Tag: change

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Bottle of Tequila – Revisited

I generally do not recycle articles.  I also do not write a lot of fiction, but once a decade or so a story pops into my mind.  When I do write fiction  it is generally triggered by some story I have heard or something that has happened to me. Then my “imagination” runs wild  extrapolating on of the former. Or sometimes – according to Señora about stories of her – I just make s*** up. Generally, I am stringing all those founts together.

The broken toe from a dropped bottle of tequila actually happened to a friend of my ex when we lived in Oklahoma City.  A friend of Señora recently dropped a bottle of wine on her toe, breaking it, bringing this story back to mind. The rest of the story’s derivation is best left to the war time motto of “Loose lips, sinks ships.”

I enjoyed writing the story 12 years ago.  Hopefully, you will enjoy reading it.

Now to the story…

Bottle of Tequila

He saw me limping down the hallway and asked,”looks like you had a wonderful time, what happened?” When he said that I was instantly back to her bedroom and recalling the events of the previous evening…

We had placed a few pillows behind our backs up against the headboard.  The lights were still low.  The Coltrane CD had started back around.  Man, is he ever timeless. With the warm glow that can only be felt from energy well spent, we were both smoking cigarettes and idly chit chatting about absolutely nothing of consequence.  I noticed that we had both pulled our knees toward our chests.  The result was two well formed tents, side by side in the sheets.  Mine was a good bit taller than hers.  My mind flitted back to childhood days when my parents would take me to the circus.  I wondered which tent was more interesting.  Was it the larger one with the 3 rings of non-stop entertainment, or the smaller one with all the made up freaks and hucksters trying to separate you and your money? Laughing to myself I wondered where the “tunnel of love” was.

It was at that point I slapped myself softly and she looked at me funny.

“Just a weird thought,” I explained.

My vision drifted down to my left arm.  I realized that I had left my Rolex knock-off on.   It surprised me that she had not complained, Continue reading “Bottle of Tequila – Revisited”

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Sister Lorie’s Tale from the Dark Side

Did you ever wake up and wonder what side of the planet it is? Well, I woke up and wondered what part of the universe I had been magically transported to. I’m a planner. I planned a trip to Oklahoma City. We have been going to this retreat for a few years now. We found a hotel close by the facility. Granted this hotel is not much, but it is clean and cheap.

I made the reservation on one of those on line places. You know the kind where you can see lots of lower rates for hotels… I won’t mention the name here. I found the hotel, made the reservation and like a flash they charged my card.

That same day, the hubby calls to tell me that ‘mail count’ is that same time frame. For those of you who are not familiar with USPS, mail count translates to going in early, working late and no time off except for your own funeral. Oh well, we can’t go, so I call the online company. Continue reading “Sister Lorie’s Tale from the Dark Side”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 1,394

yeah I know you did not ask!

What about next time Congress has some “must pass” legislation, instead of slipping a rider that benefits only the fats cats and decreases our democracy, we tact on riders to benefit all of us.  Perhaps something to reform the student loan program, and make college affordable; perhaps something that will help bring good jobs back to America;  perhaps legislation to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century; perhaps a realistic minimum wage; perhaps a tax code change to decrease the wealth gap; I could go on an on, but you get the idea.

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No Driver Left Behind

I spend way too much time commuting which allows me time to observe the idiocy of the motoring public. And yes I know from time to time while driving I fall under the rubric of idiot. My primary rule when I amindex driving is to consider everyone on the road an idiot except myself, and do not be too sure about myself.

I was thinking driving home today with all the push for testing and evaluating for competence in schools perhaps we should do the same for drivers. Some method could be devised to evaluate overall driving skills. This would then be tied into everyone’s driving records. If you fell in the bottom 20% you would have to have a red flashing light on your car. If you fell into the next quintile an orange light, then yellow and so forth. That way you quickly recognize the total idiots and give them a wider berth. Of course, you would have to retest annually as skills change. And I can see some folks sandbagging to get the red light so folks would stay away, but if you tied it to their insurance rates…

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Blowing kisses…

This does not happen often, but…

My hair is a little longer than is common today.  My attitude is at my age if you have it, flaunt it.  When I drive Li’Blue with the top down it blows my hair in a way I am sure is very dramatic!  (Insert the smiley face of your choice here)  Add to this mix the fact that some folks believe Miatas (MX5s) to be chick cars.  If they have  not driven one, their opinion would change if they did.  I will admit to making a woman scream more than once when she was in Li’Blue.

