D.K. McIntosh
Life Stories - Things That Caught My Fancy
As I experience life on a daily basis certain things catch my fancy. The hustle and bustle of the streets in Central in old Hong Kong, The beautiful white "puffer clouds" hanging over the mountain across the valley in Costa Rica. Or maybe it was lazily riding a bike down a two lane Macadam road on the island of Penang in S. E. Asia. Then again it could be the beautiful smile of the woman from Vancouver, Washington who stopped to chat with me at the Price Smart store in Allahuela, Costa Rica. Or maybe one of the many interesting folks I have met in my journey through life. And, how could I forget the beautiful young Tico woman fixing the ice cream cones at Pops Ice Cream Shop in Zarcero, Costa Rica.
After an experience such as those I will sometimes sit down, put my fingers to the keyboard and pound out a few descriptive words of the event and then save it to gather dust in a file on my computer. The followingg are some of the unedited results of . . . things that caught my fancy.
01
Those Magical Words-Costa Rica-10/29/2021
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A day or so ago I received a message from a friend wondering what was going on as he had not seen any Post’s from me on Face Book for some time. I messaged back a short message assuring him all was well and thanked him for his concern. That got me to thinking maybe I should write another scintillating post (scintillating definition: brilliantly and excitingly clever or skillful.) LOL! I’m poking fun at myself here in case you didn’t get it.
I sat down to crank out a few hundred words but alas it seemed I was more brain dead than usual. I couldn’t even think of a mundane subject to write about let alone a scintillating one. Then all of a sudden it was as if a bolt of lightning struck my brain. All kinds of thoughts, about all kinds of things both scintillating and mundane were tumbling around in there so fast I couldn’t get my mind around any one of them. It was as if a giant whirlwind had entered my brain stirring things up at light speed.
Suddenly a poem I had recently read came to mind. I am not sure what prompted me to read it or how I found it, or even why it now came to mind. Perhaps I read something that mentioned it and I was intrigued, or maybe it was because my brain was so addled. At any rate it doesn’t matter.
The poem “Maud Muller” by John Greenleaf Whittier is about a young and beautiful girl who is raking a field when a wealthy judge from the local town rides up on his horse and stops.
A conversation ensues and it becomes obvious that both are attracted to each other, but alas neither one follows up with those magical words (whatever they are?). He rides on and the moment is lost forever.
There is a line in the poem that struck me like an arrow driven into my chest and it goes like this: “For all the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.”
The quote is about regret and sadness and the realization of what might have been if only one of them had taken action. If only . . . Ah yes, If only one of them had taken action.
That thought takes me back to a day in January of 2020 and a woman from Vancouver, Washington with a smile that makes you think of everything beautiful and good, a smile that can change your day . . . but I’ve already told that story, so I won’t go there again.
But . . . if only, if only I had taken action. In hindsight these several years later it even seems ridiculous that I didn’t. To turn away and leave when the conversation was just warming up why would I do that? Oh, I know my friends, who I was riding with were anxious to leave and head for home . But they could have waited a few more minutes. Waited until I took action and spoke those magical words, whatever they may have been. But it was not to be. And now the thoughts of my ineptitude haunt me.
But then the voice inside my head says ”Let it go D. K. Just let it go." For after all, that is the past and the past is the past. And, even if you can’t forget what did or did not happen you must move on. You must move forward to not become stuck in time.
“Foe all the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: it might have been.”
02
About Moe and Joe - Costa Rica 03/29/2020
As you who know me well and, prolly some who don’t know me well, know, I like to talk. I will tell a story at the drop of a hat or maybe even quicker than that. And of course I always think that folks want to hear my stories. Don’t they? Oh, well whatever.
That being the case living alone doesn’t give me much chance to carry on a conversation let alone tell a story. So because I have many years’ worth of stories wandering around in my brain and jumping back and forth between my conscious and sub conscious mind. Is there really a conscious and sub conscious mind? I often wonder about that and sure enough it reminds me of a story.
You see it goes like this . . . Oh no, Oh no, I digress. Now where was I? Oh yes all these stories in my mind. So what do I do to relieve the pressure on my mind? Well of course I start talking and tell a story. However it’s not much fun when there is no one to tell the story to, you know to interact with, an audience.
When I was a staff instructor in customer education at IBM I would incorporate stories in the lesson plan. I always thought it was more interesting to teach something by way of a story rather than just this, that and the other thing equals X. And you know what? The students loved it and no one went to sleep in my classes.
However when I transferred to World Trade Corporation (IBM’s wholly owned subsidiary) and went to Hong Kong to teach marketing classes to new hires from the eight SE Asian countries where we had branch offices I ran into a bit of a problem.
