In our fast moving world, even with C-Span (1, 2 & 3) you have to be either 1) uninvolved with nothing else, 2) or filthy rich to be able to pay someone to "watch over things" for you; and thus keep up with this high speed, high tech world. With some recent e-mails I have innocently printed out and shared with some friends it has come to my attention that a political pundit I am not. So -- I would much rather continue to "tell a few stories" of my life and basic philosophies instead of trying to solve the nation's problems with my few words here in THE WORDWRIGHT. No crosses have been erected in my front yard and set on fire, yet, but I have nearly come to the conclusion to adopt a philosophy a Kentucky friend claims as his: "If it is something over which I have no control, I just don't concern myself with it." So...enjoy some further revelations about this guy my friends know as Bill Venrick. (Some real essays are in the oven but not "golden brown" as yet...)

VENRICK, LITE - INTERESTS...

IF I WERE TO TYPE a four-letter word that starts with "S" and follow it with the word "HAPPENS" I would almost guess that no less than 90% of those who read this would know the word I have not spelled out.  Well, I simply do not prefer to further the use of such four-letter words so that is the real reason I didn't spell it out; however, LIFE could well be used in place of that other four-letter word.

And even then, if someone else laid that expression on me I think I would contest it with something like, "That could be true, e.g., LIFE HAPPENS, but by the same token (of things happening) I believe that WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for much of what goes on around us. The way we think. How we treat "spare time" or those free moments. What we read. Maybe even what we eat. The list could go on and you are probably just as capable as I to make a list of your own so let's assume I have made my point.

John Lennon, one of the Beatles, once said, "Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans." In this generation we have seen professional (salaried) and hourly workers reach a point in their lives when they finally were ready to retire and ALL OF A SUDDEN the company for which they worked for a good part of their lives folded or went "belly up". Strange, that all the plans they had made for retirement, and the MONEY they had been promised to be laid aside and "taken care of -- and even more, GROW larger" was now GONE but somehow the CEOs. had conveniently been able to salvage a million or more for themselves! And the faithful, dedicated employee was now facing their retirement years WITH NOTHING (with the exception of Social Security). Can we honestly say, even with all this, that LIFE HAPPENS? (Could the words "perspective" and "objectivity" be appropriate?)

Our nation has taught us that "it will take care of us". Many have allowed themselves to be duped, misled, convinced against our better judgment that SOMEONE ELSE knows better how to take care of us!

THE INTERESTS in life, as I have found them to be in my life have reaped their rewards mostly in these days of retirement. I enjoy people -- talking and listening to them. I have been interested in history -- really people, places and things, and because of such I have found very few times in my retirement years that I could not find "something to do" or "how to make a dollar or two". Notice I did not say HUNDRED$, THOU$AND$ or MILLION$, but an extra "dollar or two". So I guess my contribution to this blog today would be to be FRUGAL has been an interest of mine for many years. How is it that I can be frugal in a time in history that there seems to be NOTHING in the market place that stays constant.

Gasoline prices continue to be the biggest surprise but for some reason (I guess we will learn why one of these days...) gasoline prices have [thankfully] been lowered substantially from what they were a year ago. I can be frugal because I know WHATEVER I do for myself (and by myself) is the real way to be a responsible person. A popular columnist once wrote something that may be a bit blunt but it hits the nail right on the head: "The task of weaning various people and groups from the national nipple will not be easy. The sounds of whines, bawls, screams and invective will fill the air as the agony of withdrawal pangs finds voice." Linda Bowles wrote that in "The Weaning Process," Washington Times, December 20, 1994, pg A16. All I can add is, AMEN. (The date reveals this is OLD [but still true and applicable] and the sad word is that Linda Bowles is deceased, leaving a vacuum that has been difficult to re-fill in the conservative troops of our nation.)

RECYCLING is nothing new to people my age (77) so when I drive down country roads or even certain city streets or on parking lots and see beverage cans littering the area I just consider it a few coins and casually pick up a can or several cans and toss them into my trunk. Some country roads reward my interest more than most resources "in town". Admittedly when I take my treasures to the junk yard I only make a few bucks but the way I look at it such an interest is "almost therapy" to me -- I can think of a lot of things while I am harvesting such resources. If I bother to SMASH the cans that is just another built in time to THINK. Aluminum is a far better product to bother with than steel -- so look for ANY KIND of aluminum. See an old junked storm door -- check it out, is it aluminum? If you were just on your way home to watch TV, then change your plans -- pick up that bit of "trash" and take it home. Any steel parts have to be removed when you recycle aluminum so that's more time to THINK while you're doing that odd job. (Needless to say, but I will say it anyway -- sanitation should not be ignored so wear gloves or use tongs to pick up some stuff and keep a good supply of small garbage bags in the trunk of your car. Have a supply of those towelettes handy too!) As current scrap prices continue to drop, some of these activities have been been re-thought and I simply gain more time for my wood shop!

