Outside Myself

Sometimes you have to remember your roots
Claw through the ashes of what has been burned
To find a tiny piece of your soul
That’s all blackened around the edges
Memories of times you trusted and believed
But just a sad song punchline now

My body hurts in the morning
My head hurts all day long
And my heart just keeps beating
The feeling in the pit of my gut
Just stays for days and days
Until I hear a new and different song

I don’t want any food and I’m not thirsty
Please just leave me alone
Out here on the ledge, looking down and out
Sun on my face and wind on my neck
Eyes held shut so tight
Somewhere far away someone is smiling and laughing

The moment is over and I’m off balance
So I better open the window and come in
Before I do what I always do
Back to the groove and that Tuesday thing
Wrapped up in the normal and go, go, go
One more day before one more day comes

Wrestlemania 31 – Levi Stadium (Santa Clara, CA)

Yes I am doing a blog on wrestling. Or as my cheeky mother likes to call it, “Fat Men in their Underpants”. Last night on March 29th my friend Mike and I engaged in our yearly wrestling pay-per-view event Wrestlemania tradition. Overall this was the 31st edition of this event – with Mike and I partaking for the last dozen or so. Although this year it was more enjoyable for multiple reasons.

Let’s start with the first reason the event was more enjoyable – price. Over the last decade WWE aka World Wrestling Entertainment has steadily increased the number of yearly pay-per-view events (12-15 per year) and the price charged for these events (plus add $10 more for HD – High Definition). Jump back about 20-25 years ago when the company was known as WWF World Wrestling Federation (a lawsuit with WWF  – World Wildlife Fund prompted the change and re-branding), the company basically ran a handful of pay-per-view events with Wrestlemania being their Superbowl. Last year with HD I think the event cost was between $60-$70. This year’s cost to Mike (he was the host) was $10 ($9.99) plus an HDMI cord or whatever he needed to buy to hook up to his computer. Thank you Mr Simpson.

Why the drastic reduction in cost? WWE launched their own content network in 2014 causing a rift with Dish Network and also DirecTV satellite providers. So in an effort to bolster their subscription subscribers to their dedicated network, WWE lets customers sign up for $10 ($9.99) per month and that gives them access to all sorts of original programming plus past PPV events on demand – kind of like an an wrestling-flavored Netflix. With WWE able to control all their customers without needing to broker with Dish/DirecTV (cut out the middle man). WWE is able to grow their network (and profits) by having a wide subscriber base all year round instead of having to entice their single-buy customers every month based on the desirability of that month’s PPV ticket. It’s a sound business strategy as their network is essentially expanding to be available worldwide. For the hardcore wrestling enthusiasts, it’s a digital candy store to their inner wrestling child.

With the practical stuff out of the way and the cost on a much more affordable $10 shelf – it made enjoying the PPV easier. I know that sounds silly but when you are paying 50-60-70 dollars for entertainment, it makes you a little more critical. The last few years, Mike and I have been teetering on the edge about whether to spend that kind of money for 3+ hours of programming that really didn’t differ from the free product (if you have cable/satellite package) available the next night on the Monday night RAW program. Now with the WWE Network available, problem solved and everyone wins except the satellite providers.

Despite some technical difficulties with the PS3 interface (mostly user error on Mike’s part with the controller), the event seemed to stream just like the more expensive cable/satellite events. Of course, WWE packed in their content between matches to entice you to explore the service more and ultimately nudge you to become a dedicated customer.

Enough with me blowing WWE sunshine up your booty. The event was 3+ hours and started well with a win by my boy Cesaro (and Natty’s husband), followed by a great Battle Royale (as Jon Gruden described it). Next up, a nice ladder match with some, wow, is that guy paralyzed moments. A snooze-fest match followed featuring St Louis’ own Randy Orton. To cleanse the pallet, the ‘Old-timers’ match with Triple H and Sting had some cool nostalgic elements to distract from the simple and arduous in-ring action. The lone ladies match featured three of the main Divas from the TV show Total Divas (Nikki and Brie Bella plus Paige) along with AJ Lee and was OK but not spectacular. Segwaying from the Divas’ match, John Cena (John is the boyfriend of Nikki Bella) vs Rusev match was pretty much what you expected with an amusing twist. Wrestling fans are a fickle bunch. The wrestling promoters try to lead fans to one side or the other by pitting a ‘good’ character vs a ‘bad’ character. John Cena is always portrayed as the squeaky clean good guy but the crowd is usually split – half liking him and half booing him. So in this match up, John Cena in the United States, from the United States vs Rusev, in the United States, portrayed to be from Russia and indignant towards the United States – the crowd goes off script for this one. At times it breaks down into a slugfest with each competitor punching the other. John Cena punches Rusev and the crowd boos. Rusev fires a punch at John Cena and the crowd cheers. Funny Stuff.

