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 |   On a daily basis... things that bump around in my head and make me go... hummm! |
My new blog:
This is not just a collections of personal musing but it is a place where I can vent. Talking about daily events on the local, state, and national scene is my way of letting off steam so I don't come home and kick the dog! We are all the Captain of our own "Ship of Fools." We go where the current of the times take us and we do what we must to be able to sleep at night. Now this Captain will speak his mind about that current and about the ocean on which we each sail....... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** {image: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** PLEASE MAIL ME YOUR VOTE FOR BLOGGER OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST. This is a shot of Me and Mel at our wedding. We were married in a simple ceremony on a deck overlooking Lake Livingston. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I am so proud of my new Siggy which was made by the very talented vivacious   . Thank you so very much for all the effort that went into this.** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This was taken from the wall in the Blogville Post Office. If you see this fugitive, please do not approach, he is armed and stupid. Contact the Blogville sheriff's office at once, then take cover! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** } ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
Today's blog may be uncomfortable for many of you to read. I will understand if you choose not to broach what is, for many, a very sensitive subject. The thing is....this is my thoughts and my place to put them. Precede at your own risk, this is just me telling the unvarnished truth about what I believe. Since I have been working on the Blogger Newsletter I have been reading a LOT of new blogs. Yesterday I ran across a blog wherein the writer was telling about their son calling them a racist. The reason the young man used this particularly harsh epithet was because the writer had expressed dislike of rap music. This got me to thinking....How many times have people been labeled a racist simply because we disliked some actions of people who were different from us or we criticized a form of music or literature? How often has the word "racist" been thrown at people simply because they had a different opinion than that of another group? Let me make a few things very clear here....I hate rap music. In fact it is not really music at all it mainly consists of an "artist" yelling rhymed words to the staccato beat of percussion instruments. Most of the time the lyrics of these songs call for listeners to rape women, shoot policemen and generally cause mayhem. I have heard black rappers and I have heard white rappers but I have yet to hear any rapper whose "song" I could listen to until the end. Does that make me a racist? No, that makes me a person with his own taste in music. I hate the antics of over-paid professional athletes and their in-your-face attitudes and how they believe that they are enabled, by their star status, to do whatever outrageous act they feel the need to do. Does that make me a racist? No, it makes me a person who believes in decorum and manners for the rich and famous as well as the everyday person. I hate and detest people who refuse to get off their ass and work hard to help themselves. I was sickened by the hundreds of people shown on TV angrily demanding the government come to their rescue and replace everything they lost because of hurricane Katrina. This attitude reached its zenith with some very influential spokesmen hinting that the Government's response was the same as the Holocaust in Europe during WW2. Very little was ever shown about the people in other parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who quietly went about the Herculean task of rebuilding their lives after the storm...with or without government help. Does this make me a racist? No, it makes me a man who values self-reliance and hard work above whining and crying for help without first trying to help myself. Many of you really smart people out there may be quick to point out that all the examples I have used have one thing in common; they are all associated with Blacks. Well that is right, they are but they are not exclusive to the Blacks. Whites, Browns and Yellows all, at one time or another have practiced the above traits. I got news for you....it is not racist to hate the actions of someone else, it is racist to hate the PERSON and hate them solely for the color of their skin. Now, I have noticed that it is the very young who are quick to use that word and the funny thing is that none of them have been alive long enough to have any real knowledge of what a racist country this once was. I was a child of the sixties and I saw first hand the racist attitudes of my elders in deep East Texas. I can remember being nine years old and walking down the sidewalk in downtown Livingston and having a grown black man who was walking toward me, step off the sidewalk to let me pass. I remember being sickened by the fact that he thought he had to do this. I remember having a friend who was black and getting the worse whipping of my life when I was caught playing with him. It didn't stop me from playing with him and being his friend, but we did have to be careful about letting anyone see us. THAT, my friends, is racism in its purest form. An interesting story from this time in my life.... I think I was about ten years old when, one Saturday, I accompanied my daddy to town. He had some business to attend to and told me to meet him back at the truck that afternoon....I was free for the day!!! Well, of course, I took off to my black friend's house to see if he was fee to play that day. When I got to his house his daddy met me at the door and told me that Pete was in the backyard with some other friends and for me to go on back. Well I went running around to the back of the house and there was Pete and three of his other friends, all black of course. Pete greeted me happily but his friends were not happy that the "Honkey" was standing there wanting to join them. Words were exchanged and we were just about to come to blows when Pete's dad stepped out of the back door and yelled at us to stop. He came down into the yard and demanded what the trouble was. Well Pete's friends started yelling about me being there and I had no right to play with their friend and I needed to be taught a lesson. I will never forget Pete's dad that day and the sad look on his face, or his quiet voice when he told those boys: "Has this young man hurt you? Has he insulted you in any way? Did he do anything to you when he walked into this yard?" To all those questions the boys answered no......"Then," Pete's dad told them sternly. "You just want to hurt him because he is white. Well that makes you no different than those Cracker White men who I have to deal with everyday. You boys are RACIST!" Well you could hear a pin drop after that. Then Mr. Parker made us all shake hands and told us that, in this yard, there was no color....except the color brown of his belt! We got the message and the five of us played the rest of the day together without any more trouble. As for Pete...well when we were both sophomores in High School the school was integrated. Pete became a starting tackle on the football team...the first black to play for the school and I was the guard who played right next to him, we made a damn good combination. Later, after Nam, Pete became one of the first black Secret Service Agents and was on the Presidential team....the guys who protect the leader of this country. He served under three administrations I believe. He is now retired and lives in the Washington area. Oh, and his Aunt Peggy has worked for Wal-Mart for 25years and I see her every day, five days a week...she keeps me posted on Pete. So, my friends, be careful about throwing around a word like "RACIST". We are still allowed to have a different opinion. |
