My Canned Heat Mental Block

I was out to eat last night and the subject of Canned Heat came up, thanks to me having bought a greatest hits CD earlier in the day.

Canned Heat? Yes, I explained, you probably know three of their songs. Then I could only think of two of the titles. It was one of the longest and most unsuccessfully mental blocks of my long life. I can usually overcome these mental blocks with a little time, a little thought, and going through the alphabet, and who knows what other hidden brain activity.

But not this time. I could only get the two I already had, "Let's Work Together" and "Going Up The Country." I said I was going to forget about it and enjoy the pizza, but I couldn't really do it. I did enjoy the pizza, but all the while I was going over it in my head, trying to visualize the CD case, etc., but the two songs were all that occurred to me, and by now I had the tunes in my head, blocking out any resolution of the third song.

Finally, I called someone who was at my house, and asked her to run up to my room and look up something for me. No, nothing on the computer. Just a CD. There's a CD on my desk. Read me the list of titles and I'll stop you when I hear the one I want. Well, it turned out to be the very first song on the disk! It's "On The Road Again." Of course. I said that's it! Thank you.

My bigger concern is why this mental block happened. I really know these songs.

Tammy Wynette

I was at a used record store/book store today and picked up a copy of a Tammy Wynette CD, "Anniversary: 20 Years of Hits."

I have a Tammy 45 that I really like, and I think it's the B side I really like, which is, "Soakin' Wet." I see that song isn't on this CD, but it's still a very cool song. "The tears I cry are always dry, but my heart is soakin' wet." I love it!

On the CD, I've listened to the first six songs, including a couple huge hits that I remember, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and of course "Stand By Your Man." The latter song figured in the Clinton campaign in some way, I remember, with Hillary having mentioned it.

I love Tammy's voice ... even though I'm not always a big listener of country music.

An Interesting Swami Name

Sri Masturbananda.

Anyone feel like having that for your monastic or new yogic name?

Next Plane To London

Well, friends, I'm getting ready for my big business trip to London. I'm on the next plane, leaving on runway number five.

I'm hoping to see all the sights: Carnaby Street, Twiggy, the Pendulum Do.

I've got my pants zipped up and my cockney accent tucked away.

You know I play guitar. I've got a few demo tapes and am hoping for some face time with George Martin. I'll be the toppermost of the poppermost, the biggest thing since the Potato Bug, luv.

I Seriously Could Take A Nap

There's always a combination of things that makes me sleepy.

Lately, I've felt a little morose while also having a good appetite. So after I eat, that, combined with the moroseness, puts me in a mind to sleep. The lethargy is so real, so thick I could cut it.

But I hate myself for having slept, after I wake up. I need to have a little more some way to stay awake when it's day.

Still, it's those mid-morning, early-afternoon naps that come so easily. I can lay down and almost immediately pass out. Plus, there's no sweating like the sweating of a midday nap!

Watching Price Is Right Reruns

I saw a picture of Drew Carey one day, and he's lost a bunch of weight.

I've been watching The Price is Right almost everyday since April. I'm looking forward to the new shows. It's been reruns for quite a while. But they're all new to me since I didn't see them when they were originally on.

Drew Carey, if he's anything like he is on TV, has to be one of the nicest guys in the world. He seems to take an actual interest in the people and their fortunes on the show. And he's very engaging. I definitely like him.

Attacked By Pitbulls -- A Get Well Card

I've heard of people attacked by pitbulls -- one just the other day. But I don't think there's a greeting card for that.

Catching Crazy Spam

I'm glad to see Google (Blogger) has finally gotten some kind of automatic spam catcher in their system.

I'd love to enable comments all the time but the comments are just spam for the most part. And lately they've been Chinese or Japanese, which I can't tell the difference of.

Just today, on the one blog I have comments enabled for, I had two of these nutty looking "comments," and thankfully, finally, someone else intercepted them and put them in a spam folder ... where they belong.

The spammers obviously have my comments thing in a program (or something). I don't suppose they're showing up everyday and typing it in manually.

Suspenders

A country artist whose albums and songs all have to do with suspenders.

No Global Warming

I don't believe in global warming. It's only 101 degrees today and it's supposed to be 100 again tomorrow. That's relatively cool, compared to boiling water.

If Maury Ever Retires

If Maury ever retires, entire generations won't know who their true father is.

An Extra Taco Bell Nachos

I went to Taco Bell today. I ordered two orders of nachos and seven softshell tacos.

I got home and discovered they got the tacos right but I had three orders of nachos. I looked at the receipt and I was charged for the third order.

Isn't that terrible? They can't get a simple order like that right.

My Dog Beat The Odds

We seriously called the vet on June 15 to have our dog put to sleep. She was coughing, hacking, acting about dead.

The vet did some things. Said she had congestive heart failure, etc. Since then I haven't put the halter on her, because every time she sees a squirrel she pulls and that causes more coughing. Her heart is enlarged and must be obstructing something.

Anyway, without the halter, she's quit coughing. And it's the middle of July and she's still alive and seems to be doing very well.

A whole 'nother month anyway!

Bait Car

I watched a couple episodes of "Bait Car" on Tru TV tonight.

It's amazing how many lowlife losers there are out there. Just skulking around the city and within minutes stealing someone's car.

How terrible it is that some people have such crappy morals and/or such a crappy outlook on life that they would do that.

Gas Stations And The Failure Of Values

Tonight I stumbled on one of the explanations for why our younger generation has lost all of its values, many of which it never had. Thinking it over, I think there's a definite connection.

When I was a kid, the Standard station was the Standard station forever, the DX station the same, the Mobil station, etc. You went by them when you were a newborn and you went by them when you graduated from high school. It was a life you could depend on.

I got to thinking about this tonight when I was in my old hometown, and a lot of the gas stations I saw were different than they used to be. Some of them were even closed! I was driving by, and this one was some crazy off brand, some local brand, and this one was something new that we didn't even have when I was a kid.

As for Phillips 66, this has to be the most gypsy gas station of all. Because they come and go with great regularity. You just get used to be place being a Phillips 66 station and invariably it will soon be something else. I heard one of the old time gas station managers ruing this one day, complaining that Phillips 66 wanted him to put in a $75,000 automatic credit card reader and he just couldn't swing it. So he became Pop's Gas Station (or something).

The big boys up at the top are pulling the strings. And I would guess the sign dealers are in on the scheme somehow too, because then the owners, who probably change too when a million dreams are shattered, have to constantly be shelling out for a new sign. And by the way, whatever happened to the Shell station?

I think it has to do with the failure of values because the younger generation hasn't got gas stations that stay put. And a lot of our mental stability in the United States is related to the car and that which makes the car go, what the Europeans call "petrol" but what we rightly call "gas."

So, come on, gas companies. Get your act together. If you're going to build a gas station, how about staying there for the long haul! If you can't make a go of it, just don't bother in the first place.

The Undies Family

It's always surprising to me that there's a lot of words that, to the best of my knowledge, are not someone's surname. Like Doe. How could a simple word like Doe not be someone's name? It seems like it's not a name but then can stand for the generic name, John and Jane Doe. How is that possible?

Then there are the words that stand for something else but never made the switch (or stood prior to common usage). Like Undies. That's the nickname for underwear, a diminutive word, like Fundies for fundamentalists.

I've never met anyone named Undies, for either a last or first name.

But if you had someone, of course the kids in school (me included, regrettably) would've had a field day with it, until the novelty wore off.

Theodore Undies, nicknamed "Dirty."

Getting My Attitude Together

I was getting my attitude together today. I've had a bad one lately.

I go in spurts, sometimes a great one, then an abysmal. But today I made a conscious choice, NO MORE.

So it was a happy day ... and I kept it that way. I almost ruined it a couple of times, came very close, but managed to pull it out of the encroaching fire.

Seeing Baby Birds

Tonight I was mowing the yard, and I saw the second baby bird on the lawn within a week and a half.

The other one I saw a week and a few days ago later died. Because I saw it the next day in about the same place, dead. Then other little creatures took over its decaying body, and it's either almost gone now or about gone.

Tonight there was another one, in a different place. This one I only saw once, hopping around. Then the next time I came back around I didn't see it.

I'm not ever going to try to "help" these creatures, because I don't know what to do, and because it goes against my philosophy, more importantly. They need to fend for themselves. And nature has its way, which is fly or die, get with the program or bye bye birdie.

It makes me a little sad to see it -- but that's just sentimentality, I know. They need to do their thing in life, like we all do.

