Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas Eve 2017

Anyone who knows me knows I don't care much for holidays and despise Christmas.  Not for what it should be but for what it is.  Anybody with a single iota of historical and/or religious knowledge knows it is completely impossible for Jesus to have been born on December 25th.  Most especially, since like Easter, it would follow the Jewish calendar and vary in dates from year to year.  The holiday which is now known as "Christmas" is an amalgamation of three pagan winter solstice celebration the "church" could not force the "pagans" to stop celebrating.  For a few centuries it was even banned by the church.  Since they could not stomp it out they just co-opted it, gave it a new name and went about their hypocritical business of fleecing the, so called, "Christian" world.

Not that I hate the idea of an honest winter solstice festival at all.  It is just this Christmas thing has no purpose at all except for the profit of retail stores.  I really don't give a shit whether Jesus was born on Christmas or not.  Still, he is NOT "the reason for the season".   He has been turned into a source of revenue for our retailers, for our churches and just about everything other than celebrating the birth of Christ.

No, the reason I despise Christmas if for its dishonesty.  Christmas has become nothing but one big con on gullible people who either do not have the brains or common sense to see it and stop feeding the burden Christmas has placed on the ordinary person. 

We recently sold our home and moved into an apartment in a local "town center" development.  Right now, on Christmas Eve, Traffic is so bad it takes a complete fool to venture out in it unless there is a dire emergency.  And, when I see it my first thought is, "Where the hell is everyone getting all this money?".   Credit cards and, maybe, an advance on their projected tax refund.  And for what? 

Has nothing to do with Jesus, Christianity or any religion at all.  It is simple greed.  Don't believe me?  Ask someone what they got for Christmas and find one, just one, who would say, "A wonderful time with my family celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior".  Just one.  The pretense Christmas has anything to do with Jesus is sickening. 

Take a look at your Christmas bills when they come in and tell me just how much more Jesus would appreciate this greed over donating the same amount of money to those who have real needs at  this time of year.  How many meals for the homeless would that shiny, new 85" TV would provide.  Just how many of your "fellow Christians" would that new $1,000 telephone have helped?  Have any of you at all ever read the bible and paid attention?  Show me one, just ONE, bible verse where Jesus advocated greed.  Seems the Jesus I've read about would have absolutely hated what his, so called, birthday party has become. 

Like the "supposedly 'good' people" Mexico is sending us, I would imagine there are some sincere people who profess to be Christians doing things to truly reflect the teachings of Christ.  Most, however, are, for me, numbered in the criminals and rapists (YOUR president's words) being foisted on us. 

Give it a break people.  Go on and keep driving us all deeper in debt and pretending it is anything other than peer pressure and has anything at all to do with the birth of Christ.  Do whatever you want with your life and money.  Just have the balls to admit why you do it.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Such a Beautiful, December Day

There have been a good number of significant life events since Labor Day.  The place I worked finally kicked me to the curb.  It was not unexpected and I had been planning for it for a couple of years.  Due to my age and health I decided to just go ahead and retire rather than subjecting myself to another long and frustrating job hunt.

We have also sold our house and moved into an apartment.  Also because of age and health.  Neither my wife or myself can really do things like we once could and paying someone else to do them had gotten just too expensive.  We had already priced ourselves out of the neighborhood and had we not sold this fall we would have put more money into the place and then never could have sold it for a decent amount.

We moved here in early November so have been here for over a month.  Finally have everything we are keeping stowed away and everything we can't keep given away, put in the Consignment store or donated to Goodwill.

Everything seems to be "hunky-dory" around here.  So, why can't I work up any interest in today or tomorrow or any tomorrow?   I turned sixty four about ten days ago.  That is not depressing as by now I realize age is just a number and my "real" age is about thirty years more than my "chronological" age.  Today is the nineteenth of December with a temperature of around 73 degrees and bright sunshine.  Sitting here at my PC looking out one of the windows I can see all the traffic, cars and pedestrians and all the Christmas decorations outside.  Never did much care about holidays.  Most especially for fake holidays like Christmas.Maybe that is part of it.  Masses of people flooding the shops spending money that don't have to buy gifts for people they can't stand. 

