Death, taxes and ocean waves.....

But first, a message from our Sponsor, Tide Pods.

I'd heard all the rumors... figured it might be kinda fadlike, like fidget spinners, shag carpet, bell-bottoms, disco balls, lava lamps.. yada...   took one whiff.. NOPE, not for me (pew, sushi, limburger cheese, oysters, came to mind).  You go ahead an munch 'em down, I'll just use 'em to get this dadgum Mexican hot sauce off'ma pants.

Heard a phrase yesterday I ain't heard for a piece... 'Read the room."

Hey you?  Yeah, you out there.. you might be perked, fall in love with... binge watch.. go to Hobby Lobby five times a week...  whatever your PERK is.......  building furniture... making your own jewelry... metal detecting...  radio control airplanes... cooking...  to each, his/her own YUMMY.

Read the room PERKS ME.. makes me....  smile... think.... sit on the edge'a my chair... pay attention.. ponder... maybe froth a tad...  YUM.   That's the (Stuff), uh huh uh huh, I like it.

So I Googled the phrase (of course, I'm a simpleton.. remember my uncle on Hogan's Heroes? Sgt "I KNOW NOTHING" Schultze?  Hereditary.)

Well... it (Google) talked about giving a speech... tuning into the audiences energy and body language.. will help you improve communication... better business outcomes (upchuck, at least, at this point in my life), establish rapport... increases engagement... avoid disaster..  ALL, really nifty LinkIn advice, but Mr, please know I gave up driving those 8 lane Interstate roads years ago.  Country roads, take me home, to the place, I belong.....

To me........... reading the room is life.  Every day. Yain't gotta be up in fronta some 30, 200, 1,000 people.  It's you at the Piggly Wiggly, third in line.  Walking into I-Hop at the same time 4 others with Iowa plates do.  Hold the door for 'em (meaning they'll be in line before ya?).. Thanksgiving, that new boyfriend, girlfriend, inlaw.. go ahead, shoot me, we do do that.  Any time ya put two do's together, sure, it stinks, but we do do that.

I sit on that dadgum teeter totter.  If I see (read the room) and see someone sad, unhappy, it teeters my totter to where I get 'down' there with 'em..........

Conversely, if I may borrow from Manfred Mann for a moment... There she was justa walkin' down the street, singin' do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do.. snappin' her fingers and shufflin' her feet, singin' 'Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do', She looked good (Looked good), She looked fine (Looked fine), She looked good, she looked fine, And I nearly lost my mind.  SURE, I'm a male piggy just like all you other guys.. sorry, kinda.. not really..  but.. .what I really mean (perty please read the room wit' me).....

SHE WAS HAPPY as she walked down the street.  Bend me shape me, you show them dad'gum uppity (but well intended) LinkedIn folks how to live life..  I'll tap ma' foot.

Inotherwords.  That teeter that drooped when I saw sad..  IMMEDIATELY perked me up when I saw someone happy... .smiley... enjoying this thing called life.  I done fixed that hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza.

There, admittedly, be people that'r kinda hard to read.  Costumes.  Sometimes they wear costumes. Gotta buddy, admitted handsome dude.  Makes good dough, ie, he's a chick magnet.  He, admittedly, kinda "runs thru 'em" in not very long cycles.  He is really a nice man.  We all wish for him.  Sure, they're usually a few (ten or more) years younger than he (Bless him, or, cuss him, your call!).. anyways... the one he's with now, I really like her as a person.  I don't see this buddy as much as anudder buddy'o mine does... so... I said to 'anudder buddy'o mine "Hey, I don't know about you, but I like this gal ____ is dating better than any he's been with."  'Anudder buddy'o mine is ten years my junior, but, he learnt me when he said "I haven't decided yet."

Read the room Victor. It's life. It ain't speed reading. So, I tucked my tail, agreed (and thanked), lesson learned.

That's life.  Right Frank?  Ridin' high in April... shot down in May...  ya done read the room and seen  a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, A pawn and a king....

Through empathy, with a little help from your friends, LinkedIn, Google, Manfred Mann, anudder buddy... reading the room has led to:  I've been up and down and over and out, And I know one thing, Each time I find myself, flat on my face, I pick myself up and get back in the race....  Right Dave Wottle?

People... regardless of what Barbara may say.. Ya just never know.  YES, wonderful.  But, ya just never know.    Getting down whenya see another down...  Getting up whenya see another up... that kinda goes agin' that Newton fella "for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Pavlov, and, 'anudder buddy', tellya, just because, when the bell rings, they get up, go, do, just like they're sposeta.. don't mean they'll do it into infinity.

I love people watching.  Reading the room.  It's kinda like these roads down here in Mehico. Potholes upon occassion, ya gotta watch for 'em, but... if you takey your time, go slow..  you can avoid the bumps in the road.

If you are one of the three that read this every day, you'll remember yesterday we borrowed from Forrest Gump, the box'a chocolates thing.  His momma was right.  Life, people watching, LinkIn, energy, lack thereof, fidgeting, fidget spinners, reading the room is like a box of chocolates.

I continue to try to read the room of life... ie, stick my thumb in those chocolates.. make a hunch on 'em (ok, just shoot me, call it judging if you like... it's like peeing and pooping, we all do do it.).. if we no likey, or think we no likey, turn em back over.. party on to/with the yummy ones.

Death, taxes and ocean waves.  Since the temp in the Midwest IS gonna get above freezing today, I hope you won't get upset if I now go sit on the balcony and listen to the waves.  There, I ain't gotta read the room. I know they'll be there.   I might even sing do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do.  Mind if I do do?

I love you!

Victurd