Music Memories...

Isn’t it funny how certain songs can tie you to a time period or person? The other day I was driving down the road listening to a band called Revenge. The song was called "State Of Shock" and it was a new version released on an album called "One True Passion V2.0" I have the original version called "One True Passion" and the next album called "Gun World Porn" that the song came from. Any way, I am rambling with back information.

So, anyway, I was driving down the road and was listening to the song and it reminded me of when I lived in Nacogdoches Texas in Wind Hill apartments. I had a friend, Jason Rhame, and he loved that song and we would play the hell out of it all the time. He moved away as did I and we kept in touch for several years and then we lost touch. I moved around a little and so did he. Well, I decided to try to find him and I tried to get his parents number in Nacogdoches and called them, no answer, so I went to www.zabasearch.com and did a search for his name and I found it in Houston.

There were several of the name. I called a few and left messages to call me and low and behold I received a call last week from him!! It was good to hear from an old friend from long ago and to catch up on recent times. We talk about once a week and are going to keep up with each other. It is just funny how music can spark memories of events and time…



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My Firend...Charles Story.

We have been friends since the early 1980s. He and his Grandmother rented an apartment that my Grandparents owned in cool Kirbyville Texas many years ago. We had some wild times together and many adventures!

As times passes like it always does; people move away from their town. I live in Virginia and Charles "Chuck" now lives in Athens Georgia.

This is his current story:

I started in 1996 training brazilian jiu jitsu and have since traveled all over the United States and trained / taught at several academies. I have trained with several UFC, WEC, Pride, and various small organization NHB fighters. I train under Gracie Barra which is led by Carlinhos Gracie, the son of Carlos Gracie. Gracie Barra is one of the most successful organizations in the world and has many champions.

I teach BJJ and NHB in Carrollton, GA. and also train at Gracie Barra Holly Springs, and Gracie Barra Douglasville. At this time I am training with NHB fighter Blake Bowman whom is a up and coming fighter, together we run Tudo Bem BJJ, an affiliate of GracieBarra North Shore. I have a 22-8 record and currently hold a purple belt in BJJ.

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Today’s Corporate World…

It appears that in today’s corporate world that there is not more stability in friends, and family, or community. In today’s market where the little fish get eaten up by the big fish and then everything has to be restructured, one looses the idea of community. With corporate acquisitions that occur yearly, one cannot even begin to think that a city or town can be called home. The big companies want to give their employees the perception that where they live for practical purposes is “home" even if it is a fleeting notion at best.

When a company moves from one town to another there are all types of repercussions that happen. When I lived in Indiana, the company I worked for relocated me from Texas to Merryville. They came to where I was living and packed all of my belongings and placed them on a big truck and shipped them to my new address. I got there about a week before my stuff got there. I was given some money to help with getting things set up, lights, water, cable, phone, and electricity and had some left over to make a savings account.

I was up there for about three months and then the economy went south (Took a down turn) several of the steel mills closed their doors and the whole area was in jeopardy as well as my new job. I was the last one hired because they could not make up their minds about me. I would have been better off if they had not made a job offer in the first place and I would have been ok with that.

Anyway, I made friends up there and tried to make a life there as well. In three short months, my life was gone. I got released from all obligations from the company and was on my own. So with what money I had left, I had to pack up a few belongings and race back to Texas ahead of The Blizzard of 2000 in the Mid West. When I got home, thanks to my Grandmother, we flew back to Indiana after the snow storm and I sold a few items and moved the bare essentials back home with me. I was a little wiser for having been through that ordeal. It only prepared me for what was to come later in my life…


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God's Will...

This has been bothering me a lot lately. People always talk about God's Will. I know from my own life and that of 12-Setep you are supposed to submit to God's Will. How do you know what that is? Me, My Wife and Daughter have been together this coming December 5 years (married) we have been together a total of 7 this summer and have known for over 20 years. We went to the same high school.

Over the last 5 years, we have moved 5 times to different stated for her company. We always hoped that the "next" move would be the one that would bring us happiness. We moved from Houston to Austin, Then to Highlands Ranch Colorado. From there we moved to Gardner Massachusetts; she worked in Boston. From then we moved to Midlothian Virginia. We made up our minds to stay here until our daughter got out of high school. Now, with things so up in the air, we are perplexed.

We try to go to church and to follow God's Will, but it is hard. When we lived in Colorado, we were members of St Andrews United Methodist Church Were really in tune I think and we loved going to the church because of the worship and the church itself. It was very wonderful but like all things, we moved to Massachusetts and it was very hard to get back into church because of the size of the church there. We so longed for St. Andrews that we, I guess, missed out on a very small church that we could have helped bring life back into had we just given it a chance. For you see, St. Andrews set the bar very high.

Well, Midlothian in my mind has some very good churches. Some would I dare say compare to St. Andrew in my mind. They have lots to offer and have a very progressive message in tune with today. It has been hard for my wife as they are not St. Andrews. I hold no fault against her for this as I miss it also, but we have to move on.

When she accepted her promotions, was that the Will of God? We made friends in Colorado and in Massachusetts but we left them. Our lives a little better for knowing them and theirs also for knowing us. My brother whom I talk about a lot is a Man of God, a Preacher in the Methodist Church. Even though he is 10 years younger then me, I rely on his wisdom to help guide me and he is more than ready and willing to be up to the challenge when I ask. I know that I do not pray as often as I should and as for what His Will is and what we should do. It is a hard practice to get into and when you do it, if you stop it is really easy to no continue.

Are all of these trials and tribulations part of God's Will for us? And if so, what is His Will to be for us on the next leg of our journey? How do some of you deal with this subject? Or do you even think about it.


