I don’t know her name, but I can tell she studied design,
composition and color. Her paintings are
excellent and deserve to be in galleries around the world, not simply wrapped
around my coffee mug.
It is possible, I guess, that I could hang this mug on a wall
and rope off a viewing area. I’m not
really sure if I could charge admission, but it might be worth a shot.
I was down to my last chip.
I had already smoked my last cigarette and if the drinks weren’t free,
this one wouldn’t be sitting here. This
was it, all or nothing. I had only one
chance left, so I had better make it good.
Double zero had the greatest odds, so that’s what I was going
to set my chip on. If I hit, I could get
some grub from the cafeteria, buy a pack of smokes and grab the next bus back
to town. If I lost, I had no idea what
would come next. Just walk out to the
road and stick my thumb out and hope I catch a ride before the desert sun melts
me into a puddle of loser.
As I sat there waiting for them to spin the big wheel, I took
a long last look at my chip. It was an
eagle, but it looked like it was in a box.
One of those fake mime boxes, where they put their hands up pretending
to be feeling the sides of the box.
That’s me, I thought.
I’m the one in the box trying to get out.
“Place your bets.”
A loud voice startled me. I looked up and saw all these arms reaching in, putting their chips on whatever numbers they hoped would be lucky. There was one face in the crowd, however, that was not looking at the table but directly at me. He was slowly shaking his head no. I guess, telling me I had lost enough and that I should stop. Was stopping my only way out of the box? But how would I feel if I didn’t place my bet and double zero came up. I’d be thinking of that for the rest of my life.
I knew the odds
were always in favor of the casino, but then… what if
Mother Nature always pays attention to us humans, even though most of what she does goes unnoticed by us.
Here, we see the trees taking advantage of laundry day. Since that last Spring shower, this is the
first chance they have had to dry their shadows.
Yes, dear friend, even shadows get wet.
Human communication is complex, with way too many obstacles. As if the language itself isn’t bad enough,
add to that body language, facial expressions and various dialects, humor,
along with very few people sharing the same frame of reference.
New words and phrases are continually being added as
technology advances.
If we restrict ourselves to the written word, we eliminate
body language and facial expression, however we incorporate the mail carrier. This person must be able to read the address
on the envelope. They need to comprehend
the logistical pattern of house numbers while being able to drive their vehicle
from the center of the seat, steer with their left hand while reaching out of
the passenger window with their right,
Then, remove any outgoing mail from the box, tuck it away in
their vehicle, and place into the box the incoming letters and packages. Drive forward eleven inches and repeat the
process.
This is a job that you can never finish. Once done, you don’t get to stand back and
enjoy a feeling of completion, for it all starts over again the next day, and it
lasts a lifetime. Even the postage says –
FOREVER.
It is so much more than bowling. It is pure potential. The weight of the ball,
the force of motion when the ultimate sound of kinetic energy explodes within
the closed chamber that is the alley.
The sport of bowling is simply a byproduct of the time span
between the release of the ball and its impact, generating simultaneous echoes,
that seem to end as abruptly as they begin.
And sometimes there is a 7 - 10 issue.
There’s something about the flavor of good chocolate that
seems universal. It is never anything
that gets put up for debate.
It’s a shame some ideas can’t be like that. Just universally accepted. "Yes, Larry – that’s a fine idea and now we’re
all going to start doing it."
The problem is that little black thing on the floor isn’t
sock fuzz, it’s a bug. Everyone here
agrees it has to be dealt with, but some want to step on it, while others want
to just carry it outside and set it free.
Those two groups will never find common ground.
However, should the debate take too long, it’s possible
Scooter the Cocker Spaniel, will quickly recognize it as a piece of candy and
snarf it up.
Problem solved.
As it turns out, time is the key to all problem
solving. Wait long enough and the
problem goes away, you just may not like the solution. Unless, of course, the solution is a really
good dark chocolate, then – how could you not?
