Archive Project - Journal Samples ...

Archive Project - Journal Samples ...

This is a sampling of the last of the journal entries I recently typed up ... These are all from circa 1999-2004 ... I think ...

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The notion that the customer is always right is perhaps the worst thing to ever happen to American culture.

The only thing the Democratic Party is lacking is the courage of its convictions.

"band width" - people throw it around like they know what it actually means

KMART - I remember the time Steve, Ron, and I were just going berserk at K-Mart. We - meaning me - was loaded up in a shopping cart and were going full steam all over the store, especially the back wall strait away. After a while the security guards stopped us and I never forgave KMart for that. I drive past it regularly and now it is gone and been remodeled into an Asian grocer that I occasionally shop at ...

I remember the Wildebeests games at the field near there that Jacob turned out to play his only soccer season on. I remember sporting success for the first time. I remember my dad on crutches from a knee operation. i remember running lap. It no longer looks like a dirt field, if I remember it as being so correctly and the pics do prove me right ....

When you act on your dreams as an adult it is not viewed as a positive characteristic. - I am sick of being held back and beaten down by the expectations of others, no matter the cost that era is over ...

There is this assumption that being against war makes one pro-the enemy. That's just simply not true. It means we see other options. Don't want people to die. Don't want to create more martyrs, believe that this is a son trying to outdo his father and see it as something that represents what is wrong with how we approach problems in a unilateral way.

Magic is not just about believing or wanting. It isn't about words or ingredients or books or objects. It's about immersion. Without that, the rest is not relevant, but with it, it is all of that and more. One doesn't lose ones self in magic, that is something else entirely. No, one finds ones self in magic and begins there.

It stares at me. how is it that I have a trained fish and not a trained dog? My dog is more like a cross between a cat and a two year old. The fish waits for food at the same spot in the upper right front corner of its tank. My dog gives me looks like my brothers cats when I call it ...

Why is it that you can remember more of what you did drunk years later as opposed to the next AM?

Once upon a time I accidentally punched a secret service agent in the jaw. A while later I had the prez in the telescopic sights of a camera.

Mr Rogers did the coin toss for the 2003 rose bowl ... I cannot describe how amazingly cool and weird that is ...

Tough love are the words someone needs to hear from someone who needs to say them. It's the look in the mirror the other person needs to do but really has not done. Unfortunately, it is too often dismissed as the white noise of criticism and not viewed as something helpful, or constructive ...

No matter how hard you try there is no such thing as closure. The past cant change and when the villains are gone they cant even be held accountable in a true sense of the word. All we can do is live forward, trying not to let the damage take control, even while we never forget.

Why do commuters have better antibiotics than humans?

The last protests to actually work in this country were the marches alongside empty buses in Montgomery AL with MLK. Decades ago. They are all white noise and self-satisfying now. Good intentions are nice, actual change takes work. Not just marching and going back to ones life.

What things used to cost is irrelevant to your budget. It might be interesting conversation but it doesn't change anything and usually just makes people feel worse.

Santa or Pro Wrestling? Which was the bigger deception in your life?

Would you ask the Devil if its been worth it? It is better to not even presume whether or not to rule in hell or serve in heaven. Those powers would mock our presumptions. There's bound to be a special place in Hell for those who presume they would be welcomed like heroes and for those who claim to choose to judge whether others are worthy of Heaven.

Hold music ... "Reunited" from Peaches & Herb is unacceptable as hold music at 630am on a Sunday morning.

A bunch of fat middle aged white guys with grey mustaches that all think being against everything makes them smarter than you ...

It's pretty #*(%ed up when you get to work on a Sunday morning before Starbucks opens.

It's pretty amazing how many people spend time, resources, etc ... to prevent other people from having sex.

Diversity at my school was Baptists, Mormons, and Catholics ...

I felt old for the first time when I was asked if I had "access to a cassette player".

I always thought that airliner peanuts was a cliche ... they really do it, that was the in flight meal.

People often do things which do not make obvious sense .

There are aspects of theme parks like Disneyland that I find tragic; the miserable looking people psyching themselves up to tell the people back home how much fun they had. They lie. They were in line the whole time. Theme parks are a tourist paradox.

Sometimes people need to hear things that they really do not want to hear, but they also need to hear it in a certain context or from a certain source in order to accept it ...

Candy is not an office supply.

Washing hands prior to peeing is also important.

There comes a point where you cant call, where you have waited too long.

There are 3 things I know about women. 1) They never get over anything. 2) They laugh when they are nervous. 3) They just move onto the next things that they are mad at you about and the old stuff is fresh again when/if/when it comes back up.

Corporations are countries now ... borders? laws? They choose which currency to do business in. They can have their own security that can function like its own legal system.

