It is 7:13 AM on December 30th. I awoke at 5 AM and had planned on getting this post done quickly but my oldest got up at 5:30 so I had to put him back to sleep.
Unfortunately I really didn’t have time to reflect and get into the holiday mood this year. With two kids one is constantly on the go and personal time is at a premium. Also, two of my colleagues at work recently resigned so I have to cover their accounts which means I actually have work at a time of year when things are extremely quiet if not completely dead.
It is not as though I haven’t tried to get in the holiday mood. We have plenty of decorations, watched the Christmas movies, put on the music, had parties and bought plenty of presents. I guess what I’m searching for is the feeling I had when I was a boy sitting on the heating register at 4 AM by the tree with a million dazzling lights which reflected off a seemingly endless sea of presents. It was also extremely cold outside although I cannot remember if there were snow or not. That was perhaps the most magical moment of my life and perhaps this magic fades away never to return no matter how hard we try as we get older.
I did have one moment on Christmas morning where I did feel a bit of the magic. I looked outside and to my delight saw a full moon over the ocean. I also read that this was the first time for a full moon on Christmas morning since 1977 – the year of my birth. Perhaps this was a way for the universe to let me know that the magic I felt as a child still exists; we just have to pay attention to our surroundings and let it come.
My oldest awoke on Christmas morning and was very patient as we waited for Mom and the youngest to awake then have breakfast. The oldest received many new toys yet his favorite “toy” remains the smartphone and not any of the other stuff he received at Christmas. I also just ordered a Samsung Gear VR which I’m getting basically for free since there was an offer of $100 for installing Samsung Pay on the phone. I received the confirmation yesterday and placed the order. I’ll let the oldest try it out and imagine that may become a favorite toy. He is going to make the leap from old Genesis games – Tom and Jerry currently being his favorite game – to virtual reality which is the new wave and should become more popular than Xbox once more apps are developed and it becomes mainstream.
In other news I’ve been highly productive rearranging rooms and organizing them very efficiently in the house. The first room was used for storage but has become a place to put the new wine cellar and will also be used as a pantry once the shelving arrives. It is cool, dark and the wine cooler maintains a perfect 55 degrees without much effort. We’ll finally be able to get the excess food items out of the garage and the pantry will also be used for Earthquake preparation food so we can easily consume and replace so it won’t become expired.
The second “room” was the garage. I had the idea to take the wheels off a mobile tool box my neighbor had left on the curb for free. It fits perfectly under the desk in the garage and now houses all my tools. I also set up the old fish tank out in the garage – because “why not,” it is a shame to let a perfectly good fish tank just sit there collecting dust. I’ll put a hearty goldfish in it which will add a little splendor to something drab like a garage.
I also rearranged the computer closet which houses the modem, server etc. The shelf just above where they were previously was perfect and makes the closet seem much more organized as well as providing better ventilation for all those electronics. I also set up an old computer in there, installed Linux and will use it to surf the deep web – just out of curiosity since surfing the deep web is painfully slow due to the required use of Tor. For me, the deep web is a curious place and seems like there may be some hidden gems there much like the early days of the internet without all the sales pitches and crap that is 95% of the internet these days.
The only room left is the upstairs walk through closet which will take a day or two to clean up and organize. It is a great feeling for me to have everything organized – except for where the kids play as I prefer they have toys all over the house so toys get a pass.
Finally, now that we have a new wine cellar which holds about 76 bottles we need to fill it up! We recently watched the Japanese version of Sideways and thought it might be a great idea to go to the same wineries. I’d like to go asap but with the kids a day trip to Napa might not be so fun due to the time in the car but then again it might be a nice day trip if the car ride goes well. I’m very eager to buy up a lot of wine as well as some nice Cabernets with the same year as the birth of my kids to be drunk on their 21st birthdays – or perhaps a few extra bottles to be sampled a little sooner (at 18 years old perhaps?)
Well, it is now 7:44 AM and the wife and my youngest should awake soon which will certainly interrupt any further writing. I’m glad I was able to take some time to at least get a post up to mark this very special time of year.
Speaking of which I do really need to write a few e-mails to my very good long term friends. Thomas – who lives in Leipzig – never fails to be the only one to write me an e-mail this time of year. I’ll start with him then move on to my other international friends. It’s interesting that none of my friends from BIT (before international travel – moved to Japan in 2001) write me e-mails or otherwise keep in touch other than Facebook. It is the international friends that write, are always willing to meet when I come into town and generally keep the friendship alive. It is a true saying that if you only have 3 or so good friends in life then you’re lucky. I do have more than 3 but the ones where distance divides us are my international friends who have become the best.
Time marches on and speeds up as we get older. As 2015 comes to a close I’m very thankful that I’ve kept a journal for almost three decades and have left a record of my existence for my descendants to explore. The technology will be astounding and something we cannot even fathom in the next couple of hundred years. I wonder how they will use this very content and hope that they will be interested in my life and know me.
I think I’ll start commenting on current events – not because I care what others think of my opinions – but I think it would be neat for my descendants in the future. I would surely like to read what my ancestors thought of events in their time and read details that aren’t available even in the history books. I think the internet needs to become a more personal experience for all of us instead of the content geared toward the masses – in order to make money – as it is now. Perhaps in the future there will be very little difference between a personal avatar which resides in cyberspace and the person living in this realm what we call “real life.” Perhaps we are already in a very advanced cyberspace run by what we fathom to be an alien civilization? Science still hasn’t given us the answers and the answers religion has given us is entirely made up by humanity. Life, our very existence and our consciousness is a profound mystery when truly contemplated and we haven’t scratched the surface as to what is really going on.
Well, on that note, it is time to start the day.
