Appropo...................

I don't really have time to invest in a truly complete and coherent entry.....but I thought it appropriate to take the time at least to offer Thanksgiving wishes to all who happen here.
(I also think it's appropriate that an animal possessed of no more capacity for expressing itself than to run around saying "gobble, gobble, gobble", that has been commercially bred to such a preponderance of breast that it can no longer walk and whose most distinctive feature is an ugly head should be fated to be decapitated and gobbled to the point of gluttony by a grateful nation.)
This will be the first Thanksgiving in nearly 30 years that I have no cooking to do whatsoever...........show up and eat.
There are other transistions inherent in the toll that this year has taken on my family that are more impactful or profound...........things that will manifest themselves in small and large ways as yet unforseeable. Yet, to me, this is the one that is the most difficult to focus on........to incorporate into my grasp of "inescapable is-ness". Perhaps because of what it symbolizes for me.
I know how cryptic all this must sound...........but that is how it still looks to me............cryptic, undefined, ambiguous.
(In a totally unrelated aside; upon reflection, the whole concept of "ambiguous knowledge" has got to be one of the stupidest loads of psuedo-intellectual horse shit I've ever encountered.)
Men and women my age have solid futures laid upon their past (for good or for ill).
My future is loosely woven in varying degrees of probability and speculation.......with but a few cords left to cut, I will be unmoored for the first time since I was a very young man and the world was new.
You wouldn't think one could ever forget how brassy the taste of adrenaline.........or how terrific (the root of which excellant and mostly mis-spoken word is terror) the factors that call it into prominence in the chemistry of our lives. I don't believe I would be too far out of line to suggest that all other intoxicants serve as either a desperate attempt to suppress the memory of it altogether or to call forth in some controlled way a feeble emulation of it.

At any rate..........Happy Thanksgiving.

At its worst........life is good.

Thus endeth the entry.

Happy Birthday..........

Today is Emily's Birthday.........

Emily was among my very first readers....

She has been my most faithful reader and commenter..........

We've traded little things back and forth in the mail.........

We've corresponded, off and on, and caught each other in passing for a bit of conversation in messenger.............

I've talked her ear off on the phone........

She's been as sweet a friend to me as any one ever has...........

We've never met.........

Not yet.........

Click here and wish her a Happy Day.

Thus endeth the entry...........

Happy Birthday..........

Today is the 231st Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. I've borrowed a clip to post here that I think sums up the nature of the "Esprit" that defines the brotherhood of all Marines.
This clip was never intended to be circulated widely but this is the age of the internet and it was............and it caused a stir.
Just a bunch of "jar-heads", placed in murderous conflict by the people of the country they would sacrifice their lives to preserve and protect, blowing off some steam, engaging in some gallows humor at the expense of their enemy........just doing what Marines do when they've done what Marines are sent to do.

....but some poor, sensitive, gaggle of politically correct assholes got offended by it.

and some ball rubbing functionary of the G. W. Halliburton administration decided that it didn't reflect well on the Navy Dept.

And, what someone labeled (appropriately enough) "some nutless star-chaser" at the pentagon decided to force the singer/composer, Corporal Josh Belile, to apologize publically.

Hell.............he should have had his picture on the cover of "Newsweek".
He should be doing tours of late night talk shows...........
You ought to be able to buy this on a DVD.
It should be on EM TEE fucking VEE....
He ought to be a household name..........like S/Sgt. Barry Sadler was with "The Ballad of the Green Berets" (fucking weinie)......

.....but then, what do I know.....I'm just an old "jar head".

Some of these lads aren't going to come home............and they know it.
....and I know it wasn't that little piss-ant in the White House that sent them to Iraq.
It was us.

A US Marine blowing off steam off duty and causing a media uproar because he's singing about shooting Iraqi civilians in self defense. "Dirka Dirka Mohamed Jihad" is out of Team America World Police Hadji Girl (the lyrics) I was out in the sands of Iraq And we were under attack And I, well I didn't know where to go Then the first thing that I could see Was everybody's favorite Burger King So I threw open the door and I hit the floor Then suddenly to my surprise I looked up and I saw her eyes And I knew it was love at first sight And she said 'Dirka dirka Mohammed jihad, sherpa sherpa baklava' Haji girl, I can't understand what you're saying And she said 'Dirka dirka Mohammed jihad, sherpa sherpa baklava' Haji girl, I love you anyway Then she said she wanted me to see Wanted me to go meet her family But I, Well I couldn't figure out how to say no Cuz I don't speak Arabic, so She took me down an old dirt trail And she pulled up to a sod shanty She threw open the door and I hit the floor Cuz her brother and her father shouted: 'Dirka dirka Mohammed jihad, sherpa sherpa baklava' They pulled out their AK's so I could see And they said 'Dirka dirka Mohammed jihad, sherpa sherpa baklava' So I grabbed her little sister And I pulled her in front of me As the bullets began to fly The blood sprayed from between her eyes And then I laughed maniacally Then I hid behind the tv And I locked and loaded my M-16 I blew those little fuckers to eternity And I said: 'Dirka dirka Mohammed jihad, sherpa sherpa baklava' They shoulda known they were fuckin' with a Marine

Three men were seated side by side on a long plane ride. After takeoff, the guy in the window seat turned to the other two and said,by way of introduction: "General, United States Army, retired.......married, two sons, both surgeons."
At that,the guy on the aisle seat speaks up: "General, United States Air Force, retired......married, two sons, both Judges."
Without missing a beat, the guy in the center seat says, in a powerful parade ground voice: "Master Gunnery Sergeant, United States Marine Corps, retired......never married, two sons, both Generals."......(taken from this month's "Chilli Chatter")

Happy Birthday Guys................Semper Fi.

Thus endeth the entry................

DWMISO.............

I've been exposed to a number of things since joining the computer age nearly five years ago. Things I would otherwise not have experienced. By and large, it has been rewarding, it has expanded me, opened up the world for me, taken me places and presented opportunities, introduced me to people...........I could go on forever about it.
I could not be satisfied with the tiny little chunk of the world I lived and functioned in prior to owning a computer.
Blogging is a perfect example. It is something I wouldn't have considered......knew nothing about actually. Now it is something I couldn't imagine not participating in.
If for no other reason but that it leaves a legacy of my thoughts and insights into my character for those who will come after me.
It has even occurred to me that when the time comes to settle in to a relationship again, I could do much worse than to turn to the internet. Why should I narrow my options and be content with the-best-I-could-do out of the desperate Friday night herd down at the local drinking gourd? There are potentially hundreds of possible companions and partners within a reasonable distance who share my interests and match my energies and complement my strengths and weaknesses.
It was in that light I decided to take out a personal ad. I decided in order for it to have a chance to work it would have to be honest, forthright, and in tune with the current realities of my life. I'm not really ready to settle down yet, but it would be nice to start meeting some people that I could at least spend some time with in a mutually satisfying way.

So, I posted the following:

Overweight, unemployed, fifty-something, divorced, white male seeks tiny bisexual redheaded twins with no pubic hair for long term, frequent, casual sex.

No one has answered it..................yet, *grins*

Thus endeth the entry...........

Koan..........

If a man is alone in a forest............

and there is no woman to hear him.

Is he still wrong?

Thus endeth the entry.......