Friday, November 25th, 2022. Yesterday was Thanksgiving of course, so today is known as…..the day after Thanksgiving.

Ok today’s mostly known by another name these days. The term ‘Black Friday’ has been pounded into our collective psyche for so long now that it’s pretty much what most people think of when thinking about today. Sales. The official start of the Christmas season. The mad rush to put up Christmas decorations this weekend, including lights on the roof and any yard decor you may have. Don’t have any yard decor? You better get some if ya wanna keep up with the neighbors. Duh!

There’s a neighborhood a couple of miles from me that’s well known for its outdoor Christmas decorations. People come from all over the region to drive through at night, or to park and simply walk it with a hot beverage in hand. It’s become an annual “thing” for so many families and Christmas aficionados. What sets this neighborhood apart from most is that the decorations are extremely over the top – the amount of lights and the yard decor, everything from Peanuts-themed, Disney-themed, to you-name-it-themed. Not just a little. A lot.

A real estate agent friend of mine has sold homes to people in said neighborhood, and buyers are always given fair warning: you’re strongly encouraged to deck your house out during the holidays, it would help you to get along with the neighbors. This isn’t simply advice from my friend – it’s more like the unwritten rule of the hood: follow our lead and we’ll all get along.

While I appreciate the holiday season and what it stands for, I’ve never been one to just flip the switch right after Thanksgiving and start putting decorations up, saying Merry Christmas to people or to start watching holiday movies. It may sound scrooge-like, but people who say Merry Christmas on November 25th (or anytime in November and even early December as far as I’m concerned), well…they’re kinda annoying. Ha! Of course they’re usually just good people who love the season, but hey….you do realize we’re a month out from the big day, right??

I don’t blame them, and of course it’s not just them. Holiday television commercials, specials and movies are already in full force, the inundation has begun. And truth be told, with all of the foreign and domestic insanity going on, perhaps an early start to “good cheer season” is just what we need. I’m good with the concept of it – just don’t want boughs of holly crammed down my throat just yet, thankuverymuch.

The good news is, we live in a free country (yay!) and we can celebrate – or not – however and whenever we see fit. Some of my Facebook friends have already posted pics of their Christmas trees and other decorations – more power to them and whatever makes you happy. But for those of us who don’t just “flip the switch”, hey – we’re good! We’re better than good really. When it comes to Christmas or anything else, just do YOU, in whatever timeframe you see fit, and the hell with any expectations from anyone else.

Confession: I did put a wreath on the door to the cave last night. Given that it’s on the outside of the door, I only see it when coming and going, but I suppose my toe is officially dipped in the holiday waters.

Ok what the hell. Merry Christmas!

Sometimes you find yourself out of town for work, ya wake up and feel like throwing some words around. They might be a jumbled mess like the current state of your cranium, but maybe through the miracle of some java juice, everything will make sense in the end.

Maybe.

I suppose it would help if I had any topic in mind to espouse some wisdom about, but isn’t that the beauty of a blank canvass?

Yeah – let’s go with that.

Ok through the power of going thru the motions (and a hot beverage that restores balance to the brain), a horrific topic is actually taking shape. I love when a plan comes together. I mean, I didn’t plan on discussing anything…horrific, but what the hell!

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When ya think about all of the hardships our ancestors have been through – the Dark Ages, the Medieval Times, television that was only in black and white – it seems a miracle that mankind has actually kept going after all these years. But dare I say, the biggest hardship in the history of hardships started just over a century ago, and its threat to our existence grows exponentially every year –

Going off of Daylight Savings.

As of this writing, it’s been a whopping 4 days since we “fell back” and said the hell with the sun, we need less sun! (Side note – bright flaming fiery stars have feelings too and it’s probly not a good idea to poke the bear, lest the sun should retaliate one of these days by saying it needs less planets and decides to fade-to-black. It could happen). It defies logic how the darkness at 5:30pm is somehow darker than 3am, but that’s what happens. Hey – isn’t life dark enough already??

As fate would have it this year in NorCal, a couple of major storms have coincided with the time change, coming through and giving us a desperately-needed soaking. While it’s still the fall, all of a sudden it felt like winter arrived at the exact same time that darkness has overtaken the land, and it’s been quite the whammy-whammy! (Also known as a double whammy).

