bollocksbollocksopionated life of an Everton supporter. Not all soccer on my site just lfe in general, which revolves around soccer Articles
In Defense of Don Imus
2007-04-14 00:07:00 If I new who wrote this I would give them credit, however I received in a forwarded e-mail from my brother Peter in England.PROUD TO BE WHITEKramer's defence speech in court.Proud To Be WhiteSomeone finally said it.How many are actually paying attention to this?There are African Americans, Mexican Americans,Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.And then there are just Americans.You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction.You Call me "White boy," "Cracker," "Honkey,""Whitey," "Caveman" ... And that's OK.But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head,Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink .You call me a racist.You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you,So why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?You have the United Negro College Fund.You have Martin Luther King Day.You have Black History Month.You have Cesar Chavez Day.You have Yom Hashoah.You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.You have the NAACP.You have BET.If we had WET (White Entertainment Televisi... More About: Defense , Don Imus , Imus , Ense
Memories of the Silver Screen
2007-04-08 18:56:00 Although the actor Jimmy Stewart is well known and admired by his fans for the movies he made I remember him mostly from the tender-hearted moments he gave to the willing public when he appeared on the Johnny Carson show. He would often share family moments and read some of his poetry. As a former military man he also gave us a strong endearing figure to revere. While I too loved the movies, as a sensitive guy, and a writer of poetry I guess it was this inside look at the life of Jimmy Stewart that I remember so well.This poem was taken from "Jimmy Stewart and His Poems" by Jimmy Stewart, a short collection of poems published by Crown Publishers, Inc. in 1989."Beau" by Jimmy StewartHe never came to me when I would callUnless I had a tennis ball,Or he felt like it,But mostly he didn't come at all.When he was youngHe never learned to heelOr sit or stay,He did things his way.Discipline was not his bagBut when you were with him things sure didn't drag.He'd dig up a rosebush just to s... More About: Screen , Silver , Mori , Memories , Memo
What makes up a dysfunctional family?
2007-03-31 00:00:00 After last weeks visit to beautiful sunny Florida to celebrate our family’s latest octogenarian, one family member that did not attend, for a multitude of reasons, used the word dysfunctional to describe our tribe. This got me to pondering just exactly what classifies a group as dysfunctional.Is it more dysfunctional to stay married just because the “church tells you too”, or “for the good of the children”, or because “that’s what our generation does” or to break free of restraints that bind and live life the way you prefer it. You know, one that doesn’t include verbal or physical abuse, sexual abuse, domineering fathers or husbands where people are not being subjected to harmful experiences. Should you stay together in 25 years of misery like, or divorce before 35 years have gone by, and do you qualify to be functional now that you are in relationships that seem to work? Is it more dysfunctional to be divorced four times after being in relationships that featured ... More About: Fun , Family , What , Hat , Make
Arizona 2001 North American Rogaine Championships
2007-03-20 03:15:00 In the summer of 2001 I decided to introduce my family to orienteering; something we could learn to do together. We contacted the Tucson Orienteering Club http://www.tucsonorienteering.org/ and joined them on a beginner’s course out in the Dragoon Mountains close to the old cowboy town of Tombstone. We spent 3-4 hours wandering around the course, learning how the contours on the map worked, looking for colored flags and punches set aside on the course to mark our cards with. We were all equipped with a compass and whistle in case we got lost on the course. The biggest difference we learned was that unlike all the hiking we had down before there were no trails to follow; you were expected to walk through the bush and find your own way according to the coordinates on the maps. At the same time one had to keep eyes and ears alert as this is rattlesnake country. Luckily we had no encounters of the fanged kind and thoroughly enjoyed our outing. I went back the next weekend to a second ... More About: America , Championship , Arizona , North America , American
My review of Awol on the Appalachian Trail
