An Early Christmas......

I know that lots of families have to have their Christmas celebrations early or late because circumstance dictates. So, we accomodate. This year the Smith Family Circus is making that accomodation.
Kellye and family are heading for Virginia to spend Christmas with the other G’parents (regretfully only fair, I spoze) and Gina and Andrew will spend Christmas cruising the Hawaiian Islands with his Mother and Stepfather. (Again, I spoze it’s only fair)
Anyway, we’re having Christmas today....well, part of it anyway......festive dinner, presents under the tree and CD player loaded with Xmas songs...Gene is singing Jingle Bells as I type.......and if you don’t get the reference, you’re too young......anyway, Santa Claus is on his way......Merry Christmas.....Justin Other Smith

Stuff & Nonsense

Saturday nite.....Justin Other Smith

Everyone has stuff....and everyone wants more stuff. We fill our homes with stuff. We put so much stuff in our garage that the car must of necessity be left out in the cold. (Figuratively speaking, of course.)
Stuff is such an important part of peoples everyday life that storage units have become big business all across our fair land. When we run out of space at home, we simply rent a storage unit. Or multiple storage units.
Miser and hoarders who fill their homes with old newspapers and magazines are mocked by the news media. Often their stuff is taken away to be archived in the nearest landfill. Often, they themselves are taken away to be archived as well. Of course, they are extremists and not to be confused with the rest of us who merely collect stuff.
I once had a fellow collector explain his actions with the statement, “He who dies with the most toys, wins.”
Toys being the euphemism he favored for his collection of stuff. Cars, tools, whisky bottles, assorted camping gear, etcetera ad infinitum. Not to be confused with my personal collection of art, rare books, vintage photographs of long forgotten friends and family. Oh, and some childhood toys that I’ve managed to drag into my seventh decade.
Of course, I do get rid of stuff. I bundle it up and pass it on to various and sundry charities (and occasionally, the nearest landfill) And I’ve never had to resort to renting a storage unit to keep my spillover stuff.
On the other hand, and just to be completely honest, my house is kind’a full and I never go upstairs anymore and rarely into the basement. Not that I can’t go there. I could if I wanted to. But I’ve told the grandchildren that monsters live in the upstairs and ogres in the basement and I just try to set a good example for them by not going there.
“And how are you, Mr. Wilson?”

Opinions, observatons and non-specific BS........

Justin Other Smith


Once in a while, stuff happens. That’s just the way it is and the way it’s always going to be. You have to make your peace with it as best as you can because you have no choice in the matter.
When you’re young, you fight against it. You scream, you yell, you slam around and all you accomplish is to cover yourself with all the stuff you’re trying to avoid.
As you age, you learn to make as few waves as possible hoping to avoid getting stuff in places where it’s hard ro remove. Or where it tastes really bad.
I’ve come to look on stuff happening as a learning experience. Sometimes the lesson is readily apparent. An epiphany, if you will. Sometimes it takes longer. Often, we’re stubborn and resistant and only the fullness of time allows us to see the way.
Even then, we’re full of doubts. Human nature, I suppose.

Into each life some rain .........

It’s raining tho’ not very hard...guess I could’a just said, “It’s drizzling.” On the other hand, it’s been a while since I’ve seen rain so I might be a little confused. And it’s spozed to snow in the sierra. That’s a good thing. We need the snowpack. And not just for skiers and snowboarders and the people who make their living off them.
Y’know......the ski resorts and the people who work them.....the restaurants and the service stations and the chain monkeys.....the highway patrol and the snow removal guys.....the tow truck drivers and the body shop people who rebuild the wrecks....not to mention the hospitals and doctors and nurses and pharmacies and the undertakers and cemeteries.......an awful lot of people are dependent on weather related activities.......
Y’know.....like farmers and undocumented aliens....can’t ja just picture E.T. chopping lettuce in the Salinas valley.....OK...bad example, just shows how old I am.....I haven‘t a clue about the aliens of t’day but I’m sure they’d all have super powers that would enable them to clear a lettuce field in record time..
I was having a CT Scan and it got me thinking how many people are involved in cancer related occupations......Heck! Health is big bucks in this country and around the world. Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, wonder how many people would lose their jobs if they found a cure for cancer? Ah well, ain’t gonna happen anytime soon!
One of the big ongoing research projects is to find a cure for aging. News flash! The cure for aging is death. Always has been. Of course, I don’t think they really want to stop aging. They just want to slow it down. Imagine what that would do to the economy. Draw Social Security until you’re 150 years old.....boggles the brain when you think there’s a problem with too many old people right now.
Besides, with children having children, how could anyone keep up with great,great,great,great(?) grandchildren?????? Justin Other Smith

