Fall is here. Actually that’s not a bad thing. I like the Fall season. Football, cooler temperatures and the onset of the Holiday season are pluses for Fall. School, shorter days and a mediocre Dallas Cowboys football team are minuses.
October signals the beginning of Fall. October also brings Halloween. While I do not “celebrate” Halloween as many others do there was a time when would spend a good amount of time in October watching horror movies. It seems that every channel has some sort of horror movie marathon on. My fascination with the genre started when I was around 12 years old. Watched The Exorcist and had to sleep with my light, television AND radio on for three months afterwards. Around this same time I overcame my fear of roller-coasters and became obsessed with them as well. For years horror movies and roller-coasters satisfied my thirst for adrenaline, the rush and living on the edge of fright.
After years of visiting amusement parks and riding roller-coasters alone (my wife and kids do not ride) I stopped enjoying them. Modern horror movies provide more laughs than scares so I no longer invest the time. If I’m being honest its been so long, fifteen years or more, since I’ve ridden a coaster I may be too scared to see if my heart can still take it.
So now when the Fall approaches I prepare for the season by reminiscing about the summer. Instead of watching horror movies I start my vacation planning. I was fortunate to visit Aruba in August. Can’t wait to see where we’re going next. No roller-coasters or horror movies are in the plans.
Football. My favorite sport. But football is different. It requires so much effort for so few opportunities. So many practices for relatively few games. I wish I could still play, but I’m GLAD I don’t have to…. I’ve watched the game for my entire life. Got my family involved as well. We all root for different NFL teams. However, when it comes to college football we are all Maryland Terrapin fans.
On Saturdays my wife and sons usually watch a portion of the Terps game with me. I try to go to at least one game a season but my sons aren’t interested in going. My wife goes with me but my boys prefer to watch at home.
This year, to my surprise, my wife convinced one of our sons to go to the game with us. My other son had a gig with his band. It was great game even though Maryland lost. The weather was great. The atmosphere was electric. The fans were great. And my family being there made it perfect.
The year was 1977. January 1977 as a matter of fact. I was in elementary school. It was customary for my parents to keep me home from school in honor of Martin Luther King Junior’s birthday even though it had not yet been declared a national holiday.
My birthday is a week before MLKs birthday. This particular year I had received cash gifts and my cousin had spent the weekend helping me to celebrate. Since our parents let us stay home from school we decided to visit the local toy store to buy one of our favorite things, AFX slot cars. Neither one of us asked permission beforehand. Keep this in mind.
We knew EVERYTHING about AFX Racing sets. We knew every car they sold. At one point we owned just about every one they sold. I was pretty good at repairing them and customizing performance mods for them too. Wish I still had ’em…
It took about 45 minutes to walk to the store. As it was January the temperature was “coat and hat friendly”. We each had about $25 which was a real pocket-full of money for a couple of pre-teens in those days. We happily arrived at the store around 11 AM and anxiously explored the isles before heading to the slot car section. This is where the fun ended.
Upon arriving at the slot car display, which was a locked glass cabinet, we were greeted by a store employee who asked what we were doing. We explained that we wanted to buy some cars. She said she would be right back. After leaving us briefly she returned with a gentleman who turned out to be the owner. Turns out that the store employee said we looked “suspicious” and the owner arrived to ask us to leave. They asked us why we weren’t in school and we explained. He asked for our parents phone numbers and we willingly gave them to him. However, instead of calling our parents he called the police. He accused us of being truants, cursed at us and said we were probably trying to shoplift.
After some back and forth we left the store. Angry, hurt and extremely disappointed we made the long, cold walk back home without acquiring our beloved AFX G-Plus slot cars. Upon our return home we explained the encounter to our grandmother who never said a word nor displayed any emotion. That afternoon my mom got off from work and came to my grandmother’s to pick me up. That was not unusual. Shortly thereafter my aunt arrived. That was unusual. They began to talk. After a very brief and direct conversation between themselves my mom and aunt directed myself and my cousin to GET IN THE CAR! NOW!
Neither my cousin nor myself had any idea where we were going, had no idea what was about to happen. As the car started on a familiar route and the conversation between our mothers provided a few clues our destination became clear: the toy store. Were we in trouble? Did our mothers not believe us? What did the police say?
We found ourselves at the store once again, this time a little less enthusiastic. Our moms ushered us inside with, shall I say, some AUTHORITY! As a young woman my mother needed little motivation to uh, tell you what she thought…In other words, “cussin’ somebody’s ass out” was well within her capabilities. And my aunt? Let’s just say this. Take the ten toughest women, real or imagined, that you know. Add them all together and then piss them off. Say hello to my aunt. And NOW falsely accuse her son and nephew of shoplifting. This was gonna be a really bad effin’ day for somebody. I honestly began to feel sorry for the owner and his employee. But hey, they earned it! Oh, by the way, weapons MAY be found in my aunt’s car on occasion……..just sayin’.
I won’t scare you with the gory details, but let’s just say that the “interrogation” of the store owner and his employee had people running out of the store. I’m serious! This time our mothers called the police and “interrogated” THEM as well.
When it was all said and done we finally got our AFX slot cars. AND, courtesy of the store owner, we each got to keep our respective twenty five dollar “pockets-full of money”! In exchange for this the store owner, the employee and the police officer got lessons in “their stupid, prejudiced and ignorant assed selves”, black motherhood and most importantly Martin Luther King Jr. Our moms confirmed that they allowed us off from school as part of a larger petition to recognize Dr. King’s birthday, but had not given permission for us to come to the store. As a result they made us read an entire ENCYCLOPEDIA and write one page reports about Dr. King for the rest of the day. “DO NOT TOUCH THAT RACE TRACK UNTIL WE SAY YOU CAN”! Awwww maaannnn! Shoot!