Following the predictable Cena match conclusion, The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) has an in-ring segment with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (the owner of the company is Vince McMahon). The Rock enlists the talents of UFC fighter Rhonda Rousey, who is coincidentally ringside, to engage Stephanie in physicality since he cannot act upon Stephanie even though Stephanie provokes him verbally and physically (men do not hit women, you just don’t). Blah segment to basically give the The Rock some free buzz and association with the company in lieu of the forthcoming release of the movie Fast And Furious 7 in which the Rock has a prominent role.

Next up is the thing most people for the last decade have bought the PPV for – The Undertaker match. Up until last year The Undertaker had never been defeated, at Wrestlemania, sporting a 21-0 record. Since The Undertaker (his real name is Mark) has been wrestling for decades and his body has taken so much abuse that he can only wrestle once or twice a year – typically just at Wrestlemania. So you can imagine the outrage when he lost last year (the outcomes are predetermined in case you are not familiar with the wrestling product). Last year he lost to former MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter Brock Lesnar who also was an accomplished amateur wrestler. This year The Undertaker was pitted against Bray Wyatt who looks like he escaped from an episode of Duck Dynasty, the heavyweight division. In a prudent outcome, The Undertaker was victorious (sorry for the spoiler) even though the match itself was pretty average.

In the main event, Brock Lesnar – the champion took on the young and beefy Samoan Roman Reigns for the world heavyweight title. Here WWE finally got it right. After so many years of Wrestlemania matches of behemoths clashing in uninspired thuggery – this one got a little bloody and had a swerve that actually had me sitting there saying “This Brock Lesnar match is interesting.” Kudos WWE. Affordable product that delivers on value and entertains throughout. You may actually have me watch more PPV events now.

Long live The Undertaker and the Daniel Bryan Yes! Yes! Yes! Ay yo!

Happy Monday my friends.

Peace.

Religion

So there it is. One of the top five things you never discuss. The others being politics, your finances, alternate sexuality and soccer.

In my lifetime I have never really had a defined religion. On occasion I have been inside a church for weddings and a random midnight mass in a previous relationship. But a church is not a religion. It’s just a building without desirable seating unlike the newer movie theaters with the plush recliners and drink tables.

But religion itself I just do not understand. Why do I need to assemble at designated times and places to speak to an almighty being who is omnipresent? Is the church building like a religious WiFi hotspot? Does God not get reception at my residence? If that’s the case, he/she probably cannot witness my checklist of no-no’s (mostly Sloth). Also if most churches convene on Sunday in the morning (staggered for time zones and across the globe) – aren’t you competing for his attention to hear prayers and such? Maybe that is God’s Sunday ticket like the NFL satellite package. Oh this church in Columbus, Ohio is involved in a defensive struggle and he would rather watch a shootout of action like a church in Wild Buffalo, Montana. Maybe God doesn’t like people who speak with accents because it’s harder to understand and follow so he tunes out people in New York or Texas? Perhaps God is a stickler for punctuation and grammar and he is secretly boycotting a church in Clearwater, Florida based on a printing error in their version of the bible from a cut-rate printer in Canada. What-if God can’t stand vegetarians and there is a Vegetarian-Only Church in Flagpole, England?

As usual I am taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to a topic that some people will not laugh about under any circumstance. Religion, politics, raising a child, sports, drugs, love, sexuality and many other very personal choices are colored by each person’s life experiences. Some of these things you may not have had exposure to at a young age; where certain principles are set for you and repeatedly enforced or harped upon. So when this occurs and you are left to explore and come to conclusions and philosophies on your own, it takes on more of a personal flavor and will cross boundaries that other people cannot fathom.