2007-03-10 23:56:00 I never had the pleasure of meeting David “Awol” Miller out on the Appalachian Trail. He thru-hiked it the year after I made my first attempt (the second has yet to commence). However after reading Miller’s recent book “Awol on the Appalachian Trail” http://www.awolonthetrail.com/ I certainly wished I had. I have had the opportunity to speak with him and exchange e-mails recently. I am so impressed with his written style and the energetic flow of his book that I asked him for assistance and information as I too attempt my first book, which will also incorporate the Appalachian Trail.Miller's book kept me entranced from the first chapter and I read non-stop for a couple of hours. Not only was the description of the sometimes colorful characters he ran into on his sojourns amusing and poignant but his thought process appealed to mine as it bought to mind my own memories of while I was out there. The first three chapters were particularly appealing to me as I had been out th... More About: Review , View , Rail , Pala , The A
Preperation is best
2007-03-10 17:11:00 I’m sitting here this fine Saturday morning, fresh from my 6am run, and the coffee is brewing. There is still a faint sheen of salty sweat on my brow as I type, but I don’t want to go and take a shower quite yet so as not to wake up my wife, Louisa. She’ll be up within thirty minutes anyway and I will have finished most of today’s thoughts for this blog by then. This is the first time that I have run this year. Louisa and I have done several weekend hikes, usually in Sabino Canyon or in the housing addition behind our townhouses which has a loop a little over 2 miles (this is what I just ran). It has a couple of hilly spots, enough to get you to breathe hard when you are overweight as I am. At 240 lbs I am a good forty pounds too heavy and I am probably classified obese. Something that I never thought would be said about me. It seems since I turned 48 the last two years have taken a toll on my body. I have hemorrhoids, a hernia and last year a brief prostate scare. This morn... More About: Best , Prep
I am, for better or worse, fodder for your entertainment at my own expense
2007-03-07 03:04:00 As a youngster in high school I was the nerd that everyone picked on. My parents made me wear short hair in a day when long was the fashion. We went to church on Saturdays, so I missed out on all the weekend fun with school friends and I was not much of a fighter so I got beaten up on a fairly regular (try daily) basis for about six years straight. Nobly I took this with typical British aplomb, never complaining to teachers or parents. And they wondered why my grades were so bad! I hated school but was too much of a wimp to say or do anything outside of the rules that adults laid down for me to follow. My parents considered me a good child.That this type of bullying should continue and accompany my life once school was over with and I became a young adult seemed, well normal! I had moved to a new house with my parents as I was working for a year to save money to get to the USA and start a new life where no one knew who I was in reality (and so I reveal most of these dark secrets to ... More About: Entertainment , Men , Your , My Own , Pens
Pioneers of Oklahoma...Only This Time in Soccer
2007-02-28 00:55:00 In October 1992 I picked up a copy of Oklahoma City Sports, a free publication, similar to what you see at grocery stores and Circle K Stores just about every day. Stories were written about horse racing at Remington Park, rollerblading, bicycle touring, scuba, tennis, sailing, bowling and bungee jumping, sports that the local newspapers barely acknowledged at the time as sports because they did not relate to or include OU football, basketball or baseball. As thrilled as I was to see other regional sports getting mentioned I was still a little disappointed to see nothing about soccer, my favorite sport. I called the editor to complain and got two surprises. To begin with none of the editorial staff mentioned in the publication were on staff any longer; and Brian White informed me that he was now the editor. He had no knowledge of soccer and asked if I did and could I write. Well as a journalism major back in the day, and being from England, the answer to both of these questions was ... More About: Soccer , Time , This , Pioneer
Epilog on the AT
2007-02-27 01:52:00 The bus ride out of Franklin was far from normal. We had picked up a young GI, fresh from boot camp who was heading home of leave to the Midwest someplace, and he made friends with a couple of young ladies at the back of the bus. At about 1 am I was awoken, and out of my peripheral vision saw more action than I had experienced in the last six months. Without being extremely graphic lets just say they were very graphic! Some girls just have a thing for a guy in a uniform I guess! My return home was marred by the fact that now that I needed cash I was short and only had sufficient funds to make it back to Oklahoma City. Luckily my ex-wife #2 lived here and was kind enough to pick me up at the bus stop and let me stay for a couple of nights, to shower and shave and generally get used to be back in respectable society again. I was in communication with one of the managers at the job that I had walked away from and was assured of a place to work. She also paid for the remaining f... More About: The A
