More Pinball
Now, maybe, I can wrap this up..
What brought this up is that an article that I read said that the complications of modern day games have frustrated kids to the point that they are violent.. It just didnt sit right in my mind that that was what it was.. I even have serious doubts about kids even bein more violent today than in past years..
I believe that the violence hasnt gotten more serious or harmful, but that the violence has gotten more concentrated due the expansion of the population..
Like I said before, I went to the Oklahoma beer joints and pool halls.. That started when I was 13 !! At 14, I got a car and had a business of my own, and I more or less, did what the hell I wanted to.. In fact, I had 2 businesses.. In 1972, I had a wrecker service (think about Cooter on the Dukes of Hazard) and a mechanic shop, plus I sold parts from cars I had salvaged.. When I wasnt busy with something in MY shop, I would go out to a friend of mines lawn mower shop and rebuild lawn mowers for him..
I usually had money.. I usually had beer, wine, and whiskey too.. That meant that I usually knew where I could find a fast woman at too.. You put all these together and you could bet your ass I could also find trouble at the drop of a hat.. Whether I wanted it or not !!
I was always in search of a good time, but some folks just dont like havin a good time for some reason.. Either that or they get their good time from from fuggin with someone that IS havin a good time.. I had a bad habit of runnin into folks that considered their territory "NO FUN ZONES" !! School turned into one day in the principals office after another, so I quit !! That wasnt good enuff for some other kids, and either I was gonna have to kill em, or I had to get out of town..
Lets just say that I didnt have to leave town, and I'll leave it at that ..
But there has always been trouble.. Now tho, folks think they have a free pass to do it, for one reason or another.. Its still not any different than when I was younger.. I have made one observation that is gonna totally piss the girls off tho.. I have noticed that men dont kill each other over women like they used too.. I think I'm gonna leave that sleepin dog lye tho !!
OK, now I'm gonna try to tie all this together..
I have played pinball a lot of years.. In fact, I played it until the early 80's.. Never did I ever get into even a fight over a pinball game.. Lots of money was bet on some of those pinball games too.. Pool games are a whole nuther animal tho.. Video games were never a question in the occasion tho.. I've seen kids get into shovin bouts over a video game, but thats all.. I've searched thru my mind over and over and caint find a connection between video games and the "so called" rise in violence..
What brought this up is that an article that I read said that the complications of modern day games have frustrated kids to the point that they are violent.. It just didnt sit right in my mind that that was what it was.. I even have serious doubts about kids even bein more violent today than in past years..
I believe that the violence hasnt gotten more serious or harmful, but that the violence has gotten more concentrated due the expansion of the population..
Like I said before, I went to the Oklahoma beer joints and pool halls.. That started when I was 13 !! At 14, I got a car and had a business of my own, and I more or less, did what the hell I wanted to.. In fact, I had 2 businesses.. In 1972, I had a wrecker service (think about Cooter on the Dukes of Hazard) and a mechanic shop, plus I sold parts from cars I had salvaged.. When I wasnt busy with something in MY shop, I would go out to a friend of mines lawn mower shop and rebuild lawn mowers for him..
I usually had money.. I usually had beer, wine, and whiskey too.. That meant that I usually knew where I could find a fast woman at too.. You put all these together and you could bet your ass I could also find trouble at the drop of a hat.. Whether I wanted it or not !!
I was always in search of a good time, but some folks just dont like havin a good time for some reason.. Either that or they get their good time from from fuggin with someone that IS havin a good time.. I had a bad habit of runnin into folks that considered their territory "NO FUN ZONES" !! School turned into one day in the principals office after another, so I quit !! That wasnt good enuff for some other kids, and either I was gonna have to kill em, or I had to get out of town..
Lets just say that I didnt have to leave town, and I'll leave it at that ..
But there has always been trouble.. Now tho, folks think they have a free pass to do it, for one reason or another.. Its still not any different than when I was younger.. I have made one observation that is gonna totally piss the girls off tho.. I have noticed that men dont kill each other over women like they used too.. I think I'm gonna leave that sleepin dog lye tho !!
OK, now I'm gonna try to tie all this together..
I have played pinball a lot of years.. In fact, I played it until the early 80's.. Never did I ever get into even a fight over a pinball game.. Lots of money was bet on some of those pinball games too.. Pool games are a whole nuther animal tho.. Video games were never a question in the occasion tho.. I've seen kids get into shovin bouts over a video game, but thats all.. I've searched thru my mind over and over and caint find a connection between video games and the "so called" rise in violence..
posted by Wild Bill at 4:22 PM
7 Comments:
Pinball and pizza helped to keep me out of trouble. If there had not been a place to hang out, my friends and I would have been hangin out in the street, wreaking havoc, prolly.
Not that we didnt, but the only place in a town of 1,800 people to keep young minds occupied was either the pizza joint or the sidewalk.
