What the...?

So long 2003

I would say that 2003 has been easily the best and absolutely the worst year of my life. To cap it off I just spent six hours at the DMV in Costa Mesa. Always a treat. I did finally get rid of my hideous Nevada tags. If I never step foot in Nevada again I'll be a happy man.

I'm hoping that 2004 is the year I think it's going to be. I've finally gotten some direction and I think I may have found the right project. More on that as it develops.

Happy new year!

War is Over... if you want it?

"Everybody should keep a couple of things in focus. First of all, Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who committed crimes against humanity. His demise should be welcomed by all. Nobody should shed any tears for what has happened to Hussein. But let’s bring this back to what’s going on in Iraq. Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to the United States worthy of the sacrifice of a single American life. The President of the United States never made a case for war based upon the capture of Saddam Hussein".

Excerpt from George Bush on Ecstasy
A talk with former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter by Nathan Callahan

Via OC Weekly

Winter Solstice

It's the first day of winter, not that you can tell here in Orange County due to the sunshine and 70+ degree weather.

So I'm actually pretty stoked about Christmas this year. Which is odd for me because I'm usually the Scrooge in this family. I didn't get Mary the right present because of a panicked purchase a few days ago. Damn Costco! -and it's remarkably low priced merchandise!

She guessed her present because of some bull-smack from Andy Rooney on 60 minutes last night. So hopefully I can replace the gift with something more apropos.

This has been a strange Christmas for Mary because the girls are not very interested in toys this year. They've also tipped wise to the Santa secret. It’s also her first Christmas with Mary Belle in sixteen years. Mostly she is just not her usual Christmas-y self.

Mary was the catalyst for me to quit being such a holiday hater. It’s by no means ever been my strong suit. I’m pretty comfortable hating the holidays and just wishing they were over. Other than my annual viewing of It's a Wonderful Life I'm usually just content to grit my teeth and play at enjoying the holidays. So now I have to try and be support guy for her. It’s a strange place to be. Well, for me anyway.

Speaking of strange -here are my origins of Christmas links.

Pagan Christmas origins

Christian Christmas origins

Festivals of Britain

Odd Links I

Black Widows Supporting Terrorism

Never Work Again

Why bathe? It's a Non-Stop Comic Con!

Star Trek is real

I am Harry....

hayfever
hello, i'm harry. i've had women i've had germs
they're eerie, wild and wailing and seductive in small doses
only one way, only one way
why can't we take a couple of tablets?
hello, i'm harry. did you receive the letter sent?
the cheque enclosed the negatives?
well here's some headlines current and sensible -
moscow's in ayrshire, what's the problem?
should i throw my tammy in the ring
and run for president
oh, it's farmed out, oh i'm penned in
oh, i'm left in no doubt. i'm harry, hello
hey i'm harry, hello

you want me, you want me, do i?
arsenic be judge, gin be jury
the chocolate's watching, the cuckoos are clocking me
they leave me alone in my sulk
stalking a beautiful girl in a rural spot
i gets larger as she gets nearer
there's only one way, away away...
the rest is chemistry

1993 go!discs ltd. © the trash can sinatras/go!discs music ltd.

look at it returns

In case you missed it -Mary belle has taken over Mary's old weblog.

My grandmother's 96th

My grandmother turned 96 today. I'm not sure when she was born but I think it was even before email. That's kickin' it old school, dude!

My grandmother was a 1st grade teacher when I was kid. She taught me to read before Kindergarten. She was that initial person to give me pencil and paper and started me drawing when I was around four. She took care of my brother Mike and I when our parents divorced and our mother went to nursing school.

She has been there for me ever since I can remember. I used to drive up to her house in Little Falls from Minneapolis when I was younger at least once a month. It was a really decent way to get out of the city for a while and just chill out. Little mini vacations I suppose.

Those weekends consisted mainly of marathon games of Rummy; which as nice as my grandmother is, she played like a shark. Mostly I just liked talking to her. I was always really interested in her take on life. I mean she lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression. She was the first woman in our family to go to college as well. That’s a lot of life experience.

I miss seeing her and talking to her. I hope you have a wonderful day grandma.

Happy Birthday Grandma.

Not all Americans are stupid...

Take the quiz: Not All Americans are Stupid. I got 18 out of 20 correct. It said I must feel "intellectually isolated" in my home country. Here I always thought my isolation was due to my fanatical devotion to Star Trek.

Via David

The Welfare of the Rich

A Swedish multimillionaire, talking to his American guest, could not keep from complaining how steep were his taxes. Yet, by the end of the evening, warmed, perhaps, by his own good liquor, he reversed course and said, “Do you know, there is one good thing about all these taxes. I am able, at least, to go to bed and know that nobody in Sweden is tossing all night on an empty stomach. I can say that for our safety net. I sleep better.”

Perhaps the time has come for Americans to stop worrying about the welfare of the rich. For the last two decades, the assumption has grown more powerful each year that unless the very well-to-do are encouraged to become wealthier, our economy will falter. Apparently, the economic lust of the 1990s has unbalanced the springs. Might it not be unnatural, even a little peculiar, to concern ourselves so much about the needs of the rich? The rich, as Scott Fitzgerald tried to suggest to Ernest Hemingway, are not like you and me. They are not. They know how to make money. They do not need incentives. Making money is not only their gift but their vital need. That is their vision of a spiritual reward. Not only is their measure of self attached directly to the volume of their gains, but the majority of them know how to stay rich. They are highly qualified to take care of themselves in any society, be it socialist, fascist, banana republic or chaotic. Whether they live in a corporate economy relatively free of government, or with a larger government presence, they will prosper. They can withstand an American safety net. And may even sleep better.

Excerpt from the essay Immodest Proposal by Norman Mailer

Holidays

Yeah... so I spent the last week thinking my brother had swiped the AC adapter cord to my video camera. Turns out it was buried somewhere in the girls room. Oops…. He did swipe my Betty Ford Clinic Tee-Shirt though. Ha! Shirt Stealer!

He didn't show for Thanksgiving this year. Or the last three years for that matter. He doesn't dig the holidays. Never has. I used to be like that too. Seasonal depressive disorder I thought. Turns out I was just too caught up in my past to be in the moment.

I think having kids changes things. It certainly did for me anyway. I tend to think of Holidays as more of family time now instead of another reason to look at my past.

I used to feel like I had to understand every little piece of minutiae about my past. These days I’m just not caring so much. I like where I am at for the first time in good long time.

Today is C H A S's birthday. He's still pissed off at me though.