vapros
Verified Member
Today is Wednesday and it’s a balmy 78 degrees and it has been a long time since I bought any gas but I saw places where you can get it for less than $1.40 per gallon. I’m excited about seeing my barber tomorrow – it has been a couple of months. I will wear a mask and drop the rubber bands long enough to trim around my ears, and he will wear a mask also, or else I will begin growing a ponytail right on the spot. I think he is required by law to cover his mouth. It’s surprising how many people still think you wear a mask to protect yourself, and it’s alarming how many local citizens are out and about bare-faced. Some of ‘em looked better the other way. I don’t think for a minute the COVID19 is about done. Louisiana is still reporting about 300 new cases every day.
We are all talking about Josh Filler since the match with Tony Chohan in Roy’s Basement, and that’s good. The virus pandemic has put a real damper on action matches. Does anyone know how long the little German will be gone? I have a box of videos, nearly all with players who are no longer in the mix, and I still review them. Parica, Hall, Cook, Incardona, Daulton, Joyner, Gay and of course, Efren Reyes. They have entertained me for years. I feel that running seven or eight balls should be sort of special, and it’s not any more. I liked seeing the terrible things Reyes and Parica used to do to one another. It didn’t resemble 9 ball or 10 ball at all – wasn’t intended to. But here’s a 9 ball match worth watching – Chris Melling and John Morra in the DCC final in 2018. They played at about three AM and the sleepy people who stayed up to see it were rewarded with a classic. If you don’t know how it went you won’t hear it from me.
In the winter of 1955/56 I shared an apartment with a one-eyed Jewish gambling man. Nice spot, right in the middle of town here in Baton Rouge. Neither of us could afford the place alone – I was just out of the military and Lenny was supposed to be on his uppers. Actually, he was in the process of doing something to somebody – he was a gonif of sorts, meaning a rascal I believe. He entertained me all through the cold weather. He was funny. He claimed he had played for the Rochester Royals in the NBA, an obvious lie since he was knock-kneed and had a glass eye. When he went out he might wear a patch and leave the eye on the table and it seemed to look at me, no matter where I was. And he had another one with an American flag on it. And when I laughed at him he said ‘Roses are reddish, violets are bluish. If it wasn’t for Christmas you’d all be Jewish’. He used to call a guy named Phil Kastel in Las Vegas and Kastel would give him horses to bet but Lenny didn’t have the cash. It was spooky to realize how good the information was. The guy wasn’t a handicapper, he was another gonif. Don’t play the races. One morning I woke up and Lenny was gone, and I had to give up the apartment. The Jews are performers, for sure. Where would the entertainment business have been without them – all through the twentieth century?
I guess the reason all this comes to mind today is that I clicked on a video the other day – Jews Telling Jokes – and now my monitor is full of them every morning. I don’t know how many there are, but the jokes are great, mostly about Jews. They love to tell them – all the names are Jewish, and the accents are New York City. We should all be capable of seeing ourselves as they do. And I know if I keep watching them YouTube will keep them coming.
What else on YouTube this week – well, one of my old heroes, Luke Appling, played shortstop for the Chicago White Sox for twenty years, beginning in 1930. When I played American Legion baseball, I had a book he wrote, or at least his name was on it, and I studied it hard. Looking up his lifetime stats today, I find that he was a great hitter - .310 for twenty years – but a grand total of 45 home runs over that same span! A popcorn hitter, we would have said. However, day before yesterday I watched him hit one out of the park at age 75 in an old-timers game in 1982! Took him a while to circle the bases. Also, I watched a collection of confrontations between animals and vehicles. I saw a rhino attack a small car and roll it over and over and over. A bull moose tore off the entire rear end of somebody’s vehicle and a good-sized ordinary dog did the same to the front of another one. I generally cheer for the beasts, who are just striking back. Like one-pocket, the jungle ain’t what it used to be. There, I’ve said it.
Wish me luck with the haircut. Used to be eighteen bucks, unless he feels like catching up a little, but I will make him work for it. How much is it where you live? Wash your hands and wear your mask and be well. I’ll see you later.
We are all talking about Josh Filler since the match with Tony Chohan in Roy’s Basement, and that’s good. The virus pandemic has put a real damper on action matches. Does anyone know how long the little German will be gone? I have a box of videos, nearly all with players who are no longer in the mix, and I still review them. Parica, Hall, Cook, Incardona, Daulton, Joyner, Gay and of course, Efren Reyes. They have entertained me for years. I feel that running seven or eight balls should be sort of special, and it’s not any more. I liked seeing the terrible things Reyes and Parica used to do to one another. It didn’t resemble 9 ball or 10 ball at all – wasn’t intended to. But here’s a 9 ball match worth watching – Chris Melling and John Morra in the DCC final in 2018. They played at about three AM and the sleepy people who stayed up to see it were rewarded with a classic. If you don’t know how it went you won’t hear it from me.
In the winter of 1955/56 I shared an apartment with a one-eyed Jewish gambling man. Nice spot, right in the middle of town here in Baton Rouge. Neither of us could afford the place alone – I was just out of the military and Lenny was supposed to be on his uppers. Actually, he was in the process of doing something to somebody – he was a gonif of sorts, meaning a rascal I believe. He entertained me all through the cold weather. He was funny. He claimed he had played for the Rochester Royals in the NBA, an obvious lie since he was knock-kneed and had a glass eye. When he went out he might wear a patch and leave the eye on the table and it seemed to look at me, no matter where I was. And he had another one with an American flag on it. And when I laughed at him he said ‘Roses are reddish, violets are bluish. If it wasn’t for Christmas you’d all be Jewish’. He used to call a guy named Phil Kastel in Las Vegas and Kastel would give him horses to bet but Lenny didn’t have the cash. It was spooky to realize how good the information was. The guy wasn’t a handicapper, he was another gonif. Don’t play the races. One morning I woke up and Lenny was gone, and I had to give up the apartment. The Jews are performers, for sure. Where would the entertainment business have been without them – all through the twentieth century?
I guess the reason all this comes to mind today is that I clicked on a video the other day – Jews Telling Jokes – and now my monitor is full of them every morning. I don’t know how many there are, but the jokes are great, mostly about Jews. They love to tell them – all the names are Jewish, and the accents are New York City. We should all be capable of seeing ourselves as they do. And I know if I keep watching them YouTube will keep them coming.
What else on YouTube this week – well, one of my old heroes, Luke Appling, played shortstop for the Chicago White Sox for twenty years, beginning in 1930. When I played American Legion baseball, I had a book he wrote, or at least his name was on it, and I studied it hard. Looking up his lifetime stats today, I find that he was a great hitter - .310 for twenty years – but a grand total of 45 home runs over that same span! A popcorn hitter, we would have said. However, day before yesterday I watched him hit one out of the park at age 75 in an old-timers game in 1982! Took him a while to circle the bases. Also, I watched a collection of confrontations between animals and vehicles. I saw a rhino attack a small car and roll it over and over and over. A bull moose tore off the entire rear end of somebody’s vehicle and a good-sized ordinary dog did the same to the front of another one. I generally cheer for the beasts, who are just striking back. Like one-pocket, the jungle ain’t what it used to be. There, I’ve said it.
Wish me luck with the haircut. Used to be eighteen bucks, unless he feels like catching up a little, but I will make him work for it. How much is it where you live? Wash your hands and wear your mask and be well. I’ll see you later.