Being You (in 2014)

Come midnight the 31st of December many of us will be vowing to uphold a list of resolutions; most of which will be focused on improving ourselves, somehow, someway.

Those of Us who have lived long enough on this planet will already know this is largely a hopeless task.  Most items on the list will be forgotten by February and nearly all by May.  What remains will be added to next year's list, since what can you do when the year is already half gone?

Let's all try something different for 2014.

Let's vow to just be who we are, who YOU ARE, whoever  you are.

This year, choose resolutions that conform to You.  Don't plan to do things that are not You.  For example, don't plan to write the Great American Novel if getting out that 10-page work report is pure torture.  Don't decide to learn Piano if you can't stomach the embarrassment of (badly) performing childish ditties, when your inner fantasist envisions Elton John, at a minimum.

Choose resolutions that are enhancements of who You already Are.  If you love riding motorcycles, plan to become better at just one thing associated with riding.  That does NOT include going from zero to Hero and riding in the Isle of Man TT; try to be realistic and pick one, small thing that can be achieved.  Ride the length of your State, for instance, or get a knee down on a trackday.  Or just ride more often in 2014.

Also, don't try to change yourself beyond reasonable capabilities and Your Nature. Instead improve something you have a chance of controlling. For example, if you tend to fatness, don't plan to run a marathon by June, vow instead that if you are going to be fat, then you'll be fat eating only the best food you can afford, not cheap and tasteless junk food. Stick firmly to that simple goal and 2014 will feel better even if your waist size stays the same.

In recent years I've consciously make ridiculous resolutions I never intended to keep; mainly because I've never kept any in the past no matter how reasonable there were.  I've come to realize this may have been because all my resolutions were too sweeping.  The changes may have been desirable - even wise, but the scope was too large, removing any hope they'd be realized.

So, for 2014, my resolutions will be baby steps that I can take without trying hard at all.  But they will be improvements, and that's what counts.  I'm no longer swinging for the fences - I'm recognizing I'm a singles hitter at best and bunting my way towards the future.

Good Luck and Happiness to All in 2014 ...

Missing November

Wandering into December, still stuffed with Thanksgiving, I am missing November.

It was a mild month, without the bite of Winter, and some good things happened to lessen the bad things that seem to happen with regularity these days.  Iran agreed in principle to limitations on its nuclear program, for example.  Patrick Jayne finally got his Red John, for another.

A promising new TV show, 'Almost Human' premiered.  It's by J.J. Abrams, so the bloom might not be long on the Rose, but it takes a lot to make Karl Urban uninteresting - like keeping an obscuring mask on him all the time (I Dredd the thought). So... so far, so good.  

November was such as engrossing month, I didn't have much to relate in this space.  I still don't really.  I'm no longer angered by the Republicans, since October kicked them hard into November, keeping them sheepish and quiet, barring the odd Obamacare Website rant.  

But December I expect will be a cold, hard month.  November's Comet of The Century fragmented in the Sun to become December's unspectacular wisp and bits. A harbinger if I ever saw one.

The good news is that December is the fastest passing month of the year, taken up as it is with furious shopping and planning for celebrations, and then the Christmas Holiday itself will whisk us right into the New Year before we know it.  So, like walking quickly over hot coals, we will barely touch down long enough for the pain to be intense.  

If during this swift month, something happens that rises the righteous bile in me, I'll post about it here; otherwise, I'll see you all in the New Year.  

Happy Holidays, All ...

The Republican Charade

I spent far too many precious minutes on October 1st listening to the Republican spin on the government shutdown.  According to their current storyline, it's the fault of the Democrats and most specifically Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) for not wanting to 'discuss the merits of Obamacare'.

That Republican spin is complete and utter nonsense.  Do they think the public has no memory of events at all?

The Affordable Health Care Act was debated in Congress for months.  There was plenty of opportunity for Republicans to offer their own version which would achieve the same goals in a manner they prefer, but they declined to present any such plan.  Their focus was entirely on killing the Act, not replacing it with something that might be better.

When that failed to derail the Act, they filed lawsuits.  These ended up in the Supreme Court which ruled the contested provisions of the Act as constitutional.  End of Story.

When legislative debate and Supreme court decisions failed to go their way, did the Republicans accept reality and buckle down and work with the Dems to fix any unintended consequences or issues with the Act?

No, they instead drew a line in the sand and voted 41 (or 42) times to defund the Health Care Act.  Does that sound like people interested in 'discussing the merits of Obamacare'?

