You Can’t Ride Two Horses with One Ass
I love idioms. I almost always give my grandfather credit when I spew out a particularly folksy one. “Like my grandfather used to say…” He never really said that many but they sound like something he would say. My favorites: “You couldn’t poor piss out of a boot with the directions on the heel.” and “You couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle.” Pretty folksy and really livens up a conversation.”
Anyway, the above idiom, I heard in a movie. I can’t remember which one but I thought of it again last night. I have a daughter, two actually but this is just relevant to one, who is a pretty darned good athlete. I am always modest in talking about how good she is but she is definitely talented. Talented enough to go to college and possibly play three different sports. Currently she is trying to ride two horses (and sometimes three or four) and unfortunately she only has one rear end.
The real issue hear is field hockey vs. soccer. My daughter is a very talented soccer player. Downside: we don’t have a girls’ soccer team at our high school. I have for years touted her passion for the game and how we would always find a place for her to play. And we have. Currently she plays on a premier level team. Not just any premier team but one of the best teams in the country – ranked in the top 100. On the other hand she is an extremely talented field hockey player, possibly Division 1 caliber by some accounts. Downside: She doesn’t “love” it like she does soccer. We have a field hockey team and a pretty darned good one. Qualifying for districts and/or states for the last 8 years at least. When she plays, as a sophomore, others tell me that she has obvious advantages both physically and athletically over the other girls. ***I interrupt this post to inform you that I know nothing about field hockey. That is probably another post but the editorial comment seemed necessary*** No wonder I grind my teeth at night!
For me, the ticket to a college education that she wouldn’t otherwise be able to attain is the ultimate goal. Academically she couldn’t go to UNC, Temple, UCLA; athletically that may be possible. (Yeah, I know, “Oh woe is me.” People have real problems. I know. But you’re reading my blog!) There really isn’t any arrogance in this for me. I want her to have all the opportunities that she can have. High school and college are minute in the whole scheme of a life. Which one of these things will have the most impact on the next 10, 15, 50 years? Which horse is going to carry her ass the furthest? I think I know the answer. I think she does too.
You Gotta Write, Man!
Here’s the tough thing about blogging: You have to write! I am a pretty introverted person. Not that I don’t like people and not that I don’t like to socialize. I just keep things to myself. I am constantly thinking and “writing” things in my head. I preview conversations in my head: “What if I say this? What will the response me? Is the conversation going to be worthwhile.” Sometimes I forget then to actually have the conversation and other times I don’t remember whether I actually had the conversation or not. Crazy? I don’t know.
I have been doing the same thing with 40phor. I have tons of ideas and thoughts. I have written thousand word essays in my head a thousand times but when it is time to sit and write I go completely blank. I don’t know if I am afraid to write my thoughts or if subconsciously I don’t think people care what I have to say. Of course there is a third option: I don’t care if people care so why bother.
This summer I took a personality inventory as a way to assess my leadership skills and look for areas to improve. My boss thought it would be a good idea and I really enjoyed the process. One of the areas that came to light was that I had a low regard for people. This would come as a surprise to people who know me as it did to me. If you know me you know I care very much about the plight of others, I care very much for my family and I care very much about the people I work for and with.
Looking into it more deeply I discovered that it meant I had a low regard for what others thought of ME! In some ways I guess that’s true. I tend to make decisions based on research and not so much on opinion or what others will think. If I don’t know something I want to learn about it. If you ask me a question that I can’t answer you can guarantee that I will be on Google any minute. I love to know stuff. On the other hand I really do value the appreciation of others. I get all excited when someone comments on this or my other blog. I tend to not show a lot of emotion but I feel a lot of emotion.
What does that have to do with writing? Well, nothing I guess. I just have to get over this internal dichotomy. I want you to like what I do but I don’t really care if you do. That doesn’t sound right: I want you to read what I write, I want your feedback on what I write, but I really just gotta write, man!
Olivia on Tuba – Literally
The Goals – Finally!
1. Blog – Hey, that’s what I’m doing now!
2. Write more – I always was a pretty decent writer and at one time thought of it as a vocation. I’ve gotten away from it in the last several years and really feel like I have something to share. See no.1 above! I tentatively have decided that Friday will be poetry day.
3. Take more pictures – I had a daily photblog where I posted a picture a day for 500 consecutive days. I have all but abandoned that. I know that my photography improved immensely in those 500 days and can tell that I am losing my touch recently.
4. Compete – I am a runner. Not a great runner but more of a midpack kind of guy. I intend to compete more this year. Last birthday year(like fiscal year only from 9/12 to 9/11) I ran four races. This year I want to run at least 8 and do at least one “big” race. A half, an obstacle course or a tri.
5. Kind of hand in hand with no. 5. I need to get back in shape. Take off that 10 pounds – again – and get back to 9+ mile long runs.
6. Complete some 30 day challenges. I’m looking to followers to help me out here. Suggest some challenges in the comment section and I will let you know if I accept the challenge.
Crying Over Meatloaf
I know I promised by 45th year goals today but I didn’t want this thought to go too far into the future to make it less relevant. tomorrow I will get to the goals which I guess should include, “I will not procrastinate.”
