Good Things Happen to Good People Too

When I left for this long Greyhound Bus & rental vehicle trip I packed up everything I'd need & a back up for each item I packed. 😂 Seriously though that's a statement not too far off the actual mark!

I happened to own a few of these. Two were direct for wall outlet use, one only had the USB port to connect directly into a vehicle's intended outlet. Out of what I had brought I knew which ones worked best & which ones weren't as reliable. I knew to bring each of them because there's always the chance that the one I would bring with me would be the one which would stop working & then I'm be bummed with myself thinking how I'd need to go & spend money on another when I already owned a few others "back home".

It was "back home" while growing up that Dad (definitely Dad more so than Mom) emphasized the importance of using items we owned until their bitter end. If it still worked, there was no point in pitching or replacing whatever "it" was. It is for this reason that, even when I'd be using one of these and suddenly realize that it's not working, unless I adjust its input or lean it against a surface somehow, that's exactly what I'll do. And then it'll be working again.

"Common man" would have just gone & bought another. Not me. I had a few where none of them were completely reliable. And I just managed from there. I'd know which one was temperamental for which outlets. And I'd play the game.

Then, while riding the bus back home the inevitable happened. The particular bus we were riding happened to have its outlets on the side panel next to the window seat, not between the window & aisle seats under the legs, nor on the backside of the seat in front of the passenger. The side panel, where the window was, created something of a ledge. For someone who enjoys an ottoman & having one's legs & feet propped up it was only natural that my left foot would slide into place. And that it did.

And I was talking. I was chatting. So a bit of mindlessness was involved. And then my left foot relaxed. And, no, I wasn't paying close attention. And then I heard a crunch. I think I felt it too.

Then I reached down & I pulled the piece, slightly out of sorts, from the socket. And at first I was bummed because I could've been paying better attention. And at the same time I wasn't paying attention because I'd asked another passenger that I'd befriended to sit & talk with me in an effort to calm through the evening/nighttime portion of that day's ride.

Everything was fine. I did still have another charger, I really didn't need to be using my phone [read: everything about my phone except actually using it as a phone - of course! 😜] & I'd officially be back in my home state in less than 24 hours.

I knew it was time to go for it. Time to make it happen. The day I got back I went & got myself one of these & one of these, although the one I got was blue 😊. And I did get it in blue because blue's just a great color, however I quickly came to appreciate its color difference sitting among the similar black cords & knowing which cord I meant to grab for its purpose.

The former, I intentionally got because it's a bit shorter & has its practical goodness in not taking up as much space, yet being available & useable on the occasion of potentially mere desperation. Hence, I stow it in the front pocket of this. Remember this post?

The latter I selected because, well, we all need some cord length from time to time. 😏😉😊 Kind of like the conveniences with having an extra long cord on one of these. 😎😄😜 S-t-r-e-t-c-h from the wall outlet, whether it be one of these, or one of these. 😏

I initially wasn't crazy about the cords being designed as separate from the outlet portion although I now realize the brilliance (likely a cost production strategy as well) that the cables can be changed out to be inserted directly into a USB port or, essentially adapt for a wall outlet.


So the initial "accident" that someone might say wasn't a good thing, technically happened rather conveniently. I knew, without a doubt, that the most logical solution to the overall situation was to toss what I had (&, I'm a "keeper" so the "tossing" was a "big moment" for me!) & not be trying to use any of this to repair them & continue on with their use.

It did become a good thing that my foot slipped, the break did happen & I needed it to...I needed to break away from continuing to rely on essentially broken items...broken pieces. Now inserting the charging cable's port into the base of my phone & feeling it snapping in tight...there's such peace & security...a serenity in that. And my phone seems to charge more quickly too.

All because instead of getting frustrated that something I owned got a little bit messed up, I embraced that it was just as well & I was probably all the better of a person for it! (As soon as my foot came smashing down on that plastic!)

It's a "good thing" that it happened after all! 😁

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Definitely Didn't Hear That!

Back in the day before Dr. Google & any other type of quick, online referencing mechanism (or, online for that matter), sometimes things just weren't clarified.

Thus is the case for me with a particular song. I really hadn't thought much of it. When we were young, we simply listened to the radio. Our family really didn't purchase records, cassettes, etc. They were always transitioning to the next medium anyway. I mention this because I know certain artists & their recording companies would elect to include song lyrics in the jacket's data. Many years later, I remember this song's lyrics to be an example of said liberation.

It's a regular joke that's been played plenty of places that this song of Elton John's can come across sounding as if Elton is singing about this celebrity. I believe Phoebe had been part of a related joke in an episode of this.

