I'm gonna give up trying to get turned around for this rotation; I have failed miserably, and it's time to admit it and go on with my life.
I slept from 05:00 until about 11:45 this morning. Missed all of the sunlight, it's been cloudy ever since I got up.
Right now, thunderstorms all around us, tornado warning to the south down by Emporia, to the north up on the Nebraska border. It's been spitting rain on and off for the last hour, and I can hear thunder to the west. No big cells in this vicinity, though, just rain and the same persistent wind up to 35MPH.
22:28.
People have often asked me, "Doug, how did you lose your whistle?" Mostly I just tell them that it's none of their business, but not tonight.
When I was young, I had a talent for whistling. I loved to whistle, and I was good at it. I could whistle, high and low, soft and loud. I could trill, I could... well, kind of a yodel.
When I was in the army, I always had my whistle and a harmonica. The troops didn't always appreciate my harmonica, but nobody ever objected to me whistling.
All good things must end, heh.
Halloween, 1969, it was. Or, then again, maybe it wasn't. Close to then, though. I'd been out of the army about a year, I think.
I had been to a party, and, not being a social animal, I decided to drink a lot of booze and smoke a little hash. I thought that I could socialize better maybe.
It didn't really work. It never did, but I kept on trying.
I decided to leave about 01:00, and I got into my Anglia and took off. As I was driving along, I remembered that I hadn't put my seat belt on.
I decided to remedy that situation, but unfortunately I forgot to stop first... I ran head-on into a brand=new Pontiac parked on the other side of the road. I was probably going about 35 MPH, and I hadn't managed to get my seat belt on yet. My face hit the steering wheel, and my head hit the windshield.
My upper lip was split open completely.
The guy that sewed me up is now a psychiatrist who treats drug and alcohol abusers. He was never really very good with a suture set, although he's a really nice guy and a good doc...
So I spent the rest of the night in jail. I did manage to get off without a DUI because I had some influential friends with the police department. However, I had decided not to get car insurance 'cause I was saving my money to go to school...
But I wound up buying another guy a new Pontiac instead. But that's a whole different story.
Meanwhile, my lip healed. It didn't heal very well, though... I pretty much lost the elasticity and most of the muscle control. Not much of a pucker any more.
And a really pathetic whistle.
Not much rain, not much of a thunderstorm. And it's all over now, all of the action has moved east into Missouri and Iowa and Illinois.