Musings - This and That...

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Saturday, December 21, 2024

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Relevant. And sad. And cowardly. But TRUE.

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How a Little Mercedes Benz Convertible Roadster Became an Automotive Icon

How many automobiles have such a pleasing, classic silhouette, they enjoy an eighteen year model run with only a few minor cosmetic changes? Not many. The Mercedes R107 is one of these classics. In fact, engines and engine size changed more than exterior styling or interior accoutrements. A host of different numeric badges may have graced the trunk lid, but the R107, in soul and spirit at least, remained virtually unchanged during its 1971-1989 production run. Collaboratively designed in the late 1960’s by Friedrich Geiger and Joseph Gallitzendörfer, the R107 began production in 1971, and impressed its stamp on the automotive landscape until 1989, when it was retired and replaced with the R129 chassis. Geiger’s influence on Mercedes automobile designs was already impressive, penning the 500K roadster, the 300SL “Gullwing,” and the predecessor to the R107, the W113 “Pagoda.” The first officially badged S Class, the W116 was also a Geiger creation, and ...

How Restoring a Car Has Helped Restore Me...

The real story behind Sebastian… On January 13th, I suffered a heart attack. Because of my strict diet and fitness routines, it was unthinkable and shocking to everyone, not least of all, me. As I lay in the hospital hooked up to tubes and monitoring machines, it was something I was quite unable to comprehend. I still struggled with the reality for several weeks afterward. I was too young, too healthy…I felt broken, and I knew the only way I was going to cope and move forward was to “fix” myself somehow, and prove to myself that I was just as healthy and capable as I was before it happened. In addition to getting back into my fitness and diet routines, I felt as if I needed something else, something more tangible, to help me work through it. I needed a project. Since December, I had been growing more and more interested in the idea of obtaining an old Mercedes, one that was old enough to have established “classic” status, but in decent ...

"It's not about the destination, it's about the journey..."

This is a wonderful life lesson...perhaps one of the best any of us can ever learn, that I was reminded of today...brought to you by Subaru, Mountain House Bar and Grill, Fisher's Towing, and Texas Roadhouse.. Our destination was a friends' wedding. It was being held at a beautiful family property and cabin in rural Pennsylvania. It was requested that everyone dress casually for a country setting, which was refreshing and even fun to anticipate. So, we were in jeans...which was advantageous for us, although for reasons other than we originally thought. We were deeply sorry that we missed the wedding, as we had been looking forward to it for some time. But here is where the lesson comes in... We managed to make the best of things, laugh off the day's mishaps, and in the end, we actually had fun. It was a weird, unexpected, left field demented kind of fun, but it was fun, just the same. Jess' car broke down at the crest of the steep mountain we were driving over...

Lost Souls - Excerpt - "The SMACK!"

Lost Souls - Excerpt - "The SMACK!" Still feeling a little restless from the night before, James quietly snuck out of the room. He wanted a quiet place to think. The door to Edward’s study creaked a bit as he pushed it open. He didn’t notice Gabriel’s father standing in front of the window until he was too far into the room to back out; Edward turned around and motioned him in. “Sorry, Sir…I was just looking for a quiet place to sit for a moment, but I don’t want to disturb you…” “It’s perfectly alright…come on in, son…I want to talk to you, anyway.” James closed the door and slumped down on the sofa. “Yes, Sir?” “What’s with this ‘Sir’ business? It’s Edward…or Dad, if you wish. I don’t mind. Are you close with your own father, James?” “He passed away some time ago, but no, I wasn’t really close to him. I suppose you could say I was a disappointment to him…not the son he wanted.” “He didn’t know you like I do, then. Don’t misunderstand me…I love both my sons, and Bryc...

"Old Money"

"Old Money"...What is it, and Why are These People so Fascinating? “Old Money.” We’ve all heard the term, more often than not, from television shows, movies...and we’ve come away with a picture in our head of large, manor-like homes, butlers, a chauffeur, elegant dinner parties, summers on the French Riviera or in the Hamptons, Ivy League schools, and a big Airedale Terrier that accompanies the privileged on outings to hunt quail, or duck...because Old Money doesn’t hunt deer, in the woods; they just don’t. All of these images could, and sometimes are, very true to point...sometimes. But this is not the traditional Old Money aesthetic, or way of living...not always, at least. See a little contradiction, here? Good. That means you’re paying attention. Old Money can just as easily be found living in a more modest but perfectly maintained home in a more modest neighborhood...a GOOD neighborhood, where everyone’s lawn stays mowed, door...