My Journey Ends At Franklin
2007-02-26 01:02:00 As time passed I encountered more and more travelers on the trail, and indeed walked with some for a distance. I was able to share my story with a few and gain knowledge and input from the down home country wisdom that was imparted to me. Some of the thoughts that flooded my mind were of my family, abandoned when I fled; my son back in Tucson and how all this would impact his life. Of my family in England who by now would have been alerted to the fact that I had gone missing. In particular the common thread that coursed through my daily meditations was a desire to reach my brother Peter. Of course I had no address or phone number for him and limited contact with the outside world so I had no way to make this a reality. As I have stated several times in the course of recounting this episode in my life to you, God works in miraculous ways as you will see. His influence on what I did at that time was perfectly orchestrated even though I felt that everything I did was a random action.My... More About: Journey , Rank , Fran , Frank , Ends
The Next Twenty Two Miles On The AT
2007-02-23 23:44:00 I should interject at some point, and this seems as good as any, having read other peoples stories of similar long hikes in the AT, I had absolutely no problem with bugs, mosquitoes etc. Most every one I read about was consumed alive by these pesky insects. I did have a Deet repellent that I applied fairly liberally at the start of each morning and every night and I was not bitten once. Either that or I bathed so infrequently that even the pests kept their distance due to the malodorous stench that I’m sure I emitted by this time. Bright and early the next morning I walked the trail noticing from the directions in the handbook, which was now proving to be an invaluable tool I monitoring distance and water sources, that I would be crossing a road within a couple of miles, and since I was growing weary of the tedium of oatmeal or egg noodles I decided, through my paranoia of people still, (as I did not want to be recognized as the face in the crowd assuming that the authorities ... More About: Miles , The N , Twenty , Next , Mile
Trail Magic... The Healing Begins
2007-02-18 20:55:00 As I recite these happenings in writing for the first time, researching my meager notes and equally meager memories, the one thing that stands out is actually the lack of time, in the amount of actual days spent on the trail, I actually spent on the AT as compared to how I recall and have recounted the tale over the years. I find it hard to believe that in actual fact I spent only ten nights on the trail. The time sequence in my mind seems like it was a least a month. The thirty pounds I lost, plus the 4 inch reduction in my belt size, must have been not just the meager 1100 or so calories I was consuming each day to the 6000 or so I was burning off as I pushed myself to exhaustion, but also the stress and angst I was committing myself too during this time period. Not a day went by without my praying, crying, wailing out loud, and soul searching. The people I interacted with all added to the spiritualism I felt from just being on the trail. When you are alone on the trail with no hu... More About: Magic , Healing , Rail , Ealing , TRAI
Finally! I get on the Appalachian Trail
2007-02-17 00:50:00 I stated earlier that I had no intention of making this blog a sounding board or counseling session to get things off my chest, so for dignities sake I will not delve too deep into the depths of depravity that I now found my life to be in. Each of us has had, to one extreme or the other those dark feral moments in our lives, when all seemed lost and wished that perhaps we were no longer of this world. Depression takes a wide variety of forms and so mine led me down to it's lowest level. I had been out on my own, surviving day to day as one does after a divorce, and this being my fourth you would have thought perhaps I was used to it by now, but no; failure is never a pleasant avenue to waltz down and one licks ones wounds until you can pick yourself up and move ahead. I had engaged myself with a counselor to try to come to the bottom of why I was an abject failure at relationships, and was attending Divorce Recovery http://www.divorcerecovery.net/ sessions, trying to gain an under... More About: Final , Finally , Rail , Pala , The A
The Soap Opera Continueth...
