Story_Chris

"The definiation of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" - Benjamin Franklin

"Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants" - John W. Gardner

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark" - Victor Hugo

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean" - Johann Wolfgnag von Goethe

"When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the law on your side, argue the law. When you hve neither, holler" - Al Gore

just a few for now...

Wow but I am so weary. Small town politics is confounding. State politics is confusing. National politics is surreal. And yet, here I am, up to my eyeballs in it.

Locally, I need to run away as fast as I can. Perhaps the latest shenanigans here in the Hall will allow me to do just that (ethics and principles nothwithstanding, we all need to eat). Is it really so hard to do the right thing? Or at least, to not do so obvious a bad thing? Apparently so, here in urban-decay land. blah-blah-blah.

State speaking, who do these people think they are? I elected you, chucklehead. I don't care how many past personal issues you are trying to correct, you legislate based on your constituents desires, not your own. Any you adjudicate based on the electorate's best interest. Oh, and please execute authority in the least partisan way possible. I don't care which box you checked off on your registration card. I cast the vote, and my agenda comes first - not The Party. geez!

Nationally it's become too much of a spectacle. This is partisanship being spoon-fed to the ignorant masses on an exponential scale. Everything is put out to be so linear - and if someone happens to add depth to a discussion or an issue, he/she is accused of confusing the issue. Wake up! The pols understand this stuff. What they are saying is that you, the voting American, is too stupid to understand more than a sound bite. And many of you are. aaaaahhhhhhh

And yet, here I am trying to figure out my next move. How can I help? Where can I go and be useful (or at least not relegated to a corner)? Do I need to stand on the roof with a bullhorn? THIS IS PUBLIC SERVICE, PEOPLE, NOT SELF SERVICE. Guess I'd better let it be...

Finally, tho, I can pay attention to the Presidential race - now that the reality show portion (the primaries)is over. I know I may have to do some digging and a lot of filtering, but there should be some real info coming out soon about policy issues, foreign relations, military, entitlements, and all the yucky stuff no one wants to talk about during the photo-op. Ah, well, I can dream, can't I?

This day won't let go. Last year wasn't as bad as it could have been, but this year it's Tuesday.

Tuesday.

Somehow, it matters.

It's so easy to remember, and so hard to think on.

People, places - it's all so vivid, existing in a bubble of timelessness.


Vidi - I Saw.


I don't know why, but it makes me miss home.

Home.

A place I left behind.

A place that won't let me go. Not in my mind, not in my heart.


It was. And I remember.

I grieve. So much that was and is no more.


We will never forget.

you probably won't see this, but sorry you're gone fighting fifth.

i've been remiss myself of late.

sigh

how many me's can I be in one day?

brow beaten and despised...encouraged and supported...confused and unsure...hopeful and determined...hot and sweaty.

oops - how'd that last one get in there? that's just the weather. tundra sounds cool and refreshing about now. 90 degrees is ALWAYS too hot...i don't care where you are, 90 degrees is too hot dammit!


i like purple.


i really like purple.


if i could just figure out what it is about me that sets some people off - oh, who am i kidding? i'm not changing for anyone. haven't i done enough acquiesing and kow-towing for one lifetime? i'm not a bad person and i won't apologize for being fallible - or for being smarter than anyone. so there. ppffftt.


a margarita would be tasty right now...regular, on the rocks, no salt...yummy.

(annoyed because of work, hoping the quotes will give me inspiration)

“The two words ‘information’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through” – Sydney J. Harris

“There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.” – Josh Billings

“Books won’t stay banned. They won’t burn. Ideas won’t go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.” – Alfred Whitney Griswold

“The trouble with learning from experience is that you never graduate.” – Doug Larson

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prompts us to rearrange the past.” – Eric Hoffer

“To repeat what others have said requires education; to challenge it requires brains.” – Mary Pettibone Poole

“Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.” – Unknown

“Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom; mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is power.” – Lao Zi

“Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” – E.M. Forster

“Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?" – Lillian Hellman

“Aim above morality. Be not simply good. Be good for something.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Don’t worry that children never listen to you – worry that they are always watching you.” – Robert Fulghum

PIPPIN
Musical, Comedy
Setting: 780 A.D. and thereabouts. The Holy Roman Empire and thereabouts.


