Viral Vicissitudes

It's hystorical (when history meets with hysteria)! Lessons we (thought) we learned... History, English, Civics, Economics...out on the playground and back in the classroom...along with... "All the crap I learned in high school..." Come back and watch, see, what's in store for you when you return, after being absent. NEXT

Triple Wham, Bammer! Black and Blue Bummer. Adding Insult to injury:   We were already bruised up, coming out of what came to be known as the "Black and Blue" division of the National Football League, which is comprised of both a National Football Conference (a bit redundant if you ask me) and the others, who like to refer to themselves as the real, "all  American" Football Conference (even though the NFC holds a slight lead in bringing home the Vince Lombardi trophy). Our home team, the won, I mean the one that almost  won last evening, having to travel all the way to the west coast (now, is that  what you call fair ?!) came out of the North divisional playoffs -- the division known for its "rough, tough" rivalry, style of play...rugged. Resulting in just about every single player being just above the disabled list, boarding the team plane already bruised up, all "black and blue" -- plus leaving a bloody trail behind in the locker room, for the ...

"Are you in, or out?" Where rest stops and final resting takes place. "Your call": More accurately, a response to the question that probably first got asked when your parent saw you holding the door open, lingering, longer than necessary, even to the degree..."you're wasting energy, would you make up your mind, whether you're coming or going...?!" And then, finally, upon arrival at what might end up to be your last stop..."Are you staying or going...?" As in "just visiting" or becoming a "resident". Which may or may not be your choice, depending on "prior conditions"... "Call ahead" What the principal, in whose office we had a gas! wishes we had done (as in prior warning), entered without an invite a space that which he grudgingly shared, then gladly vacated (see 1/17 post-it note for the whole break-down) and then gave way to even more occupation, of the sacred ground upon which our forefathers mor...

Breaks with Tradition: from bumming around, to cheering up. Over-time: A term that buys us fans a little extra time to get worked up...into a frenzy! as in one last ditch effort...one last chance for our team...to blow it! Well, we're kind of conditioned, like rats chasing the cheese, in a maize...just to have it grabbed up as we make a final drive😖😢 But in this case, it's more a state of mind, as in consciousness...raising. As in how my own mind worked overtime, trying to find a way to bring you back, cheer you up, after I left y'all on "SAD" (see 1/21 for full experience...)  What a bummer! As in "I'm so bummed out (showing my age?) -- I had high hopes, after all those off season moves the management made..."  that once again promised to bring us a product that would at least have more entertainment value, if not one additional "W". The full experience of which I had with my grandad, as in the root word..."Get those bums off the f...

Got the blues? You're excused: Not from school or work, silly. But just for having the condition that has stricken many around here, this whole region. One which has transitioned from a darker hue (the one that goes nicely with maize) to another, cross the aisle and down two rows, in the Crayola box. Especially if you were not prepared when you tuned into the scene or, more so, if you left sunnier climes (let's just say Tampa area, for the sake of brevity) to travel north, in search of...who went home..."feeling it" Given the conditions inside the stadium which, while toasty warm and hotter as the game progressed, was also decked out in a color that brings to mind calm, warm winds...Pacific-like. Oddly, a color that when we around here adorn ourselves, get all hyped up! For those not familiar with our own... Crayola Coloring Book: One that features only two colors, which were predominantly featured by the fans and what turned out to be the dominant team...a nice, soft...

Crazed and amazed: Zoned out, fans!    Brand us, "loyalty" Almost like saying we, the crazed fans who have craved for even just one more win than a (perennial) losing season, have what our "proud sponsors" like to refer to as "brand loyalty" -- you know, the brand, manufacturer, that you have aligned yourself with...generation after...until you, whatever that gen was that finally discovered..."not your (grand) father's Oldsmobile" A commercial that was often shown during sports, football games, on behalf of what's touted around this town, the "Motor City" (AKA "MOTOWN🎜!"...one of the BIG THREE, one which used to carry the name plate "Olds") Not no Mo. A name that has fallen out of fashion around here, along with what used to be touted as "American made" -- the label for which has to technically indicate...designed in...contents from...assembled in...and finally, arriving here, on or about our shore...