2007-02-16 02:45:00 I am currently married to wife #5. Out of privacy and dignity of all involved here including my children (and their’s) and all family and friends I will continue to refer to all of them as a number. My marriage is strong and wonderful as we approach our fourth year together. We have enough in common and enough differences to keep in interesting. Why and how to stubborn redheads ever decided to hook up is another story but we make it work. It ain’t al peaches and cream but how boring would life be if you both agreed on everything all the time. I know that I have grown to be more easy going and not as quick tempered as I have been previously in relationships and with compromise comes promise for the future. That is all I will comment on my current marital situation, other than saying I think she is sexy as all get out, easy on the eyes too which never hurts!Life in Oklahoma led me down the path of three wives. My two eldest sons where born to #1, which led to a divorce after seven... More About: Opera , Soap , Conti
Life in Tucson
2007-02-09 22:36:00 For all those initially tempted to this site because of promises of an adventure on the Appalachian Trail I apologize for my long windiness, however bear in mind any story worth hearing is better if told from the beginning so hang in there for the climax.. it’s coming!As for why Tucson , well its all about the employment experience. My vocation in life kind of chose me and try as I might I have never been able to wean myself off the proverbial teat long enough to really succeed at anything else quite as well as I have at my current employment experience. My job history is varied but not long. Out of high school I worked on a loading dock in a large grocery store, where the only thrills we got involved licking the cream from the top of the gateaux that the bakers delivered to the restaurant in the store each morning. We had to take them via elevator to the top floor and the temptation was far too great! Then there was Maggie, shop girl on the fifth floor, ladies clothing, that broke... More About: Life
Goodison Park, Home of Everton F.C.
2007-02-03 14:56:00 Well Ever ton and Liverpool tied up yesterdays noon clash at 0-0. In a foggy battlefield we slogged on and although they had about 65% of the ball we held them off, and gained another point, meaning four out of six against the Red Shite this year. Not bad!I will be back on the life bandwagon as the tales of Tucson commence next week.. see you then! More About: Home , Park , Good
Interruption on Life.. Or My Love Affair With Everton
2007-02-02 13:29:00 Seeing as how this weekend is the derby game at Anfield it seemed appropriate to interrupt the flow of my life and fill you in on why and how Everton entered in to my life. I was after all bought up in a West Midlands home where the parents couldn't careless about football and my only sports-minded relative, Uncle Eric, was an avid Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter, always going on about some chap named Billy Wright!For the uninitiated or ignoramuses out there I guess I should explain that the derby is the annual match-up of Everton and Liverpool. Both teams grounds are separated my less than a mile, Liverpool at the Anfield stadium and Everton at Goodison Park. The early match this season saw Everton beat the Red Shite 3-0 so revenge is the by-word this weekend.Alrighty, now that we have that straight, back to my formative years. It is 1966, and England had just won the World Cup for the first, and so far, only time http://www.the-english-football-archive.c om/england/world_cup/196... More About: Life , Love , Inter , With
Life Moves On, Part Deux
2007-01-26 23:37:00 Waking up in a foreign country was not a new experience, after all I had traveled extensively throughout Scotland and Wales and even took a trip in 1972 to Paris France, however waking in the East Texas town of Big Sandy http://www.ci.big-sandy.tx.us/ was eye-opening. I was used to quaint little English towns, villages and hamlets and in fact grew up as a boy in the village of Codsall Wood http://www.codsallwood.org.uk/, which was considerably smaller than the 1100 citizens ensconced in Big Sandy. Famous for its High School football program, and more noticeably for two giants from that arena, David Overstreet, http://www.pro-football-reference.com/pla yers/OverDa00.htm who played his college ball at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK, and was tragically killed in an automobile accident while a player for Miami Dolphins of the NFL, and more recently Lovie Smith http://www.nfl.com/teams/coaching/CHI , the current coach of the Super Bowl bound Chicago Bears. Big Sandy on the other... More About: Life , Part , Move , Moves
And so the adventure begins
