There seems to be a movement where actions of youth carry over without any mediation for growing older, becoming mature, reflection, reform and wisdom. This type of thinking rewards those best able to hide their actions or change history to reflect a life that is more acceptable than being less than perfect.
There are actions that one does not recover from… some never grow old. Some never try. I just wonder how at what point due we reject “growth” and “reform” as possible?
Its 2019, the route for this years bicycle ride across Iowa has been announced… time has come to stop slacking off… time to stop making excuses to sit back and do nothing at all. Not if I want to eat all day… have fun in the sun and ride 427 plus miles on my bicycle in July.
As I often do when at a Library I will just walk down the aisles reading titles… which is what happened when I came across a book by Jo Walton that is a personal look back at the Hugo Awards 1953-2000.
If you read science fiction, then you know that the Hugo is voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Society. So when I saw the title I had to pause (while thinking… is there enough interest to justify publishing a book like this?
Then I picked it up and started looking through it and checking out the information and what the author had to say and that’s when things thing’s got interesting. The winner for 1955 was “They Rather be Right” by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley. A book some feel is the worst book to every win a Hugo. Jo Walton goes on to say: “I don’t know if the book deserves this reputation, because I have not read it, because when absolutely everybody tells me that the jar contains marmalade all the way down, I don’t feel compelled to take the lid off…” (p. 25).
A history of HUGOS where no attempt to read all the winning books or even to fine value in them. Well the book got even more interesting. The author (who has won a HUGO) will point out what is wrong with a book and still fine it readable… and points out how good a book is but other books that year were better (the 1973 winner The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov, for example).
The more I read, the more I wanted to read. I even bought books mentioned that I read 40 years ago… (1964’s winner Way Station by Clifford D. Simak). I have never read views that conflict with my own and still find I like what is being said.
I recently spent some time talking to a computer voice to obtain information… based on its response and what I see on the news the AI (artificial intelligence) of computers is almost equal to interactions between our elected leaders.
Meaning that I get responses that are pre-determined and not subject to change based on any answer or question given…
I dislike one word answers…. it assumes that the meaning of that “1” word is the same for everyone. “Friend” “Love” “Faith” might get in the ball park but is it Wrigley Field or Yankee Stadium?
I sat at my typewriter instead of my TV. Â After a while I relaxed and felt much better…Â I fear that if I keep typing I may never return to television!
As the days add up into years… the years into decades… I have come to the view that at 62; I may someday know as much as I thought I knew as a teenager.
My favorite bicycle pedal has been discontinued… which gives me a choice of buying up old stock or re-building the existing pedals for the rest of my biking life. Or… I could explore and find a replacement…
I like to type on a 107 year old typewriter… but using old pedals is something else!!
A funny thing happened on my way to the l946 KMM, I put in 5 sheets of paper and the typewriter acted with speed, grace & perfection. I had to check to make sure I was not using a Underwood. Less than 5 sheets it skips… more than 6 it freezes up… at 5 MAGIC!!
I could have practiced… its been a decade since I last bowled on a league. I just thought: “its a senior league” I’ll do okay.  I did okay… 90 something with a cane (when not bowling) did better!
