tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292696392024-03-13T09:01:37.666-06:00you're soaking in ithe had a lot to say...he had a lot of nothing to say. we'll miss him.rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-68095139506717009802010-07-10T17:30:00.000-06:002010-07-10T17:31:20.939-06:00Facebook has made my blog obsoleteOh, well.rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-21480663770880153152009-09-22T20:52:00.002-06:002009-09-22T21:14:33.305-06:00holiday...celebrate?From an utterly fascinating book I'm reading right now called <a href="http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/liesmyteachertoldme.php">Lies My Teacher Told Me</a>...this is part of an account from an Arawak leader who had fled from Haiti to Cuba following Christopher Columbus's slave trade, exploitative and genocidal activities shortly after "discovering" the Americas...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Learning that Spaniards were coming, one day (the leader) gathered all his people together to remind them of the persecutions which the Spanish had inflicted on the people of Hispaniola:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Do you know why they persecute us?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">They replied: "They do it because they are cruel and bad."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"I will tell you why they do it," the (leader) stated, "and it is this - because they have a lord whom they love very much, and I will show him to you."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">He held up a small basket made from palms full of gold, and he said, "Here is their lord, whom they serve and adore...To have this lord, they make us suffer, for him they persecute us, for him they have killed our parents, brothers, all our people...Let us not hide this lord from the Christians in any place, for even if we should hide it in our intestines, they would get it out of us..."</span><br /><br />Columbus would have been proud of our modern, predatory form of capitalism, I think. It might be slightly more subtle on U.S. soil, but it's certainly not when conducted upon other lands (Iraq, Afghanistan, Central and South America, Africa and so on)...rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-63991604621781639462009-07-13T06:16:00.002-06:002009-07-13T06:20:32.236-06:00here's a shocker...Amazing how many people can get maimed or killed because of the greed of rich people. It doesn't surprise me at this point, but it still makes me feel sick...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/070309J?n">Eager to Tap Iraq's Vast Oil Reserves, Industry Execs Suggested Invasion</a>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-90109773110542100272009-07-11T11:32:00.003-06:002009-07-11T11:50:39.016-06:00finally...I've intensely despised Goldman Sachs for years now...going back to when I first learned how ubiquitous (and shady) they were in relation to the growing trend of privatizing roads and highways. And I've been waiting for <span style="font-style: italic;">someone</span> to dig into all their bullshit and incestuous dealings for just as long. Finally, the great Matt Taibbi comes to the rescue. It's a bit long - okay, <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> long - but definitely worth the read. The first couple paragraphs alone give you a decent idea where he's headed...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Any attempt to construct a narrative around all the former Goldmanites in influential positions quickly becomes an absurd and pointless exercise, like trying to make a list of everything. What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain — an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.</span><br /><br />Oh, and make sure you watch the video interview with Taibbi if you follow the link. He's brilliant at translating intentionally-convoluted processes into a language most of the rest of us in the real world actually speak...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine?utm_source=weekly-newsletter&utm_medium=email">(continued...)</a>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-41763058808271159812009-06-26T14:08:00.003-06:002009-06-26T14:12:48.540-06:00I'm pretty sure all we did was re-elect Bill Clinton......which isn't to say that we shouldn't have, given our choices. But, as I've always said, the problems continue because of the choices we're given...which, in turn, is dictated by a very broken and corrupt system. But I digress.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/062409J?n">"Dozens Dead" in U.S. Drone Strike</a>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-41606629542017706402009-06-22T19:29:00.002-06:002009-06-22T19:33:10.173-06:00when all else fails, provoke<a href="http://www.truthout.org/062209J?n">Memo Reveals U.S. Plan to Provoke an Invasion of Iraq</a><br /><br />Nothing we all probably didn't already know. Just seems like it's been a while since we've read about it in such stark terms...rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-21054143961706233182009-04-19T18:21:00.002-06:002009-04-19T18:35:22.669-06:00I got the ringwormAin't that some shit? Guess that's to be expected, though, considering where I work and what I do. At any rate, I've finally found some time and motivation to attempt keeping up on the blog once again. Yay, cyberworld. I'll get more into my new life here...I don't know. Soon, hopefully.<br /><br />Anyway, last year was kinda screwy for me in that I didn't know I'd be changing jobs, moving a couple states west, making a <span style="font-style: italic;">whole</span> lot less money, etc. So while I'm usually pretty late in posting my favorite music released the previous year, I'd like to think I have a few decent excuses for how stupidly late this one is. And I know no one cares what I think in this regard. It's just that for some reason feel incomplete if I don't publish my music list every year somehow somewhere.<br /><br />So here's what I bought last year - and this year, in an effort to catch up - ranked by how I humbly rate them. (And I'd better get on the stick for '09. There already albums released - or soon to be released - by some of my absolute favorites...Sepultura, Meat Puppets, Autolux, Dalek, Goblin Cock, Marmaduke Duke, Kylesa, 50 Foot Wave, St. Vincent, Steve Earle, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, These Arms Are Snakes, The Paper Chase, and one of my favorite Dallasites who I'm just tickled is finally releasing a full-length of her own, Laura Harrell. And I owe the gubment a shitload of money thanks to my move out here last year, so it won't be easy...)