Hearing

Do you know what would be a great concert to attend? In September, Billy Joel and Sting are performing in St. Louis at Busch Stadium. Those two speak to my growing up. Years ago, another artist who played a significant role came up to campus for FREE and I missed him because I had to work: Bryan Adams. That's one artist I would have loved to have seen! And you can add another to that list: the Counting Crows. Back in the day, I used to scour the Internet for bootlegs of their shows. Those were even better than the studio albums.

I haven't been to a concert since—what, a mewithoutYou 2005 gig? It was that era I was on foot and bicycle after I gave my truck away.

I dunno why exactly I stopped attending...things got busy...never trusted babysitters...never had grandparents to shove kids their way. Then there was a certain practicality of paying cold hard cash for being swamped with humanity by an inferior audio performance—perhaps I saw too many shows at the Pyramid!

Vision

I have gotten lazy. Whatever happened to...

1. Mind map dreaming
2. Todoist tasks
3. Reading toward The Future
4. Meditation
5. Lifting
6. Steps

I have brought back my New Year's Resolutions page. Look, I think its loss was due to the very same existential malaise that obliterated Day 238 of HFC #1 in summer 2023. It reared its ugly old noggin' again and wrecked my beard. But, with a clean slate, I'm growing the hair and beard again, The Yair & the Yeard. But, NO hair dye this time...

...I want to be me...primal:

1. Driven by instinct and intuition
2. Alert with piercing eyes
3. Wielding a rugged, muscular build
4. Braving long hair and an unkempt beard with the open road and a lack of concern for societal grooming standards
5. Radiating a fluid, animalistic grace
6. Resonating natural athleticism and strength

VITALITY—that's my vision for the rest of my 40s.

I'm gonna set fire to this city
And out into the desert
We're gonna ride

-Counting Crows, Time and Time Again (1993)

I once was jacked. Today, I straight-legged deadlifted off the ground a 55 lb dumbbell in each hand. I stomped with thunder with each step...my knees felt unsure...was that a tremble in my quads? I waddled through the house when a thought hit me: "Yes, this is all sorts of pressure on my feet—110 lbs of added weight—but, I'd have to stack another 35 lbs onto it to reach what I once weighed!" No, I don't particularly remember being THAT bogged down by...ME!

So once upon a time, clearly, I was buff! That fried apple pie, Taco Bell taco party box, Pizza Hut supreme pizza, and cookies n' cream Blue Bell ice cream diet made me strong like bull!

It is time for me to get back into my training: lifting weights, amassing those daily steps, and slicing those kicks. There remains a lightly rippling numbness in my hands and legs—the halo of existence; there is merely shimmering in my abs. There's no reason for me to wait any longer. Like my astigmatism that demands glasses when I read a typical book, when life modifies capabilities, I just make like REO Speedwagon and Roll with the Changes (1978).

I just wish I could have kept that strength from New Year's Eve 2017! But, oh the stories along the way...

2018... 2019... 2020...

2021... 2022... 2023...

Each year was Cake's The Distance (1996):

Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course.
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
He's going the distance.

No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine
He's haunted by something he cannot define
Bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse
Assail him, impale him with monster truck force
In his mind, he's still driving, still making the grade

Falling back.

Pushing forward.

Until 2024. It is an upswelling from the accumulation of years of failing forward.

And truth be told, I was only ever interested in increasing capabilities, not capacities. Agility is king and something that doesn't come to one who is a walking dumbbell rack!

I ran across a new idea—well, something I envied for a good long while, but figured it was out of reach: primal / Asian squatting. I will pick up this skillset before the end of this year.

After a couple of days, I pulled together my teaching plan for 2024-2025. There remains a few details to scaffold out, but those placeholders will filled before 2025.

I feel good about it, though admittedly, I am weary of hammering away on this keyboard in its preparation. The schema all came about on Tuesday morning as I lamented to my wife on the necessity of reading up and finding bits of outside sources for some "7" courses. She remarked on teaching one course at a time—that's all I needed; I instantly fell in love with the construct.

Instead of this long, dragged-out subject and a slew of others with it, go deep into a single subject for a month and then leap to another discipline for the next 4 weeks! Rinse and repeat, "Whop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom."

It always amused me that I could take a university class for a July or take that same class for the end of an August, September, October, November and an opening of December. There is a LOT of filler in those traditional semester classes! The summer saved in drive time alone!

Overall, I am delighted with its focus. There is a healthy representation regarding where we'll be for 10,000+ years—fine, INFINITY—in there; hits state req's, and dumps a whole TRUCKLOAD of practicality. Regrettably, I couldn't slide in that coding class; my dance card was full. Perhaps it'll show up for the 2025-2026 season.

This is not what I chewed on in 1993-1994. I just drank Minute Maid in the cafeteria.

AND THUS, for the first time ever, I am serving up a single course, 3 hours every weekday for a summer term duration, departure from the past buffets which lasted all semester long. Additonally, the kids will continue to invest 3+ hours completing assignments daily, including readings and writing assignments. Weekly readings from the text-heavy classes are generally 150-180 pp. in length, though in the case of the leadership class, it is a book a week to offset Fall Break.