'Pants On the Ground'

Is there anyone who hasn't heard of Gen. Larry Platt's rendition of "Pants On The Ground"?? And the hilarity of the song is the truth that it states!!! I am ever amazed why today's young men...and some old(er) enough to KNOW better...that want to walk around and with every other step they wanna...no they HAVE to pull on their pants because they are about to fall down! I am at the edge of believing that they are just to sorry to wear a belt. Rebel...go against the flow...be different...make your own statment...be an individual....whatEVER... just pull your dang pants up you sorry thing!

That not only is disgusting but it is disrespectful...a word that probably has gone unknown and foreign to today's male population. I think it started in the 'gangsta'/getto neighborhood aka 'hood' but just get over yourself! I don't know of ANYONE who wants to see your nasty underwear...or anything else. If ya can't afford a belt, don't buy your pants fifteen sizes too big!!! STUPID!

"PANTS ON THE GROUND, PANTS ON THE GROUND! LOOKIN' LIKE A FOOL WITH YOUR PANTS ON THE GROUND!! HAT TURNED SIDEWAYS, GOLD IN YOUR MOUTH! LOOKIN' LIKE A FOOL WITH YOUR PANTS ON THE GROUND!!"

I applaud the General for taking a stand--probably a very unpopular stand with the brothas in the hood! He's a very wise man...and probably pretty wealthy too, now!

Like DeAngelo Williams of the Carolina Panthers version:

PULL 'EM UP, PULL 'EM UP, PULL 'EM UP!!!!!!!!!!!

Change

Do I ever hate change! It happens all the time! Yet, as I grow older I hate it more and more! At times, change is good and rarely do I ever agree with that until it is hindsight and I'm looking back instead of forward! And truth be told, change is the only constant in life! "What is changing?" you ask...

Well, we have changed into a new year...the old one was ok I guess but 22 days ago we bounced right into a new one, like it or not. With that comes new laws, another new tax year, something else to remember when writing checks etc. (I still catch myself writing 2009) and there's new opportunities... for service, for growth, for opportunity! Which of these will it be in 2010?? For me?? For you??

I began a journey on the 4th of Jan. to embark on a new career, or at least a new direction. I have registered for a EMT-B class, which will possibly enable me to become a EMT Basic and possibly and hopefully, a job with NuCare ambulance service! If not that, it will certainly open a few more doors of opportunity that right now does not exist for me. This training will also enable me to be more efficient while staying with my Mom, on the nights that my sister Sandy works for the County (EMS). I stay with Mom and due to her health issues at least I would have the skills to be of benefit! It will also help me maybe with my Dad, as he is still fighting off the death-grip of esophageal cancer and you never know what medical emergency he may require.

As a child my first desire was to become a doctor. When reality set in and I determined that I wasn't going to make the kind of grades and have the money for med school, I quickly sought a new life desire: Paleontologist. And after that followed a dream to become a Major League Baseball player-- a dream that I only recently gave up on as a 50+ year old rookie might not have a very good chance to hit a 90 mile an hour fastball--or pitch one!

So it's kindof funny the irony of this EMT class!!

Other changes that have recently occured in my life has been my stepping down as PowerPoint person at Grace. The itch is still there to be honest because I do enjoy 'creating' stuff on the computer, as witnessed by my websites and other adventures here on the web...but the decision to begin using the Easy Worship program and by my helpers desiring more and more Sundays-- it became clear that this would be a pretty good time to step aside. I have done PowerPoint for several years, to be honest I don't remember how long exactly! I know that Pastor Greg had asked me to help out Lorri, who was the PPT. queen! She is super smart and everything that I did RIGHT is because of Lorri and everything that I messed up on was all my own doing! At the time I was helping Lorri and Bev....when Bev left I was Lorri's backup and when Lorri left I was up. The PPT. 'job' was a stressful and rewarding one for sure--stressful b/c of the songs...always the songs. When Jim was the Worship Leader the songs were pretty much a 'piece of cake' but after he left it seems that the stress bagan. 'They' say that the Easy Worship is much easier than PPT. and easier to go between verse and chorus etc. Maybe. Two monitors and two open programs doesn't seem easier to me but...it gives opportunity to my replacements!