These Republicans are hell-bent on killing the Act and leaving millions of Americans with no healthcare options, and even worse, these Republicans are willing to do this with no solutions of their own that would give these people the care they need.

Meanwhile, the Health Care Act is off an running and looks to be getting the kind of buy-in from the public the system needs to succeed.  What do the Republicans want to do, cancel all the desperately-needed insurance the public in now buying?

The Republicans as a group can't hide behind the excuse that the 'Tea Party' conservatives made them do it.  Each and every Republican who voted for the spending bill that included defunding for Obamacare is as guilty as sin.

Third Party, Please

There is nothing in the Constitution that says we should only have two parties, the Democrats and Republicans; the present bi-party system just evolved  - or I guess 'devolved' may be the most currently-apt expression, from the primordial political soup. Although two may be the status quo, three or more is not out of the question, and might be useful these days.

Third parties have given it a try from time to time.  Most not very seriously, but every now and then they pick up an interesting (if quirky) leader and get some traction.  Think Ross Perot.  Ultimately, these efforts fail because for whatever reason these parties tend to pick up fringe and very vocal adherents. These folks drive the party platform to the extreme and so turn off potential recruits to their cause.  They just don't end up seeming like serious, grown-up parties.

But we just might need them (or at least one of them) now, whether behaving maturely or not.

You see, our government is locked in what can't be called anything other than a stalemate.  The House, controlled by the Republicans, passes bills that the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, can't accept; and the bills the Senate sends to the House hit a brick wall of denial.  Same goes for just about every aspect of government, except defense, where at least some level of practical agreement is usually reached. (Is it that much easier to agree to military action than it is to come to agreement on health care?)

So what we might now need is a tie-breaking force.  Opportunities for coalitions and alliances that can find the votes to break the stalemate.

Of course we'd have to hope that we only get one, or at most two, additional parties that are successful enough to be attractive as coalition partners.  Any more than that and you could end up with very shaky coalitions with governments forming, failing, and reforming ad nauseum.

At this point, I think the Nation could stand a little third party craziness and whatever upset stomach that may potentially cause, just to get the government off the dime and doing something.  

Slight of Hand

Misdirection is the key to the illusionist's art.  It's a nifty addition to the politician's toolbox, too.

And, for politicos, so is the outright, bald-faced, 'flip-flop'.

When is a coup not a coup?  When it suits our purposes, that's when.

Our government has decided that the military overthrow of a democratically-elected leader in Egypt is not a coup.  If it was a 'coup' then we'd need to stop throwing money at Egypt as a bribe to maintain the peace with Israel.  Then what would happen?  Nobody wants that answer, so there is no coup, just a coup-like 'course correction' to reset the Egyptian road to democracy.  No matter that it looks and smells just like a military dictatorship, same as it always was.

When is the actual use of a weapon of mass destruction not as bad as the suspicion of having one?  When it suits our purposes, of course.

President Obama and UK PM David Cameron are having trouble convincing their respective legislatures that military action is needed in the wake of (both men say) incontrovertible evidence the Syrian government used Sarin gas on their citizens.  This could be a case of 'fool me once ...', with the 'where did they go' WMDs in Iraq featuring in people's minds.  It could also be understandable reluctance to get involved - again - with groups of people who's mindsets we can't seem to fathom completely, and who's ideas of democracy and freedom seem stuck in a parallel universe outside of reality, and with a very short half-life.  It could also be Russia's (Mr. Putin's really) reluctance to give up on his sidekick Assad that's holding things up.  Whatever the reason, failing to do something here, not unlike our failing to do something when Iraq used chemical weapons against its people after the first Gulf War, can only lead to worse situations ahead.  Chemical Bashir, anyone?

It would be a refreshing change of pace if we the people were told exactly the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  And that timely and humane actions took place exactly when needed. But in the absence of that openness and altruism, we should all be taking notes and studying them carefully before the next elections.

Rough Roads

Sometimes the Road goes on forever, smooth as silk, taking you to your destination of fortune, fate, or dreams.  Sometimes it gets rough, the pavement broken, slowing you down or breaking you down.

If you are lucky, the road gets rough only for a little while, then it gets fixed or smooths out around the next bend and you are good to go.  When you are out of luck you can be out of Good Road for a very long time.

One of my favorite Motorcycling Roads serves as a case study here.  Whether it's a metaphor for other things and the canary-in-the-coal mine for the prospects of the 21st Century as we must live it here in Southern California; or just a local blip on the infrastructure lifeline, I can't say for sure.  But I take it seriously.

