“Kick off” sounds as though something exciting is in the works for this day, but I only used it to ward off the humid gloominess of the morning, anticipating a more upbeat day.

My Dark Sky weather app alerted me at 7:00 AM, and several times thereafter that we were to receive rain. The radar indicated a large band of showers surrounding The Miami Valley. However, Kettering seems to have avoided the rain, so far.

12:30 PM is my standing lunch with friends and colleagues. I do look forward to this time each week.

It’s been a very quiet, uneventful eleven day break. In fact, it’s just what I preferred. My text icon was moved to the back page of my phone alongside the phone icon which remains there. I am sure that when I return the text icon to the front page and open it, there will be an explosion of messages.

I struggle to maintain two lines of communication: email and texting. I insist on not using the private message sources for social media as it complicates my life a tad more than I desire. One stream of communication is perfectly doable in my life, and I do not need a plethora of communication sources. I shall not, and will not spread myself thin and busy myself with searching for communication via multiple sources.

In fact, I don’t comprehend needing to be so attached to the rest of the world as though I shall miss something. I know today’s culture must have these multiple sources but I am from the era where we had the telephone, letter writing, postcards when abroad, and sitting face-to-face for a chat. Of course, there was also Mother standing on the back patio to yell my name when she needed me to assist with something or to come home for dinner while playing.

Folks seem a bit taken aback when they ask for my text-number and I give them my email. I never use the phone unless it’s an emergency or a very last minute item that needs to be communicated. Texting is for my immediate need to communicate; I consider it to be a luxury in most cases. I do have friends and family with whom I text, and for most it’s simply due to the fact I know they seldom check their email. On their lesson days, students are encouraged to text only for an immediate need. That’s fine.

I know I am sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, as we use to say back in my youth, but it is merely my desire to be more productive and organized. For many of my friends and colleagues, having multiple communication sources works for them. For me, they do not. But, that’s my choice and what works best for me. I do not mind being so 1980s or 1990s!

It’s 10:00 AM and I am now an hour behind in writing because I was reading up on various topics of current news. An interesting world and time, indeed, but we’ve always had interesting episodes throughout history. Some prefer to say this is the end of times. Well, that has been a common battle cry throughout most of the world’s history, too, and it’s not just a Christian mantra when things get tough. It’s life. It’s a cycle, in many ways.

On with my day!

Happy birthday to Orville Wright and his younger sister, Katharine Wright Haskell, who were both born this date in 1871 and 1874 at 7 Hawthorn Street, Dayton, Ohio.