For me, however, my dawning happened just this morning. That's right. During a rebroadcast of Casey Kasem's Top 40s from a week during the early 1980s. I heard the song & I heard it as I always have heard it. It's never made sense, though that's just the way it's always been & I've never questioned it because I didn't love the song; it was just another well-played radio hit.

I'd always heard the refrain as "With you I'm gonna gag." And by "refrain", I'm talking about the name of the song. This song. Really. I did. Yep. I'm still shaking my head too. 😞

Nope, it doesn't make any sense the way that I hear it. Obviously I've not really listened to it. It's not a song with such a story like this song, the only #1 hit of Harry Chapin. Yet, I believe it still lacks enunciation the same as this song...After all, are we really sure what Tim's saying the bull's name is? 😎😂

There was a time period of my life, possibly close to a decade, where I'd make such a special point of being able to tune in to listen weekly to Casey's countdown. When I knew there'd be a good chance of a song or two I'd really want to hear, I'd make sure to be right there at the radio. Also, if I was certain there'd be a consecutive set of songs I didn't care too much for, I'd make a break for the bathroom. 😂 Such were those simple years when this was all there was for the worry. 😏

There's been a few weeks recently where I've been in the vicinity that my radio's antenna has been picking up an "I Heart Radio" station from time to time, thus the memories. Speaking of memories, doesn't Babs sing about them here? Okay, that was corny.

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Filling in the Blocks of Space & Time

Each year these seem to be more obsolete. At the same time they seem necessary, needed, purchased & well used just as much year after year. Many people enjoy gifting those they know at Christmastime with these that have themes.

Today seems an appropriate date to consider the usage, non-usage, defiance, & well, the continued printing of these...See, today's date represents the first day of each year when a full twelfth of it causes them to be a practical clearance, though in reality, most every consumer would think that by the end of the first week of the new year, it's most sensible for these to be at a significant percentage discount.

As a child, having one to hang in my bedroom was a "thing". I had a particular spot, that no matter how my room was rearranged, for whichever season, I could hang up mine of current interest. One of these would hang from a simple frame hook like this.

We had a "family" one hanging in the kitchen. Mom had magnets just for it, with the refrigerator standing next to an open counter space, leaving that side of the fridge as open & obvious for its display. Mom would write our rotating work schedules on it once we began our "young" employment years; i.e. the ones where we'd speed off after school & work until shortly before we'd desperately need sleep for the following school day, & the ones that took away our weekends; they made us stronger, better, wiser, & "more talented". 😂

The same style seem to all be modernized for dry erase & magnetic purposes like these. Mom, in her imperfect, yet very legible & super distinguishable handwriting, would diligently keep the squares updated with a nearby pencil. Though not a dry erase style, they're still manufactured; Mom still buys one annually. 😂 Knowing my parents, who keep everything, there's a chance those pages are stashed somewhere under their roof, true keepsake-style.

I never took to one sitting on my desk at work (one like this). If one happened to be there, fine; I'd sort of use it. Sort of, because many-a-time I'd realize months afterward that I'd never torn off a month or so of sheets. It could be mid-May & I'd have February or March (sometimes just April 😎) beaming its bold lettering back up at every passerby.

I did, however, realize early on, the many benefits of knowing what the months just before & just after the current one looked like. Really, it was just the dates & the weekly outlook; not actual activity on those dates which was important & assistive to me while at work. Oftentimes I'd need to count out one month, or twelve & fourteen day periods of time; having this version suited me well. Fortunately, one of these fit on the peg behind my computer monitor & I was all set. I felt that I could see time being accomplished merely by having this available in my peripheral vision.

Or maybe it's this day - this week surrounding - when many people realize annually that they've not yet gotten a new one to represent this new year. Maybe this is the "rush week" to purchase these, otherwise obsolete options.

One thing's for sure: A month ago, yes, definitely now, these are not suitable as gifts any longer - at least not in this new year. Unless, of course, you're preparing a "gag" gift, or trying to shake off the remains of a relationship that should no longer be. 😏😂

MS Outlook & various phone apps have taken the way of all things modern, electronic, & efficient. Essentially even making some of these as obsolete as pencil & paper.

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Keeping Your Head Up Hoping to Dance

For some people waiting around to complete a task seems to be the best way for them to accomplish it, in addition to accomplishing it well. These same people often need to have something of a timer tick-tocking nearby in order for them to have their own inner fire flamed. Some call these people procrastinators; others call them perfectionists (for similar, yet not the same, reasons).