Maybe that is part of it.  Just so tired of stupid people who are willing, nay eager, to play the fool for the dumbest reasons.  Here we are approaching a holiday celebrating the birth of a child who could not possibly have been born on that date.  We have a child rapist as our President.  He has a fourth grade vocabulary and zero moral standards.  He reminds me of a country song called, "She Only Bitches When She Breathes".  Cheeto-Skin Tiny-Hands only lies when his lips move.  But even when he is not lying personally he has plenty of dumb shits fronting for him.  Guess it is depressing how many people witness this every day and still support the sorry SOB.

Cops murdering members of most every minority with no consequences and the professed Christians who say they are following the teaching of a man of Peace are urging them on.  They spread hatred for anyone without lily white skin, anyone who does not "worship" the same "god" they do and call it Christianity and other things of equal lies.  Somehow they all seem to manage to maintain their own self-righteousness despite all the "laws" Christ taught. 

I suppose it is, somehow, appropriate so many people get financially fleeced for the fake holiday called "Christmas".  Christmas, the Holiday far antedates Christ.  It is just another Winter Solstice celebration the Romans and many others celebrated the "Church" could not force them to give up.  So, they co-opted it, changed the name and said it celebrated Jesus' birth.  I mean, damn, they did  not even change the way it is celebrated.

It is readily apparent people no longer have a preference for the truth in anything.  We have the king of liars as President while we beggar ourselves celebrating a made up holiday and enjoy our hatred of everyone else while claiming to love a man who preached peace and tolerance.  Maybe that is why such a beautiful December day is so depressing to me.  Just keeps reminding me how much I despise hypocrites and stupid people.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Odds and Ends and Things of No Moment

I was passing though the living room today, on the way from the kitchen with my breakfast when I, once again, noticed the picture on our LG, 70", 4K TV which has upscaleing  to make regular HD to "nearly" 4K.  Doggone thing is about an inch thick.  Always makes me thing of my father.  He love his TV.

When and where I grew up, we normally only had one TV station and that depended on which way we pointed the antenna.  We could pick NBC or ABC.  CBS was always a little "iffy".  And, we always needed a "booster".  Attach one part to the antenna and the other to the TV.  It helped a lot but still we had to pick our station.  To change someone (me) had to go to the top of the hill and turn the antenna.

Mostly we just watched NBC.  My parents (both) were devoted to "Another World" and "Days of our Lives".  Growing up I knew more about Rachel and Russ, Cory, all the other men she married or slept with, than the real people around me. (Well, maybe not the female ones) They were few, far between and mostly boring but that is neither here not there.

I just have to wonder what my dad would have thought.  Huge screen, picture quality like looking at a real place and 300 channels.  Pretty big change from a 23" black and white with one channel.

Of course that was when we lived in a  place with electricity.  Then it was zero channels.

I wonder if that is not something which has exacerbated our distancing ourselves from others.  We are so consumed by technology we may have forgotten how to be "just people".




Tuesday, September 12, 2017

A Poem I Heard Today

I was out today and heard a poem while listening to NPR.  It was about a dream of one's childhood and a prayer the dream was real.  While my childhood was not the most idyllic there were  times I would happily repeat.  This is inspired by that poem.

Back When
=============================================

Back when I was much younger
In body and mind
We lived way out in the country
Where the only people around
Were my relatives.

I had never fit in
My parents had never allowed me
To fit in
So, I learned to live alone
And, to love being alone

I would not want to re-experience
Most of the days from my childhood
Since there was little there to love
But, there are a few times
Which, somewhat, make up for  it.

Spending hours sitting under
A Hazelnut bush eating ripe Hazelnuts
Finding a Paw Paw tree with ripe fruit
And gorging myself
While hoping some squirrel
Would come along to take them from me.

Times out along with my Beagle
Hunting Rabbits
Or, just being away from home
Being alone was my happy place
Did not have to accomplish anything

Thunder storms with wild wind
An rain tossing the tree limbs
About as if establishing their dominance
While I sat with a small fire
And just enjoyed the show.