In my opinion, I think it’s hard to relate a book (the bible) that was written back in a time when some of the greatest thinkers thought the Earth was flat and the day to day existence was basic as shelter and survival of a family unit as compared to what exists today. Not saying some of the principles and concepts are not applicable or worth valuing but the landscape is like a different planet from those times. And if this book was really written (and selectively edited) by persons of forward thinking, why didn’t they allude to the radical changes of the present day or what the world will evolve into in another 50 or 100 years from now? I know a very small piece of the bible and the Cliff Notes version of many stories, still I don’t see where a book that has origins 3400 years ago or the other versions that appeared 1500 years after that can be the know-all be-all of everyday life in the year 2015 or beyond. Maybe if the Earth’s crust cracks open and 95 percent of the population is obliterated and all the knowledge and technology is lost – then the bible becomes relevant and forefront again.

With all this being said, I am not at all religious. Instead, I like to think of myself as a bit spiritual but not religious. Have there been times in my life when I have had verbal or mental conversations with God? Yes. He/she has never spoken to me but once I asked for him/her to remove a bully from school and later that year the bully got busted for stealing and was expelled. Coincidence? Who knows. But I didn’t have to go to church to make the request. I didn’t have to chant some submissive phrase from a mass printed book of indeterminate age.

I could probably fill up an entire book on the subject and flow back and forth to make points for my point of view but the ones who love their religion and in turn need it, bless them. Let them have it. If it makes them stronger and a better person then go on and embrace the facets that are needed. However, if you are using it (cryptic passages from hundreds of years ago) to further your own hateful opinions and make an argument to interject yourself into someone else’s business that is none of your business then I say I hope your bible spontaneously combusts in your lap and you are torched by your short-sighted petty thinking. Sounds like I am preaching a bit doesn’t it? Ha. I think your spirituality should spark a passion. But instead of sitting in sermon time-out on a Sunday reading old words and punching an after-life time clock, how about you take your spirituality and put it into action. How about have your church be convened in the soup kitchens, pet shelters and other charitible outlets for the time you spend on those prayer days? Wouldn’t that make a better use of the time and a better use of the energy and produce a positive result for society, not to mention improve your hereafter resume?

Stop judging others for their skin color and their sexual preference and just realize most of them are like you under their black, tan or white skin. Trying to survive the day. Missing a loved one no longer with them. Stressing about paying their bills. Wanting a better life for their children. Trying to make sense of the world around them.

For the people waiting for Jesus to return…what if he did but was so disappointed by what he saw that he didn’t reveal himself and slipped quietly away, never to return? Now what? What if the atrocities committed in every country, every day are so over the line that God has dropped us like a dissatisfied cable customer? I forget the quote or the exact context of the sentence I’m about to write but it was said: Maybe Jesus, if he were here today, would not approve of the religions being perpetrated in his name. In his teachings he was more about the concepts and ideas of religion than the religion itself because ideas and concepts can be talked about and changed but religion is not easily changed. This is a horrible paraphrase, forgive me, but you can kind of see what the thought was. Live your life by a set of rules or guidelines based on your needs and a moral compass of right and wrong. Pass those ideas on to your family for the greater good.

Okay here I will take a step back and apologize if I have offended. These are just my thoughts and by no means the gospel of how life should be. Life is series of events, mistakes and recoveries. Let your heart and conscience guide you to your passion and your strengths. Others may be drawn to or repelled by the true you but let that be your guiding spirit. Not everyone is a piece needed for your puzzle.

Hope your energy is positive and you have a kick butt weekend.

Peace.

Haskell and Gilbert Movie Reviews

Last night I went out with Kristi and saw the movie The Lazarus Effect which I think is classified as being in the horror genre. For 83 minutes running time, the film moves well and has some plausible story and creepy stuff. I would say this movie is the love child of the movies Flatliners from 1990 (Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts and Keifer Sutherland – “It’s a good day to die.”) and Pet Sematary from 1989. Back in the day Haskell and Gilbert would have given it 3 yups on a 1-4 yup scale.

What? You aren’t familiar with Haskell and Gilbert? Then possibly you were not a reader of my column in the high school newspaper at Grandview High School back in the day. Let me catch you up a bit. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a TV program called Siskel & Ebert. The show was built around two movie critics based out of Chicago, Illinois. Each week the pair would give their assessments of the latest crop of movies. Gene Siskel (1946-1999) was a fickle reviewer and typically had the more harsh reviews in my opinion. Roger Ebert (1942-2013), in addition to his credits on the TV show, appeared in the 1979 film Beneath The Valley of The Ultra-Vixens and was generally a little more lenient in his reviews except for his tirade about the movie Freddy Got Fingered.

