Sun...Aquarius
Moon...Gemini (good for communicating but your concentration is easily broken!)
Phase...Gibbous (working towards a full moon.)
Time...2:23pm
Weather...It's 54 degrees and sunny over my 'ole Tampa Bay.
Mood...neutral.
Sound...24 on the tv (I've never watched this show in my life.)
BirthdayShoutOutsTo: Greg Louganis, Heather Graham, Sara Gilbert, Tom Selleck and Oprah
QuoteDiva sez: "For me, an area of moral clarity is you're in front of someone who is suffering and you have the tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it and you act." -Paul Forman

MY SIX MINUTES STARTS....NOW!! ....

As a teen, I had such high hopes of becoming a professional dancer with a top name company that I worked extra hard the last three years of high school just so I could have enough credits to graduate early. In my part of Florida you had the choice of getting out in January of your senior year. Things were different 'way back when' and so it was possible to double up on classes you are good to make up for classes you sucked at. I was abysmal in math. I was only able to barely survive "functional" math. BUT I made up for this dysfunction, this math anxiety by taking AP (Advanced or Honors) History and English classes. I was not gifted by any means, I had to work really hard to get the grades that would keep me in those honors types classes.

Well, whatever...I did what I needed to do and I got out in January of 1980. I didn't walk with my class. Hell, I never even asked for my diploma! It didn't matter to me!! I was on to bigger and better things....who needed a lousy sheepskin on the wall or crammed in your closet?

BUT life didn't lead me into the big, vicious world of professional dance. But by God, I accomplished one thing I had set out to do...GETTIN' OUT OF SCHOOL EARLY!

And now here it is, twenty-seven years later. Much about me and the world has changed. I'm now turning 45...I have gray hairs...more wrinkles,...I've gained 40 lbs...I have three teens, one divorce under my belt,...a second marriage in the works...I live in a different state...I'm in a different economic bracket...I'm attempting a new career...I'm no longer a naive Republican...ad nauseum...

And the world, like I said, has changed a lot to!! Take a trip with me down memory lane...and if you were around in '80 perhaps you'll be able to relate to the following and if you were born after, well, here's how things went down the year Rubble graduated:

This is a list of important events the occured during 1980. Exact dates are listed when known.

* Who Shot JR? is talked about heavily from the TV show Dallas. On November 21, the conclusion draws more viewers than any other show in TV history up to that point.
* Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR, The US boycotts
* Post-It Notes are introduced by 3-M
* The first all news service started by Turner Cable Network begins
* John Lennon is assassinated by Mark David Chapman
* Brook Shields whispers, "You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." the ad was banned.
* Ronald Reagan is elected, defeating Jimmy Carter, and takes credit for freeing the Iranian hostages in his innaugural speech.
* Poland has massive strikes, eventually the unions become legal, censorship is lessened.
* About 125,000 Cubans leave Cuba for America, most are criminals hand picked by Castro's men, only a few are relatives of those in America.
* RU-486, the abortion pill is released in France.
* The US Supreme Court allows patents on living organisms.
* Mt. Saint Helens erupts, killing 60 people.
* CNN is launched as the first all news network
* ABSCAM, FBI agents pose as rich arabs and bribed politicians with cash for favors.
* Richard Pryor gets badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.
* Small pox is considered eradicated by the World Health Orginization.
* Sadam Hussein launches war against Iran for close to a decade over oil rights.
* Japan passes the US as the largest automaker
* Bill Gates licenses MS-DOS to IBM, makes next to nothing on the deal. The pair buys the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. The money is made later from licensing it to third party clone makers.
* SEPTEMBER 22, 1980 - Procter and Gamble Co. announces a recall of its Rely brand tampons when federal studies conclude their use increases chances of toxic shock syndrome.
* Genetic Engineering of insulin began clinical trials.
* US suspends grain sales to the Soviet Union in respond to their support of the war in Afghanistan.
* President Carter attempted a helicopter rescue of the hostages in Iran, failing miserably.
* US hockey team beat Russia for the gold in the Winter Olympics.

