Do you ever find yourself thinking about your life and all youve done and not done when someone you know passes away? Do you tell yourself that life is too short to hold grudges or cause conflict or allow drama to control your life?
I wonder why that feeling and those thoughts dont last? It seems that the death of a friend or family member would be significant enough to make us all change for the better and realize how precious life is but, it seems many of us soon forget that valuable lesson and go right back to the nasty behavior and being troublesome to others.
I often wonder how people behave in ways that hurt others when they know its hurtful and causing harm even to those they claim to love. Are the ones doing this just evil people with no souls or are they troubled so deeply they cannot control the urges to hurt others or is it more simple and just that way because its human nature? Lies devastate lives and often times they affect the lives of the ones we would least want to hurt. People often times use their hatred and dislike for others as a way to justify all the wrongs they make. There is no justification for gettting even when the pain you felt isnt intentionally caused. We all hurt in this life and if we were to get even with everyone or everything we thought had a hand in it, the world would be no more.
I used to feel bad for all of those people, the ones that hurt others to get even. I always took the stance that they didnt realize their actions or maybe just were so hurt they werent thinking clearly. Even when I was a target at times, I still tried to keep an open mind about the type of person they were. In time and after much drama and many painful lies and false allegations, its hard to maintain that belief. Im becoming like so many around me that believe maybe its simply because these people are just horrible people that fake their way into the lives of others so they can cause turmoil in lives and blame others for their shortcomings in life and as people.
I believe people are basically good but I also believe that many allow themselves to go down a dark path that they cannot come back from and they will always blame others for their failures in life. They will always claim to be a victim when in fact they are the aggressor. To allow such actions and people to take away time from my happiness would be to validate them and give them power over me and my life. I refuse to do that. I do feel for them in a small way because what a horrible life to be trapped inside such a negative place, always fighting and complicating life. Always acting like a victim and not knowing how long the charade can be kept up. What fear they must live in.
Seeing people I love hurt so deeply after Kip passing was enough for me to go back to my ways before this negativity and nasty behavior entered my life. I love those I love with all my heart and there is little I wouldnt do for most of them. I'm honest to a fault and probably too straight forward as well at times but, I am with good intentions never to harm or cause problems.
I wont judge yo even if you judge me.....................youre entitled and as long as I know who I am and the ones I love know, thats all that matters to me.
I am sad for the people that hurt others because they will never know true happiness or peace and thats what I have now and will continue to have in my life regardless of their actions.
Its a dreary day...................................back to work!
So Im sitting here doing work on some legal items and advertising ideas for events etc and I zoned out and started thinking hmmmmmmmmmm why are calcuttas illegal under certain circumstances and side pots are ok? it seems that its a law set up for the states to make money and if they dont, youre not allowed to either. Whats the big deal really? Its fun, it not dog track or a pont track for goodness sake. is there anything llowed in this country wihtout being taxed then taxed agin and again? Are there any true rights that are free?
Today is one of those days I guess, so much thinking going on................Do you ever wonder if the government will be monitoring the pool sites and magzines to see who won what amounts then check your tax returns to see if you filed the income? I doubt many pool winnings are actually filed unless at a pro level and even then its doubtful they are all filed. So then what? Not only is there little money in pool, imagine sharing 30 percent of your winnings with the government. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Holy man! Trees falling, roof flying off, windows caving in.........................ok maybe I exxagerated a little but it seemed like it was going to happen! It was bad though, I was waiting for the tornado sirens but Im going to guess in podunkville there arent any. Ugggggggggg come to the podenketys!
Back to work getting the Alpena month of pool event going and possibly an event at the silverdome at the end of July...................hmmmmmmm lots of stuff for the guys at the midwest motorcyclefest not sure about us women though...........................
Well...............time to update the website, get some flyers started and ads then make dinner, go over some dreaded paperwork for greg and the attorney then, I hope off to bed around 2am!
Crazy stuff!
So I signed up a personal account on facebook to keep up with some folks i knew in other cities that I dont get to see much anymore and ended up being found by quite a few old sorta friends. That part is great but, what is the damn deal with the farmville crap?! Holy man its non stop and seems like almost everyone is doing it and it makes me crazy. its a video game for grown ups pretty much right? growing a farm? ummmmmmmmm
When Im online Id rather chat with folks or work so i dont see any appeal in a farm game so please enlighten me........whats the draw to so many people? What am I missing?
The all B team weekend have over 34 teams entered already so it seems we wil likely fill the field of 48 very shortly. WOW
The womens team event is full witha small waiting list...........sorry ladie, maybe next year we will be able to get the 4th weekend from the hotel so there is a ladies only weekend event.............sort of!
the all A team weekend is looking good with over 18 teams in so far and thats pretty good because A players and above dont like to make plans that far in advance.
The Classic teams are starting to come along nicely and will or should easily fill at 32 teams. I hope you all get your money and rosters ready to go because like some of the women and B players, you are going to be pretty upset when you get told there arent any openings. We actually got cussed out yesterday for being full. Ummmmmmmmmmmmm yeah!
Tip for the day: Dont ever think doing the right thing means sacrificing your happiness and the happiness of your family to serve the needs of one person. In the end, you lose more than you gain.
We had a great event but boy oh boy did we have some snags with the hotel! They would love to have us back and want to work with us to correct the issues so we shall see. We're going to have to pool the players to see if they would come back again because if not, we cant risk having one there and having no one show up.
Despite all of the issues, there were some great times this weekend.
