Every picture tells a story don't it?

 "Life that is not growing and advancing makes living only not dying."Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir, a pivotal figure in the feminist movement and an influential writer, encourages us to ponder what it means to advance and grow in life. The definition of 'advancing' and 'growing' varies from person to person, shaping our reactions to her statement. Some friends may advocate for a life filled with constant activity and continuous learning, while others find contentment in quiet moments with nature, leisurely walks in the woods, observing birds, reading books, or simply relishing the slow pace of life while reminiscing.

 

Recently, I came across a photo on Facebook, shared by an old high school friend, which triggered a flood of cherished memories. As the lyrics of a Rod Stewart song remind us, "Every picture tells a story, don't it".  This photo harks back to 1963 when I participated in a pioneering program in my hometown, offering students a taste of entrepreneurship. It was a year of tremendous success, and those who invested in our endeavour saw their investments double in a year. The picture captures a time when we were all actively growing and advancing.

Reflecting on that moment, I like to believe that I've carried the spirit of growth and advancement throughout my working life and continue to do so in retirement. Judging by the comments on the Facebook post, it seems that everyone in the picture led a fulfilling and successful life.

Garden Party

Ricky Nelson sings a song called "Garden Party" and when I went to a "To hell with the Bell" brunch the other day I was reminded of this song and these verses from the song:

Went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends

A chance to share old memories 

When I got to the garden party, No one recognized me, I didn't look the same

But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.

You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Some background, in my previous life I used to be a teacher and in my community of teachers, one of the customs is to have a breakfast brunch on the first day of school for all those who just retired and those who have been retired for a while. All jobs have routines and protocols that people take for granted and learn to live with or ignore. In school, the bane of many teachers is the bell to signify the end or start of class. So, one of the joys of retirement is that you no longer have to react to the bell. So, at the brunch, the newly retired teachers can say, "The hell with the Bell" and enjoy their first day of retirement.

I went to this event in 2007 and saw people that I had worked with and had a good time, and went on with my life and I never went back. On a whim this year when I received notice of the event, I decided to go. It was interesting, at first, I did not recognize anyone, so I choose a table and sat down and as the place filled up, people joined me. I met three elementary teachers two who had just retired and one who had retired about 6 years ago. I enjoyed our conversation, and they like me were looking around to see if they recognized others. 

It took a while, but I saw a table of people from a school I had taught at for six years, what I thought was interesting is that the same people (minus some who were no longer with us) had been together when I first went to the brunch in 2007. After the meal was over to say hello to them, and I said hello and gave my name because no one recognized me, I didn’t look the same. Once I told them who I was, a number of the group came over and we talked about how they were doing and what life was like for them now. We did not get a chance to reminisce, but they said I should come back for the Christmas lunch, and they would save a seat at the table for me. I might just do that to see if they have changed.

 

Sea gulls and crows

I was reading  A Retirement Blog about being "mugged in broad daylight by a winged predator (a seagull) and was reminded of the many times I and my friends have been "mugged" by these birds.

Growing up on the coast I am used to seagulls being around and seeing them as scavengers, keeping our beaches clean of dead shellfish and other creatures that drift onto the shore. 

In Caree's blog post she had her food taken when she was sitting next to it. The gulls in our area are not as brave, they lurk just outside of range and wait. They will wait and watch, sometimes parading up and down in front of you pretending that they are not interested in the food you are eating or carrying. Best not move too far away from the food, because when you do, they swoop in and are gone in a flash with your food.

Over the years I have had many sandwiches taken by these sneaky birds. Crows are also birds that can and do steal food if you do not pay attention.  We were golfing about 40 miles outside of Vancouver and one of my friends bought a sandwich. It was his turn to hit and so he placed the sandwich on the seat of the golf cart and walked over to his ball. My ball was a bit in front so I was waiting for him to hit. He did and walked back to his cart, and said, "Where's my sandwich?" I looked over and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a seagull with his sandwich in its beak flying towards the nearest tree with a seagull in fast pursuit. I laughed and pointed, and my friend, who normally does not swear, let out a number of curse words that would make a baby blush.  

