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Some rainbows are bright, some gray, some in colors you've never seen. |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** The sun is always shining and there are always rainbows. If it's cloudy, the rainbow may be covered or in shades of gray. If the rain has just passed, the rainbow may be strong, clear, and brilliant. If the sky is crystal clear, the rainbow may appear in colors unexpected. Whatever is going on for you, there's a rainbow out there somewhere. Look for it. And if you find it, let it brighten your day. Keep it in your heart to tide you over until you see the next one. Gonna give this Johari Window thing a shot. If you think you know me or want to see what others think about me, follow the link then follow the directions. Life is words in motion: Flowing from mind, to hand, to page; Sung from heart, to voice, to ear; Life is words in motion. ~Douglas The Human Touch By Spencer Michael Free
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| What is it that happens to a person as they grow older? I'm not talking about "the big" transitions like turning 30 or 50 ~ you know the "big" numbers. I'm talking about going from childhood to teen to adolescent to young adult? Somewhere in these transitions, we all tend to loose something. An adventurous spirit, the belief that anything is possible, the wild energy that drives us from one activity to another, the implicit trust that allows children of all backgrounds to become friends with barely a thought or hesitation. These seem to be but of few of the things lost. And one more. The ability to say, "I dare you" or take up the challenge when someone else presents that same statement to us. Or is it more what we have gained in that phase of our life which sets our limits for once we reach adulthood? Finally being told that something cannot be done ~ because no one has never done "it" before. Being told, even once, "You're not good enough." The acquisition of self-doubt. Fear. As we are growing up, we have a multitude of fears which we must overcome to become functional adults, When do those lessons abandon us or become stagnant within us, or is it the wording of those lessons which change? How do these changing lessons cause us to become indiscriminate obstructers of our own destiny or saboteurs of ourselves? I ask these questions and make these observations because that is the time of our lives when we are the most formative, not so much when we are adults. By the time he have reached adulthood, the changes have already taken place. The years that follow are more the years of reaffirmation of these altered lessons and the gains and losses we endure through our youth. Sometimes these types of questions don't happen until we have reached even middle age or beyond, but not to the same extent as our affectations when we were young. And if we ever think about the alterations from our youth, why do we never (or rarely ever) really seek the answers? Perhaps we should begin to challenge ourselves to making the effort to restore those parts of you youth that let us do all those things again. We should begin to teach ourselves that we are are worth the effort, refocus our fear training to that which is most deserving of being conquered. We need to learn again how to say "I dare you" or pick up that same challenge when hurled in our own direction. So let me get things started here: Find one aspect of yourself that you want to be able to take back to the energy and innocence of youth, of childhood before you were told "you can't". Let the words of a song I'm singing in the concert this Saturday be a challenge, a dare, for yourself even as they have become for me: I'm taking back the night, the child inside me died. I'm taking back the innocence that loneliness deprived. I'm taking back the room where fairy tales were read and the only demons that I feared, lurked beneath my bed I'm taking back the night, my toy soldiers were destroyed. And I became a man before I was a boy. I'm taking back the dreams that long have been denied. I'm taking back the night and my mother's lullaby. |
| FtL from Saturday, June 14 When I was maybe three years old, my family and I lived in a second floor apartment above a country store that my grandmother owned and was right across the street from her home. Out of the large single-pane picture window in the living room, I could see the field that my grandmother and aunt (only six years older than me) would cross when the came to visit. Below the window is a gravel parking area only about 10 feet wide from the edge of the road to the building edge. One day when I saw them crossing that field, I became very excited. Mom wouldn't let me go down stairs by myself, and she couldn't take me because she had something cooking on the stove. So I contented myself by running back and forth between the window and the top of the stairs anxious for my aunt to come up and visit me. When I finally saw her come through the front door at the base of the stairs, my wildness and energy increased