Football Fever

This will not be my usual Friday fare. You may have guessed that already by the different title, and I was trying not to write about what is going on with some pro football players. Really I was. I didn't want to enter into the media coverage of the latest "bad boy" behavior in the NFL, but I was disgusted Wednesday evening when I heard of two more players who were arrested for assault, one of those charges involved assault of a child.So I just couldn't keep my keyboard quiet.

Here's the skinny. Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was arrested on aggravated assault charges, stemming from a domestic dispute. The alleged assault took place in July and involved the woman with whom he has an 18-month old child.

That arrest came not long after Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy and Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson were placed on the NFL’s “exempt list.” Hardy was convicted in July for assaulting his former girlfriend and threatening to kill her. Peterson is charged with child abuse in Texas,  accused of beating his 4-year-old son last May. One news report indicates that he was investigated for abusing a different son in 2013.

Two weeks ago former Ravens running back Ray Rice was suspended indefinitely by the NFL and released by the team. This came after a video was found showing Rice assaulting the woman he was engaged to back in February in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino.

It's past time that we stopped spoiling athletes with so much money, deference, and hero-worship that they believe they can act like spoiled children and get away with any kind of behavior. I used to enjoy watching the game of football, back when it was somewhat of a gentleman's game and players for the most part were good guys on the field and off. Players weren't paid bonuses for taking out the opposition during a game, and they were dropped if they got into serious trouble. Not just suspended with pay. Dropped. As in football career over. As well it should be.

I know football fans will be booing me and this post. And that is fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and choice of entertainment. But I do wish we could take a giant step back in time and raise the standards of behavior and not the salaries.


Now, so this is not all just a rant, here is a joke or two to get you through the weekend. Get ready, it's a real groaner.

      A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack.   
      "Miss Whack, I'd like to get a $30,000 loan to take a holiday."
      Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it's okay, he knows the bank manager.
      Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral.
      The frog says, "Sure. I have this," and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.
       Very confused, Patty explains that she'll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.
       She finds the manager and says, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000. He wants to use this as collateral."
      She holds up the tiny pink elephant. "I mean, what in the world is this?
     The bank manager looks back at her and says...
    "It's a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone."

Don't say I didn't warn you. (smile) Have a great weekend. I'm going to be jamming with a couple of my kids. I do love to dig out my guitar and play music with them. What do you have planned?

Friday's Odds and Ends

A recent article in the Dallas Morning News about taking on too much responsibility by Jonathan Look made me stop and think about the difference between responsibility and "response-ability." He wrote, "If we have the trappings of success, but through our lack of 'response-ability' have eliminated the time to enjoy them, has this pressure made us any happier?"

I'm sure many of you feel the same way I do at times. That we have too many things to do to stop and take moments for ourselves. After reading his article, I'm starting to rethink some of the things I do, or don't do, and make sure that I am not overloading myself. I don't have to say "yes" to every request. "No" is a perfectly reasonable response. Jonathan concluded his article with, "We only get one shot at life. Wouldn't it be great if we too the time to enjoy it."

Wise words.

I think this kitty has mastered the art of relaxing. :-)

Saw this picture on Facebook and thought it was such a nice thing to do for our Fur Friends and our environment.

And now for a little fun. A woman went to the doctor's office where she was seen by one of  the younger doctors. After about four minutes in the examination  room, she burst out screaming and ran down the hall.

An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story.

After listening, he had her sit down and relax in another room.

The older doctor marched down the hallway back to where the young doctor was writing on his clipboard.

"What's the matter with you?" the older doctor demanded."Mrs.Terry is 71 years old, has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?"

The younger doctor continued writing and without looking up said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

Here's some more fun to set you off on your weekend. This is one of the performances by Robin Williams that most people are not familiar with, but it is so clever and funny. Enjoy....



Hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend. And if, perchance, you need to buy a gift for a young reader in your life, my YA book for Tweens, Friends Forever, has a new look and a new publisher. The official release date is September 16, but it can be preordered for Kindle and in paperback.

Friday's Odds And Ends

Another week just whizzed by. It's amazing how that happens, and every Friday I look back to see what I accomplished in the week. Some weeks are better than others, but I am sure that is true for most of us.

On Monday I tied up some admin things for the drama camp - doing reports and thank you notes - and I even managed to get some writing done on the new book I started the first of June. Friends from Omaha, NE came for a short visit on Tuesday and left yesterday morning, and it was so nice to see them. It had been about 13 years since we had seen each other. What fun we had catching up on everything, and again I was reminded of how friendships that root so deeply never wither.

