Click HERE to view today's https://www.parkrun.us/depotpark/results/latestresults/parkrun results. Melissa and i skipped the event this week. If we feel better and the weather cooperate, we'll consider returning to it. in the meantime I ipicked the 1984 alternative rock son How Soon is Now, bythe Smiths, as my Son of the Month fo January. I really enjoy hearing it over and over...Morissey's lyrics are profound...
Showing posts with label Seniors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seniors. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Just Finished Rereading Insomnia by Stephen King
As I'm sitting here at home waiting for Hurricane Irma to make its unwelcome presence fully felt in northern Florida and relishing that so far we still have our electric power, I decided to write about something different: the 1994 Stephen King novel Insomnia, which is one of my favorites of his and which I just finished rereading...
As in the extremely scary novel It, Insomnia takes place of the setting of one of King's most sinister imaginary Maine towns: Derry. It (Insomnia, not It) is about the life of a 70-year old man, Ralph Roberts, who has just lost his beloved, long-time wife from cancer and is just beginning to come out of his mourning, only to discover that, night-by-night, he finds himself waking up a few minutes earlier in the morning until, eventually, all of his sleep disappears. Ralph is a likable man with his share of good friends like Bill McGovern, Ed Deepneau, Lois Chasse, and numerous fellow senior citizens. But one day he discovers that Ed has inexplicably undergone a tumultuous personality change and is now a violent, vengeful soul who beats his wife and is on a campaign against local women's advocate groups and their leaders. There is an underlying reason for his transformation, but maybe I'd better let you discover it for yourself...after all, Insomnia is full of mysteries that gradually reveal themselves over the course of the narrative. Instead, I'll just discuss a couple of impressions I got from it...
Stephen King showed in Insomnia that he truly has a heart for the elderly and depicted people in this stage of life as complete and complex, full of their own vitality and struggling not only against sickness, increasing feebleness, and eventually death, but also against that element within society that would prefer to institutionalize them whether they wanted it or not. To me, Ralph Roberts is the quintessential senior superhero, as worthy of his own cape and insignia as Superman or Batman. And if you read on in the story, my analogy between him and characters endowed with superhuman powers isn't really off at all...
The other thing I got from this tale was the notion that each and every one of us, because of our physical nature in time and space, are incapable of sensing that there is much, much more to the reality that surrounds us that we cannot sense or understand. Stephen King integrated this "hyper-reality", as he dubbed it, with other stories in his fictional universe and yes, there are references to characters in other novels...notably It, Pet Sematary, and that "dark" series that he used to tie everything together...
So I'm still all on board with Insomnia as being one of Stephen King's best novels; in addition to the horrors and scariness typifying his works, there is also a profound sweetness of spirit here...read it and see if you don't agree with this seeming paradox...
As in the extremely scary novel It, Insomnia takes place of the setting of one of King's most sinister imaginary Maine towns: Derry. It (Insomnia, not It) is about the life of a 70-year old man, Ralph Roberts, who has just lost his beloved, long-time wife from cancer and is just beginning to come out of his mourning, only to discover that, night-by-night, he finds himself waking up a few minutes earlier in the morning until, eventually, all of his sleep disappears. Ralph is a likable man with his share of good friends like Bill McGovern, Ed Deepneau, Lois Chasse, and numerous fellow senior citizens. But one day he discovers that Ed has inexplicably undergone a tumultuous personality change and is now a violent, vengeful soul who beats his wife and is on a campaign against local women's advocate groups and their leaders. There is an underlying reason for his transformation, but maybe I'd better let you discover it for yourself...after all, Insomnia is full of mysteries that gradually reveal themselves over the course of the narrative. Instead, I'll just discuss a couple of impressions I got from it...
Stephen King showed in Insomnia that he truly has a heart for the elderly and depicted people in this stage of life as complete and complex, full of their own vitality and struggling not only against sickness, increasing feebleness, and eventually death, but also against that element within society that would prefer to institutionalize them whether they wanted it or not. To me, Ralph Roberts is the quintessential senior superhero, as worthy of his own cape and insignia as Superman or Batman. And if you read on in the story, my analogy between him and characters endowed with superhuman powers isn't really off at all...
The other thing I got from this tale was the notion that each and every one of us, because of our physical nature in time and space, are incapable of sensing that there is much, much more to the reality that surrounds us that we cannot sense or understand. Stephen King integrated this "hyper-reality", as he dubbed it, with other stories in his fictional universe and yes, there are references to characters in other novels...notably It, Pet Sematary, and that "dark" series that he used to tie everything together...
So I'm still all on board with Insomnia as being one of Stephen King's best novels; in addition to the horrors and scariness typifying his works, there is also a profound sweetness of spirit here...read it and see if you don't agree with this seeming paradox...
