Journeys of a Bent Mind

We’re continuing in our downsizing for our move – I’m actually including in this downsizing all the repairs that have come out of the home inspection as prep for putting the house on the market – The inspection gave us a pretty good review, with no major problems to deal with, only a gazillion minor things – I’m slowly working through them all – tedious…

Still working on the downsizing for our move come mid-March – yesterday spent the afternoon with my grandson Casey and granddaughter Teiya as they mainly helped clean up our downstairs basement – Because of my ticker I was conscious of not pushing myself too hard and let them do the work – The layout of the basement is the exact footprint of the house floor plan, but Continue reading →

Barbara and I moved here from our Berkeley home of 42 years on June 30, 2007, and after our Berkeley home sold in November we made a bid on the Panorama Drive home here – We met the asking price of the previous owners, and as part of our negotiation allowed them to remain in the home through the New Year’s – We moved in on January 8, 2008 – All of our four grandchildren grew up within these walls, and there are so many great memories of Continue reading →

We’ve been on the waitlist at Cascade Manor, a Continuing Care Retirement Community, since last spring with the possible move in early fall, Septemberish or so – we were accepted and decided because of the pandemic we’d postpone our move till the end of the year, New Years – We were given the opportunity in late December to opt in with a 2-bedroom apartment for possible move come soon after the end of Continue reading →

All social media, including Facebook, is at once wonderful and evil at the same time. Good things happen on it, and sharing those add to a richer life of interconnection. But, bad things occur as well, and sometimes it is hard to undo the harm they pose to people. There is something happening now that I feel compelled to respond to, to try to expand the perspective with which we are witnessing our history, specifically about January 6^th. A freshman member of congress shared on social media her experience of that day as she Continue reading →

My family in Japan lived in the Hiroshima prefecture and was a farming family – We had been there for a very long time – I have a family tree document of multiple pages in extensive Japanese characters outlining the Nagai descent over many generations – I once attempted to have it translated, having someone take a stab at Continue reading →

There are times in any given day when my mind just wanders and I enter an altered state. Sometimes it’s on purpose as I look to figure out a wordplay for a Dad Joke, but other times it’s a subtle sliding into this place where things aren’t quite sure, like slip-sliding on a frozen pond. Then it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s going to come out of it. I frequently don’t have a clue. Continue reading →

I love words that sound the same, but are spelled differently, e.g. – your, yore, you’re; and those that are spelled the same, but have alternative pronunciations or meanings, e.g. – lead the metal, and lead the verb… Continue reading →

During all this fuss and craziness with the coronavirus pandemic, there are those who reject science who have criticized and ridiculed Dr. Fauci for making definitive statements about the disease, and in a few weeks changing his mind and saying something different. Well, dear friends, that’s the way science works. It is not a fault of the system, or that Dr. Fauci and other epidemiologists are making things up to mess with your head, but the way the scientific process plays out in the face of each and every challenge. Continue reading →

This year has been something else altogether – Mainly dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and all that has involved, meaning self-isolating, wearing masks, social-distancing, and finding ways to keep our sanity amidst all the alone time this has required – Being introverts, this has not been anywhere difficult for us. Continue reading →