Three in One Post

Well, it’s been a very busy week and I’ve had numerous ideas for posts flitting through my mind and no time to stop and pitter pat on the keyboard. Now here I am, on Thursday morning feeling like I haven’t earned my keep, haven’t provided enough entertainment for my blog readers this week, and I know ya’ll are missing me because you have said you do when I don’t post on a regular basis.

So a smattering of ideas for posts have come in the past week and of course I’ve kept notes. I noticed the article on the internet a few days ago, John Cusack has a stalker! OH MY GOD! Well, can you blame her? I mean he is without a doubt the handsome-ist movie actor. Oh, and did you see him in “Identity”? No more mister nice guy and what a shocker of an ending. I can’t say, in case you didn’t see it.

Anyway, poor John, he has some crazy girl following him everywhere he goes. He had to get a restraining order, and now she’s violating it. It must be creepy to have to wonder if “she’s out there” every time you leave the house. He’s gotta be wondering if she adores Mark David Chapman too. If you don’t recognize the name search John Lennon + NYC + assassination.

Meanwhile the lady has to be really nutty, I mean she apparently throws bags of rocks over his fence that contain love letters and screw drivers ( hint, hint) and the last time she was arrested ( for what it does not say) she gave Mr. Cusack’s address as her home address. Now that’s a novel way to impress a guy and get him to notice you. You can get a print out of your arrest record and show it to him, “see Honey, how much I love you, we belong together, it says so right here!”

Meanwhile it’s rumored she also has a stalking relationship with Tom Cruise. Now I know she’s crazy. I say “honey, wake up and smell the coffee”. I mean, have you ever, has anyone ever, seen so much as one photo of cutie pie John Cusack with a girl? Yes, on movie posters maybe, because he’s one of those romantic hero types but honestly, in any other photo has he ever been captured in the presence of a girl? I think not, and what is it about that guy friend who always ends up in his movies as his sidekick? He’s cute too if ya know what I mean.

Crazy stalking girl- Get a Life, Move on, he’s not for you.

Then we have idea # 2 from this week:

I happened to see a couple of kids outside the library this week. They were young teens, both very stylish. One boy, one girl. They were obviously together, but not together because although they were throwing sideways glances at each other, and standing close enough that they occasionally touched shoulders and giggled a bit, they were not together because each one had a phone in hand, screen flipped up and they were intent on typing.

Interesting way to “court”. Be in presence physically, but keep your eyes on the screen and talk to someone else. I don’t know, it seems to me like the divorce rate will go up when this wave starts to marry. Either that, or stock in companies that produce gadgets that allow us to not be with the person we are with will go up. What’s gonna happen to these poor kids when they have to talk about job choices, where to live or the baby?

Are they going to have sex while they IM or watch TV? WHAT? People already do?

Madre De Dios! Am I that old? I’m starting to think the world has gone crazy, so I must be old, that’s a sure sign, right? What happened to talking to the person you are dating? Giving your attention fully and gazing in sublime pools of honeysuckle water eyes? Holding hands instead of mini computers? Actually talking with the person you are standing in front of? All I can say is Bless the Beasts and Children.

Idea # 3 for this week:
I was watching an old video tape of Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman. Remember her? And the 3,456, 347, 678 little girls named Michaela spawned during the mid-eighties?

I always watched that show. That was back when I still watched TV. No, I don’t watch TV anymore, I had my cable unplugged in 2000, when I was writing my first book and I never had it plugged back in.

If I want to stare at the tube I do what I was doing last night, watch a videotape or DVD of a movie or TV program. I never have to watch a commercial, I have no idea what the idols are doing and I’ve never seen a celebrity dancer. I don’t think I’m missing much. If I hear rumors about a great series, I can always watch it on DVD later and do it in my own time, not once a week at the networks time.

Any-hoo, I was reminded of how peaceful the fictional Colorado Springs of Dr. Quinn’s time was. How much the towns folk cared for each other, and the allowances small town folk have to make for each other. I mean, if you live in a small town, you are pretty much stuck with every one else there, like it or not. You can’t just blend into the crowd in a small town, you have to deal with your neighbors on a regular basis, like it or not. Maybe you learn to ignore. Maybe you learn to accept. Maybe you learn to support. Maybe you learn to ride a horse and get the hell ‘outta Dodge, I mean, Colorado Springs.

