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It’s Christmas Eve again! Feels like just yesterday that I was looking forward to 2015’s Christmas morning. That one went relatively uneventfully and peacefully. The immediate family and I convened for the day’s festivities once again, at the casa.

This year, it’s again looking like a smooth day is coming up, but so many good, and a few not-so-good things have come to pass. First, the not-so-good.

America is celebrating the holidays as usual, but it’s been a kind of crazy year. There’s still some pretty serious racial tension in the country, and it’s only been worsened by the surreal election of our next President, who is going to be a person not known for having much in common with the majority of citizens. He’s almost trying to bring a different, more centralized rule. Not even inaugurated yet, he’s known for using taxpayer dollars to spend the majority of his living time at his personal residence, in his mansion-like penthouse in New York.

I’m sure New Yorkers affected by that aren’t super happy about that, with the traffic snarls it’s likely caused already. At any rate, the next 4 years are going to be interesting, to say the least.

On to the good, though.

Work’s been going decently well, with the company continuing its growth and reorganization into a “product-oriented” style. There are product managers and marketing managers for pretty much all the core and even the newest, cloud-related products. Some coworkers have come, some have moved on. The annual Halloween party was pretty fun.

Speaking of Halloween, that marked a pretty good life transition for me. It feels pretty good to have an adventuring partner in real life and I’m glad it grew from a friendship of a few years already. I look forward to reading her messages, hearing her voice (and laugh), and, of course, spending time together with her. I like to think of myself as a hopeless romantic, which extends to the fact that even though I don’t really think I’m the coolest guy around, I still manage to delight her, even while she is enchanting me (hopefully, she’ll read this and find my written awkwardness adorable.)

I’m still trying to grow and improve every day, expanding my knowledge as much as possible, while also having as much fun as I can along the way. This is about as close as I’m going to get to an annual retrospective for 2016. I won’t dwell on what I did not accomplish more than to say that my intentions for 2017 are fairly similar and continue on some from 2016. We’ll see what the new year brings, soon.

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Hmm. What’s this curious object I hold in my hand? It’s roughly double the length of one of my fingers, and a bit thinner as well, tapering to almost a point at one end, and with a clip-type thingie on the other. It almost looks like two cylinders-I think that’s the word for them-with one sitting inside the other.

As I push the clip between my thumb and index fingers, I notice the “top” (just a guess since it’s got the clip on it) section rotates, and, what’s this? There’s something slowly emerging from the more “pointy” end. A tiny, more pointing thing! It’s rounded on the end and not at all sharp-looking. There seems to be something on it. I touch it with a fingertip. It leaves a mark! Interesting. What if I move the “tip” across a napkin I have handy? The tip leaves a rough line.

This can be fun. Maybe I can make a set of lines and shapes, some sort of art of some kind. I try this. It’s not going so well, as I’m not much of an artist. Perhaps there’s some other use for this that I’m better at. Well, I know some letters, maybe it’s good for that.

Prompt: IBMC #09: The Be a Baby Challenge

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Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there’s none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

This is an interesting one because it’s not entirely clear exactly which king, with the name Cole, this is referring to. I see 3 contenders listed here:

Old King Cole Rhyme

The origins of the Nursery rhyme lyrics of Old King Cole are based in history dating back to 3rd century. There is considerable confusion regarding the origins of Old King Cole as there are three possible contenders who were Celtic Kings of Britain, all who share the name Coel (which is the Celtic word for the English word Cole). Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth (1110-1155) refers to a King Cole as a king of the Britons.

My interpretation is that, whichever king this was, he was a king who liked to party, and late into the nights pretty often. Whoever created this rhyme was likely a witness to at least some of the festivities, likely a servant of some kind. That’s just my best guess, as I have no particular expertise in this field of history.

Prompt: The Nursery Rhyme Challenge

 

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Stipula fountain pen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg

It’s a simple intention that I post here, but a habit I hope to keep up. I intend to post something, anything, every single Monday in 2017. I further intend it specifically to be here, on my personal space online. For now, I’ll have it be for #MicroblogMondays since I’ve got a reminder set to remind me. Soon enough, I want it to just be a habit.

More: MicroblogMondays 121: Post in Your Own Space

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past hosted party,
gave future as the present,
present is partying.

My take on this poem is a pretty cool interpretation of the meaning of time. A person exists because of events that happened in the past. The present is always present and a gift of the new past. Then, the dreams of the future exist as an ideal (a party!)

I feel like that’s on optimistic take on time’s meaning. Seems good.

Prompt: IBMC #04: Hunt a Haiku Challenge

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Sometimes I wonder about what’s next in life for me. Winter is pretty much here. You’ve got to be kidding me! A steady blade balances the soul. That’s what I’m going to do. I can’t stop the feeling. Let’s see what I think of next. That was lucky. I’m almost there. The toughest sentence is the first.

Prompt: Incredible Blogger Marathon Challenge #03

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73328967_1f078b7a5f
Photo Credit: wanderingnome via Compfight cc

Tis the season for cozying up to someone special and listening to the almost musical crackle of burning logs. It’s a pretty good way to catch up with family as well. Sometimes, my family have the fire going in the aftermath of the Christmas present-opening, while the younger ones romp and play, and we do occasionally sit down to a holiday movie together (a bit rare until the younger nephew grows a bit more and settles down.) It’s time to warm up, and not just temperature-wise.

Prompt: Incredible Blogger Marathon Challenge #02.

IBMC-2

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I am a geek and a nerd. I embrace both. I love to geek out on a favorite topic, such as my current favorite game, or movie, or book. Sometimes, I realize that what seems like a calm explanation in my head comes out as an excited rush of words. It’s almost like exercise, in that I get a surge of adrenaline and am pumped up by the time I start to think maybe I need to give my audience (a friend, or family member) a break from me. But that’s just who I am. I surround myself with those who also get this way.

I geek out.

Prompt: Incredible Blogger Marathon Challenge #01

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(Donnie Yen) Ph: Film Frame ©Lucasfilm LFL
Chirrut Image from StarWars.com

So much on my mind this week! I’m looking forward to seeing Rogue One, with a date accompanying me, and not just with a group of friends, which is cool, but I’ve been wanting to share this experience with this person for a while. Another friend’s getting married on New Year’s Eve and the reception is going to be themed (Great Gatsby) and while that’s a bit more distant, it’s still on my mind. Oh yeah, Christmas is getting super close too! 🙂

More posts here: #MicroblogMondays 120: Book Thief