Thoughts of a Common Man

Back in the 1970’s, my brother John was a Beatles fan, and my buddy Tom was a huge fan of The Who. From the moment, I first heard ‘Tumbling Dice’, I was hooked on The Rolling Stones. By the late 70’s, I had ‘Some Girls’ on repeat, and I pestered my Mom about going to see The Stones at Rich Stadium. “No!” The Stones had the reputation of being bad boys who were hooked on drugs. Mick was weird. Keith was a mess. And I was hooked.  ‘Tattoo You’ and ‘Emotional Rescue’ came out and I absolutely wore those records out, while also going back to their other records. Moonlight Mile might be my all-time favorite song. I finally saw them perform live in 1981. They opened with ‘Under My Thumb’ and when I close my eyes, 45 years later, I can see Mick singing ‘Tunbling Dice’. My college buddies, Rosie and Terry were also huge Stones fans and I had a ‘Glimmer Twin’ tee-shirt somewhere with ‘Keith’ on the back. Rosie was ‘Mick’. I saw the Stones 3 more times after that 1981 show and they were alwa...

Arrived home to write reports yesterday and immediately got a call about an accident. An elderly driver had smacked a job trailer, and when I looked at the vehicle, knowing that the man was with his wife. Air bags deployed. On the way to the hospital, but okay… …we have big moments in life. Some aren’t so grand. We had one here. Kathy made it upstairs, which is a great relief to her. We were worried about balance on the stairs, but with a little guidance, she navigated it easily. No more running things down! Big moments for me tomorrow as the Rolling Stones new record drops. Unbelievable. I waited for their new records in the 70’s. I’ve heard 4 of the new songs (there are 14) and I love all four. ‘Jealous Lover’ is Mick singing falsetto and it’s so great. I know what I’ll be doing all day tomorrow as I drive around, wondering what Mitch McConnell is going to say to all his Republican friends. Talking to others after death is certainly a big moment situation.

As Kathy recovers it has become evident that the one thing that changed was the routine. I’m finding that the little bit of casual time that I did have within a day is lost as I play beat the clock at work to get back to help around here. More anxiety in a world that is filled with it in the summer months because my work is going full blast. We had some movement as Kathy was able to shift out of one room and hung around the room where she could get as close to being outside as possible, and PT came around, along with the nurses, so there has been a bit of relief, but it doesn’t change my mindset as I have thought: Get up and out earlier. Hustle when I’m on a site, and get back earlier. The other change has been dinner, as there hasn’t been much of an appetite, and I found that I don’t exactly know how to prepare heart-healthy food. I made a few dinners that were passed on, and thankfully Kathy’s sister made her dinner that she was happy about. Being thrown out of my routines has been r...

Seems that Mitch McConnell is brain dead. Cue the, “He’s been brain dead for decades,” jokes, but it truly is a disgusting story. The turtle collapsed about three weeks ago, and on the day it happened, his wife took off for China. She hasn’t returned. Evidently, it was the wrong time for Mitch to suffer his fate because if he is in fact incapacitated (which he has been for a couple of years now) the GOP would lose his vote in the Senate, and they need all the votes they can get to continue to steal all the money. This is about as low as one can go, right? The man is gone. One of the dopes said: “He appreciates the outpouring of concern and is working as he recuperates.” Just lie. About a man who carried that party through the muck and mire. He stole a Supreme Court justice. He wouldn’t vote to impeach even though he condemned the January 6th uprising. He opposed Obama at every turn, saying that he wanted to destroy his presidency before it even started. The state he represented has bee...

The big wedding took place at MSG on July 3rd. We were able to catch glimpses, and of course, it set off an absolute shit storm trashing them. Jake is my Taylor Swift connection, and he is caught up in it because his girl would be considered a Swiftie, I guess. “You’ll like this one,” Jake will text. Sam and Kathy are also fans. The songs are great. There are a couple I even sing along with. I’d say I probably have six or eight songs in my library. The other thing is that I see her at games, and she’s always smiling, and dancing and having a good time. Evidently, her mere presence absolutely pisses off a number of people. “Why do I have to look at her when I’m trying to watch football?” If she’s at a game, I’m thinking she’s on the screen for about 7 seconds of your life. Some of the hatred comes from her new husband. I’ve heard that it’s a fake marriage that’s about white power and their not-so-subtle attempt to take over the world. She has mostly stayed out of politics, but when she ...

Our neighborhood sounded like a war zone. It went on for a long time too, and I thought about the good old days when people used to gather at a town park to watch fireworks. Ollie handled it like a champ for the first hour but then there were a few loud blasts that scared the piss out of me. My poor dog was shaking for an hour. And I could only wonder why. Is it fun to shoot them off? They aren’t the huge fireworks that light up the sky, they’re just little bangs. They certainly don’t make anyone go “ooh and aah”. And aren’t they illegal? And expensive? Spending thousands of dollars? Just another example of me getting aggravated as an old man. Part of me wants to think: “Ahh, let them have fun.” But they’re messing with my dog! And man, tomorrow will be filled with stories of people who lost their fingers, or worse.  You Tube will have 50 idiotic videos. Ain’t that America?