The Road in question is the Angeles Crest Highway (aka Highway 2), which runs from the foothills of northeastern Los Angeles over the San Bernardino Mountains to the desert beyond.  It's long been a weekend pathway to nature, silence, and relative seclusion from the maddening crowds of the Big City.  Camping, hiking, day-tripping, bicycling, and motorcycling are all part of the appeal.

The Road has been knocked around a lot in the past 10 years, being resurfaced beautifully once only to be damaged almost immediately by the Station Fire; fixed - again relatively nicely, only to be damaged once more by landslides after the Station Fire's deforestation.  In the last couple of years the road has deteriorated and been fixed by uncaring and uncareful applications of 'tar snakes' - drizzled seams of oozy tar drooled into the alligator cracks in the pavement. When new these babies are semi-dangerous to motorcycles, and they are ugly at any time.

But they were preferable to what's just been done:  in the past month or so, the entire Crest has been chip-sealed with large size aggregate from Wrightwood all the way to La Crescenta.  It's the cheapest way to 'fix' a deteriorating road surface, and in this time of tight budgets, the method appeals; however, it is not nice to two-wheeled traffic.  Not only is it rough and noisy (but there are only the bears and deer to bother, I hear you say), it makes for hard going and shaky steering for bicyclists, and tears up the tires of motorcycles while cutting back on braking stability and traction (counterintuitive though it may seem - it's true).  And- whether pedaling or twisting the throttle, falling on that stuff would be like sliding over a street paved with shark's teeth.

If there is enough car traffic to grind down the sharp gravel, or the surface breaks up and forces the roads department to cover it with hot mix, the Crest may live again for all its travelers; but for now its a Lost Road, a Rough Road, and I mourn it.

And here's where the metaphor gets exercised:

There are other Rough Roads we may be forced to take.  The economy- after a smooth(ish) run of some miles looks to be showing a few potholes ahead; maybe even a sinkhole or two.  The repaving job doesn't appear to be a long-term fix and we may all need to consider whatever strategy equates to the likes of a 1970s-era LandCruiser.

The Arab Spring seemed like a shining new road but that's turned into a pothole-strewn mess.  And our attempts (some say halfhearted) at a fix have given that road a dangerous new surface, abrasive and potentially deadly.

And, last I looked, the never really smooth but often passable roads that are our Legislative and Executive branches (that's Congress and the White House for those of you too long out of grade school government class) have become lined with the nastiest, most tire-eating aggregate imaginable.  Paving the Crest with the real road equivalent of that topping would be like sticking anti-backup spikes along the whole way.

So, while I consider my options on how best to still enjoy the Angeles Crest despite it's anti-social resurfacing, we must all ponder what to do with those other Rough Roads we must face.  Monster Trucks, anyone?

Oliver's Twist

Fans of the Daily Show are going through a strange and conflicting experience this summer of 2013.  We've lost our beloved host Jon Stewart for a few months, while we've gained greater exposure to one of our favorite supporting characters, John Oliver.

Both are funny men and their medium is satirical wordplay, but both bring us to laughter with different styles. Stewart is the devilish boy-in-a-man's-body wiseacre, while Oliver plays the disdainfully-witty intellectual with a bit of a chip on his shoulder (or maybe it's just the British accent).

While there hasn't been a noticeable lag in the funny business with Oliver at the helm, the change does emphasize what Stewart brings to the party.  His easy-going, casual, delivery works better in setting up the punch lines and getting the interview guests to relax and open up.  That Oliver's style is more acutely acerbic and therefore not quite as effective as a host doesn't count so much against him as it highlights why Stewart has been so successful at his job.

However, while Oliver may not be the equal of Stewart as a host, if you are a fan of the British style of comic delivery, a la Norman Wisdom by way of Monty Python, you can't help but be pleased by John Oliver's performance.  A little more support from the recurring cast and a few more shots-in-the-arm from Lewis Black won't hurt, but Oliver is capably steering the ship while Stewart is out finding himself.

The Quality Of Justice Is Not Free

As I write this, many Americans are reconsidering their idea of what 'Justice' means as a result of the Zimmerman verdict.

Depending on your point of view with regard to the facts of the case, 'Justice' might mean sustaining the use of deadly force whenever someone feels threatened, no matter the circumstances; while for others it might be that 'Justice' means revenge for a particular and egregious wrong, or of righting the larger societies' wrongs in a single verdict.