Fortunately, pretty much every Homo Sapien is against shorter, darker days so there’s no need for wisdom-espousing about how archaic our time-change system is and how it should be tossed out (whew!). Besides, I need to get ready for the workday so I simply don’t have time for further espousing.

I’ll keep a lookout for that fade-to-black thing though.

The night was still,
The Fall air gentle.
The sounds of life reverberating.

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Cars driving.
Children giggling.
Dogs barking.

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People living life.
Going to and fro.

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Somewhere out there is pure joy.

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Somewhere out there is immense pain.

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Somewhere out there 
is somewhere in between. 

.

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Love. Light.
Music and Laughter. 

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Despair. Heartache.
Disease and Death.

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Just another day on the planet.

.

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For some
What today brought
Will be irrelevant tomorrow.

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For others

Today changed their life.

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Some for the better.

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Some for the worse.

.

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We just live in the pockets. 

.

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We just live 
in pockets of time. 

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If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it at least 11 1/2 times: the hits just keep on coming.

Life hurtles towards us at full throttle sometimes and after taking a few shots to the noggin’, some body blows, more shots to the noggin’ and more body blows (followed by eleventeen hundred more shots to the noggin’), with any luck we learn to duck, bob and weave and defensively throw our hands up to try blocking some punches in the interest of self-preservation. In the heat of our battles in this thing called Life, emotions can run high and it can feel like the Universe is conspiring against us at times.

Fighting the Universe – how hard can it be?

Surely there’s a manual somewhere.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned along the way, it’s that putting your dukes up against a formidable opponent like the Universe can pretty much wipe you out. That’s not to say we should just wave the white flag at the first sign of adversity. Hells nah! Life’s a battle and we’d get nowhere fast if we didn’t push through the hard times. But there’s intrinsic value in taking a step back from the emotions and recognizing the patterns and signs we’re given when it becomes clear that not everything we want is meant for us or right for us.

Sure, we can fight it. We may feel that since we survived the last round, we’ve caught our breath long enough that we feel ready for the next one. The bell rings, we tap gloves and start dancing around the ring. “Stick and move. Stick….and MOVE!”

Well…

Sticking and moving doesn’t always work when Mr. Universe himself has other plans. And sometimes there’s just not much room to move in the boxing ring of life, despite our best shimmy. Eventually another uppercut smacks us upside the head and sometimes we’re knocked down and hit the canvas.

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Spoiler Alert: getting knocked down in life is part of the human experience.

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If this is where our story ended it would be the most pathetic of all, but thankfully it’s not. We know what to do – we’ve been knocked down plenty of times before. We might linger on the canvas longer than we should sometimes but that’s ok! And hopefully when we see others knocked down, we offer them a hand back up.

Flashback to a classic scene from Rocky IV where our beloved Rocky Balboa, bruised, bloodied and battered while fighting Russian beast Ivan Drago, is between rounds and trying to make sense of what’s happening.

Rocky: “I see three of him out there!”

Pauly: “Hit the one in the middle!”

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Good call. When life beats us down, our vision can get impaired but we gotta keep going. Hopefully we learn to follow the signs of what’s working in our lives and what isn’t so we can head the right direction.

The more I walk the planet, the deeper my appreciation is for the things that are flowing in my life – and I also appreciate the signs when things that used to flow, no longer do. Cuz when that bell rings for the next round…I’d like to be fighting along with life’s plan for me rather than against it.

Written on this day in 2013 prior to the Caveman Good days. Fun memory!

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Feeling thirsty? Have a sandwich!

I was driving eastbound on Interstate 80 with no particular destination in mind, which was perfect cuz I’m pretty sure I-80 stretches from Cali all the way to Great Britain (or until you run out of gas, whichever comes first). I was rocking out to Joe Satriani with the windows down and sunroof closed (only cuz I don’t currently have a sunroof but if I did you can bet it woulda been open! Miss my sunroof and how at night, it magically turned into a moonroof, a star-roof, a birdwatching roof, once a birdpoop recepticle-roof…..ok I don’t miss that but I digress).

