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UpperWestside

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by UpperWestside

  1. Today is always a somber day because it’s the day my dad died 13 years ago, but this year I decided to change things up a bit. I got my surfboard and headed for the beach. It was 83 in the city, but only maybe 70 at the beach. As much as I wanted to get in the water I know my limits and am not a fan of water that feels too cold even if I do have a wetsuit on. Far Rockaway’s cold water can wait until it warms up. Instead I just laid out in the sun and called my mom and talked to my five year old niece on FaceTime. Seeing her enthusiasm for life at her young age made today feel good. I was never particularly close to my dad, but as the years roll on by I see him in a different light than I did when he was here. I wonder what he would think of having two grandkids from my younger brother or all the stories I could now share with him from the decade of travel I have put in and the places I have seen and lived. I wonder how life would have been different for him had he been given a better childhood than being raised in postwar Germany. His Opa raised him because his mother turned 19 the day before he was born. His mother, and my Oma, was awesome, but she was young and having fun when he came along. I kinda think he would understand why I never have married or have kids and why that brings me happiness. Mostly it would have been cool to have asked him a few more things about life instead but of being so distant from him while he was here. I do think he might laugh that I now use his name instead of being called JR or Junior anymore. I will never forget the empty feeling on the final call I got saying he was gone or seeing his lifeless body in the hospital bed when I finally got there from Dallas. I hope that those of you who still have a parent or parents still here that you make better use of that time than I did with my dad. When they are gone that’s it and you do not get another chance with them. My mom is still here and we talk almost every single day even if it’s really late at night. I just felt like sharing this in case there is someone in a difficult spot with a parent.
  2. I read about this syndrome probably 20 plus years ago or so. It can cause some serious health issues and is something that seems a little difficult to have to live with. Former Baylor basketball player Isaiah Austin has it and it prevented him being able to pursue a career in the NBA.
  3. This was sarcasm and did not happen. It does, however, sound like something that would happen to this ghoul of a person at some point.
  4. Loved Bullet Train and parts of this movie also felt like that one as well. The comedic violence is one of the things I enjoyed. The opening scene on the boat was just fantastic.
  5. Someone asked me about this film at work and I said that it felt like a Tarantino movie at various points.
  6. I think Minnesota wins tonight because they’re better. Phoenix would need something even more overwhelming than a free throw parade to win.
  7. I think I probably enjoyed this one more, but I like both movies.
  8. What a horror show this woman is. I rarely am going to say something like this, but man she deserves the absolute worst that can happen to her each and everyday for the rest of her miserable life for killing a dog as well as a goat. What a freaking soulless piece of trash.
  9. I am starting to think that Dan Gilbert actually had good reason to not want Ishbia to be an owner and not just because of the competing business thing. Also when you are soliciting advice from Isiah Thomas on players and how to run your organization you are probably not a very intelligent person nor are you someone that should have an NBA team.
  10. I don’t hate him or even sports hate him, but I do recognize guys who just aren’t winners. My opinion of his ability to be the best player on a championship team has never changed since I saw him in his first season. He is just not a winner. Puts up a lot of points and leads fans to believe he’s an elite player, but he’s not. Chris Paul carried that team while he was there and I say that as someone who has never enjoyed watching him play either.
  11. Welcome to Texghanistan my man. This is your state and your flagship university showing what really matters. Get ready for much, much more of this.
  12. I gotta say that he and Street Clothes really shouldn’t poke the bear like they did last summer saying they were hearing Denver talk about them. Boy did that go nowhere. Well deserved sweep coming for those two.
  13. So disappointed in the Ref Cabal. They did not cheat at all tonight and that’s unacceptable. Apparently the cabal only exists in the minds of crazy people who think officials are working behind the scenes as part of a master plan to help the Lakers win. Who knew that the people saying these things on here and elsewhere are indeed off their rocker. I watched the equivalent of three minutes in the 1st half and that was enough. Denver will get a back-to-back and that’s cool. Most everyone predicted that before the season began. Jokic is pretty cool and the NBA is lucky to have him as the face of the NBA right now. Good luck to LeBron for whatever team he forces his way onto next.