I had a little trip down memory lane because the tape I was watching had the commercials on it as well as the program and the news breaks were from a station in Austin. So the tape has to be pre-1986. It was Christmas time, judging from the holiday ads. It was cold, the storm center was flashing a tape of letters across the bottom of the screen. A freeze warning for Central Texas. Gadzooks! That is cold for Austin.

Dominos Pizza was spending billions on their holiday advertising campaign and those old phones with a portable hand set, remember them? The ones that had a recharge base with an answering machine (and everything!) right there in it? They were a hot Christmas item.

Someday archeologists will just watch old commercials rather than have to get all dirty digging up ruins.

OK, Idea # 4- well, that one is so good it needs a post all its own. The weekend is coming. My taxes are done. Check back next week. Peace, Meandering

Not China Made

Hey, I just found this great site that has lists companies and sites that feature products Made in the US. http://notchinamade.net/ Check it out, I added an active link down there, yes, down on the right hand side of the screen, yes go a little further down to my "meander over here a while" section which contains links to sites.

From The Same Flame.

I went to see “Horton Hears a Who” this week, and it was like licking a windowpane and I don’t mean the kind in your house if ya get my drift. If you don’t, well lets just say it was very colorful. I don’t remember the book really well, it was so long ago, but I can’t recall the part where the little yellow thingie (what ever it was) told Horton that she had an imaginary world where all the inhabitants were ponies that ate rainbows and pooped butterflies. Maybe I just don’t remember that part or maybe the film makers elaborated a tad. I did think it was interesting and entertaining imagery. Horton started questioning whether there might be something bigger than himself somewhere up above and that possibly his whole world was just a speck teetering on the edge of some huge flower. Yes Horton, we have all been there. So I was drifting off to sleep last night, with my bestest cat wrapped around my head like a furry thinking cap, and pondering that giant elephant in the sky. It got me to considering how we end up with our furry little friends. I imagined a huge being pulling hot coal out of the universal fire. The big being fanned the coal until a flame sprang forth. That was the human soul created. The being knew the heart of the human would long to return to the creator and would be lonely wandering the universe waiting for that day. The being felt compassion for the humans loneliness and decided to give the human a gift. The being held the flame in one hand and with the other pinched off a little piece of the flame and sent it spinning around the central flame. Like a little planet of fire orbiting a torch. Then the big being blew on the pair and sent them spinning off into the universe, one human and one pet soul, from the same flame. I think the being knew that the pet would not live as long as the human, and in making them from the same flame the being made them eternally inseparable. The pet soul would always return to the flame it was born of, life after life, and there by teach the human soul the truth of impermanence of all things and the true nature of love, ever changing but never ending. The human soul could also learn, if it were willing, the lesson that Horton and his friends learned. To be kind to all, for a soul is a soul, no matter how small.

My Own Good Advice for Writers- Part 4

I woke in the middle of the night, just drifted out of sleep really. There was no mysterious noise or startling dream to awaken, I just surfaced from the very top point of the sleep cycle. Yes, every hour you submerge and descend to a depth of really sleeping sound and ascend to the shimmering light of just barely asleep in a circle, over and over as you flop around under your bedsheets, (on the average,40 times) through out the night.

When you hit that ice burg tip of floating in the nightness, you often just wake slightly, for a moment. You may or may not remember it the next day. Even if you don't wake totally as you ascend toward wakefulness and the reality of your bedroom, (or someone else's bedroom, the living room, dorm room, hotel room, back seat of your car or the cardboard shack in rail town or the park bench you are sleeping on - really folks, we are all the same, all one-) your unconscious mind takes a minute to survey your surroundings.

Like the proverbial Loch Ness monster, your unconsciousness lifts its head from the water of sleep, stretches it's long neck upward and sniffs the breeze with nostrils the size of oranges. The mist filled night of your dreams shakes loose for long enough that you are able to discern if there is a threat in your immediate area.

Searching right and left, sniffing, listening, your unconscious mind classifies all the scents and all the noises and every little thread of the fabric of reality that surrounds you.