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Just Voted...On Election Day in Gainesville
Considering how badly the previous election went for me and my candidates, I was eager to get another one behind me, one that wouldn't "matter" as much even if things didn't go my way. Well, thanks to the good people running the show here in Gainesville, Florida, I didn't have to wait long: for some reason unknown to me (and probably most everyone else), they decided to hold city commission elections in March instead of November...guaranteeing a low voter turnout. As faithful as I am to consistently get to the polls, even I nearly let today's election slip by me...
For this election three Gainesville City Commission races were on the ballots. In my precinct, I got to vote for two of them: one at-large seat covering the whole city and one districted seat...that was all that was on my ballot. Once again, I drove the very short distance to my polling place at the county's senior recreation center, walked straight through to the volunteer at the appropriate desk, got my ballot, spent about five seconds filling it out, shoved it into the slot, received my "I Voted" sticker, and then skedaddled out of there. My main impediment during the whole process was having to dodge several seniors in the hallway, a few of whom seemed hell-bent on colliding head-on with me...
As for that senior recreation center, which I joined for free after turning sixty last October, I'm still trying to figure out how I can make use of it. So far, the only attractive thing they offer that doesn't conflict with my work schedule is chess on Wednesday mornings. I've never been a good chess player and the brochure states that someone will be offering some instruction in the game. Maybe I'll try it out sometime in the near future...
For this election three Gainesville City Commission races were on the ballots. In my precinct, I got to vote for two of them: one at-large seat covering the whole city and one districted seat...that was all that was on my ballot. Once again, I drove the very short distance to my polling place at the county's senior recreation center, walked straight through to the volunteer at the appropriate desk, got my ballot, spent about five seconds filling it out, shoved it into the slot, received my "I Voted" sticker, and then skedaddled out of there. My main impediment during the whole process was having to dodge several seniors in the hallway, a few of whom seemed hell-bent on colliding head-on with me...
As for that senior recreation center, which I joined for free after turning sixty last October, I'm still trying to figure out how I can make use of it. So far, the only attractive thing they offer that doesn't conflict with my work schedule is chess on Wednesday mornings. I've never been a good chess player and the brochure states that someone will be offering some instruction in the game. Maybe I'll try it out sometime in the near future...
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Voted This Morning at the Senior Rec Center
This morning I slept in a little longer than usual...maybe it's just that I was more tired than usual, or maybe I'm just getting a little older and the ol' body just doesn't jump to my commands as before. But I remembered that I had some things to do, including going down to my assigned precinct, which is the Senior Recreation Center on NW 34th Boulevard, to vote in today's statewide primary election. So I dragged myself out of bed and over there. I voted on the issues and races presented me...which wasn't a lot...slid my ballot into the slot, and walked out of the polling room and down the hallway to the exit, once again not having to wait even one second in line to get my ballot. While walking, I noticed many elderly people in different rooms enjoying different activities: there was a yoga class, a woman appeared to be telling a story to a ring of enthralled listeners, some folks were on the Internet in the computer room, a couple was sitting in comfy chairs reading, and a man was playing pool. When I was about to walk out of the building, I looked over at the Senior Recreation Center's welcome counter and spied a calendar of events and a brochure of programs they offered. Snatching them up, I made my way to my car, drove the three minutes back home, and quickly put on some coffee to brew...
This was the last election that I will just be walking through the Senior Recreation Center to vote. No, I'm not turning cynical on democracy and elections: I'll be turning 60 in early October and, when the general election comes around on November 8, I'll be a registered member of this fun group, finally having met the age requirements. The Senior Recreation Center is free to participate in: you just have to be 60. It runs on a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday basis...which means that with my present work schedule, I can only participate in morning and early afternoon activities. They have chess, bridge, tai chi, yoga, and a monthly book club, as well as a slew of activities that hold little interest for me. But you don't have to go there for a meeting or scheduled program: you can just sit there and read...or use their computers...or play pool...or who knows what else. They even have a seniors sports competition, the winners of which get to compete statewide. When I think of this place, I think of my late parents: my father probably wouldn't like being here, but I think my mother would have loved it. Whether I end up using the Senior Recreation Center much or not, I'd glad it's here, providing a welcome environment for our senior community...
This was the last election that I will just be walking through the Senior Recreation Center to vote. No, I'm not turning cynical on democracy and elections: I'll be turning 60 in early October and, when the general election comes around on November 8, I'll be a registered member of this fun group, finally having met the age requirements. The Senior Recreation Center is free to participate in: you just have to be 60. It runs on a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday basis...which means that with my present work schedule, I can only participate in morning and early afternoon activities. They have chess, bridge, tai chi, yoga, and a monthly book club, as well as a slew of activities that hold little interest for me. But you don't have to go there for a meeting or scheduled program: you can just sit there and read...or use their computers...or play pool...or who knows what else. They even have a seniors sports competition, the winners of which get to compete statewide. When I think of this place, I think of my late parents: my father probably wouldn't like being here, but I think my mother would have loved it. Whether I end up using the Senior Recreation Center much or not, I'd glad it's here, providing a welcome environment for our senior community...
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