  14. I’m fully expecting the Lakers Ref Cabal to come through for the Purple and Gold tonight. Going to need 40 free throws, a couple of ejections and Jokic getting his 4th foul in the 1st quarter. If they can manage all of that I see a two point Laker win.
  15. I don’t dispute how it sounds. My first interaction was as a teen and I had no idea what was going on. In college I saw it again, but not so much since then due to going to a Baptist church. I will likely never partake in doing it and I’m cool with that. I just leave things be with religious beliefs, practices and customs. What a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon or even the Baha’i faith (Rainn Wilson was raised in a house with these beliefs and he’s an incredibly nice person. Met him once and he was so accommodating to random fans coming off the street to take pictures with him.) thinks and does is okay by me so long as it does not hurt or infringe on others who do not believe as they do. It’s the infringing on others that irks me and in the US it feels like most of this behavior comes from the Trumpvangelicals.
  16. I think we dismiss stuff out of hand because we do not personally believe it to be true. I attempt to not do this with any religion and treat all the same.
  17. Thanks for the insight.
  18. I don’t believe this to be true. I preface this also with having never done this myself when praying. I have mentioned this story before, but I remember a trainer we had on the football team in college. His name was Dwayne and he could barely get words out due to a severe stuttering speech impediment. When he wanted to work with us I had to help him ask our coach because he couldn’t finish the sentence. He had a rough childhood as best I remember. One thing about him that will forever stick with me is sitting in chapel with him. He would pray and his stuttering would go away when he spoke in tongues. He could not speak an entire sentence to save his life, but pray in tongues? That he could do.
  19. If only Phoenix had an aging point guard that can make someone like Booker look valuable. Too bad they never had a guy like that.
  20. Wonderful article about them. I sure wish the Lakers still had Hart on the roster. Thanks for sharing it. Not too often you get a good Knicks team with some fun backstories like that.
  21. The Sixers did almost everything better last night except for the final minute. I get the frustration from Embiid, but just take the loss and move on. Complaining about officials swallowing their whistle in the final minute is not the way to go. Win the next two and make it a best-of-three. Also the Nova Knicks are ridiculously mentally tough. This is the first time in forever that the Knicks have that trait and it’s thanks to the Nova contingent.
  22. You cannot fix this. I think we as humans, especially westerners, think we can fix everything. Sometimes you just cannot fix things. I also loathe the “Christians” who think war there means Jesus is on the way back. I never think along those lines. It’s offensive to me to think Jesus sanctions this stuff and just can’t wait to fly in from the clouds in the middle of a war. Those “Christians” are people I steer real far away from. I hope for the best each day for people and that suffering would cease. You can only control what is in front of you.
  23. I look at history as an almost never ending struggle of humans to subdue other humans not included in their group. That phenomenon plays out all across the world. This one just has more documentation than others. I believe that it was George Carlin that commented on liking individual encounters with people as fun, but once people get in groups is where things inevitably go sideways. Both of these sides had control at various points in history and both were also subjected to foreign rule by more than one empire. Again humans gonna human at the expense of the less powerful. In this case the Palestinians get slaughtered because they do not have the weaponry or organized army ravaging them. It’s why I want them sent to the US to live and flourish. As long as Israel is allowed to murder the population they have no chance to have a normal existence. I’d also add that since the Israeli Jews overwhelmingly want them removed that the onus should be entirely upon them financially to facilitate that move. We all know this won’t happen, but it’s better to think of better days for Palestinians than to see them continually suffer endless war. I will attempt to read at least one of the two books, probably the first one. I read for at least an hour and a half a day so when I can work that book in I will do so because you can never know enough or ever stop learning more about the world you share with others.
  24. More awesome stuff.
  25. I remember going to a therapist during the first year of the pandemic. It was helpful I believe and I would recommend therapy to anyone seeking it out or in need of it. Sometimes though I think having close friends or family there for support can be of equal value. Absent that I would go to a therapist though. I wish we lived in a country, or world for that matter, that put greater emphasis on mental health.
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