A Tribute to John Lennon

GIVE ME SOME TRUTH - WRITTEN BY LARRY W. OLDHAM c2007

A letter from John Lennon on the other side.

Stuck in a parallel world waiting to be received in Heaven

or Hell.

You might say I am in limbo. While waiting for my number

to be announced, let's talk. Talking has always been my

forte' and I am not one to keep my opinion to myself.

What is death like you ask?

I don't know. I was walking back to my apartment in the

Dakota's in New York and now I am here. I know I must be

dead, because I am not with me family daily. I have no

set routine.

I am just here. It was night time and it was dark. Now

it is dark all the time.

I have no memory of how I died or if I died. I constantly

question this and roll it over in my mind asking myself what

and why.

I would hate to think that I was killed by a looney with

a pop gun in New York City. I would be just another statistic.

Another bloke shot in the city replaced the next day

by the news of some other bloke shot up. I have no recall

of what happened that night, but I totally remember me own

life.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. I remember the turmoil of

searching for Peace. I remember finding personal peace,

but World Peace seemed to elude me constantly and I

don't ever remember the World Peace issue being resolved.

I hope I am wrong. I hope that total peace surrounds the

world and that some of the work that me and my mates did

helped to create a peaceful setting.

Let's talk about death. Death view...Life View. You might

have read some of the books that I wrote before I ...I...

what? Died? Escaped? left the world? I don't even know the

correct answer myself. I really don't even know where

I am right now. You are here. I am here. So what's next?

What is left for you in your life? What words of wisdom

could I bestow upon you to make you happy or give you hope,

or make you understand where I was coming from, or where

I am coming from now?

What else could I have done? Why does it matter? Why does

what I had to say matter to you? I gave you truth. Can my

truth help save you?

Can my truth help to make your world better? Can you take

the truth and help the world, the whole world become a better

place to live? If it is not your place to help, whose place

is it?

Give me some truth. I always tried to give you some truth.

Why did people hate me? Why did people condemn me? What

did I do to make people not trust me? Was it because I

lived my life like I wanted to live it. Free.

My lifestyle presented itself because I earned the right to

live as I pleased by being in a rock band...a successful rock

band by the world's standards. My paycheck afforded me the

right to do as I damn well pleased. Live like I wanted to live.
'
For this I should be ridiculed, condemned, and maybe even shot

and killed? Did I cross some boundary? Was my outspoken

words a condemnation of the life choice of all the people

around me?

Did some people get it and some people just not understand it?

I didn't feel superior to anyone. I felt normal. I said here is

the truth...for me. If you can jump on my bandwagon

(no pun intended) please do so and welcome aboard mate.

I never intended to hurt anyone or push my belief on anyone.

By the same token, I never ask anyone to live up to my

standards. I had no standards. I was only popular because

you made me popular.

I didn't feel like a Christ figure. You held me up to

your standards,and treated me like a Christ figure. I would

have been content to be a simple lad from England who did

an O.K.job of playing me guitar. Don't get me wrong.

I loved the adoration.

It was a bit overboard don't you think? I gave up me

privacy. Me whole life became an open book for the world's

reading pleasure. You stripped me of any singular private

life and put me up on a pedestal of love for your own

personal enjoyment. I enriched your life. I gave you my

heart in song.

You were grateful. You rewarded me over and over again.

Not only with money and material wealth, I did not have to

have all of that to survive you know, but with worldwide

fame that could never end. All of this made my life and

those around me happy on some days and depressed on other

days.

I could not walk down the street or walk in

the park unless I was covered up in some disguise. Don't

get me wrong, I have an ego..I wrote some pretty damn

good songs, well me and that other fella. I never wanted

fame. Maybe when I was younger and thinking I will never

be famous. I did want a platform. A soapbox to stand on

and tell the world, we can do this, we can make a difference.

You can do it.

You can make a difference.Work with me. Help me. Let's make

the world a happy place to live in. Let's live

together in harmony. Let's give peace a chance. I still

think it would work.

But the problem is this. We can't control all the people

in the world. We can only control our own world. If we could

only bring peace to ourselves one at a time...don't you think

that sooner or later that this would equate into world peace?

Am I just living in my own utopia mindset?

Do any of you think this world peace thing could become

a reality?

