HUMILITY MONDAY JUNE 29, 2009

Mikey's new summer buzzzzzz.
Cool, easy to keep clean and no mess.

Squeaky tells Bear and me a terrible joke.
We laughed until we snorted.

Some of the folk in my town are a bit crazy, but have
good hearts. They threw candy from this... our only "float" in the parade to all the spectators.

You might confuse this with a float, but it's a concession stand build in the shape of a pirate ship.

This oddly enough is the "Mountain Men Encampment".
They kept firing the cannon on the hour. Oh my head!

A Mountain Woman. There were about fifty of these folk.

These are the Vet's bikes. They're in the pub across the street.

Makes me think of Cartman singing "I"m Sailing Away..." by Styx as fast as he can on South Park.

Looks like break time.

Bear has a new little friend, Mr. Underfoot.

It was a fairly slow and lazy weekend. I am so glad that the Sternwheeler Days madness is over for another year. The majority of Herd Beasts have gone home.

We never did our hike. But I walked everyday... which is how we come to the title of this post. Now normally I walk early in the morning, but I managed to oversleep and missed my usual morning time to walk.

No problem. I decided to walk in the afternoon instead. This went great on Saturday. I got down to business and worked up a good sweat careening around the hallways. It felt good.

My MP3 player is always in my ear. If I manage to forget it, I'll drive all the way home for it. Not only does it give me a good beat to keep me moving a steady fast pace, it entertains my brain. Let's face it, walking in empty hallways is not very mentally stimulating. Nor is it unusual for me to break into song and sing along. Hey... there's nobody there but me!

Sunday morning and I find that Zito Von Frito has slipped his chain and gone for a fun run. I have a very ugly dog. He has psoriasis on his back, which is bald, has flaky skin and warts. He's also 13 years old and looks it. See what I mean? Ugly. His face is very cute, but that skin condition makes him something you really don't want to touch. My neighbors do not like him in their yards. My walking time was eaten up by the hunt for monster dog.

I found myself back in the building to walk around 3:30 p.m. I knew from the day before that I would get pretty warm with all the windows closed in the day's heat. But the walk is worth it and a cool shower would await.

I have been working my way back to my hour a day, but am not quite there. I'm at 45 minutes now. Next week I'll move up again. The first half hour was a breeze. I had a good pace going and was feeling better than I thought I would. It was not as hot as I was sure it would be.

I switched from Guttermouth to The Misfits... you know them from a recent post... and began to sing. When the song "Saturday Night" came on, I was into it. It's a ballad of the type you would have heard in the fifties or sixties.

You can really throw yourself into it and belt out a heartfelt rendition. That's what I was doing. Singing loud with heavy dramatic emphasis as I come down the main hall toward the foyer that leads to the gym and the stairs to the lower floor.

I'm almost there... I sing... the crescendo increasing...at the top of my lungs...

"As the moon becomes the night time... You go viciously, quietly away...I'm sitting in the bedroom where we used to sit and smoke cigarettes... Now I'm watching... Watching you die!"

There are some "oooh, ooohs" after that, which is where I was as I busted into the doorway to the gym, with my arms flung wide and my head tossing to one side... working it.

The basketball coach stopped mid-shot to stare at me. Oh yeah... and it does get worse! There on the bleachers behind him are 6 or 7 guys ranging from 18 to 30. All faces are looking at me, their horror is announced by the shocked faces.

You know there is nothing that can erase something like that. No do-over. You are stuck with the shit of the moment. My body was moving at a good clip... there wasn't much point in stopping it.

So I pulled my ear buds out and said: "Oh... I didn't know anyone was in here. Hi!" and waved at them. Yes, I pretended that I had not been singing at all. It's all your imagination guys...

There was nothing else to do, so I took a tight turn around the basketball coach and back out of the gym as fast as my feet would carry me back into the foyer and down the hall. I should note that they were still staring as I left and no one waved back.
There is no doubt at all that they heard me coming as I belted out the last part of the song. Badly... very, very badly.

I think I'll ask my boss what days the open gym basketball times are to avoid this in the future.

But I should get points for enthusiasm, and I think I certainly earned some humility points for sure!

Here is the song I was singing... in case you wonder.

Saturday Night By The Misfits w/ Lyrics

Lyrics:

There's 52 ways to murder anyone.
One and two are the same, and they both work as well.
I'm coming clean for Amy.
Julie doesn't scream as well,
and the cops won't listen all night.
So maybe, I'll be over.
Just as soon as I fill them all in
and I can remember when I saw her last.
We were running all around and having a blast.
But the back seat of the drive-in is so lonely without you.
I know when your home,
I was thinking about you.
There was something I forgot to say,
I was crying on saturday night.
I was out cruising without you,
they were playing our song.
Crying on saturday night.
As the moon becomes the night time
You go viciously, quietly, away.
I'm sitting in the bedroom,
where we usedto sit and smoke cigarettes
Now I'm watching, watching you die…

And I can remember when I saw her last
We were running around and having a blast
But the backseat of the drive-in is so lonely without you
I know when you're home

I was thinking about you
There was something I forgot to say
I was crying on a Saturday Night

I was out cruising without you
They were playing our song
Crying on a Saturday Night