-pr-

Sun...Aquarius
Moon...Taurus (dieter's, this is a tough moon...Taurus loves to eat)
Phase...Last quarter
Time...8:13am
Mood...sleepy but excited to finally get this road trip ...on the ROAD!

Weather... 17 degrees (WTFFFF?????) Damn, that's friggen'!! Last time I saw 17 in FL was like 20 plus years ago!!
BubbleGumBlowin'ShoutOuts to: Wayne Gretzky, Anita Baker, Eleen DeGeneres, Eddie Van Halen and Paul Newman.
QuoteDiva sez: "No rose without a thorn" -French Proverb.

MY SIX MINUTES STARTS.....NOW! ...

If you read my other post from a day or two ago, you will read how I got out of various uh, possible ticketings with womanly wiles I guess you'd say. But I never used my boobs or hips! Just tears and feigned times-of-the-month fabrications.

Now I'll tell you about this creepy cop back home. He started off this nice guy who had a daughter in my preschool class. It was my first year as a teacher and I was trying to make a good impression on all the parents in my class. And I guess I made a big impression on this one guy. I found out he was a cop and that was cool. But he was not very attractive and he was married so I definitely didn't have my eye on HIM.

A few years later, his son was old enough to be in my class. He took me aside often to tell me what a great job I was doing on that "little hellion" and that he needed the discpline. Once he even "kidded" that he needed some of that same "discipline" wink wink ...gag*

After both kids had been long gone, it just so happened that I hooked up with his brother-in-law (I didn't know it at the time! Talk about a small world.) The guy, my date told me to meet him at his brother-in-law's house and he would drive us to dinner from there. You should have seen the look on my face as I pulled up only to find that the house belonged to creepy cop, who I hadn't seen in a year or two. I got out of the car and Creepy Cop was barbequing in his baggy shorts and baseball cap, looking as red as a lobster from too much time on the beach and his chest was a creamy white, like sour milk. His little knock-knees looked ridiculous peeking out from under the shorts. He wasn't wearing a shirt. He looked disgusting. He and his wife were drunk. The date greeted me, introduced me and I told them I already knew his sister and nephew, niece and...ugh, brother in law.

Over the next couple of years the guy and I saw each other. Every time I had to go over there for get togethers, invariably, Creepy Cop would be drunk and saying suggestive things to me. Finally I had had it and after the last straw "Hey Rubble, I'd love to bend you over my new bar when the wife isn't around..." I said NO MAS, that was IT!

I said to the guy, if you don't say something to your brother in law, I will! He coward out of it telling me, "He doesn't mean any harm, he just gets silly when he gets drunk!"

BUHBYE!

But unfortunately, Creepy was the cop that did his tour of duty around MY neck of the woods each night. Every night around 2am'ish he'd drive by, slow down and this became a ritual.

One night there was a knock at the door. I looked out, saw a cop car, got nervous, spoke through the door, "YES??" And from the other side of the door was a familiar voice, "Hey, it's me, So-N-So, did you know your bathroom light is on?" I told him it had been on every night for the past four years. I lived alone, it made me feel better. "Oh, ok."

WEIRD....whenever he'd see me at our mutual gas station he'd wink and smile and try to make small talk.

(shudder, gross)

One night he knocked on the door....but my fiance was there. He said WHO IS THAT. I looked out the window. I told him, "My friendly neighborhood guard dog." I opened the door. "Did you know you left the light in your car on and that might run your battery down." Thankfully this time I was able to turn to the darkness and say loudly..."FIANCE, CAN YOU GIVE ME A JUMP START IF MY BATTERY IS DEAD IN THE MORNING???" Fiance said,..."SURE HUN!"

I never saw Creepy Cop after that...not even driving around!

Case Closed....and then a few short months later, I MOVED 1000 miles away.

Now I will finish with a good cop story. I was 18, horribly lost in Ybor City, Tampa and it was around midnight. I was pulled over crying. (Back before cellphones..circa '80!! ) I was scared shitless. This wasn't the best part of town for a teen in a little VW lost and frantic!!

Finally this policeman (an older guy) comes up behind me and asks if everything was ok. I started crying even harder. "I'm sooo lost, I don't know how to get out of here...I live across the bridge in St. Pete!!!! BooHoo and WAH!