<br /><br />Anyway, here they am...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2008 albums:</span><br />Aimee Mann, <span style="font-style: italic;">@#%&! Smilers</span><br />Torche, <span style="font-style: italic;">Meanderthal</span><br />The Knux, <span style="font-style: italic;">Remind Me in 3 Days...</span><br />High On Fire, <span style="font-style: italic;">Death is This Communion</span>**<br />Blood on the Wall, <span style="font-style: italic;">Liferz</span><br />The Sword, <span style="font-style: italic;">Gods of the Earth</span><br />Cafe Tacuba, <span style="font-style: italic;">Sino</span>**<br />Fucked Up, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Chemistry of Common Life</span><br />Santogold (self-titled)<br />Prong, <span style="font-style: italic;">Power of the Damager</span>**<br />I Love Math, <span style="font-style: italic;">Getting to the Point is Beside it</span><br />Cavalera Conspiracy, <span style="font-style: italic;">Inflikted</span><br />Public Enemy, <span style="font-style: italic;">How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???</span>**<br />Metallica, <span style="font-style: italic;">Death Magnetic</span><br />Radiohead, <span style="font-style: italic;">In Rainbows</span><br />The Mars Volta, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Bedlam in Goliath</span><br />Motorhead, <span style="font-style: italic;">Motorizer</span><br />Tomahawk, <span style="font-style: italic;">Anonymous</span>**<br />Bob Mould, <span style="font-style: italic;">District Line</span><br />Fishbone, <span style="font-style: italic;">Still Stuck in Your Throat</span>**<br />The Breeders, <span style="font-style: italic;">Mountain Battles</span><br />Scars On Broadway (self-titled)<br />Doug Burr, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Shawl</span><br />Smile Smile, <span style="font-style: italic;">Blue Roses<br /><br /></span>**Actually released in 2007, making this list all the more lame.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-28178043051886401922008-05-30T07:50:00.008-06:002008-12-09T04:15:32.285-06:00adios, amoebas...It's been good, Dallas. Mostly.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SEAJis2mDCI/AAAAAAAAATQ/lWTERpbT3sg/s1600-h/100_0031.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 347px; height: 247px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SEAJis2mDCI/AAAAAAAAATQ/lWTERpbT3sg/s400/100_0031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5206171661000641570" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I'll catch up with you from the next time zone to the left...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SEAJ2s2mDDI/AAAAAAAAATY/d2PXVL0HdzE/s1600-h/100_0050.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 347px; height: 260px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SEAJ2s2mDDI/AAAAAAAAATY/d2PXVL0HdzE/s400/100_0050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5206172004598025266" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />PS - Thanks again, Tim. I'll do my best to pay you back.rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-10975798977091124782008-05-22T11:04:00.005-06:002008-05-24T09:29:39.232-06:00Fishbone 101A while back on Jeff Liles' <a href="http://www.myspace.com/historyofdallasmusic">History of Dallas Music</a> MySpace page, I took it upon myself to leave a <a href="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=336215151&albumID=680549&imageID=4228423">brief dissertation</a> on the true greatness of - and sad lack of appreciation for - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fishbone</span> in a comment on one of the ticket stub pictures I gave him.<br /><br />For those who don't know much about them, there's not much more I can say here that I didn't say in the aforementioned comment...although, I would recommend a quick read through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbone">the band's Wikipedia page</a>. So instead, I'll just share this clip. Crank it up if you can. And pay attention to just how tight those guys really are in the midst of the absolute onstage chaos they created. Then imagine experiencing that intensity for, like, two solid hours. It left you exhausted, exhilarated and in awe. At their peak, they were the best band in the world. Past their peak, they were still the best live band in the world. Unbelievable shit.<br /><br />(Oh, and in case you are wondering who the Kendall Jones both I and Wikipedia reference, he's the guitar player on the left who sings the bridge to "Party at Ground Zero." I hope he's better now because his life was a tragedy for a while...)<br /><br />Turn the shit up, pogo and enjoy...!<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QszEuCW4QKc&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QszEuCW4QKc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />And lest anyone think Fishbone were strictly a ska band, you can check out some of their heavier shit <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0O1Gmm286E">here</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t0MycJpXR8&feature=related">here</a> and in this additional live clip below. There wasn't anything those guys couldn't do better than anyone else. The first of those links makes me particularly sad in a way because Kendall wrote and sang the song. However, he'd already fried and left the band by the time it was released and they'd joined the Lollapalooza festival in '93. So in the video, it's keyboard/trombone player Chris Dowd shown singing. But it's a particularly poignant song in hindsight given its religious theme and the "religious" reasons for Kendall leaving / freaking out.<br /><br />Swim (seriously heavy)...<br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dsfsDoHsH2M&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dsfsDoHsH2M&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-81479332430618294712008-05-21T08:50:00.006-06:002008-12-09T04:15:32.345-06:00I have talented friends<a href="http://www.katemackley.com/">Kate</a> is amazing...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SDQ3GkRp8MI/AAAAAAAAAS0/OWMVHSnky7A/s1600-h/Frank+on+bed+%28Kate%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 359px; height: 239px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SDQ3GkRp8MI/AAAAAAAAAS0/OWMVHSnky7A/s400/Frank+on+bed+%28Kate%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202844055476236482" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Frank the kitty thinks so too.