CURRENT EVENTS

Another year is coming to a close and I always like to ask myself this question.  Unfortunately, I don’t always like the answer, but I did try.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

“Reading is your first line of defense against an empty head. … like an athlete in training, the more you read, the more mentally fit you feel.”

“I read for growth, firmly believing that what you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things: the people you meet and the books you read.”

Source: Twyla Tharp

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

I have been watching updated versions of A Christmas Carol and I can’t recommend any of them; other than, Bill Murray’s Scrooged. I believe it is still the best updated version of A Christmas Carol.

Scrooged (1988)

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

The Christmas season in always a bit stressful.  

This song has a great message.

Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)

By The Ramones

ART OF THE WEEK

I didn’t visit Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier in Chicago this year, but I have been there many years in the past and it has something for everyone in the family.

Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier, Chicago

There are a number of cool rides for kids

There is the huge Christmas Tree

And Christmas displays from all over the world, here are just a few.

Ireland

France

Germany

Poland

Russia

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON OF THE WEEK

Ebenezer Scrooge

George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge

The extraordinary person of the week is Ebenezer Scrooge. Unfortunately, his last name has come into the English language as a byword for miserliness.

I say unfortunately because Ebenezer Scrooge is proof that regardless of how old a person is and how mean-spirited that person may be, redemption is still possible.

Although his name today is a byword for miserliness, in his time it was always said of him that, “he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

THIS WEEK’S JOKE

PHYSICAL TRAITS

CHARACTER TRAITS

I know this is a stressful time of the year and we may have a tendency to want to bark at other drivers,  but instead we should still try to be considerate and understanding to other drivers. 

SOCIAL TRAITS 

This time of the year many people are spending more than they can really afford on presents or stressing themselves out with gift buying.

Perhaps, you should consider giving more of your “presence” and less “presents”.  Your time is worth more than any gift you could give.

LEARNING TRAITS

Visit the USA

The following is the best description I can come up with for describing what it is like to visit the USA.

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it.

In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said “This being is like a thick snake”.

For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan.

As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk.

The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, “elephant is a wall”.

Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope.

The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

MISCELLANEOUS 

LAST WEEK’S POLLS

BOOK 

Warning:  This book will not change your life, only you can do that.