The next President of the United States

Ok, guys. Enough is enough. This is one soapbox on which I cannot help but stand.

 

You may not think that President Obama has done a stellar job, and that's fine. You have the right to your opinion. 

 

However; I have noticed that several of my friends are fans of, and will probably vote for, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in the upcoming general elections. Please tell me that you only like them because they're not Obama. Because, if you are one that actually AGREES with their politics, I will have to stop being friends with you. I will delete and block you on Facebook, block your phone number, and basically cut you out of my life entirely. Besides. After reading this, some of YOU might not want to be friends with me, anyway. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Democrat or an Anti-Republican. I'm an Independent. I don't vote for someone based on their party affiliation. I vote for what I believe in. I actually considered voting for John McCain four years ago. I even thought that it was pure GENIUS to choose a woman as his running mate. Mostly because it put a question to the American people:

 

"Are you racist who or sexist?" 

 

Well, we got our answer, didn't we folks?

Once I saw interviews of Sarah Palin, I changed my mind. She is dumber than a wet bag of hammers. I don't know how she became Governor of Alaska, either. The fact that she was running that state is a blight on the intelligence of the Alaskan people. Check out the movie Game Change. It will give you insight into this woman's psyche.

Should have gotten Glenn Close. He might have won, then.

 

Back to the rant at hand.

 

These two men will turn back the clock in our country by 50 years. They don't want gays to marry. They don't want women to have a say in whether or not they can have children. They don't want people without money to be able to have more. They want to take away Social Security. They want to tax you. They want POWER.

 

Of course, this is all conjecture.

 

This is not: Mitt Romney has flat out LIED to the American people, been called on it, and basically said, "So?. He sold his home and moved away from Massachusetts, of which he was Governor. A year later, he voted in elections in that state. What? Don't you have to be a resident of the state in order to vote for ANYTHING in that state? In order to be a resident, you have to have lived in that state for the past 6 months.

 

The thing is, people have been watching too much mainstream media. Do you remember when Fox News used to be called "Liberal Media"? The GOP really didn't like them. Now, it's flipped. Any time you turn on that news channel, nearly all of their newscasters are spouting some kind of Anti-Obama rhetoric. And it's not like they come up with different things to tell us. They keep spouting the same stuff. 

 

Over.

And Over.

And Over.

And Over. 

I don't know how many times they can mention "Obamacare" is a negative way without sounding like a broken record. Guess what, folks? Before he was elected, nearly everyone was all but screaming for health care reform. You know what? That's what he did. Exactly what he told you he was going to do. Reform health care. Now, you just don't want it. How about you read the law before you start attacking it. 

Here is a site with the full text of the law. Read it.

Again, I'm ranting.

Sadly, I know what's going to happen. Mitt Romney will become President. I was an Intelligence Analyst for the Army for 13 years. This may sound egotistical, but I was paid to be the smartest man in the room. I was taught tactics, capabilities, situations. I was taught to think outside of the norm, and ask questions. They kept me doing it because I had a knack of seeing the most plausible way that our enemy would do things.

I have just over 300 friends on Facebook. 8 of them like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. I see people all over the place. I'd say that less than 10% of them like Mitt and Paul. When I talk to random people, very few of them agree with these two men. Yet, I look around the net, watch interviews, read news publications. From what I have seen, Romney is behind President Obama by a very small percentage of the vote.. 

What? 

How the hell did this happen?

My main point is: Don't vote for these two men just because they are someone other than President Obama. This whole "lesser of two evils" thing has got to stop. They are NOT the lesser of two evils. They will take away your money. They will take away your rights. And you will thank them for it because they're not a black man who did what he said he was going to do.

One Year

I haven't written anything in over a month. I feel like a failure at this whole "writing" thing.

A couple of days ago was the 1 year anniversary of my father's death. Many people have tried to help me through this time, but it hasn't really helped.

I had a friend come over today, and we watched a movie. He encouraged me to talk about my dad, and I cried.

I miss him more that I can put into words. He was the greatest man I have ever known. People knew him. He had influence. He treated people with respect, and expected respect in return. And he got it. Not because he was demanding, but because he knew that to earn someone's respect, you have to give it.

I spent every day in awe of the amount of love people showed him for no reason other than he was genuinely a good man. He helped those in need. He ran the Yakima Bowling association for 15 years. He ran the Washington State Bowling Association for 5 years. He planted huge amounts of crops in his garden every year, and when they were ripe, he gave them away. He would go to apple orchards just after picking season, and get the leftovers from the trees. Then, he would give them away.

Nearly everything good that I have ever done in my life was to make him proud. I started playing trombone at age 11, because he wanted me to be into music. I found a natural flair for the instrument.

I graduated High School with a 3.3 GPA, Honor Society, School Senate, President of the Chess Club, Drum Major of the band, best shooter on the rifle team.

Joined the Army.

Every time I made something good happen, I would call him and tell him about it. I wanted him to be so proud of me.

