Pg 95 and so it goes

I wish these people would do something interesting. They're stuck in my story, which is like an ongoing dream, which means it may be best to read it while you sleep.

People in this saga end up with primo jobs and I think they all have more stuff to do than I do. At least they waste less time. Plus they are obligated to do what they do, otherwise they'd be out on their ear and back in the weeds. Maybe I could get one of them to write my story instead.

I wonder if I ought to kill anyone off after awhile. So far no one has suffered physically; only psychologically. What's the opposite of thriller? This book is a psychological [opposite of thriller]. But don't worry--it is not that convoluted or hard to follow. Not even that deep. Or deep at all.


we'll get to this later


I think I'll find an excuse for them all to join up on Mt Laguna in the Spring for some old fashioned no-holds-barred fertility rites. Not enough of that around these days. Other than some bizarre practices here and there involving stoning and dismemberment, the wildest religious practices involve a cracker and a sip of wine. Just curious, but has the FDA managed to gets sticky fingers into that yet? Wouldn't surprise me. What if the bread or cracker is not up to anti-obesity standards?

Oh well. I manage to avoid such issues in the story so far. And I have yet to do like they do in chick books--I haven't described the fabric, colors, and particular fashions people are wearing. So far no specific shoe types are discussed. Maybe I need to fix that so that someday women will like my story better. They should like it because the men are somewhat baffled and a little fearful of the A Team women in the book. Probably some of myself in there. That danged Eddie, not even the main character, got my favorite of the women. Figures. Everyone likes Eddie best. I may have to send him to jail or out to sea never to return.

I'm only writing this so the 3 or 4 people who read it will read my book when it is done.

Soon it will be 100 pages--that is a huge landmark. I doubt it will get shorter when I go back through to edit. A lot of editing will probably be to expand and some things, restate and clarify others, fix the conflicting spelling of some names, etc.

It's good to have a project to which I have committed. Commitment is not exactly my strong suit these last however many years.

When I finish, maybe someone will trade me a set of all the keys, minor major, melody maker, etc. that Lee Oskar and Seydel harmonicas make for my book. Can't blame me for wishful thinking. Well, you can, but you shouldn't, that would be bad form.

Here's the cheaper version of the Seydel, from close to $70 for the other to near $40 for this one, but REMEMBER all Keys available are the terms of the trade. Just saying. I had one of these and like it even better than Lee Oskars. I've switched to all kinds of harps and always eventually go back to Lee Oskar, even though I have some Golden Melody, special 20 big river, marine band and whatnot from Hohner, and a few Herings--bad quality control on those


So, save up for when the book is done and we can trade. You can obtain both Lee Oskars and the Seydels at coast2coastmusic.com

Wikileaks: Cuba not Healthcare Utopia

Big surprise, according to wikileaks documents Michael Moore's Sicko movie was banned in Cuba for fear of stirring resentment since few Cubans can get care in the facility he filmed.

Only the overly optimistic ever believed that Cuba has the ideal system. Talk to people in Miami who still have family there, or recent immigrants. Other than making money and becoming a very fat rich white guy by villainizing very fat rich white guys, I have no idea what Moore's motives for most of his propaganda is. He has the kind of manner that would egg a peaceful guy on to punch him. I feel that way just seeing photos. I want to punch the guy.

I think it is hilarious that his flick would be banned in Cuba because the fantasy would make the citizens upset. His site claims it wasn't banned. Well, hell, if Mike says it, I know it must be so.

People I have talked to who have seen the system there first hand did not give a glowing report. Only a few idiots in our Congress who weren't there, and maybe a few of Castro's guests (useful idiots from Hollywood), are the main people who have spread the myth outside of Mike. Cubans in Miami certainly didn't. Then those who hate everything not controlled by central bureaucracy took up the cry.

The assertion that Cuba has a wonderful universal health care system which serves all is bullshit.

Here's the link to the story in some Limey newspaper. oooh it's British. Might as well be on PBS, NPR, etc. Why is it that our public broadcasting is mostly British news sources reporting about America? Must be that thing where Americans think everyone with a Brit accent is super intelligent.

Movie Review:Artois the Goat

Once in awhile you run across a low budget flick that you never heard of, and it turns out to be better and more poignant than 99% of those that get the hype and huge production budgets.