None of my jokes worked and they didn’t understand my stories. I quickly realized I must convert my stories to the Asian culture. But that’s another story we’ll save for another time.
Now where in the hell was I? Ah yes living alone. So here is what I did or here is what I do. I invent two people such as Mort and Snerd, or Tom and Jerry or Moe and Joe, and they will have a conversation. Now of course I have to speak for both parties, which I have no trouble doing, and of course these conversations always take place with me on my feet walking around with great hand arm action for emphasis. With one of the characters the story teller and the other character the listener or audience who adds comments and asks questions.
I was thinking of buying a Mortimer Snerd or Charlie McCarthy Dummy to enhance my evening conversations but then again I’m no Edgar Bergan. I thought hey I’ll have one character be Clem Kadiddlehopper, but I’m no Red Skelton either. So what the heck I decided to create my own Characters, so that is what I did.
Sometimes there is even an audience and I’ll throw questions to them or even bring someone up on the stage with me and, so on and so forth. What was that line from Shakespeare? “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players;” And of course this always occurs in the evening. Don’t ask why.
So yesterday around eleven a.m. I was sitting on my executive chair gazing out the open door and my mind just sort of went into freewheeling mode, which it does from time to time and the story of Moe and Joe simply evolved and, I had to put pen to paper as they say but in this case of course it was fingers to keyboard.
Now the question becomes did all of this come from my conscious or subconscious mind? Who knows? Perhaps the Shadow knows? Not that it matters because it is true and is what I am struggling with. At any rate that is how the Post “Moe and Joe” came about. Fascinating, no?
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03
04
A CAT TALE
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I hesitate to publish this article after it is written for a variety of reasons. For one because it is about mi amigo Mac, alias Mr. Mac and/or Senor Mac. And who, beside myself, is the least bit interested in mi amigo, Senor Mac?
Of course, Senor Mac is my wonderful Asian, Tuxedo Snow Foot, Kitty Kat. Although he is to large and at eight years to old to be called Kitty Kat but I still call him that when he does some thing that makes my love for him just bubble up and fill me with pleasure.
And then there are the legion of naysayers who will say OMG why would you spend so much money and time on him just have him . . . after all he is just a cat. And that is where their argument fails. For he is not “just a cat” he is my Cat and I love him, period, end of report.
You see what I wish to “talk” about is, Mac is sick with an illness that if left untreated will ultimately lead to his deterioration and ultimately his demise. He has been diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD, and now additionally Diabetes.
Mac first became sick just prior to my return to the U.S. from Costa Rica. Where he spent many days in the University of Costa Rica (UNA, University National)) Veterinary Hospital and was fed through a feeding tube inserted through his neck. The cause of these maladies is not known but there are many suspects one being ingestion of parasites. It is believed this occurred with Mac in Costa Rica.
So What does the treatment consist of you might ask. It is quite simple with one exception. For the IBD I crush 2.5 mg tablet into powder mix it with some Pate cat food and load it into a large hypodermic tube. I then open his mouth insert the tip of the tube push down the plunger and it is down the hatch with the meds. At first it was a struggle for I did not know how to do it. Then I watched a Utube video on how to effortlessly administer a medication orally to a cat. From then on it was easy for both me and Mac.
As for the Diabetes problem I simply give Mac Two shots a day of insulin. It is easy-peezy. I purchase a prefilled insulin pen once a month, give or take, that is loaded with Insulin I screw a new needle on to it for each injection, dial the correct dosage, sit down with Mac in a chair, pinch his skin and stick him pushing the button and that’s it. He doesn’t even flinch.
Now comes the hard part. I am supposed to monitor this process with a meter you insert a plastic strip into. You then using a device with a needle pierce his ear to get a point of blood then touch the thingy in the meter to the blood and get the reading from the meter. Well so far it is Senor Mac 2 and D.K. 0. He does not like me fooling with his ears. However, this regimen just started yesterday so I have high hopes it will get sorted out and become routine shortly. I hope.
And guess what? All of this is just a tad expensive but yesterday I was looking at my bank statement and there lo and behold were deposits from Amazon Kindle. Although quite a ways down from the high five figures I used to garner monthly. But that is what happens when you don’t publish for nearly three years and do not do any advertising. I noticed payments from Amazon U.S., Canada, U K, Australia, India and a couple of others making up the total. Perhaps with the publication of book 7 of Brady Flynn and a $60 advertisement on Robin Reads my books will slowly reignite. So “No sweat G.I.” All is well in the world.
And I better get busy on my current work in progress (WIP) Book 8, “Seeking Justice” to garner more of those beloved Kindle Royalties.
Take Care Folks and Be Safe Out There!
DKM
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Coming Soon To A Thaatre Near You - Stay Tuned
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