Are you working toward world peace everyday? Did you

work for world peace today? Am I just wasting my time

here? I would kill for a smoke. Oops, I forgot.

Killing is not part of my world peace plan. Let me

say this also. I didn't set out to

change the world. I only set out to play music and

have some fun.

I wanted to be successful in the caverns. I wanted

to be successful in the states. I wanted to entertain

the people, not scare people away. I only wanted peace.

I only wanted to plant the seed.

I only wanted to give the people some truth.

Welcome to The Larry Oldham for President WebSite

Welcome to The Larry Oldham for President WebSite

The Parking Ticket

Everyone wants to support downtown and being a Danvillian
I feel the same way. Last week I went downtown to meet some
friends for lunch.Since it was lunch time there were very
few parking spaces located on Main Street. I saw one opening,
however, the car parked behind was over the white line.
There was room enough to park, but the car in front was also
parked over the white line, since the previous driver also
had had to park over the line. My initial thought was
if I get a ticket, all of us will get a ticket because
someone before me had misjudged their parking angles.

Much to my chagrin, as I returned to my car I noticed that
the other two cars had already moved, leaving my car all
alone and over the white line. In retrospect, I should
have never parked in that spot, I should have just driven
around until I found a good slot, because when I returned,
I had received a parking ticket for parking over the white lines.
The ticket giver was up the street and I proceeded to tell
her my tale ,and even though she might have been sympathetic,
her hands were tied because of city hall. They would not allow
any adjustments by her, but, I could go before some tribunal,
fill out some forms, let them have their conference and if
deemed fitting, I might be exonerated or made to pay the fine.
The fine was only $10.00 and I had only 5 days in which to pay it.
I had to get back to work , so I wrote a check , put on a
stamp , sent in the payment, and sat down to write my saga.
As I told the ticket giver, I had discovered downtown and it
cost me $10.00. My gut feeling is that I will go back to the
mall or another city restaurant, with my clients and friends,
and leave downtown restaurants to fend for themselves. As an aside,
I visited many of the downtown shops later to find out that a
lot of downtown merchants park on Main Street and every two hours
go out and move their car to another location in order to miss
the wrath of the downtown ticket giver. I hope this is
not true and that all of them were pulling my leg. Surely
if they all know , then the ticket giver must know, and if
that is the accepted rule, then can we either make a rule for
me as a first time violater and give me my money back, or how
about this unique idea....Free Parking for everyone even if
you park over the white lines. This is not a new concept.
Piedmont Mall has had this for years.
Hmmm, could there be some correlation between free parking
and doing business, or taking up the parking spaces with
merchants cars and giving tickets for going over the white
lines , whether or not it was your fault.
I could be wrong....but I am betting that Coleman Place does
some business, unless they start giving parking violations.

Fireworks made for Love

July 4th is over thank the good lord. My fiance'
has covered every fireworks opportunity that she
could find. Thursday night was 2 and 1/2 hours and
then Friday night on the 4th was 3 or 4 hours and
I am here to tell you I was hot, my butt hurt from
sitting on the ground and my neck hurt from looking
up at the sky all night. On top of that the fireworks
that I see all looks the same to me every time and
I just can't see the beauty in it. But I guess it is
better than parades. If she sees a parade anywhere
we have got to stop and watch every float, bike,
car, band, and clown in that parade. Don't get me
wrong, I do it because it is the thing to do to make
her happy, but it is not my most favorite thing to
do. Both of them makes her happy, so I am happy.
What a man has to do for Love.

What is the Deal with Cell Phones?

