Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Happy Birthday Blog!

The link above will direct you to my latest epic.  I thank God for blessing me with four special cherubs (unfortuneately Trevor had school this week and could not accompany us) who put up with a rather peculiar uncle.  Of all children's literature the title above has always struck me as uncontrivingly deep.  Enjoy if you can.

Well of all the subjects I thought about for today; Blog as offspring, how the blog has changed me, where the blog goes now or I blog therefore I am, none would have solely accounted for the pleasure I have derived from this endeavor.  It has helped me step outside of myself and act as a narrator to an otherwise random sequence of events.  That's nice.  But most importantly it has helped me keep in touch with you and there is nothing more special than that.

Other titles that meant a lot to me when I was a child:

The Giving Tree

Frog and Toad are Friends

looking back on it all...

does anyone remember the picture above?  It is a tree I see during my bike ride to the gym in Hollywood.  It is a tree I used to see on my bike ride to Hollywood.  Today I saw that the tree had been chopped down (see pictures 2 and 3).  I blogged about said tree last year.  It helped me make a point and for some reason I found that endearing.  Though I wouldn't go as far as to call the tree an eye sore, I could see how the owner of the property on which the tree stood could see it as a de-valuating factor to his real estate investment.  And maybe, I know I don't know the whole story, the tree may have been a liability.  If it was diseased, rotting or dead, one would worry that it carried the potential to cause property damage, or worse, physical damage.  My good friend who was also familiar to the tree likened it to a cell tower.  And that may be the way the local residents felt towards it; unsightly (I am not bothered by cell towers but have a feeling that this is the general consensus towards them.)  The fact that it was chopped down saddens me because it was something that caught my eye; something I got used to looking at that will no longer be there.  Pretty or ugly, it was there.  And now it isn't.  Its absence emphasizes the fact that certainty is never permanent. 

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and YES, I would like to be religious but know that I fall short the mark.  But in regards to Easter I have always thought that John's gospel put it best (for me) when he said, " and the Word was made flesh".    To me, belief in the Ressurection is belief that the flesh was made Word again.  The materials of this world including ourselves will change and eventually perish but that Word will always be.  That is why Easter holds a particular message for me; the promise of a certain certainty.

But whatever you believe or don't believe I hope that you have a nice Easter or had a nice Passover, or just enjoy your Sunday with the people you hold dear. 

Last week's bike ride may be my last

As promised here is the picture I wanted to take last week on my bike ride.  BTW, I posted a short video about that bike ride here.  It was a boring day but one I enjoyed just for that reason.  Unfortuneately, I am afraid it might be the last time I take on such an endeavor.  I am getting old.  My reaction time is not as sharp as it once was.  Los Angeles is becoming very congested and traffic conditions are not the best for bicycle riding.  At one time I was able to take in the sights and sounds of my journey.  Now, my focus needs to be maintained on avoiding the dangers made possible by too many in-attentive drivers driving too many cars.  Also, I am no spring chicken.  About two thirds into my ride my lower back began to ache.  I have had trouble with my hip abductors before (muscles which bring your legs up as in a climbing motion) and the trouble seems ready to return.  From a cost versus benefit viewpoint the long bike ride through the city does not provide the rewards worth the risks taken. 

The picture?  Well I drive by this street and love them trees.  But when I got there I realized that the best vantage point is from the middle of the intersection.  I was not going to stand in the middle of the street to take a picture.  Once again, too dangerous.  Also I realized that I always have sunglasses on when I drive and the tint of the glasses I wear complement the scene.  So I put my a sunglasses in front of the lens to take the picture above.  I uploaded a second picture.  I love taking pictures of the sky with tree branches in the foreground. 

Have a nice week.

Tuesday was my father's birthday.  He turned 68.  This would be a great place to insert some biographical notes and mention my feelings towards him but maybe a bit too much off the intended topic.  Just know that my dad is great person, part of the first generation of our family to migrate to this country and build a home and a life in this 'brave new world' that is America.  I am proud of my dad and couldn't imagine a life without him nor do I want to.  ANYWAYS, at 2 am. Wednesday I knew there was cake in the fridge so I journeyed to the Laundry Room where a fridge holds articles which don't fit in the kitchen refrigerator.  The Laundry Room has many things scattered about the floor; things like gallons of bleach and detergent, empty buckets and utility towels.  I had cake in the mind so I was unwary of anything else.  I was just about to open the fridge door when BAM!!! my left foot kicked a two gallon bleach container.  Actually, it was more like the smallest toe on that foot kicked the bleach.  It hurt like a (matriarchal expletive).  I think either the nail was pulled off it's root, or it was pushed in so hard it stabbed down onto the flesh of the toe.  Whatever happened to it, it was bleeding.  I took the picture above Wednesday morning about 5 hours later.  Today, thursday, the nail is still intact but I don't think conventional shoes are going to 'feel right'.  So I am not going to do my normal routine that is go to the gym and use stand up eliptical trainers.  This in a way gives me a chance to take a vacation from myself.  Myself being the guy with the routine.  So what am I doing today?  Walkabout!  I am going to hop on my bike and trek to Santa Monica Beach.  I will take along a camera, tripod and a wide angle lens.  The intention is to have no purpose and in that sense of no-direction connect with myself.  I must admit that I do have in mind a tree lined street in Beverly Hills as a good subject for a picture, so I am not completely sans itenerary.  But for all practical purposes, 'sono in transito senza destinazione'.  And that's okay!