Crows and Seagulls are very smart scavengers and they can cause havoc wherever they go, so if you are thinking of picnicking on a beach or just having a sandwich in the park, always keep an eye out for these birds as they can ruin your day or at least your lunch.

High School Reunion

 I graduated 57 years ago and I went to the 25th, 40th, and 50th reunions. Each of them had a different feel and I was glad I did. On the 25th I was struck by the posturing and one-upmanship that seemed to me too prevalent. I had the impression that people were trying to impress each other with how successful they had become. The other thing I noticed was that high school behaviours and cliques were reformed very quickly. I was not impressed, most of the people at the reunion were people who had stayed close to our hometown. I had moved away and had not been back or been in touch with anyone from high school since I left. I was glad I came but was a bit saddened by the event.

I was not going to go the 40th but a friend suggested I give it another chance. So I went. The reunion was a complete turnaround. People seemed more settled in and ok with what they had accomplished in life. There was more talk of family, and friends who were no longer with us. I think most people had become successful and held no need to boast or try to put others down. I saw some friends from school that I had forgotten but I was glad to see them and to catch up. Again, most lived near the town, but many had returned because they had parents and family to take care of in town. It was a lot more fun and I met some people, with whom I continue to correspond from time to time. The group actually started a Facebook page and I read it at least two or three times a week to keep up to date. I was very glad I went.

We had our 50th, 7 years ago and we are looking forward to the 60th. The 50th was more fun and surprisingly there were more people that had not been to the other reunions. I had forgotten many of these people, but when I saw them, it was a pleasure and fun to get caught up. I had a great time and I hope that when we have the 60th there may be other surprises that await me.

Reunions have their own unique culture and each of the ones I have gone to has given me ideas to think about, surprises and brought back many positive memories. I hope that you have someone who is committed to organizing and running your high school reunion. I would like to thank the men and women of my graduating class who  over the years have done a great job of keeping memories alive.

I didn't start the fire

I was talking to a 40-year-old about how depressing the world seems to be now. We talked about inflation, the war in Ukraine, COVID, mass shootings and many other topics. She feared for her children and how they would cope. The events we are going through along with her reaction to them, will, I believe shape her children’s view of the world as they grow.

The conversation got me thinking about my youth. As my generation grew, we were fighting a “cold war” in Europe and a “hot war” first in Korea and then in Vietnam. The threat of worldwide annihilation by nuclear war was with us every day and we practiced protecting ourselves by hiding under our desks at school and our basements at home. Where I lived the winds would bring in dust from the nuclear tests and we would stay inside for a few days to protect ourselves from the fallout. 

That was the 50s in the 60s things got worse. John Kennedy and his brother were assassinated along with Martin Luther King, Jr. The US was at war internally, race issues and opposition to the war galvanized both sides and violence was an almost everyday experience, if not in person then on TV.

There were good things, my parents stayed calm and maintained a normal family life. Being encouraged to try new things and go to a new University., Also, meeting my future wife, starting new adventures, and getting married. events like Woodstock, and the moon landing also shaped me. Finally, privacy was a given, and there was no internet.

But that’s me. How about you? What were the epochal events in the country and the world that shaped you?

 

Parking lots

It is getting close to Christmas and many of us will be out and about, shopping and looking for gift ideas in our local shopping centers. Did you ever have this happen to you? I was out visiting students who were working in the community, and I was bringing along another teacher, who I was training to take over the job. I was moving on to a different position. I was somewhere in my late 40s, I drove from our school to the shopping center where the student was working, went into the underground parking and parked my car. We left the car, went to see the student, had a long conversation with the student’s employer and then went to lunch.

We finished lunch and when we went back to the garage, I could not remember where I parked my car. I asked the other teacher, and he could not remember. Neither of us had been paying attention so we had no idea where we had parked the car.