A Breathing, Seething Monster

My few Twitter "friends" -- of whom I don't know a single one at this point -- come and go. Like breathing in and breathing out.

It's a breathing, seething monster.

Fire Extinguishers

I did something today that I have never done before. At least I can't remember having done it. So I probably haven't. Which is to buy a couple of fire extinguishers.

I have an upstairs, a downstairs, and a basement. There was already a fire extinguisher that was okay, so I kept it. But to have one on each floor I needed two.

So I went to the home improvement store and improved my home, with two brand new fire extinguishers. This is one of those things, like insurance, that you never want to get any good out of.

A DNA Test?

You know how sometimes you go by a telephone pole and you'll see some kind of advertisement on a sign nailed to it?

Of course we never see the people actually putting the signs up there, but somebody must be doing it. I always think they must be working for someone who pays them per sign, and is probably one of those places where you get a job through the classified ads, like "Work from your home."

Today was the first time I ever saw one that advertised getting a DNA test. Who knows who these people are? Could this possibly be the best way to get a DNA test, by calling an unknown number on a telephone pole?

Let's say you're in court and they ask about the DNA testing standards, and the best you can do is say that you got a test off of a telephone pole. It's kind of like getting an education from matchbook university.

Still Testing My New Voice Thing

I have not worked out all the kinks yet in using the Dragon 10 software, which listens to you talking on microphone and types it into the computer for you. I am getting some very unusual results including two trips to Amazon.com based on saying the word the, LOL.

And you definitely have to be careful when you say the word "new", because its default on that word is to open a new window whether you want to or not.

At this point, it has taken me longer to talk this blog post (almost) than it would have to just type it. But I can see how it would come in handy or could.

Meditation Room

In my new residence I had a roomful of boxes from the move. But from the very beginning I had it as an idea to set aside a room for spiritual pursuits.

This was also an idea that I had for my previous home, over 11 years ago. But it only lasted about a week, because we needed the room to store stuff in.

Here I seem to have a little more room, so ... so far I can do what I want. First, though, I had to clean out the boxes from the room. Some are in the closet, some are in another room, etc., but the key thing is this particular room is cleared out.

Except now I have a rug, a chair, a tiny table, a small bookcase with spiritual books on it, and a tiny fan. I've sat there a few times ... getting used to it. And it's been nice so far.

Organic Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

Someone gave me a pack of organic dark chocolate covered espresso beans for Christmas, which I left in the basket and kept under some other junk or in a closet.

But since I recently moved I was unpacking and saw the stuff in this basket, including these beans.

They were "best by" sometime in February. But I decided to try them anyway. It turns out I like them.

But the weird thing about them is I thought they were candy. The chocolate on them certainly is candy. But I ate about half the pack before I realized the insides are actual espresso coffee beans, not candy. So I'm eating coffee?!

Still, they're pretty good. The only problem with them is that coffee beans never melt in your mouth, so if you don't get every bit of it swallowed, hours later you'll be finding little pieces of coffee in there, maybe stuck between your teeth. That's annoying.

Debit Card Connections

The whole world is connected, the whole thing with debit cards and machines and kiosks.

It makes me wonder, how in the world are they keeping track of all these things?

My PIN number, it's out there. No one is supposed to know it, but every machine I access seems to know it's right.

A Night For Abbey Road

I'm listening to "Abbey Road."

I was downtown and saw some neo-hippies and thought about the line, "Here come old flattop." So it's a night for it.

Of course it still sounds great, just like itself.

You've Got A Screw Loose

The thing about having a screw loose is that you don't know you have. I think that's true.

You could have inklings of it. I think I have occasional inklings of it.

I'm thinking about my clarity. With age, of course we all have one foot in the grave. And our minds precede our feet, since we can be thoughtless cadavers even before the hospital will accept us for experimentation.

I've been moving. I've actually been moved in my new place for nearly a week but still the move is going on. There's boxes everywhere. Bookcases aren't set up, I'm not sure where to put anything.

About this "screw loose" theme, I felt like I had something of a loose screw while moving. But it could be a normal loosening of what can be re-tightened. Because moving carries with it a million little things that have to be done; it's enough to tax anyone.

When you don't know where things are, when you're schedule isn't yet rock-solid, things can be forgotten easier or overlooked entirely. So that's part of why I feel like I have a loose screw, probably.

I want clarity, I really do. And I believe I shall have it, especially if I go point by point through my tasks over the next few weeks. Then all my screws will be tight and I'll be all right!

Centerfield

I heard the song "Centerfield" by John Fogerty the other day. I hadn't heard it for a long time.

I've never been especially crazy about it. But it's OK.

Maybe the bad thing about it is that I have lots of bad memories of playing baseball as a kid in Little League. They put us, the most incompetent kids, in the outfield for some reason. Now it seems to me like that's a very important spot in the field. I wasn't very good at baseball because I didn't apply myself at the time.

I think I could do a lot better at it now, if I had the chance to go back and do it.

One way to do it better would be to get rid of all self-consciousness, as best as you can. And concentrate or allow your instincts to hone in on the ball and the relationship you have with it and the field. Like a Zen state.

Man vs. Ball, or Man vs. Himself with a ball along. That'd be the way to do it. Just forget the other guys and be one with the ball, or against it in some sort of ultimate personal way.

Just Me And A Laotian Guy

I was in an awkward social situation yesterday. There were four people at the front of our house, me, my wife, a Laotian friend (woman) who speaks very good English, and her aged father who doesn't know any English.

We're talking along, with dad standing their very silent and stoic looking.

Pretty soon something happened to separate all of us, except for me and the dad. The woman went running to see if she could find a recipe for egg rolls. And simultaneously my wife went into the house to get something, I can't remember what.

So there I am, alone with a guy who can't speak, and I can't speak to him. We're just there. At first I tried to make a gesture, like calling attention to his coat, then acting like I'm hot. As if to say, "Aren't you hot in this thing?" He did the exact same thing, as if to say, "I have no idea what you're trying to say."

From that point on, and we had four or five minutes standing there, we didn't say anything. I just stared straight ahead and I suppose he was too. It felt like it would be super rude to just leave, so I stood my ground, and finally the women came back.

I was thinking, "What's the chances of this? One in a million, that I'm out here alone on the front step with an elderly Laotian man."

Paying Your Doctor Bill With Chickens

I love the new proposal by Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden, challenging Harry Reid for his Nevada Senate seat. But I have some issues with it.

She thinks we ought to pay for stuff by bartering. Her proposal for this is that all of us would raise as many chickens as we can and pay each other with them.

So say you went to the doctor to have a simple procedure like a colonoscopy, which might otherwise be $1,000 or more, you could get by with paying for it in chickens. Maybe 10 chickens, let's say, which would only be around $40 if they were dressed. That's a much better price, obviously.

This is true. I had one of those things that you put eggs in to hatch them, and got rid of it literally three weeks ago, right before this proposal came out. Isn't that something? I could've saved it, got "cracking" on some eggs, and been ready for the new Republican regime.

I have a couple of issues with it, the logic of it, though. If we're all raising chickens, wouldn't the doctors be raising chickens too, to pay for things they need? At some point, why would I want people paying me in chickens if I myself already had a bunch raised? I know, they're money, but if I'm making my own, you see, maybe I'd want something else. Plus it seems like counterfeiting to be making your own money.

When I go to the farm store to buy chicken feed, what do I pay for it with? More chickens? If the chicken feed guys get too many chickens, they're busy using up all the feed for their own birds, so what will they have left over to sell us?

It's a brilliant plan in many ways, since chicken is a tremendous meat, and if you get them before they die they also lay eggs.

Gooberdust

Hail, hail, Gooberdust,
What the heck do we care?
What the heck do we care?

Heil, heil, Gooberdust!

Young And Innocent

I just finished the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "Young and Innocent."

This film didn't appeal to me entirely. It was definitely a film about an innocent man accused of something terrible, strangling a woman with a belt on the seashore.

The big evidence against him was that he was running from the scene and the fact that he owned a raincoat, which would've had a belt if he knew where it was.

Personally I think this would be a job for forensics to sort out. Because couldn't there be some other evidence to be collected at the scene? It seemed ridiculous to me that the automatically assumed this guy was guilty and case closed. Hmm.

Anyway, that was the movie. The constable's daughter is gradually won over by the guy, eventually believing him to be innocent. He escapes the police and tries his best to prove he didn't do it. It goes on from there, with a hobo kind of guy who knows about the raincoat, etc. I couldn't follow the whole rationale about the raincoat. There were things about it that didn't make sense to me.

