Well I am not dead yet

Five top regrets of the dying

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
“This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.”

I am working on this one.  I don't have too many regrets.  I still have a pretty extensive bucket list.  Confilicts with #2 below.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
“This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.”

True

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
“Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.”

True.  Others just do not know how to read minds.  I am always in pursuit of improvement or perfection which inevitably leads to dissappointment.  I do not think I have a mediocre existence.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
“Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.”

True, need to work on this.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
”This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”

True

Quotes for the day

We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.

Michelle Obama

Fuck You for cheating on me. Fuck you for reducing it to the word cheating. As if this were a card game, and you sneaked a look at my hand. Who came up with the term cheating, anyway? A cheater, I imagine. Someone who thought liar was too harsh. Someone who thought devastator was too emotional. The same person who thought, oops, he’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Fuck you. This isn’t about slipping yourself an extra twenty dollars of Monopoly money. These are our lives. You went and broke our lives. You are so much worse than a cheater. You killed something. And you killed it when its back was turned.” 

― David Levithan, The Lover's Dictionary

Ownership

Roadtrip

“After all, the wrong road always leads somewhere.” 

― George Bernard Shaw

Unicorns or the wife zone and husband zone

Happiness

Dusty!

"All a man need aspire to is to be the kind of man his dog thinks he is."

Absence of Pain?

It's hard to reintroduce the wonderment of youth into a mature life. Maybe that's why so many cheat on their spouses and partners, that thrill of seeking out that which is new and exciting. But even that fades, at a certain age there simply isn't that much that is new out there. And that's when you have to come to grips.  At some point in life there's nothing left others can give you to "make you happy" and you have to become happy through conscious choice.

Iv'e been pondering happiness lately.
Or rather, my lack of feeling happy.

I should feel happy, I have nothing to be unhappy about.

That's when I decided happiness is most likely relative.
Most of the things that made me happy as a child don't make me happy now.

"Make me happy". When I think about it even that sounds wrong.
I don't think anything can make me "feel" anything. It's all brain chemistry in reaction to something from outside of myself.

Does riding my bike make me happy, or just distract me from my current thoughts?

I'm often happier at work. Or am I just more distracted from my current thoughts?

A personal Fiefdom

 A personal fiefdom.  It is good to be queen until it isn't.

Where was the oversight, a weak handpicked board and part time treasurer to rubber stamp.

I suspect that getting involved in these charter schools was a very bad career move.  Leaves  Stephanie Millard in a pretty bad position.  Not sure how many other charters she was acting treasurer for but I suspect any and know for sure that one of them was Ohio Connections Academy.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/17/former-charter-school-leader-gets-plea-deal/17438269/

A former superintendent accused of using her charter school as her "personal feifdom" is now a convicted felon, marking the latest blemish for charter schools in this region and statewide.

Lisa Hamm, who ran the Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy, the region's largest charter school, cut a deal with prosecutors last week. She pleaded guilty Oct. 8 to three of 26 felony counts against her. The remaining charges, including multiple counts of theft in office and tampering with evidence, were dismissed.

Hamm, who court documents claim ran the school as her "personal fiefdom," could get up to 18 months in prison on the charges of unauthorized use of property. Probation is also an option. She agreed to repay $75,000 to the school. She's scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 24 by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John West.

Hamm of Fairfield, and former treasurer Stephanie Millard, of Walnut Hills, were accused of stealing or misusing $148,000 in taxpayer money that should have gone to educating the 950 students at Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy. The court documents allege Hamm instead used the money to pay for extravagant trips, plays, concerts, luggage, spa visits, jewelry veterinary care and other personal uses.

The charges in the Oct. 8 plea agreement involved a trip to San Diego that ended up costing more than $20,000, and trips to Orlando and to see Oprah Winfrey. Hamm had said the trips were school-related.

Charter schools are public schools that are independently run. There are about three dozen in Southwest Ohio. Some are high-performing and well-run. But as a group they're often criticized for lax accountability and mediocre academics. Several local charter schools have closed over the years due to financial problems and academic issues. Some cases resulted in criminal charges.

The state has been cracking down on charter schools via stringent audits and increased scrutiny of their sponsoring organizations. Charter school accountability has become a political issue, as Democrats accuse Republican leadership of not doing enough to improve it.

In the most recent example the Concept chain of charter schools, which includes the Horizon Science Academy in Bond Hill, came under investigation by the FBI and the Ohio Department of Education after a string of allegations including improper use of technology money and testing irregularities.


Sound like justice to me.

One step closer to the end of man

pretty soon, women will only need us to reach the stuff in the top cabinet, and removing stubborn jar lids

lab.jpg

Lab-grown penises developed by scientists and now 'ready for human tests'

Thoughts for the day

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
― Socrates

"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it's the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers "

- Cliff Calvin