Afternoon, Sunday, November 12, 2023, Lithia, Florida
Hi, everyone, and welcome to another Sunday edition of A Certain Point of View, Too. It’s almost 2 PM Eastern Daylight Time as I begin this, the 1,329th post overall and the 430th for 2023. Outside, the temperature is 86°F/30°C under partly sunny conditions. It’s late fall, of course, but since we’re in the subtropics here in the Tampa Bay area, it feels like a high summer day: the feels-like temperature is 94°F/35°C. Today’s forecast for the Lithia/Fish Hawk section of Hillsborough County calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 87°F/31°C.
In stark contrast, my future place of residence, Madison, New Hampshire, is experiencing weather that is more appropriate for late fall/early winter. As I write this, the temperature there is 39°F/4°C under sunny skies, with a feels-like temperature of 52°F/11°C. (My friend Juan Carlos Hernandez, who has lived up North for decades now, says that I’ll be glad when it’s sunny and the temperature is 52°F/11°C…once I’m used to the colder climes of New England, that won’t feel as bad as I, a native Floridian, think it is.)
Weekend Update, Part the Second
After a morning flurry of getting stuff into moving boxes which went on, in fits and starts, till early afternoon, my Saturday returned to the usual routine of being left to figure out what to do to kill time and eat for dinner. Most of my books, including those that were on my To Be Read (TBR) stack, are in the moving boxes, and I wasn’t in the mood to sit down and read any of the ones that are still in my room. I do, on occasion, grab one of them – Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, by Sarah Kuhn – and halfheartedly riffle through the pages and read random passages without much enthusiasm.
I also attempted to play Regiments for a while…not once but twice. If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you know that this Cold War-turned-hot game of land warfare in an alternate version of 1989 West Germany is one of my favorites, but even though I started two missions, I quit playing well before I was even halfway through a skirmish. Just as what happened with my reading, my heart just wasn’t in it.
As for dinner, I ordered some pizza, Melts, and breaded boneless chicken wings from Pizza Hut, which has become my SOP for fending for myself on weekends. I like Pizza Hut food, otherwise, I would not order it from the nearby store, but I have a feeling that once I’m up in Madison, I’ll wait several months before I order as much as a breadstick from that chain restaurant.
Finally, because yesterday was Veterans Day in the United States, I planned to watch either a war movie or a documentary about military history. I even set aside one of the two Ken Burns documentaries that fit the category (The War, if you must know) to watch after I ate my chicken wings (which were the Honey BBQ ones) and a couple of pizza slices.
Again, my enthusiasm for doing anything fun was absent, so I ended up not watching The War after all.
Pre-moving anxiety and worrying about my long-term future, especially when it comes to dating and relationships, aren’t making this transition from Lithia to Madison easy, I’ll tell you that much. But…I’d rather not write about that now. I will say this…I’m still half-happy, half-sad about leaving Florida. Nevertheless, the decision has been made, and the packing has started, so….I’m obviously committed to going to New Hampshire.
I don’t have much else to say, so I will close here. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.
A successful history professor is forced to confront the fact that he allowed a love interest to slip away because of insecurity as well as because of the lure of promising opportunities. This novella presents a profound “what if” scenario that is poignantly but beautifully told. It is a sad love story about regret and loss but also a story about friendship. The book reminds us about how differently a teenager and an adult views life and themselves and what the consequences could be.
The character development is excellent. The characters have personality and depth. The author describes the feelings and the thoughts of the characters in a manner that is both realistic and easy to relate to. The story is compelling and well written, it draws you in, and it has something important to tell us, especially young people.
I was planning to read it over a couple of days, but after I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down, so I read it in one sitting. Later on, I read it again, more than once, which is why I updated this review. It is a really great story, one of the best I’ve ever read, and you can read many times. I highly recommend it. – Thomas Wikman, in his updated Amazon book review
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Comments
14 responses to “Musings & Thoughts for Sunday, November 12, 2023, or: Weekend Update, Part the Second”
Thank you so much Alex for showing my review again, and I happened to notice a couple of typos that I will fix.
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You’re welcome, Thomas!
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We don’t have a Pizza Hut in town now. The one we had closed during COVID and never reopened. We do have a nice “market” down the hill from us that has good pizza and good sandwiches. But you’re going to have to get used to cooking a lot of your own meals again instead of going out. The new Market Basket supermarket does have a great “grab and go” prepared foods section.
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Nice! I don’t mind cooking meals. I’m going to have to start with simple things, though! I’ve not cooked on a regular basis since Spring of 2016.
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I hope you have a safe move.
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It’s not till December 12, I’m still in Florida for one month yet.
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I know, but the packing can get very hard.
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I’ve moved many times and know that anxiety well. Hopefully, we’re in our forever home now. I hope it all goes smoothly as you make your final arrangements and continue packing.
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Packing is so nerve-racking. And, of course, I’ve never been so far north before! I’ve been to New York City and Wisconsin, but not in winter, and definitely not for long periods of time!
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I’ve been in the north all my life but I reckon it does take some getting used to. I hope it goes well for you.
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Me, too, Kymber. Me, too.
I used to live in Bogota, which is nearly 9,000 feet above sea level in the Cordillera Central of the Andes in Colombia, so I’ve lived in cold climates before. But…I was a child then, and I have only been back to see family twice since Mom and I first moved back to Florida back in 1972. And even then…there’s no snow. Hail is the closest to snow that falls in Bogota.
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Wow! What an interesting experience, living in Bogota. Where I live in Michigan, we have lots of lake effect weather, so lots and lots of snow and ice. Our first snowfall this year has already happened as it fell and stuck to the ground October 31. The next day it melted away.
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Bogota is the largest city I’ve ever lived in. I believe the population there at the time was between 5-6 million people. It’s a great place to live…if you’re in the right social class and have lots of money. The contrast between the haves and have nots there is utterly stark, though.
Last time I went was for the 1993-1994 holiday season. I wasn’t used to the high altitude, though, so I got dizzy a lot the first few weeks of our stay there. (Mom went, too…it was our last overseas trip together.)
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I’ve never been to Bogota before, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it someday. 🙂
I’ve heard that can happen at high altitude but I’ve never experienced it myself. I’m glad you and your mother were able to enjoy a trip like that.
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