Ultimate is the Ultimate “U” Word

Any day when you learn something really neat is an ultimate day. What I learned today made me feel like I had totally missed something for the past four decades that there is no way that I should have missed. I have truly been out of it! I must be the ultimate cultural disconnect. How could I have missed ultimate? If that sentence didn’t make sense to you then you may join me on the sidelines and learn the rules of ultimate (hint: it’s a sport).

I just know I would have loved this sport! I still will be interested in playing if there are teams or groups playing within a decade or two of my age range. Unlike most American sports, especially ones founded in this country, this one does not involve a ball of any kind. It’s actually a Frisbee or Discraft game…discs made by Discraft are more commonly used than the Frisbee which is made by Wham-O or the Daredevil Discs.

Alright enough about technical trivia of the sport. Ultimate is written up on Wikipedia very nicely. To learn all you ever wanted to know, but probably not everything you will want to know about Ultimate, click the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)#The_early_days_.28late_1960s.29

I bet when you read that today’s word was ultimate that you didn’t expect a post about a sport named ultimate. Well when I began this post, neither did I. But that seems to be the typical ebb and flow of life here beneath the Carolina moon. We get a lot of things in life we didn't expect.

Just because we don't think up somehting, doesn't mean that someone else doesn't, particularly God who also has a special affinity with the word Ultimate. If you don't believe what I have to say about it, just ask Him. He has the Ultimate Word on the Ultimate Matter and that my friends is ultimately all that really matters. To consult His Ultimate Word, click this link below.

http://www.biblegateway.com/

Posted by Dread, who owns a yellow, smiley face, Wham-O, Frisbee, and has declared today at his office to be Ultimate Monday. The first ten people to register will get preferential treatment, a free lollypop, and encouragement to pursue their ultimate blessing.

Trivial is a “T” Word

Trivial is a word I’ve come to appreciate, especially when associated with words like; trouble, problem, difficulty, concern, nuisance, predicament, setback, worry, pain, annoyance, hurt, frustration, aggravation, upset, irritation, disappointment, disturbance, malady, disease, sickness, injury and regret. When you put trivial in front of any of those words it immediately lightens the load by a huge factor; that is if trivial is truly the proper adjective.

Sometimes when our days deliver interruptions or distractions by masses of trivial matters, while we are in pursuit of what we consider greater goals, we become agitated to no end. Our impatience grows. Our tempers flare up. But it is precisely on those days we should be truly thankful for the trivial that has crowded out the major. After all, which had you rather have, several trivial, easily overcome setbacks, or one major difficult setback? Call me lazy but when it comes to troubles, I’ll take trivial over major any day.

Yesterday was one of those days of trivial bothers. At the end of the day though, with all things considered, life was good. There have certainly been worse days. I’m not giving a long narration of the trivial troubles of the day to bore you with, but here’s the short list:

My Palm Pilot slipped off my belt and fell into the toilet.
Rushed out forgetting to brush my teeth, after having garlic sauce on my pizza the night before.
Stepped in a big pile of dog pooh on the lawn, didn’t notice until it was all over my shoes and pants legs.
Repeatedly turned over my coffee mug in the truck until it all was wasted but three sips.
Miss N and I waited and waited and tolerated while the phone company piddled with getting her line hooked up so she could gain net access from home. In the end they didn’t finish the job.
I misplaced the tiny tubing adaptor/fitting for the fish pond water pump I was installing at work, which is a long story and I was in a hurry to get back to Miss N’s cause the weirdo phone guy was coming back, and the fish needed to be put back in filtering circulating water – near panic.
One of the buckets I was using transferring fish and plants to the pond had a leak in the side and… just say it was another mess to clean up.
Then there was dinner, which I don’t even want to go into.
There was a phone call from my mother that was rather cryptic.
Another shall we say social occasion with just plain obviously bad timing or something.
And finally I kept Miss N up on the computer way past either of our normal bed times.

In between all that, hopefully nothing else that I didn’t notice went very badly wrong. I did eventually get my teeth brushed, cleaned up some of the material messes, found lost objects, and most things were working by the end of the day. I’ve probably left a few people wondering about my sanity, but that’s not such a new thing. The point is, most of this stuff is trivial when taken in perspective of the big picture of life, and all of the really horrible things we hope and try to avoid.

When I went to sleep last night, everyone as far as I knew was safe, most of the trivial problems encountered during the day were overcome, and as a friend used to say, “Hey, at least nobody was killed.” I had hoped to make today a little better of a day, but so far I’ve hit the stumbling block of “what do you do when nothing goes particularly wrong?” I figure its just a matter of making plans and then trying to act on them. As it is, I forgot to make plans for today. Well not completely, just not many.