For the movie column, my long time school friend Matt and I spoofed the show by changing the names to Haskell and Gilbert. We took the names of two characters from a black and white sitcom from the 50’s and 60’s called Leave It To Beaver. The characters were not the main characters but supporting cast. Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond, no relation to Donnie and Marie, also was in the 1991 film Dead Women in Lingerie) played a suck up character that always told Beaver’s mom how lovely she looked. The other character Gilbert Bates was rarely on the show and only appeared in about twenty-five percent of the episodes.

So back to the movie The Lazarus Effect starring Olivia Wilde (I recognized her from the TV show House) – I would recommend it as myself or as my movie reviewer alter ego. Dark and creepy with a few social and moral questions flung into your face. Check it out either at the theater ($22 as a couple plus theater concession prices) or $1.50-$2.00 for Redbox DVD or Blu-Ray once it becomes available.

Hope everyone is in a good place heading into the weekend and the rain dissipates. Tweet, Tweet.

Peace.

The Page

There’s that noise again
It’s quite clear in the stillness
Sounds like madness sneaking around
I hold my breath waiting for it to stop
Can’t sleep, can’t cure the illness
That makes me sick at heart

If there’s lies you told
I already know the truths
More days go by, more rain falls
I like the skies dark and gray
No sunshine to blind me from the proof
Deep water, waiting to overflow

I’ve got two good hands
To cover both my eyes
If I don’t want to see this
How I feel has never mattered
Good intentions mixed with failed tries
Step out of my shoes for awhile

Got no money to throw out the window
Insanity in my mind, no place to spend it
All I have in my world is this page
To make everything do what I want
Fighting off thoughts of an early exit
I come back to this page

Comedy

Creating something from nothing – Laughter. It’s a great way to connect and feel normal – making someone smile and laugh. For those of us who are not especially gifted with strikingly handsome faces, those who are not Adonis’s with rippling muscles or those of us who do not possess an excess of natural athletic ability, comedy is a vehicle to gain some semblance of acceptance. Everyone, whether they admit it or not, judge people based on what they see first (for my blind readers I apologize I know you are better people than the rest of us.) Oh look at the guy in the ill-fitting polo shirt with what I hope is dried mayonnaise near his collar. You can tell he isn’t using conditioner or at least not the proper usage of the product. I bet he has five or more Styx CD’s in his car. Probably a mama’s boy and would not take his girlfriend’s side in an argument with his mama (I will not rat you out Matt. Oops.)

The one thing a guy like me brings to the table against the pretty people of society with their ‘muscle definition’ and ‘impeccable facial structure’ and ‘tanned skin’ and ‘commanding physical presence’ and …where was I going with this. Oh yeah, I can be quirky and funny. OK so that sounds like someone trying to climb the tallest of mountains while wearing flip flops as you have one arm tied behind your back as someone is constantly hitting you with bursts of high pressurized water from a fire hose at midnight on the coldest day of the year when you are having bouts of uncontrolled diarrhea. In the face of all that Comedy is sexy. OK maybe sexy is a stretch but it can provide more verbal substance and social lubrication than the Neanderthal grunts and finger pointing at his abs and subsequent thumbs up and OK finger gestures.

After the female populace (some repeatedly like moths to the proverbial flame) has had enough of the beautiful but more shallow specimens – typically who only want to drive fast vehicles, work out, tan, apply tanner, get more tan, become darkly tanned and only engage women in a sexual manner – then they notice guys like me. And I can read it in their eyes, the unimpressed head to toe scan like I’m a piece of meat, the pursing of the lips sideways that screams, God I sure hope he is funny. At this point if you want to apply the fortune cookie game (add IN BED to your fortune cookie fortune) to that last part go ahead. I believe there was a segment on the TV show Friends where Ross was dealing with his insecurity over Rachel’s former Italian lover Paulo. Rachel describes her attraction and relationship with Paulo as nothing but ‘animal sex’ and Ross counters by offering her the option to have sex with Paulo while he stands in the corner telling Knock, Knock jokes. By the way, I think of myself more like the Chandler character from the show without the many hook-ups with the annoying Janice (cue the really annoying Janice laugh).

