Monday, July 11, 2016
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Dirt Track Promise & Reflection
The Dirt Life really keeps you busy you know? It's 5 sometimes 6 days a week of planning & when the weekend finally hit 5 o'clock Friday a feeling is whispered back to me as a never ending reminder of a time when life was more about chasing freedom & mistakes never really mattered because you were going to fast to even notice. It's been over half my life since those days of boredom & day dreaming out of a cubical desk about becoming someone one day but not yet knowing what. See back in those days Friday was the most important day because unlike other days it came with two very noteworthy events worth many celebrations in my few years of high school dwelling. Square Pizza was always served with corn at lunch & the 3 o'clock let out bell was the key that unlocked the chains but only for a weekend. Man we were out the class into the hall way & down the front side walk before most kids had even gotten to their locker. I can remember so many times waiting for that end of the school day bell, regretful & butt hurt if my attention was lost in thought & fooled enough to believe time had gone by quicker. As if an hour was less than 60 seconds done over again 60 more times.
Butterflies would build in my stomach & white heads would pop up on my forehead as I anticipated my cool escape into the free world. Nirvana, 2pac Snoop & Red Hot Chili Peppers were all set & ready in order to switch out in the cd case on the drivers seat out in the student parking. Planning my next 48 hours rehearsing every next step until the uncontrollable urge has you looking at the white round clock above the teachers desk.. 3 more minutes but feel like seasons as my mind begins working my index of to do & where to be so that I miss nothing. So much to live for but such little time. Most weekends back then were 44 of 48 hours wide open down some dirt road either kicking up dust, doing donuts in a pasture ( more like a dare just as long as you don't hit Mr. Johnson's herd) or trouble & neither were hard to find in those days of adolescents. Neither was homemade wine if you knew the right people. You could pilfer a taste when the timing was right but you would be scared as a mice to a Tom cat if the country stained old man chewing on a stick of sugar cane ever found out you would surely be dead. If you were lucky enough to buy your own smokes, you probably bought them at the used tire shop on the edge of the town limits. Once you earn his trust that you are cool he will probably sell a few twist a tops as long as it was Friday & no one else was around. Yep, those days of innocence & teenage rebellion are long gone, but who was ever good at being good right?
This week I had predetermined I would take a week off from article writing & focus my time on somethings that I felt were going to need more attention. Ideas that require organization & resources or time coordination of the idea to pull it off at the right moment maximizing the chances of fulfilling the WoW factor you intended to receive. But just as I was planning my weekly work load I received a text that brought everything that was once top priority to a realization that planning & effort are sometimes just words if you don't execute on the little things. You see my life once started at 3 on Friday & ended by 6 on Sunday evening unless we were out for holidays & summer break. My anticipation & anxiousness to get away & enjoy my weekend in those days of no bills & light work duty was one of the many feelings I very rarely experience in my adult life. These days the only butterflies I get come while watching the pit gate before a race as we count cars anticipating if we will have a full field or the moment a local driver & a visiting driver decide to battle over about 3 feet of prime real-estate even at the very bottom of the burn or on top pushing the cushion. Please no one wreck & if they do God forbid the corner worker misses it or see's something others did not. Those quiet seconds passing will echo loudly in your head as the static becomes thriller music until at last the button is cued & a voice speaks from the other side of the handheld. Phew got lucky this time. The call has been made.
If you are ever confronted about a mistake or an overlook be very attentive, respond respectively using your mother taught manners, well worded positive responses while maintaining natural body movements & expressions that can not be misunderstood as uncaring or worse, incompetent. Humbled by a simple blessing of brutal honesty & reflection & thankful above all that it was brought to attention instead of going unnoticed, which would leave a feeling in a kids stomach that is more comparable to my grown up stomach butterflies then the ones I mentioned from my earlier life in grade school. It is shameful & irresponsible to make a promise with good intentions but due to an overlook or lack of communication it was unfulfilled leaving helpless looks on everyone's face. A happy feeling that brings a smile to a young persons face will create a lifelong memory when realizing tonight a prize would be awarded & luck was passed your way today. Only to have reality stripped from one world that was justified as fair just moments ago, now more of a feeling of being played. Replaced by sadness from a broken promise & only a short unprepared explanation "whoops sorry I tried to correct that after It was spoke but they have no prize to giveaway". The confusion of offset emotions become wet tears as a 10 year old takes one last glance at an autograph that once offered a moment of opportunity turn into confusion & then despair. Trust was destroyed the moment the child walked away empty handed leaving a helpless feeling that would be uncalled for and without real compassion especially when it pertains to or involves the future generation of our great sport.
