OFG XIX

OFG XIX
[editor's note: The OFG is my alter ego, The Old Fat Guy. He is witty, deep-thinking, clear in as few words as he can manage, and in need of a hamburger. Usually, his posts will be collections of his thoughts briefly expressed on a dozen or so seemingly random topics. They will seem to be random due to their randomness. We now return you to the OFG...]

Olympics

What a marvelous presentation of dedication by young people, and a shameful presentation of the purchasable influence of those in charge. Sadly, the winning has become too valuable for the forthright to have as much opportunity as those who seek to find the very limit of the rules...or to go past the limit if they think they can get away with it. Even with that said, there is so much to be enjoyed every four years. Those valiant young shining faces, a few veterans sprinkled in (FIVE Olympics, Dara Torres?? When I was your age, Dara, 'doing weights' meant lifting the remote to change the channel...now, I have given even that to my wife), and coverage of sports I have never heard of...yep!

Balance

Of all the joys my wonderful wife, Julia, has brought into my life, the balance she helps provide is one of the most magical. I spend all day working with computers and people who have computers that don't want to work with them, and I come home to a peaceful, artistic and gentle space. It takes me some time to bring my two lives into harmony when I walk in the door, but the harmony is always there for me to allow.

Timing

One of the challenges we all face are those moments in our lives when we wish things to happen on our schedule. Might as well learn it right now: timing is up to the Universe. You can decide just about everything else, as your desires drive the result you see (if not the exact details), but timing is determined by the great wheels of the All/the One, turning as they always have, spinning out for us the magic of our own creation.

Wishing

Wishing is like begging, only with a greater entity to whom you apply.

Hard times

We all experience them, and we all learn from them, admit it or not. Those of us who learn the most look back, years later, and feel grateful.

Jacks

This is a game which exercises eye-hand coordination like few others. It requires precise movement, incredible speed, and careful judgment. Yes, I played jacks with my sisters many times. I had just as much fun as playing football or basketball with my male friends.

Lust

Hormones rule us more than we sometimes want to know. My only advice is, spend a few seconds in your left brain considering the consequences before allowing lust to carry you away.

Dysfunctional families

Choose any family, anywhere on the planet. There is dysfunction present. The best families laugh about it and move on. The worst deny it, lock it in the closet, and suffer for generations. The rest of us fall somewhere between the extremes.

Values

Develop some. Honor them.

Weddings

I don't recommend them for heart-to-heart talks with any other attendees. Everyone gets a bit emotional, and little differences can blow up out of proportion as a result. I do recommend them for honoring your perfect mate and helping the local service economy thanks to all the expenses involved.

Olfactory memory

Now we are talking magic! Our sense of smell can transport us decades in two seconds. The part of the brain which interprets what we smell is so hard-wired into the areas which govern emotive response that we can see that 3rd-grade scene when we first tasted something amazing simply by smelling the same smell 40 years later. And, it's not like we have to think about it--it happens instantly, that recollection so clear and brought to us by a simple smell. There is a large bakery only 10 blocks from my house, and when the wind is right, I smell the smell of school rolls, those three-inch high, perfectly browned white-flour delights that were baked on huge sheet pans which must have held 100 rolls, baked right there in the school kitchen adjacent to the lunch room. I would gladly trade my dessert for my friend's roll. I seldom was taken up on the offer, though.

Tenacity

Success comes from many directions, but it is powered most often by tenacity.

Magnificence

Pause and look more closely. See and stand proudly in the magnificence which only you bring to this time, this place.