So, I’m at the gym this morning (4 1/3 miles and one lap around the circuit), watching the typical mix of televangelists and infomercials… What’s the difference? Infomercials have better production values. Televangelists have bigger audiences. But, essentially, they’re the same. They are both pushing a product that they claim will make your life better and make you happier… which won’t.
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, here comes this lady selling Christian Diet Books & DVDs. (Along with the EVER POPULAR Christian message: Why We Want You To Be Rich!) Cause, you know, Christ was all about shedding those extra inches. Isn’t that why he fasted in the desert???
This woman’s exploitation of Jesus’ message is nothing new or unique. It’s just so… cheap. It makes me ashamed to say, “Yes, I’m human, too.”
And you don’t have to actually change money in the temple to be a hypocrite…. Really…
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
And how is this news...?
I've decided I want a new feature on websites that feature "news".
A lot of sites allow for feedback, linking, what have you... but I want one more.
Take Yahoo for instance. One of their featured stories today is how P. Diddy wants to be James Bond. Dumbass, who doesn't??
So, I'd like to suggest a single button that any reader can click: the "And how is this news?" button. You think stupid stories like the one about P. Diddy, or the one about people getting addicted to the Internet, might get a few clicks?
Getting the people who run the sites to pay attention would be a different story, of course.
A lot of sites allow for feedback, linking, what have you... but I want one more.
Take Yahoo for instance. One of their featured stories today is how P. Diddy wants to be James Bond. Dumbass, who doesn't??
So, I'd like to suggest a single button that any reader can click: the "And how is this news?" button. You think stupid stories like the one about P. Diddy, or the one about people getting addicted to the Internet, might get a few clicks?
Getting the people who run the sites to pay attention would be a different story, of course.
The word for the day: Impermanence…
I was at the gym this morning, doing my usual thing. This morning, it was four miles on the treadmill and one circuit through the weight machines. On the treadmill next to me, two old people discussed music. They had a conversation that I swear, after 1985, I never thought I’d hear again.
“All I listen to is Big Band. It’s the last, good music.”
“I wish it would come back.”
“It had a resurgence in the ‘50’s but…”
“It couldn’t fight rock and roll.”
“I can’t stand that stuff.”
I was finding their discussion ironic because, overhead, “Smokin” by Boston was playing, a song constructed very much like a Tommy Dorsey song (listen to “Sing Sing Sing with a Little Swing”). A few songs later “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” by Offspring was on and I could see the similarities between that and Boston. I also thought about Christiana Aguilera’s new disk and how it borrows a lot from the 40’s. It’s all related. Big Band was co-opted but not forgotten!
Now, I’m not saying that those old timers (who probably weren’t more than 15 years or so older than me) should start listening to Offspring. Don’t get me wrong. What I’m saying is that, while I can see how the music is all related, one of these days something’s going to come around that’s so offensive that my old fogey self is going to shut myself off to it, too. Things change. That’s the nature of life.
I wish I could see that when it came to the job hunt.
I’ve been at this now – what? – for nearly three months!? When’s it going to end??? I mean: FUCK!!
I’ve been asking for feedback from employers who turn me down and, let me tell you, that hasn’t been helping.
One employer, last week, wrote that my writing was above-average and that my personality was animated and eager… but he didn’t say why he didn’t hire me. I just wasn’t “the one”. He ended his email, “I trust that a quality copywriting position is both imminent and appropriate for you.” Now, seriously, what the fuck does that mean?
This week was even worse, though. After going for multiple interviews with an employer and completing a test that I was emailed at home, I wasn’t given the position. Why? Not because I wasn’t a good write. Not because I wasn’t personable.
Because I finished the test too quickly! I thought it would display my sincerity and my interest. They said it showed a lack of “thoughtfulness”… huh? They also said I displayed some red flags, such as telling them one of my hobbies was acting and that I seemed desperate for the job.
It’s like you can’t win.
So, anyway, impermanence.
This job search could be impermanent. Right? I could find a job tomorrow (or, at least, Monday), right? On the flip side, I could lose everything if I don’t find a job.
Not good. Not good.
The only truly bright side to all of this has been Vicky, who has been nothing but supportive. I’m a very lucky guy.
Her luck stinks.
“All I listen to is Big Band. It’s the last, good music.”
“I wish it would come back.”
“It had a resurgence in the ‘50’s but…”
“It couldn’t fight rock and roll.”
“I can’t stand that stuff.”
I was finding their discussion ironic because, overhead, “Smokin” by Boston was playing, a song constructed very much like a Tommy Dorsey song (listen to “Sing Sing Sing with a Little Swing”). A few songs later “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” by Offspring was on and I could see the similarities between that and Boston. I also thought about Christiana Aguilera’s new disk and how it borrows a lot from the 40’s. It’s all related. Big Band was co-opted but not forgotten!
Now, I’m not saying that those old timers (who probably weren’t more than 15 years or so older than me) should start listening to Offspring. Don’t get me wrong. What I’m saying is that, while I can see how the music is all related, one of these days something’s going to come around that’s so offensive that my old fogey self is going to shut myself off to it, too. Things change. That’s the nature of life.
I wish I could see that when it came to the job hunt.
I’ve been at this now – what? – for nearly three months!? When’s it going to end??? I mean: FUCK!!
I’ve been asking for feedback from employers who turn me down and, let me tell you, that hasn’t been helping.
One employer, last week, wrote that my writing was above-average and that my personality was animated and eager… but he didn’t say why he didn’t hire me. I just wasn’t “the one”. He ended his email, “I trust that a quality copywriting position is both imminent and appropriate for you.” Now, seriously, what the fuck does that mean?
This week was even worse, though. After going for multiple interviews with an employer and completing a test that I was emailed at home, I wasn’t given the position. Why? Not because I wasn’t a good write. Not because I wasn’t personable.
Because I finished the test too quickly! I thought it would display my sincerity and my interest. They said it showed a lack of “thoughtfulness”… huh? They also said I displayed some red flags, such as telling them one of my hobbies was acting and that I seemed desperate for the job.
It’s like you can’t win.
So, anyway, impermanence.
This job search could be impermanent. Right? I could find a job tomorrow (or, at least, Monday), right? On the flip side, I could lose everything if I don’t find a job.
Not good. Not good.
The only truly bright side to all of this has been Vicky, who has been nothing but supportive. I’m a very lucky guy.
Her luck stinks.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
What is it about the right wing and cock?…
They just can’t keep their hands off the stuff – the party that’s supposed to be anti-GAY is about as gay as you can get!
First, there’s Foley.
Now, there’s this guy! Evangelical, gay-hating Christian (of which there are, sadly, more and more each day), and he’s paying money for the cock!
It’s tempting to, um, insert a joke about the Log Cabin Republicans just about now! But, seriously, what is with these people? They’re the strangest bunch I’ve every witnessed!
“Hate the gays! Hate the gays!… (Hey, wanna suck on my…)”
And they call the left a bunch of perverts…
But you don’t hear them calling us hypocrites.
First, there’s Foley.
Now, there’s this guy! Evangelical, gay-hating Christian (of which there are, sadly, more and more each day), and he’s paying money for the cock!
It’s tempting to, um, insert a joke about the Log Cabin Republicans just about now! But, seriously, what is with these people? They’re the strangest bunch I’ve every witnessed!
“Hate the gays! Hate the gays!… (Hey, wanna suck on my…)”
And they call the left a bunch of perverts…
But you don’t hear them calling us hypocrites.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Wait. Watch this…
Listen, I may be skeptical… I may also be Bulgarian… but I’m the first one to admit when I might be wrong.
(Vicky: KEN’S WRONG!)
… um, I’m the second to admit when I might be wrong.
(Suki: Bark!)
…
… anyway…
… I know I went into this whole Weight Watchers thing like it was a joke but I have to say it actually is helping. I’ve lost nearly five pounds in two weeks and I’m not starving or anything… much.
You don't take any pills. You don't buy their food. You just learn to eat more sensibly. The thing is, it’s helping me eat like a regular human being instead of a big, fat pig. I figure that’s a good thing.
(Anyone got some ice cream???)
(Vicky: KEN’S WRONG!)
… um, I’m the second to admit when I might be wrong.
(Suki: Bark!)
…
… anyway…
… I know I went into this whole Weight Watchers thing like it was a joke but I have to say it actually is helping. I’ve lost nearly five pounds in two weeks and I’m not starving or anything… much.
You don't take any pills. You don't buy their food. You just learn to eat more sensibly. The thing is, it’s helping me eat like a regular human being instead of a big, fat pig. I figure that’s a good thing.
(Anyone got some ice cream???)
Sunday, October 29, 2006
What mommy and daddy did during the war…
I’ve been lazy. There’s really no other way to put it. I sat down with myself and asked if I was doing enough to make the world a better place… and I wasn’t. I was moping around, feeling sorry for myself, and not doing anything with all the free time I have. I knew I needed to do more – more protests, more anything!
The first thing I did was sign up for the LA Peace March, which took place yesterday in Hollywood. I got Vicky to sign up, too, though I knew I wasn’t always going to be so lucky. It was good to have her there, though; I hadn't slept Friday night and I was pretty tired. We got on the freeway after our WeightWatchers meeting and made it to Hollywood and Vine by about 11am.
There was obviously something going on there. Crowds of people were flooding both sides of the street, along with crowds of cops. Traffic hadn’t been blocked, yet, so everyone kept to either side of the street.
At a bus station on one corner, tables and booths were set up from a variety of organizations supporting (or so I thought) the event. Vicky and I checked these out, bombarded with buttons and t-shirts, banners to carry, causes we hadn’t heard of, and people, people, people. The diversity of the political left never ceases to amaze. It is the strength of tolerance and, I think, too often ignored.
Eventually, the press of people had us both moving up the street, to a place that wasn’t so crowded. On the way, I met my first communist in twenty years. I thought their breed had died out – I would be proven very wrong. But, hey, I used to be a socialist, too, so I can sympathize. I say “used to be” because one thing I learned yesterday was, like it or not, I’ve experienced some middle-aged creep over to the political right; I’m a lot less liberal than I used to be.
Take, for instance, the lunatic fringe. I said to Vicky, “Politics is perception. We’re going to make a lot less headway with moderate or the right as long as they see us as a bunch of hippies and communists.” But enough of that.
We were handed picket signs to carry through the march, provided by ANSWER. They read US OUT OF IRAQ, a sentiment I had no problem supporting.
And we waited for the march to begin.
As we waited, more and more people started crowding our space. Let’s face it, we were in the middle of a peace march – what else was I expecting? Wide open spaces??? But my claustrophobia started pounding at my skull and saying, “You really need to go. NOW!” No fun. But the monotony of the wait was passed by people watching and all the folks coming by with their causes.
A girl with a very low cut top on and pasties (and no bra!) stopped in front of us and took pictures with some guys. (Their interest was world peace…. SURE! Both the left and right ones!) Vicky moved her sign in front of her face and said, “I don’t want to be in the picture with the boobs.”
I felt like a boob when a guy with a bullhorn stopped in front of me and started speaking to the crowd. Everyone around us was looking and I was acting like, “Yeah, I’m with him.” I didn’t realize he was there to talk veganism and I, the ex-vegetarian, felt like a colossal hypocrite. So, I lowered my sign.
Representatives from a couple “third parties” were there. Stewart Alexander, Peace and Freedom Party’s candidate for Lieutenant Governor of California, walked by us, campaigning and shaking hands. Green Party representatives were there – but I’m already a member. Several Hispanic groups were there, spreading the cause of immigrants rights (those pesky “human rights”).
I would say the worst groups of all were the communists and anarchists, people whose message was that it doesn’t matter who gets elected because everyone’s the same and there’s nothing you can do… except what they tell you to do. Yep, authoritarianism is alive and well on the left as well as the right.
My favorite bunch of loonies, however, had to be the NESARA bunch. These people were even nuttier than the “chem-trail” people. (“Chem-trailers” believe that the contrails left by jet engines are the intentional seeding of the air with chemicals harmful to humanity… with no proof of any kind.) (Of course.) NESARA, the National Economic Security and Reformation Act, folk will tell you that it’s a bill passed by Congress in 2000 that a) removes all elected officials from office, b) declares “peace” in Iraq (funny, considering it was supposed to have been passed years before we went into Iraq), c) zeroes all credit card balances, d) reinstates the gold standard, and e) abolishes income taxes.
… sure.
Listen, I know I say a lot about the political right but I’m not above admitting that there are some loonies on the left. And this is a bad thing because, as I kept pointing out to Vicky, politics is perception. Loonies on the left make the left look loony. One of the weaknesses of diversity is that you’re going to have some loonies. It’s a pickle.
Thankfully, though, we were there for a good cause aside from the loonies. The march began a little late but when it did it was like a wave of humanity. Over a thousand people, from what we could see, moved cheerfully and inevitably down Hollywood Boulevard, chanting slogans of peace. The sun was not being friendly; we were happy whenever we hit some shade. People watched us from windows and balconies. Some waved homemade signs showing support. Some crowds gathered at street corners. And through it all the police, like a motorcade on bicycles, followed alongside. There wasn’t a single problem.
Well, there was one. When we turned down Wilcox Avenue, the sun was hitting us right in the face. Vicky, my pragmatic wife, simply held her sign a little lower and used it as shade. I knew there was a reason why I married her.
The march ended at a rally where we saw a few people speak. (And I got to meet and shake hands with Mike Farrell!) (I’m a MASH geek.) But the weariness from not sleeping, on top of that from the walk and the heat, killed my interest. I was tired and hungry… and Vicky sat down to watch the speakers…
So, I waited.
After a while, she said she might need to find a bathroom. I said, “Let’s go!” and dashed her off. Probably not what she was expecting.
And off we went (eventually) to Cold Stone. (I’m horrible.)
It was an interesting day. Educational, definitely. And it was nice to be a part of it and know that, when my kid asks what we did during the war, I can say more than, “Looked for a job.”
…
A footnote to this story.
I’m always interested to see how things get handled in the press and I’m never disappointed by their incompetence. This website has a story about it with the headline, “Protesters March on CNN for Pro-War Coverage”.
… not quite.
We were protesters. We did march. We did end up in front of the CNN building and we did hold a rally there.
But Pro-War coverage was the last thing we wanted. I’d say there’s been enough Pro-War coverage. In fact, it’s pretty much all we get!
Ugh. Let’s just hope I don’t find a story saying we were marching for WAR!
The first thing I did was sign up for the LA Peace March, which took place yesterday in Hollywood. I got Vicky to sign up, too, though I knew I wasn’t always going to be so lucky. It was good to have her there, though; I hadn't slept Friday night and I was pretty tired. We got on the freeway after our WeightWatchers meeting and made it to Hollywood and Vine by about 11am.
There was obviously something going on there. Crowds of people were flooding both sides of the street, along with crowds of cops. Traffic hadn’t been blocked, yet, so everyone kept to either side of the street.
At a bus station on one corner, tables and booths were set up from a variety of organizations supporting (or so I thought) the event. Vicky and I checked these out, bombarded with buttons and t-shirts, banners to carry, causes we hadn’t heard of, and people, people, people. The diversity of the political left never ceases to amaze. It is the strength of tolerance and, I think, too often ignored.
Eventually, the press of people had us both moving up the street, to a place that wasn’t so crowded. On the way, I met my first communist in twenty years. I thought their breed had died out – I would be proven very wrong. But, hey, I used to be a socialist, too, so I can sympathize. I say “used to be” because one thing I learned yesterday was, like it or not, I’ve experienced some middle-aged creep over to the political right; I’m a lot less liberal than I used to be.
Take, for instance, the lunatic fringe. I said to Vicky, “Politics is perception. We’re going to make a lot less headway with moderate or the right as long as they see us as a bunch of hippies and communists.” But enough of that.
