Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

Monday, December 23, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3597 - BEING GRATEFUL - Sounds of Christmas - Fischersund - Music Monday for December 23, 2024


A Sense of Doubt blog post #3597 - BEING GRATEFUL - Sounds of Christmas - Fischersund - Music Monday for December 23, 2024

This post was going to be just a quickie with Christmas music, and it turned into an end of the year roundup about gratitude.

I have been so blessed this year despite suffering some hard knocks.

And yet, GRATITUDE.

I am grateful for so much. I am a very fortunate person.

Let me tell you a little about that fortune and all the blessings.

After the last two years in which I was passed over for full-time tenure track positions at the school I love, my favorite school at which I have EVER worked, my course assignments have begun to decline due to enrollment issues.

Once upon a time, I taught at FIVE schools. Now, I teach at TWO schools. Park University remains my online-only school, a place where I have taught since 2011, for the first time EVER, did not assign a class to me in the first Fall semester. And though I had two in the second Fall semester, now I have none in the first Spring semester (I call this Winter as any semester starting in January is Winter).

LCC's enrollment has picked up, but last year, it tanked, too. 

And so, in response, I decided to go back for a third Master's degree, and rather than resuming my studies of computer science, I went with a different passion and one with less ageism: clinical mental health counseling. I like this plan. And it aligns strongly with my current work as a teacher, which, in many ways, is unofficial counseling.








And then my Dad died.













And yet, that is a blessing in disguise in many ways despite the loss in ways the break my heart.

And, so, I am very grateful for many, many things. SUCH AS...

My family. I am surrounded by so much love, and I hope that I share and return this love exponentially more.

I have two great kids, an amazing wife, an amazing extended family, which has just grown as my son Ivan married an amazing human, Xai, and added all these wonderful human beings to this great family community that I am a part of.

I love my sister and her spouse and cats. We had two very wonderful parents, and I am so thankful for that upbringing.

I traveled to Iceland and London and back to Michigan TWICE.


I spent great time with so many friends and family.

There were lots of good hugs.

I saw Paul Weller in concert.



DOGS!!!

And I am the lucky parent of the three most perfect dogs in all of the universe of dogs.





adoption day!!!

We adopted Ellory, my baby, EIGHT YEARS AGO today.


I am so grateful for Ellory, whom I love with all my heart and more.


And little things for which I am grateful, too many to list but here's a few:
(NOTE: not all of these posts are from 2024, but the things are all things for which I am grateful this year and in some cases every year).


I need this blanket in my life. After a repair last year, it's got lots more years left in it. It's my blanket. You can't have it, and I am not replacing it.

COMICS!! 


I am always grateful for comics.
Comics are the happy thread running through my life.
I am unapologetically a comic book nerd.


That's why I kept this fortune and it sits on my desk right next to the coffee cup (not pictured), coaster pictured.


This Ultimate post is from five years ago, but I did play this summer. SOMEHOW. Or if you can allit "playing."



Every day.
This Oat Milk in the coffee, with the cereal, though I do not have cereal every day.
It's important.


Kind of excited about this re-make.


The universe gave me success for the Detroit Tigers right after my Dad died. I cried about it in front of a student when they won the game that put them in the ALDS.

Dad was not as big of a Baseball fan as I, but I have not yet posted about the Detroit Lions. I should.



I play every two weeks with some great guys.
Thanks guys.

Pictured above.
I love these shoes.
I may buy another pair for when these wear out.


Among so much great music, ENO has been a consistent soundtrack in my life. I wish I had not missed the showing of the documentary because it's unlikely to be available streaming.


I am so behind on the Star Trek but still a huge fan. Always first in my heart. It came before Star Wars.


Reposted so many of the Dad stuff starting even before he died, but this post is special.

I am grateful for all the great times with my Dad.


I have music that comforts me and that I NEVER tire of hearing over and over again.
Those two songs are frequent plays for the shower.
So grateful for Pink Floyd and Cocteau Twins.


Though I  claimed in my Good Reads to have finished the book at the link above, I am still working my way through it but almost done. Even so, when I finish, I will be reading in it over and over again.

I am so thankful for BOWIE. He has given so much to my life. I wish he was still with us.


I care about the queer community so very, very much. The election of Donald Trump to a second term as President could have a huge impact on the LBGTQIA+ community. I see a fight coming that's my grander and more crucial than the current fight, the all-the-time fight.

Bowie taught me about the queer community, too.

And now my son's wife's family is almost all queer, which makes me so happy. See pics below.


I am thankful for my fandom favorite, the group about whom I wrote fan fiction, and the TV show that I am almost done watching and ADORE.

Thanks for this great live action rendering of the Titans.



And a wonderful family, new and old.


NEW FAMILY!!



IVAN GOT MARRIED!!!




I am so grateful for everything in my life.

I am healthy, happy, loved, and have people to shower with my love.

Life is good.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa!!

Thanks for tuning in.


MUSIC FOR THE SEASON

(for which I am also grateful)

First up, music shared from the awesome boutique we visited in Reykjavik run 

Fischersund - The Sounds of Christmas




Sin Fang

Kjartan Holm

Fischersund

Sigur Rós Official Site





Top Songs - Fischersund




Christmas Stuff 2024




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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2412.23 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3461 days ago & DAD = 117 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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