Titled not as it wanders mightily

Thanks to all who e-mailed their concerns for mine and Nong's safety. We are quite well and as fiesty as ever, whether that's good or it's bad.

I need all of my loyal fellow travellers, which is of course me, sk, pipedragger in CA maybe one other (although the one other is likely an optomistic stretch) to help with my new song. I've been working it a little as I ride the BTS. Anyway, working title is A GHOST OF A CHANCE OR THE CHANTS OF A GOAT? Help me finish it before Sting "appropriates" it.

Now, sk, a little karma for you. You are moving from Penn. (PA) to Idaho (ID). I know you will find true peace and happiness there. The karma part? Well, PA + ID = PAID...as in already paid your dues. Enjoy, mole frair.

Gonna wander on down to Sukhumvit tonight to see what's shakin' on a New Years eve.

Peace (chest thump, chest thump, v fingers), out
Travelin' Ed

Back in Bangkok

Wow. Long ride from Chang Mai back to Bangkok. Guess going up seemed shorter because I was asleep for most of it. Glad to be back.

Thank you and a big shout out to the good Debbie Ratajak and Rebecca-beck-beck for their concern that I could have been washed out to sea. The e-mails made me smile and I was happy to rerport that all was just fine.

Concerning what to call peeps from Idaho. I had a thought on the long ass drive home. How about Idahosers?

My last night in Chang Mai I went to a British pub and had Bangers and Mash. I've had better actually, but sure like how it sounds when you order....Bangers and mash, luv.

That's also why, in Japan, I always order Ashai beer. It sounds cool to order. Bieru Ah-SIGH-hee, kudo sai.

I'm sure there's more, but it's escaping me at the moment. That and the rooftop pool beckons. Later daze.

Pies, out.
Travelin' Ed

Thanks skwiter

Hey...somebody checks my page somewhat regularly. I am impressed. Thanks sk. Do not sweat the replys for now. When I get home to true high speed internet...which is advertised in these cafes but I have a different idea of high speed apparently...I will work on and/or tweak that aspect. Then I'll let you know, in code of course for we are mysterious folk, that it is time for you to try again. Secret Squirrel, out.

Went to a wat (temple) today where I gazed upon the mummified body of a monk, was blessed by another, non-mummified monk who sprinkled me with special water from a special whisk broomish device (and the good monk confided to me that I was a "good boy"). It was cool. I got pictures you'll see later. Didn't bring my laptop along this trip.

After, we went to a hot springs to have a refreshing, flesh scalding dip. It was nice, in an excruciating, hellish sort of way. No, actually, after being really hot initially, it felt pretty good.

Now we're back in Chang Mai at the night bazaar. I'm ready to go back to Bangkok and on over to the beach a couple of days.

I fear I cannot relate to 20 degree weather, nor to the desire to dwell there. PA can be rough this time of year. But wait till you're a true blue, dyed in the wool Idahoian (?), Idahite? What, exactly do you call someone from Idaho?

Peet, out.
Travelin' Ed

Jeez!! The tsunami hit hard

Not much time to post. Everybody is double parked across the street (no big sin in Chang Mai) waiting for my return.

The tsunami nearly wiped out Patong Beach in Phuket, and Phi Phi Island. Both were favorite vacation spots of mine a few years ago. I saved the Bangkok Post from today and will bring it home.

What I learned yesterday, if you are interested is, and I quote the sign:

Lampung is CLEAN, GREEN and CERAMIC.

Please, out.
Travelin' Ed

Pradiphat Road, Saphan Kwai

In an internet cafe in Saphan Kwai right now. It's a quiet area. Went to Ko Kret yesterday. Ko is the Thai word for island. It had about 5 temples on it and was apparently pottery central because everybody was making pottery, selling pottery, selling coffee in what were basically flower pots with a straw. I got the whole coffee thing on tape.

I took my video camera and got some footage. Not a lot. 10 min. maybe. The island is in the Chaya Prao (I can never spell that off the top of my head) river. So I got some decent footage of the different go-fast boats.

Hard to believe tomorrow is Christmas. Don't guess I'll do much of anything. Maybe hit the town and see what the tourists have going on.

I bought 3 tailored suits (coat, trousers, vest), 11 dress slacks and 11 dress shirts. The whole shebang was $1,200, which I found fair, especially in light of the fabrics I chose.

