Dad and things I've written about him in the past.

A few things I've written about my Dad...

The Daily ACK 6/18/2011 What I learned from my dad

My dad told me so many things. Some a bit late but I got the idea...

1. "Never shoot a Daisy BB Gun with the cocking lever OPEN. (to do so causes the cocking lever to SLAM very hard against your fingers as you hold the BB Gun. It HURTS LIKE HELL! ) I didn't make that mistake twice!

2. "Don't smoke." I almost started during the gulf war but suddenly stopped as I realize the hold it was taking on me.

3. "Purchasing the car is the cheap part, having a car and the upkeep, gas and etc.... are the expensive parts"

4. "if you win while gambling, take your money and WALK AWAY. The house will always beat you in the end"

5. "Always wear a belt"  I fought him SO hard about that one as a teenager, but I get it now.

6. "A double Windsor tie knot is always the best".  I agree.  I'm amazed at the number of TV personalities that CAN'T tie a simple double Windsor knot....

7.  "If you abuse your car on a continual basis it will break down on  you."  Seem my dad had a 1950's Ford that he abused SOOOO bad that he replaced the transmission 3 times!  The Ford dealership felt so sorry for him by the 3rd transmission they GAVE IT to him.....ACK.

8. "The first time I (my father) ever went roller skating, I fell 109 times" and he didn't even go out on the rink floor. He fell 109 times while skating outside the rail that separated the rink from the seating benches!  When I first went skating with my dad, I was a young boy age 9 or 10 at the time and Dad could skate SO GOOD it was hard to watch.  I, on the other hand, had the gracefulness of a 3 legged goose. I realized he wasn't always good at skating.... (he was good with a bolo paddle and a yo-yo and I had so many problems with ANYTHING that required coordination at that young age. [I once broke a light fixture in my parents living room with a YO-YO doing "around the world" and glass went all OVER the place! Mom wasn't too happy with me right about that time! I think I was 10 when that happened] It was like the Governor in Blazing Saddles trying to use a bolo paddle  "This thing is WARPED! Why do I always get one that is warped!")

In 1996 we had a roll reversal.  Right after his mom died, his older brother was trying to play fast and lose with the wording of her will and make it swing in his (my uncle's) favor. Dad called me up to ask MY advice about the problem!! I'm still taken aback by that fact but I also felt like I had arrived as an adult that MY DAD wanted my advice about anything or that I was qualified to even give someone SO SMART advice at all!

My dad always said about addiction, "Never let anything get in the way of your hobby (addiction)"

I'm certain there are more things he told me but right at the moment I can't think of other pearls of wisdom.

The Daily ACK 5/29/2010 My Dad, My Hero

ACK!

It is hard to see your childhood hero's go down hill. We all had hero's as a child...Policeman or Fireman ...

My hero was and is my Dad, Walter K. Massengill. (he used to say the "K" stood for "Kinky") He is 30 years older than I'm and I can say that I've always looked up to him for as long as I remember. As a small child, I used to go watch him shave. I don't know why I used to do that but without fail, if I was awake and he was getting ready for work, I would go park myself in the bathroom to watch him shave.

For someone who didn't graduate from High School, he is and was the smartest guy I know. No matter what the subject, My dad could talk about that subject. His words of wisdom kept me in school. He always told me and my brother to stay in school because the education he missed kept him from following some of the things he wanted to do with his life, or in his words, "it will make the rest of your life easier." He was most correct. I followed that advice not only in High School but also in college when that opportunity came along in my life. After 4.5 years in college, it was my pleasure to know that my Mom and Dad SAW me walk across the stage to receive my BBA in MIS at the tender age of 43....

I went into the U.S. Air Force because my Dad had been in the U.S. Air Force. Nothing else would do for me but Air Force Blue. My son has now followed in our tracks and serves in the Air Force. He makes me so proud I could bust, but back to my dad.