My first cell phone was in a bag and cost me $600.00
I bought it for my business and used it pretty much
for business calls. It was extremely helpful for finding
customers if lost, setting up appointments on the road,
or calling back to the business for quick responses or
to get a job started before I returned. Today I see toddlers
walking around talking to other toddlers about cream of
chicken soup, or today I saw a teenager holding a sign as
an advertisement for a going out of business sale on a
busy downtown street talking on his cell phone holding the
sign, and two hours later as I rode by he was still talking
on the phone. I mean as a teenager I talked on my parents
land line phone for an hour to some girl about nothing, but
that phone time was included in the bill. On a cell phone
you are charged by the minute. People in malls, people at
work, people in the grocery store, people everywhere are
on their cell phones. What could they possibly have to
talk about? When they left home, did they tell the person
there I will call you when I get in the car, to the mall,
at the grocery store? Did they forget what groceries they
went after? I just don't understand what these same people
did 20 years ago as they bought groceries, sat at work,or
waited at the pharmacy for their medicine. What are they
talking about now? Old people, young people, all ages of
people talking on their cell phone. I badly want to walk
up to them and just ask them. Hey what could be so important
that you would be buying groceries and shooting the bull
on your cell. What did you do before portable phones? I
know no one would answer me. I waited in line at McDonald's
the other day for a few minutes while the clerk answered
his cell phone. From what I could decipher, he and Joey
somebody were going to the mall after work. And don't get
me started about the people in the theatre's who have
to plan their shopping list with their grandmother while
watching the movie sitting directly behind me. I say ban
all cell phones in public places or learn to be courteous
for others sake and take it outside. This is just one
man's opinion..I could be wrong but I'm not.

Natural Progression of the World

Let me just say up front I have never seen
American Idol. I know it is popular, because
there is always something about it in the paper,
which I do read. It bothers me that people are
leaving the art of reading,ie. the paper, books,
anything. Of course people are still reading the
Web, either forwards, jokes, maybe even some of
the news headlines, or maybe at least the Hollywood
Reports about the major stars.
There was a news item on the web last week that
said that all the ISP's were getting together to
decide how to charge people to use the internet.
They hope to have all this worked out by 2012.
If we have to start paying fees to go to various
web sites, many people will have to decide on
whether they want to buy food that week, gasoline
for their vehicle, or go on the internet. To me
that is sad. To the world,I guess this is natural
progression of things. In any case it does
not seem as if we have any control, so we will
all sit back and wait for our final destination.
More than likely internet free if they start
charging us.

Days of Old

My father told me when I was young that the
world was changing too fast and that he sure
did miss the old days. Things were different
back then he use to say. Sometimes he would
digress about how things were different and
I would moan and say "oh no, not these stories
again".
Now I catch myself doing the same thing with
my children.
DIVORCE; In the fifties people who got divorced
wore a scarlet D on their forehead. They were
marked by people. Society frowned on the idea
of divorce and criticized those kind of people.
HOMOSEXUALITY; I am not homophobic, but I cannot
imagine people in the fifties accepting the idea
of same sex marriages.
POLICE in schools, RESTAURANTS banning people
from smoking.
People KILLING people for no apparent reason
except they made them mad.
MOTHERS killing their children.
The list goes on and on. What is my point?
My point is that in every generation we think that
the good ole' days were the good ole' days.
We as a society are becoming more accepting of
anything goes. My father felt the same when I
grew my hair long, wore beads, and listened to
Led Zeppelin. So for me I look at the world we
are becoming and become more judgmental.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS; is taking over for right
or wrong. I am as liberal as the next man, well
maybe not as liberal, I but I am catching on about
the good ole' days syndrome.
Things were different 40 or 50 years ago.
Better, cheaper, easier? It is all in the mind's
eye. What works for some does not work for others.
If you are happily divorced, merrily gay, contented
with smoking, or don't mind having a policeman
stationed at your school, maybe today's rules
are OK. However, when you have lived in both world's
and had the quiet life with no marches, no political
correctness, and brought up as children who were to
be seen and not heard, things were quite different.
I am a grown up. I pay my taxes. I accept society's
changes. But the good ole' days are starting to look
pretty darn good. Don't worry though. WE will never
go back to 30 cents for gas, 25 cents for a pack of
cigarettes, or a nickel for a coke. Maybe I am wrong
but things sure seemed easier and cheaper in the
good ole' days...and I have become my father.