We were handed picket signs to carry through the march, provided by ANSWER. They read US OUT OF IRAQ, a sentiment I had no problem supporting.
And we waited for the march to begin.
As we waited, more and more people started crowding our space. Let’s face it, we were in the middle of a peace march – what else was I expecting? Wide open spaces??? But my claustrophobia started pounding at my skull and saying, “You really need to go. NOW!” No fun. But the monotony of the wait was passed by people watching and all the folks coming by with their causes.
A girl with a very low cut top on and pasties (and no bra!) stopped in front of us and took pictures with some guys. (Their interest was world peace…. SURE! Both the left and right ones!) Vicky moved her sign in front of her face and said, “I don’t want to be in the picture with the boobs.”
I felt like a boob when a guy with a bullhorn stopped in front of me and started speaking to the crowd. Everyone around us was looking and I was acting like, “Yeah, I’m with him.” I didn’t realize he was there to talk veganism and I, the ex-vegetarian, felt like a colossal hypocrite. So, I lowered my sign.
Representatives from a couple “third parties” were there. Stewart Alexander, Peace and Freedom Party’s candidate for Lieutenant Governor of California, walked by us, campaigning and shaking hands. Green Party representatives were there – but I’m already a member. Several Hispanic groups were there, spreading the cause of immigrants rights (those pesky “human rights”).
I would say the worst groups of all were the communists and anarchists, people whose message was that it doesn’t matter who gets elected because everyone’s the same and there’s nothing you can do… except what they tell you to do. Yep, authoritarianism is alive and well on the left as well as the right.
My favorite bunch of loonies, however, had to be the NESARA bunch. These people were even nuttier than the “chem-trail” people. (“Chem-trailers” believe that the contrails left by jet engines are the intentional seeding of the air with chemicals harmful to humanity… with no proof of any kind.) (Of course.) NESARA, the National Economic Security and Reformation Act, folk will tell you that it’s a bill passed by Congress in 2000 that a) removes all elected officials from office, b) declares “peace” in Iraq (funny, considering it was supposed to have been passed years before we went into Iraq), c) zeroes all credit card balances, d) reinstates the gold standard, and e) abolishes income taxes.
… sure.
Listen, I know I say a lot about the political right but I’m not above admitting that there are some loonies on the left. And this is a bad thing because, as I kept pointing out to Vicky, politics is perception. Loonies on the left make the left look loony. One of the weaknesses of diversity is that you’re going to have some loonies. It’s a pickle.
Thankfully, though, we were there for a good cause aside from the loonies. The march began a little late but when it did it was like a wave of humanity. Over a thousand people, from what we could see, moved cheerfully and inevitably down Hollywood Boulevard, chanting slogans of peace. The sun was not being friendly; we were happy whenever we hit some shade. People watched us from windows and balconies. Some waved homemade signs showing support. Some crowds gathered at street corners. And through it all the police, like a motorcade on bicycles, followed alongside. There wasn’t a single problem.
Well, there was one. When we turned down Wilcox Avenue, the sun was hitting us right in the face. Vicky, my pragmatic wife, simply held her sign a little lower and used it as shade. I knew there was a reason why I married her.
The march ended at a rally where we saw a few people speak. (And I got to meet and shake hands with Mike Farrell!) (I’m a MASH geek.) But the weariness from not sleeping, on top of that from the walk and the heat, killed my interest. I was tired and hungry… and Vicky sat down to watch the speakers…
So, I waited.
After a while, she said she might need to find a bathroom. I said, “Let’s go!” and dashed her off. Probably not what she was expecting.
And off we went (eventually) to Cold Stone. (I’m horrible.)
It was an interesting day. Educational, definitely. And it was nice to be a part of it and know that, when my kid asks what we did during the war, I can say more than, “Looked for a job.”
…
A footnote to this story.
I’m always interested to see how things get handled in the press and I’m never disappointed by their incompetence. This website has a story about it with the headline, “Protesters March on CNN for Pro-War Coverage”.
… not quite.
We were protesters. We did march. We did end up in front of the CNN building and we did hold a rally there.
But Pro-War coverage was the last thing we wanted. I’d say there’s been enough Pro-War coverage. In fact, it’s pretty much all we get!
Ugh. Let’s just hope I don’t find a story saying we were marching for WAR!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Pompeii of sorts…
Cedar Crest?
Yes, Camp Cedar Crest was the name. I went there when I was eleven years old and it was a pivotal event in my life because –
And how did this come up, exactly?
Well, I was working on the new book and I reached a point where I wanted to mention an event from that time but –
You remembered the picture?
Yes, the picture. It was a group picture, taken on the last day there and I felt I wanted to see it again to see what feelings it would bring up.
How would you find such a picture?
I have it.
You have it?
Yes. It’s in my chest. The chest is pretty large, in my garage, and filled with all sorts of – well, you see, I’d filled it up with all sorts of memories from my first eighteen years: high school memories, plays, all sorts of things.
But you didn’t just find the picture, did you? What else did you find?
Oh, letters. Scripts I’d written. Clippings.
And?
And what?
What about the tapes? Tell me about the tapes.
Yes, well, there were fifteen cassette tapes in there as well. I only remembered putting one tape in there, so I had no idea what was on the rest.
What were you expecting?
The one tape I did remember was filled with… well…
Say it.
Well, my friends and I, back when I was very young, we’d record skits on cassette tapes. Back then, it was the equivalent to what you see kids doing on YouTube or MySpace these days.
And you listened to one?
Yes. I listened to the first one today.
What was on it?
I really don’t –
TELL ME!
Okay… but Tim’s gonna kill me.
Go on.
Tim Murphy and I had made a tape back in 1982 or so. It was filled with sketches and skits that we thought up on the fly. The thirty minute tape took about thirty minutes to record.
You performed your own version of Bob & Doug McKenzie, didn’t you?
Yes. With drug humor.
The Great White North on drugs… interesting… what else?
Oh… other –
There was a Richard Nixon impression, wasn’t there?
… only a little.
Hosting his own daytime talk show?
… well…
Singing Donna Summer?
I’m so humiliated.
And this led you to writing books and plays, did it?
Actually – and I probably shouldn’t say this – but Tim was the funnier of the two of us. I was just aping what I’d seen in TV and movies. Tim was coming up with original shit that was pretty damned funny.
I see… yes, this is good. I think we’re making progress.
You’re not going to post this on my blog, are you?
Of course, not. Your secret’s safe with me.
Yes, Camp Cedar Crest was the name. I went there when I was eleven years old and it was a pivotal event in my life because –
And how did this come up, exactly?
Well, I was working on the new book and I reached a point where I wanted to mention an event from that time but –
You remembered the picture?
Yes, the picture. It was a group picture, taken on the last day there and I felt I wanted to see it again to see what feelings it would bring up.
How would you find such a picture?
I have it.
You have it?
Yes. It’s in my chest. The chest is pretty large, in my garage, and filled with all sorts of – well, you see, I’d filled it up with all sorts of memories from my first eighteen years: high school memories, plays, all sorts of things.
But you didn’t just find the picture, did you? What else did you find?
Oh, letters. Scripts I’d written. Clippings.
And?
And what?
What about the tapes? Tell me about the tapes.
Yes, well, there were fifteen cassette tapes in there as well. I only remembered putting one tape in there, so I had no idea what was on the rest.
What were you expecting?
The one tape I did remember was filled with… well…
Say it.
Well, my friends and I, back when I was very young, we’d record skits on cassette tapes. Back then, it was the equivalent to what you see kids doing on YouTube or MySpace these days.
And you listened to one?
Yes. I listened to the first one today.
What was on it?
I really don’t –
TELL ME!
Okay… but Tim’s gonna kill me.
Go on.
Tim Murphy and I had made a tape back in 1982 or so. It was filled with sketches and skits that we thought up on the fly. The thirty minute tape took about thirty minutes to record.
You performed your own version of Bob & Doug McKenzie, didn’t you?
Yes. With drug humor.
The Great White North on drugs… interesting… what else?
Oh… other –
There was a Richard Nixon impression, wasn’t there?
… only a little.
Hosting his own daytime talk show?
… well…
Singing Donna Summer?
I’m so humiliated.
And this led you to writing books and plays, did it?
Actually – and I probably shouldn’t say this – but Tim was the funnier of the two of us. I was just aping what I’d seen in TV and movies. Tim was coming up with original shit that was pretty damned funny.
I see… yes, this is good. I think we’re making progress.
You’re not going to post this on my blog, are you?
Of course, not. Your secret’s safe with me.
Tan. Tan. The racist man…
Some people wonder how the Republicans use their dirty tricks to keep people from the polls.
Here’s a way. (You should read this.)
This jerk won’t even own up to his guilt. After intimidating immigrants (not just illegals!), he says, “There has been no crime committed, so why is there a criminal investigation three weeks prior to a very important election?” Gee… I wonder…
And I wonder how anyone can vote for such scum.
Here’s a way. (You should read this.)
This jerk won’t even own up to his guilt. After intimidating immigrants (not just illegals!), he says, “There has been no crime committed, so why is there a criminal investigation three weeks prior to a very important election?” Gee… I wonder…
And I wonder how anyone can vote for such scum.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Another view...
Brainstorm is a blog that's usually not about politics - but the author like this author has had enough.
You're saying that the Bush Administration was warned about bin Laden two months before 9/11, and then again in the presidential daily briefing one month before 9/11, but they did nothing, or chose to do nothing, and you're saying that Habeas Corpus has just been eliminated with some crazy back-dating legislation designed to protect the Administration from War Crimes trials should the Democrats get enough votes in the midterm elections to gain enough seats in Congress to be able to hold hearings and expose all the crap the Bush Administration has been up to since Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, at which time, by the way, he told the American people, indeed, he declared to the world, that he solemnly swore to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" but has done just the opposite since that time, and wait, you're saying that the White House's own website search tool yields 758 results containing the phrase "protect the American people" but that there is only a single, as in one, as in uno, search result at the White House's website for the phrase "protect the Constitution" and it isn't from any important government report or document and it is not from a quote from Bush or other Administration bigwig but rather is a comment from one Rachael Brand, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, who participated in the "Ask the White House" Q&A session in March 2006, where she says "we take seriously our oath to protect the constitution" in the same sentence she proudly touts the anti-Constitutional USA PATRIOT Act's renewal by Congress, and wait, you're saying that the entire Iraq war is a sham, planned for years by the perps at Project for the New American Century, and that the Bush Administration has been lying about the reasons for this stupid, utterly wrong, and unbelievably expensive war since the beginning, and wait, you're saying that companies friendly to the Bush Administration are experiencing record profits, many directly as a result of the Iraq war, and you're saying that if when Republicans say something, they're projecting and if what they say is a verbal attack, it should be interpreted as an attack on themselves, and that they and the talk-radio flaks on their payroll use this technique day in and day out as a kind of Jedi mind trick and that instead of the media calling them on it day in and day out, the media is fooled by it, or chooses to accept it, day in and day out because the media has sold out to the Republicans, and wait, you're saying that the Republicans are now pushing a bill that would create a loophole in the First Amendment of the Constitution that keeps church and state separate, so that they could make it easier for the establishment of, well, let's face it, a state church, and wait, you're saying that there are Republican members of Congress who say one thing but do the exact opposite, like, tout "family values" over and over again but prove over and over again through their actions which they try desperately to hide but once in a while get found out, that they wouldn't know a family value if it hit them over the head, and wait, you're saying that if it's a war on drugs, why aren't tobacco and alcohol also targets of that war because after all, they are drugs too, so like, either ban the whole lot of them, or legalize the whole lot of them, but to do anything in between is hypocritical, and wait, you're saying that GM killed its electric car program and even went so far as to destroy thousands of electric cars it had leased to customers, and then pushed to get Congress to enact laws that would make it possible to get a tax deduction on Hummers precisely because they're hulking gas-guzzling trucks, and wait, you're saying the heads of the two companies that make almost all the election voting machines in the U.S. are run by loyal Republicans and that there are myriad irregularities in the past two elections in states across the country, and that these same companies make other devices such as ATMs and Vegas slot machines and that those devices undergo rigorous security checks, tests, and verifications, but the voting machines for some strange reason lack any such safeguards from fraud, and wait, you're saying that the United States is experiencing the most dangerous media consolidation in its history, preventing there being a broadly-informed public, and causing instead there to be a widely-ignorant public served daily with inane "reality" programs that are the furthest thing from reality, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration is counting the American public to believe in fear, and that only Bush can protect the people, and that they're claiming that any effort to rid the country of the stranglehold that the Republicans have not only on the three branches of government but on the very Constitution itself should be perceived as unpatriotic, and wait, you're saying that gas prices are conveniently coming down just before one of the most critical elections in U.S. history, at a time when more and more people are beginning to wake up and smell what the Republicans have been shoveling at the American public for decades, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration is wiretapping American citizens without any warrant or court order, and imprisoning thousands of people worldwide in secret prisons without any legal representation, due process, or the slightest semblance of justice, and at the same time, pushing for the "reinterpretation" of the Geneva Conventions and the promotion of torture, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration puts pro-business, anti-environment people in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency and has done little to actually protect the environment, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration is anti-science because to accept factual data and measurements from direct observation would rattle the faith-based electoral base who continue to ignorantly believe the president is a "good man", and that there is widespread corruption inside the Bush Administration regarding the scientific advisory process, and that any fact or finding that might conflict with or otherwise jeopardize the Bush Administration's real motives must be hidden, falsified, or otherwise ignored so that they can "stay the course"?
Is that what you said?
So, like, if even one fortieth of that is true, and I suspect more than one fortieth of that is true, then why would anyone with at least one functioning neuron in their brain even consider actually voting for a single Republican candidate or Republican-pushed initiative in November?
