Welcome back ladies and gents from the world of Dec 25th. The time has passed, long live the time and may it come again in another 365 days when I ~might~ be able to handle it again.
It was a somewhat rocky Christmas season for me. I quickly found out that DC is truly a city of transplants as 3/4′s of the people I know left the city for various places around the country. Clubs were dead (when they were open), the streets were like a ghost town, and the sirens (which are ever present) were almost silent.
Today however seems like a completely different world. The sun has come out and the snow is gone. It seems strange that it’s still December when outside it feels like March. The city still seems blissfully quiet. It’s like a early morning waking up with someone you like in your bed. You look up to see the light shifting through the blinds to bath them in lines of light as they softly breath in there sleep (just like a Snow Patrol Song: Crack the Shutters).
Today seems like it’ll be a alright day. My dog is still waking up (her head is in my lap while I type this), I need to get to the gym for a quick work out. Then I’m off to try out a new RPG (Roleplaying Game Group) this afternoon. It’s been a while since I played, so it’ll probably be a lot of me keeping my mouth shut and figuring out what the heck I’m doing again. On top of which it’s a new game for me, Changeling: The Lost, so we’ll see how all this goes.
Then around 7-8 is the sunday night tradition of Nellies and then DC9.
Back to work tomorrow.
But till then, lets let today ride.
Now off to the gym
“You can either sit here feeling sorry for yourself, or you can go get the woman of your dreams.”
“I didn’t know Angela Merkel was speaking at this conference.” – House
I’m not really a TV guy. I spent a lot of my life living overseas on military bases. Back then (80s -90s) there was really only 1 Armed Forces Network (AFN) station and usually it played censored crap. So I never bit off on the whole TV thing I like books, music and movies. Now when I moved over to Italy for my first assignment in the Air Force I made a couple of friends who got me watching American Idol and I found out I liked it. Not so much from the mind-numbing factor, but more the camaraderie of watching it with someone else.
A few years later another show came on that caught my interest. Namely Hero’s, mostly because it let me live out a fantasy that I have. Have some super power, get to save the world, all that jazz. (if only life was so simple) In addition, because I came late into watching the show, it let me buy the DvD’s and watch from that, in a collection, when I wanted, as opposed to being forced to a schedule.
And I attribute this to my forming addiction to TV.
So to recap, the developing factors:
1.) Camaraderie
2.) Fantasy
3.) Access
4.) Personalized Selection
5.) Boredom
Now last night I was in that state of not having enough energy to go out but still not being tired and feeling slightly guilty about turning into a old man on a friday night. I ended up watching hulu. Which happens to provide and answer all of the above factors. It started out with me just catching up on “my shows” (Hero’s, Glee, V) and then I saw a Family Guy episode, had to watch that . . and it just sorta spiraled out of control from there. I think I sampled at least one episode out of the shows they had on from this season. Yeah it was a lot of TV. Out of that I think I have to add the new Scrubs (at least for now) season and House . . how the heck did I miss this show? I understand the character so well . .
Ah well.
But as you can see, what I’m looking at in the future is what appears to be a terminal diagnosis of mind-numbery at the hands of the television.
Ahh . . all that said, it’s time for the gym, then bank, then home depot, then the tattoo parlor.
Hopefully the snow hasn’t made DC into a giant mess. I’ve never been here for snow, but if its anything like ZOMG-RAIN driving that we normally get, it’s going to be horrible.
There is something wrong with the world when you get a look of pity for stating that you would rather do the “right” thing then the lazy one that will get you further.
It just happened to happen to me at work today.
I have a feeling that this is what is wrong with America.
But it’s a bigger issue.
Tonight the president is speaking on our “new” philosophy/way ahead in Afghanistan. To be honest, in war (which is what this is) you are either winning or losing. There is no halfway, there is no in-between, there is no gray. You are one or the other.
Well we’ve been loosing for a few years now. And we, the american people, somewhere along the way, forgot we are americans.
To be honest, at this point a lot of the time all I hear is whining. We are tired of war, we are tired of money, we are tired of blah blah blah.
When did we forget that we are those tough pioneers? When we make things happen by doing? When we fly into the teeth of danger because it is right, and just and what makes us who we are?