Click Click Click, all of it snaps into place and into categories like car passing, light from street, cats thundering up and down the stairs playing. All is well in your space, no intruders, no threats and no smoke. Your unconscious mind swings to and fro as it does one last check with quivering nostrils. It sniffs the air around you one last time then it slowly starts to submerge, long neck and shimmering skin and eyes that glitter with the light of your soul, it disappears under the surface of your descent to deeper sleep and the start of another cycle/circle.

As I was saying, I woke and as often happens in the clarity of just awakening, I had the best idea for an article pop right in my head. Three main concepts followed by a few gags that needed polishing and a final thought to tie it all together just flitted ( yes it's a word, meaning to fly or move lightly and quickly) right into my mind. I had an ah-ha moment, and thought of the accolades and awards an article of such brilliance and insight would bring me. I reached for a pen on my bedside table and found none. I declined to jump out of my cozy cave under covers to go in search of a pen. I burrowed deep and told myself there was no way I could forget such an incredibly outstanding idea. I joined my Loch Ness monster in the deep shimmering depth of my own sleep.

I can't for the life of me remember what my brilliant article was about. So, my own good advice for writers is to have a pen and paper near the bed. If you don't, make yourself go get one because you may not remember your award winning idea in the morning.

Did You Know...

If I were in Tibet, I would go to jail for a long time just for posting this photo or having this bumper sticker.







God Bless America!

I'm getting all political on ya, but don't worry, it's just a reaction to tax time.

The following post contains political commentary some (conservative and liberal) might find offensive. Continue at your own risk.

When I woke this morning my mind went directly to meandering into the events on my calendar for today. Or should I say the event. Yes, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s that time of the year again. Tax time.

For those of you who draw a paycheck, get a w2 in the mail, scribble a few numbers on a e-z file sheet and pop it in the mail, tax time is no biggie. In fact, I know ya’ll hit the post office by the end of January and eagerly await your money back. I always wonder why this elicits so much joy, I mean, it’s not like the government is giving you a gift, it’s your money. Your money that the government borrowed with out interest I might add. Wouldn’t it be better to just put that money in an interest bearing account and then pay the government at the end? I don’t know, that’s just me.

Anyway, for those of us who are self employed, tax time is a whole ‘nother story. I have boxes of files, reams of paper, ledgers and receipts and notebooks. I have 327 categories for deductions and 857 receipts to match each one. I have 7 different forms and schedules to fill out and honestly, the whole thing is so complicated I have to hire an accountant to fill out the papers. The problem, of course, is that I have to have the numbers all carefully tucked away in their proper places so the accountant knows what goes where.

Personally, I think we should have a tax system based on what you spend, not what you make. You know, that theory was bouncing around a few years ago, I think it was called a luxury tax. If this were the current tax system, I wouldn’t be spending the whole day sorting through receipts. I would just turn in the stack of receipts from the liquor store and call it a day.

Now, I don’t mind paying taxes, I understand we have to have some money laying around to help those who really need help. I have no problem with making sure the elderly and the disabled have enough to eat and a place to live. I do however mind paying to care for people who could work but don’t.

It appears there are plenty of people living off my taxes who do so just for the hell of it. I've met a lot of people living on disability who were definitely fit enough to be working. My solution to that? Well, why don’t we just say that if you are physically able to work,and you still apply for benefits, then your benefits are based on your previous taxes paid. If you have never worked, and could have, you don’t qualify. If you are "disabled" you have to prove it and the testing is not done by doctors ( who make money off disability office visits) but by marine drill sergeants.

Now I know that opens a whole can of worms, but hey, it’s just my opinion.

Worried about the jobless? Well, lets all quit buying cheap junk made in China and insist on American made everything. Lets bring manufacturing back to the US and put these people to work. They can report to the factory instead of the benefits office each morning. Now, it may not be great work, but it’s a paycheck that doesn’t come out of my hard earned taxes.

Worried about the high cost of American made goods? I think the prices would go down if we brought manufacturing back and honestly, how many two dollar plastic gadgets made in a country that poisons our pets and kills Buddhist Monks do you need? Would one twenty dollar gadget make do if you knew it would reduce your tax burden by a large margin? Would you rather pay twenty dollars in taxes so some guy could sit on his butt watching TV all day except for his quick run to the mail to get his monthly unemployment check or would you rather pay twenty dollars for an item made in America?

