tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post5818883220070926224..comments2022-12-12T02:22:42.378-05:00Comments on Not There Yet: Catching UpDavidShaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02378015294494222646noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-15768019517593322642010-12-03T10:43:36.481-05:002010-12-03T10:43:36.481-05:00JennyD - I never specifically wrote a blog about t...JennyD - I never specifically wrote a blog about the last years of Tum - I probably should. I have a lot of stuff on my old SpacesLive blog and I sort of assume everyone knows all that has gone before, but of course they don't. Tum was the only man I ever met who I could say was truly wise. I don't recall him having to apologize or feel bad about anything he said to anyone ever.<br /><br />Gael - Better to date yourself, than to have no dates at all! Poor Squeaky - forgotten already. I have been to City Lights - I went when I lived there, but I did not go this time, nor have I been for many years. Wish I had thought of it - but I was with young people who had no real idea of why they might find Haight Street interesting, so I was far too broken in spirit to think of City Lights. I'd go with the Lewis and Clark thing, I think. Doesn't that go thru Montana? One of the 7 or so states I've never seen.DavidShaghttp://davidshag.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-75396957057608136432010-12-02T17:27:48.200-05:002010-12-02T17:27:48.200-05:00Okay. I'm probably dating myself with this co...Okay. I'm probably dating myself with this comment, but -- I knew I had heard the name before, but I had to google Squeaky Fromme. That was before I really paid a lot of attention to anything other than bicycles and Barbies.<br /><br />As for trains, when Finola and Deirdre were little (before we had Maeve) we took the train to Boston and had a sleeper car. The girls loved how the seat made into bunks. I'll have to keep your suggestion in mind. However, for my next cross-country trip I want to drive either the Oregon Trail or the Lewis and Clark route.<br /><br />When you were in SF, did you go to, oh what's the name, that really famous bookstore that my husband has to visit everytime he's there? Is it City Lights or something like that?The Gaelic Wifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13042569769234227354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-68520105423928083872010-12-02T13:27:04.815-05:002010-12-02T13:27:04.815-05:00Gosh, what a pleasure to come over here and see al...Gosh, what a pleasure to come over here and see all the comments and replies. It really is like sitting in your living room and hearing it all but seeing it all through that 3rd eye we have in our heads. Better than delightful, almost an addiction.<br />David, I am SO sorry to hear about Tum. Since I didn't know it before and only found out this very moment, it's like the loss happened today. Just so, so sorry. Reading back and seeing him in my mind with you -- what great characters. And Emily? Oh yeah, I can see her, too. You and Emily are just like Lou and I. Great, isn't it :D<br />Thanks for answering all those questions, and I promise to try and be good from now on and not type so much. (don't ask how many have heard that blatant lie before; best laid plans, you know).JennyDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14329171741191991379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-18578766966441928912010-12-02T11:34:18.030-05:002010-12-02T11:34:18.030-05:00Continued...
Beth - We all remember our train rid...Continued...<br /><br />Beth - We all remember our train rides, I guess. When a short spur nearby the Farm which connected the RR that ran thru the back of the Farm to the city announced it would cease to operate (I was maybe 5 or 6), my mother took all her then-existing kids on a ride to the city and back (about 15 miles each way) because, she said, every kid should ride on a train at least once. <br /><br />MizAngie - I highly recommend the train, for those who can view it as more than just transportation. There are issues - the bathrooms are tiny and I really wonder if a couple of the truly fat guys who were on the train could use them - they are a public venue , used over a period of days, and though they are kept pretty clean and supplied, they are not a real pleasure to spend time in. If the train is crowded and you do not get a sleeping room, your sleepp will be in a seat next to a seat mate, and a bit fitful. You MUST have a blanket in cool weather. We were lucky to be half full, so everyone got the full two man bench, but still it was always just a bit less roomy than one could wish. Apparently summer is the busy season, so go in the cold months. As to Shag, see above - while "Shag" was relatively innocent when I chose it, I definitely enjoyed the full possibility of "Shaggers" once I came up with it!