You're saying that the Bush Administration was warned about bin Laden two months before 9/11, and then again in the presidential daily briefing one month before 9/11, but they did nothing, or chose to do nothing, and you're saying that Habeas Corpus has just been eliminated with some crazy back-dating legislation designed to protect the Administration from War Crimes trials should the Democrats get enough votes in the midterm elections to gain enough seats in Congress to be able to hold hearings and expose all the crap the Bush Administration has been up to since Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, at which time, by the way, he told the American people, indeed, he declared to the world, that he solemnly swore to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" but has done just the opposite since that time, and wait, you're saying that the White House's own website search tool yields 758 results containing the phrase "protect the American people" but that there is only a single, as in one, as in uno, search result at the White House's website for the phrase "protect the Constitution" and it isn't from any important government report or document and it is not from a quote from Bush or other Administration bigwig but rather is a comment from one Rachael Brand, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, who participated in the "Ask the White House" Q&A session in March 2006, where she says "we take seriously our oath to protect the constitution" in the same sentence she proudly touts the anti-Constitutional USA PATRIOT Act's renewal by Congress, and wait, you're saying that the entire Iraq war is a sham, planned for years by the perps at Project for the New American Century, and that the Bush Administration has been lying about the reasons for this stupid, utterly wrong, and unbelievably expensive war since the beginning, and wait, you're saying that companies friendly to the Bush Administration are experiencing record profits, many directly as a result of the Iraq war, and you're saying that if when Republicans say something, they're projecting and if what they say is a verbal attack, it should be interpreted as an attack on themselves, and that they and the talk-radio flaks on their payroll use this technique day in and day out as a kind of Jedi mind trick and that instead of the media calling them on it day in and day out, the media is fooled by it, or chooses to accept it, day in and day out because the media has sold out to the Republicans, and wait, you're saying that the Republicans are now pushing a bill that would create a loophole in the First Amendment of the Constitution that keeps church and state separate, so that they could make it easier for the establishment of, well, let's face it, a state church, and wait, you're saying that there are Republican members of Congress who say one thing but do the exact opposite, like, tout "family values" over and over again but prove over and over again through their actions which they try desperately to hide but once in a while get found out, that they wouldn't know a family value if it hit them over the head, and wait, you're saying that if it's a war on drugs, why aren't tobacco and alcohol also targets of that war because after all, they are drugs too, so like, either ban the whole lot of them, or legalize the whole lot of them, but to do anything in between is hypocritical, and wait, you're saying that GM killed its electric car program and even went so far as to destroy thousands of electric cars it had leased to customers, and then pushed to get Congress to enact laws that would make it possible to get a tax deduction on Hummers precisely because they're hulking gas-guzzling trucks, and wait, you're saying the heads of the two companies that make almost all the election voting machines in the U.S. are run by loyal Republicans and that there are myriad irregularities in the past two elections in states across the country, and that these same companies make other devices such as ATMs and Vegas slot machines and that those devices undergo rigorous security checks, tests, and verifications, but the voting machines for some strange reason lack any such safeguards from fraud, and wait, you're saying that the United States is experiencing the most dangerous media consolidation in its history, preventing there being a broadly-informed public, and causing instead there to be a widely-ignorant public served daily with inane "reality" programs that are the furthest thing from reality, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration is counting the American public to believe in fear, and that only Bush can protect the people, and that they're claiming that any effort to rid the country of the stranglehold that the Republicans have not only on the three branches of government but on the very Constitution itself should be perceived as unpatriotic, and wait, you're saying that gas prices are conveniently coming down just before one of the most critical elections in U.S. history, at a time when more and more people are beginning to wake up and smell what the Republicans have been shoveling at the American public for decades, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration is wiretapping American citizens without any warrant or court order, and imprisoning thousands of people worldwide in secret prisons without any legal representation, due process, or the slightest semblance of justice, and at the same time, pushing for the "reinterpretation" of the Geneva Conventions and the promotion of torture, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration puts pro-business, anti-environment people in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency and has done little to actually protect the environment, and wait, you're saying that the Bush Administration is anti-science because to accept factual data and measurements from direct observation would rattle the faith-based electoral base who continue to ignorantly believe the president is a "good man", and that there is widespread corruption inside the Bush Administration regarding the scientific advisory process, and that any fact or finding that might conflict with or otherwise jeopardize the Bush Administration's real motives must be hidden, falsified, or otherwise ignored so that they can "stay the course"?
Is that what you said?
So, like, if even one fortieth of that is true, and I suspect more than one fortieth of that is true, then why would anyone with at least one functioning neuron in their brain even consider actually voting for a single Republican candidate or Republican-pushed initiative in November?
Friday, October 20, 2006
From Jenn - Your Habeas is in my Corpus...
Jenn wrote the following entry in her blog today and I thought it might be helpful to share it with you.
Okay, okay. I hear ya. Loud and clear. But Please please please, understand, I am not a politically insightful person, by nature. Only when something is so blaringly, obviously wrong, will I pick up my torch and get my couch potato butt off the political denial couch. I am, sadly, one of those Americans, who are so tired and fed up with all things political, that I bury my head in the sand and just wait, hope and pray for the day we get a true leader in our white house. And I don't care if they are democrat or republican. I just want someone to stand up to the world and LEAD.
But now, it seems, I am, in affect, defenseless. I learned something today. I learned about Habeas Corpus. And I learned that we as American’s no longer have a right that was give us many hundreds of years ago. This change in our society and the comments I’m going to make transcends past your political circle. It shouldn’t matter if your democrat or republican, because right now, you can be put in jail for no reason and you do not have the right to object to your imprisonment. Heck, you can be put in jail for just being a democrat or a republican.
What is this habeas corpus? Did I learn about it in school and just purge the memory because I figured there’s no way that THAT freedom would be taken from me?
Literally, in Latin: “you [should] have the body"
A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate. In a nut shell, it allows an individual who has been imprisoned to request a court hearing in objection to being detained and to determine whether or not that person is in prison lawfully. The prisoner gets an opportunity to find out why they are being held, and then prove why they should not be held. That right – gone! The bill simply removes a suspect’s right to challenge his detention in court.
I sat and watched President Bush, smugly sign an act that wipes out all our safety nets that were in place to stop illegal imprisonment. This bill is designed to make you believe that its about seeking and detaining “enemy combatants”. Where as, what it appears to do is allow anyone of us to be detained and tortured without proving that we may be the enemy. It provides a power that should be frightening to all Americans (republicans or democrats alike).
Now as I stated, I am not a political rough rouser…never claimed to be, and likely never will never be. But this is a scary time in our society. Does anyone believe for one minute that this bill isn’t going to be used to CYA in the event that “tortured” prisoners should rear their heads again?
Ken has been writing about this for a couple of days now. I sloughed off his emails and blogs and put him in a category of paranoid. And yet, this idea of losing habeas corpus has been lingering in the back of my mind. What was all this hoolala about anyhow? So I decided to be educated, at least a little, and read about his right we no longer have. And now, I think paranoia is the least of our worries.
This bill tosses aside all legal and moral restraints as the president deems it necessary – these are the fundamental principles of basic decency, as well as law. The constitution as we know it, and as we respect it and live by it, seems to be crumbling at our feet.
I'm curious as to your thoughts on this.
So I leave you with this, Keith Oberman stated in a special report yesterday, “Good night, and good luck.”
Habeas Corpus was put into an Act in 1679. Read it. Learn some history. I’ve been told those who don’t understand history are bound to repeat it.
Okay, okay. I hear ya. Loud and clear. But Please please please, understand, I am not a politically insightful person, by nature. Only when something is so blaringly, obviously wrong, will I pick up my torch and get my couch potato butt off the political denial couch. I am, sadly, one of those Americans, who are so tired and fed up with all things political, that I bury my head in the sand and just wait, hope and pray for the day we get a true leader in our white house. And I don't care if they are democrat or republican. I just want someone to stand up to the world and LEAD.
But now, it seems, I am, in affect, defenseless. I learned something today. I learned about Habeas Corpus. And I learned that we as American’s no longer have a right that was give us many hundreds of years ago. This change in our society and the comments I’m going to make transcends past your political circle. It shouldn’t matter if your democrat or republican, because right now, you can be put in jail for no reason and you do not have the right to object to your imprisonment. Heck, you can be put in jail for just being a democrat or a republican.
What is this habeas corpus? Did I learn about it in school and just purge the memory because I figured there’s no way that THAT freedom would be taken from me?
Literally, in Latin: “you [should] have the body"
A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate. In a nut shell, it allows an individual who has been imprisoned to request a court hearing in objection to being detained and to determine whether or not that person is in prison lawfully. The prisoner gets an opportunity to find out why they are being held, and then prove why they should not be held. That right – gone! The bill simply removes a suspect’s right to challenge his detention in court.
I sat and watched President Bush, smugly sign an act that wipes out all our safety nets that were in place to stop illegal imprisonment. This bill is designed to make you believe that its about seeking and detaining “enemy combatants”. Where as, what it appears to do is allow anyone of us to be detained and tortured without proving that we may be the enemy. It provides a power that should be frightening to all Americans (republicans or democrats alike).
Now as I stated, I am not a political rough rouser…never claimed to be, and likely never will never be. But this is a scary time in our society. Does anyone believe for one minute that this bill isn’t going to be used to CYA in the event that “tortured” prisoners should rear their heads again?
Ken has been writing about this for a couple of days now. I sloughed off his emails and blogs and put him in a category of paranoid. And yet, this idea of losing habeas corpus has been lingering in the back of my mind. What was all this hoolala about anyhow? So I decided to be educated, at least a little, and read about his right we no longer have. And now, I think paranoia is the least of our worries.
This bill tosses aside all legal and moral restraints as the president deems it necessary – these are the fundamental principles of basic decency, as well as law. The constitution as we know it, and as we respect it and live by it, seems to be crumbling at our feet.
I'm curious as to your thoughts on this.
So I leave you with this, Keith Oberman stated in a special report yesterday, “Good night, and good luck.”
Habeas Corpus was put into an Act in 1679. Read it. Learn some history. I’ve been told those who don’t understand history are bound to repeat it.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Not nearly the news…
So, I’m at the gym this morning and I had to constantly remind myself to look away from the Wall of TVs. For those of you who’ve never been to the gym – and I think this includes all gyms – there’s this Wall of TVs tuned to all sorts of stations (Fox, CNN, Fox, NBC, Fox) because someone decided you can’t walk without a TV in front of you.
And here’s what I saw:
Fox. In the midst of a story about how liberals are so afraid of the suspension of Habeas Corpus, the anchors began making jokes and laughing about it. That’s how far we’ve thrown objectivity in the name of a little so-called entertainment. I don’t think any definition of objectivity should include laughing.
CNN. Not much better here. They were using The National Enquirer as a source of one of their stories, actually showing the printed pages on the screen. Now there’s a source I can trust.
Meanwhile, the most reliable thing on local news has become the weather forecast. Insert your own joke here.
I normally stay far away from TV news but, before that Wall of TVs, it’s not hard to remember exactly why.
And here’s what I saw:
Fox. In the midst of a story about how liberals are so afraid of the suspension of Habeas Corpus, the anchors began making jokes and laughing about it. That’s how far we’ve thrown objectivity in the name of a little so-called entertainment. I don’t think any definition of objectivity should include laughing.
CNN. Not much better here. They were using The National Enquirer as a source of one of their stories, actually showing the printed pages on the screen. Now there’s a source I can trust.
Meanwhile, the most reliable thing on local news has become the weather forecast. Insert your own joke here.
I normally stay far away from TV news but, before that Wall of TVs, it’s not hard to remember exactly why.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I’m terrified tonight…
I’m terrified tonight at the thought that now, anyone I know, my brother, my father-in-law, my wife, my friends – anyone – can be removed from their homes in the most legal fashion. They can be put into a secret prison far away without ever being told why, without being afforded the most basic human rights, without being accused of anything, without being given a chance to defend themselves in the most legal fashion. The can be beaten and tortured in the most disgusting ways even I cannot imagine until they are physically mutilated, even until they reach organ failure, in the most legal fashion. They can disappear for good and no one would ever know why in the most legal fashion.
I’m terrified tonight because Bush and his people have been doing this for years and now it is all legal. Bush has made Habeas Corpus, one of the foundations of our freedoms dating back to the Magna Carta, illegal and thereby has made the Bill of Rights (with the possible exception of the third amendment) null and void. American citizens have been denied their most basic rights: the right to free speech, the right to spiritual belief, etc. And it’s all legal.
I’m terrified tonight because nobody gives a shit. They’re all too busy watching reality television or seeing yet another movie about World War II. They have wrapped themselves up in nostalgia for World War II, a war in which we were the “good guys”, ignoring the fact that we now engage in the same methods of torture and restriction of human rights on our own citizens that the Nazis engaged in. This is our country and nobody seems to care.
That has me terrified. And yet, people will stand up for this horror that is the Bush Administration and the Republican party. They will say, “Ah, well, they’re all crooks,” ignoring the fact that no Democrat has ever suspended Habeas Corpus. (And, no, I’m not a Democrat.) They will say, “It had to be done to stop the terrorists,” ignoring the fact that we were told that the terrorists were Arabs, which is why we so maliciously and so wrongly went to war in the first place. Worse, they’ll say, “Then, you’d better watch what you say.” And it’s getting to that.
Most people, I’m afraid, will think that this didn’t really happen or that it’s not important, because we Americans have grown soft and complacent and just don’t give a shit. That’s what scares me most.
I’m terrified tonight because Bush and his people have been doing this for years and now it is all legal. Bush has made Habeas Corpus, one of the foundations of our freedoms dating back to the Magna Carta, illegal and thereby has made the Bill of Rights (with the possible exception of the third amendment) null and void. American citizens have been denied their most basic rights: the right to free speech, the right to spiritual belief, etc. And it’s all legal.
I’m terrified tonight because nobody gives a shit. They’re all too busy watching reality television or seeing yet another movie about World War II. They have wrapped themselves up in nostalgia for World War II, a war in which we were the “good guys”, ignoring the fact that we now engage in the same methods of torture and restriction of human rights on our own citizens that the Nazis engaged in. This is our country and nobody seems to care.
That has me terrified. And yet, people will stand up for this horror that is the Bush Administration and the Republican party. They will say, “Ah, well, they’re all crooks,” ignoring the fact that no Democrat has ever suspended Habeas Corpus. (And, no, I’m not a Democrat.) They will say, “It had to be done to stop the terrorists,” ignoring the fact that we were told that the terrorists were Arabs, which is why we so maliciously and so wrongly went to war in the first place. Worse, they’ll say, “Then, you’d better watch what you say.” And it’s getting to that.
Most people, I’m afraid, will think that this didn’t really happen or that it’s not important, because we Americans have grown soft and complacent and just don’t give a shit. That’s what scares me most.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
When is enough enough?…
So do you think Bush has had enough, yet?
Has he had enough of violating the Constitution? After retracting Habeas Corpus several weeks ago, he signed another bill yesterday that allows prisoners to be put to death for confessions beaten out of them – not prisons of war, all prisoners. Americans. He says he does this to stop "the terrorists" and, yet, those it harms the most are the people he has sworn to protect. The people he hates so much in the country he hates so much. Has he had enough of that? Probably not.
Has he had enough of killing innocent women and children? Recently, the number of civilian dead in Iraq was released and was tallied at over 600,000 lives. Iraq played no part in 9/11 and, yet, Bush insists on killing these people. Are over half a million innocent people enough? Probably not.
Is this the America you were raised to love? A country that kills the innocent, both at home and abroad? Is that what you love about our country?
Has he had enough of violating the Constitution? After retracting Habeas Corpus several weeks ago, he signed another bill yesterday that allows prisoners to be put to death for confessions beaten out of them – not prisons of war, all prisoners. Americans. He says he does this to stop "the terrorists" and, yet, those it harms the most are the people he has sworn to protect. The people he hates so much in the country he hates so much. Has he had enough of that? Probably not.
Has he had enough of killing innocent women and children? Recently, the number of civilian dead in Iraq was released and was tallied at over 600,000 lives. Iraq played no part in 9/11 and, yet, Bush insists on killing these people. Are over half a million innocent people enough? Probably not.
Is this the America you were raised to love? A country that kills the innocent, both at home and abroad? Is that what you love about our country?
Monday, October 16, 2006
Happy Birthday to…
It seems all of my best friends (excluding Vicky) have birthdays in October.
Tim Murphy.
You know how you keep meaning to call? Well, I kept meaning to send you a card or something. But I’m a retard, so…
Murphy’s been going through a bit of shit lately and, to top it off, he’s older than me. Just think how much it must suck to be older than me! (Luv ya!)
Sean Deyo.
We had a little poker game at the house on Saturday night and I made sure we put a little extra effort into it since it was Sean’s birthday and he didn’t have anyone to celebrate with. But since Sean’s wife died, he’s decided he can be as rude as he pleases so… well, he was kind of a twerp. He even insulted Paula, who made a cake for us!
Now, next time I see him, I gotta tell him, “Dude. You’re being kind of a dick.”
Good Times.
Tim Clostio.
Clostio has decided to take himself out of my life, at least for a while. He chose his friend Booze over his friend Ken. I’m disappointed and I’m hurt.
Me.
Yep. Today’s the day. I’m out of work and I’m a year older. 41. (That’s like 287 in dog years.) In addition, Vicky snuck up behind me last night and surprised me, little knowing (hell, no one could have told her) that a little startle would spasm my back so bad that I would collapse on the living room floor, unable to get up.