Growing Up Gay...Confessions of a Misfit Who Finally Found His Way...

I never opened a door. I never had a "coming out" party. I never needed to. I just WAS. I knew when I was five. I didn't know what it was called at that age, but I knew I was different. I am glad I am different. It wasn't easy. There was a lot of desertion, isolation, and a lot of bullying. It hurt. It hurt like hell. The cruelest humans on earth can be kids, because along with their innocence comes the inability to understand complex human feelings the way adults can. So, they say things. They throw things. They hit you. Trip you on the bus. Make you find new, inventive ways to avoid going to class, and then to school altogether. The Librarian became my friend, and provided me safe harbor. I think she understood. Maybe she had been like me at that age. But I learned a lot about culture, art, music, the beauty in the world, in that library. All of those things happened. And it's okay, because it taught me very valuable life lessons. Most of my teenage years wer...

A Tribute to Bradley Oliver Twist...

April 12, 2022 Littlest Angel, It’s very late…sometime after 1:00 am. I can’t sleep. Duncan and Barclay are tucked into bed, and the house is very still, dark, and quiet. We’ve only been apart for a few hours, but I can’t yet let go, although I know I already did. I always knew it would happen quickly, and I would have to make a very difficult decision in a very short span of time. But, when I brought you home, as I have done with all of you babies, I made you a promise that first night, at only eight weeks old, that when it was time, however many years later, we would decide together, and I would be there holding you until the end. It’s the last great act of love I could have shown any of you, and fortunately, it’s a promise I’ve been able to keep with you, Missy, JJ, and little Fritz. The last thing I wanted you to feel was my touch, and to hear was my voice, soothing you just as I did in the car on our way home for the first...

When Your Own Body Lets You Down - Regaining Trust in the Most Important Relationship in Your Life

“Don’t Ever Tell Me the Odds. I Refuse to be Another Statistic. Statistics Are For the Weak.” They say the five stages of grief are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally…Acceptance. But you don’t always experience just one stage at a time. If you’re a perfectionist, an OCD personality who, like an archeologist, digs for clues and answers with religious fervor until uncovering the truth, those stages may overlap. For me, I am currently drifting back and forth between Denial, Anger, and Bargaining, all at once…like the tides that ebb and flow…just like the same tides that are synchronized to the mysterious moon as it waxes and wanes, just as those same tides govern my Cancerian personality and its own ebbs and flows. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me. It wasn’t EVER supposed to happen to ME. I am the guy who watches his weight. I’m the guy who works out on average of two hours a day. I’m the guy who can run on t...

Become Obsessed with Upgrading your life - You Deserve Everything...

“My life didn’t please me, so I created my life.” - Coco Chanel I stumbled across this on IG, and at first, was reticent to post it, because at first glance, it could be viewed or interpreted the wrong way. Then I thought on it again, and decided I loved the honesty of it. You know, when I began writing "Lost Souls" in 2016, I ended up going on a journey of my own that was unexpected but one that turned out to be perhaps the most important of my life. James and Gabriel, through their story, taught me so much about myself; as they evolved as characters, and people, so did I. Their story, and the book itself, is just as much about open-mindedness as it is about love, which makes perfect sense, since I believe one has to exist to have the other. Gabriel's hesitancy to trust did not stop him from letting James in, once he knew he could trust him. James didn't let falling in love with the son and heir to one of the wealthiest and most respected ...

"The Rock I'm Rockin'...I Bought it...I Depend on Me..."

People who have been single for too long are the hardest to love…they have become so used to being single, independent, and self-sufficient, that it takes something extraordinary to convince them that they need you in their life… “I would have married you, you know…” I heard those words back in 2001. They have haunted me every day since, and will continue to haunt me every new day, for the rest of my life. They say you spend your adulthood trying to escape, and then finally just cope with, childhood traumas. But the traumas don’t stop once you’re an adult; new, adulthood traumas occur, and then suddenly you have those to deal with, too. I had true love, once…the very first time. I’ve always considered myself lucky the first time really was true love; most aren’t so lucky. It was this love who also said they would have married me…but it didn’t happen. The second time around, I thought it was true love, but it was the farthest from it. But, when i...

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