Getting ready for an event like this takes months. There is alot of prep work involved and alot of hours not to mention expenses. Its tough to hear a few players ask why we are taking greens fees instead of paying everything out. As much as we love pool and want to help it grow and help players have events to go to, we have to pay the bills and make something if we are going to live and continue to put on these events. Its a sad mess when people question the greens fees when you arent making much but as a job, should make something. For those of you that dont know, there are stamps, envelopes, paper for flyers, table repairs, replacement of cue balls, chalk, bracket boards, gas, liability insurance which is very expensive, table payments and truck and trailer payments to haul tables around not to mention the rental fees of the hotels ballroom and the 2 to 3 people that help set up and tear down the events. This doesnt include me and whoever else sitting around for all 3 days with only 2-4 hours of sleep all weekend. If someone were paid to do that, it would be pretty costly. We arent trying to get rich by any means but yes, we want to make a little something so we can continue to do this. If we cant make even a little, we wouldnt be able to spend as much time as we do to prepare for these events and would have to end them.
Well, thats my peeve of the weekend.................it does yank my chain to no end because we are the last ones in the workd that would ever try to take advantage of pool players or anyone for that matter. we've put alot of money into pool events and players even when we couldnt afford it. Its somewhat disappointing to hear the garbage from some folks about us having to charge something to cover expenses.
Have you ever been in a position that you knew the right thing to do yet the right thing to do hurts people you care about? WOW what a dilema! I've always tried to learn from mistakes, I try to improve things I need to improve and grow as a person but man o man sometimes, there are those that test your desire to be the bigger person and do the right thing. Sometimes I miss the days of ole when if someone got out of line a good smack set em straight and when it was an eye for an eye. Its far too easy now for bad people to get away with horrible behavior because the law doesnt allow anyone to keep them on the straight and narrow. There is way too much wiggle room for hte bad guys these days and maybe some sweet ole fashioned street justice would set the world straight again. I think I'll work on helping to reform certain laws....................oh goody, yet another project Im going to start on dang it!! The law should be there to help those that deserve the help, the good people and not just protect and stall for the bad guys. Fairness to all is one thing but protecting horrible behavior is another thing and thats what the law does today sadly. There should be quicker action taken when it is apparrent that something is wrong or unjust but alas, it gets tied up in a court battle if one can afford it and the wrongdoer and doing continue while the case is being tried. Does this seem messed up to anyone else but me?
Have you ever noticed how the customer service these days are almost nonexistant? What happened to everyone? Did our generation really raise our children to be this way or is it just society changing and changing the people in it not bad parenting?
And what about the pool world? I hear all of the time that people blame the leagues for the decline of pool because some of the leagues dont teach players to be better. Can we really blame the leagues for getting people to play pool even if its improperly or is it the industry and players themselves that have caused the decline? Is it the economy? In other countries worse off than the USA, pool is thriving and the pro players are held in very high regard! Why is it that way there and not here?
Last thing for today while I prepare marketing items for the upcoming events and complete some work for Adam Smith and his New guard group......................the highlight of my day the other day was getting my washer and dryer hooked up the right way finally and getting the stuff that was stored in the laundry room for someone out! Has my life really become so laid back and whatever this is that that was exciting to me? OMG I need to get out more! I guess moving to the land of almost nowhere from the city has changed the way i do and look at things. For anyone that has ever wondered....................yes!!!!!! I think there is something in the water here that makes people different :)
So the Causeway Bay event is over and Im already working tirelessly again on the Alpena events and searching for other places to hold more throughout the year plus the billiards expo is still being worked on. Its a lot of work and anyone that says they can put on a huge event in short notice is crazy!
Alpena is February and all of the advertising and details must be done correctly, professionaly and well in advance especially because Johnny Archer is coming and we want to make sure we get huge crowds for his exhibition and admissions to his pool school!
The Causeway Bay event was good considering I only had a few weeks to get advertising out and the event ready to go. Contract negotiations were slow to say the least but we figured we could still get a decent turn out since the area was so central.............Lansing Michigan!
The players had issues with the non smoking ballroom..............sorry players we were told we could have a smoking area but, to be honest, its better to be non smoking and have the area for smoking outside within 20 feet of the ballroom. It keeps everyone happy and the equipment doesnt get ruined as easily. The beer prices were by far the largest complaint and at $4 per bottle I would imagine it was legitimate. They are looking into reducing the cost to around $2.75. Once they decide we can determine if we will be holding another event there. The beer prices would kill attendance so, in order to go back to Causeway, they have to work with us on those prices. Other than that, the hotel was terrific! We couldnt ask for a better ballroom to have a pool tournament.
We will be rescheduling the Cadillac Team event because to be honest, 1 month to advertise a team event just isnt enough time unless players would be happy with 15 teams! We need to fill the field there if the players are going to think its worth while to attend so, in the best interest of everyone involved, I've cancelled the Halloween weekend in Cadillac and will be looking for new dates sometime in January possibly. Stay tuned for updates on that.
Old Time Billiards came out and had everyting for pool for sale, I think we'll offer them space at many of our events if they're interested. John LaLonde was available to do cue repair and also took 2nd place in one of the B events.................nice work John!
Thoughts outside of the pool stuff................have you ever just zoned out and gone into your own little dream land? HOLY WONTON BATMAN! I'm telling you I was somewhere else today for like 20 minutes! Some of that crap seems so real its scarey! Sorry guys, cant tell you where I went this time it probably isnt appropriate!
I'm living in northern Michigan now and I dont think we had a summer and its already cold enough to wear a winter coat some days damn! How do people live here this is nuts I tell ya! At least I fit in because I dont sun worship so my light royalty like complection is sort of standard up here :)
OK thats my mindless babbling for today! Gotta run!
