I used to like to go to Trade day at Summerville on Tuesdays and Saturdays. This is a place where people have brought practically everything under the sun to sell to other people over the years.
There are some pretty hilarious things that go on at these little out of the way places. I remember one time a few years back when I got surprised. I used to get up and go at the crack of dawn, so I never shaved and rarely ever combed my hair. Sometimes I would have on track pants and an old slouchy shirt. After all, this is no glamour magazine layout we are going to, correct?
I was walking around picking through stuff in boxes, crates and all other manner of containers, and I saw a little old Polaroid “Swinger” camera. I know these to be from back in the early 60’s, because I used to have one when I was 12 years old. I reach over to pick it up and another gentlemen who was there with me, my Mom’s cousin actually, bent over behind me. As I reached in and grabbed the camera my hand pushed down the button and “kachang” a flash of light, and a photo pops out the front of the camera. I was a bit surprised at the flash, so I pulled back at first but then bent over and pulled the negative out. As I watched it develop I saw with horror that this little Polaroid was still in great working condition as a close up of my early morning face slowly came in to focus out of the miasma of chemicals on the instant film. There was Vester Davenport looking over my shoulder at me. What a great black and white snapshot that was! Needless to say, with the owner asking only a dollar, I bought the little camera. I think it is still sitting around the utility room at my house somewhere. How odd that it had only one shot left on the film cartridge that was in it. I still have the photo, it’s ugly but I can’t bear to burn it.
You have to be really careful during outings to these places, and to the myriad yard sales, antique malls, estate sales, auctions, etc. Reaching into boxes like I did that morning without really looking closely first can get you injured. I take my tetanus booster shots on a regular basis because I have been cut, jabbed and puncture so many times by pins, knives, attachments on jewelry, you name it. I have never had a snake bite me yet, but I am knocking on wood as I write this. Spiders, yes I have seen bunches of them. Mold and mildew, that’s an everyday thing. When you are dealing with old “stuff” you have to get used to the rot of age that comes with it. It kind of makes you feel bad when they start calling things that are the same age as you “antique” though. According to the definitions that I have found on collectible items, things have to be over 100 years old to be classified as Antique, and since I wasn’t born anywhere near 1907, then things that are the same age as me only quality to be called “vintage” I like vintage a heck of a lot better than antique. Good wine is “vintage”, so if I am like good wine then I can live with that.
I do see a lot of stuff from 1950 that looks in bad condition though. I guess things can have rough lives just like people.
6:30 a.m. is creeping up on me and so there is going to be no time for the second go round of coffee. I have to go out and start up my car in anticipation of the hour’s drive to work. It’s kind of sad, but it’s a daily ritual.
Living in a small town that only has one place of employment is aggravating sometimes. Every since 1978 I have had to commute anywhere from 70 to 100 miles a day round trip out and back to work. I have put tons of miles on numerous cars, that’s for sure. I have got to the point now where I “zone out” just as soon as I pull out of my driveway. If something out of the ordinary doesn’t happen, like a big old buck deer jumping out in front of me, or a car accident (thanks God, it hasn’t been me but once that I can remember, and I am knocking on wood again) then I don’t remember a thing about the ride out and back. I turn on the radio and most of the time tune in to NPR, National Public Radio. Now there’s an institution!
I have been listening to them for almost 20 years now, and have been the better for it. There are not any commercials, except when they are having a funding drive and then they drive you insane begging for money. I always listen to 60’s rock during those 2 weeks out of the year when they are raising money. I don’t feel guilty for not giving anything. What the heck, it’s radio! They apparently have always gotten enough to do them, because they have never gone off the air. It tickles me the “prizes” they give away when they are doing this.
