What about us remains the same?

Crossposted by Only4Now at Facebook:


"For a couple of months now I have participated in the social networking of Facebook. Well,' participating' is a relative word and mine has consisted primarily of up-dating my "what are you doing?" status, posting a few photo's and looking at other people's profiles. It is fascinating to watch my own reactions to seeing the names of people from high school, and I wonder if others react in a similar fashion?

First I try to stimulate the memory to place a name with a face (tough to do when women don't use their maiden name!). If I can bring up an image of that person (30 years old, by the way), then the limbic memory kicks into gear to determine if there is any emotional connection to that person. Did I like that person? Were we friends? Did they like me? Were we nice to each other, mean, or indifferent? And finally, what might we have or have had in common that might warrant a connection in this stage of our lives. I guess, like most things, I take the whole thing too seriously.

What is really intriguing about this process, is that most of what I see on the profiles of my former friends, neighbors, and accidental cohorts, regards how they have changed since last we met. The marriages, the kids, the careers...all the stuff that I myself focused on in creating my profile. Certainly we highlight what defines us as we are now, and not how we were at 17. But that leaves much to the imagination about what in each one of us remains the same. Those things that made us nice to some and not so nice to others, do those things change as we get older?

It is an interesting experiment in which we are participating. It means different things to different people. I think for those of us who left our home towns shortly after graduating high school, it's a different kind of significance to hear from and reconnect to those you've neither seen nor heard from for 30 years. It definitely makes me a little homesick (yes, after 28 years living in three different states, and looking to move on once again, I still consider New York home, and I still get homesick). It also makes me sorry I didn't stay in better touch and get to know the people I shared so much time with, as they got to know and figure out themselves. It's nice to have that opportunity to do that now, and to perhaps discover, what in them remains the same."

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Back to blogging

Well, after obsessively blogging about the election, I needed a long break.
Unfortunately, a bout of pneumonia made the break longer than I would have liked. But I think I'm ready to get back to blogging, and I am going to try very hard to get back to more balance and not just focus on politics. Although, the politics never seems to get old and there is so much happening now ... the good, the bad, and the ugly ...
But I will get back to doing movie reviews, adding photos, talking about our travels, pets, sports, interests and, of course, life with teenagers.
If you are reading this ... I appreciate that you have visited this site, and I hope that you will consider leaving a comment or sending me an e-mail.
Let's have some fun!

Stand up and be counted

My friend Brian told me today that he is a regular reader of Restless Legs. Really? Wow. I think I'm going to cry. I have a loyal reader!!! I am so honored. Thanks Brian.
So, I'm taking an unscientific poll.

Who the hell reads this blog?

If you stopped by and read this entry, please click on the comments link just below this post and say "hello" with a comment. If you don't know what to say, just leave your first name, hometown, and the name of one other blog or website you like to read.

Viva Las Vegas!

My beautiful and thoughtful wife spent a lot of time planning a big surprise trip for my birthday. Sharyn, Hannah, Ryan, and our friends Alex, Natalia and Katherine kept the secret from me for several months. On Friday, we left the house at 5:30 a.m. and by the time we met up with our friends I had figured out that we were on our way to Las Vegas!

We stayed at the Stratosphere, visited several other mega-hotels and casinos, gambled just a little tiny bit (and just broke even), shopped till we dropped, ate a ton, and caught a fantastic show at the Mirage.

You are probably familiar with Cirque du Soleil and they have a new show in Vegas called "Love" that celebrates the musical legacy of The Beatles in spectacular fashion. Go to the site and click on the preview for a look-see.

Anyway, thank you Sharyn, Hannah, Ryan, Alex, Natalia, Katherine, and Matt who watched the pets for us. It was a memorable and special birthday!

I love you, Sharyn.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda ...

For the second year in a row I made a New Year's resolution to start my own blog. Up until this point I have been a "lurker"; visiting many blogs on a regular basis but rarely, if ever, leaving comments. I've made a lot of excuses for not blogging (time commitement, who cares what I think, etc.). But hey, it's not rocket science, right? And I think there will be many benefits, including being able to share interesting stuff with friends and family, writing on a regular basis, and it's something my wife and I can do together. Yup, I've convinced her to join me in this endeavor. We don't know where this will go, but we are looking forward to the ride. Thanks for joining us.