The parking lot was huge, so we started to try and second guess ourselves but were not successful. We started wandering through the lot trying to see my car. A security guard in a golf cart pulled up to us and asked us what the problem was, we explained we had lost the car. He laughed and said “Hop in, this happens to a lot of people. I will help you look.” About 10 minutes later we found the car.

We knew we were in the right garage, but that’s all, we were looking on the wrong level.

If we want to remember something, above all else we need to notice. And noticing requires two things: perception (seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling) and attention.

Now when I park, I pay attention or if I am in a big parking lot, I record on my phone, my location, by the signs in the parking lot for example Section Y row 12 stall 7. My memory cannot capture and retain everything, it can capture what I pay attention to, and since I can’t pay attention to everything, I remember some aspects of what is happening and not others. So, when you are parking pay attention to where you are parking.

Let’s consider an example that happens a lot to me. You’re out with friends or you are in a meeting with new people, someone introduces you to a number of new people or perhaps only one new person. Two minutes later, you’re still chatting with him, and you realize that you have no idea what his name is.

Or this happens: You bump into one of the people you were introduced to a few days later at the store. He says, “Hi, [Your Name]!” You recognize him, you know you met him, but you cannot recall his name. You say, “Hey, you!”

Paying attention requires conscious effort. If you want to remember something, you have to turn your brain on, wake up, become consciously aware and pay attention.

Getting enough sleep, meditating and a little caffeine are other powerful distraction fighters and can enhance your ability to establish long-term memories.

Because we remember what we pay attention to, we might want to be mindful about what we focus on. Optimists pay attention to positive experiences, so these events are consolidated into their memories. If you look for magic every day, if you pay attention to the moments of joy and awe, you can then capture these moments and consolidate them into memory. Over time, your life’s narrative will be populated with memories that make you smile.

If you want to improve your memory, try minimizing or removing things that distract you. Getting enough sleep, meditating and a little caffeine (not too much and none 12 hours before bed) are other powerful distraction fighters and can enhance your ability to pay attention and establish long-term memories.

So, the next time you can’t find your car, pause. And before you accuse your memory of failing, before you panic and worry that you have Alzheimer’s, think: Did I pay attention to where I parked my car, to begin with?

Radio Stations all over the World

When I was growing up, I had this old transistor radio and every night I would try to get stations from as far away as I could. I remember betting a radio station from California, which was over 1,000 miles away, on a clear night in August. That was a thrill. 

I don’t know about you, but I still listen to the radio at night. I use the Radio Canada App to get some interesting stations from Ontario and Alberta. But I find this site incredible! When you click on the link below you will open a Google Earth map. The green dots on the map represent radio stations. Move the cursor over any of the dots and you will immediately hear that station with very good reception. Zoom in or out to determine where you are--which country or which city. Any of you who are multilingual will enjoy this…listen to stations in Europe, Asia, Australia, or wherever. Listen to music from Ireland playing Irish pub music or any type you want. Here is the link: http://radio.garden/live/toulouse/radiopresence

Memories of the 1950s for those of us who were born in the ’40s and early 50’s this is a wonderfully nostalgic, but unrealistic look back at the 1950s/ This is over 7 minutes long but, considering we are somewhat trapped indoors this year anyway, why not sit back, listen, watch, and reminisce about days gone by? Rotary telephones! Mercurochrome! Fun with Dick & Jane books. Brylcreem. Turquoise or Pink Bathroom fixtures. Bonanza. 24” B & W TVs. Hula-hoops. Drive-in movies. Click here for memories: https://1funny.com/fond-memories-of-the-1950s/

Memories are made of this

My oldest cousin died a while back. I know that death at our age is expected, but hers was a surprise. There are a number of reasons I feel sad about her loss. First, we were not close, but I remember her as a very strong, friendly person who had a laugh and a smile that would light up the room. She was the daughter of my Dad’s oldest sister and with her death, a family connection is severed. She was a person who was very close to her family and had a zest for life that few 80+ people have. I remember driving her up to our uncle’s funeral a bit over a year ago. As we drove, she filled me in on what her children and grandchildren were doing and how excited she was about their plans, and how she would have to find time to fit in all of the upcoming activities.

