Month: November 2016

by

dscf1003

You to admire a guy who sits on a busy sidewalk at a busy in the City of Sin reads _ Photo by Royal Hopper

Did you ever look in the mirror in the morning or late at night and wonder who the F*** is this old bastard in my mirror or look at your father leaning on his cane and suddenly realize that the inner child telling you it is still 1985 or 1968 or even 1995 is a lying SOB.

The danger of living last year over and the benefits of living in the present

By Royal Hopper
Three things happened last week. My 81-year old father came to visit me and the country elected a brash, vulgar, self promoting real estate broker and realty show host as President of the freaking United States of America and I realized that it was not 1965 or even 1995.
Now think about that for a second. I may give away my politics here but to mee it seemed a little like hiring a plumber to train your prize race horse because the stable smelled bad. ( Yeah Im not sure what it means either)

dscf1002

This is a repeat but I could not resist _considering the times _ Photo by Royal Hopper

I heard it one day and swore I would use it in a story even if I didn’t still know what it meant.)   http://www.ibtimes.com/popular-vote-latest-count-hillary-clinton-could-win-2-million-votes-over-president-2445684
Supposedly they the voters  were angry and distrustful of the government. They felt left behind the theory goes _  betrayed by the times, the politicians and a a failing industrial base that once paid for their bass boats, the four cases of beer they kept in their man cave and their subscription to ammo today.    I think they did it to recapture glory days that are simply gone and will not return and it is dangerous to live in the past.
The opposing, party my party tried to defeat this brash, vulgar man with old style politics whose days are also long gone and in this case the loud angry voice of yesterday rang truer to the masses than the politics of yesterday. Someone I dearly love and respect said is Hillary was elected we would have martial law within a year. How do you answer that with reason.

dscf1054

I can almost hear this cell phone conversation in my mind -Photo by Royal Hopper

Now to my Dad. When I picked up at the airport having not seen him in a few years my mind was filled with the image of him I held as a child I was surprised at how frail he looked and I selfishly felt suddenly older myself.  The feeling is much like the sadness I felt after last night’s election results sunk into my middle aged brain. Exactly the opposite of how I felt when I helped Barack Obama win the White House.
It was unfair to him and to me. What was he supposed to do suddenly be younger for me.  Father time eventually catches up with everybody. Once I got over myself and toldf my inner child to shut the hell up _ we had a great visit. We are who we are not who we were. That is something  guy who I saw walking through a casino with a speedo a Michael Jackson T Shirt, a shiny bald head, a generous stomach and 70s issue pony tail  could have learned early in life. Nineteen seventy nine was decades ago brother by some gym shorts ansd a gray T Shirt like every old guy does.
I guess the lesson of last week and the thing I wanted to say was. Live for today because today is unforgiving if ignored  and tomorrow uncertain.  Don’t let the ghosts of the past rule your life. pensive bike rider.JPG
The 50s are gone and will not return but so are the 60s. Lets live in this decade and whatever God or Goddess watches over us bless this New Age and cover us with the grace we need to survive and prosper.
That is what he country really needs to do now is figure out a way forward not a way back. I remember my Dad at his best. I can still see him in those awful 70s polo shirts and large frame reading glasses, leisure suits and velure sports jackets.
We discovered last week that there is an under current of resentment in this country ..of longing for a time that is decidedly gone if it was ever actually here and will not come back.
Would I stay young and healthy and keep everyone I love young and healthy if I could? Would I love to see my Dad stand tall and look young? Would I like to look in the mirror and see a head of red hair and smooth skin?DSCF1044.JPG

  Of course I would  anyone would but I would not go backward in time for anything. I can’t count the number of times I have heard .. “I wish the mob ran Las Vegas like in the old days.” Forget the good old days. They weren’t that good.”
In Vegas we have a saying ..celebrate  the past, glorify it if you must ..put on shows about it …but live in the now and keep a hand on your wallet while your in the buffet line. I think that is how it goes. Or it could be grab your pants as you are running out the door.
That is life in the City of Sin and in the present
Love You Sinners
dscf1074