Yesterday was a very productive day for me. I had planned on having "Invalid Item"  by A Guest Visitor finished and posted by today but in mid-week I got news that caused me to move up the deadline.My brother called me and said he and his wife planned on being in the area Saturday and wanted to visit. Well I knew I had to get whatever work I had to do, done because once me and my brother get together there would be no time for the computer. So, yesterday I buckled down and not only set up the new Newsletter, but I also finished my entry for BANG, the great Newsletter by Nada  dedicated to those of us who wear the title, BABYBOOMER, proudly.I was quite surprised and pleased with the reception my newsletter for Bloggers recieved. It garnered 56 views of its first issue and that's not bad. Of course, considering that we have 1400 bloggers on WDC, then I still have my work cut out for me to reach all of them. Anyway, I got it all done and then guess what......My brother calls this morning and tells me his trip had been canceled...he wasn't going to get to come down! Now I have a truly free day on my hands. Oh well, at least I got productive for one day anyway. ************************************************** Have you ever had a "Thought for the Day" then proceeded to overthink it? Here is what I'm talking about....I was going to add a "Thought for Today" to my blog today and the thought was: What would happen if we changed the way we fought wars? What if, instead of sending young men and women into harm's way, we put the two heads of state into a boxing ring and let them have at each other...winner take all! Okay....on the face of it....a good thought. Right? Well then I thought a little too much about it...I took that scenerio out to a somewhat different conclusion..... Well let's say it came to pass. Every time we got into a dispute with another country our president would climb into the ring with the other leader. Well after watching a couple of middle-aged or elderly gentlemen whaleing away at each other a few times (kinda like watching your grandparents make love), we decide to get an edge. We elect nothing but athletes under the age of thirty as president. Then let's say China gets the same idea and elects only Kung Fu blackbelts as leader of their government...so we escalate and pass a law that our Presidents have to be a major gang leader from East L.A. So what do we end up with? Well the Chinese end up with a leader who breaks boards with his little finger and we end up voting every four years not for a democrat or a republican but for either the Cripes or Bloods! Okay...well the idea looked good when I first had it anyway. |
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HERE IT IS...ONE DAY EARLY. NOW READY FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT....
PLEASE GO READ THIS AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK...OH AND TELL ALL YOUR BLOGGER FRIENDS TO CHECK IT OUT TOO. I'm thinking that CC might be a future guest editor...are ya ready for that? LOL LOL! |
| Apathy: 1. Lack of emotion 2. Lack of interest : Indifference. That is my word for the day....APATHY. Why this word, you ask, well that's easy. The other day, while at work, I was approached by a lady and her husband who took it upon themselves to complain to me about what they considered Wal-Mart's high prices. They informed me that it was because the store had little or no competition in our town that the prices were what they considered to be too high. Well, usually when this happens I merely agree with them and let them have their vent but on this particular day I decided to actually try to discuss the matter with the people. I tried to explain the concept of supply and demand to them. I told them the only way to get prices down or to get the attention of any large business such as Wal-Mart people had to band together and boycott the store. "Everything you buy here can be purchased somewhere else right here in town so why don't you and all the folks who feel the way you do just make the effort to shop those other places and not come here....then write the Corporate Offices and tell them WHY you are not shopping this particular store. I guarantee you that then, and only then, will your grievances be addressed". Both of them looked at me like I was crazy. "Oh that would never work," the husband told me. "Besides, who wants to go to that much trouble." There it was, staring me right in the face......APATHY. That is what's wrong with America today, the people lack the intestinal fortitude to band together and make changes for the better and its not just in the area of retail either. Apathy seeps into every aspect of our lives. We have become so apathetic that we even let others dictate what we think or say. They tell us what is art and what is not. Think about it...when was the last time you read a review of a book and the reviewer, some East Coast intellectual or Left Coast quiche-eater has raved about the quality of a literary work and its relevance. Then, when you go out and plunk down hard earned dollars for this Majestic Missive you discover that is such a collection of drivel you are unable to finish the thing...you go away thinking something must be wrong with you. APATHY. We chose to just let it slide, thus encouraging MORE drivel to be produced. An example here: What if they had made the movie, Brokeback Mountain fifty years ago and cast John Wayne and Gary Cooper in the starring roles? Well, hell it would have been laughed out of the theatres and would have been pulled the next day, that's what would have happened. The difference is not that people have become more "open-minded", the difference is that back then the public was not too apathetic to actually let it be known when they didn't like something. They made up their own mind. A democracy is the only form of government where the people can actually have a say in how they are governed.....think of the power of that, think of what we could actually do if we weren't so filled with apathy that we allow politicians to do whatever they want. What kind of country would we live in if the people banded together to actually change what was wrong with America? 1. We might not have oil companies protected by federal laws. This goes beyond parties. Both Democrat and Republican parties have passed laws allowing oil companies to do what they want. 2. We might not have the high price of medicine foisted upon us by money grubbing pharmaceutical companies who don't give a damn about human suffering but only care about how much money they can make. How else can you explain it when they spend 5.00 to actually produce a pill then charge you 50.00 for the same pill? They are allowed to do this because of government regulations.....and our apathy for accepting the laws. 3. We might even have insurance companies who actually do what they advertise....cover your cost in case of accident or lose due to storm. We certainly don't have that now. How many of us have paid car insurance for twenty years faithfully then, when we do have an accident, the insurance company cancels our policy. The insurance companies look at it this way: We will take your money for as long as you DON'T have anything happen but once you have loss due to accident or storm or whatever reason, you are out! We can't be expected to actually PAY for that stuff can we? We allow this to happen because we allow government to protect the insurance companies and not force them to do what they are supposed to do. What a different country it would be if every person of voting age actually voted. If we all met at the polling place and give the politicians a grade. If they pass, they can continue to live in Washington, if they fail, they come home and try to figure out what the hell happened. Will this ever happen? I doubt it. It is so much easier to sit back and gripe about things rather than actually make the effort to change them....just like that couple I talked to in Wal-Mart. But it is something to think about isn't it. What if we never let APATHY stand in our way of having what we need? |
