Just a chime....or??

[westgrandboulevard]

Good friends and good business partners are not necessarily one and the same - ?

[Jerry Oz]

Exactly. For an example, I could be great business partners with someone that I knew not to trust. So long as I know that there is a snake in the room, I can take measures to avoid being bitten. It doesn't mean that we cannot find mutual benefit from our shared interest in something. I cannot say that for a friend.

If the "friend" came to me for a "loan" [[insisting that he'll repay) and fails to repay, then I'll know not to trust that person and the depth of our friendship has been destroyed. Since I'd lend money to friends and I can no longer do that for a known deadbeat, it stands to reason that we're now acquaintances and no longer friends.

[westgrandboulevard]

The response if you were to say "I'd love to help you, but I'm not in the position to do so" might tell you who your real friends are...

[Jerry Oz]

I agree. But the fact that the friend developed his sudden financial crisis once he found out that you had resources to help, might also tell you about him or her. I'm amazed at how people seem to think they should partake in the windfall of someone who somehow lucks into a bit of money. "You won the lottery?! Great! My car's about to break down, so our timing is perfect!"

[westgrandboulevard]

Especially if they are related to you....

[Jerry Oz]

Yes, especially then. I've heard of families breaking ties because one sister won millions in the lottery and "only" gave her two sisters $100,000 each. One sister was very happy, but the other one resented her for being so selfish that she didn't talk to her again for years.

[westgrandboulevard]

Wish fulfilment.

"I can't understand why she doesn't do more with her money. It isn't as if she needs it all, she has plenty. She must surely know I could put it to good use. She never gives me credit for the support and understanding I've shown her. I've been a loyal sister, and she doesn't have that many friends....

[Jerry Oz]

I'm still on hiatus from work and enjoying every minute of it. I consider it a semi-retirement. I know there are some who are dying to know how I'm paying my bills but afraid to ask. Truth is, I budgeted and lived on half of my salary for the last 15 years and if I wanted, I could probably get away with not working until filing for retirement in 10 years. That's not going to happen, of course. My point is that I'm not sharing any of this with anybody that I deal with in my "real" life because I don't need anybody mooching and having a different opinion of me based upon my having and not sharing.

I could have had a larger house, newer car, latest cell phone, fanciest clothes, shinier jewelry, and eaten at better restaurants for most of my adult life but I didn't. You can put children in that group, as well. I have what I have because of carefully considered sacrifices and I have no problem not sharing with someone who had the same opportunity costs that I had and chose differently. If my parents want for anything, I'll provide as I am able. Anybody else will be signing a document laying out terms and conditions of repayment and offering collateral.

That's just how I roll...

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm looking to see advertising very soon, for the newly-formed Bank of Oz.

You could do much better than some of the long-established banks...

[Jerry Oz]

I need to invest in something robust. I am not rich, nor do I desire to be. I just want to be in control of my own financial destiny. My next step will go a long way to putting both feet on solid ground as I enter [[gulp!) the last phase of my life.

Did. I. Just. Type. That...?

[westgrandboulevard]

In many ways, life is just beginning for you. The best is yet to come.....

[Jerry Oz]

Life begins every day when I open my eyes and do my check to make sure every part is in proper working order. As I see it, each new day extends my personal record for longevity. Although I wouldn't be opposed to having a few happy and healthy decades coming up next...

[westgrandboulevard]

I have an aunt of 93 living alone, less than fifteen minutes drive from me.

You sound good for those few decades yet.

[Jerry Oz]

Thanks, Doc! I wonder how many pages this thread will have by the time I'm 93 and you'll be [[I'm guessing) 103.

[westgrandboulevard]

By that time, we won't need pages. We'll communicate by thought transfer.

[144man]

I knew you were going to write that.

[westgrandboulevard]

And I just knew you were going to respond like that. See, it's working already.....

[Jerry Oz]

Scary... If you guys can read minds, then let's play a game of riddles. What do I have in my pocket?

[[Sorry, big "Lord of the Rings" fan...)

[westgrandboulevard]

[[J.R.R.Tolkien retired to my home town in the late 60s, living a few minutes drive away, and died here...)

Money......

[Jerry Oz]

I wish! The correct answer is "what pockets?" The wife is napping and I'm availing myself of the opportunity to lounge in my "Motown Live" boxer shorts, which are pocketless. Methinks your stated mental telepathic abilities are overstated.

