Snapshots of my life to share...
* Last May i went back to my old school, West Chester University, to speak to a class of young, soon-to-be social workers.
Next year will be 30 years since I graduated with a Bachelor's degree from WCU. Hard to believe, time flies. I had not been back on campus for a long time.
WCU looked different form when I went. New buildings, up, old buildings down. Yet there were still the same places I roamed 30 years ago.
A friend who was a professor at WCU (he retired after this semester invited me to join him for the afternoon. We also worked together a good 20 years ago at a local nursing home.
I forgot how crowded the streets were in West Chester as we approached the campus. Fresh, young faces everywhere. And after we met my friend, Rick and entered the building where his class would be held, getting off the elevator I smiled as I saw students everywhere sitting cross-legged on the floor outside their class.
That was me long ago. Studying, chatting, rifling through notes before taking a big exam, eyes closed, snoozing..that was me.
Speaking to the kids was cool. I wish someone like me had stopped by my class 30 years ago to let me know what it was like out there, what to expect, the good and the bad.
Most of all, I was there to show, hey, if I can do it, so can you. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Hang in there, you''l make it. You will graduate, find a job and help people.Even after speaking to hundreds of folks over the years, from residents to families to fellow social workers,I was nervous speaking to the circle of about 20 students. Out of practice, I suppose, but they were friendly and helped me ease into the discussion.
Other than lending a helping hand to the next generation there was an added bonus to my visit: I found the campus not totally accessible to someone in a wheelchair. Part of the parking lots and paths were gravel or pebbles, not easy to maneuver. Hearing this, Rick and the students decided right there to start a petition with the president of WCU to investigate the accessibility of the entire campus and make changes where needed.
So, unexpectedly, not only did I hopefully help the students, answering their questions and offering information and hope, they helped me too. Our visit together will soon result in future physically-challenged students having easier access around the West Chester U. campus, a gift that will last forever.
* TV commercials are with us everyday, whether we notice them or not. Nowadays, commercials for the most part are pretty stupid. Not that ads were always intelligent and witty, take in point, "where's the beef?" Even the Super Bowl commercials seemed better way back when. Maybe it's just me, but marketers don't seem to put much thought into their ads anymore. maybe they figure Americans will buy anything.
Here are some of my favorite- and not-so-favorite- current commercials:
-Car commercials are the worst. Ever notice there are no other cars parked or on the road during a car commercial? only the car they are trying to sell. How often do u drive through a city and see absolutely no cars on the road or even parked? No cars on the bridges or expressways. Only one car. Stupid.
Two really annoying local car commercials are form local honest and trustworthy car salesmen. One is a guy shouting ( don't they all shout?) into the camera, "C'mon, Philly! Just do the deal!" Exactly the kind of guy you wanna do business with.
The other is even worse. Some jackass with a smirky, smarmy grin who smugly says,"I've always been your deal- you just didn't know it!"
Yeah, right. You're really saying, "I've always been your dealer- you wer ejust stupid enough not to know it!"
I know it's just a car campaign, but how arrogant is this guy to think he has always been my dealer, and lucky me, now I found him and my life will be changed forever.
I hate that guy.
Another really annoying commercial is, you guessed it, another car commercial. This one had to be written by a millennial for millennials. A woman asks her daughter outside of school, "I thought you were 'choosing' the flu?" ( One doesn't "choose" the flu- it's a virus and you don't get it on purpose). To which the kid answers. "Everyone is 'doing flu.'"
Kid or no kid, it should be "the flu", not "doing flu." Plus, you don't "do" the flu, you catch the flu.
One commercial I do like these days is the Albi food ad were a husband and wife are sitting on a sofa, watching TV, and the wife claims she likes eating ice cream with pickles. She says this a few times, trying to make a point to the dope that she is pregnant.
"You've been eating a lot of weird things lately. Is everything all right at work?"
The best commercials are the ones that don't try too hard to be fun, they just naturally are.
Geickp commercials are generally funny and clever. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what was funny about people stopping at a lemonade stand and asking for iced tea. What's up with that?
Later I found out the guy sitting behind the lemonade booth is the rapper Ice T. I'm not into rap music, so I had no idea who the hell Ice T was, or even what he looked like. But it was a funny and witty ad.
Of course, some of the best and worst commercials locally are the Pennsylvania Lottery Gus the Groundhog ones. I like Gus, and the Lottery sells more tickets now that Gus is back, but they are corny. I just get a kick out of the situations they put Gus in- a fan in the stands at a baseball game; wearing an apron behind a grill flippin' burgers; or playing ice hockey with grown men.
Ridiculous but fun. Keep no scratchin'!
* I must have the biggest tomato plant in the world. it's huge! It gets full sun all day and we keep it watered in it's Earth Box container. When I got the plant about two months ago, it was only a sprig. I couldn't believe the thing would hatch hundreds of red cheery tomatoes in a short time. Hundreds. Can't be.
As of today, I can see hundreds of little 'maters ready to ripen on the vine as the humongus plant engulfs the entire neighbor. People ar esnapping freaking pictures of it. You gotta see it to believe it.
Funny thing is, I have acid reflux disease, so I shouldn't eat tomatoes. So, I''l probably end up haivng one salad after the first harvest, feel bloated and bad for a bit, then try to give the rest away during the summer.
Next year I'm doing watermelons.
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