I had to include this picture just because I think it is the best picture of me ever and way back then I looked a lot better than today.
Oklahoma
We no longer go over there to the casinos, Joyce is unable to drive with her vision and I can no longer face that drive over the interstate. With the pandemic we would not be going there anyway. We do miss all the card dealers that we had so much fun with at the tables there. I understand that many of them are out of work with the casinos closed down due to the pandemic and many have been laid off permanently. It's distressing to think of friends out of work and while there may be unemployment compensation, that's never enough to get by on for long. I wrote the above paragraph yesterday and just found out this morning the casino is now open. That is good news for those card dealers and other employees.
Joyce watched a show last night on one of her political channels that had an Oklahoma farmer/cattle rancher as a guest. He said that ranchers profits in his area were down 38%, yet beef prices in grocery stores are sky high. He was asked why and his reply was the packing plants have squeezed the producers and are taking all the profit for themselves. He went on to say that the country needs to bring back anti-trust laws and enforce them. Be it known that Oklahoma is a red state and proud of it. The anti-trust laws were passed in 1890, but ignored for the most part, until Theodore Roosevelt (a republican) was elected vice-president in 1901 and assumed office when president McKinley was assassinated. He won a full term in 1904 and used the Sherman Anti-Trust law to break up the trusts that big businesses used to strangle the nation. So here the nation is once again in the same situation with big business trusts having the nation in their grip. We now have another republican president and a republican senate and a democrat congress that will go with that and in this reporter's opinion need to do a Theodore Roosevelt action and help the people of this nation. The only thing in the way of a Theodore Roosevelt change is mega campaign contributions.
USS Roosevelt
At last check, the USS Roosevelt has been sitting in Apra harbor on Guam for 3 months. I remember Guam from 1965-66 and that island had little to nothing to do when off duty. The island is only 4 miles wide at its widest and 30 miles long. There have been a lot of improvements since I was there and a few more things to do, but over 3 months worth of time there cannot be a good thing. I enjoyed being at sea and the routine there, even with 12 hour shifts, but sitting in port day after day with nothing to do was and is horrid after the first few days. Sailors need to be busy and aboard ship more than in port. Now 3 months in Pearl Harbor, not so bad, but 3 months on Guam, forget about it!
Somehow and I don't know when Guam was nicknamed Duva and in the 1965 yearbook there was a whole page dedicated to a picture of a sexily dressed and very attractive woman sitting on a tiny speck of an island with the caption, "Duva is Divine." It was a big joke because Duva was anything but divine.
Catholicism
This reporter had no choice in the matter, so he was raised Catholic. He went from kindergarten through high school, 13 years with religion drilled into his head every morning. As religions go, it's not as bad as some others, but my experience was not the best. By the time I was in high school I was convinced there was no way to get into heaven because we were all sinners and sinned every day.
In my senior year we went on a weekend retreat where there was no talking among us, but the religion was spoken by those running the place. It didn't seem all that bad at the time. We each and a small sleeping room and not talking to anyone was fine with me. I was on the cusp of signing up for joining as a monk. The next weekend I was out with my then girlfriend and when I told her about my plan she promptly showed me just the smallest hint of what I would be missing when leading the cloistered life. Well, once I had the hint I was ready to find out the rest of what I would be missing. I was convinced I could never make it to heaven anyway, so why not go full steam into the depths of sin? That didn't happen and a few months later I met Joyce. We were married seven months later and then I found out the rest of what I would have missed had I joined up with the monastery. I never looked back and have found the real Jesus and now know I will be saved, maybe after an eon or so of repertory limbo, but I'll get there.
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