Some nights are better than others....

And since I just woke up a little while ago, and just recently re-confirmed that I do in fact still have a functioning bathroom which soon will need more 'poopy-paper' (remember when it was the paper that actually did the job, instead of falling apart and letting your finger do the walking?) I'm pleased to report that I did get some sleep earlier in the evening. That's because I was sitting here at the old computer, less than thrilled at the world scene, when I suddenly found myself waking up with my head on the keyboard and the imprint of some of those keys across my forehead, fading slowly. So I decided to stumble into bed. I sleep better when I'm really tired and lately for some reason I seem to do that best without a pillow. But that's a whole other musing and we won't go there just now....I turned on the computer, and here's what I see today...

A page celebrating the anniversary of Mark Twain's birthday. Who doesn't like Mark Twain? Even though he mostly used that 'handle' and his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, he was probably the original 'Grumpy Old Man' and a hell of a wit to boot. We all have a favorite Mark Twain saying or quote, very likely, (or we should have!) and mine is this one: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."


That tells us a lot, right there. It tells me that the process of learning isn't just something we do in schools or universities or churches or wherever; it's a lifelong process that ought to be and frequently is a joyous one which answers our questions, satisfies our curiosity, solves a problem, or just informs us about the world around us. And motivation is the big secret to it. We have to want to before we're going to be open to it.


This is where the internet proves its worth, because we're not forced to learn differential calculus when all we wanted to know was why it costs a million dollars per pound to land a payload on the surface of Mars, for example. We can simply ask it a question, and get an answer - or lots of them. And it works like a charm, as long as we don't get side-tracked onto one of those triple-X sites where some impossibly enhanced bimbo is trying to get her hand on our credit card. (Leggo my ah-er-um... shirt, Honey - I'm much too old for that!). Kids in school, or at least this kid when he was there, tend to resist the set curriculum because (A) we don't like being driven when we should be led, and (B) we don't learn well if we're not interested in the subject matter. Is that why I failed Latin three years running? You bet your sweet bippy! Fortunately, the internet only teaches me what I'm anxious to learn. And at 79, I'm still learning, because that's what life is all about, Kiddies.