The "Old Block" Tells All.

ARRIVAL: When the Chip walked into our Las Vegas apartment, (after a long solo drive from San Diego, CA), he was immediately greeted by ancient African hugs, gentle geriatric kisses, and a  6-foot-long banner that read: "Happy Birthday to the Greatest Son in the Universe", (I paraphrase because I am old)! Hanging said birthday banner was a feat that defied gravity, logic, advanced age, and the 4-foot 11-inch frame of CMB, the Birthday Boy's other mother! DIN DIN: The beef chuck roast had been velveted and marinated for hours, and had acquired the ability to melt in one's mouth! CMB wanted her Baby Boy to eat and enjoy his "well-guarded" plate of homemade victuals without having to chew his food. He was merely required to inhale the essence of what would normally be a chewy chunk of chuck! (Search velveting on your favorite browser.) ACTIVITIES: The meal proved to be the "knock-out punch" that put the Chip on the canvas and left the Old Block and hi...

  Looking back 50 years to my youth, I smile, then laugh at myself for thinking I was something special. Surely, I survived SEER training, combat weapon training, and firefighting school at the Marine Corps base. And yes I even passed the basic swimming course at the UDT SEAL base. I earned a Black Belt in Goju Ryu Karate in less than four years. I was a 23-year-old Vietnam veteran when I came home for the last time to claim my promised management position at the New China Club Restaurant. When I met the owner, Mr. Fong, in front of the restaurant, he casually dismissed me with an off-hand wave. I had even gone to school with his daughter, but my reunion and promotion vanished with a wave of his mighty hand! So cool! I stood there eating his dust instead of a combination plate! ("How quickly they forget their promises.) Later, when I moved to San Diego, where my illustrious military training began, I started teaching local, disadvantaged youth the discipline and rigorous martial a...