Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft (1971)

I have a long history with this infamous tv show theme.  SHAFT!!!!  This is circa 1970 ish.  Get your bell bottoms on and your fro pik ready to draw like a gun.  Right ON!   Can you DIG it? 

Opera Man

 Remember the ridiculous skit on Saturday Night Live with Adam Sandler back in the late 80's early 90's playing the part of Opera Man during the 'Not Necessarily the News' segment?  Adam Sandler made a huge joke out of opera, which I have to admit was pretty funny.  However, my husband showed me this video he got on his Instagram feed or FaceBook or whatever and shared with me.  I avoid social media like the plague but this is worth the share.  I actually got goosebumps and cried.  

Someday I hope to spread spontaneous beauty like these two men do.  In the meantime, people will just have to settle for my random dance moves at the grocery store.  LOL.  Enjoy.  I promise you won't be disappointed. 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CybPBVGoJBI/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

Clo Cow 10K Marathon

 What says Sonoma County more than Clo the Cow and Clover Milk?  How about a 10k marathon?  Who would have ever thought that I would ever participate in a sanctioned marathon and actually COMPLETE it?  

Well, miracles never cease and today I, along with my teammates, arrived in downtown Petaluma to participate in the Clo Cow Marathon.  We are not part of the uber competitive group vying to break records.  We are just wanting to partake in a community event and actually have an official name and timed finish.  Honestly, just coming off of Covid, I almost bailed because I thought I would wear out early and bring the group down.  

No worries.  We were not competing and we were just doing it for fun and exercise.  My sissy, who was a member of my team, knew every CHP and Petaluma Police officer patrolling the event as she has a career in Sonoma County law enforcement.  We stopped and talked with several of the officers, which did not help our time.  

During our 10K walk/run we came across so many friendly people greeting us from their porch in fun and silly costumes themselves cheering us on and giving us water.  Upon the finish line our names were announced to the crowd who was cheering us on despite we were only 14 or so places from LAST.  We got the LOSER prize!!!  Mind you, there were 300+ registrants.  We finished just 15 or so from the bottom!!  LOL.  

Here is what matters.  We actually got up out of bed early on a Sunday morning to participate and COMPLETE a 10k.  So what if we were at the back of the pack.  We felt a huge sense of accomplishment just finishing AND the proceeds to go a good charitable cause.  We had a blast and bumped into so may people we knew. 

Hamas and Israel

 Why Israel was created after WWII and shoehorned into hostile territory is something that I don't quite understand.  I guess Israeli's needed a homeland and Europe could park all their Jewish populations there ridding themselves of them.  We had a hand in its creation as well, so we are partly to blame. 

I'm no political nor history expert.  However, it seems like we created a monster in Israel.  I do not buy for a second that their government is as innocent as our media makes it all sound.  The problem is that we are joined at the hip to Israel.  In our eyes, Israel can do no wrong.  Their government has done a LOT wrong - especially under their current leader.  We funnel boat loads of money to Israel every year.  They are basically one of our colonies.  

I don't know where this will end up, but it won't be good.  We have Ukraine and now this turd swirling around in the toilet.  

I'm not antisemitic.  I'm anti Benjamin NitWit.  My Jewish friends are apologetic about what's going on in the middle east.  They don't like it, either.  I guess it's come full-circle.  We all had to apologize to the rest of the world for He Who Shall Not Be Named (the orange cheeto). 

 

October 11, 1983

It's been exactly 40 years ago today when Karey, who was barely 15 years old, died in a single car accident on a rural North Dakota gravel road near Colfax where she was heading to basketball practice with her friend, Katie, who was in the car with her.  Katie was ejected from the car and lived.  Karey was driving and Katie was the passenger.  Back then kids could get their 'farmers permit' at a very young age.  Knowing Karey like I did, she was probably fiddling with the radio, veered toward the ditch, over corrected, car got sucked into the gravel, car rolled.  End of story.

I remember not going to school that day.  I knew something was off.  Karey and I got matching shirts about a month or so earlier and I wore it for the first time the day she died not knowing when I got dressed in the morning how the day would end.  

I remember the phone ringing in the kitchen after dinner and my mother answering it.  Mind you, this was 1983 and phones still had cords.  It was my Aunt Emmy, Karey's mother.  I immediately knew what happened before my mother saying anything.  

I've blogged about this countless times before over my 16 years of this stupid blog.  I used to go to the Catholic church and light a candle for her each year.  Now churches have their doors locked unless there is a scheduled service or event.  

I remember being at Karey's funeral and wishing that time would hurl me 10 years into the future to escape the emotions I was feeling at the time.  Well, when that 10 year anniversary of her death came I wrote in my diary about it.  When the 10 year mark rolled around I had moved to CA, married, and had a kid.  

Truth be told my life would have not turned out like it did had Karey lived.  My plan was to move to North Dakota and attend NDSU Fargo with her.  GO BISON.  I had no idea what I wanted to to with life other than that.   Karey and I just knew that after we both graduated high school I was to move there and we would FINALLY get to live together at college.  We would get to PARTY DOWN and flirt with all the boys.  

I'm rambling, I know.  It's my blog and the anniversary of an unforgettable event in my life.  You are free to stop reading and leave.  I am not holding anybody hostage.  

