It's Better to be Lucky Than Good

That's me with the ball after my team won the Noir Cal championship

If knowledge hangs around your neck like

pearls instead of chains - You are a lucky man!

Takers and fakers and talkers won't tell you.

Teachers and preachers will just buy and sell you.

When no one can tempt you with heaven or hell-

You'll be a lucky man! -- From O Lucky Man by Alan Price

I can’t believe I once shook hands with Muhammad Ali.

I can’t believe that I stood in the North Bank in the Seventies at London’s Highbury Park and watched Arsenal play.

I can’t believe I scored the winning goal in overtime of my sixteen and under soccer team’s state cup championship victory.

I can’t believe that my father sent me to Finland when I was sixteen to visit relatives and I spent a third of the time traveling alone around the country.

I can’t believe I saw a helicopter tear gas me and thousands of others in Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus.

I can’t believe I was a founding member of the Chico News and Review, a paper that is still a going concern over 45 years later.

I can’t believe I have two such intelligent, beautiful, loving and professionally successful daughters.

I can’t believe that I had the privilege of being a public school teacher for twenty years.

I can’t believe that I completed a two year master’s program in one year and graduated with distinction.

I can’t believe that I was at one of the most iconic college football games ever played watching Cal improbably defeat their arch rivals on a four-lateral kick off return through a marching band as time expired.

I can’t believe that I’ve been clean and sober for over 35 years.

I can’t believe that I’ve survived PTSD, drug and alcohol addiction, severe depression, devastating panic and anxiety attacks and yet managed a successful teaching career and been a good father and husband in the bargain.

I can’t believe that I saw Willie Mays play baseball, Joe Montana play football, Jason Kidd play basketball, Bobby Orr play hockey, Thierry Henry play soccer and Bjorn Borg play tennis.

I can’t believe that such an incredible man as Aimo Hourula was my father.

I can’t believe that as a child I saw Present John F. Kennedy speak.

I can’t believe that I’ve been married to the same incredible woman for 36 years and that we love one another more today than ever.

I can’t believe that for the last twelve years I’v been teaching English to people from all over the world.

I can’t believe that I’ve spoken to Liv Ullman, Ethan Coen, Jerry Brown, Willie McCovey, Jane Fonda, Joe Kapp and Pete Rose.

I can’t believe some of the incredible friends I’ve had such as Rick Grizzly Brown (aka Saad Muhammad), Paul Tjogas, Kevin Lindsey, Keith Bray, Carnell Broom, Ed Burns, Mark Norman and Phil Rosenzweig — to name but a few.

I can’t believe that I enjoy a loving and wonderful extended family that includes seven darling grand nieces and nephews.

I can’t believe that my second self-published novel found so many readers who enjoyed the book.

I can’t believe that I’ve been lucky enough to travel extensively seeing such places as London, Hawaii, Paris, Mexico, New York, Rome, Oregon, Berlin, Boston and more with a trip to Spain scheduled for next year.

I can’t believe all the great literature I’ve read, all the great music I’ve listened to, all the great films I’ve watched and all the great museums I’ve visited.

I can’t believe how lucky I am.