And the rewarding thing was on that rare occasion when I didn't make any mistakes, when the colors and the text all looked great, the song slides were all in sequence and I had all the announcement slides up-to-date! PowerPoint really looked good on those huge moniters on the wall!!

I have gone back to going to church with Denise, it just seems to make sense. As I begin this new challenge of 'the class' I just think I need to shed all the stress that I possibly can and even in that there is new opportunities and open doors. I'm not gonna talk about that right now...just stuff on the back burner...but we'll see how those things go in the future. It is kindof nice to go to church with Denise and to see some of the old friends from my (Christian) childhood and new friends too!

I'm not sure of the other changes that are in store for this new year. I know that somehow I'm gonna need to find a job...like about 20 million of my closest friends, so we'll see how that all plays out too...

Let's see....the arm bone connected to the hand bone...the hand bone connected (or disconnected......) ☺

End Of Year Analysis~2009

This year is almost gone and it seems like it has just began...plenty of ups and downs...time spins on like a top that's just been released...

This past January Denise broke her knee and we rehabed for a spell following surgery--BTW, K-Mart refused to pay for any of the hospital bills etc. Spring brought both sadness and joy...Meggie our longtime dog died in April and in May we were introduced to Toby, who has been a little bundle of joy...spring also brought a new year's garden, only to be drowned by a wet spring and a 6" deluge in June that left us with our first season without many of the prize tomatoes of past summers. A real disappointment for me since I have this thing with trying to grown huge tomatoes to then give most of them away...but, there's 'always next year!!" ♥

One of my bestest friends went on to be with Jesus this year and I am still catching myself trying to send JoAnn e-mails...I can't bring myself to delete her from my address book so I continue to just go past her when it's time to send another funny or good story...she was such a sweet and inspiring friend and I still miss her a lot.

In August my Dad found out that his cancer had returned, this time in his esophagas. We went to Chapel Hill Hospital and they pretty much told him that there was nothing they could do for him besides try to keep his throat as clear as possible and they were even talking about calling in hospice for him at a pretty early stage...he went to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem and they gave him some hope with 28 radiation treatments and 2 different rounds of chemo of 120 hours each, which required week-long stays in the hospital. He still is not able to eat hardly any food but he is still with us and today I went up to see him and he is doing pretty good and his color is coming back to him as well! ☺

My Mom had to have gall bladder surgery in May as well and for a while she was doing pretty good but her health has been declining for several years and she is having a lot of trouble with her leg these days and having a good bit of pain there as well. The surgery helped with some of her issues but she still has bouts with her stomach from time-to-time and it seems like she hasn't gotten a lot of relief from that. But the good news is that they are both still here with us as well as Denise's Mom so we have been Blessed in that area for sure!

My Caridnals won their division by a good bit but they then lost in the first round of the playoffs so they were 3 and out! Jeff Gordon finished 3rd in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Kyle failed to make the Chase...but he DID win the Nationwide Series Championship so it wasn't a total waste for my drivers. I have recently added a third driver to my 'favorites' corral and that is Ryan Newman, who I met in Mooresville a few weeks ago at the 'Stock For Tots' thing where various drivers were signing (I also met Ray Evernham (among others) who was Jeff's Crew Cheif for a long time during his glory years of the 1990's!!).

The Panthers had a dismal year this year with almost half of the team (??) on the IR so they are currently at 7-8 with one game to go...no hopes of the playoffs this year but Matt Moore has really looked good at QB so big Jake may have some compitition next year altho his future is a bit uncernain right now...

All this stuff IS a part of my year--BTW!!!

