I get bored pretty easy. A goal is to write, to suggest, to try to help (me, more later). I wear Google out sometimes trying to find ammo for what I wanna write - I TRY to seek accuracy, ideas, light, 'a way', guidance (to me), yada. I kinda feel an obligation (to myself) to remind me frequently "life ain't so damn bad" - and, to hopefully draw an occasional smile from a passerby.
Then, I get bored. This morning I wanted to write a blog on round peg, square hole... dare to be different.. It's ok to not go with the flow. I Googled them all - got bored, got lost, tossed everything from my brain I'd read right into the wastebasket - and like that first time tippy toeing to the end of the pool diving board, I deducted, "here I go, what the hey, bar the door Katy." Forget trying to say, write what others have written.
History has shown me there are a lot of very, very nice people in this world and thankfully I've had a good share of them come across this blog - and have said some very nice things. Some also, have disagreed - and I cherish their thoughts, ideas, wisdom as well. The very highest compliment I've received is when a buddy said "sometimes, you write things we sometimes think, but won't/don't say." I did backflips for three days, and that's pretty amazing because my once - kinda fit body - ain't so much these days.
The intended message - it's ok to be different. It's ok to challenge. It's ok to speak up if you see indignity placed upon another. I dunno about you, but I can count many, many times in life where I've walked away thinking "Damnit, why didn't I say something?"
No more. Screw pigeonholes.
Golf tournament yesterday.. First hole. Our gathered group was surveying the labels on our golf balls so we could distinguish "whose was whose" when found in the fairway, in the rough, in the woods. I was still in the cart, the three others were on the tee, holding their shiny white golf balls, and the conversation went "Titleist 3 here."... "I'm using a Callaway 2." "Bridgestone 4." All eyeballs were then placed upon me. I held up my bright yellow golf ball to show them.
Sure, lotta reasons I used yellow. One, I'm old, it's easier to see, distinguish. Two, I'm a tightass. I found them on Amazon, a dozen for $8.94 + tax from wherever their warehouse is to my front door in two days. And finally three, color me yellow with grumpiness, consternation, odd, offbeat, I-really-don't-care-if-you-feel-it-must-be-done-that-way-"BECAUSE"-that's-the-way-it's-always-been-done, I kinda enjoy being different.
Age has made me that way. Poor examples have made me that way. Good examples have made me that way. Woeful personal mistakes have made me that way. Wonderful 'feel goods' have made me that way.
"Victor, I can't believe you blog. Even worse, I can't believe you then post it on Facebook."
Frankly my dear...........
I love my friend's frequent postings of the gorgeousness of Alaska. I miss my (my he rest in peace) good friend's astronomy pictures. I love my friend's daily Bible quote. I love my Texas buddy's self deprecation memes. I love my middle-of-nowhere-in-Kansas friend's fun posts (but, stick my tongue out at her when she gets political!) They're different postings, they don't/didn't care, they hit the yellow golf ball.
After golf, we gathered at our watering hole. Back entrance is an open air entrance from the outdoors where folks must squeeze in to enter. We sat right by that door. A good friend, fellow golfer, greeted every single person that entered, the majority he'd never seen in his lifetime. Some, high fives, some, fist bumps, some, he hugged, all, he met with smile. That's not what a lot of us would do. Some of us are wallflowers, content to sit in the background. Some like the front row, but don't speak up. My buddy didn't care - he's not afraid to be a vocal/physical fan of all people - he used the yellow golf ball. (Of course we teased him about a future position at WalMart, but damn him, he met that with a smile too. I loved it.)
I love the videos of kid's dance routines where ALL eyeballs are on that one kid. You know, the one with the pep in his/her step. The one with the extra moves. The one bouncing, gettin' down to their own beat. The one that was surely thinking "I don't care what my classmates are doing, I am gonna boogy down and have me some fun while the gettin's good." That one.
"Better to be a nerd than one of the herd!" Mandy Hale.
I love the person who demonstrates the watoosies to stand up in a crowded shopping center, begins to sing as the very first person of a flash mob.
"The person who follows the crowd will usually go no futher than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before." Albert Einstein.
I love the way Jesper Parnevik (Senior PGA golfer) wears the bill of his hat UP, not the regular way. I miss Payne Stewart's (PGA golfer, died in a plane crash at age 42) flamboyant attire of ivy caps, patterned pants, which were a cross between plus fours and knickerbockers.
I will never forget the wonderful 'kid' (early 20-something) who was working at the bowling alley, offered everyone who came up to the counter(from me the old fart, to the 3 foot kid) a smile, kindness, and a thirst for customer service - yes, he had those things in his ears that look like dog bones, ouch, yowzer, "not for me", but hey, daring to be different is/can be wonderful.
Again, I'm still working on getting to like the present trend of "treble hooks" in the nostrils - but then again, just imagine two 'in bliss' getting their bling entwined - it may be THE NEW WAY to prevent divorce, who knows......
Please trust me, I ain't preaching. I hopefully don't do that - I write to me, for me, hitchhikers welcome. It's ok to be different. Or not.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost.
Onea my favorites "You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been a child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything." Henry David Thoreau
Being different subjects one to bullying, public scorn, biting - harsh verbal barrages - sometimes sending one home thinking "should I simply stop, try to fit in? Will it make life easier?"... Please reinforce, it's ok to be different.
"Why?" Why not?" "Not me." "No thanks." All, music to the ears.
"We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world." Mother Teresa.
Go. Go hit the yellow ball. Or the pink one. Or the shiny white one with a graphic of Alfred E. Newman on it. Or, choose not to hit the ball, that's all good as well.
"Kites rise high against the wind, not with it." Winston Churchil.
Ya know, if someone tells you to "Go fly a kite", mebbe it ain't such a bad idea.
Love, Victurd.
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