"That's okay, son. Just don't let it happen again."
Charles, to Pippin after being resurrected (from Pippin killing him).


"Men and their wars... Men only raise flags when they can't get anything else up!"
Berthe Pippin's exiled grandmother)on war

Some chocolate would be great right about now.


Isn't it football season yet?


I'm better than you think I am.


Everyone looks better in black.


"It ain't what they call you - it's what you answer to." - W.C. Fields


Kool-Aid is just wrong.


National Day of Prayer is a socio-political guilt trip for the unimaginative.


Rainbows are pretty.


Coffee is tasty-good.


Hah - Visigoths!


ttfn

“Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.” – Charles Bukowski

“Remember that nobody will ever get ahead of you as long as he is kicking you in the seat of the pants.” – Walter Winchell

“Every book is a children’s book if the kid can read.” – Mitch Hedberg

“We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.” – Eric Hoffer

“A comedian is not a man who says funny things. A comedian is one who says things funny.” – Ed Wynn

“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.” – A.A. Milne

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.” – Jim Davis

“The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading. Men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.” – David Riesman

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish main…and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.” – Walt Disney

“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.” – Helen Keller

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”- Carl Sandberg

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo

A moment of contemplative silence...

Early morning, April 4
shot rings out in the Memphis sky.
Free at last, they took your life.
They could not take your pride.

In the name of Love.

(this should actually be 'early evening', as it was just after 6pm)


Joy, Love, Peace - a nod to Miss Maya.


Katrina, Howard, Pat - you're out there somewhere...Bon Anniversaire!

How awful is it that I'm sitting at my desk, on my work computer, about to rant about this 'job'? Guess none of us are immune.

What would be worse (excluding money from consideration): having no job, or having a job that makes you feel awful every day? What if money was the only consideration? Which would be worse then? How far can you go in an economy where everyone says "be thankful you have a job", but the job is eating you up inside? How much should "do whatever you have to do" take away from you? If it's always in the name of doing for someone else, what does that make you? And how heavy can invisible chains get?

I HATE IT HERE. EVERYTHING THIS PLACE REPRESENTS IS SUCKING MY LIFE AWAY.

I can't get it right. I can't keep my head down far enough. I can't talk. I can't ask questions. I AM RIGHT HERE.

I need to go. To run. Far and fast and to anywhere else.

Yeah, right.

Empty words. Can't get this money anywhere else. Never enough money. Benefits, stability, money. For the greater good.

Well, there's always 'someday' to look forward to...

*sniff*

Emotions rescinded. *sigh*

Thanks for the suggestions Anonymous.

“The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.” – Ernest Dimnet

Stay

You say I only hear what I want to.
You say I talk so all the time so.

And I thought what I felt was simple,
and I thought that I don't belong,
and now that I am leaving,
now I know that I did something wrong 'cause I missed you.
Yeah, I missed you.

And you say I only hear what I want to.
I don't listen hard,
I don't pay attention to the distance that you're running
or to anyone, anywhere,
I don't understand if you really care,
I'm only hearing negative: no, no, no.

So I turned the radio on, I turned the radio up,
and this woman was singing my song.
The lover's in love, and the other's run away,
the lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay.

Some of us hover when we weep for the other who was
dying since the day they were born.
Well, this is not that.
I think that I'm throwing, but I'm thrown.

And I thought I'd live forever, but now I'm not so sure.

You try to tell me that I'm clever,
but that won't take me anyhow, or anywhere with you.

You said that I was naive,
and I thought that I was strong.
I thought, "hey, I can leave, I can leave."
But now I know that I was wrong, 'cause I missed you.


