Some Perspective About My Past in 1971

 It's Friday morning on what used to be a typical weekday.  55 years ago I would have been showing up in the ninth grade at Nova in Davie as the weather outside was transitioning to a stench of chronic Everglades fire smog.  Lobo's debut hit Me and You and a Dog Named Boo was getting its radio overplay...soon I would tire of hearing it.  I was fourteen and a half, thoroughly tired of having to go to school for  a year. After school I temporarily stood up to a bully leaving the bus one afternoon and go t a little beat down in a fist fight)The esxperience taught me what contemptible ghouls the unwelcome onlookers were who were staring at me in a circle.  The next morning I received some sympathy from busstop classmates for what I went through, and that creep Arnone laid off me, never to be a friend. Later that summer during the early 10th grade I would return to school more serious in my studies.  On prime time sitcom television, some new series like All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore were starting their runs...my family became good fans.That fall "my" Miami Dolphins, coached by Don Shula, were good enough to make it to the Super Bowl...which they convincingly lost to Dallas. Overall, I was not a happy camper and tended to slip into daydreaming for much of my high school class time.  At home, my father would overdose me with talk of his dog racing betting strategies and philosophies. Still, I appreciated his efforts at weightlifting to the point of getting good at the bench press, pull-up, and standing press (I could lift up my own weight from the ground).   Growing up during this period was a confirmation of me not having an easy life. In my home neighborhood, my neighbors were raucous and out of control, loudly playing music deep into the night.  

Early Rising, Exercising, Cut back the Spending

 During the major college football championship playoffs a couple of months ago, I adopted the posture that it was  okay if "my" team won...and okay if they lost.  This is the identical position I've taken regarding basketball, particularly men's basketball.  The Florida Gators, seeded #1 in their region, had folks in their corner confidently predicting double-digit wins for their tampa contest against #9 Iowa.  But the Hawkeyes managed a last-second unguarded three-pointer to surpass and beat Florifa 73-72, causing star starting center Rueben Chinleyu to bitterly cry over the heartbreaking, season-ending loss.  Well, better luck next year.  If today were 3/25/71, I'd still be getting myself up early to prepare for my long grind of a Nova High School 9th grade day. As for right now, I have all of today ahead of me, including more exercise, reading and studying.  I'll be rerturning to the back bedroom with some A.C. and our sweet pea Daisy as the new day slowly dawns on us.  I don't see any scheduled excursions for us anytime soon.  I'd also like to take it light and easy with the expenditures, too.No need to get carried away with laying out the dough unnecessarily. There is nothing pressing down on us to unnecessarily spend a lot of our saved money on "stuff" when I for one don't see the value in going down that road. I'm not looking to struggle against anyone determined to spend down our reserves of cash. I'm old, but i'm not at all in a big hurry to become poor, all for the very foolish sake of "stuff"...I'd like to believe that somewhere along the lines of my 69 years of age I've outgrown the need to be lectured about money by someone else like my father with important ideas on the subject that may diverge a bit from mine.  The last thing in the world I want is to be dragged down into poverty because I'm supposed to want something (and if I don't there's something wrong with me).  I'm still looking forward to doing well with my cancer treatment and recovery.  I think that's the area I should be focusing on...I think I'll stash away the petty greed: relaxing and taking it easy with my loved ones is a good thing...

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This was a "good" early morning for me,  Let me do a few little things and enjoy life for a while. and enjoy the down time as well. Nothing wrong with some contentment and gratitude, too,...

High School Public Speaking Memory, Today's Early Morning Plans

 I remember, looking back on my high school times at Nova, how one of my female blonde classmates one day suddenly "saw the light" and underwent a speedy transformation into a glib, smooth public speaker.  She even got on the closed circuit school television and delivered a five-minute monologue to the school about how good and easy public speaking was, and that folks like little-old "almost subhuman" me had no excuses for not dazzling the world with my oratory skills.  A little later on ,we were introduced by a mutual friend, on whom she definitely had her eyes set.  I smiled and tried to look and sound nice, but she only came across as a rejecting snob who was fending me off...not that I was even remotely interested in her on the slightest level.  I could have tactfully (or brutally) put her in her proper place by interjecting that good speaking is only part of the equation, and that good listening skills are at least equally as important as well .  You can either esteem (or insult) your counterpart based on your attitude toward them as people, hopefully encouraging them in the process. That one speech I heard was special in one way: afterwards, and I could have brought this up to her, I couldn't think of a single section within the presentation that was of any use.  Oh well, I dealt with the snub in a dignified manner by henceforth avoiding her like the plague...I could see that she was grooming herself to be a finger-pointer later in life...probably launched into tr  ashing me soon after our greeting. So I arose at 3:30, brewed coffee, ran in place, and wrote this article. It's now a little past 5 and the day (March 8) lies ahead (we 'lept' ahead into Daylight Savings Time).  I'm still frustrated by my lack of endurance when it comes to going on modest walks. I want to continue hearing and implementing Jim Rohn YouTube podcasts, read a flawed fantasy novel by Josh Khan and study foreign languages.  And, now that I have that connecting cord, do some journal writing on my wonderful oldAlpha Smart processor before I nod off into an afternoon nap..

my reflective reset:Where do I go from here

 MY reflective reset: Where do I go from Here?

