3Hotdogs
3Hotdogs's JournalI drove by the old movie house this afternoon. They're making it into shops.... glass open front,
new windows on the second floor. I was an usher there for about two years. Easy job. Low pay but all the popcorn you could eat and get to take your girl to see the double feature, free.
The movie house was a building that brought the community together. Saturday afternoon was for the kids. .When I was in elementary school, .25 got you in the door.... 10 cartoons, a serial with a punch card that if you got all the holes punched, the last episode was free admission.... News reels narrated by Ed Herlihy. Maybe a Lowell Thomas travelog about some place you were never going to be able to afford to go to. Egypt, Great Wall, Sao Palo, Montreal ( I did finally get to Montreal three years ago, summer before covid.)
And the features... could be Tarzan with Buster Crabbe or Gene or Roy or Tex or others that I can't recall. The serials-- Superman, with George Reeves. I remember a Flash Gordon serial where the space ships were pie plates, jiggled on strings with sparklers attached to the bottom. But Dale Arden, she was hot.
The movies were where you tried to get to hold hands with Doris, the prettiest girl in the 5th grade. You could also trade baseball cards before the lights went out. I traded a Duke Snyder for a Yogi once. But all my cards became victim to my mother's urge for a clean house.
Once or twice, the movie house would be where scores would be settled. "...see ya in the alleyway after the movie."
Friday nights were date nights for the older kids. I wasn't much good looking so I didn't get too many dates in the balcony. The same way Doris wouldn't hold hands with me. But that's water under that old bridge. The bridge in town that can't hold the water back much any more. The downtown flooded twice in the last 25 years.
Saturday night was for adults but my father took me to see any John Wayne movie that came out. Funny thing -- he looked a lot like John Wayne. People said he did and looking at the pictures of him, yeah, he did. We saw Shane and The African Queen. It was about 15 years ago that I learned the African Queen was based on a real event in the Boer War. Still, even today I figure, Kathrine Hepburn or not, if I was Charlie and Rose emptied my gin in the river, Rose would'a been in the water, right behind the gin bottles.
It seems funny. There are a few vacant stores in town that nobody wants to rent. And here the owners of the movie house are trying to turn the building into more stores that some probably won't be rented.
There are other parts of being a kid that I recall, wishing they were still as they were: ice skating in the park. There used to be a hundred people or so skating on the pond. Now, no more than 10 or 15 show up with their skates.
The town parades were important. There was a drug store that had two entrances. When the football team won, (the football field was dirt. Not grass) the marching band would march to the drug store, enter single file, in one door and out the other, then march through the rest of the town. And people would be on the sidewalk to stop and watch the parade.
It's these things that I remember but it is the movie house that is on my mind today.
Cousin, 62. Diagnosed with degenerating spinal disks. Receives some public assistance.
Does she need a lawyer to apply for S.S.?
How long do you think it will be before religion is no longer a significant part of our culture?
Church attendance continues to dwindle. The number of people who profess to believe in some transcendental being continues to decline.
So, how long?
Richard Fierro - hero. I listened to the audio of his press conference. Towards the end he breaks
down in a way I have never heard anybody so lose their composure.
That poor man suffered emotional damage that will live with him or the rest of his life.
Dunno. Trump, being a twit, may be the best thing for us.
The more drivel he posts, the more. the magaloons will split the R votes.
I had a Wak-a-doodle dream last night. Mitzi, our cat, was sentenced to prison.
She is a brat and whatever she was sentenced for, I know she was guilty. But I felt sorry for her as she tried to hide from going to prison.
Jeff Dunham does Biden. Puppet looks like Walter. Portrayed as senile.
Lots of favorable comments in the Youtube videos.
So..... My comment: "Huh. But senile, old Brandon kicked Republican ass last week."
Cataract surgery.... I'm scared. I'm blind in one eye.
Literature in the office says there is a 1% chance the surgery will go south. If I'm the unlucky 1%, I'm blind.
Biggest losers of the night --- Alito. Hey Sammy, look what you did to your party of Magaloons.
And the Christian nationalists.
Musings on my 80th birthday. In the early 1950's there was a tv show, "Life Begins At 80."
And there were four old folks who would answer questions and make comments about life, the country, the world. These comments were insightful and with humor. God knows what their home lives were like, but on set, they were in suits, were having fun but were more like museum pieces to be studied. "Aren't they cute?"
I didn't want to be like that when I grew old. So it was about 15 years ago, I resolved to never put on a suit or tie again. For any reason, for anybody. Now, if the undertaker puts one on me.... well, that's a different story. I ain't got no control over that.
So what about me turning 80?
Start off with, I am in pretty good health. Wednesday's hike with the club was 5 miles and a 1,300 ft gain in elevation. I was at the nd of the line of hikers, but I made it and I intend to complete many more. I have a few aches and pains and sometimes, feel stiff, getting out of the car or out of bed in the morning. I have treated, high blood pressure, an aneurism that is monitored and a couple of cysts in my lungs and liver that don't seem to cause any concern on the part of my physicians.
To me, the remarkable thing.... I have never had a sick day in my life. I pissed off my teachers by never missing a day of school and I never missed a day of work. But I can't take credit for that. It is because of my genes which I have had no control over. Many of my family members lived or are still alive in their 90's.
I expect to live in to my 100's. But that presents another problem. I will likely survive many of my loved ones. That depresses the shit out of me. I will live into my 100's but what will be the quality of that life?
In younger days, I worried about if I would have enough money. I do. I am not wealthy, but I have a defined benefit pension and there is money left over at the end of the month. I am ok in that area. But I feel badly, reading about posters on D.U. who are in bad economic straits. I always contribute to G.F.Me posts. That is not to brag, it ain't much that I contribute. It's just that I am grateful for my life as it is.
My kids and grandkids give me pleasure. tomorrow, we are going to the Statue of Liberty along with a couple of other trips this week because school is out for the week.
Sex. God, I miss it. I had a lot of sexual experiences during the 70's and 80's .... before herpes and Aids. I was hot then and I know the market for 80 year old men is not too hot these days. So I put that out of my mind. But as I have posted before, the "Little Soldier" still comes to attention when needed.
Then I think about summing up my life. I guess we all want to make a mark on the world... let the world know we were here. And like all of us, I have done a couple of things of which I am really proud. And I spend a lot of time thinking of the assholic things I did during my life. I can't bring 'em back and change 'em but I dwell on those things... maybe too much.
Well, that's all I got for now.
You?
Post script. I also worry about how my grandkids will fare in the world to come. A couple of them will be ok. Others are having some problems in life and I worry about them. -- just thought I''d bring that up.
Profile Information
Member since: Sun Feb 18, 2018, 12:32 PMNumber of posts: 12,374
