2011

2011
Springfield, PA and

Carpenter’s Point, MD

My age: 55-56

School: I took classes at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (AKA geriatric University)

Work- In July, I was retired for one year. Sometimes I missed the job but mostly I missed not have important work to do.

Volunteer Work- Road To Recovery Program- I spend a lot of my time driving cancer patients to their treatments.

Music- I dont know any music anymore.  

• I used to listen to music for hours at a time.  But once I moved away from albums and CDs, I stopped playing music.  I listen to it in the car.  Mostly I listen to WXNP, an independent  Philly station that plays singer/songwriters who are well known and unknown.
• The song "Just Someone That You Used To Know" was released.  I don't think I heard this song until 2015 and at that time, it had over 50,000,000 hits.  Where have I been?

Movies

• Harry Potter- I don't remember which one this was but it doesn't matter.  I've seen every Harry Potter film. I love these films.  I never read any of the books but I never missed a movie.
• The Help- The movie was as good as the book.
• Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen isn't as funny as he used to be.
• The Descendants- I thought this movie was boring.
• The Artist- Clever and different.
• Hugo- This was a sweet movie.
• Pirates of the Caribbean- I love Johnnie Depp but this was not my favorite Caribbean movie.  Maybe it's time to move on to a new movie idea.
• Extremely Loud and Incredible Close- this movie was too sad and I no longer want to go to a movie and leave sad.
• We Bought a Zoo- This was a nice family movie.
• We Need to Talk About Kevin- very disturbing and very relevant to too many families in our country.

Books

• The Unlikely Disciple- Kevin Roose
• Skating to Antarctica- Jenny Disher- Why?????
• The Help- Katherine Stockton- I tried to read this book but the dialect got in my way.  I couldn’t understand the verbal ticks of some of the characters.  So, I got the audio book and loved it. I was too young to understand the pre-civil rights injustices of the south.
• Half the Sky- I had a tough time reading about all of the ugly abuse to women and girls around the world.
• Going Wild
• Letters from Burma- Aung San Sui Ky- I always had respect fro this women but the current genocide in Burma is disheartening.
• La's Orchestra Wins the War
• Identical Strangers- the story of twin sisters, separated at birth, who find each other and now have to deal with their similarities and differences.

Travels- 

• I traveled with the Semester at Sea Program for three weeks and we explored The Caribbean (Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Belize) for a few weeks.  This was a lovely trip. I spent much of this time snorkeling and kayaking.
• I went to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado.

News Events

• Bin Laden is Dead- I was on a small ship, traveling through the Caribbean.  Internet access was very limited. So the only news I received about Bin Laden was the Captain’s written, posted daily update on the situation: “Yesterday, special forces invaded Bin Laden’s house and killed him.  Several other people were killed in the incident.  No Americans were killed”.  That’s it.  That was the extent of information on this breaking news. 
• There was a royal wedding. Prince William was married.  Unlike his mother's wedding, I did not get up at 5AM to watch every grand minute of the ceremony, I did spend the day, catching glimpses of postings on social media.
• Moammar Gadhafi of Libya was hanged and the world rejoiced.
• Kim Jong II of South Korea died as well and it seemed as if we were getting rid of so many of the bad guys in the world.

Family and friends

• o   Stephanie Schweinberg asked me to officiate her wedding on 9-10-11 at the beach.
• o   Jill had a baby, Mason Edward
• o   Teresa had a baby, Georgia Peach
• o   Catlin had baby #3, Jules Valentino