Auld Lang Syne
 

I’m not one for making New Year resolutions and this year doesn’t appear to be much different. I do, however, embark on each New Year with a sense of awe that before me lies a clean slate, a turning of the corner, and a chance of renewal toward hope and inspiration. Anything is possible, anything can happen and I look forward to the opportunity of the unknown. Winter here is dark and the turn of the clock’s big hand at midnight, December 31st signifies rebirth – turning the bend, looking back in the rear view mirror, closing unfinished chapters and waving goodbye to those we have loved and lost. Each year, I find it interesting that I rely on tradition to help me through the last few months of the annual road. I look forward to nature’s cycle, watching the leaves slowly turn color in the fall, observing the tourists packing up for mass exodus and reflecting on what is most important to me... beloved friends and family. It’s a slower pace, one that is welcomed, a time to cherish those near and far, a time to breathe.

January is hard. I don’t know how it is for those of you that live in a warm climate but here it is dark, windy, cold and snowing, pretty much 24/7. Burrowing under the covers is welcomed, and warranted… before work, after work, and while daydreaming during work, and there isn’t much Rover activity. No one wants to even think about stepping outside to ‘take a peek’ under the hood for fear that a digit will snap off - It’s bone chilling. On the odd day, the sun may make a cameo appearance in which I, mysteriously, turn into an energizer bunny. Those days in January are few and far between as the neighbors will be sure to report.

Downtime and daydreaming seem to go hand in hand and downtime gives me pause for thought. I think about what my vegetable garden may look like if I were to start one.. would I choose heirloom seeds and start my own seedlings or would I not care and just pick up anything at the local nursery come spring? I wonder if my efforts are appreciated by those I chose to spoil over the holiday season or if my cooking was horrible and that is why I haven’t heard back from them? I think about the gray whiskers on my cat’s face and how I want him in my life as long as possible.. going on 14 years now and I love him so. All this fluff…. hiding the substance. I ponder over work and worry over getting yelled at for not having a report out on time or doing the right thing. So much downtime to think about things.. 12 months ahead of me, what will they hold?

I’m optimistic about the future even if Mr. Robert Burns depressed me to death with his Auld Lang Syne. Dan Folgelberg’s version may as well put me in the gutter (does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with that guy, I mean, song?). Either way.. I’m ok and I wish you both, I mean, ALL the best in 2017.

Oh and another thing.. thank YOU for the FOUR year subscription to Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping! Now I can be sure I know how to make mushy moves, get caught up on the latest gyno news (a controversial new cure for cramps anyone?), learn turn-on tricks, omg foreplay and Big-O shortcuts. And here I thought I knew them all already.. The latest issue of Good Housekeeping touts that it will show me how to organize everything (even my brain?), change my life in 31 days (already started today) and maybe win a $25,000 makeover to ANY room! This is my year.. I can feel it already! I'll let you know when the Kiplinger's letter arrives along with the subscription to PRO Portable Restroom Operator and Tales from a Pet Detective - I love cats! Thank you again!!!

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Personally, I don't put much merit in those dates...Dec 31st and Jan 1st. Just another day to me. Time is a man made preception, and one I'd like to do without...but that is impossible by todays standards. Retirement frees you from the daily battles with time, but pushes the end of time front and center, thanks to the endless conversations about finding ways to live longer.

Me, I'd like to live like the wild creatures...where time doesn't exist. Do you think an eagle or bear wonder what time it is or waits around for the end or even knows that death awaits them? Nope, they just live their lives day by day, continuing on until it all comes to a stop. How wonderful that mindset must be, freedom from time.

Good luck, with your new beginning.

Brian.

Thanks Brian and you're right. Time is a man made perception as are many of society's ideals. That's why I don't read magazines such as the ones that were sent to me.

Magazines like that promote the ‘dumbing’ down of society and how we can all appear ‘normal’ and do the right thing by society’s standards. It’s just evidence that whoever sent them to me doesn’t understand the real me, is interested in having me conform and lose my uniqueness. Either that or they are taking a piss.

