Playing Catch-Up

Wow! I am not very good at this blog stuff, guess I need to make the attempt to either stick with it or get rid of it. Lot's of stuff going on in my life since the last time I posted. I am currently managing a print shop here in town, doing some graphic design (which I love), and taking online college courses with Grand Canyon University. Add to that raising grand-kids and it makes for a busy life.
When I first started college courses I was worried that the brain damage from going status epilepticus was going to be an issue, but since I've weaned myself off of all seizure meds my thinking process has cleared up drastically, and the 4.0 GPA tells me that so far I don't have anything to worry about.

It's been a long time.

It's been a long time since I've posted. Many seizures and tons of meds later, I still find it hard to keep my thoughts together long enough to get them down. Life has been long and hard, but no worse than for anyone else I suspect. We all have our troubles and our demons to carry. Mine just happen to be a brain that has betrayed me and conspires to commit sneak attacks on me when I'm not expecting it. I am fortunate though, as I have only had one "Gran Mal" that I lost conciousness with, and the rest I have been concious for. Lucky me. The worst of it is trying to continue to function as normally as possible when I feel like the world has flip flopped in an instant. I guess it could be worse...I could flip flop with it.

It was a very busy weekend, and a busy week at work. Seems like time has slipped into some perverse speed warp and has doubled up on itself. I'm told that it speeds up more and more rapidly the older you get too.

Saturday the 12th was the Poker Run for our airboat club here in Arcadia. We called it the "1st Annual Peace River Valley Airboat Association, Inc. Poker Run and Redneck Luau." Of course rain was forecast for the day, which is nothing out of the ordinary for Florida in the summer, and we were blessed with a few good frog stranglers. As an added bonus to the day we had visitors from the Airboating Magazine who were there to do an article on the event and our club.

The day started out as early as 5 a.m. for some of us, getting things set up, decorated, and arranged for the day. By 10:30 a.m. we were signing boats in and handing out the first card of the poker run. All in all it was a great turn out, and with everyone signed in we started the run at 11:00. One could only wonder what people along the river thought of the thunderous herd of airboats that snaked along the river in a long serpentine line toward the first of three stops.
Of course things weren't all peaches and cream as one would want them to be. Our boat seemed to have developed a problem running for the first time since we've owned it. On the first assessment we thought that it could have been a problem with water in the gasoline that we had just purchased that morning. We ended up at the end of the line of boats, but that was just fine with me. It gave me more time to enjoy the ride on the overcast, and thus cooler day.

While there were a few other problems with some of the boats, we all made it back to the pavilion that we started from by 2:30 p.m. after stopping at our three designated stops to collect our cards. Then we returned back to pavilion to collect our last card and the fun of playing the poker hands began. Since we had so many people there, we decided to have all players sit at a table, and then myself (Secretary), Lee (President), and Greg (Vice President) all went from table to table to record the players hands. A Diamond Flush was the winning hand, with 3 Kings runner up and 2 Pair taking 3rd.

After the prizes were given out, everyone started getting the dinner ready. Some of us brought stuff in coolers, and a few people had to run back home for food, but the dinner wasn't planned to start until 4:30 so we all had time to get it together. When it finally got together it was a feast from heaven. If one good thing can be said about southerners it would be that we KNOW how to put out some good grub. Tony cooked ribs that almost melted in your mouth, and we had all sorts of excellent dishes to accompany them.

