The Gum Tree for 2004 December

Wed Dec 01 10:27:16 MST Intern at the shoe store and Oliver Sacks:

Louise is doing a TESOL (English Second Language) internship at Deseret Industries. She was a little aprehensive about it because this is her first out of school job (in high school she didn't have any jobs and the only work she has had was TA or Lab assistant work so far). She worked with a lady in the shoe department yesterday helping her become more marketable in the job market by learning English.

Well, Last night she had a funny dream. She dreampt that she was in the olympic Diving Finals. She got up on the high dive, and ran out to do her dive when, she slipped and did some kind of pencil cartwheel in the air before smashing into the water. She also had some nightmare about shoes taking over the world or something like that.

I also had the pleasure to see Oliver Sacks speak at devotional today on BYU campus. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to see this world renoun writer and physician speak about Alzheimer's Desease. It was a wonderful lecture, and I can see why Robin Williams was chosen to play him in the movie "Awakenings." He had the most interesting personal idiosyncracies. He was genuine and a wonderful speaker. Oliver Sacks closing statement was that "if one were to develop Alzheimer's, then one would do well to live in Utah with its spiritual base and close community ties." He was brilliant, and my interest was peaked once again to go to Albert Einstein COM to perhaps be able to have him as a teacher and mentor.

Mon Dec 06 14:14:32 MST Finals Feva':

Louise and I are excited to get these next two weeks done. Then we will be in the Christmas spirit. We also went to a christmas party for the Utah Valley Chapter of the NFB (natl. Fed. of the Blind). We had a good time seeing old friends and people that we know.

Also, isn't it interesting that people who contribute the least take the biggest advantage of free stuff. There were people there who I had never even met before, and I have been to most of the Chapter meetings. There was one lady who RSVP'd 16 people from her extended family!!! Oh well, at least they were able to hear some good information about how to become more independant as a Blind person and enjoy good food and company at the same time.

Oh, Pardon me, I shouldn't be so much of a Scrooge, especially during Christmas parties. . . It was a nice event despite my small cynicism. In all seriousness, I am going to really enjoy Christmas this year. It will be a good time to be with some family.

I also called some friends from Nicaragua yesterday to wish them Merry Christmas. It was nice to hear from them. They seem so far away in a sense, but after a minute it seemed like it was not so long ago that I was there with them. They didn't know that America was at war or anything like that, and they live out their peaceful simple existance as if nothing had really changed. I always thought that the Nica's lifestyle was like that of a Hobbit.

(3) Wed Dec 08 19:12:15 MST My Brother in Law:

I found an article for my Brother in Law that was done by Australian Public Radio.

http://www.abc.net.au/widebay/stories/s1062130.htm

I thought it was interesting if anybody else wants to hear or read it.

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