Head-less: "Abdi-cation, (extended) vacation..." (AKA: "he took a buy-out")  De-morale: "We're going to have to go...paper-less" (words that would come back and bite him in the...) "Baby, it's cold outside..." while heating up else-where... Ins, (mostly) outs: Of what happened behind closed doors...after we showed up, "Unannounced, uninvited, why are you showing up so suddenly when you are not in trouble, when it takes you forever and a day to get here on demand...what exactly do you want with me...out with it, I don't have all day...I'm a busy body, a person of impotence, and I have an important announcement to make over the PA about updated rules and regs, the ones you all have made necessary, given all your shenanigans...which previously saw you lose out, on going out, to what used to be called the Play-ground, which has been ground up, to make room for something else to grow...all in the name of progress...the whole world...

Yet another hue, of (go) Blue! Uni-formity: The colors of the visiting team, that came streaming into town and were seen facing off against our home team late yesterday afternoon -- time frame-up partly to ensure ratings, from the mid-west all the way to what's technically considered the west coast...aka "Pacify Time" -- which includes L.A. whose current official colors that don their uniforms and helmets alike, differ slightly from those that came "Charging" into their own home town. The latter having come from environs due south, in search of a more friendly climate, defined by tax payers willing to foot the bill for a new stadium, after those in San Diego had "had enough" -- with the newcomers to L.A. donning yet another hue of blue (i.e., "Powder") coupled with "Sunshine Gold" (makes sense, even for those from LA, LA land) -- whereas those that came and went yesterday the colors were, are, at least for the moment, according to C...

Fan-tasia: Only in your wild (card) dreams! Animated, We R: A place and time, sometimes accompanied by movement, as in "somnambulistic😔" -- sleep walking for those of you not lucky enough to have been endowed with such a trait, predisposition, to working overtime...and those unlucky to have such a "sleep partner", which guarantees you will be hardly getting a wink yourself, sleeping with one eye open...a place where you, the "true blue" sports fan-atic! never stop thinking, working on your proposed game plans, (and the ones you think the coach should have used, had they only asked you...). A thing that we can all share some common ground... Endowed, R We:  With the 1) Qualities or at least a semblance of such, even when you are looking, appearing as if you are not..."Look alive!" invokes the coach, teacher, boss..."Time to get moving...get a move on!" 2) Full of movement and activity, even if vicariously, as in "armchair quarter-b...

Scuttle-butting: the fore and aft-ers (morale of the story: "Quit while UR still a-Head")  Complete coverage: of what took place...after the call for "all hands on deck"...the straight poop (or scoop as it's referred to by gossip-ers ) ...on the up-and-up...what took place on that appointed day in the office of the appointed one..."The Office of the Principal" (OOPS!) who, in the cast of characters for today's chapter in the longer quest, to take back what was rightfully ours...as in "what was lost is now found" -- every school has a special place for this in or around the office -- along with some "founders" principles, before you can simply act like it's just a grab bag...out of respect for other's stuff, blah, blah blah...Today I'm referring to him inter-changeably as the Head-master, the one who sits (usually idly) on the throne, throwing out edicts to all of us...students (eye, for an eye, skipper!). A story tha...

Confetti, at the ready... Showering: What the players, especially those donning the maize (mostly blue) and winged helmet-less, stalled for..."plenty of time for that later...just want to soak all this in..."                      What OUR quirky coach (notice how even those among us that had sort of gotten weary of his antics once again claim ownership...kind of goes with sports fans...) referred to as if they were snowflakes (we're from the Midwest after all) -- "each one of those separate pieces of maize and blue tells a story..." How can an individual skilled in the art of extemporaneous speech be considered a "Flake!" himself?  Laugh-ishing: What the same coach shared with his players, starting with the final countdown, in the so-called waning minutes of a hard-fought victory which was the satisfying end of a longer campaign (during which he, himself had to take two extended time-outs)...and the heaping on of affection for ...