Getting back to the core topic of laughter – it’s a great Band-Aid for whatever is bleeding at the moment: demons, phantoms, insecurity, fears and another 100 variations of those anchors. I may not be able to bench press 200 pounds or hit a 400 foot home run or look good in a flesh colored Speedo or ice/roller skate or have a bank account like The Rock but I can whip out a Tweet and slap together a Facebook post that will have someone sit back and smile while shaking their head. So while I am not motivated to actively do something about my fl-abs or rub Cheeto dust on myself to alleviate the resemblance of my skin hue to the moon in coloring just know my mind is rock hard and I have a washboard psyche if I suck in and really flex .

Great but incomplete list:

http://www.listology.com/list/comedy-central-100-greatest-standups-all-time

George Carlin , Richard Pryor, Robin Williams , Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Roseanne Barr, Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison, Dennis Miller, Steven Wright, Jim Carrey, Billy Crystal, Adam Sandler, Lewis Black, Gilbert Gottfried, Jeff Foxworthy, Bobcat Goldthwait, Paul Reiser, Brett Butler, Paula Poundstone, Dana Carvey, Louie Anderson, Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay plus Phil Hartman and Weird Al Yankovic.

The ones noted above are some of my person favorites in no real order. There are many more on the list from the link provided and many more still that were omitted. Some of the best comedians, in my opinion, are no longer with us and that is a real shame as they inspired me and always made me think of different ways to view a situation and see humor where maybe it was not intended or not appropriate.

Peace.

No Filter

Hello and welcome to the semi-weekly Hump Day Edition of my blog. I have been told on many an occasion that people think I have no filter and just say everything and anything that comes into my mind. Well on the surface I could see why you might be inclined to believe such a rumor but that could not be farther from the truth.

Ask me if I think Pete Rose should be back in baseball and allowed to be on the Hall of Fame ballot and I will without hesitation say yes I do. How many people in this life have made mistakes that they regret? Everyone should have their hands raised right now. Pete made a big mistake and has paid dearly for it but his accomplishments on the baseball field do not need to be hidden in a closet any longer especially with the likes of Alex “Cheater Cheater Cheater” Rodriguez getting a sh!t-ton of ill-gotten money and endorsement deals with openly lying and subverting the rules of the game. So let’s not be hyprocrites to Pete Rose shall we?

Do I think marriage should only be between a man and a woman? No I do not. Marriage should be a joyous union of two people who profess to love one another – forever if possible. It should not be a penis plus vagina only proposition. What happens if after the man and woman get married and one of them decides to have a sex change…does this void the marriage contract? I’m sure the religious right is fuming right now over the argument but these are the same concepts that were around back when the bible was written and those people thought the world was flat and have no idea of the frustration of waiting in line at the DMV. So out-dated concepts like man and woman only marriage should also be dropped. Let’s worry about something more relevant, like how to give schools a way to discipline children since society seems to be teeming with self-entitled brats who never learned there are consequences to their actions.

Do I think people who think their children are better than pets are arrogant? Yeah I do. How many pets have been raised and later became serial killers versus children raised and then became serial killers? I don’t think the parents are going to like the statistics here. Children cost lots of time and money and it is not OK to leave a two year old child alone for a long weekend with a litter box, a bowl of food and a bowl of water while you go away on a camping trip but a cat on the other hand…yep that’s OK and no one fusses.

These are just a few surface thoughts on these topics. Some are silly and over-the-top I grant you. However there are a ton of things that I think about but keep to myself just because they may be mean or cause unnecessary strife to me over what I consider foolishness.

At the end of the day, these are my opinions and remember what they say about opinions…and a$$holes.

Hope your Hump Day is gratifying and leaves you with a lazy smile of amusement. Enjoy my friends and let’s get to some baseball! #GOTRIBE!!!

Peace.

