I am pretty sure that I will be the only person interested in what I have to say... I guess I am truly jealous of anyone that has their 15 minutes of fame (read: reality television shows), but I cannot be edited by big corporations to fit their story lines. I would say or sell their products, but maybe I can get a sponsor.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Garbage for Supper
Candy, popcorn and water. That's it. I haven't been doing any exercising either. Between now and Saturday I will be doing not much but playing guitar. I have been doing the honky tonk stardust cowboy thing. I will explain why after Saturday night.
This week seems a bit long. Although tomorrow is Wednesday... halfway there. We will celebrate Dan's new job on Friday night. Celebrating means dinner at Ralph's Steak House in Delavan. Going to Ralph's is cause for celebration itself! Dan's accomplishments are amazing and I can't wait to really celebrate!
That's right. There are good things happening. It doesn't always have to be something huge. For me small things are just as good if not better than something huge. Today we'll spend some time with family. We haven't done that in awhile, so today we will.
We are counting down to the Frozen Tundra Classic. We have our tickets and we will also be spending time with family then... some from far away that we haven't seen in awhile. That's you Unlce Joe! Along with my cousin Pete, Big Mike... should be fun.
Life is like that sometimes. It gets complicated. Then sometimes through the complexity I see the simplicity. Only then I see that it isn't that simple. I would wish for it to be that way. Unfortunately like Mr. Rogers says, all the wishing in the world won't make something happen. Only hard work and determination and even sometimes practice can make things happen. You have to do something to make things happen. The fact that I am fairly wishy-washy doesn't help either. It's just the way my brain and emotions work or don't work together. Ah, c'est la vie. Glad I took all that French in school.
Our first game of the season... anybody's hockey season... will be on Friday night. A friend of Dan's was nice enough to help us out with some tickets. Guess who Bucky plays? That's right, Goldie. Bucky Badger versus Goldie the Gopher. Which rodent will win? Whichever rodent can ice skate better. It should be a great game with a packed house. I love to go to Badger hockey games because of the students. They make it a ton of fun. Who would think that chanting would be so much fun? I'll have to remember to take my hockey game watching clothes to work tomorrow. SIEVE! SIEVE! SIEVE!
A few days ago I was rummaging through a bunch of CDs that I had burned. It seems that it goes directly against my nature to label any CD that I burn. Sure a few here and there, but I would say that out of 100 CDs, I probably label about 7 of them.
So I started listening to them... after sifting through the junk and the scratched beyond Armour All repair, I found one that I liked. It had good stuff that I haven't heard in awhile and years before that.
Does anyone remember or care about the band Fuzzbox? The album in question is called "We've got a Fuzzbox and we're gonna use it." I was about 15 when I first heard it. A friend of mine on the cutting edge of all things hip clued me in. He was so hip, he was into Liz Phair right after the "Exile in Guyville" album came out. It was great, British punk by an all girl band. The songs had maybe four chords each. I loved it. I had it on cassette and just about warped the stuffing out of it. Now I see they are finally on iTunes but not quite what I am looking for. Must be some issue with record company stuff. I don't even think I have the cassette anymore! Drat! Now I see the official website and can't view it in full.
I am not sure but perhaps I have funkiness in my sinuses. Usually you know when something goofy is going on up in there. This time I am not quite sure. I feel a little sick but lately I am not sure if it is because I am sick or if it is a reaction to stress. There are times when I get myself so worked up about things that I do get physically ill. I feel as though I have a fever and become achy and tired.
At any rate, there are two hockey games on OLN tonight. That's good news for me after having unlimited access to hockey during the NHL Center Ice Preview. Now back to regular cable covereage. We'll take the two games and I thank you very much OLN.
Short trips are just as good as long trips. Let me tell you about our short trip this weekend my friend. Dan and I drove to Green Bay on Saturday morning and by the afternoon, we were God Parents to one Ava Harper. To think that we would be even be asked to do so is an honor. To have it be real is a mind-blower. I promise to take it to heart and to have more than good intentions. It is also something that renews me and my other good intentions.
So it was a short trip but a wonderful day. There was another important obligation to attend to today. I wish we didn't have to cut our visit with John, Leah, Addison and Ava short. It's always a good time in more ways than one, so I really don't like it being so brief.
In other news, Dan begins a new job on Monday. I am very proud of him for his hard work and dedication. We have good things happening for us. We are quite blessed. I saw a sign outside of a church today. It read, "Want to get rich quick? Count your blessings." Amen, my friend.
It really does. I think we got about 4 or 5 inches tonight. It has been a typical Friday night in Wisconsin. Snow, then Fish Fry. We went with our friends Paul and Nichole for fish. It was a great evening. Great potato pancakes and even better company. We always have a great time with those guys. The times goes pretty quick when we are with them.
