BLOG IN!
Just wanted to put in a plug for my heroes at NASA -- TWO THUMBS, AND TWO BIG TOES UP -- AND A HELL YEAH! Well done all! Finally we are back in space, and warts and all. And NOBODY ELSE in the world can do this like we can!
And before you start thinking about all the money spent on NASA and what else could be done with it, remember this -- some day in the distant future -- we as the human race will have to leave this third rock from the Sun. Someday our Sun will run out of fuel and explode. And if we haven't left, we will cease to exist. There is no way for us to prevent this from eventually happening. Sure, we have maybe a billion years or so to wait, but the clock is ticking. Some one has to go first -- and those should be the world's best and brightest riding the American Shuttle! We should go to the Moon, then to Mars and then to the stars! There is a big universe out there, and we need to head out to explore the "other" final frontier -- (someday we will conquer and live in the Oceans -- that will leave space.
Speaking of the oceans, those seven Russian Submariners (BTW it's pronounced SUB - MARE-IN-ERS. Not SUB MAR-EEN-ERS -- I wish the TV types would figure this out.) are out and free and alive! For the first time, the Russians and the British and the Americans worked together to save people trapped under the water! I can only hope this means the Cold War is finally, truly, over! Sure, all countries have their secrets, and their own navies -- but when human lives are at stake, and there is no state of war between the countries, why can't we all just get along? Kudos to all involved in the rescue! You are also our heroes!
Even in these days of war and hatred and fear -- all these people give me hope that although there is evil in the world, good people can and do prevail! THANK YOU ALL!
BLOG OUT!
posted by Eric at 6:14 PM
Blog On!
I was talking back to the night the other night (shameless plug for radio show). I was thinking about choices. Not choices like whether to have the turkey or shrimp plate, but those huge choices we make at different times in our lives. Those once-in-a-lifetime choices that we have that once made; can never be taken back and our lives are forever different from that point on.
I am talking about "should I start this new career or keep doing what I am doing?" "Should I marry this person or this other person." "Should I move 500 miles for a sure thing or stay where I am and hope for something that MIGHT improve soon?" "Should I spend the night with this interesting person or go home to my boring partner?" (These are example only, by the way -- I'm not telling what my choices were.)
In my short time on this third rock from the Sun, I can count four choices I have made that changed everything. Those choices that, once made, changed the course of my life's journey and sent me in a totally new direction -- two in ways I had never even considered.
I am where I am because I made two choices twenty five years ago. I was talking back to the night listening to a local radio station playing "Classic oldies from the 80's!" CLASSIC!? OLDIES!? THAT'S THE TOPIC FOR ANOTHER RANT!
Anyway, this particular song comes on the radio -- a not played much anymore hit from the Doobie Brothers called "What a Fool Believes." That song means much to me, because it was the first HIT I played on the radio at my first radio job back in October of 1979. Since music was a huge part of my life then, many memories good and bad are related to music that was playing at the time something happened, or right before or right after. (Like Leif Garret's I was made for Dancing played when I got my first speeding ticket.)
So while that song took me back to that Saturday night in 1979, I thought how far I had come since I was that 16 year old kid, who just bought his first car (a 1973 Dodge Dart) who had the GREATEST part time job ever! While my friends were flipping burgers or working in construction or roofing, I was sitting in nice cool air conditioning for 12 hours playing records while talking trash to the audience AND GETTING PAID FOR IT!
I contrasted that kid and his dreams with who I am now -- I am in a part of the country I never considered living in, doing something that was so far out of my life plans it wasn't part of my consciousness -- and I actually like it! But I digress.........
How I got here is a direct result of two decisions I made back in the 80's. One in 1985, and another in 1989. After those choices were made, there was no way I could have changed my life path. It was almost pre-ordained that I get here. If I had made another choice, I would have been a major-market dee-jay by now rather than being a college professor. What am I saying, I WAS a major-market dee-jay (#4 in Nashville, TN my last book on a giant killer out-of-market station.)
The funny thing is, I can't remember what made me pick the path I chose. The people I was close to at the time are no longer a part of my life. I haven't heard from any of them in years. The person I was married to, then divorced, and the ladies I lived with during the period are no where near me. I got one Christmas card from one of them in 1991, and nothing since then. Things are so much different than they were it's downright SCARY!
So here I lie, in the dark, wondering how the heck I got here. And I wonder how different I would be and how different life would have been had I taken the other path. And sad in the knowledge that I'll never know how much different things could have been. I can imagine how things might be -- but when I embarked on this life path what I imagined at the time has NOTHING to do with today's reality.
I am sure you, dear reader, have made similar life choices that -- at the time -- may not have seemed like that big of a deal (two of my choices didn't seem all that huge at the time) but since you made your choice -- everything's different. Maybe better -- maybe worse -- maybe just different. One night when you can't sleep, try this -- go back and see where your life path forked and how you decided which path to take -- and how that made all the difference (okay, Robert Frost said it first -- but he is right.) I can guarantee that when that song comes on the radio, you'll sit in amazement where you have been, where you are, and where you hope to be. However, heed these words -- where you are in the next twenty years may just be somewhere you can't now even consider. Boy will you have stories to tell! BLOG OUT!
posted by Eric at 11:10 AM
