The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Time for a blast from the past


I have a little problem. I am going out of town for a couple of days and I have no posts stacked up to post while I am gone. A friend of mine emailed me the other day to say he was going to be in Florida visiting with his mother. Rick and I spent quite a bit of time together back in 1977. We had both been selected to attend certain schools for our companies (he was with AT&T and I was with Pacific Telephone at the time). We clicked right away.

We would tell people that we grew up in different cities together. We both had a golf addiction. We had similar views of the world. And neither of us took the schools we attended very seriously. We consumed a lot of beer and other adult beverages. We chased a few women, played quite a bit of golf, and generally acted like we were teenagers.

After the school was over, we kept in touch for awhile. He went through a divorce, as did I. He remarried, as did I. He moved to California from Virginia, I moved to Virginia from California. I moved first, he moved after I had moved to Florida. That was when we lost touch. Eventually, we both retired. He and Ellen retired to a condo near Ensenada in Baja California. Faye and I ended up here in Sebring (aka Paradise). We happened to cross paths a few years ago when Faye and I were visiting San Diego.

Rick and I will play some golf this Thursday, weather permitting, at a course up near Tampa. This will be interesting. We never competed at golf though we often played together. It was just about having fun.

On the last day of classes, the class threw a picnic of sorts. We bought a lot of beer, hot dogs, and some other things, fired up the barbecue grills the motel the companies had booked us in, and partied all day. Class, for the last 3 weeks, started at Midnight. We would all be flying back to our respective cities in the morning.

As the afternoon came to a close, Rick and I were the only ones left still standing. We were engaged in an effort to drive golf balls across the parking lot of the shopping mall next door and up onto the roof of a Lazarus department store. No thought was given to the balls that did not reach the roof... until a peculiar "woosh" was heard followed by the crack of a golf ball hitting the parking lot nearby. What goes up - and doesn't reach the roof - comes back down with a vengeance after ricocheting off the Lazarus' wall. We didn't stop hitting those golf balls, though.

That was just one example of our collective stupidity. Most of the others also involved the consumption of alcoholic beverages. I found out today that neither of us drinks much, if anything, alcoholic these days. Probably a good thing. I hope it won't put a damper on the fun.

3 comments:

The Jules said...

Maybe you should get hammered for old time(r)s sake?

I was amazed when I got together with my brothers (with whom I usually drink copiously and irresponsibly, and hilariously), for a few days of alcohol-free gadding about and had just as much fun without the booze.

Have a damn fine time.

Douglas4517 said...

I can no longer handle the hammering after effects.

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T.C. said...

That's the problem - the aftermath.

I just don't feel like dealing with it.