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SDQ2_kRp8LI/AAAAAAAAASs/OOXsc7f5pk4/s1600-h/Frank+on+side+%28Kate%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 361px; height: 241px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/SDQ2_kRp8LI/AAAAAAAAASs/OOXsc7f5pk4/s400/Frank+on+side+%28Kate%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202843935217152178" border="0" /></a>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-80939806315877219762008-05-19T15:57:00.001-06:002008-05-19T16:00:20.130-06:00you got your chocolate in my peanut butter...When greatness collides with greatness...<br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kpu724EY7rI&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kpu724EY7rI&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-88699231699668921872008-05-12T13:17:00.002-06:002008-05-12T13:20:53.710-06:00hee hee...Thank you <a href="http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/">Unfair Park</a>. This makes me giggle so much...<br /><br /><a href="http://video.236.com/services/player/bcpid1544603017?bctid=1549643823">Douchebag</a>.rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-15705241062470014552008-05-06T12:06:00.003-06:002008-05-06T12:14:33.624-06:00yay, musicUnexpectedly big music week for me this week. (Might as well take as much in while I'm here in The Big City while I can. Though, I do have a Meat Puppets show in Flagstaff in July to look forward to.) The agenda...<br /><br />Tonight - <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Breeders</span> at the godforsaken, completely fucking awful venue known as the House of Blues. As you might guess, I hate that place. As someone more creative than me described the place, it's like going through airport security to go see an arena show at a Chili's. Dead on. I hate that place. In case I didn't mention that earlier.<br /><br />Friday - <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Sword, Torche</span> at Lola's in Fort Worth. Haven't been to Lola's, but have heard great things about the place.<br /><br />Saturday - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blood on the Wall, Record Hop</span> at Lola's.<br /><br />Should be a good week. Yay, me.<br /><br />PS - I also <span style="font-style: italic;">intensely</span> hate Ticketmaster. Who else could take a $19.50 ticket and bill you $34-something by the time it's all said and done? Fuckers. But I think I've mentioned that particular hatred before...rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-30227246909714285152008-05-04T13:17:00.003-06:002008-05-04T13:20:47.402-06:00geniusQuote of the day...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It feels like the world is a fuckin' pile of shit that's full of snakes and flies, and we're here to put some frosting on it.</span> - <a href="http://www.themeatpuppets.com/">Curt Kirkwood</a><br /><br />As, um, negative as that may sound, I love the sentiment behind it. Hee hee...rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-6334666564337112872008-05-03T15:00:00.006-06:002008-05-04T10:10:37.680-06:00good read<a href="http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/389/the_ordinary_decency_of_the_heart">This</a>, to me, could just as easily have been written by my friend, <a href="http://wildernessinthecity.blogspot.com/">the amazing Bill</a>...<br /><br />I really like a lot of what he had to say (unfortunately, only about a quarter of the interview appears online). And I'm really starting to enjoy it when I'm reminded that not all Christians are like...well, like the majority of Christians I've had to deal with in my life. Always good to keep one's prejudices in check. Or something like that.rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-50582147663683377012008-04-30T14:17:00.004-06:002008-04-30T14:46:26.943-06:00sad, I think......that people consider Barack Obama* "inspiring" when people like <a href="http://www.gravel2008.us/">Mike Gravel</a> (and Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul and Ralph Nader) are also running for president. Yet those folks get no support from their parties because they speak about actual issues and run their candidacies based upon their own principles and a sincere agenda. Pandering is demanded by both parties and, it could be argued, by most of the voting public who seem to respond only to mindless jingoism and empty plans and promises.<br /><br />I'm supposed to be taking the year off from my political soapboxing, but I couldn't resist posting this message from <a href="http://www.gravel2008.us/">my man, Mike</a>...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Two days ago I attended an event to address both one of the most disturbing and overlooked consequences of the Iraq War. Attended by both scientists and Iraq veterans, I heard how depleted-uranium weapons and ammunition have turned Iraq into a nation littered with radioactive fallout. We gathered across the street from General Dynamics in Scranton, PA-a war profiteer whose profits have spiked in the wake of the illegal Iraq War. The Nation magazine estimates over 11,000 US soldiers to have been killed from exposure to uranium since the first Iraq War. That does not even address the vast destruction to the Iraqi people and their country. Onset of cancer, permanent respiratory and neurological conditions, deformities in the children of our servicemen-make no mistake: Depleted-Uranium (DU) is the Agent Orange of the Iraq War. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">How did we get here, that our industries </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=GLLTElowQeY">are poisoning and killing our own troops</a><span style="font-style: italic;">? The fundamental problem is pervasive and the result of our militarized culture. On Earth Day, it was clearer than ever that we cannot sufficiently tackle the myriad environmental problems we face without bringing the </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkgFr7CACY">Military-Industrial-Complex</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> to heel. The links between nuclear power (against which I fought and succeeded a generation ago) and our malignant warfare industry is undeniable and inextricable. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yet it is very possible to shake the military-industrial-complex's grip on our society. It will only come from empowering the people with </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://ni4d.us/">The National Initiative</a><span style="font-style: italic;">. Our Congress is controlled by this complex lock, stock and barrel, and we have seen both the Democrats and Republicans dissolve into war parties, neither offering a definitive plan to end the War in Iraq. Nor will they end </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OWqrSdDxI0">American Imperialism</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, which will ultimately bring future wars, havoc and destruction to the innocent. I count our delicate planet and natural world among those innocent victims.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I adamantly believe that, as a nation, we can get off of gasoline in 5 years, and the world can get off of carbon in 10. We have such great ability and capacity, yet we are squandering our treasure and resources on war and killing. I remember how American Industry could produce only one ship per year in 1941. Three years later, heeding the call to WWII, it was one per week. That same spark is possible to heal the environment, if we turn the military-industrial-complex on its head. Our society's massive abilities and capacities have been </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSLNwG9pQFY">hijacked by war</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, but we can reclaim them for limitless sources of innovation. Zero-emissions transportation, revitalized infrastructure and mass transit system to counter congestion and spur real productivity-these possibilities go overlooked when we foolishly wage wars for finite, carbon-spewing fossil fuels. Rather, we must harness the resources before our eyes: the sun, wind, and the people's creativity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Dwight Eisenhower, who predicted the military-industrial-complex, said that "one day, the people will want peace so badly that they will push the government aside." That reality is before us by unleashing the creativity of the American people with The National Initiative. Today, I believe in that possibility more than ever.</span><br /><br />*PS - Not that this has anything to do with the above sentiments from Senator Gravel, but am I the only person who actually agrees with most (not all, but most) of what Obama's "spiritual advisor," the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has had to say...?<span id="intelliTXT"><strong></strong></span>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-44510357130456599682008-04-29T08:09:00.003-06:002008-04-29T08:15:23.344-06:00true, 'datHere's a concept I was trying to explain to someone a few months ago without much success. Possibly because it's said more eloquently here...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Tell me whom you love, and I will tell you who you are.</span> - Houssayerama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-32921944696019507882008-04-25T15:57:00.002-06:002008-04-25T16:00:59.835-06:00"I know what you mean about those fins..."<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke?utm_source=weekly-newsletter&utm_medium=email">This</a> is...fascinating, hilarious, scary, mind-boggling...<br /><br />Can't wait for the book to come out.rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-29285320755545752782008-04-16T16:12:00.004-06:002008-04-17T09:04:30.035-06:00Utah-bound (yet another long-ass post)Irony is hitting me from all sides at the moment. Maybe not irony in the most correct definition, but at least something similar to what Alanis Morissette had in mind (rain on your wedding day, foreign hair on your spaghetti plate, etc.). Actually, it's probably somewhere in between...something my friend Amber used to refer to as "bumper cars." For example, Amber just moved to New Orleans a couple weeks ago. I just returned from there, fresh and smooth as a newborn baby's unemployed ass, in February with three kitties for my new-ish apartment and thoughts of visiting her and <a href="http://www.animalrescueneworleans.org/">ARNO</a> on a somewhat regular basis.<br /><br />I like my new-ish apartment. A lot. And I've spent a lot of time getting to know it along with the three kitties in this past month. That's the most kick-ass-est thing about unemployment...it affords you plenty of time to be humped over in your jammie pants in front of your computer with a small, black and white cat perched on your back watching birds outside the window. There's also lots of time to be spent on YouTube watching completely fascinating videos of bands you really love - or just know about, in many cases - but never got to see live and/or in their heydays (ladies and gentlemen - Bikini Kill...and Kiss...and Tool...and Helmet...and Nashville Pussy...and Deep Purple...and Blue Cheer...and Mr. Bungle...and clips from the never-released Rolling Stones flick, "Cocksucker Blues"...I've truly only scratched the surface, I'm sure). I reintroduced myself to the beguiling and dangerous world of napping. Never been much of a fan of napping for the most part. But for a good week or so I was napping a <span style="font-style: italic;">completely</span> unacceptable amount. I'll always take my conscious mind over my unconscious (or subconscious). But the lure of the nap when you're annoyed or disappointed or stressed...oh, sweet nap...easily the most convenient form of escapism. And the dangerous part for me is, a) that I have somewhat depressive tendencies to start with; and, b) the fact that I cannot comprehend moderation <span style="font-style: italic;">at all</span>...not a good combination of personality traits. It's a recipe for clinical depression, actually. So...ixnay on the apnays. But there's also reading. You can do lots of reading when you ain't got no job. It's loads of fun. Yeah, the "no steady source of income" thing sucks a ball or two, but it's otherwise a pretty nifty lifestyle. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, if you have the means, I highly recommend it.<br /><br />Anyway, Tim and I both loved the new place pretty much immediately. We'd been stuck in a rut at the old apartment. The old place was cool, but the novelty wears off after ten years...and with stuff falling apart or not working and walls permanently stained with candle soot. I had no idea, though, how much change I was in for when I made that move. You jack with one thing, make one significant change...<span style="font-style: italic;">BOOM!