"...one man in his time plays many parts" (AYLI-Jaques)

.....Getting to be 90 years old is quite an accomplishment, I believe, what with diseases around and all the bumps and hills in one's life. I've been doing a lot of introspection these days and I've come to the conviction that I have led a very awesome life. I'm not so sure that anyone around can quite equal it. Life for me began when I lived one block from the Atlantic ocean and learned to swim like a fish. That early life lasted nine years and now when I think about it, it's like a dream.

 

.....Life really began when we moved to Kelly Street in the south Bronx after my father died. Living there I learned survival skills starting with all the roaches in the apartment which disgusted me. I hated it, as I did living with my mother's parents. Living in the area required joining a gang, and so I did--to the Apaches.  We were all Jewish on the block, and right across the back of the house could be seen the Black area.

Of course there were Italian gangs around as well.  The main school occupation was not to be caught after school by a rival gang who would hang your pants to the top of the nearest lamp post. I decided that I would shoot myself if a girl would see me in my underwear. I hung around the poolroom until I was 17 and I decided to escape the Bronx by joining the Navy to fight for my country in WWII.  This was 100 times worse than the Bronx as I discovered by flying 60 combat missions--and survived once more.

 

.....Thus far my life was not much different from others.  It was only when I returned from the war that life began to change.  I spent six months in a VA Hospital with "Battle Fatigue" which is now PTSD.  I like Battle Fatigue much better...more descriptive. About this time it was a social worker who changed my life.  She was able to get me into Columbia University.  I had only commercial courses in high school--typing and stenography, etc. So after I took the entrance exam to Columbia I got a letter stating that my score was the worst ever in the whole world and that it was obvious that I could not do college work. I was told I could matriculate for a degree but must keep my average above a C.  I graduated Magna Cum Laude and went on to get a PhD. So much for not being able to do college level work...This experience helped me to become a better teacher and not to make predictions about what a student could do...So now I wonder how many others could live by the ocean, survive the Bronx and WWII and come home to get a PhD from a school like Columbia?   (to be continued)

"The cautious seldom err" (Confucius)

.....I am totally and unequivocally bored. Oh, I know I have this blob to worry about,  I also wrote that my fingers often do not go where I want them to. Youll notice that I made a cistake or two already. I've decided not to make any corrections becajse it takes too long.  Please excurse me, it's one of the paons of aging, I guels.  But ;perhaps it will be fun for me to read. it's much better than hitting the backspace key each time I make a misteak.  Enjoy it!

 

.....''another projedt I have to go baci to is the sci-fe book I started to write.  Problem is that I' can't make anh errors.  Publisher requires a perefect download--or uplade. I still do not know what they jean.  So, there is the conumdrum. I therefore I'm being rather slow getting back to it. Anyway, its not flr yout to read anyway.  And I'm not so good at writing sci-fi.  I think its good, who else?  A couple of months ago a guy from Comcast camd to fis some provlem we were having with our TV, and when he lefe he said that we also have Wi-Fi. I don't know how Wi-Fi will do us any good excdpt in McDonald's or Burger King.

 

.....I'm douvle spacing know, and think my typing is getteg worse. I don't know how this post will look when U puvvvvlish it. When I read it, I espect that it will exults or disgust me. I'f fearful of the comments that I will get. I may even be demoted from Baron to Duke. .....I believe that the time has come for RH" and I to geeeet our things in order, so we started to have a trust for us to deposit all that is of value. What we had to pay the lawher was certainlj of valus, and we weder short a couple of thousands of assets. Besides the asseets we had in the trust, the one big asset we haave is the house which s9eday tye iidx will sell and make a few bucis.

We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. (THE TEMPEST)

.....Well, there has been quite a lot going on here.  I fell from a chair.  I should say that I slipped from a chair trying to get on to it.  Of course an hour later, RH+ returned from bowling and found me on the floor! During the hour I was there, I started recitation with Beowulf, then Chaucer, and up to Shakespeare, and then beyond to Burns, Wordsworth, Byron, Milton, and a few others that I could recall. While on the floor then, what fun!

.....Of course she called 911 and the medics took me to the hospital a few minutes after they arrived.  I was given a bed in the ER (Emergency room) and they tested my blood pressure, my temperature, (for Ebola?), and a few other things. Then a guy came around and he gave me an x-ray because there was pain in my back. When five o'clock came around I ordered prime ribs with French fries and corn on the cob. They refused to honor my request and I was sorely disappointed when all I got was a hamburger--a cold one.  Oh, and I almost forgot the apple juice and the piesces de resistance for desert--a chocolate cookie. ( I believe) I spelled "piesces" incorrectly, but I haven't the urge to correct it at the moment. It’s French.

.....Ellin sent a comment urging me to get a device which I could wear upon my neck or around my wrist. I appreciate her concern, but I already have such a device. The other day the physical therapist's visit was cancelled because I didn't need it.  Today the speech therapist came and she said that I didn't need it.  So, all the doctors I've been to said I didn't need it--whatever it was! Thus because I don't need anything, I've decided to carry on for a few more years.

.....I'm having a helluva time typing. My hands tremble to much that I keep hitting the wrong keys. I'm sorry if I don't write many posts to this blog. I used to, but no more.