I Don't Have Much Wisdom, But I DO Have Some Experience

It is near impossible to go from being lovers (sweethearts, dating, going steady, partners, etc) to being "friends" especially if you're coming off from being "friends with benefits." (No strings) If it's a guy you are breaking up with, he will grab at straws. I know, because I've been guilty. I know some of you are tender-hearted and have been in a relationship that's been toxic. I know you want to believe that said Sir Toxic will change, and while I DO believe in redemption* I also know that there is a certain type of toxic person who has no concept of changing. He only changes in the sense of as a chameleon changes.

Hear me, going from committed relationship to just "friends" is a transition that only comes after at LEAST six months of TOTAL SEPARATION!! (if not more) and maybe PERMANENTLY. Sir Toxic will take on any form, play any role, use any trick, to get you back and by "back" I mean the same old rut you were in that made you make the decision to get out of it. Your heart wants to think he'll change. You want to believe he'll change. He wants to make you believe he'll change. He may even have fooled himself into thinking he's changed, but DON'T, repeat DON'T buy it!

While I have compassion on the Mr Toxics in the world, I am sick and tired of seeing good-hearted, genuine people hurt by these guys. "Oh, I have a sex addiction" Blah blah blah. You are scared to commit and always looking over the fence for greener grass, that's you're problem, Mr Toxic. There are women like this, too, for sure. Why do you thing we have SAFCAB?

Your decision to send Mr Toxic packing was wise. Now you have to follow through. You may have to endure his thinking you're a b*tch, but that's the price you'll have to pay. Your REAL friends will know that is not true! YOU, dear lady have to lay down the barriers and decide what they are. No one can do that FOR you.

The Buck loves you!

(*repentence, a willingness to turn from the old and begin anew through Jesus Christ)

Yeah, Sometimes I Whine...

Edit

Yeah, Sometimes I Whine...

by Johnny Roebuck on Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 10:15am

...It's not a trait I'm particularly proud of but I think if we don't let it out, it festers and gets way out of hand. I was told by someone very precious to me that I am too much of an open book. What you see is what you get. I like the lack of pretence in that, but I agree, it's not necessarily always positive.

I've grown to dislike "holidays" for some very selfish reasons. Christmas was great when I was a kid and celebrated it for all the wrong reasons and later when I became a dad and shared the joy of watching Josh get more interested in the wrapping paper than the gift. We never were able to keep up with the latest gadgets, Nintendo and the like, but that's okay, now Josh has all that stuff.

Family is the most important thing in life to me. My blood relatives for sure, but I have relatives who don't share my DNA and they are just as legitimately family as those who are. I have what many would call a "step granddaughter" whom I love with all my heart. I also have a cousin who is actually my Uncles adopted nephew, if that makes sense and he is more like a brother than a cousin, five years my senior and always taking up for the "Yankee boy" who came down to Wilson for visits from DC. Yeah, I love Herb.

I long more than anything to be able to see my Mom and Dad and a whole bunch of other relatives who have passed away. I don't know WHAT people do who don't know where their relatives who've gone on do. See, as much as I miss them, I wouldn't bring them back to THIS world as it is for anything, because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt they are with the Lord Jesus and that's alright with me. That's another thing, Jesus. How in the world do you miss Someone you've never actually seen, physically? Yet, that's the way I feel about Jesus. I want to see Him...hear Him say, "It's alright now. You're with Me."

The old folks used to say, "this world is not my home" and I couldn't understand that, but now I do.

This past Friday, I lost count at a hundred, ten "happy birthdays" on Facebook. Wow. It takes my breath away.

My co-workers greeted me with a jelly doughnut with a candle on it and you know what? That doughnut means as much to me as the biggest fourteen layer chocolate cake(...well, you know what I mean)

Here's the whining part. Karaoke has come to mean a lot to me. It saved my psyche when someone I dearly love decided to, in the words of my dad, "set me adrift." That's for the most part where I met some of the hundred and ten people. It seems like when a holiday comes around, or someone's stupid team is playing some big deal game, it's used as an excuse to put off karaoke. It's like it's the first thing to be cut. I don't like that. I never will. Hate to end on a negative note, so lets see...

How about this. I LOVE YOU!

Suspicion Confirmed

I thought I detected the automobile of an idiot.



Upon closer inspection my suspicion was confirmed!

The Art of Less is More...

Edit

The Art of Less is More

by Johnny Roebuck on Monday, October 3, 2011 at 12:57pm

...and the concept thereof

I won't identify the band because my purpose is not to put down, just observe. It's a concept few people grasp, especially in music today. Sinatra definitely mastered it, Dean Martin matured it and Elvis perfected it. Others like Nat (King) Cole and Jim Reeves were masters of it. Some lived there and that's okay, but just because it is good doesn't mean you have to set up camp. There's a line in GI Blues where this German gentleman asked Elvis' character what he thought of the little band and he had no criticism other than to say that "we do it a little differently...we sort of let is OOOZE out!" The gentlman replies "Vas dis OOOZE?" and Elvis is off to singing "Tonight is So Right for Love."