I got him to make the slacks with these elastic sliders in the waist that allows the sizes to go from 36-42. That ought to give me plenty of leeway. See, once before I bought myself a nice, hand tailored suit for a little over $300 but didn't wear it immediately. When I did I had gotten too big for it. So now I make the tailor give me a little leeway for weight fluctuations right from the git go.

I know, long and boring. Maybe I'll have some stories to tell soon.

Pikes out,
Travelin' Ed

NorthWorst Airlines Flight NW 27

Arrived in Bangkok NorthWorst Flight 27. Terrible flight. Essentially I checked 2 empty suitcases and had to put damn near all of our clothes into our carry on luggage to meet the 20 kilo limit. I'm lugging these heavy ass carry-ons while the big suitcases sit empty in the belly of the plane. And for what? I'm still bringing the same amount of weight onboard. I could have checked 2 twenty kilo bags, but not 1 twenty three kilo bag. It was madness.

Was street shopping today and ran across some holiday negligie. It was basically a red, see through teddy with white trim around the hem and neck to make it look like a Santa suit. All I could think of was Ho, ho ho'.

Pees, out.
Travelin' Ed

Television's Promised land

Here's the link to the television promised land. That's right, the home of "Know Your Cuts of Meat" and "Trump or Monkey?". The Late Show with David Letterman. We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy! .........!

I go here to try to send questions to the Late Show mailbag. I've sent a number of them in, but so far.....zip...nada...goose egg. But I figure if I persevere one day he will do a skit based on one of my questions.

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow



Peeps, out.
Travelin' Ed

Hong Kong from the Harbor

Hong Kong looking in from the harbor. Took it from the same boat where my feets was perched in the following picture. I think this pic really captures HK well.

Feets into Hong Kong

Feets into Hong Kong. This is perhaps my favorite Travelin' Ed photo. Mr. Dale Ehrhardt imortalized it in a song.

Intermittent Posts next 20 days

There will be intermittent posts, if any at all, until Jan 8th or 9th.

We are flying to Bangkok tomorrow to visit family and friends and get a little beach time in down in Rayong. Hoping I can get back to Koh Chang too, but I think it'll be a stretch.

Nong has to get passport renewed and biometric fingerprints towards her US citizenship papers so we need to be able to get back to the city fequently. Oh well, can't always be just fun n' games. But while Pattaya and Rayong are little more than an hour drive away, Koh Chang is a long bus and ferry trip.

Usually in BKK and the beach towns I can stay connected. The hardware is there but sometimes my "want to" factor is a bit low. The one extra activity we have planned this time is a road trip with Massom & Papa up to Chang Mai. We will meander by car (hence me calling it a road trip) and stop at little places all along the way. Not sure how long or how often I'll have a chance at the internet over that few days.

Anyway, my intention is to post at least a few times so check in. If not, see you on the 8th of Jan.

Pete's out,
Travelin' Ed

Here. This. Now.

Go. Go now and here. Go now here and hear this now. I thank you.

http://mysite.verizon.net/tad14/au/riseFIX2.mp3

Double your money back if you think it sucks. And the Ginsu knives are yours to keep just for trying it.

Travelin' Ed

I seem to be listing

10 Shows I really love(d)

10. Cheers
9. The man from U.N.C.L.E.
8. Fear Factor
7. Junkyard Wars
6. The Late Show With David Letterman
5. Friends
4. Moonlighting
3. Ally McBeal
2. Survivor
1. The Simpsons !!!

9 Places I really like

9. Hong Kong, China
8. Bangkok, Thailand
7. Mississippi, USA
6. Tampa, Florida
5. Nagasaki, Japan
4. Koh Chang, Thailand
3. San Juan, Puerto Rico
2. Rural North Carolina, USA
1. New Orleans, Planet Looziana !!!

8 Things that SUCK

8. Pop-up / Pop-under ads
7. The car not starting in the morning
6. Reeling a fish up to the boat and watching him flip free
5. A phone call during a good TV show
4. The way my beloved New Orleans Saints are playing
3. A virus that you can't remove without re-formatting the HDD
2. Holes in your socks in public
1. Being cold !!!

