The Daily {W}Rite November 2o15 WK o4

Sunday,
It was movie day today! David and Michael picked me up at 11:15am and we headed off to the Warren. The weird thing? For the first time that I can remember all three of us wanted to see a different movie. David was set on seeing Mockingjay Part 2 which I and Michael had no interest in seeing, and Michael wanted to see Spotlight, but hey! I didn't want to spend two hours watching the "pedophile" flick. So, my choice was  Secret in Their Eyes. What to do? Nobody wanted to have to sit an hour or more before seeing a movie while the other guys went in, or have to wait an hour or so after his film got out waiting for everybody else! Well, as luck would have it, my film started at 11:45 and Michael's and David's started at noon. Sometimes the gods do smile on us . . . or maybe they're just too busy to worry about our petty needs and we get a pass because . . . they just don't give a fuck. {sorry, gods.}

Monday, November 23, 2o15
Loud Hipster music mixed with the "clank-clank" rhythm of metal smashing against metal. And human sounds: Grunts, groans, Hulk like yells, heavy breathing . . . and that smell of heat and sweat. It's good to be back in the gym. Been away for a week but not much damage done. Still working on my rather large gut, sit ups and various crunch exercises, 1o reps, 2 sets on the Roman Horse for the back muscles. Then to the arms and back. Didn't lose anything there ether. Added a couple of reps to all of it and a new exercise! Hell, I should be lookin' like one them "Greek Orthodontists" come spring. Yes, I know I spelled it wrong. It's an old joke I use to share with Norman Hammon. Well, way back when we were friends.

Thanksgiving coming up pretty fast. I need to write a poem about it. Not sure what right now. Maybe I'll wait until I go to one of the many dinners that David and I were invited to. Looks like about three, but not all of them are on Thursday. I like the idea of Thanksgiving. Yes, I know, sort of a bummer  for Native Americans. But sometimes . . . there are things you enjoy that maybe you shouldn't . . . enjoy. But I like eating someone else's food, and talking to folk I haven't ever met or that I don't see that often when I'm out and about.

Tuesday, November 24, 2o15

 

God was rolling around inside my head this afternoon. As David and I drove back from working out, I kept seeing His face in the reflections of the many storefront windows we passed heading down Main St. to Homeland Groceries. I didn't tell David I was talking to God. I don't think he'd understand. Anyway, I didn't actually hear God . . .  but I could read His lips. Every time He opened His mouth I'd see . . . furniture, sometimes brand new and shiny, sometimes worn out. And a lot of "CLOSED" signs and most often, just the sun's glare off of David's car as we sped by. You're wondering what God was saying to me. Well, that's rather personal and there's a sort of  confidentiality agreement that I have with God:  I don't tell other "humees" what He says, and He sort of looks the other way when I curse a bit. Well, He really doesn't hold up His side of the bargain. He makes me feel so guilty that I have to confess whenever I do something . . . sinful. Well, that's not true either. Sorry, God. I confess because I make MYSELF feel guilty! There! So, I can't tell you exactly what God lip-mimed  to me . . . but I can tell you . . . it made me smile a lot, and I enjoyed my being here on Earth a bit more than usual this day.

Wednesday, November 25, 2o15
David is forcefully attacking his health issues. Gym! Every other day, the gym, with a light (for now) workout on some kind of weird "jogging" machine, and then another jogging machine and then a bit of work on the abs. Me? Abs and upper body one day, abs and legs the next time. Total of 2 days on arms, abs, upper body, and 2 days on abs and legs. And the working out on a regular basis has done my lungs, the rest of body and my mind a shit load of good.

Can I say this (or actually . . . type this) next  bit of life without coming off too creepy? See, I met this girl back in Las Vegas, NM, a student of mine in speech at Highlands University. She was a cool kid, good student and very nice to me. Yeah, you see where this is going, right? You'd be wrong  . . . sort of. Look, even if a student did have "designs" on me,  

I would never even entertain the idea of it. Okay, MAYbe a little but only that. As soon as I start thinking about a student in a "relationship" way my fatherly side comes out and slaps me silly. Anyway, this kid was really good to me, respectful and she really wanted to learn from me. I think she wound-up taking two classes with me and she was always a joy in class. And when I got fired from the university, she was one of the first to come to my office to see how I was doing . . . with a Dexter bobble head gift to cheer me up! No, she was a good friend to me, and I can only think of maybe one other woman that I can say that about . . . They both liked me. Anyway, I think she left HU before me. But we did keep in loose contact on Facebook. She'd post something once in a while but not much, you know? She was busy going to grad school, I think. But this last week she started posting things again . . . and this last Friday (Was it Friday? I think it was Friday.) she posted that her "boyfriend" had proposed and that she had accepted. So, that sort of tapped me a bit on the heart. I know, I know. She is just kid, and we were professor and student . . . and it's all very silly and stupid to think about her in that way . . . and I don't. Not really. But it does kind of accent my relationship with women. I always "like" them more than they like me.

