Deja Vu

Thirteen years ago, minus two or three months, I was in a very nice restaurant some miles away from the north side of Lake Ontario seated across a table from an attractive young woman. I had some thoughts about her that might be considered a bit strange. First I wondered who she was, in spite of the fact that I had known her for years. I wondered how she could be so sophisticated and yet how she could be so world wise. I was wondering how it was that she had become so intelligent in so few years. At the end of the meal I paid the bill, held the door open for her and we walked out. Another thing that I had also wondered was why she was calling me Dad. Of course that made me wonder how it was that I was blessed with such a wonderful daughter. It made me feel that I was walking several inches above the ground because I was lifted up by pride.

Four days ago, minus a few hours, I was in a very nice restaurant on the south side of Lake Ontario seated across a table from an attractive young woman. I had some thoughts that were very similar to ones I have had before. How did she get to be so smart in the few years that she had been learning? When did she learn so many truths that most people don't ever learn? How did she become so talented. The truth is that I would not expect less from her. Instead of a feeling of wonder the feelings I had were pride. I could look a the chair that was in between us and have another reason to feel proud. There was another woman sitting there that was known as Mom. I had with me the two most important women of my life. I had a lot of reason to be proud. This time I did not even have to pay the bill. I heard my daughter say "Happy Birthday, Mom," as she picked up the check. I still walked out the door a few inches off the floor.

It has been said that life is a circle, a person comes back to the same place that he started. Others say "What goes around, comes around." What people don't do is think about what a circle really is. A circle has no beginning and no end. Where the ends come together is not distinguishable from any other point. Life is not quite like that. I have just written about two times that were very similar and could be called "deja vu" or perhaps a circle of life. I think that life is a lot more like a spiral as you would find in a door spring. There are circles that come back to the same point it began, ALMOST. It is the same place that is offset in some manner. Science tells us that the earth travels in a circle around the sun and as we all know every winter is followed by a spring that is followed by a summer and then an autumn. But in the universe our solar system has moved to another location without us knowing that it has moved. My daughter, my wife and I keep coming back to the same places and situation with some changes along the way. It is so deja vu.

I have mentioned to many of you that I have digitized all the pictures that I took as slides and prints in the past. It took me about five years to complete the project from start to finish. But now I have all my pictures on my computer. Conversion or update from one format to another seems to be common in the modern age. Music started out being put on cylinders on Victrola players. Next was a record that must have been a quarter inch think. Sometime later this was followed by "78's" then "45's" and "33 1/3's". You know what was next, "8-tracks", "cassettes" and "CDs". Some years ago I recorded all my 45's and 33's to cassette. But with the computer age pulling me into its grasp I do not have a reasonable way to play my cassettes anymore. And cassettes start to deteriorate after a time and do not sound very good. So before I lost more cassettes to old age I wanted to get then on the computer where I can listen to them or even burn CDs. When I decided to travel I did not figure that I would want my boom box to play cassettes and CD any more. It was too big to carry in the motor home anyway. Just recently I bought a small portable boom box so I can listen to cassettes and play CDs anywhere I go. The biggest use of the CD part will be to play line dance music. But I am also now in the process of digitizing all my cassettes onto the computer. This project will take me several years I would suppose.

The line dancing is part of the reason for needing a portable CD. Line dancing has gotten me into more activities than I would have ever dreamed it would. One of the things that I have seen a need to do is to make instructional DVDs for line dancing for the people at Bentsen Grove where we seem to be committed to spending our winters. I bought a digital camcorder. Now I have to learn how to use it and learn how to make DVDs. In certain respects I have spiraled back to the time that I bought a Super 8 camera some forty years ago. I had to learn how to use it too. Now I want to take the pictures that I made with it and convert them to DVDs also.


MY NEW DIGITAL CAMCORDER

I would like all of you to cross your fingers that I can learn to do a good job of using my new toy and be able to create something that is of value to other people also.

Till later this is Uncle Duck