exponentially. I ran through the house, into the living room, and through that picture window landing on the gravel parking area below. Needless to say, Mom, Grandma, and my aunt were in quite a state. But when the made their way out to me and looked me over, they found I was stunned, but not crying. No broken bones. No gashes from the glass. Only a couple of bruises and scratches from the gravel. When I was five years old, we had moved to a two story brick house next to a railroad track. Out back was a majorly huge yard and field which Dad must have leased out to some neighbors. Out there, they let their horse run free (alright, within reason and a wire fence). I loved that horse, and they always let me pet and feed and ride that beautiful stallion. One day, I decided I wanted to feed the horse some sugar cubes. So I grabbed some from the kitchen and made my way out there. But for as much as I was around that horse, I was never really given directions on the proper way to approach him. I came up from behind him and must have startled him. Spooked he kicked out his rear hooves, one of which caught my earlobe slicing it "cleanly". It required 7 stitches. Twice in my youth, I was pushed under the water and held there long enough for the culprit to steal the inflatable tube I was using because he wanted it. I rode in a car where the driver was speeding a bit on an icy hillside. The car spun out and slid halfway down the hill, sideswiping a couple of cars on the way. Another car I was riding in swerved to avoid a car that stopped too suddenly at a railroad crossing causing the car I was in to cross the road and dive headfirst into a small embankment which held a body of water somewhere between a stream and a river. Crossing a downtown street with the light in my favor, a drunk driver runs the red light crossing within a foot in front of me and runs into another car (who had a green light) at the next intersection. In forty years, I have been in several potentially deadly situations ~ some my fault, many not. Because of that, I have never really feared death. Even now, if I were to die, it wouldn't bother me. (Well of course one can't be bothered when dead. I know that. But you know what I really mean.) I don't know that I am any the stronger for having been through these episodes of deadly situations, but I know how fragile my body is not. (Or at least, wasn't.) |
| FtL - Sunday, June 15 It had to happen ~ a subject (specification) that I have no idea about. Oh, stop shouting your disbelief! I've always been a generation or so behind in everything. In the 1970s my preferred listening music was from the 50s and 60s (unless Elvis was involved in any way). My clothing mostly came from a second hand store. My moments of fun came from the games made popular over the previous several decades. In the 80s, I finally got caught up in acknowledging that the acid and hard rock of the 70s may possibly be music. At least I could understand a lot more of the words that were sung than the stuff they were putting out in the, then, current decade.I also began to enjoy Broadway musical stuff and, believe it or not, disco. (Despite the fact that I was anything but a dancing queen.) And in the mid to late 80s I finally got around to playing Pong on a home video game machine. Now I'm not saying I wasn't into the whole video game thing. I was. All the, now, classics ~ Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Centipede & Millipede, Dig Dug, Gauntlet, and the hottest craze when it came out, Dragon's Lair. Of course, my fashion sense improved only slightly. I finally figured out how to walk in bell bottoms. And bandanas were finally cool to me ~ just a step away from the terri cloth head bands that were popular during the actual decade. In the 90s when personal home computers were more of a common thing and had finally broke the meg memory barrier, I was happy to have an electric typewriter with a daisy wheel or one of those funny looking balls that twisted and turned to print what you typed. Grunge? What? 80s Pop was my music of choice during this decade. And for clothing, I found out what classics were. I basically found that solid colors and neat looking clothes were sufficient for me. And I finally got my first Nintendo 64 ~ used ~ from a pawn shop. Now we are in the double-aughts and I have a computer that doesn't work sitting on my desk, a laptop with Windows 98 and the "fatter" version of Playstation 2. There is a DVD player that will on occasion play a CD and, if I'm lucky a home computer made CD to be able to play my rehearsal music. 90% of my clothing is from 1995 or earlier. (Yes, for the most part, I still fit into the clothes I wore in high school [graduated 1986].) Music is almost all from the 70s, 80s, and early 90s ~ before the time of alternative and grunge. What late 90s music or even 00s music I have is Broadway or New Age or, what I call, contemporary classical (like Josh Groban). So when people start talking about "what's hot" now-a-days, like You Tube, or whoever is hot in Rock music's current incarnation, or anything that has come out in the past 10 years, I just get a glazed look across my face and phase out. I'm just not ready to accept all this stuff just now. I'm still working on 1994. |
