A.G.E's Joint

Cherished memories? Given the holiday theme. you would think I would go all mushy about great family times, or special presents (like the purple Schwinn Fastback I got when I was 10), or whatnot.  But if you have been reading me for any length of time, you know I don't get into the cinnamon and clove falseness of the Feast of Conspicuous Consumption. My hero was pre-ghost Ebeneezer Scrooge and his wise words about pocket-picking.  That said, I do have an interesting story. The week after Christmas 1979, I was scanning the want ads in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before lining my cat box with them. My eye landed on a 4-line one for an Accounting Clerk, if interested call this number. Well, I was unemployed at the time and while I still had a little money in the bank, I didn't see that holding out for much more than a couple of months. So, I called. The perky secretary told me to bring my resume up the day after New Years.  The office was on the third floor of an offic...

 "And this is the training room you have always wanted to see..." RRRNG! I look at the clock.  4:20AM. Oh, yeah. I got an appointment early this morning.  What a nightmare. I was a salesman at a World Wrestling Entertainment themed resort and I was below my quote for the month. I had been showing this short guy around. I was having problems with the software getting in and I wondered if they had already fired me. I pray to Heaven send Hell away , but I still come back like Groundhog Day.  I need coffee. Brr! It's cold in here. Did Kathryn turn down the heat again? 67. Yep. I fix it and head into the kitchen. Nobody up the hill Griswolded their houses,. The only shadows are the transmission towers from the river. I see the shadow of a pod of deer crossing the backyard. A doe looks toward the lit window for a few seconds then plods on toward the dam. There is peace in the house. And that is something money can never buy.  Merry Christmas to Writers Weekly, Blogoph...

 What is naughty? Most of the time, naughty is more fun than nice. You think you are getting away with something When you are not.

 It finally happened.  The Disco Kroger Has Closed Atlanta's most notorious grocery store finally succumbed to high-rise development.  It was a good life, as far as stores go. A 24 hour pickup bar for years. The most convenient place to get munchies for when the dancing was done and other liberties began.  It got its name from The Limelight and continued its reputation through Ruperts and the Buckhead Saloon.  Some people like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past , though. It makes them more money. 

She paints her fingers with a close precision And takes a moment to assess the sins she’s paid for  A message, an ad-hoc declaration Maybe it shouldn't have been made Dispute between people I've never met in the real world One is stuck The other tried to help and failed. She is still bewildered Will reaching out make it better or worse? Responsibility? Honestly, none. Must move on. The song lyrics are from "The Ballad of Mona Lisa.  This one was a bewildering challenge, to say the least. 

ALMIGHTY  God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever.  Amen. The above is from the Book of Common Prayer service for the first day of Advent. In the Christian tradition, Advent is both the beginning of the Church Year and the beginning of the Christmas season. It is a time of preparation and introspection. It has its roots in various Roman and Goth overwinter celebrations as European humans hibernated in the winter. The first candle is hope against the darkness of the world. That the snow would go away and warmth return.  These days, it's all about commerce. No one cares about the weather or war...

 It's quiet in the house. The wife is working One son is with a cousin up in the mountains The other is doing communal with his friends. I'm looking at the blog stats for the year Readership is up Even though the output has decreased It is something to be thankful for Several friends were lost That's what happens when you get old I give thanks for them The wife gets home With pecan pie Now we can celebrate

"It would be that we are all OK..." The line came out of the blue as Jack looked out into the snow flecked night.  The inside of the taxi smelled of curry. In the old days when he drove, it was sauerkraut or beer. That was a long time ago. Had he been a coward for leaving so long ago? No. Was it unkind? No. It would have been worse to be the aider and abetter. The end was predetermined when she dropped out of school, starting the ripples that have now made it to shore. Jack's therapist referred to it as a Butterfly Effect. He wasn't sure.   So many bridges burned. Some things haven't changed. Midway is still a dirty dump in the middle of the slums. He got hit up four times by bums before he even made it to the taxi stand. The human wreckage of fate and bad decisions. Who is he kidding? Everyone makes bad decisions. It was why took the last plane out of Phoenix.  What was the verse?                      ...

  56,000  names. Brothers and sisters. Who never get older A conflict A Fools chase Like most of them. Some are across the river and up the hill It was the least Command could do. Older brothers and sisters Who came back are old now Maybe it is time to thank them. A few weeks ago, I made another trip to Washington DC. I avoided the political places and concentrated on the Military ones, without whom we wouldn't be here. The picture above is a group of veterans from Peoria IL who were given a hero's flight to visit the Wall. The picture is unforgettable.

