Thursday, February 28, 2008

Hello. Well, I drank a bit too much last night, so I'm putting in a short one today. I just couldn't drag my butt out of bed at my usual hour. I've been known to sleep in after RATSO. Oh well. A good time was had by all.

We got into a discussion about two of the forbidden topics. Yep, politics and religion. It all started by bashing the respective candidates, and moved oddly to religion. It was quite interesting. There was an atheist liberal, a sudo-christian republican, a conservative Catholic and me. I'm a very liberal conservative believer with a lot of questions. After a couple of hours, it became evident why people shouldn't talk about these things. No one has any fool proof answers. These are things that can't be proven, or disproven. (Is that a word?) It all comes down to what you believe.

One of the more interesting lines of thought that came up was, "who bears the burden of proof." Is it the person who claims pigs can fly, or the person who claims that they cannot. I've always thought that both sides of an argument needed to prove their belief. But, I was converted on this point last night. After some fairly intelligent discussion, considering how far into the second bottle of brandy we were, I understood. The person claiming something to be, bears the burden of proof. I do not have to prove that it is not true, if no one claims it to be so. It's a little confusing, but if you think about it for a while, and suck down some of your favorite wobbly-pop, you'll get it.

As interesting as I found this lively talk, I have my fill for a while.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Hello, and welcome to Tuesday. My old pile of plastic is a distant memory as I sit here beating up this Gateway. Yes, they're still making them. The rumors of their untimely death is slightly exaggerated. The new system is cutting into my day-dreaming time though.

I just about went insane yesterday scooping more snow. I'm usually OK with winter, but this year it has been almost more than I can handle. I don't know why. Thankfully, we should have only a month or so left. It just keeps piling up. I clear some of it away, the sun melts a little, and then it starts piling up again. It's too much like life lately. Things start to clear up, and then things start piling up. It's all primarily the same with subtle differences. At least I have figured out a good system to clear the snow. Now if I could only figure out a good way to clear my head.

I'm trying to take myself and others more seriously, but it makes things difficult. It's much easier to just let things roll off like water on a ducks back. In all of the soul-searching that I've done, I realize that I don't give things enough thought. Now I'm trying to better understand when someone shares their feelings or thoughts with me. It hurts sometimes though. It can be confusing. Now I know why I've just let it roll.

I'll be glad when the weather is good enough to start walking again. I need a long walk...a really long walk.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Hello and welcome to Thursday. I've been trying to blog all week, but my dinosaur computer won't cooperate. It's just more in my continuing saga with these piles of plastic. I appear to have gotten a virus. Yea, that's great isn't it? Some jackass can send me a file that will crash my P.O.S.! Just a warning, if you see anything about Malware Alarm, don't be fooled. It's disguised as a fix-it software, but it's actually the virus. Clever little buggers these hackers are.

Honesty, or lack of, is at the root of life. I'm guilty. I lived my life for almost half of a century being honest with others. I might have been less honest with myself, but never with others. After a short stay on the lying side of town, I realize that it's no place for me. The truth is SO much easier. When I promise myself something, I intend to keep my promise to everyone. I can't know me without being honest to myself.

As I plan my walk into the future, I'm basing it on reality, not a dreamworld. I want to be able to trust the information I have. So, unfortunately, I have to decide who I believe. They can't all be telling the truth. I hear one thing from this person and another from that person. I don't know if I can believe any of it. This is something that I have only recently became aware of. I always trusted people. Now, the veil has been lifted and the "truth" about lies is showing it's ugly face. A lie can cause someone to lie to you, and then you to them, and the circle becomes vicious.

Neverneverland... I hear you calling.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

There doesn't seem to be a definitive history of the holiday. About the only thing known for certain is that the Catholic church recognized one, or more, Saints named Valentine or Valentinus. Beyond that, everything becomes very sketchy. None the less, it has become the day people choose to express their love for another.

Remember when we were kids and we decorated a shoebox with construction paper hearts. You had to have a special place to collect all of the Valentines you would get. Man, what a stressful day for a little kid! I remember thinking, "I hope my box looks cool...","I hope I get a Valentine card from everyone...","I hope the hot chick that sits in the front knows my name." Of course you counted on Mom to buy cool cards for you to give. I mean, it was a stressful deal. But you gave everyone a card, so it wasn't obvious who you had the hots for.

Then we get older and everything changes. Now you give a Valentine to "the one"... unless you're a player and you like to live on the edge. The edge of insanity that is. Now, this is even more stressful! You single out one person and you hope they return the gesture... to only you. You no more than hand the Valentine, (which by now might be candy, or worse jewelry), to "the one" and you begin to think, "what does she think I mean by this?" Oh my God, the stress!

It's hard to know what to get sometimes. I stood around in a Walgreens, yes a drug store, looking for the right Valentine gift. This time around, boxer shorts with hearts or a box of chocolates was not saying the right thing. I settled on a reserved looking stuffed bear, cautiously holding a couple of roses. It looks like I feel. There's a different kind of stress to this particular Valentine's Day.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hello, and welcome to the downhill part of the hump. I wake up everyday, roll over, put my feet on the floor and think, "...well, I made it to another day." I scratch my head and wonder how I should spend the day. How do we know what our purpose in life is? Do we really have a "purpose"? Maybe just living life the best we know how is all that is expected of us. I don't like to think that way. I want to believe there is some kind of standard set for each one of us.

If a guy grows up in a small midwest town to an average mom and dad, learns to color and count in grade school, graduates from high school, gets a job and then kills someone... is that their purpose in life? Maybe he served a purpose in the grand scheme of things. I don't know what that would be, but hey, who am I?

