JUST A WONDER

            At times I wonder how I have made this far in life . Let me clear that up a little for you . At the time this picture was taken  I believed my path was was clear and set . At that time I thought I knew what I was doing . I was in the Air Force living in what was West Germany at the time . I was sitting in my chair listening to some albums I had just purchased . I had an strong interest in music then . an aspiring Disc Jockey .
           Any time the was a music festival on the weekends I was there , especially if I knew I could drive there and be back in time for roll call . I was into it bad . If it wasn't that it some wine fest or beer fest , or anything that had a beer tent . They always had a stage for live music . It didn't matter much what kind of music it was [ polka , rock , country ] ,I was happy .
           Not just that , I enjoyed my work . As the saying went ; when you work hard , you play hard . But as you get older your attitude changes . You get in relationships , you bring a child into the world , you move some place new ; all kinds of changes get in your life's path . You make a few poor choices then you end up working a long time to correct them , but also along the way you some good choices . But always it seems that you at times you spend a lot of time to make up for lost time or just trying to keep up .
           Then eventually one day you look at where you are at and then you begin to wonder what if , or why did I do do that . I am not saying I am not satisfied Its just that at time with my life . I just some times look in the mirror as get ready for work and say to myself , not exactly in these words , You dumb butt why did you do that , or why are you here . And with the times are as they are right now , with the shape the world and my country is in I wonder how am I just making it from day to day .  I just keep getting up every day to go work to earn the money so I can survive .
             I look at all that I have lost or left behind , the experience I had gained through it all . Some how I always end up looking at myself in a better light no matter what drama is coming my way . It always comes down to just putting on some music to put back in the state of mind you see in this picture of me back in 1981 in my home in Oberstaughenbach Gemany .

Just Vote

                  With the DNC coming to Charlotte NC in about three weeks ,the election has come tom the forefront of my thoughts. I was watching some news channel the other day and heard some analyst say that voter turn will be low this election cycle .
                Well , if you don't turn out and vote , wont that make just as guilty as the do nothing politicians that there now .If you did not vote you have no right to complain about whats happening .
              If you think the reason you don't vote is that your vote will count your wrong . more often than not elections have been won on slim margins .
               I don't who you vote for just make your voice count . Don't let it stop there though . what good is your vote if you don't stay involved in what they are    
doing . Keep up with what bills and programs they are pushing .Make sure your opinion is heard by them some way some how . With the easy access of the Internet , and all all the social networks there is no excuse for not being heard . Simply put our job as citizens our responsibility don't stop at voting . Stay informed and up to date , speak up when you disagree or even agree with what they are doing . BUT MOST OF ALL IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR VOTE , IT YOUR RIGHT USE IT .
             This what I suggest , lets show how involved Google plus can be , lets get a get out the vote campaign . It don't matter to me who you vote for just vote . Lets get the conversation going . Share information ,talk about it lets get some excitement going thru our community . There is enough of us out there ,some one should have some thoughts to share . What you share maybe that little tidbit that may help some make up their mind . But most of all let them know that the Google Plus Community is involved . As I said JUST VOTE.

Karma Its For Real

                  I don't know about you all ,but I do believe in karma . I have wrote about my thoughts about faith in my blogs before . Karma has nothing to do with faith its for real . It comes under the natural universal law , for every action there is a equal or greater reaction . The reaction my not be immediately seen or felt ,wait for it ,it's gonna happen .
                  Be careful on how you treat people ,or talk about them , especially those that may be less fortunate . I am always seeing other act around or talk ; or laugh at people whom may not do better for them self's at the time; or their situation is one they can't help . These people may be doing the best they can with what they have . Or their illness may not allow them to do better .
                   So don't wish bad on any one ,no matter how much you dislike them or what wrong they have done to you either . Because that wish may come back bite you . I found that many set backs that I have had in my life ,as turns out most always had some thing to do with how I treated people or some thing I may have said in confidence thinking that it will stay where it was said . Don't you believe it . You know how parents or our elders have found to say to us growing up " If you have nothing nice to say ,don't say anything " .
                    I am going to share some thing my dad use to tell us growing up . It kind of makes sense once you think about it . You have dog in a fenced in yard , you feed it what happens . It makes messes all over the yard . Okay now don't clean up after it and sooner or later your going to step in it . God forbid you walk in with stick and poke the piles of mess with it and stir it up . Some of it will stick on you and you will make it smell worse . Now that's karma .
                     So when comes down to basic's is that you need to aware of every thing you do and make sure the reaction is some thing you can live with . You don't know when it can hit you but wait for it because it will sooner or later will catch up to you . You will be sitting there wondering what happened , or how you ended up where your at . So be nice you don't know what happened in that persons life ,or what they may be going through . Karma will bite you in the rear .
       

Don't let life take you for a ride

       Yes I said it , Don't let life take you for a ride . We are not passengers on a train going to a predetermined stop along the way . We must go to the crossroads and there it is where we decide where to go .
      Me I think I may be speaking from experience , through my life I believe all I have done most of the time just went along for the ride . Never once thinking about where my decisions will lead me .Now here I am in my fifties at times wondering how I got here . In reality I don't have to wonder much be cause I know the truth . I never gave my future much thought, I just went for the easiest way forward . Not once did think that anything worth while will have to worked for .
              So here I am in my fifties working my butt off to make up for lost time .Don't ask me how I am going to do this, but I working hard with what I have and where I am at to make some kind of progress .Its not not just in my work life but my personal life I need to make some progress . There fences to mended , relationships to be salvaged and most of all changes to made in my thought process .
             So I believe I can say this with some authority don' t get on the train and get your ticket punched , leave yourself the option to get off and get another train if you don't like where this one is taking you . Your destiny is your choice not some one else's . You have got to realize that the person whom you relying on to help in this decision my not be there ten or twenty years from now my have taken another train and your heading some where thinking they were supposed to with you when get there .
            So just make sure the destination you choose is something you can live with is one that can be done with or without anyone . Because you will ultimately be the one to live with it . I felt this was something I just had to off my chest .So excuse my rant and take for what it is worth just a thought .

Memories are a difficult thing

         Over the past few days , I had been searching through my mind for my earliest memories . I had found it difficult to even recall many . What I had come up with vague pictures in my mind of places we had lived , foggy at best . pretty much of anything before first grade is in a fog .
         I do do remember my first grade teacher Mrs Graham , and incident where I had brought her a present in to school and she chased me around the class to give me a peck on the check . From first grade on I had come with a tiny morsels of memory some good and some not so good . I definitely remember my first transistor radio . It looked like a walkie talkie ,army green with a picture of Vic Morrow from the show combat. The first song I heard on it as I best can recall was called Downtown by Petula Clarke . I guess that's why I always had a thing for going downtown just to hangout or just stroll around and always managed after I left home to live in large cities.
          Isn't funny how some memories are easily recalled and other just escape you .Or how you never know when a memory will come to you . If find that you just can't just sit there and recall them on demand . Something has jog you memory for these things to come back to you . They just can't fade away , they with you in that file cabinet in your head . They are a part of you , if fact they are what is responsible for the person you have become .They are the building blocks of our being .
          That is why when they do come to mind we need to make sure we are in the moment .Share them if we can .There many that I have that come back quite often . To tell the truth some of good ones I would not want to relive them because of the one that I want to forget or regret what also accompanied them . They are a part of my life that was not so pleasant .I am just glad I was able to walk away with my sanity .But still they worth revisiting from time to time . Because what have learned from them might be the lesson that you can share that wisdom with others so that can stay of that road you went down.Yes , memories are a difficult thing .