Now some say the luxury tax would not support our government. Well, it would if they were more accountable for spending. I do not like my taxes being spent on war. I especially don’t like it when billions of tax dollars are spent to kill and be killed, meanwhile, my disabled from birth sister gets a measly few hundred dollars a month in benefits to live on. Something is wrong here. I think war is one of the things that politicians should pay for out of their own pockets. If they vote yes they should put their entire salaries into the pot.

Here’s a novel idea, why not make it mandatory that if we go to war, we have to use nuclear force? Wait, hear me out before you think I’ve lost it. How many politicians would want to go on record as saying yes to nuking somebody? How many American military lives would be saved if we never put troops on the ground? How many countries would try to kick our ass if they know there was just one way we would retaliate? I think it could be the start of some real peaceful times, and we would save a lot of tax money by not going to war.

I also do not like my taxes spent to care for undocumented residents. Now, don’t get me wrong, the US was founded in compassion for the “huddled masses”, and some of my own relatives were “off the boat”. They did however, come in the front door not the window. They went to work and paid taxes too. I say invite anyone to come in, but they must come in the front door and become citizens, and pay their share of taxes. If and when they really need help they qualify. Again, benefits are based on your previous taxes paid. If you have never worked, and could have, you don’t qualify.

I also don’t like paying taxes to support a bunch of people in prisons. My answer to this problem? If they killed, they get the chair, no questions asked. If they were white collar crime, we put them to work for the government where all the other white collar criminals are only they don’t get paid, they get room and board. All those violent but didn’t kill criminals? They get the chain gang and start rebuilding the infrastructure that once made this country great. All those people who are in jail for minor infractions, put them to work in the fields growing food so we don’t have to import so much. There will be no more sitting on your ass in jail for anyone. That right there would save so much tax money our tax rate would drop by 50% immediately

You know, I think it says in the constitution that we can’t be taxed twice. Wasn’t that the whole idea behind the constitution? To set up a democracy where the people are taxed fairly and represented well? Hum, seems to me that I’m being taxed on my earnings, and then taxed again at a state level on my earnings, then taxed again when I buy something, I pay county government taxes, town government taxes, taxes for water and sewer services, fire department taxes, school taxes,and library taxes and hell, that feels like being taxed more than once. Something’s fishy about all that.

Oh, I also heard that there is something about no tax without representation in the constitution as well. So I came up with another novel idea to solve that problem. Why not tax only those people whose political candidate wins the presidential election? I mean, my candidate never wins, so I don’t feel represented, so why do I have to pay taxes? Picture this: Everyone, and I mean everyone, registered to vote. If your candidate wins you pay taxes during their term. If your candidate looses you don’t. Simple,yes?

Honestly, if we just implemented a few of my suggestions the government would not have to be handing out economic stimulus checks, your taxes would be lower than ever and everyone who could work would be working. Now if I can just get my tax documents tied up in a neat little bundle as fast as I just solved the problems with the US government, I would have all day to relax!

Oh, and in case you forgot how it goes,
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Something to Think On

I’ve been reading Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano. It’s beautifully written. It was published in 1952 and is Kurt’s farsighted portrait of a society where machines have taken over the jobs of humans, leaving most of the population with nothing to do.

However, in the story, you can’t do “nothing”, so if your intelligence tests don’t define you as one who would be good at managing the machines, you are sentenced to life as a member of the lower caste. The lower caste is given most everything they need, including a TV in every room of their home and all the latest electronic gadgets, and kept busy doing grunt work. The challenge for them is to invent something meaningful to do in their lives. They reminisce about “when work was meaningful”.

Meanwhile the main character, who is among the ruling class, becomes painfully aware of the illusion of his existence and decides he’s not really living at all, just managing ( and not very well) to put up with his artificial existence.

It’s interesting that Kurt could see so far into the future and predict the real internal issues of our time. The book is 341 pages and what really struck me was this tiny part:

The main character is being questioned (with the help of a lie detector) as to his real opinions and motives, there is some question among the judges as to whether the lie detector is working. They ask him to state something false. He does and the detector goes to false. Then they ask him to say something true and he says “The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings, not to serve as appendages to machines, institutions, and systems.” The lie detector agrees he is telling the truth.

I thought wow! A rare gem of truth set in a circle of high quality story telling, and really, something to think on.