The Debut

     Okay. For what it's worth, here is my initial offering. My opening salvo. Bombs away. ( If it sounds like I'm stalling, perish the thought! ) I would never do that!
      To begin. This post may be a little dull, because I feel obligated to offer some explainations and qualifiers. Once that is out of the way, I can get serious.
      It is my hope and intention to entertain, inform, enlighten, amuse, and make us think. I will not intentionally set out to offend or insult ayone, but I can assure you, some of the things I post will not sit well with some. If I say something you disagree with, let me know! I would like for this effort to be interactive. I want to learn from this!
      The things I post here will be my opinions, based on my obsevations and experiences, and on my memories of events, and my perceptions and interpretation of these things. Usually, I only have my side of the story to tell, so my stories may not exactly be the way you heard it, or remember it. And I'll tell you up front, my memory ain't exactly exact. It needs a haircut and a shave, because it is awful fuzzy these days! I will do my best, but, from time to time, I may resort to "enhancement" , or even "poetic license" from time to time, just to fill in the blanks or to keep things moving along.
      You may as well know from the git go, I love cliches and old sayings, and wise sayings and the like. You will catch me using them here. My favorite is a twist on an Einstein quote. He said" Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result", or something close to that. My take is a tad more bucolic: Keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you always got. I just love stuff like that.
      I am also a believer in conspiracy theories. I do not believe in coincidence. I know some cannot understand how a thinking, intelligent person could possibly buy into cospiracy thinking. I cannot understand how a thinking, intelligent person cannot buy into it. We will have to agree to disagree.
      From time to time, I will drag my soap box out, perch myself atop it, and go at it hot and heavy like a recently graduated Divinity School student! I am not always the best informed on subjects I feel strongly about. Sometimes, I get just enough information to form an opinion and make interesting conversation, but you maybe better not write a school report based on stuff I say without doing a little research. I am known to be a wee bit inaccurate sometimes.
      Sometimes, I will show up here just to cut up and have fun. Sometimes, I will be stern and morose. Other times, philosphical. ( I am a well known amateur philosopher. Just ask Tia!)
      The thing is, you never know what you're going get when you tune in to Rambling Thoughts, but I will always try to make it interesting. I know this one is just about as interesting as a soup can label, but I had to post the disclaimer for all the folks that are going to get mad at me for some of this stuff. And I will make some of mad. I hope everybody won't get mad at the same time.
      Also, I almost forgot, sometimes, this will be a trip down Memory Lane. Just for the fun it! I love strolling down Memory Lane!
      Having declared my affection for Memory Lane, I will close this initial offering with the earliest story I know about myself. When I was born, Mama and Daddy lived in " the Quonset huts" in Lancaster (Dallas ) close to the present location of the Dallas VA hospital. For those young folks reading this (if there are any), a Quonset hut  is a semi-circular metal structure invented by the Brits(the Nissan hut) and copied by the U.S. military during WWII to be used primarily to house troops. They could be easily assembled and taken down by unskilled laborers and widely used in all theatres of the war. After the war, many were sold as surplus and converted to housing. The one we lived in had a concrete floor. I can only imagine they all did. Anyway, I suppose, even back then at such an early age, (I was less than a year old) I had Marine genes. Mama told me that one of my favorite things to do was, when I was finished with a bottle, because it was empty, and of no further use to me, I would fling it as far as I could. These bottles were made of glass. Concrete floor. Not good. Mama tried to be there when I finished one, but she was not always able to time it just right. Plastic was a new thing in '53, and did not enjoy the ubiquitous presence it does today.    But, one day, she did get a plastic bottle. She could not wait to reveal the virtue of plastic to me! She brought me the newly filled bottle, and proceeded to explain to me that I could chunk this one out of the crib as much as I liked. No problem. Knock yourself out. Go ahead. Throw it! Then, she decided to show me, in case I didn't quite get it. She reared back, and threw that bottle as hard she could on the floor. I don't know if the cap broke, or was loose, or crossthreaded, but it gave up, and milk went all over the room, ceiling, floor, walls. Everywhere. I don't know what was said in the next few minutes, and Mama wasn't given to swearing, but I just imagine it is good that my tender age at the time helps to block that memory.
      Anyway, that's it for my first attempt. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think!

      Goodnight, Chesty Puller, where ever you are!



                    ADIOS!