I’ll be driving along and feel a vehicle pull up even with me.  I know it is a guy (or guys) thinking it is a blonde female driving the car.  I’ve not done it YET, but I am always tempted to blow them a kiss.  I do turn my half-shaven, mustached face towards them and grin.  That is about the time they goose their vehicle.

Men are such pigs!

 

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Nickel Philosophy for a Saturday

I think the Buddha had it right, when you are chopping wood, chop wood. We spend so much of our time living in the past or worried about the future, that we miss the here and now. The Here and Now is all we really have. We need to be present in the present. I frequently remind myself of this when I am doing mundane tasks with some degree of boredom and/or resentment. It is amazing how pleasant even a task like cleaning the bathroom can become if you focus your being on what you are doing. I’ve been known to say to myself, “When you are folding t-shirt, fold t-shirts.” The results are always better with the change in perspective. We spend so much time multi-tasking that we never really concentrate on chopping wood. And that my friend is my nickel philosophy for a Saturday, Be Present.

As an aside that sound you hear is Robin saying, “Why don’t you practice a little of the Buddhism you are preaching, and clean the bathrooms.”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 3,124

…yeah I know you did not ask!

I feel sorry (among other things) for those men in societies that treat women as second class citizens, as property, as less than human.  How wonderful it is to have a co-equal partner to share the world’s joys and sorrows with.  I can only hope that if they had even an inkling of an idea of what a gift it is they would change their behavior.  However, social and religious pressures can be an amazing force for the status quo.

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Love Comes in Many Forms

Love comes in many forms.buritto

Anymore I generally just eat because my body needs food.  When I was single I would eat the same thing for breakfast for months on end.  Lunch was much the same way.  In Memphis I would come home for lunch which usually consisted of ramen noodles with vegetables.  I was fine with that.  I was fine with my bowl of Shredded Wheat each and every morning.

Robin is retired and I still work.  She is still getting up and fixing my breakfast each weekday morning.  I just want something light to knock the edge off my hunger.  I like a little protein also.  What we have settled is a breakfast sandwich with cheese and egg.  Frequently the bread takes the form of a tortilla.  If I was preparing the meal it would vary only slightly from day to day.  Robin likes to change it up.  She likes to try to surprise me a little with the combinations she puts together.  This morning it was a tortilla, cream cheese with chives, soy sausage and egg.  It was quite tasty and opened my eyes with pleasure when I first bit into it.

Sometimes love comes wrapped in a tortilla.

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I have an idea, you have an idea…now we have two ideas

George Bernard Shaw once said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea as well, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

I actually heard this term used a few days ago on a radio show.  Two authors were debating.  One accused the other of an ad hominem argument.  Later in the debate the meaning became clearer.  I’m not sure why, but something made me think of it today.

Definition of AD HOMINEM Continue reading “I have an idea, you have an idea…now we have two ideas”

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Rewinding Life

From time to time I will hear or read an interview of some famous person.  One of the common questions asked is, “If you had your life to live over would you do anything differently?”  Almost invariably the answer is, “No, I would not change a thing.”   On hearing this, in my mind, I am screaming, “Bullshit.”

I look back on my life and there are so many things that I would have changed had I had the opportunity.  Maybe it is the programmer in me, but I see life as a imagesseries of decision points.  Like the traveler in Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, go one direction and the other path is usually lost.  I do not know a human alive, if they are being honest, that would not own up to bad decisions, to decisions they regret, or wonder what would have happened if they had taken the other branch.  I think it is part of the tragedy that is the quiet desperation of human existence.  The Buddha gave a way out, living in the moment.  However, that is much easier said than done.

One of my fantasies is to wonder what would happen if I could go back and change x to y.  What would have my path have been?  Continue reading “Rewinding Life”