Congratulations Paul and Brenda!!! I only wish I could access your website to confirm the news!!! :-O

Hope you all had a happy holiday!!!

I was a bit suprised when my wife's family decided to suprise me with a group gift that was quite unexpected: A 3 foot tall Karaoke machine with Built in Monitor CD/Tape and recording capabilities. This could get ugly! :-)

Have a wonderful new year everyone and all our love and good wishes!

2003 will be awsome!!! or at least higher in number than 2002...

Wryguy...

First Briefly, I have been wondering quietly what kind of Laptop Brenda has gotten and piecing together descriptions here and there I am going to guess either a Fujitsu Lifebook or a Toshiba Libretto. Okay you can all resume you normal lives now that I have finally shared my opinion with you all.

Next, Yes I suck. I missed all the special occaisions, all the birthdays and everything else, didn't post or e-mail or anything. I suck I suck I suck I suck. Okay now that said, my apologies, warm wishes to you all and let's move on.

***CENSORED***

Oh, and Merry Cristmas...

Love to all my friends,
Wryguy

It's reading lines like this that make me so thankful I Blog:

From 'Top 10 Signs Santa's Marriage is in Trouble' - THANKS HAPPA!
"2. Stockings aren't the only things he's been nailing in front of the fireplace."

Thank you and bless you all. You have no idea how much of a boost it is to read a passing line from Purge or an Update from Metrocake or any number of the wonderful, intelligent thoughts most of you share here. I pull for you in your tough times (Tempest, Skye, UIM, Ally...) and cheer for you in the good(Chyna, Happa, Brenda...). Behind my silence I'm shouting your names and cheering you on and passively plotting the demise of...well nevermind :-) In any event Happy Holidays guys!!!

Nicholas is so wonderful. He has just started solid foods (He's over 4 months old MY GOD!!!) and he has the featherweight division crown for most powerful bowels (Did I ever explain what a 'Blow Out' is? Nuff Said). My wife is wonderful and beautiful and I cherish the 1-1 1/2 hrs we get toghether each evening. My life is truly full. And now, something completely different:

How The Wind Your Name Flies

Deftly dodging creative articulation
Openly advertising logic, ambiguous at best
Portraying the norm using leveraged skill ripe with want
Echoing words dropping to the pavement with a dull sloshing thud
You are the pinnacle of the nader

Enigmatically,
Wryguy

Pointing out the remarks of the insanely ignorant is no more productive than beating a cripple, both too easy and cruel to be worth it. So I will just say nothing and let the stink sit on the wind :-)

Happy Holidays to you all!

Much love,
Wry...

Congratulations Chynakatt! Enjoy the pregnancy and the experience! If you ever want to, we have a hospital grade Doppler that you can borrow. We found it invaluable. It is wonderful to end a day listening to your little baby's heartbeat. It also does wonders in easing fears that everything is all right.

HAPPA - FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY (some of her post)

HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING MARRIED:


Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next." They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

I tried to type this 3 times on my test Macintosh last night and lost it all three times when I hit the 'Clear' keyboard combination. Mac is proving hard to get used to. I still can't figure out the keyboard combo to get numlock on... [Editors note: 'Yesterday' refers to last tuesday as of this posting. - It's been that kind of life lately.]

Anyway:

I want you all to know I am thinking of you all a LOT. I miss you all even more. I miss the few times I got to meet Ghost in person and Logi. I miss seeing Al a few times and seeing a picture of his new wife and seeing how happy he was in spite of any external problems. I miss not having a chance to know Paul and Brenda better (or at all) before they left. I miss Mike's humor and I miss the bubbly boyish charm that Frank constantly exudes, even if he's in denial about it. I miss the updates from Happa. I miss Roe's effervessance(sp?). I miss talking to Tom and Jaimie online and kicking myself in the ass for not recognizing how nice a people they are when I had a few chances to meet them long ago. I miss all the things and people and times I missed out on in my especially rocky trip to maturity. I appreciate all those people now, I see their incredible value and wit and edge. But I am also very greatful to have evolved to the point where I can appreciate what you all are and I want you to know that I have learned from and laughed with you, even if it was usually only on the outer perifery of your lives or through stories you shared about eachother or the times I was in the background being self absorbed and now years later look back and really see you instead of what image of myself I was fighting myself and everyone else to see.

Basically, thanks to you all and I hope that there will be better futures for us all because eventually all roads do lead home again. We just define home as we go along.

Always,
Wry...

WARNING! Depressed Ranting Below:

November 2nd: Baby Nicholas turns 3 months old.
November 3rd: Our 1 year wedding anniversery.

Our plan: Attend the birthday party of the 2 year-old child of our friends.

How we compensated: $800 shopping spree at Target ($720 after 10% off, Thank you new Target Card)

Daily commute: 4 hours
Daily Work shift: 9 hours
Bed Time: 9:30pm 10pm on a good night...
Wake time: 5:00am
RESULT: From 10pm to 7PM I am asleep, at work or in transit. That leaves 3 HOURS a DAY TOTAL time to be with my wife and child.
EXCEPTIONS: THe 1-2 times a night I get up to feed/change the baby. Believe it or not, this is a big part of my "Quality" Time.

Why do I do it? Salaries on the Island are roughly 1/3 what I make in the city. I.E. I cannot be an effective daddy, husband or provider at $12/hr...

And people ask me why getting out to vote is not high on my list of priorities.

I would give one or possibly even both testicles for my wife and I to see our friends more, let alone the people who I would like to be our friends that I hoped having a larger place would accomodate asking them to come down for a visit. But when???

Thank God I still have "Up Yours". I don't know where I'd be without it.
Every time someone in my life feels neglected, that I am not a very attentive friend or not a good responder to calls or e-mails, I pull that puppy out and it just seems to make everything a little bit more bearable. A little bit easier to handle and maybe, if the stars align and I am lucky, it puts a little bit of a smile on my face. Of course my wife and my baby are the great love and joys of my life. If they weren't would I be ranting in such a depressed manner about how little time I get to spend with them???

Do you get what I'm saying?

No?

Well, UP YOURS!

Ah..... better...

Quick update:

We have finally gone to closing and moved into our new house...YAY!!!

We have no telephone due to a screw up at the phone company and may not for another week or so.

We don't know what our # will be thanks to rthe fact that the main office in Florida doesn't understand that Eastern Long Island is NOT a 516 area code...

We had our first leak through the ceiling beneath the bathroom. The builder came down and a plumber followed a few hours later. All is now well save for a few screwdriver holes left in the ceiling... Sigh...

The cats have been bad. They pee'd in one of the boxes and did something worse on a blanket. They are on final probation before they are converted to outdoor cats, which at this time of year means promotion to the title of Cat-sicle...

Alicia was sick this weekend and couldn't take care of the baby, but thanks to her dad and a couple of half days by me, it was all covered.

In honestly, the baby has been so good in all of his three months of life that I am just beside myself with joy. My wife and I both agree, he must get it from her :-)

We dressed little Nicholas up as Superbaby for Halloween which went over well.

I made a comment about his super ability to spontaneously create Crap-to-Nite which did not go over quite as well :-) Actuall we both howled over that one :-)

Anyway, all is well. We really are very very happy and we miss you all. Once I get around to setting up a computer or two we'll be able to have better contact, but until then THANKS VERIZON!!! (Translation: Up Yours)

So that's my short (Short?) update.

Wryguy...

Boogie: I can only have one response to that "AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Know what's really fun? Whatching an implosion... or something right in the process of self-destructing. I wish I had the equipment to slow down every frame and really enjoy each little piece. ;-)

Oh yea? Well you smell like a dirty vacuum cleaner so there!

Hold on. Wait a minute. Now wait one damn minute! How the hell can you have ANAL sex with a Pumpkin??? Isn't there some required piece of anatomy missing??? That's like saying that having a little fun with one of those mini-gourds is pedaphilia!!!! :-O

It's a slow morning and Wry is quite a bit flu-ey today so forgive me. I came to work only because I stayed home yesterday and I am worried about the baby getting my bug. Figured I'd rather give it to my co-workers. Up theirs, you know? :-)

Tom: Amen Brother....Amen

Advice for the day:

"No matter how much the temptation. No matter how sweet it may feel in the moment. No matter how justifed it may feel to do. Sometimes it's better to just keep your mouth shut and leave the poop to the flies."

or

"Even if your intentions are good, picking up the crap to throw it away still leaves your hand smelling like shit."

Did anyone get the liscence plate number of that truck? The one than ran over the Blog, leaving a white tape outline around the internet? Did anyone ID the body? I wonder if they'll plant some flowers here that someone may some day browse past and say "Wow, what a wonderful place, I wonder why nobody lives here?". Lighten up, it's just a joke. Don't get so defensive, don't take it so personally...

"Invisible friends are so much easier to shut up..." - Frustrated Mass Murderer...

Oh and Tempest, I think it totally sucks what's happening to you. On the other hand, that farting detective stort might have real promise! Look out MONK, here comes STUNK! :-)

Four Quickies:

1 & 2: Skye and Cake: All my spare positive energy and crossed fingers are pointed your way. You deserver better than you're getting and I hope that changes soon.