That does me good for a couple of reasons. One is that it proves a good movie can be made simply and relatively cheaply. I forgot the other reason. Maybe that I got my movie fix without contributing to what I think is a relatively closed shop.

Artois the goat is about the love. To know what that means, I suppose you have to have been there.

I won't tell the story. It is not actually about a goat. If it were Disney, I suppose Artois would be off on an adventure, possibly in the Yukon, befriending grizzly bears, narrowly escaping an avalanche, saving the dumb ass kid from the mean oil men, then leading him home to a ticker tape parade in Mayville. OK. You saw that one, too.

This is not that.

Some of it is almost surreal. And some of the more surreal parts are way too close to real life. It has great humor, especially if you are on the outside of the controversy about making it illegal to sell fresh dairy products and such. It has great humor otherwise as well. Never a dull moment and even I could follow the story without asking my imaginary friends what was going on.

In some respects this is almost up there with El Mariachi. Totally different, but both independent low cost flicks which were stellar.

For an uplifting film, and a little reinforcement if you wonder at your tendency to travel to the beat of a different drum, this is the mojo for you.

I watched it free on HULU. Of course they play ads but that's no big deal. Many were the world's most interesting man doling out sage advice. He always has marvelous senoritas hanging about. And he is always right, I suppose. However he did not mention the movie. Sponsoring it must have been enough.

Hermit History-onics; part N to the Z

Could it be my eventual gravitation toward the Subaru brand was actually due to subliminal messages planted many years ago by tricky advertisers?



Speaking of taming that spirited one. Here's how it's done; settle her right down, and her unfortunate child as well



Wonder if this explains certain elements of my life, past present and, hopefully not, future...

don't blame me--I'm just a hapless consumer who believes everything he reads, except warnings about hot coffee and slippery when wet signs--those I leave to my attorney

Molly, Raccoons, and Other

Sunset looking toward Alpine from Ballistic Mountain

Originally, I was all hyped to write about "other", but I forgot what other was. Or is.

Now, I have to fill in the latest on Molly--The Cat. Tonight I went over for feeding lessons. I had the pleasure of shooting up the cat. I don't think he even knew it was happening, but then I am an artiste in all things. I nailed him with the needle while he was eating.

Then I find out they don't leave until Sunday. I thought it was tomorrow. I forgive them. My friends made it clear that it is not my fault if Molly dies, runs away, or turns to life of crime. These are very thoughtful people who do not want someone doing them a favor to feel on the spot.

What I had not realized previously is that Molly can go outside when he chooses. If, for example, I have fed him in the morning and he wants to go out when I leave, it is OK to let him out and leave him there until I come back. Due to the many good hiding places around the house, and Molly's wily nature, they say he'll be OK. And when you come to feed him, he is sure to be right there as you open the door.

Even so, of all the possibilities, I hope nothing unusual happens, or, at most, he turns to a life of crime. In California that could mean anything--smoking in an empty park. Growing medicinal marijuana is only a federal crime.

That brings me to a question:
Given the choice, would you pull money out of your pocket to pay the feds to raid medicinal pot facilities in California if you lived on the east coast or Texas or somewhere?
I certainly would not willingly donate money to deal with herbs grown elsewhere. Actually, not here either. I see no harm in it and find arguments relating to harm to be unfounded. Not saying it is a productive habit, but it is by far less dangerous to others than alcohol. That goof who flipped out on an airplane then blamed his medicinal pot was purely lying.

So, if Molly, the cat, goes into the medicinal pot racket while his wardens are away, no harm done, unless the feds decide to do one of their periodic muscle flexing exercises to prove they have power over the states--which is actually contrary to the Constitution in many people's minds. Especially in a case which is not denying people rights.

My raccoon is still after the garbage, but so far, he can't get the lid off. I keep the bungee cord on it at all times. He did manage to tip over the can the other night. I put on the light and threw water at him--no time to boil the water, or oil.
I must say, he is a fine looking critter and he stared at me with an inquisitive, overly innocent expression, as if to say, "Hi. You can't possibly think I did anything wrong. I'm too cute! Besides, I'm just looking at that garbage can, I have no idea how it got tipped on its side. Can I be your innocent, harmless friend?"

"No you can't, you trouble making varmint!!!", I said in raccoonese.