[[Even though you somehow saw through my lottery ticket scam... I'm still shocked by that one.)

[westgrandboulevard]

Quiet please....thou shalt not vex the Muse, neither with trick questions nor cheap imagery of the 'too much information' kind....

You did not say which pockets. Check all pockets. Something representing an unexpected financial benefit has been left there, overlooked.

[Jerry Oz]

If it was, she would have found it and spent it by now. You're not the only person with six senses...

[westgrandboulevard]

She-who-must-be-obeyed has overlooked it.

It is for you to make the discovery.....

[Jerry Oz]

I'll pass. She'll employ modern CSI techniques to detect money residue on my fingertips...

[westgrandboulevard]

So Mrs Oz's Detective Agency could be the overlooked financial benefit.....

[Jerry Oz]

She believes the love of money to be the root of all evil. She also believes that idle hands are the devil's playthings. Her hands are not idle if she thinks that I'm holding out. They're balled into fists and delivering quick, efficient blows. Who knew that she was using the money she collected for kung fu lessons?

[westgrandboulevard]

Behaving like that, she'd earn good money in 'Wicked'.

See, there's another overlooked financial benefit.....

[Jerry Oz]

"Wicked" is not a possibility because if she looks into the audience and sees me sleeping, she'll turn red and that'll totally ruin the effect of the green makeup...

[westgrandboulevard]

Red and green are complementary colours, but both can prove difficult to perceive for those who experience colour blindness.

That said, the world would be a better place if more people actually practised colour blindness.

[Jerry Oz]

Didn't Martin Luther King suggest that? I wonder why we're all so different until something horrible happens to galvanize us? And then, were all current again a week or so later. SMH.

[westgrandboulevard]

People can never make up their minds if they're more comfortable seeing other people as exactly the same as them - or with people who seem a little different, and a lot more interesting....

[Jerry Oz]

When you need a transfusion and you have a rare blood type, the family of Man is a remarkably homogeneous clan all of a sudden. It doesn't really matter the color of the arm, so long as the blood drawn from it is what you need.

[westgrandboulevard]

Unless one is a Jehovah's Witness....

[144man]

Scary... If you guys can read minds, then let's play a game of riddles. What do I have in my pocket?

[[Sorry, big "Lord of the Rings" fan...)

You're wearing your "Motown Live" boxer shorts, which are pocketless. Impressed?

[Jerry Oz]

Not really. Somehow, Diana Ross wound up on my left thigh and the rest of the Supremes [[in a smaller illustration) are covering my rear. I'm thinking that Ms. Ross may have had some persuasion with the art director on that because she's in full stage mode in her painting [[bouffant hair, long elegant gown) but Mary and Flo look as if they are half-asleep on the tour bus [[dental retainers, curlers, tee shirts that read 'My Best Friend Went to Detroit, and All I Got Was This Stupid Shirt')...

[westgrandboulevard]

It's good to know they left their mark on you.

[Jerry Oz]

On my shorts... The mark that they left on me is from the '60s when I saw faces like mine on television being idolized instead of as the butts of cruel jokes. I was born at a great time [[1962) and the music, if not the personalities was very influential in my sense of self-worth and identity.

[westgrandboulevard]

I don't remember ever seeing a face like mine being idolised on television....LOL

[Jerry Oz]

I was speaking in a general sense, cowboy. The faces I was referring to were brown faces that were no longer confined to roles as butlers, maids, and random people walking in the background with no impact on the story. At least through music, we could find a reason to want to watch television instead of choosing the least bad option of what was typically available. Motown, whether it was pop out soul, owned doors of opportunity that still have not chased. Whether someone cares for Ms. Ross our despises her, her pop appeal was significant in America's acceptance of Black music, if not Black musicians.

[westgrandboulevard]

Ah, I knew exactly what you meant, of course.

I was taking it lightly because, on thinking about it, I don't recall going as far as idolising any of the faces on a screen, although there was a great deal of interest.

Many members of minority groups [[as called) will want to see people on a screen with whom they can identify. Whether they do anything more with their lives than just that will be their own decision. It does seem that many will put an 'attitude' before any talents they possess, and it is most likely that which can hold them back....but they can't see it.

Diana Ross was one of the most successful entertainers of the mid-late 20th Century, and to the current day, who just happens to be black, not because of it....

