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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Paul B
NJRC Member
Last night we went to a wedding of a friend's daughter on the south shore of Long Island, an hour away. New York weddings are normally large and very expensive and I'm glad I no longer have to pay for any of them. This one was average I think, as to cost, and probably cost about as much as my house. It was on the sea in an all glass very beautiful place, and much of it was outside.
The weather was perfect, and there were about 225 people there. The cocktail hour was largely raw oysters and clams with cooked shrimp. I'm sure there was a lot of other food, but if there are raw oysters and clams, there is no need to look further.
It wasn't a sit-down dinner but they had serving stations all over with Asian food, pasta station, prime beef station, seafood station, and a few others which I like much better than a sit-down dinner.
I got up to get some food for my wife and myself because she uses a walker and can't carry a plate. I first went to the prime beef station, and for some reason, next to the guy cutting the beef was a waffle station. When I say "next to" I mean inches away. With the waffles there was a large serving taurine of maple syrup and right up against it, like touching it was a taurine of gravy for the beef. Both were brown.
My friend, who was in front of me, said, do you and Dale want gravy? So I said Yes. He accidently picked up the maple syrup one and poured it all over our prime ribs. I didn't know until I tasted it. Not very good and it wasn't what my mouth was ready for.
Why they put those two things right next to each other is beyond me as they both looked the same especially with the band, strobe lights and all the "noise".
Speaking of noise. I really hate weddings now. In Vietnam I was attached to an artillery battery and all our 5 guns fired all day 24/7 which didn't help my ears. Then one day we were attacked by 400 regular NVA soldiers and they blew up, I forget how much but it was about 60 tons of artillery ammunition which was maybe 75 yards from me causing myself, and everyone else on the firebase to be knocked un-conscious for at least 15 minutes which left me with this infernal screaming in my ears. Many guys had their ear drums burst (unfortunately, it also caused quite a few deaths) "At the bottom of this post I will leave an excerpt of the book that they wrote about that night siting that explosion"
If you are squeamish, don't read it.
Anyway, since then, I can't take loud noise and it is very painful and it feels like someone is sticking ice picks in my ears. In those loud situations, for the last 10 or 15 years I wear customized ear plugs.
But even with the plugs it was way too loud and I had to spend a lot of time outside which was beautiful but still noisy as the place is all glass.
Weddings used to be real music and dancing, but now there is no more music or dancing. It is just loud banging with people who apparently don't know how to dance jumping up and down for no reason while they scream. No talent what so ever.
It must be easy to write the words to "music" now. It's like Boom, Boom, Bang, bang, boom, boon ga boom, and more boom.
Yes, I know, I am old. I grew up in the Disco generation where we knew how to dance. That also impressed the girls which was the main reason to go to a Disco.
Of course we didn't have smart phones, or even stupid phones because they were attached to a wall. We also had no computers so we had to actually talk to a girl with our mouths and try to make intelligible words so we didn't sound like a dyslectic Neanderthal.
We wanted to attract an intelligent girl and not one that used phrases like LOL, DUH, ROTFLMAO, etc. We didn't even have those terms then.
We also opened doors for girls and pulled their chair out. (not to let them fall on the floor)
I was actually a pretty good dancer, I still am.
From the book "Fire Support Base Illingworth" by Philip Keith:
I tried to only include the effects of the explosion but I can't delete the other parts, sorry. I only wanted to include the part I circled.
If it is too gory, maybe the MODS can delete it. But it is a true fact.
The weather was perfect, and there were about 225 people there. The cocktail hour was largely raw oysters and clams with cooked shrimp. I'm sure there was a lot of other food, but if there are raw oysters and clams, there is no need to look further.
It wasn't a sit-down dinner but they had serving stations all over with Asian food, pasta station, prime beef station, seafood station, and a few others which I like much better than a sit-down dinner.
I got up to get some food for my wife and myself because she uses a walker and can't carry a plate. I first went to the prime beef station, and for some reason, next to the guy cutting the beef was a waffle station. When I say "next to" I mean inches away. With the waffles there was a large serving taurine of maple syrup and right up against it, like touching it was a taurine of gravy for the beef. Both were brown.
My friend, who was in front of me, said, do you and Dale want gravy? So I said Yes. He accidently picked up the maple syrup one and poured it all over our prime ribs. I didn't know until I tasted it. Not very good and it wasn't what my mouth was ready for.
