Roswell!

That thing’s been following me for an hour!

So I get to the hotel after over seven hours of driving. The Roswell Inn. Have you any idea how many, creative ideas could be generated here? I like it. I’d like it more if I was a townie, so I could talk shit 💩 about the tourists.

I want to try to narrate my evening thus far. A friend of mine is feeling down. I’ll try to make this a decent story.

I check in the at the front desk. The 20 something girl, sorry young woman, politely checks me in. But sadly doesn’t check me out. You get to a point as a man where it’s just too creepy to even joke flirt. I can’t do it. I’m Cringy McWeirdo. I’ll just make us both uncomfortable.

Anyway.

I drive to the building where my room is. Yep 16.

Rooms 14-17 are in a separate building with what I’m assuming are 4 more apartments on the other side. There are 4 parking places parallel with each of the 4 doors. 15 & 17 have cars. My first choice of the evening . Park in the empty spot in front of 14 or parallel park to get between 15 & 17?

There’s a lifted truck parked in 17. Its owner couldn’t manage to keep its massive grill out of my spot, 16 which is empty. 15 has a new red Cadillac. 14 is empty. I don’t have time for anything else. I park in 14s spot. Like Forrest said to Kennedy, “I gotta go pee!”

I had been squirming in my seat for the last 1/2 hr driving in. I thought there’d be a bathroom in the lobby. Nope. Sucks getting old sometimes.

I get back to the room…

Ahhh

So I’m tired. 2 hours ago I thought I might explore the town or museum. Nope. Just bring the food here please! DoorDash! Tip your driver!

So I’m looking at the map and there’s a burger place across the road (highway). The Burger Den. Never heard of it. Maybe it’s local. I could wait another hour and pay someone to bring me something more exotic, but that Wake & Bacon burger (with a fried egg) was calling to me. French fries and a shake? I’ll be right there! Ordered from DD but pick up instead of delivery. Sure I could have driven, but I’ve been driving all day! I needed the walk. It’ll be ready in 20 minutes.

I get my keycard, leave the wallet, take some cash and go out the door. I’ve locked myself out before. Awhile ago at a hotel that didn’t have a night manager. Never again!

I look closer and see there is plenty of room. I’m not going to have to parallel park. I can just slide right in. I don’t have my car keys.

I go back to the room, retrieve the keys, park the car, and start cleaning out the trash. I bring in drinks from the fridge, expensive electronics, and clothes bag w/ toiletries.

I’m holding all of this stuff and doing the pocket search for my keycard. Nope. When did I set it down? Search the car. Nope. Dang it! I put the heavy stuff in the car and walk down to the office. It looks closed! No!!!

No. It was open. I’m just always expecting the worst. The girl remembers me, thankfully, because I don’t have my ID.

So I go back to the room. Open the door. Yep, there’s my keycard! I immediately unlock the car, put the 2nd keycard in the cubby, get my stuff, lock up the room and the car, and I’m off to get my burger, which should be done by now!

All I have to do is cross this highway…

Back by popular demand!

Yes, I’m back. I’m even thinking of reclaiming my real name. We’ll see. I feel like my old self. Like my teacher friend, Jenni, said, “looking forward, not backwards” Or as one of my first “Memes”, from Gumball Ralley. Raul Julia says,

The 1st Rule of Italian Driving…

“Whattsa behind me, (removes rear view mirror) is not important!”

Of course, we didn’t call them memes back then. They were just funny lines from movies & TV shows. I look at my brother and say any setup line from any of those ‘70s movies and he’ll deliver a spot on reading. Consummate professional. God I miss him.

No! He’s not dead. Sorry (in a Canadian soory kind of way) It’s just he’s been up in the Great White Northwest and I’ve been in Libtardia.

There was a long stretch of years, at least two, when him and I and our mom would play Sid Meir’s Civilization on our computers with our modems and such. First III, then IV, and I think even V.

I thought of it as feeling my Irish, because good whiskey didn’t put a damper on my game. Somehow it got me out of the way so I could be, no say what I thought. Because I knew that whatever I said was the truth. Confidence. I miss that too.

I’m not gonna let it end there tonight because obviously I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I’m one of those guys that asks questions and thinks seriously about them, and what the ramifications might be. Even if I don’t like where they’re headed. If you’ve never considered it, how can you already have an opinion about it?

So I had several thoughts today, that I want to pursue.

I confessed my sins and sincerely accepted Jesus as the Son of God and wanted to be like him.

That was about 40 years ago.

I gotta be honest with you. I’ve never seen him. I’ve only had “feelings, impressions, thoughts” of spiritual experiences.