Leave Out All The Rest – Linkin Park

I dreamed I was missing
You were so scared
But no one would listen
Cause no one else cared
After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
When I’m done here
So if you’re asking me I want you to know

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I’ve done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed
Don’t resent me
And when you’re feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest

Don’t be afraid
I’ve taken my beating
I’ve shared what i made
I’m strong on the surface
Not all the way through
I’ve never been perfect
But neither have you
So if you’re asking me I want you to know

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that i’ve done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed
Don’t resent me
And when you’re feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest

Forgetting / all the hurt inside you learned to hide so well
Pretending / someone else can come and save me from myself
I can’t be who you are

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I’ve done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed
Don’t resent me
And when you’re feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest

Forgetting / all the hurt inside you learned to hide so well
Pretending / someone else can come and save me from myself
I can’t be who you are

I can’t be who you are

One of my favorite tunes. I’m strong on the surface…not all the way through. So true. Have a great day and smile. Let tomorrow rest until tomorrow wakes you…

Peace.

Judgement

Some of you know me better than others. I typically have something quirky to say or something to make you stop for a second and think. Lately, I have been hearing a lot of things pertaining to race and racism and thought I would chip in my rubber check for cents worth. Here goes.

Some people are racists. Black panthers. KKK. Nazi groups. And so on and so forth. I am not denying this. Where things start driving me up the wall is where people of
color start pointing the finger across the board at people of a different color and calling them racist based on circumstance. Let me give you a for example.

If you see a black man who looks disheveled in a dirty hoody or wife beater loitering on a street corner or between cars on a dark street – your first inclination would probably be to walk faster on the opposite side of the street or in a different direction. Now take that same scenario but make him a white man and you still are probably going to take the same course of action. It’s not a racist response, it is an instinct to avoid a potentially unsafe situation, its all about presentation. Take that same scenario and put that black man in a suit and tie and the sense of a threat is alleviated. Can you see my point? Actions and appearance dictate fear and mistrust along with life experiences. If I got beat up by a large white, bald man (or woman) with tattoos all over his person I would probably have a negative reaction to encountering a similar person later in life. So if you in an environment where there is an element of unsurity: Ferguson, Missouri being a Caucasian being (male or female) and you are aggressively engaged (taunted) by a group of black men you are probably going to feel uncomfortable and fear. That’s not racism. If the situation was altered and the group is now young male latinos or a white male biker gang – the cross-over feelings I bet would be similar unless you are a biker to the biker gang or a latino person to the latino gang.

American society has these divisions that are not necessarily racist – they are cautionary – like a new fish in a tank inhabited by a school of other fish. It’s like saying white men can’t jump – not entirely true. We can jump – most of us not too high – but we can jump. But out of the mouth of a black man so as to bring a comparison to a black male athlete as a generalization who can jump well – then yes in correlation by comparison white men can’t jump (as well).

I know it seems like I am trivializing the situation but it gets so old when a black person plays the racist card for no reason other than to get attention and try to be a victim. Guess what poor struggling, frustrated black people…there are poor, struggling white people too. Shocking I know. Not all white people live in their mansions while driving around Rolls Royces with their loaded suitcases of money sitting on the seat next to them in the back while they give their chauffeurs explicit instructions to only wash the car with skins of defenseless seals. Give me a break. Very few people in this life have extravagant things handed to them without sacrifice and hardship but sitting on the outside and being bitter and name calling doesn’t get you any further along. Yes that small percentage of the population that judges people by the color of their skin are a$$holes. But guess what? They come in all skin colors – not just white.

Peace.

Disrespect Me

Go ahead. Do it. I dare you.

Beautiful – By Christina Aguilera

(Don’t look at me)

Everyday is so wonderful
And suddenly, it’s hard to breathe
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the pain,
I’m so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can’t bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can’t bring me down, oh no
So don’t you bring me down today

To all your friends you’re delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness,
The pieces gone,
Left the puzzle undone,
Ain’t that the way it is?

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can’t bring you down, no, no
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes words can’t bring you down, oh, no
So don’t you bring me down today

No matter what we do
(no matter what we do)
No matter what we say
(no matter what we say)
We’re the song inside the tune
(yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Full of beautiful mistakes
And everywhere we go
(and everywhere we go)
The sun will always shine
(sun will always, always shine)
But tomorrow we might awake
On the other side

‘Cause we are beautiful,
No matter what they say
Yes, words won’t bring us down, oh no
We are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can’t bring us down, oh no
So don’t you bring me down today

Don’t you bring me down today
Don’t you bring me down…
Mmm, today

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is an everyday song (for me) just like Bleed It Out by Linkin Park. I could listen to each of these songs everyday and it would at least catch a corner of my mood. The exterior world is callous and forgetting and suicidal. So few days do things get built that are beautiful and can be enjoyed before the tidal waves of a tsunami of negativity level and annihilate the beauty and good vibes. Most days are a struggle to want to rebuild the beauty much less try to do so. But on the foundations of love, friendship and hope the rubble gets pushed aside and the rebuilding starts all over again…

Peace.