Posted by Dread who prefers trivial troubles to no plans at all.

Sourcefork is an “S” Word

Sourcefork is an “S” Word, and I just made it up! (I’m so proud of myself) So what is a sourcefork? A sourcefork is what occurs when you back trace something from its feeder sources and encounter a fork. For example; when traveling up stream through a river and you encounter a fork where two tributaries come together to form or contribute to the river, that’s a sourcefork.

One should not confuse a forward fork with a sourcefork. A forward fork is like a fork in the road you encounter. You choose one path or the other. A sourcefork is like merging traffic. Something you maybe didn’t expect or maybe did, but it is added to what is already moving along the path.

People tend to look at life as a series of cross roads and forks in the road, at which they have to make choices, and those choices decide their life outcomes. Well I’m telling you life’s highway has cross roads, forks, and a whole lot of on-ramps. That means there’s tons of traffic joining you that you didn’t personally invite on your life’s trip. So now you know where all those good, aggravating, sweet, dangerous, inspiring, depressing, brilliant, idiots came from; sourceforks.

Now, I know sourcefork could be two words, source, and fork, but then it wouldn’t be a new word; just a new term. I liked the idea of having a unique word coined on this blog. First, inventing anything new is always so kewl (yes I spell kewl differently). Secondly, if you have a unique word on your blog that no one else has, and if anyone else ever has the same thought, or just gets brain stupid and types it into Google, well there you are, not only number one in the list, but also the only one in the list. At least in theory, that’s the way it works. I suppose this will be a live test of sourcefork. Who knows what will happen? That’s the way life is here beneath the Carolina moon; full of sourceforks you didn’t know existed, until you look back. Which is a subject for another day.

Posted by Dread whose life has had and continues to have more crossroads, forks, and sourceforks than he ever expected. The skills of dodging idiots in merging traffic and potholes, while not confusing an off ramp with a fork, continue to be necessary skills of growing significance. Courteous drivers and compatibly tempered passengers are appreciated deeply. And, you thought learning to parallel park was the toughest part of driving?

(post log: if you ever find a word that Google can’t find, use it quick. I don’t think Google ever gives up, nor that we're only one, or number one. sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork sourcefork there!)

Remarkable is and “R” Word

Once again I’ve read over all the “Blogs of Note” on the Blogger front page. The last time I did that I found Three Beautiful Things, which was in reality the only blog of note that day, and has been ever since. I linked Three Beautiful Things here and still read it every day. Today’s Blogs of note, truly aren’t, at least in my book. A blog of note should be truly remarkable, like Three Beautiful Things. Why would a bad or sorry blog, a boring one at the very best, be called a blog of note?

But then, we all have good days and bad days. I think the difference is some people just take whatever kind of day they are handed and make it a remarkable day on almost every day. These are remarkable people, and they make life better for the remainder of us. I’m glad we have them sprinkled about here and there. I don’t consider myself remarkable, but I do consider myself fortunate to know many remarkable people. They make my life remarkable. If you are one of them, thank you! You probably don’t realize who you are, but thank you anyway.

The pic today is of a magnolia blossom. The magnolia tree, except for its giant sweet scented blossoms, is an unremarkable tree. But taken as a whole with its heady scented blossoms, it becomes a remarkable symbol of the deep south. All in all, it’s a rather remarkable place to live, here beneath the Carolina moon.

Posted by Dread, who lately has had days, which weren’t bad. Given the recent months’ track record, that’s pretty remarkable.

Quiz is a “Q” word

Quiz is not usually a fun word. But a fellow blogger pointed me toward a page of odd, fun quizzes. Quiz Meme is the site name. I took the candy quiz to find out what kind of candy I am. I’m not telling! It wasn’t what I thought or wanted to be, so I was a bit disappointed. You can figure out your own candy. There are other oddball quizzes there also ranging from “What color are you?” to …well see for yourself at this link:
http://www.quizmeme.com/

Also if you really, really just have to know, you can take the nerd test here:
http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php

After taking those two quizzes, if you’re still feeling quizzical, ask yourself this question. Is this normal, or do I need to seek help? I’m not going to tell you what my answer to that one was either. I did discover an endless supply of quizzes out there on the net. If you want to spend your life taking quizzes, it is possible.

I also discovered that while police “question” suspects, witnesses, and persons of interest here in the US, in the UK it seems they “quiz” them. So, what’s the difference between a question and a quiz? Is that a question or a quiz?

