EIGHTH POST: A New Year Is Coming....

     Hello readers.  As most of you know, a New Year is coming in at the end of this week.  Some people make resolutions of things that they want to do in 2011.  In my experience, resolutions do NOT work.  They are made to be broken. After many years of this, I decided not to make resolutions. Instead, I decided to make goals that I need to accomplish before December 31, 2011 at 11:59:59.  That way, if I mess up the first day, I have 364 days left to try and "git 'er done!"
    Here is my list for 2011....

1) Lose weight.   You know that had to be at the top. I have to lose some more more weight because...well, read Blog #6. All the details and reason is in there.  (By the way, I am down to 30 pounds to go.)

2) Write a book.  If this was a combination of a car and a resolution, it would have been an "every year breakdown."  I'm not sure what the book will be, but hopefully it will be a good one.  By 2012, it should be published.

3) Take a trip.  It has been a while since I have been on a trip anywhere.  It would be nice to see friends and family members.  I have a list of people I should visit.  We'll see.

4) Do better with Christmas cards.  This may have been a downfall in your year too.  For me, it has been a real failure. So I hope to be more organized in the next year. I might even get a "newsletter" in there too. I also want to better in the K.I.T. department.  For those that don't know, K.I.T. stands for "Keeping in Touch."

5) Blog more.  I haven't written many blogs in 3 months. Critics might think my percentage of "blog entry" is ridiculous.  All I can say is cut me some slack.  Wait till next year.

   It is my hope that everyone has many blessings in 2011.  I also hope that if you make resolutions, you try hard to keep them. Finally, if you decide to make goals, I hope you accomplish them.  It doesn't matter  you make a wonderful list or a wimpy list, they are your goals.

That's all for now.  Take Care and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

SEVENTH POST: Actors, Get A Journal

      I have been involved in theatre for a long time. This is one thing I wish I did earlier as an actor.  Lots of times, an actor or actress wants everyone on the cast and crew to sign his/her program.  Many times, the program does not allow for everyone to write all they want to say. There isn't enough space.  It could be caused by two things. 1) The printing of the program that doesn't allow a certain amount of space to be used to write anything. 2) Some people "write a book" or write too big.
     My suggestion to you is this...get a journal.  This way, people will have a lot of space to write as much as they want.  You can be guaranteed to get everyone in the cast and crew to sign it.  How can you go wrong. You can't.
     So if you want everyone in the cast, crew, makeup people, director, etc. to sign, get a journal.  Make sure you put the title of the production, and when it was performed.  You might want to stick some programs in there.  Who knows?  If you stick with performing, you could fill a journal with many shows in it.

     That's all for now...Take Care and Break A Leg.

SIXTH POST: A Christmas Gift

      Hello.  It's been a while since I have blogged.  Lots has happened.  A person in my family wanted an unusual Christmas gift.  Can you guess what it is?....Okay. Time's up.  This family member wanted me to weigh a certain amount by Christmas.  What do you think?

     Well, anyway, I weighed myself today, and I am happy with myself.  I have less than 35 pounds to go.  Of course, you know it might seem impossible to lose that much by December 25.  But I do plan to get that gift to this family member. Have you ever given a late Christmas gift to anyone before? 

     I will keep you updated and let you know whether this family member got the gift or not.

    That's all for now...Take care.

FIFTH POST: Oh Happy Day!!!

I hope, Tall Tom's Blogs readers, you had voted today.  If you didn't, I can understand that too.  It seems very frustrating up to today to pick the candidate you want when you are swamped with TV ads, political "junk mail," phone calls, etc. for months.  As  I said in my last blog, "There has to be a happy-medium somewhere."  Maybe that is an issue that our legislators should work out before the next election.

Anyway, I was happy when this day came.  I think there were others too. I was so happy that I was singing, "Amen."  The words are easy to memorize....A-a-a-men, A-a-a-men, A-a-men, A-men, A-men. I was that happy.

I voted.  For those that haven't, they have a  different way to take your vote.  First, they have to make sure you are who you say you are first.  Next, after you have signed your name (and it looks like the way you signed your driver's license), you get this 11 x 17 paper with all the candidates.  Then, you go stand at a small "cubicle" and fill in the circles next to the candidate you want to vote for with a marker.  If you remember the "IOWA Testing" they gave in school, you would know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you might think of it as filling out a LOTTO card.  (I made sure that I stayed within the boundaries of the circle.)