“Now here we have a two CD set of Hillbilly Bob, and Skanky Skunks recorded live in Paducah Kentucky back in 1954 at their farewell concert,” they say “and we will send you this great set for just a contribution of 100 dollars towards our goal of ….” Whatever it is. They do give away CD’s of people I have heard of, but you have to pay more then you do for Hillbilly Bob. They also sell “DJ for an Hour” which is when they let amateur folks come in for an hour of their programming and play anything they want. Some of these are very pitiful. I have always kind of wanted to do this, so I could play all of the demo tapes of country songs I recorded back in the 80’s, but I am afraid someone would think I was pitiful too. I probably would be. They would have to be better then some of things I have heard though. They had one guy on during one of the hours who played recordings of songs he had made with dogs barking the lyrics. I couldn’t bring myself to switch the station. It was kind of like when you drive by a bad car wreck and you don’t want to look, but curiosity gets the best of you and you do it anyway. I have seen some things I would have been better of not seeing, and that day I heard some things I really DID NOT want to hear.
But, it’s kind of a tradition to listen to this station, and it’s news most of the time anyway, and most of the time I am zoned out.
I have had some problems over the past few years with sleepiness. I don’t know if it’s just old age, or what. Some days I have to roll down the window and stick my head out in order to stay awake. This gets really rough during the moth and bug season. After a few hits on the head by June bugs, you do have a tendency to stay awake though.
I remember one time when I was about 8 miles or so away from home, and feeling really sleepy that I found myself on a road I was not familiar with. Turns out, I had turned off of the main highway in my sleep and was driving down a little back road that led to who knows where. I made a right hand turn and got back out to the highway, but it was really scary. How can one drive when one is unconscious? I have found that chewing gum helps, so now I go through about 8 packs of Trident a week. Hope all those possums along the way liked thoroughly chewed sugarless gum. (They probably do)
The other thing that is irritating besides the fund drives on NPR and falling asleep is road construction. I have pretty much gone the same way to work for the last 19 years, and I believe that the road I am driving on is now fully 6 inches higher then it was back in 1988. They pave it once a year whether it needs it or not. The politicians can NEVER bring themselves to give back tax money, even in years when they have a surplus (which is not very often, but it does happen) so instead of giving anything back, they pave roads with it. I think they justify it by saying they are keeping people employed. The type of people they keep employed, however, are quite often not prime candidates for Mensa. (Or even prime candidates for 9th grade for that matter) And you never, ever see all of them working at the same time. There will be one guy driving the little buggy with the big heavy roller on the front of it to pack down the asphalt, and everyone else will be standing there watching him. They lean on their shovels, or sit on the other machines and cheer him on.
“Thata’ boy Joey, pack that stuff down” they say “anybody got another chew?’
Ol’ Joey has the chew, and as you ride your car by, he tries to wait until the most recently waxed ones get right next to him before he spits. What are you going to do? There are 50 cars in front of you and 50 cars behind you and you ain’t going to be doing any stopping to argue with Joey over washing your car. Besides, the man is on top of a machine that could crush your vehicle like a beer can in the hands of Hulk Hogan.
Just once in my life, I would like to see a Governor who decides to give a tax rebate back. I swear if there has every been a politician like that I don’t remember their name.
So, I swing out of the driveway, tune in to NPR and start to zone out.
I don’t mind going to meetings, but I hate going to meetings that are about me. I have been in limbo now employment wise for quite some time. So, every now and then there is a meeting about me. This was one of those days.
Let’s skip this for now; suffice it to say that the status quo was preserved.
That’s another one of those words that’s derived from Latin isn’t it? Status Quo. Sounds cool, but what it really means is inaction. If action is not taken one way or another on a subject then the subject or matter remains “Status Quo” That’s good when it comes to things like the San Andreas fault. The fact that it is remaining status quo is a good thing. When it comes to inaction in terms of our human lives, status quo can sometimes become an enemy. It can also become an enemy when it comes to lack of action where our country is involved. I have dreams about that every once in a while.
I have a dream about America. I dream that the United States of America is still a power to reckon with, in regards to the World economy, and the ability to shape that economy. I dream that most Americans have not given up on their future, or the futures of their children and grandchildren because the Chinese, Indians, Koreans or other rising economic powers have bitten into the pie of wealth and started to chew on their earnings. Rather, I dream that America and Americans can bounce back with a vengeance and regain their dominance in the World Economy. They can only do this, however; by leveling the playing field with the competition and fielding the right players.