3. Happa: Thanks for the pictures, he is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Bless you and good luck!!!

4. Ally: I hate to say it, but even though I love my friends dearly and I would do anything to help them out, they will almost never get a phone call or card from me on their special occaisions. Mainly because I don't follow those things and don't even know when my own parents anniversery is. I tell my friends this and I pray that they understand that it's not from lack of love, it's just really not my thing and honestly, if I have 12 friends, maybe 2 MAYBE 3 send cards and they do it with the understanding that I love them and appreciate it, but I don't do that. They have been very cool about it outwardly, but I can't help wondering if deep down they don't feel the same as you. But I ask you, isn't it better to have someone who is there for you and helps you then a person that just sends a card? (No, I don't think you only send a card, but I know you know people who aren't always there for you.) Sure it's best to have both, but I am a 'cut my losses' kind of guy and if I can get the prior, I am certainly willing to concede the latter, but that's really my thing to because I have my hands full taking care of myself and my wife and baby and I don't want to waste (and I don't mean to insinuate that it's a waste for you, just me) my free cycles with things like that, I would melt down into a smoldering pile of goo... Kudos for being able to do that, I really respect it, but to me it has to be done COMPLETELY selflessly or you're bound to be let down by people.

My three cents...

Wryguy.

Slow week, what better pastime for the desperately bored and tired then to pay homage to the church of UIM in the form of band names:

"Bitch Sister Kool-Aid Connection"

*** "Flacid Pants Love Implosion" *** - Winner, WRYGUY Editors Choice Award!!!

"Butter Nut Butt Sluts"

"Magellan's Enima"

"V.D. and the Mold Infusion Possee"

"Biscuit Slappin Shoelace Jockeys"
That is all...

I just got toally depressed because only now, a full week later, did I realize that the top-10 list I posted on Paul's site and was so proud of, did not give any indication of who wrote it. Now it is relegated to 'Ponderous'...

The worst part of this happenstance is:

1: People who read it could probably figure out that I was the one who wrote it.
2: It likely wasn't nearly as funny as I want to make it out to be.
3: I have some many more pressing things to worry about, what does it say about my mental state when I go on about something like this?

Splunge!

I cannot seem to stop rocking in place as I sit here at work. It seems my body can no longer differentiate between when I am holding my baby, trying to get him to sleep, or when I am at my desk trying to keep myself awake...

Some band names for UIM:

"Infectious Pants"

"Care-bear Acid Love Zombie"

"Panty Crackers"

"Lust Bucket Toffey Pull"

"Sargeant Nipples"

"Nerf Fandango"

"Mr. Knees"

"Bottleneck Jones"

"Aardvark Hernia Scratch-N-Sniff Floss Party"

That is all.

Wry...

Hey Brenda, if it makes you feel any better, when I was with Inacom I bought many hundreds of dollars of stock at about $18/share. Today, the stock certificate is worthless... :-)

I think I do all my best humor on Paul's site...Ironic

To My Baby: Happy two-month birthday yesterday!

To my beautiful wife: Happy 11-month Anniversery today!

To everyone else: No we did not get pregnant the day before the wedding, no matter what the math says! ;-)

Thought of the day:

Some things, not matter how annoying, aggrevating, pityous or ridiculous, are like a train wreck at the side of the road. No matter how much I think I am above such things and no matter how much "better than that" I may think I am, I can't help looking...or listening, even though I know I am going to spend half an hour kicking myself in the ass about it later.

Wind swirling aimlessly through the web

Tumbleweeds roaming, destination unknown, without a thought to their fate

Memories of lively voices echo eerily in the nether

A dying fig leaf falls to the ground unnoticed

Pontentials and thoughts, like tangeable possibilities are worlds full of infinity beyond reach of this reality

And no one says something about anything not happening here

Voice of the big empty, the blog, save for Chynakat is bare

Devoid of all life, save that and this voice who says nothing but the nothing that is...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK AND TOM!

A story (With a moral)...

It seems (yes 'seems') there were these two guys who lived in a room with no doors, only one window, didn't need to eat, drink or breath to live and never died. We will call guy #1 Bob and guy #2 Phil.

One day several Aeons ago, Bob realized that while light did come through the window, the opening was too high up on the wall to see out of and he could no longer stand not knowing what might lie beyond it.

(At this point it might be helpful to know that he and Phil lived in an all white featurless room and Phil was not exactly the greatest conversationalist. In his defense, Phil often pointed out that they really didn't have much to talk about beyond philosophy and the room itself and they pretty much ' already beat those dogs to death'.)

"I wonder why we never spoke about that window before?" Bob noted, to which Phil only shrugged (Like I said, poor conversationalist). "I want to see what is beyond it, I want to see it now" Chirped Bob decidedly. "Go for it" Phil replied. "I Can't reach it you moron, can't you see that?" to which Phil only mumbled "Well that would make it difficult, wouldn't it". Several weeks of pointless bickering then followed. About a month later (These guys aren't particularly quick, but then again they've scarcely got any reason to hurry) Phil finally gave in and allowed Bob to stand on his shoulders so that he could look out the window and see what was there. "WAHHHHHHHHHHH...." rang out immediately followed by a thud almost the very second Bob reached the window. "Done already?" Phil started. "Shut up, you know I fell you idiot! The light out there burned my eyes. I could have been blinded!" "Want another look?" Phil coolly quipped. Bob just gave Phil a long deliberate look and calmly uttered "No, thank you, I don't think I'll be doing that again." A few years passed, Bob started to wonder if he would be able to see out of the window if he looked out at more of an obtuse angle. Maybe the really bright light was right in front and he could look around it? After spending a few months debating with himself about what Phil would think or say he decided to just go ahead and ask and take whatever insults he had to in order to get another peek out of that window. So he walked over to Phil and before he could speak his first words "So you want another look huh?" "What are you talking about? What the window?" Bob said mock-flabbergasted "That was years ago, what makes you think..." "Look, you haven't spoken a word in 6 years and all you do is stare at that damn thing looking like a lonely puppy that lost it's master so do you want to admit it or should I just take a nap for a decade or so?" "No no no!, okay you're right. So you don't mind?" Phil looking thoughtful for a long moment, smiled briefly (probably his first smile in about 30,000 years) "Speak the magic words." Bob looking shocked and furious all at once, was about to refuse automatically, but he caught himself, knowing the consequences. "Are you serious? Do you really expect me to do that?" Phil looked up calmly "Saaaay it" "But" Before he could even start to build a defense. "Okay, forget it the deal is off the table, I'm going to bed" "No Wait! Okay Okay I'll say it" Phil smiled again a little wider this time (even he couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun). "Nope too late for that. Now you have to sing it." "WHAT?!? That's rediculous I..." Phil raised a warning finger and made a sleeping gesture with his hands against his head. "Okay, DAMN IT. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL, I SWORE I'D NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!" And then he began to sing:

Ooooooh Phil, Phil, boy does he rule
Next to him I'm a lump of stool
When he speaks it's like a song
I'm in awe of his monstrous schlong
Every day, Phil is devine
How does he stand to hear me whine
I wish that I could learn his code
But I'm not worthy of his load
When he grants my lame requests
I realize that Phil's the best

Phil begins to clap, but seeing Bobs' sharp stare, decides to just enjoy his boon and not push his luck. "You might want to rethink looking out that window you know, It's probably way up there for a reason. It may not have been meant for looking out of..." "Don't worry, I just want a look at the window itself this time, I'm not going to look out again" Phil didn't dignify that with an answer, he wasn't stupid, so he hummed a note of reserved acknowledgement and shoved Bob on up. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...TUMP" They didn't speak again for about 40 years. Bob speant the time thinking about what had happened. Phil speant the time doing imaginary crochet. He was quite good and had embroidered almost 1400 sweaters and 37 pairs of socks. Bob finally decided he wanted another shot. He'd use his fingers to filter the light, then he'd at least be able to see the light itself without screaming and falling down again. "Phil?" "Sing the song" he plainly said just as soon as Bob had opened his mouth. "Is that really?..." Bob started but was immediately interrupted by phils warning gesture. Bob just sighed. "Ooooooooooo......"

After:

"Bob, I really think you should refrain from looking out of the window, it can't be good for you." "Oh I know, I really respect your advice and I know you are right, I am not going to look out anymore, that was only an accident last time. I am just going to look at the window sil, really!" Bob responded, preparedly. Phil just shook his head and assumed the position. You can guess what happened next... "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...TUMP"

Believe it or not this happened 8 more times in the next 649 years. Every time Bob said he would not look. Every time he promised to take Phils good advice. Every time he dropped to the floor and squeeled like a little bitch with a skinned knee on his way down. Until finally: "Phil?" "Sing it..." "No no, I'm not asking you to help me with the window again" "You're not?" "Nah, I'm done with that. It was just a stupid phase, it was silly, you were really right. I just wanted to than..." Bob , arm outstretched, walked square into the wall face first, falling to the ground with a suprised, muffled squeak. "You're blind aren't you?" Phil said ambivilently. "Yep" Bob said, matter-of-factly. "So what now Bob?" "Can I borrow some of your wool, I think I'd like to take up crochet" "Can't you just imagine up your own?" "I don't know how, anyway I'm tired, could you do it for me?" a long silence........"Sing it"

Moral of the story (AND GOD HELP YOU IF YOU ACTUALLY READ THIS THING!) Don't insist that someones advice is good and promise to follow it in the same moment that you are disregarding it. That is just plain STUPID!

CONGRATULATIONS PAUL!!!

I will openenly admit I have had the same restraint problems as UIM in my past, but ultimately I realized that the company I kept made it vastly easier or more difficult to control myself. Of course if someone feels that they are with the "Easy to tolerate" type and still are hovering at the deep end of the pool well then I'd have to agree with them that special treatment may be in order, But that is as always subjective and personal. Just know that you are not some oddity in your own little world. You are just like the rest of us, maybe if you really knew how common your feelings and frustrations were, you'd be a little easier on yourself.

With love,
Wryguy

Hat's off to Skye. He said it better than I could.