I am sure it is why I am so content
On my own
I learned early in my life
Loving anything was a road to heartache
I wonder if that made it impossible for me to love


Friday, August 4, 2017

Thoughts on Memories (my own)

Sitting here listening to Alexa (Amazon.com's voice activated personal "assistant") playing one hit wonders.  I remember all of these songs from when they were hits.  Mostly in the sixties and seventies.

It is well known all kinds of sensory input can trigger memories.  Sights, sounds, smells all can evoke pictures and feelings from the past.  Even things we had completely forgotten.  Perhaps not even then recalling exactly what but just a vague feeling of "being there" before.

I suppose it might be just a function of my childhood so many of the songs I listen to bring up memories which are, mostly, less than pleasant.  Probably, also a reflection of me, I always cared more for the words (lyrics) than the music.  I did enjoy them both but if I loved the words I'd learn to love the music.  If the music was good but I did not like the words I just forgot those songs.

So, what's on the menu for today.  Sixties mostly.  Songs I've mostly forgotten bringing up feelings and memories I've also mostly forgotten.  I can get lost in this music and not realize how much time is passing as I am stuck inside my mind reliving the memories these song evoke.  Heck, a (very) few of them are actually pleasant.

Think I'll put links to some songs from then on youtube.com. Perhaps they might even be around by the time anyone sees this.

Lots have songs they consider to be "anthem" songs.  Songs one relates to more than others for various reasons.  I guess I have many but one common theme of them all would be, I think, somewhat of sadness and loneliness.  Perhaps that is true of all of us.

"Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfuWXRZe9yA

The next one is by Kris Kristoffersen as a tribute to his friend Janis Joplin.  I  love this song.  Played it for my parents one day.  My mother did not understand it all but, much to my surprise, my dad seemed to "get it".

Epitaph(Black and Blue) Kris Kristoffersen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKttwK7Ri7E

Enough for one day.  Memories (and not very good ones) are creeping in.  :)

Monday, July 24, 2017

I Remember Dr.Timothy Leary

I wonder how many do?  He was a "minister" back in the 60s who was a leader in the experimentation with LSD.  He is the one who coined the phrase, "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out".

But it is not his connection to the drug scene of the '60s and 70s' I recall him for.  It was some of his other quotes about life.

http://iheartintelligence.com/2016/01/08/quotes-timothy-leary/

I recall, after he was diagnosed with cancer, he said (paraphrased) he was not afraid of dying.  He was eager to see what came next.

When I was younger I thought that statement was incomprehensible.  How could anyone NOT fear death?   Thoughts of a young man, I guess.  When we are young we feel immortal and fear death because we are so afraid of what might come next.

As we grow older, death becomes much less frightening.  Those who have a definite sentence of death from disease can either sit around and bitch, "why me?".  Or they can see death as just another step in their existence and embrace it.  

I suppose that is Mother Nature's way of preparing us for the inevitable.  I can't say for certain what is the reason only as I get older (and sicker) I find death no longer holds any terrors for me.

I  have no fears of standing up on my own two feet and facing any judgement which may (or may not) come.  I've done the best I could with the things I was given.  Some of it was good.  Some of it was bad.  Most of it was pretty indifferent.

Probably not much different than most people if they told the truth.  Seems lots of folks live life doing just what they want and when the Reaper is walking up the sidewalk about to ring the doorbell, they suddenly "get religion".  I wonder if they believe in "god" why they think he/she/it is that stupid?  

I don't believe in "just in case" religion.  If your beliefs are good enough to live by they should be good enough to die by.  I know it is coming.  I  don't know if it could be tonight or years from now.  It does not particularly matter.  Does not even matter.  I am ready.  Whenever.

Monday, July 10, 2017

Odds and Ends on an (Almost) Rainy Day

I was writing a grocery list and thought about needing small note pads as I'm a "scribbler" and need something to scribble on working or playing.  All of a sudden I was "hit" with the smell and feel of opening that three-ring binder filled with new notebook paper on the first day of school.  Elementary school as we did not have Middle Schools and it assuredly was not the way I felt in High School.