Why they put those two things right next to each other is beyond me as they both looked the same especially with the band, strobe lights and all the "noise".
Speaking of noise. I really hate weddings now. In Vietnam I was attached to an artillery battery and all our 5 guns fired all day 24/7 which didn't help my ears. Then one day we were attacked by 400 regular NVA soldiers and they blew up, I forget how much but it was about 60 tons of artillery ammunition which was maybe 75 yards from me causing myself, and everyone else on the firebase to be knocked un-conscious for at least 15 minutes which left me with this infernal screaming in my ears. Many guys had their ear drums burst (unfortunately, it also caused quite a few deaths) "At the bottom of this post I will leave an excerpt of the book that they wrote about that night siting that explosion"
If you are squeamish, don't read it.
Anyway, since then, I can't take loud noise and it is very painful and it feels like someone is sticking ice picks in my ears. In those loud situations, for the last 10 or 15 years I wear customized ear plugs.
But even with the plugs it was way too loud and I had to spend a lot of time outside which was beautiful but still noisy as the place is all glass.
Weddings used to be real music and dancing, but now there is no more music or dancing. It is just loud banging with people who apparently don't know how to dance jumping up and down for no reason while they scream. No talent what so ever.
It must be easy to write the words to "music" now. It's like Boom, Boom, Bang, bang, boom, boon ga boom, and more boom.
Yes, I know, I am old. I grew up in the Disco generation where we knew how to dance. That also impressed the girls which was the main reason to go to a Disco.
Of course we didn't have smart phones, or even stupid phones because they were attached to a wall. We also had no computers so we had to actually talk to a girl with our mouths and try to make intelligible words so we didn't sound like a dyslectic Neanderthal.We wanted to attract an intelligent girl and not one that used phrases like LOL, DUH, ROTFLMAO, etc. We didn't even have those terms then.
We also opened doors for girls and pulled their chair out. (not to let them fall on the floor)
I was actually a pretty good dancer, I still am.
From the book "Fire Support Base Illingworth" by Philip Keith:
I tried to only include the effects of the explosion but I can't delete the other parts, sorry. I only wanted to include the part I circled.
If it is too gory, maybe the MODS can delete it. But it is a true fact.
Paul B
NJRC Member
I am so excited. For the first time since I got him in many months, My Janss Pipefish came out to the front of the tank. He came out and was "cavorting" with my bluestripe pipe for about 5 minutes. They looked like they were trying to mate. The bluestripe is about half the size of the janss and I know it can't happen but they were wrapping around each other. Very Cool
He looks very healthy to me.
Dale is quite a bit better today. Thank God
He looks very healthy to me.
Dale is quite a bit better today. Thank God
Paul B
NJRC Member
There is so much of this macro algae in my tank now that I think it will produce eggplants soon. The stuff is horrible, but kind of nice looking. I don't remember where it came from but it grows fast. Not as bad as that invasive sponge I got rid of a couple of years ago but also a possible tank crasher.
You can see some of it behind the Janss Pipefish. The stuff covers everything and when I get ambitious, I can pull out a pound of it. (I don't know how much that is to you British guys).
It doesn't grow on the corals like the sponge did, but it grows next to then and shades them.
Everything is very healthy and growing very fast. Faster than I would like. The fish are all going to be on
"Healthy Fish Monthly Magazine" if there was such a thing. I don't have to worry if I buy a fish if it is going to eat or not. That doesn't happen in a natural, non quarantined or un-medicated tank, the fish just swim around smiling and would eat paper if it had a picture of a worm on it.
There are very few "Hard to keep" fish. It is us that is making it hard for the fish and trhe fish really don't like us, especially if they don't get the right food or have the correct hiding places where they can't see us. Even if we are very good looking like me.
You can see some of it behind the Janss Pipefish. The stuff covers everything and when I get ambitious, I can pull out a pound of it. (I don't know how much that is to you British guys).
It doesn't grow on the corals like the sponge did, but it grows next to then and shades them.
Everything is very healthy and growing very fast. Faster than I would like. The fish are all going to be on
"Healthy Fish Monthly Magazine" if there was such a thing. I don't have to worry if I buy a fish if it is going to eat or not. That doesn't happen in a natural, non quarantined or un-medicated tank, the fish just swim around smiling and would eat paper if it had a picture of a worm on it.
