Friday the 13th, did you know? New Movies, Misc.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia-yes folks that is a word and yes it is spelled correctly. This is the phobia word definition for the people who suffer from the fear of Friday the 13th bad luck. Is this a big deal in our lives? Well Dr. Dossey, a psychotherapist and authority on this phobia, says that approximately 21 million people in the USA suffer from this phobia. He says that this superstition is as old as mankind and has grown with stature through the years of ongoing reports of bad luck etc. Some examples, Eve(the original frustrated housewife)tempted Adam on a Friday(and of course we all know what happened next), the great flood happened on Friday, God tongue-tied the builders of the tower of Babel on Friday, the Temple of Soloman was destroyed on Friday and to top off the biblical stuff, Christ was crucified on Friday. To take it into the next generation, primitive man use to use his fingers and feet to count with. So, it was 10 fingers and 2 feet, making a total of 12. The next number being 13 was never used for fear it might be a bad number, then the superstition began. Okay I know you are asking, what about the toes? Well it is apparent that anicient man either didn't have toes are just thought they were for growing toenails and the stink probably was just too much. From the artist photos of these gruesome looking men and women they really have never looked that bright to me anyway. We also find that the ancient Egyptians believed that Friday and the 13th symbolized death. Now, I could go on and on about this and the documentation is endless, so I must get to my point(while I know you all love to read this trivia you must go to Google under Friday the 13th, to get more information than you would ever want on the subject). While I have always had the "athletes" superstitious phobia I have never let it rule my life. But, in high school we always played on Friday nights(unless it was a playoff game, then they were never on Friday nights), that is why they called the movie, "Friday Night Lights." We had certain superstitions, such as always wearing the same shirt on Friday, always having the same coach tape our ankles, never getting a haircut on Friday, lacing the right shoe first, and on and on. Okay, so I am somewhat superstitious, but on the Friday the 13th that just passed a few days ago I had an interesting day that will remind me I had better think again about this bad luck day. It started out very normal, and then I received the phone call from Colorado Springs, I had been elected to the National Board of Directors for USA Triathlon, and will return to the board after a 12 year vacation from the politics of the sport(remember Kinky defines politics as, poli-meaning people, and tics-meaning unwanted parasites). So, some have said, "why would you volunterily chose to be elected to the dark side of the great sport?" Well as Kinky also says, "Why the hell not?" I have had a passionate love affair for the sport of triathlon for the past 23 years and bring a very diverse background to the board. During my first tenure on the board 12 years ago I was just getting warmed up and have always felt I could have done a better job and now I am committed to carrying this goal forward. But, on with my story of my other major experience on the 13th. Being the triathlete that I am I decided to get in a 30 mile bicycle in the afternoon, then onto a high school football game or movie. Well, the ride was going great until mile 12 and then a little terrier type dog ran out on the rode and bit the hell out of my left calf muscle. He tore into it pretty bad and the blood was starting to ooz! I immediately stopped, made sure I kept track of the dog, went to the front door of the owners. They immeditely said they did not own any dogs and when I said well you just had a pack of them come from under your house to put the attack on me, they just shugged their shoulders and said, "we don't own any dogs." I then called Marti and told her to come get me, call our vetenarian, call the pound and be prepared to get me to the emergency room for treatment. Okay, it is not like I was laying out on the rode all damaged and injured but the thought of rabies is not a good thought, and after all it was Friday the 13th. She immediately put the Explorer in the fastest gear possible, even though she still has another speeding ticket pending, and picked me up. Well the rest of the day and early night was spent with the guilty dog, the sherrif's department, the emergency room and then the city pound service. They will keep this little darling(we actually fell in love with the little mutt that was just trying to get some attention, reminded me of T.O. of the Dallas Cowboys, and she really did. But, we were certain that the Buffman and the Squeaky girl would not be putting out any welcome mats if we brought this little doggy home. We were assured that it would be well taken care of with a bath, good food, and a warm blanket to rest on through the weekend and until it is adopted. In the meantime I had my shots, got my anti-biotics and will wait for the lab report on the rabies situation. Bottom line here is that is there some kind of omen in the USA Triathlon notification and the dog bite? I really don't think so and have just written it off as some kind of strange coincidence(the 6th insight from the Celestine Prophecies). The good news is that I want to serve on the Board, and the bite could have been so bad that I would have wrecked the bike and had more serious crash injuries. As it is I will resume exercising today and with just a small bandage to cover up the wound. So, all is not bad and the good news is that Friday the 13th only comes up 2-3 times per year. There are none scheduled for the balance of 06 and my 68th birthday is on the 16th of December, a Thursday.