I know aromas can trigger dormant memories but this was not an aroma.  It was just a random thought.  I suppose it is quite normal but that mental "smell" made me think of how badly I wasted my childhood.

My childhood was not what anyone would call ideal and my fondest dream was getting to be old enough to get away from my parents.  I expect that is pretty common among kids and, mostly they outgrow it.  I never did.  I never got away from them then and, I suspect, I have not completely gotten away from them now.  Their hands reach out to my mind, my memories, my sanity from beyond the grave.

It is wonderful how sights, sounds and smells can bring back vivid memories of the past.  Seems even idle thoughts can do the same.

Those kind of moments take one back to some distant place and time as though it were yesterday.  Plants "what if" seeds in ground which has lain fallow for many years.  I know there is no going back but I cannot help longing at times for what might have been.

But that is neither here not there as the past is only real in our memories and, sometimes, not even then.

But, this just brings me to the thoughts I am having today.  I go to a psychiatrist every 30 - 60 days.  One of the questions she always ask is if I have thoughts of "hurting" myself or others.  I always laugh at her and tell her, "If I were to kill myself you can be sure I'd do it in the least painful possible".  Sometimes I hate euphemisms.

While having no thoughts or plans to do away (another euphemism) with myself I find a growing indifference to whether I wake up the next morning when I go to sleep at night.  I told her a couple of visits ago that while I had no thoughts of suicide, should I go to bed knowing I would not wake up the next morning, I would still get a good night's sleep.  Well, as long as it lasted.

Kind of like Dr. Timothy Leary I am finding I'm curious about what lies ahead.  Is it "something" or is it "nothing"? Only one way I know to find out.

Although, it reminds me of an old song, "Everybody wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die".  Seems to me there are an awful lot of people who don't really believe in Heaven though they would never admit it.  If Heaven is a real place and completely wonderful, why does everyone cling to life like a drowning man clutching at straws?

On the other hand, if one ever expects humanity to make sense, one is in for a sure disappointment.  We humans are strange creatures.  If I were god I'd send another flood to cleanse the planet and would not provide any Noah.    But, that is just me.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Listening to Watermelon Wine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqV9NZSGIa4

A song by Tom T. Hall who came from a place in Kentucky
where I came from.  As you might guess it includes watermelon wine.

I've always enjoyed listening to this song.  But, recently, I've been listening to it in a different state of mind.  Used to be it was just a good song to listen to.  I'm now at an age where the whole song has changed for me.

They called Tom T. the "Story Teller".  He was definitely not the typical country singer/songwriter.  His songs are really just stories put to music.  I highly recommend going back through the years of his music.  Or just keep listening to the link as it goes through a play list.

I don't know if I can explain the change.  It is assuredly not the song which has changed so it must be me.   Seems to me it must be age and health.

My body and mind are going south at an ever increasing pace.  I've already stopped driving except when I absolutely have to.  I have a growing inability to focus on anything.

That includes work.  I've made more serious and dumb mistakes in the past year than in the 26 which preceded it.  I have been trying to work until I am 66.  That is a little under three years.  I don't think I'm going to make it.

Truthfully, I don't understand why they haven't gotten rid of me before now.  The way things are going I think it is now a race between retirement and dismissal.

I'm always exhausted even after a long night's sleep.  Been this way for about two years with occasional stretches of lucidity.

I don't show it much before around 2:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon.  I owe a lot to my team lead who is also a real friend.  I think she has be somewhat protecting me.  But, even she admitted to me she had noticed the changes.  Letting things slip, forgetting things.  Not complicated things, just normal every day things I've done for years.

Maybe that is why the meaning of this old song's change was due to age an infirmity.  I more and more relate to that "old, gray, black gentleman" and less and less to the song writer.