There are very few "Hard to keep" fish. It is us that is making it hard for the fish and trhe fish really don't like us, especially if they don't get the right food or have the correct hiding places where they can't see us. Even if we are very good looking like me.
Paul B
NJRC Member
Lets not forget that today is 9/11.
I saw the towers fall and it will stay with me for the rest of my life.
I worked on the construction of the Trade Center in the early 70s and saw them fall. My company had a crew working on it on 9/11 and they unfortunately died.
The young female apprentice had just gone out for coffee and she was spared. I was supposed to be working there on that day as I did many times but was it one of the very few days that I was not downtown, but working in the airport. We had just installed like a 50' TV in the lobby and I saw the planes hit. I thought it was a science fiction movie until I heard the announcements that all flights were cancelled. I looked out the window and could see the smoke.
Of course, we shut down the job and tried to get home in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I picked up my daughter, and we donated blood on our way home.
It seems like yesterday to me as it does to all New Yorkers as most of us lost someone there.
I saw the towers fall and it will stay with me for the rest of my life.
I worked on the construction of the Trade Center in the early 70s and saw them fall. My company had a crew working on it on 9/11 and they unfortunately died.
The young female apprentice had just gone out for coffee and she was spared. I was supposed to be working there on that day as I did many times but was it one of the very few days that I was not downtown, but working in the airport. We had just installed like a 50' TV in the lobby and I saw the planes hit. I thought it was a science fiction movie until I heard the announcements that all flights were cancelled. I looked out the window and could see the smoke.
Of course, we shut down the job and tried to get home in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I picked up my daughter, and we donated blood on our way home.
It seems like yesterday to me as it does to all New Yorkers as most of us lost someone there.
Last edited:
reefsandrotts
NJRC Member
Very sorry to read this Paul
Paul B
NJRC Member
Good Morning Diana. Dale is OK today. Every day is a challenge and I never know what the morning will bring me. Not much pain today, but it is a beautiful day. If it is going to rain, it is terrible.
MS has no limits and we never know when something will happen. 2 days ago she fell just after I fell asleep. This happens a few times a week now. I can't pick her up even though she is not heavy. After my 2 new shoulders, I have no rotator cuffs so I have limited strength overhead. I have to drag her, usually by her feet to the couch. Then she puts her arms on the couch and I lift her legs and try to spin her around so she is laying on it. Then she turns around, with a lot of difficulty and I help her stand with the walker.
She wants to get away this winter and we have reservations but I am dreading it as it is very tough to travel.
Diana, thank you for asking.
MS has no limits and we never know when something will happen. 2 days ago she fell just after I fell asleep. This happens a few times a week now. I can't pick her up even though she is not heavy. After my 2 new shoulders, I have no rotator cuffs so I have limited strength overhead. I have to drag her, usually by her feet to the couch. Then she puts her arms on the couch and I lift her legs and try to spin her around so she is laying on it. Then she turns around, with a lot of difficulty and I help her stand with the walker.
She wants to get away this winter and we have reservations but I am dreading it as it is very tough to travel.
Diana, thank you for asking.
Hi Paul, for some reason, I didn't seem to be getting notifications on this thread, so I'd not looked at it for awhile. Seem ok now.
Your tank is looking great. Mine is still a bit of an algae farm, but it's higher class of algae now. My FW planted tank is looking great now. Some new plants and fish and that will be fantastic once it grows in a bit. Yea, I know it's a travesty to talk about FW systems on a reef forum (grin). I can't believe the prices for even FW fish nowadays. Prices seems to be about what I was paying for SW fish when I first started.
I was sorry to hear that Dale was having a rough time lately. At my age I'm starting to learn all about good days and bad days. It's no fun.
Your tank is looking great. Mine is still a bit of an algae farm, but it's higher class of algae now. My FW planted tank is looking great now. Some new plants and fish and that will be fantastic once it grows in a bit. Yea, I know it's a travesty to talk about FW systems on a reef forum (grin). I can't believe the prices for even FW fish nowadays. Prices seems to be about what I was paying for SW fish when I first started.
I was sorry to hear that Dale was having a rough time lately. At my age I'm starting to learn all about good days and bad days. It's no fun.