I actually delivered pizza's for the place in my last year of school, and reckon that kept me from quite a bit of sorrow that occured to some of my compadres.
Seems to me that the idea of blaming things on something other than those responsible, is a disease.
No one can just stand up and say; Sorry, man. I did it. I am at fault.
Victimization. If you can blame it on some nameless faceless entity, the PERP becomes the victim of the nameless faceless all-encompassing Victim-Making machine.
We didn't have rytalin when I was a kid. And even if we had, an ass-whuppin' was the cure, not drugs.
Acourse, we ALL self-medicated at some point back then, and I am still prone to doin' that now!
I think that may be the deciding factor in this equation.. Our "self meds" are a far cry from todays kid's engineered experimental substances.. In our day, tekillya was our "date rape drug" !! I had some ol "corn fed" country gals turn the tables on me with that stuff too.. Not even Gatorade was on the scene back then, and now they got Surge and all the other "power" drinks in machines everywhere.. Thats not even including what some kid stirs-up using a junior high lab kit.. They use batteries and Drano to make cocaine now.. Its not ALL about drugs either any more.. Kids are hangin themselves till they pass out.. Some get carried away with it and go past the point of no-return..
I'm VERY far from bein a naturalist, but I by-far much prefer what I cook, grow, or brew myself.. Many of those crafts are not persued by the younger generations amongst us.. They would starve if it wasnt for Burger King, and couldnt even start to plant a garden, let alone cultivate a cash crop.. I myself have fallen behind in maintaining my ability to cook off a batch of "squeezins" !! Self medication is the ability to know what you need, and to be able to apply it.. RESPONSIBLY !! Self Control is the key.. Just consider how much self control you have seen lately, and think of how much "lack of" you have witnessed !!
Big snow headed my way, Wild Bill.
Stoked, I am. No need for self-medicating today, me thinks!
I employ roughly 30 ski and board instructors, mostly under the age of 20. My youngest instructors are 15, the oldest one is 70. (female)
What I perceive as one of my greatest strengths, is the ability to find troubled youngsters at my resort, and help them to find a path that does not lead to trouble. The owners of the resort give me a great deal of leeway and we work together to help kids.
We give them a job, a place to have fun, a place to socialize and congregate. You probably see their names in the comments on my blog!
Nope, I can't go fight in the war, they say I am too old. But, I can certainly teach young people the difference between good and bad, and help them to see the difference between rules you can break and those you cannot, or should not.
I, being me, am not a model citizen.
My definition of a "joe citizen" is knowing how to get along, while appearing to conform, but still doing mostly what ya want, without harming anyone that has not harmed you.
One of the hardest lessons to teach kids these days, i think, is:
There are great dividends to be gained from respect and civility. Those who are neither may have more "things" than others, but that is all that they will ever have. No love, friendship or respect, without giving of those things from within yourself.
The success rate at Caberfae for transforming ne'er do wells into productive "joecitizens" amazes me.
It is all i can hope for, and need, to be successful in my life for now, i think.
I swear, sometimes i ramble on, just to enjoy my own thoughts.
I used to do the same thing with kids at the farm.. I'd let em bring their coldbeer and we would have a good time just bein men.. A lot of em were on their last legs with the law.. Trouble wasnt allowed at my place, and most of em thought that was a good thang.. Most of em would rather hang out fishin and campin than runnin the roads and dodgin the laws.. Sittin around a campfire was an occasion too.. As soon as I stopped doin it, they were right back in trouble tho.. I kept it goin for a couple of years and thought I had made a difference that would last.. Most were really hardcore rednecks, and I think thats just in the blood.. I helped em for a while tho and gave em a chance to change.. A couple did, but the rest had major problems they never could get away from.. I know it aint easy to get kids back into the groove, but every one is a victory..
Well, me being half a generation behind you, I was actually a Defender junky.
It took many a quarters, but after awhile I could but 1 quarter in and play all night with the extra live. I used to have the high score on machines from Mesquite to Terrell to Greenville. My home machine was at a 7-11 in Mesquite, and anybody wanting to throw down with young RT knew just where to find him. I had several fights right outside that 7-11 with young women usually being the instigators of it all.
My uncle, the only rich man in my family, used to have a business selling popcorn, vending machines, and Pinball machines to Movie Theaters in the Dallas area. And he had a big house out on the east shore of Lake Ray Hubbard with a private game room overlooking the lake with several pinball machines, a pool table, a free juke box, and a coke tap with cherry syrup on the tap next to it.
Needless to say he was my favorite uncle.
RT, my favorite uncle had bird dogs, a bass boat, and a fridge with a beer tap and a keg of cold beer in his back yard.. His neighbor had a trampoline and 2 teenage daughters in his.. I sure do miss my uncle !!
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