| I just wanted to keep everyone updated on the Newsletter. Sultry, in spite of everything she has to worry about in real life, managed to do three banners for me and they are all GREAT! I can't make up my mind which of these wonderful banners to use so I have decided to use all three on a rotating basis. Here is the first Banner which will appear on the very first issue Saturday.... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| As a few of you might have noticed, I didn't post a blog entry yesterday. Well, actually I did write a blog entry but then I hit "send" and discovered that I had lost my internet connection. I know, I know....NO. I did not save before hitting send and NO I did not write it in word (which is where this puppy is being written). I just WROTE it in the little space given for that purpose. Now I am faced with trying to recreate said entry the next day.....who am I kidding, it ain't gonna happen. Once I write something it is gone, out of my head and can not be recalled. I am going to give it a try but don't expect much. Okay, here goes nothing...... ************************************************ For the average American, in the 19th century the opportunity to actually see an elephant rarely presented itself. When, on those rare occasions a man happened to manage a view of this creature, either in a traveling circus or one of the few zoos that existed back east, the result was that the person would be scared to death of this strange and exotic animal. It's tremendous size and those wicked looking tusks was usually enough to send the poor individual running in the other direction. Thus it was that when the westward migration of settlers began in the mid 1800's there was a saying that referred to someone who let the hardships of the trail get to them, break their spirit and scare them into turning back to the more civilized side of the Mississippi. That person was said to have "Seen the Elephant". Many times some poor would be settler would arrive back in St. Louis and lament that when they got to the Rocky Mountains and he saw those huge, high peaks he would have to cross, he Saw the Elephant and turned away. Some would tell of seeing bands of Indians at full gallop and that would be the moment they Saw the Elephant and beat a fast retreat. Well my friends, I am here to tell you that a couple of days ago I "Saw the Elephant"! This inglorious event took place when I received word that the fifth annual WDC Decathlon had begun and the first two contests had been posted. For those of you who are not familiar with the Decathlon this is a contest consisting of 10 DIFFERENT contests which must all be entered and all will take place within the month of January. Well after reading the rules for the first two contests I was dismayed. The first one was "Write me a story" contest but it had so many rules for posting and editing and what form to post in....I just threw up my hands. The second one was The Olympic Journal contest and its rules were as follows... "On the days before the competition starts you are to select 31 words that you normally wouldn't use in your vocabulary and place them in the item body of your journal. On subsequent days you are to make a journal entry using one of the words you have previously chosen and write a short story or poem of up to 1000 words and no less than 200. please give a word count at the end of each journal entry. In this fashion: Today's word count is: Total Word count is:" It was after reading this that I came to a painful conclusion....I am just not good enough a writer nor am I smart enough to jump through all these hoops which the judges want us to jump through. In other words....I pulled my wagon to a halt at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, took one look at those towering, forbidding peaks and "I saw the Elephant". I ran back to the safety of non competition. Now please don't get me wrong....I am not putting down the Decathlon in any manner. This is a fine contest put on by some wonderful and talented folks....I'm just not good enough to compete. I will leave the competition to the really smart people who populate this site. After all, I am merely a simple storyteller and this competition is completely out of my league. I wish all the fine writers who do compete all the luck in the world and I will be rooting for each and every one of you. *************************************************** Now, on a brighter note....I hope to have the first edition of the Unofficial Blogger Newsletter ready by this Saturday. I will place it in my port as a "book" item which will give me space for 500 entries. I have decided to name it: The Blogville Weekly News...what do you think? I will also be contacting a group of you and I will enlist your help in doing this thing.. so be looking for an email from me in the next day or so. Okay...that's all I have for now...I need to go dig up some good news items for the first issue. You guys have a wonderful day. |
| First day of a new year, a new month, a whole new slate for me to write my story upon......I like it! Like my buddy Dan said in his blog, I intend to try. I say try because I do not care for making resolutions. Why resolve to do something....you just set yourself up for failure...I will TRY. I want to TRY to move on....live not in the past but firmly in the future. I will TRY to be a better friend, husband and member here on WDC. Mainly though, I want to TRY and consentrate on helping other people, especially the young folks, who have a dream of writing. To me, helping others to achieve their goals is even more rewarding than achieving those goals myself. I look forward to this new year, this new month and all the opportunities it will afford me to help others. I look forward to starting the Blogger's Newsletter and making it an instrument to further other writers along on their journey to the bright destination of publication. So here we are....2006 is staring us in the face...time to get busy and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! I can't wait to see what this year brings us. |
| GREETINGS MR. AND MRS. AMERICA AND ALL THE SHIPS AT SEA.... Okay, I know, that was a bit over-the-top for a beginning of a blog entry but, damnit, that's how I feel this morning. You see today is a very special day for me. Today I finished all the writing I am going to do on my Anthology before it heads to the publisher. Now all I am waiting for is for some art work from a certain artist who shall remain nameless, but whose initials are CC. The last hurdle in my path to publication was my decision to include "Bygone Heart" as a novella instead of making a full blown novel of it. Well today I finished revising the beast and I have posted it in my port.
