Today, April 6, 2014 – the Texas Sun is (hiding behind thunder clouds, but I know where the ‘Thunder’ comes from, and it’s named, Alex), the birds are (still) chirping (seriously) and our canine friend, Pink Petunia is tongue waggling after (another) (well, it’s her morning constitutional – so she can lose a pound the old fashioned way, and I get to clean up her – ‘bid-ness’) from a delightful neighborhood walk – but this time in (Houston)).
Last night, (as I watched with my quiet, shy wife from a local ‘sports bar emporium’ with a United Nations sampling of like-minded humans), my government funded state school that I actually graduated from – won (another) (yes, another) hard fought victory. Of course, it would seem my business degrees are not worth much per a certain ESPN talking-head, but I will ‘let it go’ into the negative trash heap comment section.
And since I use a pen name, or for those who prefer some fancy writin’ a ‘nom de plume’, it would ruin all my built up happy karma (say it with ME until (MONDAY!), “Namaste”, yes, breathe, “Namaste”) to lower my writing craft to provide a response because I’d need to use my real name, and point out all the success I’ve had in my life – even though apparently I was educationally handicapped post-graduation, and I was born and bred in Lexington, Kentucky – so my knuckle dragging genetic code has not evolved from our primordial bourbon soup. (I refuse to edit this – I still abide by this response.) (But today, I will add – Upper Kirby Houston Style – since I am pushing 50, I think it’s cool I was at the said – ‘sports bar emporium’ wearing a cool ‘Mountain Standard Beer’ t-shirt and skinny jeans, (thanks to my wife) and because I don’t have a big belly – hanging with the peeps in the ‘Fellowship of Screaming at the Television’, and bonding with a congregation with alternative points of view – “Can I get an, AMEN?”, “Why yes, AMEN!”)
It was quite nerve racking to watch the game, (AGAIN!), (YES, AGAIN!) even though my emotional response had an absolute zero effect on the outcome. In fact, (from the game before)(and this time in public) my wife pointed out half-way through the game I had turned into that blue-haired man that screams, “get off my front lawn” or in my case – screaming at the television as if the conspiratorial referees could hear me from Houston. (But in Austin, I muted the television, and watched the game alone – while my wife was dealing with clients.) (But as I noted, now I was back in Houston – learning what the term, ‘Twin Peaks’ meant – and my wife had to point it out – I’m clearly getting old-ur.) And I will not recount the game, I’ll refer you to the folks at Kentucky Sports Radio Dot Com, who are my and many others – NY Post (Page Six) moral equivalent. (And I learned at midnight, they have a radio program – again, thanks to my wife, who explained to me how to actually use my fancy portable telephone and she ‘dialed-in’ my hometown radio station. So I could listen to those with heavy twangs, and like minded voices.)
What I noted last night was the loud fan base. (Not really, I don’t know, I had the TV muted, in Austin, but it looked loud and the iHeart radioed in 630 – that I randomly listened to hiding behind closet door – sounded heart stopping.) (I still have no idea, I couldn’t hear the television inside the said – ‘sports bar emporium’) They were not the quiet blued haired – ‘we got our season tickets handed down to us’, or the ‘we made a huge donation to the university’ game watchers. I know that may seem harsh, but I think those young men on both teams fed off the fans energy. (AGAIN!) (And yes, this morning, AGAIN!) It was just cool. (AGAIN!) But just as I thought I was being Mr. Superior, I looked in the mirror and realized (again this morning – in Houston), I have ‘blue hair’, (BIG BLUE HAIR). Now, I can color my genetically gifted hair that covers my expansive (pasty-white) dome, but what about those mysterious ‘grey to blue grey’ snarls, tangles, that appear inside my nose, or in rather personal regions, or in my ears? I can pluck them out, THAT HURTS (No Kidding!) – or use the ever popular battery-powered hair zapper, but they keep coming back like ghostly specters from a Steven King novel.
