The time of year when we dress our children up in plastic masks and home-made costumes, hand them a pillow case, bundle them up in their parkas and send them out into the world begging for candy. In the rain around here, usually...lol.
Wait.
That was our childhood.
These days, kids don't know how great they have it. Or do they really?
Malls offer candy to kids whose parents bring them around. It's nice and warm and bright in there...what fun is that?
We always had the one "big kid" who went around with a bloody "finger in a box" scaring the little kids. We ran screaming when we were the little ones, and laughed til we almost peed when we were the big kids...sad that our own children won't get to enjoy that little rite of Halloween passage.
When we were little, Dad would take us through the neighborhood. Mom stayed home to hand out the candy to the other kids in the neighborhood. We'd be so excited and awestruck by the fact that we just had to ring the doorbell, say trick or treat, and grownups (GROWNUPS) gave us candy. Back in the day, we would get home-made treats as well. Rice crispy treats with the marshmallow dyed orange was a bit hit. Popcorn balls. Like that.
It was all ruined by some wakko when we were all about 10 or 11. Razor blades in the popcorn balls kinda brought the reality of crazy people into our little worlds. Then the wakkos started slipping drugs and blades into candy bars and such. Hospitals actually started xraying our little candy bags for free. Didn't detect the drugs though, so pretty soon the kids were at the mall.
Bummer.
Now, however, we are the grownups (kinda), and we get to do fun things to (I MEAN WITH) our children.
it's fun..try it. The littler the better as they have WAY less control. Bwahahahahahahaha!
Case in point: SPENCERSTEIN
I mean...seriously...how cute is that? And he looks thrilled, doesn't he? He's a good sport though.
Here he is with Auntie...not too upset about the whole thing (YET)
Here he is actually smiling a bit. He liked it...for about a minute and a half.
This might have had something to do with it...lol. As long as his vest is all good, auntie is happy. Too bad the boy can't see anything...
And here's the result. My fave of the group by far. He's just HAD it!
A note to those of you out there that refuse to "take" the crying picture of your child. The one with Santa or the Easter Bunny or in the costume that they have just had enough of.
Those are the precious ones that you'll enjoy the most later...so DO IT. Take that screaming Santa pic and frame it for the mantle. It's a hoot!
Things are getting to the point, where I just cannot be quiet anymore.
And since I don't want this to be a place where any of my friends feel uncomfortable, I'm gonna take my political commentary to the other blog. Go there if you care, and don't if you think you might be offended. My intention is not to attack anyone or their beliefs...I have some very close friends that have a different view of this election than I do. I just want to exercise my need to get my own thoughts out of my brain and into the ether.
I have been trying really, really hard to keep politics off of this blog.
I know that politics is a fact of life - whether someone gets a congressional paycheck or just needs to play nice with the local barista to get that cup of coffee you like "just right" - there are always politics involved.
I have been loathe to bring politics into this sunny little blog (ok, it's not always sunny, lol), because I am respectful of others' beliefs and their right to believe things that I do not understand or support myself. I am pretty adamant about the right to think on our own. To go to the church we want to, to support the candidate of our choice, and to paint a house the most unsettling colors (to me anyway).
But, for the first time in my life, I am actually afraid of what the future might hold. And, even though it may be somewhat unpopular, I think that our government of the last eight years has had a lot to do with where we all are. So, for those of you that don't agree, or don't want to hear it, or just can't take one more rant on the political state of our world, then please click here, to go to a happy place and come back another day to catch up on me and goofy.
OK...so now that you've been warned...
This one comment has been made much of in the last few days. Some want to make it more than it is. Some want to make it less. What I want to make of it is this: who cares if an old man loses his train of thought and can't remember the name of the guy he's talking about? Our grandparents do it all the time. But what I do care about is that everyone is trying to make it more than that. "it's demeaning", "it's racist"...for crying out loud. It's a guy that is of a generation where "that one" is what they said when they couldn't remember the name of who they were talking about. McCain's people don't want to point that out either, though, as it makes him look old. Better to be racist than old...wow.
I am SO SICK of all the childish name calling and muck raking going on at this point in political campaigns. It's not any one campaign in particular - it's become the norm, sadly. I am just so tired of being presumed to be an ignorant, uneducated, easily distracted moron.
It's insulting.
Please DO NOT tell me what "she" did in high school with the quarterback under the bleachers, or what "he" did when he was a freshman in college. Don't dig up old co-workers or "exes" or fellow committee members or someone "bad" that was at the same party.
TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO TO GET US OUT OF THIS MESS!!!
I generally think that when candidates start telling me what is wrong with their opponent, rather then telling me what they are going to do better for us, it's because they don't have any ideas or plans of their own. They are incompetent to the point where they have nothing to say about what they plan to do to help us out of this mess we are now mired so deeply in.
I have to say that I am not entirely sold on my choice for president. I have my reservations and concerns. I won't go into that here, 'cause we all have our own opinions. For me, this year, it's more a matter of who I think will do the least damage than who I think will help the most. I just know that I can't have more of the same thing that has gotten us where we are now.