Hooters

Madam Rumor tells me that there is a Hooter's
coming to town. To be honest with you, I don't know if I am happy or
sad. On the one hand, I am glad we are getting a new restaurant
in town. Somewhere different to eat. My girlfriend says yeah,
that's about like you telling me that you read a certain girlie
magazine just for the stories.
Many of you have been to Hooters, I suppose. I hear the waitresses
wear skimpy outfits, with the tops being too low and the skirts
being too high. I personally would not know. I have never been
to a Hooters. Everything that I have heard about the restaurant
has been about the women. No one ever mentions food. They do have
food don't they? I can tell you right now my girlfriend is not
going to be wanting me staring at any girl's hooters or short
skirts. She and I have talked about this at length. No pun intended.
Her argument is this. What if there was a restaurant for women
called Torso's or T-Tops, or Briefs?
She says, would you want me to go there to eat? Would you want to
go with me ? Would you want me to be staring at some strange man
with spandex underwear while you are trying to eat your steak?
When you put it like that , it does sound repulsive. I was only
going to Hooter's and taking you with me, so that the Hooter
girls could see how beautiful you are, I say.
My intentions were never to go in there and gawk at those girls.
Pretty much this approach did not work either and that is why I
am saddened by the fact that Hooters may come to town and I will
be close, but probably will never enter the door.
It is sort of like the Garden of Eden.
You can look at the apple, just don't try to partake of it.

Yes, dear.

Ex - Wives

Let me tell you what I know about ex-wives. I've
got too many. Don't get me wrong. I liked all of
them. I liked them when I married them and I liked
them when they were gone. All of the ex-wives get
along with me just fine. I even have a photo of
the three of them together. I call it the First
Wives club photo meeting without the chairman
of the board, if you know what I mean. All of the
ex-wives talk to me and I even have dinner with
them on occasion, although not all together. We
also share info about our families when news
changes. It is just as easy to have a friendship
after the marriage as it is to have a hateful
relationship and be at each other's throat. Don't
get me wrong. I don't want to re-marry any of
them, but I did like them before I married them,
and why not treat them the same way today. Many
people do not understand my relationship with
the exes.
That really does not bother me because I know
where my heart lies, and maintaining stability
with the exes makes more sense than not doing
it. The children enjoy a respectable relationship
without fussing and fighting or name calling. The
wives that I didn't have children with, I don't
see or speak to them as often. When I do see them,
they are very cordial and more than likely glad
that they are not still with me. Did I mention
that I have put on a few pounds over the years?
The mother of my children is very pleasant,
intelligent, and willing to talk about the
children. We are not as close in our private lives,
but when it comes to the children, we are on the
same track most of the time.
I did not divorce the children.
I think that I am better friends with the exes now
than when I was married to them. Maybe it shouldn't
be called marriage. Maybe it should be called
friendship time for life. I guess the day will come
when marriage will not be called for, but I personally
enjoyed marriage. I could always get a woman, just
couldn't always keep her. I did develop some solid
friendships along the way and trust me, true friendship
is hard to find, especially a friendship that lasts
a lifetime.
It just seems a shame that you have to marry and divorce
them to discover that they would make great life time
friends.

Breastfeeding

Let me tell you what I know about Breast Feeding.
It sucks.
There are two schools of thought on breast feeding
and I have experienced both of them. The first
school of thought is that breast feeding is good
for the health of the child. Does that mean
physically or emotionally ? One of my wives that
breast fed thought that it would help the child
fight diseases because the child would be getting
the benefits of her immune system. She may have
been right, however, she was the wife that stayed
in the doctor's office so much that we had to buy
two four drawer filing cabinets for all of the
accumulated medical receipts. I considered her a
hypochondriac because she was always going to the
doctor, but was never ever really sick. The baby
might have gotten her good genes and immune system,
but he might have gotten her hypochondriac syndrome
along with inheriting a need to hate my mother.
That is an entirely and totally a different subject.
The other school of thought on this breast feeding
thing is the mother's desire to bond with the child.
I guess as a father I get to bond when I buy him a
car and give him money for gas. I accused my wife
of bonding way too long. At what age should a child
stop breast feeding? Her answer was that the child
decides. When the child feels that he is no longer
a baby and wants to be grown up, he will know,she said.
I said yes, because his first or second grade teacher
will be calling us to tell us that our son is thirsty.
I think that when a child can walk up to his mother,
unclasp her bra, get a drink, clasp her bra back, and
then go out and ride his bike, he can probably learn
to open the fridge door, pour the milk, drink it,
wash the glass, and then go out to play. I could be
wrong or as my wife would say, you are just envious.
I agree with her on that 100%. I never have been able
to just walk up to her and .....well, you know what
I am saying. Maybe I am just a tad bit jealous of this
breast feeding thing.

Politic's, what politic's ?

