Category: worries

TODAY’S WORRY

In the vicinity of Las Vegas, there are billboards which read, “Bob Won $2 Million!” and “Koichi Won $1.2 Million!” Soon there should be a new one reading, “Mary Won 320 Quarters!” Yes, it’s true. On a slot machine named Prize Pig! (apt I thought), I played a quarter and got back 320. I am no gambler. The idea of losing money is just too horrible for me to imagine. I don’t play the lottery. But on our travels, if we are passing through Nevada, we will play a few slots with a limit of spending $20. So after losing about $10 on Haywire! and Let it Roll!, John wanted to try Haywire Deluxe! which was situated next to Prize Pig! So I stuck in a quarter or two, and two Prize Pigs and one wallowing in mud showed up and the machine went nuts. This is the most excitement I have ever had in a casino. Hopefully, I won’t become a compulsive gambler. But I won enough to pay for dinner! Ka-ching!

In keeping with our general theme of betting, today’s word is –

parlay -To bet (an original wager and its winnings) on a subsequent event or to maneuver (an asset) to great advantage. (dictionary.com)

So if I had taken my 320 quarters and put all of it on black on the roulette wheel I would have parlayed my bet.

TODAY’S WORRY

This blog is taking a short vacation. Check back on Friday, February 18.

TODAY’S NON-WORRY

In a couple of days, John and I are going to take a long road trip. We’ll be in the car for probably 12 hours. We’ve made this trip many times before so there really isn’t anything new to see. But, we don’t turn on the radio or play tunes or tapes. We sit and talk. There’s always some new aspect to the scenery, “oh, look, what do you think they’re growing over there?” or “Are the rusted hulks of school busses still sitting beside Route 58?” Sometimes we make dumb jokes and sometimes we talk about serious world issues. Sometimes we just sit quietly next to each other. What has this got to do with Valentine’s Day? I guess when you find your perfect someone, just being with him is never boring and makes for a perfect day.

TODAY’S WORRY

I often wonder why I just can’t keep my mouth shut. Someone says something. It’s not what I think. I know that this is a strongly held opinion on their part. Then the pressure inside my head starts building and, shazaam, out of my mouth comes my opinion. Almost always it is antithetic to their opinion. I guess that’s why I need to say it. It’s not so much that I think that their opinion will be changed; it’s more that I can’t let the moment go by without them knowing that my opinion is different. I guess I think if I just remain silent and pass up the opportunity to object, I will be tacitly supporting a position that I disagree with. Why can’t I let someone else just bask in the glow of their presumed rightness? I don’t know. My life would be more harmonious if I could do this. But I can’t.

TODAY’S WORRY

The other day when I was writing about being too dependent, Jon wrote in saying that getting moving was the hardest part of any task. It made me think about tasks that I have a hard time getting started with. Number 1 would be anything that involves making a phone call. Really, doing things online has been a real blessing for me. Number 2 would be anything that has piled up. If I do my bookkeeping and filing as it arises, I have no problem. Or if I need to clean the countertops in the kitchen, that’s fine. But if I have three weeks of filing to do or the whole house to clean, I am frozen in place. The job seems so big that I can’t seem to get started. Really all it is, after all, is a series of small jobs all glommed together. But sometimes you can’t see the trees for the forest.

TODAY’S WORRY

Here’s something that really freaks me out. Occasionally, I’ll go to retrieve a bit of information from my brain and all that is in the place where the information should be is a big void. It could be a person’s name, a word I am searching for while talking or just the definition of a word. And I know that I know it. It may come to me later but it may not. Sometimes I can access the information by coming at it sideways. For instance, I can’t remember someone’s name but I can remember the spouse’s name. Then by saying it in my brain, Frank and ……… Smith, the association will make the name pop up. But this is scary to me and I wish I could still access all the information I’ve stored up as easily as I did when I was younger.

TODAY’S WORRY

On Sunday, like so many other Americans, I watched the Super Bowl. It was the first football game I’ve watched this season. Here are some of my thoughts about it.

I don’t understand why people get so rabid over “their” team. It’s a game. It’s really got nothing to do with you or your self-esteem. Are you some how better because you live in New England now that the Patriots won? Probably you’re just cold.

What’s with the stupid dancing in the end zone or after a play? My brother-in-law, Gary, suggests that points be taken away if you blatantly celebrate. Not a fine. Points. That way, your teammates would be mad at you, the coach would be mad at you, and the fans would go berserk. No way anyone would do it twice. In tennis, if a player is unsportsman-like more than once, he loses points. I think it would work. Good idea, Gary.

I have got to say I loved Paul McCartney. Yeah, he didn’t grab his crotch or pull off anyone’s costume. And he can’t hit the high notes like he used to. But still, he was my favorite Beatle and I think he did a good job.

And finally, I heard on Monday that the second ad for GoDaddy.com was pulled because, in this brave new world of morality police, it was considered too racy. They’ve probably garnered more attention by the removal of the ad than they would have otherwise. Does anyone even know what they were selling? FYI, GoDaddy.com is a vendor of Web site names. You have to get attention somehow.

TODAY’S WORRY

I like to think of myself as a fairly independent person. But when I see young women out in the working world, I realize how really sheltered I am. And since John retired, I find it even more so. He rents the cars, does most of the driving, and deals with people at hotels and stores. He stays with me at social events where I don’t know people so I won’t have to be making chitchat on my own. What a good person! I think I was more independent when I first came out of college. I did a little traveling for my job and even stayed by myself in a hotel once but I never rented a car on my own until about 10 years ago. It is so easy to slip into a mode of avoiding all the “hard things.” I really need to force myself to do the tasks that are the most difficult for me before they become impossible.

TODAY’S WORRY

Back in the day when icons meant more than pictures on your desktop, we were indoctrinated with “doing the right thing” by Smokey the Bear and the Litterbug. Now being a suburban New Jersey girl, the chance of setting forest fires was remote, but I took to heart, “Don’t be a litterbug.” I remember giving my dad a really hard time when he would open a pack of cigarettes and throw the cellophane on the ground. (A few years later we would castigate our parents for smoking.) We children of the 50’s were a small army of litter police. Driving around in Florida, California, Nevada and Utah in the past few months makes me think that perhaps we need a new army of children indoctrinated with the “Don’t Litter” mantra. They will take it upon themselves not to litter but, even more importantly, they will call upon their piggish parents and acquaintances not to do so.