By 6:00 I had finished helping with the after dinner clean up, and we had to head home so David (my husband) could get to the local race track. He was scheduled to be the second driver in a 4 Cylinder switch off race. I elected to stay home and watch the NASCAR race, which is somewhat of an obsession of mine. By the time the day was finally over, it felt like we had crammed 3 days into 1.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Simple Man, one of Skynyrd's more profound songs, has a habit of running through my head quite a lot lately. One good reason for this could be the fact that I have a son in jail for possession and sales of Meth. As a parent, I ask myself where I went wrong. It took me a long time to realize that we can only do so much for them, and then when the time comes to turn those precious little bundles loose into adulthood, the rest is up to them. We can offer advice and hope that they take it, but we can't live their lives for them or learn the lessons that they have to learn. If I could, I would. I would marry him off to a woman that was his soul mate, ensure that he had a job that he was happy with and could live well on, give him the children that he always wanted, and ensure that he lived happily ever after. A mother's dream for all of her children. Be a simple man, find a simple life, don't forget about your creator, and live a good life.

Mama told me when I was young
Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say.
And if you do this
It will help you some sunny day.
Take your time... don't live too fast,
Troubles will come and they will pass.
Go find a woman and you'll find love,
And don't forget son,
There is someone up above.


And be a simple kind of man.
Be something you love and understand.
Be a simple kind of man.
Wont you do this for me son,
If you can?

Forget your lust for the rich mans gold
All that you need is in your soul,
And you can do this if you try.
All that I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.



Boy, don't you worry... you'll find yourself.
Follow you heart and nothing else.
And you can do this if you try.
All I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.


And be a simple kind of man.
Be something you love and understand.
Be a simple kind of man.
Wont you do this for me son,
If you can?

June 26th

Went to a comedy theatre last night called Visani with a bunch of folks from our airboat club to raise money for our scolarship fund. I think that they said 78 of us showed up out of 100 tickets sold, so that wasn't bad. Visani let us keep all of the proceeds from the tickets, and made their money on the food and drinks. The food was a little pricey, but Shrimp Fettuccine that I had was good and the service was excellent. The comedians that we showcased were Ralph Tetta and R. Bruce. Tetta was ok for an opener, but R Bruce was a riot. Great way to raise money for our scholarship fund raiser and have a blast at the same time.

Ramblings

It's amazing how a person's mind works. When I first decided to start this blog, I had all sorts of ideas and inspiration churning in my head, and almost knew exactly what I wanted to say to the world. Now that I have the blog set up and a grand opportunity to express the inner workings of my garrulous mind, the inevitable thing happens. It decides not to cooperate and freezes up, giving me a blank slate to stare at and insipid thoughts rambling around aimlessly.
I could start out with a "Where I Come From" introduction, but I'm afraid that my story isn't much different than thousands of other people around the world. Single parent, poor, blah blah blah. It's a story that's been told over and over again, and sadly we've all become inure to the sadness of it because a big share of us have lived it.
Instead of focusing on the bad parts of my childhood, I'd rather talk about the interesting things. Even though we didn't have much, we still had a lot. My Mom had plenty when it came to friends, and to say the least, some of them were very interesting. The majority of people that I grew up around were hippies or bikers. In the 70's, the Flower Power movement was very much alive, and we children (my sister, brother, and I) were often entertained sitting by the fireside by many guitar toting free spirits. My favorite was a man we called Brother Lynn (lots of "Brothers" and "Sisters" back then). One of my favorite memories of him are his rendition of The Motorcycle Song by Arlo Guthrie. He knew that we enjoyed it, and played it with such elan that we always begged for an encore. Of course this was back before Nintendo and Playstation, so for us it was definately primo entertainment.
Then along came Steven Speilberg with the blockbuster movie Jaws in 1975, and a whole new era of entertainment began. It's the first movie that I remember watching that wasn't a Disney production. With it, Speilberg cast a spell on the public and opened the door to a whole new genre. All of a sudden people paid to have the crap scared out of them, and unknowingly started numbing themselves to the horrors of the world. Where once a public outcry would have reverberated across the planet when a murder occurred, we have now become so inure to the injustice of it that we actually consider it entertainment on a daily basis now. The popularity of three CSI shows and several copycat series pretty much proves that.
Of course, I don't know what any of that has to do with my childhood, except that back then I was smart enough to have explained it all to you from twenty different angles until you understood it.