Sunday, February 24, 2008
smile....
okay, so i'm a smiler....people think i'm always happy. they tell me all the time, 'you're always SO happy. it's the way my face is made. i can't help it. i suppose that deep down, in some sort of odd way i am always happy. what the heck is there to not be happy about? i don't live in poverty thanks to excellent genes. i am built well, never had a 'fat' problem. i'm smart. i'm not ugly (with the exception of thinish hair, and age catching up). i'm alive! i'm relatively healthy for a smoker of 30 some-odd years. i have great friends, and a fabulous family. okay, so maybe i do have a real reason to be smiling, and maybe it isn't just a function of my facial muscles. the great thing about being a smiler is it makes other people smile. rarely do i pass someone who doesn't smile back. even if they're frowning when they approach me, they smile when they look into my face. i love it.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Awakening in a different location
Say good-bye, my man....I'll miss you terribly when i ride my bike to Hains Point.
When i arrived in DC 13 years ago i saw a postcard of you and knew i just had to see you. It took a few years to actually find ya 'Charlie', as you're lovingly called around DC, but once i did, i went to see you often. I have taken pictures of you in the fall, the winter, the spring, and during the hottest days of summer. I always found you irresistable, no matter how many kids were climbing on your head, your hand, your foot or your arm.
Your new home will have you basking in the limelight of new surroundings, but the folks who've visited you at Hains Point over the last 28 years will sorely miss you. May your new surroundings bring you happiness and folks who will appreciate you as much as i have. Farewell, my man.
When i arrived in DC 13 years ago i saw a postcard of you and knew i just had to see you. It took a few years to actually find ya 'Charlie', as you're lovingly called around DC, but once i did, i went to see you often. I have taken pictures of you in the fall, the winter, the spring, and during the hottest days of summer. I always found you irresistable, no matter how many kids were climbing on your head, your hand, your foot or your arm.
Your new home will have you basking in the limelight of new surroundings, but the folks who've visited you at Hains Point over the last 28 years will sorely miss you. May your new surroundings bring you happiness and folks who will appreciate you as much as i have. Farewell, my man.
DRIVERS!!!
ACHH!! I get sooooo irritated driving through the city, I am eventually going to require a new horn! My daughter keeps telling me i'm going to be shot! (that's why i stay out of southeast and northeast)
I left work at 4:15 today. I live 7 miles (not quite) from work. It took me an hour to get home. On a good day i can make the drive in 20 minutes, okay, maybe 25 minutes.
The worst are the cabbies! OMG...they turn in front of me, rarely use their blinker, slink along the road cruising for fares, talk on their cell phones (illegal in DC), change lanes without EVER looking, stop right in front of me for a fare, and just collectively irritate the living shit outta me! I drive through the 9th street tunnel every night...cabbies should be shot in there! Granted they're not the only ones in the tunnel i could kill, but they're the worst offenders for staying in the middle lane (there are 3) knowing full well they are taking either the Virginia or Maryland exits (right or left lanes, which are always backed up). But NO they STAY in the middle lane WAY down the tunnel until suddenly they decide to STOP, turn their blinker on and sit in the road waiting for some sucker to let them in! I am really shocked that there aren't daily accidents in there...there would be if this didn't happen so frequently that people EXPECT these assholes to do the same thing every single day! Now and then you get a new guy in the tunnel that doesn't know which lane to be in. Instead of starting in the middle lane, these assholes will start in the left or right lane, only to find out they SHOULD be in the lane across the tunnel, and make a mad dash across the traffic to the MIDDLE lane, and wait for some nice guy to let them in...I have seen cops get really pissed off at all these assholes, and turn their sirens on just to make them move along. The deal is this...they CAN go to the end of the tunnel and take another way back around to 395, which is the highway to Maryland (left lane) and Virginia (right lane) if they're so stupid to be in the middle or wrong lane in the first place!
I know...get a grip! Chill...take a different route home. WHAT? and not enjoy all this frustration? you gotta be kidding!
I left work at 4:15 today. I live 7 miles (not quite) from work. It took me an hour to get home. On a good day i can make the drive in 20 minutes, okay, maybe 25 minutes.
