Got The Slows

Woke up.

Drove to Richmond Hill.

At at Breakfast Buffet.

Ate too much, So what else is new.

Went to Walmart.

Went to Publix.

Went to a second Publix. Stupid Reason Not Worth Explaining.

Came home.

Sitting in chair.

Nap time coming.

PS There will be no bicycling today. None. Nada. Zip. This past month, I road 39 out of 40 days. Total of 644 miles. Goes past dedication into obsession mode. I am 71 years old. Time for a break

That my friends is all.

Saturday October 4th, 2025

Stay Safe.

The Jazz Age Redux

 "And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

 Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Thus ends a superb novel by F Scott Fitzgerald an early 20th century author who was both a literary genius and a totally self destructive insane train wreck of a man. His book The Great Gatsby while written in 20's America, still rings true about people today. If you get a chance at least watch the movie (several versions, my favorite is the Baz Luhrman one) and then read the book. It is powerful and it really gets to the core of who we are are as people, how we live, love and survive (or not). Check it out.

Be good to each other,

Peace out.

The Crux Of The Matter.

 
Wouldn’t it be great if I could write something that took more than 15 minutes of my attention.

I never have. I never will. Such is the true meaning of life for a man
 with the attention span of a gnat.

Of course I’ve never read anything of any consequence from any gnats. Maybe their works are out there. I can’t say I know anything of them.

Who you callin a gnat?

Fin

Trivial Pursuit Cycle Tire Edition

 Good to know trivia if like me you love history and love bicycles. In 1888, John Boyd Dunlop, a gilded age tire dude.  with the help of his beard, revolutionized the still-nascent pursuit of cycling when he introduced the pneumatic bicycle tire:

Suit and Tied To Ride A Bicycle!!!
Formal? Or just stupid?

Repost at Disney

A post I made back in April after a Disney trip. I think there are 35 years between photos. I cannot remember exactly, lots of years passed here. Chubbier, switched from the Caribbean Soul T shirt to a Cyclist design. No beer in my hand. If I had to make 1 sentence describing the 2 it would have to say: 

Still crazy after all these years.

Disney Springs  35 Years Apart:

Pete's Dragon and Rain Forest Cafe still there.

Dats All

Fin

School Memories

 Recently, I wrote about my first day in the Navy. Just a short synopsis of what I remember. Interesting experience reliving it in my mind after a half century. 

So I'm going to switch gears on the memory trip.

Allow me to think back to a different period in my life.  I want to comment on my elementary school education Or, anyone's education for that matter. Social Media although it is responsible for so many bad things today does have a plus side. I am able to stay in touch with people I haven't seen since 8th grade. Where they ended up, the details of their lives. It's truly amazing thinking about those people, during those years, and what the school experience meant.

Ok so I am a product of the second half of the 20th century. Society was so different back then. And I cannot help but wonder about the true value of those school years. Do I sound crazy? Irresponsible? I don't mean to be but looking at who we all were in school as kids and who we became. There is very little correlation between someone who was  a "troublemaker" or a poor student (read stupid) and what these people became as adults.. A half century later, who you were in elementary school had very little to do with who you ended up as an adult. Not even close in many cases. So then what was it all about, what was the purpose? We spent years going through that  schooling "process", there had to be a goal there. To mold the individual into a "proper" member of society?  People I know today turned out on the whole to be much better than how I remember them back then. A's B' C' and even F's. failed to predict how a given young person would turn out as an adult. I would even go so far as to say it was mostly a waste of time. Seriously!  The entire school process was badly flawed. I interact with people today  who were "troublemakers" in school and they are Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants. I even went to HS with a guy who was a total loser. And today, He is a federal judge. He didn't pick that up in grammar or high school. 

In summary I'm not just describing a few kids here. Most of my peers and most of what we learned about life back then was wrong. And useless as far as actually navigating adult life. That sounds so negative I realize. But, I'm just calling it as I see it. As I said, Social media is a wonderful tool to stay in touch with others throughout life. And I'm going through a period of looking back and taking stock. The good,  the bad. and all the "stuff" in between.

 What say you then? 

Comments are welcome. 

Be safe.

Before the quest began

The beginning: 

Bob reported to enlist in the US Navy on a hot Monday morning. He traveled to an armed forces enlistment center where they do this kind of thing . Newark New Jersey July 31, 1972. Cocky, scared, acting tough like the 80 or so  other new recruits who had chosen that day to enlist. They were all so full of it. Bob had just graduated high school in  Jersey. Turned 18 3 months earlier. He pretended to know it all, while knowing nothing. They flew the new gang of Navy larva to Chicago for basic training. The day which had started early morning, found them herded through the terminal building at Ohare. It was after 11pm. Waiting busses whisked the new Navy “boots” to the Recruit Training Center at Great Lakes. The first shock of many to come , they shut the gates behind the busses. This was real now.

 It was after midnight before they stopped yelling and screaming at Bob and his fellow life travelers. And he fell asleep in a bunk that was too small , too thin and really was a terrible end to the first day. 