She was actually older than my aunt and joked about how she would live for a while yet and she said that when she died, she would not have a big celebration of life. I understand that sentiment and I understand her children are having a small memorial service with only close family in attendance.

My brother pointed out to me that with her passing, there I and my cousin E are the oldest of our generation. My cousin E is two years older than I am, and her health, I understand, is not good. E is a very strong and resourceful lady and I am sure that she will live a long time, or so I hope.

I thought about what my brother said and it made me think about family, connections and moments in life that we want to remember and pass on. My cousin that just died sent my aunt a picture of my grandfather and grandmother on their wedding day and my aunt is sending me a copy. I will add it to my collection.

I have, like many of you, started to digitize old pictures and slides. My mother put all of the pictures she had into albums for the family. She did that for us before she passed and looking through the old albums brought back many great memories. I want my children and my grandson to have the same opportunity to look back and see what memories we wanted to be captured and remembered.  This is a challenge as there seem to be thousands of pictures but doing a few at a time and looking at what has been done not what needs to be done, makes the task less daunting.

Cleaning House

I had walked down to pick up the mail, and upon my return, my neighbour asked if I felt good about the clean-up. I had to think about that for a few minutes but my quick reply was not really. For the last two weeks, we have been cleaning out our house. I understand that Spring Cleaning usually takes place in the Spring, but being retired means you can do the work anytime. We brought in a large 20-foot-long container to make the job easier and it was.

Two years ago, my mother-in-law died and after her death, my wife and I were faced with a problem of what to do with her stuff. When my mom died it took my brothers and me about two years to sort through her stuff and make decisions. So I was not going to pressure my wife on what to do with her mom's stuff. While much of my mother-in-law's big stuff, furniture, and some small stuff were taken by nieces and nephews, there was a large amount of stuff that was left, so it ended up in our garage for safekeeping.

I am a collector and over the years the garage was filled with things that I might use one day, or that I thought I might need or might want to fix-up. Adding my mother-in-law’s stuff just made the garage look more like a hoarder’s dream than a garage.

After much discussion, we decided to make the move and clean out our stuff. I had come to the realization as had my wife that our children and nieces and nephews, and young cousins do not want our stuff. They have a different attitude toward what they consider valuable. It was time to act, so the bin was moved to the front of our house and we began to clean-up. I started. It was very simple, too good to throw out, to charity. Not good enough for charity throw it out. Two weeks later we have finished the job, and thus my neighbour's question and my response.

The easy answer was yes, I felt good about the fact I no longer had a hoarder’s garage, but I felt sad about losing the tangible items that when looked at invoked memories of earlier times. My wife said to me if we have to sell to move into an assisted living situation in the next ten years it will be a lot easier to make the move, I agreed but have no desire to move into that situation for at least 20 years.

We are not finished because we tend to accumulate over the years. So, while we still have boxes of “stuff” to go through, but we know the “stuff” in the boxes is either to keep or to give to charity, not to throw out. This cleaning up is a first step in letting go and moving on and starting to make an ending. This involves more than just throwing out your stuff. The cleaning house we just completed is a good ending as it required me to let go not only of what I used to have and do. I still have the memories so it is time to look forward to life’s next adventure.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

Looking back

I graduated from Simon Fraser University in Economics and Commerce in 1969. In 1972. I entered the Professional Development Program (PDP) in the Faculty of Education because I was looking for a career with more meaning than the work I had been doing for three years. That year changed my life. Teaching is both art and science, but in that year l learned more about the art of teaching, not the science.

Dr. Maurice Gibbons was in charge of the program, and he was starting to develop his ideas an the self-directed professional. We were given a choice of three streams when we arrived on campus, I, and about 50) others, chose the program that offered the opportunity to learn about ourselves and to use that information to help students. I spent the first two months honing my skills in teaching at what is now Terry Fox Secondary in Port Coquitlam.

