84 thoughts on “If Only I Had the Time –”

  1. My list is actually pretty long. I’d like to learn to speak Italian – I love the sound of it. I’d like to have enough time to develop the skills I need to do more remodeling/repair around my house (concrete work, garage door replacement, fence repair). I would love to visit Australia. SIGH.

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  2. Rise and Find Your Bliss Baboons!

    I don’t have a long list. Following my cancer diagnosis years ago, I had the experience of feeling like I could see death, the end, from where I stood and decided to live til I die, whenever that happened. I no longer could make myself do things I just detested.

    I have a few more things to do, for example travel to Australia, but I did try to set up my life so I did the work I wanted, where I wanted. The most significant gift was getting to raise my son to adulthood. I LOVE being in my garden and growing flowers and veggies. I started a practice and found I was good at being an entrepreneur and that people wanted to work with and for me. All very satisfying.

    Travel: Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and way more of France and Italy. Trip to Ireland is upcoming in September.
    Politics: I will persist in resisting this president every inch of the way.
    Art: That is on the docket now–do more of it and enjoy whether I am good at it or not, it gives me joy.

    Last night I attended a seminar about cancer survivorship. I found out that after becoming a long term survivor (over 5-10 years) life expectancy is not affected. Huh. Who knew?

    Might I have time?

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    1. I’ve been told that only 5-10% are still alive who’ve had esophageal cancer after six years. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean that each year I don’t have a recurrence doesn’t shrink this percentage!

      I’ve been pretty sick since returning from Africa and needed hospitalization for a few days last week. The worst after-effect of this is having lost 10 pounds that I couldn’t afford to lose to begin with. I haven’t been this sick since my cancer six years ago. The lab tests at least ruled out malaria, Yellow Fever, and Eboli though:)

      A silly dream I’ve had for my whole life is to hold a koala bear, but Australia’s a long way to travel for this privilege!! After navigating between Kenya and here, I’m now confident enough that I could go anywhere. I still wouldn’t go alone if I didn’t know anyone at my destination. When I get some energy back, I’ll probably post the story of this adventure.

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  3. Learn to speak German and French, retire with my pension, train a Welsh Terrier so that is is well behaved, travel to see relatives in Germany again,and track down more family history.

    OT-I got the results of my Ancestory DNA test this week, and it is as I suspected. 50% Great Britain, 34% Scandinavian, and 16% Western Europe. The Great Britain connection was surprising until I remembered that the Saxons, Angles, Vikings, and Jutes all invaded Great Britain and settled there.

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      3. Trumpet–my instrument. Also French horn, tuba, baritone horn, trombone.

        I probably should have said I have difficulty mastering instruments where the two hands work independent of each other (piano, guitar, etc.) Woodwinds use two hands but the hands work together to determine the notes.

        Chris

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        1. i decided the other to do trumpet
          i thought sax was it but trumpet is so lyrical
          chet baker, miles, chris bottom, doc severenson, clifford brown

          played soft it’s magic played strong it’s inspiring
          i love trumpet
          how about a monthly lesson chris?

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        2. LOL, not sure I remember where to put my fingers on the horn. Besides, there’s probably someone on youtube giving virtual trumpet lessons anytime you want them.

          Chris

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      4. often times interment make you feel like one hand is enabling the other in piano you have a duet going on all the time
        its a rubbing the head patting the belly thing

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  5. – Travel – Wales, Norway and Sweden (for ancestry); and back to France multiple times
    – learn more French
    – become knowledgeable in this Community Rights stuff that I could lead a group
    – revive piano and guitar playing
    – take cultural anthropology and comparative religion classes
    – create stuff – maybe sewing

    Sometimes it’s not just time – if hip and foot problems went away:
    – walk the Appalachian Trail or the Camino de Santiago (with motels at night)

    I’m retired. You would think I could do any and all of the above (well, I’d need more $ for the traveling). But huge swathes of time seem to go by without any of these getting done. I am going to think about why this is so – thanks, tim.

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  6. I think it was probably from tim on here a few years ago that I first heard the phrase ‘You’re going to be __ years old anyway.’
    I use it often now. It’s a really good way to frame the perspective in things. Thank you Tim.

    That’s why I’m taking math classes. Maybe I’ll end up with a degree and maybe I won’t, but I’ll be that age anyway…

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    1. Isn’t it amazing how a simple statement or question like that can cause you to think? For me that same idea was voiced as a question: “And how old will you be if you don’t?”