(And yes, this morning, they have all reappeared, and gazing into the bathroom mirror at my puffy face earned from having a bit-a-fun, I shrugged, I don’t really care, right – Pink Petunia? ) (“Woof”, Pink said.)
(And this morning, even though I appear to have even more BIG Blue Hair, I don’t seem to care, I’m in Texas, the Sun is out (not really – it’s raining – apparently someone in Dallas woke up – THOR!) and I am grinning like a kid on Christmas morning (well, yes, that is still true). I know because my wife pointed it out as I could not resist from reading the – smack – and I have an evil grin, and I admit, I have a super-sized competitive gene that I attempt to hide – BUT NOT THIS MORNING!) (Ditto – Groundhog Day – Houston Style.)
Thankfully, I have re-learned to think about what I say or scream. (Or, to simply watch the game alone, with the TV muted, and the iPhone radio software on for 630. And I can now exit the communist party re-education camp (that my wife made me attend for screaming, poor editing and bad spelling), and again, for learning NOT to scream at the television … thank you for your mercy Oh Great Leader.) (Think about that, Freedom is not free, and it’s cool, why? Because last night – I screamed at the television(s) with my new friends at the Houston Style – Star Wars like ‘Creature Cantina’ – seriously, we had a ‘Chewbacca’ sighting, several tatted-up Ewoks (I know different movie – but play along), a ‘Darth Vader’ like person I made a serious effort not to make eye-contact with, and of course my wife played the, happy to make friends – ‘Princess Leia’ character that I skillfully steered away from the ‘Jabba the Hut’ look alike – BUT we were all FREE, free to express our view points, and order another Guinness.)
(Alas) As each season comes and goes with the constant motion of the tides, and I luckily get to age, (I cannot believe I am closing in on 50! – and with respects to the SNL Molly Shannon character – I will not yell my said age, nor mess with my armpits), I have to admit that I’m becoming a ‘BIG Blue Hair’ fan (I like the idea of being old, as in really old – I want to be a Big Blue Hair). I wrote at the end of Bobby’s Socks that the character, Bobby, smiled because he realized he got to be old. (But after THIS game, I feel a bit younger, as in somehow we all got to go back in time – and recapture a few days from being young-ur.) (And this morning in Houston, with the aid from this modern convenience, better known as a laptop computer, as I examined all the pictures from my ‘Page Six’ at the State Street ‘spontaneous gathering’ – that was being chaperoned by Lexington’s Finest, I could vicariously feel the sensation of being 18 again, and to blush from being smiled at from a happy 18 year old girl. And I hope never to lose that feeling, it is not just the magic of youth, it is the wonderment from being alive, and letting your heart go into an unrestrained wormhole you hope never to leave and happily live within on a continuous loop.)
I think there is magic in this world, and happiness is the awareness to bend down and enjoy the fragrance from a red rose, to smile from a child’s giggle, to realize a game is just a game (not really, losing sucks, and I do feel bad for those other teams, as the saying goes, ‘been there, done that’), and to have the wisdom to know those ‘Big Blue Hairs’ are earned. I think that’s when God whispers to me to enjoy the moment, to stop, listen and pay attention because you might not be here again. (And yes, I replayed that 630 radio voice, over, and over, and over again.) (And I cannot believe he made that shot with a giant basketball paw in his face – and as Joe Dean used to say, that was “String Music!” And I have to admit, I think I like the idea of having a ‘Reverse Laettner’ Groundhog Day. Again, and Again, and Again …), (AND YES, HE DID IT – AGAIN! – I saw it happen with my blood-shot eyes at the Houston ‘Creature Cantina’ with my new United Nations friends, and yes, I have since replayed the newest – SHOT – over, and over again.)
(And yes, I feel so frenetic, I’ve had to re-edit this post several times, forgive me. And still cannot believe he made that shot …) (Déjà vu, Groundhog Day, I don’t care, I just know this morning, I feel like I’m 18, again, and I think I like it.)
NS
Leave a Reply