Posted by Dread who on even his best days has more questions than he does answers, but most of the time, enjoys the challenges, and knows there is a single ultimate answer to all questions that have ever been posed or ever will. Whether question or quiz, you will hear many answers. But, ultimately there is but one Truth.

Passion, Politics, Power are “P” Words

Is this person someone we know? Actually there is an uncanny resemblance erh? So what has this picture of Marilyn got to do with passion, politics, and power? Passion, politics, and power in that order can be a good thing, reverse, or mix it up, and it can be a deadly thing.

Miss “N” was just last week telling me some things she had read recently concerning the untimely demise of Marilyn Monroe. How ironic that I would, while surfing around today, run across an article on the Reader’s Digest site, addressing some of the issues mentioned by, Miss “N”. It was very intriguing reading.

One avenue that the RD article didn’t go down was the connection between the Sam (Momo) Giancana family and JFK. The connection between Hollywood and La Cosa Nostra is common knowledge, and given the info in the RD article, it’s conceivable, for various reasons, that Marilyn was murdered. Especially since; (a) plans to murder or overthrow Fidel Castro may have been discussed by either or both, Bobby Kennedy and or JFK, in front of or even with Marilyn, and (b) it is also known that Sam Giancana also met with CIA reps concerning the potential murder of Castro, and (d) one could go on and on about the Mafioso and the Kennedys, and Castro, and womanizing, and double crosses, but I will give it a rest here.

Was Marilyn Monroe murdered in a manner to look like suicide and discredit her? Did she accidentally overdose? Did she intentionally just do herself in? The Reader’s Digest article is intriguing and informative, but of course, leaves so much unanswered. I give it a 4 out of 5. I think the subject bears further investigation. Do I smell a full length book in the making? Anyway, I recommend the article:

Bombshell
44 years after Marilyn Monroe's tragic death, just released government documents raise new questions about what really happened. By Anthony Summers
http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=29501

Power never was all it’s cracked up to be. Politics isn’t what it used to be. That just leaves passion. Which, brings me back to where this post started. Politics is always about either passion or power, or both. Power for the sake of power is an empty accomplishment. But passion? You don’t want to step out in front of that train.

I have a few things in my life that I’m passionate about; the divine Miss “N” being at the top of the list. They say that Marilyn was very smart also, maybe too smart. Maybe she came to know too much. And you know, she was almost as pretty as Miss “N”; almost. Too bad that she didn’t have the centering and strong anchoring that Miss “N" has. Things might have been different for her. For more reading on this subject also see these brief articles:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKcampbellJ.htm

Posted by Dread, who missed Miss “N” fiercely all day yesterday, but has high hopes of seeing her today.

Opportunity is an “O” Word

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."~ Albert Einstein ~

Yes, deja vu. I’ve used that quote before, and not too long ago. I’m using it again. I use it frequently. It’s usually not easy to see or find or act on the opportunity, but it’s there. There are opportunities to ease the pain of someone who is hurting more than you, hungry, lost, confused, or just plain misguided.

The greatest opportunities cost no money, only effort. They are usually partially open doors that we just need to give a push or step through. Too bad we are usually busying ourselves beating on the door that just closed and locked behind us. How is it, we close doors all around us, and sit complaining about all the noise made by opportunity knocking? Don’t beat yourself up. We all do it. Even here, beneath the Carolina moon.

Posted by Dread, who hasn’t particularly looked forward to weekenders for a while, but for no particular conscious reason, has a spark of optimism that the weekender will uncover a hidden opportunity.

____ is my "N" Word

I’ve tried finding a suitable “N” word and haven’t found one I can share. I could have picked some flower name, but that would be a cheap out. There are so many either negative, nasty or naughty words that start with N that there's no reason to share here. But the truth is, I know of a few beautiful N’s, but one in particular tops my list. I can't think of other N words when she is on my mind. A mental block? No. A mental saturation.

She wouldn’t want me to make mention here, nor post a picture, so I won’t. Still, she is the most beautiful N in the world, and the only N that really matters to me. All of the other N words can just go fluttering away with the wind. In fact, I’m going to just cut this post off right here, and go get ready to leave for work. The quicker I get to work, the sooner I get my work done, and the sooner I can leave to go see my beautiful and loving N.

So, she’s the “N” word for today; the one I’m not mentioning. So for now, the “N” word is a secret at least to you.