Often lately I have been reminiscing of a specific time in my distant past, when I was returning to Nova High School as a ninth year student in the summer of 1970.  Back then it seemed th future was wide open and optimism was warranted. But soon the emotionally exhausting daily grind would settle in over me about having to contend with apathetic and abusive teachers and classmates, making even beginning to do the homework regularly dumped on me impossible. I even devised a workable strategy involving getting up before sunrise and doing it, with some instant coffee, qt the dining room table. Only problem is that my mother never trusted me and made it clear that I was the one she insisted hqd to prove myself to her,  when it was she who was the one who needed to gain my trust, with her often threatening to suddenly pull me out of NOva and send me to MAaArthur.O Well, I have my brain cancer diagnosis and once again I have to lean on Melissa for her to prove her own al-ready-proventrustorthiness for me.YET I'Ve only been provided an indeterminent, awfully inadequate span of time to remain alive until this gbm finally takes over, only to die out soon after I'm gone.I will use pen and paper to create my strategy for active survival. I really must be free to drive the white Camry, to go on weekly Pqrkruns when chances arise, and  dutifully and consistently perform the crucial home  exercises on the living room floor.   And, Melissa, thank you so much and God bless you...

About the Possibility of Writing and Posting Retro-Blog Articles

I've been working on this blog of mine since April of 2007, which is well over eighteen years ago...a long time.  Yet I wonder about whether earlier daily journaling, preserved up to the present day, would have been a preferable writing habit.  My memory is still pretty good, albeit with some gaps regarding specific, detailed information.  There are times in my past when I built up some vivid memories of the then-ongoing events and how I handled them.  Times in high school, college, and at theme parks or the post office are all worth documenting, along with my takes on them.  If you access this blog and see the "first" entry going all the way back to March, 1973, you might conclude that I'm suffering from temporal delusions...I just don't write "today I ran the two-mile race relatively fast but finished dead last" in November, 2025 while posting the comment back to the date I experienced it all.  Still, just for the fun of it, I think this just might be worth the effort...

Camped Out at Nearby Starbucks, Studying and Writing

It's a little difficult to maneuver myself through each day without the outside news and opinion world encroaching on my attention and my increasing sense of unease at the way things are going down.  Still, here I am, relatively healthy while undergoing greatly appreciated high-level medical treatment that is apparently coming in a timely manner.  While warned about possible side effects of yesterday's hormone therapy injection, I was also advised to be active and go about my business as before.  So that I am doing, sitting here in my closest Starbucks drinking a hot cinnamon dolce latte while studying foreign languages and writing this article.  The day stretches ahead of me, and so does a planned neighborhood walk later on.  This evening they're holding the second "grief care" support group meeting at Trinity UMC...not certain as to whether I'll be attending or not.  One thing is for sure: I have little patience to just sit there and tolerate others with their high-handed self-glorifying speechifying.  Speaking of putting up with people putting up their own walls in front of me, it all reminds me of the frustration I fell into a few years ago when I got more deeply into Facebook and made several friend requests of former classmates.  Many accepted and many simply ignored the requests...so be it.  I've later discovered that the wisdom that's supposed to come later in life and temper people's outlook on themselves, their role in society and their political leanings usually comes slowly, if at all.  I sometimes read how some of my "friends" react to a provocative posting and see that folks have a defensive instinct to instantly respond in a knee-jerk, "offended" manner to viewpoints they disagree with, as if reading a contrary opinion somehow poses a physical threat to them.  After the recent horrible assassination of a young conservative voice, the trolls came out on this social media site in force, causing me to wonder whether I shouldn't just shut down my account permanently.  I used to post links to this blog on it for years, but in early 2021 I decided that the often idiotic negative trolling I'd get...usually from a tiny number of old Nova High School classmates...made the whole exercise and effort unworthy.  So I post my articles independently of Facebook and tend to avoid activity there. And what do you know, the company's algorithms have decided what my interests are and load up my news feed with posts reflecting their conclusions: lots and lots of stuff about the Beatles, especially John Lennon...  

Following College Football Playoffs Despite Lack of Experience Playing the Game

American-style tackle football...complete with helmets and shoulder-pads...is a sport I've never played (or wanted to).  Yet in high school physical education class I played my share of flag football games, generally not enjoying the experience.  I think that's due in large part to the fact that the coach's pet students tended to be picked as the team captains who almost invariably assigned me on offense to block, even though I was a very scrawny kid who happened to run faster than everyone else and never dropped a pass when it was rarely thrown to me (or when I could make an interception),  On defense I had more latitude, free to run around and anticipate the other side's plays...I pulled off many a Velcro flag in my old "glory days".  Still the rules between tackle and flag football are essentially the same, for the most part, and I have always enjoyed sitting down in front of the TV to watch a good contest.  Yesterday the major college conference championship games were in the spotlight, and it was a pleasure to see Georgia "upset" Texas in overtime, as well as bits of the Penn State/Oregon and Clemson/SMU contests.  And with the blowout that Arizona State put on Iowa State making the outcome apparent early on, I was impressed with their tenacity, especially of their running back.  So today, for the first time the twelve-team format for the championship playoffs has just been revealed with the selected teams, seeds and pairings.  I had wanted Miami and Alabama to make the playoffs, but the way things went both got shut out.  I'm looking forward to following the action, which begins with the first round on December 20-21...