The Big Chief Tablet...

Remember? The quest to stay between the lines - refrain from smudges, and make it legible (a word we didn't even know what it meant!)... Editor's note: being left-handed didn't help in the smudge department as the butt of my hand always dragged over to slur/blur the 'penmanship'! Symbolic mebbe?

Introduction to Life, 101. A blank canvas on the easel. However do will fill it? We must walk through life (those of us fortunate enough to be able to walk) and paint our lives. Some have wonderful guidance, many - none.

Turn here? Work there? What do I wanna be? Is it really possible to pick/find someone to spend the remainder of life with? How do you know?

Some write (right) their life better than others. Some don't care. Some are always happy. Some hate Mondays, and basically orgasm as the clock hits five on Friday afternoon.

Some keep every friend they ever made, some, burn bridges. Most have niches: religion, sports, books, politics, reality tv shows, quilting, baking, kayaking, biking, gardening, writing - things to occupy, fill up ole' Chief.

Children are born. Their own tablets, and the impact of (or not) parents (or grand parents) in guidance to stay between the lines. Force fed on how to fill it, or, live as you like - your call. Our household was pretty liberal, basically we could do whatever we wanted (within reason of course) but once we started it, we must finish it... (Well... "except sex " they said)...

That canvas goes from a good form of anxiety on how to fill it... occasionally, we find that we "wish we'd have written that portion of life in pencil, insteada ink" - but all tablets are filled with errors.

We start writing in life, and it's about "us.".. Midlife comes, it's about others. Aging comes, and there's an appreciation for rereading how our tablet of life has gone and the content within. Memories. The names. School chums, events. Work. Coworkers. Relatives, inlaws, and best friends - those all written in blood.

Our wrinkles are the frayed edges of Chief, our brown spots are the yellowing of aging paper. My grandmother wrote/denoted important events, births, weddings, even simple visits from family/friends, in her bible - her Big Chief. I guess a blog is a form of Big Chief, and remembering back to Mrs. Eldridge's class, I'll probably get another C+!

Saw some lifelong friends in WalMart yesterday... 11 different sizes of balls in their cart. "How many grandkids you have now?"...... "Eleven!"... That's a lotta balls. A lotta memories. A lotta tablets to fill, and a lotta names/events for their own tablet.

I wouldn't erase much. Made some turns, job decisions I shouldn't have. Can't spend money when you're dead... but, perhaps that too is a niche for some.

Hope you've enjoyed filling your tablet, guiding others as they fill theirs. Hopefully, a lotta pages left for us all. Do you think schools nowadays have "Big Chief pads"? Would certainly help avoid left-handed smudges.

The Big Chief notebook. Infancy, to youth, to adulthood, to parenting, grand parenting and beyond. I hope you've enjoyed/appreciated your Mondays within tablet/life. And sure, I hope somewhere along the way you too orgasmed at 5pm on a Friday.

Between the lines (most of my life... some rebel infused)..Love, Victurd.

Anticipation.....

"Waitin', waitin', waitin' for the Bluejays" (oh does that bring back memories.. locker room of the ole Liberty High School.. waiting to go up to play a basketball game... we was "pumped up higher than a 5 hour energy drink' before 5 hour energy drinks were cool! Yes, aware wrong 'tense' on 'was', sometimes, things done here on porpoise.

We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, yay
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasin' after some finer day

Nah, this ain't about girl/boy, it's about anticipation. Tomorrow. Will the sun come out as that little redhead squeaked? Sixty, ya think of seventy, which is odd, because 10 ya never thought of 20.. 20/30, 30/40.. etc..

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

190,000 mile car. Know I'll have to have another.. anticipatin' what kind. Also, checkenginelight, what will be the next purchase at Advance Auto, the corner mechanic shop, tire, fix it item.

Next time something said that doesn't sound so good to the ears... will we blurt/regret/show our ass, or... suck it in.. .think inwardly "man, I'm glad I'm not you." Patience hopefully looms large in reactions to anticipated actions.

And I tell you how easy it feels to be with you
And how right your arms feel around me
But I, I rehearsed those lines just late last night
When I was thinkin' about how right tonight might be

I've given up on 'that kind' of anticipation. Figure, if it happens, happens. If it doesn't, I'm cool. I much prefer being side-swiped, coming from leftfield. Hook, line, sinker. I anticipate, if it happens, I'll fall much to GD (easily) as the past has registered.