</span>...all kinds of (seemingly) unrelated hell breaks loose. Amber would be doing a delighted happy dance in front of me, clapping her hands and singing "bumper cars!" And I, of course, would be denying the more spiritual implications behind her theories. I'm a steadfast, utterly devout follower of the religion of Shit Happens. Amber and most of my friends believe - to varying degrees - that everything happens for a reason. I can think of no other platitude that makes my eyes immediately roll as quickly as that one. Because it's a fucking cop-out philosophy, mainly...the ideal that certain things are or are not "meant to be." What<span style="font-style: italic;">ever</span>. The only thing I really subscribe to with any sincerity is the notion that <span style="font-style: italic;">nothing</span> happens for a reason (or everything happens <span style="font-style: italic;">for no</span> reason...take your pick). Shit happens. Amen.<br /><br />That's not to say, however, that many actions and events don't influence other reactions or events. Far from it. I just believe that coincidence is a more powerful and believable force than the idea that some incomprehensible purpose is driving the activities and/or mental/physical processes in this earthly dimension. It's just my thing.<br /><br />As is my tendency, though, I've veered a bit off topic here. Back to the "loving the new place" subject. The place in question is in a very old building (1920s-ish) that, given the block on which it sits, could not look any more incongruent than if it were on the side of a mountain. It's a converted Spanish-style mansion sitting directly in between some sort of mid-rise commercial building and a group of stores along Oak Lawn. It's the only residential building on this block; there's even a fucking Starbucks across the street. Not that that's a unique occurrence. But even when I was moving in, I kept wondering if the days were numbered for this place. These days in Dallas, if you even <span style="font-style: italic;">think</span> of looking at a building with some sort of historic sentiment in your head, you might as well paint a bulls-eye upon which somebody can take aim with a wrecking ball. On the western side of Oak Lawn, Rawlins Street is virtually entirely residential and makes for a pretty lovely drive because almost all the buildings are old mansions from various eras converted into apartments such as my own. Not on my block, though. (Feel free to check out the views from the nifty second-floor patio area <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24509520@N05/sets/72157604239612834/detail/">here</a>...)<br /><br />At any rate, I had a couple interviews with a really cool company - doing pretty much what I've been doing the past fifteen years, work-wise - here in Dallas shortly after getting shitcanned from my old job. I don't know if I actually got the job - I know I was one of two finalists. But I think I discovered that the voicemail service for the landline I've been using since I moved in has never worked. Hasn't been an issue to this point because I mostly use my cell phone or email, anyway. But I know some numbers have shown up on the caller ID, listing folks from whom I'd expect a message of some sort awaiting me. It doesn't really matter now - and I kinda like <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> knowing whether I got the other gig or not - because something more fitting came along. Or, I should say, I came back to <span style="font-style: italic;">it</span>.<br /><br />The person who would have been my boss at this new job in Dallas had a sign in his office that read, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" I'm sure that's a well-established platitude with some folks somewhere, but I'd never considered it before. Shortly after seeing the aforementioned sign, I read the following by <a href="http://www.barrylopez.com/">Barry Lopez</a> from a recent issue of <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm">National Geographic magazine</a>...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"My guess would be that someone someday will trace the roots of modern human loneliness to a loss of intimacy with place, to our many breaks with the physical Earth. We are not out there much anymore. Even when we are, we are often too quick to take things in. A member of the group who insists on lingering is 'holding everyone else up.' I think about this kind of detachment from the physical world frequently, because human beings, generally, seem to long for a specific place, a certain geography that gives them a sense of well-being.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"When I was traveling regularly in the Arctic, I routinely asked Yupik, Inupiat, and Inuit how they characterized people from the civilization of which I was a part. 'Lonely' was a response I heard with discomfiting frequency. The cure for loneliness, I have come to understand, is not more socializing. It's achieving and maintaining close friendships. The trust that characterizes that kind of friendship allows one to be vulnerable, to discuss problems that resist a solution, for example, without having to risk being judged or dismissed. I bring this up because the desire I experience most keenly, when I travel in landscapes like the ones made so evocative here, is for intimacy. I have learned that I will not experience the exhilaration intimacy brings unless I become vulnerable to the place, unless I come to a landscape without judgments, unless I trust that the place is indifferent to me. The practice I strive for when I travel is to meet the land as if it were a person. To encounter it as if it were as deep in its meaning as human personality. I wait for it to speak..."</span><br /><br />I think he's right, myself. I think it's what's always drawn me to desert locales and is behind the reason I usually feel most inspired when I'm in the most desolate areas I can find. At any rate, the message on the sign and the words from Barry Lopez conspire in my case to lead me back to <a href="http://www.bestfriends.org/">Best Friends</a>. Allow me to elaborate, please. (As an enormous, you've-<span style="font-style: italic;">got</span>-to-be-kidding groan takes shape somewhere in cyberspace...)