"Is that gasoline I smell?" - The Crow

Friday Fortune Cookie:

Sometimes problems are like rocks. It's not their size that gets you its their Density....

What do you think?

It's ironic the things that happen. There was a person a few years younger than me, that trained me when I came on at Goldman Sachs. He was a nice person, quiet, had bad luck in the stock market, but was the type you kind of intrinsicaly liked and wanted to make smile. He left mid-2000 and we all wished him well. It was a month after 9-11 that we found out he had died in the attack and we all mourned for someone so young and sill so close to some people here. There was a pervasive strangeness that seemed to hang in the air, as if something cosmically not quite right, for some time after that. Then after a while the surreal and uneasiness started to fall away and I could almost get back into my old rythm again. About two weeks ago I suddenly could no longer receive pages and I went to my supervisor to find out what was up. About 4 hours later I got an e-mail saying that the pager I was using was assigned to Guy Barzvi and was deactivated as he was no longer with the company. Yea I know, he was no longer with any company. He was younger than me and died almost a year ago...

Now tell me again why I need to see clips of this day at nauseum or why I need people telling me that I'll cynically forget all about it next week?

Always...

DID YOU KNOW?

Fact: There are just as many brainless losers in Multi-billion dollar trading companies who pee on the toilet seat as there are in the typical McDonalds in a day. The only difference is that they are splashing nicer shoes with their own urine. It boggles the mind.

Favorite phrase of the week: (This week gleaned from GOATS: www.goats.com on June 7, 2002)

"Bob, you'll need to rustle up as much creamed spinach as you can carry, 12 packages of uninflated balloons and a truckload of midgets with good attitudes, loose sphincters and no allergies to latex!"

You can't get more real life and relevant than that. These guys really know how to speak to the soul of a people....

always...

Skye turned me on to the whole fantasy baseball league thing this year and it's been fun. I didn't know at the time, but this is pretty much the best source of entertainment for me right now. I have to remember to thank him. Oh wait, hey Skye, Thanks!

Here the standings: (As I know you are all on the edge of your seats...)

Rank Team ------------------------- W-L
1 Las Vegas Yankee fan ---------- 35-10
2 Long Island NY Goombahs - 29-16
3 Rockford Ravens ------------------- 24-21
4 Yankee Ball Buster --------------- 23-22
5 football kings ------------------------ 23-22
6 Harvard Dionysusens ------------- 23-22
7 Wisconsin Firehairs -------------- 20-25
8 Florence Niggaz ------------------- 20-25
9 Philly 4 baggers ------------------- 17-28
10 OKLAHOMA BALLERS ------ 11-34

Ally: Whenever I am faced with people like that, I look them right in the eye and with my meanest, nastiest voice, I shout "UP YOURS!"

Tempest: I am jealous, I love #3 on your list and #8. I am a huge fan of the blatant yet subtle ones... :-)

SmithKid has really found himself a hit-generating cash cow with these weekly questions... Now I'll NEVER catch up! :-)

WELCOME BABY JONATHAN!!! CONGRATULATIONS HAPPA!

Piece of advice for the day gleaned from my past:
The more you take ownership and responsibility for the things you do in your life the happier you ultimately are. Constantly rationalizing, justifying and blaming others for things that suck in your life is not only counter-productive, it's also cowardly.

Maybe I'll start posting these things daily, it helps to say again even after learning the lessons...

:-) <- No matter what I pretend, this is just a colon a dash and a paranthesis... The trick is finding people who pretend and imagine the same way i do...


Yea, that's what I am posting today, so what of it? HUH? HUH?????

That's what I thought...

I want to take some time out today to acknowlege what I consider to be one of the most useful and versitile phrases around. A phrase that has both a pleathora of meanings and can also evoke a variety of emotions. This special phrase has been around for years and sadly, I feel it has been unappreciated for much of that time. I aim to fix that little inadequecy right now, so with no further ado I present to you (no, not on the mouse organ and no, not 'The Bells of Saint Mary's) the most useful phrase in the world:



UP YOURS



Lets take a closer look at this special peice of our language:



1. It can be utilized to tell someone off in a fairly PC way. ("I say, Bradly, I Just Slept With your Wife." "Well Then I'm Afraid I Have No Other Recourse Than To Unabashedly Declare Up Yours Warren" "Well said and Quite Right Old Man, Shall We go for a Martini?" "Yes, Quite")

2. It can be easily used as a battle cry (ala 'Spoon!' See: 'Independance Day')

3. It can be used as a source of titlation as in "Guess where I am going to stick this...?" (See 'Cowboy Farmstand Playhouse IV')

4. It can be commandeered for use as a playful greeting as in "Hi Honey!" "Up Yours Dear" (See my wife and I. NOTE: Did I ASK your opinion??? :-) )

5. It can be used to spoof your e-mail address online so you can take advantage of special offers while dodging the SPAM! (See: Jcp171@upyours.net)

6. It can be a source of misdirection for a would-be theif that asks where your money is. (Editor's Note: This Publication Only Points Out, While NOT Endorsing This Option)

7. And Finally it is the perfect alternative lifestyle pet name. ("What's your dog's name?" "...Up Yours...")



I think that about says it all.



In closing,

Up Yours...

I think it's a harsh reality of life that a man can never say "I baked Banana Muffins today" and still sound cool and masculine... Sure I wish it wasn't true, but life is a cruel bitch.

BOOGIE!!! That brings back such memories! Whoo hoo! :-)

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HAPPA? Her e-mail address doesn't work and she hasn't posted in weeks! Is she okay???

Tuesday morning. Several realizations. 1. Fatigue, 2. impatience, 3. um..uh..inability to remember the rest 4. The reoccurance of #3...

Oh yea, I no longer have the capacity to read many lines of text at one sitting. I go through blogs and....uh...um...what? Well anyway, I am now a speed reader out of necessecity, however I have come to the grim realization that I am not a speed comprehender... And um...uh...eh whatever.

Baby awake, many hours. Wife and husband scramble to help eachother and to spell eachother and to sleep and...um..grrr...

Baby happy, resisting urge to suspect purposful evil intent.

Child sleeps during day, making it difficult to teach him tricks...er I mean for him to learn...uh...um...stuff.

Awake all night, parents unwilling to teach tricks to baby at night...er..learn...um..whatever you get it.

Baby Einstein is bullshit to a 1-month old...

Bottles...many many bottles...

Miss adults...we both miss adults...

Refuse to comment on current events or blog events...couldn't maintain consciousness...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....oh..um...well hi there everyo...oh no did that...wait...um okay well hope you are all doing well/ feeling better. Phasers locked on, waiting for orders. Oh wait, not my blog...or is it? Either way...

So in closing, I'll just sayysafpm;.,smd[gdgds;ll;aksf....

wwkrjjsjh,
lsdlg...

IHYC. YAAFJ!

GIFHY,YIC!

Happa, I hope you are doing well. We haven't heard from you in a while! Our few waking non-stresssed out thoughts are with you :-)

Skye, Thinking of you and Rhino as well.

Metrocake, I forget where you live now but you and Sparks have the same insurance and she has a very good OB/GYN group...

Ally, Pulling for you to get more time to relax!

Paul and Brenda, Your perserverence in a new environment away from your friends is an inspiration.

UIM, No matter what you may think, the truth is if you were still here you would be my first choice to be Godfather to my son. The other truth is you would be amazed to learn how many similarities we've had, albeit in different parts of our lives. I have total faith in you and your future.

Coogwah, The fear is the worst part next to the hurt, but as time passes it WILL get better.

I hope Ghosts' absence lately means that he's blissfully happy. It's a bit quiet around here without him...

Logi I hope your surgery gets sorted out and goes well, but I getta tell ya, the phone sex thing still wierds me out. But more like a two-headed Sunflower then a trainwreck though. (That's supposed to be a good thing)
:-)

Everyone else (Tempest, Boogie, Evil-g...): All the best to ya's. Wish I could write to you at more length, but Wry is tired, very tired, but will not complain because he knows he has a wife at home who could redefine the term...

Always...

Something I casually wrote 2 years ago. It drips of me I'm afraid. Call it trite or corny but here it is. I guess not to post it would be quite an ironic blaspheme... :-)

