Well it is Monday afternoon,
I had meatballs for dinner, and came back to your Wednesday letter.
I am never quite sure how you will take some of my comments, and one would think that by now I would err on the side of being sure that any comments I make could never be taken "the wrong way." Whatever that way is. I am okay with your decision on the blog, and knew it would come some day. I also have no problem with you seeking a volunteer to take over blog. And yes to giving out my name.
I always wonder which letters you have actually read, as you are writing to me, and figure that some question or issue you raise are already on their way to you to straighten out a point of confusion. I am fairly sure since the events happened on same day that you knew about my latest (and possibly fatal) court decision yet you mentioned the hot pot but not the court case?
I am left to wonder (and I know this may seem silly to you) why you failed to mention it, and if it somehow has an effect on what you say in the letter. In this case, I say I might just be in for another ten years and you decide to cut back all the work you do on my behalf? I do not mind, it is the wondering that gets me.
Maybe I am asking you for something you do not want to share, but I do recall a comment you made at one other point about should you bother with me, if I am not getting out any time soon. I am not saying you have no power to make any unilateral decisions, you do. I am saying that sometimes it seems to me you may skip over some of your thought process that would be helpful to me.
I am at a loss for what I have sent that makes any sense to you and what may be a waste of time.
I realize that in the past I would not give as much thought to my actions or the meaning behind the actions of others.
There has obviously been some degree of misunderstanding built into our correspondence, and I might be at fault for not picking up on those issues sooner, and then when I do touch base with the issue again, it is off on a life of its own.
Well it is almost count time (5:25 PM) and I am going to try and call Mom and Dad after the count. Might as well get all the bad news out of the way at one time. More to follow!
Okay, 6:20 PM, I guess I will enclose the two page post I was working on before I got your letter.
One good thing about giving up the blog is hopefully I can get a couple of hours to have you compile a C program! I would envision you scanning in some code, running it through the compiler, and then sending me the compile errors. You only have to return the error report; I will have copy of code. I fix the code and send it back to you. I do not want to attract too much attention of the incoming mail people. Remember, I seal the outgoing mail!
It would appear that this would not happen more than once every two weeks. I can see the discipline it would enforce on me. It would obviously be to my advantage to work in short, concise routines so I am not forced to retype pages of code to correct a few errors. I will order that basic C++ book from Hamilton.
I bet you are wondering if I called home. Yeah I did, right after the count as I said I would. I have been stewing over how to characterize the call.
The first words from Dad were, "Why you are calling?" I guess the fact that they never answered back with a suggested schedule of calls meant do not call. It is hard to reconcile the fact that my parents might really be operating at a reduced capacity, as opposed to giving me the feeling that I am an intrusion.
I got a letter from Smith Corona about the typewriter problems and asked dad to call them to see if he could move the issue along, and he said they had taken all my letters with them so they could write to me, but then they were so busy!
Well, I was rushed off the phone and left feeling not much different than when I started the call. Could be worse, I could have felt worse.
I have a pile of stuff that I was going to write about, but I will hold off for now.
I understand you are not giving up the blog to have me fill up those hours with other stuff for me. I am clear on that. I will continue writing to you, without expecting an even exchange in terms of volume or frequency.
If we get an interested party to take over blog, great; if not, then I can use my time to do some other types of writing, all of which you will be the first to see. It will be great if I do end up with a few pen pals, but I will not hold my breath. It did seem that Summer was willing to write to me directly.
The scanning questions answered! Yes, it points out how out of the loop I really am, but once given the basic info things become so much clearer! I am so out of touch with the real world that I guess in some cases I really do need to some of the most basic information.