It always took alot to get him to lose his cool....there were moments he had patience to spare, unless you did something stooped like oh......open the door while the car was still moving OR..hit a puppy dog on the head with a metal toy hammer (both of which I did as a young child!) .....then..boy did I get the "rod" (as the good book calls it), or as my dad used to call it, "the hearing aid"....(his belt).
Right or wrong, good or bad, I deserved the punishment. He was always fair. One time while helping him do some yard work for someone in North Hills (all you folks in Knoxville know where that is), I stepped on the upturned tines of a garden rake and I smacked myself upside the head with a great amount of force...(I was a klutz as a kid) Just as soon as I started crying...My dad was right there. He told me later that he had done the same thing to himself as a child and he knew how bad I was hurting. (It was also on that trip that my dad cut into a Wasp nest while pruning a bush, and that was the fastest I had ever seen him run. He was 48 at the time)

One last word or two while walking down memory lane. When I was about 17 we were driving down 5th Ave in Knoxville, around where the old Blue Circle Restaurant was (Motor Products is on that block now). We got behind a Tractor Trailer truck that was FULL with live chickens....being the absent minded teenager I was at the time, I said "What a foul job!" meaning it would be bad to drive a truck with live chickens on it...my dad groaned and I had no idea what he was groaning about...it was my absentminded pun but he had to tell me before I realized just what I had done....(yeah, I was a little slow on the uptake at the time!)

My Dad and I at his doctors office, 31 May 2013.

The only reason I was home on 31 May to go to the Doctor with my Dad was because of a call from my brother, Rick, that said "Your Dad isn't doing well and he is in the hospital.".....We started packing bags and I  called my Boss to tell him my old Dad wasn't doing so well. I hate taking time off from work but I needed to get to East Tennessee and see what I could do, if anything at all.  

One day, that phone call will come and I'll load up the car with dogs, computer, suits, dresses and my lovely wife, Randi and once again head up the road to East Tennessee but life will forever change in a way that I can not reverse it. Only the Good Lord knows when that will be but now matter what date that is, it will be a sad day.  

My Dad and I, showing off our new haircuts.....

J.

"Hello, my name is Johnny and I'm a scatterbrain ..."

I sometimes think I need a good 12 step program to stop me from being a scatterbrain.  I'm not sure the meetings would be all that good to attend because you would be in a room full of scatterbrains. Think about it. "Hello, my name is Johnny and I'm a scatterbrain....".....*crickets*.....and then the room would have one person that would catch on  and say "Hi Johnny" while everyone else is in the mental twilight zone.

Hmmmm.  Well, you have to start SOMEPLACE, right? I'm not sure you could get a group of recovering scatterbrains to write 12 steps and 12 traditions and a book containing the history of the organization.  This could be a problem. 

I'm not a scatterbrain all the time. Most of the time I have it reasonable together.  I'm a creature of habit and when that habit is upset by something, I get pretty scattered mentally.   Last night, I spoke to my wife, Randi, who is out of town, one of the last thing I told her was "Don't forget to take  your meds" and then what do I do? Drift off to sleep with nary a thought about taken my OWN pills! ACK! ACK! ACK! Some of them I could miss with no visible problems noted, however, there is one pill I take and when I miss it, I have the migraine no headache medicine will touch.

My eyes flew open at 5:00am and I KNEW I had not taken my pills, but I didn't yet have a headache. I had to act fast! I called Randi and woke her up, because she knows about such things, so I ask her what I should do.  She suggested reading the insert of the medicine and see what it said about missing a dose.

It wasn't the end of the world but it was the EDGE of my world.  I worked it out with Randi's help and had a pretty good day, all in all.

However, that 12 step program for scatterbrains could be a revolution if developed the right way.

 "I'm not just a scatterbrain, I am also the scatterbrain program president"

Tomorrow is another day to fly. Lets just hope my brain doesn't fly the coop before the rest of me!

J.

A funny thing happened on the way to today......

Its funny, having been in the military, there is a thousand things you remember because it happened on one day at one time at one moment on that one day. If it hadn't been for that, I wouldn't have such a clear memory of the things that happened in late May 1984.

On 23 May 1984, at the MEPS station on North Central Ave, Knoxville TN, 37917 (across the street from the old Sears building). I was 5'9" tall, my pulse was 93, my BP was 130/something and my weight was 139lbs.  I was a thin 23 year old kid.  I met a guy that day, one William Stout who was 27 and a black belt in martial arts.  We hit it off. I knew from the first time I saw and talked to William, we would be friends and I was right.  When Basic Training was all over, 8 weeks later, leaving William hurt almost as much as leaving Knoxville did on the 23 of May, however, that is not the point of all this old mush.

I can never forget that on that one day at that one time in that one moment, my weight was 139 pounds. It is on my first military ID card and I have that ID card still yet today.