We all have our expectations of what 'Justice' means, and they are usually very personal and specific.  Our expectations are based very much on what we 'feel' in our deepest being is 'right' and fair, and these feelings are based on our life experiences and those of others we trust and admire.

But the cold truth is 'Justice' is not a feeling or an ideal; it is a formal process of civil and criminal law that often results in verdicts that don't meet our expectations - and that often don't seen fair or 'Just' at all.

Call it the price of freedom, because that is exactly what it is.

So, if the outcome of the Zimmerman case has left you feeling like there is no Justice, let me assure you that you are experiencing a common feeling when dealing with laws and courts and human frailty.  It's a feeling that will always be with us, since Perfect Justice is known only to the minds of individuals and is unknown to a society as a whole.  And it is society as a whole that our 'Justice' system serves.

Time Keeps On Slippin'

Whether it's from the Steve Miller song, or the Futurama episode, we keep on hearing that time is slippin', slippin', slippin', into the future.

We've also heard that 'Time Waits For No Man' (although it might be more patient with Women.)

Then again, we've heard that 'Time Is On My Side', and also on 'Your Side', so maybe we aren't in such dire temporal straights. Only Time Will Tell.

Whether Time isn't Waiting or is On Our Side, we can all agree that it is slipping away, although exactly what is meant by 'away' is debatable by some scientists and all Freshman Physics majors.

For me personally, Time has sped up to the point I am constantly surprised by where I am NOW as opposed to where I just was WHEN.  My NOWs are becoming extremely short-lived, to the point I feel I'm in that scene in Mel Brook's 'Spaceballs' (watch it for yourself, I'm not telling ...). I barely have any time to savor my SOONs before they become NOWs and then WHENs.  Sheesh!

But perhaps that is a function of age.  Maybe all you kids out there think your NOWs are plenty long enough to savor and your SOONs over the horizon far enough to enjoy the anticipation.  Time may not be slippin' for you as much as, well, unfolding.  Time may indeed be On Your Side.

If so, I am here to remind you that this is just an illusion.  Time is passing, no matter the apparent speed, and with it we see crucial actions not taken, critical needs unmet, and opportunities ignored and lost.  Maybe with us 'elder generationals' the faster perceived slippage of Time makes us more acutely sensitive to its wastage.

High Time, then,  for everyone to take Time and its passing more seriously - and I'm speaking to YOU Mr. President and Your Congressional Sparring Partners.  You are all old enough to sense that Time truly is slippin', slippin', slippin' ...

Independence Day - Waiting For A Miracle

Today we are celebrating our country's independence from the colonial empire which spawned it; and from the taxation without representation that personified that rule.  That, and the goodness of an excellent barbecue with family and friends.

If, between bites of that barbecue, some of us reflect a moment on recent independence movements and their less-than-stellar outcomes, we might wonder why ours caught on.

Were we just lucky?  After all, we had the same elements back then that we suspect are causing problems today: religious extremism, big money politics, foreign intervention.  One thing we didn't have were the communications that could allow disparate factions to unite in protest almost instantly.  Horseback messengers and signal lanterns don't quite equate with cell phones, the internet, and Twitter.  But great communication might have helped as well as hurt.

We did have some things going for us, and those were ironically the British system of laws, courts, and  the colonial governments that had all been in operation for a century before Independence was declared.  So we had a framework backed by expectations based on long experience to help order our post-revolution society.

But those institutions could also have been used against us by unscrupulous power seekers.  We had a few of those, but they always seemed to be defeated at just the right moments.

And some of those parts of the world now experiencing a revolutionary desire for independence also have long civil traditions. Why aren't they working for them?

My best guess is that we were indeed lucky.  So much could have gone wrong that would have derailed our revolution and independence, that we have to consider ourselves the recipients of a Miracle of sorts.

We need to hope that a similar miracle happens in Egypt before civil war begins, and that something miraculous happens in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq as well.  Money isn't the miracle; and neither is foreign military intervention.  What miracle or miracles happen must come from within the people, and we must all hope they find some.

Father's Day

An imperative here to all Fathers, currently active or past duty: Seize The Day!

It's true that Mother's Day gets most of the Love, since who really doesn't love and cherish their Mother, but Father's Day should be a prime date on the family calendar too.

This is especially important to those of you still in the hectic years of your child's grade schooling, athletics, and general around-the-house antics.  You need this Day as a break.

For the rest of us whose active Fathering have resolved to giving sage advice and money as needed, this Day should be one of recognition, and if there is any justice, a little Thanks too.

