An Old Man's Lament..

[birdguy 3,943]

The Old Man's Lament by Noel Sivertson

I USTA...two words I say a lot these days.

I walked a mile this morning but I USTA run three.
But the years catch up with ya.
Not a yongster in my 50s anymore, not sturdy like a tree.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I gotcha!"

I USTA gulp down a 16 ounce steak, an a stuffed potato treat.
But the years catch up with ya.
I can still chew up half that much with my remaining natural teeth.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I gotcha!"

I USTA walk the wilderness, with a pack on my back.
But the years catch up with ya.
I can still walk across the parkng lot toting a grocery sack.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I Gotcha!"

I USTA read books a lot, a chapter or two a night.
But the years catch up with ya.
I still read a bit, but then these tired eyes tell me to turn off the light.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I Gotcha!"

I USTA wade the rivers with a fly rode in my hand.
But the years catch up with ya.
Today the trout I eat I pay for at the check-out stand.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I Gotcha"

I USTA know the answers, when Jeopardy was on.
But the years catch up with ya.
Today I know the answers, but finding them has gone.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I Gotcha!"

I USTA fly an aeroplane, back in the days of yore.
But the years catch up with ya.
Now I watch them from the ground, and wish there was more.
And Old Man Time just laughs at me and says, "I Gotcha."

I USTA, I USTA, IUSTA, has become a daily refrain.
Because the years catch up with me, sometimes remembering's a pain.
A small city and my computer are what's left of my domain.
An Old Man Time just laughs at me and say's, "I'll let you go once again."

Noel

[Patco Lch 1,463]

Noel,

On a positive note I USTA drag out of bed at 3AM every day and go work my a** off for 12 hours on a stinking job. Those days are past.😀 I wouldn't trade places with any youngster knowing what I know about this mean old world. Now I spend my days simming or whatever else happens. Thank-you Lord for letting me live to see to see today!!!

[Les Parson 99]

Did you work ZHU back in the PATCO days? 

 

[Patco Lch 1,463]

37 minutes ago, Les Parson said:

Did you work ZHU back in the PATCO days? 

 

Houston Center? Yea. They were on top with Boumont to the West and Laffiyette to the East. That ended for me in 1981 so a long time ago.

I didn't work in Houston Center if that's what you were asking.

Edited May 23, 2018 by PATCO LCH

[birdguy 3,943]

I can't relate Vic.  I never had a job I didn't like, even in a war zone.  I enjoyed ever job I ever had except one, and it didn't last long enough to count.  I can't imagine anything more miserable than getting up in the morning hating to go to work.

I'd go back to work in a minute if I could.  I retired out of the Colorado Air National Guard at the mandatory retirement age of 60.  Wish I could go back.  It was a lot of fun.

In The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton the principal character was interviewing people for a job.  He got the usual answers.  "A next step toward my career."  "I need the challenge to improve myself."  "I think it's time for me to move up."  "I think it would be a lot of fun."  Guess who go the job?

Noel

 

 

[jime59 58]

As I sit here reading this, I'm relating to every one of those verses as in, been there, did that.

and I mean, every, one.

Very nice (and depressing),

Jim E

[Patco Lch 1,463]

12 hours ago, birdguy said:

I can't relate Vic.  I never had a job I didn't like, even in a war zone.  I enjoyed ever job I ever had except one, and it didn't last long enough to count.  I can't imagine anything more miserable than getting up in the morning hating to go to work.

I'd go back to work in a minute if I could.  I retired out of the Colorado Air National Guard at the mandatory retirement age of 60.  Wish I could go back.  It was a lot of fun.

In The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton the principal character was interviewing people for a job.  He got the usual answers.  "A next step toward my career."  "I need the challenge to improve myself."  "I think it's time for me to move up."  "I think it would be a lot of fun."  Guess who go the job?

