This thing called 'sudden deafness' happened to me 6 years ago at the age of 66. It was literally sudden. One moment I could hear, next moment I lost hearing in my left ear. Not only that, but als that constant sound in my good ear:tinnitus. As a bonus the loss of balance. 3 for the price of one. I needed a cane. I was a big fan of New Orleans singer Dr. John. He walks with a cane. Now I had an excuse to walk like Dr. John, though nobody I know, knows the guy. Anyway, bought a second cane, because bad knees, and a third one, you know just in case, a fourth one for in my car and a fifth for on my bicycle.

When I start writing on a subject, any subject, I notice all these flaws in my thinking. How hard it must be for other people to be in a conversation with me.

4 years ago I visited amsterdamlightfestival.com/en Ik couldn't get my Olympus camera to make a reasonable picture of the items at display . The rest of the people brought their smartphones and scored great pics. 4 years ago, so in the Middle Ages! I felt my camera was from the Jurassic.

"*You know how they talk about off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway? Well, this post is off-off-topic. We'll have no more of this!" I keep coming back here, only for these off-off subjects. So, please more of that!

Congrats too. Came here in 2014 thereabouts because bought a camera. Lost my interest in photothings 3 yrs ago. But keep coming back because all the wisdom that I read about, and the ideas for music, books, movies, web, and stuff. Bought some coffee related things of which I would never have heard, if I wouldn't read about it here. Same thing with waterrower. Followed and mimic your journey with/ battling of your weight. Tried intermittent fasting and now plant based (sort of). Lost 10% of my initial weight. I feel so much better and for a small part I owe it to your experiences. Thats all the goodies I have for you right now :)

"Of course, to be impressed with that, your middle schooler will need to understand what "correlates" means. :-) " A smart middle-schooler might respond by telling that there is no need for this learning of new Vocabulary, because when I get rich this will come on its own. Correlation on the one hand and cause and effect on he other........

Leitz didn't sue BMW either for their M1....M whatever cars. [Leitz sold Leica in 1986; the first M car was 1978 or '79. Presumably no one would confuse a car with a camera? I assume that's it, although, as I say, I don't know about these things. Fun factoids: M originally stood for "Motorsports," and supposedly the red in the M logo was the color of Texaco, which BMW was trying to attract as a racing sponsor at the time the original colors were developed. Some of the people involved in picking the colors confirm this, and some deny it. In any event the Texaco connection never came about. --Mike]

Richard Krajicek I can pronounce his last name (3) Same home country, city even (1) Same native language (1) I know of his fame, winning Wimbledon is apparently an achievement (1). I know this, because it was all over the news. In the same summer another guy from the same country, city, Michael Boogerd, won one etappe in the Tour de France. I couldn’t miss it because, again, it was all over the news. I never watched tennis on TV. In the 'eighties I used to watch road cycling, my favourite was Paris–Roubaix, aka the Hell of the North.

And how about their respective favorite DSLR-brand?

Well Mike, It is this blog where I heard of the plant based diet. I just finished reading "How not to diet". Ik stopped eating meat. Try to lessen my butter and cheese consumption. Nearly no alcohol. Instead lots of ingredients mentioned in the book. I am happy to live in a country, where healthy food is available for moderate prices and always obtainable within walking, or at least cycling distance for everyone. I reached my all time high last February: 129 kg. Now I am down to 116 kg. This new eating habit strengthen my hopes that I can reach below 100 kg, maybe even less. I know it will take a very slow course, which can be frustrating at times, just like I know there will be plateaus. I already had one. When my weight stayed around 119 kg for weeks without any change. But I read somewhere (here?) that this was to be expected and nothing to worry about. Well Mike: Thank you for that. And please, please continue writing about non-photo-related stuff. It is so helpfull for some readers, I am sure. Anyway, for me it is!

Kenneth Tanaka said it much better than I could have had. Though I am not so sure about the prison-equation, but I assume it was a poetic liberty from his part :)

I like to put my thoughts into written prose. I found out that that is quite hard to do. It is a skill I don't master. My question to you: What strategy would you propose to me to follow, if I want to write my things, in a similar fashion like you do? Greetings from the greatest cycling country in the world :)

Category: Iphone camera is better equipped for this subject han any camera.

