My Bitching Grounds

Several new posts from some old friends. It's nice to see that everyone is unsure about thier lives. Who knew we would all be dealing with such "adult" issues nigh on ten years ago.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2010 2 January :: 9.41pm
:: Mood: irritated
:: Music: "We Live"

Reading
I normally plow through books in my spare time. I had a lot less of it as of the last part of this year. It took me until just a few days ago to finish a book I started this summer at the lake. It was only short of 400 pages, small compared to my normal reading.

Now, however, I am reading "John Adams" by David McCullough. I had already read "Truman" by him, but this book is so different. His writing really captures the time the men lived.

One odd note that struck me as I was reading this afternoon was a statement of purpose that Adams wrote and had published on what a new American government might look like. The form of the government was remarkably similar to what we have now.

The part I found the most interesting is that he took time to outline one very important part, or function, of the government, so that it might function at peak ability.

"Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people ... no expense for this purpose should be considered too extravagant."

It is no wonder that our government cannot function if the citizenry is as poorly educated as we find ourselves today. Granted, the total level of education in this country has risen tremendously in the last century, but what has come of it? Is anyone more aware of our, or their own situation? No, unfortunately we have educated ourselves in the ways of the economy. We have neglected the very basic structures that should contribute to an egalitarian society. But instead of being able to make our own decisions about the issues of the day we must rely on politicians that are willing to curry favor for pork projects and campaign donations. Instead of selecting our political representatives out of patriotism and knowledge, it has become a popularity contest. We elect those who are endorsed by celebrities; who themselves have dubious backgrounds.

Why fix the education and create a body of intelligent citizens when the current system is working out so well for those in charge of it.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2010 1 January :: 10.44pm

Some people feel as if they have no control. Most of the time I feel as if I have no control. The unfortunate part is that we think that life is about control.

I read a lot. I read alot in college. What I found most interesting were those pieces I read in Modern Poltical Theory. Locke talking about the natural law and how ideas like that revolutionized the way society has functioned ever since.
Instead of having an absolute law, created by an absolute ruler, we have realized that the rules of our society are inherent. We all have inherent rights just by the virtue of having been born. Whether you feel like this is a religious conviction, or just a revelation based on observing human behavior, remember this:
Someone at some point in the history of our species felt that you were special enough to fight for the inherent rights you now have.

Whether that person knew that is what they were fighting for you or not is another question. But they did, and you now have the "control" to fight for those inherent rights everyday, no matter how constrained by societal or economic forces you may be.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2010 1 January :: 11.12am
:: Mood: snotty
:: Music: WayFM

Family and New Year
A new year, a brand new year.
Yesterday I had a conversation with Catherine about making the office have more of an internet "presence." So she has since started a blog and Twitter. I am not a fan of Twitter at all, so I refuse to join.
That got me thinking that even though we have all of these strange new ways to connect to people, most of us feel more isolated now than we would have had to before.
Which leads me to my topic this morning. I am glad we chose to stay here in Michigan so we can have days like today. Really, it's all about family. For awhile there, we were very isolated from our families. We lived on the south side of GR and they all lived north. Now, even though we live in GR, and our parents still live in Cedar, it's not that far. I am really looking forward to this summer. A whole summer with a place at the lake will be great.
So I get to repeat what generations of my family and many other families in Michigan experience. Traveling north for the weekends, getting out of town. It is a time honored tradition now. It existed rarely before the fifties, but it's been going strong for over 60 years now. In the full scope of history, it's not that long. But in the timeline of one short human life it can mean the difference between happiness and friendship and lonliness and despair.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2010 1 January :: 1.20am

I am wondering why I keep stopping on these stupid TimeLife infomercials while I am flipping through late night TV. Tonight's is "Romancing the 70's." Given the way I was raised I kind of expect to have a wide range of knowledge of older songs. I know a lot of them, Jim Croce, Elton John, Rod Stewart, John Denver, and even Tony Orlando and Dawn. But apparently there was a group called "Bread." The standards seemed awfully low back then.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2009 8 December :: 7.44pm