I know it is asking a lot of you but I really do need to have each of you go read this thing and tell me if my ending works. I have never done this to a story and I would like to know, before I send it off, if the story has the desired effect upon the reader that I hoped for. I will leave it open to readers until such time as that certain nameless artist decides to get the final artwork for the cover to me.....then the whole thing is off to the publisher! ****************************************** Like all the rest of you, I enjoy discovering new talent here at WDC and the other day I ran across a really good writer. I went to his portfolio and the first story I read was such a treat I decided to share it will all of you.
If you are like me and enjoy a really good laugh, then go read this story. You will not be disappointed, I promise you. **************************************** Now that the Anthology is as done as I can get it I am starting to really look forward to doing the UNOFFICAL Bloger's Newsletter. I hope to get that up and running sometime after the first of the year, maybe as soon as NEXT Saturday...we will see. I want to publically thank windac for her generous donation of GPs for use with the Newsletter. If I get enough I plan on sponsering a contest or two through the Newsletter. Something for you all to be thinking of...we will need a name for the Newsletter so you guys put on your thinking caps and come up with something....just email me with your suggestions. I would also like to thank sentimente for his sage advise on this project and I will be picking his brain and the rest of you also in the future. Well, that's about it for me. 2005 is coming to a very upbeat and fast end for me and I have to tell you, the ride has been a treat. I look forward to another, brand new year in which we can all grow as writers and share our experiences with each other. Thank you for being out there and for reading what I write...each of you are a valued member of my extended family and I love you all. |
| Off subject for a moment....I would like to apologize to everyone whose blog I normally reply to but have been silent the past few days. My schedule this week has been a bear and though I manage to read all my favorites, I usually run out of time to reply to all of them. Not only have my hours been bad, but I also have needed to set aside more of the time I have to share with Mel who has started to work herself. Hopefully, after this week I will get a handle on the thing and start replying to everyones blog as I should. ******************************************* It is rare, in my line of work, that one actually gets to do something not only deeply satisfying, but also makes you just feel good about stuff. Today I was able to savor just such a moment. This afternoon the store was full of people rushing to and fro, shopping and generally making a nuisance of themselves....in other words just a day like any other lately. I had just gone down to our second door to relieve the greeter there when the call went out over the store intercom....."CODE ADAM!" This call was followed by the discription of a four year old spanish boy who had become seperated from his mother. Code Adam means: Lost Child. We have this code a few times a week and they usually turn out ok with the child being found either by a worker or the parents but always, in the back of our minds, we all worry about some child being grabbed by a pervert and taken from the store or a small child wandering out of the store and into traffic. When the call goes out for a lost child everyone in the store except for the cashiers begin to seach for the child, with special care being given to all exits. We had been searching for about ten minutes when I decided to walk out into our vestibule. We have a number of arcade like games out there which usually draw children like flies to honey. Sure enough, there in one corner and blocked from view from the inside door, stood the small boy trying his darnest to reach the levers on a car racing game. I walked up to him and said "Hi buddy". He looked up at me unpreturbed and waved. I smiled at him and said. "Would you like to come back inside with me". He smiled and said Okay and let me pick him up...he was not the least scared and that scared me. I thought about what could have happened if a different kind of man had asked him that same question and my blood ran cold. He hugged my neck as I carried him inside and radioed the manager to call of the search; I had him. I will never forget the look on the face of the frantic mother as she came to collect her lost child. As soon as she saw her son, still in my arms and unhurt, she burst into tears. She was speaking spanish and I couldn't understand much of what she said as I handed her son to her but I did understand: "Gracias,Gracias" spoken over and over between the sobs of relief. Maybe it was the old medic in me but I swear the feeling I had as I watched that mother walk away hugging her son and still crying her eyes out just made my day....it was a wonderful moment for me...to be able to bring one back safely...nothing in this world like it. So there you have it...I had a good day today. |
| Another short blog tonight. I just came home from work and have to turn around and be back early in the morning...I'm just too damn tired to come up with anything worth reading. I will share one bit of news with everyone though. I was struggling to end "Bygone Heart" and add it to my Short Story Collection for publication. Well, today, at work the ending came to me. I will write it on Saturday when I am off work and I will then be ready for the publisher! Oh and after I write the ending I am going to open the story up for you all to read. Many of you have already read what I had written of it up until now and I really need you to go back and read it with this ending and give me your gut reaction. I want to see if I accomplish what I want with it. I have never done this to a story before.....this kind of ending....and I have no idea if it will work or not. Something just tells me it is the right end for this story...I hope you agree. |
