As the season of kindness, love and sharing get's into full vigor; don't forget to invite Jesus to His birthday party. If you find that offensive, take a minute and get over it. It's not a season of anything but the celebration of the birth of the Jesus. Plain and simple. Take away the gifts, trees trappings and Santa and what do you have? The first gift ever given, Salvation. Free for the taking to all hear and believe.
I'm not going to argue the point with anyone, and if you choose to believe otherwise, that's fine. Free will is something that God instilled in us; just like all our personalities are all different and our tastes vary, we can as free independent souls choose to believe or not. I used to debate this concept with non believers but it fell on deaf ears. So now, when I am drawn into a discussion involving eternal life and God, my response is usually something to the effect of "If you are right on your thoughts, we're both OK. But, what if you are wrong?" Most replies have been variations of the same statement; "Well I guess I'll have a lot of company then." Let me know how that works out for you.
Suffice it to say that Christmas used to be the celebration of the birth of the Messiah. Now it's the rollout of the newest X Box or Playstation. The must have toy of the season. Or of people who really don't like people, out among people, buying for more people they don't know or like. We seem to think that all our happiness is wrapped up under a tree. brought by an overweight elf, who invades our homes by sliding down chimneys in the wee hours of the morning. And he smokes a pipe!!!
Is all that wrong? No, but where does it all end? Christmas is being put out in front of Halloween now. Never mind Thanksgiving. All that means now is we eat big before we go shopping. When we stand off to the side with our cameras rolling so we can see the fighting over a $4 waffle iron on YouTube, society has taken things too far. I don't see the sport in beating the crap out of someone because they took the last one. Let's not forget the poor souls who are required to endure this mess because retailers decided that a day of Thanksgiving and family is less important than moving cheap junk out the door.
I strongly believe that our society is doomed to fail miserably and soon. Respect for your fellow man has been shifted to doing what ever you want and to hell with anyone else. Those that are the most vocal about removing Christ from Christmas are the vary ones who demand recognition for every other religion and practice. Well, to be fair, Christmas brought this on itself. What was a good idea, has turned. By using a tree and moving it to coincide with the Winter Solstice, the thinking was that the Druids would be more accepting of Christianity. The Druids have taken it back it seems and decided that Jesus is persona non gratis in December. But all major credit cards and cash are welcome!
So Happy Birthday Jesus! I know You will never give up on us even though we are not deserving of the love You continue to show us everyday. I will say Merry Christmas and smile because I know what the true meaning of Christmas is. A baby, born in humble surroundings, to an ordinary woman and announced to common people by a host of angels.
Luke 2:10-14 .."Don't be afraid!" he said, "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior- yes the Messiah, the Lord- has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped in strips of cloth!"
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others- the armies of heaven- praising God: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors."
-New Living Translation-
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Country music
There has been a change in country music over the past few years. I'm not saying it's good or bad but it has, for all intense and purposes, changed. Over the years my exposure to this genre has been from the 1970's to to present. Back when I was working for someone who listened to the old style of George Jones and Lefty Frizzel and the like, it wasn't something I took to readily, but didn't dislike. Perhaps that's why the Marshall Tucker Band and southern rock in general have been a sound I really liked.
In any case, like all good things where money is involved, record companies (that would be the black vinyl things I grew up with) have made it a point to capitalize on it and just push music out of the pipe at a breakneck pace. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of the things I hear, but I question the writing. The performers are good, there is some original stuff out there and some great bands and really good singers but it seems as though the music has gotten cheap.
David Allen Coe did a song once upon an eon ago that said country songs should contain some of the following: Momma, pickup trucks, rain, prison, trains and getting drunk. It was, at the time the perfect county song. An observation that I have made concerning the content of music coming out of Nashville is that all songs should mention some if not all of the following:
Moonshine
Beer
Drinking beer
Being good at drinking beer
How good beer is
Beer cans
Budwiser
Corona
Ice cold beer
Bourbon
Tequila
Jose Quarvo
Patron
F-150
Silverado
(Dodge never made the cut! LOL!)
