Month: September 2015

Blogspiration

/ fearsomebeard / 4 Comments

It’s a hot San Diego night. Much warmer than normal for us. It’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Damn hot for us. I sit at Petco Park enjoying the wind down of the Baseball season.

San Diego Pares vs Colorado Rockies, at this 4th inning Padres 6, Rockies 2. Go Padres!

San Diego Pares vs Colorado Rockies, at this 4th inning Padres 6, Rockies 2. Go Padres!

Reading blogs is fun and often makes me think. Food for thought, things to contemplate I find as I visit blog friends. I read a friend’s blog today that got me a contemplatin’. Gave me inspiration to write as I watch the Padres first baseman tag a Rockie out. Blogspirating I call it.

Success, what is it really? Is it only material? Does it have to be big? Can it be measured? Does it make any one person better than another? Or, Is it personal? Spiritual? Simple?

Well I think most can agree that success can take many forms. For me, mostly, success is personal, simple and spiritual. I succeed anytime I share a smile, make another’s day better, give inspiration, leave a place better than I found it, let a car into traffic, make a donation to help a homeless dog, get to the gym, do yoga, let one of my puppies fall asleep on my chest, make a blog post, make a phone call for a client, answer a question, show a house, comfort a client when a real estate deal falls apart, and understand when someone makes a mistake or accidentally says something that I otherwise could find offensive.

I found a few quotes I would like to share. I hope one resonates with you.

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He’s back, and he’s Sassy!

/ fearsomebeard / 3 Comments

Sassybear is back! He was missed and I am happy to announce that his blog hiatus is over. He was one of my mentors here in blog land. I had commented along with him over at Spo-Reflections for a long time and then became a regular reader of his blog, Idle Eyes And A Dormy. He was so very encouraging when I decided to throw in my beard and start blogging. (BTW, Fearsome HATES it when I call him “my beard” so please don’t share this “slip” with him.) When Sassybear decided to take a break I was disappointed, but understood. Sometimes we all need a change or a break to maintain our sanity.

Welcome Back!

 

 

I support Labor

/ fearsomebeard / 4 Comments

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In 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. If minimum wage had kept up with overall corporate capital growth, today it would be about $21.00 per hour. However, nationally, it remains at $7.25 an hour.

In 1968 the average home price was around $24,000, as of July 2015 the average price of a home sold was about $350,000.

These numbers are just food for thought. Our economy is doing well. Our standard of living is quite high. We have much to be grateful for.

Back in my days as a healthcare worker, I was Union. I remain more pro-Union today than I was then. I feel workers deserve both respect and reward for what they do. Creativity and production change the world. Unions are not the answer to all, but they do help promote and protect labor.

My opinion of Union Labor is just another thought to contemplate.

Several states and many localities have adjusted minimum wages upward in recent times. Given costs associated with daily living and overall corporate profits, is a $15.00 per hour minimum wage truly outrageous?

As a society are we showing our respect and gratitude to those who make it all happen? Something to also think about.

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Enjoy the day and be grateful for all we have. We are blessed. May we continue to share our blessings.

Death of a squeaky

/ fearsomebeard / 3 Comments

Around these here parts we buy dog toys in bulk. Having six dogs there isn’t just one toy box but two. Needless to say, with my thrifty ways, I’ve learned how to buy dog toys yet maintain a budget. I mean truthfully how do you think I could possibly afford last season’s Pradas if six dogs are playing with this season’s toys?

I’ve found they really don’t mind finding furry stuffed jack-o-lanterns under the tree on Christmas morning nor do they mind red and pink hearts in their Easter baskets. Dog toys add up quick. Therefore those after holiday 60% off sales at Petsmart keep my pups happy, as well as my budget. I’ve learned to stop by a day or two after each holiday and stock up for the next!

Abner after a good session of I'm going to get that squeaky, no matter if I have to kill this thing!

Abner after a good session of “I’m going to get that squeaky, no matter if I have to kill this thing!”

