Hop's Thoughts

This was a Facebook post I just wrote. Aren't you glad we're not friends on Facebook? Get a Snickers if you choose to read. Then scream in the mirror, because you disagree with me. Look for a meme to prove me wrong. I spent the morning screaming at a Goya can for being filled with hypocritical beans and for supporting a candidate who hates them. Then I started a boycott of Ben & Jerry's because they support an old white man from Vermont who is so detached from reality when it comes to systemic racism, he can't get out of his own way. I then started thinking back to every business owner I've ever known and how many times they said something I disagreed with ideologically. I then thought about their employees and how some played along for job security, but those who disagreed were generally silent. Remember, silence gives power to the oppressor, so who is worse, the owner, those who agree, or those who stand silently? I then thought about all my friends who have u

It's pretty crazy when I think about it. No March Madness. No Opening Day. No Masters. No NBA or NHL Playoffs. For others, there were personal losses. Senior Seasons, gone! A culmination of a lifetime of practice for one last moment of glory, whether at the lowest high school or highest college levels. Gone! For me, sports have always been my passion, Along with cinema, sports has given me the escape from reality, no matter how bad things have been. I've probably had more ferocious debates with Yankees fans, defending my beloved Boston Red Sox, than I have about any other topic on this Earth. It's true love. In some ways, as unconditional as it gets, as I will stick up for anyone in the uniform, no matter how good or how bad, as long as it pertains to my team. Spring always brought hope. Everything else in sports is just a distraction, while baseball has always been the excuse to shut out the world. From April until the end of October, it's always been about baseball. 

Recently, I've seen another wave of "friends" leaving me, while I've also lost my desire to continue to call some others the word. I've reached a point, where I find myself in a personal struggle to defend their bigotry or misogyny as them simply being funny. It's not funny. It's also, not just come to me, but made me very aware, that my own condemnation of some while giving others a free pass, is the very root of our system's failure.  A few months ago, I was talking to someone who told me how smart they were. They were having issues with some work they were doing and exclaimed "And I'm really fucking smart.  I wonder how dumb people are handling this." It immediately struck me that this kind of comment not only is all too common, but usually contradicts reality. I immediately thought of the Dunning-Kruger study where people of low intelligence have a much greater view of their own intellect, while people with high IQs tend to downplay t

In a little less than 17 hours, I'll be 50. I'm about as excited as I was when I turned 43, 36, and 22. I refuse to call into cliches and catchphrases, but the actual milestone of being alive for five decades isn't something I really think about. My 40th birthday turned into a big party, and while unexpected, and very much appreciated, I went to work the following day and nothing much had changed. My 30th was highlighted by a chorus of singing children all throughout the day. My 20th was spent as a cornerman at a "foxy boxing" event. I guess there's some growth to be seen, but maybe I'll wait until after I'm officially 50 to reflect on that. Here are just some things I've thought about during the week leading up to my half-century milestone. A good friend used to have a sign hung up in his camp cabin that said "Cleanliness IS Godliness." It took me about 15 years, but I now agree. Neatness is not my forte, but cleanliness, both personal a

This will be short, I promise. Yesterday, one of life's minor, yet truly frustrating things happened. A simple comment. One line, telling me to be aware of something. I nodded, politely, then went back to what I was doing. So why the frustration? Why the anger? Why the dopey blog? There are few things in this world that grate on me more than when a person, oblivious to all that is around them, finally takes notice and decides to give you a few words of wisdom about something you're keenly aware of 24/7/365. The comment, while good in nature, I assume, shows that the person making it is painfully unaware, not only of her own surroundings, but about who I am as a person. The smile, or smirk, and the feeling of accomplishment and false sincerity, was only made more annoying by the fact that the comment was made, not only after I detailed my awareness, but after she ignored a very obvious fact. It was further made fruitless, in the fact she was too lazy to walk down the stairs to t

Heat, humidity, thunderstorms.  Rinse and repeat. Things are not back to normal, although I do have some "work," coming my way. Pride Month overshadowed by Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter must incorporate Pride Month more. Golf and Nascar are all that exist in sports.  Oh yeah, and cornhole. Corona has taken a back seat to social justice.  Timing is everything. Fear has subsided.  We're fools not to see the writing on the wall. Tiny houses no longer interest me the way they did. Land interests me.  Cats, dogs, turtles, birds, groundhogs, foxes, and chipmunks interest me. People haven't changed. Sigh. Trump 2020 is becoming a reality.  The blue wave has turned into a ripple.  I see it on social media and hear it within sincere conversations. "What happened to us?" Nothing happened. This is who we are and who we are destined to be, without change. Not change in leadership, but in philosophy. Good parents praising their graduates.  Remember when your par