Politic's is not my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong
we have got to elect a politician for President this year,
but I have never seen such inbred fighting among
the same group of warriors. First the democrats.
Yes,this will be a very important election with
the choice being a democrat. The first lady
President in the United States,or the first
person of color chosen as president if the
Democrats win. They cannot agree to disagree.
They are fighting each other instead of working
together to solve the problems of the world.
They only want to win. Both of them. It seems
that one of them would be smart enough to address
the issues.

Now for the Republicans.
My suggestion for Mr. McCain,if he wants to win,
is to choose a running mate that will satisfy
the population.
My suggestion to him is to choose Condaleeza Rice.
She is a person of color, a woman, very smart and
well liked throughout the whole world. I mean
this selection would pretty much guarantee Mr.
McCain the election. He would satify all of the
electorate. Since he is a man of age, if anything
happened to him , she is smart enough and young
enough to run the country. As I said in the
beginning , I am not a politician, and I don't
care who wins. But I sure know how to tell others
how to win. But like most politicians, they will
not be listening. Let them do it their way and
we are guaranteed four more years of whatever.

Gas Wars

Whatever happened to gas wars? I may be
telling my age, but, we use to have gas
wars back in the day. I have paid as little
as $.19 cents a gallon for gas. Oh,and
did I mention that bread was $.23 per loaf.
Getting back to gas. We are not ever going
to see gas that cheap. I mean the taxes on
gas is over a dollar. The gas companies are
making a killing. Look at their P and L sheets.
We need to find a better way to energize. I
suggested wind, and a lot of folks felt that
I could probably keep a few cars on the road
with the amount of wind that I could furnish.
Maybe they confused that with bull.... well
you know what I mean. The only way we can
control the gas prices as a society is to
ban together to control the consumption of
gas. This is hard for a lot of folks because
they need gas in their work. I do. I put
$50 worth of gas in my car every two days
and I get 30 miles to the gallon. Since
I travel the state,I have to depend on
gas to get to my job. I can cut back on
the weekend though. It is the law of
supply and demand. If we use less gas
the gas companies will be forced to
lower gas prices in order to continue
to sell gas. Just a thought. I can't
promise results. Well I must go. My
girlfriend and I are going riding
around and look at all the pretty
flowers. Wait, I just remembered I
am conserving fuel. Gosh darn honey,
I am sorry we can't go for a ride and
look at the pretty flowers. We must
do our part to save fuel. Oh well,
I really did want to go. See if you
can find some flowers on the internet.
Surely someone is blogging flowers.

Addictions

What are you addicted to? I know I ended that sentence
with a preposition. But seriously, to what or to
whom are you addicted? I am addicted to coca-cola.
I need one at least twice a day and sometimes three
times a day. You can be addicted to your dog, your
job, or to any habit performed on a daily basis.
How do you stop an addiction? First of all, you
have to want to end it. Then you put your mind to
it to stop it, and you proceed to do that. Now wasn't
that fairly simple and straight forward. Did I stop?
Could I stop? Do I want to stop? That is the main
question. To make yourself end an addiction, you
must control the other aspects of your life. You
must not make the mistake of trying to stop an
addiction without the benefit of overcoming the
need to be addicted. Once recognized... truly
recognized, you should be able to see the error
of your ways or at least be aware of the
harm you are doing to yourself or to others
around you.It is easy to sit here and type out
directions for all the world to see, than it
is to put down what I am doing wrong.I have
not ended my need to drink a coke. I want to,
but I don't do it even though I say I can.
I just don't want to give it up. Well , I
must take the dog out for a walk and let her
do her own business. My business is getting into
everyone else's business. I do a great job of
it too. But I am trying to improve. To do
that I have to tell you my life story.
After the first pit stop maybe. I don't have
the time or space to give you my full life
story and besides you would be bored.
Someday you can read the book. Let's hope
it does not become an addiction. Reading
that is. Woe be onto us if people started
reading and getting educated again.
But that's another Blog.

It is not Social Security that will get us. It's medicare

My finacial advisor told me today that she
had had a meeting with the IRS last week
to discuss the future of investing and
saving. They told her that she needs to
be warning her customers and investors
that Social Security has enough reserves
through about 2040. She should warn her
investors that the Medicare and Medicade
funds are what they should be worried about.
This is going to be a problem real soon
because of the 65 and over health problems
and so many baby boomers are getting ready
to retire and reach that age. I am not
really too worried for me because I am
older and the money should be there for me.
I would warn my children and all young
people to be aware of this situation and
to be prepared to meet the challenge of
change that must be incurred to reach
out for future generations and to prepare
themselves for a retirement of only what
they have saved or invested.
They should be looking out for themselves
and their children.