Since right after World War II, the United States has been giving up their economic surplus to help rebuild each and every country they have ever gone to war with. Billions of dollars have been poured into the rebuilding of the German economy, the Japanese economy, and the Korean economy. Now we find ourselves in the position over the past few years to do the same thing for Viet Nam, and will soon be doing it for Iraq. Money which should have been used to help further the cause of U.S. economic growth, through incentives, research and rewards for hard work has instead propped up the very aforementioned economies until they are now competing with us on a “equals” footing.
Now also, China has decided to enter into the mix with their HUGE pool of cheap labor to pull from, causing further loss of revenue for the U.S. for the types of products that can be cheaply produced and sold here. The U.S. Textile industry has suffered as no other to the huge glut of textile products which have been and still are being imported into this country by the large mega retailers such as You-know-who-Mart. No incentives have been given to U.S. Textile manufacturers to stay in business, and no restrictions have been put on China, India, Viet Nam, and others to try and level the playing field for U.S. companies to be able to compete.
Many people complain about the influx of foreign workers coming into the U.S. causing and keeping the earned wages below where it is perceived they should be. U.S. companies have been forced to some extent to employ this labor force at a lower wage in order to keep their heads above the water. If the U.S. government would stop placing the perceived “good” relationships we are cultivating with the countries which are killing our economy, above the need to take care of its own citizens, then things might start to turn around. The process is still reversible at this point, although it will not always be that way. It would be better to try and help increase good jobs in the countries where these workers come from, in order to give them some incentives to stay home and work.
But do most politicians pay attention to the people? Hardly. Even when elected by the citizens of their District or State, with a clear mandate from them to do things one way, the politicians go to Washington with their OWN agenda in mind, knowing that they have years to do things to benefit themselves before they come up for election again. One has only to look at the current administration and the surrounding players in Congress to see a group of people who are there only to serve their own interests. If there is a real “fiscal” conservative in the current administration, then he or she must be hiding under a conference table somewhere cowering and afraid to come out. Never, in the history of this country has there been a group of people who have spent and borrowed a nation closer to being bereft than the current one.
When someone mentions that the “Stock Market” is still going up, I have to wonder what they will think about that same Stock market in just a decade or so when a large majority of the Baby Boomer 401 K’s that have been keeping the Market buoyed and strong start to come out and start being used to pay for medical bills, drugs, food, etc. Certainly there will be money coming into the market from new 401 K’s to some extent, however again the fact that so many foreign workers are now taking over the job spaces that have been for years filled by Americans who have wanted to save for American futures is going to cause the Stock Market to take a huge hit fairly soon.
You only have to look at the fact that the second highest economic factor in the Mexican economy last year was Money being sent home to Mexico from the United States. That is money that Wall Street will never see.
Couple that fact with the fact that our country is now borrowing money very heavily from the above mentioned economic power who we have bailed out during our past history and it all becomes very troubling. (If we just had the money back we have wasted in Iraq…but that’s another book)
Until we can find some of the “right players” who will take the reigns of our economic behemoth which is careening out of control and pull us back on the road for success we will continue to barely keep our economy out of the ditches. Right now we ARE still a force to be reckoned with and none of us have given up. What we really need to do is to make sure our choices in the future for the people who represent US are very carefully made. We need a President that has a pen marked ‘Veto’ written on it for spending bills which are plainly pork. We need a Congress filled with enough men and women of integrity who can so “no” to the siren call of the lobbyists and yes to doing the will of the people who elected them.
I hope it’s not just a pipe dream.
In any case, it’s now close to 8 am so its time to head on to work for the “Boy Who was Chosen Last” Yep, that’s me.
It was a long time ago when I was 12 years old. I had never played organized baseball of any kind. As I have previously stated I am NOT that much of a team player.
Writing for Sanity's Sake 