Saturday, April 12, 2008

Claiming ... still

FINISHING UP

... but 'hearing' KOKOMO ... and channeling the Kansas Jayhawks and the New York Football Giants ..!

So I want to claim my life.  I want to write an Oprah Book Club novel!  I want to go back to school, and get the training to be a fitness trainer, as well as at the very least an associate's degree.  I want to do some substitute teaching, even if it is in the Metro. 

Oh, and I want to find someone to marry me ...

I want to get things smoothed over with my oldest girl, Skye.  I want to get my weight down under two 'C' notes.  Hopefully, I can get things tight enough to maybe become a foster parent, failing that, a big brother.  I want to get a super cooler bike, still a Raleigh, only for riding big rides of 50+ plus miles.  The ride I am on now doesn't seem to want to carry my heavy butt that far on the regular basis that I ask of it.

I know it is out there, I have seen it in the 'signs'.

SIGN #1

Nebraska didn't have to be super cool when I went out to Chicago.  In the end, I just thru the dice out and hoped it rolled a winner.  It was.  Being able to find out that my instincts were still there, meant a lot.  Finding out that there is someone beautiful that can find something in me, made me hopeful that I will find not just 'a person' but THAT PERSON, to be my partner.

Don't know what the future holds, because that is a little bit down the line as far as being 'considered'.  The way that I have been feeling after meeting her, while I may not be to her standards, but my 'radar' has detected 'interest'.  So I am so not worried about that.  It will happen.

SIGN #2

I did pick the Giants all the way.  I told people that it was a question of destiny ... who's was it that was going to be fulfill?  The Patriots, with all the glamour and building momentum for just this moment, or for 'the boy king' Eli Manning and the Giants, as the slayers of the Patriots and hoisting their leader to his rightful place.

All over the place, they talked about the Patriots run for history, scarcely mentioning all the 'big dog' stuff they did, cheating, the questionable characters (though I do think Randy Moss has a bad rap, but like a typical hypocritical Republican, Tom Brady has as much to do with being an 'emotional terrorist and absent parent as I do), just telling us how unbeatable that they were ...

... never acknowledging the HISTORY on the other sideline.  Eli Manning quietly bided his time, being his older brothers Cooper and Peyton, never once seeming to mind.  All the stories that they told of him (if you could find them in the Patriot saturated media), were of how cool and calm he was, even when he was under fire.

I have that in me, or so I tell myself!

As usually happens, it is the underdog, the dark horse that is given scant consideration that often come flying past the winning line ..!

SIGN #3

I didn't know who would win the tournament.  I think if I had been a little more familiar ... no scratch that.  You take what you have and go with it.  I did know what each team had to do to win, and that Kansas found that their well of resolve was a little deeper than Memphis (who was beaten, they didn't 'lose' the game),said that the things that I still believe in, the things that mean something to me, still carry the timeless smell of victory.

Though a couple of the Jayhawks will get drafted, none of them strike me as being more talented than ANY of the Memphis players.  But they stuck to their plan, and ran the plays that they did best, until the game was won.  So many times, 'stick to it' is something that gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to how we are advised to fix our lives.

Perhaps that is why that I can 'suffer with a smile'.  I keep hacking away until I simply can't, not when I just 'think' that I can't.  Indefatigable.  Hope, the only gift left for us in Pandora's box, is tireless.

Starting to ramble.  I still got stuff to do, as well as media to immerse myself in.  My brain, as y'all can see, was itching!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like all your plans of what you want to do, Mark; they all seem doable too!! if you write a book and it gets published, I'll be first in line to buy it; it would be a privilege to read what you write as you have such a way with words; the world is out there ahead of you for you to make it as you can; I have confidence you'll find the right paths for you to reach your goals you are making

betty

Anonymous said...

I definitely think you have a book or two in you.  Lynda Barry (my favorite cartoonist/author) has a found a niche in what she calls "autobiofictionalography".  She tells her tales that are partly true and partly "true-ish".  Check out her website marlysmagazine.com and look at "Tales of the Gorgon".  It's damn near perfect storytelling.

Russ