The worst are the cabbies! OMG...they turn in front of me, rarely use their blinker, slink along the road cruising for fares, talk on their cell phones (illegal in DC), change lanes without EVER looking, stop right in front of me for a fare, and just collectively irritate the living shit outta me! I drive through the 9th street tunnel every night...cabbies should be shot in there! Granted they're not the only ones in the tunnel i could kill, but they're the worst offenders for staying in the middle lane (there are 3) knowing full well they are taking either the Virginia or Maryland exits (right or left lanes, which are always backed up). But NO they STAY in the middle lane WAY down the tunnel until suddenly they decide to STOP, turn their blinker on and sit in the road waiting for some sucker to let them in! I am really shocked that there aren't daily accidents in there...there would be if this didn't happen so frequently that people EXPECT these assholes to do the same thing every single day! Now and then you get a new guy in the tunnel that doesn't know which lane to be in. Instead of starting in the middle lane, these assholes will start in the left or right lane, only to find out they SHOULD be in the lane across the tunnel, and make a mad dash across the traffic to the MIDDLE lane, and wait for some nice guy to let them in...I have seen cops get really pissed off at all these assholes, and turn their sirens on just to make them move along. The deal is this...they CAN go to the end of the tunnel and take another way back around to 395, which is the highway to Maryland (left lane) and Virginia (right lane) if they're so stupid to be in the middle or wrong lane in the first place!
I know...get a grip! Chill...take a different route home. WHAT? and not enjoy all this frustration? you gotta be kidding!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
guitar hero....
Okay, so at the bottom of my blog, which isn't very long yet...you are now able to view Rush' YYZ played on guitar hero by this guy who must be extremely dextrous. (i couldn't figure out how to get rid of the other three youtube things, and sometimes other youtube things show up so just ignore them. playing yyz is the guy in the red shirt and he'll eventually return.)
Over the holidays some of us in the family got hooked on guitar hero (some more than others)and now everytime i visit my daughter i HAVE TO play guitar hero! it's crazy, i know...and i never really even liked hard rock! now i have my radio tuned to DC 101 on my way home from work just so i can listen to rock songs. the crazy thing is, i play the steering wheel...you'll only understand this if you have seen or played guitar hero. i feel like an old head banger! (hmmm, that's probably what i am, eh?)
Over the holidays some of us in the family got hooked on guitar hero (some more than others)and now everytime i visit my daughter i HAVE TO play guitar hero! it's crazy, i know...and i never really even liked hard rock! now i have my radio tuned to DC 101 on my way home from work just so i can listen to rock songs. the crazy thing is, i play the steering wheel...you'll only understand this if you have seen or played guitar hero. i feel like an old head banger! (hmmm, that's probably what i am, eh?)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Peopleist: one who believes there are crappy people among all races
I'm totally not a racist...but I am a peoplelist! I don't think I was a peopleist until moving to DC. This has nothing to do with race. It does, however, have to do with people, meaning that I don't care what ethnicity someone is, there is a huge difference in people. Maybe it's their personal history, maybe it's simply geography.
Okay, I'm sorry, but here's where that opinion originated...working and dealing with people in DC for the past 13 years, particularly women. What's with the idea that the government should compensate them for their biological histories. It's been 200 years or more! Some families have been on the government take for generations. My theory is, if you don't like how America has treated 'you' for the last 2 days, 2 months, 2 years or yes, 200 years, go home! My son-in-law is black. I'm sure he has basically the same history any black person has. He's a graduate of Stanford, has a fabulous job, a great attitude, and doesn't think anyone owes him anything. He couldn't live in DC even though he tried. It's a different culture than he cares to live in.
I was all for Obama winnng the Presidential election. When I saw him speak at the Democratic convention in '04, I thought, what a guy! He's dynamic, brilliant, and has the style and charisma of Clinton or a Kennedy. I really believed he just might be able to lead the country back to some kind civility.
