Tuesday, December 03, 2024
HUMOR - VINCE'S ALARM
By Donovan Baldwin
I'm watching something on TV and it reminds me of one of my first days at Florida State University (FSU) in 1965.
My roommate turned out to be a friendly guy named Vince. We had a couple of days before classes started, so, we got up when we felt like it. Then came the evening before our first day of classes.
We both had to get up early and I told Vince I would set my alarm but I was worried about oversleeping. He told me not to worry about it because there was no way we could sleep through his alarm.
So, we went to sleep with his alarm set.
The way these dorm rooms, in Kellum Hall, were designed, one side had an elevated bunk with a bookcase and desk below it. The other bunk, on the other side of the room, was built to fit under the upper bunk in the next room.
I was in the lower bunk.
It should be mentioned that Vince warned me that he was very hard to wake up, and that's why he had such a good alarm.
My roommate turned out to be a friendly guy named Vince. We had a couple of days before classes started, so, we got up when we felt like it. Then came the evening before our first day of classes.
We both had to get up early and I told Vince I would set my alarm but I was worried about oversleeping. He told me not to worry about it because there was no way we could sleep through his alarm.
So, we went to sleep with his alarm set.
The way these dorm rooms, in Kellum Hall, were designed, one side had an elevated bunk with a bookcase and desk below it. The other bunk, on the other side of the room, was built to fit under the upper bunk in the next room.
I was in the lower bunk.
It should be mentioned that Vince warned me that he was very hard to wake up, and that's why he had such a good alarm.
I use the word "good" very loosely.
At the appointed time in the morning, Nazi rockets began exploding in London...or...to put it another way, Vince's alarm on the window sill went off.
I woke up in the air with my face and body inches from the panel above my bunk. I had made a convulsive leap as a result of the horror that had been unleashed on the room.
The alarm continued to ring.
Eventually, I saw an arm fall over the side of the upper bunk and grope blindly for the still-screaming alarm. As you might have guessed by now, the waving hand knocked the alarm off the window sill and onto the tile floor which helped project the sound upward and outward, filling the room, and my head, with pain.
I saw Vince's leg, drape over the edge of the bunk and feel for the step down. He virtually "fell" out of bed, winding up on hands and knees on the floor where he crawled under the table, found the alarm, and, after a couple of attempts, managed to shut it off.
It wasn't until the alarm was off that I realized my heart was still pounding from the shock and awe of Vince's alarm.
Eventually, I learned to wake up without defying gravity, but, I have a suspicion that some of my hearing loss in later years might be traced to Vince's alarm.
At the appointed time in the morning, Nazi rockets began exploding in London...or...to put it another way, Vince's alarm on the window sill went off.
I woke up in the air with my face and body inches from the panel above my bunk. I had made a convulsive leap as a result of the horror that had been unleashed on the room.
The alarm continued to ring.
Eventually, I saw an arm fall over the side of the upper bunk and grope blindly for the still-screaming alarm. As you might have guessed by now, the waving hand knocked the alarm off the window sill and onto the tile floor which helped project the sound upward and outward, filling the room, and my head, with pain.
I saw Vince's leg, drape over the edge of the bunk and feel for the step down. He virtually "fell" out of bed, winding up on hands and knees on the floor where he crawled under the table, found the alarm, and, after a couple of attempts, managed to shut it off.
It wasn't until the alarm was off that I realized my heart was still pounding from the shock and awe of Vince's alarm.
Eventually, I learned to wake up without defying gravity, but, I have a suspicion that some of my hearing loss in later years might be traced to Vince's alarm.
Labels: alarm clock, donovan baldwin, Florida State University, humor, Kellum
Sunday, August 19, 2018
I Write Poetry... At Least I Claim I Do
By: Donovan Baldwin
I write poetry.
At least I claim I do.
Sometimes it appears as philosophy, commentary, sometimes humor, sometimes just a feeling which must be let out upon the unsuspecting world... or, at least, out of the captivity of my mind.
Most people "get" the fact that poems, poetry, may be whimsy, may even bending, sometimes, like fantasy, breaking the bonds and bounds of reality.
It's about the words, the flow, the rhythm, the feelings, sometimes deep, sometimes fleeting and hard to identify, the thought behind the thought, the image, the statement of, or misstatement of, the "facts".
In a poem, the "facts" are what the poet sees, or imagines seeing, who, like an impressionist, may "see" an image, not as others see it, but, as it appears to the poet... which can sometimes be damned impossible to put into words.
But, we try. That attempt is poetry, a poem, even incomplete or just a few lines of the initial thought (of which I have several notebooks and pieces of paper) just as some brush strokes on a canvas, or chisel marks on a block of stone are a painting or sculpture... which, though conceived, might not have been born... yet.
Often, when we ARE finished,.. and we never TRULY are, we can look at our creation and see pretty clearly our "message" or madness, whatever it was we were trying to "paint", but, sometimes the reader just does not, CANNOT, "see" what we do... as a viewer in a museum may turn their head partly upside down trying to see what the painter was trying to "draw".