We end up with a happy ending, thanks to a guy with a twitchy face inexplicably confessing on the dance floor. So that was that.

It wasn't my favorite Hitchcock movie by a hundred miles. There were lots of good things about it, though. The guy with the twitchy face was fun to watch. Also the other children at the dinner table and the kids at the birthday party were fun to watch.

Finished Hitchcock's "The Ring"

I finished the silent film by Alfred Hitchcock, "The Ring."

I really enjoyed it. There's lots of good stuff to it, photographic effects, expression, humor, drama.

The whole fight scene was really great. Very intense and nice.

But like I said the other day the woman the main character was fighting for wasn't any good. So when it came time for the "happy ending" and she ended up with her husband, it felt very empty. As in "Why would he want this tramp for a wife?" Even though I believe in forgiveness and all that. But there wasn't really any explanation as to why she turned from the seducer back to her husband. She just did.

I was looking at a site that's a Hitchcock wiki, and they have an article from back when the film was made, in the 1920s. I wanted to feature part of it that made this same kind of point about the woman:

The champion lays siege to his sparring-partner's wife, who seems to be in danger of yielding to him for no more charming reason than that he is a champion. One-Round Jack thereupon realizes that what is expected of him is that he shall himself rise to championship rank and fight for his woman. Why he thought it worth while, Heaven knows ; though she is our heroine, the lady seems to be an avaricious and silly minx from whose erratic affections a man might well have been glad to be free. However, a "fight for a woman" was considered necessary, and One-Round Jack obligingly went into training for a grand climax at the Albert Hall. (c) The Times (22/Nov/1927)

That's really good, and so true. This is definitely a flawed movie in that regard. Her "erratic affections a man might well have been glad to be free." LOL. And "Why he thought it worth while, Heaven knows." True!

Still, it's a fine film for lots of other reasons. I like all the other fighters, including prominently a black guy. It's nice to see him treated well and with a lot of camaraderie. There is one "N-word" reference to him in one of the titles, but I get the impression, sort of like Mark Twain or Joseph Conrad, that they didn't really mean anything terrible by the usage. 

The Vatican Forgives The Beatles

That's true. John Lennon said something about Jesus 44 or 45 years ago and now the Vatican has forgiven the Beatles.

It's true, but what a joke! What position is the Vatican in to be forgiving anyone? The stuff they're guilty of makes about everyone else's so-called sins small potatoes.

The Pope ought to be on his old crotchety knees making a few confessions himself. Then maybe he'd be in a position (I doubt it though) to judge the rest of us.

John Lennon was a better person than the Pope any day of the week. I hope he's looking down from the cosmos and saying, "Keep yer forgiveness, y' dirty old git!"

Two Months Ago

It looks like it was two months ago today, Feb. 14, that my life changed forever.

I heard about another job in another city that someone was essentially offering me. At first I basically turned it down, but I had other opportunities along the way to reconsider it, and finally accept it.

So it's been a heck of a two month period, with a lot of it being for me very uncomfortable. I was sore in the stomach for quite a bit and thought I might get an ulcer from worry. But somehow I kept going.

Then I eventually reached the point of no return with my current position, meaning I'm aimed in one direction and one direction only. Toward this other position and making a success of it. It'll be a huge change in my life in so many ways.

Onward and upward. In a way it seems like it's been longer. But it is exactly two months. A month from today I will be in it in earnest and looking for a bright future. I hope it turns out that way!

Hitchcock's "The Ring"

I've been watching Alfred Hitchcock's "The Ring" film the last couple days while doing my morning and evening exercises.

It's a very amusing film in lots of ways, with lots of great comedic bits. I love the guy, Gordon Harker, who I also remember from Hitch's film "The Farmer's Wife." He does a lot of the same kind of facial humor in "Ring" as he did in "Farmer's Wife." He was a definite treasure. And in "The Ring" he also picks his nose and his ears. He has a very funny face.

I like the setting for the film, which for quite a bit of it is a carnival, with weird carnys, like the tall man, the midget, etc. They're all gathered for the wedding of the ticket girl and the guy who takes on all comers in the boxing ring.

Speaking of the girl, she's a ditz. She marries the one guy, then she's oblivious to his feelings while she's busy cozying up with another guy, sitting on his lap, billing and cooing, the whole works. Anyone that stupid I certainly wouldn't want for a wife. If she didn't want to marry the first guy, she shouldn't have.

This is a silent film. The DVD I have has a nice musical soundtrack. It's been a real fun film to watch so far.

The Screeching Of Frogs And Other Creatures

Two days in a row I've taken my dog down to a park that has a swampy area behind it.

I'm not too sure why the city allows this swampy area to be there. I'm no ecologist but I've heard that swampy areas are a great breeding ground for mosquitoes. Since we generally know that's true, I can predict where the largest concentration of baby mosquitoes looking for their bottles will be.

At this point, though, it's not mosquito time. It's still nice out, cool and spring-like.

So we were down there a few times recently, including yesterday and today. Both days the frogs are really going at it. I guess it'd be frogs, making all those froggy noises. It's actually noisy in that area, but it's a good noise.

I was listening to it, trying to think of it in larger terms, like the underlying sound of all things. It's a great thing to hear. Now that I'm home, I wish I would've listened to it even closer.

I Never Would've Suspected Him

There's nothing about this guy that screams "I'm trouble," absolutely nothing.

I see no obvious reason to suspect that he might be behind any nefarious "anti guv'mint" dealings. I repeat, no obvious reason whatsoever.

The fact that he was charged with planting 36 pipe bombs in an anti government spree comes as a complete surprise to me. Let me stress this fact, it's a complete surprise to me.

Everything about him says to me, "Mr. Nice Guy."

Palin Believes In A Nuclear Response To A Cyber Attack

I saw it on TV tonight, one of those pandering to the audience, idiot moments that Sarah Palin is famous for, lamenting the latest so-called Obama outrage.

This outrage was that President Obama excluded a nuclear response in the event of a cyber attack, which Palin complained about. Someone hacks our computer, Palin wants a nuclear war?

This is disgraceful. This is someone the Republicans would make a good president? She gets up in the morning. Oops, did my finger hit the button?

What's It Like To Throw Away Books?

Since I'm moving, I'm up against the wall on the quantity of stuff I have. And something had to give. Meaning I needed to pare down drastically and quickly.

Over several days I was cleaning my basement and some of the other rooms of stuff. Most of my excess stuff, stuff that's not kept in more accessible rooms, was in the basement. My basement was like a thicket or swamp of stuff. Crazy thick.

In all that time I managed to sort out what became a little over ¾ a ton, over 1500 pounds of books, plus such an assortment of other things that it was literally over 3000 pounds besides the books. The over 3000 pounds worth of stuff I took to a recycling center nearby.

Today it was time to get rid of the books. I was trying to sell them in the want ads but no one called. I took a couple carloads to a thrift store, a carload and three more boxes to a book sale coming up, then they were overwhelmed, so instead of messing around with the last remaining thrift store, I took them to the recycling center. The grand total poundage on the books that ended up at the center was 1060 pounds. I'm thinking the three carloads was at least 500 pounds, probably more like a thousand. Meaning it'd be literally a ton of books I got rid of today!

That's tough. I'm the kind of guy, had I seen the ad in the paper, I would've been right there to buy them ... at least that'd be the temptation. Now, though, I'm starting to live in a different way, where I think it'd be best for me to pare down and keep paring until I have barely anything. If at all possible.

So what's it like to throw books away? And to have them be shoved up among the other garbage, very unceremoniously, and to eventually go up the chute and be spat off into the recycled paper bin? It feels terrible. But I was running out of options, and I needed something now.

I'm Sluggish And Loving It

I don't love by nature feeling sluggish. I have to remind myself about my philosophy of enjoying the various conditions of consciousness.

I need constant reminders, because I like feeling good and hate feeling badly. But if I get the reminder in there in time -- and I usually don't, it's an afterthought -- I start feeling good about it again. Vicious circle.

Looking on the bright side, I will sleep really well tonight, after I get all my chores done.

I've been preparing for my move. Having too many possessions has become a curse to me on that account. I spent much of the day today, again, working on this project. It's tiring ... but wonderful (!) (?)

Hitchcock's "Blackmail"

The most recent film I watched is Alfred Hitchcock's "Blackmail," from 1929. I loved it.

