Watch for motorcycles

My nephew Andrew had just gotten off of work and was heading home. Home was just 2 blocks away and he was crossing an inersection on his motorcycle when he was struck by a young lady in her truck.

He fought a valiant fight for a few hours but eventually succumbed to his injuries. He left behind a young son and his wife of two weeks.

He was my first "son" and I do miss him greatly.



 

Getting Old

My wife just loves all those murder and mayhem shows.

CSI, NCIS, law and Order.

Anything that has someone getting shot and or dismembered is fair game for her.

She will literally turn on NCIS and leave it there for the entire weekend.

Dude. I just can’t take it anymore.

I used to like those shows too but guess I am just getting old.

All of the blood and the bashing and the rapes and the racism and the scores of dead bodies.

It is just getting to be too much for me. I already know how horrible man is and can be

I don’t want to escape TO that I want to escape FROM that.

Maybe that’s why I like my fantasy so much more.

It’s further removed from all of this “ripped from the headline” crap.

I’d rather watch a dragon burn 2 scores of village innocence than watch Thomas Gibson climb into the head of this week’s neo-Nazi pedophilic serial killer.

I’d rather watch this week’s villain freeze dry the Flash then watch Mark Harmon get his man

I’d rather watch all of the biters and geeks in the Walking Dead get smooshified in various ways than watch Vincent D’Onofrio hunting for a crack head Jesus freak

Like I said, just getting old.

Death of innocence

I can recall the first time I ever really thought about the future.

It was back in 1980 and I was in the 6^th grade. There was a meteor shower that night so my sister and I were laying out on the sidewalk in front of the house watching the skies. We lived in a small town in California then so of course it was a beautiful night.

As I lay there staring up into the black sky with its millions of twinkling stars my mind started to wander.

I thought about going into the 7^th grade when school started up next and my sister was starting High School.

Then it started to snowball in my head

Then in just 2 years I would be in High School and she would be a Junior

and then she would be a senior and graduating and then moving away

and then I would be graduating and...

It got to be too much for me.

I couldnt handle it.

It was just too big for my eleven year old mind to handle.

I got scared.

I started to cry.

I dont mean sniffles I mean full on no sound coming out bawling.

I ran inside the house to find the only comfort I knew.

Mom.

I needed my mommy.

She was in the bathroom.

I pounded on the door. “Mooommm!” I yelled “I (sob) need (sniff) you”

“What!” she hollered back through the door “what wrong”

but I didnt know what was wrong.

I couldnt put into words what I was feeling.

I didnt even know what I was feeling

I needed comfort.

I needed reassurance.

I stood there nonplussed.

How do I say that I am scared of the future? How do I vocalize that I am scared of growing up and leaving everything I know right now behind me.

“nothing” I finally managed to get out, holding back the sadness in my voice as best I could

“never mind”

“ok well just go back outside then, I'll be out in a minute”

so I went back outside

and I lay there staring up at the vast cosmos without really seeing it.

My sister asked me if I was ok.

“yeah, I'm fine” I replied

but I wasnt.

I mark that moment as the starting of the death of my childhood. Now I know it is not nearly as catastrophic of a childhood decline as some but that was mine.

poppins

Disney

Man I love Disney.

Warning you now that I have drank the Disney Kool-aid here so if you have a hate on for Disney well there are 500+ other posts on here you can read.

Like most children I was raised on Disney and the very first movie I ever saw at a theater was “Pete’s Dragon”

I would say my least favorite would have to be Bambi. Still a good story but just something about it never really clicked for me.

        Sidenote: It’s rather odd that when you do to Disneyworld or Land and see the characters walking around, it amazing how fast their movie becomes a favorite.

For my absolute favorite, wow that would be like picking a favorite kid. I really like them all, especially anything after 1963.

Aladdin is just spot on for action and humor but a lot can be said for “The Apple Dumpling Gang” and Dean Jones in “The shaggy D.A.”

“Escape to Witch mountain ranks right up there with “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and I am not even going to touch of the Kurt Russell string of flicks.

Even Donny Osmond killing it in Mulan with “I’ll make a man out of you” is just stupendous.

But there is one movie that rides over the rest.

The pinnacle of all Disney flicks

The one with the silliest of words in it that everyone still knows 50 years later

Mary Poppins

Mary. Freakin. Poppins.

This movie is practically perfect in every way.

5 Oscars and 2 Grammys and is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time.

When people say something is timeless this is what I think of. You can watch this at any time and at any age and still enjoy it. This is what started my sincere admiration for Dick Van Dyke and I cannot picture anyone alive or dead who would be able to just kill as Mary Poppins that Julie Andrews.

I’m not going to go into great detail here obviously. At the very least you can read about it on Wikipedia.

If…no. WHEN Hollywood decides they need to “reboot” this then I will be done with movies.

Now if you will excuse me I just took a spoon full of sugar and I am off to go fly a kite because I love to laugh.