About 4 months ago, I went to take off my wedding ring and almost couldn't get it off. As I tried again, and again, it finally came off.  At that point my weight was about 231 pounds. The next morning when I grabbed up my wedding ring and I knew I couldn't put it on because it would never come back off. I was heart broken, dejected and just down right hurt.  My wedding to Randi was one of the best things that happened to me and she ask me if she could get the rings we wear right after she moved to SC. In 2000 those rings cost $95 each. Now, in 2013, they are $195 each. OUCH!

It has come to the point that I must lose some weight. I MUST.  It is sort of ironic. As a kid I was SUCH a picky eater.  I had so much bologna as a kid that I won't touch the stuff now that I'm an adult and the thought of FRIED bologna just turns my guts over in handstands and flip flops. ACK!  Now, since I turned 50 on 22 Nov 2012, I enjoy eating a little to much.  We all age, we all lose our hair or our hair turns gray, we all get a bit of a gut but it has gotten out of control for me.  *sigh*

For as bad as all the things in previous paragraph are, the worst part that hurts the most is the fact I can no longer wear my wedding ring.  It is just a silly symbol, a piece of metal but for it being a silly symbol or piece of metal. it is my silly symbol and my piece of metal and it holds together a marriage that means a great deal to me.  Is it perfect? No.  No marriage is and no marriage will ever be perfect but it is my little haven of imperfection with Randi standing beside me.  Of all the reasons I need to lose weight, the reason that stabs me worst of all is that I can't wear my wedding ring. No more, no less.  It makes me sad in a way that not much makes me so sad.

Each step we take molds who we are. From now on, each step I take better make me sweat a bit of the previous steps off of me. Wish me luck!

Thoughts

I'm a Republican.  I don't often let that information out in public because I believe it is a very private matter most of the time but I feel a need to distance myself from the National Republican Party.  I'm not sure why the National Republican Party has decided to come out so strongly against the common people and are SO against anything they don't agree with or that isn't on their agenda.

What happened to doing what is right for the people of this great country? It got lost some place along the way towards big congressional salaries,  lobbyist and special interest groups.  What about the special interest group talked about in the Constitution, "WE THE PEOPLE"?

To turn this right in my mind, I looked toward The Bible, Matthew, Chapter 18, Verse 15.

¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.

¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’

¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
¹⁸ “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Speaking about the faults of groups The Republican Party disagree with and airing their disagreements in the 24 hour news cycle or on a syndicated Republican talk show is a far cry from taking two or three people along in private to  point on what and why they think a person or group is at fault.  

I've always thought, you can't break someone's arm behind their back and MAKE them believe what you believe or see things the way you see them. 

My Dad being in A.A., he used to say "You might be the only copy of the Big Book (The history of A.A.) an alcoholic might see" and I take it one step further. "Live in a manner that others can see The Bible in you. You might be the only copy of The Bible they might see." Some days this works for me, other days not so much...
None of us is perfect and none of us is without sin.  If any of us stood with a stone in our hand by the harlot Jesus protected from the mob, None of us could cast a stone.


We are all PEOPLE, first and foremost. We all share this planet.  We might not all agree but we have to live around each other

J.

Labels

Labels. We as people are labeled in some way or form. White, Black, Gay, Straight, English American, Irish American, Africa American,Motorcycle Rider, Cage Operator, Manager or Worker, Mom or Dad. You get the idea. I tend to believe one important label has been forgotten or left off:
PEOPLE.
The Constitution says "We the PEOPLE" not "we the (insert your favorite label here,)"
I at one point I was way opposed to Gay marriage. While driving to work this morning I heard a Gay couple recite there wedding vows. The overwhelming emotion in that man's voice shook me to my core. He truly loved his husband just as much as I love/loved my wife in a similar moment in my life  on 20 Jan 2000.
The real news in this story would have been if he and his husband could have married and it WASN'T in the news and it was the normal course of life every place in this great land of ours.
I neither support or am against the LGBT community but I support everyone having the ability to carry on there life in the manner they deem fit for them without the weight of a label around their neck to give the rest of the world thoughts about them that are unfair, unjust and untrue. I might not agree with them but their trip in life isn't my trip in life.
Lord help us judge less and love more as Jesus commanded. Help us to love the sinner while abhorring the sin. And help us remember about the log in our own eye before opening our mouths to speak about the splinter in our friend's eye.
The point of this? Watch the labels you attach to a person. They are a person, first and foremost.
J.

North Korea, at it again......

ACK!

