the OFFICIAL "Last Royster Thread On Pavlina Forums" thread

[royster]

My first week here in 1989...





Here is that same corner as it appears today (except the cabinets have since been stained and sealed).

[royster]

Hmmm. Mischeif. Mischief. *grinding gears* Hmmmm. Grease. That could cause a detour, but I'll grease the gears FIRST.

[royster]

When all else fails, play Grateful Dead, particularly one that suggests sexual activity. YYESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

When Push Comes To Shove - Grateful Dead - YouTube

[royster]

Hi Shasah...I saw you post, was glad to see you doing okay.

I thank you for being my friend through that horrid winter, whose best aspect was that I met you.

I've come a long way since shoveling through that snow!

I'll always love you, Sis. Drop a line some time, know you're always welcome and treasured in my heart.

Roy

p.s. You can always contact me at my website(s)...when the damn public-access function works.

[royster]

The Seekers I'll never find another you Lyrics - YouTube

[royster]

I worked in FM radio for 3 years. I worked my way up to a point that it seemed possible to get my own show, but this happened at the time a format change was already in the works, unbeknownst to staff. Shortly after, ClearChannel Broadcasting took over as many FM stations across the U.S. as they could.

Though I never got my "deeper cuts" specialty show, I did cut a one-hour demo tape of "3rd Stage with Tom Sawyer". I had an opening theme song for the show, which featured an actual recording of a space shuttle lift off count down in time with Boston's "Cool The Engines". It was a lot of work to get the timing just right. '3rd Stage' is the name of the Boston Album the song is from, and it was partly this 'flight theme' that the show was based on.

Boston - Cool The Engines - YouTube

[royster]

In the biggest irony of fate, I found THIS forum while searching for an alternative to Halfway. In the two years since, things evolved that I was able to take over the sister-site, Halfpast, and turn it into a viable metphysical/spiritual home.

In the meantime, Halfway finally nose-dived due to abuses from the handful of members determined to ruin it. The Administrator a few months ago stated that he was no longer interested in the site, and I thought of this when the annoucement was made to discontinue Pavlina's forums. I amiably obtained the rights to Halfway, and it will now enjoy a new life. I could not have expected such a miracle a mere 3 months ago.

I offer again that anyone is welcome there, if only as a temporary base. My intention is to get the site cleaned up, and essentially let the members run it with their own moderation.

Halfway - Index

As some of you know, my mother passed away this year. Long story short, my inheritance was surprisingly much larger than any of us had expected. I am not one to wear "bling" or drive fancy cars, so I resolved to spend my days...and that money...on humanity. This is what paid for the site, in perpetuity. (my father's estate is another subject, but should be resolved in January).

Many blessings to all. I will try to leave the public-access threads open (on both of my sites) and available, but spammers could ruin that kindness.

Roy

I'd Love to Change the World - YouTube

[royster]

Entrenched with crackers and spinach dip, a pot of coffee and R.E.M. for these last moments as the last of the lifeboats are lowered.

I relate to the forum's going down more to the Andria Doria....which most were saved from...than the Titanic. The Andria Doria was at the end of a successful career.

The Titanic was Tradgedy Without Success.

R.E.M - What's the frequency Kenneth (Not Live) HD/HQ - YouTube

[royster]

I write short stories. Here's one for you to read as the bow dips deeper into the waves. royster

Soda Pop
by r.andrew stokes

Andrew was not adverse to shaking things up, where ever he went. He would whack a hornet's nest, then stand there, waiting for the angry critters to emerge. He'd point in the direction the culprit went, and after thanking him, the hornets would fly off into the distance for revenge. Andrew would smirk his dimpled smirk, and...to rouse any late sleepers...whack the nest again. Things always seemed to work twice, for him.