We arrived back from our practicum and as part of the program went to Kamloops where We spent two weeks living in a rustic setting. learning about life and ourselves. with some touches of psychology and philosophy

Back on campus, we were given the opportunity to engage in more self-exploration and develop our own philosophy and approach to teaching. There was very little direction, but there was a great deal of guidance anal advice. I learned to develop my creative side, which allowed me to see opportunity where others saw obstacles.

I graduated from the program having learned about art, movie making, writing and myself. I took a job in Surrey teaching Art and Business. For three years, I moved between any Typing and Recordkeeping classes, which were very structured and ordered to my Art class, which was unstructured and full of creative energy.

In 1978, a new opportunity was presented to me, and I started the first Cooperative Education Work Experience program in Surrey and the second in BC. For me this perfectly blended creativity and business. My first class had 12 students, and by the end of the first year, I had over 100 students wanting to take the program.

Within three years, the program was in every high school in Surrey, and within five years the program was in almost every school district in BC. I used the ideas and themes I had learned working in Dr. Gibbon's program to develop and show likeminded professionals my vision of the program.

I oversaw the program in Surrey until 1989, when I moved on to the idea of developing the teaching of information technology in schools. In 1995, I was seconded to the Ministry of Education where I developed a team that created a vision and a curriculum to teach information technology in K-12 BC schools.

The creation of the Cooperative Education Work Experience program, the development of the curriculum for Information Technology and other educational programs I worked in, happened because in 1972-73 I had the opportunity to become a self-directed professional under the guidance of Gibbons and the PDP program. 

Walking down memory lane for fun

If you remember this you grew up in the fifties or became a teenager in the early sixties and were at the vanguard of the Boomer Generation. Great memories wonderful video.  Enjoy

For those a bit older who remember or were a teenager in the Fifties, here is another trip done memory lane with the music of Buddy Holly

The year I started school the world was different.

My grandson Ryder started school this year; I started school in 1952 and the world was different but some things have not changed. I wish him well as he travels through the school system. I know based on feedback from my daughter that he will do better than I did when I started. 

School and I did not get off to a good start, I was given the opportunity to complete grade one twice. The first time through grade one, I failed. Today schools don’t fail students at grade one. 

Failing grade one was not traumatic for me because of the way my parents saw the situation. When we moved to another part of the province, my parents saw the move as an opportunity for a new start for me so they enrolled me in grade one and told me I was going to school. I did not know (until I had graduated) that I had repeated my first year. So I went to school, made new friends and I found I liked being at school, so I did well.

Here are some other things that have and have not changed since I started school:

·       West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders. Today Germany is welcoming millions of refugees from Syria. 

·       Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom at St. James's Palace, London, England. She is still Queen.

·       In the Hague Tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth $3 billion from Germany.  Israel is fighting the Palestinians for land.

·       The Treaty of Taipei is signed between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War. There is still war in Syria, Iraq and the middle east

·       The Diary of Anne Frank is published, and is taught in schools in Canada yet today.

·       The United States Army Special Forces is created and a year or so ago, killed one of the leaders of the Islamic State Terror Group the Taliban Obama Bin Ladin

·       A British passenger jet flies twice over the Atlantic Ocean in the same day. Now they fly hundreds of times a day

·       Martial law is declared in Kenya due to the Mau Mau uprising. Kenya is still at war, at least 147 people, mostly students, have been killed in an assault by al-Shabab militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya

·       The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. The first successful full face transplant was done in 2015

·       The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to François Mauriac.  In 2015 it went to svetlana alexievich, a russian writer

·       The Nobel Peace prize went to Albert Schweitzer. Last year it went to The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet is a group of four organizations that were central in the attempts to build a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011

Since you like Math and Science, this may be of interest to you:

·       The Nobel prize for physics went to Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell from the United States for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith. 

·       In 2015 it went to Arthur Bruce "Art" McDonald,a Canadian astrophysicist. He was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Japanese physicist Takaaki Kajita, for the discovery of neutrino oscillations and demonstrating that neutrinos have mass

What happened the year I was born? Here is a website to find out

If you want to reminisce and learn what happened in your birth year or at any year, go to What Happened in My Birth Year and have some fun either on your own or share this with others. I was born in 1946, so here is some of what happened the year I was born. You could take your grandchildren back to the year you started school, or the year you were the same age as them and do a compare an contrast. This is a fun website so here is some of what they say about 1946.


