Getting old sure can suck!

Who in the hell thought up the phase, "The Golden Years". Whoever it was must not experienced aging. 

Yes there are some benefits to age, like discounts theaters and restaurants and maybe seating benefits when you arrive at your plane in a wheel chair. But then you still have to walk to your seat. Fortunately I have never experienced that part of aging. And there are other gifts aging gives you, like listening to your joints in the morning when arise from your warm bed that sound like a bowl of 'Corn Flakes' crunching and soggy. Or that unannounced gas escape while walking to the bathroom. Or looking in the mirror and realizing you have less hair today or how much grayer it has become, or both. My personal great is how much I have to suck in belly to button my pants or tighten my belt. Gravity does SO much for our bodies. Seems like it all starts sagging. It just proves the earth really does suck. 

There are some GOOD benefits from aging and especially when your become a grandparent. You become the free babysitter, the place the grandkids love to come over because you have  the snacks and cookies they love, and you are well stocked. That's only because the parents will not but them.  You can sleep in everyday, if you don't have a job as a Wal Mart greeter that morning, or volunteer at the old folks home. Sometimes people will let you cut in front of them at the store, maybe out of respect for your age or you look like their mother. You don't buy many new clothes because they don't get worn out like they did when you worked. And now you don't have to keep up with the fashion trends. Probably the only time you dress up is for a doctor's visit, or to go out with the guys or girls, or to a funeral or church. 

I believe the phase Golden Years was to symbolize a time when you could remember your accomplishments in life and rejoice in them.  And also watch your children grow into families and parents while they give you grandchildren to spoil and love. Which is all really good, BUT I wish life would hold back on the physical aches and pains of aging. From a guy who has been pretty dog-gone active all my life, my suggestion is to still active, keep you mind sharp. Stay in touch with friends and go out to lunch with them.  Volunteer somewhere, join a book club  or hangout with like minded folk. But most of all, stay active. Take care, and stay safe.

 

I am sorry

I am sorry I have not written anything lately. I am sorry I did not wish you all a Happy New Year. And I am sorry for being sorry. Besides finishing up on my last restoration on a client's car and then getting sick with some stupid virus (of which I am still sick but getting better), mind just has not been as sharp as normal. Of course you could say I have never been all that sharp anyway. Plus my head has been just spinning over some the stuff President Trump has done recently. it is like he has slipped back into his adolescent immature childhood he has never covered up since becoming president.  Like a balling brat in a tantrum when anyone criticizes him, show him disrespect or he does not get his way. Renaming important buildings, events or places with his name. And THEN he has the gall to post photos on social media of very respected people as apes, because they are black? What in the world can he do before some sort of enforcer bends him over their knee and spanks him like the terrible child he is. Will no agent have the balls to punish his jerk? His guy is tearing our country apart and making the USA the laughing stock of the world. I am waiting for him the have a statue made of him to be erected and placed in front of the White House next to his HUGE new ballroom ... IN GOLD!

Again, I am sorry to get back on my political soap box. But more people need to voice their dislike of Trump to their representatives and tell them to impeach the jerk. I have never disliked anyone this much before. Except the bully who bullied me in elementary school, until I punch him in the nose and was sent to the principals office. But it was worth it. 

Believe me, I am NOT talking about any violence toward him or his followers. Just to punish him and rid the craziness he has cause this country and his obsession to name thing after him, like his is some sort of  god or obsessed ruler. In the movie "TRUMP" one person supposedly told Trump when he was younger to "Never admit your are wrong and always blame it on someone else." That is exactly what he does. I never watch the movie, just the previews.

OK, I am done for now. I would much rather talk about happier things than politics. I'll go back to watching the Olympics and reruns of Gunsmoke, MASH and Andy Griffith.  Take care and stay safe.

Some of the things I have learned while global traveling.

Nancy and I have been VERY fortunate to be able to travel to so many countries from Central and South America, to most of Europe, to some old Iron Curtain countries, to the Mediterranean region, to Southeast Asia, to several countries in Africa, and to China. I am not bragging, just recounting. As I said, we are very thankful and fortunate. In every trip and visit to these countries, I have asked one major question to the people we have met, "What is your opinion of the United States and its people." Their responses is generally the same. "America is a great and rich country. The people are friendly, but the government is blind to what the people in our country really want from them as a country. We want a true and honest friendship that we can depend on when the time comes." Obviously, not word for word their replies, but the basic meaning is there. The latest response was, "Why did you elect Trump?" I agreed and explain our election system.

Every country we visit shows us how much of the world we did not know or were taught in high school or college. yes we were taught US history and things about our advancements in technology. We were taught what the government wanted us to hear. Just like a lot of countries have done. Example, in China, very few people know about Tiananmen Square massacre or the man who block a tank with his body in protest. Or in Peru, their Japanese ruler/president wiped Peru's entire history from schools and all books. Or that in Yugoslavia after the Nazis were ran out and Russia took over, living conditions got worse for the people. Or that Argentina and Venezuela invited and harbored many high ranking Nazis after Germany lost WWII. And some of the smaller trivia things like China contributed to the human race was the invention of noodle like spaghetti that Italy claims to have invented. Coffee from Africa and so many more, but I don't want to bore you.

And now, Trump says black slavery education should be taken out of schools? Like the historians are trying to rewrite the actuate US history?  And making a National holiday for HIS birthday? No, he is the one trying to rewrite history, and we can not let him do that. I lived in the deep south as a young child and saw first hand the prejudicial ways black people were treated them, and 'Jim Crow' actions on blacks. 

By traveling to all the countries we have visited, I have learned what good and bad the US has offered me. I love our country, BUT, I do not love the direction to present administration is taking it. We have a president who has been told not to do certain things but still does them, and no one is enforcing the rulings of the courts. Lawsuits can last for decades in the courts meanwhile the citizens suffer with heath care, lack of food and jobs, housing and natural disasters. One more thing. Adding his name to the Kennedy Center? Adding his name in front of JFK is  so wrong!

After all the damage Trump has done, it will take years to bring the USA back to a world power that other countries can trust and feel safe saying we are their ally and friend.

Take care and stay safe.

Make way for a ballroom!