Forgot it!

     DAMMIT!  I had something really exciting to write about today, but I didn't get here 'till late. Now I have forgotten what it was! Shit! This is the curse of getting older. It sucks! I forget common words alot lately, also. Oh, well, screw it!

      Wife has been sick all week, and now I have to put drops in her ears...she can barely hear. She thinks I will get tired of helping her.....I am glad to have her head in my lap!!  ....wink, wink.....

        Anyway, Have a good weekend, folks, and treat each other nice,ok?

Our Freedoms

I play Video Games. Don't like it? Kiss my Ass. Plain and simple. I like them,and they get me out of my "reality" for a little while. Where else can I drive the world's most exotic cars at speeds of over 200 mph? Where else can I be a great warrior, and slay different kinds of animals? Where else can I be a top-notch criminal, and run rampant over an entire city?

   If you play, too, then I hope you have been paying attention to the political scene, of late. Do you know a gentleman named Senator Joe Liberman? That's ok, he doesn't know you, either. He doesn't play video games, either. BUT---he thinks he has the right to take them away from you and me! Yeah, I know, hell of a guy, huh? Well, here's the deal...I am 44 years old, and a registered voter. And believe me, I VOTE!!  Every chance I get!

       I vote AGAINST people like Sen Liberman!! There are others, just like him! I like to read, that is how I find out about guys like this! I have been a subscriber to "Official Playstation Magazine" for over five years! I even am on their "Gamer's Advisory Panel".  This is an exclusive club of "Expert Gamers". I have been a member of that  since it's inception over a year ago....an "original" you might say!

      OK, so what is my point? It's simply this; there are far too many people out there that want to ban Video Games COMPLETELY! Don't let them. If you are of voting age,VOTE!!!  Register and VOTE! OH, you don't like an "old man" telling you this? Well,here is some sad news---the video game industry makes more money from people MY AGE than anyone else! That's right, kiddies! Where do you think the kids get all of that money that they spend on games, and peripherals?? Now you're getting it---Mom and Dad!!

        But, I don't just buy for my kids---I buy for ME! So, I have an interest in WHO gets elected! YOU should too. What is it they say these days --- "Rock the Vote"? Do it! Get out there and DO IT!! Show them just how much POWER video-gamers can REALLY weild! Shut down these IDIOTS who want to take our games!

        Have you seen the ratings on the games? These "ratings" are set forth by the ESRB for video-games. Did you know that people MY AGE come up with the ratings? Did you also know that I will NEVER be accepted on the rating board? They don't actually PLAY the games being reviewed!!  The company that made the game sends them footage of the game, and they rate it based on that footage!!  Someone like me can NEVER be on the panel because......here it comes........I ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE GAMES!!!! Can you believe that shit?

         They also DO NOT publish a list of  WHO is on the ESRB panel!! Let's see here...THEY can infringe upon OUR lives,but WE cannot know who THEY are!! Seems about right! The good ol' U.S.A. Always someone in our ear telling us what is, and isn't good for us!!  Freedom is an illusion created by the gov't, to fool the "average idiot" walking around! Wake up, people. Before you know it, "they" will be knocking down our doors, and taking our consoles,and our pc's!!

                                       Stand Up, Fight Back!!   VOTE!!!!!

True Love...Real Love...My Love

     "What is 'True Love'"?? I have heard this question many times in my time upon this tiny rock that we live. I will make no statements as to the nature of "True Love". I am neither a scholar, nor a philosopher. I deem myself un-worthy of such lofty discussions. But(and you KNEW this was coming), I CAN tell of my experiences.

    A mere 22 years ago I met a young lady. She was sitting in a window sill,watching me mow my yard. I was fresh out of Basic Training from the U.S. Army. We dated for a while,and were married that summer. I have a wierd sense of humor,so I promised her parades, fireworks, and pic-nics on every anniversary...so we married on July fourth!!

       Over the years, we have seen tragedies on both sides of our families. We both have endured crap from someone on "their" side of the family. It happens,it is just human nature. But along with everything else, we have seen miracles. We have seen two beautiful daughters born to us. So far, the oldest has graduated High School with Honors. She also has two awards from two different presidents of the United States for various acedemic pursuits. She was a member of the BETA Society(smart like her "old man", as she calls me),and has done far too much for me to list here. Not to mention that she is married, and has two beautiful children,and a good husband.

      My youngset daughter? She is only 12,but I am sure she will travel the same road as her older sister before her. Except she doesn't want to be married. She has plans to be a veternarian,and to work with white tigers. Don't ask why, I have NO idea.

