It started out as a normal day..well, for me at least. At 5:15a.m I staggered up outta bed, let out the dog, got into my suit for work, and got a lunch together. My wife asleep, Lucky the Wonder Dog gave me just a shrug when I let him back in as if to say."Thanks Poppa...but I'm hitting the bed with Momma"...and so he did. It was now 5:25a.m. I left the house and went to a 24hr Walgreens for a paper, and stopped for gas on the way to work. It was now 6:15a.m. I got to my desk 15 minutes early like always, called the Officers at Station 5 that I was 'on duty', and began doing paperwork, and checking our pass-on book. Now 7am., I spent the next few minutes calling the alarm company and putting the building in bypass for fire-panel testing, and for a service company to check all the building systems. Fine. I did that, and went to check my emails. Since writing Johnny Paris's biography, I get emails from around the world at all hours of the day and night, depending on what time it is THERE. They keep coming. It's now 7:30a.m and I know Lucky's in bed with my wife, his crotch in the air, legs all spread out...in MY spot, of course. Thats ok. Im used to this kind of routine. So I open my website, myspace page, blogger page, my-yahoo page, and of course Soulful Detroit Music Forum page. Now, at 8:05a.m., I put the fire panel into bypass and go back to what Im doing on-line, and the phone rings. It's my co-author and partner, Sonja Paris, John's wife. She usually calls early from out-of-state, so it's all good. We talk about the business, the Hurricanes and John's bio, and some legal issues and personal issues. We talk for over an hour, all business. It's now aprox 9:10a.m., and I get another phone call to expect MTV on the premises for a tour...and the phone rings a second time to let a film crew into the facility on the south end side. Fine, no problem. I run over to the opposite side, and get them in. I dealt with the engineer, the fire panel folks, the Service folks, and another one of my officers, some phone calls, a one hour business call from Sonja, got the film crew in, and went off looking for MTV to get here. It's now 9:45 a.m. Once I found MTV, and the film crew got what they needed elsewhere, I reset the Fire panel, called the authorities, and completed my reports. The time was now 10:00a.m Saturday morning. Great...piece of cake. The only glitch is I have 13 more hours of my double shift to go.....13 hours today, and 16 more of a double tomorrow back to back...again. Long day...or two...or three...what a day in Public Safety!
So it goes for me, but I think it's beginning to catch up with me and my energy level. This week everyday I took my brother to radiation therapy, went to Ohio, and they came back to Michigan, I went to work Wednesday, and voted for Union affairs Friday, and helped my brother with some issues he has on Friday...at which point I went home to cut my grass. Stopping at the store, I also got gas and went by another friends house. Getting home around 3pm Friday, I took out the mower expecting to cut the grass. It didnt really need it, so I went inside, played with Lucky a little, and went to straighten my office out. Having all my materials spread out on the floor, I began to sort things out. So far, so good. But, things were about to change. All of a sudden, I passed out on the floor catching myself at the last second. The room was spinning and I had to crawl to the couch and lie down. I've had one stroke, and I dont need another one thats for sure. I thought, "Oh oh!" and I slid onto the couch with the fan aimed at me. Just too much STUFF on my hands these days I figured...better heed the warning and slow down. Easy for someone else to say. They dont have the kind of days and night I have.
Between my wife, Lucky and my Mother in law, theres my brother and his doctors and some social agencies, my book partner Sonja in Ohio, the websites, my blog, my job, my house and yard, my bro's house and yard, and my mother in laws house, yard and car. Plus theres always dinner, and dishes, and dog walking, yard work, computer work, musical rehearsals, and video productions I try and help the wife with. MULTI-TASKING you say? Ha! MULTIPLE-MULTI-TASKING is the cornerstone of my daily life. But, it's become apparent (especially passing out with my face down into the carpet) that something has to give. The book? No, never. It's gonna be a block-buster. The dog Lucky? Over course not! He's our 'son'! Cut back on-line? Nope...got a busines to handle, and interviews to do yet. Caring for my brother? My Mother-in-law? Naw...forget that...they really need me. But someplace all the way, I gotta slow down. Or else.
An associate asked me once about my weekly schedule, and how I keep it up. "So what your'e saying" he said...is that you work 7 days and nights a week, right?" Thinking about it, I realized he was right. "You make it sound like a bad thing! I just keep one foot in front of the other every day. And I try and help at least one person each day. We never really know how much time we have here on Earth anyhow, so I try to make the best of it. Well, with me passing out that day, I realize that no matter how much we have to do...there's always another day. Guess my body's catchin' up finally to all this stuff that never ends.
Reminds me of an old Native American saying.Indian saying: "There are two things in life to remember. One is "not to sweat the small stuff. Second is that...it's ALL small stuff!"So..for the next few weeks Ill be running some of my favorite "Drivin' Sideways in Detroit!".
Please check me out at GOOGLE BLOGGER: http://www.drivinsidewaysindetroit.blogspot.com for over 25 topics. Thanks for your support...and God Bless my friends. Drop me a line...
"Hurricane" Duane c/o
http://www.myspace.com/duanethomas1
duanethomas@johnnyandthehurricanes.com
hurricane.duane@atilarecords.com
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