Then i saw him on CNN after he won the primary in South Carolina. Reality hit....standing next to him was his African American wife. Oh, my god! What was I thinking!? Obama in the whitehouse is one thing, but having a black woman in the whitehouse? Then i heard her speak. She is also brilliant. She said she hopes African Americans do not vote for her husband 'just because he's black'. uh, okay....that may not be the case across America, but here in DC? OH YEAH....they will vote for him because he is black! And if he does indeed win even the nomination? oh, my god! Does anyone remember DC when OJ was found 'not guilty'?? From SE up through PG County there will be celebrating...and not because Obama is a brilliant man, but because his skin is dark. Rather than going with the idea that this man is like any other man who takes the initiative to make something of his life, some folks look at him as a 'saviour' for others in their race. What...he's going to make their lives better because he's their color? Do they think 'ahhh, at last we'll get reparation for our history of slavery'? Okay, slavery was an awful thing. Children were ripped from their mothers and sold. Families were destroyed. It was truly horrible what happened. The truth of the matter is, however, that some of the slaves were brought here by black men. Maybe some of the folks here in DC are related to those merchants who sold people to Americans.
Working with people everyday, some paid very high salaries doing the same job I do but showing up for work late, taking long lunches, and complaining all the time simply drives me to be a peopleist. And in this beautiful city of Washington, where example should be made of us because we are the Nation's Capital, fraud, deceit, and manipulation runs rampant. Maybe it does in all big cities, but here, it's generally those who believe they are owed something. Maybe there isn't a difference in feeling like you're owed something, and just plain greed.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe, 'truth be known', I am a racist pig.
Okay, I'm sorry, but here's where that opinion originated...working and dealing with people in DC for the past 13 years, particularly women. What's with the idea that the government should compensate them for their biological histories. It's been 200 years or more! Some families have been on the government take for generations. My theory is, if you don't like how America has treated 'you' for the last 2 days, 2 months, 2 years or yes, 200 years, go home! My son-in-law is black. I'm sure he has basically the same history any black person has. He's a graduate of Stanford, has a fabulous job, a great attitude, and doesn't think anyone owes him anything. He couldn't live in DC even though he tried. It's a different culture than he cares to live in.
I was all for Obama winnng the Presidential election. When I saw him speak at the Democratic convention in '04, I thought, what a guy! He's dynamic, brilliant, and has the style and charisma of Clinton or a Kennedy. I really believed he just might be able to lead the country back to some kind civility.
Then i saw him on CNN after he won the primary in South Carolina. Reality hit....standing next to him was his African American wife. Oh, my god! What was I thinking!? Obama in the whitehouse is one thing, but having a black woman in the whitehouse? Then i heard her speak. She is also brilliant. She said she hopes African Americans do not vote for her husband 'just because he's black'. uh, okay....that may not be the case across America, but here in DC? OH YEAH....they will vote for him because he is black! And if he does indeed win even the nomination? oh, my god! Does anyone remember DC when OJ was found 'not guilty'?? From SE up through PG County there will be celebrating...and not because Obama is a brilliant man, but because his skin is dark. Rather than going with the idea that this man is like any other man who takes the initiative to make something of his life, some folks look at him as a 'saviour' for others in their race. What...he's going to make their lives better because he's their color? Do they think 'ahhh, at last we'll get reparation for our history of slavery'? Okay, slavery was an awful thing. Children were ripped from their mothers and sold. Families were destroyed. It was truly horrible what happened. The truth of the matter is, however, that some of the slaves were brought here by black men. Maybe some of the folks here in DC are related to those merchants who sold people to Americans.
Working with people everyday, some paid very high salaries doing the same job I do but showing up for work late, taking long lunches, and complaining all the time simply drives me to be a peopleist. And in this beautiful city of Washington, where example should be made of us because we are the Nation's Capital, fraud, deceit, and manipulation runs rampant. Maybe it does in all big cities, but here, it's generally those who believe they are owed something. Maybe there isn't a difference in feeling like you're owed something, and just plain greed.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe, 'truth be known', I am a racist pig.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Happy/Sad
October, 2007. Celebrating my Dad's 89th birthday, and memorializing the death of my sister. I had 3 siblings. Two brothers, Terry, 9 years my senior, and Bergy (Carl Jr.) two years my junior. A sister, Diane, 7 years my senior. My sister and I were never what you could call 'close'. We were in fact, worlds apart. As kids, she accused me of being a spoiled brat, I accused her of being a slut. Based on what we knew at the time, I guess we were both right. I thought she was slut because when I was 8 and she 15 I would catch her kissing boys in our avocado grove. Of course I would always rat on her, she would get in trouble, and she would call me a spoiled brat. Makes sense now. Even over the years we never became the friends most sisters do. We always seemed worlds apart. I guess I loved her because she was my sister....but like the old saying goes...'you can pick your friends'...something about relatives goes in that next part....
