It don't work that way no more

Having lived during many decades I've experienced innumerable changes in the way we live. Most of the things that have changed, although exciting and adventurous and practical at the time, simply wouldn't work today. We are far more educated, worldly, and "mature". Grabbing onto a slow moving car rear bumper, in the middle of the winter and being pulled a full two miles on ice and through drifts before letting go and rolling to a stop, laughing until my stomach hurt is probably something I would never want my grandkids to do. I'm way to smart for that now. Seemed good at the time though, all us kids did it. Walking back and forth to work through the streets of downtown Detroit in the middle of the night was necessary and interesting back in 1964 (although I did get robbed at gunpoint twice by the same guy, I survived). I certainly wouldn't do that now. I guess maybe I'm a scaredy cat. Working two full time jobs every day, one in Detroit and the other in Grand Rapids, catching what sleep I could on the train ride back and forth between the two. Rather fun then but I value my sleep too much now. Meeting people from all over town by dialing my own number on the telephone to get a busy signal and speaking to total strangers in between the beeps. Too many perverts out there now. Cruising up and down the street on Friday and Saturday nights until the sun rose right alongside hundreds of other teenagers playing loud radios and yelling at one another and having an occasional drag race at the red lights. Are you kidding me? Wouldn't want to try that now would you?

Nope! None of that stuff would work anymore. I sure did like it then though. I kind of feel sorry for anyone that hasn't.

The dark side of the moon

Movies are readily available without leaving one's living room via cable, Internet DVD or even the old video cassette. New offerings are moving to most media faster than ever too. I haven't been in a movie theater in many years. That's fine with me, the popcorn and candy are way too expensive and sometimes the crowds are more than I care to handle. I do miss the big screen though, some movies just aren't the same on a TV screen. But my thoughts are directed more at content than size or appearance for now.

The movies I watched in my younger days were rather simplistic and immature by most of today's standards I've been told. Predictable plots, too mushy, mushy, too bland, not enough truth regarding reality of human nature, not enough sex, not enough back stabbing, too many bad guys getting caught by too many goody, goody, all too perfect cops. Catering too much to the good side of people makes movies too wishy, washy. Today, and for decades now, movies tend to cater to any and all perverse, mean, just plain deplorable side any human being ever possessed. All this disgusting stuff is touted to be for our own good because we need to face the truth about ourselves according to the know-it-alls in charge of Hollywood or wherever movies are made today. Granted, many movies are fast paced, visually stimulating, and otherwise entertaining, but so often, even in PG and PG13 rated offerings, we are caught off guard by totally unnecessary and deplorable crude language, sexual situations and abnormal behavior, just for the sake of "entertainment". And we are told, this behavior is what people are really like and enjoy. Regular movie goers are being told what they are like, pandering if you will to our dark side. I guess I am hard pressed to describe this any better. I guess also that it is working. As the degree of moral corruption in movies becomes the norm, the degree of moral corruption in overall society follows suit. Bad is better. Lies are accepted as truth for the sake of cinematic "purity" and entertainment license sees no boundaries. My question is then: Why is it that so many G and PG rated movies receive a larger audience?

I just read a review of the truthfulness of a new movie, "The Butler", supposed to familiarize us with the plight of the butler who served so many presidents in the white house. I guess it was way to boring to tell a true story. According to the article, the greater part of it is fabrication. That's too bad, I thought it would be great to learn about someone so successful in spite of the social hurdles. Now I find it may be a good story but that's all. I think I'll just read the book. I don't need another story shoving some producer's agenda down my throat.

I kind of like seeing the better side of us human folks and our fight to do what's right. That helps me be a better person.

Personal appearance is a challange sometimes

Sometimes I wonder about my powers of observation when it comes to myself and my appearance. All my life has been spent in an occupation which requires me to help other people with how their vehicle looks. It's all about appearance. This means that I have to see any defect, soil, scratch, stain or hair out of place. If I do my job, the customer will be happy. Frankly, I am very good at what I do and some people come from as far away as Tennessee and Florida to have me work on their rides. That's all well and good but when it comes to seeing any of those things in my physical appearance, it seems I simply don't have an eye for it. Picky as I am, I just can't get it all together sometimes.

Walking out of church last Sunday, a fellow church goer asked me if I knew that there was part of a candy bar stuck to the seat end of my pants. How embarrassing! I went to the grocery store on the Saturday before and the cashier at the front counter caught my attention to tell me that they couldn't allow me in the store without a shirt on. I had been gardening, enjoying the sunshine, thought of something I needed and forgot all about putting on a shirt. How embarrassing!

Standing in line at the gas station on Monday afternoon a guy behind me touched my shoulder to catch my attention and whispered my underwear was pulled up over my shirt in the rear. How Embarrassing! Here I sit, as I am typing this after just noticing I had two different types of socks on. At least they are the same color. How embarrassing!

I'm thinking I need me a personal assistant. Lay out my clothes, make sure they match, (I've been known to mix stripes and plaids, yellows and reds) Make sure they are clean, and make sure the elastic is tucked in. I'm so busy thinking about everyone else I can't see my own self. How embarrassing!

January 7th 2014?

Just one quick question here:

What's happening on January seventh two thousand fourteen?