Quiet night in Exuma Fruity drink, cute girl Salt breeze. Water will run by The actual sun will rise and set Over the bare shoulder Iguana stares at me Multi-colored blob Crawls across the screen 150 miles out Time to go. ``````````````````````````````` I've been lax in leaving comments since we started back up. The quote is from "Two Lovers and A Beachcomber.", published in early 1962.

 Hey, Heidy and Howdy!  It's your old buddy Harry Handy, the randiest DJ on your Internet dial. Yeah, it's been a while since I've been on. You see, I've transitioned. Where I was a free spirited human, I'm now... That's right, folks. The good ol' Grim Reaper came in the form of a sexy vampire and slipped her teeth in and I was transferred to the media department of Devil's Quill Communications. So, how does an Internet Sensation like myself handle the post All Souls blues? With fire, of course.  My new gig isn't too bad and Mr. Beezlebub seems to like my playlists. I mean, what can he do if I mess up like I did topside? What's that? Oh. One more earworm before I sign off. Don't look for the stop button. There isn't one. 

  The windows were blacked out, but it didn't matter. No one could see in the new darkness anyway. The bosses called it the Scorpio Project and the details were nonexistent.  10:45 PM we took off over the water. Thirty minutes in, the plane banked sharply and then descended. When I got off, another suit handed me a tablet and put me in the back of a van. No words were spoken until I was let out on St. George Street and given the tablet to log corpses. I trip on cobblestones in the dim light but manage to keep my feet. Passing closed shops with their made in China trinkets, I note the displays designed to snare the tourist. Give them something to remember the trip with while lining the pockets of some far away factory owner.   At least they used to. Beggars were lined up for alms, burnt out from too much sun and too much booze. Only they were dead. with a press of a button, the program recorded the coordinates of each victim. The authorities deployed sanitation teams ...

 Ha. I made it home. And I didn't trip up the stairs. Damn, it was a great party. Lots of booze, weed, and girls dressed as witches. I think one of them slapped me, but I'm not sure. Should I have slept it off up there? Well, yeah. But the girl's roommate said I had to go, so I did. Oh, I could have crashed in the car, but security came and said they were calling the cops. I did kill a little time at Dunkin, but coffee only goes so far. I was still seeing double when I left. The drive home was a blur. Who was that dude I picked up?  The question is not what you look at, but what you see. Doesn't matter. I wasn't too big a danger to him anywho. Three locks...I'll take door number two. Congratulations! You have won entrance to your own dumpy apartment! I throw the jacket toward the hook, but it crumples over the cat. It took a minute, but his black form struggled out "Meow." "Ev'nin...What do you want?" I eat a few Pumpkin Spice Batons scat...

 Susan couldn't sleep. She stared at the naked image in the full length mirror. The dark hair was increasingly flecked with gray, but still long and soft.  The body was thicker, belly like a bag of potatoes, a butt like one of those rivet strips to let blind people know they've come to a curb. But the shape that set men on fire was still there. The breasts were the most surprising. Soft and a little wrinkled, they still held their shape. For 55, she couldn't complain. She smiled. The weekend at Hilton Head had been his idea. She'd gone along with it simply because she was tired of staring at the same old walls. Walking along the beach, a young woman jogged by in a bikini and his eyes followed. Would it all end like Julie Andrew's character in the movie "10", with her being dumped for the Delilah? There was only so much she could do to keep her looks.  The answer came as they stood on the dock, watching the harvest moon rise over the bay. He slipped a chubb...

The late-year Holidays have never been favorites of mine. I'm not a big fan of fantasy or horror, so I've always found Holloween to be underwhelming. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring back ugly memories of family fights.  Because of the above, I understood where Ebenezer Scrooge and The Gring got their attitudes.  You would think I would get better. But I dread the process of dragging the lights out again and putting on a fake smile.  It's all you can do. 

 It's Saturday night and I just got back. A stack of receipts are next to the printer on the right side of the desk. A testament of being a little Footloose. I discovered the Road to Nowhere is the I-95,295,395,495 interchange spanning the Potomac River. Old Town Alexandria is far superior to National Harbor. The Hope Diamond isn't quite as spectacular as advertised. The DC Mall is fabulous to hike in 70 degree weather. My wife is getting better at keeping up.  Annapolis is worth a day trip. Even though I dealt with rush hour traffic through the 700 miles on the way home. I'm glad I went. Crab Cakes are the bomb. 