>>>
Perfection

Born with a vision
A sweet thought that confused and delighted his naive, inexperienced mind
Unable to describe or even show with pencils or paints
A silent promise was uttered in the young boys heart
His Creation, for all to see
But not yet, one day, but not now
Not until he understood
Not until it could be expressed
Perfectly.
He did not let go
His passion and his image, his dream, remained
Day by day and through the months and years he worked to make that dream real
He read books, saw films, heard stories
All had a beauty he could see in their peices
Peices that he could use to make his dream real
But not yet, he needed more
He grew and studied and traveled and beheld wonders in the world
He took marvels with him from everywhere he went
Saved those pieces for his dream
He could make it, would make it, soon
All would see the beauty of the masterpeice he kept inside him
The image he has had his entire life
But it wasn't perfect yet
It was fragmented and sterile in his minds eye
Not ready to be made
He needed more
He found love for a time and embraced it with the depths of his heart
And it was grand and it was true and it was a vision unparalleled to him thusfar
That vision became a further tool, an inspiration to give soul to his work.
He began to see the wholeness of his desire, his creation
He began to seek the tools he would need to begin
The creation that his soul had revealed to him so many years ago
Decades now, but like yesterday in his heart
He would find the tools and he would build it
Soon
He found colors and textures and all manner of earth and sea creations
The medium that he would use...everything
There were brushes and chisels and hammers and clamps
Nails and screws and vast intruments of creation
He spent years silently collecting and organizing
Building the place he would create from within
Working tirelessly to earn money to pay for it all
He could have started work today, tomorrow, any day
But not yet
It had to be perfect
It would be
Then, finally, the workshop complete
The tools assembled
The pieces in place
He would begin tomorrow, he would start early
And It would be warm
It would be perfect.
He was getting old, was ready and he would not be denied.
It rained the next day, but he could not wait any longer
He had to begin while he could
He set upon the task of laying out the tools and setting up the tables and dropping down a mat.
He sped about the room like a man on air, forgetting the world
Forgetting even himself
Running in and out of the rain with towels and lights and a heater for comfort
He hadn't moved like this in years
He hadn't been so ready in his life
But he got tired too quickly
He was old and not used to the rush or the rain
So he laid everything perfectly in place
Took a deep breath and smiled
In spite of the rain
In spite of his cough
In spite of the cold
Then he went to his room to sleep
It would be sunny tomorrow
It would be perfect
And he was right
The sun did shine and it was warm
But he rose ill
Too ill to work that day
And his mind turned to his love
But she was no more
And he had somehow forgotten her face, how long was she gone?
And he slept all that day save when awoken by his own thick rasp.
But he would be well soon
And he would be ready
But not now, and he fell back to sleep.
He died silently that night
It was several days before he was found
His family was called and the funeral arranged
And they grieved and mourned and he was placed in his grave.
His sister, her husband and their child went to the house
To go through the old things
To salvage what they could
To remember the man they barely knew
When they entered and saw the special place he had built
They all wondered at everything lying around and its purpose.
"He was going mad," said the husband "Collecting anything and everything for no
reason at all"
"The poor man" Said the wife "if must have been since Isabella died, it must
have been too hard for him at the end"
"He was going to make something" said the child "Something great and beautiful
and these were his tools, see?"
"That is very sweet" said the Mother, stroking her child's hair "But I have
known him his entire life and he's never made anything himself. Look, the tools
have not even been used, not a single one, see?" She smiled softly, warmly
"You are dear and thoughtful and it is a nice way to remember him, but it
couldn't really be true."
"Well I know if I had all this stuff I could make something really cool. The coolest thing anybody ever saw!"
"Of course you could honey and you will, one day, I'm sure"
"Okay guys, we'd better go, there's nothing here we need worry about"
"What about the tools dad? Can we bring them?"
"Well, you're too young, but if you want, I'll put them in a box and when you're
ready I'll give them to you"
"Really?!? When will I be ready, I want them now!"
"Soon Son, soon, I'll tell you when"
"but not now..."


Sometimes we wait so long for something perfect we forget to create with the beautiful
things we find along the way. We deprive ourselves of happiness and are left with a dream
that no one knows we ever had. If we tried every day to build a little bit of what we can
when we can, others will see our dream in it's pieces, in our lives, even if that perfect
thing is never really quite finished.
>>>

PRESENTING SPARKS AND BABY NICHOLAS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOGWAH!!!

Thanks to you all for your support and congratulations. It was so nice to hear from GClef too! :-)

More updates comming... We finally got the kid to eat right, so wouldn't you know that two days later he gets constipated... Jeez, I either have to load up one end or unplug the other...

Trust me, you never want to give a baby a supository...

Miss you all,

Always...

Sorry for the delay guys, but I just wanted you all to know Alicia gave birth to a beautiful 7lb 13oz baby boy named Nicholas Joseph at 3:13pm on Friday August 2. Love you all. I'll check in soon.

Always,
Joe

Is it just me or is everyone as thilled to hear from LOGI again. Hi Logi, hope things get better for you!

Weekend update:

Baby has not come yet. It defiantly remains in it's mothers womb, drinking cocktails and flipping me the bird now and then....

House now has Garage and front doors, a roof and windows! Soon there will be Siding and the interior fun will begin! I'll post a picture soon, I think it's amazing to see a house go up, I never have before. Maybe a nice little animated collage would be nice? Oh yea??? Well I CARE! :-)

Had a VERY BAD head cold last week, mostly better now, but you know what? If those things are bad enough you really CAN'T taste anything! I thought it was BS, but it's true. Of course my loving wife gets no end of amusement out of my preoccupation with this discovery....

Hope you all had a great weekend, lotsa love.

Always...

Awsome post Tempest!!! I needed the smile too! :-)

Don't worry Ally, I assure you we look at EVERYTHING together. I mean what fun is decadence if you can't share the experience with your partner. I just love watching certain 'programs' together to conversationns like:

Sparks: Oh god, those are so not real.
Wry: ewww, look at those stretch marks, SOMEBODY had liposuction!
Sparks: Do you think she's pretty?
Wry: Eh.
Sparks: What the hell is she doing? She sounds like a dog barking?
Wry: That would make sense, look at that bone.
Sparks: Jeez, could you care a little less honey? At least look awake!
Wry: What the hell is all this crap?
Sparks: Plot line honey, for some reason these wackos insist upon it. Apparently these people consider themselves dramatic actors and not trashy high-prices whoes...

You get the idea...

Love is truly bliss :-)

Always,
Wryguy

Okay I have to stop my self-therapy of bitching about people who piss me off, anonomously. The temptation is becomming to great to start dropping hints and what-not so out of respect for certain other people I will keep my yap shut before I give away too much...

In other news:

Happa, you beat us, Alicia and I working together still got 3 sets of boobs wrong... only 85% so you are still the king...um queen :-)

Amen Boogie...Amen.

That sounds very appealing Boogie :-)

A slap in the head with a rotten Salmon would be a nice capper as well I think...

Some people just don't 'get it' in a larger sense. They don't understand that the world does not revolve around them and they do not understand that it is not the job of everyone else in the world to cater to them even if they expect it. The sad part is that no matter how long you wait, these people never get that one clue that perpetually seems to elude them...

On the bright side, I love my wife deeply, the baby is about 3 weeks away and the house seems to be flying up! Happy Happy Happy!!!

Hope you are all doing well.

Tempest, I hope it doesn't come to that. We still haven't had a chance to get together as couples and I'd hate to see another pair of really nice people move away prematurely...

Always...

Ever get the unsettlingly pleasing notion of shoving a dirty shovel roughly up somebody's ass, knowing that they really could use the intellectual boost?.... Strange how those thoughts can occur before 9am in the morning...

Boogie, does that paintball gun work with hot paint? I figure the satisfaction level would go way up if I could boil the paint balls before shooting them :-)

Sometimes I wish this were like some private therapy blog were only liscenced therapists who do not know me or any of my co-workers, family or friends would read my words and give me advice. That way I could post several pages about anyone who repeatedly frustrated the hell out of me with thoughtless, short-sighted thinking or generic dimwitted, inconsiderate crap. I could go on at length with impunity, no ones feelings would be hurt and it wouldn't get back to anyone.... But that's as maybe. And now, number 2....The Larch...The Larch.

Grumble grumble, bitch bitch bitch, claw, slap, kick, poke in the arm with a fork. Snarl and hiss, swat with a stick.... Names and detailes left out to protect the irrelevent. Honestly, I just shake my head and wonder why some things grate on me so...

Now that I've got that off my chest :-)

Things at home are going so well! Only about 4 or so weeks until the baby. We are just so thrilled. It's times like this I realize not just how much we love eachother but also how truly good friends we are to eachother. The house is now being framed out (Some of you received the pics) and it looks like they are building in turbo mode which is fine with me, the sooner the better I say, I mean it's not like we had to wait 53 weeks for them to start or anything! :-)
It was really good to see Skye, EvilG and MeeG last week. My trips out are less frequent now as I try to be by Alicia's side as much as possible. It's such a thrill to be able to feel that baby move and flip and kick and what a joy to feel the satisfaction of knowing I can truly be helpful to my wife. Being able to give freely and be truly needed can be such an exhilerating thing! I love how good it feels every time Alicia smiles lovingly because she didn't have to do something mundane like go downstairs herself for a glass of water or bend down to pick up that napkin she dropped...

I guess things are very busy for a lot of people around now, blogs are less frequent for many of you, and you are missed. Hope you all get a chance to post soon.

Skye and Rhinogirl, hope things get better and better for you very quickly, you're in my thoughts often.
Happa, Hope everything is going well and hope you can give us an update soon. Miss hearing from you.

As always,
Wryguy

Happa, So happy to hear the good news!!!

To wind up the last several days:

My lovely wife and I got to spend some quality time with UIM last night (We tried to call you EvilG, but your phone was forever busy...) . We had a very good time and a nice talk and it just reminds me of why I am going to miss him so much now that he's gone back home. At least I did resolve one issue, I was able to give him that big hug after all...

Always,
Wryguy...

I just need to get this off my chest. UIM, I love ya, and you'll always be among my closest friends. Your mother is very sweet and it was great to be around her, but there was one other woman there who was about a quarter of a hair-width from getting my size 11's driven so deep up her ass that she could tie the laces with her teeth. I never want to see this nasty complaining miserable hulk of a woman again. I hope you can understand. This is no reflection upon you or your mom or Art or anyone else, but this woman is permanently on on my complete jackass list. Please try and forgive me if you are upset by this, I don't know if she is a direct relation of yours or not, but after 4+ hours of emptying the attic and the basement and everything else, having to hear her keep saying things like "Oh I still see space in there on top of other things", "You could get more in there if you tried harder", "They were ok at the beginning but now they're no good"... The bile keeps rising in my throat just remembering it. I told her to feel free to climb in the truck and re-organize things any way she'd like, but strangely she declined my offer. Mike and I left is such a huff that I left my sunglasses there. Well, all I can say is that if what we did was helpful to your mom and to you, it was very much worth it, I'm just sorry I let it get to me as much as it did and I am sorry I did not get to see you and give you a big hug before I went home. I am sorry for that most of all.

