Overnight Delivery

“I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.”~ Jessica Savitch

Wow, what a mess!! I’ve probably not had a roller coaster afternoon that blended into the evening and early night hours since the war. (Don’t ask.)

I think that all will be well at the end of the weekend. My fingers are crossed. I’m keeping positive. You can expect to be kept posted right here.

This week has been rough as the sledge hockey team was invited to Houston this weekend. We would have had two opportunities to get on the ice. Friday night and then again at Houston’s regularly scheduled ice time Saturday morning at Memorial City Mall.

And then I was reminded that ECHO TEMPLE was playing at The House of Blues Saturday. That definitely would have been a full day but I was unable to figure out what I was going to do with all of my hockey gear and what not throughout the rest of the afternoon until that night.

I struggled. I fought tooth and nail to make at least the sledge hockey work as Houston threw the gauntlet at us. Oh how I would have loved it!! But with the backwards progress of the team, and the very little opportunity available for grabbing transportation, it just didn’t seem likely to happen.

Missing sledge hockey and ECHO TEMPLE was a miserable, miserable feeling for me!!

I ultimately threw in the towel for it all. Things were just out of my hands.

This afternoon though I had received the brand new t-shirt from ECHO TEMPLE. I received the very first one available to the public. I was over the moon to receive it. Guitarist Sean Turcott was more than willing to drop one in the mail for me.

Then I got so excited about the t-shirt that I posted a photo of me wearing it on Facebook, tagged the band members and thanked them. Suddenly comments were coming from all sides. Family members and fellow fans alike that they wanted one. Some family and even spouses were frumping about the fact that they didn’t even have one yet.

OOOOOOOOOPSSSSSS!!!!!! Didn’t mean to strike the nerve of the wives and families! Sorry.

Even though I thought that I would miss this epic opportunity to go to The House of Blues, the t-shirt was a great silver medal.

So I continued to think until earlier in the evening……….

I was contacted by Sean Turcott asking if certain arrangements were made, that I could make it to the show at The House of Blues.

I nearly shit myself.

ECHO TEMPLE was going to take care of hotel, travel, and a ride to wherever I was going. But I’m still  attempting to help out my sister with watching my niece and I’m doing that on Saturdays. The same day as the show.

My sister knew that I was attempting to cancel for the hockey but I told her that I gave up on that. Hindsight is definitely 20/20. Had I just said I was going, this wouldn’t have been an issue. But I didn’t have this “all expenses paid” offer until earlier tonight.

It would’ve worked out fine.

In my disbelief, I contacted Mrs. Froth. And wouldn’t you know it? She knew about the plans that ECHO TEMPLE was willing to put into action. And she and Dr. Froth was a very important part of this planning to grab me from the hotel and take me to the venue.

I wonder what else she had her hand in making this possible??? Oh well. Its better not to ask questions.

I struggled some more. Frustrated, that I couldn’t make the overnight trip work. I knew that I would have to come back as soon as possible to watch my niece. It wouldn’t have mattered much. If I had gone and still had to watch my niece then I would have to leave Houston around 6:40 AM. What a pain!!

Echo Temple

By 11:00 PM though, my sister pretty much told me that I was good to go. She said that she was 99.9% sure of it. She just needed to make sure it was okay by the uppers of all this work shifting around over the weekend. But I had nothing to do with that. She stated in her message to her work people that I wasn’t able to watch the niece and left it at that. Never gave an explanation and never said why…. just that I couldn’t do it.

I will be able to go The House of Blues in Houston, Texas!!! I am pretty damned pumped up about that. And I will get to see ECHO TEMPLE play there. Dr. & Mrs. Froth will be in attendance and that……. ohhh unholy egg nog, is just one helluva bonus right there. Besides, I’m a little behind on super hugs to the Mrs.

And yes, I will be eating some words that were uttered to Mrs. Froth just this morning. I’ll just go ahead and admit that right now before my arm gets twisted in ways and in places that I don’t want it. NOM!NOM!NOM!!!

So at home base, I’m virtually good to go. I know that I will have things taken care of by the bands in Houston.

But I am not out of the woods at this late hour of the night just yet! I will have to make sure that I can get a ride to the bus  stop here in town. I’m hoping the usual neighbor will be willing. If not, its either the public transportation or a taxi. Yikes!!!!

This ECHO TEMPLE VIP is gonna rock this weekend at The House of Blues!!!!!

 

Supreme Sportsmanship

“A lot of young players don’t really know much about the history of the game and a lot of them are missing out on what the game is all about, especially the whole concept of sportsmanship and teamwork.”~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

This story completely moved me when I read it. Thanks to YouTube sensation, Michael Buckley. These kinds of stories are the ones that I love to share. And I believe that they should be!!