It's convenient today, all you have to do is find the church that validates what you want to hear or already believe. Then, since you are "comfortable" there, everything is okay. So much for absolute truths and authority of scripture. While it might bring people in, it continues to erode the foundation while everybody is happily preaching to the choir. The scriptures are not God, and should not be worshipped. Is it a lack of faith for those waiting for The Rapture to have 401ks? Are long term mortgages for them a form of fraud? Self righteousness does not help our national discourse. Blindly accepting things is far more dangerous. We do not have state run forcible evangelism.

The first view of a previously hidden tattoo is a wonderful gift.

I love stoppage time against a rival ... my team is up 1 with the ball and the opponent is chasing.

6-7-07
I'm cold.
It's June.
This should not be so.
Of course, I'm naked, it's a dreary night and I just got out of a really frickin' hot bath so my skin is adjusting still.
But ...
I don't want to be cold in June.
It would be warmer if i wasn't alone. The aquarium in the living room, the dog under the bed, and the cat on my legs don't quite count.
Were I to be so inclined, I suppose I could put on jammies or a sweatshirt or something. But, I will acclimate and warm up under the comforter soon enough for that to be both silly and overkill.
My eyes are getting very tired.
I am getting sleepy, so very, very sleepy.
The light switch is just inconvenient enough away to make me seriously consider just leaving it on. I do prefer to sleep with the light on. Technically, I prefer to sleep during the day and live nocturnally.
I am not afraid of the Dark.

I have a routine. I follow it. Occasionally; I veer from it, but not often. My breakfast is the same. My lunch rarely varies. I take a multi-vitamin. I always check my mail in the afternoon. My stuff is set out for the next day in advance. i crave change, but settle for something different for dinner or a new book. As much as I like new things I stick to the same things far more often. I love new music or ideas but I find comfort in my sameness. I rarely travel but know an awful lot about where I'll never go.

6/12/99
Finding post cards should not be so difficult. It should not take 13 tries to find a place that sells them, especially when the first 12 stops were at grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, and hotel lobbies. All of those stops were reasonable places to expect to find post cards. It made me begin to wonder whether or not post cards were legal in Texas. It took a book store before I found what I was looking for. Of course, by then, the next mail pickup would be on Monday afternoon, making the post cards post mark and mailing occur after we landed back home. Go figure.

Other cities you have never visited are other worlds.

Nothing ever exactly turns out exactly the way things are supposed to. Even with the most planning and discussion of variable it's never exactly now it's projected.
The science of the future is not exact.
this is not to say that when I brew a pot of coffee or make some toast something bizarre happen. I still usually get drinkable coffee and edible toast. but, sometimes it's just not quite right.
this is also not to say when I do something routine or mechanical that the results are going to be totally unpredictable. When i push on the brakes my truck stops. But, sometimes it jerks around a little.
Theory and practice require that tests me ran: controllable tests that can produce reasonably predictable and repeatable results. Scientists, good scientists any way, are experts at this; confirming and reconfirming results prior to accepting them. A single experiment or testimonial does not confirm a theory.
how people will react to something is not an exact science either. Even if there are precedents involved, exactly how a person or group will respond to something can vary.

In retrospect, I'm mostly disappointed that I didn't see Twisted Sister in concert back in the 80s. I am also still upset that my first presidential election the choice was between George Bush 41 and Michael Dukakis. I never got to vote against Reagan, even if that would have made Walter Mondale president.

Kids at the start of the 21st Century have it a lot f'ing harder than we had it in my day. There is no room for error for them. instantly labeled and tossed aside with the slightest mess up or bad stretch. It would absolutely suck to be a teenager today.

I dreamed of falling in the water. But, I woke up and everything was normal. The clock read 1:17Am. The TV was on with someone telling jokes. He wasn't very funny so instead of listening to him drone on i nudged my dog off my legs and staggered over to the TV to end the comedian's routine like on the old Gong Show.
i stretched and shook the cobwebs out of my head, despite myself. After a drink and a leak I returned to bed, leaving the light on and moving the dog again, who this time growled at me. Within minutes I was asleep, only this time I didn't fall in the water. This time I dreamed of money and cars and frogs and of sleeping in later.
The alarm went off at 5Am. I knew I could hit the snooze and cut out part of my morning routine, but that would irritate the wife and dogs, so I got up, only irritating the one dog this time.
I didn't feel rested.
That made it a normal morning.
Whatever that means.
Nobody else was up yet when I left, which is a goal and a good thing. Actually, the dog was still awake and glaring at me from my spot; lingering resentment toward me for having the audacity to get up when she was comfortable. She took the warm spot I left behind though.