====================
Must have been last year I had the flu. Seems like much longer than that.
Here's the photo taken by flu experts at the time

In My Mind, I'm Probably Somewhere Else

No telling where else, but I've heard it all my life. Now I begin to think THEY were right; I'm probably not here. Or more correctly, I'm somewhere else as well as here, with my attention not holding a 50/50 ratio between the two. Often it is 98/2 in favor of elsewhere.

We multi-dimensional types are like that.
(Not to be confused with the trendy and ill-conceived idea of "multi-tasking". Most who claim to be so great at multi-tasking are a danger to themselves and others, and rarely comprehend the complex as they try to show off. It is nothing new to juggle chores and tasks. Talking, typing and reading all at once, while driving, has never worked)

Here or there, I do believe life is better in a custom Subaru tour-mobile.

Molly the Cat

It slipped my mind, then I was reminded that I have to feed Molly, the diabetic cat, from the 17th to the 21st of December. He (it took awhile to discover she was a he) is not a kitten. I think the cat is over ten years old. At this stage he gets a sht of insulin before his morning and evening chow.

What that means is that I drive up the mountain and shoot up a cat twice a day. This ought to be entertaining; more for the cat than for me, I suspect. Keeps me off the streets. With luck the cat will survive until his real adults return.

Whenever people take off, leaving their pets in my care, I worry that they'll pick that time to kick the bucket. Then it will be all my fault. I do avoid caring for pets I don't like. Believe it or not, some animals are jerks. If I have to care for jerk animals, I would feel double guilty if they kick because I secretly wished for their demise long before I had to play nanny.

Molly is a likable creature so I worry more about being up to the task. His owners do this every day--how hard can it be? With luck I won't accidentally give myself the shot. Too bad it isn't something more glamorous, like morphine.

Really, though, Molly probably has it tough enough being saddled with a girl name. He's made up for it by standing off rattlesnakes and avoiding coyotes. Even so, it has to hurt.

Dilemmas Abound When You're Strange

I can't describe the dilemmas which abound because then I could be in trouble. And they are not really anything more than half baked dilemmas. One could say I live a half baked life.

The crux of the matter is that I am again in one of those stages in which I find myself thinking I want more baking to occur. It is a choice, I think, like most things involved in the nature of one's life path. I don't rule out luck or fortune, but those factors play out quite differently based on choices made before or after the stroke of fate presents itself. You can milk good luck or bad luck to the fullest, or be so unprepared that you miss it altogether.

I've done that more than once. It has to do with some element I've yet to define for more than a moment, but which has pulled in the reigns when I should have rode that baby for broke. This is now, however, so those events ought serve only to prove that my thinking can be off the mark. Clearly repeating that thought pattern and resultant behavior is an error to avoid.

That's why I will yet finish my book, no matter who thinks it sucks. Especially if I am the who who thinks it. The writing is rather poor but I think, once the story is complete, I can go back and make it better. Besides I have begun another story in my head which may be better. It is different, darker in parts, and more dramatic. For some reason I feel like that future story ought to be told.

In the mean time, finding ways to be useful is probably the best route to better mental state and the path of good fortune. Those who tell you that petty family friction and such aren't worth distancing yourself are correct. In some cases you cannot bridge the divide, and that is that. In others you can and if the people decide to leave this life too soon, you wil look back and realize you should have exercised a little more understanding and a little less reacting. Fortunately that doesn't play a giant role in my confusion. It does play a small role.

Maybe the biggest dilemma of all is whether to believe even tiny dreams are within one's grasp. What if I am delusional and so off from reality that I am just thinking like a fool? What if?

Look around. Check out the tube. You tell me total fools and idiots don't often get paid well and rise to fame and fortune. One thing they have in common; either they've no idea they are dimwits or they don't care, or both. Got to give them credit for that.

Green Washing and Running Through the Wringer: condensed edited shorter

***The foregoing was edited because it was far too long***
###and it still is too long###

As I have explained previously, I am not very fond of most mass demonstrations; particular when they involve impeding traffic on public streets and inhibiting the mobility of uninvolved or disinterested persons. For one thing you might be endangering the life of a mother about to give birth or just generally screwing with lives whose paths you cannot know.

That is not to say I am against making views known, uncovering corrupt skulduggery, or free expression. Those things do not require stepping on rights of others.