7 Things that are cool

7. Finding money on the ground
6. Running into an old friend far away from home
5. Listening to people who have never taken a flight longer than 4 hours drone on about fatigue.
4. Herds of Japanese schoolgirls at the train station
3. Discovering the band DRIVE BY TRUCKERS
2. My friend Dale's photography
1. Leisurely drive across the state on 2 lane roads, fishing at every spot you come across

6 Foods I love

6. Pizza
5. Thai Cashew Chicken
4. Spicy Curry and rice
3. Lumpia
2. Mufalettas
1. Hot Links !!!

5 Things I wonder about

5. What if I'm not very smart?
4. If I had a kid would he drive me crazy?
3. Why don't I play the guitar?
2. What would it be like to travel if money and time were no object?
1. What's a dog really thinking when he gets excited when you return?

4 Traits of a good friend

4. Doing nothing is always a viable option for the day
3. Even if you don't see each other but every few years, it's OK
2. Knows you're gonna get pissy sometimes. That's just how you are.
1. Will help you if you need it without keeping a score.

3 Places I still want to go

3. Italy
2. Holland
1. India

2 Biggest regrets

2. Misjudging the importance of a good education
1. Not spending more time with my grandparents before they were all gone.

1 Biggest eye-opening realization

The rest of the world doesn't do things differently than America, but rather America does things differently than the rest of the world.

Just because I knew you doesn't mean that I know you

JUST BECAUSE 15 Oct 2003
Just because I knew you
Doesn't mean that I know you
Time fades out colors & lives
And what all lies before us
Becomes what we always wanted
Becomes what we should have done with our time

Just because I held you
Doesn't mean that I felt you
Hearts beat out synchronous lies
And what we are "supposed to"
Becomes what we are immune to
Becomes just another day in the mines

I don't know much of nothing
I just get by on believing
Things will always work out like they will
And just because you want it
Doesn't really mean a thing
I guess that's pretty much the way I feel

Just because I love you
Doesn’t mean I always need you
Doesn't mean that I can't think for myself
What we think we stand for
Sometimes shifting like a sandbar
Sometimes vaguely like the stories we tell

Just because I knew you
Doesn't mean that I know you
Time will fade your colorful life
And what we found before us
Becomes what was gonna save us
Becomes once upon a younger man's time.

Ed,
Cigar Porch, Yokosuka

And I Quote....

I'm an articulate bastard.

- Paul Shafer, The Late Show With David Letterman

Eewwww- a pop-up!

Today for a few hours I added an instant poll feature from BraveNet to this blog. It was pretty cool and I had customized it nicely. The entry button said "Fool. Vote now, fool.". That was my idea. It made me laugh, which is pretty much the only criteria I use for a post.

Well, I'm not laughing now.

I polled myself a few times at home (c'mon, we all do it sometimes) just to make sure. Yep, the poll looked nice and was fast and efficient. It shall be retained, methinks.

At home I use the Mozilla FireFox browser. It blocks pop-ups automatically unless I ask it not to.

Then I went to work and I quickly polled myself again, trying to finish before anyone else arrived. Like an episode of Sienfeld, huh? Anyway it started out well. And then... Blip. A freakin' pop-up ad! See, at work we browse with IE, and IE does not block pop-ups. Ever.*

Rather IE says, "Well hey there little pop-up. Good to see you, welcome aboard. Why not just plant yourself over top o' this here page Travelin' Ed is browsing and make yourself comfortable.".

Travelin'Ed was aghast and bummed. I will not be part nor parcel to pop-up proliferation on the web. Just won't do it. So I removed the poll code and thus the poll. Now all is back as it should be.

Luckily I average just under one visitor per day, so the likelihood of me pulling a "gotcha" on an innocent surfer was slim. But still....

So I suggest you use either the following link or the launch button under my profile and get the Mozilla FireFox browser. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

* I know, Bill. SP2 does add pop-up blocking to IE, and yes, it does work pretty well. But dammit man, it took you long enough didn't it?

Stoned animals -- The debate

If you are not surfing the web into discussion groups, you are missing some real entertainment. Finding discussions like this just make you go hmmmmm. Can't you just imagine someone one step below Beavis & Butthead on the evoloutionary ladder when you read this? I found this discussion (I only copied out 1 of the comments but there was a whole string to follow) at Cryptozoology.com. Enjoy:

Feverent says:
I wonder if stoned animals ever get bored? :/ Being stuck in there not being able to move and stuff.