         These are just a few of the things that my wife and I have seen. My wife is also my "best buddy". She is always at my side,but knows just when I "need some space". People still wonder why we act the way we do...holding hands in public, playing together, and, yes, I will kiss my wife in public! If you didn't know us, you would swear that we are just dating! It has been that way for 22 years, and I LOVE it!

          I love my wife unconditionally. My wife never misses a day of sending me cards on my computer, by E-mail. And, c'mon, the woman has NEVER lost a sock in the laundry!! That is just incredible! Before I met her, I don't think I ever wore matching socks!! That reason alone is good enough for me!! LOL

          Is this "True Love"? I can't say. Maybe not for some of you...but for us? It has worked so far...I only hope it keeps on working. I would scream it to the world---" I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!!"  And, as usual, she will be there to say "stop acting like a fool!!!!"

                                      Holla' If You Hear Me!!!

Real Life

       OK, if you don't like the last two entries, don't blame the writers. I asked them to put their stories here. I changed not one single word. I wanted them to stay un-changed by my hand. These stories are NOT mine,I have NO business changing ANYTHING. Don't like the style? Too bad, these are real, true stories. This is a glimpse into REAL LIFE.

       People hurt, and get hurt. People have different views on religion than you or I. People have persons come into, and out of their lives, sometimes tragically, sometimes by default. I have come to you, the reader, by default, or by you actively searching for something. Something strange, wierd, tragic, or a life different than yours....or much LIKE yours.  Who's to say?

        Above all, I hope that at some time, you can LEARN something here. What?? Well, hell, you're doing the readin', you tell me! I say if you can't be a shining example, then you just have to be a horrible warning. I seem to be the warning!!

          Treat each other nice, people.

Reader Submitted Story(seems to be catching on)

         And here is the NEXT big winner!!!

             

I am a person that knows that there is a higher power and I call this power God.  I don't believe God is only in bricks and mortar..  God is in the fields, mountain tops, the face of a child ,the eyes of the elderly who have lived a good and faithful life.  For me the ocean has always been a place I find God.    Weeks before my child died my husband said, "You are changing." and I said "I know, God is getting me ready for something and I am scared to death."  I was working at a large General Electric plant and at lunch sat with 2 men and a female.  One of the men was over 6 feet and a large man and he reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a small testament and laughingly said he read on the throne.  (he was talking about his time in the bathroom).  I was impressed that this big guy would say that.  Then after a few days  sitting and listening to the 3 talk of God and a group they belonged to I began to feel hungry for the word.  One of the men came in one morning and laid some cassette tapes on my desk and asked if I would like to take them home.  This went on for a few weeks.  I would go home, pour a glass of wine and put on the tape.  The tapes were from speakers for the Full Gospel Business Men Assoc.   I was working there when I let my daughter who had been treated for cancer drive herself to the GP because she said I always panicked and that she had a cold.  Right after she left his office I got a call at work for the Dr. and he said he had already made arrangements for me to get her back in the hospital 60 miles away.  That she had gone into a form of leukemia.  Driving home, putting a few things together, telling the neighbor to tell my husband, her stepfather, where we were we started our hour and fifteen minute drive to the hospital.  They let us stay together in an outpatient type of lodging and she was to check in for the daily scheduling of tests.  That night I get a call from home that my husband, an alcoholic, had gone to the neighbors across the street and got drunk and fell on his way back across the street and was in the hospital at home with a very bad broken leg.  So all week long I run back and forth between hospitals  60 miles apart getting what he needs and back to be with my daughter at night.  My daughter was a Jr. in High School and had been crowned the Miss St. Stephens beauty queen the year before and this Friday coming up was to be the crowning of the new queen so she told her Doctors that she had to be home for the weekend.  They told her OK but to report back Monday morning. Which we did and they continued giving her chemo and when Friday came she told her Doctors that her Jr. Sr. Dance was that Saturday and that she was going.  By now they are letting her call the shots and she and her boyfriend went to her first Jr./ Sr. Prom and had a wonderful time.  The next Monday they put her in the regular hospital and on Thursday  they open her up and sewed her back up because the cancer had spread all through her body.  In the hospital we have a his side and my side of the family.  Her father who is also an alcoholic comes and is very rude to me.  I go out of the room and let him talk to her.  Her assistant Dr. is standing in the hall with me and we see her put her arm around her father's neck and she says Please quit drinking and be good to Mama.  My husband then is there in a cast and has to use a wheel chair to stay off the leg.  Again, I feel so alone.  On Saturday night she starts spitting up blood and the nurse calls code blue.  I look into her eyes and I know that that is when we said "Goodbye".  I never saw her after that.  They rushed her to ICU.  In the hall I fall to my knees and start saying , Thank You God, thank you God.  I had read in the bible to thank God for everything.  In my heart I truly felt that even if she died he would bring her back to life.    Like I said there was a his side of relatives and a my side of family.  His was in the waiting room and mine was in a long hall.  I had had no sleep in days and somebody brought a cot.  I remember lying on the cot and a Security person came up and used a billy stick and hit my cot and said, "I told you to move."  I stood up and drug the cot into the waiting room where his family and a lot of strangers were.  That is where I was at 6:00 AM that Monday morning when the Dr. came out and told me she had gone home.   I asked everyone to follow me... Later I understood they all did to appease me.  Doctors and all went with me to the chapel.  I took the rose that her boy friend had brought and took it to the alter and said, " We give this rose back to you...... God spoke through me... I do not know what I said but I was told everyone was amazed with the flow of words that came out of my mouth.  I also remember at her funeral looking us and smiling at the preacher to give him strength to deliver her sermon.  All these things I could not do in my human flesh.  Only by Jesus coming through me by the  Holy Sprit could I have done the things that I did.   (Your Mother my be right) From the entry,"A Strange Response".