And I don't ENTIRELY blame them or congress, or really, even, the current administration. These folks are just doing what comes naturally in a power situation where no one is watching or imposing any restraints or safe guards.
I blame US. All of us that have so willingly been lead down the happy little path of apathy and incompetence.
For the first time - ever - I am convinced that we will not have lives as good as those our parents experienced. We didn't work any less hard - we just stopped paying attention and making decisions for ourselves.
We chose to believe the garbage we've been fed - swallowing it whole regardless of all of the evidence to the contrary. We've even gone so far as to call those that have tried - screaming and kicking - to wake us up to our ignorance "traitors" and "un-american".
What the hell is that? UN-AMERICAN? Isn't the most dearly held tenet of our country that we all have the right to speak freely and question our own government? Isn't that the one basic "freedom" that we've all proudly pointed to? But in this new world order, we don't listen, we just gaze with glazed eyes and ipod headphones securely in our ears spouting ever more soothing platitudes to dull our brains and quiet our questions. If we speak out now, we are labeled and watched by the government - who now has but to wave the flag of homeland security to erase all of our rights as citizens of the United States of America - rights we thought were "inalienable". I grieve for the people that so easily throw away this most basic cornerstones of who we are.
"I'm not a criminal, I don't have anything to hide, so I don't care if the government taps my phone, or looks at my bank accounts or checks up on me" without cause or a warrant. OMG! OMG! I actually heard this from a twenty-something I know and think of as intelligent.
I weep...really....tears of fear and frustration and loss at what will become of all of us as our children take this attitude into the future. We have failed them and ourselves.
Is this the country that we want? I pray to God that it isn't.
But is it what we deserve? Yeah, I think it is.
We dropped the ball, we let others tell us what we think, even when our eyes contradicted. We've become intolerant in our "tolerance", unequal in our "equality", terrified by our own government to the point where we gave up without a fight or a whimper basic "rights" that our founding fathers fought and died for, mindless and apathetic
Now, we need to fix it. Not the government, not the politicians. WE NEED TO DO IT. It's probably too late for it to be ok for us anymore...but for our kids, maybe.
Get out and vote. Take the time to figure out what you think for yourself. Listen to what is being said and make your own determinations of what that means for you. THINK. Be responsible.
VOTE
Don't be a lemming being lead off to slaughter...
Show the world that we are not the idiots we appear to be. WE have a lot to fix and a lot to make up for. We aren't who we think we are...we are not the best, the most powerful, the brightest, the "rightest". But we can be...we need to be.
OK...OK! I know! I thought that there would never be a reason for me to even look twice at a rumbly bike again.
Really...
Believed it in my heart.
Some things are out of my control though.
I tend to have a bit of an adventurer's soul. I like to push my limits sometimes. I try to mitigate the risk.
Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.
I have a list (well, it's in my head, and also in Goofy's head) of things that I am encouraged to let be....leave alone...not even think about! LOL
For awhile it included sharp knives, but I've since been allowed to use those again - with supervision :)
What IS on the list is (among other things):
Learning to fly (airplanes - even I know I can't fly without one, so stop it!) LOL
Doing electrical work without someone home (I am not know as "sparky" without reason)
Bungee Jumping (obvious)
Jumping off bridges into water (OK, not one of my brighter ideas, but it seemed like a good idea at the time)
and
Motorcycles
The reasons for the last are pretty solid, and reasonable. I won't go into details here. Everyone that knows Goofy and me knows pretty much why. And it's true - I could kill myself (I tend to be a klutz regardless of my enthusiasm). But it still draws me. The fun and excitement of riding a rumbly bike...addictive I think. Which is probably another reason to walk on by.
Still...this rumbly bike is shiny and red, and short enough that I could probably touch the ground...and...and...it's automatic!
Bwahahahahaha!
Much like my roadster, it can be shifted or left alone and it'll do it for you...brilliant! How fun is that? Gooooooofy? How fun?!
Right now, though, I am going to concentrate on getting my scuba gear ready to go...it might distract me from that shiny red toy that has begun (ever so quietly so far) to call out to me...
Do I have a chance?
Maybe I should up my life insurance and just say the hell with it!
"I'd Rather Be Approximately Right, than Precisely Wrong."
- commenting on the planned taxpayer bailout of Wall Street.
Good point, Warren.
The worst housing slump since the Great Depression has resulted in record mortgage defaults in the U.S. and a yearlong contraction in global credit markets, driving down stock prices and sending firms like GE and Goldman in search of funds. For Buffett, who had $44.3 billion in cash at the start of the year, it's also been a call to action.
``The prices make a lot more sense now,'' Buffett said in an interview from San Diego with PBS's Charlie Rose yesterday in which he described the economy as being ``flat on the floor'' with cardiac arrest. ``You want to be greedy when others are fearful and you want to be fearful when others are greedy.''
As home foreclosures climbed across the U.S., Buffett spent at least $28 billion this year to acquire companies, finance buyouts and purchase securities for Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire. Buffett is Berkshire's chairman.
``In my adult lifetime, I don't think I've ever seen people as fearful, economically, as they are right now,'' Buffett, 78, told Rose. ``They are not wrong to be worried.''
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