Show Notes - Week of December 2, 2019

December already?!?! Hardly over a fortnight until Christmas? And 10 working days before the holiday break?! Where did the time go? 

The trouble with working incredible hours and having a single-minded focus is that there is no mental capacity for anything beyond the focus of the single-mindedness. My brother-in-law apparently sold his house and moved cities. Vague recollection. A colleague is starting the next round of chemotherapy. Ringing some bells. The new Star Wars movie opens mid-month. Yeah, I think I saw a trailer for that. 

Without focus, nothing big would ever be accomplished. But with focus, the non-urgent bleeds out while lying in the fringes, unattended and ignored.

Balance then is the key to unlock the magical gift of focus and resultant progress with the ability to enjoy life for itself. Flipping through a half-year of this mostly-weekly log of what has transpired in my life shows the medium-term effect of focus and the lack of balance that has resulted. The end of the year is timely as my biggest project for the month of December is making sure I recapture that balance and learning from the recent months with an eye to 2020 and beyond. 

Reading Pile:
You know a book is good when you are 25 pages in and you start thinking about calling in sick to work. That was my experience as I dug into "The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell, a story revolving around six decades of the protagonist's life, written in five different first-person points-of-view. Having also read "Cloud Atlas" bv MItchell, I can say that the author has a talent for taking a complex storyline and making it seamless and wonderful and captivating. 

The first section / chapter / novella comes to an end and I flip to the next section to be crushed when I realize that it isn't a direct continuation of the previous story. This isn't right! I want to know what happens, dammit! But wait, maybe it is related. Ah ha, there is the hook!. And then the third section switches again and I am once again crushed but then eagerly anticipating how the three will intertwine. So it goes on to the end, where I am crushed by the thought of the story ending. Just one more section, Mr. Mitchell. Please, can I have some more? 

The Bone Clocks is definitely a book I will re-read. I have five more books of his to read in the meantime. 

Update on yearly reading: The Bone Clocks is the forty-fifth book I have read this year. I am hoping to hit 50, and was on pace early this fall for 56, but I will be lucky to hit 48. Again, laser-beam focus cuts into the ability to have a well-rounded life. 

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New Words:
With a book like The Bone Clocks from an author like Mitchell, it is no surprise that there are so many new words this week. 

tumulus
[ˈt(y)o͞omyəˌləs]
NOUN
tumuli (plural noun)
an ancient burial mound; a barrow.

massif
[maˈsēf]
NOUN
a compact group of mountains, especially one that is separate from other groups.

insufflate
[ˈinsəˌflāt]
VERB
(medicine) blow (air, gas, or powder) into a cavity of the body.
(theology) blow or breathe on (someone) to symbolize spiritual influence.

trepan
[trəˈpan]
VERB
trepanning (present participle)
perforate (a person's skull) with a trepan

pullulate
[ˈpəlyəˌlāt]
VERB
1. multiply or spread prolifically or rapidly.
2. be full of or teeming with.

oleaginous
ADJECTIVE
ole·​ag·​i·​nous | \ ˌō-lē-ˈa-jə-nəs  \
1: resembling or having the properties of oil
2: marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality

preprandial
[prēˈprandēəl]
ADJECTIVE
done or taken before dinner or lunch.

sibilant
[ˈsibələnt]
ADJECTIVE
1. making or characterized by a hissing sound.
2. (of a speech sound) sounded with a hissing effect, for example s, sh.

atavistic
[ˌadəˈvistik]
ADJECTIVE
relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral.

fissiparous
[fiˈsipərəs]
ADJECTIVE
inclined to cause or undergo division into separate parts or groups.

irrupt
[iˈrəpt]
VERB
enter forcibly or suddenly.

epiphyte
[ˈepəˌfīt]
NOUN
(botany) a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic, such as the numerous ferns, bromeliads, air plants, and orchids growing on tree trunks in tropical rainforests.

petrel
[ˈpetrəl]
NOUN
a seabird related to the shearwaters, typically flying far from land.

entrepôt
[ˈäntrəˌpō]
NOUN
a port, city, or other center to which goods are brought for import and export, and for collection and distribution.

philology
[fəˈläləjē]
NOUN
the branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language or languages.

chatoyant
[SHəˈtoiənt]
ADJECTIVE
(of a gem, especially when cut en cabochon) showing a band of bright reflected light caused by aligned inclusions in the stone.

susurrate
[ˈso͞osəˌrāt]
VERB
literary
(of leaves, wind, etc.) make a whispering or rustling sound.