Thanksgiving Day weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 2o15

"You guys wanna take a walk with me and the dogs?" Well, why not? Thanksgiving day dinner wasn't ready yet, and Kathy didn't seem to want any help. "You boys go ahead, " she said. So, off we went into the on/off rainy day with the "Big Dog" that didn't need a leash cause he was so old . . . and the pup! Now he needed more tha a leash! A chair and whip is the only way to keep him line, and the CAT! Yeah,  I never took a cat for a walk . . . ever. David and Chris walked ahead as I stopped every three steps to take a

picture of the trees, the lake, the rain that was dripping off of the eaves  of the house we just left. "We just got a new roof." Chris said when he noticed me taking pics of the house, "Tornado weather tossed hail at it last spring. Lots of  damage . . . but insurance covered it okay." Or something like that. I really wasn't listening. I was watching that damn sneaky cat of theirs creeping up on me. I don't know what his plan was but I went into defense mode, raised my camera and . . . CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! It ran away so fast all I could do was laugh. Damn scaredy cat!

Chris's mom is a very "tiny" little old lady. Very fragile looking. If you breathed too hard in her direction, she'd shatter into a million pieces like the head of a dandelion. She has this wonderful knowledge of history and the classic plays, and I smile as she tells me all about the Medea that she has translated from the original Greek . . . "Mom, Woodie's gotta go home." Yeah, I do. David is fading after a great meal of turkey and all the fixins and I wasn't doing much better, And "Big Dog" was already crashing on the couch. But I hated to leave. I wanted to spend more time listening to the life of this charming woman.

Friday was cold, cold, burning cold! Broke out my real winter jacket that I bought back in Las Vegas, NM. Didn't think I needed the boots, but my feet didn't agree. It was icy out, with a power punch from the north wind almost knocking me off my feet as I headed to the warmth of David's car. And then off we went to our second Thanksgiving at Vickie and Michael's.

As warm as the car was, the spirit of Vickie's family was even more so. Wonderful herd of kids all in their teens and twenties. A son-in-law (a sort of straight-laced Hipster type), an older son that works for the Transcript . . . and a very, very petty woman who is some big shot in the Norman Arts Council. Me and David sort of zoned in on her . . . maybe a little too fast . . . okay, I did. But in my defense? I've always been an awkward

asshole in the presence of beautiful woman . . . well, around people in general, really.  And this day was no different. People were having thoughtful conversations about politics, art that sort of stuff and I felt pretty much left out and I'd try to join in with some "witty" comment that made everyone stop talking and just stare at me. I'm a social imbecile. But the food was great, the company enjoyable. There was laughter, and toasting and remembering good times and bad times . . . A pleasant day with people that I really liked.

Monday, November 3o, 2o15
Well, the end of November. December begins with a very cold handshake and a darker much bleaker night. We greet it pleasantly, though, a bitter but hopeful smile on our face for it does no good to piss of the weather because the elements never forget or forgive any slight, any disparaging word. She's only doing her job, after all.

My apartment's heater switches on when I bang the wall or open the closet door and slam it shut or fidget with the thermostat for a minute or two . . . yes, it goes on and warms up the house then shuts off and refuses to come on again when the room gets too cold. And I fiddle again with the thermostat, and bang the wall where it hangs, and open and slam the closet door shut . . . ! And though I hate routine, the daily habits I form over the years . . . sometimes it's necessary to follow the laws of that which has worked in the past. And why not? Better to be uniform than colder than a "witches tit in a brass bra!" My father use to spit that out anytime the temperature in our big, Norman Bates like house got lower than 70 degrees. I can hear him now yelling at my mom from the couch where he lay most days. "Damn it, Lucille, turn the heater up! It's colder than a witches tit in a brass bra!" I think I inherited my fathers fine sense of "metaphor."

But as I said, it is December tomorrow. Christmas, my sisters favorite holiday, will arrive in . . . 24 days? I never know when Christmas and Thanksgiving is coming. Can never remember the dates. Yes, I know now from a friend of mine that Thanksgiving doesn't have a particular date, but falls on the third Thursday of November . . . although I'm not sure about even that. People explain things like dates and times for special events and I never can quite remember any of them. Now, Christmas? Yes, I'm pretty sure it's the 25th of December . . . I think. Do you see? Even when I know something . . . I'm never sure if I really do. But Halloween?! Halloween is October 31st! Yeah, I got the day for celebrating Halloween dow pat.

Anyway, I'm already into December (12:50 a.m.) and I haven't finished the blog for November! Well, I say that . . . but I am finished now.