On his birthday several years ago, we had a party for him at Hoops in Yakima. My brother George told him that he wasn't going to make it, but he was going to be there. He asked us all to keep it a secret. A little after the party started, George showed up. We all hung out for a few, and dad asked him, "Don't you have a show to do tonight? You said that you couldn't come because you had an acoustic show that you were doing?"

"I do. Hang on."

At which, George got up on stage, grabbed his guitar and starting playing music for my dad. It was wonderful. George asked me to get up on stage with him, and we sang a couple of songs. Later on, Dad confided in us that, at that moment, he was the most proud. His two sons on stage singing such beautiful songs just for him on his birthday.

His last birthday was just over a year ago. He threw a little shindig at the Eagle's Club in Yakima. Most of our family showed up to this one. The only ones that weren't there were my brother Allen and his family. They, however, had already been there a week or so prior, and celebrated with him then.

We partied the night away, and everyone had a great time. George played some more songs. My nephew Tom played some as well. We got drunk, and had cake, and generally just had a great time. Dad ended up driving home, even though I told him not to. I thought he was a little too drunk. However, he's the one that taught me how to drive drunk, so I let him.

Don't get ahead of me. Dad didn't get in an accident or anything. He made it home safely.

A month later, I get a call from my Aunt, telling me the news. She didn't have any of my brothers' numbers, so it was up to me to call them and let them know. Fantastic. I just lost the most important person in my life, and I now have the responsibility of calling other family members and telling them.

We had a wake for him that weekend. Not one person I talked to said, "I wish I would have told him how I felt about him." Everyone was at his birthday party the month before. Everyone loved him, and told him so. He always returned that love, in spades.

My Dad and I talked to each other nearly every week. I called him at least twice a month when I was in Iraq. He sent me care packages, and encouraged everyone he knew to pray for my safe return.

I miss him. Every time something good happens in my life now, I have nobody to tell. Nobody to really be proud of me. All I have left is a few distant brothers, a lot of "bar friends", and nobody to tell me that I did well, truly mean it, and to understand what it means to me to hear that.

I love you, Dad.  I wish you were here.

Museless

So, it’s 8 Am. I’m sitting on the roof of my new apartment for the first time since I moved in. I’m lookin over the cityscape, and this is what I see:

Not bad, eh? I look at all these people below. Many are heading to or from work. Some are just wandering the streets in the morning, not completely sure of where they are going.

And the only thing I can think of is:

Man, I have to take a crap. Be right back…

Ok, better.

I’ve started to get to know the people that work in my building. Lupe works day shift. She sees me when I come home after work. Chris works swing shift. He sees me when I leave in the evening. I’ve met a couple of the other employees, but I don’t know their names.

Lately, I haven’t written anything. My life has become pretty dull. I go to Hula Hula for a drink before work. All the bartenders and managers there know me now. I go to work, play on Facebook and watch movies all night, then come home. Sometimes I go right to sleep, but most of the time, I stay up and either watch movies or play video games. I’m just trying to wear my brain out enough to get some damn sleep. 

The problem is that even if I do wear myself out enough, my brain never shuts off. I wonder too many things. Things like “Have I really done anything with my life?” or “Were there really 28 people that I’ve known that have killed themselves? Could I have done anything more to help?” or “Why am I still single?” They just seem to jump from one topic to another.

My point in writing this today is that a friend asked me when I was going to write again. Well, here ya go. Just a little something that is innocuous enough to be flippant, but deep enough that I don’t feel like a complete waste of time. 

In fact, there are so many different thoughts running through my head right now, that it is difficult to make complete sentences. I’ve had friends of mine that are writers tell me, “Don’t force it. Just start writing, and don’t stop until you have to. Oh, and don’t edit it. Just let it flow. It will all come out in the end.” That’s good advice for someone who has writer’s block. 

Here’s the thing, though. I don’t have writer’s block. I just don’t know what to write about anymore. Oh, there are plenty of stories left in this black hole I call a brain, I just can’t seem to remember them. 

My life has gotten so boring lately, that I even bore myself. 

So, I’m just going to ramble for a minute.

Why is a mouse when it spins? A friend and I were talking about something random, and she said to me, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Well, I certainly don’t know. “Because Poe wrote on both.”

That’s deep. It took me a minute to completely comprehend it.

I think that’s what’s bothering me lately. It takes so long for me to figure things out anymore. I used to be the guy that understood everything immediately. Now, I’m just a regular Joe. I truly have become “extra medium”. I used to be exceptional. I used to be able to calculate standard deviation in my head. I used to be able to remember things that haven’t happened yet. I used to be special. 

Now, I’m just…. Ordinary.

That would be okay, if it wasn’t for the fact that I remember the times when I helped honor students with their homework. I remember when I used to be able to sing a song note for note without any mistakes. I remember when I used to heal pain just by touching someone. I remember when I used to be known by people I had never met.  I remember when I used to…  <sigh> You get the point.

Now, I feel like I’m nothing. I don’t understand things as quickly as I used to. And my social life has gone to shit. I’ve met some new people in the past couple months. They’re fun and all, but they’re just bar friends. I don’t see them outside of the bar. I haven’t been to an SCA event in 2 years. I just don’t have the time off. 