Noel

 

 

Noel,

Sounds like the Lord blessed you with good health, sound mind, opportunity and you had the faith in your self to make the most out if life. Now trust Him to carry you on know He loves you and has a much better future plan for you if you trust him. It's win win!😊

[THibben 16]

Birdguy how true,

I am now pushing 85 and I USTA do a lot of things.  Trouble is my memory is going and I can't remember most of them...grin

Tom

[birdguy 3,943]

I never had a career Vic.  I was a jack of all trades and master of none.  My career was a crazy quilt of different jobs.

I started out in grammar school delivering papers on Lombard Street in San Francisco...the crookedest street in the world.

In High school I worked part time at a local garage learning about automobile engines.

The summer I graduated from high school I worked for the National Park Service on a blister rust team in Glacier National Park.

Joined the Marines during the Korean War and became an EOD specialist.

When I got out I got a job as a file clerk for the Southern Pacific Railroad at their headquarters in San Francisco.  That was kinda fun and boring.

Joined the Air Force and became a munitions specialist.  Then an aircraft armaments specialist.  Cross trained into Special Electronics and learned seismology where we operated stations to detect underground nuclear tests.

Went to Vietnam and Thailand and supervised loading munitions on F-105s.

Got out and became an electronic tech for GE on the re-entry vehicle tests for the Minuteman III.

Graduated from electronic tech to development engineer for several companies.  I was pilot for the LIMRV, a test rail car for linear induction motors for Air Research at the DOT test track in Pueblo Colorado.

Joined the Colorado Air Guard and became a weather forecaster.

And along the way a published free lance writer and photographer.  Those were hobbies.

In the civilian job market I've turned down higher paying jobs for lower paying jobs because I thought they would be more fun.

I have no complaints and wouldn't change a thing if I had to do it all over again.

Noel

 

 

[Patco Lch 1,463]

Sounds like substance for an interesting autobiography Noel! Maybe you should consider that for a next step. Just a suggestion.

[sightseer 895]

I had a guy in a neurologist's waiting room get very irritated with me for saying 'usta'.  He had been in an accident and had a part of his brain removed many years before.  We were having a pleasant conversation till then.  chit chat...'usta'... "I want to kill people who say usta"....hmmmm....

 

P.S.:  this moderately old man's lament is that so many around me seem to not know substance from appearance...heart/spirit versus the covering...the man who says yes but then does not versus the man who says no but then does.  Those who worship must worship in Truth and Spirit (action and thought).

 

Edited May 25, 2018 by sightseer

[birdguy 3,943]

I've thought about it Vic.  I have a lot of little anecdotes I could string together like this one.

I showed my Dad the book.  Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English.  I asked him if he could read it.  He couldn't and I said, "Why do I have to learn this, I'll never use it?  I have to memorize the first paragraph."

Dad said it didn't matter if I would ever use it or not.  It was another tool to put into my mental toolbox just in case I would need it sometime.

Fast forward about three years.

I'm a young Marine working in a bomb dump in Korea.  A cease fire is on and there isn't much work for an EOD specialist so I helped unload boxes of ammunition from a truck and stacked them in neat rows and then load them back onto another truck the next day.  It was quite boring and those boxes weight 40 to 50 pounds apiece.

One evening we had a unit beer party in the mess hall.  We were having a great time and our company commander, a captain, got quite tipsy.  He stood up on one of the mess hall tables and started reciting, "Wan that Aprila with his shours sote....'

I jumped up on that table and began to recite it along with him.  That small piece of Chaucer that I would never use.

The next morning I was called into the commander's office.  I thought I was in trouble for being a wise guy.

I stood in front of his desk, and said, "Private First Class Sivertson reporting as ordered sir."

The captan looked at me and said, "Private Sivertson, you've been to school."

I said, "Yes sir, I've been to school."

He said, "I want you to be my company clerk."

Wow!  No more lifting heavy boxes.  No more mess duty.  No more guard duty.  And I got promoted to corporal.

Thank's Dad.  That little tool I would never use sure came in handy.

Whenever I have the opportunity to talk to school kids I tell them that story.  Two years ago I talked to the 8th grade class of the grammar school I had graduated from 70 years ago.  I told them that story along with how important it is to learn how to write.

Noel