(I just got up a few minutes ago and am loving my birthday so far.)
Happy Birthday, kids!
Tim Murphy.
You know how you keep meaning to call? Well, I kept meaning to send you a card or something. But I’m a retard, so…
Murphy’s been going through a bit of shit lately and, to top it off, he’s older than me. Just think how much it must suck to be older than me! (Luv ya!)
Sean Deyo.
We had a little poker game at the house on Saturday night and I made sure we put a little extra effort into it since it was Sean’s birthday and he didn’t have anyone to celebrate with. But since Sean’s wife died, he’s decided he can be as rude as he pleases so… well, he was kind of a twerp. He even insulted Paula, who made a cake for us!
Now, next time I see him, I gotta tell him, “Dude. You’re being kind of a dick.”
Good Times.
Tim Clostio.
Clostio has decided to take himself out of my life, at least for a while. He chose his friend Booze over his friend Ken. I’m disappointed and I’m hurt.
Me.
Yep. Today’s the day. I’m out of work and I’m a year older. 41. (That’s like 287 in dog years.) In addition, Vicky snuck up behind me last night and surprised me, little knowing (hell, no one could have told her) that a little startle would spasm my back so bad that I would collapse on the living room floor, unable to get up.
(I just got up a few minutes ago and am loving my birthday so far.)
Happy Birthday, kids!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Wait… Watch who?…
I’m a little gayer this morning.
No, not happier. Gayer.
I can feel the testosterone leeched from my system. I need a lap dance – stat! (um... from a woman...)
Yes, I went to my first Weight Watcher’s meeting this morning. Yes. Weight Watchers.
So, here’s the thing, I told Vicky a couple of months ago that if she needed my support in losing weight, if she needed me to be there for her, I would! Heck, I’d even join Weight Watchers with her!
… I didn’t expect her to take me up on it.
Well, she did. This morning, we traveled on down to the WW office and… it was like Jonestown (but with single-point snacks instead of Kool-Aide) or buying a Saturn (basically the same thing) (and they clap there, too)! The meeting consisted of about 30 large people in a rather small room with one very skinny woman in front of us all… telling everyone what a good job they were doing!
… Um…. Fat people… Thin lady… I don’t think “good job” is 100% accurate…
There were only three other guys there. And I realized that what we really needed was WW FOR MEN. I mean, these women clapped after every sentence! “I drank more water this week!” Clap clap clap! “I had more fruit!” Clap clap clap! If this was a guy’s meeting, I’m sure it would be observed, “Yeah, but you’re still a fatass, huh?!”
All those chubby women (my lovely bride excluded) and all that clapping and all that excitement and all that working together for a goal… if it was any gayer, we would have been sucking cock. I grabbed Vicky’s boob on the way out, just to remind myself I was still straight.
Anyway, it has begun and, well, we’ll see. I’m just doing this to support my wife… and for the fabulous food! (shit!)
No, not happier. Gayer.
I can feel the testosterone leeched from my system. I need a lap dance – stat! (um... from a woman...)
Yes, I went to my first Weight Watcher’s meeting this morning. Yes. Weight Watchers.
So, here’s the thing, I told Vicky a couple of months ago that if she needed my support in losing weight, if she needed me to be there for her, I would! Heck, I’d even join Weight Watchers with her!
… I didn’t expect her to take me up on it.
Well, she did. This morning, we traveled on down to the WW office and… it was like Jonestown (but with single-point snacks instead of Kool-Aide) or buying a Saturn (basically the same thing) (and they clap there, too)! The meeting consisted of about 30 large people in a rather small room with one very skinny woman in front of us all… telling everyone what a good job they were doing!
… Um…. Fat people… Thin lady… I don’t think “good job” is 100% accurate…
There were only three other guys there. And I realized that what we really needed was WW FOR MEN. I mean, these women clapped after every sentence! “I drank more water this week!” Clap clap clap! “I had more fruit!” Clap clap clap! If this was a guy’s meeting, I’m sure it would be observed, “Yeah, but you’re still a fatass, huh?!”
All those chubby women (my lovely bride excluded) and all that clapping and all that excitement and all that working together for a goal… if it was any gayer, we would have been sucking cock. I grabbed Vicky’s boob on the way out, just to remind myself I was still straight.
Anyway, it has begun and, well, we’ll see. I’m just doing this to support my wife… and for the fabulous food! (shit!)
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Baby – Baby Not…
So, I’m guessing that the minute you heard – or read – I lost my job you realized that we wouldn’t be working quite so hard to have a baby. Didn’t you? And by “wouldn’t be working quite so hard”, I mean not at all. I mean, we have become baby-phobes. Any sign of babyness – we don’t even buy those small corns… corn… corns… whatever.
I’ve been out of work now for two months. Eight weeks. A whole lot of days. I’ve driving myself nuts and taking Vicky on the ride as well.
And what once was this joyous thing, the pursuit of insemination, has now turned into something we’d rather not talk about… write about is a different story. The whole thing is really starting to piss me off, to tell the truth.
Anyway, in case you were wondering, we still want one. I can imagine us not leaving the bedroom for a full 48 hours after I get a job offer.
Wouldn’t mind that job offer…. oh…. any time now…
I’ve been out of work now for two months. Eight weeks. A whole lot of days. I’ve driving myself nuts and taking Vicky on the ride as well.
And what once was this joyous thing, the pursuit of insemination, has now turned into something we’d rather not talk about… write about is a different story. The whole thing is really starting to piss me off, to tell the truth.
Anyway, in case you were wondering, we still want one. I can imagine us not leaving the bedroom for a full 48 hours after I get a job offer.
Wouldn’t mind that job offer…. oh…. any time now…
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Ebony and Irony…
(What can I say? It makes a good title.)
“So, here’s the thing. Let’s not let that happen to us, okay?” I said and leaned in and kissed my bride.
I’ve been watching our Mad About You DVDs lately. I love that show. I actually was afraid I wouldn’t be able to watch it because it was a show Rosa and I watched religiously back in the day and I thought… but no, I’m fine. I’m loving it, which is great.
But here’s the thing: the finale to the fourth season ends with the two main characters, husband and wife, nearly splitting up because (amongst other reasons) she kissed someone. I sat there watching it and felt an oyster spoon gutting me – the two didn’t split up, though. They made it.
I remembered Rosa and I watching it. I remembered us saying, “That will never happen to us.”
I remembered kissing Cindy. I remembered my marriage ending.
And I bawled my eyes out.
So, when Vicky came home, I said, “Can I talk to you for a second?” And I told her the whole story. “So, here’s the thing. Let’s not let that happen to us okay?” And we kissed on it. Then, I added, “Not that I’m out there kissing anyone or anything – not that I’ve thought about it.”
I just couldn’t take losing Vicky. That would be very bad.
So, here it is. Nearly two in the morning. And I’m wide awake. I’ve been watching the DVDs and I got to the final episode.
Should I tell you that they two characters have split up at the end? No, I shouldn’t spoil the surprise… if there is any.
I couldn’t get even a minute into it. I felt that old, familiar tearing feeling inside that I felt when I lost Rosa. This time, though, I also thought about Vicky and what it would feel like to lose her.
I don’t think I could take it. Even thinking about it has me in tears… very annoying, by the way, considering how we’re just fine right now. It would be very bad.
So, Vicky. Honey. If you’re reading this, can I just say, because I don’t want to wake you up, let’s not let that happen to us, okay?
(Kiss)
“So, here’s the thing. Let’s not let that happen to us, okay?” I said and leaned in and kissed my bride.
I’ve been watching our Mad About You DVDs lately. I love that show. I actually was afraid I wouldn’t be able to watch it because it was a show Rosa and I watched religiously back in the day and I thought… but no, I’m fine. I’m loving it, which is great.
But here’s the thing: the finale to the fourth season ends with the two main characters, husband and wife, nearly splitting up because (amongst other reasons) she kissed someone. I sat there watching it and felt an oyster spoon gutting me – the two didn’t split up, though. They made it.
I remembered Rosa and I watching it. I remembered us saying, “That will never happen to us.”
I remembered kissing Cindy. I remembered my marriage ending.
And I bawled my eyes out.
So, when Vicky came home, I said, “Can I talk to you for a second?” And I told her the whole story. “So, here’s the thing. Let’s not let that happen to us okay?” And we kissed on it. Then, I added, “Not that I’m out there kissing anyone or anything – not that I’ve thought about it.”
I just couldn’t take losing Vicky. That would be very bad.
So, here it is. Nearly two in the morning. And I’m wide awake. I’ve been watching the DVDs and I got to the final episode.
Should I tell you that they two characters have split up at the end? No, I shouldn’t spoil the surprise… if there is any.
I couldn’t get even a minute into it. I felt that old, familiar tearing feeling inside that I felt when I lost Rosa. This time, though, I also thought about Vicky and what it would feel like to lose her.
I don’t think I could take it. Even thinking about it has me in tears… very annoying, by the way, considering how we’re just fine right now. It would be very bad.
So, Vicky. Honey. If you’re reading this, can I just say, because I don’t want to wake you up, let’s not let that happen to us, okay?
(Kiss)
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Enough to make my brain want to slit its writsts...
I'm going to tell you something I saw today and you're not going to believe me. You're not going to believe me but I have to tell you. I have to.
It was that bad.
I was watching a commercial for the Toyota Scion today... it was a cartoon...
And a caption read, "Animated sequence - Not a real car".
... What the hell?
It was that bad.
I was watching a commercial for the Toyota Scion today... it was a cartoon...
And a caption read, "Animated sequence - Not a real car".
... What the hell?
Houston, we have a premise...
Work on the new book is progressing... slowly...
I thought I'd include a clip for you in case anyone wasn't quite sure about the premise. In short, it's "Ken goes off to do another silly thing". In long, it's...
“What’s the book you want to write?”
Now, I put down her hand and rose from the bed. Though our condominium is small, the master bedroom is large. And I like that because it gives me room to move. And I needed room to move. I moved to the other side of the room and looked at her in the dark. “One that probably nobody is ever going to want to read.”
She was silent.
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you mean by that? I’m no writer. It doesn’t make sense. How do you know nobody’s going to want to read it?”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“What’s it about?”
“Success.”
The result was expected. Silence. Every time I thought of the book being on the shelf in a bookstore, that’s the same response I projected.
“What about success?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who’s success? What kind of story?”
“No. No story. Just – success.”
“I don’t get it.”
“That’s just it. I don’t think anyone will. But think about it, hon. We go through our lives expecting to be successful or having people tell us we should be successful, trying to be successful, working our asses off to be successful – and, in the end, I don’t even know what that means. Sean doesn’t know what that means. Tim’s too drunk to know what that means. Do you know what that means?”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Exactly.”
“No,” she said, sitting up. “What I mean is, I don’t know how you plan to write about book about this. If you plan to write a book about how to be a success -”
“No,” I told her. “It’s not how.” I thought for a moment. “It’s not even why. I mean, it’s not about how to be a success or why people are successful it’s… I can’t explain it. And I thought I could. I’ve been spending my whole day thinking about this. But anyone can say they have the answer and charge you hundreds of dollars on books and seminars on how to become a success. I mean, that’s a good way to become a success, you know?”
She smiled an odd smile. “But that’s not what you’re writing about.”
“No,” I said. Then, I found the word. “What. What is success?”
“What is success?”
“Yes. That’s what the book is going to be about.”
“You’re going to tell people how to be successful?”
“No. Not how. What.”
“You’re going to tell people what success is.” She was dubious.
“Right. That’s what I want to write about.”
“Honey, everybody knows what success is.”
“What is it?”
“Well, it depends on the person.”
“Such as?”
“It could be a lot of things.” She listed, “It could be having a lot of money. It could be having a big family. It could be having a nice home.”
“So, success could be having things.”
“It could be more than that. It could be reaching some state of enlightenment or driving cross-country.”
“Right,” I answered, nodding. “I see.”
Vicky had known me a while, though. She didn’t believe me. “Maybe I’m just not getting what you want to write about.”
Then, I looked at her. “What’s a ball?”
“Excuse me?”
“Define a ball for me.”
“Why?”
“Well, it could be a lot of things, right? It could be something used in basketball. It could be something used in football. It could be a place where a lot of well-dressed people gather to dance.”
She interrupted my stream of thought. “What’s your point?”
“That’s the thing. A ball could be a lot of things but that’s not what it is. Success could be a lot of things. I want to know what success is.”
I thought I'd include a clip for you in case anyone wasn't quite sure about the premise. In short, it's "Ken goes off to do another silly thing". In long, it's...
“What’s the book you want to write?”
Now, I put down her hand and rose from the bed. Though our condominium is small, the master bedroom is large. And I like that because it gives me room to move. And I needed room to move. I moved to the other side of the room and looked at her in the dark. “One that probably nobody is ever going to want to read.”
She was silent.
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you mean by that? I’m no writer. It doesn’t make sense. How do you know nobody’s going to want to read it?”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“What’s it about?”
“Success.”
The result was expected. Silence. Every time I thought of the book being on the shelf in a bookstore, that’s the same response I projected.
“What about success?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who’s success? What kind of story?”
“No. No story. Just – success.”
“I don’t get it.”
“That’s just it. I don’t think anyone will. But think about it, hon. We go through our lives expecting to be successful or having people tell us we should be successful, trying to be successful, working our asses off to be successful – and, in the end, I don’t even know what that means. Sean doesn’t know what that means. Tim’s too drunk to know what that means. Do you know what that means?”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Exactly.”
“No,” she said, sitting up. “What I mean is, I don’t know how you plan to write about book about this. If you plan to write a book about how to be a success -”
“No,” I told her. “It’s not how.” I thought for a moment. “It’s not even why. I mean, it’s not about how to be a success or why people are successful it’s… I can’t explain it. And I thought I could. I’ve been spending my whole day thinking about this. But anyone can say they have the answer and charge you hundreds of dollars on books and seminars on how to become a success. I mean, that’s a good way to become a success, you know?”
She smiled an odd smile. “But that’s not what you’re writing about.”
“No,” I said. Then, I found the word. “What. What is success?”
“What is success?”
“Yes. That’s what the book is going to be about.”
“You’re going to tell people how to be successful?”
“No. Not how. What.”
“You’re going to tell people what success is.” She was dubious.
“Right. That’s what I want to write about.”
“Honey, everybody knows what success is.”
“What is it?”
“Well, it depends on the person.”
“Such as?”
“It could be a lot of things.” She listed, “It could be having a lot of money. It could be having a big family. It could be having a nice home.”
“So, success could be having things.”
“It could be more than that. It could be reaching some state of enlightenment or driving cross-country.”
“Right,” I answered, nodding. “I see.”
Vicky had known me a while, though. She didn’t believe me. “Maybe I’m just not getting what you want to write about.”
Then, I looked at her. “What’s a ball?”
“Excuse me?”
“Define a ball for me.”
“Why?”
“Well, it could be a lot of things, right? It could be something used in basketball. It could be something used in football. It could be a place where a lot of well-dressed people gather to dance.”
She interrupted my stream of thought. “What’s your point?”
“That’s the thing. A ball could be a lot of things but that’s not what it is. Success could be a lot of things. I want to know what success is.”
Monday, October 09, 2006
Of course…
Here’s a story about how I was offered a job.
It pains me to tell it.
I’ve been going to a lot of interviews lately. A lot of good ones. Some decent ones.
… on Friday, I went to the interview from HELL.
I go in and meet with this woman who asks questions like, “And why do you think you can write?” or “Don’t you belong in someplace like Irvine?” Why do I think? Don’t I belong? These are antagonizing questions. But I try to spin them back at her with as much tact and salesmanshipiness as possible. Then, I get my chance to ask questions.
“How many people do you have in your department?”