| This will be a short entry today. I called in sick and didn't go to work. I didn't do a blog during this long day. I didn't read in WDC much at all. I watched TV and I watched the clock. Why? Because this was Mel's first day on a new job. She has been home for a year now and I had not realized how much I had grown accustomed to her being here. She went to work early this morning and I was not supposed to be going in until late this afternoon...about the time she would be coming home. I couldn't do it. I rattled around this empty home all day...missing her. I could not write, nothing seemed quite right without her here. Then it came time for me to head out to work and I just couldn't do that, knowing I wouldn't see her until after 11pm tonight...silly isn't it. So I called in with a lame excuse and waited for my sweetie to come home so I could be here to listen while she told me about her day. I held her close to me when she came home. We lay on the bed and, as I held her close, she told me all about her day...then I was okay. Tomorrow I will go on back to work...I just wasn't ready for her to be gone today I guess. Maybe that's what love is. It isn't that white-hot heat you feel in the pit of your stomache or the catch in your throat when you think of someone....that's passion. The love is really there when the two of you are seperated and you feel diminished by that seperation. There was a time when I thought that passion equated to love but I was wrong. Passion is to love what a swimming pool is to the ocean....now I have that ocean. I could drown in it and be a happy man. I wish everyone who reads these words can discover their own ocean and not live their lives in the pool. |
| The house is quiet today. I just returned home from work and Mel has gone to take her mother home after her two week visit here with us. It is a six hour drive there and six hours back so she won't be home until tonight sometime....I hate a quiet house. I actually miss my mother-in-law. I know that is not the popular stance for married men to take but I can't help it...I love that woman, she is such a sweetheart and she is the closest thing to a mother I have now, in fact she reminds me a lot of my own mom in many ways. Anyway...its just me, Molly and the cats, so here I sit, pondering my day in quiet solitude and wondering if I can truely put it into words..... TODAY WAS THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS....and you all know what that means at the stores. I usually go to work at seven in the morning but today I had to be at my station at six a.m. It was then that the manager unlocked our front doors. It was as if the floodgates had been open wide on Lake Stupid and a great torrent of human stupidity rolled over us. You see, I have this theory. I truely believe that there are some people, not all just some, who when they pull into the parking lot of Walmart, they automatically lose 50 I.Q. points and for some that is well over three fourths of what they had to begin with. My other theory is that the day after Christmas is the day when all the theives bring back what they stole in order to get Money back! As the "people" came pouring through the front door I suddenly got this image of a scene out of Night of the Living Dead when hundreds of zombies shambled mindlessly across the landscape looking for brains to eat. These particular zombies were only able to grunt and mutter about "Returns...Money Back....Exchange...argh!" Actually this year was somewhat better than last year. I only had one guy, about my age, that I had to chastise a bit. After telling him four times where to take his merchandise for return he finally seems to grasp the notion and begins to shamble off, only to stop within a few feet and angrily turn and yell at me that he doesn't want to return it, he wants to exchange it...I told him its ok, you go to the same place to exchange things too. His answer to that was..." I want to shop first". To which I explained to him, civily, that I was sorry but the return/exchange had to be taken care of first. To which he replied: "Well you are an unhelpful son of a bitch!" That did it! "And you sir," I called to him. "Must be a fine Christian man because I really don't see how anyone as stupid as you seem to be could live this long without Divine Intervention!" His wife had to explain to him that he had been slammed....after she finally stopped laughing. Sometimes life can be soooo rewarding. |
| This is the quiet time here in my home. It is Christmas Eve, the cooking is done, with the exception of the turkey which is baking its little heart out right now. The house is full of the aroma of the season, evergreen, spices, fresh pies, candies and cakes. Yes, it is quiet now, but soon the house will be full of happy, excited voices as two of my children and their families come crowding in the door. There will be talking and laughing and the sharing that only happens when family gathers. The house will be full of love and warmth and I will, at some point, slip off to one side and just spend some time watching my grown children and luxuriating in this feeling of togetherness. We will sit around the table and eat this bountiful meal. We will talk and laugh. We will remember those who are no longer with us and we will speak of our future plans....we will be family. That is what Christmas is for me...a time of family, a time of a renewal of spirit, a time to reflect on God's goodness and his gifts to me and mine. It will start soon so I must leave you now, for a time, but I will return and I will be a better man for this day. I hope each and every one of you have as joyous a Christmas as I am going to have and I look forward to sharing the upcoming year with you, my friends here on WDC. |
| On the medical front....looks like I'm gonna live...CC, cancel that dang party! I have been in bed most of the day, imbibing in water and a couple of pieces of dry toast and now I am feeling almost human. I think the worst is behind me and I look forward to enjoying my family, or part of it, tomorrow. ************************************ I want to thank all of you who replied to my blog about a newsletter. You have all given me a lot to think about and you have helped me to make a decision. First of all....I need all you really smart Moderators out there, who know about this sort of thing to contact me...I need to know if there is a form somewhere in here I can use. I also need to know more about setting the whole thing up. Adressing a few conserns brought up in the replies to that blog, I want to reassure this will not just be a place where "certain" bloggers will be highlighted. I want to highlight new bloggers each week. To do this I am going to need the help of a few of you to nose around and check out some blogs and let me know if they should be highlighted....There is no way I can do this by myself. I also want to assure everyone that this newsletter, if I do it, will not just be a platform for me to hammer my own ideas to the exclusion of others. Those of you who have read many of my blog entries, know that I am a conserative, Christian, Veteran who is not bashful about letting folks know where I stand. But, I think this newsletter should be for everyone and it should be about writing first and foremost. After all that is why we are on this site to begin with. When I get this thing up and running I will be hitting you all up shamelessly for donated GPs and with those I want to sponser contests for bloggers and their blogs and I want to also use the GPs to encourage newbies to the blogging page. Forever, Wind, Schip, Nada, Scarlett, CC, Dan, Sentemente, Sultry and many more of you....I'm going to be nagging you all for help on this thing...so be ready. I think the most important thing to me is that this Newsletter, though it might be "Unoffical", will be as professional as we can make it. I want to approach this like I do my blog...I want the Newsletter to inform, to entertain, to make the readers laugh and to make them cry at times....I think we can do this gang...What do you say? |