When did we forget we owned a set?
And no, this is not some false bravado, this is not immaturity. You can choose to be who you are when you are a adult. Right now, it looks like we have settled down to our nice cushy office job. America, not the home of the brave, America the home of the cubical farm, the couch potato and the purposefully blind and ignorant.
So what do we have at core? What is wrong with us? We are lazy. Physically, spiritually and mentally. And we found out that you can be lazy and still get others to do what you want. Smarter not harder right?
Instead it’s just sort of hollowing us out and leaving behind . . well not much.
So tonight when the president tells you that you have a war tax, when we are sending more troops over, and when it’s going to be a long haul. I want you to redeem yourself a little bit and think about some factors.
1.) You don’t just destroy a people and run. You leave a place better then you found it. Even if it is hard to do and even if it takes generations.
2.) We have lost a lot of folks, a lot of my friends in this war. It would be spitting on there name to turn tail and run. It would be saying they died for nothing.
3.) We are still fighting to prevent another 9/11 from happening. Try to remember what that felt like and see if you really want it again.
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For those of you who missed it. Today is the last day of the Hajj.
Now the Hajj is one of the seven pillars of islam (no mater what your sect is, Sunni, Shia or Sufi) and it is something that every individual of the islamic faith is supposed to complete before the end of there lives.
For additional information: Hajj
Now all that being said, since it is sunday, lets turn to something that I think is far more important but tied to this.
Faith.
I would never call myself a religious man, I have seen far to often what happens when people support there religions ideals over, or what they are told is there ideals, in absence of reality. Religion was the first truly organized sport, it gets everyone together on a team, rooting for one idea, working together. With all the good and bad that comes from it. Because people continue to support there team, not matter how much they suck. They also feel the need to compete to prove there team is better then all the others in one way, shape or form.
In my experience, Religion is the cloths that faith wears, it’s how people relate, collect, bring together, and focus what faith is and show to the world that yes, you are not alone, no we are here, and look, I feel the same way. I don’t know if this is born out of a innate fear within humans to the broadness of what faith is (a spiritual agoraphobia) or because they just don’t like to act alone (preferring pack behavior).
In the end I would say that I am a man who has a great deal of faith. I’ve never felt the need to express this with others. I just accept it as part of who I am. It’s gotten me in trouble, and hurt me in many ways, but it’s part of who i am and I accept it. I’m not just talking in a belief in a higher power, although that is part of it. There is also what we see in others, how we interact with the world and what we are willing to accept or endure.
What I don’t understand however is those who deny or don’t think or don’t feel that sort of faith. I don’t really think of this as being raised incorrectly. I just think it’s a difference of personality. On some level I feel bad for them. Course at times they royally piss me off when they can’t seem to grasp how they hurt others or themselves through there blundering. I refuse to accept that people do this intentionally, or if they do, they are far more evil (or whatever term you want to use for the not good, desirable or achieved affects with a negative impact) then I would honestly want to contemplate.
What this all boils down to, and to bring us back to the beginning. The Hajj is a tremendous source of faith for the followers of Islam. All reports and studies conducted of Hajji’s is that it brings a greater sense of community and acceptance when they return as compared to when they left.
I guess I just wish others could find that sense of acceptance too, and let folks lead there own lives in the manner that they choose.
PS: If you feel the need to donate to me religiously I should warn you up front that all proceeds will be used for alcohol consumption with what is left being donated to some charity that supports animals or there rights, people can generally take care of themselves, animals can’t.
Reassess:
I am a single man living in DC.
I have one dog.
I have two cats.
I own my house.
I rapidly cycle my meme between my teenage persona of not caring what you think and desperately wanting your attention and love.
I am the modern man and everything that entails, love it or hate it; it’s not who I chose to be either, bit it is what it is.
The renaissance died in the 80s as a result of choking on our own hubris and needs and what we are left with now is a shinny clean slate of desperation.
The world is not ending, just your perception of it.
I intend this to basically give me a outlet to spew what might be bile or the nectar of life on a daily basis and see where it goes. I have too many ideas in my head and I’ve been trying to hold them in for to long.
Welcome to my Athena.