There's an interesting article on it at Wikipedia. The main thing from Wiki that I want to mention is how Anny Ondra, starring in the film, comes across rather awkwardly because someone is just off camera recording her lines. They felt Anny's Czech accent wouldn't be right for the film, and dubbing wasn't possible at the time, so she is (presumably) saying her lines without being heard and this other woman is off camera saying the lines along with Anny's lips! That'd make anyone seem awkward.

It is distracting once you know about it. And it seems like, to help cue the person off camera, Joan Barry, she gives plenty of facial warning that she's about to speak. The others are speaking fairly much as normal, only Anny has this weird thing to do, as far as I know.

This was the first talkie in Britain. The talking isn't constant. There are plenty of gaps, where you'd think the people would be talking, so there's a lot of things about the film that don't seem natural.

Other than that, there's a lot of great things about this film, such as the recurring use of a painting pointing an accusatory finger, since Anny's character has killed a guy. The fact that he was killed with a knife keeps coming up, weighing heavily on her psyche. The guy doing the petty blackmailing is very menacing.

I love all the creative things that Hitchcock did with this. There's a whole scene with the guy who's about to be killed playing a song on the piano while Anny is undressing behind him. That was lovely to see. It seemed like a really long scene to do in one take, with him apparently singing live, and her undressing being done so that she would step into the scene at just the right time. Before that they're painting a picture, her and him together, and it looks pretty good. There's some sexy bits in the film. But it's nasty when he attacks her and appears to be about to rape her. That's when she kills him.

There's plenty of things to love about this film. I recommend it highly. I was engrossed in it, even with the weird timing and very deliberate pace in certain parts.

Alfred Hitchcock -- Anny Ondra And Others

I've been watching something from my Alfred Hitchcock collection everyday recently while I do my morning and evening exercises. That really stretches out a movie, but I stay interested.

I can't even remember all I've seen. I got this $5 set at Walmart that has 20 movies on it, all directed by Hitchcock. Some of the film quality is less than optimum but it's not terrible. I keep thinking that if I had all these movies on actual 16mm film reels how much room it'd take to store them. And how much effort it'd be to thread them and watch them, although it'd be fun.

I'm watching the other movie by Hitch that stars Anny Ondra, "Blackmail." The first one was "The Manxman." I could be in love with Anny if she wasn't dead. If it could be 1929 again, I'd look her up. Probably not really, since I don't actually contact movie stars. I understand they don't appreciate that. There's a good Wikipedia article on her. She married the famous boxer Max Schmeling and they were married for a long time, until she died. And I wouldn't want to tangle with a boxer!

Anyway, "Manxman" was totally silent. "Blackmail" was filmed as both a silent movie and a talkie. The version I have is the latter, but it starts off silent and is silent for quite a while. Then the voices start in. I read, also at Wiki, that Anny's voice in this was provided by another person just off camera, speaking while Anny's mouth moved. Because Anny had a Czech sounding voice and that's not what Hitch wanted.

Another one I watched just recently was "Champagne," a silent movie about a young heiress. She's quite a handful, but her father teaches her a lesson of sorts about money by faking that he's lost all his money. I don't know that she actually learns the lesson but it has a happy ending. It has lots of funny bits. The leading man, Betty's love interest, isn't at all desirable so it's hard to root for him. But maybe they had different standards back in the '20s.

The Knives Are Out For Michael Steele

I heard that phrase today, "The knives are out for Michael Steele." I like the phrase, having heard it over the years.

Michael Steele, of course, is that yahoo in charge of the Republican party. He's a big goof as far as I'm concerned. He seems to get in trouble about as often as Dennis the Menace.

The most recent embarrassing thing for the GOP is their lavish expense accounts, chartered jets, lavish accommodations, and entertainment expenses that would make Hugh Hefner blush. Hey, where do I sign up to be a Republican bigwig?

When I go out to eat, let's say, I try to get by as cheap as possible, most of the time. Of course I splurge once in a while and have the dessert or a nicer entree. So we might spend $75 for a night out, not very often, and that includes a very decent tip. So I can barely imagine going out on the town and spending around $2,000 for the evening! It is just so out of the realm of my experience that I don't think I'd do it if I could. I'm a lot more frugal than that.

That's what this Republican guy was doing, living it up at a lesbian bondage club. Sure it sounds fun, but that might best be left off your official expense report, Stupid!

You'd think that conservatives would conserve. But we know, if from no other evidence than the Bush years, that they're remarkably profligate. They'll charge it! Scan the card! It's paid for!

About the phrase, though, that's what I wanted to get for. It recalls images of palace intrigue, knives being thrust through the curtains in the palace, and the minister of state is left in a pool of blood. No one knows who did it, but there's a brand new minister of state the next day who just happened to be available.

Recess Appoint 'Em All!

President Obama once again drew the fire of the Republicans, by recess appointing 15 of his stalled nominees for various positions.

The Republicans of course want to block and obstruct everything the president seeks to do. So he really had no choice, unless he wants (as they do) the government to function without people in these important offices.

Sen. John McCain was the hypocrite of the day, lamenting that the president "little respect for the time honored constitutional roles and procedures of Congress." Time honored if you don't count the Bush administration, really not that long ago, about whose recess appointments, McCain said, "I would support it. It's the president's prerogative." Busted! Lamebrain.

Gee, I wonder what's changed!

The Republicans are a sickening bunch. They need to be thwarted. If President Obama has this authority, then why shouldn't he use it? Especially in the light of their blatant obstructionism. If he waited for the Republicans he'd be waiting forever. I'd just go ahead and recess appoint 'em all and say Suck on them lemons!

We have one president and one party who are trying to do the right thing. Then we have the Republicans, a party whose platform is vandalism.

Eric Cantor Threatened By Gunshot

Republican Congressman Eric Cantor was recently almost the victim of a gunshot.

It appears that someone in the same county that Cantor sometimes works shot a gun at random. The person -- no identity or motive is officially known -- shot a gun in the air, with the bullet coming down and landing a little later.

The congressman states that it was obviously meant for him.

Armageddon Comes With A Whimper

In T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Hollow Men," he says, "This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper."

And so it was for the Republicans' hyped up fear of Armageddon if the health care reform bill was passed. Nothing happened.

It was funny to hear President Obama riffing on this today at Iowa City. Instead of asteroids hitting the earth and the ground opening up to swallow everyone, it was a nice day, the birds chirping and people strolling casually on the Mall.

Oh no, the Republicans have co-opted Chicken Little!

Enjoying Those Dreadful Moments

I've been doing a ton of reflection on the concept of enjoying my life.

Of course it's easy and expected that we will enjoy our lives when times are good and things are going smoothly. But what I mean is to enjoy our lives when times are tough and things are going terribly. Like those times of ultimate stress, when your belly feels like someone's wringing it out like a sponge, and the bags under your eyes reach your chin.

I've had that kind of stress for the last month and a week. I don't want to state the particulars of it, but this is true. It came to a terrible, dreadful head just today. I was up against a deadline vis-a-vis this whole situation, after the month and a week's build up, and the deadline could not be postponed. It was then, it had to be then. It was do or die.

All through the morning, there was one thing on my mind, the terrible dreadfulness of it all. And at times, the thought of how great I'd feel when it was over, and how much greater I'd feel, say, two months from now when there is more or less a resolution, and the old is left behind and the new has come. That was my feeling through the morning.

Then as the morning advanced on, I knew it was T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Then -- it was an inexorable moment -- the do or die moment came and my stomach was doing such contortions, my eyes were hazy, and if it had been possible with our present human structure to spontaneously combust, I surely would have done so!

In those moments, before the 10, 9, 8 .... just before that ... I was thinking, "Enjoy this feeling." My mental talk was going like this, "This feeling is as intense and rare as any feeling can be. You cannot fake this feeling, even if you mentally put yourself in this predicament. Because it would be simply a mental thing and not a thing of actuality, involving real people and real life consequences. You can fool yourself, but you can't fool yourself that well! So ... to the extent that you can, zero in on this and ... enjoy it."

The truth is I never really talked myself into an actual experience of enjoyment. Because that thought keeps slipping away in the struggles and exigencies of the moment. But it is a heck of a philosophy and seems to be true to me as a way to experience the conditions of life. If you can manage it!

To wish away the experiences of life is to wish away our lives. And that is a very mentally self destructive attitude.

Good Grief, Joe Biden

I understand the enthusiasm and the sentiment of Vice President Joe Biden, telling President Obama that it's a big deal that health care reform passed. But, really, you have to use the "F" adjective right there at that minute, with the entire world listening in?