Hey, I remember Cryptozoology.com a few years back was a bit different, it had like a list of Cryptids that where all grey icons, and when you put the mouse over it, it be in color.

There was one icon called "Stoned Animals" or something and had a pic of a toad. The article mentioned all that stuff plus the pterodactyl thing.

Does anyone have that old website layout saved? It was cool putting the mouse over the Stoned animals Icon and away really fast. Making it look funky, like the toad in the icon was "stoned" in a different way. :D

Onomatopoeia by John Prine

This guy, and this song especially, made me realize how much fun it could be to write lyrics. I realized that it's OK to be really off the wall in the story telling and still have it work. It was an awesome realization and I took off from there.

I've included a link to a website of his lyrics and encourage you to go to LimeWire, KaaZaa or wherever and download a copule of songs. He's a storyteller.
Ed


Onomatopoeia

Forty-five minutes
Forty-five cents
Sixty-five agents sitting on a fence
Singing, hey little brother
Look what we got for you

We’re gonna rope off an area
And put on a show
From the canadian border
Down to mexico
It might be the most
Potentially gross
Thing that we could possibly do

Yeah, little buddy gonna get your chance
Make them pubescents all wet their pants
We’ll record it live
And that’s no jive.
Hold it! stop it! no! no! no! no!

Bang! went the pistol.
Crash! went the window.
Ouch! went the son of a gun.
Onomatopoeia I don’t wanna see ya
Speaking in a foreign tongue.

Knock! knock! hello!
Can I come in?
Gee, that was a wonderful show!
Oh, you haven’t gone on yet?
Well, how was I supposed to know?

Hey! we got a great date
It’s really downtown
We’re gonna get the grand canyon
To do the sound
It’s a boxing ring
But it might be the thing
To really put you in the dough

Listen little brother, don’t ya get us wrong
Why we even know one of the words to your song
Just say I do
And we’ll lay it on you
You! you! and me! me! me!

Bang! went the pistol
Crash! went the window
Ouch! went the son of a gun
OnomatopoeiaI don’t want to see ya
Speaking in a foreign tongue.

- John Prine

Wanna ride? Call Krewe of Pontchartrain

For $575 per person, you get a pre-parade breakfast on the morning of the parade, a costume and throws for the parade (long beads and cups), and an after-parade party at Tipitina's in the French Quarter. Interested?

Telephone 504-561-570
1800-521-0626
504-561-5726 (Fax)

Mailing address
Krewe of Pontchartrain
P.O. Box 56305
New Orleans, LA70156-6305

E-mail kofpont@cox.net

The 2005 Krewe of Pontchartrain Parade will be held Saturday, January 29th, 2005 at 12 Noon.
The Krewe of Pontchartrain, Inc. is a social, non-profit organization and is a member of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

Good idea, bad delivery.

I absolutely HATE the following commercial theme:

Do it for the children, whose side are you on?
A) I don't have kids, so you're saying "Do it for my child".

B) "who's side are you on?" is saying that if I have an opinion other than yours (like why must I help build schools if I don't have children who will use them?) then I 'm a child hating ne'er do well who promotes drug peddling.

Well, I do not hate kids. Some of my best friends have kids. I love it when they smile and laugh. Don't like 'em so much when they scream and poop. It all averages out.
I just find it presumptious that by the mere act of becoming a parent you now have some cosmic insight, your cause is always just and the preferences of the rest of us should take a back seat to the perpetual happiness and comfort of your child.
News flash. He's a cute kid, but is not suddenly my reason for living.

A good tag line: If you do this it would really help us out. Thank you.
A bad tag line: Do it for the children, whose side are you on?

{End Rant}
{Break Transmission}
{[fade]}.

The 10 List: Travelin' truisms

No, I didn't mean "Top 10 List". Read it and you'll understand.

Travelin' truisms:

8. Here in my cow I feel udderly safe. (Thanks TomD)
2. The literal translation of "chalupa" is "slow dog".
5. Punchline: ...OK, I talked to 2 local girls. Now, what the hell is a "panoe?".
1. Homer-eroticism: "Mmmmmm....doughnuts....and handcuffs. So-o-o-o sexy"
9. My wife is buy-curious.
7. Ummm, ma'am, exactly how will this show up on my credit card?
3. Are we not men? We are Devo.
10. Plan early and plan twice.
4. What doesn't kill me makes me angry.
6. People who don't want to spend their tax dollars on things that they don't "approve" of have got no problem spending my tax dollars on things they do.

