Tim Longs for Old Days . . . Or Does He?

Don’t know about you, but I am still saddened not to be reading Butch Dale’s wonderful works on these pages – electronic or otherwise.

If you missed last week, Butch rode off into the sunset. He said he sat down to write, stared at the screen a long time and came to the realization that he was all “worded” out, so to speak. And trust me, I get it. It’s hard to come up with the words sometimes. 

(And no, I am not saying it’s hard like a real job. Heck, Butch had a real job. He was a deputy and a sheriff. He knows what real work is. This stuff I do? All I can say is my Grandpaw worked physically harder on the farm and in a factory in one week than I do in a month . . . OK, longer than a month.)

So no, no pity party here. But Butch’s decision did get me thinking back to “old days,” of my youth in the newspaper world. Heck, my Weejuns weren’t even worn out then. And wouldn’t you know it, but about that time Chicago came on the radio with the song Old Days . . . and it got me thinking of the old Mad Magazine (before it cost almost $20) and how they used to put parody songs every now and then. So with deep apologies to aforementioned favorite band, here’s a different take on Old Days.

Deadlines

Editors I remember

Screaming

Filler with fear and terror

Too-long meetings

Red lights take forever

Bathroom calling

Watching time go faster

Take me back

To my college days

When a deadline

Just meant stay and play

Deadlines

Editors I remember

Screaming

Filler with fear and terror

Taping meetings

Full of bluff and bluster

Typing transcripts

Hearing static and white noise

What I lack

Is good sleep and pay

Oh what I’d give

For one peaceful day

Dead-uh-lines in my mind to terrorize my day

Dead-uh-lines, darkened dreams of joy that’s gone away

Dead-uh-lines, times of stress and panic hitting me

Dead-uh-lines, please go away and just let me be

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at ttimmons@thepaper24-7.com