Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: A Thousand Marbles

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Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 04-05-2001, 06:52 AM:

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that come with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up on the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind........he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking to something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well Tom, it sure sounds like your busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well, but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your fanily so much. Hard to believe that a young fellow would have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital." He continued, "Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that when he began to explain his theory of a"a thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years." "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number od Saturdays a person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part."

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I had only about a thousand of them left to enjoy." So I went to a toy store and I bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up a thousand marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one out and thrown it away."

'I found out that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on earth run out to help you get your priorities straight."

"Now, let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it to next Saturday, then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you, Tom I hope you spend more time with your family and I hope to meet you again here on the band. 75 year old man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning."

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet with a few hams to work on the club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked, with a smile.

"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at the toy store while were out? I need to buy some marbles."

MAY ALL YOUR SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL

This was sent to me several years ago, I wanted to share it.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 04-05-2001, 07:06 AM:

Wonderful sentiments.

A much more meaningful interpretation of the phrase "He's lost all his marbles".

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 04-05-2001, 11:02 AM:

What comes to mind is the "threescore and ten" quote from the Bible. Here it is as it appeared in the original King James (note the archaic word spellings, and the oddness that "years" was spelled two different ways in the verse):

The dayes of our yeres are threescore yeeres and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourescore yeeres, yet is their strength labour and sorrow: for it is soone cut off, and we flie away.
- Psalmes 90:10 (KJV 1611)

The important thing to note about this verse is "strength". The verse says that strength is required to live over 70 years, although life typically gets hard after age 70. Recently, a friend of mine lost an uncle that was 81 years old that was like a father to him. I attended his funeral. My father is 72 (almost 73) and my mother is 65. Human life is precious. Those of you who have elderly relatives and friends: every day you have with them is a blessing. Enjoy their company while you can.

Totally disjoint thought:

The other thing that came to mind frequently while reading Bob Maar's post is the line from "Animal House" (1978) where the guy goes in the store and says "I need 10000 marbles please." .

Evans

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 04-05-2001, 11:44 AM:

While you have those older relatives around, be sure to get family history and explanations of photos that may be in family albums. I've just scanned one family album of over 300 pictures, with many more albums to go.

The photos that had penciled explantions on the back were a godsend. It amazes me how many people go through life, and within a single generation their entire life can be a mystery to those of us that study the family geneaology.
www.storypreservation.com is a good place to start. Do it instead of sitting in front of the tube. The time will be well worth it.

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 04-05-2001, 11:59 AM:

As a the family historian for my family, I was fortunate enough to get my Mom, Dad, Grandmother and grand father to do an oral history into a tape recorder. They are all deceased now and have been for over 18 years. I am fortunate to have these recording of which I made copies for my brother and sisters.

Thank you all for your input.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 04-05-2001, 03:39 PM:

In 1958 when my Dad's brother was 12, he took several summers' worth of lawn mowing money to the local electronics store and purchased a 'Voice of Music' monophonic tube amplified 1/4" reel to reel tape recorder and microphone. During the course of that year, he would tote that beast of a tape recorder everywhere and interview every family member and friend he came in contact with. That tape was found to have on it recordings of interviews and poems by many great aunts and uncles who have long since passed on. A few years ago, i made a CD of that tape and gave copies to many family members. It was a good way to keep their memory alive.

-sean

(footnote - the 'multimedia' materials my family has are interesing. On my dad's side, all that exists besides photographs is this single hour long tape of family voices. On my mom's side, we have thousands of feet of 8mm Kodachrome of her family but no audio record. hmm )

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 04-05-2001, 04:01 PM:

Sean: I bet all that KODACHROME film still looks pretty good.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 04-05-2001, 07:27 PM:

Jp:

Yeah, it's pretty visually stunning.. especially after an application of Filmguard. wow!

-sean

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-05-2001, 08:22 PM:

My grandfather's 16mm Kodachrome and Anscochrome home movies from the late 1940s still look stunning and the original film is pristine. Unfortunately, there are only a few hundred feet of it. He wasn't really much of a photographer, but he does have hundreds of Kodachrome slides from his travels which are also stunning.

Two years ago, I made a 20-minute 16mm short, consisting of interviews with several family members. I used a rented Arriflex 16BL and Nagra tape recorder, and editied it on a Steenbeck. We projected a print at a family gathering that year, and I gave videotape copies of it to everyone last Christmas. I suspect that everyone will appreciate this even more in future years.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 04-06-2001, 08:59 AM:

I shot many family events on my old 16mm Pathe Webo. I outfitted it with a Kowa Anamorphic to shoot scope 16mm as well