We have a big day on Saturday. A trip to Green Bay to see two more of our very good friends and their families.
Dan and I are very fortunate to have the people in our lives that we do. We have some very positive things happening right now and it feels like things can only get better. Every once in awhile I get a little worried, but what would life be like without curveballs. You learn from observation, from positive results and from mistakes. If I don't use circumstances, incidents, experiences, good decisions or bad decisions or mistakes to learn from, then I am moving backward. I am not growing I am not learning. I try to learn from positive experiences too, but somehow it seems that my life's best lessons come from my worst moments. I am very thankful for all that I have and all that I am blessed with.
Love that stuff. A little rockin' and a little walkin'... and a whole lotta feelin'. I'm about ready for a short cowboy hat now... not quite the boots just yet. 2 1/2 hours of guitar playing tonight and for me that is a marathon. It almost made me forget that my left leg has been feeling incredibly odd all day. I called my brother for advice because I thought maybe I had a case of the gout. I know it mostly effects men but hey, who knows? I don't think it is a case of the gout. I just think that my trouser socks were a bit too tight. Tonight is Thursday, but it feels like Friday. Thursday has felt like a Friday to me for years, so that means that really I am probably ahead by as many years, right? If Thursday has felt like Friday for five years, then I am actually probably ahead two years... does that make sense?
The correct answer is any guitar that I own. Not now though my friend. I am playing quite a bit more. About an hour a night and it is a great feeling. I need to keep doing it. Unfortunately, the time I want to spend playing cuts into exercising. Guess I have to balance that out and perhaps exercise in the morning. I am not sure about that. I just slept through the night last night. The first time in awhile. I could have stayed in bed about 30 minutes more. I will have to hit the hay in just a bit. We'll see about the exercising in the morning. So long, my friend.
Good chords. Most folks think that the lyrics make a country song a good country song. I will tell you that I don't think that is the case. It's all about the chords. Take the chords to "Stand by Your Man." Great progression. "Jambalaya" has only two chords... G and C. "Tulsa Time" has only two chords. "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" has only variants of two or three chords. Honky Tonk, that's the stuff. Never thought I would say it. There's something about a lonesome twang that gets me right in the gut.
What a thrill! The NHL Center Ice Preview. Canadians teams playing hockey. American teams playing hockey. Canadian teams playing American teams playing hockey. Canadian televsion. Don Cherry. No one talks during Coach's Corner. The only bad thing about this whole scene is that it will end. Tonight the Sabres and the Oilers are all over eachother. Dropping the gloves, game misconducts. It's wild. Thank you, NHL.
It is true. I spent a bit of time listening to someone this weekend. I mean really listening. Thinking back on our conversation, it made me think long and hard about where I am at and where I am going. Why is it that it takes hearing of someone else's misfortune and bad turns to remind me of how blessed I am? We did some great news this past week... we'll pass it along as soon as it comes to be reality. I was very thankful because it was something that I had spoken to the Big Man about each day. I am still thankful. Still I was all the more thankful after my conversation with this person. He has worked very hard to get to where he is, has a good heart and a positive outlook. He takes joy in simple things like visits, letters, phone calls and so on. He is more concerned with people and his relationships with them than he is with things. It isn't much that separates people. There but for the grace of God go I.
I haven't been sleeping very well lately. Sometimes I just wake up too darn hot. Sometimes I am sure that it is because of worry. I am a worrier. Now I seem to carry my tension in my neck. For many years I carried it in the pit of my stomach, to the point where I would become sick. Now when it's really bad, that old feeling comes back. Can't say that I miss it much.
I used to worry a great deal about things that I couldn't control, but wanted too. Today I worry mostly about things that I can or think that I can control. So my irrational behavior is a bit more rational.
Thank goodness there is another James Bond movie marathon going on.
I know that I can be cranky, so I am not asking why is everyone but me cranky? I can be just as, if not more cranky than the next person. Why do we get that way? Why don't we just say what we think or feel and be done with it. It can be draining to be around people who are always cranky. I want to avoid them because I don't want to be bothered by it. Then sometimes I think it is funny because those folks seem to let the littlest thing make them upset or they become almost a cartoon character. I don't like being cranky. I know that I am not at my best or my nicest when I am cranky and I don't much care for that. I will say that it is difficult where there is no sunshine. However, that isn't the fault of anyone in particular. Here's to not being cranky.
It is an honor when someone that you respect thinks highly of you. It is an honor when someone that you care very much for wishes for you to in a way be part of their family. It is an honor to be even be thought of in that way, let alone for it to be spoken. It is an honor to know that you have touched someone's life to that extent. I have been honored in that way. I am amazed that it is true. Thank you for honoring me.
