Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon.........

Hot air, ha, I know.....

Topsy, turvy
Up, down
Goofus, Gallant
Hot, cold
Full, empty
Good, bad
Light, dark
Smooth, rough
Right, wrong
Happy, sad
Easy, difficult
Strong, weak
Long, short

Kind of a horoscope of life eh?

For grins, and yes, perhaps lowered blood pressure - I Googled "How to deal with ups and downs"

It was suggested:

Uno) "RELAX".......... Relax? Have you seen my ashtray? Right you are though.. My excuse, it's difficult, when trying to focus on the big picture, in that 11 years ago I had "lens implants", one eye to see close-up, and one eye to see far away. (Catching a fly ball now has nothing to do with the fact I'm hella old, belly dunlapped over, "she ain't what she usedta be, ain't what she usedta be" <-- Victor, whoever said you were? Right you are, back in my day I could make a routine fly ball interesting!)

Back to my excuse of lens implants. It's fake news, in a way. With the one eye I look into the future and worry... the problems add up, thoughts of them create a snowball effect - and soon I've decided upon a pity party - fit for no one to see......

Then, I see close up. I see the obituary of a friend. I see a husband/father laying in the Hospital when he should be afforded being at home, playing late night Santa Claus. I open the newspaper, atrocity everywhere. Our city, the next State, East Coast, West Coast, this Country, that Country... and it all helps focus - I scold my own butt and remind myself to man up.

Dos) Put on your track shoes, or your dancing shoes and get moving... I likes that one. Two weeks ago I joined a small, par 3 golf course.. I've played every day but two (Frigid, and frigider)... speakinowhich - can anyone explain why there's a "D" in Fridge, but there ain't one in Refrigerator? Me neither........ on the fat scale, I'd dipped below 200 for the first time since Clinton was in office (thanks to five months of hitting the gym pretty hard), - but golf now has me sidestepping working out... reckon it ain't a bad trade off... I mean what the hey, John Daly has a big belly, why can't I? Point being, go, MOVE, have some fun. VICTOR? Are you preaching? NO, learning.

Tres) Socialize. That, I do. Maybe too much, but I still like me. This week. jk.

Cuatro) Commune with Nature. That's a good one, and I have to try to remember. Thankfully, a recently added friend lives off the beaten path. I kinda likes the drive to that house - the middle of nowhere. Plan on continuing to drive there until I hear "beat if off the path", ha. VICTOR? Don't you know thoughts like that ADD to your stress.. premonition ya know? Yeah, you're right.. if that road ends - I'll takes me anuther drive somewhere in the country........

I'd kinda like to continue on that one. Sometimes I write as if I were "high and mighty", ha. I know I ain't. Wrote about not letting standing in a long line get to me the other day. It has, it do, sometimes. But (Victor, I've told you 37 times now you can't start a sentence with "BUT"!).. ahm, but (you butt), I am trying. Close your ears: in traffic I cuss. I do. I get flustered. I get mad. I stop just short of stupid. The other day, I was in a hurry. DAMN yellow light. Delayed maybe another 47 seconds. Then I thought, "how can I make this a positive?".. so, I looked around, tried (and did) find beauty whilst I waited. Kinda worked for me that time anyways..

Cinco) Laugh regularly. Nope, can't do that one. Who would want fun? Just kidding. I have, in the past, seen the really really serious types (ALL THE TIME) and their scorn at my/anyone else's "happy".. Screw that. Like a FB suggestion the other day, leave a yellow sticky note affixed to their monitor "I farted in your chair." Hehe.

Where are we? Ahm, Victor, you're giving us a lecture on how to deal with life's ups and downs... Ahm, NO. No I wasn't. It's Christmas time for behoogity sakes. Stress naturally sets in. There are empty chairs. There are drivers with no one in the passenger seat (One dude I know even sleeps with a five foot long pillow, ha).. I'm being serious, I ain't teaching/lecturing/pedestal placing/nada, noneathat.. I'm right here with you learning how to deal with the Tubthumping, whac-a-mole of life, just like you.

Sies) Eat Well. (Handled, plz scroll to John Daly comparison)... and ty Google, I wasn't quite sure how to spell sies.

Siete) Sleep. I've noticed, most of these goofy blogs are posted at a crazy early hour, so yeah, maybe I need some work here. You? And thanks again G on help with spelling Spanish numbers.

Ocho) Become a "glass half-full" kind of person. (Speakin' of spelling of Spanish numbers, on a side note to the football player who legally changed his name to "Ocho Cinco" - he wore #85, the yoke is on you sir, 85 in Spanish is Ochenta y cinco. I'm thinkin' I mighta looked that one up before I changed my name.)

Back to "Glass half-full"... I've loved all the others, Uno thru Siete. This one kinda speaks to "look at me" and I ain't real fonda that. I get the drift, but just reading that somehow gives me the impression of "Be like me" - and to me, all people are even. Obits should be the EXACT same length in inches.

Anyways, the article I read on 'half-full' quoted Quentin Vennie "I'm a firm believer in constant affirmations. If I can focus my attention on that one positive, no matter how difficult it is for me to find it, if I dig deep and find that one positive to focus on, nothing else around is real." Ok, so I did kinda like that. Maybe finding beauty when screeching/cussing to a halt at the yellow light ain't a bad idea after all...

Nueve) Find meaning... that one bores me, sorry. Somehow I pictured a group of stoners lazily seated in loungers discussing this in a living room. WHAT'S TEN?

Diez) and I thought you'd never ask. Diez is ten. and it's "Keep in mind nothing is forever. This too shall pass and the seas will once again be calm and the sun will shine again." I'll give diez a ten, I like that one.

Thankfully for you, this blog will not last forever either.

I love you. My initials are VS, as in Very Stupid attempts at humor above. It's serious crap though. Depression is real. It's ever-present at Christmas time - aside the Blessed celebration. Thanks for hitchhiking along. You are a much better partner than that damn pillow.

Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Balloon
Up, up, and away...

Love, Victurd