“I have one person below me.”
“One?”
“Yes.” The one person was the other writer on staff.
I took a breath. “But I thought you were the Director of Product Management.”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t there any Product Managers?”
“Of course, there are. There are lots of them. And there are people who interact with sales – Business Analysts – we have a whole lot of them, too.”
… But only one person is beneath her.
Then, I meet with the writer on staff. She tells me that woman was “our boss but that changes from day to day.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, we” and she uses “we” though she’s the only writer – “we like to think of ourselves as employees of the entire company. So, whenever anyone gives us work, they’re our boss that day.”
“That day?”
“Or for however long it takes to do the job.”
“So, you could have multiple bosses in one day?”
“Oh, yeah. That happens all the time.”
Check, please!
Then, she starts telling me about the documents she works on, and some of them are legal documents. I ask, “Do you have your legal department create the templates for them?”
“Oh, no,” she replies. “We don’t have a legal department. We do these ourselves.”
Recipe for disaster.
And, yep… they’re offering me a job.
“The thing is,” I tell the recruiter, “I was talking with one of your writers and she told me that the writers are responsible for all the legal documents and that there’s no legal department.”
“No. No.” he insists. “She’s got it all wrong. We have a legal department. The president’s wife is a lawyer.”
And this is all well calculated to make me feel better.
So, I figure I’d try and Google the company and find something good about them on the Internet(s)… well…in the past year… they cheated their employees out of benefits and they promised raises they never deliver and they promised starting employees a certain wage and then change that number after the person starts and they provided lousy customer service because they tried to get people off the phones instead of providing excellent customer – OKAY! ENOUGH! I GIVE!
But do you realize how much I’m going to regret not taking this job if I don’t find one in the next few months? After all, even the shittiest job is still a job, ya know?
Just my fucking luck…
It pains me to tell it.
I’ve been going to a lot of interviews lately. A lot of good ones. Some decent ones.
… on Friday, I went to the interview from HELL.
I go in and meet with this woman who asks questions like, “And why do you think you can write?” or “Don’t you belong in someplace like Irvine?” Why do I think? Don’t I belong? These are antagonizing questions. But I try to spin them back at her with as much tact and salesmanshipiness as possible. Then, I get my chance to ask questions.
“How many people do you have in your department?”
“I have one person below me.”
“One?”
“Yes.” The one person was the other writer on staff.
I took a breath. “But I thought you were the Director of Product Management.”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t there any Product Managers?”
“Of course, there are. There are lots of them. And there are people who interact with sales – Business Analysts – we have a whole lot of them, too.”
… But only one person is beneath her.
Then, I meet with the writer on staff. She tells me that woman was “our boss but that changes from day to day.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, we” and she uses “we” though she’s the only writer – “we like to think of ourselves as employees of the entire company. So, whenever anyone gives us work, they’re our boss that day.”
“That day?”
“Or for however long it takes to do the job.”
“So, you could have multiple bosses in one day?”
“Oh, yeah. That happens all the time.”
Check, please!
Then, she starts telling me about the documents she works on, and some of them are legal documents. I ask, “Do you have your legal department create the templates for them?”
“Oh, no,” she replies. “We don’t have a legal department. We do these ourselves.”
Recipe for disaster.
And, yep… they’re offering me a job.
“The thing is,” I tell the recruiter, “I was talking with one of your writers and she told me that the writers are responsible for all the legal documents and that there’s no legal department.”
“No. No.” he insists. “She’s got it all wrong. We have a legal department. The president’s wife is a lawyer.”
And this is all well calculated to make me feel better.
So, I figure I’d try and Google the company and find something good about them on the Internet(s)… well…in the past year… they cheated their employees out of benefits and they promised raises they never deliver and they promised starting employees a certain wage and then change that number after the person starts and they provided lousy customer service because they tried to get people off the phones instead of providing excellent customer – OKAY! ENOUGH! I GIVE!
But do you realize how much I’m going to regret not taking this job if I don’t find one in the next few months? After all, even the shittiest job is still a job, ya know?
Just my fucking luck…
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Forgiveness...
As much as I loath the media ghouls who follow the grieving, I find it comforting to know that there are still those in our country who try to retain their humanity. Being exposed to the blood suckers who favor wars of agression and torture for our nation's future (and present) can tend to jade someone. Any sign of hope for peace, kindness, and humility bring a smile to this atheist, pinko, subversive's face.
As much as I loath the media ghouls who follow the grieving, I find it comforting to know that there are still those in our country who try to retain their humanity. Being exposed to the blood suckers who favor wars of agression and torture for our nation's future (and present) can tend to jade someone. Any sign of hope for peace, kindness, and humility bring a smile to this atheist, pinko, subversive's face.
Friday, October 06, 2006
I Hate Texas Chainsaw Massacre…
I said it.
They heard it.
It’s all my fault.
Sure, the original was a classic. Back in the 70’s, we hadn’t seen too many movies about stupid kids being trapped in a stupid house (or similar structure) and killed by stupid homicidal maniacs. It was still relatively new/not completely overdone.
But then, the sequel… and the sequel to the sequel… and the sequel’s sequel to the sequel… and…
They were all the same! All of them! Stupid family. Stupid kids. Stupid lines. Stupid directing.
And I said, “NO! No more! I’m sick of it! I hate Texas Chainsaw Massacre!”
And… it seemed to help. For a while… for a little while… it seemed to stop. For several years, movies almost exactly like it were made – distant cousins slaughtering sex-crazed teens in a warehouse – but not EXACTLY the same!
Then… the horror. They remade the movie! And it was even worse than the original! Now, the kids were obviously retarded. The killers were more inbred than most scientologists (thought I was going with a southern state, didn’t you?). The deaths were all so obviously escapable!!!
When will they stop making this fucking movie???
But, at least, now it seems there’s a slight reprieve. They’ve done every sequel they can. They’ve remade the damned thing. They’ve made it as many times as possible… right? I mean, what else can they do? Where else can they go with it?
How else can they film exactly the same story and insult our intelligence in
exactly the same way?
What are they going to do?
Make a prequel???
(Ssssssshhhhhh! Quiet Ken! Don’t say it out loud! It might come……. true….)
They heard it.
It’s all my fault.
Sure, the original was a classic. Back in the 70’s, we hadn’t seen too many movies about stupid kids being trapped in a stupid house (or similar structure) and killed by stupid homicidal maniacs. It was still relatively new/not completely overdone.
But then, the sequel… and the sequel to the sequel… and the sequel’s sequel to the sequel… and…
They were all the same! All of them! Stupid family. Stupid kids. Stupid lines. Stupid directing.
And I said, “NO! No more! I’m sick of it! I hate Texas Chainsaw Massacre!”
And… it seemed to help. For a while… for a little while… it seemed to stop. For several years, movies almost exactly like it were made – distant cousins slaughtering sex-crazed teens in a warehouse – but not EXACTLY the same!
Then… the horror. They remade the movie! And it was even worse than the original! Now, the kids were obviously retarded. The killers were more inbred than most scientologists (thought I was going with a southern state, didn’t you?). The deaths were all so obviously escapable!!!
When will they stop making this fucking movie???
But, at least, now it seems there’s a slight reprieve. They’ve done every sequel they can. They’ve remade the damned thing. They’ve made it as many times as possible… right? I mean, what else can they do? Where else can they go with it?
How else can they film exactly the same story and insult our intelligence in
exactly the same way?
What are they going to do?
Make a prequel???
(Ssssssshhhhhh! Quiet Ken! Don’t say it out loud! It might come……. true….)
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Success 5k...
For those of you following my search for the meaning of success, following the progress on my new book, I'm happen to report that I've reached the 5,000 word mark. A pittance, I know. I expect a great deal more out of myself.
But keep in mind that this isn't just some romantic comedy I'm writing. I've been assembling a mountain of research and every bit takes me down some new direction. Outside of the many pages of information from the Internet(s), I've found that I'm going to need to read some of those "book" things you hear so much about. I've settled on three:
Essential Tibetan Buddhism by Robert Thurman. Religion is very important to our idea of success and eastern philosophy differs greatly from western. I plan to present some Biblical references but those are all fairly obvious and simple. Eastern thought is filled with a variety of pitfalls and this book should help shore up my minimal knowledge on that topic. I've already started reading this book and can feel the bruises on my brain.
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. This one's the big boy, the real pain in the ass. As a philosophy major (and I plan to finish my degree one day, honest), I knew I'd be faced with this book sooner or later. I was kind of hoping it would be later. Aristotle had a lot to say on the subject of success and this book should help me feret out some of the complexities in that.
Maslow's book on Self-Actualization. Can you guess I haven't bought this one, yet? Well, he wrote a few and I'm having a hard time tracking one down cheap. I've already hit a few used book stores and I'm contemplating driving up to LA to continue my search. We'll see. The connection between Maslow's Heirachy of Needs, Kundalini Yoga, and success is palpable and only a small part of what I intent to bring to this book.
So, 5,000 words. The frightening part is that I have only - just now - mentioned success. The rest has been setting up the back story, packing up the car for the journey.
Now, it actually gets difficult.
But keep in mind that this isn't just some romantic comedy I'm writing. I've been assembling a mountain of research and every bit takes me down some new direction. Outside of the many pages of information from the Internet(s), I've found that I'm going to need to read some of those "book" things you hear so much about. I've settled on three:
Essential Tibetan Buddhism by Robert Thurman. Religion is very important to our idea of success and eastern philosophy differs greatly from western. I plan to present some Biblical references but those are all fairly obvious and simple. Eastern thought is filled with a variety of pitfalls and this book should help shore up my minimal knowledge on that topic. I've already started reading this book and can feel the bruises on my brain.
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. This one's the big boy, the real pain in the ass. As a philosophy major (and I plan to finish my degree one day, honest), I knew I'd be faced with this book sooner or later. I was kind of hoping it would be later. Aristotle had a lot to say on the subject of success and this book should help me feret out some of the complexities in that.
Maslow's book on Self-Actualization. Can you guess I haven't bought this one, yet? Well, he wrote a few and I'm having a hard time tracking one down cheap. I've already hit a few used book stores and I'm contemplating driving up to LA to continue my search. We'll see. The connection between Maslow's Heirachy of Needs, Kundalini Yoga, and success is palpable and only a small part of what I intent to bring to this book.
So, 5,000 words. The frightening part is that I have only - just now - mentioned success. The rest has been setting up the back story, packing up the car for the journey.
Now, it actually gets difficult.
Those who live in glass houses…
… shouldn’t try to molest children.
Or, at least, Mark Foley shouldn’t…
I originally wasn’t going to comment on the folly of Foley, that’s why it’s taken so long to get around to it. Then, I realized that the sad truth is, as always, the arrogance of his Republican counterparts.
What will a Republican do to deny culpability? Any answer will do.
Keep in mind that this is the same bunch who tried to burn Clinton at the stake for having sex with a consenting adult woman! Having sex with a consenting adult woman, it seems, it the most heinous sin. Molesting children on the other hand…
And so it began with excuse after excuse. First, he was a pedophile because he was an alcoholic. Then, he was a pedophile because he was gay. Neither of which are reasons to become a pedophile. The only reason to become a pedophile, it would appear is…
… the Democrats are responsible!!!
… No. That’s not right.
But that’s Dennis Hastert and Rush (“Let’s fly to South America and do it with enslaved, child prostitutes!”) Limbaugh assert. It’s all the Dem’s fault!
And Matt Drudge has an even better excuse: It’s the children’s fault! That’s right! They were asking for it! With their tight pants and their little packages and…
… mother fuckers.
The next time these bastards try to pass themselves off as the party of “morality”, can someone please shit in their face?
Let’s face it. There’s no level to which these evil sons of bitches won’t stoop. Start a war against a nation who did nothing to harm us? Sure. Hand over our nation’s financial reserves to the top 1%, including the major oil companies? Okay. Torture, steal, illegally imprison? Why not?
This is your nation going to hell. Hope you’re enjoying the view.
Or, at least, Mark Foley shouldn’t…
I originally wasn’t going to comment on the folly of Foley, that’s why it’s taken so long to get around to it. Then, I realized that the sad truth is, as always, the arrogance of his Republican counterparts.
What will a Republican do to deny culpability? Any answer will do.
Keep in mind that this is the same bunch who tried to burn Clinton at the stake for having sex with a consenting adult woman! Having sex with a consenting adult woman, it seems, it the most heinous sin. Molesting children on the other hand…
And so it began with excuse after excuse. First, he was a pedophile because he was an alcoholic. Then, he was a pedophile because he was gay. Neither of which are reasons to become a pedophile. The only reason to become a pedophile, it would appear is…
… the Democrats are responsible!!!
… No. That’s not right.
But that’s Dennis Hastert and Rush (“Let’s fly to South America and do it with enslaved, child prostitutes!”) Limbaugh assert. It’s all the Dem’s fault!
And Matt Drudge has an even better excuse: It’s the children’s fault! That’s right! They were asking for it! With their tight pants and their little packages and…
… mother fuckers.
The next time these bastards try to pass themselves off as the party of “morality”, can someone please shit in their face?
Let’s face it. There’s no level to which these evil sons of bitches won’t stoop. Start a war against a nation who did nothing to harm us? Sure. Hand over our nation’s financial reserves to the top 1%, including the major oil companies? Okay. Torture, steal, illegally imprison? Why not?
This is your nation going to hell. Hope you’re enjoying the view.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Yahoo... stupid...
Amateurs… fucking amateurs…
As a writer, I get a bit peeved at dogshit that tries to pass itself along as writing. As an out of work writer… well… it pisses me off.
Take, for instance, this recent article on Yahoo. “Big Bang Busters” the teaser heading read. Big Bang Busters? Well, wouldn’t that mean that someone busted the Big Bang theory – the most widely agreed-upon theory in cosmology (the one right-wing nutjobs are so afraid of… no, not evolution, the other one) – yes, that’s what such a heading would mean.
… No. When you click it, you find out that the article is about scientists who have helped substantiate that theory even more. Not Bust. Substantiate.
Dear Yahoo… LEARN HOW TO FUCKING WRITE!
(I know this isn’t totally fair. Competency is sadly lacking is most journalistic avenues these days… But I’ll start with Yahoo!)
As a writer, I get a bit peeved at dogshit that tries to pass itself along as writing. As an out of work writer… well… it pisses me off.
Take, for instance, this recent article on Yahoo. “Big Bang Busters” the teaser heading read. Big Bang Busters? Well, wouldn’t that mean that someone busted the Big Bang theory – the most widely agreed-upon theory in cosmology (the one right-wing nutjobs are so afraid of… no, not evolution, the other one) – yes, that’s what such a heading would mean.
… No. When you click it, you find out that the article is about scientists who have helped substantiate that theory even more. Not Bust. Substantiate.
Dear Yahoo… LEARN HOW TO FUCKING WRITE!
(I know this isn’t totally fair. Competency is sadly lacking is most journalistic avenues these days… But I’ll start with Yahoo!)
Friday, September 29, 2006
Buns of…
(This just goes to show I’ve spent too much time at the gym lately…)
From the people who brought you BUNS OF STEEL comes the latest in making your asscheeks as metallic as ever, get ready for
BUNS OF STRONTIUM!
Is it metallic? It’s silvery baby!
Is it hot? Baby, it burns in air to produce strontium oxide!
Is it radioactive? Listen to this: it’s got a half-life of 28.90 years!
And best of all, they’re still a bit squishy, preventing all those unwanted lawsuits and jokes about cracking a walnut!
BUNS OF STRONTIUM – when buns of steel just aren’t enough!
From the people who brought you BUNS OF STEEL comes the latest in making your asscheeks as metallic as ever, get ready for
BUNS OF STRONTIUM!