I don't have a pick-up truck but if you do, CARDBOARD is a pretty decent resource to salvage and trade for cash. Check out such at your local junk yard or paper mill and find out what might be there of interest to you, and get busy. You just might become a believer that LIFE doesn't just HAPPEN! Besides that, you might just help your town look a bit tidier while you're making an extra buck or two. A friend of mine in Pennsylvania informed me that "dumpster divers" or even "investigative junk examiners" (like me) are not permitted to ply their craft (in his town), so talk it over with the people throwing the stuff away.

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THANKS FOR READING THE WORDWRIGHT

Posted by Bill Venrick at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

VIGNETTES of VENRICK, Bill, THE WORDWRIGHT, that is...

The following cascades of thoughts were among some writings I once shared with some friends and I am sharing them with readers of THE WORDWRIGHT. It's been a little longer than I like to admit that I have "put pen to ink" with an essay so I hope you will forgive me for foraging through some old notes instead of a regular essay - hope you enjoy these thoughts.

IT MAY SOUND STRANGE to some but I honestly can't think of many times, if any, that I wasn't interested in about anything that I saw or came my way. My wife says I can always think of some questions to ask, regardless of what's going on. I just don't see life any other way and I try not to ask questions until I come up with enough base information that enables me to ask some questions. (I admit this last part of my inquiring mind has had a few rough spots in it. Asking some people WHY seems to intimidate them for some reason.)

I have visited factories where glass was being produced, gobs of molten glass dropped into a chute and being thus dropped into a mold, flames all over the place -- there was always enough going on that piqued my interest. I specifically recall seeing one glass manufacturing machine that delivered a piece of stemware (glass or tumbler with a stem on it) and when it reached a certain spot its direction of movement was changed and it went off in another direction -- simple, there was a wheel underneath that made this possible by rubbing against the bottom of the platform the glass was on and its direction was changed. I have watched other stemware being produced and obviously there was some kind of issue being worked on -- the glass looked perfect but as it reached a certain spot in the line, it simply shattered to pieces. Something was wrong, obviously, and who knows how many pieces were ruined before they solved that problem.

Print shops have always amazed me. Sign painters or show card lettering and silk screen studios have been places where I could stand and watch what was going on "until they closed the shop."SEEING how things were done -- how a sign painter would give his brush an almost unnoticeable twist and thus forming the fine serifs at the ends of specific letters. Printers tweaking a lever here or turning a wheel there and then standing back to see if the adjustment was going to do the job.

I worked in the field of commercial art and I was always able to do something to improve a specific problem based on what I probably saw or read days, weeks, months or years before. Such observation can be the "inspiration" needed for some particular job. Given the job of dividing a page or space into a specific number of smaller spaces can be done with a straightedge (or a ruler) without knowing the exact space of each column or row is a snap. I believe the phrase "out of the box" would be the expression you would use today to solve such problems. How you "did it" was not really in the lessons you studied in a class -- an experienced person showed you how and the solution thus was being passed on to yet another generation of artists.

LIFE IS A LOT LIKE THIS, OR THAT. Imagine being some place without a watch or a radio or TV near by. What time is it? If you have spent enough time, or would have spent enough time, LOOKING and PAYING ATTENTION instead of glancing at your watch every few minutes you might have noticed the shadows changing, indicating the Sun was coming from a different direction. I am sure our Indian forebears were better at "telling time" and never saw a watch or clock -- they were observant of what was going on around them.

The very invention of the CLOCK was perhaps a curse instead of a blessing. If the resource I read was correct, the clock was actually invented by "the church" or monks, priests who wanted to figure out a way to TELL them when it was time to pray, and when to stop praying. Civilization today has become slaves to the clock and if a worker is asked to work later it is called OVER time. Could that mean, over the limits of the clock -- the worker's clock that told them WHEN he was finished? Or beyond the limit of his responsibility or obligation to work? A "clock-watcher" is not a compliment in most places of employment because it suggests the worker can't wait until the clock TELLS him his work is finished.

A few years ago my wife "suggested" I look at her unique grandfather clock (her Dad had built it years ago) because it had stopped working. Fixing things has been among my many interests so I got the bright red tool box where my father-in-law kept his "clock tools" and after a few precise applications of whale oil here and there, the family heirloom was operating again. #####

WELL, perhaps this will give you some insight into the workings of thoughts as they cascade around in my mind - and then again, I may have given you more information that you wanted. So, until the next time I share some vignettes, THANKS FOR READING. Bill Venrick, THE WORDWRIGHT.

Posted by Bill Venrick at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)