The other thing this band did that so many do is over-harmonize. There are songs constructed to not have harmony. Of course, there are some that it won't hurt, but far too many others that are ruined by it. This band had way too much personell, for one thing. Like a tree, they need a good pruning. Background vocals should be just that...background, not drowning out the lead. When I sing karaoke and someone does this, I make note and do not sing that song again at least in that venue. I am quite capable of ruining a song on my own. What I can't stand is for someone else to ruin it and for me to get credit for it. I'm just that vain. Some say, it doesn't matter because it's karaoke. Well, if it's singing, yes it DOES! I've heard a lot of bands put in unnecessary "harmonies." Many times, they are not harmonies, but dischords. It only takes one person off key to mess the whole thing up.

I have no idea whether Rick Barefoot can sing, but I appreciate the fact that if he doesn't think so, so he doesn't. I've seen people lead every round of karaoke with five of their own songs or people who couldn't sing sing every round when it was unnecessary. One guy, didn't need to sing in the first place. His voice was ragged. There's a difference between Janis Joplin or Rod Stewart's raspy delivery and someone who's just ruined their voice with too many cigarettes and sound like a lung's on its way up.

I don't like the song anyway, but it's popular apparently. It's called "Crazy B*tch" and it has no harmony for a reason...when you add one, no matter how much you try, it doesn't fit...it's like those dad limb bells at the church that try to harmonize the hold hymns and hit a dischord.

But what do I know. I don't even have a band any more

Nice Tee Shirt

Somebody get me one (hint hint)

Divine Appointment

I walked out on the patio of Locked & Loaded last night during another Friday of karaoke. There sat a successful looking couple who turned out to be David and Rebecca, who's last names I did not get. They stopped me and complimented me on my Elvis songs I had done over some time. They indicated that they had come multiple times, although I had never noticed them and had enjoyed my renditions better than any of the tribute artists (formerly known as Elvis impersonators) in Vegas and around the country. They both said I captured the "essence" of Elvis and that it seemed to come from deep within.
This opened a discussion about the Mississippi Flash. David had seen Elvis in Philadelphia on the same tour as the Madison Square Garden performances the year I had seen him (1971) in Baltimore. His dad MADE him go. His dad was no Elvis fan until the Hillbilly Cat sang "How Great Thou Art." From that moment on, David's dad was a dyed in the wool Elvis fan. We spoke of Elvis' generosity, and the times we had seen him. I started to speak of Elvis' receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and hesitated.
David and Rebecca have been to Graceland many times. I finally "spilled the beans" that I am a Pentecostal. Not only that, but a Pentecostal HOLINESS! David and Rebecca are as well. David shared some experiences with me not uncommon to my own. He had a burden in his heart for Elvis' soul. I then shared that Elvis had received "his Baptism" at the age of nine and immediately gave his bicycle away to a kid he thought "might need it more than me."
David has rubbed shoulders with many of Elvis' insiders and shared that he spoke with Bill Baze, who sang high tenor for the Stamps and who also is Pentecostal. David gave a note to Bill to give to Elvis. Bill shared that he was forbidden from giving anything to Elvis directly, that he had to give it to Charlie Hodge who would decide whether to pass it along. David was living in Atlanta at the time, but was moving in a month. The note had his phone number and a message to Elvis about salvation. Elvis was to appear a week after David moved. One night, David got a strange call from his mother. She said she ALSO got a strange call. The voice on the line asked if it was a specific number. It was not, it was David's. She told David that the voice sounded unmistakenly like Elvis. Who knows?
There are "Christian Nightclubs" in Atlanta, or there were. David was in one and sat at a table next to Dottie Rambo. He shared with Dottie his burden and asked if she knew Elvis was saved. Dottie said that he was, and that he'd gotten the Baptism at age nine, but that he was struggling with problems. (Failures) She then produced a prayer in Elvis' handwriting that he had given Dottie and asked her to pray it daily "so I'll know every day SOMEBODY is praying for me!"
David and Rebecca encouraged me as we spoke of my current unemployment and prayed for me. While the discussion of Elvis was great, the highlight was our discussion of spiritual matters. I shared my testimony and they noted how my eyes lit up when I spoke of Jesus. Amen

Not to Be Political, But...

Let's see where we are in terms of 2012's Presidential Election. There's the re-election of Obama. Some folks think it's an impossibility, but not being properly vetted, made it possible for this poor excuse of a human being to be elected in the first time, so the saying goes, if you voted FOR him to prove you aren't a racist, vote against him this time to prove you're not a total idiot. And hey, voting for McCain last time was voting for Obama-Light. Don't know what the Viet Cong did to that man's brain when he was a POW, but it has the same effect as Obama's being brought up by America-hating Marxist-Socialist-Communists. So, no doubt we'd not be in as bad a shape with McCain, but we'd just be going down the toilet slower.

So, those running against. Perry. Friend of Al Gore. That's scary enough. Says Social Security has turned out to be a Ponzy Scheme. Very true and courageous, but Dems get nervous at that false accusation that keeps coming up from the playbook over and over. Too scary at this point.

Romney. Mormon. Enough to disqualify for me, but had his OWN form of Obamacare that was a disaster. No way I'd support Romney.

Ron Paul. I know folks who swear by him who with that exception have brains. No, when you say Iraq should be allowed to have nuclear weapons, you've pretty much have joined looney tune briggade.

I like Herman Cain. All that he's said, all that he's stood for, with one, nervous exception. He was part of the banking system in Kansas City. The Fed, I in no way trust. Just a cartel of bankers in their own interest. Scary

Of everyone, though, Cain makes the most sense, but no telling what will happen.