Poll Results

The results for the second poll are in.

In your opinion, who contributed most to the development of rock and roll?

Jimi Hendrix 33%
Janis Joplin 33%
Jim Morrison 33%


I am glad to see a three way tie, personally, because I think they each one contributed an equal share to how rock and roll developed. Sad they were never around to see what their contributions effects were.

Winter Continues To Suck!!!

Winter continues to bring my mood down. The lack of sunshine, the cold, which I truly hate because it drives me inside so much this time of year.

Things seem to bother me more this time of year, and I get sick of all the drama people seem to thrive on when they try to push their own misery on you.

I hate feeling this way, because I'm really not the type of person who gets this far down, and believe me, I'm down right now.

Less than two weeks away from the first vacation of the year.

Hopefully I will get the mood enhancement I need when that vacation finally gets here, and hopefully, the weather will improve, the Colts will win the Superbowl, and Tony Stewart will win the Daytona 500.

That would be a great start!

Speed IQ (The Daytona 500)

I love this explanation about how the 43 positions are chosen for the Daytona 500. Someone had a very creative mind coming up with this(almost as creative as the geniuses that came up with the way the field is actually set for the Daytona 500.

First Poll Results

The results are in for the first poll I ran on my page.

What is your favorite type of music.

Classic Rock 42%
Country 0%
Alternative 0%
Blues 14%
Other 42%



Please check out the new poll and be sure to cast your vote.
Thanks!

Come Back Ole Sol

Where has the sun gone?

I know, living in Indiana, that the sun hiding in the dead of winter can sometimes go on for a few weeks at a time. And I know it really hasn't been THAT long since it last came out, but it sure seems like it to someone who is "sunshine dependent" like myself.

I have a hard time staying motivated. I have a hard time staying energized. I seem to lose interest in most things I normally enjoy. My mood becomes down, depressed and pretty much rotten most of the time.

From the sound of the weather forecast for the next week, it looks like more of the same. I suppose that means the barometer of my body is probably going to be much the same as well.

The good news, Nascar season is fast approaching. When the Daytona 500 arrives, so does my first vacation of the year, and it usually, not always, but usually is a nice week with lots of sunshine.

Hope it is sunny and warmer this year.

Sunny, anyhow.

Ch Ch Ch Changes

I've been trying to decide for the past few weeks if it was time for a change in design for my blog page, and as you can see, I decided it was indeed time. I hope you like the new look. I have had the other look for nearly 5 years now, and I decided I have changed appearance in the past five years, mostly not because I wanted to, but because Mother Nature decided I needed to. Therefore, it surely was time for a change to my page as well.

Other changes will be forthcoming, but for now, let's start here.

I've added a poll on the upper right, and would really appreciate you taking time and participating in it each week. If the response is good, it stays. If the response is not so good, I'll remove it in the near future.

Anyhow, Faithful Few, let me know what you think.

Why?

One of the things I have noticed most in my life about being a pacifist is that I try not to offend others or hurt their feelings. I have a tendency of keeping my opinions to myself sometimes and just sitting and nodding my head in agreement with someone, when in reality I don't agree with what they are saying. It avoids confrontation and it spares hurt feelings on their part.

It amazes me, though, and the number of people in my life that seem to enjoy tearing down what they know I believe in or support. If their political views are opposite of mine and they know it, they will run my views into the ground and wait for the reaction I try not to give them.

When it comes to sports and who I am a fan of, I have several family members that do their level best to tear down my favorites and try to engage me in a battle of words. Again, I try hard not to give them the satisfaction of letting the know they are truly pissing me off.

Is their life so uneventful that the only enjoyment they get out of it is trying desparately to tear others down and try to set up arguments with them? Do they enjoy hurting the feelings of others as a self serving means of satisfaction?

Am I just being overly sensitive? Probably, I do tend to wear my feelings on my shirt sleeves and expose them to all, but I still don't understand the enjoyment people get out of deliberately trying to hurt others.

Life continues to be a mystery.

I Can Do This

Four little words that are probably going to become a mantra.