<br /><br />I decided in the summer of 2005 that I needed to move out west. I had so much fun and felt so alive during the road trip I took in spring of that year to see the dual rarities of blooming wildflowers and a temporary lake in Death Valley that I even traded in my Toyota Corolla for an Xterra. Having damn near destroyed the Corolla while making my way to the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, I knew I needed a truck of some sort. Yes, SUV Guilt is a bitch for a liberal, but dammit...I want to see stuff that can be hard to get to sometimes. So, screw the car...gimme a truck. It seemed like a good idea at the time.<br /><br />I love the desert - my favorite place in the world is Death Valley - and I wanted to find a job and a place to live that would situate me in the middle of the southwestern U.S. Preferably in an area that wasn't ungodly hot like, say, Phoenix. I realized Flagstaff would be the perfect location because it's a nice little town in a cool (literally...as in regards to climate) area in Arizona, and I'd be a day's drive from all my favorite spots. For the next few months I spent all my mental energy trying to get myself relocated to Flagstaff.<br /><br />Not so easy, as it turns out. For one thing, the cost of living there is pretty high. More problematic, though, is the fact that you pretty much are required to have two master's degrees and a Nobel Prize to get <span style="font-style: italic;">any</span> kind of job in that fucking town. It's ridiculous. They have three main employers, two of whom can hire you if you want to have a warehouse job, and the other who will only hire you if you are The Smartest Person Who Has Ever Lived. Fuckity.<br /><br />Needless to say, I started expanding my options to include smaller towns in central/northern Arizona and even looked at far southern Utah as possible candidates for the big bag of nothing that I had to offer. I happened upon a small town in Utah called Kanab. When researching the town, I discovered it was the home for the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the United States. As you might guess, angels sang and...well, shit like that. I immediately got my friend Ginger to print me off a few copies of Best Friends job applications (couldn't do that sort of thing at work and didn't have the capabilities to do so at home) and wasted little time in firing off applications to them for at least three different positions. Then about two weeks later, Hurricane Katrina absolutely destroyed the gulf coast, New Orleans in particular, and any respect most of us had for our government's ability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.<br /><br />Suffice it to say, everyone's attention was focused on the gulf region, with Best Friends really leading the way with regard to animal welfare in the area. I was originally supposed to volunteer down there with the ASPCA and at least one other animal organization. After those opportunities fell through, it was almost by accident that I got in touch with Best Friends, who told me they could use my assistance. I headed down there for a little over a week in October followed by a second week in December...meeting the best friend I've ever had, my dear Wendy, in the process. As I've said before on this blog, those experiences with Best Friends in Tylertown, Mississippi, were nothing short of life-changing.<br /><br />Once Best Friends had more or less pulled out of Tylertown and New Orleans, I got an invitation to do a work evaluation with BF in Kanab (also thanks in no small part to some of the group's founders, whom I'd met and pestered during my volunteer stints). In April of 2006, I spent a week in Kanab and was offered a position as Cat Caregiver. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to decline; financially, there was absolutely no way I could make it work. To say that the pay is low there would be an understatement. But not an insult or negative observation, as nobody should want or expect the pay at <span style="font-style: italic;">any</span> non-profit to be good. They need to be spending their money on their objectives after all, right? And nobody goes to work for non-profit organizations to make money anyway. Unfortunately, I was just nowhere near being in the kind of shape to take on that kind of change in financial lifestyle...too much debt, too many payments, etc. Like most American consumers, I'd worked myself into a position that wasn't easy to escape; the more money you make, the more money you spend, the more obligations you have to fulfill. In short, I was fucked.<br /><br />Fast-forward to the second half of 2007. The atmosphere at my workplace had become absolutely unbearable...the worst I'd experienced in my fifteen-year tenure there. I <span style="font-style: italic;">hated</span> those people; most of us <span style="font-style: italic;">hated</span> those people. And they didn't look kindly upon us. Every day there was more insulting, oppressive and offensive than the day before. I knew when they laid me off in February that they were doing me a favor. I just had no idea how big that favor would become.<br /><br />I spent the first month or so firing off resumes to anyone and everyone. One day, however, during one of my usual cleaning-up-after-messy-kitty rituals, it occurred to me: two years ago, I was bending over backward to try and get myself into a position where I could be doing this very thing (or something like it) for a company I think the world of in a part of the world I was dying to move myself to. I told Best Friends when I declined their first offer that I would do my best to get myself where I could accept a job from them. I hadn't, of course...I settled back into my safe, somewhat comfortable rut and plodded along. But now here I was - exactly where I <span style="font-style: italic;">needed</span> to be without having even realized it.<br /><br />I'd been collecting unemployment benefits since the layoff, but I knew I was going to have to dip into the 401k at some point to make ends meet. Why not <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> dip into the 401k, pay off all the debts, pay off the truck, etc., and get myself to where I could make the move out to Utah...do what I really love in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24509520@N05/sets/72157604239476054/detail/">a place I really love</a> for a group of people I really love?<br /><br />I ran the idea past Wendy (my financial advisor) and my folks (my reality advisors) to make sure my idea wasn't too irresponsible or stupid. Everyone was on board. This made me happy.