4x4
Getting your 4x4 stuck
Shaking your ass (females only please!)
Shaking it
Cut off jeans that show your ass.
Dancing and shaking your ass.
Trespassing and building a fire on private property so girls can shake their asses.
Shaking your ass on truck, tractor or rooftop.
Just how country you are.
Just how country country is
Graphite on public structures.
Just how redneck you are.
Getting your "redneck on"
Kicking somebody's ass
Getting your ass kicked
Wishing you could kick somebody's ass
Hoping you wont get your ass kicked
Guns (any type in general)
30-06
12 gauge shotgun
Dogs
Hunting dogs
Missing your hunting dog
Fishing
Going fishing
Last time went fishing
Boots
Camos
Hangovers
Marshall Tucker Band
Lynnyrd Skynyrd
Johnny Cash
Hank Willams, Jr.
Waylon Jennings
Crying, loving and leaving.
American
America
Made in America
American made
USA
NASCAR
The South
Georgia
Tennessee
Alabama
Kentucky (not a southern state by the way)
Texas
South Carolina
Various Southern cities
And probably a few I failed to mention.
Anyway, the point I am making is that something so simple has become too complicated..... I think there is a song about that....
In any case, like all good things where money is involved, record companies (that would be the black vinyl things I grew up with) have made it a point to capitalize on it and just push music out of the pipe at a breakneck pace. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of the things I hear, but I question the writing. The performers are good, there is some original stuff out there and some great bands and really good singers but it seems as though the music has gotten cheap.
David Allen Coe did a song once upon an eon ago that said country songs should contain some of the following: Momma, pickup trucks, rain, prison, trains and getting drunk. It was, at the time the perfect county song. An observation that I have made concerning the content of music coming out of Nashville is that all songs should mention some if not all of the following:
Moonshine
Beer
Drinking beer
Being good at drinking beer
How good beer is
Beer cans
Budwiser
Corona
Ice cold beer
Bourbon
Tequila
Jose Quarvo
Patron
F-150
Silverado
(Dodge never made the cut! LOL!)
4x4
Getting your 4x4 stuck
Shaking your ass (females only please!)
Shaking it
Cut off jeans that show your ass.
Dancing and shaking your ass.
Trespassing and building a fire on private property so girls can shake their asses.
Shaking your ass on truck, tractor or rooftop.
Just how country you are.
Just how country country is
Graphite on public structures.
Just how redneck you are.
Getting your "redneck on"
Kicking somebody's ass
Getting your ass kicked
Wishing you could kick somebody's ass
Hoping you wont get your ass kicked
Guns (any type in general)
30-06
12 gauge shotgun
Dogs
Hunting dogs
Missing your hunting dog
Fishing
Going fishing
Last time went fishing
Boots
Camos
Hangovers
Marshall Tucker Band
Lynnyrd Skynyrd
Johnny Cash
Hank Willams, Jr.
Waylon Jennings
Crying, loving and leaving.
American
America
Made in America
American made
USA
NASCAR
The South
Georgia
Tennessee
Alabama
Kentucky (not a southern state by the way)
Texas
South Carolina
Various Southern cities
And probably a few I failed to mention.
Anyway, the point I am making is that something so simple has become too complicated..... I think there is a song about that....
Friday, July 19, 2013
I had a dream.....
I had a dream this past week. It was a bit unnerving and somewhat surreal and it's the first time I have had a dream like this. I dreamed about my Dad. He left us 10 years ago next week but he is still here with me. He is in my head and I can still here his voice. Not literally mind you; but figuratively.