Twitter vs Facebook

This shall be a bitter duel until only one of them is left standing! Or perhaps it shall just be something whimsical and silly like most of my other stuff.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I belong to a few social networks. Most prevalently – Twitter and Facebook. Each has their benefits in my opinion. For example, Facebook is more user friendly for conversations and threads plus a lot of my softball people are on there so its a good way to keep my ear to the ground for developments within the softball realm. On the Twitter side, the character limit is really appreciated so I don’t have to see those annoying Facebook posts that span like 17 pages of text. For my A-D-D tendencies, Twitter is ideal to just chuck out short bursts of thought with no common thread. Just randomness and I don’t get as much flack for my 17 posts in one day that are all over the board (no not my Pinterest board).

So this is kind of like a Spartacus vs Crixus match up. Worthy opponents with similar strengths and glaring flaws. I will continue to debate which is better as I scroll through some pix on Instagram which is the ultimate fluff of the social media family. A digital flip-book…oh yeah some words…not gonna read. Flip Flip Flip. Double tap on the cute kitty pic.

So lol on this…soon it will be warm and I can go outside with my phone. Something will strike my fancy and it will be captured for the Facebookers, Twitterers or Instagramaniacs! Whatcha gonna do when social media runs wild on you brother?

Have a great weekend and rest of your day.

Peace.

Friday!!!!

Good gawd all mighty, it’s Friday!

I’d like to thank the little baby Jesus and the older Jesus wearing a tuxedo t-shirt. Damn you, Ricky Bobby.

Ricky Bobby: Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin’ there in your ghost manger, just lookin’ at your Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin’ ’bout shapes and colors.

If you’re not posting first, you’re posting last!

Peace.

 

 

Nuts

Emerald Natural Almonds – very tasty! And there are approximately 20 almonds in their 100 calorie packs. This leads me to believe there is about 5 calories per almond. That seems very reasonable for the size, taste and texture of the product. Contained within these 20 almonds is 9 grams of fat – that breaks down to about a gram of fat for two almonds! Fantastic! OK maybe not – maybe an overstatement – but certainly not that bad unless I eat 10 packs of these jobby-dealies. In the categories of cholesterol and sodium – we get a big fat goose egg (0). Chip in two grams of fiber and 25% of my daily Vitamin E requirement and I think its a win-win-crunch. Diamond Foods Inc is kind enough to distribute them all the way from Stockton, California. Feel free to Tweet about it!

OK that’s enough talking about my nuts. 🙂

Happy Post Hump Day.

Pre-Hump Day

Happy Tuesday to you. Have a gluten free pretzel with your choice of mustard or mayonnaise!

So as I sit here typing to you listening to some classic Linkin Park, I am trying to decide what shall flow forth…

Being tired? Naw that’s a bummer.

Cold and mucky weather? Don’t think so. Also in the bummer vein.

Baseball spring training? Perhaps but then I run the risk of alienating a small percentage who may dislike sports or baseball in particular because it doesn’t lend itself to the A-D-D populace that watches hockey or basketball or something similar where there is a flurry of activity constantly.

Bowel movements? Hmm. It does have a certain blanket coverage of my readership, butt, I mean but, it isn’t exactly all that an acceptable topic to discuss unless you are in the 60 and over crowd where it’s important to contrast and compare with your neighbor prior to the bingo Olympics. I may have crossed a line and offended some people but that is the line I walk!  🙂

Bowling movements? Again see the baseball notes above.

So I’m left with a quandary. And just for the record I was mistaken about how to spell quandary – I thought it was quandry. Perhaps I will let this sit in the pot simmering a bit longer like some spicy chili with several ingredients that slowly over hours meld and form into a new cohesive tasting powerful belly warming food…or become just a fiery concoction to sit upon your tongue and make you want to expel it thusly from your speaking hole.

Enjoy your Tuesday and let’s reconvene tomorrow.

Peace.