And if you have completed your Fathering successfully and your kids have flown the coop and moved so far away you rarely see them; or they are the ones sending you sage advice and money, use today to pat yourself on the back for a fine job done.

If you are not a Father yet, then spend today appreciating your Dad (those Dad's whose kids are also Fathers should cut them a little slack).

Dads are a little harder than Moms for their kids to love so unreservedly, at least over the short term.  That may because we are still often the 'enforcers' in the family. Even if it may be us telling the kid's 'What Until Your Mother Gets Home', we end up meeting out most of the bad news, anyway.  Biological inertia of the species, I assume.

What you do with your time today isn't really important, except that it should be absolutely, positively free of required chores.  Even the slightest hint of a honey-do or daddy-please should be ignored like the breach of etiquette that it is.

As I write this, it is just after 1pm on the West Coast of the US.  Wherever you are, if you haven't seized this day yet, Get Cracking!

Memorial Winds

When we think of our yearly Day of Memorial, any winds that come to mind are the Winds of War.  After all, the veterans of wars and fallen warriors are who we are meant to remember.

This Memorial Day, and forever after, I will also remember other Winds and those taken by them.

Living as I do in California, which shakes and quakes and lights afire from time to time but rarely sees a thunderstorm, I don't know much about living with tornados.  So it was with a little trepidation that I traveled to Kansas - the dark heart of Tornado Alley, just one day after the tragic events in Moore, Oklahoma.  Driving away from the airport in Wichita and heading west, I missed the 'large funnel' that dropped out of the clouds near the airfield that evening, which luckily failed to touch ground and go off on a brutal tear.

Kansas - at least the central part of it I was in, is flat. Nothing is there to block the path of storms; no obstacle to break them up or sap their strength.  If a big wind comes rolling at you down out of the Northwest, you are stuck like pins on a bowling alley, with nowhere to hide.

Just 30 miles or so from where I was staying is Greensburg, which was wiped off the map in May 2007 by an EF5 - the same monster size as the Moore twister, and is famously being rebuilt around a green energy plan.  I can only imagine what the good citizens of Greensburg thought when that storm hit Moore; perhaps a brief moment of relief that the spinning wheel of fate stopped somewhere else in Tornado Alley this time around, but more likely a profound sense of the camaraderie of shared misfortune.  The folks in Greensburg know what the folks in Moore dealt with that day, and what they will continue to deal with for some time to come.

In practical fact, everyone living in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and most of the midwest, know all about living with Tornados.  And they don't spend their days nervously glancing at the latest doppler radar updates on their iPhones, like I did.  Good, solid, people not easily scared by something that would send the bravest, most earthquake-savvy Californian into whimpering fits.

Brave folks persevering stoically in the path of God's Reaping Wind; much like those soldiers who walked and flew and sailed into the Winds of War.  Memorial Day, for me, will now be a time to remember them all.

Just The Facts

The Rise of The Internet has created new levels of factualness for information.  Here are a few:

Reproducible, peer-reviewed, scientific research results. - this one's been around since the enlightenment, and is generally considered the gold standard of factualness.  The internet does report these, but they are frequently boring, so are given low priority in search engines, especially if the news is depressing but not fear-inducing.

The results of 'shocking new studies'. -  on any one of a number of attention-getting subjects, typically cancer, a pandemic flu, or how your breakfast cereal may be changing your gender.  These facts might be gold, but look closely fool.

Saw it on Facebook/Twitter/YouTube. - now the most common means of communicating 'facts', or their interpretation.  If your friends think it's real, or cool, or cute, or just plain awesome, then so must you.  Pass it on, and do so with a post that would make anyone not pressing 'Like' seem racist.

Note that I did not mention Wikipedia.  I like Wikipedia, even though referencing it is an act of faith in a humanity that doesn't really deserve it.  I always put on my special 'Wiki Glasses' when I surf to the Wiki.  They are rose-colored, and they make everything believable, and that's a fact.

Let The Hard Rain Fall

On one of my trips lately, I watched a local TV News anchor exclaiming what an exceptionally wet Winter they'd had.  Actually, that newsman was complaining about it.

It's true this Winter, and most especially the Spring that followed, has been wetter and snowier than typical, in some places more so than in any time since recording started in the 1890s.  But is that surprising?

Between the let's-not-call-it-Global-Warming and the self-inflicted human tragedies (Boston; West, Texas; collapsing sweatshops in Bangladesh; Newtown), there has been plenty of reason for the World to Cry, if you will.  Yes, I did just say that very unscientific thing:  there is something about this natural place we inhabit that picks up and reflects, and right now what it is reflecting is reason enough for lakes of tears, whether rained hard from the heavens or piled frozen in snowy drifts.  We have earned a blizzard of symbolic sorrow.