What I learned on Survivor Vanuatu

Vanna, what tutu?

I learned:
a) Chris lies
b) Eliza's got a big pig!!

Japanese phrase of the day

Kaonashi Ga Suki
Translation: "I like No Face"

I find this fascinating for some reason.

Yep....more rhyming words

Yep ............. 21 Nov 01

Found myself too nervous on the edge of the night
as the yellow moon was trying to laugh
Holding up two fingers as a sign that he tried
but it was something that he couldn't get past
'Nawlins was a mem'ry that the two of us shared
on the streets that seen the worst of my days
I was trying to surprise you like the ghost of the time
that I fell to my knees and I prayed

Slippery like the words you used to tell me goodbye
down in the Quarter on a seven day drunk
Wasn't even sure what you were trying to say
except your smile that let me think what I thunk
I was chasing after baubles I had colored as love
a love that was shiny and cheap
to wear it like a coat to keep the chill off the night
good idea except it never fit me.

Letterman, not Leno, if you gotta choose sides
But Baby, why can't we just get along
Play me like the music that drifts over the clubs
slow swampy and so easily stoned
Maybe for a moment there was something we shared
more likely just another thing lost
I puckered up and stood there for the kiss of my life
never thinking you would just kiss me off

Ed
Yokosuka, JA

No words.....nukes!

True story:

On the military's ASVAB test this was one of the series of questions (at least it was in 1978):

Count how many c's are in each group of lines:

oooooocoooooocoooooocooooococooooooococooooooooocooooooooo
oocooooocooooooocoooooocooocoooocooooocoooocoooooooococooo
ooooooocoooooocooooooocoooooocooocccoooooooocooooooocooooo

There'd be about 6 sets like the one above. Seems it would be easy enough but apparently it was beyond my ability. I thought I did pretty well but the navy guy told me I wasn't fast enough. That was bad news for me because I was trying to enlist to become a navy journalist and had just been told I didn't have the attention to detail required of a journalist. I explained I'd probably be ok if we were allowed to use more than just those 2 letters but it fell on deaf ears and I was denied the job.

I want to make sure you get the point that I didn't have the attention to detail for writing full paragraphs, because what happened next should make you shudder when you smile.

I was promptly signed up for the nuclear electronics program and readied for the training to man up a nuclear powered fast attack submarine. Presumably it would not require much writing, which is good considering my propensity for distraction. Ooohhh look!, a shiny object.

That is a true story from my first few days with the military. Over 25 years they have not gotten significantly better. But the travel is good and the pay is fair, so what the hell.

Pices, out.
Ed

Pssssttt...I've got your opinion for you

When I was a teen, before the earth's crust cooled, we were alecks. Smart alecks to be precise. It was a wonderful time to be alive because of the certianty. The certianty that we were cool and surrounded by fools. I remember it well.

While I have not become less cool (despite what happened years ago at the San Diego Sports Arena when a young girl said "you're not cool, you're a ho-dad") the cast of characters that surrounds me seems to have de-stupified a touch. And that is where we stand now.

Oh yeah, my point. We were smart alecks and one of our favorite retorts was "If I want your opinion I'll give it to you'". I mean, how clever is that??

As I slogs through the blogs that little classic comes back to mind over and over. There are plenty of 13 yo girl blogs with their pink backgrounds and bubbles; and more than a few deep thinkers posting and posturing on politics and other social ills; and even a fair number that admit to being a site for a blogger with nothing to say (so they post pics of their cat sunning himself--whoo-hoo.).

Here is where I was going to go off on all the movie reviewing sites, who decided these yo-yo's were qualified to critique, why don't they keep their opinions to themselves, blah, blah, blah. Then I was going to tie it all together around the "If I want your opinion I'll give it to you" theme.

I wrote it, read it, posted it, tweaked it, re-read it, re-posted it, re-tweaked it and now I have deleted it and you're getting this instead. I'm only 5 days or so into this and I already have a newfound sympathy for someone putting out a daily column on a deadline.

Speaking of wasted effort....when was the last time Doonsebury was funny...or witty...or clever...or anything other than whiny? Seems it's been a while. The good Mr. Trudeau has become a bit of a bore. That's my opinion and it's just like my bunghole.....