[Jerry Oz]

She's done much to separate herself from "being Black" in the minds of many. Many successful African-Americans tend to embrace mainstream - read: "white" - culture once they've made it to a level of acceptance by the masses. This includes their choices of spouses [[Diana allegedly chose hers because she didn't want "nappy headed" children), living arrangements, and business associates.

Predictably, this is a major turn off for many who supported her as she rose to fame and that's one of the major reasons she's a divisive personality on these boards and elsewhere. Many refuse to adore someone who would turn her nose up at them when walking down the street. She's not one of my idols and she's not one of my favorite stars, but I can certainly appreciate her role in the success of others.

[westgrandboulevard]

Black or white, I think there's always a strong potential for being held back by the people who are around in one's formative years. Some will say they do it out of love and concern, but they may be doing it because they're not doing a lot else in their own lives, have never really considered anything different, and are being defensive and possessive.

The individual who is wanting more from life is not necessarily being unthankful for what was done in support of them, just wanting certain things which may not be possible if one were to stay as one was.

Being in show business, and being so successful, is an extreme example. It's all up there on show, but there must be many people who may, for example, leave little towns for bigger cities, in all walks of life.

[Jerry Oz]

People have the right to move up and move on. However, I don't begrudge anyone who feels that stars should try to help their community if those people are the ones who believed in them before they became a "success". Many of them rely greatly on the support of neighbors until they become famous and then, the people whose love and support they worked hard to earn aren't the people that they want near them anymore.

That's their right, of course. Just as those who feel left behind have the right to share their opinions about them. In other words: If that's your opinion of me, why didn't you share it when you were essentially a "nobody"? It's not all jealousy, so much as perceived betrayal and/or disrespect.

[westgrandboulevard]

I can't help but think envy has a lot to do with it....

If I'm right, then I would have to agree it is better to keep looking ahead, make new friends, and not try too hard about going back. The welcome just isn't there, especially for someone who is famous. Most of the people from the past will just want to say "Hello!" to the name, not the person, simply to tell their friends they're friendly with said star...

[Jerry Oz]

I'm sure envy is some of it, but I'm not convinced it's always the case. When someone changes drastically [[how they talk, dress, etc.), it's understood that we grow. In fact, we should become more professional and carry ourselves with an appropriate air of class when we attain success.

But when someone comes from [[for example) an impoverished Black [[or Irish or West Indian) area with the help of people in the community, it is seen as a rejection of those people when they start to associate 100% with someone else. It's fair to think that the musician only used the people to get what he/she wanted while thinking that those people weren't good enough for them.

I personally don't have expectations of anyone because we're only human and we're going to fall short of our own expectations, let alone anyone else's. But if I feel that you think that I'm less worthy of an autograph than someone from a better part of time, then you're not worthy of my time. That's not envy at all.

[westgrandboulevard]

I agree to a point. If a certain someone doesn't want my attention, they don't need to have it, and so don't get it......but... I might also not want the responsibility, work level, pressure etc, of being that other person. There's more to it than just the top show.

Some people appear to turn their backs on privileged backgrounds, as well as impoverished. Sometimes it's difficult to understand what's going on in other people's heads..but we're not entitled to know....

[Jerry Oz]

We are not entitled to know. And in truth, who knows why someone "sells out", if that's what you wish to consider it? Is it because certain negative elements of their past refuse to accept their success without holding them back? I've always contended that if I "made it", then I'd help someone who was in a similar starting situation, but their success or failure would not be because of me, but how much the world wanted what they had to offer.

Handouts are not beneficial to the person receiving them or the one who hands them out. And there's no way I'd surround myself with an entourage of old friends and family members. You can have a function in my career or you can find something else to do with your life. You most certainly didn't hit the lottery because you want me to share what I've been blessed to obtain.

But anyway, are you over England's early exit from FIFA a couple of weeks ago? We never talked about it [[and I don't know that your a football fan), but I feel compelled to change the subject...

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm not a football fan, nor even a team sports fan, as I'm more into solo accomplishments.

If I were to be interested in football, I would want the best team to win. I believe they did.

[144man]

Twenty years ago I would have been upset by England's exit, but I've now reached the age where I feel like I've seen it all before. As far as the state of England's international team is concerned, failure is breeding failure.

[westgrandboulevard]

To form a crack football team for England, would require a close scrutiny of how Germany have reached their current position, and then plan the required strategy to match them.

That, and also to source inspiration and motivation from outside of the game, to offer a new slant and perspective.