It was still overcast as they came out. Flurries dotted their faces as they came out of the diner. It was a little early for a big storm, but Chuck had seen it happen before. He saw she was shivering.  “Winter’s coming and anyone with sense has flown south.” “I guess I’m the crazy one. I flew north for the winter.” Leaning into the wind,  Debbie slipped her arms around his waist and laughed, He was smelly and pudgy. It didn’t matter so was she.“ I hope I don’t hit an iceberg .”  “I’ve got an extra jacket in the room if you need one.”  The offer told her what she needed to know. She was back in the saddle again. “You’re sweet.”  She pecked his cheek. "Let's get out of the wind." The pay-by-the-week place was next door. Come in for a spell and stay forever. Chuck slipped the key into the lock and pushed the door open with a flourish. She could tell even in the dim light it was a typical setup. An unmade bed sat in the middle of the right wall, a cheap dresser to...

 Cue Nina Simone: It's always the go-to when I want to walk with earbuds on. Which I don't to real often, earbuds that is, because it is a safety hazard. It is always better to be aware of your surroundings or you will miss the Doe staring at you in the woods.  There is something about keeping moving that lightens my mood.  I'll keep doing it until I can't do it anymore. 

 Click on the weather. "Hurricane Ian is now a Cat 1 and is expected to intensify." That's nice. "It is currently moving NNW and expected to turn due north in the next 24 hours." OK. "The current tract puts landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida." Really? "Bringing rains and tropical storm winds to Atlanta by Saturday night." Yeah, I've been here before. The question right now is will it stay together long enough to cause problems here. Way too early to tell. But it wouldn't be surprising to be sitting awake listening to the wind rattle the windows and wonder if I wasn't actually at the beach. A tropical storm sounds like being in the middle of heavy surf and all you think about is what you're going to see when you get up. Another tree across the deck? Maybe it hit the house full force. Who knows? I'll be watching Weather Channel more than my phone for the next week, for sure. Oh, and Jim Cantore just landed in Tampa.

The squeal made Kathy wince.  She had just put Charlie to bed and she hoped the girls didn't wake him up. Kathy checked her watch. 9:30. Yeah, it was time to bring the show to a close. Charlie was sound asleep, oblivious to the noise in the next room. Good.  Sticking her head into Emily's room, she saw Maddie trying to braid her hair while looking at the small screen in Emily's hand. The friendship bracelet they made earlier kept getting tangled in the lace of her nightgown and she was getting frustrated.  Kathy peeked over her shoulder. The image was of a girl about their age giving beauty tips. Some things don't change. She could remember being with Becky and Sarah flipping through magazines and trying to figure out how to tame her curls into something.  "OK, Girls." She said. "Light's out. Let me have the phone." "Oh, Mom!" Emily whined. "We aren't going to look. We promise." "Right.", Kathy smiled. "I wa...

 26 weeks. One half a year on this new writing group, although I haven't been on from the beginning.  Other things where I'm halfway there:     Having a crown put in.     Catching up on maintenance on my car.     Getting ready to go out of town In reality, were are never halfway there until we die.  Keep that in mind.

 Am I always working? Not anymore. Honestly, I consider myself to be "retired". At almost 64 (will you still love me?), I have almost no patience in dealing with office drama or management stupidity. Yeah, I did a one year contract just recently and I realized I didn't miss anything. In a given week, like in the movie Office Space, I'd do fifteen minutes of actual work, mainly due to a combination of a horrible IT department and an HR group that honestly didn't care if anything go done. It's hard to calculate an annuity, when you can't get to the data.  So, I'm back to just surfing the net and figuring out if I should try to put that novel together.  We'll see. 

 The World is a Skyscraper, This is not a topic to overthink. Not at all.  Stories likening skyscrapers to oversized penises. Monsters to terrify our dreams.  Like Frankenstein, parts are thrown together to make an unrecognizable whole. But what do these say about the world? Nothing. It is another way to escape the boring reality. 

  Another year with us Something blessed Let's celebrate The serendipity of meeting Some forty years ago We make the wish for another Even though it may not be.

Doorbell rings Another neighbor Another casserole Another set of condolences Wish they would go away. The era ended Picking through the macaroni Looking at the fire Maybe I shouldn't have wished to be alone

 Pit. Pat. They don't know I slipped out of the garage. I saw the feeder from the window. It must be inspected. I look around the corner. Squirrel doesn't see me yet Let me crouch down One Two... Hey! I wanted to be the big hunter. Back into the house Next to my box Don't need to go. I guess I'll attack the catnip mouse. Squirrel would have been better.