<br /><br />I just got back last week from another two-week work evaluation with Best Friends. (You can see some pics of the place if you'd like <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24509520@N05/sets/72157604243667993/detail/">here</a>.) They offered the gig again. I accepted. Life is good. Scary and intimidating for the time being, but good.<br /><br />I'm scheduled to move out to Kanab by the last week in May. The apartment I love so much I will leave behind. It has become for me merely a transitional place of residence. My world turned inside out during the six-plus months I've lived here. I lost my dear friend...my beautiful, wonderful companion Tim. I lost a very close friend who revealed herself to be not quite the good and trustworthy friend I'd made her out to be after all. I lost a job of fifteen years (that I mostly hated). I turned forty. Amber, my close friend for so many years who saw me through sobriety, the onset of panic disorder and some level of depression, has moved to New Orleans. Though, in truth, our friendship has been slowly eroding for some time now...just kind of a natural process that sometimes happens. Things will never be the same. But that's for better <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> worse. And it's the way things should be, really, if a person is attempting to evolve and move in a new direction. I admit, I was failing badly at doing so prior to my move to the new place here in Oak Lawn. Maybe I should be a little embarrassed by that, but instead I find myself feeling really lucky to have my ass kicked so hard that it hopefully, finally woke me up a bit and forced me to look at my life and where I've put myself.<br /><br />I've made some really great friends in the process of losing so much. Cindy and Kate have been wonderful supporters...better than I probably deserve. Older friends like Wendy, Ginger, Elena, Erin and Crispin - along with my family - have been predictably supportive in ways I hope to never take for granted. My new feline friends - Frank, Mack and Mary (named after some of the Best Friends folks I got to know in Tylertown) - have been a blessing.<br /><br />Life is good. Scary and intimidating, but good.<br /><br />Wish me luck, if you don't mind, on my new adventures. I feel wonderful about it all. And I finally feel, like the Doug Burr lyric currently at the top of this blog, that I've found that reason to sing that I've been looking for for such a long time. All I've ever wanted for myself is to do good, help others, and be proud of my life while I'm here. I hope I've finally found the road that will take me there.<br /><br />But if not, if it doesn't work out and I fuck the whole thing up...at least I'm giving it a shot. To finish with another great lyric - this one courtesy of the amazing <a href="http://www.themeatpuppets.com/">Curt Kirkwood</a>...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Slipping slowly up the rock slide, one thing always seems apparent...</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">If the climb becomes too much, I can always turn around</span>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-59576222466099087252008-03-27T02:48:00.000-06:002008-03-27T02:49:25.201-06:00off to Utah......wish me luck!rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-22342328774441572772008-03-24T09:05:00.004-06:002008-03-24T09:24:18.569-06:00more death and other goodness from The SunFrom the December 2007 issue of <a href="http://www.thesunmagazine.org/">The Sun magazine</a>...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Burrow into what's interesting - in you, and in everyone else. Every moment on the planet has juice to yield. Anything is interesting if you truly want to know about it. Staying awake to that (is) the key to staying alive.</span> - from <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Wizard in the Closet</span>, by <a href="http://www.heathersellers.com/">Heather Sellers</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">...my resistance to love. I'd often put distance between myself and others as a way to keep from feeling trapped or getting hurt. I'd delivered wearying criticisms of people I thought were less than perfect, as if I were any better than them. Living like that had been a long, hard battle with many casualties, the most wounded sometimes being me. I think that during all those silent-meditation sessions; in all the time I'd spent listening to the wisdom of renowned teachers, theologians, and sages; in all the millions of words I'd read in profound spiritual tracts, I'd been trying to learn how to love. But no amount of meditation or yoga or studies of scriptures could have given me that. (Insert name here)'s death put me in touch with one of the highest orders of human existence: to love others as though we are dying all the time, because the plain truth of the matter is that we are.</span> - from <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Marital Status</span>, by James Kullander<br /><br />And from the "Sunbeams" section...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Stop reading for a moment, and imagine that you are going to die in one minute. The last things you are going to experience are reading these pages, sitting in this room, thinking and feeling what you are thinking and feeling right now. This is the end of your life... You have no time to write a note or make a phone call. All you can do is experience what is, right now. This is a very simple exercise, but it is quite profound. It brings you into presence very quickly. You stop fighting, you stop needing, you stop being concerned with physical comfort, you stop wanting, you stop achieving, and you stop maintaining. Enlightenment, attainment, realization all become meaningless. You are just present.</span> - Ken McLeodrama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-69372025987407969652008-03-22T14:21:00.002-06:002008-03-22T14:24:12.439-06:00why god made the internetsI don't remember the last time I laughed this hard. I was in tears...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This</span> is why it pays to check in on <a href="http://www.gordonkeith.com/wordpress/">Gordo's site</a> every once in a while.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dO65OlAhEJg&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dO65OlAhEJg&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-19789376689083095902008-03-20T08:27:00.004-06:002008-03-20T08:36:59.865-06:00Cindy's favorite instrumentI had forgotten about the "manager" worming her way onstage with a tambourine. Eerily familiar and very funny...