A goth chick's blog

You know, you just can't find any good Donnie & Marie on the LimeWire P2P. Don't know why, since you can type in "Fudge Packing Midget Ballerinas" and get 6 mpeg shorts, 2 full length movies and a music video. AND BE SHARING THE DOWNLOAD WITH ANOTHER USER!! I'm not at liberty to divulge how I know this.

A good past time I have found, and I actually found listed on some goth chick's blog so I know I'm not alone, is punching in random words into google image search. I can literally kill hours doing that and I find some of the coolest stuff. And you NEVER know what will pop up. It's a most surreal pasttime sometimes.

Today I started burning off my backlog of downloaded mp3's. Got 4 CD's finished before I decided to take a ride down through Zushi to Hayama and on in to Yokosuka. I need a few things at the store and it's a bright sunny day, perfect for a leisurely drive*. Will take these new CDs with me.
I burned:
Kid Rock. My hero. What a fricking redneck. We'd be fishing buddies in another life and time.
Big & Rich with Blue Oyster Cult filler. What can I say? I'm an over the top kinda guy.
Charlie Daniels Band. Again, what can I say? He's a legend, he's a god.
Hank, Jr., Mountian, and the Classics IV to round things out and clear out a "pieces parts" folder. Not intentionally ecclectic. I mean, are you ever gonna download enough John Denver, Classics IV and Ugly Kid Joe to fill an individual CD for each? Nope, not gonna happen. So you put 'em all together and hope for the best.

* I own a Nissan Laurel Medalist. Look it up on the internet. It's a real nice car.

I've had 82 hits in 4 days. I think pretty good. Of course 2 hits each day are my own when I log in at home then again at work. Oh well, tis a labor of love.

Pies, out.
Ed

Epitome & Reality: Bad punctuation and run-on sentences

I'm at work now, blogging to greet the new day. Life is good for now. I don't want to say exactly where I work because that wouldn't be cool. But you can figure it out maybe. Call up Pat Sajak and buy a vowel. My office is TH_ C_NT_R FOR SURFAC_ COMBAT SYST_MS. I repeat, buy a vowel.

Anyway, here I am, US Navy - Blue and Gold. I should be the epitome of your tax dollars at work. In sad fact, I am more the reality. I am more my reality. I am more a reality. Take as many realities as you want.

I was thinking that epitome is pretty cool. As a word. It spells out cool and has a nice feel to it when you say it. And it rhymes with reality, which I noticed when I was mulling this blog-to-be over in my head on the 11 km commute from Zushi to Yokosuka this morning. 11 km of just me, the big delivery trucks (well, big for Japan anyway) and my fellow Y-platers.

I was starting, as I often do, with the title and first few lines. In my head in a stream of consciousness sort of way that usually includes moving my lips while I think. While I think I think, anyway. I think.

I noticed how well the two words epitome and reality fit together and how they might work well in a song, if I ever decided to write (another) really boring song. Few other songwriters use the word epotime in lyrics. And likely for good reason. But if I am nothing else I am daring in my use and misuse of words. Dale calls me the alien boy playing with words, but I am not a boy.

Anyway, this has been, like I said, your tax dollars at work. I used to think it was my tax dollars also til I thunk and re-thunk it a little. I finally hammered out (or, as they say in Virginia, hammered oot) a solution I could deal with. It is thus:

1. They take your tax dollars. Or you give them voluntarily. Either way works.
2.They give them to me in the form of pay and allowances. (Yep, 45 yo and I still get an allowance.)
3. I pay taxes on that money they have taken from you and given to me. Or you have given freely, either way still works. But,....
4. I figure I haven't given them my money so much as I haven't been allowed to keep all of your money that was given to me. Basically you give them your money, I take it, then I give some of it back.
5. Then I file my tax return, and they give me back some of the money, your money, I had just given back to them.
6. You work hard for your money, I assume. I hope it is some small comfort to you to know that it gets so much mileage.

So there you have it. We were covering "Epitome" and "Reality". And now we're not.

Please, out.
Ed

Froggy goes a'flying

Froggy goes a'flying. I love the stuff from Bali. It's all painted wood but the color is always playful and classic at the same time. I have this guy hovering over me anytime I'm at the computer desk.