He is such an angel. Isn’t he? Note the tail wag as if to say “sorry dad, I couldn’t help myself.”

Speaking of holiday sales, it’s Labor Day weekend. Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom were all having incredible sales yesterday. Let’s just say I may have a few new frocks in my closet. So what if they are last season, my wallet survived!

Freddie does Drag

/ fearsomebeard / 8 Comments

Ok, so I’ve been on a music video binge the past few days. So what.

I always had a tendency to like Queen back in the day. Queen was not my favorite band, not a band I followed but enjoyed.  So I’m not surprised that I somehow missed this video. Freddie is a Fearsome Drag Queen. One that keeps his fearsomely signature mustache and pulls it off with camp!

Have a great holiday weekend, enjoy the tune and Break Free…

 

…and then summer 1970

/ fearsomebeard / 6 Comments

The summer of 1970 between kindergarten and first grade I had an epiphany that I was yet to understand.

I had two older brothers, but they were much older and already in middle and high school. They loved sports and girls. I didn’t.

Next door there were two girls, one a couple years older in the same elementary school I was attending. Given not many other kids close by, Emily was my best friend. Her sister was older and boy crazy and Emily was starting to follow in her sister’s footsteps. Emily had a little transistor radio and we shared a favorite song. A song that defined our summer.

We spent many an hour playing Mystery Date and singing this song with Karen over the radio. I hadn’t heard this tune in years, but often reference it when I see a man I find attractive. I sing to myself the lines “On the day that you were born the Angels got together and decided to create a dream come true” as I look at the man of attraction of the moment.

Last night I thought of the tune and You Tubed it. As I sang the lyrics with Karen, knowing every single word, I was taken aback at how well she performs this song. No wonder it was a number one hit. It’s pure 1970 easy listening romantic kitsch, but her delivery and voice are beautifully perfect. I don’t think anyone of her era could have so amazingly performed it as she does. She sings it simply, easily, innocently and warmly with perfect timing and phrasing. Wow, I never thought I’d be giving that song such a glowing review …and to boot she’s the percussionist? I never knew that as little transistor radios didn’t have video.

Ok …by now you are getting the drift that this heavy metal listening bearded man that also has a fondness for disco and southern rock has a little warm spot for one particular Carpenter’s tune. Last night I figured it out. At that tender age I didn’t fully understand sexuality, today I do and I can look back.

I say that I always knew I was gay. I could reference the happenings that summer as evidence. Well it’s not just evidence but proof that I was always, and yes born a man attracted to other men. Emily was following in her older sisters footsteps by dreaming of boys. I was dreaming of boys right there with her. I wasn’t following my brothers lead, I didn’t want to. When we sang that song I dreamed of being close with a boy. A boy that had moon dust in his hair of gold and starlight in his eyes of blue. I didn’t know what sex was yet, but I knew what being close was. Close was being intimate, sharing, touching and caring. When we played Mystery Date I dreamed of being close, walking with, laughing with and holding the boy behind the door.

I didn’t know this was sexuality, I was too young. I just wanted to be close to a boy like a girl was close to a boy. I never wanted to be close to a girl like that. In my book girls had it made that boys wanted to be close to them.

I quickly learned that I wasn’t supposed to want a boy that way. I learned after that simple innocent summer with Emily, to hide my real self and present a false self. It’s unfortunate, but it was the time. That was then, this is now. Today I can be me. I no longer have to lie. I haven’t had to lie in years. Thank the universe. It sure is good to remember that innocent summer when I realized I was gay, that I loved the same sex.

“Why do birds suddenly appear? …Every time, you are near? …Just like me, …they long to be, Close to you.”

 

1969

/ fearsomebeard / 5 Comments

Sesame Street debuted in 1969. I started kindergarten in 1969. In kindergarten we watched Sesame Street. Therefore I thought Sesame Street had always been.

I had a favorite song that year. This is the original 1969 Sesame Street version before the Muppets took it on as their own.

You are so welcome for the ear worm.