You said, "I caught you 'cause I want you and one day I'll let you go."
You try to give away a keeper, or keep me 'cause you know you're just scared to lose.
And you say, "stay."

You say I only hear what I want to.


by Lisa Loeb

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year." - Paul Sweeney


"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up." - James A. Baldwin


"Marriage is a bribe to make the housekeeper think she's a householder." - Thornton Wilder


"Sometime when you least expect it, love will tap you on the shoulder...and ask you to move out of the way because it still isn't your turn." - N.V. Plyter


"A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband." - Honore de Balzac


"Of course it's possible to love a human being if you don't know them too well." - Charles Bukowski

Peace of Mind

Now if you're feelin' kinda low 'bout the dues you've been paying
Future's coming much too slow
And you wanna run but somehow you just keep on stayin'
Can't decide on which way to go
Yeah, yeah, yeah

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind.

Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn't take too long
Can'tcha you see there'll come a day when it won't matter
Come a day when you'll be gone

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People li vin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind.

Take a look ahead, take a look ahead, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...

Now everybody's got advice they just keep on givin'
Doesn't mean too much to me
Lot's of people out to make-believe they're livin'
Can't decide who they should be.

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People li vin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind.

Take a look ahead, take a look ahead. Look ahead.
-Tom Scholz

“He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.” – M.C. Escher

“Even if you’re on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers

“God loved the birds and invented trees; man loved the birds and invented cages.” – Jacques Deval

“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” – Charles Bukowski

“Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery.” – Erma Bombeck

“It’s not only the most difficult thing to know one’s self, but the most inconvenient.” – Josh Billings

“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.” – Stephen Hawking

“An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.” – Sydney J. Harris

“The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch someone else doing it wrong, without commenting.” – T.H. White

“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.” – Douglas Adams

“The road to ruin is always in good repair, and the travelers pay the expense of it.” – Josh Billings

There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.


A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
"The stars aren't aligned -
Or the gods are malign"
Blame is better to give than receive.


You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.


There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them- they weren't born in Lotus-Land.


All preordained-
A prisoner in chains-
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.


Each of us-
A cell of awareness-
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.


You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.


- Geddy Lee

cool web site: www.deadlounge.com

from the poetry generator:


Consumed

What have you wrought?
A miasma of betrayal as memories bleed.
Once we savored wonder,
open and hand in hand,
but your desire soured.
A feverish throng of lies -
tears follow pain, follow bitterness,
love spoiled.
In a torrent of sorrow,
I still love you.




Untitled

Around, all around, the shadows gather.
My dread grows as the angry hand of Heaven
falls against my heart.
It crushes me,
and darkly my essence drips
to the swirling dust.
In my madness I beg forgiveness
while oblivion approaches.
Now alone, my soul falls upon darkened eyes.

This is Hell


Just take the off-ramp to the exit and keep your tongue firmly in your cheek!

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” – Peter Marshall

“You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.” – Oprah Winfrey

“It’s all right to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation.” – Dr. Rob Gilbert

“Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.” – Doug Larson

“Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out.” – Anton Chekhov

“History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.” – Konrad Adenaur

“When the politicians complain that t.v. turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that t.v. has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.” – Edward R. Murrow

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Berthold Auerbach

“Jazz will endure just as long as people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.” – John Philip Sousa

“The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design but what’s missing is the eyebrows.” – Frank Zappa

“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.” – Alice May Brock

“If you can find a path with no obstacles it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” – Frank A. Clark

“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” – Malcolm S. Forbes

“Under Capitalism man exploits man; under Socialism the reverse is true.” – Polish proverb

“You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have for instance.” – Franklin P. Jones

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” – Erica Jong

“Thanks to my mother, not a single cardboard box has found it’s way back into society. We receive gifts in boxes from stores that went out of business twenty years ago.” – Erma Bombeck

“God put Santa Claus on earth to remind us that Christmas is ‘sposed to be a happy time.” - Bill Keane’s Family Circus