Back stage, off camera somewhere, yes, some high fives and boisterous celebration. Right there at the signing ceremony, a little decorum and not ultimately upstaging the big guy would be good.

These seem like very simple principles, that very simple people, most of us, are able to adhere to on a daily basis. We might feel like saying certain things, but that little editor in our brain tells us to hold back.

Met A Long Serving Teacher

I met a lady today who was a third grade teacher for 43 years.

That's a very long time to be a third grade teacher.

I asked her if she ever meets people who say, "You were my teacher." And she said she does.

I told her I coincidentally met up with one of my third grade teachers last September, who remembered me.

It put me in mind to search for a few teachers on Facebook. I actually saw one when I wasn't even looking. He's in one of the same groups that I am.

Who All The Tea Party Wackos Hate

The Tea Party people "love America," except for all the days when they want to secede from the union! They're not content waving the American flag. They're claiming old flags from history as more valid. Real patriotic stuff there!

They love their "rights." They just don't love the rights of others. In fact, they have no love at all for others. Others are the enemy. If you're other than them, you're scum. That's how they think.

We've heard of their hatred again in the last few days, the N word being hurled at Civil Rights heroes and other blacks, gays called faggots, Mexicans called wetbacks, etc. Whoever you are, they hate you. Those who disagree with them are "Hitler." LOL!

That's the "America" the Tea Party haters want to get us "back to." I personally don't see it resonating with normal people.

The First Day Of Spring

Well, this is a day that's always a happy one for me, when spring gets here.

Break out the bunnies! And the crocuses! And the feeling that newness is in the air!

It's been a tough winter, very tough. And expensive for snow removal, even if the heating bill has been about average or a little under the usual. The sun, though, turns out to be the best snow remover ... and it doesn't cost a thing, if you're willing to wait for it to get around to it.

Yippee! We're there! Officially!

Thank You For Standing By Us

I saw part of Toyota's damage control and attempt to rebuild trust, on a commercial tonight.

They have some average Toyota customers from over the years -- Mom and Pop -- who apparently have the expertise to claim that their Toyotas over the years were always safe.

That's nice.

Then they end off with a Toyota employee, supposed to be anyway, saying, "Thank you for standing by us." In the most plaintive voice he can muster.

Ahh...

You know, a big fat company shouldn't come to us saying "Thank you for standing by us." Take care of business with a mind for your customers and your business will prosper. Cut corners and allow people to experience disaster and you'll experience disaster. It's that simple.

Fortunately, from their point of view, they have enough big bucks to throw themselves on everyone's mercy, and make their comeback.

St. Patrick's Day Has No Follow Up

After Christmas everyone says, "Did you have a good Christmas? What'd you get for Christmas?" etc.

But St. Patrick's Day is an island among days. It's there, you're wearing green, then it's gone. No follow up. People at work aren't commenting on what a great St. Patrick's Day it was, etc. At least in my experience.

I suppose there are plenty of hangovers. But those aren't usually a happy thing.

My Snuggie

I'm sitting here in a Snuggie, half of me.

Someone gave me one as a gift, completely unexpectedly. So I'm trying it out.

Mine is a little longer than it needs to be and the sleeves are more expansive than they need to be. But I've got them pulled back.

It seems to me that a good old fashioned bathrobe would do the trick about as well, except it wouldn't cover your legs. The whole idea of having the back completely open doesn't appeal to me. I'm not on a couch but on a regular wooden chair.

I normally (in the winter) wear some kind of long john pants under my pants, like a jogging suit, but I didn't do it today. So I've been colder than I like most of the day.

Snuggie. It's all the rage. I wouldn't have bought one. But if someone gives you one, that's how to get one.

If Trees And Sidewalks Could Talk

I'm visiting at my mother's house. Since I'm hardly ever here, I'm not here often enough to get used to it. So I still have all the associations from years ago, as to the neighborhood, right down to the particular trees and sidewalks.

For those of the family who live nearby and are here a lot, I'm wondering to myself if they lose that. As for me, when I step outside I see a particular tree and think of all the times I climbed it. Its branches are all hacked up now, since it's had 40 years to catch all the tree diseases that have gone around. But I look at the big old trunk and think of how we were present together like this all those years ago.

The sidewalk running out front is the same one. It's aged and hasn't been replaced. So it holds the echoes of our feet trip trapping on our way to school. The walls, the bricks, the road, etc., it's all the same.

I heard that someone bought a house in the neighborhood, and the house they bought is still identified by the folks who lived in it 50 years ago. There has to have been a dozen people in it over the years, just guessing, so it's remarkable that even those who live here all the time refer to it by the owners 50 years ago. Maybe that gives us hope that people will be referring to our own homestead by our name long after we're gone.

The place I'm sitting while typing this was an outside porch when I was a kid. But sometime over the years, may 25 years ago, it got enclosed and made into a wrap around room on the house. It used to be a wrap around porch. We kids would run through here, get up on the ledge of the porch and jump over the bushes, hundreds of times. It'd be five feet to the ground, but we didn't get hurt.

There's one place to my west, also now part of the wrap around room, where, when it was a porch, I jumped, but tripped somehow and hit my head on the sidewalk. I'm lucky I made it, actually, because it was the kind of clunk that might've messed me up very badly. That actually could explain some of my problems, if problems indeed they are. But as far as the level of sanity I feel like I have -- which could be a delusion, granted -- it didn't do me any long term damage.

I'll be pulling out of the place today and heading back to my normal place. It'll be the same as always then. This place here I'll always have in my memory ... and I can also see it on Google Maps. Their truck went by here sometime and got it from the two road angles. So it also lives in Google's memory forever.

The Death Bridge

I'm visiting at my mother's today, so I'm out of my element and feeling the strangeness of the surroundings. I have my dog here too, and she's busy staying with me, intensely. But she's a good girl!

This place of course wasn't always strange to me, since I grew up right here. It's my own stomping ground.

The neighbors are mostly different than they were when I was a kid.

I'm less than a mile from a bridge where someone crashed into it, and my dad was the guy on the scene who helped get the body out. Now that I think of it, though, the bridge has been torn out and replaced since then. But it's the same spot where the death occurred.

It's great to be home.

Unhand Her, Dan Backslide!

One of our favorite cartoons. It's amazing how great this cartoon is. It's one we used to see all the time on TV, yet certain elements of it still come across as unfamiliar to me.

We definitely remember the biggest lines, "Unhand her, Dan Backslide!" and "A runabout, I'll steal it. No one will ever know!" But so much of the rest of it isn't 100% familiar, not for how many times we had to have seen it.

It goes by quickly. I forgot that the Dover Boys ended up on a heap with Dan. But the image of Dora jumping on the path with the weird jumping guy is familiar.

MSNBC Doc Block Murder

We sat down to lunch today and clicked on the TV. MSNBC is an interesting news channel, in that news doesn't happen on weekends. So over there you're likely to see anything, like prison profiles or Forensics Files types of shows.

Today they had one and I saw the last 35 minutes or so of it only. About some kids in high school in the early '80s out in California, and one kid happened to disappear. It turned out one of the other kids, a boy, killed him. But it took over 20 years for the truth to surface and for the authorities to get it figured out.

Even though this kid's body was found less than a mile from the high school, everyone simply thought he'd run away. Talk about out of sight, out of mind. But they pointed out that they didn't do the whole Amber Alert drill back then. OK, but I lived through the '80s and I didn't think it was Amber Alert or nothing. I guess those of us who lived through that time are lucky we're still here to tell the story!

Anyway, it happened that a guy passing through the area at random with a dog noticed his dog picking at something, and that's when they discovered the body. The kid's name was Russell Jordan. By now everything was decomposed except his bones and his belt, including a distinctive "Schlitz" belt buckle just like the one that Russell had. Still, without other conclusive evidence, they couldn't say for sure it was him. (At this point I was distracted, but somehow they checked out some residue of tissue or something and determined it was him.)

The rest of the story was on talking to his friends, who, it turned out, knew more than they'd originally said. Mostly, it seemed, because they weren't especially grilled on the subject at first. One guy heard the guy who turned out to be the killer tell him three times that he killed him and even described it, but for various reasons (none good) he didn't say anything. Another guy contacted much later, knew about it as well. Then there was the ex-girlfriend, who didn't seem to know much about it, sincerely so.

