Random Flashback for Friday 7/31/15

I've apologized before for the fuzzy pictures that sometimes make their way to these flashbacks every Friday ... but, seeing as how these stories are told from what happened twenty years ago, which dates this image as summer of 1995 ... you kind of had to accept whatever was in the envelope when you picked it up after the film was developed and printed at the drugstore (or, even more likely for this time frame, at Hills Department Store) ... AND that was many many days AFTER the event when the photo was taken in the first place.

I know ... I know ... you youngsters may not get it.

Including the youngster in this photo, now a young lady with a child of her own ... my niece Casey Jo ... who, twenty years ago, was posing during our annual getaway weekend at our oldest brother's hunting camp.  Had this been captured digitally on a cell phone, we might have tried a second time ... but since we didn't, this will have to stand as is from that (blurry) moment in time ...

Random Thought for Thursday 7/30/15

I don't care what anyone says ... it's something to see someone you know on the television screen.

It would seem like the first one of my friends to make it to the tube (in *front* of the camera ... I've had friends whose names I've spotted in the credits already [and to the exclusion of *news* cameras, as I've determined that that doesn't count in relation to today's post]) ... is, as he's listed on the six episode History Channel series named 'Leepu and Pitbull', Brian the mechanic.  (That's Brian on the left, leaning on the roof of the car.)

Of course, two decades ago when the bunch of us were hanging out at a Fourth of July party, or around a campfire at someone's cabin, or all together on a day trip to Six Flags in NJ (WANT MORE ... NEED MORE!), he was just "Big Westy".   And now here he is amidst a study of the culture clash between a Bangladeshi design savant and those with whom he comes into contact that work out of the Long Island garage where cars get custom made.

What can I say ... good on ya, Brian W!  And I'm expecting the Wikipedia "famous people from Lebanon PA" page to be updated (that is, so long as there's a second season)!

MORE ON LEEPU AND PITBULL:
http://www.history.com/shows/leepu-and-pitbull

MORE ON THE FAMOUS PEOPLE OF LEBANON:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon,_Pennsylvania

MORE ON SIX FLAGS ADVERTISING (WANT MORE ... NEED MORE!):
http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1912454,00.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/29/15

Found Day.

Used in a sentence:  "I was all set to declare today Found Day (not Founders Day [already celebrated in so many places for so many reasons] ... and not Lost and Found Day [apparently really a thing ... coming up this December {see below}]) when I thought I saw that they found the missing boys off the coast and when I thought I saw that they found the missing Malaysian plane on an island ... except sadly not all of that is true."

Turns out that there is a story about two lost boys being found in the Atlantic Ocean after six days adrift ... that is from 2005 ... and NOT the happy ending that folks were hoping for in the current "two boys lost in the Atlantic Ocean" story.

As such, I'm fully expecting the Reunion Island beach reuniting of the wing of the lost plane will also turn out to be some kind of ruse.  (And, after all, *everybody knows* that, when it comes to survivors, they would be in the middle section ... except for a handful that would be the "tailies" ... and they only show up in season two.)

Oh well ... so much for Found Day.  Found Day is officially a bust.

WHO KNEW?  THERE'S A LOST AND FOUND DAY IN DECEMBER:
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/lost-found-day/

THIS IS THE STORY THAT WAS MAKING THE ROUNDS AKA FALSE HOPE:
http://www.inquisitr.com/2292813/missing-south-carolina-teens-rescued-after-6-days-a-drift/

THEY FOUND THE WING (BUT NOT THE SMOKE MONSTER):
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/29/africa/mh370-debris-investigation/

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/28/15

More discarded cassettes ... and yet again a disclaimer that the cassette I am discarding is not out of protest, but because I ALSO have the item as a CD (and I am finally ... slowly ... learning this thing called 'purge' that apprentice hoarders like me have such a hard time understanding).

And to be even more clear ... I've got nothing but love and respect for Don and the boys (or Glenn and the guys ... or Joe and the fellas ... or etc etc etc) ... and I've got the 6 CD box set of the studio albums 1972-1979 to listen to as I wish -- especially since I've never been to see them in concert (they actually just came to southern Florida earlier this month).  Of course, there may still be time, seeing as how hell has been freezing over for them for the last few years now, always on tour as they are.

Anyways ... all *that* is why I'm getting rid of *this* Hotel California tonight ... and why, true to the construct,  I have to select one of its tunes to feature.  Seeing as how I'm breaking up with the cassette, so to speak, it seems only fitting that I pick what just may be the BEST break-up song EVER (certainly if the criteria were find a song that is melancholy, introspective, adult, worldly and all-knowing) ...

'So you can get on with your search, baby ... and I can get on with mine ...'

LIVE FROM DAY TO DAY ... AND DREAM ABOUT TOMORROW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy32Rbovk1U

Random Memorial for Monday 7/27/15

Gone but not forgotten:  that feeling you got after having roller skated for multiple hours where you kind of forgot how to walk and you tripped over your own feet.

The closest I came to that recently was a few weeks back when I spent the afternoon on a deep sea fishing boat (not too far out ... I could still see the coast) and tried to walk again on land afterwards.