The way the photo on my desk is positioned, it almost looks like Froggy is Godzilla large and is circling in to snatch me off the elephant I'm riding. Aaaayeeeeee, it's FROGZILLA! (Save me Underdog. ["When Eddie's in trouble, I am not slow...."])

Squid moment: For sailors only

Olde tyme navy talk I defy you to recognize EVERY single slang used here.

Me and Willy were lollygagging by the scuttlebutt after being aloft to boy-butter up the antennas and were just perched on a bollard eyeballing a couple of bilge rats and flangeheads using crescent hammers to pack monkey shit around a fitting on a handybilly. All of a sudden the dicksmith started hard-assing one of the deck apes for lifting his pogey bait. The pecker-checker was a sewer pipe sailor and the deckape was a gator. Maybe being blackshoes on a bird farm surrounded by a gaggle of cans didn't set right with either of those gobs. The deck ape ran through the nearest hatch and dogged it tight because he knew the penis machinist was going to lay below, catch him between decks and punch him in the snot locker. He'd probably wind up on the binnacle list but Doc would find a way to gundeck the paper or give it the deep six to keep himself above board. We heard the skivvy waver announce over the bitch box that the breadburners had creamed foreskins on toast and SOS ready on the mess decks so we cut and run to avoid the clusterfuck when the twidgets and cannon cockers knew chow was on. We were balls to the wall for the barn and everyone was preparing to hit the beach as soon as we doubled-up and threw the brow over. I had a ditty bag full of fufu juice that I was gonna spread on thick for the bar hogs with those sweet bosnias. Sure beats the hell out of brown bagging. Might even hit the acey-duecy club and try to hook up with a westpac widow. They were always leaving snail trails on the dance floor on amateur night. If you understand this, you're true blue and gold!

Tom Downs Music & Lyrics now available online

I have a friend in Brandon, FL who works on elevators. Not the job where you dress like an organ grinder's monkey and push the floor button, but the job where you go way up on the outside of a building being built and troubleshoot and/or repair the construction elevators. At least that's the way I understand it. Anyway, he's become very rich and good looking from this vocation.

But that's not why we're here. Tom writes and performs some right decent songs. While mostly possessed by, as he puts it, "a pop sensibility", he also goes lounge singer, country, blues and who knows what else. If he weren't so long in the tooth he'd be a by-god-prodigy.

Tom writes, sings, sings backup, plays, mixes and records all the songs singlehandedly which takes a pretty fricking long time per song. Except for one particular song called "Rise" where he gets this girl to read a poem for about 10 seconds. But what's done is done and besides, if he really wanted to I'm sure Tom could sound like a girl, too.

Go to http://mysite.verizon.net/tad14/music.html and give some songs a listen. He'll thank you and I'll thank you. Lyrics are also posted and are as easy as clicking the link

Pees, out.
Ed

This is what we do

There are 2 navy pics below that are real. All are 7th Fleet ships and I was out there either with them or on them, depending on which picture we are looking at.

Yeah buddy, it's what we do.We run around the ocean shooting guns and missiles. We are manly men... Arrrggghhh. We have names like Mitch and Buford and Stanley and Omar. We've got tattoos and bad attitudes and we all want to marry Sandra Bullock. She's hot.

If you are interested in seeing more navy photos open my profile and click the link to my home page. I have no home page, it's just a bunch of pictures on an MSN server.

You'll find no nudity there, but for a very good reason. I'm a 45 yo Aquarius, and although I love hot chocolate and long walks on the beach and shit, I'm a middle aged man with the middle aged spread. No one wants to see me naked. Especially me.

Peas, out.

Ed

A frigate shoots while 2 cruisers stand by. 

Gun shoot off Okinawa 

Hmmmm....it's worth a try

The following is true, I took it straight off the news reader a minute ago:

The Thai government has dropped an estimated one hundred million paper origami birds in an unusual peace bid.

The birds were dropped by military planes over the country's Muslim south after a surge of violence in the area.

Ordinary Thais across the nation have folded and written peace messages on the paper cranes in a campaign devised by Prime Minister Thaksin.

I have always enjoyed my dealings with the Thai people. They have their own outlook on things. The origami cranes are thought in Japan to bring peace and happiness to those that recieve them, so the Prime Minister figured since he really needed peace down there in the restive south, he might ought to better drop a lot of cranes.