I have First World Problems. I have White People Problems. What I don’t have is any idea how to pull myself out of this rut in which I seem to be stuck. I would get a girlfriend, but I wouldn’t be able to see her but once a week. Maybe twice. I’d get a hobby, but I know that I wouldn’t keep up with it.

So, I’ve tried my hand at writing. You’ve seen how well THAT is going. I haven’t written a story in two months. I have no inspiration. No Muse. 

Perhaps I’ll just go to sleep.

 

Nah. 

I’m gonna go play video games until I pass out.

Oh, and if anyone is interested… I’m thinking of having a house warming party on my roof deck. I’m not sure when it will happen, but it will have to be this month. Otherwise, it’s not a housewarming, is it?

Awesomeness

I was at work tonight, and decided to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. I love that shit. And, I know all the songs.

I'm sitting here, singing along, when I remembered something I had told a friend last Halloween: I want to be Dr. Horrible or Captain Hammer for next Halloween.

So, I bought this:

You can buy it here.

You're welcome, fellow readers.

I'm a boring person

So, apparently, I've either hit a wall with my writing, or my life just isn't that interesting anymore.

I mean, I'm moving on the 15th into a studio apartment in Downtown Seattle. Right across from the Space Needle. (I'll probably put up some pictures when I get all moved in.) I still have a great job, I am still single, sterile and disease free.

I went to the Mayhem festival last Tuesday, which was pretty cool. But, I have to say one thing. And, I know that a lot of my friends will probably slap me for saying this:

FUCK SLAYER. They suck.

That's right, I said it. Slayer sucks. At the show, they could have put on a CD, and it would have sounded better. Don't get me wrong, the crowd seemed into it, as there was a lot of moshing going on. But, I am pretty sure that all of those people were completely fucking wasted at the time. Plus, whoever was the sound tech for them should be hung upside down and set on fire. The band didn't seem into the show at all. I was very disappointed.

On the other hand, Anthrax was awesome, Motorhead kicked ass, and Slipknot thrashed.

I had never seen any of these bands live, and I got to see all of them in one night. I'll tell you one thing, though. Slipknot was amazing. I already knew about their schtick, but their show was like this:

Someone let a few of the patients from a mental hospital out for a weekday pass, they all got arrested, sent to jail with their orange jumpsuits, and started something like Blue Man Group with singing. There were THREE drum sets on stage. Two of them were up front, and seemed to be made from old beer kegs or something. The set on the right was on a lift, and raised up to 20 feet in the air. And spinned. While they were playing. When it came back down, the guy on that set grabbed a club from off stage, and started banging time on the side of one of the drums.

I loved it.

We decided to try and beat traffic, so we left a bit early. We only got about 500 yards from the venue, when traffic came to a dead stop. It took us almost an hour to go 2 miles. Once we got past Muckleshoot Casino, Traffic was a LOT better.


Got home, drank a bit more, and passed out. Even with the shitty Slayer performance, I had a great time.

Not much else is happening. I finally got the paperwork that certifies that I am now sterile. Which is wonderful. I have one kid, and that's enough. Also, I got tested for STDs, and I came up completely negative. It's not that I didn't expect that, It's just refreshing to have actual paperwork that says it.

Other than my life is boring. So, I'll give you this:

Too many

I went to a memorial service for a friend Monday night. He was only 30 years old.

Over 200 people showed up to the service. It kind of made me wonder: Who would show up to mine?

Just after the service, I got a call saying that another friend killed himself Monday morning. That makes 28 people I've known that have committed suicide. Every one of them did it when I wasn't anywhere near them, or able to help in any way. 

Many years ago, I had a prophetic dream. Those of you that know me pretty well know that I keep saying when I will die. I'll be 42 years old, living in a studio apartment in downtown Seattle. I'll have a heart attack, and die penniless and alone. I've always known this.

Well, it looks like I'm starting to make that prophecy come true.

Today, I put down a deposit for a studio downtown. I will be moving in next month. I'm glad to be finally out of West Seattle. There are too many people there that seem to make it their personal goal to mess with my sanity. Plus, I'll be glad to NOT have a 45 minute bus ride to get to work every day.

Guess what?

I got approved for an apartment downtown. I move in July 1st.

Finally, I get to live in the big city, like I always dreamed. It's not a big place, but it's gonna be all mine.

Here are the good parts to this whole thing:

It's $600/month
Fully Furnished (Bed, fridge, microwave, dresser)
All utilities paid (including electric)
It's on 4th and Denny

I am really looking forward to being on my own again, and not having to rely on someone else.

Plus, I'll be able to expand my social circle. I'm really tired of living in West Seattle, and knowing all the same people, and dealing with all the same drama.

I'd post some pictures to go with this post, but the apartment is small enough, that a photo is just about all there is of it. 6 feet from the door is the bed. Just the other side of the bed, is the outside wall.

Ok, it's not all THAT small, but it's close. I don't care, though. I don't need a lot of room, and I'll be glad to be by myself. It will be nice to be able to sleep when I get off of work.