Is it metallic? It’s silvery baby!
Is it hot? Baby, it burns in air to produce strontium oxide!
Is it radioactive? Listen to this: it’s got a half-life of 28.90 years!
And best of all, they’re still a bit squishy, preventing all those unwanted lawsuits and jokes about cracking a walnut!
BUNS OF STRONTIUM – when buns of steel just aren’t enough!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The "Fuck You Bill" has passed the Senate...
The Republicans - you know, those elite father figures who know best... wasting the surplus, starting wars, etc. - have now decided to take another big bite out of our civil rights.
The Senate today passed the "detainee interrogation bill"... sounds like it regulates how detainees are interrogated, doesn't it? But it true Repulsivecan fashion, it also means:
Any legal residents of the country could be rounded up with no rights as an "enemy combatant". Remember when the enemy was just illegal aliens?
Violation of the Geneva Convention. But that wouldn't be the first international treaty Shrub and his cronies have violated.
Wave bye-bye to Habeas Corpus. But does anyone really want to know why they're being carted away against their will to an internment camp?
Prisoners are no longer allowed judicial review. Shrub can simply label them an enemy combatant and it's disappear time for them.
Confessions under torture are admissable as evidence. You know, the thing you confessed to while they were breaking your thumbs? Yeah, when you confessed to killing Jesus? Well, now they can try you for that, too.
Secret Evidence. As a defendent, you don't need to know what's being held against you - fuck your miranda rights!
Rape and sexual assault are still illegal... IF you can prove that it was against your will!!!
Now, before you really start to become afraid, you should realize that this still needs to pass the House... which already passed a similar bill... and Shrub's desk to...
We're boned.
The Senate today passed the "detainee interrogation bill"... sounds like it regulates how detainees are interrogated, doesn't it? But it true Repulsivecan fashion, it also means:
Any legal residents of the country could be rounded up with no rights as an "enemy combatant". Remember when the enemy was just illegal aliens?
Violation of the Geneva Convention. But that wouldn't be the first international treaty Shrub and his cronies have violated.
Wave bye-bye to Habeas Corpus. But does anyone really want to know why they're being carted away against their will to an internment camp?
Prisoners are no longer allowed judicial review. Shrub can simply label them an enemy combatant and it's disappear time for them.
Confessions under torture are admissable as evidence. You know, the thing you confessed to while they were breaking your thumbs? Yeah, when you confessed to killing Jesus? Well, now they can try you for that, too.
Secret Evidence. As a defendent, you don't need to know what's being held against you - fuck your miranda rights!
Rape and sexual assault are still illegal... IF you can prove that it was against your will!!!
Now, before you really start to become afraid, you should realize that this still needs to pass the House... which already passed a similar bill... and Shrub's desk to...
We're boned.
Success? “I don’t know anything about that.”…
With the month ending, I thought I should probably add a kind of post-mortem on the success survey. Well, it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. While I received over a dozen responses, all of them very insightful, I was hoping for a lot more.
Today, I think I found a reason why the responses were so spare.
I asked someone about the survey and if she’d received it. She had. “But I didn’t have anything to add.”
I didn’t quite understand. “Anything to add?”
She said, “It was about success, wasn’t it? I don’t know anything about that.”
Don’t know anything about that.
In the past month, I’ve found myself buffeted by just this attitude. As if their own success is something people know nothing about. As if success should be left to someone else.
Abdicating the success of your life to another – shying away from that most primary of responsibilities… where do people think that’s going to lead them? And yet, I’ve run into that same (lack of) philosophy wherever I turn.
It frightens me.
I don’t think of myself as up on a mountain – but in this one case I can’t think of another analogy. It’s not just that people are apathetic about living successful lives but, rather, that they fear it on some kind of primal, phobic level. And I can certainly understand that. After all, my neurosis about being successful in my own life is what’s driving me to write this book. But to shy away from it, to claim no responsibility for it… that’s just wrong.
Today, I think I found a reason why the responses were so spare.
I asked someone about the survey and if she’d received it. She had. “But I didn’t have anything to add.”
I didn’t quite understand. “Anything to add?”
She said, “It was about success, wasn’t it? I don’t know anything about that.”
Don’t know anything about that.
In the past month, I’ve found myself buffeted by just this attitude. As if their own success is something people know nothing about. As if success should be left to someone else.
Abdicating the success of your life to another – shying away from that most primary of responsibilities… where do people think that’s going to lead them? And yet, I’ve run into that same (lack of) philosophy wherever I turn.
It frightens me.
I don’t think of myself as up on a mountain – but in this one case I can’t think of another analogy. It’s not just that people are apathetic about living successful lives but, rather, that they fear it on some kind of primal, phobic level. And I can certainly understand that. After all, my neurosis about being successful in my own life is what’s driving me to write this book. But to shy away from it, to claim no responsibility for it… that’s just wrong.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Another reason why I’m not a Christian…
My friend, Megan, died recently.
She was kind and good, honest and caring, compassionate and loving. She was honest and nonviolent and generous. Megan was not, however, a Christian.
According to Christian doctrine, she now burns in the fires of hell for all eternity.
Christians are a group of people bullied by a belief.
No thanks.
I’m proud to say that Megan did not have any last minute conversion. She died unafraid, unbargaining. I can only hope to be as brave.
She was kind and good, honest and caring, compassionate and loving. She was honest and nonviolent and generous. Megan was not, however, a Christian.
According to Christian doctrine, she now burns in the fires of hell for all eternity.
Christians are a group of people bullied by a belief.
No thanks.
I’m proud to say that Megan did not have any last minute conversion. She died unafraid, unbargaining. I can only hope to be as brave.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Terrorists less scary & gas is cheaper!...
Yep, gas just gets cheaper and cheaper under Shrub's leadership! And the terrorists have suddenly become less scary - they even forgot how to make bombs out of bottled water!
Yep, those neo-cons sure are doing a great job! I feel so much safer and ready to waste precious, natural resources!
... does anyone really buy this shit?
Yep, those neo-cons sure are doing a great job! I feel so much safer and ready to waste precious, natural resources!
... does anyone really buy this shit?
Friday, September 22, 2006
The Converse of Success…
With all of my talk about success, I’ve never sought to point out failure, or someone I thought was a failure. The point of the book I’m writing isn’t to point at success and say, “There! That’s what it is. That’s what you need to achieve.” Rather, I want to create a dialogue that approaches what success could be. And I’m not even trying to get near failure.
Who would want to?
But then, of course, it happened. And it was right in front of me. Failure – writ large – right in front of my eyes.
Which is why I finally decided to write about it, because the example is so clear. Like success, failure isn’t a thing – it’s a state. And just as you hope to find success one day, I think it’s a natural reaction to hope that someone who is a failure will leave that state with great rapidity.
We have probably all known a failure or two. Most of the time, it’s something simple – along the lines of just fucking up, blowing it. So, failure as a concept is pretty simple to reconcile. I think if I was going to define the most profound state of failure, I’d say that it is the state in which a person is so lost to their own needs and best interests that they have created a perpetual no-win situation for themselves. Personal entropy. Extreme suckage.
So, there’s this person I know. I shouldn’t really feel bad for her, she’s brought her situation on herself, but I do. She finds things in life she wants, disregards her motivations and best interests, and goes for them, no matter who gets hurt (including herself). I’ll give you an example. She wanted to have a kid so bad she had one with the first sperm donor that came along. She didn’t think too much about being a parent and has since discovered that she hates it.
You see, she created her own failure condition.
She used to be Megan’s best friend. When Megan was sick, she didn’t reach out a hand in friendship and, though she’s a medical professional, she didn’t try to help Megan’s medical condition. She just ignored her… and Megan died. She found out about this because Megan died in her hospital and Megan’s file happened to pass by her desk.
So, she failed as a friend.
Then, Sean told her that (though he’d allow her to pay her respects at Megan’s memorial service) he never wanted to see her face or hear from her again. She used to be an integral part in this group of people but, because of her disregard for her sick friend, she’s now ostracized.
So, here’s a person who has put herself in a situation where she’s lost her friends, has a child she doesn’t want, doesn’t consider the long-term ramifications of her actions but simply reacts to impulses from her Id like a child… and is, as a result, miserable. In fact, until she breaks this cycle, she’ll always be miserable – and she won’t know this until she breaks the cycle.
That’s failure, without a doubt.
Who would want to?
But then, of course, it happened. And it was right in front of me. Failure – writ large – right in front of my eyes.
Which is why I finally decided to write about it, because the example is so clear. Like success, failure isn’t a thing – it’s a state. And just as you hope to find success one day, I think it’s a natural reaction to hope that someone who is a failure will leave that state with great rapidity.
We have probably all known a failure or two. Most of the time, it’s something simple – along the lines of just fucking up, blowing it. So, failure as a concept is pretty simple to reconcile. I think if I was going to define the most profound state of failure, I’d say that it is the state in which a person is so lost to their own needs and best interests that they have created a perpetual no-win situation for themselves. Personal entropy. Extreme suckage.
So, there’s this person I know. I shouldn’t really feel bad for her, she’s brought her situation on herself, but I do. She finds things in life she wants, disregards her motivations and best interests, and goes for them, no matter who gets hurt (including herself). I’ll give you an example. She wanted to have a kid so bad she had one with the first sperm donor that came along. She didn’t think too much about being a parent and has since discovered that she hates it.
You see, she created her own failure condition.
She used to be Megan’s best friend. When Megan was sick, she didn’t reach out a hand in friendship and, though she’s a medical professional, she didn’t try to help Megan’s medical condition. She just ignored her… and Megan died. She found out about this because Megan died in her hospital and Megan’s file happened to pass by her desk.
So, she failed as a friend.
Then, Sean told her that (though he’d allow her to pay her respects at Megan’s memorial service) he never wanted to see her face or hear from her again. She used to be an integral part in this group of people but, because of her disregard for her sick friend, she’s now ostracized.
So, here’s a person who has put herself in a situation where she’s lost her friends, has a child she doesn’t want, doesn’t consider the long-term ramifications of her actions but simply reacts to impulses from her Id like a child… and is, as a result, miserable. In fact, until she breaks this cycle, she’ll always be miserable – and she won’t know this until she breaks the cycle.
That’s failure, without a doubt.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Megan Deyo…
I don’t know what to say about this but I know that I probably should as a few readers know who I’m talking about.
Megan Deyo died this weekend, early Sunday morning. (Well, it was early for me.) She was the wife of one of my best friends. She was the person who introduced me to Rosa... but try not to hold that against her. She and I knew each other for a long time and were even intimate on occasion. (We even shared fluids.)
Megan was honest and never anything except herself and I gotta give her props for that. Yes, she pissed me off more than once but that’s par for the course.
She died of lung failure as a result of host versus graft, after battling leukemia. It was a five-year battle and she was tired.
Megan and I met 22/23 years ago in Miss Griswold’s class, back at Santa Ana Valley High. Tim Murphy and I sat near each other. We each gave Griswold a hell of a time – ah, memories! Megan, meanwhile, would sit on the sidelines, telling us both to shut up. But we got her to laugh a few times, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Sean, Megan’s husband, helped me through the loss of Rosa and now I’m doing whatever I can to help him through the loss of Megan. The foot’s on the other hand now, as they say. Sean’s a wee bit less crazy than me, though.
I’ll miss Megan. She never liked me very much and I didn’t exactly go out of my way to spend a whole lot of time with her, either. And, yet, we traveled along similar tracks and went down neighboring roads.
I’m too young to be losing friends this way. Next time, let’s just get in a fight.
Megan Deyo died this weekend, early Sunday morning. (Well, it was early for me.) She was the wife of one of my best friends. She was the person who introduced me to Rosa... but try not to hold that against her. She and I knew each other for a long time and were even intimate on occasion. (We even shared fluids.)
Megan was honest and never anything except herself and I gotta give her props for that. Yes, she pissed me off more than once but that’s par for the course.
She died of lung failure as a result of host versus graft, after battling leukemia. It was a five-year battle and she was tired.
Megan and I met 22/23 years ago in Miss Griswold’s class, back at Santa Ana Valley High. Tim Murphy and I sat near each other. We each gave Griswold a hell of a time – ah, memories! Megan, meanwhile, would sit on the sidelines, telling us both to shut up. But we got her to laugh a few times, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Sean, Megan’s husband, helped me through the loss of Rosa and now I’m doing whatever I can to help him through the loss of Megan. The foot’s on the other hand now, as they say. Sean’s a wee bit less crazy than me, though.
I’ll miss Megan. She never liked me very much and I didn’t exactly go out of my way to spend a whole lot of time with her, either. And, yet, we traveled along similar tracks and went down neighboring roads.
I’m too young to be losing friends this way. Next time, let’s just get in a fight.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Please take this survey...
To help me along with this new book, I thought I'd put together a little survey, thus...
What is success? How do we know we are living successful lives?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines success as: a) a degree or measure of succeeding, b) a favorable or desired outcome, and c) the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence. American Heritage defines it similarly. But how do these definitions pertain to our lives? Can we really consider ourselves successful merely on these terms?
I am presently working on a novel that addresses just this issue: how do we reconcile ourselves to our successes and our failures. To this end, I’ve broadened the dictionary’s definition to include the following: a) Success is a positive resolution in the process of self-definition. An action with a positive outcome, we term “success”. An action with a negative outcome, we term “failure”, and b) Success is the yardstick against which we measure our lives.
As you can probably see, I’m hoping to address the concept of success as a long-term concept. It’s easy to accept or gain success in the short term, via a test grade or a party your threw or a job you did well, but long-term success in life is, in my experience, much harder to define.
This is simply scratching the surface and that’s why I need your help. The survey, below, asks questions about success. I would like to have as many people possible complete this survey as part of a study (however unscientific) on the idea of success. Please complete it right away, posting your results in the comments section. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time and participation.
Success Survey
1. Looking back on your entire life, do you consider yourself a success or failure? Please provide up to five reasons why.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. What specific qualities make you a success/failure?
3. How can you achieve success in your life? What are you doing to achieve success?
4. Why do people fail to achieve success?
5. How much importance do you place on living a “successful life”? Why?
Round Two: Demographics
6. Gender:
7. Date of Birth:
8. Years of Education (above high school, count years progressively: 13, 14, etc.):
What is success? How do we know we are living successful lives?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines success as: a) a degree or measure of succeeding, b) a favorable or desired outcome, and c) the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence. American Heritage defines it similarly. But how do these definitions pertain to our lives? Can we really consider ourselves successful merely on these terms?
I am presently working on a novel that addresses just this issue: how do we reconcile ourselves to our successes and our failures. To this end, I’ve broadened the dictionary’s definition to include the following: a) Success is a positive resolution in the process of self-definition. An action with a positive outcome, we term “success”. An action with a negative outcome, we term “failure”, and b) Success is the yardstick against which we measure our lives.
As you can probably see, I’m hoping to address the concept of success as a long-term concept. It’s easy to accept or gain success in the short term, via a test grade or a party your threw or a job you did well, but long-term success in life is, in my experience, much harder to define.
This is simply scratching the surface and that’s why I need your help. The survey, below, asks questions about success. I would like to have as many people possible complete this survey as part of a study (however unscientific) on the idea of success. Please complete it right away, posting your results in the comments section. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time and participation.
Success Survey
1. Looking back on your entire life, do you consider yourself a success or failure? Please provide up to five reasons why.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. What specific qualities make you a success/failure?
3. How can you achieve success in your life? What are you doing to achieve success?
4. Why do people fail to achieve success?
5. How much importance do you place on living a “successful life”? Why?
Round Two: Demographics
6. Gender:
7. Date of Birth:
8. Years of Education (above high school, count years progressively: 13, 14, etc.):
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Tooting my own horn
Earlier this summer I took NALA's Certified Legal Assistant Exam. I studied for over 3 months for this test. My goal was to pass it one the first try (many have to retake sections of the exam).