Image courtesy of Deviant Art

 I didn't watch the news most of the week, so I have no idea what is going on in the world, which might be for the best. But I did catch a bit of a story last night before I turned the TV off. The story was about how people no longer join groups and organizations because they do their social interacting online. Part of the story was about a community-service organization closing after almost 50 years of organizing events for a Texas city, and a spokesman for the organization said they had to close because they no longer had enough people joining to have the personnel to put on the events.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, volunteering is also down:

The volunteer rate declined by 1.1 percentage points to 25.4 percent for the year ending in September 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. About 62.6 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2012 and September 2013. The volunteer rate in 2013 was the lowest it has been since the supplement was first administered in 2002.

It's kind of sad to see that we are getting more and more isolated because of advances in technology. I remember when more homes got television sets and less people sat out on front porches in the evening and less children played stick-ball in the streets. My grandfather said that television would be the ruination of our society.

I wouldn't go that far, but I do think we need to find a balance between our use of devices and our enjoyment of people and places in real time, not virtual time.

Now to end with a joke, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

      A man answered the phone. "Yes, Mother," he sighed. "Listen, I've had a long day. Jane has been in one of her awkward moods . . . Yes, I know I should be firmer with her, but it's not easy. You know what she's like . . . Yes, I remember you warned me . . . Yes, I remember you told me she was a vile creature who would make my life a misery . . . Yes, I remember you begged me not to marry her. You were right, OK? You want to speak to her? I"ll put her on."
     
      He put down the phone and called to his wife in the next room: "Jane, your mother wants to talk to you."

Friday's Odds and Ends

Nothing to rant about today. OMG, somebody take my temperature. (smile) Seriously, I think I have been so busy with productions at the local art center, I have not paid attention to the national news. I hardly pay attention to the local news, either. I never have the television on during the day, and only watch the late evening news to see if the weather forecast matches what I can see outside my windows. The old joke about the weather - if you want to know what the weather is like step outside - does hold true.

I've had a lot of fun working with the Young Players at the Winnsboro Center For the Arts on our Nite of Comedy. The kids - most of whom have come through the Summer Drama Camp - put on skits and funny music and then we do improv.  The performance will be June 28, and shortly after that the drama camp starts. I always forget from year to year how much work is involved in organizing and preparing for these events. But I do so enjoy working with the kids.

Today in my inbox I found a neat message from my sister with pictures of kids and dogs. They were all so cute, I was tempted to share them all here, but settled for just a couple. I think you'll agree that they have a great "aw" factor.

Do you have a favorite memory of a special dog that might tug a heart string or two? If so, please share in the comments. One of my favorites is of our dog, Ruffy. He was a mix between a wolf and a German shepard, but he was very loveable and hugable. Ruffy was always good for a romp or a walk, and it was undeniable that he wormed his way into all our hearts. Never was that more evident than the day the kids did a survey at the dinner table and decided they all liked the dog better than me.

Since I have a jillion things to do today, I'm going to keep this short and end with a joke. I found this one on The Laugh Factory.

Ralph is driving home one evening, when he suddenly realizes that it's his daughter's birthday and he hasn't bought her a present. He drives to the mall, runs to the toy store, and says to the shop assistant, "How much is that Barbie in the window?" In a condescending manner, she says, "Which Barbie?" She continues, "We have Barbie Goes to the Gym for $19.95, Barbie Goes to the Ball for $19.95, Barbie Goes Shopping for $19.95, Barbie Goes to the Beach for $19.95, Barbie Goes Nightclubbing for $19.95, and Divorced Barbie for $265.00." Ralph asks, "Why is the Divorced Barbie $265.00 when all the others are only $19.95?" "That's obvious," the saleslady says. "Divorced Barbie comes with Ken's house, Ken's car, Ken's boat, Ken's furniture..." 

Friday's Odds and Ends

This picture has nothing to do with the blog, other than the fact that I thought you might like something pleasant to look at before my rant for the day. Black cat is Harry, other one is Lily. They were watching a bunny that was having breakfast in my yard. I'm sure they thought the bunny would make a tasty treat.

This furor over George Will's June 6 column in The Washington Post is another example of how far to the extreme we have taken this sensitivity to something someone says or writes. The column was about the federal government's efforts to curb campus sexual assault, and this is what he wrote referring to the potential response from colleges:

They are learning that when they say campus victimizations are ubiquitous (“micro-aggressions,” often not discernible to the untutored eye, are everywhere), and that when they make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate. And academia’s progressivism has rendered it intellectually defenseless now that progressivism’s achievement, the regulatory state, has decided it is academia’s turn to be broken to government’s saddle.