Christy and I have taken a few 'Road Safaris' this year in which we took a few (thousand) pictures...and we are planning one tomorrow too!~ We went up to the ParkWay and to Doughton Park which was a great place to walk and take pictures--we first went in September right as the colors began, I hope to go up there in the spring too! Several close, day trips which have included Spencer to see the trains and several parks seeking deer and other wildlife! I got a new Kodak camera for Christmas so I am going to try to take even MORE pics in the future--it's my 'portable cam'!!! LOL!!

My biggest surprise came in August when I won 3rd place in the Our State Magazine Photo Contest. My b&w picture of 'The Depot' up in Dobson, NC which I took in Nov. 2008. I was also interviewed by the Statesville Record & Landmark for a front page articel talking about my picture in Our State! I am already at work trying to figure out which entries to send for the 2010 Photo Contest! Christy & I entered pics in the Iredell County Fair in September and we both won a few ribbons and $$--Denise won 1st Place for her excellent salsa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooo proud of her!!!! ☺

Of course, I could have done all this if not for my lay off from Eagle International last Nov. I'm still unemployed but I am hoping to get to go to school and take a EMT Course that starts in Febuary. I go next Monday for my Entrance Exam to see if I can get some financial aid with the class b/c just the class alone costs $175. I haven't taken a test in about...whew.....many years so I hope that I can get my brain to kick in gear one more time!!!

I saw Ricky a few times in recent months altho not lately but at least we are in contact...Betsy, Genie & Kim, not-so-much.

God has been good and He always is!!! We have been going back to Fellowship Baptist Church in recent months, altho I still do PowerPoint at Grace once or twice a month, so I'm not too sure what will happen with either of those 2 opportunities but we have met some new friends at Fellowship and renewed old friendships there so we will see what our Father has in store for us in 2010!

Is that 'TwoThousand Ten' or 'Twenty-Ten'??? ☺

I'll be writing.....♥

What Do I Know???

I was out raking leaves a little bit ago and thinking about how differently I look at this meanial task this year. Maybe it's because of my love of photography and thinking back to all the pictures that I've taken this year of leaves and how much I have enjoyed the fall season! The colors have been wonderful and until just recently, they have lasted for a good while! Actually, just a few days ago we were admiring a young maple tree in the woods behind the house and the spectacular yellow color that it still held!

I have lived thru a very interesting year...with plenty of ups and downs thrown in there too! It started in January with Denise tripping and faloling aas we were going in to K-Mart and breaking her kneecap. Also in January, BS-Obama took over and in his almost 11 months in office has done a tremendous job at trying to ruin this country and put us into a position in which we will never recover! Never in my most horrible nightmares have I ever dreamed that a Muslim, who among other things is a two-faced liar would become leader of the free world. I know it is all a part of God's Master Plan, one in which we as mortals are just clueless as to His methods but not the OUTCOME! Barack's arrogance and indifference is what really puts me over the edge...but, I'm not here to write about his arrogant self, I am writing about my own adventure in 2009...

In May my Mom had her gall bladder removed and for a while she did really well with it and for the past few months it seems like she is again bothered by sporadic sickness. In August we found out that my Dad has had a reoccurance of his cancer, this time in his esophagas. The first prognosis was terminal so he got a second opinion at Baptist Hospital and for the past couple of months he has undergone treatment there, both radiation and chemo. He is presently at Baptist after having his feeding tube slip somehow and rip a hole in his stomach. In about 6 weeks, they will do some more tests to see if the radiation and chemo have been successful in slowing down or killing this tumor. I have helped drive him and my Step Mom back and forth and I have been very Blessed to have this opportunity to help them during this difficult time in their lives.

In the process of this, I have had the opportunity to begin a relationship with my brother Rick, who is 3 years older than I am. I am hoping that this will develop into a lasting friendship at least! It has been weird knowing that I have a brother that I hardly know but maybe this door will open into a growing relationship with him!

