Debunkation (For the Nation?)

First off, being my friend is not like winning the jackpot or anything. Just so you know that I know that. In fact, I don't really see the point in it other than I am a straight shooter and will help you when you're down and call you on it when you are whiney. But if you need a hand I am there. If you need money I write a check. Or give cash if we need to avoid the authorities. And if you need help solving the complex problems facing the world today, well, I'm an idea guy. Put a fishing rod in my hand, tell me the problem as you see it, and we'll knock that sucker around until we find a mutually acceptable solution. America, I've got your back.

One fellow, who I have bailed out of jail in California for cracking homosexual heads, and pinned to the wall in in a Bourbon Street dive to keep him from doing it again, discovered that, by cracky, he too was gay. Well a), who'd have thunk it, and b), "by cracky" was not intended as a gay pun. He's just down the peninsula a bit and we still visit. Even to the point of me and the wife having drinks with him in a gay club in Boca Raton. That was my way of signaling to him that he was my friend, no matter the change in circumstances. I wasn't going to kick him to the curb just because he "found himself", and I figured that the best way to say that was to demonstrate it. Still, the commonality has begun to drift away. Less shared interests. Less new adventures. Stuff happens.

I could do without all of the cheesy theatrics. The unconvincing little tears, the halting "I've been.... I've been lying to you. I'm really....a millionaire" admissions, and all the trappings to make these into stories acceptable to reality TV. But I do love the idea behind Secret Millionaire on Fox. They take rich folks and dress them shabbily. Then they drop them off in down and out neighborhoods and force them to "live there" for a week. That's hokey because you don't "live" anywhere for just a week. You visit for a week. You scratch the surface in a week. And they really only hang with people they meet for an hour or four before deciding that someone is "worthy" of tens of thousands of dollars as a gift to continue their good works. Or as a reward for being a devoted parent despite hardship. Or for being born handicapped and having a rough go of it because of that. Still, I guess it's the whole Robin Hood thing that I like. One twist though. The money they give away is their own and not provided by the show. The dude from Baton Rouge gave everybody he met $100,000. I liked him.

Days off bore me. I don't mean one or two, or even three. But four days or more do. Especially in the winter. Yeah, it's still in the high seventies, low eighties temperature wise. But the plants aren't really growing, possibly because of the cool nights or possibly because they know it's winter, so there is no large amount of yard work to be done. I do sit in the yard and read the papers. I help neighbors with small projects. I go fishing a few times. But I get all restless. Actually, I don't believe you can tell that I am restless since it is internal. But all the little fibers of my body, and there are plenty of fibers of my body now that I have taken to eating a lot of shredded wheat, just twitch and whine and wonder aloud, "Well?..... What now? Let's do something."

I get to work a couple of hours before anyone else. I burn in the mornings and flame out in the afternoons, so I play to my strengths. I write entire courses, I develop and maintain test banks. I put together multiple versions of proficiency tests. I tweak, start up, and organize the hell out of everything. Mentally, I have a hard time sitting still. I tend to try to bring others up to my level of accomplishment because I always feel like I could really be doing more if I just put my mind to it. So if I am working at less than max pace and getting this much done, you should be able to do at least as much, too. By the way, even when relaxing, I can't sit still mentally. I actually read almost every single article in a newspaper, start to finish. Not so much the HOMES and HEALTH sections, but the rest. Hey, at least I'm well read.

We are all self-delusional. I am no exception, I am sure. Asked to describe myself, I would allow as how I am mellow, an old hippie really, unconcerned with competition and not in it for the money. I can more or less prove the first and last charges. The middle two don't jive as easily. Who I think I am and who I seem to be are slightly off kilter with each other. What do I do about this? Same as I always do. Nothing. Things don't worry you if you don't worry about things. This last point reminds me of a song I like. By THE DRIVE BY TRUCKERS, of course. The most influential band (to me) in the universe. And beyond. Below are the two verses that I could have written. Or any other boy raised in the real south. Word.

PIN HITS THE SHELL

You can lie to your Mama,
you can lie to your race
but you can’t lie to nobody
with that cold steel in your face.
And the same God that you’re so afraid
is gonna send you to hell
is the same one you’re gonna answer to
when the pin hits the shell.

And I ain’t gonna crawl upon no high horse
Cause I got thrown off of one
when I was young and I ain’t no cowboy
so I ain’t going where I don’t belong.
---DBT

*** The pictures are mostly from the woods, near where we have been fishing lately in Polk County. I really like the woods. Unfortunately, of course, a picture of "the woods" kinda just looks like a tree. I did try to capture the atmosphere, though.***

I was young, and I ain't no cowboy, out
Ramblin' Ed

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we have of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us. - Quentin Crisp

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

Of those who say nothing, few are silent. - Thomas Neill