Weblog 262
February 20, 2011~ 12:00 am
Word of advice: when you are already even mildly depressed, do NOT watch Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story". LOL!!! We waited weeks, Wayne and I, to pop that baby into the DVD player on a Saturday night hoping to enjoy some wonderful satiric humor-- and although there was plenty of that, what watching it did was drag me down into a funk of grande mal proportion, leaving me drained.
Here-- in the rich, rich colors of Hieronymus Bosch, is a perfect depiction of what our government and our financial institutions do, day in and day out, to every member of the United States citizenry.....
It's one big perfectly orchestrated shell game. There's the little pea held in the air by the expert shyster (which could be any of the rich pettifoggers in government, banking or industry who continually switch which shell the pea is under so the game always ends in their favor.)
The little guy (you or me) --we're crapped on time and again, working harder with no guarantees that our futures will be secure. The only certainty is that the rich get richer, the poor stay poorer-- and from the time I was born in the 1950's, it's gotten worse and worse. (The biggest leap for Wall Street came about in the 1980's under the criminal actions of Ronald Reagan through his 'financial deregulation' and the breaking of the unions, starting with the air traffic controllers. After that... the wolves OWNED us.)
It's very disheartening. I have no doubts that Moore's 'mockumentary' is accurate, but as I said, it's not the thing to watch when one's own foothold on happiness is tenuous at best. (I don't know about you guys, but I saw50,000.00 60,000.00 -I just checked my records again- go right down the toilet in 2 months in 2008.) Like most Americans, I have a 401K plan based upon the crap shoot that's the stock market, not a 'pension'... (oh, that was part of the benefits when I was hired 27 years ago, but like most promises, it's disappeared.... morphed into more 'corporate-friendly' packaging.) And witnessing how the tremendously expensive bank bail-outs have done nothing in the least to discipline large banks has been terribly disheartening. It means that anything can (and WILL) go south again at any time... so it's back to 'business as usual', which is... 'Screw You.'
In fact, to continue with Bosch (which I will, since his vision of madness is pretty much my own right now) this is my head at the present time.
Something's living in there, and I'm not quite sure what. (I know both eyes have to be looking in two different directions at once because you never know from which direction the next catastrophe will come.) Things just keep getting jammed down my gullet, making it crowded with a lot of junk I'm not the least interested in: reality TV and Smart Phones and (oh, God) this new rash of 'mortgage refinancing' I'm seeing pitched on every web page. (Hey! Isn't this this the same stuff that got us into this mess to begin with?)
During the beginning of the financial melt down those ads had all but disappeared-- and now they're BACK! Doesn't this worry anybody else??
I'm hoping at least a good, fresh budding spring will do its bit in raising my spirits... nature so often does. In fact just today I made online reservations for me and Wayne to get away for five days in late April, and head to the mountains to relax in the Laurel Highlands and away from things for a while. A good BOOSTING for our moods, I'm hoping, and away from the daily grind. (I made it for the Easter weekend because frankly, holidays pile on more stress, and I've had my fill of holiday obligations for a while. "Count me out" as they say.)
Work has become Sisyphean recently-- (you know, that poor guy whose job it is to roll the boulder UP the hill only to have it roll right back down?) meaning: it's extremely effortful with little accomplished that isn't eaten up by a LARGER wave of work that washes over me the next day. It's begun to take its toll, because I've entered a cycle of 'constant catch-up' and it's just plain tiring. Time away will be a welcome relief. (I don't even care if it creates MORE catching up because each day's been like that for me anyway. LOL!!) -- I figure -- 'who gives a sh*t?'-- if it's like that already, may as well take some REAL time off.
My butt's been 'spoken for' and lots of things already own it --they're using me like a 'host'.
LOL!!! That's about it for right now. This week's entry has, thus far, been a means to carp.....(and carp and carp.) We all need to sound off at times and this is mine. The world is crowded, chaotic.... pushing even into my sovereign space and my 'alone' time.
For right now, no one paints my state of mind better than BOSCH...I love him! (That 15th century painter has a finger on my pulse for sure, always has..... but sometimes it's even more accurate than others.)
The only thing that's saved me this past week or so has been entering my child mind and writing my witch-tooth-dragon stories. For an hour or so I disappear completely and make room only for them, and it's a good thing.
I'm very grateful to the gift of imagination for providing a way out when others are blocked... so hooray for stories! They provide light enough to want to get up in the morning, if only to get back to them again. (Thanks for listening. Sorry to be so complaining but life has its ebbtides, and recently, I've been experiencing more shallows than swells.)
(Eight weeks to the 'Lodge at Chalk Hill'.......I can't wait!)