I am looking at maybe taking an EMT Basic course beginning in February to perhaps open a door of opportunity to work at NuCare. I have discovered in the past year that I am going to have to reinvent myself to make me attractive to a prospective employer and I'm afraid that the furniture industry is a dying machine. Hopefully I will be able to absorb all the information that will come my way if that is the direction that God is leading me into...and if it is, I will be successful! ☺

When I think back on this year I can't help but wonder what God is up to as far as where He would have Denise and I to go to church. I have had two people to come on board to help me with PowerPoint at Grace Covenant, so that has opened a door for me to go with Denise to Fellowship, where she has been playing piano since about April of this year. We have some good friends at each church and it has been impossible for me to choose where to go. It's a bit unfair to be torn between the two, as Denise and I have no hard feelings whatsoever at Grace but God opened this door for her to go to Fellowship and in the process my Mom has started to go back there as well.

But do you know what I've discovered during this whole time??? What do I know????????? ♥♥

Digitography

A new word from me, combining digital (camera) and photography, thus: digitography!! I have created a few words before but not-so-much creating one that described me, or should I say what I like to do. I enjoy the 'art' of photography and with digital, it can make even the most lame 'dummy' like myself, look like I know what it is that I'm doing!

We have gone thru several digital cameras, a HP that is about the size of the old Kodak; and then we got a new HP, a little smaller and it takes some really good pictures! Then when Christy got her new camera from her Dad, she passed her old camera to me, which is a Fuji 5200 point-and-shoot! It takes some really nice pictures, even the one that netted me 3rd place in Our State Magazine this past August!

All this to say that digitography is an important science and not one to be taken lightly! I have read a few books trying to hone my limited skills in this area and hopefully I will land in another issue sometime!!

I enjoy shooting mostly landscapes and clouds, nature stuff... but in October when Susan & Bryan got married I took a couple of hundred shots of them and discovered that with the right subjects and so many shots to choose from that my camera can make some pretty good images! I don't know if anything will ever happen with this 'gift' but I do enjoy doing it...along with probably a couple hundred million other folks too!!

Digitography--hopefully here to stay!!!!!! Be lookin' for you thru my lens......:O)

See Ya Later JoAnn!!

Again I am faced with writing about a friend who has gone Home. We got word this morning that our dear friend, JoAnn Fulp was gone to be with Jesus! This is not necessarily bad news but it is painful to those of us who loved JoAnn. She had surgery last Friday and due to some complications she did not get to go back to her earthly home but on to her Heavenly home. But she was ready to go!

Let me tell you first a little about JoAnn. We met JoAnn several years ago at Monticello United Methodist Church when they were having what they called "Saturday Night Real Life" At the time the pastor there was Jeff Coppley and he too became very good friends of ours! JoAnn & Robert were there many of the Saturday nights and JoAnn was a worshipper! Not only did she worship in a group setting but she also was a worshipper in her personal life, when no one was watching except for the One to Whom she worshipped. And 'how do I know this' you ask???

JoAnn not only 'talked the talk' but she also 'walked the walk'! We became instant friends and we kept in touch thru e-mail almost daily! She was an encourager and a freind who was there, in joy and in sadness. She probably told me a hundred times that she was praying for me/us and she is one of those who I believe did just that! And again I'm sure that you are asking 'how do I know that??'

JoAnn was a person who could pick you up when you were down and she had a contagious laugh that I will always remember! You could see Jesus in her eyes and on her face! You could see Him! If you know Jesus you will know what I am talking about because you can recognize Him in others around you who are truly of Him! And let me tell you that that is a rare quality indeed!! The Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to you if you desire and He will also let you know when you see 'the real deal'!! Don't even think about telling me that the Holy Spirit lies because God cannot lie and the Holy Spirit is sent from God to us to reveal truth and lead us in our daily walk!

I am so thankful to have known JoAnn and my life has been richer because of her! God knows I will miss her terribly--every e-mail I send to anyone goes to JoAnn as well! There are a very few people that I send EVERYthing to and she is one of them! Funny stuff, serious stuff, personal stuff, political stuff, dumb stuff, neat stuff--ALL of it goes to JoAnn too! Why? Because she has been a friend and a special person who has done the same for me as well! I know I got all her 'stuff' and she told me once that she sends my stuff on too! I even sent her a computer virus one time that put her out of commission for a time--ooopps!!! It's gonna be a hard habit to break to keep from 'copying' to her...I'm gonna miss her so much!!