I did have a dream about Karey last night.  Her deceased father, my Uncle Jim, was in it as well.  I saw Uncle Jim and he gave me a big hug.  He looked just like I remembered him when he was strong and healthy.  Karey took me on a ride in the sky in a vehicle that had no visible body nor parts, but we were sitting on something (weird, I know).  Karey was sitting on my left when she told me that someday everything would make sense.

It was then I woke up  in the middle of the night with my hacking COVID cough needing some flu medicine.  When I went back to bed the dreams did not get any less weird.  I dreamed about Dave, who was my first real boyfriend (and the first real loser I dated).  I was in a house and he was trying to come in and I kept telling him to stay out and that I was going to call 911.  He kept mocking me and saying he was going to come in anyway.  I remember shoving him away with what looked like some sort of broom screaming at him to leave me alone, go away, and to never contact me again.  

As usual, I woke up exhausted.  I'm not sure if it was the COVID cough or the nightmare of the ex-boyfriend returning.  

Rest in peace, Karey.  Not a day goes by where I don't think of you and where we both would be today had that fatal accident not happen.  Yup, even 40 years later you are still close in my heart.  I hope you and Bob Dog are having a lot of laughs on the other side along with Beezer.  You know, there was a time I think Beezer and I could have been a "thing" and ended up together had life taken a different turn.  I know Beezer and I both flirted with it.  Too bad his life was cut short as well and I was sad when I learned of his death.  Well, you, Bob Dog, and Beezer can laugh at what a mess up I am and how many mistakes I've made on my journey during this incarnation.......and I'm not done yet.  I'm sure there will be many more moments where you are all shaking your heads wondering WTF I'm doing.  

Well, I don't know what I'm doing, either.  I'm making it up as I go along.  I will gladly take any assistance the other side has to offer to avoid crashing into the wall and repeating another lifetime on this plane of existence.  I want to pass GO and collect my $200 karma and advance to the next level. 

Truth Bomb:  Like it or not, this is where we are all headed.  What's your story going to be?  Are you going to be an asshole thinking that because you are going to die you can do what you want without consideration to others?  Are you going to be a good person thinking that like Candy Crush you can advance to the next level? 

COVID - Again?

 Deja Vu!!  Yup.  I've got COVID - again.  Let's see, I've had 5 vaccination shots and still contracted it last November right after Thanksgiving.  I went to get my updated flu and covid shot a couple of Sunday's ago at the 24/7 walk in clinic prior to my trip to Philadelphia knowing I was about to step into a human petri dish also known as an airplane.  

Guess what.  The 24/7 walk in clinic was closed due to staffing shortages.  It's a sign of the times, I guess.  Off on my trip I went knowing I was at risk, but WTF.....what are we to do at this point?  Live in complete isolation? 

This time I did not lose my taste, but I feel like I have the world's worst hangover with a headache that hurts and pounds.  

Sorry to say that I will survive this unscathed and it will be something else that will claim my life.  I know there are plenty of you out there who wish me dead.  Request denied (for now).   Now that I think about it, is dying really all that bad? Dying is the ultimate snub to the world and all its self-inflicted, ego based suffering.  

I believe there is so much more than what we physically sense.  I'm getting off track (shocker).  

I'm going to bed now to watch ghost shows on tv and fall asleep.  After all, it is the season of death and the veil between the physical and spiritual world is as thin as thin can be.  With any luck, one of the lost Native Americans that wonder through my house will be standing at the end of my bed confused with what we have done to their hunting ground.  

 

 

Sea of Green

 Again, I keep reiterating how friendly people are in Philadelphia.  It's their lack of pretense that makes them genuine and likeable.  They have a reputation for being rough around the edges, but they will leave you alone unless you provoke them.  Gee, I guess that's why I get along so well with them.  I will leave you alone unless you &^%$ me off and will I give several warning shots along the way before I rip off your head and $h*t down your throat.  If I go off on you, you deserve it. 

We are not entirely rough and tumble white trash.  We can dress up and be classy socialites with refined social graces if we want to.  We all donned our finest cocktail attire to attend the Union League of Philadelphia reception on the eve of our arrival to the City of Brotherly Love.  yezzzzzzzzzz, so fancy.  Yezzzzzzzzzz so much history.  Yezzzzzzz, I know which fork to use.

Yes, it's fun to put on a fancy dress and get my hair done and sip champagne with men in tuxedos dancing to waltzes performed by a chamber orchestra. It was also just as much fun to go to South Philly on Sunday to Chickie's and Pete's on Packer Ave near the stadium to see the hard core Philadelphia Eagles fans in pure form.  

 

 

 

South Philadelphia

 Philadelphia is an interesting place.  The history is fabulous as are the museums.  Philadelphia is also a very walkable city.  Here's what I would like to ask city planners in Sonoma County.  Everybody is pushing for more condensed housing and public transportation thinking it's going to save the world.  Here's the dirty little secret.  More condensed housing near public transportation will not make anything more "affordable and environmentally friendly" for anybody.  The only thing it will do is make Sonoma County more crowded and congested.  

Philadelphia is ranked one of the most walkable cities in the United States.  They have public transportation that is far superior to ours.  They have row houses with no yards.  How does this help with getting people out of their cars?  It does not.  People park their cars in the middle of the street because parking is so scarce.  Here's a typical street.

On a lighter note we ended up in South Philadelphia yesterday to watch Sunday football near the stadium.  Eagle fans are very passionate.  It was fun to be part of their club for a couple hours.