I have attended civil assemblies related to the powerlink debacle.
Sunrise Powerlink in southernmost California. And fairly easternmost as well. Out there where few people live. Despite facts from their own reports, and facts confirmed through other sources, SDGE and those who stand in line for ill-gotten gains bulldoze forward.

In the name of green energy, which it isn't.

Cloak anything in greenness and it flies in CA. Unbelievable. Often it is more harmful than the alternative.

The path of corruption is a complicated and boring. In simplest form, the utilities commission, and the judge assigned to the original review all said it was a bad plan. Arnold, the ever-compenasting-for-something governor, threatened to fire the commission if they did not reverse their opinion and override all objections, which they did. Of course everyone knows that politicians like Arnold and Al Gore are experts on electricity and its production.

It should be tied up in court, yet with all that mess pending, SDGE is still going ahead with their ground breaking. It occurred last Thursday out in the wilds near Boulevard. That is way east and so far south you can literally see the border fence between the US and Mexico.

It was down a dirt road leading to what had once been a ranch, a Chargers' spring training camp, and a homeless rehab facility. Now it is an SDGE work camp, heliport. We are talking middle of nowhere. So, out of interest and curiosity I went with a couple of friends to see what was up. A couple hundred people showed to express their disapproval of this thing.

The complex is fenced in with barbed wire, and they had a point beyond which you could not pass. Only officials and invited guests. The actual buildings and all that are far within this multi acre annexation of land. The need an acre, they take 600. Everyone was well behaved and of all ages. These are east county horse people, wine makers, hermits, and recluses. And people who just like living out of the city.

Arnold showed up with a motorcade. They bussed people in from various parts of the county. News could go in while they held speeches to the choir and all that. It was bizarre.

What struck me most is that when they were approaching the gate on the dirt road where the people were (I suppose you could call them protestors although there was no blocking the road or pounding on cars--probably fifty cops and sheriffs hanging around), at the narrowest part they gunned the engines and flew by people creating a rather unsafe condition. There were little kids. It was a case of purely elitist arrogance.

Many of the others that came through did not race by, and people waved at them and they waved back. Some shrugged in that, "just doing my job" way.

I was heartened to see that this was not a crowd cut along party lines. Ray Lutz was there but largely ignored. Some of the most knowledgeable and involved people who have organized the lawsuits are almost as libertarian as I am. There were right wing tea party people, and left wing progressives. And Native Americans whose tribes I forgot. Their burial grounds are being screwed with.

No one knows where Gov. elect Moonbeam Brown stands on this, but he is another guy who pretends to be an expert energy engineer. He is all in with the green lobby so, no doubt, since it calls itself green and represents big campaign funding, he'll use it as an example of progressive government saving the earth.

This is a case where the knee-jerk democrats say "go green, rah rah rah", and the knee-jerk republicans say, "go business and capitalism rah rah rah", and both are completely ignoring reality. This is not free enterprise capitalism, and it is not green. No more than the mafia forcing people to pay protection to keep stores open were just trying to help keep the community safe and providing a valuable service.

For the cost of this system, they could put up enough roof-top solar to almost power the county. There's a curious thread, including Obama's secretary of the inerior who was a Sempra lobbyist. (the company that owns sdge and who has the Mexican contracts and plants over there. He's paved the way to help downgrade forest land classifications to allow this to go through.

And Arnold sat there like the wax figure of a man he is while his driver and other cars in his motorcade accelerated through a crowd of peaceful non-violent people causing a serious threat. And he'll say he's all about the safety of "da peepole".

Unlike many, I never liked Arnold much. Way back when he first became famous, he was such a clueless conceited dolt in interviews, I couldn't believe he achieved success as an actor. I tried to like him because various girlfriends seemed to. Where are they now? Obviusly they were nincompoops. Or maybe just I am.

Magic Wax and Wonders

As it happened I was asked to apply the secret santeria formula to an eight foot wooden gate.
Either due to phone not liking the light or my insistence upon moving while shooting the picture, or because a magical haze was in the air (I refuse to use the spelling that includes a k, magick, or do they say magik? oh well), the picture is blurry.
You can't tell that the far left, or part of it is not done. Don't remember what was done and what not at this point.


Here I am after sacrificing secret offerings to the god of magic wood wax.


Make of it what you will. I believe the god of magic wood wax is bullish on America