Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

Off topic I know… but this IS a blog.

Things have changed in my life… I was given a subscription (for Christmas) to a Fishing Magazine (I have a boat and love to fish)… I never read the mag in the two years the subscription lasted. I would flip thru a few pages and toss it aside.

I will rent a movie on TV and just turn it off after ten minutes… or sometimes at 3/4 the way through. Kids today have an expression- TMTR (too much to read)… I guess I have the malady.

I now find some sanity in YouTube. I love to watch real people doing real things. I will spend an hour and a half sipping coffee or a beer and watching this:

Look how Dr Hanson and Mike Rowe are dressed…listen to how they talk… they drop all pretensions and just communicate. No stuffy suits, classical music in the background or flashy graphics. I can easily tune in to either of these men (I think like them… I come from the world that they inhabit). I took SHOP CLASS from the 7th grade to 9th grade and loved it. I took DRAFTING CLASS at the same time (the classes were interspersed during the year). I can do simple things today (like swap an engine in a car) that folks now are utterly amazed at. My son (age 52) does handyman jobs on the side… he says people will pay him $300+ to install a simple ceiling fan and not blink an eye.

Where I live, funerals have been replaced with “celebrations of life”… I like it… you don’t wear suits and usually have a plate of food… a beer is not unheard of. Folks mill around and just talk about whatever comes to mind. The essential realization is made to all that a page has turned and we all come to grips and its time for all to move on. Photos of the deceased are displayed on a table. Folks arriving with the coat and tie will soon remove it and toss it in the back seat of the car or hang it on the back of a chair… sleeves are rolled up.

According to Elon Musk we are actually a bit “roboticized” (my word) in our present world… Borglike… I believe him. I left home the other day and forgot my cell phone… it was only a couple blocks so I turned around and retrieved it. Holy Moly! I was detached! Get in your car and leave your seatbelt undone. Is that awareness you feel stress?

I only watch YouTube. If it gets taken out or corrupted, the TV goes in the trash. Then perhaps I will start reading again.

My genealogy pursuits and ventures into history are therapy for me… if I disappear and grow silent for a while I always come back. Like my friend Jennifer from California opined to me… we are a bit Obsessive Compulsive… some more than others. smiling

…… Irving Finkel (Curator at The British Museum) This guy is a Hilarious HOOT! And…he knows his stuff. I think I have a man crush on him… Laughing… If this guy does not cheer you up then it is hopeless.