Always,
Wryguy...

Also,CONGRATS HOTLIPS! and Skye, read the paragraph below and really think about giving me a call...

Let me share something with you UIM. Until my cancer came along I was always keeping my grief to myself, always trying to keep people from worrying or getting annoyed with me while still trying to be there for them and what I discovered was that all I accomplished was many years going by and never being as close to my friends as I wished I was. All the time I thought I was cementing friendships by not 'burdening' my friends, I was in actuality, keeping those friendships shallow by not allowing the people I care about to be there for me. Now I do feel very close to you and I think it's largely because I identify with you so much or at least I feel that I do, but I need you to know that even if you called at the "Worst" time, I would be grateful that you thought of me at all and I would feel even closer to you. If there is one thing I've learned from my friends and my wonderful wife, it's that I don't need to entertain my friends constantly or give them things to make them like me, but I do need to share my whole self with them if I want them to love me as close friends do.

Always,
Wryguy...

Great news ALLY, You are an inspiration!

Happa, Fingers crossed for you. Hope everything gets better and better for you.

God bless you Ally, this week I live vicariously through you. Man what a good feeling that must have been... :-)

Angel Feathers



Thub schnub thub schnub thub schnub...

scurrying across the floor

Little padded feet, hurry through the door

Disrupted blissful slumber

By the weight dropped on my chest

As pleas ring out for me to rise

Despite my weak protest

Scooped upon my shoulders

I lumber down the stair

Babe gleefully convulsing

I know we're almost there

What a suprise was waiting

Most of it on the floor

The breakfast that was made for me

Only a parent could adore

I shower hugs and kisses

On my thoughtful little one

Then make a game of cleaning

We both enjoy the fun.



If I can have one wish

Or clairvoyant future sight

is that in about 4 years

(I think that this sounds right?)

My baby would grow in health

And equally in love

And give me such a present

The one I'm dreaming of



And when we finished cleaning

and all the fun was through

We'd make that mess all over again

So mommy'd get a present too...



Looking forward to your arrival little one

I love you...

Skye, if you want, give me a call and I'll set you up with a modem. There are also a couple of "free" dial-up services I can point you to.

Logi - Welcome back! Sorry for your loss, but Congradulations on your grades, that is an amazingly hard course and 79 is an awsome grade!

Happa - Good luck on your tests, I can't wait to see those newborn pictures when the time comes!

Hello everybody!!!

I have pulled my head out of my computer long enough to poke my head back into my computer to post to you guys!

They finally broke ground on our house!!! Only 53 short weeks after we went to contract... but hey good news it is!

Alicia is due to have the baby in about 8 weeks now. I absolutely cannot wait!!!

So far the date/time/place of the baby shower is still a mystery to Alicia. Hopefully I can keep it that way... (Cat, we both thought of you, the only reason I didn't send an invitation is that you are several states away, but in our hearts you are here!)

I'll try to post the pictures of our new hole in the ground soon, hopefully there will be some new sonogram pics comming too, at almost 32 weeks, they should be awsome, but they may also reveal a little 'too much'. I don't know whether that would be good or bad because this whole "Let's not find out the baby's sex until birth thing is starting to wear me thing, I am dying to know every bit as much as I know the surprise would be nice. GRRRRrrrrr......

I'm sorry I haven't read everyone's blogs lately, but I'll get "back on the pot" shortly!

Miss you all!
as always...

It's now June 4th.

This has been a public service announcement.

Happa: ALL our prayers are with you as we hope for the BEST case scenario for you...

Let me just put this to bed right now. I finally saw Star Wars Episode two and it most definitely DID NOT suck. Well, let me qualify that. Compared to Episode One it was Oscar Worthy, Compared to Return of the Jedi It was still Reasonably good, but compared to Star Wars and Empite Strikes back is was merely ok. But still. After the steady degrade of quality over the last couple movies it was WONDERFUL to see such an improvement, especially considering we are talking about a move that we know the general ending to in advance. People don't realize that part of it. A lot of wind is taken out of the sails of a movie when the plot is already known ahead of time. Hell, a lot of people won't even see a movie if they find out how it turns out. To make a movie where EVERYONE pretty much knows how it's going to turn out and still have it be worth seeing is quite nice. No it didn't have the tightest story in the world, but it was light years ahead of the crap-addict debacle that Episode 1 was even if you can sit and name 50 plot holes in it.

Miss you all!

As Always...

Take the What
animal best portrays your sexual appetite?? Quiz

I type this with a smile, almost being able to read the reaction Ghost might have. But even though he may not want or need anyone to defend him or any..blah blah blah.... Look I can just restate it all im my own particular...particular... "Idium sir?" Yes that's it. Instead of doing that and wasting time I'll just say that I get Ghost's points and feel identically.



Related Opinion About The News and Media in General:
It's naive to deny human nature and why things wind up being "Newsworthy". There is no journalistic integrity in the news anymore, economics won't allow it. What will sell is gossipy sensational crap. It's about who has the raciest headlines and the nastiest pictures. In a world where the death of princess Dianna gets 4 pages, front and back and The death of Mother Theresa gets only 2 paragraphs on page 17, you don't need many more indicators of the inequity rampant not just in the media, but in society in general because frankly as Americans we are so overwhelmed by toys and technology and so many choices that we are almost over-stimulated to numbness and therefore more interested in the goings on of others rather than making and concentrating on decisions in our own lives. We are two-faced in this country or maybe just this part of it. We rant and rave and complain about the crap on TV, the crap in the news and the crap in magazines, but we still buy, read, and watch those things anyway. If we all started finding something else to do or to buy whenever those types of headlines and shows appeared, they would stop. We wouldn't need rediculous Bible-thumpers trying to terrify and threaten everyone into taking away our choices so that we make the right ones. Maybe in some ways they are right, I think making your actions match your words is the mark of maturity and integrity and I do not believe most people really posess that. I think most people are wasting so much time and energy rebelling against their parents and their jobs and their partners and their children that when faced with their actual flaws, people tend to just get suddenly tired, say "fuck it" and reach for the remote control.


I'm not saying everyone, but I do think most people. I also am not saying that there are people who NEVER have to struggle with these things. I am saying that for many, things are WAY out of proportion like 20% of the time meeting your needs and 80% of the time bitching or losing yourself into some mindless endeavor... Hell you're free to do it. This country is great and that is one reason why, but maybe one day you'll wake up and realize that half your life has passed you by and maybe you need to turn off the TV and put down that rag....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEMPEST!

It always amuses me when Happa swears... I don't know why, but it makes me giggle... :-)

Happa, I've seen maternity ward, that is not a show you necessarily want to watch while eating dinner. Nuff said...

I often consider writing poems on the blog, but sometimes drop the idea if the titles that pop into my head are too strange. I thought I'd share some of the rejected ones with you:

"The coconut crotch"
"Bill Withers and the grapefruit organ"
"Smudge monkey"
"Periwinkle the bloated piper"
"When the moon smells like cottage cheese, it's time to take a bath"
"Nub"

Okay, so there you have it. Obviously there is a rigorous quality control that goes on behind the scenes here and I hope you all appreciate it! :-)

As always...

Skye: Thanks buddy, if we Mike has Magic night this Wed. I'll be there.

Everyone else: Miss you all. Sorry I haven't blogged (I am sure you're all broken hearted), I have been learning to write programs and have had my brain burning non-stop for weeks. Although I must admit, learning as you go is FAR more productive than classes for me. I must say though and it bears repeating: "There is NOTHING you can't find on Google." Google has given me as much of my program as all the reference books and people combined. Goodle is good, love Google...

Happa, If I said I was going to "Brush up on my Japanese" most people who know me would assume I was talking about dinner. It's amazing how many different levels life can be lived on... :-)

Wrote a nice sincere blog about fatherhood... Even copied it. Blogger ate it. I couldn't paste. Windows hates me.

Fuck blogger...and oatmeal...

Look, SHUT UP! Just listen damnit. Go....Read...Laugh...

And for all who care:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

manicotti (Click here to read it yourself)

SYLLABICATION: man·i·cot·ti

PRONUNCIATION: HEAR IT

NOUN: 1. Pasta in large-sized tubes. 2. A dish consisting of such tubes stuffed with meat or cheese, usually served hot with a tomato sauce.

ETYMOLOGY: Italian, pl. of manicotto, muff, from manica, sleeve, from Latin manicae, sleeves, from manus, hand. See man-2 in Appendix

Damnit! There Ghost goes making me smile again! grrrr... (Does anyone really know these are jokes? Hmmmm, maybe if I made them funny...)

UIM: Don't you mean "I'll tie you up, pull down your pants and have a trained Monkey pick nickels off your ass until you cry, and I've got 5 rolls of nickels"???

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well!

Is Logi okay? she hasn't blogged for a while! :-O

Happa, thanks for the offer, but I don't think we'll be able to make Hawaii :-) Hope you're getting lots of rest and I look forward to your baby blogs every time you post :-)

Now, for todays quote:

"Trying to win over an unappreciative boss is akin to trying to suck grape juice out of a goats ass..." - Wryguy

"Politeness is the grease that helps the penis of responsibility slide into the ass of life." - Wryguy

I just got Dungeon Seige too, it is SOOOOOO cool. There goes my promise to try and get more than 5 hrs of sleep a night....

I know UIM, that's why I identify with and feel so close to you...