Maybe it was that smile that let him get away with it. One time, in sixth grade, he crammed a potato up the exhaust pipe of the principal's Ford Falcon. Biding his time, he made himself available, in close proximity to the parking lot at precisely 3:12 pm, to hear the "RR-RR-RR-POW!" and witness the spewage of starch on the asphalt. But he hit a trifecta, that day; the spud hit the pavement, bounced up...seemingly in slow motion...came down on the janitor lady's Rambler roof, and proceded to land on Tricia Evans' head. In the course of ten seconds, you had the befuddled look on the principal's face, the wonderment of projectile monitoring (evidenced by the head movements in unison) and the defiling of the snobbiest girl in school. Satisfaction is expressed by the yellow canary feathers hanging from the cat's mouth, and Andrew upped the ante with a dimpled smirk. You cannot get fingerprints off a potato that NASA has used as an experiment.

This is not to indicate a life of crime; his practical jokes were statements for the general population. Other than a tuber honoring Tricia Evans and her fine array of emptiness, Andrew had no harm in mind; he just found deep appreciation in shaking up the status quo.

In his senior year of high school, the most daring thing he had done to date was about to be trumped. He had placed the empty box in front of the print shop, with bold letters stating "DO NOT MOVE! REWARD IF FOUND!" The police actually sent a bomb squad out to deal with the matter*. When it became obvious to him that this joke wasn't going to pan out, he walked over and picked up the box, much to the police department's horror. They put his name on record, and the old fart that spotted the package in the first place shook his finger at Andrew. That smirk emerged, and melted that old man like butter on a Delta afternoon in August. What a harmless joke, and how duped you were.

His wedding night was full of stifled snickering, as his wife had gone off to pee. He made himself as small as possible in the wad of blankets she had tossed to the side, and when she got back into bed, he crept his hand up the small of her back, prompting several Hollywood horror flicks in her mind. Oh, how she loved that trickster, and when you are finally on the inside of the joke, what fun.

Andrew had a passion for framing things outside of their natural habitat; this was emphasized the night he snuck into the church Nativity scene, and put a deer salt lick in the plastic Jesus cradle. They never did find the plastic Jesus, but something wonderful happened the next morning, and it put everyone at wit's end.
There were seventeen deer, that Sunday morning, and at first, everyone thought what a great job the church had done at providing animal props. But they weren't props; they were living animals. Twenty hunters, from that church congregation, were forced to deal with the Devil. And with deer. The deer won. Interestingly, the sermon was about "Thou shalt not kill", and at least twenty humans, perched on oak pews, wrestled with their conscience. At ten-thirty, when the doors opened, and people oozed out toward the parking lot, deep dark eyes watched in wonderment; how do they walk on two legs? And people, some for the first time, saw the beauty of these Earth creatures. It was perhaps the finest thing Andrew had ever done for humanity. And he got his laugh.

It was the crop circle incident that blew the meaning out of his sails, and to this day, his wife tries to prompt those dimples, but something deep inside him was carved away forever.

continued

[royster]

[continued from previous page]

He had mechanically muffled his push mower, and had devised a pattern he was going to mow in the field outside of town. The pattern was Alfred E.Newman, the MAD magazine mascot, altered to imitate George W.Bush. June 11, a full moon that year, arrived, and Andrew woke to the alarm's 3:00 am prompting.

Fueled, quiet, and determined, Andrew carried the mower from the tailgate, down the embankment, into the field. His right hand grasping the pull-rope, the left hand working the throttle, his sight was caught by the local police. That didn't stop what happened next.

A glow came up from the field; it was undescribable. It appeared like some sort of energy was making a laser cryptomessage, and its determined, deliberate procedure dumbfounded the cops, and Andrew. When it was over, mouths finally closed. Andrew's hand was still on the pull-start for the mower. Nothing had come from the sky; it had come from the Earth.


It is the most difficult thing to try to interpret one language to the next, but it is even more difficult to interpret phenomina to those who have not seen it.


Andrew was arrested that night, for merely being there. The soy field made a one-time appearance on the local news, but was quietly brushed aside for more important issues; like, for example, what the First Lady wore during her shopping spree in Paris.

