500th post, and Ireland

I was somewhat surprised to see that this is my 500th post since I started this blog five and a half years ago.  I am not sure that this is a lot of posts or too few.  I know that if you have read them then  you know far more about me than either I know about you or than would if you hadn't read them.  Is that a gift or a burden?  I am not sure.

What is interesting is that 499 posts ago I was facing significant changes in my life, moving from  one end of the country to another for a new job, absorbing the impact of being jobless, the loss of friends and countless other big and little changes.  How odd life is.  I find myself at the time of this 500th post going through many the same things--I don't know where I will be, what I will be doing, etc.  The only thing the same is the uncertainty, or more accurately, the uncertainties.

As I told myself in my blog before, I am if not well prepared more prepared than some who face their uncertainties.  I am reasonably skilled and educated, I am able to survive until summer even if nothing comes my way, and if needed I suppose I could stretch that out.  There are things I could do   other than what I have done before.  If I could avoid wearing a hair net in a new job, I think I would be ok.  Anyone need a ronin historian?  A photo for their wall or garage?  A wedding photographer?  A tutor?  A substitute?  A clown?  I am available.

In the meantime, I am establishing a routine, albeit a somewhat solitary one.  I am at a coffee shop by 8AM or so, looking and working on my career.  I go to the gym.  And, as I told one friend, I rinse and repeat all this the next day.  There are jobs out there which is a change from a few months or years ago and I do have an interview or two.  Who knows?

One thing that I have had the chance to do is to read, and read a lot.  Since December I have read some 45 books--I am not sure if that is a lot, but it is more than I have had a chance to read in a long time.  I am trying to balance out my list as my siren call is to read mostly drivel.  As in the books about the spy who did that but was caught by the clever British detective who lived a post-apocalyptic world or something like that.  At least I am avoiding books about vampires!  I have managed to read a few other books--I am about half-way through the Booker Prize-winners and National Book Award winners  since 1990, for example,  and have caught up with a few other classics that I have missed over the years.  One is The Little Prince. How fun is that?  I am skipping the French though I bet it is even more of a gem in its original language.  Still, it is a remarkable book, and it is a book that I know I will read again and again.

As the prince says, "I must endure a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies."

I do believe that, though I wish there weren't so damn many of them right now.

On to the 501st post...