| It is done.....I made it.....I came home last night and felt the boulder roll from my shoulders. For me, the Christmas Retail Madness is now merely the stuff of nightmares. It is now offical, I am off until the day AFTER Christmas! It felt so good last night, I came home, read some blogs and went to bed with nothing ahead for me but relaxing and enjoying doing nothing....and eating myself into oblivion on Christmas Day. LIFE WAS GOOD. Then I woke up this morning....SICK. I could not believe it....I was sick? Now I feel like hammered shit. I am running off at both ends and can keep nothing down. I can barely sit up long enough to get this done. You see, this is normal....this is a prime example of my luck. I finally, for the first time in my life, get both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off...AND I AM SICK! I tell you, if I ever decided to invest in the stock market and bought General Motors stock....the next day the country would go to Covered Wagons and horseback. Okay...I could whine more but I feel a very familiar rumbling in the southern regions and now I gotta go sit in another place......GAWD. You people have a wonderful Christmas and from time to time I will crawl to the desk and try to read up on what the HEALTHY people are doing for the Holidays. |
| First of all I want to thank everyone who shared their thoughts on music in my last entry. I may not be able to share you young folks love of your music but I certainly understand where you are coming from. Secondly, I want to give a very special thanks to schipperke for the lovely merit badge she gave me. She definately made my day yesterday. ******************************************* As some of you might know, I recently approached the Storymaster about having a newsletter devoted to Bloggers/Journalers. Well my idea was met with little or no interest. I recieved one of those wonderful letters which read like a form letter used for rejection slips by publishers....I must say, that made me feel right at home. Is it asking too much that they at least use our NAME OR NIC when replying to letters from us? I mean it really lets you know where you stand in the pecking order when you get a letter from the storymaster that begins: Dear_______ "Dear Blank"??? What's up with that? Anyway, he suggested that, while the powers-that-be are way too busy with REAL newsletters, I should feel free to start my own little "unoffical" newsletter. I have given that much thought and I have discussed the matter with a few friends. Now I want to throw the suggestion open to everyone here who blogs.....What do you think? Should I do this? If enough of you think it is a good idea I think I will tackle the project after the first of the year. The thing is I think I want to do it here in my blog. I was thinking I might dedicate each FRIDAY blog to a newsletter on blogging. Mention new bloggers and blogs of the last week which was of special interest....something like that. I would also welcome any suggestions for content of a newsletter. Do you have some thoughts as to what should go into one? Let me know. Okay.....I am off to do some reading. I can't wait to hear what each of you think so please let me know. |
| Do you ever just not be in the mood to blog? Yesterday was that kind of day for me. I felt as if I should just shut up for a day and pay attention to really good bloggers and what they have to say instead of throwing my incessant chatter into the mix. Well, your vacation is over. I am doing a blog today, not on the subject I intended but on a different subject all together. My train of thought on my first subject was completely derailed by my dear wife and if we are lucky enough for her to bless us with one of her blogs, maybe SHE will explain that. So, without further ado, let me get right into the subject of my blog today: Remember when songs had lyrics? **************************************************** I have tried to get into modern music...I really have, but I just can't do it. With few exceptions the music of today is more about noise than actual musical notes. The lyrics, when they are to be understood at all, make little sense...unless you are a pimp, prostitute, or a drug pusher. Even the so-called ballads of today's music sounds for all the world like the clamorous, wailings of a tom cat in the throes of passion, squalling at the moon. Do you remember when lyrics actually told a story? I thought I might give you some examples of what I am talking about...you younger readers will just have to bear with me here and besides, you might learn something.... LOL! One singer at the top of my list is Frank Sinatra and his song "It was a very good year". When I was seventeen It was a very good year It was a very good year for small town girls And soft summer nights We’d hide from the lights On the village green When I was seventeen When I was twenty-one It was a very good year It was a very good year for city girls Who lived up the stair With all that perfumed hair And it came undone When I was twenty-one When I was thirty-five It was a very good year It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls Of independent means We’d ride in limousines Their chauffeurs would drive When I was thirty-five But now the days grow short I’m in the autumn of the year And now I think of my life as vintage wine >from fine old kegs >from the brim to the dregs And it poured sweet and clear It was a very good year It was a mess of good years. Now you see what I mean about lyrics? Those words tell a story, they strike a chord! Oh and for lyrics which paint a beautiful picture as well as tell a story, what about Bob Lind's Elusive Butterfly of Love? You might wake up some mornin' To the sound of something moving past your window in the wind And if you're quick enough to rise You'll catch a fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow Out on the new horizon You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings And if the sleep has left your ears You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow Don't be concerned, it will not harm you It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of Across my dreams with nets of wonder I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love You might have heard my footsteps Echo softly in the distance through the canyons of your mind I might have even called your name As I ran searching after something to believe in