Thank you......

First off......I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. I got the results of my mid-term exam yesterday and was informed that I am now Hodgkins-free......I s’pect that I shall have to continue with the Chemo treatments but I won’t know that for sure until after I talk with Dr. Hutchinson.....
As most everyone knows, I’m not p’ticularly religious. Doesn’t mean I’m a non-believer. I consider myself a Deist and that there is much that we, as humans, don’t understand of the world wherein we reside let alone the universe we know so little about.
I believe devoutly in the efficacy of prayer. I believe that ‘good thoughts’ and positive thinking can encircle the world and accomplish miraculous things. I believe that most people are good-hearted and forgiving and caring of others. I know that I received sympathy and support not only from family and friends but also from total strangers.
I’m grateful. Justin Other Smith

T'ain't football.........

Four down......two to go........T’ain’t football, just chemo countdown.......Dec 26 then Jan 15 and no mas....
there’ll be some tests afterward, I’m sure......Heck! There’s always gotta be tests, that’s why hospitals have so many floors..........ANYWAY the really important part is......wait for it.......TA DA! End of Feb, my hair should begin its comeback........”oh, is that all?” you say. And I say, “Delilah cut Samson’s hair and got a whole chapter in ‘the book’ and I’m pretty sure I won’t even get an honorable mention......”
Not to think that I deserve an honorable mention in that p’ticklar book. Plus, I don’t believe anyone has attempted to add any chapters in recent memory (excepting J. Smith, no relation and thank God for small favors, I say) nor is likely too. Anyway, to quote the eminently quotable Gershwin, “things that you’re liable to read in the bible ain’t necessarily so.”
‘Course, things that you read in a blog ain’t necessarily so either.........Justin Other Smith

Yada,yada,the lazy brown dog........

Friday as my ‘good’ week drags to a close.....I have an early morning app’t with Dr. Kendra, my C-Doc.....I hate early morning appointments for anything....I like to poke around in the AM’s.....have some toast & coffee, read what passes for a newspaper.....Newspapers, I think, are becoming less and less relevant as time goes by.......The SacBee is losing money.....can’t help but feel that in some way, they’re only getting what they deserve...I recall when they ran the SacUnion out’a business and we became a one newspaper town. The Bee never was much of a newspaper, mostly it was ads and it still is.....on the other hand, coffee and the morning paper has been a tradition for most of my life....
Someone dropped the ball on scheduling my mid -term exam but Dr Kendra sed she’d fix it for next week
I’ll be eating Prednisone then, but wot the hay.....she said I seemed to be doing well,.....also told me that the tiredness thing just increases with the continued chemo....chemically induced laziness.....nice to know it ain’t just pure ol bred in the bone triflin’........ ‘n I’ve always said that I wasn’t really lazy, just a little bit triflin’........ Here t’is Sunday already.....Kellye & Ashby came with ‘da gurlz’ and Cary came so we all loaded up and went Xmas tree shopping.......Ashby carried it home in the back of his truck and got it in the stand......Kellye got the lites on and now they’re all in there decorating......easiest tree I never had to do anything with.......
Gotta go in the morn for my 4th Chemo fix....hate those IV’s but I don’t think they have an easier way of doing it..........guess I’d better not pout or cry about it, Santa’s comin’ to town.........Justin Other Smith