You see it's the negative let downs like this in life that will change those good stomach butterflies you got as a child in reaction to excitement to a dreadful feeling you tend to get as an adult. Let's keep it real & make sure we lead by example by positive influence & always make sure you keep a promise with a little ones underage , you may never know the negative influence it may have if these simple words we speak are spoken with no context or no true meaning. Make everyday count & make right of something even if at first it turns out bad.
Butterflies would build in my stomach & white heads would pop up on my forehead as I anticipated my cool escape into the free world. Nirvana, 2pac Snoop & Red Hot Chili Peppers were all set & ready in order to switch out in the cd case on the drivers seat out in the student parking. Planning my next 48 hours rehearsing every next step until the uncontrollable urge has you looking at the white round clock above the teachers desk.. 3 more minutes but feel like seasons as my mind begins working my index of to do & where to be so that I miss nothing. So much to live for but such little time. Most weekends back then were 44 of 48 hours wide open down some dirt road either kicking up dust, doing donuts in a pasture ( more like a dare just as long as you don't hit Mr. Johnson's herd) or trouble & neither were hard to find in those days of adolescents. Neither was homemade wine if you knew the right people. You could pilfer a taste when the timing was right but you would be scared as a mice to a Tom cat if the country stained old man chewing on a stick of sugar cane ever found out you would surely be dead. If you were lucky enough to buy your own smokes, you probably bought them at the used tire shop on the edge of the town limits. Once you earn his trust that you are cool he will probably sell a few twist a tops as long as it was Friday & no one else was around. Yep, those days of innocence & teenage rebellion are long gone, but who was ever good at being good right?
This week I had predetermined I would take a week off from article writing & focus my time on somethings that I felt were going to need more attention. Ideas that require organization & resources or time coordination of the idea to pull it off at the right moment maximizing the chances of fulfilling the WoW factor you intended to receive. But just as I was planning my weekly work load I received a text that brought everything that was once top priority to a realization that planning & effort are sometimes just words if you don't execute on the little things. You see my life once started at 3 on Friday & ended by 6 on Sunday evening unless we were out for holidays & summer break. My anticipation & anxiousness to get away & enjoy my weekend in those days of no bills & light work duty was one of the many feelings I very rarely experience in my adult life. These days the only butterflies I get come while watching the pit gate before a race as we count cars anticipating if we will have a full field or the moment a local driver & a visiting driver decide to battle over about 3 feet of prime real-estate even at the very bottom of the burn or on top pushing the cushion. Please no one wreck & if they do God forbid the corner worker misses it or see's something others did not. Those quiet seconds passing will echo loudly in your head as the static becomes thriller music until at last the button is cued & a voice speaks from the other side of the handheld. Phew got lucky this time. The call has been made.
If you are ever confronted about a mistake or an overlook be very attentive, respond respectively using your mother taught manners, well worded positive responses while maintaining natural body movements & expressions that can not be misunderstood as uncaring or worse, incompetent. Humbled by a simple blessing of brutal honesty & reflection & thankful above all that it was brought to attention instead of going unnoticed, which would leave a feeling in a kids stomach that is more comparable to my grown up stomach butterflies then the ones I mentioned from my earlier life in grade school. It is shameful & irresponsible to make a promise with good intentions but due to an overlook or lack of communication it was unfulfilled leaving helpless looks on everyone's face. A happy feeling that brings a smile to a young persons face will create a lifelong memory when realizing tonight a prize would be awarded & luck was passed your way today. Only to have reality stripped from one world that was justified as fair just moments ago, now more of a feeling of being played. Replaced by sadness from a broken promise & only a short unprepared explanation "whoops sorry I tried to correct that after It was spoke but they have no prize to giveaway". The confusion of offset emotions become wet tears as a 10 year old takes one last glance at an autograph that once offered a moment of opportunity turn into confusion & then despair. Trust was destroyed the moment the child walked away empty handed leaving a helpless feeling that would be uncalled for and without real compassion especially when it pertains to or involves the future generation of our great sport.
You see it's the negative let downs like this in life that will change those good stomach butterflies you got as a child in reaction to excitement to a dreadful feeling you tend to get as an adult. Let's keep it real & make sure we lead by example by positive influence & always make sure you keep a promise with a little ones underage , you may never know the negative influence it may have if these simple words we speak are spoken with no context or no true meaning. Make everyday count & make right of something even if at first it turns out bad.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Monday, June 27, 2016
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