He said follow me. He drove me to the right exit and signaled with his hand out the window to "GO THAT WAY" and I'd be home free. It would take me right to the bridge.

He was my angel that night.

And lastly....to an Officer Ramp who picked up two very silly stoopid 14 year olds from off the highway and took them home and didn't tell our parents....thank you! I have never forgotten you, your kindness and your talk about how dangerous hitch-hiking or even pretending you are hitch-hiking could be.

-pr-

Now wish fiance and I luck as we finally, finally, finally really get our road trip under way...God Speed and may we not find ourselves with any tickets or accidents during our travels!!

(o.k., o.k., this was a little longer than 6 minutes...SUE ME!)

Sun...Aquarius
Moon...Aries (feeling headstrong? Have a headache?)
Phase...Crescent
Time...5:05pm
Weather...38 degrees and cloudy in DC
Sound...silence, my typing.
Mood...annoyed by my computer issues. (Fiance says it might be the "router"? I don't understand, all I know, it's pissing me off!)
BubbleGumBlowin'ShoutOuts to: Will Smith, Tatyana Ali, Mary Lou Retton, John Belushi, Aaron Neville, Maria Tallchief (ballerina)
QuoteDiva sez: "Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it is good only for wallowing." -Katherine Mansfield

MY SIX MINUTES STARTS.....NOW!! hmm...

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. I had no idea it would generate such a flurry of comments! It seems most of us have at least one Cop Tale. I have a few. Unfortunately, my computer is giving me fits and I'm hesitant to write my post, only to lose it and I am not able to do it on "word" at present so....I'm going to ask YOU dear blogfriends to pick up my slack today! Will you write in with YOUR worst/best/silliest/craziest/most unreal cop story!

When my computer decides to behave, I will post my collection of cop quickies (did I say that!)

In short however, I am happy to report, none of my stories involved actually being in jail.

But that might change 'cause I'm about to murder someTHING (Rubble's laptop backs away with a frightened look on it's monitor.) I'm told that it might be a router that needs to be replaced. Fiance's unavailable to help. So I wait.

-pr-

Sun....Aquarius
Moon...Pisces
Phase...Crescent
Time...5:50 pm
Weather...39 degrees and cloudy in DC
Sound...5 O'Clock News
Mood...SO MUCH BETTER thank you! I feel human again!
BubbleGumBlowin'BirthdayShoutOuts To: Tiffani-Amber Theissen, Princess Caroline, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Chita Rivera, Ernie Kovacs and John Hancock
QuoteDiva sez: "You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity." -Walt Schmidt

MY SIX MINUTES STARTS....NOW! ...
This post inspired by Mr. Ornery's latest post:

I first started driving in '76...I am proud of my...er not proud so much as lucky with my record. I did some very foolish things in the early-mid 80s...but for the grace of God go I in regards to getting home safe some nights... I did some crazy ass driving in my VW! But when I had kids I turned into a little ole lady driver!

Anyway, in all that time I managed to get only 1 ticket for rolling through a stop sign at my apt. complex back in '83....and hell, I was doing something good! I was let off for jury duty, came home, felt guilty, decided to go back to work even when I didn't really have to!

1 ticket for my driver's license being 4 months expired...(the old FL IDs used to be good for like 5 or 7 years and your expiration date was on the back...who ever looked on the back? (Who wants to look at the FRONT for God's sake!!? ) [I look like a terrorist on mine- I should get a new one...that one was taken on a very bad day in 2001 for cryin' out loud!]

A couple of "get that fixed" kinda' tickets when I was driving a wreck of a car a couple of years ago...

And I had a minor tap on a rain slick road but I was a young hysterical girl driver (18) and the truck driver felt so bad and so did the cop, they let me off! (WHO SEZ TEARS DONT WORK!!??)

But the most creative (and ballsy) way in which I got out of a ticket for running a red light was by a young (22 year old) Rubble giving the equally young cop, an UNCLE REMUS BRER RABBIT STORY (as my dad came to call it.)

