Writin' Forty

I’ll admit, I was nervous. Jarrod had planted the seeds months back that he was going to be at  HeroesCon  in Charlotte and would like to stay at my place.  HeroesCon , if you didn’t know, is a comic book convention. Jarrod is an artist. He’s also one of my best friends in life . Having h im staying at my place wasn’t really an issue. But there were definitely  other  issues. Thanks to Jarrod, I’ve been podcasting for about a year now. We’re podcasting together on the  Longbox  Crusade (longboxcrusade.com) where we talk about comic books of years past, sing song, crack jokes, and basically have both a hoot and a holler of a good time. We don’t do this alone, though. His older brother Jason is a part of the insanity and the guy who owns (and mostly edits) the show is Pat. The issue is that Jarrod, gregarious as  I’ll admit, I was nervous. Jarrod had planted the seeds months back that he was going to be at  HeroesCon  in Charlotte and would like to stay at my place.  HeroesCon ,

There’s an old saying that “common sense isn’t common”. I get what that means and what I’d probably add to that is “critical thinking isn’t common either”.  In class yesterday (jiu-jitsu), the instructor demonstrated a technique that I honestly had no idea where it was heading right until the submission came at the end and I realized that I have fallen for that submission MANY times over the course of my relatively short jiu-jitsu journey. What I realize now is that if I get put in that certain position I might be getting set up for the same submission I’ve fallen for. The trick is to recognize the setup, anticipate it, and stay away from that trap. At any point  I could, and have wondered why I wind up on my side, someone crouched over me, isolating my arm into a  kimura . I never asked anyone why it was happening.  I really got fortunate that I was in class at the right day and time or it would have been a long time before I repaired a hole in my game, which lessens me as a

Recently, I’d say easily the last two to three years or so, there has been an active  debate about who is the greatest basketball player of all time: Michael Jordan or LeBron James. I have seen memes and video clips arguing the point ad  nauseum ; it’s my experience that most of these memes and clips are in favor of Michael Jordan, usually propping up how many championships “he” (never the team) won and any number of accolades he won along the way. It’s an argument that has always bothered me but it finally dawned on me WHY it’s bothered me. Being over the age of 40 I am fortunate enough to have seen Michael Jordan in his prime; as he was winning 3 world championships, then another 3. He retired from basketball to play minor league baseball which would break the internet if it happened today. For many, he’s the greatest who ever played. But being over the age of 40,  it’s  worth noting that LeBron  James  entered the  league  in 2002. I was a first  lieutenant. Since then the

One of the things they don’t tell you about  jiu-jitsu  is that it hurts. Whomever called it “the gentle art” clearly did it as a dark joke; while the odds of you suffering a life threatening injury is slim to none the true pain comes from the “death by a thousand paper cuts”. It’s that  armbar  that someone tries  to get on you that you fight to get out of, flexing your arm and taxing your shoulder. It’s someone getting you in a headlock and you reflexively tense up and use your arms as a brace to escape from so your air isn’t restricted. It’s trying to transition from half guard to side control and the guy on bottom switches their hips so it tweaks your knee.  I’m still trying to figure out why, exactly, this forms friendships. It’s really funny; you meet these new guys and girls and it is a guarantee one of them is going to give you a “paper cut”, one of them will smack you in the face or accidentally drop you too hard.  You will get your ass kicked. A lot, if you’re a white be

I haven’t found a good karaoke place yet in North Carolina and I think that’s a pity. While I didn’t necessarily have a primary place in Victoria there was a place I could go to in town when I (rarely) got the urge. It also helped that San Antonio was only 2 hours away. San Antonio, for me, remains the best karaoke town I’ve ever been to. There are dozens of places you can go to that have great sound and a receptive audience willing to cheer you on.  I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a hostile audience and I couldn’t always say that with Victoria; a crowd that prefers you sing country music, thank you very much. I learned years ago, however, to sing whatever you want to. You’re up there to entertain but in a way you’re up there for yourself as well. I like singing songs that make me feel good and sometimes that’s a slow song that has meaning to me. I have actually made the effort of looking for a place here. I’ve been to three. Of those, the sound from the first KJ wasn’t great

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard really distressing news concerning two kids, both girls, who decided they would make an attempt at their life rather than go on with the stresses they feel they are being put over. One reached the breaking point most likely due to mental and physical exhaustion. The  other most likely attempted  due to a consistent and steady bully ragging her day in and out.  Both hurt hearing about. I wonder if we have forgotten our kids in these past few years. It seems that we are all so busy just trying to make a living that it’s easy to forget that kids are trying to make it as well. I remember reading that as soon as you first send your kid off the school for the first time they are entering a secret world of which you’ll never know everything about. Once they leave the house that’s it; they’ve already begun growing away from you. Best thing you can do is once they get home, talk to them open and honestly.  Let them know as much as you can that you