Posted by Dread who has found the term “significant other” to be a preposterous understatement; is realizing this post will be meaningless to all but maybe a very few people, but is still feeling happiness in making it; and has started looking forward to most days with optimism, even when by public standards optimism isn’t warranted, because most days it really is.

Mystery is an "M" Word

Now I’ll give you a mystery, with hidden treasure, and pirates. You will laugh, you will think and reason, but not overly deep. You will meet the pirates, solve one mystery, raise another, and come away with all the answers you sought, but also burdened with more questions. That is unless you are of lesser intelligence than what I hope my readers are.

Here is the mystery. Why was this South Carolina town named Sugar Tit? This town actually once existed, but I don’t think it was ever incorporated, and later merged with another. I understand that the first ever BubbaFest was held there, featuring a wading pool of grits, a moon pie toss, a drawing for a second hand refrigerator, etc. So there we are, but left with the mystery of the name.

Are you ready to meet the pirates?
Go here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=662937998

Are you ready to solve the mystery?
Go here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txrober2/Stewart2.htm

Ah, the treasure? You’re on your own for that one. You’ve been given enough hints. Carpe diem! Go find it!

Posted by Dread who knows today will be dreary, with overcast skies and rain, but is trying to make it fun, and brighten up the day, or drive everyone crazy in the effort; but truly doesn’t believe in forced conformity, nor mean to be offensive. Erstwhile, he would have written about cities in Austria. Okay, never mind that.

Looking is an “L” Word

Looking Back, Looking at Now, Looking Forward to a Cure
Looking back; 1984 was the last time the Tigers were in a World Series. (World Series Champions 1935, 1945, 1968, 1984) I’ve dug out my old navy blue cap with the white old English “D”. These are hard to come by these days, and were made popular, and a bit scarce, during the Tom Selleck, Magnum PI, TV show days.

Looking at now; oh yeah, it could happen. Detroit could win. Outside of Detroit, there are what, maybe six fans? I took crap from my playmates as a kid for being a Detroit fan. Hey, so what? They were NY Yankees fans for crying out loud! These days, I mostly pull for Atlanta, but, if Atlanta can’t win, then definitely the team of my youth, Detroit! So we’ll see where this all goes.

Looking forward to a cure; a subject or rather cause that is near and dear to my heart is finding a cure for breast cancer. Actually, I contribute toward finding cures and preventions for all types of cancer. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I don’t want people to just be aware of it, I want to see you get involved in prevention, early detection to increase cure rates, and yes ultimately, a complete prevention and cure. Please get involved! Click the link below, and do something!

http://health.yahoo.com/breastcancerawareness06

There will also be a perminant pink ribbon link on the side bar now.

Kiss is a “K” Word

I pondered and thought over the proper word for this “K word” post and just couldn’t get kiss off my mind. A kiss to me seems to be one of the most beautiful things in the world. Lips touching whatever and whoever is being kissed, lips touching lips, gentle smacks, nibbles… all beautiful… especially so or more especially so, for someone that is loved. The kiss of two lovers is near the perfection of human communication. The kiss says more than any language known to exist, because it is part of the language of the heart.

Have a really great weekender! Me? I'm going to give it my best go!

Posted by Dread who had multiple really superduper quadupulous, make you melt in your tracks, kisses today. All from the one wonderful person that matters, that speaks the langauge of his heart; fluently.

Joy is a "J" word

Joy is a word often associated with Christmas, and then completely neglected the remainder of the year. There is joy in much that we do, touch, see, hear, etc. There are people in our lives that bring us great joy just by their presence. We should celebrate the joy we encounter each da,y as readily as we lament the inconveniences and sorrows that litter our life’s walk.

I wish day wrecker people could just be ignored, while day makers could be promoted to the front page of the newspaper, with a the caption “Made Someone’s Day Great!” I think a lot of us do that, and maybe that’s why Katie Couric’s audience share has steadily fallen since her shift to the CBS evening news. Her demeanor also shifted. She went from being cutesy beaming, bubbly Katie to being seriously intense, to the point of appearing like a blonde Maria Shriver, dull edged, bubble popper.

This image is a screenshot of a copyrighted television program or station ID. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by the company or corporation that produced it. It is believed that the use of a limited number of web-resolution screenshots for indentification and critical commentary on the stattion ID or program and its contents on this webblog for non profit purposes qualifies as fair use under the US copyright law. Any other uses of this image may be copyright infringement.