Got my H1N1 shot today, and for some reason, I have been ravenously hungry ever since. I know the two are not related, believe me, I know. I've done the diet thing before and it seems like days 3 4 and 5 are really hard.

However, that doesn't change the fact that I am STARVING today.

So, four little words are being spoken, aloud today, most of the day.

I can do this.

I can do this.

And so far, folks, it's working.

But damn, am I hungry!

Realistic Expectations For 2010

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, mainly because I think most of the time they are either broken or never even attempted once they are made. I do, however, like to try and set some goals for myself, because I would rather fail at meeting a goal than to break a resolution that I made to myself.

Popular ones that are made are quitting smoking, which I no longer do. I stopped smoking almost 26 years ago. Another one would be to give up caffeine, and no, I'm not doing that. I love my coffee but I don't abuse it. I'm not quitting alcohol because alcohol is not a problem of abuse either.

Then there is weight loss. Very popular, maybe number one, I'm not sure. This one I truly need to take a look at, and a serious look at that. I love eating, and I love eating lots of unhealthy foods. I'm not a sweet eater, but I love cheeses, red meat and I can't seem to live without potatoes of any kind.

I have therefore set a goal to lose weight this year, by controlling my diet and by becoming more active. I plan on starting this next week, about a month before my vacation starts, which could prove to be a real challenge, but we shall see. I've not particular diet in mind, it will be trial and error, no doubt, but I do plan on making some major changes in what I eat and how much. I also plan or developing an exercise program that not only will suit my needs immediately, but one that I can adjust and add onto without fear of overdoing it in the beginning.

I'll be weighing in, measuring and taking pictures, so I can track my progress. I owe this to myself more than I do to anyone else, but I do hope my wife will be happy with what I accomplish.

Yes, I have a target weight already in mind, a realistic time frame to achieve it in, and hopefully I can also develop a maintenance program to keep where I end up.

Will I succeed? I'd like to think so, but I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't see into the future and guarantee I'll meet my preset goal, but I have every intention of giving it my best shot.

And yes, I will be updating my progress within the pages of my blogsite as well.

The ball is truly in my court.

Let's see if I can run with it and score or if I'll fumble.

No Silver Lining

I'm usually one who can find something good in the worst of situations. You know, like we hate Mondays, but the good thing to look at is that we only have one a week.

With today's snow, cold and blowing winds, I've decided that there's a limit to everything, and I believe that did it for me.

More Of The Same Chit

Listening to the news this morning around 5:30AM and heard this little tidbit of news you might find strange.

Price of crude oil continues to fall.

Price of gasoline JUMPED again last night, is supposed to make a big jump before this weekend, and reports continue to say that gasoline prices should exceed the high we paid in 2009.

WHAT????

Winter, 2010

Winter sucks,
It awgs,
It bites.
It causes friends
To fuss and fight.
The snow
The ice
The damned cold wind
Makes me wish
For spring again.
Sniffles, chills
Fevers galore.
Brings dreams of warmth
And so much more.
Wind chill factors
Just kiss my ass
I just wish to hell
Winter would pass.

And With A New Year Having Begun

Several things have happened over the past year that seem to have taken me away from my postings to this site. I won't go into them, doesn't really seem to me to be important as to reveal these things to you all, it just seems that I let other things get in the way of my postings, and I hope I can rectify that this coming year.

I did lose a very important "friend" of mine this year, and because we shared a lot of our writings together, I think maybe that might have been one of the largest contributing factors in my absence from these pages. It's always nice to have someone to "connect" with when you are writing.

However, it wasn't just one thing or a couple of things, it was several, and most of them are totally unconnected to my love of writing. They were simply things that got in the way.

I'm hoping now that I can shake them all off and get on with the real reason I started this blogpage several years ago.

I ask you all to still bear with me, as getting back into this will not be a headlong venture but one with which I will take my time until I can get back into a somewhat regular routine.

Let's see where 2010 takes us and if I still have what it takes to plunder on!

Scary

For some reason this year, emotions are running so high and out of kilter that I sometimes feel like I'm ready to explode. I can't put a finger on it, I can't explain it any better than that.