Good luck Tempest!

I get so mad every time I read Ghost and he makes me smile :-)

So I suprised Sparks with a 7-day cruise to Bermuda on Memorial day weekend or at least I THOUGHT I did. You see Sparks has never been on a cruise and we were booked on a cruise for our honeymoon and there was a hurricane so we had two credits for a cruise in the future. (Well, 75% of what we paid anyway...) Anyway, I decided to seize the opportunity (read: The baby is not due until Aug.) made reservations and called to let her know the news. So here are the rediculous bullet points of what happened in the next two days:

1. They (Travel Agent) didn't place the reservation in time and we got wait-listed.
2. We found out we could get a better cabin for less money if we went the following week so we decided to jump on it since the wait-list was going nowhere
3. We realize the next day that we have a wedding to go to the following week. We agree to take the cruise anyway if we have to, but want to check that wait-list again.
4. Found out we moved up to #5 on the list so we all agreed to wait until the next day to see what we'd have to do.
5. Found out that one of Alicia's co-workers was turned away at the dock because she was too far along in her pregnancy.
6. Called the travel agent "Never heard of that rule"
7. Called the cruise company "Never heard that, oh wait we just had a policy change, let me look"
8. Found out you can no longer crruise in your third trimester due to insurance limitations.
9. Checked the dates, we miss the cut off by just 2 weeks.
10. No cruise...

Well, we'll think of something else to do. Mohegan Sun anyone??? :-)

As Always...

First, Happy Birthday Brenda!

The next thing I want to say is that Sparks is truly and honestly my best friend. I don't say that to kiss ass. In all honesty, she doesn't read my blog. She isn't a blog person
and isn't really good in foreign electronic environments, she leaves that to me. That returns us to the basic point. She is my best friend. In fact she is probably my first true
best friend. I have had some close friends, but never anyone close enough to be a best friend. I'm a stand-offish person plain and simple. I don't make a lot of plans, I
enjoy seeing my friends and then again 6 months later thinking nothing of the time in-between. But that is not how you build close relationships. Enduring ones yes, but
not close. Yes, I have learned to open myself up and share myself and even to allow people to care about me. I care about the people I consider my friends and can even
consider a person a friend who I only met a couple of times in person, even if I spend more time challenging (read: bitching about) them then enjoying their company. I
my world, in my mind, you don't bother challenging or debating a person unless you really respect them. I guess I can attribute my upbringing to the courseness of my
ranting though. I don't talk about my family much, mostly because I wasn't allowed to really exist in a functional way until I was old enogh to be a physical threat, thus
demanding to be addressed at least as directly as a stranger on the street. My family is very combative in their way and all have a habit of listening only as a device used
to get a person silent so we can tell them what's what. I do feel I have done a great job in my life learning to counsel myself and learn to listen and openly admit my
quirks in conversation (e.g. say things like 'Look, I know I am babling like an obnoxious fool right now, just give me a minute and I'll finish my crap and then we can move
on intelligently and forget this is happening), but as helpful as that is, as humbling as that can be, it's frequently not enough. Once something is out of my mouth, it's out,
and owning up and even apologizing can not always right the wrong. So I resolve myself to accepting that and continuing to just try to do my best.

The fallout is however, I am now 31 years old, never got very close to anyone, or got really close to people only when they were safely far enough away that I couldn't see
them often even if I wanted to. I think you may begin to see where I am going here. Basically I am realizing that my anxiety makes it hard for me to have 'normal'
friendships. When I see friends I have a good time, but as soon as a single joke falls flat or as soon as I say a single foolish thing and people go silent, somewhere in
my head I have RUINED the evening. I don't believe it literally, but that fear creeps in and builds over time, only alleviating when I can make people laugh again. Beyond
that I feel that this model of functionality can not work on a frequent basis, it becomes too visible and people would start to see through it. Then there is the fact that I have
such a fractured background, never had favorite music or books or movies of any kind by the time I was 16 and finally lived somewhere for 3 years in a row for the first
time in my life. So I always wound up feeling on the outside, playing catch up to learn about something that everyone would be thoroughly done with by the time I was up
on it and eventually, realizing that I have never really developed the tools to make up all those years or even just relax and be myself, whatever myself might be at that
time... I slipped through the next two years and then went off to college. I have to admit, I did have one, in my mind at least, golden year. One year that I got a taste of what
friends and fitting in and belonging felt like and for the first time felt a sense of calm. But that was short lived, because now it would be life and not my family splitting my
first little group of true friends apart, the only group I had dared to spend a lot of time with and relax.

I both withdrew and exploded in college. Becomming super-active and at the same time drawing myself in to a hyper-defensive shell where I wouldn't or couldn't allow
myself to get too close to people. It was a paradox. I socialized a LOT, but always in controlled settings where there was some rigidity that I could work with and derive
security from. Like HS, I wouldn't appreciate most of the best people I knew until much later.

I do remember a short period though when I was doing a play with Skye his senior year of HS (with whom I'd had a tumultuous, if brief, history with to that point) and
although it was probably too minor for him to recall, I really enjoyed making peace, getting to know him and spending a bunch of nights with he and a few others in our
cars in various parking lots after rehearsals, just chewing the shit and having a good time. I never told him, but those few nights were among the very first times I was
able to just relax and have a good time with a few people, even one on one, and live without working. I always attributed that to the kind of person Skye is. I always
admired him since then and have never had any cause to change that opinion. It is a little embarrassing though and thus embedded so deeply in this prose that few if
any people will have the patience to reveal how highly I regard him. A person who, again, is someone I've probably haven't hung out with more than a couple dozen times
in my life.

So anyway, to sum up. Sparks is the first person I have ever been able to develop a friendship with that not only endures 24 hours a day 7 days a week, but does so with
the easy calm that I had only ever known briefly via special people in isolated moments of my life. I hope that time will pass and I will have the opportunity to make more
friends in a real way. In a way where I can see them more than 2 times in a month and not freak out. In a way where I can relax and feel like I am fine and no work is
necessary. I'd like my friends to know what high regard I hold them in. Not simply because I find the courage to tell them so, but because I find the peace in my heart and
soul to tell them so transparently and by simply being. To make these people feel like I am someone they would WANT to see more than once every few months.
Yes, I could name some exceptions, some people I have seen more and been close too. I saw my old roomie every day, and we are friends, but I also know I hid away a
lot became more rigid when my anxiety mounted. It's not that I haven't seen people often it's that I haven't been capable of seeing them often easily and without anxiety.
So life is a process. I'll take the opportunities afforded me and maybe some people will roll the dice and decide they want to hop on board and see how the journey turns
out. I look forward to those people surfacing and I look forward to working to find that place where I wont have to work any more.

I thank whoever of you have endured and read this entire mind purge (no pun intended) and I hope it meant something to you as well as me. Either way, thanks.

As always...

Happa I know what you mean. Sparks is totally frustrated because she wants me to feel the baby move so badly to share her experience with me and while I have felt it a few times now, 95% of the time, the baby stops moving the second my hand is on her belly. :-)

Thanks to Boogie Shoes for the greatest poetic ballad of our time! :-)

I see Ghost has now become all that he has lothed in the past I wish him luck.

Got the info, thanks for your e-mails. It was a tough night, but ultimately a pretty good night, relatively speaking. It was warm and loving and ultimately very uplifting and as enjoyable as can be reasonably expected. Maybe a little bit more...

Always...

If anyone hears from UIM or has details about his Nana's funeral, PLEASE E-MAIL ME. Thanks.

I knew UIM's Nana. I adored her. I have so many memories of being at UIM's house with Him and his Nana and Lady running around with a tennis ball in her mouth. Chasing down nerf arrows in the tall grass of the back yard keeping half an eye out for land mines. I remember the Games we'd all play at the kitchen table, Franks poster rack, the piles of Toys 'R' Us booty, the pitiful old computer that he managed to coax the darndest things out of. I remember the peacefullness of the place for me, the permanence. Some things changed, as all things do, but they were still The house, UIM, Nana, Lady, the feeling, the sense of the place, like a blanket always loosely draped across the back of your mind in such a comfortable way that you forget sometimes it's there. Even as I heard of your Nana's illness, UIM, I never really registered that there was anything to worry for, that is end was possible. In my mind, my heart, these people, these places, are supposed to last forever. Because there was a magical quality there for me. A meaning beyond immediate perception. In some strange way, I had made that place, those memories, sacred to me, put them in my pocket and locked them up for safety so they would always be close. Now those physical things have fallen away one by one and we're left and the memories and suddenly I am forced to figure out what to do with that locked box and the permanent things within and as I write this I know. I will open that box, check the contents one by one and put it right back in my pocket, because in the best of ways everything is still there, just as I left it.

My heart is with you Frank, I feel for you truly, even if no one can truly feel AS you in these moments...
Please let me know what I can do to help or where I can be to be there...

Miss you buddy,
Always...

As odd and unweildy a combination as is reasonably possible:

Al, my most sincere and heartfelt condolences...

Happa, my most sincere and joyous congratulations!

The Shallow Contraption

Who knows where the beauty lies?
The eyes perceive it
The mind believes it
But where is it really?
Or when may be more correct?

Must there be experience for existence?
Is that this beasts nature?
Surely I say to you it is.
There is no relative without perception
And it's meaning damns it as such.