Although I personally was never overly impressed with her, evidently many people were, and she had a vast audience on the Today Show. The joy she previously relayed to her audience (whether it was faked or real) is gone. But then, I guess that it’s hard to report the Iraq casualty toll, and an atomic bomb test in North Korea by a mad man, with any joy. Maybe if they hired that guy from ABC, (the one that always has a painful wince on his face), to report the bad stuff for her, and she followed it with joyful stuff, it would help her audience share.

I really am not qualified to comment much about this, since I don’t watch TV news, but have only glimpsed it as it was coming on. When you see the expressions on the news anchors’ faces, you just know they don’t have anything joyful to report, so I turn it off. I read the headlines off the net each morning, then look for something good to happen. Despite some of the bad stuff, usually there are still more things to be joyful about than bad stuff to be wrecked up over.

Even here in the deep south where we make an art of sorrowful suffering, we also find joy in the larger picture of our lives as well as life’s smaller pieces. I look for Katie Couric to get her ratings back up then, gracefully resign, saying she is grateful to CBS for the opportunity, but it’s just not what she wants to do with the rest of her life. In short, at the end of the day, I hope the poor girl goes for the joy. Because, if you’re accomplishing what others envy, but you’re unhappy, it sucks like swamp mud.

Posted by Dread who thinks helping others find and celebrate the joy in their lives could be a worthy quest for anyone; and joyful; and further, agrees with you that this post is a paradox at best, and probably oxymoronic, but found a bit 'o joy in creating it.

Interest is an "I" word

Banks (greedy bastardos) are very interested in interest. But today I'm not writing about that kind of interest. I find the term “a person of interest” to be a phrase of interest. A lot of people are interesting, outside of crime solving circles and circumstances. Today I’ve added two blogs of interest to my links list. They interest me, and if they interest you that’s swell. If not, then don’t fret over it. I’ll use the links as easy to follow access for myself. They won’t be wasted.

I read all of the “Blogs of Note” listed on the Blogger home page, and found that none of them were, but one. I have linked it over there -> and it’s called Three Beautiful Things. I’ve linked it because I liked it and probably will eventually read it all and follow it. It will remind you of haiku, but different, and maybe some books you’ve read.

It’s not by a Carolina blogger, but one from Turnbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom. I agree with Blogger, Three Beautiful Things is a blog of note, hence I have added it to the links. You’re gonna love this girl’s attitude. Three Beautiful Things is more than an attitude, its a philosophy if you will. I highly recomend the blog and the practice.

Also another blog I’ve followed for a few weeks and find amusing, The Sudden Curve, has been added to the links. It’s maintained by, or rather sporadicly maintained by, a crew consisting mainly of Bob Wallace and Tom Novak. It’s odd, quriky, and unapologeticly gets in your face at times; most of the time actually. And, no matter who you are or how well behaved, it does you good to have someone in your face every once in a while; to just wake you up and remind you of where you stand, what you like and don’t, and who you are.

Well, I don’t think The Sudden Curve actually does all that, but it’s kinda fun. If you can be told that gun control should be hitting what you aim at, and that good diversity is owning multiple types of handguns; then in the next thought, laugh at the Rainbow hippies putting a batallion of over armed police to rest with mere words, then you probably have a balanced mindset that can tolerate The Sudden Curve. But then, the blog does warn right in the title splash, “unsafe at any speed”. So, enter at your own risk.

Posted by Dread who has missed multiple doses of various medications in the past 48 hours, but is sleeping more and better, and feeling much better; and thinks you should balance medical advice with your own research and common sense.

Home is an "H" word

When you see past meeting present in some kind of whimsical manner, it always presents an oil and water type incompatibility of mix. Still, there's a certain element of odd stupidity that makes it simultaneously campy neat. There seems to be an element of incongruity that people like and embrace.

Thankfully, the past and present represented in the picture, are both now past. Even though I have an affinity for round and unusual shaped houses, I don't think I would welcome these in my neighborhood. Still you gotta admit, most kids would love'em. Can you imagine the coolness as a kid, and the embarrassment as a teen if your family lived in one of these?

Actually they were motel, or as they were known in the day, "motor court" rooms. They were somewhat unique even in their day. These wigwam motor court villages actually sprang up across America. I'm really glad they didn't make it into the home builder's portfolio.

At the end of the day though, all this got me to thinking a little wider, and triggered a question in my mind. Has any other culture been so bastardized, exploited, destroyed, then continuously bastardized, exploited, and kicked aside, as the Native American plains peoples? Historically, the people who came here, eventually treated their slaves better than they have treated the people who were already residing here.

I have to ask about two H words. But, never mind my question about "home". Just who is the "heathen"?


Posted by Dread, who only now occasionally drops in a line or two.