Love to Learn, Learn to Love.

JuicyLesson 258: Fear and Loathing … Words … Pics: of Harleys and World Cup Action … Why I Love My Mom: A Photo-Essay Which Moves …Some Random But Interesting Thoughts …

Time to move on. Forget all this peripheral stuff, stuff which falls away from the core of our essence, our meta-physical selves which may in fact represent a contradiction in terms; time to get down, as they say, to the “nitty-gritty”.
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Too bad about Milos, loser to Roger Federer in the men’s semi-final at the Wimbledon tennis championships on Friday. Milos lost in straight sets 6-4; 6-4; 6-4 and in doing so saw his record against Federer drop to 0 and 5. Now it’s up to Genie. Go. GO. GO!

And then Eugenie goes down 2 and love to Petra Kvitova. Why?

Two reasons: firstly, she was out-played, pure and simple. Bouchard appeared to be back on her heels for the first time in two weeks of matchess.

Second, she was not adequately prepared, mentally, because she allowed herself to be distracted in the period of time between her semi-final victory on Thursday and Saturday’s finals. Instead of revving herself up mentally, Eugenie wasted time sitting at press conferences and in other interviews, responding to questions about her personal life which have no bearing on her tennis game.

“Who would you most like to have a conversation with?” (Oprah Winfrey was her answer.)
“Who would you most like to have dinner with?” (Justin Bieber)
“Who would you like to play you in a movie?” (Bouchard has a fast answer to that question but all I can recall about her response which I can’t remember was that I had never even heard of the actor whom Eugenie mentioned in her answer.)

I know that Genie is only 20 years old and that this was all new ground to cover for her. But there are older people in charge who could have and should have seen to it that Bouchard’s availability to the media was restricted a lot more than it appeared to be. I don’t remember seeing one interview with Eugenie’s opponent and the eventual Wimbledon women’s champion, Petra Kvitova, during the above-mentioned time period.

I am certain that both Ms. Bouchard and her entourage have learned from their mistake and that, hopefully, there will be no repeat of this kind of unproductive behaviour. Unless the entourage wanted to teach Bouchard a lesson by letting her run all over the place during the time period leading up to the final, and I can’t really believe that, I cannot fathom another reason why she was allowed to “run around”, losing focus with every physical misstep.

In the NHL (National Ice Hockey League), it is said that when you are in the play-offs and you are edging closer and closer to winning la Coupe Stanley, you should pull out all stops and go for it, completely, totally and utterly, because you (the team, that is) may not get to that same point in the play-offs in the foreseeable future. Bouchard did not act in a manner consistent with someone who was pulling out all stops in the period before the final; can we say that she erred because she may not get this far again … I don’t think so.

For Eugenie is bound to be a tennis champ – excepting the occurrence of something cataclysmic in her life – and thus she is most likely destined to compete in many more Grand Slam finals, whether these be at Wimbledon, in France, Australia, or the United States; she should therefore have the opportunity to put all this shit behind her. She has some growing up to do, as, do also, the people who surround her and tell her what to do. Apparently, anyway.

Next, for your pleasure, is a beautiful, very poetic photo-essay entitled “All About My Mother”. It was penned by a friend, Brenda Keesal, a remarkably able young woman and an excellent writer to boot. Brenda’s words pretty much speak for themselves.

All About My Mother
By Burns the Fire

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Happy 80th, Mom! This one’s for you.

I love my mother because, no matter the challenge, she loves life.

I love my mother because she cooked gorgeous meals for our family every day, for years. I’d yell, Ma, what’s for supper? and bitch, again? before we ate, while that delicious food was her heart, warming the plate.

I love my mother because she throws a mean party. When I turned 7, she made sandwiches with cream-cheese icing and my peeps and I dressed up and ate in the dining room like grown-ups and she looked so gorgeous and glam with her black hair and smart suit and made us all feel so fancy.
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I love my mother because she taught me how to fill my life with friends and that your friends can be your family.

I love my mother because when I was little, she refused to buy me trendy clothes or a pre-fab house for my Barbies. She’d put a plastic tablecloth on the kitchen table, cover it with junk and say, make it yourself.

I love my Mom because when I woke up in with a pimple honking the tip of my nose, she let me stay home from school. I tried to fake being sick but the thermometer saw right through me. My Mom said, sometimes we just need a day off.

My mother taught me to deal with anxiety and fear. She would force me to articulate what was scaring me and then ask, so, what’s the worst that could happen? I came to understand that outside of a natural disaster, I would most likely survive.

When I turned 40, my mother told me that the 40’s are great, but the 50’s are when you really begin to feel your power. She always makes me feel good about aging. She hasn’t told me yet what 80 feels like, but I have no doubt it burns the fire.

I love that my mother never complains about growing old. A couple of years ago, I was admiring her legs, when she lifted up her top, flashed her boobs and cried out, not bad for an old lady!

My Mom inspires some of my most outrageous characters and best lines.

At the end of the premiere of my first film, she got up in front of the audience and cried out: I’m Brenda’s mother and when she first told me she was going to make a film called WANKER, I don’t have to tell you I was mortified and didn’t know what to say to my friends, but now that I’ve seen it, I can’t believe how touched I am.

I love how my mother has embraced my in-house composer as her non-Jewish son. That she loves and fights with him. That she turned him on to chicken soup and matzo balls.

My mother taught me about choosing a good man and long-term commitment to love. To go through the ups-and-downs of life, kissing and holding hands.

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My father died last year, in my mother’s arms. She gave him the best death he could ask for, and more importantly, she rocked his life.

A few days after the funeral, my mother looked at her reflection in the mirror and declared, Micki, the widow. When I cried, no, she said, that’s how people my age will see me.

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Later that night, she announced: Brenda, I’m going to entertain. That’s when I knew she was fine. Not only would she survive her loving husband’s death, she would continue to grow and thrive. As it should be, she is alive.

L’Chaim!

In celebration of all things Mom, what do you love about yours?

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Related
Love, once planted
In “Family”
I Love to Laugh
In “Humanity”
D.O.A.
In “Life & Death”

So ends a very moving and most touching tribute. Thank-you, Brenda, Very much.

Before heading to our daily dose of World Cup photos, let’s have some pics of Harley’s, both two-wheelers and trikes.

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Photos from World Cup Action on Friday and Saturday:
Friday saw Germany end French hopes for a championship by beating them 2-0, and Brazil surprised many observers by dominating Columbia by the score of 2-1.

Saturday has Argentina scheduled to play Belgium as well as Costa Rica having a date on the pitch with The Netherlands.

My record as of midnight, Friday, 04, July, is 6-4, after Argentina and Holland both won their games on Saturday, and in so doing ousted Belgium and Costa Rica respectively.

Scores on Saturday, July 5th, 2014:
Argentina 1; Belgium 0. (Got this one wrong.)
Holland 1; Costa Rica 0 (Called this one correctly.)
Thus, after what I judge to be an unsuccessful week-end in terms of my picking soccer winners, my record stands at 7 and 5.

Semi-finals are to be played on Tuesday, July 8th when Germany plays host country Brazil, and on Wednesday, July 9th when Argentina meets Holland.

My picks for these two games will be made public in Monday’s JuicyLesson.

Now for the promised pics:

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Enjoy the day.

Peace.

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