Words can be hard to come by for me at that precise moment. I can try to make up for it afterward. I hope this makes my feelings clear.
I will tell you that I am on day 2 of exercising. My heart hasn't worked this hard in awhile. My pulse was well above my target range of 75-94 beats per minute. Like a disco record... whoo. It feels good though. So there is one resolution that is working out.
The other is having better eating habits. I just ate some whole grain cereal (they were frosted wheat crumbles or something). I will also confess that instead of buying ground beef for tacos tonight, I cracked. I bought ground turkey. There is probably going to be someone in Green Bay who thinks that is quite a turning of the tide.
Now, I need to work on the other things. Like letting people know that I care about them. I will do what I can.
I have always worked at being honest with myself. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes it is easy. Sometimes even I am not sure what I am thinking. So I keep thinking about it. I don't know if that is my downfall or a positive trait. Sometimes I think too much. That is where being more proactive comes in. It doesn't pay much to think about things and not do them. I just read something along the lines of "there are those who fail by thinking and not doing and there are those fail by doing without thinking." Good words, it reminds me that I need to find the balance.
I had a terrible dream last night. It wasn't what I would consider a standard nightmare. I wasn't in phyical danger and there were no monsters.
I was dreaming that I was very angry with two people that I love very much, and I was angry with them because of someone else that I love very much. It was just a terrible feeling to be angry and confronting these people. I woke up not feeling right. In my dream, I didn't want to be angry and I didn't want to confront them, but I had to. There was something that I had to make them understand.
For me, it was a nightmare. Confrontation about things that really matter isn't something that I enjoy. I tend to either be too aggressive or so opposite of agressive that the other person probably doesn't realize that the issue is important to me.
Maybe by being more proactive this year, I can learn to address issues before thngs need to rise to a level of confrontation.
Cool Bands that Never Got the Attention They Deserved
Soul Asylum Concrete Blonde The Cars Hardline Rainbow Gene Loves Jezebel Hagar, Schon, Aarnson and Shreve Dead or Alive The Screaming Trees Bad Finger Angel Fish Garbage
Great Songs: "Shame"-Stabbing Westward "The Good Old Hockey Game"-Stompin' Tom "What Do All the People Know"-The Monroes
Ah yes friends, truer words were never spoken. I would like to tell you this story. My mother's parents lived in the fine city of Louisville, just far enough south where every kind of soda is "Coke." We would visit Dorothe and J.T. during the summer and holidays of course.
The best type of visit was the solo visit, meaning no parents. Please don't misunderstand, but I don't think I ever felt more grown up then when I was able to go to Dorothe's house on my own. When I think of it, they were really great about it. Sometimes I would make the trip back with Grandma and Grandpa after a visit or Mom and Grandma would meet somewhere in Indiana. How wonderful that Mom wanted me to spend time with Grandma so much that she would make that drive. How wonderful that Grandma wanted me there so much that she would do the same.
The visits were wonderful. Stay up late with Grandma. Drink coffee with Grandma. Get other habits from Grandma. Grandma had soda at her house. Real soda. Not Diet Pepsi, no friend, it was Coke. With anywhere from 2-3 teenaged uncles in the house, there was always Coke.
On one visit, we drank all the Coke that there was... a ton. We kept drinking it and drinking it. At dinner one night (most likely pork chops with mashed potatoes and peas), Grandma asked what we would like to drink. Without even thinking we said "Coke!" Now Dorothe rarely showed anger but when she did, it was time to listen. Her response? "First you have milk, then you can have Coke."
It is January and we had a thunderstorm earlier this morning. It is pouring right now. It is almost noon and it seems as though the sun has yet to come up.
Today we will be rooting for the Badgers and they take on Auburn in their bowl game. Let's go Bucky!
It is depressing watching all these bowl games in sunny places and then looking our my window and seeing the leftover snow, hail and rain. But you know what, that just makes us appreciate the sun that much more, doesn't it?
Stop bothering the man! Yes, we all want to know if he will return for another season. Yes, Packer fans around the globe are paying close attention to today's game. But let me tell you something my friend. We are fortunate that the planets and stars aligned so that the man came to Green Bay and that he and the team and the fans have enjoyed success. The fans at Lambeau Field are chanting louder than Pete for "one more year." Let them man be. He has given it his all. If he wants to come back for another year I will be just as excited as anyone. If he doesn't, I will hope that he enjoys spending the rest of his life with his family, his friends, his golf clubs and his tractor.
Not only is 2005 is over, so is the James Bond marathon. The 008 days of 007 ended on December 30th I guess. It made me a bit sad. The only thing that could help now would be an Elvis movie marathon.
