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I saw a new face in my formica table recently.  After a quick sketch I realized he looked like a distant cousin to a Star Wars character, Jabba the Hutt.  I’m not sure what this guy’s name should be but he may also be related to the Elephant Man.

Dear Mom, Dad, Hoovie, Chris, and the silent minority:
I know that my blog posts have become something of a rarity in the last few months. My new job requires a LOT of time on a keyboard and my hands aren’t as young as they used to be BUT they finally feel up to the task today.   Thanks to pain killers and my new ambidextrous abilities I can report that all is well and sunny here on the midwestern front.  Recent developments around here include a new roof on our new carport (cue the crowd cheer), a fresh coat of paint on the east exterior wall of our house (thanks Chris), weed and undergrowth removal from the backyard and west side of the house (thanks again Chris).  Jenny and I have not been sipping cocktails by the pool while all of this work gets done, our day jobs and labors of love are keeping us busy.

I’ve played the blues with kids.  It is sheer joy.

I turned 55 yesterday. Some of the highlights included:
-Drew (above) recording himself singing ‘Happy Birthday’ on my front stoop– I wasn’t home.
-eating blueberry & Dr. Pepper flavored popcorn from Pop Culture
-drinking green apple flavored Jones Soda from Homer’s
-smoking a premium cigar with my brother-in-law Steve
-spending the day with Jenny

One of my favorite radio shows is taking submissions from listeners about their most embarrassing moments. Last night I put on my writer’s hat and emailed this story:
I was a teleprompter/promo writer at a local CBS affiliate when an old friend asked me to give a presentation at our old junior high school. He was the Guidance Counselor, and was in charge of booking speakers for Career Day. He was calling a few classmates and asking us all to come back to our old school and talk about the careers we had chosen. A few weeks after our conversation I lost my job and I called him back to cancel. He said something like, “No, don’t cancel. I think it would be a good idea if the kids see the potential risks of going into that field.” He knew that I had worked at a couple of radio stations before getting this particular job, and he figured that another gig would be around the corner. I bought a cheap pair of jeans and wore a shirt with a collar for the presentation. I ran the outline of what I was going to talk about by my friend to see what he thought. I would tell the kids about my past jobs in radio and TV. I would also bring my guitar and tell them what it was like to play in a band. “As long as you don’t drop your pants or talk about Jesus it will be fine,” my friend said. The kids caught on pretty fast that I was an out of work radio/tv guy and started giggling and whispering among themselves. I pulled up a barstool and grabbed my guitar to keep their interest and sat down to play some tunes and talk about being in a band. That in itself was an awkward attempt at keeping their attention, but what I didn’t know at the time was that my cheap pair of jeans had split open in the crotch. Sitting on the barstool, my exposed underwear was at eye level with the students. I spoke to 3 different groups that day and didn’t know what happened until I sat down while visiting my mother. That’s when I noticed the hole in my crotch. My friend called me the next day. Apparently all the kids were talking about the guy who was out of work but still gave a presentation on Career Day with his white underwear showing through the crotch hole in his jeans.

After reading yesterday’s blog post, Hoovie sent me this text:
“You’re right this is the last day of the beginning of the end of 2021, tomorrow though, WOW… it’s the 183rd day in the year 2021 of our Lord… .but think, the Gregorian  manner of date tracking was created in 1582, by a Pope as a modification to the Julian calendar created by Julius Caesar, from a Roman calendar.  Thinking of this reminds me of King James rearranging the Old testament to HIS liking,  adding mental graphics to spruce, interpret and rearrange up the words of God. As odd as that sounds its as truthful as I understand it to be as to my point, if we believe the preachings of Kenton Beshore we have only days until the rapture this year, making this calendar year a bit shorter…. Enjoy the day and save all your coinage, there may be a pinball machine right around the corner… “

On the edge of June, at the brink of July, the calendar page is ready to flip. Doing the math I just realized that this year is closer to the end than the beginning now. If June is the 6th month and December is the 12th, we are going past the tipping point and the contents are getting ready to spill out. All of the fluid, all of the angst, all of the coins in the jar, all of that stuff is going to fall out now before it dips back into the well and starts its way back up again. It is pretty early to be thinking so metaphorically. Maybe it’s just another month.

It is too easy to overthink a situation and try to figure out all the possible outcomes while a present moment slips away.  My best experiences have happened when I was only aware of what was happening around me, and not concerned about the future or the past.  This morning in my bible I read “you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, [and] gracious.”  I took the apostle at his word today, and when I started thinking about things I can’t control I thought “what is true? What is noble? What is reputable, authentic, and compelling?”  My knee jerked and I thought of campfire stories, nostalgic arcade games, and new-found songs.  With a little luck and patience the list will grow, I just need to keep watering it.

This is what happens when time gets away from me and I don’t make a blog post for a few days.  My brain turns into a crowded warehouse that starts filling up with unrecorded stories that resemble envelopes stuffed with bills, junkmail, cards, and letters.  I think the nearest woman up there is reaching for one about Hoovie this weekend.  We played pinball, drank beers, and found some cool treasures in the West Bottoms.   

A “sliver of time” seems like a good description of a moment that stays under my skin for awhile.  A good memory is like this.  Unlike a sliver of wood I don’t mind if it stays in there.  We made a trip to Lincoln and Omaha to see Marijo and Andi last weekend.  Jenny and I walked around the Benson neighborhood with Andi, and we walked to the Sunken Gardens with Marijo.  The weather was perfect for walking and making good memories.