These are not my people. I accomplish the same tasks, & best, when I'm optioned to take my time. I can work well under pressure, I am deadline-driven, & I can put my nose to the grindstone & purely focus on what's most important on my to-do list...That is, my hypothetical "to-do list".

I work hard to not permit any of my to-do list to get "inside my head". I lose this battle quite often. I think all of this is much of why I made my 2018 motto (which I tend to not have annual mottos, either 😜), to not make a task out of living my life.

The responsibility of adulthood can be wearisome, although I believe, if overthought just a snag, this wearisome-ness is mainly due to having "too much". Whether it's gluttony, or keeping many possessions, or never saying "no" to those who request of you & therefore, keeping too busy a schedule &, in time, "running ragged".

And then this song pops into my head. It's a song that kept me somewhat spirited during my high school running years. It was not a popular song of the times; it was simply a song I knew of having a particular line within it, that, would I think of it much while lapping the track, (or, keeping on wherever), I'd contentedly manage to continually keep on placing one foot in front of the other.

This isn't a pun & yet it's both literal & figurative. And it's the "run" of adulthood too. Believing in one's own "goodness", "strength" & "aptness"; that for which we are quite qualified, & where we are ready, willing, & eager to excel.

It's about letting the little things go. And then I remember a book I picked up at a church's flea market during my tween years: this book. And, like many other tweens (& "tweens" of all generations 😎) I bought the book, had it around, made it a part of the right-next-to-the-desk stack "knowing" it'd soon be read, or at least skimmed through, or, at the very least, flipped through. And like many others still, I consider now that I truly hope when I purged a handful of boxes of books to a library book sale about a year ago, I hope, really, really hope, that I bothered, that I just went ahead & included that particular book to those donation boxes. 😜😂

It's not that this book was written or published for the purpose of never really being actually read. It's that I know, for almost absolutely certain, that I, in this current "life space" of mine, won't be breaking the binding in any more than it was when I scooped it up out of the box in the old high school on the church's property. Maybe, just maybe, it's because I got out of the book everything I needed to - just in reading the title itself.

That title rings in my ear just as ferociously as does the headline verse from this song while I'm running a long distance in otherwise silence.

It's because I've already embraced that minding the (slowly, creepily rising) price of gas at-the-pump isn't going to stave it off or "coupon" the bottom line. I'm not embracing or "celebrating" it; I'm merely not permitting my blood pressure to rise as a result of recognizing & acknowledging it.

We can all plan. We can make to-do lists. We can discipline ourselves & accomplish miniature & major goals we set for ourselves in every miniature & major way possible. We can also work on focusing just as much as we focus on working. (Are you working hard or hardly working? 😎😜😂)

When the gentle balance is found somewhere in between all of these things, when a deep sigh is had, & a smile gently sweeps the cheeks of the earned while their eyes dance in glory & justice...They've accepted their girth and/or accomplished...Whether that be finishing a personal project, one at work, receiving accolades, or finding that somewhat creepy word: contentment.

Then being asked to interview for (& being offered!) a "dream job", running 20+ consecutive thirteen minute miles well in advance of an upcoming scheduled marathon sans pain or injury, glamorously wearing that dress & heels (or boots! 😊) that just happen to match so well together while being out-n-about "people watching" & having "carefree timelessness" to actually "take in" life for its moments, keeping your "head up" so "you can let your hair down" (click here for the upbeat tune 😉😁😄), happening upon a house on a quaint street in an attractive neighborhood that will be both "safe" & "wise" for which to reasonably relinquish one's savings account...& realizing that this is all what is truly "living 'the dream'".

*****

Diane Keaton's character in this movie wished for each of her children to know their personal worth & to find love, happiness, & family...Not with the wrong person...& not to just get married for the sake of getting married because their mother was dying...Even if each relationship isn't to truly gel before she passes away. To be themselves while receiving & being welcoming & loving. This is, in part, why she responds to Sarah Jessica Parker's character asking, "What's so great about you guys?"

"Nothing. It's just...it's just that we're all we've got." with Rachel McAdams character nearby.

With Rachel's character then adding, "We're not so great."

Which leads Sarah's character to cry out, "And you! You're the worst!"

Rachel's character then asks inquisitively,"I'm the worst?!" as she slides on raw eggs & falls to the floor; Diane's character yelps from the hilarity of the scene (aka "the moment"). They are "them", though they'll love you just the same.

And as she casually made sure to take the minutes to watch & acknowledge the snow falling...on Christmas Day (thus her last Christmas is a "White Christmas").

All we are & all we do is all that we have. And that's all that we've got to make the most of what we can...

