The Daily News: June 2017

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The Once-in-a-While

Daily News: Pure and

Easy.

1 Wednesday. Thinking of Bo Diddley and Little Richard. Who wouldn't? They inspired The Beatles and The Who, among twelve billion others.

2 That's about all I have right this sec.

3 Adventurous past two days, if I may.

4 We moved Matt and Coley and Rocky and Li'l Jack up to Sacramento.

5 Piece O' Cake.

6 Nicoley had to also move out of her school, so it was basically like moving two small houses. I remember when I had to get all my stuff out of Evergreen Valley. I had a Free Market in my classroom. Gave away tons of stuff to anybody who walked in. And it STILL wasn't enough.

7 Movin' movin' movin'.

8 Goin' Mobile.

9 I played a lot of Who music during all of this, for some reason. Maybe it was because my CD jacket was under a front seat filled with all sorts of boushit, so my Who's Next CD looped for me automatically.

10 There once was a note, pure and easy.

11 What?

12 iTunes? What's that?

13 Just kidding.

14 As we speak Nicole is laughing her ass off.

15 Me too.

16 I should have taken a hint last year when I went into Fry's Electronics and asked this dude if he knew where the CD jackets were. I disguised it as a "DVD" jacket because there's more credibility. I mentioned Willie Nelson and Taylor Swift, just to throw the guy a curve.

17 He was nice to this Old Brown Shoe.

18 I then got home and put my fave CD's in the front of the CD jacket, and then stored them alpha, which I choose to use as an adverb.

19 Anybody lookin'?

22 Didn't think so.

25 Why Willie Nelson and Taylor Swift?

26 They're both credible and they're both cool in a subtly unsubtle way.

27 I almost asked you to contrast their characters with those of others, but you don't have to go far to find people who are much more annoying and creepy.

28 Sometimes they get elected to high office. I wish they would elect to stay at the top of a high office and leave the rest of us normals alone.

29 Willie Nelson and Taylor Swift.

30 Cool.

31 Moving On, Part One: So what's this simple move like?

32 What is it "akin to?"

33 Here are some visuals:

34 I blame the Illuminati for all of this.

35 And may I add John Glenn to my list of cools?

36

37

38 And how about Little Richard?

39 Tuesday. I got some pics, but none anyone would want to see. It was simply "The Move." It began horribly: Helene twisted her ankle on the stairs, and it swelled up and turned purple. She is usually busy loading heavy stuff, but she was completely off her game and still moved, contributed, and delivered Bud Lites to the afternoon crew!

40 Caitlin sent us coffee and donuts the night before. Matt's Mom Carol came over and visited Li'l Jack. Her awesome hubby Robert loaned us his truck! Ashley B. and Daniel came over and did some heavy lifting, just wonderfully helpful stuff.

41 So much support poured in from everyone. I drove a U-Haul van through mostly light traffic with assistance from The Who, Bo-Diddley, Little Richard, Metallica, Willie Nelson, Taylor Swift, and Led Zeppelin, not particularly in that order.

42 Yesterday afternoon my amazing nephew Brian came to help from a text message from Matt. This helped, because I was burnt out from movin' and movin' and movin'.

43 They could see that I was ready to pass out, so Brian stepped up and brought new power to the move. He brought along young Caden, who had a fun time riding on the things that rolled. We all came crashing into Public Storage.

44 It seemed that Public Storage was gearing up for a huge party. People came; they left; they helped. It amazed me, all of it. Matt never stopped moving, pushing, and gettin' her done.

45 Brian had the spirit and the jokes. By around five p.m. we got off the job, and emptied the rest at the house. Josh came over and moved really swiftly to help us finish.

46 I had water. Cool, clear water. And I showered after finally coming back from it all. But they're here.

47 Officially.

48 My body feels like it went 10 rounds with Tyson.

49 But we all did it. My last chore was to water the garden, watch old episodes of The Middle, and write this nonsense.

50 But life changed for all of us.

51 Pure and easy. That song and Who's Next? Here are some lyrics:

Pure and Easy

by Pete Townshend

There once was a note
pure and easy
Playing so free like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal
I hear it it sees me
Forever we blend
And forever we die

I listened and I heard
Music in a word,
And words when you played your guitar
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
And a child flew past me riding in a star

52 There's much more, but the entire concept of this pure
note worked for me.

53 Always did.

54 Always did,

55 Gottago.

56 See you again.

57 Have a GREAT day.

58 Live life.

59 Love life.

60 Peace.

fin.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The Once-in-a-While

Daily News

1 I watched the Giants' game the other night and the subject of nicknames came up.

2 Names like The Say-Hey Kid, Stretch, Will-the-Thrill, were mentioned as nicknames for Willie Mays, Willy McCovey, and Will Clark.