Seems the North Korean's are at it again. It could be worse but I doubt it. NO, I am not talking about the recent underground nuclear test or the breaking of UN sanctions against such test.  I'm CONVINCED 1 ply toilet paper MUST be the only export from the country of North Korea.  I'm concerned that the U.S. Government's use of 1 ply toilet paper must be from some super secret deal between China, the USA and North Korea to ensure the continued purchase of our $16 Trillion in debt by China. I'm sure in 25 years after all the documents are declassified, The Washington Post or some other esteemed news source will reveal the text of the 1 ply contract and the agreement which made it so.

This face has see nothing but 1 ply.....but the Horse gets 2 ply, its in his contract!

 

 

A Satellite view of a North Koren 1 ply/Sandpaper plant. 

North Korean 1 ply labor camps can also produce usable Sandpaper with a slight change to a softer paper backing  but The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the proper name for the country) finds it can make more hard currency by producing tons of 1 ply product. 

I'm sure there are other items of great distress that the North Korean must have a hand in producing, such as, Chia Pets, the pocket fisherman, the Showtime Rotisserie, the Ginsu Knife's, Spray on Hair,Ceramic Knife's, deer scents and Oxiclean (come to think of it, Billy Mayes and Kim Jong-Il do resemble each other and both are now passed on to the next life. Coincidence? I think not! )

Speaking of Chia Pets, I would bet money that SOMEONE in the North Korean Government has a Chia Pet of Kim Jong-Il and Kim Il-Sung on their desk. Things that make you go HMMMMMM.

I would also believe that somehow, North Korea has something to do with the number of hot dog buns being different from the number of hot dogs in a package so you are forced to buy more buns than wieners or more wieners than buns!

J. 

Effort

Effort. Websters Dictionary defines effort as:

1: conscious exertion of power : hard work 

2: a serious attempt : try 

3: something produced by exertion or trying 

4: effective force as distinguished from the possible resistance called into action by such a force

5: the total work done to achieve a particular end  

Right now, I think definition #3 fits my needs right now.  #3: Something Produced by exertion or trying.

I am a member of a Kawasaki Motorcycle forum for Kawasaki ZL motorcycles, ZL-OA. I have been a member there since 2009.  That website and the members of that website have saved my backsides more than once while I was rebuilding my 1986 Kawasaki ZL600. 

6/2009, before the restoration.

04/2012, after the restoration

 ZL-OA was started on 5/25/2006 from the ashes of a previous Kawasaki ZL Website , called KERA. ZL-OA was started by the effort of Mark J. Terranova.  Mark was an electrician who had a love for computers and Kawasaki ZL Motorcycles.   ZL-OA has 2,497 members from all over the world.  All of those people either own or have owned or are interested in Kawasaki ZL Motorcycles. 

Due to the effort of one Mark J. Terranova, I know people I would have never met and shared the dream of continuing the memory of motorcycles we all treasure.  If Mark were here he would downplay his efforts because that was the kind of guy he was.  He was quick to help a person who was having trouble with his motorcycle either in person or on the phone.  I never met Mark in person but I did speak to him on the phone twice that I remember.  He sold me parts as I was putting my ZL600 right, he listened to my crazy ideas and never once told me I was nuts

Mark J. Terranova (ZLMark) Riding the motorcycle he loved.

 Mark wasn't just that way with me, he was that way with everyone.  A real down to earth guy with a good head on his shoulders

Right after our move from Sumter county in 2010, I spoke to Mark on the phone. He told me he had been diagnosed with cancer.  I remember feeling like "and you think you have problems" (I really did have problems at the time, and I just started a new job and Randi had just lost a job and moving was NO picnic either) ....My problems were very tiny when compared with cancer.....

As the months passed, Mark kept the forum member updated as to his progress, both good and bad.   It wasn't easy to read about but we all hoped our friend and brother would beat this thing and he would live a good long life and be riding Kawasaki ZL's into his old age.  

Sad to say, it wasn't to be.  On 1/23/2013 at 6:47pm, one of the forum members posted "It is with deepest sorrow and sadness that I have to post this specific piece of information. The time has come that ZlMark has been called upon to pursue his adventures and dreams in another place."  

I was crushed as I read this....just crushed.  

The icon ZLMark used at ZL-OA

 2496 people in this world will continue on and most likely we will all continue riding, fixing and treasuring our Kawasaki ZL Motorcycles, while thinking of our friend and brother and cult leader, Mark J. Terranova, ZLMark because he decided to put forth the effort to make ZL-OA happen.

Thank You Mark, you have made a difference.