In 1946, the world was a different place.

There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo.

In 1946 the top selling movie was Song of the South. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster. 
Remember, that was before there were DVDs. Heck, even before there was VHS. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.


In the year 1946 books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was The King's General by Daphne du Maurier. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you read it?

In 1946... A revised and streamlined revival of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat opens on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre. The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor. Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes 6 constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. The Soviet Union and Switzerland resume diplomatic relations. In Japan, women vote for the first time, during elections for the House of Representatives of the 90th Imperial Diet. The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.

Since 1946  myself and others have changed the world.The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Hermann Hesse. The Nobel Peace prize went to Emily Greene Balch and John Raleigh Mott. The Nobel prize for physics went to Percy Williams Bridgman from the United States for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made there within the field of high pressure physics. 

The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to and they held on to you. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

Reunions

A friend of mine from university, who I had not seen for 5 years, phoned me up and we went to lunch. Reunions with old friends is a good way to wander down memory lane. We talked of the present, the near past, friends, and memories from university days. We sauntered down memory lane and talked of things to come. 

Reunions are interesting, I am thinking about them because 50 years ago I graduated high school and started at a brand new university. My friend and I had both had been Charter students at Simon Fraser back in 1965 and had traveled through some exciting and challenging times. He told me that he was thinking of writing a book about those times, from a students perspective. We both had read other books written by Faculty and historians but we both commented that these books did not reflect the university that we knew as the writers had agendas or kept the script politically correct.

Reunions are fun for other reasons, they are a time for checking out the sweetheart who you left, or who left you; finding  friends who drifted away, and a time for wondering what might have been, if I had stayed with so and so. Two friends of mine went to their 50th high school reunion last year and talked about how much fun it was and how they quickly reverted back to their high school personalities. 

I think my high school may have its 50th reunion and as well my university will celebrate its 50th year in operation and if both do this, I will go to both celebrations as I am looking forward to seeing who is still around. 

It was interesting to me to hear my friends talk about about the fact that the majority of their classmates had not left the community, so, it was far easier to catch up as the they had seen people around town over the years. 

At my 35th high school reunion I found out that  I was one of the few people from my class that left my community and I was one of the few that had not returned to live. About 90% of my graduating class were still living in my home town. 

I was surprised, but I did some research and found that people when they retire move back to their roots their home towns.This will  poses a huge challenge to small communities which will have to build the infrastructure needed to care for an aging population.  One that I hope our community is ready for as the boomers move back home.

Memories of high school

First remember that your past is just a story that is woven by what others tell you and by what you remember, your past does not excuse or justify your present behavior. The memories I have for the most part, prior to age six were past onto me by stories told by my mother, father uncles and aunts, so they are part of me but not remembered by me. 

I remember playing with  my brothers in a small town in the Kootney Valley of BC of, not liking school and not attending and going to play with my friends who were younger and not attending school. This of course led to my having to restart school when we moved to Vancouver Island. Some would say I failed grade one, I would say I was not ready for school and was allowed to march to the tune of my own drums. 

From age six to ten we lived in an Auto Court in the country, (a motel with long term rentals) on a river. I loved the flooding of the river which happened at least once a year. I started working by delivering papers in grade three and I remember long bike rides down narrow rural roads. I remember my dad coming to get me when I became afraid of the herds of horses running free and I never knew until I was about 36 why I had a fear of horses. I did learn that fear can literally stop you in your tracks and knowledge about why you are afraid can set you free.

I liked school and the friends I made but when I was going into grade four we moved to a smaller more closed rural society on the other side of town. I moved from a school of about 200 to a two room school of about 40. 

