SUNRISE - January 31, 2011

“Time goes by so fast; people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.” - Cheers 

January 31, 2011 Sunrise 7:12 am

There is an article in the June 2010 issue of Scientific American entitled "Is Time an Illusion?"

An excerpt:

"As you read this sentence, you probably think that this moment - right now - is what is happening. The present moment feels special.  It is real.  However much you may remember the past or anticipate the future, you live in the present.

Of course, the moment in which you read the last sentence is no longer happening.  This one is.  In other words, it feels as though time flows, in the sense that the present is constantly updating itself.

There are some physicists that argue that there is no such thing as time.  There is also the idea that time exists, but is not fundamental."

Don't we feel better already?

rlw

 

SUNRISE - January 30, 2011

January 30, 2011 Sunrise 7:13 am

"Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An' what did you do with it?
An' what can I do with it?
An' what would I do with it?"

...Tim McGraw

I have had people say to me, after I (in detail) described the six month endurance run through Hell to keep Cancer at bay (you only get the Iron Man/Woman title after you make it through), that they wouldn't go through that.  They said they would just let the Devil take its course.  

Recently, my seventh grade daughter got "called up" to the big high school orchestra because of her skill with the cello (Principal Chair/Cello for the Intermediate School Orchestra), for a tour bus trip to Disneyland, to perform on stage and cut a CD this coming Friday. Is Dad taking a vacation day, driving ten hours down to Anaheim, buying a day pass to Disneyland, and stand in the front row at the concert with the movie camera?  Absolutely! 

This will be a Golden Moment I would not have had, if I had chosen the weaker course of action in 2008 and not gotten fitted for my custom claustrophobia mask, had two months of radiation and chemotherapy treatment.

Will this cherished Golden Moment extend beyond me?  Absolutely.  My gift to my daughter, from all of this, will be her being able to look up from her music stand, on stage in front of a huge crowd in Disneyland (she is still young enough to know this is way cooler than Carnegie Hall), smiling at her Dad beaming with pride, and actually SEE me in the front row of her momentous concert, rather than having to say "I wish Dad could have been here to see this.  He would have loved it."

rlw

* excerpt from a longer post at 'Another Day in Paradise'

SUNRISE - January 29, 2011

Janury 29,2011  Sunrise 7:13 am

"The meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, is precisely the present moment."  Thoreau

 I am discovering with my blogs that others also hold their appreciation of time and how we choose to use it.  This quote was shared with me today
by my mother-in-law.  She carries it with her wherever she goes.

The past stretches back farther than we can record and the future is infiinte (unless you believe the prediction of the world ending in 2012). Either way, the moment is what we can exert some degree of control over, certainly not the past and not always with the future.

Kudos to my sister who is exerting control over her day today - First day of retirement and her Birthday. 

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Abraham Lincoln 

 rlw

SUNRISE - January 28, 2011

January 28, 2011 Sunrise 7:14 am

  "Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires".  ~Charles Caleb Colton

SUNRISE - January 27, 2011

Bob on Electric Bass

"Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it". • M Scott Peck 

 So HERE is one thing I decided to do with my time….

January 27, 2011 Sunrise 7:15am

Very foggy this am - was just pulling into work for this photo.  My bldg is right on the Sacramento River, so even more foggy.

 

Ian & Zak

Note: 27 years ago on the 27th of January I became a father - Ian Robert Welton...now I am a grandfather.  Pretty cool.  Twenty seven years - now there is a nice capsule of time.

Little sister Sharon and me

A big shout out to my little sister that celebrated the wise use of her time by giving herself the gift of retirement today for a birthday present to herself.

rlw

SUNRISE - January 26, 2011

January 27, 2011 - Sunrise 7:16 am

“No use thinking of the past for its gone, don't think of the future because it has to come, think of the present because that’s where you are”.   - Kazi Shams

Very foggy and cold this morning.  Has been this way all week.

I actually had a preliminary conversation about retiring today at my work.  Although it is a long way off: 2012 or 2013, it is yet another time capsule measurement.  Since I wish to maximize my retirement, I will need to finish the work years strong.  Added motivation for maximum income.

Started practicing tonight on my song set for my rock debut in April… will be the best three of these five songs:

“Smoke on the Water” -  Deep Purple

“I - IV - V in A – Blues ”  Traditional Blues Riff  (My favorite)

“Midnight Hour”   - Wilson Picket

“Baby, Please Don’t Go”  - Van Morrison

“House of the Rising Sun”  - Animals

Three months out and I NEED MORE TIME!! – HA.  Practice - Practice - Practice

“Use the present wisely; the future will get here soon enough.”  R.L. Welton

rlw

SUNRISE - January 25, 2011

January 25, 2011 Sunrise 7:17 am

“Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me”. Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

I heard two Cancer stories today, I probably have heard similar stories for years, but until you are in the middle of the equations, the stories don’t seem to stick like they do now.  The first was how someone's relative was living Cancer free for five years post treatment when the Cancer came back with a vengeance and she was gone in about three months.  The second is an internet acquaintance on a Cancer forum – just passed the seven-year mark Cancer-free and going strong. 

Both stories involve TIME.  One got five more years and one received seven years and counting. 

Yesterday was 1111 days since Cancer diagnosis and the time has flown by.  Oddly, I do find myself measuring my allotted time in little innocuous ways such as how quickly the week passes because my weekly pill dispenser is empty and has to be filled again so soon. I think, between the time I filled it and a week later – what have I accomplished, what progress towards my goals have I made and/or what mark have I made?  Sometimes satisfactory - sometimes not.

Another TIME measure – my musical rock debut is in 95 days.  The last undone wish.  My 20 minutes of Rock-n-Roll fame. Practice - Practice - Practice.

Today’s gratitude:  the sense of hearing (should get even better when I get my new hearing aid next week) and love of music.  I have also noticed there are very few sounds (other than the distant freeway) at dawn.

rlw