Finally, you slip it in to a big machine that scans it.  It looks over your ballot.  If you made some kind of error, it will spit it back at you.  (Hopefully, the machine was a little lenient on voters who went a little outside the circle.)  However if you are successful, the machine will tell you and keep your ballot.

I miss the old way.  It was a much simpler time. All you had to do was open a curtain, step inside, close the curtain, press a lever till you saw an 'X", and open a curtain.  Nobody knew how you voted,  You were done.

So now that the election is over, sing with me....Oh Happy Day!!...Oh Happy Day-ee-yeah!!!

That's all for now....Take care.

FOURTH POST: It's An Election Year

   Hello Tall Tom's Blogs readers!! Hope all is well with you.  I hope you are all holding up in this election year.  It seems that around this time EVERY year, it's an election year. I also hate to say it, but these politicians make telemarketers look like angels.   And I get tired of it. Here are the reasons why.

1) I get calls all the time about why I should vote for this candidate and not the other.  Most of the time, it is recorded or someone other than the candidate themselves.

2)  When I talk to someone human, they are asking me if they can count on my vote for a candidate.  Talk about put on the spot.  At times, I wanted to answer this question, "It depends on how many times he calls my house."  Never have though.

3)  I see too many ads about a candidate.  Most of them not positive, and most of them not nice.

4)  I also get "junk mail" too about a candidate.  I get enough of that.  I'm not sure which is the lesser of two evils...bills or this "junk mail."

5) I get calls from candidates who want me to vote for them in a primary.  I am tired of this because usually the primaries deal with Republicans and Democrats.  I am not either of those.  So why call me?

Are you tired of this too?  If you are read on....I have thought about ways to lessen this.  It may be a losing battle, but worth a try.

1) If you have an answering machine, make the announcement that states if you are calling to get your vote, hang up now.

2) Send all their junk mail back, and request to not send any more.

3) I have considered telling the campaigner that depending on the number of calls I get, you don't have to count on my vote.  You never know with the type of communication the campaign headquarters has.  I mean, what are the chances of you having to answer the same question, "Can so-and-so count on your vote?" to only ONE person?  You would think after the first time you answer it, the peeps at HQ would relay the message to the rest of the peeps at HQ not to call because someone has the answer to that question already.
Do you know what I mean?

Anyway, you can see from all this that I am pretty annoyed with this process. There has to be a "happy-medium" somewhere. If you are as annoyed as I am, (in the words of Bill Clinton) I feel your pain.

I'm Tall Tom...and I hope you approve this message.

That's all for now....Take Care.

THIRD POST: Ever Wonder?

You remember I said something about a post I was trying to publish?  Here it is....

This was an email I got some time ago...Hope you like it, and see if you ever asked yourselves these questions.... Maybe, and maybe not....

• Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

• If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

• If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of coconut, why can't he fix hole a in a boat?

• Why does Goofy stand, while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

• If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme stuff, why didn't he just buy dinner?

• If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

• Is Disney World the only people trap operated by a mouse?

• Why do the Alphabet song andTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

• Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out thewindow?

• Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

That's all for now...Take care.

SECOND POST: Blogging Can Be Frustrating!!

The process of blogging has become somewhat frustating!  There are times I want to scrap this.  I have tried many times to put a post on, and it doesn't do it.  I try finding my "draft posts" and sometimes they don't appear.  I have one post I know I wanted published, but it does not appear.  I hope I can straighten this all out.

That's all for now...Take care.

MY FIRST POST -- HELLO AND WELCOME!

Welcome to TALL TOM'S BLOG!!!  I hope that my blog will be helpful, humorous, and makes you think at times.  WARNING: YOU MAY NOT AGREE WITH EVERYTHING I POST. YOU MAY LIKE IT (I HOPE YOU DO) OR MAY NOT.....that's okay.  I might not agree with everything you post either. As long as we can "agree to disagree," in that situation, everything and everybody will be fine.

   Thank you....that's all for now.  Take care.