Sometime in the mid 1960s |
I'm just sitting here drinking my covfefe realizing it's been 61 years.
In some respects it's gone quickly.
Here's some interesting stats when you search your Birthday date: 12-31-1962
My oh my, how things have changed when you compare then to now.
So many things have come and gone over the years.
Girls, friends, houses, cars, family, businesses, benjamins, jobs, etc.
At any one moment something could have caused a course correction and
things would be totally different. The what if's? are always an interesting rabbit hole
to head down. "What would it be like if.....?"
There are so many things that can roll through your mind.
Every step of the way you choose something or something chooses you and that is what helps
mold where you are at this moment.
When I was young we lived for a time in Greenbelt Maryland and Wheaton Illinois. What if
we stayed there?
When I was young I met a guy that had a small machine shop. That, formed my career for most
of my life. What if I did something different that day?
I spent a year at college in Michigan, what if I stayed?
What if I never started this blog?
What if this, what if that........
There are thousands of what if's that could have changed my course.
Some at your control, some not.
In the grand scheme of things here it is. This is what you have made, gotten handed, or a
mixture of both. This moment is it. You can't change yesterday or all the years gone by and
who knows what tomorrow's sunrise will bring?
Today I have chosen to visit with Mom, who is doing good overall, then go to see some friends.
Tonight will be at home just taking it easy with no big plans.
I think this would be fun to do around 9pm then I could go to bed early:
The sunrise awaits.
What ever you are doing for the New Year celebration. Enjoy it and be safe.
I'll be around.
Thanks Jeffery, for the sultry birthday song!!
Irish
I was born in 1955. Everything is spoiled today with smart phones in the hands of stupid people. Kids do not know the joy of being outside all day and having mother call when it gets dark to come for dinner. Modern technology took away kids from being kids. Now its all about posting and getting attention. Growing up today verses our time? I would never give up my youth and the experiences I had.
ReplyDelete61? You're still wet behind the ears.
ReplyDeleteI was born in 1949. Seemed to take forever to reach the teen years. Then stumbled into the 20’s, marriage, parenthood and time sped up .
ReplyDeleteSuddenly it’s 2024! Yikes! Where did the time go?
Happy Birthday Irish! Been reading your blog forever and usually refrain from commenting anywhere. Today is my birthday as well 1961. I also started in the machine business and fall right in line with all the other horny bastards who frequent your Nom de Plume. Happy New Year as well!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Irish, I turned 60 in Aug and thought very similar to the way you just wrote except mine was mostly military. Kids do not know how to have fun these days. A simple New Year deal here today too. We are meeting friends at the local brewery for an "Irish New year celebration" so all of us old folks -ahem- can get home before the mayhem.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy,
Jeff C in NC
We always got a good laugh when babies were born on 12-31. Mom n dad got one more tax deduction for the year, just under the wire. Way ta go moms n daddos.
ReplyDeleteIts like playing a hand of cards while hiking up a mountain. You get dealt a hand and the trail has branches and you gotta keep moving. See you at the top
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Irish! With many more to follow.
ReplyDeleteJust one point - and once more to sound like a broken record - every single price in that first chart depends on the dollar being pegged to a gold standard. A dime from those days is worth a little over $17, so multiply every price in dollars by that ratio of 170 (17/0.1). If you do that, you find prices of things have gone down - as they should. The iron law of manufacturing (include fast food) is that when quantity doubles, prices go down by about 25% Life would be getting cheaper instead of more expensive if they didn't f*** with the currency like they do. But things getting cheaper incentivizes saving instead of spending and that scares the Fed.
Happy Birthday Irish.
ReplyDeleteYa pup... ( I can call ya that, because my odometer just clicked past 71.)
Ya just got in under the wire for the tax year 1961, dint ya?
And if you'd never started this blog, this pretty good bunch of assholes would have missed out on each other's company while we looked at pictures of pretty wimmins, cars, gunz, and food.
I play the "what if" game now & then... 5 or 6 choices I made... yes or no choices.
ReplyDeleteIn the end it's all water under the bridge, my life is what I made it (my choices & luck of the draw in life).
Have a great & lucky remaining 2023 and the best of luck (and planning) for 2024!!!
Keep your powder dry...
Millions were not executed for their TREASON... and that has made all the difference.
ReplyDeleteI used to do 1/10 of 1 percent of that in my back yard on the fourth but not all at once.
ReplyDeleteThink about this with that population number. The WEF thinks thinks there’s been to much screwin how gay is that.
Happy New Year’s Irish an Jeffery and Happy birthday Irish
ps Irish was Marilyn singing the birthday song
DeleteOops, just saw earlier post
DeleteBorn 1956. My biggest regret is not dumping first wife when I caught her being frisky with a stranger at her brother's 21st. We were only engaged at the time. It may be interesting if the kids want to do the ancestry thing.
ReplyDeleteSecond wife and I spent new years eve (it's already new years day where I live) with friends - the hubby has motor neurone disease and hasn't long left. Seeing his decline is a lesson to be grateful for the little things that have happened over the 67 years to make memories that are overwhelmingly positive.
Happy new year people and know that conservatives everywhere are praying the US doesn't fall.
Happy Birthday. A toast to good health and a long life.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Irish! Four days until my 62nd here in the heart of Northern Michigan. I could write a short novel about what if’s…what if my darling wife of 20+ years hadn’t turned back to the US Embassy in Almaty after being declined entry twice erroneously being the biggest.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your life with us.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Irish, and many more to come.
ReplyDeleteApril 1957 here.
Reminds me of my dad taking his British 303, that he bought from Jim’s surplus store in San Fernando mall for $19.00, and shooting the old year down while our neighbor Ron was writing his name on the street with gasoline and lighting it, only the Good Lord knows where the bullets landed.
20 years ago I filled aluminum arrows with black powder with water proof fuse, and shot them in the sky with my compound bow, that was fun,
.Thank you Irish and Jeffery
for just keeping it real
Happy Birthday. Same vintage as you. And I'm glad I was born when I popped out. Had a good childhood and living the best I can now. The pain I got earlier in life made me tougher and I doubt I'd be as thankful for what I have now if it had been easier. I got into the machining sickness a bit late. It really tests my ability to visualize and prepare for a single cut or milling operation. But that is firing parts of the noodle that need the workout. I love it.
ReplyDeleteYou bring us together in the ethernet. Much like messages cast into the sea in bottles, you can't know who will find your messages or be impacted. I look for your message in a bottle every day and it brings pleasure and thought. Thank you. And let's not forget the artistic work of Femme Fatale Friday! Most awesome. Bon Voyage in 2024!
ReplyDelete"When I was young I met a guy that had a small machine shop. That, formed my career for most
ReplyDeleteof my life."
Ya see that's where you fucked up. Do you know the secret of steel my son? I do, use the side of the cutter when milling not the end. Reach deep, step in 10% OF the cutter. But I'm much better on non-ferrous shit. WTF?
A thankless trade where you'll get no personal recognition for pulling of the impossible. Except for your own sense of personal achievement. And that's good enough for me, I love it.
61 on 12/31/23. 1 2 3 1 2 3. Gotta be some magic there somewhere. - Nemo
ReplyDeleteI got 10 years on ya.......2024? Sounds like a date from a science fiction movie, doesn't it???
ReplyDeleteI got six months on ya 😜
ReplyDeleteKeep doing what makes you happy, and get scoped on schedule.