It was Senior Night at Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas. And it will be a night that senior Mitchell Marcus will remember for the rest of his life.

Mitchell had serving as the manager to the boys’ varsity basketball team and had been since his freshman year.

Coach Peter Morales kept Marcus by his side for those four long years on the bench. But for one night, Morales had Mitchell dress for the game.

Finally in the fourth quarter of the game, Coronado High had a lead over their rival Franklin by double digits. Within the last two minutes of the game, Coach Morales put Marcus in… TO PLAY!

What happened next will go down in history. Not only in El Paso, but throughout the WORLD!

After several unsuccessful attempts to get Marcus to score, Franklin had possession with 13 seconds remaining. Franklin’s Jon Montanez, in an act of great sportsmanship, passed Marcus the ball and allowed him score.

At the end of the game, Coronado High had beaten Franklin still by double digits. And the audience rushed on to the court and treated Marcus as if he had thrown in the game winning goal. They lifted him high and carried him around.

In a sense I know how it must have felt for Mitchell Marcus to get that opportunity to say that he had scored in a high school basketball game. That he had scored in sports at least once in his life.

Growing up I was a part of a wheelchair basketball team during the summer. It was mixed with wheelchair and able-bodied people. But I never got the chance to even try to shoot the ball. I would be able to deflect passes and almost cause turnovers, but never got that opportunity to actually be in possession of the ball.

Until one day at the end of the summer, playing the last game of the day. The inbounds pass was given to me.

I was thrilled to death in my young mind. .

I’m so glad that I came across the story of Mitchell Marcus and his high school basketball coach. Even that, will make memories for me.
http://nesn.com/2013/02/special-needs-student-mitchell-marcus-scores-on-senior-night-in-act-of-great-sportsmanship-video/

The Tommy Pop Problem

“Therapy is expensive, poppin’ bubble wrap is cheap! You choose.”~ Unknown

Here I am, avoiding the Academy Awards as if it is contagious with the plague or something, and a riff from the band Disturbed comes out of nowhere into my head. It translated from my brain through my arms and into my thumbs where I let it loose with tapping on the desk with my thumbs.

Suddenly the telephone rings. And someone’s asking me to keep the noise down.

Um, really?? WHAT?!?

I was using thumbs. Not actual drum sticks or anything major. My very own thumbs.

Then the suggestion comes that I should sit here and play with bubble wrap to really annoy the neighbors.

You can read about another noise complaint from the neighbors by searching my blog post “Paper Bag Activity.”

Enter August of 2009.

That summer I had a lot of deliveries come to me wrapped in bubble wrap or tucked inside bubble mailers. Whether it was medical or from eBay. I had a nice collection of various types and lengths of bubble wrap lying around everywhere.

And then the genius struck from within.

I lined it all up like my very own Slip-N-Slide and just started to roll over everything in the wheelchair. Backwards and forwards. Over and over until there was nothing more to pop.

Then I grabbed each individual piece and pinched and twisted what remained left to pop.

Good wholesome CHEAP entertainment for a solid 13 minutes!!!

An hour after everything was turned into rubbish, I had a knock on the door.

It was the police.  

They stated that the neighbors had reported hearing shots from a M1921 Thompson submachine gun. With their own sidearms drawn but placed behind their backs, they asked for permission to enter and look. But they found NOTHING!

Let me ask you people: Where in the hell am I gonna get a Tommy gun?? IT WAS BUBBLE WRAP!!!!!!!!!!!

For as many “pops” as they evidently had heard coming from my apartment and for it go 13 minutes, there honestly should have been nothing left of anything inside IF I was firing a Chicago Typewriter.

Al Capone would have been proud.

I realize that sounds have higher amplification because there are no carpets in my home. Nor do I have a lot of objects that could absorb a lot sound that goes on, but seriously… I just don’t know where these neighbors are coming from.

Granted that they are different people now than they were in 2009. But their damned Vulcan hearing and their wild fantasies and flashbacks to years long gone. Such imaginations!!!

But then on the other hand, I suppose it would work in my favor if something actually were to happen, God forbid.

Private Eyes, Part II

“I don’t believe in fate or destiny. I believe in various degrees of hatred, paranoia, and abandonment. However much of that gets heaped upon you doesn’t matter – it’s only a matter of how much you can take and what it does to you.”~ Henry Rollins

I just love how certain people that the average society would not think would come up with a brilliant thought comes out and  says something and knocks society on their ass. Good job, Henry Rollins!!

Five days ago I wrote a post that knocked people on their butts.