Obviously I didn’t realize it at the time, but my mom was teaching me to be proactive and self reliant as it pertained to learning Black History. She introduced me to many more important figures in Black history over the years. The lessons always included reading books and writing reports but never included AFX cars……
Dr. King’s birthday finally did become a nationally recognized holiday some ten years or so after this event. Kudos mom for having the vision to know it was the right thing for the country to do and for allowing me to be a part of it.
I was recently made aware of a quote which stated that the acronym DEI should stand for “Didn’t Earn It.” Well. Hehehe. This is too easy.
With respect to Pete Hegseth and his service to this country (thank you), these are the poster children for DEI. Ironically, none of the gentlemen pictured support DEI initiatives. Their boss is doing his best to convince America that DEI is bad for the country. The same boss who appointed these lesser qualified individuals to positions they have not earned and that they do not deserve. I am certain that there are more qualified people for these respective offices. In actuality these men would not have even qualified for Affirmative Action……
I started posting to this site in 2019. I steered clear of any political views since 2023. However, out of respect for all of the veterans and federal workers I thought I’d share these words. I do not know the author but I appreciate his right to freedom of speech.
Most people prefer sunny days over rainy days. Save for maybe farmers and meteorologists most of us do not wish for rain unless it is “convenient” for us.
Likewise, most people prefer sunny days over cloudy days. Count me among those people. But……..I think cloudy days are underrated. I think overcast days are misunderstood.
In my generation most kids spent a good deal of time outside. Unlike the times of the most recent generations of adolescents there was more to do outside the confines of home. But ask any person of any age and most will speak fondly of fair weather fun outdoors.
My appreciation for cloudy or overcast days began in my childhood during the Fall season on a day similar to this one. I knocked on the doors of my neighborhood friends and none would or could come out to play because it was cloudy and “might rain”. So, I grabbed my football and remote controlled planes and went to “the field”. Kicked and threw the ball around, ran with the ball avoiding imaginary defenders. Flew my planes until they ran out of fuel. The peace and quiet of those solitary overcast days left a lifelong impression on me.
To this day I still enjoy being outside on a cloudy fall day. Time seems to slow down just bit. The air is crisp. Your senses are heightened. The background noise is subdued. Most other people are indoors. Try it for yourself. Do not take your phone. No texts. No email. No alerts. No notifications. No messages. No likes. No tweets. No calls. No FaceTime or Meets required.
Go out and take a walk amongst the clouds. Just listen to the silence and you will hear your true voice speaking to you. And don’t be surprised if you develop your own appreciation for life between the sun and the rain.
You know, sometimes life will teach you lessons that you didn’t know you needed. And said lessons may come at a time not expected.
I have lived for more that five decades and through parts of two centuries (I just like saying that..). All of my life I have been the emotional and mental support for those close to me. While I have faced life challenges just as the rest of us I have been blessed to be the person who others seek to talk to.
Well, a few months ago I told my wife that my brain felt like it was moving. My thoughts just kept going and going and as soon as I finished one thing I had to do the next thing. I couldn’t rest. Thought it was anxiety but turned out to be overactive synapse activity. There is actually a name for it but it’s too damn long to spell or remember.
Remedy: doctor said to feed my Spirit and soul. So I took a class. And then I got an idea. I started playing electric bass at 16 years old. Mostly self-taught until around age 30. A lesson with one of the more accomplished players helped to expand my knowledge and accelerate my development. Sooo…..
I recently started playing guitar, right? Right. Why not take guitar lessons? Why not? I don’t want to wait for 14 years like I did with the bass.
One of my sons plays in a band with a great young guitarist who offered lessons at my leisure. I took him up on his offer today and my playing showed immédiate benefits. Thank you Tyler Bartram! Thank you for showing this old dog that it’s never too late to learn new guitar tricks.
It’s extremely rare for me to have enough leisure time to practice music. Even more so to find time to practice multiple instruments.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away I was once actually in my twenties. Single. No kids. Days lasted forever. So did my energy… I can recall working from 8am to 4pm, working out from 4:30 until 6pm, going to class from 7pm until 9pm and going home to practice bass, guitar and keyboard from 10pm until midnight. Five days a week! Completed all my class assignments on the weekends to free up the weekdays. On occasional summer nights I would go for a midnight spin just to enjoy the freedom and the breeze. A late night snack was a usually a part of the journey. Hehe…..
Fast forward to the current galaxy and time. I barely have the time to THINK about what I want to do let alone DO IT! Seriously. I usually have dinner with my family around seven and by the time I start the evening activities it is already 9pm. A couple of phone calls later and its 10:30. Without even realizing it I am lying on the bed wondering where the time went. And I’m yawning…….
So imagine my surprise when today, after a few appointments, I arrived home a little early. Got my chores out of the way. Got a “50 Year Old Man Workout” in. And I wasn’t tired. 7:30pm. Man I turned on some music and played my bass for the first time in a couple of years. WHAT? Learned three new songs too. I ain’t playin’ wit’chall! Still wasn’t tired. 9:30pm. Grabbed my guitar!?! Boy this shit ready get real! First time in what, maybe 30 years, that I picked my bass and my guitar on the same day. Hell, I might even hop in the car and take a midnight ride tonight.
Hold on for a second………I just had to yawn. Hold on. One more yawn. That’s enough with this guitar. Almost 10 o’clock. Aw’ man I’m tired. What do I have to do tomorrow?
The Real Life Corner 