February 20, 2011~ 10:30 pm
I went to see mum this afternoon and had dinner at the Assisted Living. Very nice time.....good dinner.... quiche and homemade split pea soup, white corn and Italian green beans and ambrosia for dessert. The early evening was pleasant. (Kay had a flower pinned above her ear, so I was calling her 'Dorothy Lamour' and we all began to reminisce about the old Hope/Crosby 'Road' movies and laughing.) Looked out of mum's window when we got back to her room as I was closing her blinds for her for the the night, and BOING!
THERE IT WAS! SNOW! Oh, yuck!! After about five days of temperatures in the 40's, 50's and even 60's..... here was February wearing hob-nailed boots and kicking my ass! Doggone stuff came down while we were eating. I had an INCH on my car, and slipped walking up to it to clean it. (Weatherman......you're full of crap...'rain' my butt! That stuff was WHITE and COLD and SOLID. It was snow, you lying booger!)
Oh well. Perfect end to a perfect weekend. LOL!
February 21, 2011~ 10:30 pm
Well, Phil the Groundhog must have been drunk up there on Gobbler's Knob this year. It started sleeting just about the time I left work. I was home no more than 20 minutes (safely, thank goodness) and when I looked outside again, it was COMPLETELY WHITE -- heavy, fast snow coming down. Yep. The SNOW is BACK.
And here is the 'Urgent' alert from the National Weather Service:
Luckily, at least work was a bit more normal today. I got a nice chunk of it put away, so I'll be thankful for whatever good stuff I can get. Tomorrow......well.....that's gonna be interesting. I HOPE LIKE HELL I don't have to stay home tomorrow, but if it's the 8 inches or so, no way will I venture out in it.
One step forward.....five steps back. It's the way of things it seems. Hope where YOU are, it's milder. Pittsburgh is huffing and puffing right now, no end in sight.
February 22, 2011~ 8:45 pm
The snow did arrive. Eight and a half inches worth of horrible roads everywhere this morning. I opted to stay home, and slept till late afternoon. I wasn't a total slacker however, I did manage to complete
FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL Income Tax. HOORAY!!!! They're done!
And the last time I looked, the snow has melted off my car! (Now all I have to do is get that thing OUT of the carport, back alley and onto the main road tomorrow.) Wish me luck. (No, I didn't go out today and inspect or shovel)...boots, scraper, and a wee bit of shoveling around the tires is what I have to look forward to tomorrow morning, but I should manage ok. (Tomorrow I'll be back behind the eightball again at work-- but this is February in Pittsburgh and this kind of stuff happens.) Going upstairs now to slip back into a WONDERFUL... brutal and BRILLIANT book called 'The Gargoyle', by David Anderson. I don't think I've read anything quite this strange in a while. For a 'first time' author, he's amazing. G'night, everyone.
***
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Word of advice: when you are already even mildly depressed, do NOT watch Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story". LOL!!! We waited weeks, Wayne and I, to pop that baby into the DVD player on a Saturday night hoping to enjoy some wonderful satiric humor-- and although there was plenty of that, what watching it did was drag me down into a funk of grande mal proportion, leaving me drained.
Here-- in the rich, rich colors of Hieronymus Bosch, is a perfect depiction of what our government and our financial institutions do, day in and day out, to every member of the United States citizenry.....
It's one big perfectly orchestrated shell game. There's the little pea held in the air by the expert shyster (which could be any of the rich pettifoggers in government, banking or industry who continually switch which shell the pea is under so the game always ends in their favor.)
The little guy (you or me) --we're crapped on time and again, working harder with no guarantees that our futures will be secure. The only certainty is that the rich get richer, the poor stay poorer-- and from the time I was born in the 1950's, it's gotten worse and worse. (The biggest leap for Wall Street came about in the 1980's under the criminal actions of Ronald Reagan through his 'financial deregulation' and the breaking of the unions, starting with the air traffic controllers. After that... the wolves OWNED us.)
It's very disheartening. I have no doubts that Moore's 'mockumentary' is accurate, but as I said, it's not the thing to watch when one's own foothold on happiness is tenuous at best. (I don't know about you guys, but I saw
In fact, to continue with Bosch (which I will, since his vision of madness is pretty much my own right now) this is my head at the present time.
Something's living in there, and I'm not quite sure what. (I know both eyes have to be looking in two different directions at once because you never know from which direction the next catastrophe will come.) Things just keep getting jammed down my gullet, making it crowded with a lot of junk I'm not the least interested in: reality TV and Smart Phones and (oh, God) this new rash of 'mortgage refinancing' I'm seeing pitched on every web page. (Hey! Isn't this this the same stuff that got us into this mess to begin with?)
During the beginning of the financial melt down those ads had all but disappeared-- and now they're BACK! Doesn't this worry anybody else??
I'm hoping at least a good, fresh budding spring will do its bit in raising my spirits... nature so often does. In fact just today I made online reservations for me and Wayne to get away for five days in late April, and head to the mountains to relax in the Laurel Highlands and away from things for a while. A good BOOSTING for our moods, I'm hoping, and away from the daily grind. (I made it for the Easter weekend because frankly, holidays pile on more stress, and I've had my fill of holiday obligations for a while. "Count me out" as they say.)
