"Not your grandparent's nicknames...."

One of the first questions I was asked this past weekend (in light of the good news) by the other grandmother-to-be, is what I would like to be called by this baby-to-come. This is a common question of us Baby Boomers since we are of grandparent age now, yet aren't quite willing to become the stereotype that was our grandparents. Our generation is still trying to be 'cool' and wanting hip sounding names. For instance, my older sister decided on 'Marmi' which was the mother in "Little Women." My own parents became grandparents in their late 40's and weren't quite ready for that. When we asked them, they said the grandkids could call them by their first names, but that didn't seem quite right. Finally, the first grand daughter called my mother, Mimi, and my father, Papa, and that stuck. I'm hearing fun names like Big Daddy, Big Mama, G Daddy, or maybe what other countries call grandparents, such as Oma & Opa (commonly heard in my German town) or Yia Yia which is Greek. Since my ex-husband's name starts with P, I suggested P Daddy (get it?) which he shot down. And for years we've called him BoomPa after the Jimmy Stewart movie, "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation," which he hasn't been too crazy about either. Being very traditional, he kind of likes Grandpa but I'm not ready to go there. I'm kind of thinking about LuLu, as I'm kind of eccentric and it sort of fits. Sometimes you've just got to let your freak flag fly and just be yourself, whatever that is. It's kind of freeing when you stop trying to be like everybody else. People just have to accept you for who you are.

LuLu it is...

"The times they are a changing."

Just read that Borders Bookstores is closing all of their nearly 400 stores, thus their 10,700 employees will then be unemployed...ugh....

This is distressing on many levels. Naturally it's sad that a company that big is going under, and all those people will be out of a job.

But on top of that, I am disturbed that books, physical books, are going the way of the train....

Yes, I know, I'm a Baby Boomer, and we've gotten to hold books and turn the pages and have bookshelves. But books are going the way of watches; they are becoming obsolete. Everything is electronic now. You see what time it is on your cell phone, iPad, or laptop. You read your books on your Kindle or iPad or whatever... I've heard in the very near future that, in order to save money, most colleges and private schools will have all text books online, and it won't be long until public schools will follow. What scares me is that history will be rewritten and no one will go back and check what was previously written. Or they will rewrite the Bible (which they are already trying to do) and change really important things or delete really important things, making the meaning totally different.

Gone will be the days when you could go into a bookstore and get to peruse what you'd like to buy and, if young, look at the pictures. It seems to me, that there is good and bad with the new e-books - good that anyone can get something published, but also bad.... With blogs and e-books, everyone is an author, and a vast number shouldn't be. I've already lamented in earlier blogs that magazines and newspapers (my lifelong career) have taken major hits, and the quality of writing has hit new lows. The customer is reticent to pay for news since quick news is even on people's cell phones, and most newspapers and magazines haven't made the on-line transition yet. And if the customer isn't willing to pay, then the quality of writing will be terrible. Not to mention the dumbing down of our schools systems, where high school graduates can't even write a term paper any more. Yes, the times they are a changing.

Just not sure if it's for the best...