It was a crazy story, just for the sheer mindlessness of it, that the case was treated in such a dismissive way. Thank goodness we still have curious dogs. It took a dog to do what the entire law enforcement establishment couldn't bring themselves to do.

My Dog's Annoying Outbursts

There's something that happens in the morning. My wife is sleeping and the dog is in there with her. Then the cat comes skulking around -- I don't know exactly what he's doing.

This makes the dog annoyed, apparently, and she'll suddenly do an outburst, a short, quick barking noise while jumping off the bed in a threatening way. I can hear it from where I sit typing this.

It's already happened a couple times this morning. Meaning that it's not good for the wife's rest, because of course the closer she is to being naturally awake the more it's going to disturb her.

There's no way I know of, though, to make the dog quit it. I've told her in the past to be quiet, and "no," but I can't be right there to govern the situation all the time.

Why it only happens in the morning ... is because the cat likes to jump up there and be petted, to settle in to a certain extent, and to get attention. He's not really that afraid of the dog, since they've been together for over 10 years now.

Stress And The Family

Stress is bad for your family system, but it plays out, doing its thing, because it has to go somewhere.

I got a call today from a crying family member, always a fun thing to have happen. Someone else said something bad, then there was a bad response. Of course I don't know the whole story, such as the order of the bad things, the tone of voice, etc., I just have pieces of the story.

There's a lot of stress for some of my family -- over a career transition and a long distance move. Everything is shifting and there's a lot of headaches in the next few months. It's going to come out, or it's going to affect the various ones.

The thing to do is, If you get a nasty text message, think twice about responding in kind. If someone calls and says something mean, try to make allowances, try not to respond in kind. We'll all be happier in the long run!

My TB Skin Test

There's no way I have TB, either tuberculosis or two bellies (as Curly famously said).

But I was required to get a TB skin test for something I'm working on. And not just one but I have to get another one next week! Nasty.

So I need to go to the doctor's office tomorrow for them to look at my arm to see that I haven't got TB.

Don't you cough or something if you have TB? I'm not coughing at all.

Our Unhinged Democrats

It saddens me that my party -- the Democratic party -- has to be such nuts when they're in power.

One, they don't make the slightest effort to fall in line for the common good. Each one needs to be the Grand Poobah of the day, with it always being their way or the highway. We're fortunate to have the presidency, but the members of Congress feel no obligation to help the party along or the president's agenda. Not when they have their own little beef and own little fiefdom to guard.

So we have idiots like Dennis Kucinich, who said he would be willing to be the one vote that brings down health care reform as it now exists and could pass. Because it doesn't pass muster as to his very pure standards. So we would simply allow all the effort to fall by the wayside, all the folks who would be covered to wither up, die, and blow away. For the sake of this egomaniac's purity.

As far as I'm concerned, these idiots should've fallen in line back in August and got the SOB done. But no ... let's postpone it till Christmas. Then after the first of the year. Now maybe before April. If they wonder why we're not excited to contribute to the Congressional Democrats' Reelection Fund, look no further than these missed opportunities.

We're already seeing you can be in the minority and gum up the works for the other guy. Unfortunately, though, the Republicans tend to have a little more discipline when they're in power. It's our guys who don't know what they're doing. Which is very sad. Because we're the ones with the ideals. It's just we elect all this human garbage who won't act on our ideals.

If you can't get what is perfect, at least get something .... stupid.

The other unhinged Democrat big in the news these days is Eric Massa. This guy's a turd. Good grief, do we know how to pick 'em?!

Letters To Jackie

I read an article today about a book someone is publishing, quoting letters that people wrote to Jackie Kennedy after JFK's death.

I feel fairly good about a book like that, since it's the ignored stuff of history that is usually the most interesting. It's something that would say a lot about the lives of the ones who wrote letters. So if they're comfortable with all that coming out, it seems like something to welcome.

I can't remember if I had the inclination to write to her at the time. I must not have, since I definitely don't remember doing so. It seems like something I would remember. I was sad, of course, about the whole affair, and wished it hadn't happened.

That was supposed to be part of Jack Ruby's motivation for killing Oswald, being broken up about Jackie and the kids.

I liked the article for a few things, without referring to it directly. There was one girl who wrote every week for six months. It makes me wonder why she quit, unless it was just the sense that things were getting back to normal in six months. And our grief doesn't last forever. It said she went on to be a pastoral person of some sort, who now as an adult, recognized her present self in the old letters. Of wanting to be deeply involved in the lives of others, even in terribly tragic circumstances.

Woo, A Hot Mouth

I have a hot mouth. I just ate a couple fillets of baked salmon with Tabasco sauce on them. Now I'm gasping for air, and my water glass is empty.

That's some hot stuff ... but delicious. And with it three jalapeno slices and a baked potato. Pretty good stuff. I ate it right here at my computer. I have to be careful that I don't slop too much.

I burnt my thumb on the pan, a skillet I used to bake the salmon. It was on the stove and I forgot that the whole thing had been in the oven. So I touched it with my thumb for some reason, getting ready to move it. Ouch! So that hurts.

Fish is good for you.

Ghost Adventures

I hadn't heard of the show "Ghost Adventures" till last night, when I happened to be sitting downstairs when the TV was on. We were talking about something else and halfway watching it at the same time.

Since then I saw a couple more episodes, since it must be on all the time.

It's kind of creepy, of course, since they seem to have an extreme amount of paranormal activity happening, maybe too much to be at all realistic.

Several of the things stand out as something they might tweek. One, when you hear a disembodied voice, don't turn to the others and shout, "DID YOU HEAR THAT?" At that point it would be better to be quiet and see if the disembodied voice is going to say something else. It's almost like they're not really expecting any activity, so every time something happens they go ballistic and that's it till next time. How about just standing there and shutting up?

Two, it seems to me that it'd be smart not to assume every clunk, moth flying by, and hiss out of nowhere is spiritual activity. It would help the credibility of the show, in my opinion, if they seemed a little more skeptical, because anyone can come up with a list of other possibilities that aren't supernatural. They have heard of animals going into old buildings and having homes up in the rafters, I assume.

Three, maybe it'd be a helpful point to make that these places (the ones I saw) aren't abandoned to the spirits, but are on the National Historic Registry and are museums that are open to the public everyday of the week. Yes, they may be ruined in certain ways. But if they're actual museums, there's probably a heating system and electricity, pipes and things that are hooked up, systems that are turning on and off via a thermostat or a timer. Any of this can make all sorts of noises, cause all sorts of air currents, etc.

All that said, they do present the whole thing as very creepy.

Since I've watched a few shows, I'm thinking about all the normal noises you hear in the course of a day in a building. So many of them I could shriek, "DO YOU HEAR THAT?" and play it back a few times and maybe I could hear in the hissing the sound of my own name or some other quick sentence. I don't think their translations of "disembodied voices" appear all that accurate in relation to what I'm hearing out of my TV.

As for periodically being "possessed," as it seems they are, psychology would go a long way toward explaining that. There are all sorts of freaky things that can happen. The bottom line is, the living are more interesting than the dead.

News Of The Colored People

Different times! A lot of the "colored people" news is on one page of the newspaper. From The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV, Feb. 14, 1937, p. 11 second section, p. 23 of 24 in online archive.

Why Are Cage-Free Eggs So Expensive?

What's the deal with cage-free eggs being twice as much as regular eggs? They haven't got the extra overhead of the cages. Is it just because it takes so much more time to chase the chickens all over the farm?

And brown eggs. It seems like they'd be the same as white. It's reverse discrimination.

I Got A Hymn Buzz

I have a hymn (or spiritual song) in my mind tonight, called "He Keeps Me Singing."

This is an oldie but a goody, and just singing it for less than 10 minutes gave me a buzz in my head. It must be exactly the song I need.

If you have some issues, lines like this can help ... "Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still, in all of life's ebb and flow." That gives me a mental shifting of sorts. Too much fear, not enough peace, but it's a promise, written by whoever the hymn writer was. I shift it to the divine, of course, since that's the context.

OK, I Googled it. The song was written by Luther B. Bridgers, and according to this website, he wrote the song after a tragic fire killed his wife and three sons. So that's worse of a problem than I have.

Here's the words:

There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,
In all of life’s ebb and flow.

Refrain

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest Name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,
Discord filled my heart with pain,
Jesus swept across the broken strings,
Stirred the slumbering chords again.

Refrain

Feasting on the riches of His grace,
Resting ’neath His sheltering wing,
Always looking on His smiling face,
That is why I shout and sing.

Refrain

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
See His footprints all the way.