You might have seen me runnin' Through the long-abandoned ruins of the dreams you left behind If you remember something there That glided past you followed close by heavy breathin' Don't be concerned, it will not harm you It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of Across my dreams with nets of wonder I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love Across my dreams with nets of wonder I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love. Now when was the last time a song written in the last ten years or so has come close to the metaphoric beauty of this piece? I have only listed two here for the sake of brevity and I know there are many more out there. Do any of you have your own favorite song from time gone by which tells a beautiful story and still has the power to move us? Please reply and list them for us all to enjoy. Oh and if any of you younger folks happen to know of a modern song that can hold a candle to any of these...well wade right in and inform this old codger that I am full of hot air! To paraphrase a famous line from a movie: "SHOW ME THE MUSIC!" |
| I would like to use my blog time today to talk about two animals: A dog and an Ape. One real and the other fiction. First of all, our dog Molly who is a two year old Black Lab mix. Molly has been through a very trying time lately. As most of you who read my blog know, a few weeks ago we lost my buddy, Crockett. Crockett was a beautiful, American bred, Rottweiler who died of a blood clot in his lung. Now forgive me here if I seem to be attributing human emotions to dogs but damnit I see them so for me they are there...believe it or not, as you wish. Anyway back to Mollie....When Crockett was alive her life was ordered, there was a division of responsibility there that made her comfortable. Crockett was the Guardian of the castle. It was Crockett’s job to protect his family, including his adopted little sister, Molly, against all outside threats...real or imagined. He was good at his job and no one, human or animal ever ventured into our home grounds without Crockett being there to stand as a buffer in case of foul play. Now that Crockett is gone Molly feels the pressure to step into his shoes and be the protector. There is only one problem with this...SHE IS A RAVING COWARD! This poor dog has been known to hide for hours under my desk whenever the air-conditioner kicked on, for God’s sake. Mel likes to say she isn’t a coward, she is merely “high strung”. Well, okay, I agree to a point, she is a nervous Nelly for sure. I have found her standing in the middle of the living room before, shaking like a leaf after hearing an unaccustomed noise. For the first week after Crockett’s untimely death, Molly just went from room to room as if searching for her protector. She would come and stand in front of me with those soulful eyes which, if she had tear ducts, I am sure would have been overflowing with tears and she would shake uncontrollably. She has finally accepted that Crockett will not be coming back to us and she has tried to take over his role as Protector of the Castle. Of course, she goes completely overboard with her reactions. If someone pulls up in our driveway she will begin to bark loudly, almost hysterically. If that person gets out of the car and walks up to the door, Molly retreats to the hallway...still barking her head off. If I open the door and let that person actually step into the house, Molly immediately goes to her final fall-back position...she runs and hides under my bed...still barking. Then there is the whole back door thing. This is where we always let Crockett out to do his thing. The back door led, of course to the back yard and side yard which are bordered by the dark brooding forest from where all the strange and potentially dangerous wildlife visits our domain. Crockett was in his element out there. He constantly patrolled the boundary lines between our home and the forest, just daring the errant possum, rabbit, squirrel or deer to trespass. If the occasional rabbit happened to hop into the back yard we would hear Crockett furiously barking and growling. The offending animal would, of course, scamper back into the safety of the forest and when we opened the door Crockett would bound into the house with his chest puffed out and he would strut about proudly, as if to say: “Okay, that’s what I’m talking about. Whose your daddy now!” I will never forget the first time, after we lost Crockett, that Mel decided to put Molly out the back door instead of the front. Molly stood there at the door and looked up at Mel as if to say: “You have got to be kidding! Me....out there?” Mel opened the door and Molly looked out into the darkness of the side yard and the deeper black of the forest beyond that yard and stepped back and crossed all four legs....she was determined to hold it. Suddenly peeing wasn’t that important. Well Mel threw her out bodily and slammed the door. What did she do? She peed on the STEPS then, one minute later was trying to scratch a hole in the door to get back inside. I guess she figures you never know when a rabbit might be carrying a knife. Better safe than sorry. As time passes, though, she is getting better. A squirrel will still make her faint but at least she has gotten to where she will go out the back now without being thrown out. Of course it remains to be seen what would happen if we ever actually did have an intruder in our home. Molly would probably survive but would be in need of years of therapy afterwards to overcome her trauma. Bottom line is, she is adjusting to her new role as only dog of the castle. She has reluctantly taken on the job of protector where once she was only in charge of collecting unused ear scratches and any food stuff that hit the floor. We are all adjusting. ********************************************* My last topic of conversation is an Ape and not just any ape but KING KONG! Yes, that’s right, the movie opens this week and marks about the third remake of the classic movie. I can’t watch it. I get too emotional at this movie and have been known to go through multiple hankies in the past when trying to sit through the movie. I mean, for God’s sake, we already know how this one will end, how can we put ourselves through this kind of pain again. I am sure you are all acquainted with this sordid tale of the blonde hussy who comes to Kong’s island paradise and lures him back to civilization and to his doom. God, I remember the first time I saw this thing, I couldn’t have been over ten years old and I swear that this movie was the reason why, even to this day I have never in my life dated a blonde! Somewhere in the back of my mind I just knew that if I pursued a blonde I would end up on top of the Empire State building, swatting at airplanes. This movie is a classic morality play. Its message is clear: You allow yourself to be tempted away from your own personal island by some blonde hussy and you will end up being shot by .30cal. machineguns, mounted on bi-planes! Or something similar, I’m sure. You know what I wish? I wish, just once they would make that movie and let the damn monkey live. I would write the script so that Kong would refuse to leave the island and, instead, make the blonde remain in his world. After a few months of co-habituating, Kong would realize that she was all wrong for him and let the damn T-Rex have her for a snack! I can’t help it...this movie strikes a deep chord within me. After all, how many of us guys have heard those horrible words from some woman before: “Oh you are the best FRIEND I could ever have!” We know Kong’s pain. Yeah, she was some friend...I bet two days after poor Kong got riddled with lead, she was off at the zoo feeding some unsuspecting Chimp! THE HUSSY! uh.....my apologies to all blondes out there...real or bottled. |