Maybe I’m getting old or set in my ways but it occurred to me today that most humor is lost on me, or maybe it is my humor is different than others, I don’t know, and at this point I don’t really care. It’s amazing that people can spend endless hours watching videos of others being discharged from the dentist or surgery believing they’ve lost their tongue or they’re a Nascar driver. They ‘like’ it and ‘share’ it and make snarky comments on it only to ignore an endearing story such as this one:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us

This article made me cry. It touched me and made me think about those I’ve loved and lost. Some of you know that I had a good friend on here that passed a few short months ago. I miss him terribly and wish I could have been his savior, the one that rescued him. I wish I had done more, said something to make him understand that he meant the world to me. Those are the demons that I continue to deal with.

He knew that I loved reading ‘missed connections’ on Craigslist and that it was my dirty little indulgence. We would make up funny captions and e-mail them to each other, comment on hilarious scenarios and wonder if they were really ‘real’. He got me. He knew that I cried over some ‘missed connections’ and he let me, all the while making me smile. We watched movies online together, one of our favorites was Serendipity, nothing like a good drama or chick flick to keep us content.

He knew that, like him, I loved ‘junkin’ and one day surprised me with 180 electronic magazines in my favorite topics – vintage, junk, gardening and architecture. I was blown away that someone would take the time to pay that much attention to little ol’ me. He was different and didn’t fit the mold. We discussed art and architecture, Renoir and particles, serendipity and spirituality. We covered it all – or at least it seemed.

Our season was short – just about 2 years but enough memories for a lifetime of smiles and bittersweet tears. Like the article, I believe that we met for a reason. He taught me to love myself, cherish each day and to not sweat the small stuff. As easy (or not) as that sounds, I wish he was here with me still, in this New Year, doing the things that we loved to do. Good friend, I will never forget you.

If you hadn't noticed.. I like talking to myself. It calms me :)

No need to respond.. I'll just keep rambling..

Started following LL Musings (Land_Lover Musings?) on Instagrammy (bahahaha.. just kidding - I don't follow the mainstream) and found this little ditty that connected with my soul:

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I also like this photo.. dunno why.. it sings to me:

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I never looked that cool smoking.. you either have it or you don't and I didn't have it. I think i could rock the hat though..

If no one minds I think I'm just going to continue to ramble.. if you don't like what I have to say, then I guess one option is to stop reading my posts?..

So who is working on their Rover in sub zero temps today? Not me!! I have a mile long list of things I need to tend to though.. saving my pennies to take her in to get some body work done. In the interim, I'm back to reading Cosmo..

... good lord.. there is even an interview in here with Jamie Dornan.. can it get any better? I quote:

Owning it All: 'It's attractive to me when girls are down - meaning, they're at ease with themselves. They've got their **** sorted, and they're comfortable with who they are in whatever way that manifests itself. Even if who you are is a bit unhinged, that's fine, as long as you're accepting of it."

Yep.. I'm accepting of it. Totally unhinged here.. no meds needed.

Turn of the page....guess it does get better... dang.........

'Confessions - Cosmo readers reveal their most embarrassing, ridiculous, what-was-I-thinking-moments':

'I work as a flight attendant, so whenever I have to pass gas, I walk to the part of the plane that has the most people in it. I quickly fart there, then promptly head to the opposite part of the aircraft so no one realizes I'm the culprit."

CLASSY.....and intellectually stimulating Fo Sho. You just cannot make this stuff up folks.

It’s a good thing I joined a gym last week… these cosmo girls are looking pretty hot. Eight or nine months of working out, a haircut, a cowgirl hat and a pair of tight jeans is all I need to complete the look. I should be ready by fall. Yep.. joined the gym last week and have signed up for ‘basic training’ – well.. they call it that.. it’s basically an athletic trainer (note the difference – no personal training about it) showing me the ropes and bitch slapping me in all the right places.

Let me be Frank (no, not the garbage man on here with big knockers who boasts that ‘chicks dig him’).. How shall I rephrase this...

Let me be candid..

I.

Hate.

Gyms.

Abso-tootly despise them… I have had one good experience in my lifetime and that was when I used to work out with an old friend of mine, years ago.. he was a coach and we’d use the weight room where he coached high school basketball. It was a private school.. you know.. catholic and all that – for the upper crust kids in town. We’d hit it on lunch, 3 times, or so, a week.. I’d do my stand up/kneel down routine and get down to business. Four hail mary’s and three mercy me’s later (god those leg squats hurt) no one would bother us and I’d accomplish something every single time (no.. not that something.. your mind is back in the cosmo gutter, isn’t it?).. It was 2 friends working out at lunch.. nothing more... nothing less.

