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.

smog inspection

I had to put my favorite jacket away.  What is it,70 outside?

Real quick thought before I go off and do adult things again...

I just took my car in for a smog inspection and passed.  But the whole time I am waiting for the technician to finish I am thinking about how it is just pass or fail.  I take good care of my car.  I would love to see the guy come up to me and tell me that my car is in the top three percent in terms of emmissions.  He'd come up to me and say in his eastern european accent, "I haven't seen anything like this in a long time... what are you doing... what kind of gas you use.  There has to be something you do, your emissions are INCREDIBLY free of pollutants."  He would shake my hand with a grin that says, can I be your friend.  I don't know I guess I just want recognition for doing things that normal people do regardless of how well they do them.  Kinda like the Alcoholic who wants credit when he goes a night without a binge.

Do you think that would be a good theme for a "Curb Your Enthusiasm"? 

If you're wondering how I take good pictures.  Well, I don't know how to frame and for some reason it complements my shots.  Go figure.

Bye.

bottle caps

What is that?

Those are the bottle caps from my favorite beer.  It is an amber ale made by the Fischer brewing company in Alsace, France.  It is a French beer but could have easily have been considered a German beer had things gone differently in World War I and II.  The ownership of the area it comes from has been contested since Charlemagne.  Also, it is an area where High German not French is spoken according to Wikipedia.  I would like to think that I enjoy a german beer not a french one.  This is because I don't think the French have a reputation for good beer. 

Anyway,  I took the picture cause the image struck me as, well, different.  It is common to see like things together. But bottle tops?  What happened is that my dad who is the world's most motivated recycler was told that he would have to remove the bottle tops from the bottles to redeem the glass.  The tops are a dense plastic stopper with a rubber seal which connects to the bottle with a metal clip.  My dad seperates the tops now from the bottles before he takes them to recycling.  But he can't bring himself to throw away the tops.  Hence, he has started tying them aroung this gate post.  The result is this hive of bottle tops which simultaeneously endear my father to me in a comical way and remind me that I drink too much. 

I uploaded another picture today (when you look at my picture you will see that it is 1 of 2) for this blog because it is indicative of how my life is going.  In this picture I am fixing a flat tire.  That's my life right now!  No forward progress just taking care of the things that will convey me into my future.

Hope everything is well.  I, by the way, am suffering through my third cold in 5 months.  It's just not like me to get sick so often.  The last time I was this sickly was before a major transition.  Change is scary, I think?

 

fanciful whim of the first degree

fanciful whim of the first degree

what was that phrase we used in high school when we wanted to make fun of what others wanted to do?

was it "whimsical flamboyancies"?

Happy New Year and all that...

Everyday on my way to work I read this sign on the elevator in the employee parking lot.  It's funny cause it tells you not to become "alarmed" if the elevator stops.  But then goes on to say that if the elevator does stop use the button which happens to be labeled "ALARM" to summon aid.  I kinda get a mixed message there.  If I am hitting a button called "ALARM", I have a feeling that that will be my general mood.

So I am thinking about the new year and these lyrics come to mind:

Now everybodys talking about this new decade
Like you say the magic numbers
Then just say goodbye to
The stupid mistakes you made
Oh my memory serves me far too well

They come from a George Michael song called "Waiting for that Day".  It was released back in 1990, hence the reference to "new decade".  By the way if you don't like George Michael, you just haven't been "listening without prejudice."  This is a guy who suffered one of the most embarrassing dramas a person can go through without going into seclusion.  Furthermore, he was able to make fun of it.  That deserves loads of respect.

Anyway, the lyrics.  It is so natural to feel that the start of the new year is like the reset button on an Atari 2600 (please, someone remember that!)  You are starting fresh and all your lives are intact.  You are not going to make the same mistakes this session that you did last.  But like that former boy from Wham, your memory will "serve you far too well."  I think the happiest people are those with the poorest memory.  Unfortunately a poor memory makes for a poor soul.  There's the Rub!

The New Year?  There are things I would love to change.  There are plenty of things I would love to see remain the same.  This was my 39th new year.  I am proud of my strengths and achievements.  At the same time my weaknesses and vices have been around so long that they seem like old friends. 

This brings me to my other old friends (like the segue?), I pray that the new year brings you many blessings and few tears.

Thank you so much for putting up with this blog.  I hope to see all of you soon.  If I have one resolution this year, it is to connect with those beings that have made these 38+ years worth it.

 

Borat

Day off without the wife so I decided to take in a film.  I wanted to experience Borat on my own for some reason.  Guess I wanted to critique it without having someone else's interpretation affect mine.  What did I think?

At first I had no desire to see it.  Kind of like Jackass, I knew that there was an audience for it but didn't think I was interested.  But as it became more and more financially successful, I had to go see why. 

It is so funny!  (Note to Miguel, remember your early humour? a certain naiveness blended with absurdity. Borat was you in Driver Training!!  Remember?)  Things are done in this film that make you think, "I can't believe he did that!"  This movie tops that scene in "Something About Mary" where the protagonist catches himself on his zipper and the producers allow  it to be graphically depicted.  Though it showed nothing truly sick, I had to look away a couple of times. 

I found myself getting a little sad though.  It is hard for me to tell which scenes were scripted and which were not.  But some of the characters and perspectives were a little disturbing.  Truth be told, some of the things Sacha Cohen is making fun of are too true.  It felt kind of like when you look in the mirror and you manipulate that small imperfection  in order to amplify its distortion upon yourself.  You realize it's futile but you know you have to try and change it.

Click here if you would like to see a review from a site I like to compare my opinions with.  Mostly I agree with it, but c'mon, LOOSEN UP!

Kudos to Borat.  See it while it is still in our social conciusness.

Maria, you said you didn't want to see it.  So don't get mad at me for seeing it with you.