Saturday, January 25, 2014

What if?

What if?

I was recently asked if now that I'm in my second half of life, do I have any regrets about choices I had made that, given the chance, I would like to rewrite?  What a great question!  I've been pondering this over the past year or so, half hoping someone, someone whom I valued, would ask me this very question!  What one choice would I rewrite, given the chance? I'm going to list ten changes that I'd like to make, and then pick one at the end. So here goes nothing!

1.  I should have chosen to sleep with "nice" D!  Man what a miss!
2.  I should have not chosen to sleep with "evil" D! (Different girl!)  That was stupid!
3.  I should have chosen to work with P.G. and his construction company, when offered a job.
4.  I should have chosen to follow the recommendation of my 5th grade Iowa Test, and Career Placement Aptitude Test, and gone in to the Forestry Service, since I was well suited for "work out of doors with minimal customer contact". (No shit! At the ripe old age of 11?)
5.  I would have liked to have chosen to finish my first college attempt, in digital computing, in 1981! 
(That was a BIG BIG miss!)
6.  I'd would like to not have hit a cop with a baseball bat. It was 3am, dark, they burst into my downtown Providence apartment, I was scared, I started swinging... I hit something... and I paid for it dearly!  
7.  I should have quit worrying about religious guilt, and done stuff for the "right" reason earlier in my life, instead of wondering if I earned enough "good" points to buy off my earlier "bad" points.
8.  I should have never started riding motorcycles.  Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!
9.  I should have learned to weld. I'll never get the chance to weld now due to my brain implant. Really, no fooling! (Deep Brain Stimulator for Parkinson's Disease Feb 2010)
10.  I should have chosen to apply myself to learning how to play the digeridoo, speak French, sell used cars, juggle 5 balls, walk a tight rope, grow a pony tail, parachute, sail around the world, fly fish, grow pot, and a myriad of random thoughts that are racing through my mind right now.

And now the moment of truth.... Drum roll please!

As I am extremely happy with how my journey seems to be ending up, Parkinson's included, I'd have to weasel my choice of rewrites down to one that in no way could alter my present situation.  Of the ten, six would alter any chance of me meeting Susan.  Two I can still do presently, and thusly don't need to alter my past. The remaining two are easy to chose between. Should I have slept with the "nice" D. or should I not have slept with the "evil" D.?  Clearly, my one life's rewrite is that I would have liked to have slept with the "nice" D. when I had the opportunity to.

Roger OUT!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Japanese Home Room Teacher

A quick post today.

My daughter is a teacher in Japan.  She's been there for a couple of years and I really believe that she loves it so much there that she won't come back to America to live. I'm very proud of the work she is doing with children.  (She speaks, reads, and writes Japanese as well.)

I'm posting a link to a movie about a wonderful Japanese teacher. Please watch it and enjoy.  Its 10 minutes of how to LIVE LIFE that you will probably want to watch again, and show someone else.

Japanese Home Room Teacher

Peace to YOU!

Campy Out!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Roger's Guide to Hangover's

(To someone I love dearly!)

PHYSICALLY...  Purge thyself! (Toilet bowls, and bathroom floors, DO feel nice smooth and cool.) Ice the bruises. Drink water... slowly. Rest. Brush your teeth as soon as the retching stops, then gently move to eating a well diluted can of Campbell's Chicken Soup, or something just as plain and salty.

MENTALLY... Don't sweat the clothes... yet...  Accept help if offered.  Call ONLY ONE person you've known, and can trust, for more than 5 years. Then pull the battery out of your cell phone.  Rest.  When you wake up, can stand without pain, shower, drink more broth, go back to bed. 

PHILOSOPHICALLY... Pride always reboots itself... Always...  Times like these will be the dark times of your life, that can make for good stories.  When your pride eventually shows up again... remember how shitty it felt when your pride left.  Integrity and pride live together. Pride protects integrity. When you drink, pride leaves integrity unprotected, an your integrity may get injured.  However pride returns quickly to protect and reassure your integrity. 

Learn from this process. 

Laugh at yourself.

And don't do it again... Well, at least not to soon!!

Campy Out!

Veteran's Administration Website Support Desk

Yet another fine dialogue with the VA www.eBenefits.va.gov website support desk.

This morning, I couldn't log into the VA's  www.eBenefits.va.gov website. I called the support desk, as instructed by the "An unexpected exception has occurred please contact the support desk for further assistance." Directions following my unsuccessful attempt at logging in to my account.

Phone call at 8:15am Pacific: (11:15am Eastern)

Me - I can't log in to my account. Can you help me?
VA Helpful Person - The website is down.
Me - How long will it be down?
VA Helpful Person - I have no communication on that.
Me - How long has it been down?
VA Helpful Person - I have no communication on that.
Me - Really? That stinks!
VA Helpful Person - Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me - You mean other than logging into my on line account?
VA Helpful Person - Yes
Me - How about helping me change my address and phone number...
Me - (Silently to my self, in my head) again... for the 3rd time!!
VA Helpful Person - I can't do that the Website is down.
Me - (Pause... I'm still silent...)
VA Helpful Person - Hello?
Me - (In my best pleasant voice) Hello
VA Helpful Person - Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me - What can you help me with when the VA Website is down?
VA Helpful Person - Nothing.... Really... Not Much...
Me - So why do you ask me if there is anything else you can help me with, when you know the answer is going to be that you can't help me no matter what I ask you.
VA Helpful Person - (She silently pauses...) We want to know how we can help you.
Me - Yeah, I get it... This is like a great big metaphor! The VA, overall, wants to know how they can help me, but they can't, or won't help me, because they are broke "down".  Way to go! Thanks for helping me understand the VA to Beneficiary relationship.  I know its not your fault... Its just a communication thing. Take care... Good day.
VA Helpful Person - Are you sure there's nothing I can help you with today?
Me - Really?... No... No...
VA Helpful Person - Have a good day.
Me - Right.... Thanks....  You too....

My aching head...  Campy Out!

Friday, September 6, 2013

50 RULES???

Read this article... 
(Just until the nausea sets in... it shouldn't take much more than two paragraphs.)




50 Rules for Dads of Daughters

50 rules!!!


There are only two (2) RULES when it comes to raising kids, especially girls!

1. Respect them (NEVER EVER HIT THEM!)
2. Listen to what they're "TRYING" to tell you.

Every thing else is negotiable!

I've raised two girls who have become wonderful self-sufficient women.

Rules go right out the window when hormones set in from about 11 years old and last to about 20.


My advice to this guy is that he should visit his doctor and get his testosterone level checked.

Sure, the first week of the school year is a drag. GET OVER IT!

Get off the computer and get in the shop.

Its way past time for this guy to build something manly to help restore his self-image and more importantly his self-respect.

Dude....


Campy Out!