: About Me

Give me the most arcane topic on the planet and I can write at least a paragraph. Now that the subject is "me", writer's block has set in.

I'm 56, a transplanted Texan, a voracious reader, and very opinionated. Which doesn't mean impassioned you understand. It's that, as A Major Thinker, at my age, I've had time to form a reasoned, thoughtful, and rational argument for everything I believed when I started Thinking.

My reading tastes run the gamut: D. Parker, Steinbeck, Dickens, WS (natch), Pat Conroy, Larry McMurtry, AfAm literature, Alice Walker, Ray Bradbury, Asimov, Reynolds Price, Thurber, Harper Lee, Austen, and a smattering of mysteries and history books. I'm a Civil War buff (the Southern perspective of course), love Texas history, and have the intellectual curiousity of the truly undisciplined.

Warning - personal boring stuff here: Hope to return to college fall, 2007. My 40-yr. plan is to get my degree in SW or sociology. Only 1 year to go. Yay. I have a grown son who worries me to no end but that seems to come with the territory. I'll be 80, he'll be 50 and I'll still be telling him to wipe his muddy shoes. My main thrill comes from knowing his children will torment him the way he did me. It doesn't take much to amuse me. I love to laugh and make others laugh.

Worked in the oil and gas industry in Texas and Louisiana for almost 20 years. I was a 'lease hound' and loved it. Sadly, there's not too much demand for that here in Illinois. Most of my work throughout my life has been for all brand of lawyers, a retired federal judge, CPAs, trustees, what have you. Went into business for myself as a property tax analyst in Texas and nearly starved to death. The need and demand was there, but I was quite the unskilled salesman, so faltered.

To sum up, I'm a cynical optimist, a hopeful pessimist, in some ways a savant, and cannot seem to make a right-hand turn without running over the curb.

My passion is ...

Reading

I know too much about ...

Everything

My parents always told me ...

Wear clean underwear when going out.

My childhood ambition ...

To be a dancer

My favorite memory ...

Living in Pre-Castro Cuba

Why I write ...

A strong belief that the world needs my wisdom...

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Gail Sheehy's "Passages", 1976

My first job ...

Went out ironing for 10 cents a garment - I was 12.

My best moment ...

Seeing the Northern Lights in Anchorage.

My inspiration ...

My faith in God, family, friends.

Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) True gardening stories: How it all went terribly wrong (humor)

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I love my indoor tropical plants. Having lived in Cuba as a child, lush greenery soothes my soul. Rooms with plants have personality. They have warmth. They have a little piece of God. So, every year I look forward to re-potting time. It's like a second Christmas. All my cuttings have healthy roots and are itching to get into soil. First, I take inventory of pots, garden tools, water trays, potting soil, what-have-you. List in hand, I head for Lowe's Garden Dept. I fill a giant buggy with vermiculite, sphagnum moss, charcoal, soil, pots (way more than I need - for emergencies), hanging bas...

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