The future and their future is in their hands.

Saturday Rain

Not a good Day

First of all it rained. Next no customer was there to see.
Thirdly someone let their car back into my car while I was
sitting at a stoplight and smashed my door and broke out the
side passenger window...in the rain. The Police finally came
after a half hour and then took an hour to fill out the accident
report. This was after lunch. I can't get the accident report
for 24 hours, so I can't have the car repaired until next week.
The stress factor is strong, but I will survive. Gloria Gaynor
and myself.
Tomorrow will be different. It has to be better. At least the
sun is suppose to shine.
May it shine on you. It sure hasn't shone on me today.
But I love life anyway and thank God for my good health and the
ability to carry on.

Fighting the Fear Factor

What is Fear? Fear is the unknown. A baby cries because he cannot see, or feel the
presence of his mother or father. Your aging parents are fearful because they might
die or not have enough money for retirement or to live out the rest of their lives.
Job security, marriage problems, money problems, all are fears that we all have
had in our lives at one time or another. The common feeling that we all as humans
share, is the fear of the unknown. How do you overcome this fear? Many people
have a strong will to overcome their fears. These are the people who can stop
smoking, or change jobs without trepidation, or leave their spouses without guilt.
Other people think beyond the problem to the next day, or next week. Others
just ignore the problem and let it take care of the problem itself. We must learn
to realize that most of the problems that we fear never materialize. We worry
for nothing. If you can come to this conclusion on your own, you will not be as
stressed, and your life will become smoother and you will probably live longer.
Some people need a doctor or therapist to lead them in the right direction. Most
of these people are using others as a crutch. I am not a person who judges who
needs what, I only suggest that there are many types of worrier's in the world.
My suggestion is that in the long run the problem never came to fruition, and
you worried for nothing. I contend that fear is an idea, implanted by some other
extreme trauma or situation in our past life, that consumes our mind with
distrust, doubt, insecurity and makes us fearful of suspected artificial and
superfluous reasoning that never transpires. We all have doubts, but we can
learn to control our fears by writing them down one day, and going back the
next day or the next day, when they either happened or dissapated . Try to
practice shunning fear, or try to accept the fact that you might be worried for
nothing. Oh yeah, and take omega 3 fish oil. Some folks tell me that works for
them. I say whatever it takes to make you stronger, happier, and healthy is
worth all the work in the world. Learn to control fear. Live longer. That's my
mantra for the day.

The Way we Were

I keep getting these emails reminding me of how life was in the fifties, sixties, etc..
Are these my old friends living in the past, or my new young friends and kids
reminding me of how old I am. It is very nostalgic looking at the old tv shows and
hearing the old music being played, while displays of old candy, toys, books, and
habits from the past roll by. I don't want to live my life over and I don't want to
go back to the sixties, so what do I realize from these emails. Maybe a since of
belonging to a different time and a different world. All the emails that could be
sent to me , stacked in a mile high stack would not change my lifestyle. Unless
I bought me some bell bottom pants and a madras shirt. I do see this stuff today,
but it is not nearly as cool as it was back then. Life changes. My life has changed.
I am not complaining because I like my life. But things seemed easier then. Not
as much pressure to perform. Not as much hurry as today. Life was just more
simple then, and somewhat smoother. I like today.
But sometimes I long for the easier and simpler life. Maybe when I retire. Maybe
not. I will just have to wait and see.

Today is the First Day

Today is the first day of my new blogger post. This is all new to me and as I read about

bloggers, I find myself drawn to this media over and over. Being an opinionated person

gives me the desire and need to write down my thoughts on how I see the world. Of course

living in my own world gives me insight for one. Being ever reminded by others that I

share my opinions openly , tells me that I should write down what I feel and

see, and let others ,if needed or wanted, hear the same thing. Everything will not be agreed

upon, just like life itself, however, if one bit of wisdom is realized, I will have succeeded ,to

the best of my ability ,to make one person happy. To this end I am committed to try.

Today is the first day.