George Carlin: 1937 - 2008

Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits!

May you be at peace.

May your family be at peace.

Cartoon Fodder and the Future

I used my failed quest for a pair of pants that fit as fodder for a cartoon today. I was not in the maternity section by mistake in case any one was wondering.

A friend and a mentor passed away Tuesday morning. She died peacefully, surrounded by family and in the home she loved. This had been a long illness and I knew the eventual outcome.

She founded the Insight Meditation group at our church. She and I were the only two members of the church in the group. We welcome all people regardless of their affiliation with Brazos UU. There used to be a third church member but he passed away.

Ann did leave a foundation upon which the meditation group could still go on. The two other core members can teach. I can ring the gong and give instruction on the basics (shut up and breathe). This summer, I'm the only one still in town so I've not gone to meditation. I need to inform the office administrator that the meditation group is suspended for the summer. We do get an occasional visitor to the group but rarely do they come back.

Ann did a lot of behind the scenes activities such as keeping the UU Buddhist people informed of our activities and letting other appropriate groups know of our existence. One of the other members has taken that on. I'm not ready for the designation of "the leader." If I always waited until I was ready I would have stopped getting out of bed around age 18.

James O'Brien

I just received news of a student's death. He died of a heart attack on Wednesday, April 18. Student Life sent the notification today.

James O'Brien was not a typical college student. He was 70 years old. I think he was working on his 3rd degree. I had a class with him when I was an student in 1989 (Angling - it was a Phys. Ed. course). He stood out then because an older person who is a student stands out on a college campus. I remembered him when I saw him again when I started working in the department.

He retired from the military and spent his time learning. I recently saw him in the undergraduate adviser's office planning his next semester course schedule. He would take one or two courses at a time. He learned at his own pace but never stopped learning.

He often joked that it was appropriate that as the oldest undergraduate at Texas A&M that he should study in the oldest building at Texas A&M.

I think I saw him last on Monday or Tuesday. I don't quite remember. We just said hello to each other as I passed him the hallway on the way to some business that must of been important at the time.

In my memory, I can clearly see him sitting on the couch outside the student services door. He was reading something in a notebook. His legs were crossed and he was leaning a bit to the right. I remember his voice and him saying, "Hi, Linda, how are you doing." I said I was doing great.

I cannot remember why I went down the hall.

He was the only student, besides the student workers, that I have much interaction with. We would talk about all kinds of things - mostly non-academic stuff. The last long conversation was about unusual middle names and his troubles learning Latin and why he chose Latin as his language to study. Regarding Latin, he said he was too old to learn another alphabet on top of another language.

I am inspired by James' attitude and his love for learning. I will miss seeing him in the halls.

My Death Forecast

It is estimated that you will die at the age of 95 Years Old.

Find your own death forecast: http://www.deathforecast.com/

Disclaimer:
Note: This is an estimate using scientific data obtained from dozens of health studies. But, keep in mind it is based on averages, and you may live many years longer than what is predicted or you may get hit by a bus and die tomorrow. Also, at some point in the future you might change your lifestyle to be more or less healthy, which would make a big difference in your estimated lifespan.

I walked 5,041 steps/ 1.91 miles yesterday.

Pickles is back with her foster mom. Isaac and Loki received their Christmas ham bones and are working on them.

Walter is sick. He is resting. He thinks its because of taking too much pain medication on an empty stomach. I made him some breakfast and he took some migraine medicine on a full stomach and he is sleeping. Hopefully, food and rest will do the trick. If not, I'm dragging his butt to the doctor.

The in-laws are coming Sunday afternoon. The house should be mostly clean by then. The rest will just have to be behind closed doors.

Today, I will start scanning all the cartoons that I have drawn this week. By my calculations a cartoon drawn in 2007 will appear on the website in February.

Here is a weird thought on the ex-presidents: Ray Charles and Ronald Reagan died less than a week from each other and Gerald Ford and James Brown died on the same day. Is the life of a soul singer linked to the life of an ex-president? Who will George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton take with them when they die? Would it be in Aretha Franklin's interests to monitor the health of our former U.S. Presidents?