I probably take the crown as the blog-king on WDC today as this is my third entry for the day (at least since I woke up this morning  . But I just couldn't stop myself from sharing this with all you fans of mine  .This is one of those forward letters (copy/pasted here). Coming from a farming community youth, I got a real kick out of this. Actually, I ended up ROFLMFAO!  !!!!Enjoy! <> <> <> <> <> LETTER FROM A FARM KID (NOW AT San Diego MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING) Dear Ma and Pa, I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Larson by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there 's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice but awful flat The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes. Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Devils Lake . I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in. Your loving daughter, Alice |
| No wonder I've had so many problems with the religion of my youth - I've been practicing the wrong one the whole time. I went to https://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html (which I found on Jenn  's blog via AL  's blog. Here's the results of what religion(s) I should/could practice to be more in line with my personal beliefs.1. Sikhism (100%) 2. Neo-Pagan (97%) 3. Unitarian Universalism (97%) 4. Liberal Quakers (96%) 5. Reform Judaism (92%) 6. Mahayana Buddhism (87%) 7. Hinduism (85%) 8. New Age (80%) 9. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (75%) 10. Bahá'à Faith (74%) 11. Theravada Buddhism (71%) 12. Taoism (71%) 13. Jainism (68%) 14. New Thought (65%) 15. Orthodox Judaism (63%) 16. Scientology (59%) 17. Orthodox Quaker (57%) 18. Secular Humanism (48%) 19. Islam (46%) 20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (46%) 21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (45%) 22. Seventh Day Adventist (35%) 23. Eastern Orthodox (34%) 24. Roman Catholic (34%) 25. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (32%) 26. Jehovah's Witness (23%) 27. Nontheist (22%) |
| FtL - day 7 Call me odd ("Hello, Odd!" ), but I don't tend to be superstitious to the greater part. Black cat crossing my path? "Here kitty, kitty!" Ladder in my way, I'll go through or under if necessary (albeit with a healthy amount of caution). Umbrella opening in the house? Not a problem, especially if I want to be sure that it will be alright to use the next time it rains.Well, you get the idea. Superstitions, like old wife's tales, may hold, or may have at one time held, a piece of fact within them, but so many come from long tradition, that many of those truth's are practically false in these modern days and times. The beginning of many superstitions make for an interesting study. One that I want to touch on, and probably the only one I hold to for the sake of others, is telling a stage performer "Break a leg" when wishing them good luck. I have found, through the past seven years of singing onstage, that if someone is superstitious about this particular phrase, you have to say it to everyone on stage or something really will go wrong. (Rambling to make sense again, aren't I? )I'm not 100% on this, memory tends to be faulty about irrelevant trivia like this, but the saying was a way of warding off bad luck by naming it. Thus, also, facing one's fears. One legend attached to the saying is that, one night a performer actually did break his leg during a performance and the critics, in their reviews the next morning, gave the play rave ratings. So from then on, the wishing of an actor to "break a leg" was also a wish for grand success. I don't know how true that is, but that is sometimes how these things develop. So while I honor that for the sake of others who are on the stage with me, I'm fine if someone tells me (off of the stage, at least) "Good luck" or "Sing well" before a performance. Aside from that, while I have no fear for Friday the 13th, I do tend to harbor a certain dislike for Monday the 13th, if only in homage to the wonderful cartoon cat, Garfield. That and my inordinate love of lasagna. So "Break a Leg" today and have a Happy Friday the Thirteenth. |
| Here's a neat website that I get a weekly email from: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings This week's word was "toodle-oo". If you would like the "background of the phrase" email, drop me a line and I'll forward it to you. Some interesting stuff here, both in fact, speculation, and pure myth on how the phrase came about. And for all of us Yanks, keep in mind that this is a UK website. So no nay-saying on the perspectives of phrase history. Remember, this is the English language our on "Americanese" is based on.  |