If you have ever moved into a closed knit community you understand that everyone has a place within the hierarchy, and the new folks are at the bottom of that hierarchy. I did not like that position but the only way up the ladder in this community was to prove how tough you are. So I took a year to move up the ladder to a place where I thought I was comfortable. The only way to move up was to show you were physically stronger than others and to win over friends who were tougher than you so I did both. Another lesson I learned was making friends was easier and more fun than fighting.

The next two years were comfortable as I did not have to prove myself, I became a leader in a small pond, managed my first band when I was in grade six. We played one show at the school and then dissolved as we had other interests.

In grade six we wrote an IQ test that determined which class we would end up in when we went to Junior High. At the first assembly we waited while our names were called and we went off with our home room teacher. I was in the second class called out. The rest of my friends from my school were in the last class.  I found out later we were called out in order of descending scores on the IQ test, so the highest scores were called first and the lowest scores called last.

So in grade seven I was in a big school with no friends in my class and I wanted to fit in, but it was hard as the rules had changed. The ability to move up the hierarchy was determined not by how tough you were but by how smart and by how popular you were. Every new situation has rules that need to be learned or live can be tougher than it needs to be.

In the school I went to the tough kids from town, were afraid of the kids from just North of where I lived ,and the tough kids from there were only afraid of the kids from where I was from. My friends were all in the classes "designed for slower students", while I was in a "smart class" and the students in this smart class were, I suspect, not sure about me. 

I was shy with girls and I did not talk well with the guys. So I went into Drama, and hung out with the kids who tended to get into trouble, so I started getting into some trouble with the authorities at school. 

Looking back now I realize that I was not nice to some of my smarter classmates. In our Drama class, those of us who were not actors amused ourselves by having staple gun fights in the cafeteria. The biggest fun we had was finding a crawl space under the classes and then crawling through the crawl space and making noises like small animals. 

When I was in grade nine my parents had a Guy Fawkes celebration and I and two friends went off on our bikes to get some fireworks we had made for next Halloween. As we were returning home we were ambushed by some guys from another community, we escaped but in the race to leave I went over the handle bars of my bike and broke every finger in my hands. Spent the night in the hospital. The next week some of the boys in my French class (only those sitting in a certain area) were called down to the Principals office and because of our behavior were all given the strap (we had covered the ceiling of the classroom with spitballs). I was spared because of my broken hands.

In grade 10 our History teacher cried when he told us that the President of the United States had been killed. We all got the day off school. 

I remember High School as not much fun, but I never studied and my grades reflected that (I got mostly B's and C+'s) but I was involved.  I won my school letter in athletics for my involvement in school sports. I was on the yearbook, school newspaper, a class rep for students council.  I managed my second band we played a total of three shows and then went our own ways. 

I played Football and was on a team that won the Canadian Championship. I played softball on a team that won the BC Championships. I was a founding member of the Junior Achievement club/business and we won awards and I became one of the spokespeople for the organization. Looking back I still believe that I did not fit into any group while I was at school. I had friends in the community who were not accepted by my friends at school and I could not reconcile the two extremes.

I loved rock and roll, and went to all the dances in town, but since I could not dance, I stayed on the sidelines or at the front. I remember seeing Roy Orbison, Paul Revere and the Raiders among other acts. I also saw the Beatles when they came to Vancouver, by taking advantage of a lapse in security and the fact I was a good runner. I was not really that impressed by them.  

When I went back to my first high school reunion I met people who loved high school and I met people who thanked me for my contributions and help when they were at school. They remembered me and the times differently then I did.  I learned that you should never underestimate the contribution you make to others.

At the end of high school my friends were all going to the University of British Columbia, as they were expected to do but I thought that the new university Simon Fraser would be an interesting place to go. So in September 1965 I joined the other 1500 Charter students at SFU. 

Simon Fraser was in its first year a great place for student initiative, I joined a group that started the first newspaper."The Tartan" which lead to setting up a student government. I also joined with another group that set up a number of school dances. Since their was no student government the profits from the dances went to us. We spend them on a Grand Presidents Ball in January so the money was not wasted. I ran for and was elected to the first students council and enjoyed a one semester term. The next year I ran the elections and for the next four years was involved in a minor role in student government. 

