“A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” Oscar Wilde

“Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary” Mark Twain

I’m in the middle of reading my 59th novel for the year, “the Garden of Last Days” by Andre Dubus III. He also wrote “The House of Sand of Fog” which I read several years ago. They made a movie of that one starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. They did a good job with the movie but both it and the book were very sad. I think this book probably will end up being sad, too. It’s not as good as Sand and Fog, though, at least so far.

I just looked back at the last six or seven books I’ve read and they were all good, but they were also serious. I think I need to read something lighter next. Maybe a couple of something lighters.

My feelings were all over the board yesterday, washing though me like I was surfing with the remote control. I’d go from happy to sad to pissed off to content to nervous and all the way around again and again. I didn’t enjoy it at all, but I do feel a lot better today. It helped that I decided I’m going to go visit my kids in Washington State before the end of the year. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen either of them and even then it wasn’t for a happy reason. Jack thinks it’s a good idea for me to go, too, and what better time than during this season that I dread. I told my daughter that I was going to come out there and she was thrilled, but then she asked if I was okay. We’re just getting a little too used to bad news and I think we need to put an end to that for awhile. I feel better already.

The following quote might go better in another blog, maybe about communication. But I don't want to lose it so I'll use it.
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice, and motivated by pride and vanity” Dale Carnegie