7166137's blog: "What's on my mind"

I won't say this will be the last one, because I thought up the last three in one day.
My earliest memories were things when I fell down, or tried and failed to do something, I remember my dad saying to me crying, "it's not the end of the world."

Is there a chance to try again?

Is there a better way to go about it?

Is there something better to do instead of this?

Can it be forgiven?

Can I take lessons learned and try to help others?

I didn't realize just how much I have done that in my entire life. And I did that too here. I have had leaders that followed this as much as they could, and I had some who had a zero tolerance policy for anything.

Before I figured out how to cherry bomb and get the inferno every time, I failed at least 20 times. It used to be required at level 56 going to 57 so I did get it done for that level, but I don't remember just how I did it. I also failed to get the first time I tried, 5000 and 10,000 likes. The 10K I changed to 9,999 because I wanted to go for a 4 digit number, it seems so much smaller that way.

One of my pet peeves on here is the achievements for being top ten in points for as many as 100 occurances. Sure people want to get those achievements, but others want to just get it a few times, triple threat can be a pain when others play harder more often, so on days when someone doesn't make it, and has fewer days to get the three, the whole "It's not the end of the world" comes in as a consolation. This also plays into the two most recent additons, about Keeping Score and Does it Matter? I won't repeat any of that, they both are long enough by themselves, but I will take time to pay tribute to the source of this, my father.

The best way to describe everything he is, is to describe each of his five sons, because each of us took something that he was good at, and became masters at, in our own way. This is not to say that my dad is not a master at anything, he is so diverse when you get to know every little intracacy about him. Many people in his life got to see only part of his this huge persona.

Frank, the oldest. He is the most patriotic of us five. He served 12 years in the Army National Guard, finishing OCS and being pinned a 2nd Lieutennant. My father taught us to salute the flag when we saw one, and he would use his shoe shine kit on our shoes when we were little. Also, my father took up bowling in his 20's, Frank has it as his life's passion. He could have an apartment in the back of the pin setters area and live forever. Despite having this same neurological condition, he still bowls. Dad was a great bowler, my brother is an awesome bowler. Frank scored a 300 and one 800 series.

Me, the second and Junior, I get from him serveral things, the most apparant is the service in the US Navy, while he did 4 years, I served almost 24 years. He was able to visit me on each of my ships, and got got to sail when my entire family came on a Family Day Cruse. The one thing that I know I got that my brothers didn't get, was the keen ability to figure things out. I tell job interviewers that I have a Masters Degree in Figure it Out, and my father does too. Dad was good at fixing things, and I could fix things when he couldn't.

Howard, the third, is the outdoorsman, and the environmentalist. Being in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, or just plain hiking has always been something we did as a family, with my dad leading the way. One fishing trip involved four miles hiking each way, to extremely remote places that perhaps as few as 50 people have ever been to. While I and the 4th brother also spent time outdoors with dad, Howard has by far done the most. He worked as an environmental engineer with the State of New York, mostly taking care of the Mohawk and the Erie Canal, he has gone on to other outdoorsy work. My father was a good fisherman, through the ice, on a boat, on the dock, or in a small stream, but Howard is the trophy fisherman.

Charles (Chuck) the fourth, is the athlete, teacher, and gardener, which he shares with my father. My father played one season in college as a goalie for a community college, and recorded a then record number of "saves" and named to National All-Star team. Chuck was the left footed place kicker who could be a backup quarterback, receiver and defensive back. He was in basketball, and leading scorer for both sports. On the track and field, he was a high jumper and anchor for the 4 by 400 meter relay, usually the last race of any track meet.His senior year, he was a triple MVP.

William (Bill) the fifth, is the businessman. My father managed a small factory in an industrial city, and had to be keen with so many business decisions, and he was pretty successful in stock investments over time. Bill, is a CPA for a major firm, I won't name it, or what city it's in, but he is an Ivy League graduate and very successful. Bill was also into sports, same as Chuck, but golf as well, which my dad had as a hobby. He and Chuck were both place kickers, and after he graduated, the retired their common number "1".

My dad got to be all of these things, and a bit masterful in many of them, but each of us got to take parts of his persona and turn them all into somthing so much more impressive. He like me, is a Scorpio, so it's from him that I get the charm. There was one former friend on here who was trying to get me to become a chick magnet, and didn't realize that I already was and I got that from dad. He and I both (and my brothers too) try to remain modest about all of our accomplishments.