{"id":13989,"date":"2020-09-09T01:26:58","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T07:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=13989"},"modified":"2020-09-09T01:26:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T07:26:58","slug":"haftas-and-wantstas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/09\/haftas-and-wantstas\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Haftas\u2019 And \u2018Wantstas\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY CHRIS MILLSPAUGH<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
chris Millspaugh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most of the time, my life has been full of \u201chaftas\u201d and \u201cwantstas.\u201d It started when I got out of the U.S. Air Force in 1964. I immediately picked up the biggest \u201chafta\u201d\u2014paying for a roof over my head. This one has never ended. And, with no mom and no \u201cchow hall,\u201d another \u201chafta\u201d emerged\u2014getting food and drink to live on. That, too, has remained paramount in my life. Then, when a wife and a son came along, more \u201chaftas\u201d loomed. But I was in love, so that didn\u2019t bother me, until I realized, \u201cI have to get a job, which will pay for my family and me.\u201d And, heating would be good. Thus, another \u201chafta.\u201d So, roof, food, heat and money from the job to pay for everything. That\u2019s it? Well, what about lights at night and power to operate those things. Okay, okay. Welcome to the \u201chafta\u201d electricity bill.<\/p>\n

When I discovered my job would be miles from my home, I thought, \u201cI \u2018hafta\u2019 get a car, and if it breaks down, I\u2019ll \u2018hafta\u2019 get it fixed.\u201d So many \u201chaftas\u201d and not enough \u201cwantstas.\u201d I pondered that and said to myself, \u201cWhat do you really \u2018wantsta\u2019 do?\u201d I replied, \u201cI \u2018wantsta\u2019 play my guitar and entertain in clubs and write a little on the side.\u201d And, so I did for many years to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, my life became a continuing war with \u201chaftas\u201d against \u201cwantstas.\u201d I needed a better home, a newer car, newer furniture, new clothes for my family and for me, a newer guitar, sheet music, union dues and booze.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came doctor bills, insurance packages and lawyer fees. There were also sports tickets, HBO, birthday gifts, vacations, new babies and… taxes! Eek! Up down, down up, up down\u2014it became overwhelming. I had to get rid of \u201cwantstas\u201d and concentrate solely on \u201chaftas.\u201d It became \u201crat race \u2013 America.\u201d I was about to explode, but then, I moved to Idaho. Idaho? How in the hell did I get here? (That will be another story, later on, dear readers.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m old and retired, living on a fixed income. I also have a tortoiseshell cat named Myles who keeps me totally entertained. I still write, but there\u2019s not many \u201cwantstas\u201d left with still the same basic \u201chaftas\u201d\u2014shelter, food, heat, Netflix, no booze, phone bill. In the winter, there\u2019s snowplow paying and power bills. Other times, there are doctor bills and occasional operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m quite happy now, actually. I watch my cat and emulate everything she does, like staying up all night, drinking water from the tap and sleeping most of the day. I don\u2019t \u201chafta\u201d have a job or go on stage and entertain a drunken crowd and \u2026 oh yeah, there\u2019s a new one\u2014\u201cgoinstas.\u201d I\u2019m \u201cgoinstas\u201d win the lottery. I\u2019m \u201cgoinstas\u201d travel the world, I\u2019m \u201cgoinstas\u201d be a famous writer. You know, ideas you will probably never achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s good times in the Wood River Valley and I\u2019m at peace. Oh, damnit, I \u201chafta\u201d get this in before the deadline! Nothing\u2019s perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nice talking to you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY CHRIS MILLSPAUGH For most of the time, my life has been full of \u201chaftas\u201d and \u201cwantstas.\u201d It started when I got out of the U.S. Air Force in 1964. I immediately picked up the biggest \u201chafta\u201d\u2014paying for a roof over my head. This one has never ended. And, with no mom and no \u201cchow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-commentary","7":"category-humor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}