Problem with painters and poets, we don't always "see" things as they "really" are... or, do we?
Read more of my poetry at http://ravensong.mysite.com or find my articles at http://ezinearticles.com/expert/Donovan_Baldwin/19345.
I write poetry.
At least I claim I do.
Sometimes it appears as philosophy, commentary, sometimes humor, sometimes just a feeling which must be let out upon the unsuspecting world... or, at least, out of the captivity of my mind.
Most people "get" the fact that poems, poetry, may be whimsy, may even bending, sometimes, like fantasy, breaking the bonds and bounds of reality.
It's about the words, the flow, the rhythm, the feelings, sometimes deep, sometimes fleeting and hard to identify, the thought behind the thought, the image, the statement of, or misstatement of, the "facts".
In a poem, the "facts" are what the poet sees, or imagines seeing, who, like an impressionist, may "see" an image, not as others see it, but, as it appears to the poet... which can sometimes be damned impossible to put into words.
But, we try. That attempt is poetry, a poem, even incomplete or just a few lines of the initial thought (of which I have several notebooks and pieces of paper) just as some brush strokes on a canvas, or chisel marks on a block of stone are a painting or sculpture... which, though conceived, might not have been born... yet.
Often, when we ARE finished,.. and we never TRULY are, we can look at our creation and see pretty clearly our "message" or madness, whatever it was we were trying to "paint", but, sometimes the reader just does not, CANNOT, "see" what we do... as a viewer in a museum may turn their head partly upside down trying to see what the painter was trying to "draw".
Problem with painters and poets, we don't always "see" things as they "really" are... or, do we?
Read more of my poetry at http://ravensong.mysite.com or find my articles at http://ezinearticles.com/expert/Donovan_Baldwin/19345.
Labels: art, commentary, donovan baldwin, humor, impressionist, philosophy, poem, poet, poetry, writing poetry
Thursday, September 07, 2017
Knowing The Facts or The Secret Of Kevin's Glasses
By: Donovan Baldwin
When I used to teach truck driving, Monday of the first week was spent doing paperwork, and giving some orientation on company policies, what would be happening, and some basic classes to prepare students for their in-truck training.
We in-truck instructors would meet our assigned students, two or three to an instructor, on Tuesday. We instructors would walk in the classroom, identify our students, and take them down to the cafeteria for a little conversation before leading them out to the truck for training.
Students were nervous, even afraid, some terrified, and we all had different methods for relaxing them and breaking the ice.
One instructor, Kevin, had found and old pair of exceedingly thick glasses. When we entered the room, he would be wearing them, holding on to the wall for guidance, and being "helped" by the other instructors.
The students, most of whom were already at some level of terror, and not knowing really what to expect from a bunch of "truck drivers" would get the most horrified looks on their faces, wondering who was going to get the, apparently, nearly blind instructor.
We would let the joke run until Kevin picked his students, and then, after letting them "stew" for a moment, and the other students breathe a sigh of relief, we would reveal the truth. Usually got a good laugh...especially from Kevin's students.
Often in life, even if we are not happy with everything that's going on in our lives, at least knowing the truth can make us feel a little better. It's easier to deal with most things when we have the facts.
So much non-fact information is made available in our world today. Instead of just getting angrier and more terrified, maybe taking the time to check facts might help us remain a bit calmer.
Anyway, it's easier to cope with, and, make decisions about, a situation when you know the facts rather than acting on uncertain information.
I guess, in a way, Kevin's thick glasses made some things a bit clearer.
We in-truck instructors would meet our assigned students, two or three to an instructor, on Tuesday. We instructors would walk in the classroom, identify our students, and take them down to the cafeteria for a little conversation before leading them out to the truck for training.
Students were nervous, even afraid, some terrified, and we all had different methods for relaxing them and breaking the ice.
One instructor, Kevin, had found and old pair of exceedingly thick glasses. When we entered the room, he would be wearing them, holding on to the wall for guidance, and being "helped" by the other instructors.
The students, most of whom were already at some level of terror, and not knowing really what to expect from a bunch of "truck drivers" would get the most horrified looks on their faces, wondering who was going to get the, apparently, nearly blind instructor.
We would let the joke run until Kevin picked his students, and then, after letting them "stew" for a moment, and the other students breathe a sigh of relief, we would reveal the truth. Usually got a good laugh...especially from Kevin's students.
Often in life, even if we are not happy with everything that's going on in our lives, at least knowing the truth can make us feel a little better. It's easier to deal with most things when we have the facts.
So much non-fact information is made available in our world today. Instead of just getting angrier and more terrified, maybe taking the time to check facts might help us remain a bit calmer.
Anyway, it's easier to cope with, and, make decisions about, a situation when you know the facts rather than acting on uncertain information.
I guess, in a way, Kevin's thick glasses made some things a bit clearer.
Labels: donovan baldwin, humor, truck, truck driving, truck driving instruction