According to my calculations, I was pretty close to the Equator when I started getting thirsty.  I pulled off to grab a drink at a gas station, and lo and behold, there it was: THE TRUCK. It wasn’t just any truck, mind you. It was an oasis in the desert…a cousin to the Taco Truck – a Pulled Pork Sammiches kinda thing. One bite and suddenly all of life’s mysteries were clear. My destiny, my reason for existence, was so that I’d be here, across from this random Shell station somewhere in North America, to experience this life-sustaining yummy scrumptiousness.

Ever have one of those random moments, one of those seemingly accidental finds, that has a way of restoring balance to the world? 

Ok me neither but this came pretty damn close.

The meat was tender goodness….the melt-on-your-tongue variety that instantly made my taste buds explode and made me feel like I never even had pulled pork before (which wouldn’t be much of a story if I hadn’t had it before, butchyaknow….I had so yeah!). And the sauce….ohhhh, the sauce. A tangy, spicy-sweet, supernova-sensation in your mouth, that’s what it was. If they sold the sauce alone, I’d pull over just for that. 

When traveling life’s highway, I highly recommend a good pulled pork sammich. Not only do they make for good eats, but you’ll look so much cooler when driving next to people who don’t have one….which means you’ll look cooler than pretty much everyone else on the road. Let’s face it – life isn’t a race – it’s about looking cooler than the people next to you. Sure, the argument could be made that there’s nothing really cool about having sauce dripping from your chin and bits of pork meat stuck in your teeth as you’re doing 95 while zooming towards your non-destination, but the naysayers will have something to say every time. I’m told it’s rude to point and laugh at other drivers who aren’t stuffing their faces full of pork. Then again…..the people who say such things never tasted this.

A couple of things struck me after getting back home. First, I never would’ve experienced Pulled Pork Bliss had I not decided to hit the Random Road. It’s OK to not have a plan all the time – the journey is what makes it! Secondly….being different, being unique, standing out…is GOOD. My new friends in that truck knew they had a great sandwich to offer humanity. The fact they had a quality product sure didn’t hurt, but really, just the fact they offered something other than the norm – that was enough for me. 

Be different today! Life’s highway is calling….

Being a somewhat “seasoned” human means you remember growing up with a scarce number of tv channels back in the day. When I was a wee little lad there were a whopping 6 or 7 channels to choose from, and the stations actually signed off the air at midnight. And if you grew up in the late 60’s and 70’s, when you weren’t in school or outside playing with your friends, chances are you were either watching cartoons or kid-themed shows in the mornings and afternoons, with the classic family-themed shows in the evenings.

If you were lucky, your parents might occasionally let you watch Laugh-In or Sonny & Cher. So risqué!

Of course times have changed a skosh and we now have just under a squillion channels, networks and streaming services at our disposal for our instant viewing pleasure. While there’s a plethora of good shows to choose from, it can get a bit overwhelming just scrolling through the myriad of comedies, dramas, murders and mayhems. If you’re like me, you recognize the importance of keeping your watch list growing exponentially by adding show after show that sounds just intriguing enough to put on the list, but that you won’t have watched a year from now. But hey that’s ok – keep that list going!

Amidst all of the original ideas, reboots and spinoffs out there, there’s one new show that’s sure to be the hot topic at family dinner tables, break-room water coolers, and health club gossip. Yep, I’m talking about

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

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Yeah I know.

Some shows make ya feel dumber just reading their title.

Yessss, this latest new blockbuster-in-the-making somehow cleared every hurdle – from its very concept to the name – to defy the odds and make it to production, post-production, and global premiere. We’ll always remember exactly what we were doing the first time we heard about this groundbreaking new epicness. I just hope it’s properly represented in a time capsule at some point.

We’ve definitely come a long way since the 60’s and 70’s. It wasn’t that long ago that female hulks were expected to stay home and be housewives. Nowadays? They practice LAW baby!

When hearing about shows like this, perhaps we should take it as a sign from the Universe. Maybe, just maaaybe we’re supposta shut the TV off and live our lives a little more.

After we’ve added She-Hulk to our watch list of course.