Awesome TRUE Story!!!

        Do you recall when I asked for some of you to submit stories to be published here? I wasn't kidding. Even if you "think" you can't write,send them to me. I will not change them. What follows is a story from a friend. This was written back in February. I am currently involved in trying to get this person to write their life story. It is SOOO different from mine, this person has reffered to me as a "big brother" at times. Now read, and experience LIFE!

 TEARS OF JOY..

Please forgive me for rambling but I feel that we have gotten to know each other quite well. I have just witnessed God's work in a 72 year old man. He had 5 children, 17 grandchildren and 14 great grand-grandchildren. In the beginning he raised his family as a pool hustler. Worked in the downtown pool room for many years. He wasn't a gambler to him shooting pool was a business; a way to support his family. The other side of this man was an artist. I don't know when he started painting but I do know he was self taught. Up the street from the pool hall, around the corner was our local art museum and he would go there and study the old masters. Most of the Savings & Loans Companies and Banks had several of his paintings as well law offices. One time the Charlotte TV station came to Hickory to interview him and it started out with the balls bursting on the table and later they walked up the street and around the corner where some of his paintings hung.

Over the years he allowed alcohol to take control of his life and he lost not only his first family but his second. The years were not good to him. He continued to smoke and drink and began to loose his health. But as I understand it about 2 years ago he told this pastor that he had been drinking and heard an explosion and God speak "I am who I am". and from that moment own he never touched a drink again. One year ago he went to this pastor and told him God was changing him. You see this man had always painted landscapes in heavy oils. He handed the pastor an abstract in watercolor of his interpretation of The King and he told the pastor he wanted to be baptized again. The pastor said as he looked at this old wrinkled man that he knew he was witnessing God at work. The love that he gave to his children and grandchildren over these past few years are a real blessing to them.

On Jan. 3rd this man was diagnosed with lung cancer and died Feb.1st. less than 30 days and yes I was told he smoked up until the last.

You see I just returned home from the funeral of a man I was married to years ago. I saw around his casket 5 of the most beautiful paintings I had ever seen of one man's interpretation of the Cross and Life as God sees us. I didn't know this man in his later years but I came away knowing that we should never give up on anyone or ourselves.

 

Who are You?

"Who are You"? A simple question? Not really. Most people will simply give you their name when asked this question. I don't care WHAT your name is...it doesen't matter to me.  WHO ARE YOU?  Who are you,what do you believe in? Why are you here? Why are ANY of us here for that matter!? What is your answer to these questions?

     You read these little pages, and know a lot about me...not everything,but a lot. I know nothing about most of the people who read these pages. Are you rich? Are you poor? Are you male? Are you female? American,British,French,Canadian,Spanish,Mexican,Russian,Chinese,Japanese?? We are so many different people...and, yet, the same. I have never understood how people can simply kill each other like it means nothing to them. That could be you lying there.

          I think that humans are the only animal that kill purely for pleasure. And, worst of all, we kill our own kind! For NO reason! OK,listen...money,drugs,relationships,and guns are NOT reasons to kill people! War...nope,not a good excuse either. Yeah,I hear you in the back, but I do live in the real world. I know all of these things go on all of the time. There is no way that I can stop them. The only way to stop ANY of these things is to completely do away with human emotions. We have not evolved that far yet.

            Is that really a good idea? No emotions for anyone? What about love? What about caring for each other? What about Art? Paintings,Songs,Poetry,Sonnets,Plays,anything that evokes emotions? Okay, so that idea is out. So, who are you? Why are we here?

          I fear we will never know the answers to either question. Feel free to respond,if you can!