My dream was strange because when I woke up, I was very sad and missing my Dad greatly. We were talking like we used to do. I was helping him with, of all things, an air conditioner! Maybe it was because mine was broken and it was extremely hot and humid in here. I just remember him wanting to buy an air conditioner because his was broken. I was helping him do this. We were walking along, I had my arm around his shoulder, helping him along and was so happy to be with him. I wish that dream had not ended so soon. I remember giving him a hug, not wanting to let him go and telling him I loved him.
Was my Dad perfect? Far from it. He was flawed as I am. But he taught me, in his own way, to be who and what I am. Could he have done it better? I can't answer that. Do I wish he had? In some respects, yes. But then I would be a different person and I don't think I would like me much then.
All I can say, is L.J. is greatly missed by me. My love of music, my work ethic, most of my mechanical skills, the ability to see potential in things, and a whole list of other things that I can do are a result of his influence. My thoughts are mine but his influence is there, we both believed that there is no excuse for not working for what you get. Lazy is a disgusting trait that we despised. However, if there was a hard way of getting from point A to B, L.J. would be the first to blaze that trail! Hell! Rube Goldburg could have learned from him! But he was my Dad and I still love him!
I really do miss you now and wish that I could have really given you that hug that I dreamed of this past week. Maybe the sadness will go away in time, or maybe it's the first time in 10 years I have actually let life catch up with me to where I can feel something. Well, I feel sad now, I don't like it, but it's better than not feeling anything at all I suppose.
My dream was strange because when I woke up, I was very sad and missing my Dad greatly. We were talking like we used to do. I was helping him with, of all things, an air conditioner! Maybe it was because mine was broken and it was extremely hot and humid in here. I just remember him wanting to buy an air conditioner because his was broken. I was helping him do this. We were walking along, I had my arm around his shoulder, helping him along and was so happy to be with him. I wish that dream had not ended so soon. I remember giving him a hug, not wanting to let him go and telling him I loved him.
Was my Dad perfect? Far from it. He was flawed as I am. But he taught me, in his own way, to be who and what I am. Could he have done it better? I can't answer that. Do I wish he had? In some respects, yes. But then I would be a different person and I don't think I would like me much then.
All I can say, is L.J. is greatly missed by me. My love of music, my work ethic, most of my mechanical skills, the ability to see potential in things, and a whole list of other things that I can do are a result of his influence. My thoughts are mine but his influence is there, we both believed that there is no excuse for not working for what you get. Lazy is a disgusting trait that we despised. However, if there was a hard way of getting from point A to B, L.J. would be the first to blaze that trail! Hell! Rube Goldburg could have learned from him! But he was my Dad and I still love him!
I really do miss you now and wish that I could have really given you that hug that I dreamed of this past week. Maybe the sadness will go away in time, or maybe it's the first time in 10 years I have actually let life catch up with me to where I can feel something. Well, I feel sad now, I don't like it, but it's better than not feeling anything at all I suppose.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
The neverending story, again.
As it once was, so it is once again. Unless you really know me, that makes no sense at all. Hell, even if you do, it's questionable. It's 5:30 AM and I am preparing for another day of the rude unwashed masses that frequent Wal Mart.
I wrote about change a couple years ago, the nail was hit squarely on the head with that one. The only constant in life seems to be change. The more you try to stem the tide, the more powerful the current gets. Change is in all practicality, inevitable. Be it good or bad it is going to happen. Even if you don't want it, it will happen. I just wish that it was easier to deal with. Maybe that is what will end up killing me, the stress of life and all the turmoil that surrounds itself in this crazy ride of life.
The thing that hasn't changed is the fact that all I do is work. And the harder I work, the less I have to show for my efforts. My body is showing it's age, it hurts more and in more places than ever before. People still don't follow through with promises, I'm afraid I fall into that category myself though. I think that in the grand scheme of things, there are few constants. 3 of which are summed up in a country song, "God is great, beer is good and people are crazy." There are a few more but not many.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. A quote from Poor Richards Almanac and so true. There are a pocket full of them going to work with me today, now of which will come true. I will do my time, come home, collapse and do it all again tomorrow. And the next day, and the next..... That never changes.