He had a ring side seat to the whole thing from his chair at our dining room window-and was amused by it all. It went something like this...the policeman followed me home to my apt. which was very close by (last stoplight before the complex)...he got out and I hurried out of my car grabbing my stomach. I proceeded to say in a frantic voice,.."I know I ran that red light and that was so dangerous...I don't care if you give me a ticket, a warning, or even throw me in the back of your cop car and take me to jail but officer, I have GOT to get inside my apt and take care of myself, it's that time of the month and I'm making a mess of myself and my car. So please, I promise to come right out and you can write me up but I've got to get inside,..NOW!!!"

His eyes got real big and he said in a shaky voice,.."Ok, I'll let you off this time but be more careful in the future!"

I went inside and my dad was chuckling and shaking his head...the window had been open and he heard the whole thing. His only comment was, "Maybe you SHOULD be an actress."

I got off another time with a warning for an illegal U-Turn by turning on the water works and using the "I -just- dropped- my- kids- off- with -their- dad -and -I -won't- see- them- for -two -weeks -and -I -can't -even -see -the -road -much -less -the - NO U-TURN -sign -for -my tears" defense. The cop said, with the sincerest tone, "I know what it's like, my ex-wife has custody of our kids and I have a hard time separating from them too...be more careful, you want them to have a mom to see, right?" It's true I was dropping them off but it had been the 450th time and I was not that broken up or emotional about it.

My point, if I was to have to come up with one.... sometimes being a woman is rough...but sometimes, it comes in handy! Then again, I wonder how useful any of my ploys would have been if the police had turned out to be women. I actually don't think I would have even tried....I don't know...

-pr-

Question: Have you ever talked, joked or cried your way out of a ticket?

Sun...Capricorn
Moon...Aquarius
Phase...New
Weather...36 and scattered clouds in DC
Time...8:50am
Mood...bloated...just ate! Mahi-mahi and too much white wine!

Sound...silence
BubbleGumBlowin'BirthdayShoutOuts to:Jodie Sweetin, Shawn Wayans, Desi Arnaz Jr., Dolly Parton, Paul Cezanne, Michael Crawford and Edgar Allen Poe
quoteDiva sez: "Pray to God but keep rowing to shore." -Russian Proverb

***R.I.P. DENNY DOUGHERTY of the Mamas and The Pappas***

MY SIX MINUTES STARTS....NOW! ...

Hopefully come Monday, we will pack up the ole Volvo and get on the road to Tallahassee, FL to finally visit future mom in law (she's in the hospital recovering from a broken hip--she fell in her home on Dec. 30th and at the age of 77, broken hips are well, dangerous but so far, she's doing well.)

Anyway, I used to live in Tallahassee. I lived there for many years. The last place I lived was a cute townhouse. My bedroom faced the street and across the street was the elementary school whose playground I played at and there were the greatest climbing trees ever! I was a bit of a tomboy in between dance lessons and I climbed them all the time! Behind my house was woods where my best buddy Linda and I would play "hobbits" (don't ask, we were silly kids with great imaginations!)

I loved my room, I had a great view of the neighborhood. And my years in Tallahassee were good ones! I went from a ten year old kid to a poised 15 year old teen girl. I spent my most hormonal years there!

When fiance and I went back in Nov. of '05, it had been 23 years since I had stepped foot in that old college town. Things were different and even if they weren't they seemed different to me. He took me to my grammar school, middle school (where we first met) and our high school. We went to the campus that mom and dad had taken me to for academic and sporting events. He then took me to my cute little townhouse.

It was a different color, you could hardly see the windows of my former bedroom because of the trees. There was construction going on in the woods behind....and across the street...no more trees. Instead, there were other homes. They had chopped down my climbing trees.

I was a bit sad. Not only had the place physically changed but the life I knew within those walls of that house were gone and had been gone for years. My parents were gone, my grandmother, my neighbors, that part of me, felt a million miles away.

Recently I had the opportunity to see home movies. One of the clips was of me opening the door to that townhouse, waving "come on in" and then closing the door behind me. Sometimes I wish I could truly be back there again, in that moment in time...to see how I lived, how I spoke, what I thought after the door closed.

I finally understood the phrase, "You can't go home again." I was starting to get it.

What do you think? CAN YOU go home again?

-pr-