01-02-2006

This New Year is certainly starting off differently here in southern California. I'm not one to give any credance to "omens" but RAIN and WIND on the Rose Parade? Come on, I thought they had a "deal" with God ie. "never on Sunday = never any inclement weather" It was brutal out there I'll bet. What a bunch of "troopers". As Raol Rodriguez said, (sic) "This is nothing compared to what Katrina and Tsunami victims went through." Of course they weren't "volunteers" either. Our hearts especially went out to Stephanie Edwards who was relagated to the stands with an umbrella and a soggy program. She kept her composure and her hair and mascara didn't even flinch. Whose decision was it to put her there and Bob and Michaela(?) in the rickety, tarp-covered(?) booth? By the end of the parade the stands were half empty and Stephanie was alone at street level. Enough of this "raging" over...time and demographics marching on. Flexibility, change, adjust or "pass and be forgotten with the rest".

Yes, that is from my latest favorite album/CD "Dragonfish" by the "Whiffenpoofs", a male a cappella group from Yale University...probably one of the oldest, on-going groups, with "fresh"-man talent every year. I learned their famous song, that ends every program of theirs, (The Whiffenpoof Song) when I started group singing in Jr. Hi. Our teacher loved this song and she made us memorize and sing it alot. It think it comes from WWII and a bunch of flight school pilots, getting drunk in a bar, near campus, before they fly off to...that "great commaraderie in the sky"? ..."and the magic of their singing casts it's spell...the songs we love so well...we will seranade ol' Louie while life and voice shall last...and we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest...we are poor little lambs who have lost our way...baa, baa, baa... little black sheep who have gone astray...gentleman songsters off on a spree, doomed from here to etenity, Lord, have mercy on such as we...baa, baa, baa. Having done my "duty" with the Naval Air, this was a tune I hummed a time or two.

And it is a "good thing" I don't believe in "gloomy predictions" for 2006 because that is what we had in a Press Enterprise article titled "A Future of Flux"- Gloomy predictions mix with bright - Dec. 30. Johanne Verville of Palm Springs, a psychic, says she has bought "earthquake insurance" for the first time. She accurately predicted the terrorist attacks in London and cancelled a group trip because of it. She recommends staying close to home (earthquake country) this next year and avoiding European destinations such as Italy and France because of the terror threat. "March 29's eclipse suggests an attempted terrorist attack on a place related to our national identity", said Anita Burns reading from her Tarot cards in Corona.

Good thing I'm a firm believer in "random probability"cause we've booked a cruise of the Greek Isles starting in Rome, Italy and ending in Istanbul, Turkey. It now has that extra-exciting element of "danger"...what a way to go... ;-) Bob!