But there was a time when I was feet first in. It was later, about 30 years ago. That was in Visalia.

I was attending College of the Sequoias. I was on welfare. With my wife and two daughters. We were broke hippies. We were living in a KOA trailer park in Goshen. I’ll put those white trash credentials up against anyone!

Pizza’s here. I may, or may not, write later.

Don’t bother me, I’m remembering

Some memories are so sweet I fear I’ll ruin it if I dwell too long. But on anniversaries, the temptation is too great! Be they good or bad, I will roll around in them like a hog in mud. Coating myself in the cooling, soothing comfort.

These next few days will be a roller coaster of memory rides. Some thrilling, some sad, and some heartbreaking. So if I seem preoccupied, I’ve been putting some of these memories off for a long time, I’m going to be looking back intently over the next few weeks and months.

If you are making new memories for the future, I’m glad for you. It means you’re still living your life. I’m in a very reflective stage in my life, so I’m going to spend some time organizing and recording the life I’ve lived. Maybe next year I can get back to living life and making memories again. We’ll see.

You were there. It was real, even if it was temporary.

Connections

Did you know when you touch something your skin doesn’t actually physically come in contact with the surface of a table say. The little electrons of the atoms of the molecules that make up your skin repel the little electrons of the molecules that make up the fibers of the wood of the table.

But. You don’t really “touch” the table. Little nerve fibers pass on bio-electro-chemical “signals” like a baton race. Here, pass it on. Then something something happens and you of your reality experiences the sensation of a smooth surface under your fingers.

And yet…

Anniversaries are important to me. It’s a PTSD thing. But it’s also a way for my brain to focus. It’s easier to remember details on anniversaries for me than on other days when I may be reminiscing about my past.

The universe is telling me reality is connected on a more fundamental level than I could ever conceive. I have no idea how wrong I really am with my pretentious guesses about the truth. I can accept that. That makes sense. Every human being is equally far away from humanly inconceivable truths. Accept that. Get a good seat. Watch it happen.

Tomorrow will become an anniversary of sorts for me. There are a few events that have happened in my life that I can remember distinctly because of the importance and intensity of the moment.

When I run across an anniversary of one of those moments it can be like touching an electric fence. I feel what I felt then, in a way. Subdued of course, but the intensity of it was forgotten until I was surprised to find it still there just waiting to be remembered.

I’m experiencing memories of last year because I actually kept a journal. Several journals. Wow. I really thought a year ago that any day now, the divorce will be final and I’ll get to live in an apartment instead of in a tent next to my daughter’s RV.

It’s been a ride let me tell you. I’ve got audio recordings going back to 2017 talking about the trouble I was in at work. I want to see my wedding videos! Remember what it was like to feel the words when I told my wife I loved her.

Tomorrow will establish an anniversary. I will be debt free tomorrow for the first time in about 40 years. If I allow myself to become ensnared in that foolishness again I’ll deserve whatever consequences I earn! Not me friend. I have seen the light.

Accounting Day? Accountability Day? Net Worth Declaration? The Truth Shall Set You Free day. Needs work.

But it will be a day to remember!

Road Trip is Go!

Next t step is getting my car in travel ready. I want:

Oil change

4 adequate tires for mostly freeway driving. 30 mph dirt road capable. Last 10,000-50,000 miles or 1 year more.

Fix the door latch with something better than duct tape

Check transmission fluid

🤞Fix the windshield wiper fluid pump

Check main battery.

Less than $1500

After that is done, I can go!

I have to be back in Abilene by late October for dental work.

So. I may not get to the Wyoming game. Car has to be ready, but eclipse and Utah State game are definitely on the map. From there? TBD

Road trip idea

Fresno State Football is ranked again! They will be playing the Cowboys @Wyoming, Laramie, WY on 10/7. Then at @UtateState, Logan, UT

No, they’re the Utah State Aggies. The Utes play for Utah. But that’s not all!

The Annular Eclipse of 2023 will occur over North America. This is a good warm up for the Total Eclipse coming 4/8/24. Can’t wait to share that one with family and friends!

So I’m going to share my experience as if it was a blog that I’d try to live off of. Monetize it. Why not? 😉 The American way!

What’s that? I don’t know anything about making money off of a blog? True. That’s why god invented AI. To help me. I’m going to tell my story. I think I’ve lived an interesting life. I’m going to try to get it as close to correct as possible. Then record it. To make a McLaughlin Museum.

Then put a Disneylandish merchandise opportunity at the end of it. Creatively make money. Instead of slavishly.