Bob did not realize at the time but that first day in so many ways was the first day of his young innocent life. Many days, months and years were to follow. But this was the beginning. It was a beginning like many beginnings and then it passed and it was no longer a beginning. It became  real life.

Bob … A month before the quest began 

Fin 

Dear Diary

 Bizaro world. Grandpa style.

The Doctor Will See You Now!!!

So he thinks he is a doctor?

This photo was taken at Henry Flagler's hotel in St Augustine Florida circa 1900ish? A very bored young woman of means, bored to tears. Ho hum!!! The only thing that interests me in her photo, what was that on her head? Was that supposed to be a hat? How stylish they were. Turn of the 20th century upper class bored tourists in Florida. With Janky hats. And serious attitudes. 

CS Lewis

 History isn't just the story of bad people doing bad things. It's quite as much a story of people trying to do good things. But somehow, something goes wrong.

Labor Day 2025

  Labor Day 2025 will occur on Monday, September 1. Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day weekend also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans and is celebrated with parties, street parades and athletic events.

First Labor Day Parade 1882

 Wikipedia link with all the info on the day:

Wikipedia Labor Day

Whatever your knowledge or interest is in Labor Day, it is a long weekend. The last of the summer 2025. Enjoy!!!

Isn't It Pretty To Think So?

 Before we had the always popular and vivacious world wide web, we would amuse ourselves by balancing spoons on our noses. No Fussing, no mussing, no drama, no stupid security updates, no twitters turning into X's, no Book of Face. nothing but just goofing around with spoons. 

We had no idea what was coming. And when it started, we thought WOW THIS IS COOL!!! But it wasn't cool. And it is getting worse. AI telling young people what to think. How to act. Giving it's version of God. They are all soaking it up. As we circle the bowl, The words to an old 60's Steppenwolf song come to mind:

"There's A Monster On The Loose, It's Got Our Heads Into The Noose, And It Just Sits There Watching"

Pre 21st century internet days

Can't we just go back to balancing spoons?

 "Isn't it pretty to think so?" a famous line from Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” It certainly covers a lot of ground. Thanks Ernest!
Stay Cool!!!!

Dear Diary

 21st century ... doesn't do it for me. I gravitate towards early 20th century thinking and experiences.. I'm fascinated by what Getrude Stein called The Lost Generation. Life was different then. Not without it's problems, as a matter of fact in the first 20 years of the century, the world suffered horribly under it's own pandemic. It killed many millions, this coming after what they called the Great War (World War 1 for us) in which millions more perished. Coming out of those events the depression brought world economies to their knees. An entire generation lost everything including any chance of dreaming of a better future. And yet, I feel an affinity for that period in history. Was it better? Demonstrably NO. Different though. People learned to adjust and to get by. Doing without in ways we can hardly imagine today. It was an important period. Absent was the spoiled self centered persons who inherit this new millennium. 

My heroes from those years. The Hemingway's, The F Scott Fitzgerald's, Smart, brilliant, able to explain  about what was going on in their writings.  Each totally screwed up, eventually succumbing to the times in which they lived. Still, to me, fascinating.

I wish I could have been there. Lived it. All of it. 21st Century ... does not do it for me.

Big Rock Candy Mountains

An Example of the popular songs from back in the day. 
Fantasies of life ..simpler ... to dream about .

Fin

New Blog Name

Changed the Blog name. Seems closer to who I am and what I'm doing. It's all about what I think about, what comes to mind. Day by day. Don't need a bunch of hits or followers. It's my stories. 

Abuelo 

Life Without Meaning

 "So you decide to take a holiday
  You got your tape deck
   and your brand new Chevrolet

 Ah, but there's no place to go anyway
 and what for..."
       

Captain Jack - Billy Joel

There have been times I have felt this way.

ho hum

Reflections On Life

Isn’t it pretty to think so? Indeed it is. When your plans or your life goes a certain way, you wish it had gone differently, and you’re sad and you think if it had just gone differently and “isn’t it pretty to think so” Kind of says what you’re thinking and wishing.

Hemingway. So many people inside

 

Hemingway… the life of …. Never ceases to fascinate me. He was so many things to so many people. His writing … it’s amazing. You dont even need to have the book cover. One page and you know who wrote it. Also I wish I could sit and drink with him. He was a pro at it.

As The World Turns

They say the earth is rotating faster. A very small amount. Who watches this stuff? What instruments show this? What’s the impact to me and to you day to day ? 

Inquiring minds wanna know!!!

"ATC Clears"

 After my Navy Daze I did a stint as an Air Traffic Controller at the New York Air Traffic Control Center in Ronkonkoma NY. 

Did some of my best work there:

Not many were that good. The 2 aircraft missed at the last second. And I did not even use AI

Dats All Folks

Truth

 

Difficulty. Wouldn’t it be great if I could write something that took more than 15 minutes of my attention. 

I never have. I never will. 

Such is the true meaning of life for a man with the attention span of a gnat. 

Of course I’ve never read anything of any consequence from any gnats. Maybe their works are out there. I can’t say I know anything of them. 

Fin

You Tube Words