Enough rambling thoughts for today, the voices are growing silent and are leaving the building
I wrote about change a couple years ago, the nail was hit squarely on the head with that one. The only constant in life seems to be change. The more you try to stem the tide, the more powerful the current gets. Change is in all practicality, inevitable. Be it good or bad it is going to happen. Even if you don't want it, it will happen. I just wish that it was easier to deal with. Maybe that is what will end up killing me, the stress of life and all the turmoil that surrounds itself in this crazy ride of life.
The thing that hasn't changed is the fact that all I do is work. And the harder I work, the less I have to show for my efforts. My body is showing it's age, it hurts more and in more places than ever before. People still don't follow through with promises, I'm afraid I fall into that category myself though. I think that in the grand scheme of things, there are few constants. 3 of which are summed up in a country song, "God is great, beer is good and people are crazy." There are a few more but not many.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. A quote from Poor Richards Almanac and so true. There are a pocket full of them going to work with me today, now of which will come true. I will do my time, come home, collapse and do it all again tomorrow. And the next day, and the next..... That never changes.
Enough rambling thoughts for today, the voices are growing silent and are leaving the building
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Can this really happen here?
I haven't been posting or writing for almost 6 months now. An interrogation by local constabulary will throw a bucket of ice water on freedom of thought. Something about being falsely accused of something that makes you really question the legal system and the motives behind the accuser. I'm sure that both parties involved, the accuser and the inquisitionist, are monitoring this. So here is a shout out, GO INVOLVE YOURSELF IN SEXUAL SITUATION WITH YOURSELF!!!
I've learned a lot in the past 6 months, people lie. Cops lie, little drunks lie, lawyers are still douche bags that lie and the state of South Carolina still sucks.
Yes, I hate this state. Why my Dad decided to come here is beyond me, even he didn't like it! You would think that at some point reasonable people would assume control of state run agencies and speak the truth of not being able to spend more than you make. Every time that cesspool called the "legislature" convenes in Columbia, prepare yourself for more regulation and an increase of "revenue".
Where does all that "revenue" come from? Taxes Let's have a lesson in economics here. If John has a business that employees 3 people and there is a significant downturn in revenue, he must do things to ease the burden of debt to income. Someone is laid off. If said situation continues for an extended period of time and the debt to income ration is still in a reverse proportion, further steps need to be sought out and exercised. If an outside source of revenue is within grasp, then that source is to be capitalized. After a period of time, John no longer employees anyone. He works very hard trying to keep the business afloat and does a manageable job of doing so. Dodging the hurdles that life and douche bags throw at him with a measure of success. There is the appearance of some daylight shining through the dark clouds that have surrounded him the past 5 years. The business is starting to redevelop itself and seek new opportunities once again. He is also entertaining the thoughts of leaving the part time employment that has sustained him the past year and half. That is until the state decides that the meager wages from the night job belong to them more than to John. He then realizes that he is pushing a rope and decides that the returns are no longer worth the investment. He folds the tent and moves on to a friendlier market and reestablishes himself.
This source of "revenue" has dried up. Now, how many state employees do you know that say they pay their own taxes? They all do. But when someone like John no longer supports the system, and there is a "decline in revenue", how long will they continue to be paid? Oh the humanity!!! "I might have to miss a day of work because there isn't enough money to pay me? That is unfair! Make the "revenue stream" stronger! I can't afford to miss work!" they all scream! Well sorry, my givadam gave way. Welcome to the real world where life isn't fair and people lie, cheat and steal. Get a helmet!
Yes, the state of South Carolina, a state that never met a tax it didn't like, garnished my Wal Mart wages. I know I owe back taxes. I want to pay them, but eating and keeping my house out of foreclosure to me is a little more important at this time and I challenge anyone to disagree! I now have a choice to make, get a 3rd job or just say screw it and leave this nasty place in my rear view mirror. Business is bad enough now to barely keep up with expenses. I'm too old to look for a job and no one would pay what I need to even just get by. This is the risk I took when I went into business and I knew it. But I'm not a follower. I always choose the road less traveled, adventure and all that. Well, this is an adventure!