Feeding the poor

What does it mean to feed the poor? Give them food, right? with the abundance of food in this country and so many others throughout the world, there should be enough food to feed everyone and still have a surplus. Transporting the food is sometimes a problem and that issue should be remedied as soon as possible. On the other hand, when it comes to the poor, are they being removed (at least in this country, the United States) from the natural course of events in life? So many times we hear of someone who worked themselves up from being poor to being a complete success financially. A musician from a few decades ago, Liberace, was born and raised poor. His mother worked at minimum wage and often less than that and received a very small amount of help from the government to get by. Liberace, even in those conditions managed to learn to play the piano and became a huge success and made a ton of money. when he became well off financially he repaid the government for any assistance his mother received, plus interest. He was grateful it was there when they needed it but he didn't want to be responsible for someone else not getting assistance when he reaped the benefit of it. That was true integrity in my opinion. Who else have you heard of that grew up on assistance and repaid it when they became reasonably well off?

The natural course of life for the poor is that they are challenged to improve their lot in life by trying harder despite the hardships. When I was a kid, we were poor. We were told by our parents that if we wanted something more, we should work hard to get it. "Work first, play second!" We could have anything we wanted if we wanted to pay the price for it. We wore second hand clothes, and had fun shopping for them at the second hand store. There was no shame in being poor, wearing second hand clothes or playing with second hand toys we were told, only in not striving to do better. getting better things took work and effort, it was our incentive to be poor. I'm not poor now, I didn't raise my family poor either. There are still things I'd like to have but can't afford. That's life to me.

I wonder if some of the people I see that are living on assistance understand how it works. Niki shoes, Approved sports team sweat shirts, Guchi hand bags, jewelry, tattoos and piercings all over their bodies, 3 bedroom town houses paid for by the government, government provided education and child care and still no job in sight or the desire to get one.

I believe in proper aid to the poor. I wonder if we haven't created a culture of being poor with everything they ever wanted without working for it. It's a quandary worth investigating. It's my understanding that about 48% of the American citizenship is on some type of assistance. Almost half of us. How long can that go on? Is there a limit to what is considered proper giving? Or, in the case of the government, dividing and spreading the wealth. Yup! I think we should study what we are doing there.

Mistakes with steak and other food

When was the last time you began eating something and suddenly realized it wasn't what you thought it was? This morning I read a cartoon with a guy that was baiting his fishing hook with a piece of his wife's pasta and it dawned on him why his lunch hadn't tasted all that good.

Being a fisherman I was taught by my dad that nothing should go to waste. Consequently, I learned how to cook fish, all sorts of fish and frog legs too. There are a few types of fish that are just way too ugly to eat though, Gar Pike, Guppies and anything with gills, legs and tails all together. If I can't throw them back, they get buried in the garden. Nothing is wasted. Anyway, I went fishing in a river for an entire afternoon, a rare occasion for me, and I caught three dozen Red horse Mullets. A fantastic breed of fish with a fin across their back much like a sail on an ocean fish. Red Horse are about the best fighting fish I've ever caught. When the are hooked, they put that sail up and swim sideways against the current so hard that the only way to catch them is to simply keep the line tight and wait until they tire enough to bring them in. It takes a while, they don't tire easily. Needless to say, I enjoyed the experience. What's that got to do with eating anything?

Packing up all those fish in the cooler I brought them home and scaled, deboned, filleted and powdered  them for cooking. Some people are adverse to eating a mullet type of fish. They are similar to Suckers and cat fish regarding their bottom feeding habits. It's fine with me as long as it's a clean river but not everyone feels that way. (Of course those same people are usually more than fond of eating Shrimp, Shrimp are also bottom feeders.) So, on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, feeling super good following a successful fishing adventure, I called a couple friends over for a fish fry, a little guy talk and a brew or two. When they arrived I already had the last batch of fillets in the pan and the tantalizing aroma wafted over the patio bringing appetites to almost a feeding frenzy. Along with cole slaw and baked potato the fried fish meal was complete and worthy of royalty. One of my friends is a one of those people that seems to know everything about everything. Nice enough but always grabs center stage in the knowledge category. The subject of what kind of fish we were eating did not present itself until I was asked where the fish came from. I named the river and before I could tell my stories of fantastic fishing the know-it-all guy butts in and explains how he just knew we were eating Walleye. "That river is known state wide for it's huge Walleye fishery" He said. Then he went on to say how he "had heard that some guys fish that river for suckers and Red Horse. However, he would never, ever allow those bottom feeders to touch his lips. They were garbage fish but these walleye were something special and he could recognized the taste blindfolded."

I had a choice to make: Tell him they were Red Horse and he'd just eaten half a dozen "bottom feeders", or Let it go and enjoy the rest of the time with my friends without embarrassing him. It was a great meal, pleasant conversation and nice weather to boot. I guess the know-it-all will go to his grave not knowing he ate a plateful of Red Horse. Maybe I'll let him know the next time I catch a cooler full. It just wasn't important to do anything but be selfish and be full. I didn't serve him right, I served him fish.

Justice in America and our president

Our President, eyes downcast and forlorn, played upon the emotions of his audience for some unknown reason and said, "It could have been me." Speaking, of course about the shooting and death of Trayvon Martin. A terrible thing. Mr. Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon was, in a court of law, found not guilty of the charges brought against him by the prosecutor. Mr. Obama, evidently does not feel justice was served in our legal process and appears to be, for some reason stirring up unrest and civil protests, seemingly pitting one race against another. Protests are a way of life in this country. However, I have not seen in my lifetime a president that caused them. It brings to mind some statement from Mr. Obama's run for the presidential election. He said he was ashamed of this country. I figured at the time it was some sort of populist retoric. I guess it wasn't.