I wish that I could be the kind of friend to others that JoAnn has been to me thru the years! Always there, always there, always there! She sent me an e-mail just last week telling me about her upcoming surgery and here is an exerpt from that e-mail:

"I will have 2 human doctors because Dr. Robinson will be working with Dr. Foxworthy. and they area the best in town!
But I know the Great Healer in control of EVERYTHING! God knows my will is to always be in His will ,and Jesus loves me.

I've been told I will feel better, breath better and have some energy. If that is what my Father wants for me, so be it. I am His child and I know He cares for me. "

She also spoke about my Dad who has cancer and that she hoped he continues to improve... always concerned about the well-being of others! She introduced me to her sister, Sylvia, several years ago and she too is that same kind of special person! JoAnn & Robert and Denise and myself got together a few times and enjoyed each other's company so much! JoAnn loved music and she loved to write, which she did often. She wrote poetry as well as life stories of herself. She was an inspiration to me in my own (lame) writing but she encouraged me to write for a while for her church on-line newsletter in an article called "Thursday Thoughts", which for a time I wrote e-mails with the same title.

I could go on and on and on about JoAnn but the bottom line of her life is that she loved Jesus and she talked about Him often! That's how I knew!! She talked about Him and her trust in Him and in Him alone for her well being and for her life!! I look forward to seeing her again in Heaven one day and I feel that Jesus is just ABOUT to come back for His own--REALLY SOON! JoAnn just beat the rest of us there!!

PLEASE pray for her husband Robert and for her family as well as they try to continue their lives without our dear friend, wife, mother and sister!!

I Love you JoAnn!! See you soon!!

Innocent Until PROVEN Guilty

Just as it says: "Innocent until proven guilty'. It is not just a statement, but it is how the law that covers all Americans per the U.S. Constitution. For the past 2 weeks I have been serving on jury duty to determine whether a certain man was guilty of first degree murder. This man is not a 'choir boy' to begin with, which the evidence pointed to his past involvment and him currently serving time on drug charges.

The Assistant District Attorney tried to link the accused to the victim thru a managerie of testimony regarding the original crime of burglary and kidnapping and then retaliation for the robbery which led to the murder. He had witnesses who were serving time or had served time to come forward and try to link the accused to the victim, but their testimony was questionable given their sentences were shortened by their willingness to testify and some contradiction to each others memory.

I have been torn during the process as to which of these witnesses to believe and whether to believe thier words at all but the underlying thing was some of their testimony seemed to not be very believable. I must admit however, I was one of three which were not so sure that we were making a correct decision in acquitting Mr. B. of this crime. He is currently serving a 33 year sentence for the drug issues he was involved in before, so he won't be getting out any time soon.

After the verdict was read, Mr. B. seemed to say "Thank You Jesus" and look up toward heaven, and he had a smile and tears in his eyes too. I hope that he does, in fact, know Jesus and it would be a real Blessing to believe that maybe he has come to know Him during his time in prison!

This has all been a very difficult time in my life seeing how these young men could commit such a violent crime and how human life is so cheapened by society today. We no longer value the life of others, whether it be the unborn or the unloved or misfits who cannot fit in to society without surrounding themselves with other 'characters' who they hang with to makes themselves feel some sort of worth or value. And many times these 'characters' are more known for the crimes they commit and the lifestyle that they live rather than who they really are as a person who is loved by God, which we all are! But God gave His ONLY Son for people like Mr. B and the victim, 'Marty' as well all those involved and the one who actually pulled the trigger--"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." John 3:16

I am not sure whether Mr. B. is innocent of this killing, but the state did not prove that he did do it either. The burden of proof was on the state and he is innocent until proven guilty.