January 1, 2005

New Year 2005

I got very sick on Thursday evening. Since there is an unexpected surgery in the family coming up, I was quarantined to our bedroom. I ended up watching Gods and Monsters (Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser), most of the second season of Everybody Loves Raymond and Beethoven (the dog movie with Charles Grodin). In the process, I learned some interesting things (that most people wouldn't give two whoops and a holler about):

1. At one time, I thought that Frank Barone (from Everybody Loves Raymond) reminded me of a very loved relative. That was only after watching the first two episodes of the first season. This is no longer the case.

2. Binding has many meanings. I learned a new meaning for it over the last few days.

3. I still don't like Charles Grodin (more annoying than a Woody Allen movie marathon).

4. My beloved Cindy is wonderful. Though I have known this for 19 years (now, since I have known her since 02Dec1985), I appreciate it more and more every day. I am willing to shout that from the mountaintop but, since there is no real mountains (at least in my book) on the East Coast, I will use this Blog to announce it. Part of the reason that I have come to realize it is that she endures someone that I am reasonably sure that I would want to strangle at some point. For the answer to this, click here!

5. Everyone looks at an arbitrary number (say, the year 2005) and uses that as a new beginning. They miss the chances they have with every single second of their lives. When I am granted another second of my life, I am on borrowed time (just as we all are). This is not depressing, but a very happy thought. I am glad that I have been honored by God to live that much longer.

6. I have come to realize that a necessary part of my seabag (for life) should be a handy dose of chill pills. A good friend from Oak Harbor mentioned to me that I need to "throttle back" (this person was from the Naval Aviation community). I now realize how true that is. A lot of things that I thought were aimed at me personally, never were.

7. For the first time (in a long time), the scales read a number that I hadn't seen in a while. Fortunately, it was a LOWER number this time. The 61 days that I have been working out on my Power Rider has been paying off.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and pray that the New Year's resolutions that you made were reasonable ones. Keep up the determination and, even if you fail, remember that it is not the end. Get up, dust yourself off, and keep going. Keep in mind that Ty Cobb (one of baseball's best hitters) failed almost sixty-five percent of the time. Failure is nothing more than a dress rehearsal for success.

4 comments:

Natalie said...

its nice to know that someone as tough as yourself can get all mushy and sentimental. awww.

Anonymous said...

Texas/75 Says: "Congradualtions on your weight loss sucess and continued "Culture Changes!" The new Throttled Back Tony will serve you well into the future. God Bless & Good Luck Dude.

Tony Quote: I have come to realize that a necessary part of my seabag (for life) should be a handy dose of chill pills. A good friend from Oak Harbor mentioned to me that I need to "throttle back" (this person was from the Naval Aviation community). I now realize how true that is. A lot of things that I thought were aimed at me personally, never were.

Anonymous said...

congrats also on your weight loss!...isn't it interesting how if there is "less of us" we are happier? i thought that more was better...

i never liked chas. grodin either as an actor, but who knows, he might be a really nice guy in person.

here's some interesting questions posed by a child: are we held accountable to God for all of our thoughts? are all our thoughts our own or do some come from Satan, and if so are we responsible for them?

Anonymous said...

It was the first holiday season after he turned 50. The Commander gazed out the window with reverence to the fact that he had already seen more sunrises and sunsets than the number remaining in his life. The evidence of life's "quality" was now more vital than life's "quantity". "Only look back to learn but do not stare, for beyond the horizon, a new day is already there" was once spoken as the morning mist caressed the glass-like surface of the lake. The Commander had many "watermarks" to track time past but realized there was much to pass on to others close to him. Some may say life is short but if that is the case, the Commander would be sure it was wide with the fellowship of others, who like the Commander himself, were not caught up in the transitory, hollow trappings of pop-culture's definition of life. The Commander also remembered how one can look at the river feeding the lake, yes, a river looks the same but it always changing. His friends were the unchanging rock in the river.