Updating from my phone. who would have thought that this was possible when woohu was first created i so need to get this changed and back up to speed.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2009 25 August :: 10.20pm

There�s no earthly way of knowing
How much Obama�s spending
There�s no knowing which industry we are owning
Or how big the deficit is growing
Is it crashing?
Is it smashing?
Is the economy a slowing?
Ahh! Very little hope is showing
Of a market that must get going
So the danger must be growing
�Cause Wall Street is bowing
YES! The danger must be growing
Because the government keeps on spending
And they�re certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing
Because the Red Ink keeps a growing

This has gone far enough
STOP THE BOAT!

I tries posting this on FB, but it just wasn't working.

Ahhh! I want a golden ticket. Me and Obama can ride in a glass ICBM for him to tell me he's giving it all to me. "All to you Charlie. I need a child because the adults would just ruin it all."

Wow, I'm drawing some realistic parallels.

Don't mind my satire. I just don't like all my taxes for the next fifty years foing for needless debt service.

Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2009 16 July :: 2.26pm

If I didn't come up as an ass from time to time, I wouldn't be me.

Additionally, I did not have all the facts, but needing to be an ass does not require all the facts either.

Part of me wants to continue, wiht much to say. But I do not have the will power for that (because it would be bunch of unfounded claims that would be nothing more than ficiton).

So instead I will say I am sorry and disappear again.

1 Kiss Ass | Kiss My Ass

Upchuck

:: 2009 16 July :: 11.35am

So I feel bad for whacking her with it, but it was just to hard to pass up.

The conversation went like this:

(She) is in need of a web designer to redo her website.

I said: How unfortunate. Don't bite the hand that fed ya.

Her response: Charlie, it's a long story.

Now, I do not wish to further antagonize the situation, but I just couldn't help it.

3 Kiss Asses | Kiss My Ass

upchuck

:: 2009 15 June :: 11.13am
:: Music: None, listening to NPR

Beautiful Day
So after all the stress of life, and the disappointment of still having to go to a job that I dread, I took a walk this morning.

Sure the economy is horrible. Sure my life could be put together a little bit better. And sure, it would be great to get absolutely zero responses after sending out resumes for more than two months. But nothing can take how beautiful it is today.

I decided to take a walk this morning. The other day, I think it was on GMA, I heard a lady say to try to get your activity in for about an hour in the morning, then eat breakfast. Seemed okay to me. Since when I have nothing to do on a given day, I do have problems getting going (damn those West Wing re-runs on Bravo), I went for a walk.

The plan was to just walk around the block. Since I live in the city, this shouldn't be that difficult right? Well, my block is huge and I know it. Right down the street is a ravine, and I am not sure where it goes. In my younger days I would have just ploughed through the ravine. However, I am not as young as I used to be and its not like I am back out in the woods in Cedar Springs. I still am in the city. So I took to the streets. I made left hand turns where I could. However, at the end of Carlton, I found a sidewalk the kept going where the road ended. Curiousity got the best of me. I planned on only being gone for about 40 minutes.

I followed the sidewalk and it came out right on Diamond I think. Right at Huff Park. Well, the park looked inviting, a genuine nature walk. So I entered the park, ended up on a boardwalk through a marsh. It was great. Fortunately, it was cool enough this morning to keep the mosquitos away. I saw a few squirrels and rabbits. I came across a duck and her babies. I also saw a small doe who was bedded down right off the trail. She just watched me and never ran off.

I enjoyed letting curiosity take over. It was great. I guess it was my way of allowing myself to be me for awhile. Don't plan, don't think about it, just do it.

Anyway, after such a nice walk, I came to the self-realization of reality. No matter how bad the economy is, no matter how many mistakes all of the corporate executives have made, no matter how corrupt our government, no matter how violent the world is, we still have the beautiful day. And that is a great reason to celebrate.

Kiss My Ass