Two good movies to see: "The Departed", "Man of the Year" Very different movies but very entertaining. The Departed has so many stars in it you need a calculator to add them up. But Jack Nicholson is at his best, and meanest(violence, bad language, sexual stuff), Robin Williams is also great in "Man". *****stars for these two. With all the football movies I am behind in seeing them, but I did see "Gridiron Gang" and it is very good and a true story. It is a **** in my rating system and worth seeing at prime time. "Talladega Nights" is a solid ***, possible go to the bargain movie house for it.

A couple of the departments I search out every day in the newspaper are the engagement announcements and obituaries. I really do not imply that there is any kind of correlation but I guess it is just interesting to read these "news" items in the paper. In the engagement news I look for certain things in the announcement that will give me flags as to whether these people will be part of the 50% that end up in divorce court. Do I let them know of my opinion or prognosis? Well of course not I don't even know them, but it is a fun hobby. Here are some of the things I look for, first, the photo for tell tell signs of dominance and me, me, me. If the future bride has her arms all drapped around the innocent future bridegroom that is a flag, or if she has her ring hand displayed very prominently that is a flag. In the case of the man they are usually so out of it with no clue I don't worry too much about them. Most all of them have smiles on their faces, which is probably good. But, on the other hand the founding fathers of this country were never smiling in the artists renditions of this great day. So, why would two young impressionable people be smiling when 50% of them are not going to be together sometime after the wedding date. The other things I look for is in the verbiage, i.e. backgrounds of hometown and how far apart they are like, she from Boston, MA he from Idalou,TX(the ferttilizer plant is a social point in this burg, education, he from Shallowater, TX, she from MIT, and on an on. I really like to look at their place of employment, one today was employed in San Angelo, TX and the other in Washington, D.C., quite a commute and I wonder how much time they will spend with each other. Oh well that may be the secret to a long marriage. When they give the names of the parents I try to detect if they are divorced, if so, flag! Now on to the obits, I look at the photo and if the person who died is 99 and they show their high school graduation picture I wonder about this family. Living in denial or something, but it is strange. I also read in detail what they say about this person and the good news is they never say anything bad about the person. I can imagine what they said about Al Capone, yea what a guy, loved his family, provided well, started many businesses in his community, and died in his sleep at Alcatraz(he actually didn't and did die of syphlis but I bet they didn't say that, that would be termed a "long illiness." The bad part about this is the blood sucker funeral homes ask the family about the deceased just right after they depart. I remember doing the obit for my father, mother, and sister. That is not a good time, but it does relax you a little and you remember only the good things. While good Christians should be rejoicing that our loved ones on going on to be with Jesus and a better "place" that is generally not the feeling. And that has always puzzled me and I will address that more closely one of these days. I have requested that my obit be no more than 5 words, "He was always the best!!!" Best at what doesn't really matter and leaves a lot to the imagination
and anyway on this day everyone kind of feels sorry for you anyway. Even your worst enemies seem to come around to saying something good about you. I recall a few months ago a friend of mine and I went to a funeral of one of our former college football playing friends. The guy that died was a great football player, and became a top coach and icon of our school. He was only 61 when he died and the funeral lasted 2.5 hours. The longer we were there the greater he got, but I must say it was deserved. He was a great guy. The contrast to this story and back to reality is that another one of our teammates was suffering from cancer and was probably only going to be around for another 6 months. I told my friend that if he died before me not to call me, since I really never liked the guy and he never liked me, since I felt it would be very hypocritical and dishonest to be at his funeral. Well he did pass a month ago and my friend kept to his word and didn't contact me and I kept to my word and didn't attempt to find out and go to the funeral. My feeling is that he really didn't give a hoot and he was really a good person, but we just had bad chemistry. We even played football together at Univeristy of Houston and U Texas-Arlington, and that still didn't bring us together in friendship. So, read this and figure out what the correlation is to your life and use it. Beats the hell out of me what brought this subject to mind.

Now to watch the T.O/Parcels/Bledsoe/Jones drama, trying to imitate the men in silver and blue, the Dallas Cowboys. Talking of graves, I bet Brother Tom is rolling in his just watching how Jones has screwed up this great football franchise.

greerman