Interesting take on things.
Pace, out.
Ed

White Stained (Sailor poem #2)

White Stained 7 March, 2002

Did you smile cuz you knew I would tumble?
Could you wait or did you just have to tell?
Could you see that I wore my fears just like a bandana?
Crashed down and see how hard I fell
Crashed down and see how hard it felt
The sidewalk where we saw our secrets spilled.

Did you see me go running for cover?
See me hide from the light of day?
Must have known I would call you up when I was all wasted.
Jacked up and crying on the line
Smacked around and grabbing for a time
The promises had not yet gone to lies.

Seems your smile used to come more freely.
Your eyes used to dance and laugh whenever I'd call.
You were my muse and I was your hard luck hero.
White stained and crooked as they came.
White stains too easy, don't they say.
Honey, I don't see you 'round too much these days.

Smoked the butt to the end and that's when I flicked the filter.
Shower of sparks that died in the gutter drain.
What is there left but to turn and to walk off slowly?
Oh darling, if I pray it will...
do you reckon maybe time would just stand still?
On this sidewalk where we saw our secrets spilled.

This sidewalk where we saw our secrets spilled.


Ed
CPOQ B308
Yokosuka

At the Age of 39 (Sailor Poem #1)

At the Age of 39 9 March 98

Been a crooked path
that has brung me to the present
was a moonless night
made me finally understand.
Such a foolish heart
that I kept inside me beating
that my ownself kept defeating
as I learned to be a man.

I had a gentle side
that I damn well kept it hidden
had a woman's love
that I watched just slip away.
I had the things you need
thought it wasn't what I needed
just my ownself been decieving
just the piper left to pay.

As the morning's break
one by one and years start slipping
you check your pockets...
what you find you call your life.
As you greet the dawn
staring down at dusty boot heels
staring down at how your heart feels
at the age of 39

If I called you up
would you slam down the reciever?
If I called collect
would you lend this man your time?
If I took my pride
and I tossed it off behind me
knowing ties could never bind me
would you even let me speak?

If I called your name
would you turn around to face me?
If I called you up
would you let the phone just ring?
If I took my heart
and my heart is all I own now
feeling colder than a stone now
would you let me back again?

If I called you up
Would you crawl me 'cross the carpet?
If I bared my soul
would you let my heart just bleed?
If I closed my eyes
and I made a silent promise
if you knew I meant it honest
would you make some room for me?

Ed
Shoalwater Bay, Australia

Life continues, slowly orbiting the games

Got up again at 2AM today. 2 Am Sunday here in Yokosuka is12 noon Saturday on the east coast which on this particular day was tip-off time for the Carolina-Kentucky basketball game. Between NFL Mondays and all the various NCAA football and basketball I see 2 AM a lot.
Screwed up a bit though. Am taking the wife to Bangkok to see her folks for 20 days in late Dec thru early Jan. While we'll likely be someplace really rocking for New Year's eve, I will miss all the bowl games and NFL playoffs. I really need to learn to plan ahead. I think I'll be back in Japan before the Super Bowl, but if not I'll watch it in Bangkok like I did year before last. That is one game that gets aired almost everywhere in the world...thank god.

Well, it's 2PM and the last game for the day finished 2 hours ago. I think a nap is in order as the Buccaneers-Falcons game is coming on at 3AM.
Piece, out.

Konichiwa & Welcome Aboard Y'all

Welcome aboard from this soon to be ex-sqid. Figuring out this blogging thing and then we're off.

25 + years in the navy. Needed out of Florida because I was young, bored and poor. Poor due to stubborness as the folks had offered up a college education. But nope, I had a warehouse job bringing in a whopping 25 cents over minimum wage that just couldn't wait. Well, that is until I realized that I was starving.

Joined up in 1979 in Brandon, at the time a small bedroom community of Tampa. Now it's pretty much a part of Tampa. That decision got my happy ass to San Diego, California where, as they say, the adventure began.

Raleigh, NC 1960. Babe...or babe magnet? You decide. All I know is that I will see all but 22 days of the '60s. Groovy, man.

Brandon, FL 1976. Been feeling a traveling jones. Soon after this photo I'd bail on Florida for about 26 years. 

Yokosuka, Japan 2003. Cold beer, good smoke. "Be all that you can be" and all that.