"I mean, how can anybody not be interested in pool? It's a sport." I am not uninterested in pool, specifically. I am uninterested in sports. I am not interested in photography and cameras. Not anymore. But I keep coming back here every day, hoping you write about different subjects. And you do that every so often! In general I must say that I DO find your litany of OT musings to be very interesting. "The Online Muser". mmmmm. I like that :)

I wrote a comment about the use of the word "hunger". This in response to a remark you made why not to use this word. There was even a quote of someone, meaning if you use it often you don't know the meaning of it. But far better put, than in my memory. I searched for the page, which was recent one, but couldn't find it. Did you delete a blog? [It was published Gerard. Here it is: https://tinyurl.com/9umjzdjz --Mike]

Honger For my mother, having survived the Dutch "Hongerwinter" of 1944/45, the words "Hunger" and "Hungry" were on the top of the list of taboo-subjects. As a child I was always corrected by the same sermon "You don't know what hunger is, you should say I am having an appetite", most of the times followed by one of her wartime stories, the favourite being the two milk bottles, that exploded because of the freezing cold. Second on that list was the throwing away of leftovers of a dinner. I remember inviting my parents for a dinner I cooked at my house. After a pleasant evening, upon leaving, my mother saw me emptying a bowl of leftover pasta in the bin. She got very, very angry. I had never seen her that angry. It must have distressed her very much. This happened in 1980. So 35 years after the fact. The ignorance of my youth allowed me to be annoyed by this all. Even in my thirties I acted annoyed. Maybe I should have shown a little bit of understanding and compassion. Even in the last year of her life, she died at 96, she once again told me the story of the two milk bottles, and asked me if she'd ever told me this. I couldn't help but answer "Yeah mum, maybe a thousand times". Stupid of me, of course.

Since I read this blog, I dont look at people’s faces, only at their wrists.

After my retirement I drove cars for lease companies, rentals, dealers, etc. Most of the times it was the bread and butter kind of car here in Europe: VW Polo, Renault Clio and so on. I remember once having to drive a Mercedes Benz G 63 Biturbo, the Uber Bling Bling version, leather upholstered dashboard, alcantara roof, 21 inch wheels and the lot. I have seldom been that embarrassed when driving that very car. Bad taste. Zum Kotzen. The expression goes like “I wouldn’t like to be found dead in this car”. TBH I feel the same for all those overpriced luxury goods. A Rolex watch is on the top of my list in that department. I was therefor a bit shocked when my son in law, who I like very much, told me he really would love to own a Rolex. In 1978, I bought a Seiko, a moderate priced kind similar to the one you refer to as “Seiko Classic”, on a plane tax free. Wore it for years, lost it and bought myself an identical Seiko. Ten years ago I bought a Casio Pro-trek, a solar powered gadget watch. Last week the Casio stopped doing its gadgets tricks, so I dug up my trusted old Seiko, went to the jewellers’ shop to have the battery changed. Turned out it too stopped working. So I asked them to send it for repair. Fortuitously, now my favourite blogger does a piece on watches :) I like having a watch on my wrist. For me it’s more convenient to move my wrist and direct my head in the direction of my wrist, the I want to know the time, than to go looking for and then pick up my iPhone, put my thumb on the homebutton in order to unlock it, and swipe to the right screen. You’ll understand that I therefore totally disagree with your statement that “it's totally unnecessary in the first place” A smartphone does indeed do the job, but in a clumsy manner. And don’t get me started on the superfluity and clumsiness of items like electric powered windows in modern cars. I could rant on that subject for quite a while, but I should consider my blood pressure instead. One last note on the subject of watches. You refer to them as ‘watches’ in stead of ‘wristwatches’. Could it be that in your mind you put this obsolete item against a modern contraption like a smartwatch and therefor compare its function? If one would compare the form-factor it would be between the watch on a chain and the one on a persons wrist, hence: wristwatch.

I remember this event very vividly, made a big impression on my 12 year old self. Glad I wasn't an American (still am) and had to fight that war 7 years later.