My Joyful Escapes

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During these times of great sociopolitical distress, unknown national or global pathways caused by the last several months and since 2016, I have been forced to find some type of solace, some level of pleasure and joy to keep at bay my nagging depression for this nation called the Disunited States of America, and more so my native home state of Texas. What have I found, discovered to temporarily relieve my torment the last decade or more?

My lifelong passions of football/soccer, World War II aviation, and the history of Antiquity, specifically the Roman Empire of the 2nd-century BCE through its decline and fall. Sometimes, more often lately, these “escapes” have kept my sanity in tact; or rather, in tact as is possible these very trying years. Given my age and declining health due to my living situation caring for my Early Alzheimer’s mother, vodka and tequila are no longer viable options or escapes (lots of cussing under my breath for that).

Therefore, I have been forced to find other alternatives to relieve my chronic sadness, my chronic pain, and my chronic frustration from where my once great home country is now headed. As some of you might remember, I am a fanatic for these three areas of interest: footballing/soccer, WW2 history/aviation, and Antiquity and the Roman Empire. I love these areas of interest so very much! And I always look for an opportunity to immerse myself in all three as many times as possible given my time restrictions at home. So…

Are any of you, my followers, my visitors, a kindred spirit in these three areas? I’d love to know. And if so, let’s sometimes chit-chat about them. I get immense pleasure diving into these subjects and how profoundly they changed our current world and all of our lives, particularly in the West. Are any of you gamers? Or are you just well read in these areas? Please let me know. 🙂

Here are some YouTube videos on these three areas I am passionate about:

Football Manager 2024 —

DCS World WW2 —

Rome 2: Total War —

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

19 thoughts on “My Joyful Escapes”

  1. Re “the Roman Empire of the 2nd-century BCE through its decline and fall” Since the “fall” was closer to 400 CE, I’d think that was just the decline, the empire was at a peak roughly then.

    I am, as you probably know, fascinated by Christianity, especially its early stages, under Roman rule, and have read quite a bit about the whole Roman period (never made it through “The Decline and Fall” however).

    As to WW2, I am fascinated by the Nazi movement and AH in particular, having read several biographies of his as well as his henchmen.

    I am losing interest in American football and never had much in soccer (and please do not curse Americans for using the term soccer, the English invented it!).

    I am a baseball and basketball fan, having recognized all footballs as IQ lowering as they use their heads as blunt instruments. Also a big archery fan.

    I just realized you [probably meant “the Roman Empire of the 2nd-century BCE through to its decline and fall” that is post-republic. My bad.

    I wish you the best prof, caring for ailing parents is difficult and when they can’t even engage emotionally wicked hard. Hang in there. Keep us up on how you are doing. Please consider me one of your support group.

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    • Steve, I can always count on you to keep my “facts” perfectly straight. Yes, I was indeed referring to the post-Republic, but no big deal. You understood the general gist of what I meant.

      These three “escapes” are truly keeping me sane at the moment; grounded in reality/history, etc. I do enjoy somewhat basketball because it is much more a TEAM sport than American football (and the NFL). I now despise and loathe American NFL football due to how monetized and heavily commercialized it has become. It is a SHIT-SHOW sport for fans because you only watch about 13-14 minutes of actual playing time for 4-hours of corporate advertising thru all the stoppages!!! It’s ludicrous!

      That’s how utterly disinterested I am in many/most American sports. 😄

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  2. Sorry I cannot oblige on your passions, PT. For sports all my interest lives in one little dot on the Earth — the city of Detroit. Way back in the fifties I fell in love with two players as I listened to games on the radio, Gordie Howe and Al Kaline. When I found out they both played for teams from Detroit, and in fact were in business together, that created a bond that still exists to this day. The Red Wings in hockey, the Tigers in baseball, and now the Lions and Wolverines in football. I don’t care much for basketball, and though I played soccer as a youth it didn’t really interest me — Detroit had no soccer team.
    Socially speaking I admire two men: Mahatma Gandhi and Stephen Biko. What they did for their embattled and over-colonized nations impressed the hell out of me. My other passion was horseracing, particularly thoroughbreds. But when I finally came to own some race horses I found out the dirty underside of horseracing, doping the horses then filling them up with other chemicals to mask the enhancement drugs, I turned away. I still own 5 thoroughbreds, but 3 of them have never raced and hopefully never will. I have too much respect for them to put drugs in them so they can compete these days.
    Those are my passions. I thought I would share them with you because though they are dissimilar to yours, still there are/were things that help keep me sane in this world of corrupt billionaires.
    Take care, sir.

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  3. I know very little about the Roman Empire, although its fall is relevant to the decline of the USA.
    From my writing, you will have noted that I’m not a big fan of Empires, especially imperialist ones.
    I also don’t know anything about aviation, but I have started reading Bill Bryson’s One Summer, America 1927, which digs into the history of aviation in that seminal year.
    Finally, I have been a big fan of the Arsenal football club for over 37 years, and this looks like yet another year of anguish for me.

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  4. I have a very mild passing interest in football, as you might know.
    My father was in the RAF so there is also a connection to planes and such like, though not as far back as WWII, (though I confess to bring an Airfix modeler as a kid) and as my home town of Chester in the UK was a Roman city (Deva) and still holds some wonderful Roman history, buildings and artifacts I can say Things Roman hold my interest as well. Not to mention Life of Brian is one of my all time favourite films.

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