Those who saw the pattern will swear to you that it describes a thought, but no one can bring forth the words to describe it. It is vaguely the impression you first feel when you look into a deer's eyes. You see Eternity, you see the Universe, and immediately you realize how small we are, for this folly. How harmful we are. Andrew couldn't bring himself to play another practical joke, after that.






Except for the can of soda pop he shook up, and placed in your refrigerator.

FIN




*pretty much how it happened.

[royster]

"Encino" was 30 miles from where I grew up in Los Angeles. I never heard ANYONE talk like this, yet some 30 years later there are second-generation folks who actually talk like this. It's stupifying, for want of a better expression.

Frank Zappa - Valley Girl - YouTube

[SireneB]

Great story. Where can I find more?

[royster]

The valley Girl or Soda Pop?

Thanks SireneB *blush* glad you liked it.

Stories To Plant In Your Garden

[royster]

WHERE THE UNIVERSE BENDS
by r.andrew stokes

It's a left-hand turn, and then "YIKES!"; the flight is suspended. There is a beautiful field, and you are sitting in it. Where are my passengers? you ask; where is this demand on my energies to...a butterfly floats past, and you try to catch it. It eludes you, until you understand...to let It come to YOU. So it does, and you commune with it, and start to understand how nature works. How the jets you were flying hurt you...and them. Did I wreck? Did I fall? A million 60's songs come to mind, but none of them explain this; yet all of them do. And, for the first time in a million years;

you understand wonderment.

You understand sunlight. You understand HOW you were regimented out of these places, and begin to feel whole. And dreams in your head take you to wonderful people and things, like butterflies, creeks, faithful dogs, starlight. Tribes 300 years ago, who took care of each other . Yeah; you can do this. But you really can't, because of the poison instilled in you since birth. To navigate the bend in the Universe, you CAN'T use science; you can't use wrenches; you can't use force. You use feeling. From the heart, the soul. Your BEING.

The reason the Universe BENDS there is something science would love to gage, but can't. Scientists want to know what the temperature was when the Universe was created; figure out why things have a definite propensity to go from hot to cold; find the reasons behind the door they cannot open. And it doesn't open for them for the specific reason of reason. And the way they knock; they knock as scientists, not as Children of the Universe. So, in your flight, should you find the bend in the universe...and I assure you; it's there...be calm. Be self-accepting. Be a child, unafraid of wonderment, beauty and grace. The bend was designed to sort out the wheat from the chaff, and it does work, doesn't it?! And though there are several bends, it is not a chain restaurant, like McDonald's; they are anomalies you learn to work, pass through, and enjoy. And they are living things, so they communicate with you. Science hates this fact, yet Love adores it. Science, basically, supports war; Love, basically, hates science. Love DOES have a capacity to hate, only for the specific reason of keeping Her garden clean. And Love is well-adept to Her cleaning process; one day, science will necessarily collapse; the bends in the universe will not. Because the universe is not a factory. It is not a chain restaurant, regimented daily for exploitation. It is a place of wonderment and beauty, NOT "ripe for the picking", but willingness to explore. Chase butterflies, then learn...gently...not to chase them; they will come to you. This should point out to you all the lessons still to be learned from "Titanic", and you will; in your own time, pace, grace, beauty and style. The day you DO, you will understand the bends in the Universe.



So don't be surprised if I see you there.


FIN

[royster]

Moody Blues - Ride my see saw - YouTube

Hope the new members have all they requested...the forums aren't being cooperative tonight, but I'm getting to the tasks as I'm able to.

Right now, the wood stove wants to be fed, my coffee cup's empty, and chocolate is calling me. There's a Hersey's ad on the Moody Blues link...it subliminally reminded me I have just one such candy bar in the other room.

Taking a break.

[royster]

Back, and thought you might get a kick out of a cyber me, where I'm sitting at this very moment. This picture isn't too old, and I probably look just as intense.

the RAT HOLE

[royster]

Originally Posted by royster

Hmmm. Mischeif. Mischief. *grinding gears* Hmmmm. Grease. That could cause a detour, but I'll grease the gears FIRST.

