ABSILVER's World

Things I know for 2010 * Surprisingly after a year of great change, I am happier than I was a year ago. * I need change for work to be interesting, fun and not boring. * That with all the technology, Internet, and "social networking" nothing beats meeting someone or people in person. * You can't really know someone without meeting them. * I am not sure where I will be living in a year. * True friends know when to hold their cards, and when to play them. Cards range from criticism, compliments, jokes, and kindness. * Sorry, but I do like dogs better than cats and not just cause cats make me sneeze. * My hypothesis, is it is not cats but cat litter. Not that matters for the above comment. * That 1 degree of temperature means more in the cold north, than it does in south Florida. (1 vs. 0 is much more interesting than 77 to 76.) * That people need to admit to their own racism to conquer it. * Flying in this economy has gotten easier. And the newer planes are smoother than th...

What have I learned in a year. As of last Wednesday, I am now 45 and as I look to the 46th year of my life the question has to come up. What did I learn in the last 365 days and what do I expect for the following year. I learned in my 45th year that courage comes in all different shapes and sizes. That family is a gift, and my parents being alive, healthy, and happy is a great gift to me, my siblings, and their grandchildren. That dogs are wiser than we humans give them credit for. That with choices comes a challenge, confusion, and sometimes a desire to stand in one place. That many people go through the motions every day. I have created a life where I am full of choice. As I try to navigate these choices, happiness is a challenges. As my friend Rich said yesterday, it was easier going to work every day. You built a routine in your life and things just happen. But, when you have choices and part of that choice is time, and flexibility, that it is hard to maintain focus or happi...

I sit here in Provincetown watching it rain and after a very interesting week and weekend. As someone that has taken a leave from IBM, at least for now, I am being kept busy by the employer that I parted with. I am quite lucky, but that is not the reason I sat down to add to my blog. With various events in my life recently, and in the past it has struck me that there is an odd cost to being popular. I listened to Barbra Streisand's interview on the Sunday Morning news and she mentioned that she is a homebody and explained that for her to go to dinner is involved because of her popularity and is like acting. People will be taking her picture, and always publish the least flattering of them, and the news will be there and she is happy and content at home. The New York Times had an article today ( http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/streisand-upends-the-social-order-briefly/?hpw ) about her one night at a night club in New York and mentioned how in a small room of fans...

Happy New Year... It is the Jewish New Year, year 5770 starting tomorrow. As the Holiday is known in Hebrew as Rosh Hashannah or the head of the year it makes me wonder. What is in my head for the new year. If I look back at the previous year... many things changed and my life took on a different focus. Where I started the year gainfully employed by IBM, two homes, and a feeling of life’s contentment. I also started 5769 with a feeling of change in the air. Rosh Hashannah services were as they had been for the past decade at least. At the synagogue in New York, where I have written before feeling a closeness to Judaism I had not felt in a long time. As Yom Kippur approached, I decided to try and celebrate on the Cape with friends, Kevin and Rich. Services on the Cape did not and do not have the intensity of a New York synagogue. Thankfully, nothing in Provincetown or the Cape has the same level of intensity of Manhattan. The Kol Nidre services watching the sunset on the Hud...

Love comes from the most unexpected places In someone's eyes you've never met Who wants to get to know you In someone's smile you can't forget And if the music plays on in your mind Take all the love that you can find And if love takes you in Take all the love that you can find And hope it comes again Love comes from the most unexpected places A love song on the radio you never heard enough of In bars that thrive on loneliness Where people sell their sorrow for your time They take the love that they can find And if love takes them in They take the love that they can find And hope it comes again Love comes in many ways In lovers' arms in sweet bouquets But if nothing's said than nothing's ever heard So here i stand outside your door And i'm trying to tell you just once more That i love you I still love you Love comes from the most unexpected places Alone again i search a street of unrelated faces Where strangers look the other way They're so afraid my...

Hmm. Beautiful, horrible, magical, terrible. Reason to laugh and smile. Reason to cry yourself to sleep at night. Start a fight. Make up, break up, wrong or right. Heaven for all its worth can equally be held right here on earth. (And no one really knows anything about it) But everybody needs it. We can't life without it. And that's the way it goes.) Darkest day, brightest night. Just some other things you might hear if you ask what love feels like. And it feels like joy, and it feels like pain. And it feels like sunshine, feels like rain. An excuse for dying, reason to live. And if you don't know, that's what love is. Love is. Gentle kiss, sweet caress. Kiss the base of your neck. Argue until my head bursts, I can't remember what you said. Out, screaming loud, don't know what we're screaming bout. So confused and yes its true, but if it wasn't there what would we do? (And no one really knows anything about it) But everybody needs it. We can't live w...

I was accused of always writing in my blog of things that do not reflect my happiness. Although not every day can be happy, or joyous I do have plenty to be happy about and usually feel like one of the lucky ones. So... Here are a few of the things that make and continue to make me happy. 1. A quiet walk to the breakers in Provincetown. 2. A quiet walk in Provincetown interrupted by friends, and the flowers of spring and summer. 3. Good friends that you can depend on. 4. Having successfully sold my house in Jersey to help survive career shifts and the economy. 5. The work my business ABS Partner Marketing brings me even if I am not totally ready for constant work (smiles) 6. The welcome of Pearl (corgi) when I return. 7. Realizing at the end of a business trip I will be back in my own little slice of paradise. 8. Learning that things are just that... Things. I do like nice ones but in the end they are not nearly as important as happiness and the people in your life. 9. Ending a 24 yea...