...When you get the choice to sit it out or 🎜🎝🎜🎝 ... Because it truly is ... all. small. stuff.

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Pots & Pans Perhaps

New Year's Eve wasn't standard for us through the years. Seeing a movie in a theater that encompassed the last minutes of New Year's Eve as well as a bit of the First Day of the Year is one way I've brought in the New Year. I've slept through it on occasion; I've spent time with people, not in a party-type of fashion, though we weren't paying attention to the clock, & at least an hour into the New Year, we realized it. These are more recent ways I've "celebrated" New Year's Eve. 

For the most part, back then, our family would gather at whichever local cousin's house chose to host whomever decided to come. This would be nice because it'd be our relatives, although we didn't live in the same neighborhood as any of them, requiring at least a twenty minute drive usually. We'd switch it up occasionally & join our neighbors instead. They'd have their relatives joining them as well, though they were relatives with which we'd become acquainted throughout the year, as well as the years 😄, so no one felt it strange that we'd, well, quite literally, walk across our lawn, through their driveway, & up their front walkway to their front door. We'd joke about how we didn't even need to use the street, let alone drive (& since no one was driving, Dad could drink as he wished without issue), in order to get to the neighbor's house.

The adults typically hung out on the main floor; there'd be something on the television for their entertainment while everyone caught up with one another. The kids resorted to the downstairs where there was a couch for us to goof off on & some other random things around. There'd be about eight to ten kids, nearly ten years apart from oldest to youngest, though we knew each other well enough & enough age difference & maturity range in between the nine to ten years that it never mattered.

Some of what was fun about hanging out next door was that this group of friends, for me, not the adult generation, is that the most of the rest of the year when I'd see this group of people [read: those who were my age] I'd be seeing them only during the "nice weather". This meant that we'd either be wearing play/sweat clothes or in our swimming suits since we'd be playing around in the pool our neighbors had in their backyard. When we'd all be together on New Year's Eve, we'd all be wearing the sort of clothes that we'd typically wear to school. The coolness of this seems a bit, well, uncool now as I'm writing it. I suppose it may be one of those things, which, at that age & time was something exciting, & now, as adulthood has set in deep, there's a great perspective shift.

I also remember being concerned the first few times we'd go next door for New Year's Eve. Mom made a "big thing" out of, once the new year rang in, each person you saw, basically as you saw them, you were supposed to greet them accordingly & give them a kiss. This would've been drastically weird. There were roughly thirty adults there, some of whom I didn't even know their connection to the next door neighbors. It seriously freaked me out & made me uncomfortable, though I eventually got used to realizing when I'd look at these people after the clock struck midnight, they'd just smile & continue along, so - so did I. 😊

Nevertheless, also each year, our neighbor would go into her kitchen & the cabinet/cupboard, whatever it was where she kept these, & she'd dig out one for each of us kids, along with one of these for each of us. At least each of us who'd want to stand outside the front door for the first ten to fifteen seconds of the new year to announce it to the rest of the neighborhood, at least those within hearing distance. There's another thing for which I've gained a drastic perspective shift. Oh, the joys of childhood & adolescence - just to be able to "legitimately" make some noise at the stroke of midnight standing outside.

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On Certain Instrumental Tunes

Unlike many radio stations, our house continued to play plenty of Christmas music after Christmas Day. This song is one, where, once I heard it, I felt like it was time for Christmas (like these, I suppose 😉) - Christmas could come - a feeling of completion. ♫ "Me, I want a hula hoop." 🎝 Is a particularly awesome line. 😍😂 It could make my day. Foolish, yes. True, also yes. 😊😂

'Tis a very good thing I can laugh at myself. 😏 Not so much back in those days when our house would be churning out the Christmas tunes clear through Epiphany (beyond? 😎, I didn't keep track; I also wouldn't doubt it either).

I've a soft spot for instrumental, although I don't listen to it with any amount of regularity, I do think that, just as it could be difficult to pick just one of these to "get started", there's quite a few of these as well. When I say, "get started", I mean when there's a promo for the artist, or a buddy (friend or relative, or friend that's a relative 😁) mentions, "Hey, I know about this musical artist...You might want to check out their work..." And then you look up that artist & you're looking at the options available, &, well, you could sift through YouTube & make a "trial & error" out of their work, or ... You could try & pick just one to add to your personal collection. "GL!" as they say in shorthand. (for "good luck" 😊).

Their music sooths me. It makes me feel comfortable like a soft & gentle hug. I first came to know of their music now at Christmastime all those years ago. When I'd hear their Christmas song I'd feel like I got to pick out the music, as if I were asked, "What would you like to hear? Let's put that one on next."