Waking up. How will this day turnout? Sure, we play a huge role in that determiner.. but I'm more intrigued by the folks around me.. the things they do/say... the eye candy (mind outta gutter, not what I mean) life affords.

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

Christmas. Grandkids next "omg that's the cutest little turd on the planet' action. A grandchild's first step - and oh how I wanna be there. What words will be learned, uttered next?

The Chiefs? The Royal's record in August? The January 2014 company fiscal report on 2013.. Anticipation is the thirst for tomorrow, and the reminder to keep our eyes, ears wide open, and the corner of our mouths up.

And tomorrow we might not be together
I'm no prophet and I don't know nature's ways
So I'll try and see into your eyes right now
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days

Eyes, no, not necessarily girl/boy eyes.. reaction.. reading... enjoying happy looks,
winging sympathetic looks back at down/sad looks.

(These are the good old days)
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days
(These are the good old days)
(These are the good old days)
(These are the good old days)
(These are.....the good old days)

All along, I've said "One of the most amazing things to me, had you sat me down in High School and said 'Vic, now here's exactly how the next 42 years of your life are going to go' I woulda told you that you are nuts." Didn't anticipate this/that, but oh how many fun, deep wrinkles I've gotten from those good times, friends, relatives, loves.

Sunny sky the other day, BEAUTIFUL. Stopped by Happy Hour.. (NO Victor, not YOU!) Haha... Buddy at stool next to me says "welll..will you look at that rain?" Top down. Hadn't anticipated that.

Weather. Summers. Winters. Being 65. Walking in ten years, the good Lord willing. Flashforward to a grandkid's first day of school, little league game.

Pardon me boys (and girls), I so love life/anticipation. Bucket list diddys actually accomplished?

Victor, be a fountain, not a drain. The sun'll come out, tomorrow. Anticipation is keeping me waiting.....

With baited breath. Happy day, love Victurd.

USA

Yes, there are some things messed up in our country. We are in the era of political entitlement (not all, but in general).. We have too many random, mass slayings.. Industry/economics are cyclical. Divorce rates are up.. Single parents are raising children, often with no assistance. Heart attacks are on the rise.. as is murder, suicide..

But... this still is the greatest county in the world to live.

Freedom of speech. The right to assemble. Freedom of religion. Freedom of the press. Ok, 'that side', the right to bear arms. The right to equal justice. The right to own private property.

We can live anywhere. Travel anywhere. We select those that lead us.

A note of thanks to those here, those no longer here, who put their lives on the line to preserve our freedom. As I write, fireworks are going off in the background. Flags are up allover in towns in the US.

I'm thankful to be an American, living in the United States of America.

Below, I did a very quick study to reinforce the above statement to myself. The internet is the internet, so sure, if errors, or incorrect statements below, apologies. Still, some eye-openers.

Thailand.. drop gum on the pavement, you can be fined up to $600.

Insulting a religion: Sudan, 6 months plus 40 lashes...

Iran: Drinking alcohol.. Fines and 80 lashes for first time offenders.. repeat offenders are put to death..

Women cannot drive in Saudi Arabia.. Whilst this might make my daily drive to work on 435 safer, I still think a bit harsh.

Homosexuality... Yemen, Death penalty..

China... heavy taxation on parents who decide to have more than one child.

Public demonstrations are banned under legislation in Egypt.

In Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Yemen, married women must have their husband’s written permission to travel abroad, and they may be prevented from doing so for any reason.

Video games.......... banned in Greece..

Swaziland... women are forbidden to wear clothing resembling menswear, and if one is caught in public displaying pants, they are subject to having them forcibly ripped off of them by soldiers, and humiliated.

Life expectancy in Sierra Leone is age 47.

Theft.. Right hands have been cut off at the wrist as punishment for theft in Sharia-controlled areas of Nigeria and in Saudi Arabia.

Minimum wage.. Armenia $86.20 per month.. Bangladesh $37 per month... Uzbekistan $40 per month.. Trinidad and Tobago $1.94 per hour... Sierra Leone $5.75 per month.. Singapore, none. Niger, $60 per month.

Adultery, stoned to death in Iran. Not that I'm advocating adultery... just "wow? really?"...

Happy day, Gob Bless the USA.. love, Victurd