January 4, 2008

• My First Kween of the Queens Topic Entry

  Recently, I joined yet another blogring. Jeri invited me to join the Kween of the Queens, which I mistakenly thought was a group for women. It is not, however, just for women, and so I, as a "Lord" have joined the "Ladies" and other Lords in the group. The first topic didn't seem like one in which I were interested.

  "The Challenge:Go through your weblogs from 2007.  Take the first sentence from each month and write it down!  It's kind of like a quick look back at the year!  For the sake of having a name for this challenge, let's call it: ABOUT LAST YEAR.

  {EDIT: 01/10/08 5:00 p.m. pst. I'm doing something a little different. This post has been online for about a week, and after reading all the other entries so far, I'm a bit disappointed. I didn't include anything else in my entry except "first lines" and an image. Other members of the blogring were more creative. So now the segments below include a bit of the entry or article as well. I didn't think the first version of this entry because it had a zinger for each month but didn't really slake anyone's appetite. (To click the link and read the entry itself, which I see from comments a few people did.) I did this mostly for myself. I might keep this practice up every year, except pick the "best of the month" instead of the "first of the month." So, thanks Kellie and Jeri Dee, for the inspiration for another possible internet tradition.The text accompanying the "first line" isn't necessarily what comes next in the blogpiece either, and I'm known for long entries, so I did edit further. }

  I've always liked "first lines" in novels, and I've always attempted to write a punchy first line in all my writing. So I went back to my posts and figured that this is an interesting topic, and so I'll participate. Herewith, my very first Kween of the Queens Topic Entry. Thanks, Jeri Dee, for the invitation. I'm not even the newest member of this popular blogring, which has 150 members! As usual, I try to make my entries a bit unique. Besides the first line of each entry, I've provided a link to the entry, and graphics from selected entries as well. If you are part of the blogring visiting for the first time, then I welcome you to WhenWordsCollide. As usual with participatory blogring topics, I will list this entry on the site and then visit, comment, and leave five stars on as many entries as I possibly can. MFN/ppf

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  Jan.1 2007
  When young, I always dreamed of fame and fortune.
  (From:   "Creation, Accomplishment, and Fame")

   

  Left: Stephen Spielberg, age 61. Famous filmmaker, began making 8mm films at 15. Most well known and wealthiest director in the world. Right: Michael Nyiri, age 53. Forever aspiring videomaker, began assembling "MikeVideos" on Beta at age 36 Destitute and unknown still looking for his "big break"

  I was going to write the great American novel. When I would pass around my notebooks full of short stories, chapters of various unfinished novels, and poetry to my friends and family, everyone fawned and praised. Knowing no criticism, I blindly thought I would be able to submit my work to various publications; the editors would be wowed by my words, and I would become the youngest Poet Emeritus of the State of California, or something like that.

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  Feb.2 2007
  Buddy Holly is considered one of the most influential founding fathers of rock 'n roll.
  (From:  "Buddy Holly Tribute Post: 2007")

  

  Yours truly in front of the Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock, Texas in 1980. Buddy was born in the town of Lubbock, and they celebrate his birth every year in September.

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  Mar. 2007
  Most heterosexual males would probably agree with me that one of the biggest fears faced by man is having something rammed up his butt.
  (From: "My Colonoscopy")

  Dr, Mackenzie was a smart doctor and a nice guy. The next time I went to see him he wasn't available. A year and a half later he died of complications caused by cancer. I don't know if it was colon cancer or not. My latest doctor, Dr. Huoang remembered me, or at least remembered his signature on whatever medical report on which he was involved. This year, since I turn 54 in May, nearly a half a decade after I'm supposed to have the small invasive procedure in the first place, I asked him bluntly if I should be given a colonoscopy.

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  Apr. 2, 2007
  This last Sunday, April the 1st, I created The Marilyn Monroe Page which has been added to the "Iconography Section"  of the Cultural Blender.
  (From: "Cultural Blender: Marilyn Monroe: Sex Goddess")

  

  ...the pages now have their own comments sections, and supply a carefully compiled section of links, plus some of the best of the photos I could find on the internet, and also feature film and video clips courtesy of YouTube, and I also created some composite images of Marilyn, which I am including in this blog article

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  May 3, 2007
  "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.".........Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages"
  (From:  "Featured Grownups Topic Post: "If I knew then what I know now")

  Who hasn't pondered how life would have been if they had foreknowledge of how certain events would have turned out? Who hasn't looked through the clear bright lenses of hindsight and ascertained that certain decisions would have been better off not being made, or certain exits off the freeway of circumstance would have been better off having been passed.