Refrain

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me,
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.

Superman Cleans Up Burma

I've been hearing some things lately about the insane country of Burma.

As far as Governments Gone Wild go, I hear that Burma's is one of the worst. That, like North Korea, they're very oppressive of their people, to the point of being ridiculous about it.

I'd love to go over there and get it all straightened out. Throw out the crooks, the military dictatorship, and straighten out the corrupt police, etc. It's a country of 56 million, and I would guess about 55.9 million of those are more or less miserable. If I could show up and straighten it out, get their country back among the land of the normal, I'm sure they'd thank me.

But, alas, I'm just one weak guy. Who can't do much.

But if I were Superman, oh boy, that'd be great. I'd be over in North Korea today -- doing some speedy quick work to topple their crap government, destroy their political prisons, and establish freedom for all their citizens. Then the next day I'd be over in Burma, toppling their crap government, destroying their other corrupt institutions, and establishing peace and joy for every person (except the crooks at the top). The crooks at the top, I'd immediately banish to the Phantom Zone.

I'm serious. Any government that is brutal and oppressive -- especially to these ridiculous degrees -- they'd be answering to me -- Superman.

The Skivvies Blog Celebrates 501

That's a brand of jeans, you know. A formula the Levis company whipped up one day. They went through 500 false starts, pants with one leg longer than the other, pockets sewn inside instead of out, see-through denim, etc., until the scientists finally hit on the right formula, #501.

With just the right denim, the right pockets, the right leg length on both sides, they knew they had it right. A quick rivet to the butt and the thing was ready for the rack. And history. The mighty 501 was born!

We have a similar cause for celebration at the Skivvies blog, as we have raced through 500 false starts -- blog posts -- and now have finally attained perfection, #501. With this one going over 500 now all my blogs are old enough to know better. They've become as comfortable a pair of good pants, something for me to stretch out in and be free.

May all your days be Skivvies days. Mine are, and look, it hasn't hurt me.

A Book About Pirates

I got a book about pirates tonight at Goodwill. 50 cents, I always think How could I go wrong?

It looks like one of those good historic books, called "Under The Black Flag," by David Cordingly.

The first chapter is called "Wooden Legs and Parrots." So, let's say I eventually read it, perhaps I'll learn that they didn't really have parrots. I hope not. Or I might learn that they loved parrots. Just like we imagine.

But it seems like it'd be bad to have a parrot sitting on your shoulder all day. I know other birds go to the bathroom a lot, and it seems like it'd be nasty to have too much poop on your chest, or, if its facing the other way, on your back.

Probably though a pirate had lots of other stuff to worry about, like getting caught.

Some Golden Oldies

I got a couple good CDs at Goodwill today. I haven't been buying much lately. I was in the mood for cutting down. I still feel like cutting down, but I'm not going to be ridiculous about it. If there's something really really good, I'll check it out and get it. It's been a while though since there's been any thing decent. Just the same old crap.

But today I found a couple good 'Oldies' CDs and got them. They were put out by MCA in 1986. Maybe they were originally double albums, but they're single CDs. They are called "Vintage Music - Volumes 1 & 2 (that's one CD), and the other CD is "Vintage Music - Volumes 3 & 4.

There's 40 tracks, no re-recordings, nothing but the original artists and versions. So this was a good deal.

Several of the songs I already have, whether on CD or records. But there's a number of them I don't have, or didn't have before. And even if I had them on record, it's nice to have a CD version, like the Kalin Twins' "When." Danny and the Juniors' two biggest songs, "At The Hop" and "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" are both on there.

Nervous Norvus is there with his "Transfusion." I don't see that on a lot of compilations.

Dale Hawkins is there with "Susie-Q." He just died in the last month or so. "Short Shorts" by the Royal Teens is here. Inexplicably, I don't think I had that song.

'Twas a good day!

The President And The Republicans

Mother of God, does this man simply not get it?

President Barack Obama said Saturday he is ready to compromise with Republicans on health care if they are serious about it, but that an overhaul must go forward. "Let's get this done," he said.

Is he going to fritter away his entire presidency trying to play footsie with the Republicans? Is it not occurring to him that they plainly don't want to play?

I'm getting sick of the whole disgusting display. When is he going to represent us, the folks who elected him? The Republicans didn't vote for him and won't vote for him next time. Why all this bending over backwards for them?

The Origins Of Shyness

Some of my best ideas (assuming any of these are good) come from reading Google Ads. You'd think it'd be very stifling not to be able to click on your own ads (Google policy), but actually it's liberating.

Liberating? How so? Because I can see an idea there, not click on it, and therefore not be guilty of any kind of copyright violation by copying their ideas. If I have no idea what they say, everything I have to say about it will be, if not original, at least something that originated with me in its final, precise form. I mean, I doubt, if you Googled this particular paragraph, that anyone else has ever written it precisely word for word.

Moving on, the ad I saw mentioned the origins of shyness. For what? I guess to make the case that people could get over shyness if they really tried. That's what you would be paying them for. Something that you could probably figure out on your own. You're shy, you're not stupid.

Where would shyness come from? This is where it gets hard. Let me think.

Shyness seems to be based in fear, with a lack of personal confidence. You're afraid of launching out, because someone might be critical, then you'd be left looking like a putz. Maybe it'd be a case of rejection, like romantically. Or disagreement, like if you got up to give your opinion about something.

Shyness probably has some elements of comparisons that you're mentally making. I don't stack up well against this person, that person, or those folks. Then it builds on itself, in that I'm mentally reinforced in it by being tentative, withdrawn, and isolated. The more you let it be, the more it grows.

One of the best ways to overcome it is to be prepared, then to launch out slowly. Let's say it has to do with academics, speaking up in class. The more prepared you are, the more confident you are to launch out. The truth is, with teachers, for the most part they are there to affirm whatever you say, if it's at all relevant to the topic at hand and said with sincerity. If they call you stupid in front of the class, report them.

The key thing about speaking up in class, though, is to do it as early as you can in the semester. Because it gets tougher the longer you put it off. So, let's say you're shy, find some area in the class where you can make personal inroads, then launch out modestly, and let that build on itself instead of the shyness.

If you ever have a particular project to present, let's say, and you're shy, remind yourself that you know more about it than anyone else there. They're not prepared at all. So you can have a more confident point of view during your presentation.

A Cat's Grief

One of our cats was "put to sleep" a couple days ago, not yet 48 hours ago at this writing. She was just short of 15 years old and was in declining health.

That leaves us with one other cat. They were together a lot. The other day I went into one of the bedrooms and they were both on the bed. The cat we lost was stretched out sleeping. And the other cat had his head up on her haunch, like a pillow, also sleeping. I would've taken a picture of it, but by the time I got the camera they had shifted. It was sweet looking.

Since they were together a lot -- neither one had ever known life without the other -- I'm thinking he's in grief, wondering in whatever terms a cat wonders about things where she is. At least I'm attributing that to him. He's acting a little funkier than usual, so it makes sense.

How could any creature spend 15 years with another creature and no wonder what's going on when there's a sudden change?

But of course there's no way to explain it to him. It's just a matter for him to work out on his own. Except we're very tender with him and think it helps to give him some tender care.

Low Cost Anger Course

I just saw an ad for a "Low Cost Anger Course," and they promise a "Free Certificate of Completion."

But since I can't click on my own ads, a Google policy, I'll have to use my imagination as to what in the world they're offering.

Maybe -- I'll bet it is -- there are folks who are assigned to take an anger course. And they can actually go online to accomplish it. Maybe it's part of a domestic abuse situation, the resolution of a case. Come to think of it, this hits pretty close to home. Because I actually met someone a couple years ago who told me they had to take an anger course as part of the resolution of a domestic situation.

So how do you take an anger course? It's not like they have a lot of anger courses where I live. I suppose someone who needs to take one might be searching online, find that very ad, and sign up for it. Maybe they'd read an article, answer a few questions, submit their $20 (just guessing), and be able to print out their free certificate. That's quite an idea!

Their website better darned well work, though. Because we're talking about people easily angered. They could beat their computers into submission and then really be in trouble.

I Scanned A Photo Album

In the '70s we put our pictures in those photo albums that had the sticky stuff on the page, then a piece of plastic over them.

For the most part now, they're solidly in place. There's exceptions. A couple were in there crooked and seemed to be looser, so I pulled them away. And one I wanted to see the back of, to see if there was a date (there was), and it came off easy enough. But another I tried, it started to separate the front of the picture from the back, so that's no good.