Remember Queensryche fellow Metal Heads _ Hopper

 For those of the non spiritual–more political bent.. Buck up fellow Progressives/Sinners It aint over .. There is still work to be done. Keep the Peace but dont stay quiet.Did you ever look in the mirror in the morning or late at night and wonder who the F*** is this old bastard in my mirror or look at your father leaning on his cane and suddenly realize that the inner child telling you it is still 1985 or 1968 or even 1995 is a lying SOB.
For those of the non spiritual–more political bent.. Buck up fellow Progressives/Sinners It aint over .. There is still work to be done. Keep the Peace but dont stay quiet.
by

licking

Perception counts it shouldn’t but it does _ Royal Hopper

.There comes a day when you realize less is more rage is childish and anger best served and mollified by Reason

Epiphany in the Buffet Line

by Royal Hopper

 

Epiphanies can come in the strangest places…In a car listening to music on a dusty desert trail watching a nightmare of a political season unfold before your eyes or even at a Sin City buffet with a spoonful of salad at arms length.

backlit-sillohoutte

A dark mysterious meeting at the Jiffy Mart _ Royal Hopper

When I was a kid I used to inwardly rage at people who were in line ahead of me and treated their food plate like a work of art  _ carefully doloping (that is a word right) small piles of neatly arranged food in a painfully perfect circle of sustenance. It’s food I would think just slop a big pile of it down and move on the more the better.
It was the emotion of consuming that counted then. he glory of that 17th piece of pizza. There was plenty more even in tough times and back then you had a metabolism like a furnace and an appetite to match.

pizzasleepers.JPG

It was just like this year in politics easy answers appealed to the simple back then and now. This year loud, emotional “angry” voices seem to triumph over reason and empathy.
This epiphany comes suddenly as you are standing at the buffet line and it hits you like a ten ton pile of ranch dressing or the world’s biggest cheese and bacon omelet that you are that person now carefully arranging your food on a plate to make it look bigger and convince yourself there is a choice.

Yes there is that candidate who tells you everybody else is stupid, evil and corrupt despite the trail of lies he leaves behind and despite the fact the annoying bitchy grandma running against him is likely a better choice and a better person.
When it comes to foo logic and responsibility tell you that is your stomach sticking out beyond your belt line and moderation is the order of the day and that carefully arranging you food on the plate and actually eating vegetables and avoiding the usual pile pf potatoes is smart not fru fru and annoying.
In Politics Logic and responsibility tell you that reality show smoke and mirrors will not change a damn thing  and you cant run a country like a hotel.

Hiding in the bushes- Royal Hopper
I don’t even know what to say _ Royal Hopper

You cant fire Connecticut for under performing or trade  Montana to Canada for a winning hockey team, 40 tons of back bacon and two Mounties to be named later. It doesn’t work. Huge tax cuts for the upper bracket will break the budget and do nothing for the economy  just the way they have done nothing every time they have been tried. Deregulating everything is a sure ticket to speculation and economic destruction.  Mr. Rogers might have said.  Can you say The Great Depression? I knew that you could.


In life after a certain age you can’t keep scarfing down piles of unhealthy food and expect to be healthy later in life and you can’t be uninvolved in politics for decades and bitch about a situation you helped create and then vote for someone who symbolizes your rage and impotence. It doesn’t work.
It is time to grow up as painful as it is. It is time to carefully arrange the food on your plate so it looks like more and be careful about what you eat. It is time to eat your freaking vegetables stop looking for a daddy figure to fix everything for you and get involved in every election not just the exiting ones. Time to grow up and take part and vote for the grown up no matter how much she reminds you of your bitchy great aunt who confiscated the beer you stole from your Grand Dad’s frig….

dscf1028

Yeah Man it has been a long day – Royal Hopper

That is life in the City of Sin
Love you Sinners
Take care