3 I don't even remember who was discussing this, but a mini-debate came up about whether players called each other these names. THAT'S how bad the games had become, and that was before the Fathers' Day Massacre in Denver. Do players use nicknames in the locker room, or are the nicknames media inventions? Not rocket science.

4 Most don't. Or do. Like I'm sure Will Clark was occasionally referred to by other players as Thrill, and McCovey as Stretch. I don't think Mays was ever called Say-Hey by anyone. He said, "Say hey" a lot, but the rest was just media and fans.

5 It got so boring watching the team continually lose that my mind wandered, and I thought of a number of different nicknames I have had over the years.

6 A first name like "Bud" invites nicknames. So over the years, I've enjoyed people calling me different names.

7 It wasn't always that way. In fourth grade, kids can be mean. They went after my last name. Wanna know what they called me?

9 C'mon. Give it a shot. Last name. Fourth graders.

11 <basketball buzzer>

13 "Hairyhead."

14 Ironically.

17 That's why I wear hats.

18 Hairyhead. I ask you.

19 Since then, I've had lots of fun names. I got Georgie Porgied at a young age as well. I decided to keep Bud. I have mentioned here that I was named after my Dad's brother, who I always knew to have been my own Uncle Bud, so it seemed a natural course.

20 I always wondered if HE got Georgie Porgied.

21 Both of my parents often called me Buddy, which I always liked; I saw it as a term of endearment. It usually preceded a mini-request: "Buddy, could you turn off the hall light?" Or "Buddy, could you bring me a chocolate chip cookie?"

22 That was always a favorite.

23 Amazingly, not many nicknames in high school. I can't remember a one. But when I went to college, my roommate called me Budly, which was cool. My good friend and confidante Rosi calls me Budly to this day.

24 I don't recall any nicknames in college either, but I don't remember much about college anyway.

25 It really wasn't until I became a teacher that I began to gather a bunch of nicknames, particularly when I was paired

with my number one partner in crime, Ken Ponticelli, whom I have called various nicknames as well. I think one of my favorites was Kenny-the-P of the Size Three Knee. He became Mr. P, but more pleasantly just Ponch.

26 As a teacher, Mr. H became a natural handle for me, and it eventually got shortened to just H.

27 By far the coolest handle was given to me and Ponch by a student named Iwana Price, who came up to me and said, "Hey Mr. Harrington, I got a nickname for you. You Shawshank, and Mr. Ponticelli, you Redemption."

28 I've said this before but it bears repeating: Any time Ponch asks for a table at a restaurant, and they ask him his name, he always responds, "Simon." I can't remember why, but if I ever do, I'll report it here. If I remember.

29 In Tahoe, we did a pirate trip down the Truckee River, and my cousin-in-law Jeff became "Captain Jack Sparrow," I became "Cap'n Numb Skully," and Ponch was simply "Smee." I have pictures.

Cousin James, Smee, and Black Pearl Sistah, my

sistah Gayle, who now HAS a new handle. That's

Black Pearl Sistah giving Smee the bunny ears.

Cap'n Numb Skully and Black Pearl Sistah.

The REAL Cap'n Jack Sparrow. He kin tarn ye

ta stone with a mere glimpse.

31 There were many more. I'll reserve this item for any more that may come up. Oh, and I've been called a lot worse.

32 Moving On, Part One: The other day I was trolling FB when I ran across an article that was the 35 funniest bathroom graffiti jobs ever, or something like that. I'm not one for potty humor, but the title was close to correct. I have some clean ones, which of course, you don't want to see, but I have my dignity. Somewhere around here. I would like to share some of those with you this fine day. So here ya go!

42 And finally:

43 I could go on, but I wrote none of these. Each author is anonymous. I don't want to tell you what horridness I saw while doing the research for this. And I certainly don't condone writing on restaurant walls. Or school walls. Or school bathrooms. I've cleaned my share of some pretty bad graffiti over the years, but admit it: every once in a while you come upon a chuckle. So no marking pens in the bathroom, leftist poets and Trump huggers. This was all in fun.

44 I gottago.

45 Let me rephrase that.