  Since I have just entered the "year of death" of my father, his life having been snuffed at the age of 54, the age which has just turned it's page on me, I am pondering deeply the final years of my parents' lives. I never stop pondering these facts, as they impacted my succeeding life greatly. Three things I would have done differently in that time, now having access to a little more information and wisdom after having lived a little more life, are these, and I know I have written about these decisions, and their consequences in the past.

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  June 3, 2007
  My elementary school years hold fond memories still cherished.
  (From: "Childhood In Los Angeles: Chapter 8: Junior Highjinks")

  

  One lazy afternoon durning the summer of 1965, bridging my graduation from childhood, with the anticipation of junior high and young adulthood on the horizon, I lay spread out under the apricot tree in our backyard, watching the clouds gather and pass overhead. For some moments, time seemed as if to slow and almost crawl to a stop. The garden sounds of birds and insects, and the low grumbling of traffic in the distance seemed to soften and disappear. I had the first of what would become many life affirming epiphanies, in which the unheard voice of the Universe informed me of my place in the overall scheme of existence. I knew that the scant twelve summers I had experienced were each special and significant, and was given the realization that with many succeeding summers in my future, I should cherish this moment above all, and remember the experience of childhood, which would never be repeated.

   

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  July 2, 2007
  The phrase "a walk in the park" usually refers to a liesurely stroll, without any effort.
  (From: "PhotoPost: Griffith Park 7-1-07")

  

  When the "park" in question, however, is Griffith Park, which, at 4.210 acres is the second largest city park in California, and one of the largest city parks in North America, and the "walk" is a hike to the Griffith Park Observatory and Planetarium, located on the side of the Hollywood Hills, then the "walk" is anything but liesurely.

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  Aug. 2, 2007
  As I age, my main advice to people is not to raise their expectations too high.
  (From: "Internet Island Topic Post #27: Anticipation and Dread")

  If we anticipate great wealth, as my ex girlfriend Pat used to do every Wednesday and Saturday nights after she bought her lottery tickets, then the prospect of great wealth weighs all the more heavier when the numbers are called and they aren't the ones we picked. We would do better to anticipate less, to expect the worst, and to glory in the cosmic decisions which bring good luck and prosperity our way. The more we anticipate, the less we will be disappointed when whatever we are anticipating doesn't pan out.

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  Sept. 4, 2007
  LABOR DAY HOLIDAY: I didn't "do" anything over the long holiday except try to keep cool.
  (From: "News and Notes")

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  Oct.1, 2007
  They say it never rains in Southern California. But when it pours, man, it pours.
  (From: "A Dark and Stormy Night")

  

  I couldn't stop. I couldn't move to the right of left, into the doors of the cars on either side of me. I could only hit the back end of the station wagon. My front tire caught the space between his bumper and the back end of his car as he stopped, but he had then accellerated out toward the other side of the road, completing his U-turn. He probably felt the impact "in passing". I, on the other hand, felt it "head on", and as my front fork telescoped back into the tank, I was sent somersaulting over the handlebars, where I landed on my back about twenty yards from the impact. I slid for what seemed like forever. I can remember the impact and the effect of flying through the air as if being shot from a cannon at the circus.

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  Nov. 5, 2007
  Health: The pinched nerve in my back, which caused me to suffer so much pain in 2005, and which eventually shut off most of the feeling in my left hand, is at it again, with a vengeance.
  (From: "News and Notes")

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  Dec. 2, 2007
  There are 20 photos in this PhotoPost.
  (From: "Photopost: Santa Monica and the Pier ")

  

  I know that's a lot, but I think you'll enjoy this liesurely stroll along Ocean Blvd. in the city of Santa Monica, CA, from California Street to the famous Pier. In case you don't think 20 is quite enough to enjoy the "virtual experience", I've got another 30 (or more) high quality photos in the Santa Monica Dec. 2007 folder in my Xanga Photoblog section. I also uploaded all the photos I took during the "expedition" to Webshots, and there are 84 photos in Part One and 116 in Part Two.

  (EDIT) Now: T,T,That's all folks.

  • 12:06 pm
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