I say we all go on a repping rampage.

[Million Dollar Man]

Merry Christmas Happy New Year and Enjoy!!
watch this it's funny! Pepe The Box Clown Episode 2 - YouTube

[royster]

Will do, MDM. How's the water on your side of the ship? It's lapping the skuttle butt here

Ah yes, those of you with childhood issues: someone was speaking out for you way back when, even in "country western".

Skip A Rope Henson Cargill Lyrics - YouTube

[royster]

Out here, remote in the country, I'm in the Rat Hole, cranking this one even as I type...working out those Bose speakers with my Sony HST221, all 190 watts. Yowza!

U2-Pride (In the Name of Love) lyrics - YouTube

[royster]

3:30 AM in Virginia...manning lifeboats at Pavlinas, and drinkin' grog with the other may-tees arrrrrrrr!
Working these two threads
Ascension First-Aid: the next session
the OFFICIAL "Last Royster Thread On Pavlina Forums" thread
Not sure what global time is targeted for the site to go down.
But I got coffee and chocolate...I can wait it out.

[royster]

I gotta go feed the wood stove.

Then we can just let it roll.

Little Feat - Let It Roll (Video) - YouTube

[royster]

In 1977 during my incubation in Washington, D.C. I lived at the Copely Plaza on 17th street, N.W.. My cousins' neighbor allowed me to go into his apartment during the day to play his piano whenever I wanted to. I couldn't do much else at the time: my mind was a car wreck that would take 20 years to sweep up.

A guy I later met said sometimes he'd come strolling down Church street and hear piano music coming from somewhere. He found the basement window that opened to the sidewalk, and it was me playing the piano. He later said it sounded so much like Vince Guaraldi.

I asked, "Who's Vince Guaraldi?"


Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus and Lucy - Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown - YouTube

[royster]

Wow the numerology is kicking in: my PM count is 1051...my Mother's address in California. It was amazing that house sold in ONE WEEK.

I intend to keep the vigil, but I need to clear my browser history so I'll be shutting down for a few. if you're not here when I get back...such as it is.

edit:

Ah yes, and there it is: 974

Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 5,479

[royster]

Mentioning that D.C. stay, and my present need to have some up-life: I hitch-hiked back to Los Angeles from Florida that same year.


'Did it in 4 days.

Hitchin` A Ride - Vanity Fare - YouTube

[royster]

I related to nothuman (on another forum) that I had seen Tom Waites live at a club on the Sunset Strip. I was hammered on Black Beauties and whatever alcohol was passing in front of me. It happened that Bette Midler was in the audience and got on stage for a couple songs.

I also shared that I had been in the dressing room at the Whiskey A Go Go and actually touched Jim Morrisons' signature on the dressing room wall. I was invited there by the guy on the very left of the record cover, Louis. (Louis and I sat together to watch Tom Waites).

The Zippers were friends from the South bay and I was there in the audiance, supporting them. This selection isn't the best song they did...not by a long shot. But it's what I've got.

the zippers - he's a rebel - YouTube

[royster]

Angel Ultra ... You're So Strange ... Helter Skelter ... good times @ Under the Pier in Redondo Beach. Those were amazing days. When I watched the movie "That Thing You Do" I relived the first time they played The Zippers on KROQ! That was one of the days that defined my life during that time. Love you guys, remember you all fondly and would drive for days to see you play again!
XOXOXOX
"REN-TAR, Thing From Venus"
1 year ago

They did an awesome rendition of "Helter Skelter".

[royster]

7:14 ~ The Quaalude hour!

Bart...BART!


I'M NOT LISA by JESSI COLTER - YouTube

[royster]

To Melanie: you thought I WOULDN'T play this?


How much like RoxyRuby does this girl look like?
Melanie - Brand New Key - YouTube

[royster]

REM - Shiny Happy People + lyrics - YouTube