Days are Long; Tasks are Shorter and Shorter

As I carve out my life as an innkeeper/educator, and move on to the level of philanthropist/educated -- I marvel at my own stamina. With my many, many helpful friends and students I/we are getting all the tasks done in dismantling The Senator's Gate Bed and Breakfast.

It needed to end. It was a long and beautiful segment in Sheila's and in Mel's life -- but then it ended in the premature illness and death of Sheila Nassif Mrochinski. "Bad Luck" the doctors said; certainly not "karma" I said -- since She was the kindest most honestly real Southern belle I have ever and will ever know. I loved her with everything I had -- and it was still not enough to keep her alive, at least physically. But she will always be alive in my mind's eye, and in my heart, and in my soul. She was and is the best -- there may be others for me, but She was the best.

Resist, resist, resist!!!

Moving is Not For the Faint of Heart

So today I (we) threw away a lot of stuff; and Tosha got her new job at Kent State; and my four student workers plus my Dental Hygienist all did a stellar job; and I feel better now that we are inching closer to some kind of reckoning about all the excess I have accumulated over time. Yikes.

Giving away or selling off at a loss or sharing a lot of stuff helps -- but the guilt of acquisition still remains. Americans generally have too much stuff.  And someone of slightly elevated age (such as myself) who avidly collected beautiful things to use in his bed and breakfast  -- well that triples the guilt. So I gave some relatively nice stuff to me deserving students --- anything they desired or truly wanted actually.

Resist, resist, resist!!

A Raccoon Died

Today, May 5, 2017, a raccoon died in my Savannah backyard. It was the second such creature to pass away -- the last happening some 8 years ago. They were both probably habitants of a very large laurel oak tree that came down in pieces during last years hurricane (and in a  subsequent disembowelment by a local professional arborist). I say that because that monstrous tree was the largest, tallest and deepest tree for several blocks around.

This little raccoon (or its cadaver at least) is lying out in the rain behind my kitchen as I write this. I had called "animal control" earlier today as I watched a construction company take measurements for a new roof on my Carriage House. I spied the creature nestling up against the cool wall of the back of my house under a very warm scowling sky, pre-thunderstorm. Tomorrow I will dispose of him.

The preparation for my "move across town" proceeds apace, with packing -- sorting -- donating being the main order of business for the next few days, and for a few weeks to come. There will also be a short trip to see my sister -- who is now in full recovery mode from her serious recent health problems.

Fortunately, my employer accepted my notion of a "Hardship" Leave of Absence to allow me to make the trip "up North" and take the summer off from teaching. Thank you---technical school employer.  It's my "free 'sick leave' and 'personal time' anyway -- I'm not sure why I need to "qualify" to take it. But that's Georgia for you. Legal, in perfect form, and generally all "snafu."

Today the Republicans in the House of Representatives cheered as they took away health care for
millions of poor Americans and dealt yet another blow to "safety net" programs in America. Yay, Yay GOP!

Resist, resist, resist!!!  

The Glorious Beauty of Being ...Twenty-One!

This semester my class was crowded with beauties -- men and women. For some strange reason the dice were cast this term and came up with a lot of students in their third year of college, 3 years past high school graduation at 18, and facing the world with strong arms and firm young breasts.  Most of these young beauties are also swimming in the local service pool -- "living the life," as Tosha used to say - by waiting table or serving drinks.  Life repeats, again and again and again,and then again again.
Rachel is 21 -- and so enamoured of herself and her body that all her clothes are bought to cling, and all her body shapes curve unceasingly towards her naughty eyes. Not a "runway model" beauty -- but with a lithe body she bobs and weaves through flirtation routines too intricate to be constructed but more like freestyle sex-diving. She reminds me of Farrah of 2016-- then also 21 -- though Farrah brought an edge of haughty Hepburn to her own outlook. This Eastern Patricianship often set her aside from others -- in intelligence, wit, classic beauty, and her own "knowing and understanding"
connecting. Both these young women are intelligent -- at times rising to brilliance.  But both cling to the aspect of attraction to attain any goal they seek.

Men also play David in Florence!  Well muscled, well packaged, well delivered! Men from Venezuela; men from Panama; men from California; men from the golf courses scattered throughout Georgia. Even a stray Eastern surfer or two. All beauties: each and every one.

Resist, Resist, Resist!

Airline Travel --- Kaflooey!

Yes, on United Airlines the staff loves to threaten their guests, occasionally drag them from the cabin because "they" (the airline), made a mistake and sold more tickets than there are seats.  Now of course they promise that the "passenger treatment" will improve. How --- no more beatings?

And American Airlines announced today that they will be shrinking the amount of leg room in their economy class. Soon we may be dangling our legs out of the windows on future flights. What is going on here???!!!!

I have begun taking other means of transport -- anything under 1200 miles and I drive a rental car, or I take the train, or I get an ExecJet pass from a friend. Anything else but flying on the airlines in the US. What used to be a pleasure is now akin to actual torture. "Would you like to be waterboarded with that coke, it's free on this flight only!"  Thanks so much, but "no," not this time.

Resist, resist, resist!!!!

Moving a LIfetime

Unlike the typical downsizing an "old person" (politically correct would be "senior citizen") undertakes, I am also deconstructing a viable bed and breakfast with all its trappings, and disintegrating at least two long careers in theatre/management/teaching -- all in one gigantic
smash-mouth free-for-all frenzy.  Mixed with that are visits with my younger sister -- who has
had an unfortunate bout with bad, bad health problems.

And that is my life at the moment.

I have also employed a number of students for packing purposes, managed the day-by-day grind
of "logistics" (the big new word) in planning -- and managed to avoid either a heart attack or a stroke. But it is early yet.

We enter phase two of the move this weekend -- and then a short hiatus of a week -- and then back at it for round three. After that 3 more levels of packing -- and then 3 levels of unpacking. Yikes.
Am I young enough to do all this?

Yes.

Resist, resist, resist!!!!!

The Unflappable Idiot

Perhaps Hitler's gravest danger to Europe and to Germany back in the 1930's existed in the fact that the "people" as a whole justified and took seriously a small little Austrian house painter, and transformed him into a national, and then a world, force for evil.

Sound familiar? A small little man who makes himself large by saying strange and unbelievable things, and is incredibly "believed" by his countrymen and literally worshipped as the "Fuhrer" transforming himself into a "genius" in their clouded judgment.  Hitler was no genius; he was like Donald Trump a fully-realized "unflappable idiot."

Continue to resist, resist, resist!!!!