More recently I happened to be watching a morning show (one of the major 7 a.m. networks) & their musical guest that day played this. I think it was just later that day when I bought it for myself. If not, it was likely within the week. Great beat; great spirit; great passion. When I listen to this song I'm feeling the music. I stop what I'm doing & I'm in the music just as someone who loves to sing might stop & put their soul into an instant rendition of a random radio tune.

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Playing Around

These days - that is the ones in between Christmas Day & the day or so following, up until the first business day after New Year's Day - as a kid - they were "free game". No pun intended, though they really were good for playing games. Whichever that Mom & Dad might've wrapped up for us...One year we got this one. It's one that we actually played & enjoyed numerous times as a family. Another would be this. I'd requested it, though I don't think I even realized how much I didn't care that much about it. The only thing we really got out of it was plunking around on the tiny gadget. I got the only "win" from it - correctly identifying this.

Not during our younger years, though I remember Mom had us preparing our spaces for the New Year; she had us cleaning up our rooms.

After fishing around the upstairs hallway linen closet shelves for the cleaning products, my brother began playing music. And loudly so. This music. It was music that the guys he was hanging out with now that he was in college, were listening to. He'd be talking to Mom about the performances when they'd chat enough that Mom decided to wrap up one or two for him under our Christmas tree.

In big brother style he "stirred the pot" & gave me a hard time. He played the music on his bedroom stereo very loudly (& Mom, nor Dad made a move to have him change the volume - yes, they knew I wasn't fond of the scenario 😒).

I remember walking across the upstairs hallway to the spare room where Mom kept her crafting supplies. She was organizing something, or working on finishing something up. I mentioned how my brother was hogging all of the cleaning products & I was ready to take care of my chore. Mom knew what he was doing. The music from across the hall made it difficult for she & I to discuss the point.

Her comment to me was to just wait it out; his bedroom likely had never been cleaner. I pursed my lips & rolled my eyes in pure disappointment as I walked back out of the spare room, & past his room to get to my room as I watched him take the paper towel & wipe down every single millimeter of some apparatus which sat on either his chest of drawers or desk. Ugh. And telling him to "Come on already!" Would mean next to nothing.

These were the antics of those days back then while we'd be on our school breaks. Whether they'd be in elementary school, junior high school, high school, or even college.

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The "Little People"

Mom & Dad had received an analog wall clock as one of their wedding gifts. It was black & white & had an hourly chime with a swinging black medallion at its base. It was vertical & rectangular & hung from the wall against the side of the house at the foot of the staircase leading to the second floor from the entryway foyer. It hung in a frame which perplexed me as a child.

The walls of the house were plastered in a swirl with a cream, or off-white paint color. As a child I'd considered this clock to be two pieces. One which was the actual timing device, where the Roman numerals were painted; the other, the long, vertical, simple, black frame.

I'd understood this clock incorrectly. The "two pieces" as I'd understood them to be were attached with a white-colored piece - which had no "swirl" in it because it wasn't plaster (😎😂).

It was because of our decorating at Christmas that I came to understand this clock. It wasn't that it was "off limits" throughout the rest of the year; I'd pass it many times throughout the day to get from the bedrooms (all of which were located on the second floor), to the main floor beginning at the foyer, or even to the basement & outside.

This clock wasn't something I ever found myself pondering less I was decorating it or sitting ten plus feet across from it - through the foyer - in the living room, which is where I sat while I concocted my disillusioned concept of the clock as two pieces rather than the one that it is.

By happenchance we began placing particular ornaments atop this clock, more specifically, atop the clock's frame. The ornaments which found their way to that frame's top were what we deemed the "Little People". There were a few others, such as a snowman & a Christmas tree, which where of the same make & mold, so they were affixed in place atop the frame alongside these "people", which were little ornament Christmas carolers.

There were roughly half a dozen figures in total. I remember them being about 2" high, unlike those in the image link, which are 1-1/4" high. Click this link for other varieties of these sets. Kurt Adler seems to be a modern day popular artist of these. This set is similar to the one we had as well, though there are no "Little People"/carolers included.

Somewhere during the subsequent years, placing these "Little People" atop that clock's frame created a finality within me; I'd feel decorated. Christmas was definitely coming; I was ready. I'd actually sigh a deep breath. And with the innocence of someone of my age at the time, I'd wear a smile & feel contentment I can only work toward at my age today.

When I moved out Mom made sure I took our set of "Little People" with me in so that I could still feel that feeling of completion; that Christmas surely was on its way.

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