Many individuals, as well as the National Organization of Women (NOW), are petitiioning the Post to drop Will's column, citing the "extraordinary harm" to victims: http://mm4a.org/TGR3ga   

I'm not a fan of George Will, but not because of this. I just find his columns ponderous to read at times, more suited to an academic lecture than a column to be read by many. However, I do support his freedom to say what he thinks without having a bunch of angry people take him to task over a column. The Internet is abuzz with Tweets and messages and Facebook postings calling him names and insinuating that he thinks campus rapes don't matter.

That is not what his column was about. I'm sure he takes the incidents of campus rapes very seriously. Reading and re-reading his column to cull through the million-dollar words and phrases, my sense is that he was pointing out the problems with the Education Department's response to what has been called a rise in campus rapes. Here is another excerpt from his column:

Meanwhile, the newest campus idea for preventing victimizations — an idea certain to multiply claims of them — is “trigger warnings.” They would be placed on assigned readings or announced before lectures. Otherwise, traumas could be triggered in students whose tender sensibilities would be lacerated by unexpected encounters with racism, sexism, violence (dammit, Hamlet, put down that sword!) or any other facet of reality that might violate a student’s entitlement to serenity. This entitlement has already bred campus speech codes that punish unpopular speech. Now the codes are begetting the soft censorship of trigger warnings to swaddle students in a “safe,” “supportive,” “unthreatening” environment, intellectual comfort for the intellectually dormant. 

See what I mean about the million-dollar words? Geesh! But the point he makes is that regulating what people read or hear on campus, or in the general public, has reached a level of extremism. Concern over some potential offense has impacted us is so many negative ways. Yes, we should be thoughtful and compassionate in how we speak to and about people, but sometimes we aren't. Sometimes we just blurt things out without stopping to think. Does that make us a monster? Does that mean that if we have some celebrity status, we should lose everything and be branded for the rest of our lives? Does that mean we should ban every classic novel that has a word that might be found offensive?

Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Now here's your Friday jokes and then I'm out of here. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

What did one hat say to the other?

"You stay here, I'll go on ahead."

What happens to a frog's car when it breaks down?
It gets toad away. 

I know, groaners more than laughers. You're welcome to try to make me laugh. Go ahead. I double-dare you.

Monday Morning Musings

The adage, "Damned if you do and damned if you don't" is most appropriate when thinking about the controversy over the recent prisoner swap in Afghanistan for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. In an article in The Atlantic, David Rhode gave his perspective, having been a prisoner in Afghanistan at one point, too. The bottom line is that the choices are hard to make. Do you pay a ransom? Or, as in the case of Bergdahl, make an unbalanced trade that gives too much to the enemy.

I liked what President Obama had to say in response to the criticism he's received on this issue. "American people understand that this is somebody's child and that we don't condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back."

Did you watch the Tony Awards Show last night? I thought Hugh Jackman did a great job as host, and I loved the ending where he invited everyone onstage to sing the theatre classics "The Lullaby of Broadway" and "New York, New York". It was also a thrill to see Audra McDonald win her 6th Tony for her role as Billie Holiday in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill".

A little while ago I took a break from writing the blog to eat breakfast, and I always read while I am eating. This morning, I found an interesting line in Laura Lippman's novel Life Sentences. Cassandra, the central character is thinking about all the hurtful things that people say to and about each other and this thought crosses her mind, "Say the worst things about yourself first, and no one can ever hurt you."

That brought to mind people that I have known who seem compelled to say self-deprecating things about themselves. That works well in comedy, but I think it is a little sad in real life. What do you think?

I have a busy week ahead with rehearsals for our Nite of Comedy two nights, and two nights of speaking engagements. One is tonight, so I need to finish preparing the handouts. What is on your agenda for the week?

Finally, I'll close with a joke from The Laugh Factory
Little Billy came home from school to see the family's pet rooster dead in the front yard. Rigor mortis had set in, and it was flat on its back with its legs in the air. When his Dad came home, Billy told him, "Dad, our rooster is dead and his legs are sticking in the air. Why are his legs like that?"

His father, thinking quickly, said, "Son, that's so God can reach down from the clouds and lift the rooster straight up to heaven."

"Gee Dad, that's great," said little Billy. A few days later, when Dad came home from work, Billy rushed out to meet him yelling, "Dad! Dad, we almost lost Mom today!"

"What do you mean?" asked his father.

"Well Dad, I got home from school early today and went up to your bedroom and there was Mom, flat on her back with her legs in the air, screaming, 'Jesus, I'm coming! I'm coming!' If it hadn't of been for Uncle George holding her down, we'd have lost her for sure!"