I just wish to hell the feeling would go away.

Always and forever.

What's It Going To Take?

It used to sadden me to see someone with so much good going on in their life that they refuse to see it because of the condition they allow alcohol to put them in.

Now it only pisses me off.

When someone has family that loves and cares about them and they only want to stay trashed and wallow in self pity there is indeed a problem.

When legalities arise, this person can tow the line, stay on the straight and narrow and be pleasant to be around.

When there are no legalities, the same person drinks themselves into a never ending oblivion and not only stays mired down in that self pity but they try and make everyone else feel sorry for them too.

Is attention really that important when family is there and gives that person all the attention they really need?

When someone, day in, day out, starts the day off with a drink and spends every available moment drinking and continues to do that drinking along with driving, something needs to be done.

When someone no longer takes care of themselves hygenicaly, when they can no longer control their waste elimination habits and they no longer possess common sense or good judgement, enough is enough.

If they can stay off the drinking for fear of prison time for an entire year but falls right back into the same pattern the moment that year is up, it only proves to me it's a problem of choice, not a medical or addiction problem.

When you drink so much you can no longer put your sentences together and all you do is annoy people and stay mean all the time, the problem isn't the alcohol, the problem is YOU!

Why is it more fun to stay trashed, lose all your friends, alienate your family and put lives at risk each day when you climb behind the wheel of your car? Are you that damned starved for attention?

I've tried to tell you, your family has tried to tell you and your friends have tried to tell you.

Why do you enjoy being the drunken asshole?

Ahead I Am Going

Time changes things.

It changes opinions, it changes emotions, it changes interests and it changes perceptions.

Time moves on with or without us.

As time goes on, we can either decide to move with it or stay stuck behind in the mire that we call existence.

I'm not the same person I was 40 years ago, but in many ways I'm still the same.

I'm still a pacifist, I'm still a realist and not an idealist.

I am a very emotional individual and my emotions tend to drive me moreso than my thoughts do.

I have learned to accept things and I have learned over the years that life is not an "Ozzie and Harriet" existence.

It would be so much easier to live if it were.

I've made a mountain of mistakes over the years, more than I care to remember that I've made, but I admit that I made them.

I've been wrong in so many ways, but I've learned to accept the fact that you learn from being wrong and you move on.

And you move on sometimes by leaving others behind.

For now, I choose to move forward and not look back any more than I have to.

Tragic Semi-Loss

I learned a couple of weeks ago that someone I had known years ago but hadn't seen in quite a few years had passed away, and they passed away alone and were not found for several days. I found about their passing six months after it had happened.

No, we weren't close, we may not have even been considered friends anymore, but I still feel a loss here, and it has bothered me a lot since I learned of her passing.

She had had some personal problems over the years. She had some health issues, some mental issues, but she was still a human being and she had feelings and it bothers me that she died all alone and that it took three days for someone to realize something was wrong.

She was probably the first true love in my life, and was a very important part of my latter teenage years for the better part of a year and a half, and to know that she's gone, frankly bothers me in ways I can't begin to describe.

I probably hadn't crossed her mind in a lot of years, but I thought of her occasionally and wondered how she was, where she was and if she had ever found her happiness she was seeking.

I hope she has now.

Oh, You Again?

sandpapering my brain,
icepick thru my heart,
flood of tears held back,
burning and choking in my throat.

Yep, you crossed my mind today!

Identity

Empty emotions,
Meaningless words,
All in a tangle
Weaving the web of the game that you play.
Your heart turning cold
All without warning
Those spoken words of praise
Which meant absolutely
Nothing.

Create your world,
But do it without me
I no longer wish to play
A part in your game.

You are not the person I
Believed you to be.

You're someone else.

Entirely.

Over It

When you try to solve a situation involving someone else and they totally ignore your attempt, that should tell you that the problem doesn't lie within you but in the one you have tried to make amends with.

It's a total waste of time to worry about such trivialities and is in your best interest to move on and cast the so-called problem to the side. There are too many important things left in life that require your attention.

It's time to move on.