2007-01-24 03:22:00 I really want to tell you all about my adventures on the Appalachian Trail http://www2.blogger.com//www.georgia-atcl ub.org/, just five short years ago, but to start any story it would be remiss of me to not start at the beginning, or at least in this case, the start of my life in the United States as an 19 year old immigrant from England, so that you can see how and why the AT would be an inevitable destination.I grew up in a small town in rural England, with a thousand acre forest behind my house, which is where I got my affinity for traipsing through the woods. My father was a minister in The World Wide Church of God, http://www.wcg.org/ , as US based religion run by the late Herbert W Armstrong http://www.reluctant-messenger.com/HWA/ . The church had a college with classes based around religion and their brand of Christianity, http://www.ambassador.edu/, and it was to their Big Sandy TX campus that I was accepted to in the fall of 1975. I had graduated from Codsall Comprehensive ... More About: Venture , Adventure , Vent , The A , Advent
Another new era to begin
2007-01-23 01:12:00 It seems ever since the glory days ended, with Troy Aikman no longer at the helm, the Dallas Cowboys http://www.dallascowboys.com/ have struggled ever since to gain that same notoriety. perhaps hiring renowned coach Bill Parcells would do the trick. Parcells, 65, compiled a 34-30 record with the Cowboys over the last four years. Not exactly the superior numbers it takes to be Super Bowl contenders let alone winners. Don't you know Coach Zimmer is cursing Parcells know. If he had just waited two more weeks instead of deserting and heading for the Atlanta Falcons perhaps he might have the words Head Coach before his name already. Parcells, in my eyes, never connected with he young crowd of Cowboys players, and often bought in oldies but goodies (at least for a couple of seasons) from teams he had coached previously. These have proved to be, in the most part, nothing more than stop gap efforts. We need some one with the intensity of a Cowher but young enough to be hip and bring some l... More About: Other , Another
Critters in the night
2007-01-21 22:35:00 So why 2am? Well that’s usually either the time I wake up having to pee, or the wife rolls over and wakes me , or most likely my mind wakes me as it has constantly been sorting through all the problems of the past day and I have to get up and read, or check out websites, or write a blog, or something until I can get the mind off of whatever it had me contemplating long enough to relax and get back to sleep.. so I have to occupy my time usually for about an hour at or so, as I can't just roll over and be back in my normal dreamless sleep until the alarm terminates my rest 5am.The problems my mind encounters that wake me usually consist of dwelling on why my eldest child still won’t talk to me after 13 years, and damn it he’s almost 30 when is he going to learn to forgive me, or that my youngest son as just been yanked from his familiar surroundings here in Tucson and unceremoniously dumped in Houston because his mother decided to move, and how much I miss him, and hope that he... More About: The N , Night , Critters , Crit
OK.. The nude resort experience
2007-01-20 21:05:00 Let's get it over with. Use the titallating experience to pull the readers back for a second visit. So for all of you aghast that Mark likes to be naked at any given time, GET OVER IT! Think about it; I live in Tucson, where we get sunshine more day a year that just about anywhere else, and my back yard is private enough to go out nude whenever I please, so why not! Now I grant you my used and abused old carcass ain’t what it used to be but I‘ve grown accustomed to my skin and Louisa can only tell me I’m fat so many times a day before I block out her comments and go back to my pint of Ben & Jerry’s anyway! (Her main complaints are more along the subject of body hair of which I have a surplus; Sasquatch apparently has nothing on me.. the hair on my back actually floats when I get in the swimming pool). WHATEVER!Anyway this beautiful woman in my life actually told me that for my 50th birthday I could have anything I wanted! Well as you can imagine this boggled the mind for so... More About: The N , Experience , Sort , Resort , Peri
Comments on the links I mention
More articles from this author:2007-01-20 00:29:00 For all of those getting to now me you will find out that I am formerly from England and get downright passionate about Everton F.C., the football team that I have followed since I was 10 years old, so anything Everton, Toffees or blues is probably related to this passion so unless you are as fervent a fan as me.. don't even go there! Of course I am just as opinionated about my beloved Dallas Cowboys. These are all sites I visit on a daily basis.. you get the point.Ambassador College is now defunct but I went to school there in 1975-76 when I first emigrated to the States.. so I throw them in there in case you too are trying to find some one from there too, as I have done on a couple of occasions. staying in touch with my past, unless it involves my ex-wife's, is important to me.Tanya Rich is my extremely talented artistic cousin who lives in England and is often heard as the voice behind radio and television commercials. Check out her web site to listen to her multi-faceted talen... More About: Men , Links , Comments , Link , Comment 1, 2, 3 |
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