<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OMTPQVOWCiU&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OMTPQVOWCiU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-89352670138464913982008-03-08T08:11:00.003-06:002008-03-08T09:01:59.299-06:00fun for unemployed peopleAs Wendy said to me the other day, "YouTube is the devil." If you are a geek of any kind, you can lose all sense of time and/or responsibility with your diversion of choice. Since I'm a music geek, that's how I spend my time whenever I choose to cross over to the dark side.<br /><br />A perfect example is this little gem I came across by accident the other day. One of the most memorable shows I ever saw in my adolescence was Black Sabbath in 1982. In fact, shockingly now that I stop to think about it, it's the <span style="font-style: italic;">only</span> time I ever saw Sabbath live...and it almost doesn't count because it was the Dio/Appice lineup. Anyway, I found this clip - not from the show I saw but a London show from that same tour. The sound is atrocious, but it's so cool for me to witness the visuals in motion from that show and that song. It may look ridiculous now, but trust me...if you were a little metal dude in junior high in the early 80s, it did not get any cooler than this...<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XoWNsQyb_CY"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XoWNsQyb_CY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />All the gushing over that show aside, though, this is still the only Sabbath that counts as far as I'm concerned. Great footage and sound quality, too...<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gbxfe7DMxVo"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gbxfe7DMxVo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />One of the fun things about some of the folks at Unfair Park is that they can be nostalgia geeks just like me. They dug these clips up the other day from an old Genesis show in Dallas that I was definitely <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> at but would have loved. Actually, I have to admit still liking a great deal of old Genesis stuff...and I think I've figured out why: out of all those bands from 70s-80s prog-rock heyday, Genesis was probably the least pretentious of the bunch. Which is a back-handed compliment, for sure. But they were also the least concerned with showing off flashy, self-indulgent musicianship in favor of focusing on <span style="font-style: italic;">songs</span>. A novel concept in the prog world. But how many other bands from that genre willingly spared their audiences from those ridiculous twenty-minute solos that folks like Carl Palmer, Chris Squire or Rick Wakeman would <span style="font-style: italic;">never</span> dream of? And it's not as if Genesis couldn't have diddled us to death if they'd have wanted to. That's actually the neatest part of these clips...being reminded how truly great they all were as musicians without having to witness them beat us over the heads with solos and stupid shit like that. I had forgotten (or maybe never knew) that the band had ever toured with Steve Hackett playing guitar after Peter Gabriel left. It's also fun to watch to be reminded of what a truly extraordinary drummer Phil Collins was (I personally rank him in the all-time top five or so). And then there's Tony Banks, who I still think is perhaps the most underrated keyboard player from that time. Like the rest of the band, he wasn't flashy and he didn't play for the sake of making himself look good...he played what was needed for the songs. Back when I was first playing guitar, I remember deciding I wanted to play guitar the way Tony Banks played keyboards. It was a style that was concise and melodic...it functioned as a "lead" instrument without being overly obnoxious about it...<br /><br />But whatever. I'm babbling. <a href="http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2008/02/genesis_concert_footage_from_1.php#more">Just watch the shit.</a><br /><br />And then I stumbled across this...one of my favorite songs from one of my all-time favorite albums (Faith No More's <span style="font-style: italic;">Angel Dust</span>). I had no idea they ever made a video for this song, but it's wonderful...may be the greatest video I've seen years. Fucking hilarious.<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5irHyoRNcRY"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5irHyoRNcRY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29269639.post-86180123965672289432008-03-04T08:43:00.008-06:002008-12-09T04:15:32.950-06:00fascinatingFrank and Mack (and Mary, when she's around) are completely fascinated with my printer. They simply cannot wrap their heads around what's occurring...funky clicks and noises and then a piece of paper spitting out. Of course, if you asked me to explain the process, I couldn't do much better than the kitters...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/R81j1DRXhnI/AAAAAAAAARI/qcb8Vrusxf8/s1600-h/fascinated+with+printer.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/R81j1DRXhnI/AAAAAAAAARI/qcb8Vrusxf8/s400/fascinated+with+printer.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173901309980935794" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Being that Mack is thus far the only kitty who has taken to sitting on my lap (and my arm, shoulder, head, back, etc...but the other two are making progress in that department; I'm guessing Frank will join the lap fun soon, with Mary hopefully not far behind), he's also quite fascinated with my blingage. Dude, it's hangy-down and jingly. Duh.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/R81j9zRXhoI/AAAAAAAAARQ/JCYP-H3v5xo/s1600-h/fascinated+with+bling.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/R81j9zRXhoI/AAAAAAAAARQ/JCYP-H3v5xo/s400/fascinated+with+bling.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173901460304791170" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Myself, I'm just fascinated with this image. Bats are just <span style="font-style: italic;">the coolest</span> critters on Earth. So there.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/R81kGzRXhpI/AAAAAAAAARY/HLTfKy4wNao/s1600-h/bats-540x380.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 317px; height: 224px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4clwOdHyUoo/R81kGzRXhpI/AAAAAAAAARY/HLTfKy4wNao/s400/bats-540x380.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173901614923613842" border="0" /></a>rama666http://www.blogger.com/profile/10924730173926764567noreply@blogger.com0