Sunday, September 25, 2005

Joke Idea - cartoon

Sign posted on a wall or fence: $500 AWARD. OUR JACK RUSSELL PUPPY IS LOST. HE IS VERY PLAYFUL AND GOES BY THE NAME OF JACK. $500 AWARD!

Posted on the same surface, next to the previous sign: A big bold arrow pointing to the Jack Russell puppy and the words: I'LL GIVE YOU $550 IF YOU FIND HIM!

Friday, September 23, 2005

Poll Worker

Last Tuesday I went to vote on a new local sales tax issue. The Voting Staff officials (5 or 6) were glad to see me. It meant they had something to do, I was the only walk-in voter they had at the moment.
After I voted I went over to turn in my electronic vote card. The elderly lady, the-keeper-of-the-box commented on the sweaty UGA Georgia Bulldogs t-shirt I was wearing, and asked me more about the UGA football team. Then, she asked me if I played football for the Bulldogs.
I am 64 years old. The keeper-of-the-box-of-voting-ballots must have been blind or looney.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Small World, confirmed

In a previous post I mentioned what a small world it is.
Yesterday I went to a Publix supermarket (5% discount for senior citizens on Wednesdays). The cashier said the fruit that I selected reminded her of the fresh fruit on the trucks farmers with a scale on back that drove around neighborhoods selling their produce.
One sentence inspired another sentence and got around talking about our town in in the old days. She was about 5 or 6 years older than me, but she looked that much younger. She told me where she moved with her parents in 1951 when they first moved to Marietta. Then, she asked me to ask my sister if she knew her brother with the last name LeVann (but I thought she said Levant). As I was putting the groceries into the car it thought where they moved was also the apartment house a girl I had a crush on in grammaer school with the last name
LeVann. Levant - LeVann - same house. DUH!
So, I returned my grocery cart and interupted her ringing up another aged customer's groceries and asked her was her sister name so and so. She said yes. I said she sat behind me for several years in grammar school and had a crush on her. The elderly gentleman, who was waiting for his groceries to be scanned and totaled was very patient, and was even amused by our conversation. She went on to say her sister was very rich and lived in Atlanta now.
When we went to high school I think she went to a different school, I never saw her after grammar school. That was 1954 when we graduated from the 7th grade.
Easy come, easy go.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

The Ignored

I just finished reading The Ignored by Bentley Little. As the title says, it is about the ignored, and how frustrating it is to be ignored, which I found myself partially identifying with. In the first part of the book it was about a new employee at a large company that was virtually ignored by everyone but his boss. He was not invited to office social functions, but when attending was mandatoried he sat alone. His boss did not ignored him but he did pick on him and harrassed him continuously. The writer explores all facets of the ignored and how lonely it is, I suspect he has been in that position himself.
Some very far-fetched things happened, which I won't give it away but it did pull me away from identifying with the protagionist.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

The Fox Theater

I am retired and live near Atlanta in Marietta, Ga. My wife and I have been married 37 years. She is still working. We have two grown sons that are married to their jobs and for children have adopted dogs. I am into genealogy and am always attracted to the creators of the orginal MAD comic books of the early 50s and other vintage type of comics, as Li'l Abner, Smiling Jack, etc.
So, here goes nothing.
Last night my wife and I went to The Fox Theater in Atlanta to see The Phantom of the Opera. Which I sat through amazed at the quick and efficient changing of the costumes and props. The wizardry and music was good too.
Next to us was a lone elderly woman looked to be about age 75. At intermission I asked her how she was enjoying it and she said she was enjoying it very much so. She went on to say it was her 8th time she has seen it. Several times in New York, Atlanta, and one time in Jacksonville, Fl.
Wow, she must really enjoy it.
She went on to say she used to live in Atlanta but now lives on Jekyll Island on Georgia's coast. I asked her if she knew Jack Davis, who also lives there. She said they knew each other and run into each other at a certain restaurant that the people on the Island eat at, away from the tourists.
She told me in a low voice as if she was sharing a secret, that Jack Davis was the first artist of MAD magazine. I wanted to add more to that statement but just acted mildly amused.
When you are in the presence of a stranger you never know just what you are next to.... somebody who may be your distance cousin or somebody who is an aquaintence of somebody you admire. Or maybe even an ax murderer.
Several weeks before - we went on a tour of The Fox. Our guide was a member of the Atlanta Historical Society - or was it the Atlanta Landmarks Presevation? I forgot. The Fox building was started in 1928 and completed in 1929. It was built for the Atlanta area Shriners. The Shriners, more or less, got the movie maker Fox to put up the money, and in turn he had a theater to show his movies that was produced by his company. The back rooms of the Fox has many Eygptian-like symbols and Far-East tradional furniture and decorations. It was really something to see.
In one room, the Egyptian Ball Room, until it was opened for public functions about twenty years ago, was used strickly as a meeting hall for Shriners. Our tour guide told us on an earlier tour given by another tour guide it was pointed out that until about twenty years ago women were not allowed in this room. A little old lady in the tour crowd said she was in this room in the 1940s. The guide said he had in his notes that women were not allowed in the Shrine meeting hall, and how could she? "I came out of a cake." she said sweetly.
In the early 1970s The Fox was getting the run-down look and playing cheap movies. It was more or less a dump or an eye-sore. The Bell South Tower was near by, and they decided to buy it and turn it into a parking lot. Then the Atlanta Landmarks and historical minded community rose to arms and had a drive to "Save The Fox" - which they did. Now, The Fox is in full swing again.