I knew that eventually the commentary track of others would come. And it wasn’t the point of the post. I just knew that when I set up to write in the blog, that it was  surely coming. Because I don’t normally make a habit of writing with Hulk-skinned language.

The perks of humanity is that these kind of emotions are there. Anyone who is a human being has them. You the reader, have them. I have them as well… obviously.

I made one reader nervous. Another one asked if I was okay. The rest of the people who responded to me personally in one way or another?? C’mon… REALLY?

The most common question that I received was people’s inquiry of whether or not I was speaking about them.

Part I already states that I do not speak directly about people to avoid humiliation. So how in the world can anyone assume that the post is specifically about them?

I will share the answer: Paranoia.

Paranoia is dark and very evil. It causes the brain to assume more than it should.

In this case I do have a few questions of my own to ask in return to those who were asking me if I was talking about them.

Are you ready for this?

What makes you think that it was about you? What have you said or done lately to make you think that? What wrongs have you committed against me or anyone else in this world to make you think that there was a direct link from my words to your life?

I could go on to any social networking site right now and post “I HATE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and there WILL be an outpouring of a percentage of people who will see that and in some way someone is going to start inquiring about my mental state, or wonder who or what had prompted such a thing.

But because of my post five days ago I have people hiding from me. They are assuming that I am thrashing them across the pages of my blog. They understand that I was pissed off. So they hide, waiting for it to blow over. Which it has.

These are the people that I spoke of in Part I,  those who read the blog in private. Those that I do not realize are reading it. And then when I come out spitting fire and venom, they come out of the shadows and assume I am attacking them.

REALLY NOW??

Again, paranoia is very evil and misleading. But paranoia (in this case) is unnecessary. Had these people who were asking me if I was talking about them had only changed their tactic and asked what was wrong, they would have found out the truth and there wouldn’t have been any need for this kind of rubbish.

And by the way, I do not hate life.

Author’s note: As this is my 420th blog post, there were some people who were keeping count. They wondered if I would discuss the subject of marijuana and other drugs. I am sorry. Even though I do have my own choices and opinions on the matter, I refuse to post that kind of thing on this blog. 

 

Private Eyes, Part I

“You can observe a lot by just watching.”~Yogi Berra

I’m so excited that I could just spit. But then again, that would make you dirty and you wouldn’t like that much at all.

I don’t know how it was done, but it was. And I am sorry in advance as I cannot say too much about it. But what I am going to say is exciting enough.

I woke up today and found in my personal e-mail inbox a message that came from a particular Hollywood actor who was responding privately their response to reading this very blog!

Even after my personal choice of bashing the Hollywood scene and community, the person had nothing but nice and kind words and praise to give to me. And to my own disbelief they had a agreed with a number of things that I had said about Hollywood. And yet they were expressing their own opinion.

I replied back with thanks and gratitude for them taking the time to read through several blog posts and that I appreciated their opinions, views, and feedback and then left it at that. I probably will never hear from them again.

My star-struck gaze has since passed. And it brings me to the meat and potatoes of THIS blog post.

One just never knows who will be reading the blog. For those of us bloggers who have been doing this for any length of time, one just can never be sure who will pass through and read what you have to say.

The same concept actually goes for those of us who do not have a blog or an online diary. Your actions and your words are always being watched by others whether you realize it or not. And in times like these, it could lead to positive feedback.

And in times when we are cruel, mean, vindictive: others are also taking notice of that as well.

I think that it is possible that if we actually do “watch what we say” that we can see the invisible impact on others.

As for myself I do make a bit of an effort to ensure that if I am speaking of someone in particular that I do not actually spill out their actual names and change it to something else to tell my story. Or I will just go by first name. Or if I know that they just don’t care, and they are looking for the attention for one reason or another and have their blessing, then I’ll just go ahead. But I do not normally do such a thing as to keep them from humiliation and unwanted attention.

No matter what I am speaking of or who I am speaking of, I often do forget that there are others watching and reading. I’ve even had people admit to me that they read this blog. They just haven’t subscribed to it to be able to read everything that I post.

Quite a lot of things can be learned about people by just observing. Berra had that right all along. Remember: there ARE people observing you.

Another Viral Vitamin

“If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?”~Lily Tomlin

In just a few days, over 1.1 MILLION views came to the hair tutorial of this Florida middle school girl. Why? Because the unthinkable happened and to be honest, one of the funniest things to have happened in a long time on the Internet.

The hair tutorial that Tori Locklear was recording when horribly, horribly wrong when she misjudged her own curling iron. The inevitable and the horrific happened.

And over a million people now have seen it in its fully restored glory.

