A Radical Sabbatical

Things I’ve discovered, things I’ve enjoyed/learned, stuff I didn’t enjoy and still have not learned and all are not necessarily in any order as presented below:

1. Truly enjoyed going to college
2. Enjoyed hanging with good friends
3. Absolutely in awe watching lightning strike in the distance
4. Happy spending a rainy day with nothing to do
5. Occasionally taking naps in the afternoon
6. Enjoyed listening to the rain
7. I actually liked not feeling I have to be scheduled to do things all the time
8. Enjoying projects in jewelry making, especially with friends
9. Drinking wine
10. Being alone
11. Noticing the clouds
12. Accepting that I am not high maintenance but very capable of being in that state of mind
13. I loved the Anatomy class I took last year.  I am absolutely in awe with the information I learned
14. I am a good person and I deserve to be treated with respect and kindness
15. Being alone and drinking wine is healthy
16. That I have terrific kids
17. That I must surround myself with friends who have positive energy vs. people who are constantly negative with their lives.
18. There are people, not many, but there are special people out there who can heal others in different ways than we are accustom to.
19. Music must be part of my life as long as I can hear it and if a day comes where I will not be able to hear it, I’ll feel it.
20. It’s important to have dreams
21. That aging and old age do not have to be as frightening as my parents have convinced themselves it is.
22. My circle of women friends is of utmost importance to me and I am so lucky to be surrounded by these special women
23. Patience, something I never had and sometimes still don’t have, but trying
24. Judging people, something I am very quick to do and still do but I am trying not to
25. Complaining less about anything I have no plans on changing.  If I can’t change something or won’t change something, then whats the purpose in complaining?
26. That a decade is not so far off and that a decade past was not that long ago
27. That life is too short to not have a sense of humor
28. I should have carried my camera with me wherever I went. So many pics that should have been taken on the spot.
29. I still don’t enjoy yoga probably because I don’t understand it
30. I let my hair grow and finally like it
31. That I still hate cleaning even with more time to do it
32. I didn’t read enough
33. I didn’t spend that much less time on the computer
34. Did not enjoy memorizing material for an exam or writing papers (just like old times)
35. I didn’t do more than 1/4 of my “TO DO” list during the year which I wrote before my sabbatical started.
36. I didn’t go to many museums and shows and should have
37. I should have learned to swim even though I took a class and several over my lifetime
38. I should have pursued playing an instrument
39. I still dislike the people I disliked

I guess the only thing to add is that I know when the time comes, I’m going to love retirement.  Just wish I didn’t have to return to work for seven more years to get there.

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As I grow nearer to my return to work, I find myself doing things in preparation for it.  I’m almosted surprised at my acceptance to returning.  On the other hand, I just read about Randy Pausch passing away today.  He was 47 and had the most unbelievable positive attitude about life and his impending death of pancreatic cancer.  How do we adapt to having his focus, fortitude, and upbeat attitude about life and our journey?  He’s just unbelievable!  Can’t help but wonder, is he real?  He was truly remarkable.

Take some time out and watch his LAST LECTURE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

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As long as school is out, I’m still on a sabbatical.  Hard to believe I’ll be returning to work in about a month.  I have been questioning, what has changed about me over the past year? I would like to think that some things about me have changed.  I tend to be very aware of my feelings but I’m not sure if anything about me has changed.

I want to believe I’ve learned to be tolerant and have the ability to keep my anger and differences under wrap.  I do know one thing, I’ve learned that I am a very capable, trustworthy and good person.  I can do whatever I put my mind to, but I allow myself to be way too lazy and slack off.

I love to learn new things, enjoy learning jewelry making, interested in learning to paint and/or sketch.   I love music and wish I could play it the way Nate plays it.  I just don’t have the ears for it nor the raw talent to be musical. I do however, have the ability to carry a tune when singing some of my favorite songs.

I don’t necessarily wish I were younger but I know I don’t want to grow older with the problems I have witnessed between my families. There are so many more things I want on a personal level but have yet to reach those goals and am not sure if I ever will in this lifetime. 

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New legislation is being put on the table which will require closed captioning on some internet videos.  Reading various sites, I see that many technology people are against closed captioning on the internet.  They feel the government will now get their hands on regulating and setting fines for videos not captioned.

 At first, I was very much for the legislation.  But rethinking it all and reading on the comments and criticisms on the subject, I wonder, do we really want the government watching everyone on You Tube and regulating it?  Do people on Vblog want their videos captioned?   Do u really want the government controlling the internet?  This is how people are responding to this piece of legislation.

Naturally, as a hearing impaired person, I want access.  All I wanted were for the videos on news based sites to caption their videos, candidates online to caption their videos, advertisers to caption their videos.   Naturally, there are many ways to caption our own videos with lots of free software out there for us.  So who should be taking the responsibility for this?

Here’s the legislation that is being presented and causing an uproar in the technology world on the internet:   What do u think?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080626-new-bill-mandates-closed-captioning-for-internet-video.html

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