

Life isn’t only about survival … It’s about joy.

Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life.

Remove from your vocabulary phrases like “one of these days “ and “someday”
Let’s write that letter we thought of writing “one of these days “

Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them.

I love playing carnival games. I know they’re a ripoff, but it’s fun anyway. Here’s a page which tells you how to improve your odds against the carnies:

Blifaloo.com - Beat Carnival Games

I especially like playing the games where you toss money onto a plate and win whatever it landed in… I don’t know why. It’s not like I need any more kitchen stuff, that’s for sure!! I think part of the attraction is you can play a lot, since they normally use dimes. Is that still true? It’s been so long since I’ve been to a carnival… maybe they make you use quarters now. If so, I’ll not be playing that one! Who else likes the carnival? Leave a comment or send me an email and we’ll make plans to go.

Well, I haven’t, but my fingertips have. Trav’s brother got me an acoustic guitar for my birthday!!! What a surprise. I had talked about getting one, and he went and got one for me. Very exciting! I’ve been following an online lesson for beginning guitar - trying to master those lessons before I try anything more and get discouraged. I’m hoping to have a bit of callouses on my fingertips before my trip to Arizona, maybe I can play a little something! The only thing I can play right now is scales and the first little bit of Dueling Banjos (hehehe) … I have a whole list of songs I want to learn, though. I hope I can do it -  my fingers are kind of short and don’t seem to curl just right yet. Practice, practice, practice!

Trav found a neat site to help me study… Chordbook! It has chord fingerings, a tuning tool and a bunch of other cool stuff. Thanks, dear! And thank you very much, Steve!!