And then there is still the scientific argument of Let's-Call-It-Global Chaos. Today it is raining in Southern California not even a week after a blazing hot, dry, windy spell sparked wildfires.  When those fires broke out, Wisconsin was being blasted by a near-blizzard. Very Chaotic indeed.

But Unseasonable Rain sometimes is needed.  The rain today has put an end at least for a while, to fears of more fires; and helped extinguish what is left of the ones already burning. 

Rain also helps us mourn and reflect, perhaps leading to better decisions and behavior.  At times when we humans are behaving our worst, a big dousing may knock sense into us.

Let The Hard Rain Fall while it may.

Let It Bring You Down

There are times when Hope seems exhausted.

When Humanity seems a failed experiment.

The Boston Marathon Bombings are a quintessential example of one of those Times.

I'm not sure we will ever discover what motivated the horrific events that unfolded on Monday, April 15, 2013; and if we do I'm not hopeful we'll make good and appropriate use of that knowledge.  Would we be able to look into the mind of someone capable of such an act and discover anything but dark malevolence from which no good lesson could be learned?

Selfishly, Personally, this represents a real kick in the guts.  Just as I've become skeptical we will ever have a functional Congress again - or that Peace will ever find a home in the Middle East, this happens to sap what little optimism I have left.

If the idea of Little Kim Un waving a nuke in our faces and threatening to wipe us off the face of the Earth isn't enough to Bring You Down, then surely this modern Boston Massacre must be.

As it should.

There are some events for which stiff upper lips and stoic resolve aren't helpful.  There are some events for which the only healthy response is sadness and tears.

Think of the innocent lives lost and the lives forever changed.

Let It Bring You Down

Body Image: Our Lying Minds

It's hard enough to change yourself for the better.

Losing weight, muscling up, getting your cardio in the pink; all these things take the kinds of focus and persistence few of us are capable of scraping together for longer than a weekend.

So, it doesn't help that our Minds conspire against us, by lying to us through our own teeth.  It does this through something called 'Body Image'.

One of the most extreme examples of the mind playing tricks with Body Image is, of course, the medical syndrome called anorexia.  That's when people stop eating and become mere skeletal shadows of their formerly healthy selves, all the while still seeing themselves as overweight.  Their skewed Body Image tells them they are fat when they are on death's door from starvation. 

More common, and less immediately dangerous, is the flip side of anorexia; being overweight yet having your mind signal you are skinny as a rail, starving, and about to slip out of your clothes and slide down a crack in the floor.

This happens at the most inopportune times, like when you are trying to stick to a diet.  Sadly it never seems to happen when it might be useful; for example, when you will be the center of attention at an event and could use a morale boost.  Feeling skinnier than you are at those times would be nice, but no, your mind saves it up and lets loose when you need it least.

For many reasons, mostly vain and of no particular importance to anyone other than me, I decided to drop a few pounds this year.  These are pounds I spent a good deal of the past 4 years packing on, so deciding to shed such hard-won fat was not done lightly.  

With gritty resolve I began the task and was immediately rewarded with success.  And my Mind rebelled...

Unless I looked in a full-length mirror while standing naked on a groaning scale, I couldn't shake the certainty that I was fading away into nothingness; that I was starving myself.  My Mind kept telling me, "You look good enough; feel how loose your pants are, how baggy that shirt.  Enough is Enough.  Go eat a Pizza."

So far I've been able to resist these false advisements, but it hasn't been easy.  The vast difference between how blubbery I really am and how trim my Mind says I am, is a constant challenge to that aforementioned focus and persistence. 

(Side Note:  it was my mind that made me use the words 'advisements' and  'aforementioned' - see what I'm up against?)

Under The Wire

I've always had a tendency to leave things until the last minute.  I'm hoping the same pattern will hold for my death - as Last Minute as Possible.  Might as well have one thing benefit from procrastination.

Not much else really does.  Certainly nothing involving running a government.

Yet, the End of February finds our leaders out on the brink, procrastinating.

What a sad way to end a dangerous but fascinating month.  How often do we get to feel such relief as an asteroid big enough to take out Texas misses us by a cosmic hair's breath, while at the same time getting hit by another one not world-ending, but still big enough to cause damage and injury?