I learned from my high school and university experiences that I could do what I wanted,within reason, have fun and enjoy life and that the only things that could hold me back were self imposed.  University was fun, life is fun and just too short. 

My first ventures on the Web (late 90's)

I was surprised and delighted to find that a group of web historians have taken the time and energy to recover much of  the old Geocities web sites. For those not familiar  Geocities  was a place where one  could go and set up a web site for free. I built my first site there in the mid 90's but over time it was displaced by fancier and other  sites and my site went down as Geocities closed its doors and since I had drifted off to other things I thought my work was lost and it would have been except for a group of dedicated people who rebuilt Geocities or most of it including my old site.t


The group that rebuilt the site calls themselve Reocities.  On their page they say We've rebuilt the walls to the Cities and the streets where a large part of the early settlers of the World Wide Web used to live in. You can still find them where they were before, but not all of the houses have been rebuilt yet.  


I am happy that they have done this as they have recovered and rebuilt, some of my early pages, so in a sense I have been reborn.  I did not realize that I was one of the early settlers of the Web, but I am happy that some of the sites I built were recovered. All of the links don't work and I have no way of editing them, but the find does bring back some very positive memories. So if  you want to take a look at some of my early work on theWeb (back in the late 90's) go here


I put the following about me on that early page  so I thought I would share it here:


I am within ten years of my retirement, and as I look back over my work history, I take pride in the number of divesified careers I have enjoyed. I enjoyed the humor of the following as it sums up some of my thoughts towards work and where it can take us.

• My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned ... couldn't concentrate.
• Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the ax.
• After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it.
• Then I decided to become a Travel Agent, but I found the work too foreign.
• Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.
• I tried working as a retail store manager but I was always losing the inventory.
• Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn't fit in.
• I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn't live on my net income.
• I tried becoming a consultant but no-one would listen to me.
• I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.
• I tried politics once, but since I could only be truthful, my downfall was inevitable, and I didn't last long.
• So then I got a job in a gymnasium, but they said I wasn't fit for the job.
• I got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.
• Just for the html of IT, I tried web design but I kept forgetting my (java) script .
• I finally landed a job as a teacher but they said I had no class.
• So I am now considering retiring, because I think I would be perfect for that job!

Memories are made of these

How's This For Nostalgia? 　All the girls had ugly gym uniforms? It took three minutes for the TV to warm up?   Nobody owned a purebred dog? When a quarter was a decent allowance? 　 You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny? 　 Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces? 　 You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot? Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box? 　 It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents? They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . And they did it! When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?       　  And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today. When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.  . .as well as summers filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops, and visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yeah, I remember that'?   sugar.  　 I am sharing this with you today because it ended with a Double Dog Dare to pass it on. To remember what a Double Dog Dare is, read on. And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and too young to care. 　Send this on to someone who can still And How Many Of These Do You Remember? remember Howdy DoodyThe Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow knows, Nellie  Bell  ,  Roy  and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.   Candy cigarettes Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles. Coffee shops with Table Side Jukeboxes. Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers. Newsreels before the movie. Telephone numbers with a word prefix...( Yukon 2-601). Party lines.      　  Peashooters. 　 Hi-If's & 45 RPM records. 78 RPM records! Green Stamps   . 　 Mimeograph paper. The Fort Apache Play Set. Do You Remember a Time When: Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'? Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'Do Over!'? 'Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest? Catching The Fireflies Could Happily Occupy An Entire Evening? It wasn't odd to have two or three 'Best Friends'? Having a Weapon in School meant being caught with a Slingshot? Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures? 'Oly-oly-oxen-free' made perfect sense? Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles? The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team? War was a card game? Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle? Taking drugs meant orange - flavored chewable aspirin? Water balloons were the ultimate weapon? If you can remember most or all of these, Then You Have Lived!!!!!!! Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their 'Grown-Up' Life . . . I Double-Dog-Dare-Ya!   No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked? Lying on your back in the grass with your friends? And saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a... '? Playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game? Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?