Another video gone viral and for what or why? Because other people thought it was hilarious.

But good grief! I don’t understand why anyone who has been captured on video OR at least had been recording a video and something out of the ordinary and unexpected had happened.  

Do we all remember a certain woman that went by the name of Scarlet?

OF COURSE WE DO!

We all have seen the unfortunate circumstances that unfolded when she decided to step up and dance and continue her performance on a table that ended in tragedy.

We all laughed our asses off at that one though. Many people even went to lengths to record their reactions to the video or record someone else’s reaction. I recall thinking about recording MY OWN reaction to watching the video and posting it as my first YouTube video. Thankfully, I talked myself out of it.

Since “Scarlet Takes A Tumble” there have been many videos that have gone viral and then went away quietly into the night.

Locklear’s decision to post this video, if I am hearing correctly, was something that she held on to and then made a decision later to post it. Her thought along with others, is what I don’t understand.

Why in the world would anyone willingly post something that humiliating or horrible of themselves to YouTube or anywhere else on the Internet??

Scarlet’s viral video is still exceptionally funny to this day. But nobody’s ranting about it any more and they haven’t been ranting about it for a very long time now. And other viral videos from other vloggers and bloggers haven’t really made anyone rich that they are still talked about today.

Remember Antoine Dodson? No?? How about “hide yo kids, hide yo wife”.. does that ring a bell? That probably did.

He’s no longer much in the public eye either. Although to give him credit, his appearance on a YouTube video was not because of him being or doing something humiliating.

Poor Tori Locklear though. This accident happened to her, and millions are laughing still all week this week. Who knows why in the world she decided to post this video! It could have been because she wanted to become viral, and possibly be famous from it. After all, bad press is still good press. But I cannot honestly say to you that is the reason why this video has blown up in the past several days.

Question still remains: WHY??

 

Just The Facts

Leptospirosis anyone? NOT so much!

“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.”~Bertrand Russell

I have literally reached a point of exhaustion when coming across certain warning e-mails that provide certain information. And such information is just passed on as truth because it sounds so good that it has to be true.

I am exhausted with the fact that time and time and time again when I see these false and incorrect articles about health, politics, society, and historic events. And they are shared and forwarded countless times over again.

But they are untrue. And its been proven so.

Time and time again, I’ve had read something and it doesn’t quite sound right and so I go on a rush of research just to find out that I have been interrupted with garbage. And I grit my teeth at these people so much that I’m surprised that I have any teeth at all remaining.

Now I have fallen for it numerous times. There was a quotation that was talking about politics shortly after the school shooting Newtown, Connecticut supposedly said by actor Morgan Freeman. And I didn’t research it. So I posted it as well. But I would soon be shown that it was NOT something that Freeman had said, but rather someone not famous, not an actor, almost a nobody by comparison.

Its driving me insane that I am seeing the SAME hoaxes over and over again. Even though there are places like “Snopes” and “Fact checker” readily available for your knowledge and information pleasure.

Why aren’t people using this? To use the excuse that you don’t have the time to check into things like that is just a bunch of crap used by those who are totally lazy! If you have time to check your e-mails, sign into message board and social networking sites where these things are commonly showing up, you have the time to second guess what you are reading and look to see for yourself whether or not its actually true.

When I found out that the quote from Morgan Freeman was false, I immediately deleted the post and apologized to anyone who had stumbled across it.

I would be more forgiving for someone to admit that they made an error rather than giving the excuse that they don’t have the time to look things up.

YOU CANNOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET 100% OF THE TIME!!!

It’s just not intelligent!

 

A New Percussion

This post isn’t for the kids.

Wow…. has anyone seen this yet?

http://www.digibunch.com/percussionist-shows-music-is-everywhere-by-slapping-ladies-butts/

Now I am sure that this has been thought of before. And probably a very long time ago.

But with the age of the Internet, this becomes viral and spreads around the world.

Suddenly it becomes worthy to talk about while around the water cooler.

And its being featured on late night television.

Rather interesting.

I have a few questions though.

Who belongs to those butts? How did this guy convince these people to sit there in a thong and allow him to slap them like that? And are they REALLY women or are some of them men??

I guarantee you that I could not find four or five volunteers to pull off a stunt like that. Not a chance at all!

Kudos to this guy. Whoever he is!!!

 

Rubber And Glue

“All men’s misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.”~ Jean de la Bruyere

So you wanna talk about how much life stinks, eh? Vent a little bit about how it has been mistreating you and that it hasn’t been fair?

The world seems to hate your every move and decision and now you are being sorely punished for it and you don’t deserve it.

And it has been going on for months. Even a few years. Nothing is going right for you.

