SlickSlider

Don't try to put your words in my mouth, that's unsanitary.

Okay. I believe ya.

Hey Smokey, you too good for me or something? You don't accept my friend request for a week. I see how you are.

I just heard the news a few moments ago.

THere you go. The truth is out there. And so is Pete.

He's not coming back, but he did tell me to tell you he said hi.

Freaky.

Thanks.

I went to the cemetary on Sunday to see my mom. I looked at the inscription on her nitch. It said, as I had chosen it, "Strength and Courage...mother, friend, inspiration". I had called her the strongest woman in the world when she fought breast cancer for 2 years. Through a tough life of an abusive father, a lifetime of back pain and arthritus, losing my father when I was 15, and facing endless obstacles and hardships, she always pushed forward to survive and overcome, because as she said, there was no alternative. For that reason I attributed "strength and courage" to her. She died about a week after Christopher Reeve died. At her eulogy I said that we had lost two superheroes that week, and that I hoped that her life and fight for life would be an inspiration to others. MY 44 year old cousin cried as I said this, because as she later revealed to the family, she had just found out that she too had breast cancer and had about a year to live. She told me a month later, on Thanksgiving 2004, that my mother her aunt was her inspiration, and that she would fight as my mom had fought. 2 years later, she is still alive and fighting. Back to Sunday at the cemetary... I'm facing dark times and worrisome conflicts. I told my mom that I needed her strength and courage to get through all of this. Then some thoughts popped into my head, and my mind began moving in a familiar direction. I came home and wrote them down, and this is what they were. I posted this in my MySpace blog and as a bulletin, and now here: To use the analogy of the alcoholic, once an alcoholic always an alcoholic...the same goes here, once a winner always a winner. Just as the alcoholic has the potential to fall off the wagon and drink again, even when doing well in life, so too does the one-time winner, even though going through trying times when all seems lost, have the potential, on the perceived trail to failure, to "fall off the wagon" and win again. Even the concept of "failure" is not real but a deception. It is a deception of perception because an interruption on the course to winning need not be a barricade, or even an obstacle, but merely a speed bump. Speed bumps may slow you down, but they can't stop you. Once a winner, always a winner. Even when losing, the potential to win is still there deep inside. And with the potential already there, there is hope and opportunity. When I was a photo lab manager at Eckerds, I had an amazing and unbeatable streak of winning 5x7 and CD sales contests. Other managers referred to me as the one who kept beating them. Each time a new contest began, prior to its beginning, I always told my store manager that I was going to win. I never said I am going to "try" to win. And I never did try to win. Ever. I always said, "I'm going to win this contest." I knew I was going to win. Other managers knew they would not beat me. They tried, oh they tried, but they never beat me. Not because I tried harder, for like I said, I never tried; but because I decided in my heart beforehand that I was the winner. I pushed to win, but I didn't try to win. I just won. In the Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker faced a great obstacle. He told Yoda, "I'll try." But his determination to "try" was his failure. Yoda told him, "Try not. Do, or do not, there is no try." I never tried to win the sales contests; I just won them. I set it in my mind before the contest began that I was the winner. So I won even before the race began. I was not a winner because I had won; I won because I was a winner. I'm going through deep trials right now, and it feels like my life is falling apart and I'm about to lose everything. I already have lost so much. It feels like I'm on the shaky wagon on the wagon trail to failure. But once a winner always a winner, even when the deceptive cloud of defeat seems dark. Winning a race is not what makes you a winner. Being a winner is what wins the race. And I still have that inside me. I'm not fully sure where, but I know that it's there. And you have it in you too. It is time to fall off the wagon…and win again. Thanks, mom.

Wish I had made it.

Happy birthday Smokey.

Didn't you quit? That was the rumor. You have to draw the line somewhere. Oh yeah, you did.

Stymie, you gonna take that from her? Put your foot down, son. Either that, or don't get cheap with your wine.

I'm just sayin' based on what you told me about your distaste for the chill in Funk's spunk. At least if he puts a sock on it, your throat won't be so chilled. Be careful of frostbite, Philva.

Co-joined midgets and raspberry whipped cream....dat shitz da hotz!

Doing what? Same type of job, different company, or something entirely new? I'm doing. That's how I'm doing. I'm doing what I'm doing the way I do it when I do it. How are you doing?

Hey! I don't eat donkley shit you poodle! Don't confuse fucking a donkey with eating its shit.

Hey. Philippio, you said more than you normally do, and botched the tradition. Lola, do something! Waidda munite. Lola, why are you posting from your business cruise? Are Gopher and Isaac not fulfilling your sexual needs that you had to come back for real thrills? I told ya ya shoulda taken Captain Booty with ya.

He's gonna need to wear a cotten sock on his cock to keep it warm. I heard he packed his pants with a sock when he went out, anyway, so he's used to it.

Funk, why did you move?

Put it to bed, Fred, and let the girl be. Do you have so little in life that you must chase after her constantly and keep trying to drag her down for some meager attempt at entertaining yourself? She just told you that she is trying to rise above her mistakes of the past, but you're not willing to see her rise up when you get more kicks out of imagining her falling down. You've become her stalker dude. That shit ain't normal.

That is innaccurate because it's the same number as it was an hour ago when I wasn't hungry, and I'm very hungry now.

:laugh: