CROSSROADS TO SOMEWHERE: Life Is Good When You Want to Feel Good

By W.T. WIMPY HIROTO

We’re constantly in the throes of malaise and pestilence. (Oops, forgot the vow to keep it simple.) So let’s start over and put it this way: You’re stranded on a lonely Pacific isle with Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant. [If you laugh, life is good; if you find no humor in the metaphor, you’re stuck on the island with either and/or.]

Although in the minority (another attempt at humor), I prefer not to join the negatives and try to look for the good, the kind and the enjoyable. A challenging search to be sure, but it makes life much more pleasant.

So what’s it like when things seem to be going swimmingly, even for someone who can’t swim a lick? Certainly haven’t made a habit of being a real positive guy, but stranger things happen. Very simply put, a positive frame of mind makes anything possible. Nothing like Pulitzer Prize consideration, a Guinness record posting or winning a lottery.

What I’m talking about is being in a, you know, state of contentment. An awfully rare and elusive condition, but reachable. Maybe not something you think about while waiting for the signal to change or going to the bathroom, but a try. Costs nothing. Maybe I’m outta whack/step/bounds (or nuts) and should best leave philosophizing to professionals. Who knows? By next week or month, I might be drowning in sorrow and tears. That’s the lure of waking up each morning.

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Being in an expansive mood, I congratulate all you disgruntled baseball fans who were finally able to see an L.A. Dodgers game on television the other day. And Charter subscribers who will soon be able to watch the team. As a Time Warner subscriber ($99.95 a month), I’ve been one of the select few who has been able to see the Guggenheims live on SNLA.

They are a pretty good team but need more pitching. After the tandem of Kershaw and Greinke, the rotation doesn’t match St. Louis or Kansas City. An off-field concern: the disturbing lapses in Vin Scully’s game action calls. No beat writer or TV analyst will dare be critical of the Golden Voice, his articulation, delivery and story-telling still unmatched. But every now and again, he’ll miss a ball or strike count, catch himself in a word bind or miscall a name. These stumbles are commonplace with other team and league announcers, never Scully. They remind me of errors Jerry Doggett used to make when he was Scully’s sidekick. Surely nit-picking, but it hurts to witness a true icon show signs of age. At 87 he’s still the best, but no longer perfection. We’re spoiled.

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Does being a Keiro Retirement Home resident allow the right to make a few observations, yes? Without fear of being a biased mouthpiece, no? My credentials include living here going on four years and counting (on more), if you know what I mean.

The unsettled state of Keiro HealthCare has affected the whole shebang, patients, personnel and KRH residents. Because of the ill-fated Ensign embarrassment of last year, secrecy surrounds current sale negotiations. The only revelation made thus far, to waylay rampant rumor, was the take-over will not be by Chinese or Korean interests. The denial was a rather strange distinction to make, if you ask me. [But you didn’t, did you?]

KRH is in limbo because very few health care/nursing home operations include a retirement home adjunct. Since CR2S doesn’t shy from making predictions, let’s try another: With solid, retrofitted buildings and profitable occupancy numbers, why would a buyer mess with a successful operation even if inexperienced as a landlord? [Except eventually raising the rent.] I have no inside (or outside) information. But one thing you can bet on is ol’ WTH is here to stay. And plans as lengthy a tenure as possible. Maybe not as happy as a lark, but only because I don’t know how happy larks can be.

A sidebar story: I received one complaint in the last 30 days as KRH food chairman: “Why can’t we get better food to eat? The food we are eating now is like GAR-beg (sic).” Which goes to show there is at least one unhappy camper at 325 S. Boyle Ave. But take it from me, a survivor of horse meat at Poston, work crew slop in Utah and s(tuff)-on-a-shingle in the Army, meals here aren’t bad at all. Maybe not five-star cuisine, but you ain’t paying cloth napkin prices either. Where else can you get a balanced Jappo/American menu? What might be “GAR-beg” to one man might be fine with majority. [The fact that ladies outnumber males by a 3-to-1 margin is yet another CR2S never-no-mind worthy of mention.]

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Relocating (luv the word) to a retirement home should be discussed before the need arises. I would not question those who prefer to stay at home. But the tough question is: How long can you rely on and obligate family and/or friend to tend to your needs? Just asking . . .

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W.T. Wimpy Hiroto can be reached at williamhiroto@att.net Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.