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I Forge Iron

Tape measure rule of life


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It wouldn't be very sobering if you added beer.
Without looking I'd have to say not nearly enough inches left, like twelve. Is there anyway I can add a couple dozen more? Think I'll need them to accomplish all I want to do.
Actually I think this makes me want to drink a beer.

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Let's see my first problem is my tape measure is only 10' long so need a new longer one.

The wife has a "to do list" so long the new tape better be 25' so I'll have time to make a dent in it.

I thought everyday would be a Sat. when I retired, they seem to be all Mondays instead. Everyone in the family and friends figure I'm retired so I can do this or that for them, then the Grandkids show up to spend "quality time" with Gramps because the regular sitter isn't available. (ever wonder what one of those hand held video games would look like after passing through the forge and over the anvil?)

When ever I sputter I'm told "when we get this place sold and get back home for good you'll have all the time you want in the shop." Trouble is the last time I as home I noted a rather large "To Do List" setting on my work bench there. Maybe I can find that 100' tape I've got somewhere.

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There was a singer, Townes Van Zandt, sang a song 'days up and down they come, like rain on a congo drum, forget most, remember some, but don't turn none away'.
the shorter that tape gets, the more you appreciate the days you got. Never knowwhen that tape could slip, roll up fast and pinch your finger! :)
Okay, time to get busy!

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Many of us think linearly, whereas many Native Americans might envision one's life span as a circle.

 

If you want to be thrown a curve, in the Kiowa Indian tribal way of thinking, time is static! It is we who move by it [through it; around it?]. The renowned Kiowa author, Scott Momaday, said that he was minded of this when on a big raft trip down the Colorado River. They were approaching the Grand Canyon and came to a megalithic, vertical rock wall. As they floated by it, he saw the wall as Time, and it seemed he was moving by it.*

 

So to a traditional Kiowa, there would not exist such expressions as "Time sure flies;" "Where does the time go?;" Time slips into the future"; "Time seemed to slow down;" Time was suspended."

 

Time remains static. This is a difficult concept for me to embrace. If I could internalize it, and thinking of me being elderly, then time wouldn't fly. Hooray.

 

If you want to read about some strange time warps, I suggest to you the book, "Einstein's Dreams," by Alan Lightman, in which each chapter depicts an odd way to view time.

 

*Scott Momaday lecture, St. John's College, Santa Fe, NM, 2011

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Think of time as the outside of a wagon wheel. The important events occur and pass as the spokes of the wheel occur and pass.

 

To expand the concept, think of time as the outside of a gear. The events could now be the teeth. Unknown to you, the next gear could mesh with your original gear, and as you make decisions in your life, you transfer and now follow outside of the second gear. More decisions and more gears follow. 

 

If you continue to think on the micro level of the here and now, you see only the events of the moment (gear teeth) and can easily take the left or the right, your choice, which puts you on the outside of the same or another gear. Only when you pull back and look at your overall path do you see where your decision to switch gears and follow the outside of another gear, changes your direction and your life.

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I climbed Maslow's hierarchy of needs once...got scared of the drop and climbed back down.

 

 

John,

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about how many projects I will be able to complete ......may stop taking commissions to work on the few hundred things I feel I need to do.

 

Ric

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I know I don't know anything about Marlow's hierarchy of needs but I know mine, a good book or two, a bit of single malt, some cabernet sauvignon, some home cooked food, friends and family. A bit of work now and then to help acquire the aforementioned helps. Ric, it's those pesky commissions that help to pave the way for the rest(unless of course you found some of that treasure rumored to be in your area :) ) John as we grow older I find it's smaller bits of happiness but more frequently is the key.

Well that's what I keep trying to tell myself anyway.

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Greetings All,,

 

You can measure all you want but the real deal is...   Today...  Make new friends ...  Teach what we all love ... Be kind... Take the time to enjoy what I call a window of opportunity ...  When you see in that window something that makes you happy take the time and enjoy it...  You may get several in one day or only 1 a month ...  The trick is to notice it ...    If all goes well you might be able to do the same tomorrow.    Just my 2c

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim 

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It's never tomorrow it is always now. Now is when I stand where I stand. I agree Jim "Today" matters. I can relate to the Kiowa way of thinking. Or at least my interpretation of it.

 

Ohhhh grrrrrrrr I can't remember who. But in a book by an author I like the question was asked: "If not now then when?" I remember that line years later and try to remind myself that.

 

I'm afraid of Glen's gear analogy. I keep thinking I like all my appendages and them gears'd hurt!

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  • 1 month later...

If you take a tape measure and double it over on itself you can align the tip with 114 (inches, CM, shouldn't matter) to correspond with 2014. Next year it'll be 115 and so on.

 

Take the last two digits of your birth year.  This correspond to one side of the tape.  The match on the other side indicates your current age at the end of this year.

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