So we must have experience to ween it
from ugly or plain or nothing at all
kissed into our minds evermore
Or as longs as minds will hold such things
But therein lies both the comfort and The rub
In irony

For love is beauty
I dare for proof otherwise
And where there is love there is memory
And eternity and revel of soul
Twisted twine in our garden
with flowers to scent whistfully on and on

There is no loss or such thing
No time, No age, No end
Save to us and only then if the true end is ours
Yet if not
Then that love, that beauty is forever
And our hearts will have comfort
Waiting just ahead
Waiting always and Inevitable
With peace bunched in it's windings of sweet rope
Unbroken

And our love is safe there
And pure and perfect
Beyong the frail and warm
Beyond the walking, seeing, breaking
Beyond the all that is not in the truth of after
In the timeless, the forever, the final
The Beautiful

Ah Happa, you make it all worthwhile :-)

Glad things are improving in most areas. Hope everything continues to do so.

Skye, I truely feel for you. One of the true boons of love is that is doesn't have to be logical, it just has to be. Being able to feel for someone so strongly is a valuable gift, even as that gift causes great pain. One day I pray you will find the peace and comfort of knowing you loved so deeply and not the regret of not loving when you had the chance. On this subject I do know just a bit. Good luck my friend.

Since I'm probably boycotted by a bunch of people by now anyway... :-)

If oversimplifacation were a crime, some of us would be in jail.

A. We support Israel, because we are on the same side of a political fence most of the time and they are our easiest access and safe haven in the area. It's in our best interests. We do not fear Isreal nor it's political "power". As witnessed this week, when Isreal does something that seems counter-productive to the peace process, we do not hesitate to take action.

B. We need the Arabs FAR MORE than Isreal as we rely on them for 66% of our oil supplies and that keeps us constantly open to resolutions to this and all these types of conflicts.

C. Throwing a fire-bomb at a government building is far different than blowing up a passenger plane. The same methods may be employed militarily, but that is semantical. The bottom line (As I will explain below) is that your "Only" means of fighting MILITARILY, is not your only means of fighting, nor is it necessarily your best one.

D. The arab states could far more easily utilize peaceful and political means to bring public opinion to their cause, uniting the arab states in a truly powerful way. Their infighting, mutual jealousy and power/greed thirsts keep that from happening. If the Indians had control of the resources that the Arabs did then yes, it would be wrong if they utilized their only "Military" options because Military options are not the only nor the most powerful options available.

The botton line is to think three-dimensionally. Don't reduce something to a single variable or black-and-white.

Hope you all had a good weekend.
Psyche, is a kick ass name.

As always...

Congratulations!
Your general IQ score is 154.

Oh well, Happa is smarter than I. :-)

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVING WIFE.
YOU GROW MORE BEAUTIFUL WITH EVERY PASSING MOMENT.

I may not always feel like I deserve such a wonderful person, woman and friend in my life, but for as long as you'll have me, walk, talk and Laugh with me, my single-minded goal will always be to make you as happy as the limits of my body and mind will allow. And if prayers have the power I hope they do then I'll make you even happier than those limits will allow. Thank you for walking beside me and thank you for the chance to know you in every sense of the word. I never truly dreamed I'd be so happy that when my friends call to hang out, my first reaction is "Well, I'd really like to spend time with Alicia right now..." That feeling has only grown and as foreign as that is to me in this life, it is also sacred and I will care for and nurture that with my very life.

I love you sweetheart,

Always,
Joe

Happa: Great news about the baby, sorry you had such a scare! Our prayers for your StepFather, I hope he gets well soon!

Is Paul's Website permanently down? Does anyone know?

UIM, Sorry I haven't got back to you, I am looking forward to reading your re-write as soon as I get a free hour or two to give it a good once over.

Ghosts of Dolls

I had a frog, it's name was Fred
I stretched his neck,
Now he's dead,
He didn't plead
Did not protest,
Most likely cause I squished his chest
I didn't know he'd come apart
They just assumed I'd be so smart.
I never held a living thing
Only dolls and toys and rigid things
I sat and cried and felt such pain
I'd never see my Fred again
It's odd in life how you remember
Something like a frog dismembered
But in my life I've seen and see
That frog again metaphorically
Sometimes I try with pure intentions
And fall in ways too foolish to mention
But to judge when to not try
Is half the battle by and by
Because some things can be re-said
But some can be like old Fred's head.

...

I am so sorry to Hear about Metrocake's loss as well as Tempest's. My heart goes out to both of you...

Okay, some people say it's a boy, others say I'm looking at a leg. What do you think???

Thanks Happa, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you're thoughfulness!

Baby News: We just had our 20 week sonogram and I am happy to report that everything looks perfect. We don't know the sex of the baby per se, but I at least think the sono pic speaks for itself. Hopefully I'll post that tonight. You moms out there help me out ok? I would swear I see 'testicles' (I was told 'Balls' was too crude :-) What do you think???

Hope everyone is well!

As Always...

Boogie shoes really put it well, check out her site:

It seems Rain has left us, I am personally sad for this fact. I had hoped to urge her to avoid the source of her frustration and instead may have played a hand in her leaving. Apparently her e-mail address is no longer working so I am posting here in the chance that she may read this and I can give a proper goodbye. Goodbye Rain, you will be missed. It's sad to see a good neighbor move out of the neighborhood, you're always left with something less, something that you cannot get back and you feel that loss for a long time...

To reiterate, you may not care what people think when they read your blog, but you do blog for people to read, that is the point of blog, to say otherwise, again, is bullshit.

What strikes me the most about this whole blog thing is how great an illusion of closeness it generates while maintaining us in distinctly disconnected states.

In short, if we were all at a diner, sitting around a table together, none of this shit would be happening. I'd bet on it. Maybe the blog is too personal, too easy? We can sit alone and write the random thoughts in our minds without filter. We can write what is secretly important beneath a veil of whimsy, we can rant about delicate things without direct consequences.

Don't tell me you don't care if anyone reads your blog, that it's just a place to vent. That is straight up bullshit B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. If you want a journal, open up MS Word or download staroffice for free and save the damn thing on your hard drive. The insinuation that people blog without wanting their blogs to be read is the biggest fraud on God's earth. I will not debate or even entertain debates on this topic, it would be an insult to do so.

To be trite and inane, the blog is a pie and we are all chefs. We all cook our own shit, throw it into the pot and then act suprised when the pot as a whole starts to suck. Why do people keep bitching about what gets thown in the pot while still taking the cover off and offering it to the chef they keep bitching about.

The blog is an ILLUSION. When everyone believes in it the illusion is virtually real, but if anyone sees through the illusion or disrespects it, then people can get hurt or disillusioned. We are not really here around a table, laughing and having good times, being interactive and thoughtful towards eachother, we are posting to a dead space, filling it, hoping someone will read and post a response, giving us the illusion of gathering and conversation and unfortunately we have no choice but to internalize what we read as if someone was sitting before us saying these things directly to us. If you've ever read a real message board you would notice that they are full of people who rant and whine and posture in ways they never would in person because they are safely tucked away behind a computer somewhere and that is an accepted, if unliked, mentality. It becomes an issue though when the people in that message board are your friends, then that mentality gets you into trouble.

So to the people being offended, delete the link to the offending site, don't go there and pretend you never did. problem soved.
To the people doing the offending, if you even secretly care that what you are saying might be hurting the actual people in your life, maybe you stop and ask yourself how a statement might be recieved and make an attempt to qualify it to show you are not just indifferently making reference to someone or something that you don't like. Whether you get it or not, this is a PUBLIC forum, not a word doc on your machine and maybe you should respect it that way. A forum is not a place for just doing whatever the hell you want, even if you have the right to, because you respect at least some of the people you are "speaking" to when you post.

End Rant.

THE TRUTH ABOUT GHOST!

I thought that would get your attention. But the truth is I have no truth about Ghost. I do have a truth about me that came to light while reading Ghost however and I must want you all to read it if I've gone through all this trouble just to get your attention.

The reality for me is that there is nothing wrong or malicious about Ghosts caring or not caring about what I post in my blog. The problem is with me (I believe this may apply to many people but I can only speak for myself, thus read this and comment) I want to feel important, interesting, funny. I want people to care about the crap that is meaningless to them. I want them to stroke me and tell me how smart I am. I can rise happily to the occaision of being attacked or criticized because I am being acknowledged directly and that has value. In truth, while I care about the people who's blogs I read, I don't always care about what they write, heck I don't ALWAYS read what they write. It has no bearing on what they mean to me or how much I like them, just a matter that sometimes I need to deal with something or are busy or are self absorbed for a while and don't want to deal with the "rambling post so and so made today". I may happily read tomorrow, I may suddenly care about a similar post later or I may not. While it may be unpopular to say so,I believe that what Ghost is doing is more genuine and honest that what I do, even if it is more crude or cold. So it's a choice I think, basically. I don't think people like the concept of sometimes, they want to hear "I'm always interested, I always care".. and saying something like "I sometimes listen, I sometimes care" is met with a negative backlash, maybe even moreso than the person who never cares, because at least then it's even. No one is singled out on any given day to be ignored. So whatever that makes me so be it. Listening to Ghost for so long and seeing the amount of heat he takes while perservering has more or less shamed me into outing my own way, dispelling the manufactured illusion and leaving only the truth that on any given day, depending on my mood and a dozen other factors, I may not read your blog and I may not care about what you say. I do however always car about you as friends.

Ghost said he doesn't care about baby talk because he cannot relate, and this is true beyond him. If my wife wasn't pregnant I wouldn't be nearly as interested in others who were. I would care about them but not so much their writing regarding babies. But I think that is human nature. You care about things that are relevant to your life and other things may hold passing interest but they fall away as there is nothing in the context of your own life for them to anchor to.

