A Downer to a Pick me Up

Anything at Anytime sometimes takes a little outside inspiration.

Today was a downer day for some reason and I just could not get anything going.  I lazed around the house watched a couple of movies on TV and other than the one I just watched I can't tell you squadouche about what they were.

I have no idea if any of you have ever heard of it, I never had.  The movie is called The Amateurs with Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, and William Fichter from 2005.  A Definite must for a few reasons.  I will let you discover most of them for yourselves.  I will tell you one that got me going and thinking.

Murphy's Law happens to everyone sometime or another.  It all depends on what you do with it after it has hit you that counts.  I watched the movie and I saw myself in it.  All except for the ending and the general plot.  The Murphy's Law hitting when you least expect it.

A few years back I bought into a web store and busted My Ass creating links and trying to build connections and getting listed in yahoo and google and all learning how to input keywords and all that crap in just the right way.  I actually got a few sales out of it.  We (Jackie and I) both busted our humps trying to keep paying what I owed for the site and struggled and struggled to keep it running but as Life would have it and Murphy's Law - that is when I started getting sick regularly and missing work more and more.

Start cutting here and cutting there, Robbing Peter to pay Paul and before you know it we couldn't keep up with everything.  Then I was diagnosed with Later Stage Emphysema and lost my job because of missing to much work.  That is when reality bit me/us in the ass.

Eventually in a sinking ship you have to start bailing and patching holes or everything is gone.  So I had to give up a few things that really hit hard.  Needless to say my credit is shot to shit and seemed (note: seemed) to waste a bunch of our money.

We have "buttoned down the hatches" and have patched all the holes that we can and have both begun bailing to get ahead of the ones we can't patch (like me).  Family has come to the aid a few times as well.  Honestly, that surprised the shit out of me.  You know who you are and THANK YOU!

One thing I can tell you is Failure happens to everyone sometime and if you haven't experienced it yet you are either Lucky as Sin or to young to really know Failure.  It is what you make of that failure or disaster that resulted in failure that counts.

Some of you that read me on a regular basis have asked in the forums "Why I push so hard to try and make this blog go and get "Popular""?  Well, I am not going to sit on my ass and do nothing.  I want to contribute something to my family even if it is just pennies on occasion.

41 years old and I never did learn to quit in a fight.  I get knocked down, I get back up.  I may get up slower and slower but I will always get up and keep going.  That attitude has gotten me into a ton of trouble but it has also saved me from disaster.  This is one of the good times and The Amateurs has that kind of attitude to it towards the end with great rewards.  Don't know why but for some reason it picked me up.

Again if you haven't heard of it or seen it you have to give it a view.

The Night the Lights went out in........ El Paso?

Last night, while I was here at the computer monitoring the blog for comments and playing in one of my Poker Stars tourneys, a monster Thunderstorm hit coming out of nowhere.  Winds in excess of 60+ mph and sounding like that dreaded "Freight Train" that you don't want to think about. 

Not that we get tornadoes here in El Paso that often, but having spent several years living in tornado country, you Know that sound.  Well, it wasn't!  Just a big bad Thunderstorm with some vicious wind. 

This was about 8 - 8:30 PM that it came through here and so I had Jackie put the TV on one of the local channels so I /We could see if there were any alerts coming out for the area.

We had all been in the living room for about a half hour and it seemed that everything was settling down and it was just going to be a good rain storm, so the girls went to their rooms to get ready for bed and........

BOOM,  a Thunder and lightning strike close to the house and that is it LIGHTS OUT!!!

The girls (all three) were shaken.  Hell, I was even shaken!  That damn thing was Close (I have been next to Bradleys firing their guns with no hearing protection and That made them sound like a whisper).  So, we are all shaken and lights out, I tell the girls to stay where they are and not to move in the dark.  Believe me when I say dark, It was Dark. 

Dark is an understatement, there wasn't even a hint of light from anything.  Off I go into the dark looking for the lighter we use on the stove.  One step, two steps, Damn!!!!! I trip on Snuggles (our dog if you haven't read an earlier story).  Luckily I catch myself with flailing arms in the kitchen doorway.  Good, I am only a couple of steps from the stove and the lighter to get something so that we can see. 

I reach over to the shelf and NOTHING....... I feel around a bit and...... nope Nothing.........  Damn, Damn, and Damn again!!!!!!

OK,  Where is the Damn Lighter!  I ask (if you can call that asking).

Three different voices and a "woof" all at the same time.
"woof" from Snuggles of course.
"I think its on the fridge"
"on the table in the kitchen" and
"maybe on the dinning room table"

GREAT! 

One was easy to dismiss can you guess which one? 

Since I am in the kitchen I start to move to the kitchen table because it is closer to where I am and was quickest to check.  Having learned my lesson from the earlier "trip", I slide my feet across the floor slowly so I don't stumble on anything else.  Glad I learned my lesson earlier as I bumped the water and food bowls both one after the other as I move to the table. 

Feeling around on the Table Nothing again. 
Now, moving over to the fridge and feeling around on the fridge Again Nothing.  

So now I have to choose: weave my way through the mine field of the living room to get to the dining room table or head to our bedroom to get some matches on my desk?

Easy choice, I decided on the bedroom and my desk as less to worry about tripping on.  Slowly moving out of the kitchen and stepping through the doorway that leads to our bedroom. 

To LATE.......... I forgot about the step down.........
Arrrrgggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!

A bump and a bruise on my knee later I get to the desk and Thank God found the matches!

I strike a match and use the light to guide me back through it all back to the living room.  The match almost burns out on my finger but I shook it out before it could and pull another match to strike so that I can start looking for the candles. 

I strike the match and light it....... and .......  *wink*........ *blink*........ and the Lights Turn back on!