But I distinctly remember those late afternoons spent at the Casino Roller Rink (or, more rarely, at the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink) ... and despite never increasing my skill level to being able to perform for judges or anything (heck ... I couldn't even back skate), I did have a grand old time going around and around and around and around while my step-sister who was "babysitting" made out with her boyfriends in the dark corners.  I only stopped to occasionally play the video game in the concession stand area (or, if really lucky, getting to concess at that stand [note:  I know that's not how you're supposed to say it ... but why not?  If you understood what I meant when you read it ... then that's half the battle]).

Walking funny and trying not to fall on the way out the door because your sneakers didn't have stoppers on the front of them at the local Casino (no alcohol was involved!), you are missed.

IN CASE YOU WANT TO BRING SKATING BACK:
http://www.rawmeatvancouver.com/learning-to-roller-skate/

WHY ARE THEY "CONCESSION" STANDS ANYWAY?:
http://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/2uc74r/how_did_snacks_and_drinks_at_sporting_events_come/

THE SOURCE OF THE PHOTO (AND A BUZZFEED I UNDERSTAND ALL TOO WELL):
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lebanonfury/you-may-have-grown-up-in-lebanon-pa-during-the-1-ctne

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/26/15

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

It's only taken 17 months of living here, but I *finally* realized that people in Miami(-Dade county) refer to those "up in Broward" the same way that people back home used to refer to "people of the UP [as in Upper Peninsula of Michigan*]" or the people back home-back home used to refer to "Perry Countians" (i.e. where men are men and sheep are scared) ... or the people back home-back home-for-that-18-month-theatre-internship-when-I-lived-in-Uniontown talked about "Fred and Frita Fayette" (Fayette being the county name where Uniontown PA is located).

Meaning ... "up in Broward" isn't so much a term of endearment as it is one of derision ... used to categorize and label a group of people slightly less sophisticated, hip, worldly, knowing, etc. etc than those who live south of the border (the [allegedly] slightly MORE sophisticated, hip, worldly, knowing, etc. etc). ... or maybe I'm just being too sensitive ... but at least we are trusted enough to have pit bulls in *my* county (neener-neener-neener)!

[*Note ... I've driven through the UP of Michigan ... and it was lovely.  Never feared for my safety one bit.  Went miles and miles without seeing any sign of civilization (but lots of signs for fudge and pasties), and survived.  Only once or twice thought about how, if I accidentally drove off the side of the road, I'd never be found ... but lived to tell the tale.  And I ate a pasty.  No side effects.  Was happy to finally make it to Green Bay, though, just for the sake of seeing other people again.]

PERRY COUNTY PA MADE THE URBAN DICTIONARY (CAUTION:  NSFW LANGUAGE):
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Perry+County

THOUGHT THIS WAS PA PERRY COUNTY BUT IT LOOKS LIKE KY PERRY COUNTY:
https://www.facebook.com/perrycomemes/timeline?ref=page_internal

WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-the-questions/201410/10-reasons-stop-judging-people

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/25/15

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... it's funny how marriage shaming crops up at the oddest time -- part 1. (Spoiler alert ... that means there's going to be a part 2 next Saturday ... same phrase but a completely different arena.  And, based on a quick search on the old google tonight, there might even be enough to do a part 3, seeing as how I'm not sure I'm using the concept the same way the rest of the interwebs is.)

It's no secret that my biological parents collected marriages like they were communists assigned to marriage-collecting as a profession by the communist job-assigners (that was a thing, right?) ... and so they had nine between them both.

Now that both of them have passed, I found it interesting how the fact that someone had multiple marriages is portrayed.

For instance, we say ...

Zsa Zsa Gabor Belge Hilton Sanders Hutner Cosden Ryan O'Hara Alba von Anhalt

but only ...

Mickey Rooney (not Mickey Rooney Rooney Rooney Rooney Rooney Rooney Rooney Rooney)

and we say ...

Liz Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky

but only ...

Frank Sinatra (not Frank Sinatra Sinatra Sinatra Sinatra)

and we say ...

Erica Kane Martin Brent Cudahy Chandler Roy Roy Montgomery Montgomery Chandler Marick Marick Montgomery

but only ...

Geraldo Rivera (not Geraldo Rivera Rivera Rivera Rivera Rivera)

And, more specific to my situation, we say ...

Mary Irene Seiters Marsh Neidermyer Fox Drey

but only ...

Ralph Eugene Neidermyer (not Ralph Eugene Neidermyer Neidermyer Neidermyer Neidermyer Neidermyer)

Seems like patriarchal society wins again ... and, in my recent postings, I fell into the men-make-all-the-rules trap ...

I HAD TO LOOK UP THE ERICA KANE LIST:
http://susanlucci.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-custom.cgi?d=susanlucci.com&page=3259

CELEBRITIES WHO LIKE TO MARRY:
http://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-with-the-most-marriages/general_crack?utm_expid=16418821-126.8pyCWsFxRmurmM1_hVCf8Q.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

SOME OTHER FUN MARRIAGE STUFF:
http://www.rd.com/slideshows/13-surprising-marriage-laws-you-might-be-breaking-right-now/