| The mighty Mississippi river begins somewhere up in Minnesota and flows the length of this great nation of ours to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The true beauty of this river is the fact that, ever so often, at different points, other major rivers join the Mississippi and if you so desired, you could take one of those rivers and travel into different parts of the country. You could vary your journey and see more and do more than simply travel from start to finish. At the headwaters of the Mississippi the river is narrow and runs with a swift, strong current. There are whitewater rapids that you must navigate with care. The further along the river you travel and the closer to its end you go, the wider the river becomes and the calmer, slower is its current. Time has often been compared to a river....it flows from beginning to the inevitable end for each of us. Time, unlike a real river, though, flows slowly at its beginning and picks up speed as it nears the end of the trip. As each of us nears the end of our journey we seem to be traveling at neck-break speeds, always on the lookout for dangerous rapids. The journey is over much too quickly. I have sat here today and considered my own voyage down my personal "Mississippi" of time. It really has been an interesting voyage. In the slow beginning of the trip I floated along the sluggish currents and enjoyed the pure joy of living. I managed to make a few side trips along some tributaries that proved interesting and educational, sometimes in a painful manner but I always continued onward, ever enamored by the thrill of discovery. All in all, it has been a good trip, this voyage down the River of Time. Now, at this stage of my journey, I find myself rocketing along in fast currents and rapids which carry me much too quickly to that great Gulf which awaits all of us. I sometimes wish the trip could slow just a bit to give me more time to experience this wonder called "life". To have more time to explore new tributaries and make new friends but all in all I have to say...its been a wonderful trip. So, I wave to all my friends who float around me, on their own personal voyages on the same river. I wish you calm water and warm weather and most of all I wish you a very merry Christmas and may I get to visit you all personally when we finally dock our boats for the final time. ************************************************************** The above was written today for a couple of reasons. First of all, as I sat here at the computer checking out WDC, Mel and her mom were sitting behind me watching home movies that had been transferred to VHS tape. These movies followed Mel's family from the time she was a little girl. It was wonderful seeing the little girl, the teenager and the young adult I never got the chance to meet. It was also a little sad watching her eighty-seven year old mother watching the film and speaking of all of the people who were no longer here, her husband, sisters, brothers..... I watched the images and marveled at how full of life and hope each figure seemed to be and I wondered....How was each voyage for them? I also thought how wonderful it was to have this video piece which captured each of these people at a particular moment in their journey. It got me to thinking about each of us on a "River of Time". I also wanted to give each of you, my friends here on WDC my own personal Christmas wishes and this was the best I could come up with, so you're stuck with it! So...May your own currents be slow and the water calm. May the wind be always at your back and may the vistas you encounter on your voyage be breathtaking and inspiring. Most of all, I hope I see you all a little bit further downriver, next year, right here on WDC. |
| What kind of blog do we write? Simple question, right? Well, not really. Think about it a minute, what are we trying to achieve when we toil here at our different computers to turn out the finished product of our blogs? Now there is the whole Blog/Journal controversy....Blog being more an article type thing and a Journal being more like a diary, a daily log of your personal activities and feelings. So you see, right off the top, we can't even agree on what to call this thing we do. I have read many, many different blogs (sorry, my choice of names) here on WDC and I have discovered that they are fairly equally divided in their approach between Blog and Journal. Personally, I approach my own blog in what might be considered a unique fashion. When I began to write this thing I decided to do it the same way I would write a column in a newspaper or magazine. I wanted to entertain and maybe inform. I also wanted to be unafraid to voice my own personal beliefs. I wanted to see if I could maintain the project over a space of time without losing the interest of readers. Having done the Blog like this I have learned to have a great respect for those men and women I read who do a weekly column in different newspapers. So, by doing it the way I do, I have learned something in the process....I have learned how difficult writing a column really is. Now don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for those who write their blog like a daily diary. I am not sure I could ever do it myself because, let's face it, my life just isn't that interesting. I get up in the morning, go to work, come home and write...that's pretty much it so my very first entry would look just like my 250th. This brings me to my big question of the day...pay attention cause I want your opinion here. How do you approach your blog? What goes into the writing of your own blog and do you consider it a "blog" or a "journal" and why? Okay...your turn...please reply and tell me what you think and don't worry about the length of the reply....I want to know what you think. |
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Congrats on 500 entries, and we are all looking forward to the sequel.