| FtL Day 6 Well, this is certainly a topic I've dealt with here. I've two items in my folder RedOrangeYellowGreenBlueViolet that deals with a heart betrayed/denied/rejected - but mostly by myself. The first "A Letter Goodbye" is a letter I wrote to a man I was in love with many years ago but had not been able to let go of (in my heart) for way too long and felt I was finally ready to move on. The second is an interview I had with Lady Leigh who was doing research on unrequited love. This particular item is very long and holds a lot of personal emotion. What this is all coming to is that it does not matter who or what causes the heart pain, and it may take a long time to heal. But you have to be willing to let it heal. Once you reach that point, and you've begun to let the heart heal, then the rest of the lead entry's questions can follow as answered in that post. I can personally attest to it. |
| Well, I guess it's time for a bit of what's going on for me, instead of making an entry based on a prompt. As you may or may not know, yesterday was my birthday and it went well enough. And so I start my 5th decade of life as I turn 40 years old. One day down and all looks good. One nice "gift" was the fact that my base port views hit the 500 mark. YAY! Next goal to make note of ~ 1000. A couple of days ago I received word that three of my entries for the Quotes & Wisdom contest were winners: two first place and one third place - and the third place winner I had forgotten I had written. So that was a surprise 7K in GP. I'm still waiting for the Scavenger Hunt contest results. I anticipate they will be made during the next week. Of the three judges, I've gotten one 5 star review and one 4.5 star review. The 4.5 review pointed out a couple of mistakes in one paragraph; one of the mistakes pointed out (after some research) that I have an uncounted link because I forgot to include the "footnote" ML for it, and that I used one link/title (also after some research) twice - a contest no-no. So maybe first place is out, but I still hope. Today is kind of a special day. GMCH, the chorus I sing in, has been invited to sing at the Shell Oil Diversity Days program in the Shell One building in downtown Houston at lunchtime. Shell has been a corporate sponsor for the past several years. This concert, in addition to hopefully selling more tickets for our concert in 10 days, will also hopefully bring Shell to continue their sponsorship another year - and perhaps at a higher level. And then tomorrow is my day off. So I'll be able to do a bunch of writing - I hope. Hmmm... perhaps the title of this entry should be "full of hope" as I seem to be using that word in every paragraph. Oh well. One more thing. In our concert on June 21, we will be performing 2 newly commissioned pieces by composer Alan Shorter. And he will be down here for both our Sunday practice and the concert next Saturday. Talk about nerves and humble honor co-mingling. One of the songs is based on a poem written by one of our chorus members. A third song is written, composed, and arranged by another of our chorus members. So this concert is a very special one for all of us. Well, I guess that's all for now. If the leader for FtL posts something today, I'll be back with another entry later on. If not, I'll see you tomorrow.... You know what I mean. |
| FtL Day 5 I've got a great imagination when I don't have money. I can go window shopping with the best of them and find all sorts of things which I don't think I can live without - even if it is something that I can afford when I have money. Yet when I do have the spare money to spend, I find that I don't really want what I was window shopping for. Yes, there are things that I get which I don't really either need or want - isn't impulse buying a wonderful thing? Then again, isn't that what extra money is for? The old saying is that you "can't take it with you". And as a single man with no "downline" family of my own, there really is little reason why I would even try. "Well, what about retirement?" I hear you asking. I have always known that I would most likely work until my dying day. I manage to find things I like doing in my free time, but there is little I can think of which falls under the title of "recreational fun" that I would want to do full time in a retirement mode - unless I was paid to do it. So when I get money, I use what I need to, spend what I can, and save a bit for the emergency situation or planned upcoming event. Living life on a paycheck to paycheck situation may not be pleasant for many people, but I can get by well enough. I may not have enough for all the creature comforts. But at least I know how to live without them. And that knowledge is worth more than money. (OK, so this is one of those entries where at least half of it is more on the fictional side. Though I will say that I think it would be interesting to try to live without a lot of what we call modern convenience and instead try the pioneer way. They didn't have a lot of money. Rather they had skills many of us will never have because we rely too much on others and other things to do them for us. To dream, perchance to live a fuller life - someday.) |
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