I'd gotten word via letter of whom my college roommate was to be, but nuttin' really other than his name and his hometown. Richard, and, his hometown, I forget, but somewhere in Iowa. Would he, please please please, like sports as much as me? What are the odds? Would he be mean, grumpy, 6'4" 230 and wanna beat the watoosie outta me should I earn it? I thoughta questions... "Hawkeye fan or Cyclone?".. "Ya like, Da Bears?" "Who ya like to be in the Super Bowl?"
Finally pulled in.. grabbed stuff, made my way to some floor, I forget, in Phillips Hall... there, I met Richard. Father, just shoot me, he was, what my cousins and I teasingly called, "scientific", complete with the pocket pen holder... glasses.. shirt tucked too nicely into his slacks. Victor, you're an asshole. You're probably right... but, usually the joke ends up on me, he prolly retired at age fitty-eight, multimillionaire, beautiful, fit lady on his arm.
Before I could get question one out, he asked "Vic, what's the terrain like in Liberty, MO?" Somehow, I didn't feel the need, worthiness of asking "Hawkeye or Cyclone.... da Bears?".. EGG ON MY FACE. He was THE nicest dude. We were complete opposites who became good friends.. We were living, breathing, Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. A smack-in-the-face lifelong lesson, folks are folks, befriend them all, regardless of likes, dislikes, differences. Just like the band War said "Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends?" We can.
Millie. Tip's hound pooch that's with us on this trip. Victor? Price of tea, China? This blog is about odds. Millie's dry food. Odds ain't great if, served alone, she'll eat it. Sprinkle some green beans atop, 70% chance she'll devour. If not, whipped cream atop all that, she'll gobble. Ahm, OK, Victor. And?
Keeping score. Tip and I take turns taking Millie out to the designated pooch pee/poop here place. We, Tip and I, being the please please please like sports as much as me friends, gamble on 1, 2 or 3. That's all about pee, poop, odds are you can figure that out. Usually, if the green beans are gone, she'll get a 3. (Uh huh, that's 1 plus 2.) I find myself in Puerto Penasco, Sonora Mehico, thinking to myself, "you must really REALLY be bored if you're here reading a blog about keeping the score of a dog pooping or peeing, or both. Eh, why not."
Life, ya just never know. This morning, against all odds, Millie did a 2. And no, that ain't 1 plus 1. Go figure.
A date. One. Cuppa coffee. A nice time. Prior too, (we went to HS together but never had really met) via messenger, gobbled up 'where ya been in life, whar ya going'... and borrowing from The Who... "I really wanna know, who are you, who who, who who.?" Or mebbe stealing from Richard Rogers, Oscar (there's that name again) Hammerstein "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you" as much as one can from letters on a computer screen.
I meekly forwarned, "I got an affliction... can't walk fast, yada.. mebbe we could just go, do things, I'm prolly not your cup of tea (there's THAT word again)".. she comforted with "At 70, I'm a realist and know the odds aren't great I'll find someone perfect for me." Or, something to that effect. Odds, there's that word again.
Sure, affliction. But then. Victor, you CANNOT start a sentence with 'But.' But then, there are many more, MANY more, facing a lot greater odds than I.
Tip and I, good friends for a very long time, but, not spent a lotta time together 'tween college and this trip.. are now on day 19.. day 1 was like we were back riding in that whatever year that bronze/black top Cutless he had. En route, we called another fraternity brother from back in the day... We love the guy. On speaker phone, we recalled much about 'yesterday'... then, 'caught up'. He had (emphasis on had) a very rare form of cancer. He told us his Doctor recently had given him the "Cancer free" wonderful news, then his Doc asked him... "Do you know what 'my score' is? "No", our buddy answered. I've had 49 patients with this type of cancer. My record is 1 and 48. You are the only one I've been able to say that ("Cancer free") to." Horrible odds, ____, we are SO thankful you are still here.
I listen, too much, to Sport's talk. Weekly, prognosticators come on the show I listen to. The above paragraph, to me, puts much in perspective, including "What are the odds on the upcoming Chiefs/Bills game" (The Bills are a 2 and 1/2 point favorite.) as compared to real life.
Maryville MO taught me much. As in, don't be shallow Victor, not everyone thinks like you.. you can like EVERYONE.
Millie reminded me, sometimes ya "do", sometimes ya don't. But (VICTOR! NO!).. But, ya wag your tail all the time and life seems to go much smoother... it's kinda like whipped cream on top.
_______, the date lady, reminded me life is good. It ain't all about oh baby oh baby oh baby. It's more about the moment. Or... moments left.
Our 1 in 49 buddy, we're reminded good certainly does happen. Against all odds can happen.
I am certain, right now, I could go to Draftkings.com or similar, and find odds on Mahomes passing yards, Pacheco rushing yards, will Toney play? If so, drop one? Have an offsides call? Chris Jones gets how many sacks? Icicles, yeah/nay on Andy's mustache? Will Suite Taylor be there?" Odds are, most are tired'a dat one.
VICTOR? You never mentioned whale watching? Well, I feel sheepish in doing so, what with temps still below zero back home, more snow coming, yada. We, 8 or so of us, are going Whale Watching next Wednesday. Fitty bucks apiece. No guarantee (odds) we'll see a whale. They send a scout boat out earlier, hunt for 'em, if they find 'em, they radio back the coordinates. Catamaran. Couple free beers. (Did you hear that? Two free beers?!) A ride out in the Sea of Cortez, we can turn everywhich way, hey, there's our condo.. and over there, ya keep going you'll hit land, and on the other side, The Pacific. If by chance we DO see whales, there's a guarantee the skipper will follow 'em for 90 more minutes, no matter when they are first seen in the ride. Even if we don't see 'em, to me, worth fitty bucks. Comeraderie, boat ride, 2 free beers.
Life is odd. Odds are fun, funny, quite serious at times.
Odds are good though, we start the day wagging out tail it's gonna be a whale of a good day.
Love, Victurd
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