Im-Part 2: Home and Away - Fan-Zones "So, where ya'   been, lately?" Whether explicitly stated or more subtly im-plied, at the beginning of a season, or even just after "half-time" in form of either a more formal "Welcome back!" or a nudge, due to a "slight increase" in the cost of either a "single game, family pack...combination...whole season..." It will cost you...And if you are simply a reader, whether a first timer, or more loyal follower, it will only cost you a few minutes of your precious time (feel valued?)...in order to catch up, the second of two parts (the first still available for free  if you'll just go back one season, to December 30th...) "Only fare" That, regardless of which sequence the two games are played, that you, the fan, get to experience the "home and away" perspective. Which tends to take place when your team is playing another in your own "division" (which may have been ad...

Star Grazing, the "Milky Way"  "Billions and billions..." So how, in the earth do you expect me to pick out the right one to follow...? Said the wise man...the one out of three, who refused to stop for directions -- rumor has it there was an arrangement whereby one would be a tie-breaker in case a vote was necessary, if (when) they finally acknowledged they were a bit off course, leaving those who had already been summoned to the "Manger scene" waiting on them (what did they think they were, kings?!).  So much for "Orienting".  Star-struck, RU?  If you represent an institution or are other-wise in desperate need, to fill a few spots in your upcoming Super! commercial, and are, due to your current available talent, almost sans stars, as they have not all made their way back from the recent star strike -- understandable given some are light years away...you'd come to the right place. For we not only represent the most talented but also the brig...

Deductive Seasoning: A duet - 'tis the season for some reason 𝅘𝅥𝅮 Go, figure: As in you've probably already figured out, deduced  from what's conspicuous by it's absence. No, not those ubiquitous carols that have been almost 24/7 since 12:01 just after midnight on Halloween...and not all those countdowns on what's in, not for last, the next...but more so the ongoing series within a series with...about what's about to happen in the residence of the presiding faculty member -- the "Office of the Principal" -- the one who is principally responsible revoking recess! and prohibiting playground players... Fair thee well: Only a slight derivation from what one might fare, after being wished well, upon a new year, or when a parent might say..."have a good day, make good choices so that thee might sustain your playground privileges..." But, NO! You'd be almost spot on, using your noggin, a modicum of logic, if you thought, anticipated that I would ...

"It's what's showing" - no matter what time of the year, it's... Cine-matic!  As in motion pictures or, in this meta-phorical world of mine, how things keep changing, moving along...out with the old...out-going, in-coming...a world that, like NYC, never sleeps... Changeling : While change itself is inevitable, it continues to be a matter of strong debate (great, yet another thing for U.S. to be, at least allegedly, polarized about!) if it translates into "progress". The cinematic version in 1980 combines the "super-natural" with "horror" to bring us, along with hordes of other films, a genre that concerns itself with such matters... Mining Minds: It was just a matter of "when"  and not "if" those who studied our minds, how they work, and what we strive for in terms of being more so..."Intelligent" -- they, who are even now well represented by the APA (as in several subdivisions who combine, share, commise...

Wrinkles in Time: A new look at... Anything new here? You ask your-Self, so early in the (calendar) year -- which for lots of those in educational settings, barely marks the midpoint (just after mid-terms for lots of collegiates...how did you fare😔😕--did you even bother to look?)...This, after you've hardly had enough time to fully reflect, put last year in the rear (view mirror, that is). To gain perspective. To see what is firmly "etched" in your memory, partly reflected in your so-called "countenance" -- the sum total of external features -- the ones that people first encounter, along with the more internalized traits that you project, most consistently...the ones that people long associate with who you really  are -- your character. All-ways a good idea to take at least a few moments here (first few minutes of the new dawning, of whatever age) and there (the close of another, duh!) -- to take stock (or sell, depending on your longer-term goals), learn from...