I think the distortion comes in because Ghost makes no attempts to qualify his remarks. Perhaps he believes it would just introduce another element for people to misunderstand, perhaps he beleives it would be a sign of weekness or stooping to a lower level to do so or perhaps he has some other reason. But no matter the reason, it would be as naive to assume there are no gualifiers or that he doesn't care about the people as it would be to infer that he doesn't care about anything he reads, I don't believe that is the case, but I guess that is a topic for him, should he choose to address it.

On my end, that's about it. I hope you all understand and maybe even identify, if not, I guess I could just start playing solitaire in my spare time :-)

As always...

Thoughts and Prayers to Paul and Brenda. May you find comfort and peace through the pain and a sense of love from beyond...

To all the wonderous blog: Baby updates are a-comin! A week from Saturday is the next sonogram, those pics should be really exciting! (For us anyway, but as usual, I will force them upon everyone anyway) :-)

Lawsuit lure of the day:CHASE MANHATTAN BANK SUCKS!

JP MORGAN CHASE MANHATTAN BANK SUCKS!

I have a corporate account with them. I pay them to hold my money. I have over $5,000 in that account and I have to pay them to hold it. I have to pay them for checks, I have to pay them for EVERYTHING! THEY SUCK! Interest? Um no, because I have to pay much more than the interest. But they let me know that if I put $25,000 in the account they'll call it even, more than that and I might make a few cents. Oh yea, sorry, let me just reach in my pocket and greab another 20G for ya...

I go in there today to get a couple of money orders...Those Mother Fuc&ers want to charge me $7.00 per money order or $10.00 per bank check. They are a bunch of blood sucking poor service, indifferent, uncaring, scumbags and if I thought for a second I would get treated like a human at another bank I would switch immediately!

Tempest: VERY funny stuff! Hey, when are you going to share the wealth and start an internet D&D campaign. We have mic's, we have web cams, what's the holdup???? :-)

Rain: I don't know what you were referring to when you wrote about people in the war, but I sympathize with your sentiment. If people want to feel good about or be proud of what they or their children do that's great, but ANYONE who tries to accomplish that same good feeling and pride by deriding those who do not make the same choices, are not only fools, but undeserving of the happiness and pride they are trying to reinforce by their immature behavior.

Nightskye, Dude, I have called you 4 times and left 3 messages. Are you ok? I am worried here, can anyone confirm that he and Rhinogirl are doing all-right?

Happa: My heart dropped while I started reading about you situation. I thank God that everything is relatively all right. I am praying for you in a big way.

For everyone else: Except for the teeny tiny window it gives me to write thisblog in, OPERA rules. This is the fastest, most stable web browser ever and you can tell it not to allow ANY POP-UPS!!!! I am so happy browsing now. Sure occaisionally something that requires MS Java causes me grief and I have to load IE, but most of the time it's just smooth as pie.

To the many Ghosts (Not just THE Ghost :-) of Bloggerville: I hope you are all well, I miss hearing from you and I hope you all have a great weekend.

Oh yea and to the Criminals who get off on technicalities and people who hurt or even kill children: "I hope you all rot in hell very soon and forevermore"

Cheers!

Wry...

"I was alone. I was all by myself. No one was looking. I was thinking of you..." - Greenday

So as the snow falls and I rip off formats and I think on the world and my life, I am finding myself waxing poetic so here you go:

Jig-Saw

I stand beside my partner
Pondering our bond and joy
The snow sprinkles fast its downy quilt
As we are overwhelmed by it's will
I muse at our slight and meekness in it's presence
Then a sense slowly overtakes me
As an intimate whisper can grab your ear
I feel the pavement beneth my feet
Beneath hers
And a thought births
We are not small at all
Nor powerless
Not so much this as blind to our nature
Fooled as the arm might be
Observing the wonder of the feet
And feeling alone and powerless
To make the body walk or pause
But that is an illusion of identity and self and ego
It is a false arrogance
But a self-serving one
For what sanity would the arm have
Knowing it can do naught but that which the body commands?
Silent against it's will.
So too are we and arm of the body
The body of the world
But we are loose of it's total grasp
Yet not loose of eachothers
You are my hand and I feel you
And I will not be alone.
I have loves binding
Like sinue and cloth and bone...
So let the body do it's will as it sees fit
I will concentrate on affairs of the arm
And I will have faith
In all that is beyond my control
To manage its own affairs.
But in feeling the hand
And sharing it's will and it mine
In feeling my love
I have sanity and power and peace
Knowing for perhaps the first that I am part of the whole
Part of something greater
And in knowing you
That truth can matter.

Rain congratulations! All the best, thanks for the baby tips and best of luck!

Okay, are the cameras rolling? Recorder on? Good. I may never do this again :-)

I feel I've got to defend Ghost a little bit here. I think this has become like a fish story and the more time that goes by the worse the crap becomes. Look, he was crass and blunt, but basically he just said in all honesty that there is a size at which a person becomes unattractive to him. Frankly, I think this is true for everyone, it's just a matter of how large you go before you hit that wall. It's subjective. Personally, I feel the same way in principle, but I know that what I find attractive may be fat to someone else. But also, I am kind of repulsed by sickly thin women too. Am I going to get a lot of kate Mosses telling me to go to hell and not be so judgmental? maybe, but there probably won't be as much sympathy by the clot.

Look all I'm saying is until you know where a person draws his lines, AND understand that he is talking about romantic attraction here AND own up to the fact that you and everyone else has a line like this somewhere, you really can't judge how good, bad, right, wrong, justified or not a person may be. Even if you DO know those things you are not necessarily justified in judging. He's not Shallow Hal here, just in touch with what he likes. Lets not take it to the extremes, make assumptions and act on our worst fears.

THAT BEING SAID, I don't believed the way it was shared necessarily fostered an understanding reaction, but I guess even when crass, you got to give your friends a little rope now and then.

No matter how much I get on his case, and I do, OFTEN, I just felt the need to step in and share that. You know, I gotta kick the dog that one extra time.

And everyone else, don't take this personally either, I'm not mad or against you. Just being straight up.

Damn I rock :-)


Would you survive a horror movie? Find out @ She's Crafty

No psycho slayer is going to get between you and your right to life. You're an ass-kicker, a charge taker, and if need be, a monster masher. You're level-headed in sticky situations, you trust yout instincts, and you're not afraid to get a little dirty while getting the job done. Simply put, you rock! But don't get carried away. Even though your little brother might act like a creep sometimes, you definately shouldn't be driving stakes through his heart!

Thanks for the link Chynakatt :-)

IMPORTANT NOTICE I'M SURE YOU'LL ALL BE FALLING ALL OVER YOURSELVES ABOUT!

I'm now accessible at work via Yahoo Messanger as JCP171. I know, can't you just feel the electricity in the air??? :-)

Good for you Rain, way to go, but Damn girl I wanted to be 10,000... I was checking in all day since 9950... wound up 10005...fell asleep at the wheel I guess. :-)

One of the things I really like about Ghost: He has an innate ability to know when a dead dog has been beaten enough and leave it alone. He has never faultered in this ability and admittedly I envy that a little. I do not have that polished sense and tend to abuse said dog a few more times than is necessary, call it being sure it's dead :-)

Made first contact video-style with Tempest's other half last night. I must say I truly dig Yahoo Messanger. I may be a convert...

As far as all the crap that is going down:

1. Cremeatorium guy? It only goes to reflect the neglect our nation has for the dead (Other than our own). What I don't understand is why they are bothering to identify all the bodies? I mean seriously, they were already dead and thought to be cremeated, just start a big bonfire and burn them like they were supposed to be. Why go through the unnecessarily painful process of notifying families that their dead relatives weren't cremeated? so they can go ahead and burn them anyway but be angry and rehash their loss? Sure people will scream "we want to know!" "We have a right to know!" Please, get off it, the guy was already dead, big woop. The state can handle all the re-cemeation costs and it would probably cost less than all the DNA work they'll have to do. Look I would be pissed if one of those bodies were my wife or my family, but that's because of my attachment and reverence for their memory. Nothing of who they were is left in their bodies. If you are religious you believe 'they' went to heaven/hell, the next world, into a new body or were recreated as something else. If your not religious you believe that who a person is ends at death and lives only in memory. As gruesome and cruel as it may seem, dead bodies are not people and do not have rights like people. They are more or less property and this is a case of mishandled and abused property. Nothing more or less. So prosecute this guy as a criminal, like a theif and a vandle and burn the bodies and be done with it.

2. Mother Yates: I have never been of the belief that insanity, legitamate or otherwise somehow excuses a terrible act. She was insane? Good, here's your electric chair, but we have no hard feelings. Look, maybe not to that extent, but unless she has a clinical, observeable and treatable insanity, WITH A REASONABLE CERTAINTY THAT TREATMENT WILL WORK, I say she should die. Even then, I think madatory steralization and imprisonment at least! She was on anti-depressants, she got more depressed with each child and yet everyone was shocked when this happened. Look, to her husband the asshole: "If your wife is dangerously depressed and gets worse with each child, maybe you should have stopped at 3 or 4! I'm sick of these assholes who just want to have kids and ignore the warnings and troubles. I hate irresponsible people. You should read this backstory. the freakin woman was suicidal after the fourth kid it got so bad. So what do they do? They have a fifth! ASSHOLES. Don't get me started. She should be dead. If you want my honest opinion, I'd put the husband in jail too for not wearing a damn condom.

3. Olympics: Used to love them, barely acknowlege their existance now. They were once only on every 4 years, there was a sense of exotic excitement and thrills. Now they changed the format, there is an olympics every two years, the media machine is always in motion and it is like they are never over. I hate the olympics now, they are meaningless to me. Shame really...