<br /><br />Marge - I know just what you mean about wandering mentally to your own experiences. That is part of the fun of reading - sometime I get so lost in my own thoughts when I read something, that I really stop getting any sense from the written material. As to the fit with family (you are right about the friends), I probably don't convey the actual difficulty of being with them. there seem to be two versions of every one - the one I was a boy with, and whom I fantasize are still there within the current adults - which is the one that comes across in writing, I think, and then there is the real people who are far less good of a fit. I mentioned that Carol was going down for her double vodka, and that is an issue with her - it wasn't her first, and never is. I just decided not to go there. All of my brothers are alcoholic, as (probably) am I, but one by one 3 of us have climbed on the wagon. All of us also suffer from clinical depression - with Rob being bipolar (and not just a little bit), as was my Dad, of whose exploits you may have read long ago on Spaces Live, if you saw my stuff there. Dad was -uh - colorful. My brother Liam, the one I get along best with, has a song about Dad called "Telephoning Khrushchev". Enough, perhaps, said? I love Nora Ephron, by the way. <br /><br />I love the films that I love, but I am not sure I am a true aficianado. hands down, the film that changed my life was "Lawrence of Arabia". My top 10 include Ordinary people (the girl whom the lead befriended at the mental hospital was so spot-on she took my breath away, this was the first time i could stand Donald Sutherland - he was great, and if Mary T Moore never did anything else, her portrayal of the grief-stricken mother with the frozen heart would have etched her into my heart forever. Brokeback can make me teary just to think of it - Heath L was beyond perfect. Cabaret and Nashville are also in my top ten. I will see most anything with Christina Ricci or Christine Lahti. Right now I am finding the truly great film work in the non-Network channels - The Wire, United States of Tara, Hung, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, etc. Not movies, exactly, but awesome. <br />And you could be kind and cast Paul Rudd as me, or you could be accurate and go with someone far less fetching and a whole lot older.DavidShaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02378015294494222646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-83933996649456495732010-12-02T11:34:00.160-05:002010-12-02T11:34:00.160-05:00What a smorg of comments to which I must and will ...What a smorg of comments to which I must and will respond! (One of the things I realy try to do is avoid ending sentences with a preposition. It seems awkward at first, but to me, it actually does make the rereading seem to flow better, besides sometimes imparting a very mild humor - I hope). OK, here goes:<br /><br />JennyD (and you'll only get one entry here despite your multiplicity of comments): I wonder how many people have that one great friend. Emily and I are pretty opposite politically, too, which just goes to show. I guess our most outrageous time together was when she was M of Honor and I was an usher at Moondoggie's wedding and we got a good percentage of the champage available under our cumberbunds and followed a strolling violinist around singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" no matter what he played. Later that night she rescued me from drowning - both still in full dress.<br />Tum died from Cancer in 1995, the same year my brother Gary died and just two months before my return from Saudi. A rough twelve months whose shadow lingers. As to Lou's preferences, the heart (or lower) wants what it wants, and usually whatever it is, is not in our best interests. But to settle for something different is usually worse. <br /><br />Shag is nothing fancy - It was my second try at telescoping "Shaughnessy", the first idea was taken. I hardly thought of the sexual innuendo, altho Spaces Live did - and for the entire time I was on there I had any comment I made on a British blog blocked. Took me forever to figure why and actually a former Shagger figured it out when I complained. As to Jane, I do not know, but several of my faves (the incomparable, kind MuseMonkey, and the GayDude) have died and had relatives kind enough to put a last post saying so. But others, like Gayle and Edgy Kay, just stop - in both cases there was some faltering that hinted at the way the wind was blowing. I think there is a lifespan for most bloggers of 2 - 4 years. One hopes something wonderful came to replace it. <br /><br />This comment was too long to post, so Beth, MizAngie and Marge - check out the next comment.DavidShaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02378015294494222646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-12157264816989721322010-12-02T02:47:21.807-05:002010-12-02T02:47:21.807-05:00I'm afraid that as soon as you got to the begi...I'm afraid that as soon as you got to the beginning of the train trip, David, my mind was wandering back to my first trip on a train (the now-defunct Milwaukee Road). That was a lifetime ago, yet I can still hear the muffled sound of the wheels on the track underneath the car and feel the vibration through my feet. Some day I'll blog about it, but not here. 8)<br /><br />I was struck most by the comfortable fit between you and your friends and family members. You are a fortunate man, and your dear ones are lucky to enjoy such good times with you.<br /><br />What a collection of characters shared that trip with you! I imagine a lovely, quirky independant film based on the paragraphs you offered above. Who could we cast as the various travelers, and who could we possibly cast as you???