My wife has noticed a lot of changes as well.  She would as she spends the most time with me.  Does not matter when it is, work, games, reading the news I tend to just spend a lot of time just sitting here in my home office chair rocking.  No idea about anything.  Mind mostly in a semi unaware state.

I do know about 18 months ago I had a massive amount of work hit me at once and I was the only one who could do it.  Multiple 70+ hour weeks.  Weekends were just markings on the calendar.  My MD suggested I retire if I could or at least cut back my hours.

No way I could do either.  Just the nature of my job and the expensives of living.  I really don't think I ever fully recovered from that state of exhaustion.

I don't know it that is even possible.  I do know for months and months I have been getting out of bed in the mornings just as tired (or more) as I was when I went to sleep.

I really can't do anything which requires physical effort.  Not because I'm particularly weak or anything.  I just get over heated so easily and when that happens I get completely nauseated.  And, it doesn't take much  to get me overheated.  I have a difficult time just walking through the grocery store for normal weekly shopping.  And to even survive it I have to take nausea medication before I go.

And, even with the nausea it will just hit out of the blue.  A couple of weeks ago I was taking the garbage container to the road, not a very long trip.  I had just finished a bottle of cold water and I was vomiting it back up at about every step.

Truthfully, I expect to be in a "home" withing just a few years.  Whether it is a "nursing" home or one  of the "funeral" types remains to be seen.


Saturday, February 18, 2017

Just Some Random Thoughts on Reaching Sixty-Three

I reached age 63 back in early December of 2016.  I don't really do birthdays.  Guess that is something which lingers from my childhood.  Never had any holidays.  Never had Christmas or Birthday anything at all.  Really, that is neither her nor there.  Holidays mean nothing at all to me.  Neither do birthday.  To me, holidays are just one day I don't have to work.   That is present enough.

But what got me to thinking in was which resulted in this post is a very dear friend of mine whom I went to school with at Mayo.  Her mother is on dialysis and lat time they discovered a blood clot in her leg which was not operable due to infection.  Her Mom had her leg amputated up to the hip.

Reminds me of both my wife and my aunt.  My aunt was a diabetic many years ago when the disease was much less understood.  I can't recall how old I was when she had to have her foot amputate and then passed away less than a month later.  But, I can still see in my mind those dark, scaled legs she walked on.  I have hopes for a better result for my friend's Mom.

It has gotten me to remember those older than me, the same age and even those younger than me who have died.

There is a photo on Face Book of a class in the old Richardson, Ky school.  Back in the days when there were still one room schools.It popped  up as history in my Face Book feed.  I sat looking at them to see how  many I recognized then started counting all of them who were dead.  Not the most uplifting exercise I suppose.

So many in my own age group, older and even younger are gone now.  Tends to make one wonder about the chances we are born into.  Those chances will influence our lives from beginning to end.  That along with peer pressure and many other factors.  Still, it occurs to me, every time you have a child you have just created a human being doomed to die.  From a child's first breath it is just a downhill roller coaster to the great darkness beyond.

Way too many at such a "young" age.  But, our family has some seriously bad genetics.   While I do love my children and grandchildren I can't help from feeling guilty in passing genes so prone to both physical and mental problems along to another generation or two.  Guess when we are young and still think we are immortal we just don't think about such things.

My psychiatrist always asks me if I have feelings of wanting to hurt myself or others.  I always laugh at her and tell her if I intend to kill myself it will be in the least painful manner possible.  I can't see why anyone would want to hurt themselves.  After all, the great source of suicidal thoughts is pain.  Mental, emotional or physical people who don't have a great degree of pain don't want to exit this world before they have to.

Suicide is such a permanent solution to problems which are more then likely temporary.  However, I can see when things are permanent with no possibility of getting better how one would do anything to stop the pain.  Cancer which cannot be helped leaving one in such pain their life is constant agony.  I can definitely see suicide for them as, not a tragedy (the disease was the tragedy) but a relief from hell on earth.

Oh well, so much for today's morbid thoughts.  Just so sad so many people who played so large a part in my life have passed on and I'm still here.  Roll of the dice or some purpose?  Interesting thing to think about.