250

This is my 250th blog post of the year, by far the most posts I’ve written in a single year in the 18 years The Internet Lounge has been in existence. 

It has been a good year. 

Not always an easy year. My Grandmother passed. One of my best friends from childhood passed. These were hard moments. 

But there was so much good. 

My daughter has begun to find peace within herself and is thriving in her first year of high school. 

My son played Carnegie Hall! 

My wife and I got to travel to beautiful places with our family. 

I have both my kids at my school at the same time. 

This next year will see my son go off to college. It could be the beginning of my wife’s last year of work. Who knows what’s all in store. But it has been a very good year and I celebrate that. This blog, which probably no one reads, is mainly intended to force me to slow down and reflect on life. I hope to have many happy things to reflect on in 2025! 

So It Begins

 Always seem to watch LOTR during the holidays. 

Stashes

Burgers at Stash’s last night! The best! 

 

Memories

 This was taken somewhere between 1979-1982 

De Stijl

 One of my Christmas presents 

Christmas

Christmas morning at home. Christmas evening at the in-laws. 

 

Eve

 Christmas Eve candlelight service 

Elf Party

On Christmas Eve Eve we went to an Elf Movie Party downtown Dallas  

 

Believer

 Always a good day when the Believer arrives in the post! 

Christmas Choir Madness!

Christmas Choir Madness! Concert and caroling at the elementary  school where Kim works! 

 

Party

Annual Adopt-a-Kid parties went well last Friday 

 

Dune Messiah

Dune Messiah. Second in the Dune series of books and the subject of the next movie filmed by Dennis Villeneuve. Dune Messiah is a weird book. A bit easier to digest and not as dense as Dune but an unusual story. Very Proustian in the character's self-examination. Entertaining read. But strange!

Carols

Ava and the choir singing Christmas carols  at last night’s school board meeting  

 

Autumn Sky

 My daughter, the horse she rides once a week and me. 

In

 

Emerson

My current long term read is Essays, First Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I'm reading a few pages each day during breakfast. So far pretty interesting.

Apple Replay 2024

 

Sitting

Finished The Upanishads this morning. Another long-term read project. Read a little every day during breakfast. 

I found The Upanishads more interesting than The Bhagavad Gita. Not a translation issue since it was the same translator for the versions I read. I think a lot of western readers approach these works looking for handy little life proverbs. I didn't find a lot of comforting aphorisms. They have to be read holistically, a unified theory of life. But I found The Upanishads a bit more approachable and helpful than the Bhagavad Gita. Honestly they were both a little repetitive in the archaic fashion. That's how it was done. Very esoteric. Not much practicality. Confucius (Kong Fuzi) would not approve of their intense abstractions. Interesting reads though.
 

Toolin' Downtown

One day last week we spent the day toolin' around The Dallas Museum of Art, Thanksgiving Square and Klyde Warren Park. It was a beautiful day.