Sitting on Daddy's lap  Holding the stick.  Eyes blinking against the smoke Red-orange fingers licking white sugar Slowly turning black Light brown squares on the table Waiting for molten goodness A tap on her arm Stick pulls back Squeeze squares together One Two  Three Blow Delicious

The call came this morning Not unexpected Frail on a walker I knew it was near She was the one that told me Before the Crowbar Crows drank at home 50 years of love Of laughter Of tears Of loss Has come to an end Rest in Peace

  Hair- Not combed. Tshirt and Jeans Diner food. Homemade blueberry ice cream Celebrating 37 years As the moon rises over my left shoulder It is me being myself. 

 Hey, Chris. Did you remember this week's assignment? I forgot. There's the yellow sticky note there to remind you. I still forgot. Have you even looked? What did you expect to find? I don't know. I give up. 

 An American Flag extends in the storm's blast Nature's fireworks hide the falling stars. Some would take it as a sign. Coming on strong.

 I've been lazy this week and not entirely sure how to handle this. I don't really cool off in the summertime. When you never leave the air conditioning, you don't have to.  My Daddy wasn't rich and my Momma wasn't good lookin'. They were kind of old when they had me.  It's what happens when you are the last one in the bunch and an oops at that.  Anyway, this was better than taking you an a long winded journey into the Low Country, showing some of the sites DuBose Heyward and George Gershwin were evoking in this, the most American of operas. 

 Father's Day. My kids took care of me last week. The ribs were good, and the bourbon was better.  My own father has been gone for a while. Not perfect, but he did his best under trying circumstances. As I have gotten older, I'm not as hateful toward chores. But I still don't like general grocery shopping.  As I put this together, I think about my fictional family, the Morrises, and wonder how Emily and Charlie would surprise their Mommy and Daddy on this day? Maybe I'll work that up. 

 New story or old one? Neither.  I do have one coming up, though. We're going back to Washington DC. Last time I got Air and Space, the Zoo, and the main Smithsonian museum. This go around, I'm doing Natural History, Monument Row, and I hope to return to Arlington. It will be in the middle of October, so maybe we won't roast.  We'll see. 

Morning at the Farm   The latest Emily story.

 In the Dallas Call Center.  Rrriinng. Good Morning and thank you for choosing Devil's Quill, my name is Solomon. How may I help you? No, I'm not THAT on. I'm a Bookie who didn't make the cut, Lucky me. What's that? Your husband is a chronic gambler who lost the house in a poker game? Yes, I am a specialist in that, let me look up the records. Oh, my. Two kids? And you were in the hospital when it happened?  I would have broken his legs before I let him place that bet when I was topside, the Cad. We need to get you back to the Green green grass of home, don't we? Let me look at the Rabbit's Foot menu first. We have an Insurance program that would return most of your equity, but it would require some...hard action against your husband. Yes. That kind of action. Honestly, Ma'am, it doesn't appear like he's much of a father right now, does it? I understand your need for a second opinion, let me recommend a colleague of mine at the Guardian Angel age...

 Today we had a leak of a proposed reversal of Roe v Wade. It is significant because it is Michavelli's birthday Whoever it is, knows the ends justify the means. 

Not quite. There still is the Board approval and all that. Will he turn the platform into his Bully Pulpit, demonizing everyone who criticizes Him? Too early to tell. But a rewatch of Citizen Kane is warranted.  [Edit] Maybe it isn't happening at all.

  Just a photo for your enjoyment.

 I've been watching the stats. It looks like waves coming a shore Glad to have you See some more. 

 As of today, I have 80,000 views. Cool

 Her name was Lucille and she hated dogs. And she absolutely hated white dogs. She handed me the contraption, a white gun. The instructions were just the white dogs. Why any dogs?   She gave no explanation for this and pushed me on. It was all I could do to reach around and clock that ice white head. Now that I think of it, it probably was made of ice. I opened the door. They knew why I was there and began to scatter back towards the fence. A mass of brown, black, and white fur. The flame erupted and howls began. I caught the first one, a large pit and cringes as he spasmed on the ground. A smaller mix came up to help and I got him, too. It was horrifying and satisfying at the same time. But as suddenly as it started, the flames went out. And the dogs got their revenge. 

Ran into this trolling. It needs to be shared.