I committed myself to studying almost every day during that time and took the exam in July. I felt good about it, but have tried not to think much about it since then since the results would take 6-8 weeks to receive.
Well, last week I got the results...and I passed! I am now certified, and that does not mean certifiable! What does that mean? Well, hopefully it will mean bigger salaries and better positions in the future (my new job already has a better salary). Oh, and I get to use "CLA" after my name and can call myself a "Certified Paralegal".
So everyone all together now....YAY!!!!
I committed myself to studying almost every day during that time and took the exam in July. I felt good about it, but have tried not to think much about it since then since the results would take 6-8 weeks to receive.
Well, last week I got the results...and I passed! I am now certified, and that does not mean certifiable! What does that mean? Well, hopefully it will mean bigger salaries and better positions in the future (my new job already has a better salary). Oh, and I get to use "CLA" after my name and can call myself a "Certified Paralegal".
So everyone all together now....YAY!!!!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
What success really means?…
So, I was thinking about my definition of success last night… and I realized I didn’t like it.
Oh, it went a lot further than the dictionary at defining what success is but it, well, it didn’t get anywhere near the side of the barn with relation to why I wanted to write this book in the first place!
So, what was the reason? Well, because I don’t think I’m very successful and being out of work only makes that observation that much easier! And I’m not the only one. I’ve discovered that it’s more wide-spread than I originally thought, this discontentment, this angst about success.
Why is it more widespread? I think the answer lies back with Maslow and Kundalini. Meeting our most basic needs drives us to want more, to want those more ethereal achievements higher up the ladder. Am I over-simplifying this? Sure! But that’s why it’s the subject of a book. Still, I think it illustrates very clearly how this drive for success remains and how failure is so easy to find… if you’re looking.
But that bandies the term, “success”, around a lot of other things. How can it have its fingers in so many pies?
Which is when I stumbled on Definition #2.
Success is the yardstick against which we measure our lives.
Let’s repeat that: Success is the yardstick against which we measure our lives.
How do we know how we’ve measured up? How can we tell how effective we’ve been? What kind of life have we led? By our measure of success, that’s how.
Now, you can come back to me and tell me about people who lie to themselves or settle for less or don’t need such highfalutin ideas – and you’d be right. We’re playing in the kiddie pool of human nature and some piss is going to get spilled.
Still, I think that definition comes much closer to the mark, at least with regards to why I’m writing this book.
This is not a short-term project. I may be working on this for the next year… or more. I’ll keep you posted.
Oh, it went a lot further than the dictionary at defining what success is but it, well, it didn’t get anywhere near the side of the barn with relation to why I wanted to write this book in the first place!
So, what was the reason? Well, because I don’t think I’m very successful and being out of work only makes that observation that much easier! And I’m not the only one. I’ve discovered that it’s more wide-spread than I originally thought, this discontentment, this angst about success.
Why is it more widespread? I think the answer lies back with Maslow and Kundalini. Meeting our most basic needs drives us to want more, to want those more ethereal achievements higher up the ladder. Am I over-simplifying this? Sure! But that’s why it’s the subject of a book. Still, I think it illustrates very clearly how this drive for success remains and how failure is so easy to find… if you’re looking.
But that bandies the term, “success”, around a lot of other things. How can it have its fingers in so many pies?
Which is when I stumbled on Definition #2.
Success is the yardstick against which we measure our lives.
Let’s repeat that: Success is the yardstick against which we measure our lives.
How do we know how we’ve measured up? How can we tell how effective we’ve been? What kind of life have we led? By our measure of success, that’s how.
Now, you can come back to me and tell me about people who lie to themselves or settle for less or don’t need such highfalutin ideas – and you’d be right. We’re playing in the kiddie pool of human nature and some piss is going to get spilled.
Still, I think that definition comes much closer to the mark, at least with regards to why I’m writing this book.
This is not a short-term project. I may be working on this for the next year… or more. I’ll keep you posted.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
All lies? Why not?…
You know, it just occurred to me that nowhere in the Bible does it say that what is included in the Bible is the truth. Nowhere. It was just always assumed. There’s no, “And God smote him. And we’re not kidding here. This is serious stuff.” There’s not even a note at the end saying, “Oh, and by the way, this has all been true. 100% factual. Honest Injun.”
And that leads me to believe we’ve all been had.
All of us. From the Xtians to the Heeb to the Turban-head… all chumps. God’s up there laughing his eternal ass off at our expense and all his homies are all, “You fucked them up!”
Oh yeah? Well, fuck you, God. Fuck you and that smarmy little “I can hang on a cross and rise from the dead – can you?!” son of yours.
It just had to be said.
And that leads me to believe we’ve all been had.
All of us. From the Xtians to the Heeb to the Turban-head… all chumps. God’s up there laughing his eternal ass off at our expense and all his homies are all, “You fucked them up!”
Oh yeah? Well, fuck you, God. Fuck you and that smarmy little “I can hang on a cross and rise from the dead – can you?!” son of yours.
It just had to be said.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Success Redefined...
Just a few minutes after the last post and I've done some "tweaking" to the definition. This might require still further revision...
Success is a positive resolution in the process of self-definition. An action with a positive outcome, we term “success”. An action with a negative outcome, we term “failure”.
Success is a positive resolution in the process of self-definition. An action with a positive outcome, we term “success”. An action with a negative outcome, we term “failure”.
Success gets silly…
This new book has got me thinking, and that’s usually a bad thing.
The pattern I’ve set down in the last year or so has been one of constant work: write, revise, write, revise. Always working. But now, with this new book on success and its meaning, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking, trying to crack the philosophical nut so many take for granted.
And it’s led me down some odd paths. I’ve shared a few with you. Here’s another one…
Success is elusive, obviously. Not just achieving success but defining it. It’s a greasy term, a sleek weasel; it doesn’t want to be caught.
So people tend to isolate it and apply it rather discriminately. For instance, you might hear someone mention that they are successful in their career or in their “goals” or as a parent, and so on.
But even then, success works against you. It won’t be your bitch.
What’s it mean to be a success in your career? Does it mean you’ve achieved the position you want? Or that you do a good job? Or that you’re paid well? Yes? No? All? Some? The problem is that the closer you get to defining it, the farther you are from understanding it.
What if you consider yourself a success as a parent? Is it because your child is healthy? Smart? Happy? Just like you? A free thinker? Again, labels muddy things.
So, you have to draw back. I know I do. That’s the whole point of this. I spent years in that mud and I want to clear it up.
So, I was driving last night and I tried another approach. Why do we work? To get money… right?
Um, no. If work was purely utilitarian, people wouldn’t be so concerned with job fulfillment. Switch it around, you run into the same problem. It also means that you can’t apply such answers as “security” or “belonging”. The problem is that we work for more reasons than that.
And we’re back to Maslow and Kundalini.
But, rather than leave it there, I decided to keep going anyway. What other seemingly straight paths curve, mirage-like, as we get closer? I used the template, “Why do we…?” as a guide, as in “Why do we work?”
What popped immediately into my mind was, “Why do we climb mountains?” (Which is probably better phrased as “Why climb a mountain?”)
The obvious answer is, “To get to the top.”
But I realized, almost immediately that it isn’t so. There’s rarely anything on the top. We can see the top with satellites, anyway. Maybe, at one time, that reason sufficed but, now that people have already climbed all the mountains, why keep doing it? For exercise? No, you could go to the gym for that.
And, yet, people still climb mountains. Why?
And then, it occurred to me… that definition that eludes us so…
Now, before you ask, I have looked this up in the dictionary and the definitions provided there are the most horrid sort. They are:
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
Well, this doesn’t work. This would mean you couldn’t consider yourself a success until you were dead (thus the term “termination”)! No! No!
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
Success is simply getting shit? No! If it was true, it would still be incomplete – because half of gaining wealth, position, etc. is to have others see it. It would be senseless in a vacuum. But it’s not true at all because there are smaller successes in life, just as valuable – remember what it was like to be able to tie your shoes by yourself?
3. a successful performance or achievement
Any term that uses itself to define itself is hogwash. It’s as if red was defined as “something red”!
and…
4. a person or thing that is successful
See #3.
So, the dictionary was of no use at all. Success needs more to define it, and that’s what I thought I had!
Success is the action of self-definition. An action with a positive outcome, we term “success”. An action with a negative outcome, we term “failure”.
This seemed to work. Somehow, all along, I have know that Success and Failure were flips of the coin away. In addition, and unlike the dictionary definition, success does have a solitary component that goes beyond “getting things”.
But my brain wasn’t done, yet. For, after thinking about mountain climbers, it had already gone to the next step… the next question…
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Oh, lord.
Check please!
Now, the traditional answer is “To get to the other side”… though there are many others!
Still, if you look at it in terms of this new definition, you begin to see that it’s not about the other side… it’s not about the road… it’s about why anyone tries to do anything. It’s about the impulse of life, that same force that drove sperm on their monumental swim…
I'm going to have to think some more…
The pattern I’ve set down in the last year or so has been one of constant work: write, revise, write, revise. Always working. But now, with this new book on success and its meaning, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking, trying to crack the philosophical nut so many take for granted.
And it’s led me down some odd paths. I’ve shared a few with you. Here’s another one…
Success is elusive, obviously. Not just achieving success but defining it. It’s a greasy term, a sleek weasel; it doesn’t want to be caught.
So people tend to isolate it and apply it rather discriminately. For instance, you might hear someone mention that they are successful in their career or in their “goals” or as a parent, and so on.
But even then, success works against you. It won’t be your bitch.
What’s it mean to be a success in your career? Does it mean you’ve achieved the position you want? Or that you do a good job? Or that you’re paid well? Yes? No? All? Some? The problem is that the closer you get to defining it, the farther you are from understanding it.
What if you consider yourself a success as a parent? Is it because your child is healthy? Smart? Happy? Just like you? A free thinker? Again, labels muddy things.
So, you have to draw back. I know I do. That’s the whole point of this. I spent years in that mud and I want to clear it up.
So, I was driving last night and I tried another approach. Why do we work? To get money… right?
Um, no. If work was purely utilitarian, people wouldn’t be so concerned with job fulfillment. Switch it around, you run into the same problem. It also means that you can’t apply such answers as “security” or “belonging”. The problem is that we work for more reasons than that.
And we’re back to Maslow and Kundalini.
But, rather than leave it there, I decided to keep going anyway. What other seemingly straight paths curve, mirage-like, as we get closer? I used the template, “Why do we…?” as a guide, as in “Why do we work?”
What popped immediately into my mind was, “Why do we climb mountains?” (Which is probably better phrased as “Why climb a mountain?”)
The obvious answer is, “To get to the top.”
But I realized, almost immediately that it isn’t so. There’s rarely anything on the top. We can see the top with satellites, anyway. Maybe, at one time, that reason sufficed but, now that people have already climbed all the mountains, why keep doing it? For exercise? No, you could go to the gym for that.
And, yet, people still climb mountains. Why?
And then, it occurred to me… that definition that eludes us so…
Now, before you ask, I have looked this up in the dictionary and the definitions provided there are the most horrid sort. They are:
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
Well, this doesn’t work. This would mean you couldn’t consider yourself a success until you were dead (thus the term “termination”)! No! No!
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
Success is simply getting shit? No! If it was true, it would still be incomplete – because half of gaining wealth, position, etc. is to have others see it. It would be senseless in a vacuum. But it’s not true at all because there are smaller successes in life, just as valuable – remember what it was like to be able to tie your shoes by yourself?
3. a successful performance or achievement
Any term that uses itself to define itself is hogwash. It’s as if red was defined as “something red”!
and…
4. a person or thing that is successful
See #3.
So, the dictionary was of no use at all. Success needs more to define it, and that’s what I thought I had!
Success is the action of self-definition. An action with a positive outcome, we term “success”. An action with a negative outcome, we term “failure”.
This seemed to work. Somehow, all along, I have know that Success and Failure were flips of the coin away. In addition, and unlike the dictionary definition, success does have a solitary component that goes beyond “getting things”.
But my brain wasn’t done, yet. For, after thinking about mountain climbers, it had already gone to the next step… the next question…
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Oh, lord.
Check please!
Now, the traditional answer is “To get to the other side”… though there are many others!
Still, if you look at it in terms of this new definition, you begin to see that it’s not about the other side… it’s not about the road… it’s about why anyone tries to do anything. It’s about the impulse of life, that same force that drove sperm on their monumental swim…
I'm going to have to think some more…
Friday, September 01, 2006
More free video games!...
... even if they never existed...
Oh, sure. I'd heard that The Last Starfighter existed somewhere - but I never saw it! And what about the game that the designer in (the movie!) TRON was supposed to have created? How do you play that?!
Well, this wonderful bunch of programmers got together - AND MADE THE GAMES!
That's right. And you gotta check it out, even if just to play The Last Starfighter... which I did... and it is hard! (Which explains why Lance Guest was the only one to beat it... I guess...)
Oh, sure. I'd heard that The Last Starfighter existed somewhere - but I never saw it! And what about the game that the designer in (the movie!) TRON was supposed to have created? How do you play that?!
Well, this wonderful bunch of programmers got together - AND MADE THE GAMES!
That's right. And you gotta check it out, even if just to play The Last Starfighter... which I did... and it is hard! (Which explains why Lance Guest was the only one to beat it... I guess...)
Ken & Vicky meet ME…
Those of you who know Vicky know about her uncanny luck with winning prizes by calling into radio stations. (And now, if you don’t know her, you know that, too.)
Recently, Vicky won another prize.
She called me and asked, “What are you doing Thursday night?”
I scanned my brain for my heavy social schedule… and didn’t find one. “Nothing.”
“Good!” she exclaimed. “Then, you can go to the Melissa Etheridge concert with me!”
… curses…
So, tonight, we drove up to the Greek Theater for the concert.
I guess it didn’t help that we quarreled almost the entire way up. I can’t understand why; it’s not as though there’s any stress in our lives…
But we got there with a hasty truce and, having parked a mile away, began the hike to the theater. Vicky saw a bathroom about halfway there and began pulling me in that direction. “We’re going to be late,” I cautioned here.
She had a panicked look. “That’s fine. This is important!”
So, to the bathroom we went. It was a small shack with men’s on one side and ladies’ on the other. So, I figured I might as well drain some fluids while I was there.
I didn’t think the bathroom would be too busy. I didn’t know much about Melissa Etheridge but I did know:
* She had a baby with David Crosby.
* She was a lesbian.
* This meant she hadn’t had sex with Crosby… thus increasing my respect for her.
Thus, I surmised that the male crowd wouldn’t be anywhere nearby. And I was right – the bathroom was empty! With three stalls total, and two of them broke, there was still no line! So, I went ahead… and went.
I wasn’t surprised when someone walked in but I was surprised to see it was a woman. You’ve never seen someone shut down the valve and zip up so fast!
Walking out, I had to squeeze through the line of women who had commandeered the men’s bathroom.
About these women:
* Oh yeah… they were lesbians.
* I hadn’t seen so many lesbians since the last clearance sale at Old Navy.
* The place had more dikes that the Netherlands.
* They’d make the isle of Lesbos sink.
But I kid the politically marginalized.
When Vicky got out, I wanted to make sure she noticed. She had, adding, “And keep your voice down. I’ve seen plenty who could kick your ass.” Sure, that’s not saying much, but it would be embarrassing to explain on the nightly news.
At the ticket gate, they were checking people for cameras, which were verboten. Vicky hid her phone, because it had a camera and, once we took our seats, immediately started filming everything – not to post on the Internet(s), just to see if she could!