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Back at work...

Yesterday was basically my "day off" I got home around 8.15am, ate breakfast, showered and went to sleep. I got up around 3.30pm, drank a Full Throttle and the preceded to mow the lawn. It was hot and I also had to rake the grass off our hill.

I have been in a very reflective mood over the past few days and thinking about old long gone friends that I used to have. I have moved around a lot and made friends around the country. Through the years, I have lost several long time friends.

One friend that I lost I met in High School when I was in 11th grade. He had some issues and left dropped out from his other school He came to our school from another one. As it turned out, we had many things of interest, mainly music and partying and had some common friends. As the years followed, he moved to College Station (A&M) and I went to Nacogdoches (SFA) for college. We stayed in touch and got together when we could on Christmas and Thanksgiving breaks and during the summers.

I moved back home and attended Lamar Institute of Technology and he moved to Galveston to attend UTMB. He got his PHD in Genetic Chemistry and I got a Tech degree for LIT. During this time we both got heavily into drugs and did so for many years going to Houston and visiting a friend and all forms a debauchery ensued for many years. A long a bout 2001, while he was living on the East Coast, I was in Austin, I got clean and sober which was a good thing! He and I continued to talk and chat, share music and stuff like that via the internet. As fate would have it, we ended up living on the East Coast as well and visited a few times. He had become a research scientist for a government agencies and became all mature...

He tried to enforce his morals on me and we had several arguments and did not speak for some time (we are not speaking at the present and have not for over 6 months) He wools call out of the blue, drunk or so it seamed, and want to send me gifts, Very strange behavior. And then want to act like my Dad and enforce his morals again. His behavior became very eradiate and strange while my life had become very "normal" with being married and hopping about the country with my fire and daughter. It appears that all we really ever had in common was drugs and that when that was taken away; there was really no fiber as it were to sustain a friendship. With his erratic behavior we are no longer on speaking terms. He, several months ago, wanted me to come up and visit him and go to his girlfriend’s house. I was very uncomfortable with this idea and did not.

To this day, I do not know how or where he is and I guess that is for the best. Some chapters in your life need to be closed and kept closed. This is one in my life. I now have other friends that I do much more meaningful things with like ride mountain bikes and go to movies with. Life is nice here in Midlothian if only for a fleeting moment...

Time will tell.



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It is that time of year...

Well folks, it is that time of year again for the pollen to fly and for the weather and temperature to be on a rollercoaster ride. For the last few days, it has been in the 80s, very nice Spring Time Weather. The trees are starting to bud out and the pollen is starting to fly. I can see it on my truck hood...AH Chew!!

Easter is upon us this Sunday. We just got our cold front that generally happens around Easter weekend. I remember as a kid, we would always go camping at Lake Sam Rayburn for that weekend and all of the "family" would circle the wagons so to speak. We had Aunt Dale and Uncle Forestray, Aunt Babe and Uncle Talmadge, and Aunt Jewel and Uncle Don as well as Etha, Pawp and me and other various kids and cousins. We would all go to Mill Creek Park and try to get on "Easter Point" every year. If you go to the map link, the spots are sites 60 and 61. It would always bee nice and warm that week before, but we would set up camp and get "Blue Norther" and nearly blow us off the camping site. It would go from 80 to 30 degrees that night and we would all freeze!! We all had camping trailers with electric, but it would still be cold!! A few of the boats would sink because of the wind straight out of the north would swamp the ends on them because of the waves.

After the maelstrom of the preceding night, we would slowly come out of our campers and I would get a fire started as I was a "fire Bug" back then. I still love fire!! My Aunt Dale was the "camp master" and she would get the breakfast started. All the men would go and survey the boats and get the water out of them if need be to go and catch some fish. At the end of all the camping that weekend, We always had a "Fish Fry" on that Sunday afternoon and then we would break camp and go home.

Aunt Dale, Uncle Forestray, and Uncle Don have all since passed from the world, they are missed by all and it would seam that the title of "Camp Master" has passed to me according to Aunt Dale's Daughter Patrice. She said that I am the only one that can get the family together when I come to visit them in Texas. If that is so, then I have very big foot steps to follow in and I would ware that mantel proudly.

Tell Me What You Think...

Vacation at Christmas.

It was fun going to Texas to see all of my family. I have been very fortunate in my 35+ years to have both sets of grandparents(paternal and maternal). My grandmother(Paternal) is not doing well and I was very glad to get to see her. My dad and Stepmother came in from Austin to see us as we had only very limited time in Texas. We flew into Houston and stayed with my wife's aunt as we always do and then went the next day to see her sisters. She has 5 of them! I was raised as an only child, but I have a half-brother/sister from my dad.

After we saw the sister, we went to my grandparents house on Lake Rayburn! I love going to the lake and they have lived there for 10 years now. we stayed there for the next 3 days and also my mother lives there as well. My uncle and his daughters all came over and we had a late Christmas dinner on the 29th with my cousin and his girlfriend also. My mother had a deer cooked so we got to have some back-strap...YUM YUM!! It has been several years since I have had deer to eat. I hope that my mother will come out to VA soon to visit and I want my Etha and Pawp to come out as well, if I can only get them to fly! We had a good Christmas and like most vacations, it had to come to an end.

We stayed a night with my mother as well. M<y stepdad passed over 3 years ago. it has been hard on her, but she is a trooper and will make it. It is goo to go visit home, but as nice as it is, I am glad to be back in my home with my wife and daughter. I hope that this year brings us good times!

I am just in a reflective mood at the moment and seeing my grandmother Jo so week and frail, makes me face my own mortality...
Peace...
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RMSTringer
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