The cosmos takes its best shot and we survive, only to gut ourselves through political gamesmanship coupled with cowardly procrastination.

Well, I guess that's organic life for you.  Inconsistent, except to be consistently self-flagellating.

But I shouldn't end on a negative note.  There is still time left in February; from where I sit typing there's a little more than an hour.  Something good can still come in, just under the wire.

January Must End!

Welcome to the End of January.  About time too, right?

We can now safely forget all of that 'resolution' nonsense and get down to what we really enjoy.

Goodbye Guilt built from End of Year angst.  Hello unadulterated New Year's Hope.

February is the Real beginning of the Year, and it helps the transition by being such a brief month, most of the time.  February is succinct.  Welcome to its beginning.

The Good Life, Defined

Everybody wants the 'Good Life', so just what does that mean?

Heath - Your health is an important aspect of the 'Good Life'.  You can't be living happily if you are on death's doorstep, or have become an inert sofa ornament through disability.

Here's a definition of good health to think about:  You are in Good Health if you have no condition that may end your life, causes severe disability, or which requires regular medical intervention (tests, surgeries, therapy, prescription medicines) to prevent either of those outcomes.  For my diabetic friends, or anyone out there with a chronic medical condition the treatment of which has become seamlessly integrated with their lives and causes no distress, I'll give you a pass on this one.

Relationships - Another big one.  If you feel totally alone in this world, or wish you were, it's a good sign you have relationship issues.  This can lead to clinical depression and the urge to watch Fox News incessantly, either of which can lead to declining health, both mental and physical.

Money - Oh, Boy, here we go.  This one has been a difficulty for many of us since the Great 2008 Don't-Call-It-A-Depression Recession.  Things that can make it worse include college age children, a passion for sports cars and/or motorcycles, and the obsessive need to own the latest electronic gadgetry.  Of course, health issues (see above) can add to money worries.  So can relationships: any significant other that comes with some or all of that baggage can be added to the list.

Signs that Money concerns have degraded your life include: foreclosure notices, repossession of  your car, your significant other has divorced you, or you've begun watching old Futurama episodes that you've seen 100 times.  (This can also be old 'Two and A Half Men' episodes.  If you are watching old Seinfeld episodes you truly are in extremis - seek medical assistance).

Purpose - This one's a little subtle.  Not everyone will tell you they need a purpose to be happy.  I think they're nuts.  Without purpose we drift through life, blowing wherever the winds of change take us, which is usually to the sofa to watch old Futurama episodes. Find a purpose, you find a Life.

Fear - Well, it goes without saying you can't have the Good Life if you have too much fear, right?  Try to minimize fear in whatever way seems most acceptable to you, except for: maintaining a home arsenal that would cause envy in most smaller countries, living in a bunker, or appearing as a regular on 'Doomsday Preppers'.  And by the way, if you are already doing any of those things you aren't living the Good Life, no matter what your agent tells you.

Here's wishing you continue the 'Good Life' through 2013 and beyond. And if not, and Life becomes unbearable, move to Belgium.  I hear they've got an easy exit if you want one.

Remembrance of Things (Long) Past

Permit me a personal remembrance.

1990 was a watershed year.  I was 35 and at the prime of my physical and mental abilities, except for the relative lack of life-knowledge you might expect someone to have acquired by that age. A discrete lack of responsibility for anyone other than myself up to that point could be given as a reason, and I'll happily live with that conclusion, should you make it.

The 80's had been a tough decade for me; a failed attempt at post-graduate academics; a failed relationship which left a long-lasting friendship in ruins; and, of course, a long slog with that Republican Saint, Ronald Reagan in charge of national matters. (He'd been an actor I'd admired growing up, but as a politician he wrecked havoc on the progressive gains of the 70's, in which I and many of my generation had invested much hope).

I had also lost my father to lung cancer, and my mother had been diagnosed with the same disease; she would lose her battle not long into the 90's.

1990 rang in with rumblings of War in the Middle East, the consequences of which we are still experiencing, but that had little impact on me at the time.  My attention was taken with a new love and a new career.

The new love was truly new; but my new career had actually been percolating for much of the second half of the 80's.  I had changed from science to computer programming, and it was a refreshing change to enter a field where the importance was on capability rather than credentials; on talent rather than seniority.  Those of you in the business today know that this has largely changed, but trust me, the field of computers  and IT was heaven for the independent-minded oddball back then.

