I’m stuck in a BJ’s parking lot waiting for a telephone call, Barry Manilow singing Mandy on satellite radio wondering when I got stuck in a scene for a bad movie.
The phone rings and I do my best to put on my business game face but the truth is my focus is elsewhere.
Life has decided now would be a good time to rain down upon me and I am distracted by hunger and the smells of lunchtime.
This isn’t part of the plan and certainly not the way I wanted to run my day.
I’d much rather enjoy some tasty delight than sit here working but sometimes life throws spitballs at you.
A Ghost You Can’t See
I made a few promises these last several years.
Said I wouldn’t compromise on some things and that my focus would be upon making certain things happen and for the most part I have had great success.
But there have been a few shortcomings, a few hiccups that have slowed progress down and made me wonder if I am just a ghost that you can’t see or if it is something else.
I find myself going back to the same places and same ideas knowing they have proven successful and that sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to have success.
The simplest explanation is to say I am taking the basketball advice I give my kids which goes something like this.
“Rebounding is more about will than talent. If you want the ball you have to go and get it.”
That is what I doing, reminding and remembering there is no substitute for hard work.
The guys I play ball with will tell you I have been willing to jump into chairs and slam into walls going after those rebounds.
Granted if I can go around or jump over the chair I will try to do so just as I try to avoid slamming into the wall, but I am not always graceful or athletic enough to do so.
If the option is between some physical contact or missing that ball, well I’ll probably take a chance on the contact.
It is getting a bit harder to recover from some of those collisions, but nothing comes without a price.
A Different World
Life in the bible belt comes with multiple reminders that we are living in a different world than we did in LA.
There have been a few moments of late which have highlighted some of those distinctions and found led to some very blunt conversations with school officials.
I have approached each with a very friendly tone assuming they had no idea that what they were doing or intended to do was problematic because it never occurred to them that others might believe differently.
That assumption has mostly proven to be true and is why I haven’t flipped out because of these things.
However it hasn’t precluded my having to have more than one conversation about these things and I am guessing some people have been surprised that I just don’t go away.
It is not my nature to do so, especially if I feel like you think I can be ignored or just pacified.
Some of these moments have led to other conversations with the kids about the importance and picking and choosing our battles.
Not every hill is worth dying upon, but there are moments where you plant your flag because you know it is going to help with future conversations.
Vegans Need To Eat A Steak
A guy outside a health food store asks if he can speak with me about why people ought to be Vegan and I say no.
That doesn’t stop him from walking alongside me to try and convince me that eating meat is barbaric or me from telling him I won’t cry if a cow figures out how to kill and barbecue me.
That sets him off and he starts ranting and raving about how it would be good if something bad happened to me.
I turn and tell him that something terrible happened to me.
“Oh yeah? What was that?”
“I was assaulted by a half deaf lunatic who is in dire need of a steak.”
He tells me he wouldn’t eat a steak because it tastes horrible.
“Grab some ketchup or A-1 sauce. Go to one of the local BBQ joints, you live in Texas. We have great meat.”
“Have you always been an asshole?”
“Have you been speaking with my exes?”
“I can see why they wouldn’t be with a jerk like you.”
I laugh and tell him to be careful because all seven want to come back.
“You have seven? You know that doesn’t say much for your social skills.”
“No, it says a lot about my sex skills. Got to run, got a steak a woman waiting for me.”
Before he can respond I take off and wonder how I am lucky enough to find the wingnuts and nutjobs wherever I go.
Got to run now, there is a ball to chase down and I am in the mind of mood where I don’t care if I go through the walls and chairs to get to it.
I need more than a tasty delight because I am done with Lucy trying to snatch the ball away at the last minute.
