Thursday, October 21, 2010

Galen...the BEST CAT in the WORLD


Well, today, at about 1:30PM, my Boo Kitty passed away, in my arms...as it should be.
Galen was 21 years old, and lived a very full and eventful Life...one that most cats would envy.
He was the oldest of our Tribe, and all of the Others respected him as the Alpha Man...
But, he was, and always will be, Mommy's Boo Kitty.

When it doesn't hurt quite so much, I will write more about him...
Good bye, Old Man...I love you, always...;)Mommy

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Long time, no write..."sigh"...

Well, it has been quite a while since I last wrote.
Why, you may ask...well, I have been mentally preoccupied, or distracted, or lazy.
But, this coming weekend, I will begin this BLOG once again...

So, if you are following me, come back on, say, Sunday to see what I feel like chomping on for a bit !

Peace...;)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Why Do People CHOOSE To Be Stupid?

It's been awhile...

And yes, folks, STUPID is a matter, for the most part, of CHOICE.
To deliberately ignore...block out...vilify...dis...whatever you want to use for the "action word"(verb) here...information, data, or proof of something just because it doesn't go along with one's way of "thinking" (note the quotation marks, please) is straight up STUPID...no other word for it.

Oh, I know, I know...
Not very fair, or charitable, or nice, Patrice.
Well, TOUGH !

Time and time again, I see others make excuses for this narrow mindset...too poor...too afraid...too old...too young...too too too...ENOUGH ALREADY.
By coming up with vast arrays of psychologizing rhetoric that attempt to justify STUPIDITY, those who do so are simply making it easier for it to continue, and to be perpetuated.
This way of "thinking" spreads like a virus, and eats away at ALL that our education, science, social insight, and common sense represent and stand for...and making excuses for it simply serves to feed it and make it stronger.

I teach community college courses for a living, and for about 99% of the time, I truly love it.
But, over the last couple of years, I have witnessed a devolution in the thinking processes of the students I instruct. Not only do they NOT THINK, they simply refuse to THINK FOR THEMSELVES.

If Mom and Dad...Grandma and Grandpa...Tweedledum and Tweedledee...believe it, then IT MUST BE SO !! Why do I need to believe/think/act any differently ?

And when I encounter this, which I do, every semester, in one form or another, I tend to scream...not out loud...and not to the student...but inside, where it is safe.

More on this later...

Peace...;)

Friday, January 15, 2010

Haiti

Well, the World is jumping on the "Help Haiti" Bandwagon...
..."sigh"...

I often wonder WHY it takes a disaster for people to suddenly GIVE a CRAP. Do folks think the People of Haiti suddenly began to live in shanties, wooden crates with tarps for roofs, on the streets and in cardboard boxes? The earthquake didn't make this happen!
The Media, and even some of the relief workers, are giving the impression that the Haitians are in these dire straits because of the 7.3 earthquake that slammed their impoverished island.

They couldn't be MORE WRONG!

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the World, with a high illiteracy rate...astronomical unemployment rate...and a per capita annual income that isn't much more than the weekly allowance given to some kids in the US.

So, WHY, all of a sudden, does the World give s crap about these "poor people"?
The World hasn't given enough of a crap to help end the economic and social crisis that the Haitian People have been dealing with for decades now...well, not EXACTLY true...there have been UN Peacekeeping forces there trying to hel...
But even THAT has been very, very recent activity.

So, again, I ask...
WHY all of a sudden?
Where has George Clooney been for all these years...no telethon from him to help Haitian people simply have the basics of Life, and be given a CHANCE...
Where have ALL of the "George Clooneys" been all this"non-disaster" time?

Is it possible that even folks like Clooney...and others who are showing concern now, really DIDN'T KNOW how horrible conditions, and Life in general, are in Haiti?
Could it be?

More to come over the weekend...
I am tired now, from doing a load of yard work, cleaning up the dead stuff that came from the cold weather we had for awhile.

Peace...;)

Monday, January 4, 2010

The First Full Week of 2010

Mondays, as a rule, are not my favorite day of the week.
Not sure as to WHY...maybe a culturally conditioned thing...but they aren't.

Today is a Monday...January 4, 2010, to be exact...which makes it the very first one of this New Year...yay.

..."sigh"...

Maybe I can work on this not-liking-Mondays thing as part of the SPIRIT of a New Year.
Or maybe I have other stuff to work on and THIS is far too trivial to deal with.

...another "sigh"...

One of the characteristics of a NEW YEAR is the tendency to inspire reflection and introspection...mutually exclusive, but tend to be closely tied together.
Taking the time to look back over the previous year and see what we did...or didn't do.
To recall who we made a positive impact on...or who we simply hammered into the ground.
To think about what we might have done differently in order to get a better outcome in our lives...or what we might have done to begin with in order to better the life of another person besides ourselves.

It is the time to access our mistakes and applaud our successes.
Oh, wait...we aren't supposed to applaud our successes...that's vain, and we all know that vanity is a sin.
But, you know what?
It's OK...in fact, it is encouraged...for us to beat ourselves senseless over the mistakes we make.
It is also OK for us to find someone/something else to blame those errors on.

"The Devil made me do it"
"My friends said it was cool"
"Everyone else is doing it"
"But that's how my parents did it...do it...think about it...react to it...run from it"

What is so ugly about honestly looking back on the previous year, and saying:

"Well, I guess I really effed up THAT situation"
"Damn, I should have done THAT alot differently...will do so next time"
"Sometimes I can be so selfish...must make a concerted effort to NOT be that way"

...or...

"I'm so sorry. What can I do to make things right?"

Think about it!
Wouldn't it be so cool if COUNTRIES would do just that?
Or our political leaders?
Or our religious leaders?
Or our teachers, cops, judges and attorneys?

Or...even better...our PARENTS/GRANDPARENTS/SIBLINGS/other RELATIVES?

One of the most important things about our lives is that we rarely, if ever, get the chance for a "do over".
And quite sadly, most of us, when presented with that splendid opportunity, turn a blind eye to it...walk away from it...ignore it.
Because to accept the Gift of a Universe-given Do-Over means to admit we were WRONG...that somehow WE effed up...WE were responsible for something less-than-stellar...WE were to blame.
Because to accept that Gift means that WE...and only WE...are the ones who can, somehow, someway, make things right.
Because it means that WE must change...change some aspect of our Life/Lives.

And we all know that CHANGE is very scary, and, oftentimes, very hard.
And if we go to all that trouble to change, then aren't we really questioning the WILL of GOD?
Because we all KNOW that everything happens at God's bidding, including our very actions.
So far be it from us to question God.

Ah, yes...CHANGE can be very, very scary, indeed...

So, for now...
Peace...;)

Friday, January 1, 2010

2010...A NEW YEAR...

"ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE."...from 2010 The Year We Make Contact...Arthur C. Clarke

Well, let's see...it's 2010.
WHERE the Hell are we as a PEOPLE, and exactly WHAT progress as HUMAN BEINGS have we made that really count for anything REAL?

Hhhhmmmm...I will ponder this and get back to y'all...

Peace...;)