Got lemons, make lemonade.

Travel related words used in entry: migrate, journeyed, vacation, walkabout, trek and transito.  I love when you encounter travellers from other countries who tell you they are on 'holiday'.  It sounds so much nicer than 'vacation'.

Today is the first day of my thirty-ninth year of life.  Next year I will be in my forties.  Pretty, pretty, pretty scary!!  Late thirties provides no welcome sound as it is.  But is it  that bad?  Sometimes I think of it as getting closer to what they call "the golden years."  I am pretty sure that I will be a great old person.  I saw this elderly man some time ago reading the paper while he ate his breakfast at a restaurant.  He was in no hurry and it showed.  A feeling of peace surrounded him.  I thought, "that'll be nice." 

Pigeons on wires?  I took a walk alongside the L.A. river sometime last week and saw these pigeons basking in the late afternoon sun.  Just sitting there together was their thing.  I thought, cool.  Someday soon, maybe I will just sit.  But today?  I can only quote one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost, "...I have miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep."

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Unicycle part 2

Unicycle part 2

You ever do something once then go back to do it again only to find that you have forgotten how you did it the first time?  It took me a while to figure out how I could embed the link to my video within my blog.  You should have seen what this page looked like the first time I tried.  Something like //em//eiiiej/uncut//$& across the whole page.  Well if you click on the rectangle above you will see how I am doing in terms of riding the unicycle.  I would say I am better at it but not as good as I would have liked to be by this time.  On one of the websites I visited searching for tips on how to ride, it said that it would take a total of fifteen hours to actually begin to feel some confidence in riding one of these.  So far I have probably spent about seven.  I am halfway there.  It's fun and I feel that I have sustained the worst possible injuries.  Future injuries will be mitigated by my competence. (I hope.)

Well I hope you all are ready for many of these tangential messages from me.  I have given up a certain habit of mine for Lent and find myself once again a victim of Time.  I will elaborate more on this particular habit (nothing illicit) as the time goes on.  I will also elaborate on Lent and what it means to me.  Of course this is not said to anger anyone who might find the preceding comment irreverent towards a certain dogma.  My existence has always been far to subjective.  Hence, I have always felt that in interpreting my own experiences I learn more about myself and come closer to "universal truths".  I tried and tried but could not dismiss the quotation marks.  Let me end it this way; You and I may agree that the object is orange but how do I know that what is orange to you is actually purple to me. 

You may wonder how I am going to survive the remaining 44 days till Easter Sunday?

Quien Sabe!

Devolution

Anyone remember the Sid & Marty Kroft show called "Land Of The Lost"?  I think that the show was at one time on prime time but I would watch it when it was shown in the afternoons after primary school.  It is about this dad, his son and daughter who go rafting when an earthquake sends them to what you think may be a previous time but soon suspect is another reality altogether.  The three get chased by dinosaurs and befriend cave people.  In one episode they find the ruins of an ancient city henceforth refered to as the Lost City.  In this Lost City they encounter these really, really dumb creatures called Sleestaks who shoot Nerf Arrows at them.  The production on this show was so bad it was funny.  The Sleestak are lizard like hominids, though not necessarily mamallian.  What their reason for being is is forgotten by this blogger.  Rick, Will and Holly Marshall, the three rafters who accidentally are sent to this forgotten land, meet one Sleestak who does not chase them or shoot them with Nerf artillery.  This sleestak speaks English and seems to know a lot about where they are.  But he is also there accidentally.  His name is Enik and he is pictured above.  Enik is aware of the fact that he is different from the other Sleestak in that he is intelligent and friendly.  He erroneously speculates that these differences are due to the fact that he thinks that he was sent back in time and the Sleestak he sees are ancestors to his race.  When the Marshalls show him the that the place he inhabits is the ruins of an ancient city, he realizes that it is the city of his home and he has gone into the future not the past.  To his horror he realizes that his species has devolved into the dumb creatures he sees around him. 

So why am I retelling this story?  I watched a film last night called "Idiocracy" which dealt with just that particular theme; Devolution.  Evolution is defined as the reproductive success of the 'winners' in a given species.  The loosers just don't get the opportunity to pass on their genes.  The film supposes that that is no longer the truth.  Those with the poorest genes seem to be the ones reproducing the most.  Hence society, America is society in the film, is dumbing down.  "Idiocracy" is written by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead fame and is full of that particular kind of humor that made Beavis and Butthead popular.  But it is worth watching if only to ponder the premise it is based on. 

I have run out of time but if you are interested in more Land Of The Lost info, click here

'Idiocracy' should be available at your renter with the new releases.