<br /><br />And the scenes at the wedding? Only Nora Ephron could direct a film from those passages, including your wonderful friendship with Emily.<br /><br />Whatever you decide to share with us in the future--ether everyday or sublime--hope you will do so very soon.<br /><br />A small question: are you a film aficianado? Any favorites? <br /><br />Just curious...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-53504107560475558242010-12-01T23:11:07.569-05:002010-12-01T23:11:07.569-05:00Holy smoke, it just dawned on me where I know you....Holy smoke, it just dawned on me where I know you. It was from JANE'S! I miss that gal. Don't know why she stopped blogging after so many yrs and it was all of a sudden. Did you ever hear anything? Man, Alpha and Omega must be grown by now.JennyDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14329171741191991379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-12531379458581586292010-12-01T23:07:31.343-05:002010-12-01T23:07:31.343-05:00shiznit? What's a shiznit, MizAngie? By the w...shiznit? What's a shiznit, MizAngie? By the way, I'm in Va and here you'll hear dag as much as dog (gone), lol. I haven't been around long enough to know the story behind the "shag", but I can think of all sorts of answers. First there was the old shag haircut, then there's the shag dance which was always big here, and then there's the meaning of shag in the UK...uh, trying to think of a nice word for the meaning -- copulate, that's it, lol.<br />And the winner is? Ok, David, your turn ;)JennyDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14329171741191991379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-43351823584967072442010-12-01T20:18:52.913-05:002010-12-01T20:18:52.913-05:00I've ridden two trains in my life; the Brecken...I've ridden two trains in my life; the Breckenridge Eagle at the zoo in San Antonio, and the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags over Texas. I recommend both. I wouldn't go cross-country on either of them, and I'm not even sure I could squeeze into the tiny cars of the Breckenridge Eagle anymore - but when I was 4 it was the shiznit. JennyD, in what part of the country do you live? I had a friend from Illinois that said "daggone." I gave 'im fits because everybody in Texas knows it's DOGgone, not DAGgone. Ha!! Have you ever explained why David "Shag?" If so, I missed it. Everytime I see it I think of all the meanings for "shag" and "shaggers."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-34119479430012640502010-12-01T19:07:29.545-05:002010-12-01T19:07:29.545-05:00David, I've been reading for the longest time ...David, I've been reading for the longest time and loving every word, but I have to ask (since maybe I missed it), what happened to Tum? And whatever happened to the guy from the dating site? I am sitting here and trying to find the answers. Must have missed an entry somewhere, daggone it. I would give my eye teeth to introduce you and Lou but for lord knows what reason, he still keeps looking for that "kid" age that he'll never be again. He doesn't know what he's missin'.JennyDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14329171741191991379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-20233120891807520502010-12-01T17:45:34.684-05:002010-12-01T17:45:34.684-05:00I haven't been on a train since 1953 when my s...I haven't been on a train since 1953 when my sis and I rode the train from western Illinois to New Jersey to visit our sister and her husband who had just become parents. Quite an experience for two high school girls.<br />Your train ride sounds like it was a lot of fun. And hey, I love to read too, so your friend is the best kind. One that can enjoy talking and also enjoy spending quiet time with you too.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12020604933621899108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7854090250820154334.post-25412245883317054042010-12-01T17:40:55.325-05:002010-12-01T17:40:55.325-05:00David, I adore you. Just adore you. I could sit he...David, I adore you. Just adore you. I could sit here and read for hours and in fact that's what my other little tab that I have open is for -- yep, yours again. It's the Come To Mama entry. But lets go back to this current one. I'm not going to type a book (drats), but I will say that I felt like I was on the train and witnessing the entire thing. LOVED it. And then when you got to Emily, this really rang a bell with me. My dearest and oldest friend is a guy named Louis Briel that is a very accomplished artist (he has a number of sites and you'd love them, especially his blogspot where he does a short part of his bio called Ducknapper, fabulous, and then he's published 2 books now and they are to die for, lol; how's that for a plug). Anyway, you and Emily are like Lou and I, and I wouldn't trade him for anything in this world. I can remember a particular night when we were, uh, feeling no pain...and we decided to do a painting together. It was better than glorious. We named it The Waiting Game, and damn if it didn't sell for a pretty penny :D That was a great night.<br />Oh lord, I left a blog here. Sorry. Really. It's just that you're very easy to be around. I'm stopping right this minute. LOVED your post, David :) xxxJennyDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14329171741191991379noreply@blogger.com