The 90's turned out to be my big decade; the best of my life, despite ominous signs of national political turmoil to come.  My new love turned into a lasting relationship.  It brought happiness, stability, two wonderful children, and a healthy dose of responsibility.  My career has been stable enough too since then; no great achievements or successes, but steady employment and something meaningful to do.

The end of the last decade of the 20th century saw me in a situation the goodness of which I wouldn't have imagined at the end of the 1970's.  I hadn't achieved stardom or won the Nobel, and I certainly wasn't Jacques Cousteau or Kenny Roberts, my two 70's heroes, but I was in a good place.  A very good place.

The '00s come next, but from then to now is a story I'll keep to myself.  My purpose here was to reflect on what for many of my generation was the seminal decade of our lives.  It seems such a long time ago now, but if you think about our collective hopes and their ups and downs through the years leading to the 1990's, then think of how we felt at the end of those years, and finally reflect on where we are now, you might begin to understand the foundation for the general malaise many of us are now feeling. And this despite the Hope raised by the 2008 election and recent re-election of the nation's first African-American President, something we would have hoped for but hardly expected at the end of the 90's.  A bright light in an otherwise politically dim time.

Here's hoping you are experiencing your seminal decade now, and that if so you are mindful of the seeds that are sown for our future, good or ill, as well as the current benefits you are reaping.  Too many of us didn't when it was out turn, and look how that's turned out.

Beyond The Fringe

Fox's Sci-fi drama Fringe is coming to an end. This we've known for at least a year, since Fox representatives were never shy of trashing the show publicly.

At one point, the show was going to be 'hard canceled'; you know, ripped away from our screens without a warning - or a plot resolution.

But something caused the suits to relent, just enough to allow the series to wrap up in a way that would be satisfactory to its diehard fans. Or so it was hoped.

Just this week It was revealed the very next episode to be aired would be the series' last; a two-hour wind-up of all the mystery contained in those years of episodes gone by.  Apparently the whole season was too much to ask, or perhaps Fox has some other ailing show to place on the Friday night deathwatch, and can't wait for the space.

In any event, the scene has been set for a 'Lost'- like fiasco that will leave nobody happy except the bean counters. Expect the writers, confronted with such a task of compression, to resort to narrative, rapid scene shifting, flashbacks, and every other cliche they can use to 'get 'er done.  I suspect it will all have been a dream, or whatever passes for such in a universe of ever-shifting realities.

Walter, Peter, Astrid, the whole Fringe division (of both universes), and most of all Olivia, don't deserve such a fate.  

Do Dogs See The Stars?

Tonight in Los Angeles it was clear and cold, and more than the usual few stars shone above.

I was out with our big goofball of a dog, taking in the night air and trying to work off some of the Holiday largess.  It wasn't going so well since we seemed to stop every 20 yards for a long sniff or a pee. (The Dog, not Me).

It was during one of the longer of these stops that I happened to look up and see Jupiter and Mars.  Not stars of course, but all the brighter for it.  And then I found myself commenting on those planets' beauty to the Dog, as if he could see and comprehend the wonder.

He just burrowed his nose deeper into the unkempt winter growth and spared not a glance above.

Just then it dawned on me that perhaps alone of all Earth's creatures, Man both sees and appreciates the Stars.

Sure some birds navigate at night using stars, or so I've read (somewhere), but they don't think 'how beautiful' while navigating, do they? I'll bet Magellan's navigator did.

We humans not only see Stars and find them beautiful and memorable enough to cast as mythological Gods, we yearn to understand what makes them tick, and maybe one day visit them.  Jupiter and Mars have already been buzzed or landed on by robotic human craft.  If we don't blow ourselves up, or burn through all our resources too quickly, it's only a matter of time before humans visit in person.

So what of the Dog?  Since he can't smell the stars, he couldn't care less. But there's a better than even chance that, should humans establish a permanent presence on another planet, there'll be Dogs with them, sniffing and peeing every twenty yards or so, nose pressed into whatever passes for unkempt winter growth.

All Hail The New Year

We all need a Plan for the New Year,

So, try this:

When in doubt, choose Hope.

(With the New comes the Possible.)

Let cautious optimism trickle up.

(With the Old Year behind You, there is the chance you'll get it right.)

Let peaceful intent become peaceful Action.

Think Seven Steps Ahead,

But look where each Step Falls.

(Don't Crush The Flowers)

Try to let go of the Past,

(Except for that part where you screwed up and need to remember to not do it again.)

Think progressively.

Live earnestly but with sensitivity.

Have Fun, if You Can.

Be Content, If You Can't.

Work On Your Plan for 2014 ...