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    2. its been one of the things i pull out of my words to live by file regularly ever since i first heard it
      but math????

      lol
      god for you how’s it coming
      had my sophomore teach me algebra the other day
      i have her tudoring with a math brain who just sent his kid to mit
      want me to ask if he’d do a skype session a week with you?

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    3. Test for skin cancer on my arms and for cancer of the abdominal organs. Odds are on my side for the internal issues, except for some recent signs. This was a 6-month followup to what was seen before when doing an MRI for my back. Skin my GP wants looked at, but not likely, he says.

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    1. its been one of the things i pull out of my words to live by file regularly ever since i first heard it
      but math????

      lol
      god for you how’s it coming
      had my sophomore teach me algebra the other day
      i have her tudoring with a math brain who just sent his kid to mit
      want me to ask if he’d do a skype session a week with you?entrepreneurial brain 101
      how to start on nothing and figure out if you should do it with both feet or move on

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      1. tim is our oracle. He sometimes seems asleep, but if you shake his arm he will utter a statement that the rest of us ponder for hours, seeking hidden meanings. “i have her tudoring with a math brain . . . ” is possibly a reference (unusually dark for tim) to Henry the VIII and Elizabeth I who, when they Tudored, caused heads to fall. I’m still workin’ on it.

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  11. sorry for partial repeat

    my math skills are ok once i plug my math brain in its a how to world i usually aim my sites on the why to world these days but how to in your pocket always comes in handy

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  12. i think my list of to do could and should begin today
    check out trello for organizing a tracking vehicle for this kind of stuff
    mjust added slack for communication based tracking and file sharing
    what an amazing world
    painting sculpture foundry
    multiple insrtaments accordion among them trumpet violin and cello too
    language cooking writing wrenching a car
    building stuff
    mentoring all the things i can do until i can’t
    i got in the pool last night and found out you can still swim laps but a 15 year hiatus does show a little atrophy

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    1. I appreciate the charity in that phrase “even if a complete flop, you can eat the evidence.” As a cook I think I only once had a complete flop: that vile tabouli I prepared for you and Hans at my cabin. But we ate the evidence, so maybe it is time I quit lashing myself.

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  14. off to bootstrappers breakfast
    the first of the many meetup groups i have joined and enjoyed the last 3 or so years
    out of ideas
    someone else has one to jumpstart your innovative dance steps

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  15. clyde
    when will you know

    why did they test

    out of ideas for why you have such unresponsive maladies?
    hope they find something out with the negative finding on cancer existsnce

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      1. The trick to pie crusts is to not skimp on the fat, and to make sure you add enough water so the dough is soft and rollable.

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        2. I made pie dough the other day with fairly cool lard, and added chunks of butter that were frozen hard like rocks. I mixed it up in the mixer. It was the flakiest crust I ever made.

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        4. The dough needs to be warm enough to roll out. The issue with temperature has to do with the colness of the fat as it is encorporated into the flour. Beads or small chunks of butter in the finished dough make it flakier when you roll it out.

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  17. I could do an organizational class, although I’m guessing I’m in not in BiR’s league. Could also teach rubber stamping and vegetarian cooking. Oh and cake decorating! And I could probably put together a “how to get more reading squeezed into your life” seminar!

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    1. Would we need to use You Tube–big boycott going on of You Tube due to unscreened publishing of recordings which are bigoted and extremist.

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  18. I could teach a one-on-one class on getting rid of paper piles (or bags or boxes of papers). I’ve been wanting to teach somebody that, to see if my method would work for others, but don’t know of anyone who wants to change their method of stacking, piling, and stashing.

    I could also teach How to Waste Time and Get Nothing Done. I’m pretty good at that.

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  19. Time, in fact, is in oversupply here. Nothing will fix my hands and shoulders or make my vision improve. Care providing right now consists of sitting in watch. Sandy will be 77 on Monday, my sister 75.

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  21. I once thought I’d like to teach people basic sewing – and how to do your own alterations, etc. Or basic cooking – how to make simple, easy meals. I don’t remember now why I thought either of these would be a good idea.

    Almost everything I try, as I get moe involved with it, I want to teach – happened with folk dancing (which I do occasionally) and t’ai chi, at any rate. Now it’s happening with this community rights stuff, but it’s so complex, I have a long way to go educating myself before I can speak about it intelligently. A challenge.

    What I could teach right now:
    – how to add more stuff to your weekly calendar
    – how to have fun visiting your mom in the nursing home
    – how to cook just a few times a week

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  23. Hey all. My internet is out and they say it might not be back up until after midnight. So keep chatting amongst yourselves and eventually I’ll get back on and be able to fix stuff. Right now I’m doing this on my phone but I can’t get the admin functions from here.

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