And speaking of our seats… the radio station sure did spring for seats… closest to the sun – we were pretty damned high up there! I won’t say we were sitting in the last row, because we were sitting in the second to the last row!
Now, I don’t know Melissa Etheridge’s music very well. Up until a few nights ago, I wasn’t aware that I’d heard some of her songs. I was just glad to see Vicky enjoying herself. As for me, while I found the music aesthetically pleasing it just didn’t speak to me. I couldn’t really relate.
Mind you, the woman has a voice of sandpaper. She’s not just the gay man’s Bonnie Raitt, she’s got a little of the gay man’s Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen (I still can’t decide) mixed in there. And then, there was the band. The drummer was up on a pedestal, the point of which was to keep him away from the other band. The drummer was in a permanent “time out”. The bassist looked like the lesbian love child of Stephen King and Bobby Brady… lesbian because I wasn’t sure if it was a guy or a girl… Then, the lead guitarist… this guy made sure to load up on espresso before starting. He was playing in his own, little world… freaky!
So, as I said, the music was good but I just couldn’t really relate – and that had nothing to do with the rows of lesbians dancing before us… better than I could! But there was one thing that I could relate to and helped me decide that I liked Melissa Etheridge very much. She was just so honest during her concert, and so open, I knew that I’d like her if I met her face to face. Even hundreds of yards away, she was obviously authentic.
Now to figure out what she was singing…
Recently, Vicky won another prize.
She called me and asked, “What are you doing Thursday night?”
I scanned my brain for my heavy social schedule… and didn’t find one. “Nothing.”
“Good!” she exclaimed. “Then, you can go to the Melissa Etheridge concert with me!”
… curses…
So, tonight, we drove up to the Greek Theater for the concert.
I guess it didn’t help that we quarreled almost the entire way up. I can’t understand why; it’s not as though there’s any stress in our lives…
But we got there with a hasty truce and, having parked a mile away, began the hike to the theater. Vicky saw a bathroom about halfway there and began pulling me in that direction. “We’re going to be late,” I cautioned here.
She had a panicked look. “That’s fine. This is important!”
So, to the bathroom we went. It was a small shack with men’s on one side and ladies’ on the other. So, I figured I might as well drain some fluids while I was there.
I didn’t think the bathroom would be too busy. I didn’t know much about Melissa Etheridge but I did know:
* She had a baby with David Crosby.
* She was a lesbian.
* This meant she hadn’t had sex with Crosby… thus increasing my respect for her.
Thus, I surmised that the male crowd wouldn’t be anywhere nearby. And I was right – the bathroom was empty! With three stalls total, and two of them broke, there was still no line! So, I went ahead… and went.
I wasn’t surprised when someone walked in but I was surprised to see it was a woman. You’ve never seen someone shut down the valve and zip up so fast!
Walking out, I had to squeeze through the line of women who had commandeered the men’s bathroom.
About these women:
* Oh yeah… they were lesbians.
* I hadn’t seen so many lesbians since the last clearance sale at Old Navy.
* The place had more dikes that the Netherlands.
* They’d make the isle of Lesbos sink.
But I kid the politically marginalized.
When Vicky got out, I wanted to make sure she noticed. She had, adding, “And keep your voice down. I’ve seen plenty who could kick your ass.” Sure, that’s not saying much, but it would be embarrassing to explain on the nightly news.
At the ticket gate, they were checking people for cameras, which were verboten. Vicky hid her phone, because it had a camera and, once we took our seats, immediately started filming everything – not to post on the Internet(s), just to see if she could!
And speaking of our seats… the radio station sure did spring for seats… closest to the sun – we were pretty damned high up there! I won’t say we were sitting in the last row, because we were sitting in the second to the last row!
Now, I don’t know Melissa Etheridge’s music very well. Up until a few nights ago, I wasn’t aware that I’d heard some of her songs. I was just glad to see Vicky enjoying herself. As for me, while I found the music aesthetically pleasing it just didn’t speak to me. I couldn’t really relate.
Mind you, the woman has a voice of sandpaper. She’s not just the gay man’s Bonnie Raitt, she’s got a little of the gay man’s Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen (I still can’t decide) mixed in there. And then, there was the band. The drummer was up on a pedestal, the point of which was to keep him away from the other band. The drummer was in a permanent “time out”. The bassist looked like the lesbian love child of Stephen King and Bobby Brady… lesbian because I wasn’t sure if it was a guy or a girl… Then, the lead guitarist… this guy made sure to load up on espresso before starting. He was playing in his own, little world… freaky!
So, as I said, the music was good but I just couldn’t really relate – and that had nothing to do with the rows of lesbians dancing before us… better than I could! But there was one thing that I could relate to and helped me decide that I liked Melissa Etheridge very much. She was just so honest during her concert, and so open, I knew that I’d like her if I met her face to face. Even hundreds of yards away, she was obviously authentic.
Now to figure out what she was singing…
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
New Jobs, No Jobs...
Vicky is particularly bad at the tooting of her own horn, so let me start off by doing that for her. She got a new job! Yeah! She'll be starting in a couple of weeks, making a bit more than she is now!
... and that's good, because we'll need it. Nope, no such luck for me. I'm still looking. (You can imagine how good I feel for her, though.)
Meanwhile, I found out I've been approved for unemployment benefits, which means I'll be getting about half of my previous salary. Things are looking up, but I wish they'd look up via gainful employment.
... and that's good, because we'll need it. Nope, no such luck for me. I'm still looking. (You can imagine how good I feel for her, though.)
Meanwhile, I found out I've been approved for unemployment benefits, which means I'll be getting about half of my previous salary. Things are looking up, but I wish they'd look up via gainful employment.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Maslow – Kundalini – Ken...
(Hey, I’ll write about the job search when I have good news, okay?!)
This weekend is when it hit me.
I was driving home from San Diego, where I’d spent a lot less time talking about success and failure than I wanted to but plenty of time thinking about it. I was on the freeway and – I reached for my phone and called Vicky.
“Do me a favor and write this down on a piece of paper so I won’t forget,” I told her. She wrote it down.
Kundalini.
Hierarchy of needs.
It was the answer.
I knew it was the answer EVEN THOUGH I had no idea what it meant.
But this is how it works with me – and I’ve learned to accept it. Things come the way they want to come and I’m no one to argue. I’ve long since accepted that I’m more a conduit than a writer.
The thing that hit me, the thing that was the answer… it was everything.
And I’ll tell you now. Oh, I’ll still write the book because, as with all stories, it’s only one small part.
What is success? Why do we fail to recognize success when it happens? I had found the answer to all of that, and more!
So, I suppose I should try to proceed more methodically so it makes some sense, shouldn’t I?
First, I suppose I should explain Kundalini… but, of course, I cannot do that with any real depth or skill…that’s why I’m writing a book and not just a blog entry. Suffice it to say, if you want to know more about Kundalini, there are better sources out there. But I’m still left with having to explain myself… so…
Kundalini is a form of yoga. The word is Sanskrit for “coiled up” and refers to centers in your body that uncoil from bottom to top and the higher up it uncoils, the closer to enlightenment you get. We, in our lives, work our way up these coils as we mature as human beings. Some do this through meditation and study, others aren’t even aware. But it’s a roadmap of sorts, pointing the way to enlightenment.
The Kundalini is divided into chakras. Each chakra illuminates where you are on the path to enlightenment or maturity. Some people would avoid using the word “maturity”; maybe “fulfillment” or “development” is better.
There are six chakras: Root, Sex, Naval, Heart, Throat, and Crown. The first three deal with achieving every day ends – obtaining food, procreation, having possessions. They are animal needs and, sadly, this is how most people busy themselves. Next, is the Heart chakra. This is the beginning of empathy for others. Throat and Crown move towards even higher goals, ending with enlightenment.
Now, I’ve studied Kundalini for years, reading books about it, hearing lectures about it, and it might be the background radiation in my mind that had led me to this new book. But what I didn’t realize is that it isn’t a strictly eastern phenomena, nor that it addresses the subject of success and failure so precisely.
There’s a western component to this, and I realized that it lies in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow was a doctor in the 1950’s, and he theorized that people are motivated by an ascending scale of needs: Physical Survival, Safety, Belonging, Esteem (or, more importantly, Respect), and Actualization. Strangely enough, Maslow was showing the same kind of ascension that the Kundalini practitioners had known for hundreds of years. The scale rose from every day needs (survival and safety), to social needs (love and respect), to even higher goals.
They are both saying, essentially, the same thing in different ways.
This has everything to do with success and failure. It explains why I’ve been so sure that success holds a certain, ethereal component, that it’s not materialistic. Because, if you have food and shelter, even if you’ve found love… there’s something missing. It’s not an eastern or western thing; it transcends that.
That explains the sense of angst that I keep running into when I discuss the concept of success with people. Because, once they start thinking about it, they realize that there’s still something out there they’ve yet to achieve… they just can’t put a name on it.
Because, after all, who thinks about enlightenment these days??? How do you even know that's the next thing you need or want when you're bombarded every day with images and sounds telling you that you can get it at the mall or on Amazon?
The angst I feel about whether or not I’m a success is actually an essential drive, which is intimated in both systems. The key, I think, is perspective. What could essentially be a positive thing, personal evolution (if you will), is turned around (in my mind and that of many others) and we call it “failure”.
Clear as mud? Probably.
But, of course, this gets even more complicated when you start thinking about social evolution and where that is taking us… anyway, I big part of the puzzle was solved. Still have to write it, of course…
This weekend is when it hit me.
I was driving home from San Diego, where I’d spent a lot less time talking about success and failure than I wanted to but plenty of time thinking about it. I was on the freeway and – I reached for my phone and called Vicky.
“Do me a favor and write this down on a piece of paper so I won’t forget,” I told her. She wrote it down.
Kundalini.
Hierarchy of needs.
It was the answer.
I knew it was the answer EVEN THOUGH I had no idea what it meant.
But this is how it works with me – and I’ve learned to accept it. Things come the way they want to come and I’m no one to argue. I’ve long since accepted that I’m more a conduit than a writer.
The thing that hit me, the thing that was the answer… it was everything.
And I’ll tell you now. Oh, I’ll still write the book because, as with all stories, it’s only one small part.
What is success? Why do we fail to recognize success when it happens? I had found the answer to all of that, and more!
So, I suppose I should try to proceed more methodically so it makes some sense, shouldn’t I?
First, I suppose I should explain Kundalini… but, of course, I cannot do that with any real depth or skill…that’s why I’m writing a book and not just a blog entry. Suffice it to say, if you want to know more about Kundalini, there are better sources out there. But I’m still left with having to explain myself… so…
Kundalini is a form of yoga. The word is Sanskrit for “coiled up” and refers to centers in your body that uncoil from bottom to top and the higher up it uncoils, the closer to enlightenment you get. We, in our lives, work our way up these coils as we mature as human beings. Some do this through meditation and study, others aren’t even aware. But it’s a roadmap of sorts, pointing the way to enlightenment.
The Kundalini is divided into chakras. Each chakra illuminates where you are on the path to enlightenment or maturity. Some people would avoid using the word “maturity”; maybe “fulfillment” or “development” is better.
There are six chakras: Root, Sex, Naval, Heart, Throat, and Crown. The first three deal with achieving every day ends – obtaining food, procreation, having possessions. They are animal needs and, sadly, this is how most people busy themselves. Next, is the Heart chakra. This is the beginning of empathy for others. Throat and Crown move towards even higher goals, ending with enlightenment.
Now, I’ve studied Kundalini for years, reading books about it, hearing lectures about it, and it might be the background radiation in my mind that had led me to this new book. But what I didn’t realize is that it isn’t a strictly eastern phenomena, nor that it addresses the subject of success and failure so precisely.
There’s a western component to this, and I realized that it lies in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow was a doctor in the 1950’s, and he theorized that people are motivated by an ascending scale of needs: Physical Survival, Safety, Belonging, Esteem (or, more importantly, Respect), and Actualization. Strangely enough, Maslow was showing the same kind of ascension that the Kundalini practitioners had known for hundreds of years. The scale rose from every day needs (survival and safety), to social needs (love and respect), to even higher goals.
They are both saying, essentially, the same thing in different ways.
This has everything to do with success and failure. It explains why I’ve been so sure that success holds a certain, ethereal component, that it’s not materialistic. Because, if you have food and shelter, even if you’ve found love… there’s something missing. It’s not an eastern or western thing; it transcends that.
That explains the sense of angst that I keep running into when I discuss the concept of success with people. Because, once they start thinking about it, they realize that there’s still something out there they’ve yet to achieve… they just can’t put a name on it.
Because, after all, who thinks about enlightenment these days??? How do you even know that's the next thing you need or want when you're bombarded every day with images and sounds telling you that you can get it at the mall or on Amazon?
The angst I feel about whether or not I’m a success is actually an essential drive, which is intimated in both systems. The key, I think, is perspective. What could essentially be a positive thing, personal evolution (if you will), is turned around (in my mind and that of many others) and we call it “failure”.
Clear as mud? Probably.
But, of course, this gets even more complicated when you start thinking about social evolution and where that is taking us… anyway, I big part of the puzzle was solved. Still have to write it, of course…
Sunday, August 27, 2006
And don't ever say I didn't give you anything...
Okay, granted, I'm currently hooked on WoW but there was once a time when the MechCommander games also had their hooks in me...
Well, it's time to hook up with those games again because they are FREE! (You know, as in FREE!)
Click the links and head on over for some old skool video game funnity!
(And, no, this isn't eye-patch-ware. MS released the code a while back and the software is safely in the pub-dom, so download with a clear conscience.)
Well, it's time to hook up with those games again because they are FREE! (You know, as in FREE!)
Click the links and head on over for some old skool video game funnity!
(And, no, this isn't eye-patch-ware. MS released the code a while back and the software is safely in the pub-dom, so download with a clear conscience.)
Friday, August 25, 2006
Second week progress…
None.
Absolutely nothing.
Is it any wonder I’m feeling a bit down?
I have an interview in a couple of hours. It’s a reach but I’m doing it because I’m desperate. The thing is, I applied for this job a month ago, which means there’s about a month turn-around between sending in a resume and getting an interview and considering that most of my applying has been in the last week… well, this could take a while.
And I don’t have a while. On Tuesday, I have a phone interview for unemployment insurance. If I get it, we will be fine for six months. The problem is, I might not. I don’t have a lot on my side.
In the event I don’t get it, I’m going to have to start applying for any job out there. Yep, we’re talking Target. We’re talking gas station, McDonalds – anything. All the time spent building my career as a writer will be shot to hell. It’s a depressing thought. No, that’s to upbeat of a term…
So, rather than sit at home thinking about that, I’m going to San Diego this weekend. I’m bringing Love of Your Life to work on the rewrites.
Let’s hope week three looks better…
Absolutely nothing.
Is it any wonder I’m feeling a bit down?
I have an interview in a couple of hours. It’s a reach but I’m doing it because I’m desperate. The thing is, I applied for this job a month ago, which means there’s about a month turn-around between sending in a resume and getting an interview and considering that most of my applying has been in the last week… well, this could take a while.
And I don’t have a while. On Tuesday, I have a phone interview for unemployment insurance. If I get it, we will be fine for six months. The problem is, I might not. I don’t have a lot on my side.
In the event I don’t get it, I’m going to have to start applying for any job out there. Yep, we’re talking Target. We’re talking gas station, McDonalds – anything. All the time spent building my career as a writer will be shot to hell. It’s a depressing thought. No, that’s to upbeat of a term…
So, rather than sit at home thinking about that, I’m going to San Diego this weekend. I’m bringing Love of Your Life to work on the rewrites.
Let’s hope week three looks better…
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