6/18/06

From my diary.

I have the feeling that I dreamed last night of sitting here now typing this. Did I really dream this? An old psychology professor of mine once explained deja vu as the result of part of our brain unconsciously experiencing an event a fraction of a second before another part of our brain consciously experiences it. Sometimes, for some reason, the conscious part becomes aware of the prior unconscious experience of the other part and interprets that prior experience as having arisen much earlier--e.g., in a dream the night before--than it actually did. Her explanation kind of made sense to my bored mind at the time. But when I think about it now, it raises more questions than it answers.

I decided not to go bowling this morning. Instead, I watched it on TV. One was a classic match between Mark Baker and Dave Ferraro in which Baker won 279 to 278. Ferraro's was the highest losing score ever on TV at that time. But then I watched another old bowling show after that in which Mike Aulby beat David Ozio 300 to 279. What great bowling by two of the greatest bowlers ever! And what a shame that somebody had to lose! I wish I had Ozio's style. It's the sweetest style I've ever seen. By contrast, my style is hopelessly awkward and ugly. But it's too late to change now in any significant way. What else is it too late to change?

My wife went to the temple today while I started this blog and brought some food home from it. She wants to return to it this evening, and she wants me to go with her and eat dinner with her there. I'm sure the food is very good. But I don't want to go. Yet, I also don't want to be a stick in the mud all the time. I don't do enough with my wife as it is, and I know it bothers her and that she feels bored either doing nothing or doing too many things without me by her side.

I called Mom and invited her to a 4th of July gathering at my wife's uncle's house. I didn't expect her to be free that day, but she said she will be. It will be nice if that doesn't change and she can finally meet part of my wife's family besides her sister.

After I talked with Mom, I called my ex-girlfriend. At one point we talked about language learning software, and she mentioned the Rosetta Stone programs. She thought the English version might be good for my wife, but I said I think my wife's English skills are already beyond the scope of that course. What she needs more than anything now is practice in pronunciation and fairly advanced listening comprehension. But a course like that in Thai or some other language might do me some good.

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My wife and I took our nightly walk and then watched a TV movie called "Touching the Top of the Sky" or something like that about the only blind man to ever climb Mt. Everest. His was an impressive feat to be sure, but I wish the movie telling his story had been more impressive. Still, it was good for someone like myself who's afraid to try anything new to watch someone like that do something like that.

Gagdad Bob recently hinted that he might discontinue his blog. It sounds like he might be feeling a little burned out and underappreciated. I can't say that I understand most of what he writes much less agree with it, but I'm glad he's out there, and I hope he stays, even if he stops posting every day and does it only once or twice a week.

It's supposed to heat up as the week wears on, climbing into the 100's by the end of the week. That's OK. We've got fans and, if we really need it, we've got air conditioning.