Getting them scanned is good for my peace of mind, a little bit anyway. I always think about the photo albums being lost in a natural disaster or a fire or something. Now at least this one is on my computer. Of course the computer would probably be lost in the same natural disaster or fire. I just hope it doesn't come to that.

George Washington's Birthday

It's George Washington's birthday. I believe it is. This is the date we learned in school.

But I know it's more complicated with his birthday than it is with the rest of us. Because they did some freaky thing with the calendar back then sometime. Like deleting a bunch of days to get the calendar back in whack with the sun (or something).

According to some reckoning, this is his birthday. So there you have it. Big deal. What a thing to teach kids in school, the exact birthday of a former president. We also learned Lincoln's, again for some unknown reason. Back then they thought of interesting, useful historical knowledge as particular dates to memorize.

As to the rest of George Washington's life, we know he cut down a cherry tree and would not lie about it. Meaning he was dishonest, in that he had to assure someone he wouldn't lie. If he had been honest, it would've never occurred to him that he could lie. It would've been, "Of course I cut it down, you got a problem with that?"

He was also a very suspicious person, always standing up in boats, because he suspected his soldiers would put a whoopee cushion under him if he tried to sit down.

The last thing he was very famous for was looking like Barbara Bush.

The Month Is 21

February has made it to the majority age, 21.

It could already sign contracts, pose nude, and go to war on the 18th. But now that it's 21 it can also drink.

Maybe it shouldn't drink that much. Because it's going to die at the age of 28, perhaps from over drinking. Some years it makes it to the ripe old age of 29, but not usually.

It Just Won't Lay Down And Stay Dead

 

It's a very determined head, this head of the Creature Feature. Imagine what it could do with an entire body. "Darling Irene, I love you madly. And when I say madly I mean that in the clinical sense of the word. Please come back to me and let me love you. I'll try to satisfy you as much as I can, given my obvious limitations."

I don't know that this video is the exact same movie, but it seems to be. At All Movie Guide it says Victor Trivas was the director. The Amazon link goes to a movie of a different title that then says "aka/The Head."

I like the head puns over there. The movie's a double header, two heads are better than one, etc.

But I think I'll quit while I'm a head.

(The B&W image above is from a newspaper movie ad from 1961.)

I Might Be Done Accumulating

I was doing some pre-Spring cleaning today, with the boxes that I had, only a few.

I started with some of my "library," books in the basement that are always the books I never can find when I want them anyway. They're already in boxes, for the most part. I have some in those big plastic totes you get at Walmart. But it's tough to find anything in them because they all look alike.

I have a number of paperbacks and a number of books of varying qualities. Once upon a time I sold some on eBay. Now I don't do that, I still have lots that I speculated on, buying them at thrift stores, book sales, etc. I've always been an accumulator -- and it's times like this, when I want to thin out, that it catches up with you.

I keep reminding myself that I took all these to the basement once upon a time. So it shouldn't be that big a deal to get them out. I don't want to be so overwhelmed with possessions.

Today, then, I got rid of 6-7 boxes of books. I could've done more but I didn't have any more empty boxes to use. Then it's a matter of what to do with them. I would guess that the thrift stores only want a certain amount and not all you can throw at them. I feel half apologetic when I take them there.

My point today is that I think I'm almost learning my lesson, maybe with age and worry. I've been an accumulator. I told someone today, though, that I think I'm done accumulating. From now on, with God's help, I will live differently.

Searching For Information On A Guy

I was thinking of a guy I knew last in 1973.

So I tried to find out all I could find about him on the internet, which wasn't a terrible lot.

As I traced it, I discovered something that surprised me, that he wasn't still in the same town where I knew him.

I found a tiny article at a newspaper site, from 1961. That gave his brothers name and a "Mr. and Mrs" who were his parents.

I went to the Social Security Death Index and found who were likely his parents, dying there at the town I knew him from. The dad's name (middle name) matched up with the name of the "Mr." from the 1961 article.

Then there was an obit for the mom on the newspaper site, in the 2000s, saying where my ex-friend lived in that year. Which was in a completely different state.

Searching for information on him there, I found his address and his wife's name (probably). And a few other little (not so helpful) details, including a workman's comp case file that didn't say much.

Going to Facebook with all this information, the wife, himself, his brothers, his sister (from the obit), I couldn't find any of them. There's people with the same last name who might be children or grandchildren, but at that point ... they're not likely to say it unless they're friends with someone from the immediate family.

So that's it. I didn't want to contact him anyway. We worked together. And to contact him after all this time, we wouldn't have anything to talk about. It was just an exercise basically in seeing if he was still alive and out there. It appears he is.

Doug Fieger Died

I was sad to hear that Doug Fieger of The Knack died a few days ago.

I still have my "Get The Knack" LP, which I always liked. Plus I have "But The Little Girls Understand," which I'm not really familiar with.

With the first LP I know they were going for a Beatles tie-in: Capitol Records, the black '60s label, the band picture on the back, the title of the album. So that was exciting. And there's a lot of great stuff on it besides the biggie "My Sharona."

It's sad, but of course inevitable. They were right there, the new thing. But time drifts away and so do we all.

Obituary Time

I was looking up some of the obituaries of people I used to know. A few were surprising, just Googling people I used to know, to find out they'd died. Then a few were ones of people I knew died, but I wanted to see what information there was, since I didn't clip the newspaper.

I notice, just looking around the internet, that obituaries seem to be big business. That would be thanks to our interest in genealogy. It looks like you (or someone) can take an obituary and republish it at your own website, put ads around it, and no one is the wiser. I saw the same obituary at a couple or a few different places.

Some of the ones I was interested in were in an online archive of old newspapers. The problem with the old newspaper site is that, even if they have a billion pages, there's still enormous gaps because there's so many places that aren't on there. And it's hard to search and find something, because the old microfilms don't make reliably searchable files.

Still, if you are diligent, and lucky, you can find some amazing things, not only about the dead people you know but lots of others. I like some of the old, old articles. They've been dead forever, but if you're lucky you can look at an earlier newspaper in the archives and find the story telling about their birth.

Obituaries never go out of date. The information, if it was right in the first place, remains right forever. They had your service at 2 p.m. at such and such funeral home. Etch it in stone.

The Emptiness Of Depression

It's topsy turvy time in the old psyche.

Sometimes life comes slamming up against you and you're not expecting it.

Your response to it -- if it's anything like mine -- is to pull back, yawn, and then obsess about it.

There are people waiting for me and my answer -- and they're optimistic, but it might turn out that they have no reason to be. Which will be a massive letdown.

Blah. What to do. Don't put me in this position!

The Crazy Wind

We're suffering with winter here.

The wind is crazy. Somehow they know a day or so ahead of time that it's going to be ferocious, and it usually is.

I went out to the store at the edge of town and the wind, which knows the difference between town and country, was a lot worse out there. I was freezing.

Also one of the doors on my car is frozen shut. I just hope they don't all freeze. I'll have to use a hair dryer on it if they all freeze.

The snow is blowing. It's a crazy kind of night. But right now I'm in and warm. Don't go out on a night like this!

Nothing But A Flying Rake

I was outside today and decided to take a shot at some of the big icicles on the corners of the house. I got a garden rake out of the garage, one of the ones with the heavy tines.

I took aim at one good corner, one with no obstructions, and in a couple of throws managed to knock down some good size ones. As thick as your arm.

We have other corners, of course, but the problem with the next corner is that there's cable TV stuff and electrical wires coming from the street to the house. So I was very reluctant to give it a try. Then, in an instance of ignorance, I took one throw -- one throw --- and the rake bounced off the house and hit the electrical wires.

Fortunately nothing broke. They just shook back and forth for 30 seconds or so.

I was definitely happy that I didn't mess up something. Then lose power. Then have to call the power company. Then wait overnight or whatever. I got lucky!

I was thinking, what if the electricity was off. I wouldn't want to admit what happened but I'd probably have no choice. Yes, I'm the muscle behind the flying rake!

UPDATE: Imaginary conversation with my dog: "The electricity went off about as soon as you left." "What do you mean?" "I saw a flying rake and then it went off." Now I'm trying to keep her quiet, so the electric company won't find out: "You saw nothing!" "Yes, master, I saw nothing but a flying rake!"

The electric company actually did show up. And the guy parked about four feet from that corner of the house. I thought, Oh no, someone really did report a flying rake hitting their wires. But it was just a coincidence. He was checking the meters in the area and just happened to park there!