Memorabilia - or in my case - Schmaltz

"Schmaltz" you say? Yeah I am kind of a gushing sentimentalist. "Memorabilia is just not enough for me. I have to take it one step further...that's where "Schmaltz" comes in.

I mean, my brain seems to automatically focus on the good memories...with few exceptions. Take my office for example. No wait, you wouldn't want to actually take it. Perhaps I should instead say; Consider my office for example. There; that's a lot less risk to you. 

I mean, my office is cluttered with memories; family photos by the dozen's plus Harley Davidson dealer and event pins by the hundreds. Plus, plaques all over the place. I even have "A Pot To Piss In" but that is literally another story.  Then there's the papers and souvenirs of various other forms that sort of round it all out.

So to support my point I took a picture.  I am going to insert it right here and then follow with a detailed (yawn.....) explanation. Here goes:

Numbered Memories - a few of many
(Click the pic and it will get bigger...I hope)

1. Julieann Marie - high school graduation picture, a year before we met at her birthday celebration in a mountain top club.
2. Museum of California poster - saw it on a highway billboard and called the museum to see if they had prints - "yes!" Ordered same.  A couple of years later I would have my own, Harley that is.
3. Two golf club racks made by my Father-in-law Casey Thomas (RIP).  I loved him like my own.  The clubs; antiques I collected while on the road.
4. Tyler Thomas Campbell's first home run ball.  A southpaw specializing in opposite field line drives, he was the finest pure hitter many of us had ever seen and he batted almost .600 in consecutive years to prove it.  
5. A leap of love for music at his band's first album release. Arden Park Roots would go on to enter the Sacramento Music Hall of Fame, release four albums and set attendance records (almost 8,000 in 2016) three years running at Sacramento's Concert's In The Park.
6. Daughter Samantha Marie as a teen at the top of San Francisco's Twin Peaks.
7. Plaques commemorating Arden Park Roots two latest albums; "Pipe Dreams" and "Burning the Midnight Oil."
8. A decorative chopper presented to me by pal of almost 50 years, Dr. Bernard Buecker.  Holds inscription that says; "World's Greatest Author" to honor my book, "Badass" about the Harley Davidson experience.  (Ben has perfect perception by the way.)
9. A cast paw print from Molly Campbell; a beautiful in mind, body and spirit Golden Retriever who gave our family more than 13 wonderful years.  Molly's ashes are in the urn beneath the cast.
10. Two personally hand painted wooden decoys.  First is from Julie Campbell to Tom in '87 and second is from Tom Campbell to his father Francis LeRay Campbell (RIP) in '91.
11. Framed poster made by Samantha Campbell in '95 at age 6.  It reads; "If I were President, I woed make shore that ivrething was fare.  and I woed make shore that ifreone had pec and ckwit. and for kids I'd care."  I had it framed and hung it in my office on American River Drive that year.  I told Samantha I hoped one day she "woed" hang it in her office.

And that's it Doooooooooood.  On just one office wall and this is stuff is plastered all over.  But there's more, much more. More than enough to fill a book or two and I have with "Travel On" and "Badass."  In fact, I would say more than my share, which explains why Julieann contends that I have led a "charmed life."  I say the "charm" is in the wonderful people I've met and the great experiences I've had along the way.

The Addictions

Family...nine members gathered around television making small talk.  Only station that remains mostly neutral in this mixed group is the Food Channel.  It has been on most of the day as various members go in and out of the room.  During pauses in the conversation a couple of them start discussing whether the channel is intended to nurture food addicts.  There seems to be some basis for this.  Later, a related conversation takes place on the family patio where DC and TC, the brothers, are relaxing.

What about food?!
None of these apply to television Vern.

TC; "So we have a food channel right? Maybe we should take an entrepreneurial approach and start a tobacco channel?  Then perhaps a dedicated gun channel, alcohol channel and a drug channel?"

DC; "There's already a gun channel."

TC: "Well that leaves the other three then."

DC; "Maybe we could combine the gun, drug and alchohol chan...no wait, that is regular television."

TC; "Yeah, there are a lot of channels like that."

(Uneasy laughter follows...topic changes)

A later question; "Would Bruce Springsteen have written '57 Channels (And Nothing On) if the Food Channel had been available back then?"

The Shooter

He has yet to go off the deep end. Yet he senses something. He is a terrorist in the making or a mad man yet to go public with his madness. Some would rightfully say he is both.

He is fueled by opportunity... the chance to arm and armor himself with war making weapons and wear. They are accumulating in his trunk, or in his garage, or in his house, or in his storage shed and they are waiting for him to make his final commitment.

Meanwhile, following the latest mass murder, the public and their elected officials engage in endless debate over the nuances of a constitutional "right" that was penned by representatives over 200 years ago; representatives who could not have foreseen the events, or weapons capabilities of today.

The sentence goes like this:

 
People focus on the "right of the people" rather than the context of the sentence that includes "well regulated." So, the debate continues and drags on while the latest tragedy already begins to fade from the everyday mind. Soon, attention will turn toward other events.

Meanwhile, as I write this, The Shooter prepares for a day he is not certain is coming, a day when his mind will snap and he will forget how pleasant it would be to wake up the next day alive. He will select his targets of opportunity, arm himself with the weapons of war and begin. It is certain to happen.

The Constitution says we should regulate them well but we do not. We make assault weapons readily available to anyone. Such is the state of our paranoid propensity to take a knee to moneyed interests.

The Shooter still owns us.