Work has become Sisyphean recently-- (you know, that poor guy whose job it is to roll the boulder UP the hill only to have it roll right back down?) meaning: it's extremely effortful with little accomplished that isn't eaten up by a LARGER wave of work that washes over me the next day. It's begun to take its toll, because I've entered a cycle of 'constant catch-up' and it's just plain tiring. Time away will be a welcome relief. (I don't even care if it creates MORE catching up because each day's been like that for me anyway. LOL!!) -- I figure -- 'who gives a sh*t?'-- if it's like that already, may as well take some REAL time off.
My butt's been 'spoken for' and lots of things already own it --they're using me like a 'host'.
LOL!!! That's about it for right now. This week's entry has, thus far, been a means to carp.....(and carp and carp.) We all need to sound off at times and this is mine. The world is crowded, chaotic.... pushing even into my sovereign space and my 'alone' time.
For right now, no one paints my state of mind better than BOSCH...I love him! (That 15th century painter has a finger on my pulse for sure, always has..... but sometimes it's even more accurate than others.)
The only thing that's saved me this past week or so has been entering my child mind and writing my witch-tooth-dragon stories. For an hour or so I disappear completely and make room only for them, and it's a good thing.
I'm very grateful to the gift of imagination for providing a way out when others are blocked... so hooray for stories! They provide light enough to want to get up in the morning, if only to get back to them again. (Thanks for listening. Sorry to be so complaining but life has its ebbtides, and recently, I've been experiencing more shallows than swells.)
(Eight weeks to the 'Lodge at Chalk Hill'.......I can't wait!)
February 20, 2011~ 10:30 pm
I went to see mum this afternoon and had dinner at the Assisted Living. Very nice time.....good dinner.... quiche and homemade split pea soup, white corn and Italian green beans and ambrosia for dessert. The early evening was pleasant. (Kay had a flower pinned above her ear, so I was calling her 'Dorothy Lamour' and we all began to reminisce about the old Hope/Crosby 'Road' movies and laughing.) Looked out of mum's window when we got back to her room as I was closing her blinds for her for the the night, and BOING!
THERE IT WAS! SNOW! Oh, yuck!! After about five days of temperatures in the 40's, 50's and even 60's..... here was February wearing hob-nailed boots and kicking my ass! Doggone stuff came down while we were eating. I had an INCH on my car, and slipped walking up to it to clean it. (Weatherman......you're full of crap...'rain' my butt! That stuff was WHITE and COLD and SOLID. It was snow, you lying booger!)
Oh well. Perfect end to a perfect weekend. LOL!
February 21, 2011~ 10:30 pm
Well, Phil the Groundhog must have been drunk up there on Gobbler's Knob this year. It started sleeting just about the time I left work. I was home no more than 20 minutes (safely, thank goodness) and when I looked outside again, it was COMPLETELY WHITE -- heavy, fast snow coming down. Yep. The SNOW is BACK.
And here is the 'Urgent' alert from the National Weather Service:
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EST TUESDAY... A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EST TUESDAY. * HAZARD TYPES...SNOW. * ACCUMULATIONS...5 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW. * TIMING...HEAVIEST SNOW WILL OCCUR BEFORE MIDNIGHT. * IMPACTS...HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. SNOW AND ICE COVERED ROADS.
Luckily, at least work was a bit more normal today. I got a nice chunk of it put away, so I'll be thankful for whatever good stuff I can get. Tomorrow......well.....that's gonna be interesting. I HOPE LIKE HELL I don't have to stay home tomorrow, but if it's the 8 inches or so, no way will I venture out in it.
One step forward.....five steps back. It's the way of things it seems. Hope where YOU are, it's milder. Pittsburgh is huffing and puffing right now, no end in sight.
February 22, 2011~ 8:45 pm
The snow did arrive. Eight and a half inches worth of horrible roads everywhere this morning. I opted to stay home, and slept till late afternoon. I wasn't a total slacker however, I did manage to complete
FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL Income Tax. HOORAY!!!! They're done!
And the last time I looked, the snow has melted off my car! (Now all I have to do is get that thing OUT of the carport, back alley and onto the main road tomorrow.) Wish me luck. (No, I didn't go out today and inspect or shovel)...boots, scraper, and a wee bit of shoveling around the tires is what I have to look forward to tomorrow morning, but I should manage ok. (Tomorrow I'll be back behind the eightball again at work-- but this is February in Pittsburgh and this kind of stuff happens.) Going upstairs now to slip back into a WONDERFUL... brutal and BRILLIANT book called 'The Gargoyle', by David Anderson. I don't think I've read anything quite this strange in a while. For a 'first time' author, he's amazing. G'night, everyone.
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