I'm crashing into the second part of my life and I'm going to decide what my purpose is. I get caught up with day-to-day crap that delays this process. But, I'm slowly working things out. These are tough decisions. I need to sit down, write myself a list and think. Maybe I need to hike to the mountain top and...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Hello, and welcome to Monday. This weekend went by quickly. We heard a great band on Friday night called Brother Trucker from Des Moines, Iowa. Catch them if you get the chance. Unfortunately, not many citizens of this fine town chose to venture out to see this show. For that matter, I doubt if many folks knew the show was taking place. It's sad. I continue to lament the lack of support for original music in Sioux Town. Now it appears to be reaching the club level.

Sioux Town loves a cover band. If they're local it's even better. If you can recognize the tunes they cover it's a bonus. I find this disappointing...not surprising, just disappointing. If that is what people like, more power to them. It's not for me. I have always hoped that there were enough original music fans to support a good live music scene, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have spent many hours and dollars over the past 10-plus years to promote this. I know...I sound like a broken record to many of you. Oh well, I always have loved a good road trip.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Let's Get Lucid

Welcome to Friday. A friend of mine had a bottle of absinthe a couple of nights ago. Wow, that is a very different buzz. It's not like any liquor I've ever drank. There were quite a few of us sharing one bottle, so I didn't get to "really" put it to the test. I plan to however. The 2 or 3, or was it 4, drinks I had were very interesting. I really liked the "high". I didn't experience any of the hallucinations that are famous in absinthe lore, but it was fun!

Absinthe has only recently been legalized for distribution in the US. It's not widely available yet. This bottle of the "green fairy" came to us via New York City. According to the distiller's website, "Lucid", the brand we enjoyed, is considered one of the top 3 absinthe being made today. It was 124 proof! It has a very strong anise flavor with an earthy quality to it. We used the traditional method for everyone's first sample and then we started to experiment some with it. The traditional method is to put 1.5 - 2 ounces of the absinthe in a fluted glass, set a slotted spoon on top of the glass with a sugar cube on it. Then slowly dribble ice water into the glass, dissolving the sugar cube along the way. I felt so eclectic!

Many artists, writers and musicians of the late 1800s and early 1900s enjoyed many evenings of absinthe. They believed that it heightened their creativity and occasionally showered them with hallucinogenic experiences. I had a relatively small amount the other night, yet I was getting the urge to create. Maybe a novel or a beautiful ceiling mural. I really thought it was cool. We are planning more absinthe parties. There are 2 other main distillers in the US, and I think my group will try them both. Then we'll know which one we want to continue using.

Happy weekend!

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Hello, and welcome to Tuesday. I can't sleep through the night. I'm beginning to think I'm reverting back to my infant days. I don't need a nipple or my pants changed so I don't get it. I wake up several times a night. It sucks. I am laying there awake almost every morning well before the alarm goes off. Then I feel like I've been beaten with a ball bat all day long. If I go to sleep really drunk, I do sleep longer, but I still wake up alot. My head is too full.

It's Fat Tuesday and Super Tuesday. There's a combination for you. The wrap-up of a huge party and the wrap-up of a huge joke. It's also Giant Tuesday, as in the New York Football Giants celebration. I think it's cool that they won. I'm not a fan of either team in the Super Bowl, but I like to root for the underdog. I think it's a sign of my life, I'm not used to being with winners, so pulling for the underdog seems more natural.

I read something once that said if you want to be successful you should associate with successful people. It's too bad that most successful people I know are assholes. I'd rather associate with cool people and take my chances on success. Besides, there are all types of success, not just money.

Friday, February 01, 2008

My "sentence" for the DUI I received, required me to attend a Victim Impact Panel and Drunk Driving Class. I attended the drunk class last Saturday. I blogged about the VIP a while back. This class was much more useless. There were 12 unfortunate souls in this class forced to endure 7 hours of ramblings. The two instructors were reformed alcohol and drug users. I guess it makes sense to become a counselor when you decide you went too far. However, these two must have used far more than I. They were doing everything they could to stay focused on the teachings...and they had cheat sheets! It was incredibly boring. The behavior this lady talked about had no relevance to any of us. It appeared to me that all of this group were at the wrong place at the wrong time. One young guy blew a .086!!! But, the law is the law.

Then these mental giants started talking about other drugs. Why, I don't know. None of the group had drug charges. None the less, they found it appropriate to talk about everything from heroin to steroids. The lady instructor is from the Fremont Nebraska area. She was giving her opinions of smoking "weed", as she referred to it. She made the comment that a person who smokes, "can't be a good parent."

Well, about that time I had sat silent long enough. When I questioned her facts on this she mumbled something about, ..."well, in my area the facts show that, blah, blah, blah..." Now, I'm sure that a large percentage of the people who end up in front of this lady for treatment, do lack in parenting skills. But to say that anyone who smokes pot "can't" be a good parent is ridiculous. Some of the most supportive and loving parents I know smoke. In fact most of the problem parents I've known over the years don't smoke.

I came away from the class scratching my head, wondering what the point was. Oh, yeah, it was the 70 bucks I had to pay. I have learned a lesson, don't drink and drive. The consequences can be very expensive. It's going to get tougher. Some states have already dropped the BAC to .02!!! They call it zero tolerance. I'm sure it's a matter of time before the entire country follows suit. I'm glad I enjoy walking so much!

Have a great weekend, don't drink and drive!