At least I think...:dunno:

But I digress…

So since then I had never found a place where I felt like I was home until recently. Oh yes, I had tried other gyms, mainly meat markets - all those guys grunting and moaning, while they sweat all over the equipment, looking others ‘up and down’ in a swooping transference of energy and masculine power. Ugh.. not for me…at least not in that kind of environment. Nah.. I prefer a more low-key setting and I found it the other day. Best kept secret in town, I believe, as there were only four people there when I moseyed over to play. Loads of equipment, class offerings and close to my workplace too. I’m sure that more times than not I’ll be there by myself, looking around thinking ‘where is everybody?’…’I have a personal gym!’

Heaven forbid the day I’m ever there alone with a stranger… I’m pretty sure, if he/she tried to talk to me, the smart ass in me wood (is that how you spell it?....) look them squarely in the eye, feign a shocked expression, and whisper ‘you can see me?’… bahahaha!...…oh how I’ve always wanted to do that…. in an elevator.. 

Ok.. so what if my new gym is the geriatric rehab center at the local hospital?....shhhh.. don’t tell anyone.

Carry on Richard Simmons…and I will too :angel:

..and the first tune on my 'sweatin' to the oldies' play list is:


enjoy!!! :popcorn: (oh yeah.. maybe I can't eat that anymore..) :wave:

We have a man on here with big knockers...??? My first thought was...well, that ain't all bad...lol.

Working out is good for the mind...healthy body, healthy mind. Life is about purpose, working out may help fill the void. Everybody deals with loss differently, some immerse themselves in work, activities, etc...while some seemingly wander through the inherent emotion...almost grasping at what is now missing from their purpose. Yes, friends, loves and family give us purpose.

Would...the other "wood" is something made from trees. Granted, I'm not unfamiliar with mental blocks...when it comes to spelling the right word.

Brian.

OH my goodness.. do I really have one on the line?...…

Excellent…(insert evil laugh) I say.. while rubbing my palms together much like starting a fire with wood. There you go..that wasn’t so hard. I used the correct spelling, thank you very much for that constructive criticism. You seem like a nice Deputy – and remind me of someone that thanked my sister, for diving into the water, as a teen in jeans and a sweater, to rescue him from drowning after he purposely fell off his windsurfer. ‘Mighty kind of you folk to come out and check on me like this..’ he drawled in a slow Southern accent. Weird thing was.. he wasn’t Southern and neither are we. My poor, poor sister.. I still tease her about it to this day....don’t you just love how you can throw words back at your family over the years and get on their last nerve? Too much fun.. We hi-jacked my dad’s boat (which apparently was a BIG no-no..) and took it for a spin. I think I was up at the house watching a cheesy summer soap opera (trying to learn about the birds and the bees the best way I could) when she ran in breathless and flustered, yelling ‘I think Elliott has fallen off his windsurfer and he’s drowning! Can you please help me start up the boat?!?’ Flying with ‘bird lightning speed’ (I just coined that term.. needs to go into the books) I jumped up and sprinted down to the beach with her. I was already in the boat before she had the shore station wheel cranking, ready to get that baby out and in service. Good times….I assume you realize that she had a big crush. Something about that family.. they grew up down the road from us.

I have no idea why that just popped into my mind.. crazy how the mind works.

So Deputy..is it apparent that I have a void in my life? Shoot.. I was trying to be discreet about it.. so much for that. I let the cat out of the bag and have no one to blame but myself. Have I told you how much I love my cat?
I suppose I should be socially responsible and divulge that Frank4 has big knockers.. or at least from what I’ve observed  Try not to let the word get out.. he seems a little feisty.

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday and all is well in your world. I've been wanting to try out this emoticon for awhile so here goes.

:nopics:

and seeing as this thread purportedly isn't any good without pics I will leave you with these:

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and just for fun.. so we all know that it's best to learn how to read, speak and spell:

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Tootles! :)