My sister woke up one morning in early 2004 unable to speak clearly. Everyone immediately thought she'd had a stroke. It was later determined she had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. A rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles. A horrible, debilitating disease with no known cure nor real understanding of where it comes from. Her descent was gradual for many months. She was able to swallow soft foods, but unable to talk. Eventually, she had to have a feeding tube. The last time I saw her, 6 months before her death, she could walk normally, smile and write down what she was thinking on the little pad and pen she carried. I had planned to visit her in October while in California to celebrate Pop's birthday. The week before I was to travel out there she succumbed to this horrific disease. Family members stayed in her home so she didn't have to die in a hospice. I made the trip to California as scheduled. My daughters and son joined me there for the memorial service and to celebrate Pop's 89th birthday. It was a sad and joyous time. I'm so grateful my Pop is still alive and well....golfing and swimming.
My sister woke up one morning in early 2004 unable to speak clearly. Everyone immediately thought she'd had a stroke. It was later determined she had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. A rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles. A horrible, debilitating disease with no known cure nor real understanding of where it comes from. Her descent was gradual for many months. She was able to swallow soft foods, but unable to talk. Eventually, she had to have a feeding tube. The last time I saw her, 6 months before her death, she could walk normally, smile and write down what she was thinking on the little pad and pen she carried. I had planned to visit her in October while in California to celebrate Pop's birthday. The week before I was to travel out there she succumbed to this horrific disease. Family members stayed in her home so she didn't have to die in a hospice. I made the trip to California as scheduled. My daughters and son joined me there for the memorial service and to celebrate Pop's 89th birthday. It was a sad and joyous time. I'm so grateful my Pop is still alive and well....golfing and swimming.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The dating scene...
I know....I'm over the hill when it comes to dating but I can still imagine there might be that perfect someone out there. 10 years ago I tried the AOL Singles site. It was pretty straightforward. Many new sites have appeared since then, some of them AOL-related. eHarmony is probably the one you would think would hold the most weight when it comes to 'screening people'. After filling out pages of who I am and what I'm looking for (yeah, that helped) I decided to try one of my 'perfect matches'. Young women out there, realize that when you're over the age of 50-something and trying to find Mr. Right (again), Mr. Right suddenly seems mighty old and may appear to have been ridden hard and put away wet (this is a horse-person saying by the way) and if he doesn't appear that way, he's likely dating someone in her 30s. So what does that leave me, but choices of the following: married and looking for a fling; looking for 'young things'; retired and too tired to enjoy life. Not a great group of choices. So back to the one I tried....he was better looking than his picture, which is really unusual; was extremely charismatic; acted like he was really into me. We had sushi, a great dinner, lots of wine....and well, you know the rest. Though I thought it odd that he had to leave quickly at 10 p.m., I fully expected a phone call the following day asking me to go for a drive, get lunch, have dinner at his place....SOMETHING!! I emailed him a few days later saying something like 'so...what's up?' to which he didn't reply. That was it. I gave up. I'm not about to chase anyone. He was either an extremely good actor, gay, or married. At first I was devastated to think someone would play with anyone's feelings like that, but then reality raised its ugly head and I was over it. His profile is still online. He's still out there.
I have come to the conclusion that there is really no reason to upset my life by engaging in a relationship. I have a dog. I have all the things that make me love life. Why ruin that by sharing it with someone with different ideals. Truly, no matter how compatible 2 people are, there are always things that cause turmoil. I have absolutely no turmoil in my life.
I have come to the conclusion that there is really no reason to upset my life by engaging in a relationship. I have a dog. I have all the things that make me love life. Why ruin that by sharing it with someone with different ideals. Truly, no matter how compatible 2 people are, there are always things that cause turmoil. I have absolutely no turmoil in my life.
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