Did you know that the state actually "outsourced" the process? They don't tell you that they are doing it until after they do it. And yet these same people keep hiring state employees and developing new ways to squander this "revenue" on any number of things. Like traffic cameras, "education", cell phones for lazy people and naming bridges and buildings after some idiot that managed to squander enough "revenue" to have a popular following. Sorry South Carolina, you have managed to lay on the straw that broke the camels back. You can have your welfare state and well dressed folks that shop using food stamps while I can't afford a new pair of work jeans! This contributor to your socialist regime is resigning.
I've learned a lot in the past 6 months, people lie. Cops lie, little drunks lie, lawyers are still douche bags that lie and the state of South Carolina still sucks.
Yes, I hate this state. Why my Dad decided to come here is beyond me, even he didn't like it! You would think that at some point reasonable people would assume control of state run agencies and speak the truth of not being able to spend more than you make. Every time that cesspool called the "legislature" convenes in Columbia, prepare yourself for more regulation and an increase of "revenue".
Where does all that "revenue" come from? Taxes Let's have a lesson in economics here. If John has a business that employees 3 people and there is a significant downturn in revenue, he must do things to ease the burden of debt to income. Someone is laid off. If said situation continues for an extended period of time and the debt to income ration is still in a reverse proportion, further steps need to be sought out and exercised. If an outside source of revenue is within grasp, then that source is to be capitalized. After a period of time, John no longer employees anyone. He works very hard trying to keep the business afloat and does a manageable job of doing so. Dodging the hurdles that life and douche bags throw at him with a measure of success. There is the appearance of some daylight shining through the dark clouds that have surrounded him the past 5 years. The business is starting to redevelop itself and seek new opportunities once again. He is also entertaining the thoughts of leaving the part time employment that has sustained him the past year and half. That is until the state decides that the meager wages from the night job belong to them more than to John. He then realizes that he is pushing a rope and decides that the returns are no longer worth the investment. He folds the tent and moves on to a friendlier market and reestablishes himself.
This source of "revenue" has dried up. Now, how many state employees do you know that say they pay their own taxes? They all do. But when someone like John no longer supports the system, and there is a "decline in revenue", how long will they continue to be paid? Oh the humanity!!! "I might have to miss a day of work because there isn't enough money to pay me? That is unfair! Make the "revenue stream" stronger! I can't afford to miss work!" they all scream! Well sorry, my givadam gave way. Welcome to the real world where life isn't fair and people lie, cheat and steal. Get a helmet!
Yes, the state of South Carolina, a state that never met a tax it didn't like, garnished my Wal Mart wages. I know I owe back taxes. I want to pay them, but eating and keeping my house out of foreclosure to me is a little more important at this time and I challenge anyone to disagree! I now have a choice to make, get a 3rd job or just say screw it and leave this nasty place in my rear view mirror. Business is bad enough now to barely keep up with expenses. I'm too old to look for a job and no one would pay what I need to even just get by. This is the risk I took when I went into business and I knew it. But I'm not a follower. I always choose the road less traveled, adventure and all that. Well, this is an adventure!
Did you know that the state actually "outsourced" the process? They don't tell you that they are doing it until after they do it. And yet these same people keep hiring state employees and developing new ways to squander this "revenue" on any number of things. Like traffic cameras, "education", cell phones for lazy people and naming bridges and buildings after some idiot that managed to squander enough "revenue" to have a popular following. Sorry South Carolina, you have managed to lay on the straw that broke the camels back. You can have your welfare state and well dressed folks that shop using food stamps while I can't afford a new pair of work jeans! This contributor to your socialist regime is resigning.
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