ELAshley will officially be 48 years old.
Hurrah for me!
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This world is one big game of "Go"-- Black against White, Light against Darkness --and we all have a choice to make: Do we war FOR the Light?
...or against it?
ELAshley will officially be 48 years old.
Hurrah for me!
So I'll tout the things I've learned and the people I've learned to be thankful for... be they real or fictitious...
God/Jesus. Mom and Dad. Grandma, Grandpa and the long line of lives that preceded them. Anna, Danielle, Uncle’s Bob, Steve, Jim, Clare. Aunt’s Simone, Martha, Gloria, Thao and Heidi's Mother. Heidi, Little Jimmy, Charlie. Teresa Troutman, Leo O'Brian, Frank Alter, Dennis Banka, Stephanie's Dean and Breeden, Gloria and both Paul's Dean. Mike "Where's-my-moon," The blonde girl Schoensiegle who wrote on paper,"YKPGFYA," whose mother had me detained by M.P.'s for daring to like her daughter. To Troop 88 and Mr. Peoples. Scott and Eric Mersnick, and survival campouts. Laura Bearnard, Stacy, and Bruce Rhodes. Nancy Rigdon and her brother John. Marc Marley and Lori Sutherland. Rodney Shueman. Eddie, Kenneth, Kevin and Sharon Trainor. Vince Kasprowicz and his whirling dervish. Trina. Sweet little Emily. To the woman who held me as I cried at my father's funeral; she who was once my step-sister. Mr. Lovrikovic for teaching me that hard lesson called "complacency." David and Peaches Skinner and Northside Baptist Church. Delilah Dean. Les and Rebecca Grice. Mike Salow, Clint Menacof, and Jim Stoller who shared a jail cell with me on my twenty-ninth birthday and owns the first painting I sold in exile. Bradford Woods who is somewhere enlightening the masses. Peter Paulie, who was nothing but an encouragement to me. R.D. Golden for teaching me how not to treat a woman. James Bell for teaching me how not to treat a friend. Iota Gamma for showing me what brotherhood is not. Carol Pizza for teaching me forgiveness, Mary Angel, and Cristal Conley. James Pigneri, Sylvia Harrison. Spinnaker's Restaurant for teaching me how not to treat employees. Edward Eugene "Hoss" Lewis for showing me that no man is worthy of worship, and David Rabe who has shown me that all men are at times to be pitied. To Spain for my first lesson in prejudice, and to George Washington Carver High School for my second. To Kimberly Steele who liked me as much as I liked her. Mr. Jackson's Homeroom class who did NOT paint the mural [I did dammit!]. 1st and 10th grade art contests. Mr. Early and any girl named Kelli. To band class and the trumpet my mother bought for me, and my love for music. Belinda Kelly for teaching me the true meaning of fidelity and the phrase "sex-as-a-weapon." Everet Youngberg the ever-smiling. Taco, Hercules, Rufus and Dudley, and Pepe. To Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Merry and Pippen and good ole' Sam Gamgee. Charlotte Norris for first kisses... and slaps. To Paula Kirker, because she liked Klaatu. Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Marilyn Monroe. Diana Spencer and Norma Jean. Kansas. Both the calm and stormy seas of winter upon which I piloted steady courses. When Worlds Collide, and Worlds in Collision. The Beatles. John, for Yer Blues, Paul for Junior's Farm, George for Gone Troppo, and Ringo for that crazy Octopuses Garden. Enya for The Long Ships and Loreena McKennitt. Sinead's burning of Troy. Homers burning of Troy. Ulysses and Penelope. The sinking of Atlantis and the land that is now the Mediterranean Sea. Pangaea and Hyperboria. Ming the Merciless, Flash and Dale Arden. Ornella Muti's "Aura." The Alan Parsons Project and the Turn of a Friendly Card. Ron Ely's Tarzan. Author Gene Wolfe, Ursula K. LeGuin's Lathe of Heaven. Ray Bradbury and his Martian Chronicles, especially his "The Million Year Picnic." Hermann Hesse and Sidharrtha. Immanuel Velikovsky. William Golding's Lord of the Flies. I Am The Cheese. Fahrenheit 451. Phillip K. Dick's, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Logan's Run [The Book]. The Stand. The Dark Tower. Robert Jordan's, The Wheel Of Time. Robert Roy McGregor and William Wallace. The Highlander and the Highlands, and anything with bagpipes. To The Sun in the Stream; that tune that echoed across the West Virgina mountain top at my father's funeral. Cursum Perficio. Cecil B. Demille's Ten Commandments and to Ben Hur. Sensei Richard Lordings Shorin-Ryu. To Goju-Ryu and Sanchin. Hiroaki Samura and the Blade of the Immortal. Michael J. Linsner. Darrian Ashoka and Dawn. Gary Numan and the B-52's. The Moody Blues. Yes. A Farewell to Kings and Moving Pictures. Clannad, Mary Black, Connie Dover and especially Luka Bloom. Dan Fogelberg. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Tears for Fears, and Queen. For finding Shawn Colvin before everyone else did. Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. Jaws. Jean-Luc Picard. Bram Stoker and the scariest vampire story ever. Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and Jules Verne. Back to the Future one, two and three. Robert Adams and the Return of the Horseclans and Milo Morai. Richard Adams Watership Down; especially Hazel, Fiver, Strawberry, Hyzenthlay, and my very own "Hrududu" parked out front, the concept of Tharn and all it implies. To Barack Obama who demonstrates Tharn quite often. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Steven Segal, all of whom are the real deal. U2 and Sting's Fields of Gold as well as Dream of the Blue Turtle. To Animal Logic. Mrs. Bell who treated me as though I were one of her own. Dan Robbins. Joby Roberts. Cliff Myers. Lee Pizza. Suzie Durko for sharing long walks with me. Mike and Scott Gailfoil. Debra Lively. Robby Heisner. Steve Hagan. The Entire Kasprowicz Clan and that Hallowed place known to one and all as the "Oaks." David Everett. Bill Norris and his lovely bride. Catherine "Cat" Vaughan, Kim Dosier, Wendy Morris, Krishelle, Desa Dance, Dot Brown, Lisa Treadwell, and Sherif Dawson. Dawn Floyd. Brandi Holton. To Hannah and her Needle, Corriandor, and Arwen. The Stoning Of Charity and the return of inspiration after three years. Sun and Flower. The Poetry of War and Howard's Ball. Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern for a look at both sides of the fence. To Ben for teaching me the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. To Solitude, for teaching me how to think for myself and showing me the importance of doing so. Peter Jackson. The Gardens of Loveplay, and my time Beneath the Light of a Dying Sun. Robert Jordan, and Mat Cauthon. To Jude for showing me the center of purpose. To the idea that the glass is neither half full nor half empty, but "Fully Half-Empty." To the prudence of Pragmatism and the danger of strict adherence. To Mary Angel, who was my first. And to Cristal, my last and only.
Don't ask me to elaborate. I won't. This is MY exercise, not yours.
I believe it was George's Yer Blues.
And who wouldn't like Klaatu? He saved the planet!
J
On my birthday I comforted myself with the idea that no one day makes me older than any other. Some days just come with gifts from friends.
But Mark, the Klaatu I refer to is the Band
Great to hear from you Jack!
Er, my Gramps will be 96 in 5 days. Thanks for wishing me where he now is.
"Thank-You"'s to Dan and Neil
Ben, Nice sentiment. Thanks.