Worst of all, you’re wondering if there’s anything left to have faith in.

You are feeling a bit down in the dumps because women are hitting on you and they don’t seem to be interested in who you are, but rather what you have in your wallet and/or bank account. And it’s not fair.

You are feeling overwhelmed because men are wanting you so much and all they truly want is to get you in bed. And you are feeling like they are doing nothing but treating you like a piece of dirty meat. And it’s not fair.

And many, many other things that frustrate you and you don’t understand why you are continuing to feel so miserable.

Who can you blame? I mean, life wasn’t supposed to be like this. Or was it??

I have the answer to your blaming question:

The person in your mirror.

Ouch!! That had to hurt now didn’t it??

Don’t you remember the saying about when you point a finger at someone, you have other fingers pointing back at you? Remember that one? You probably didn’t think that it would ever apply to you.

Perhaps women wouldn’t be so into you and your bank account had you not taken a week and a half of bragging that you won the lottery or how you came into a bunch of money. And perhaps men wouldn’t be so into finding what you got going on in bed had you not screamed for over sixteen months that you were single and finally “free” from a relationship that you determined was bad for you,  and could now do whatever you wanted and you decided that it was time to live your life the way you wanted.

I’m not going to write again about how people just have their bad times and good times. Its ridiculous and boring by now to be coming from this blog. But when you refuse to take a look at yourself and find out just how you became so miserable and fail to accept that the things you have done in the past led you to it and only want to blame others, then that’s where the road ends.

Its about as juvenile of an action as quitting your job because your vehicle is out of gas. And about as sad as starving yourself to death because you’re house is empty of food.

Things break. Fix them!

I’m there for you. I will listen to you when you have bad days, and I will listen to you when you have awesome days. But when your misery multiplies because of your own actions and deeds… then there’s something called “reached a limit” with me. And that means that there’s nothing else that I can do but listen. And listening isn’t going to fix whatever issue you are having.

I literally closed the door on someone today because for the past ten days, I have been listening to them rant and vent about the  same problem that they are having in life. Ten straight days. And even though they have said that they felt better to get it off their chest, they didn’t go and fix the issue. So we’re right back where we started.

And for that person, all I can do is hope that they wake up and snap out of it and fix their issue in life. Once they do that, then they can move on in life happier. But I cannot do it for them. Only they can. And its sad to watch this crap going on through the window. But until then, I am rubber and they are glue.

If misery loves company, then I would much rather be alone.

Find the issue that is bothering you. Find out what exactly it is that is keeping you so miserable. Then fix it. Even if that means you have to fix yourself by changing yourself. Don’t play the blame game. Nobody wins at that!!

 

 

 

Historical Family Ties

F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Please don’t let me fall.”~ Mary Surratt

“The Great Gatsby” will be coming to theaters soon this year, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The classic book was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925.

It was this great curiosity about the man that had me research him.

The story tragic and sad and all of that. But more importantly, there was a piece of trivia about his family that just caught my eye.

And you know how I am about trivia.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is related to Mary Surratt. They are cousins once removed.

Mary Surratt

So then who in the world is Mary Surratt?

She is someone who was executed for being a co-conspirator in the assassination of United States President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

Her story was wild as she probably would be tried and convicted in a court in today’s time for harboring and conspiracy.

But she was actually tried in a military tribunal.

She rented a boarding house in Maryland, where those who were found guilty would meet up and plan their actions to kill the President.

What I found rather interesting and unusual was that even though she was being held inside a federal prison and being kept watch by soldiers, her treatment during her trial was a lot different than her co-conspirators.

She wasn’t shackled in the transfers between the courthouse and the jail cell that she was being held in.

Her prison cell was always being changed to suit her needs. And around the time of her execution, she was in pain and misery. Both from sorrow of knowing her fate and menstrual pains.

She was allowed to wear a veil over her face when she was faced with execution. But she was the only female in the group of people who were being tried for conspiracy and the actual murder of the President.

Execution. Mary Surratt hangs first from the left.

It is also noteworthy to add that not everyone who was brought to trial over the assassination was found guilty. Surratt’s son, was found not-guilty for conspiracy. But Surratt was found guilty and hanged on a very warm afternoon in July 1865.

And so I found it interesting. I think though that genealogy has always been a small interest of mine. To find out who I am and who I am not actually related to.

To my own knowledge, I do not have any relatives that would be worthy of noting. Nor am I a family relative, any times at all removed, to be related or connected to anyone fascinating or famous.

But perhaps one day I will go and study it for myself and find out.

IF I am, I’ll be sure to let you know who it is that Dambreaker is related to.