Left Over Latte

Tags

lattes, Lucky Charms, words

Not much going on here but as I am collector of figures of speech and turns of a phrase this one fits right in.

I don’t drink lattes so I don’t know if people do as a rule drink left over ones that is. But I heard that phrase and I thought with the Two L words bookending an O word that it was catchy phrase to keep in my pocket.

I think Lennon and McCartney used to collect strings of words which they eventually made into songs which eventually became gold records which eventually everyone was whistling or humming which eventually became part of our daily lexicons which includes leprechauns and Lucky Charms with no endorsement indicated.

That was a reach but words for me are like pieces of clouds or a shaft of sunlight that sometimes come together in strange and wonderful ways to make me smile or chuckle or file away for whenever i write a hit that goes right to Number One and I’m on American Bandstand.

Words is my Business.

The Long Days of Winter

Tags

Mark Twain, sunlight, Winter

We’ve made through January and February is almost in the books and that begs the question of whether March will come like a Lion or a Wildebeest? Old John Belushi joke there. It still works.

Years ago when I worked on the Isle of Manhattan as in New York I would commute via train and so in December days I would hike on over to Grand Central Station about 4 pm when there was still a bit of sun in the sky and head over to Metro North, get on my train, pick a seat and wait for the ride home to begin.

By the time the train emerged from the station and that long tunnel somewhere in upper Manhattan the sun was gone and the sky was dark. All in the space of about 10 or 15 minutes. It was disorienting to say the least.

Now the days are longer in the sunlight category and that lucky old sun rides higher in the sky on our way to June 21st when it’s about as high as it’s gonna get.

But and here’s my point: The days are longer and only slightly warmer. When it got dark by 4:40 and it was cold I could hunker down in my Seasonal Affected Disorder mindset and pretty much pack it in for the night. However, now that we have more sunlight I find myself in a contradicted state meaning since it’s cold it should also be dark too but it’s not.

It’s like when you get up in the morning and its grey and cloudy and raining and you set yourself up for that kind of day and when the sun appears you have to revise your mental outlook and game plan. I can’t pivot like that well anymore.

Everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it.

Who said that? And he was right.

I’m Not Watching OR The NOlympics

Tags

athletes, not watching, olympics, TV

Nope, not hardly at all on any of of the platforms available to me. We used to call them TV stations or channels but now they are platforms. A platform is where you wait for a train. Thank you.

Honestly, as someone who admires athletes and who ran competitively in HS and college I understand competing and competition.

If the summer olympics were currently on the box I’d be glued to the screen but all I seem to see are people dressed in ski togs, that are skin tight wearing helmets and/or sunglasses. No faces. It’s like watching swimming. Sorry to offend swimmers but again, no faces during the race and only blather from the expert commentators, slo mo replays and graphics up the wazoo showing who is where in relation to world records, olympic records, pool records, meet records and on and on.

I suppose there is also a small sense of anti host country sentiment at work here too.

And really, Putin fell asleep when the Ukraine team marched into the stadium?

Every thing is too prepackaged and too slick and a little disingenuous when almost every event presents in a certain order…An American athlete, a Chinese or Soviet athlete, maybe a Canadian or two and wouldn’t you know it the competition as we approach the top or bottom of the hour seems to miraculously wind up with a tense showdown between the eventual medalists. Cut to watch party in Sheboygan and videos of child prodigy at three years old on skis, snowboard, skates etc…

ll of that and fake snow surrounded by a banner every two feet that reads Beijing 2022.

Where is that remote?

I Ran All The Way Home OR A Study In Contrasts

Tags

backpacks, kids, phones, Running

I was out walking the newest member of the family yesterday who happens to be a one year old pooch but this is not a post about dogs, cats rabbits or other pets. The time of day I was out, well, the two of us were out is significant because it was somewhere in the time frame of when schools dismiss for the day and the local streets are crisscrossed by school buses bring their weary charges back home.

Let’s say it was sometime after 3pm or so. Me and Fido are minding our business and I spy from about a block away a young girl on the run, obviously form the nearby elementary school and she’s running with her jacket open and flapping, backpack bouncing with every step and she’s running in the same manner that kids have when they care not one whit about form or economy of style.

She’s oblivious to her surroundings and seems to have only one intent and that is to get herself home as fast as she can. She is all arms and legs and enthusiasm. Remember those days?

Now to the contrast portion of the show.

The school busses are dropping their passengers on various street corners around the neighborhood and most of the deplaning or debussing travelers are distinguished by two immediate and distressing characteristics.

One – They all have backpacks which are far to heavy for their growing skeletal systems so they are weighed down giving them the appearance of a slouch fighting gravity and Two to add to their poor posture they mostly seem to be locked into a permanent downward glance focussed on their phones.

No runners in sight as they disembark from the yellow hell ship back home to continue their downward gazes into who knows what app or game or devil created mind waster.

I guess kids ain’t what they used to be but then nothing is anymore I suppose.

In other news I had a Doc appointment this morning. We chatted about my current malady and I saidI’m doing my utmost to relax by walking, running, playing music, etc. I asked the MD what he did to relax and in his unguarded moment he said – ” I don’t.” ” Relax that is. Work here all day and read medical journals at night.” He seemed taken by what he had just admitted to someone he only knew by name, birthdate, blood type and medications.

I told him I would’ve him guitar lessons for free. Stay tuned.