Build me up, buttercup...

Waiter! There's a fly in my soup!

No problemo' Senor', we're comping your meal, and you can now order anything you want.

Comp. Cool. Resort. St. Thomas VI. In Irma's path. Very few lucky enough to escape before the wrath. One(famous) hotel chain, chartered a cruise/cargo ship.. placed 600 of their guests on it, hotel money in the town they were flying out of when they hit The States, AND airfare home. Geez Louise, nice. What a comp...

Comps, compliments are yummy. They make the upside-down-ness of the world sweet. They turn a frown upside-down. Victor, you can't use upside-down in two straight sentences... Ahm, sorry, I just did!

"I can live for two months on a compliment." Mark Twain.

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." Leo Buscaglia.

I try. I try to wing 'em. That word infronta compliment - 'honest', so very true. Everyone on the team that goes 0 and 12 might get a trophy, but it's the nuts and bolts within the season, finding something genuinely worth praising that means the most.

I was at an old fart softball reunion recently. The wife of one of my old teammates and I were talking, turns out we both taught (at different times) at the same Elementary School, for the same Principal. She was not-too-compliment'y about the Principal ("She's the reason I transferred to another school.") I just smiled. This person, the Principal, was the best boss I ever had. Her motto, regarding our beloved snotnoses was "Catch 'em being good." Worked. Man did it work. The kids were happy, the teachers were happy, the entire school staff, secretaries, cafeteria staff, custodial staff, were happy. The end.

The feel of giving a compliment is almost as darn good as winging one. In the same week recently, my boss showed me an email from our Long Beach Port Agent saying "we love working with Vic." Damn daddy. I puffed my weasley-from-not-working-out chest out.. and it made for a very, very nice day. (OK Mr. Twain, a very nice two months.) Then....

As Richard Pryor would say "I said to myself... self" if it feels that good to get one, why don't you wing one?" So, in the mundaneness of cubicle life, having 352 unread damn emails because I/we can't keep up in the summer- were six very nice emails from a little lady who works for us for a vendor in Baltimore. For years, I've worked with this lady. She's prompt, accurate, and nice as heck. So, I winged an email to her boss (and copied her in) basically saying "too often, we go thru the years and never say thanks - I just wanted to let you know I love working Erin, she's always prompt, accurate, and nice as heck." Victor, you can't use the exact same verbiage two sentences in a row. Bite me keyboard breath, there's upside, consider the updside, downer!

So yesterday afternoon-night was old fart reunion for our Old High School around the Square of our downtown. Folks that went there from 1930-something to 1975 gathering.. Your specific class had a place marked off, and a good sized cardboard "Bluejay" with your graduating year written on it - within. Nice words were tossed, old buddies hugged, plenty of grey, and a lot of "so howinthehell you been the last 40-some years?"

I wasn't gonna go. In addition to recently starting to workout, lift weights, elliptical, then immerse myself in the hot tub, I've sadly immersed myself in self pity due to recent events (one of which was totaling - three weeks after I bought it - my 'new to me' $4650 Chevy van - ahm, liability only.) Shit. So, shit was my mode. Sorry to cuss, kinda, but it has been my mood. Patooey I've sucked.

After all the saying/hearing nice words, hugging buddies, it was hot enough I thought to myself, "Self, you could use a beer.. Your class just had the class photo, you've greeted everyone, go have a beer." It takes a lot to talk me into a beer (HA) but I went..

As I was traversing down the hill... coming up the hill was a late arriving lady from the HS class a year behind me. While I memorized my name tag and later threw it away, I still had it on at that point. "Vic Schultze?" she said. "Uh huh, hi." (Victor, NEVER use your full name on the internet) - bite me, I even leave my car unlocked at night!

Anyways, this beautiful lady walking up the hill said "Somehow, I managed my way on to your blog. You can write and I really enjoy reading it." Holy make me smile. So, as we parted, I puffed out my 'weasely-and-hurting-from-just-starting-to-work-out chest'.. and thought to myself, "Self, you're now good until November 16th"... Right Mark?

Thank you to that lady. You turned my upside down shitty pity party rightside up.

Hey, let's go catch someone doing good. I sure planta try. Love, Victurd (Schultze) HA.