I watched the 9/11 coverage on CNN for almost three hours on Sunday. Many things touched me: the beauty of the memorial in New York, the strength of Joe Biden at the Pentagon as he recalled his own loss, the children who lost their parents, and the carving of “unborn child” on the monument at the World Trade Center site. Fighting back tears the whole time. Then I got smacked by the biggest tearjerker of them all, “We miss your laughter, your smile and your meatloaf.”
Your meatloaf. I felt the tear start to drip down one cheek as I tried to cover it from my teenage daughters. Fake a wipe of the nose. They won’t know. Why in the hell am I crying over meatloaf? My wife makes a damn good one (uses salsa instead of ketchup) but never does it produce tears.
So what is it? I thought about it a lot and I came to this conclusion: It is about the little things. Everyone thinks about the weddings, the birthdays, the births that they won’t get to share with their departed friend or relative but does anyone think about how to deal with the little things? The things that make your life different. My wife would probably think about me every time she parked the car because we have had a lot of laughs about what a terrible parker I am. I would think about her every time I see the dents in the garage door. I would miss Olivia passing gas and laughing hysterically as well as Hattie butchering the pronunciation of words. I would definitely miss the meatloaf!
My point I guess is to not forget the meatloaf. The tragic thing that happened on 9/11 still touches the hearts of everyone who was witness to any part of it but we can’t forget that no one ever promised us that we would live any longer than one day. I know that’s not the lesson of 9/11 but I know it can be a reminder to seize the day. Celebrate the meatloaf!
How Glenn Beck Ruined My Birthday
Tomorrow I will post my goals for the year. Today is my birthday. 9/12. Pretty cool date. As a fraction reducible to ¾. Late summer but with fall like weather usually. Pretty joyous occasion for me until Glenn Beck screwed with it.
Not that I ever was a fan of Mr. Beck. His politics and mine are more than a little different. Not necessarily polar opposites but definitely not in the same hemisphere. But when Mr. Beck took my birthday and used it to promote some right wing propaganda, I was more than a little peeved. For those of you who don’t know, here is the basis for Glenn Beck’s “9-12 Project.” (absence of a link here is purposeful. I don’t want anyone else to get brainwashed.)
“At the origin of America, our Founding Fathers built this country on 28 powerful principles. These principles were culled from all over the world and from centuries of great thinkers. We have distilled the original 28 down to the 9 basic principles.”
The website lists the 9 Principles, accompanied by quotations from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The 9 Principles are:
- America is good.
- I believe in God and He is the center of my life.
- I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
- The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
- If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
- I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
- I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
- It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
- The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
The 12 Values are:
- Honesty
- Reverence
- Hope
- Thrift
- Humility
- Charity
- Sincerity
- Moderation
- Hard Work
- Courage
- Personal Responsibility
- Gratitude
It’s really hard to argue that any of those are unimportant, but I do have some hang ups:
First of all, the 28 principles are only what Mr. Beck believes were the Founding Fathers values. Secondly, his 9 principles are clearly to promote his own as well as the Tea Party’s agenda. Thirdly, why 9 principles and 12 values? To exploit the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans for one’s own political/financial gain is the only reason I can see. Unless he really did just want to screw with my birthday. So I’ll be a little passive aggressive; my own rewrites on what he really meant.
- “America would be the greatest country in the world if we elected a Tea Party president.”
- “I believe in my God the rest of you are wrong.” Or “Jesus loves me but he can’t stand you.”
- “The liberal media should quit pointing out the lies on Fox News.”
- “We are afraid of gays.”
- “Justice is blind but the privileged people can afford laser surgery or glasses.”
- I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but Mexicans, gays, liberals, Muslims, poor people, etc. do not.
- Social Security, medicare, welfare, free health care were designed for the people mentioned in number 6 and they don’t deserve it.
- I can say whatever I want but liberals better shut the hell up.
- I don’t have to listen to President Obama. George Bush told me so.
So, I’ve decided to start my own project. Just to keep the theme alive I’m thinking of calling it the 2/10 project. Here you go Mr. Beck:
Two principles
- All people are created equal. Not just rich, white, American men who run businesses.
- We all have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and so do all humans around the world. Whatever God, god or other supreme being we believe in created us all and didn’t create some to live in poverty, and some to live as captives, and some to never know happiness.
Ten Values
- Caring
- Understanding
- Knowledge
- Hope
- Imagination
- Individualism
- Fairness
- Trust
- Service
- Charity
Those are the principles and values that I would call my 2/10 project. By the way, February 10th; Glenn Beck’s birthday. Revenge!
Pre-Day
Today is September 11th, 2011. The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America. Tomorrow is my birthday. September 12th. In the post-9/11 US. 9/12 is the day that Americans came together to support each other in the scariest time of our generation. It was my birthday a few decades earlier. To me, it is a little more than just the day after the attacks, and in many ways it has been similar for me.
My birthday, like January 1st for many, has been a day for new beginnings. A day to take inventory and set goals. This blog will be one of those goals. I have some more that I will reveal later on. Please continue to follow and support me.
40phor 