When Cleveland June Met LA Johnny & Other Stories Made From Fluff

I won another bet not because I am so smart or so skilled but because I have learned to focus on things I am skilled at.

“You understand I see you as a mark, a rube and an easy win. You know I rarely lose these.”

The trash talk was intentional and designed to aggravate them. It was supposed to distract and keep them from focusing upon the task.

This wasn’t about athletics or strength though I did challenge them to meet me in the gym where I promised to lift a hundred pounds more than they could.

It was about who could write a 500 word or longer story that had a beginning, middle and end. I called it When Cleveland June Met LA Johnny & Other Stories Made From Fluff.

And then I talked the entire time we were writing on our laptops until he yelled at me that he couldn’t focus.

He didn’t know I have done this kind of thing my entire life and I have participate in multiple timed writing contests but he learned.

I Have Been Drunk For Decades Now

It was a silly contest and on my part was designed to distract me from someone that has managed to secure my attention in a way no one ought to.

There have been three different situations in which I have expressed my distaste with their actions. They tried to tell me that I didn’t communicate this to them and I thought about climbing through the phone or making like Gumby and stepping through the pages of a book into whatever fantasy they occupy.

I can provide you with a list of things I am not adept at and some that I am particularly bad at but communication isn’t one of them. When I want you to know what I think and feel about something you will not have any doubt what position I have taken.

Does that mean some people might not be given the full rights to the complete script of my life?

It sure does, not everyone deserves to know anything or everything.

But this isn’t that kind of deal nor is he some past lover where we can’t figure out where we stand so we circle each other get close and then away because it gets intense and fear takes over.

Nah, this is as straight forward as it gets and though I won’t tell you exactly what it is I will say if you repeatedly wander into my yard and try to mow my lawn I am unlikely to thank you.

The best part of being in my fifties is I haven’t felt the need to tell you I know everything and don’t need help for years. I am happy to ask for help when needed and if I haven’t asked it probably means I have a plan for the current and future.

A plan that you’re fucking up by not having the decency to ask me before you schedule things but I digress.

Anyhoo, I really enjoy the moments where I can sit down at the keyboard and just run wild, especially when I know I can take something ridiculous and do something with it.

That is part of why I sometimes enjoy messing with telemarketers. It is very similar to writing but I just start creating a story on the fly and see where it takes me. Sometimes it is a hell of a journey and sometimes I crash the plane upon takeoff.

The thing about writing is you can always start over and reframe what you are doing and where you are going.

If you have questions and people refuse to discuss or answer them writing is a place you can visit and go any number of directions.

You can decide you have had enough and say goodbye forever or you can make up the answers and then decide what to do with them.

Hell, you can decide to walk away forever and then have your character discover every time they do they sucked back in, just ask Michael Coreleone.

Today is the 55th birthday of a dear friend who died shortly after his 29th birthday. The song above came out right around the same time and any time I hear it I remember my pal.

I looked at a picture I posted from a wedding we were at and remembered thinking at his funeral about how he would never age. It hits differently today because it’s not hard to visualize my oldest as being the same age as we were.

Because I am old enough that I see 29 as being so much younger than I knew we were.

Because I have buried a parent, multiple friends and seen so much life that we hadn’t seen then, though we were starting to.

And on days like today when some things make it harder than necessary I remember I have it pretty easy. Tomorrow may not be guaranteed but it is likely and even if I only have another 20 summers I have 20 more.

That is worth something and heck, he’d appreciate that I can still cause a little chaos.

If you read this twice you won’t find any secret messages or ketchup sandwiches, I don’t keep those here. Damn, it is starting to push towards midnight, might have to consider if it is time to wind down a bit.

I am not old, but it is a bit harder getting up for work on 5 hours than it once was.