Questions/comments for sighyoung

[cardinalkarp]

Happy birthday mayor.

[CardsofSTL]

Birthday Bump @sighyoung

What are you doing for your birthday?

Taking it easy: got some nice presents from the family, took a walk with my wife, and picked up some Indian food from the best Indian/Nepalese restaurant in town.

Nice weather, too: sunny and 75 degrees.

I hope all of you are doing well, too.

Kathmandu?

Yes, and it did not disappoint today, either.

That's good eats...I am picky on Indian food because sometimes the spice is too much for me; I like their butter chicken though.

[heyzeus]

Ugh I did mean George Sauders. I have failed you, professor.

[IMADreamer]

Happy birthday Sigh. Can we still ask questions? I'd love some of your wisdom. I'm in my mid 40s and feel very unfulfilled at this point in my life. What the hell should I do? I honest bounce back and forth between nihilism and just find a big oak tree to hit at high speed. I need some meaning of life type advice.

[sighyoung]

Hi IMADreamer. First, I'm sorry to hear that you have feelings of lack fulfillment or possibly meaning. I'm especially sad about it because it's a pleasure reading your posts: I've enjoyed reading about your courtship and relationship, work, family, cars, navigating illness and aging in the family--you're a genuinely decent, thoughtful person, and you clearly care about and help others.

Are there other avenues of life that you'd like to pursue? Or do you just suspect that you're missing out on something?

Your feelings are common, and I can't say I have any special wisdom other than time and really trying to take better care of myself. I found my mid-40's to be difficult: I didn't find my job fulfilling (really, I was burned out), had young children, and then I became my mother's power-of-attorney and caretaker for several years.

Things are much better for me 20 years later: some of it was taking better care of myself (exercise, diet, meditation, treating myself more), some was being kinder to myself, and some was time. I'm fortunate that my wife continues to work on our relationship with me. And now both children are gainfully employed, so they'll leave the nest soon.

Beyond pursuing other opportunities, do you have a social support network? (I neglected mine.) Do you set aside time for yourself or with your partner (I still need to do this).

I don't feel like a model for anyone, but I do hope these feelings you have are in the rear-view mirror soon. I've been surprised about how many problems in my life eventually passed, and thankfully so.

[IMADreamer]

Hi IMADreamer. First, I'm sorry to hear that you have feelings of lack fulfillment or possibly meaning. I'm especially sad about it because it's a pleasure reading your posts: I've enjoyed reading about your courtship and relationship, work, family, cars, navigating illness and aging in the family--you're a genuinely decent, thoughtful person, and you clearly care about and help others.

Are there other avenues of life that you'd like to pursue? Or do you just suspect that you're missing out on something?

Your feelings are common, and I can't say I have any special wisdom other than time and really trying to take better care of myself. I found my mid-40's to be difficult: I didn't find my job fulfilling (really, I was burned out), had young children, and then I became my mother's power-of-attorney and caretaker for several years.

Things are much better for me 20 years later: some of it was taking better care of myself (exercise, diet, meditation, treating myself more), some was being kinder to myself, and some was time. I'm fortunate that my wife continues to work on our relationship with me. And now both children are gainfully employed, so they'll leave the nest soon.

Beyond pursuing other opportunities, do you have a social support network? (I neglected mine.) Do you set aside time for yourself or with your partner (I still need to do this).

I don't feel like a model for anyone, but I do hope these feelings you have are in the rear-view mirror soon. I've been surprised about how many problems in my life eventually passed, and thankfully so.

I do want to say I am incredibly fortunate. My wife and I have an amazing relationship. I didn't even realize it was possible to have someone you just wanted to be with all the time. I've had other great relationships don't get me wrong, but what I have with Michelle is just on a level I didn't know existed. If my wife and I are not at work, we are together.

Work is still enjoyable, but it's hard to get excited about getting up and knowing you are going to be putting in a 12-16 hour day harvesting this time of year knowing you aren't making money. Not that money is everything, and we are fine in that department no matter what happens, but it takes some of the fun out of it. As I said somewhere else here this is also the first harvest without Dad and my Uncle. It just feels so different. It feels more like work than a carrying on of my families legacy. I guess it's hard to get those feels when you look over across the field and it's just some guy you hired to help and not your Dad or Uncle.

I think maybe this is my midlife crisis or something and maybe I should just go buy another Corvette and get through it. but I don't want another Corvette. lol Anyway thanks for letting me chat and rant.

[CardsofSTL]

The only question I have left for @sighyoung is, Hemingway or Faulkner?

[sighyoung]

The only question I have left for @sighyoung is, Hemingway or Faulkner?

If you're talking revolutionary artist/influence on the development of Southern literature, then Faulkner. If you're talking broader stylistic/cultural influence (and a read without pausing every couple of minutes to figure things out), Hemingway.

But I'm more a poetry person, and gravitate to the modernist poets--less Eliot and Pound (although I can explain them) than Stevens, Moore, and Williams, and depending upon how you define literary modernism, Frost, e. e. cummings, as well as writers in the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Larsen, Sterling Brown, Claude McKay) and the Black Chicago Renaissance (especially Brooks).

[CardsofSTL]

The only question I have left for @sighyoung is, Hemingway or Faulkner?

If you're talking revolutionary artist/influence on the development of Southern literature, then Faulkner. If you're talking broader stylistic/cultural influence (and a read without pausing every couple of minutes to figure things out), Hemingway.

But I'm more a poetry person, and gravitate to the modernist poets--less Eliot and Pound (although I can explain them) than Stevens, Moore, and Williams, and depending upon how you define literary modernism, Frost, e. e. cummings, as well as writers in the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Larsen, Sterling Brown, Claude McKay) and the Black Chicago Renaissance (especially Brooks).

That is a good answer. I tried reading Faulkner in my more literate days and could not tell you anything about it. Hemingway's works I read fairly comprehensively.

The best poem ever published is Birches by Frost.

[IMADreamer]

The only question I have left for @sighyoung is, Hemingway or Faulkner?

If you're talking revolutionary artist/influence on the development of Southern literature, then Faulkner. If you're talking broader stylistic/cultural influence (and a read without pausing every couple of minutes to figure things out), Hemingway.

But I'm more a poetry person, and gravitate to the modernist poets--less Eliot and Pound (although I can explain them) than Stevens, Moore, and Williams, and depending upon how you define literary modernism, Frost, e. e. cummings, as well as writers in the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Larsen, Sterling Brown, Claude McKay) and the Black Chicago Renaissance (especially Brooks).

Well this is a new rabbit hole I'm headed down.