2014, Here We Come

2013 and On Into the Wilderness of a New Year

I keep imagining that 2013 was just another year. But then I come to and realize, every year is just another year. What do we remember from the year 1913 (aside from the fact that it preceded that little incident in Sarajevo that sparked the Great War that killed ten million folks).  Or 1813, boring, aside from the war begun in 1812, or the little kerfuffle with Napoleon in Russia. Or, say, 1712 . . .when Sweden celebrated February 30^th in a move to return to some old tymie calendar, and then that slave revolt thingie in New York City. Well, how’s about 1013 . . . hmmm . . . well Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, having invaded England, is proclaimed as King within the Danelaw and then on December 25, Sweyn is proclaimed King of all England in London, forcing Æthelred the Unready to flee to Normandy. So a guy named Forkbeard overcame a guy named Atheired the Unready. How great is that?

So, see, things could be worse, huh? Actually, maybe that’s a good sign. We have here Boehner the Unready, planning to take on the Kockbeards during 2014. How’s that for a return to the past? All these 12^th century thinkers (aka the republican party) sitting around sucking their thumbs and planning for a return to power . . . To horse, to horse . . .

But on a more sane plain, what could I make of the year behind us and the one coming up next?

First is the thought that years don’t matter.  Years just come and go. They’re a bookkeeper’s approach to life—counting things, demarcating things . . . What matters I realize is now, this moment. Because I only exist in this moment. Yes, there are consequences to what I do each moment, and consequences live on into the future. But I control only this moment. So, I should at least try to suck the life out of each moment—they are the marrow of life.

Next is this little thing about being OLD. Yeah, I get that each day I’m just a little bit older. But I am now in my 80^th year, and I can’t figure out how I got here. It means that I can no longer pretend to Middle Age, regardless of how/what I feel. So, now all of my moments are old-thing moments. Wow . . . what a concept. When I combine this OLD thing concept with the Zen of Nothingness, it makes each moment loom even larger than usual. So, I plan to pay even more attention than I normally do.

I’m thinking that 2013 wasn’t all bad. I mean, aside from the teabaggers, nationally we seem to be progressing a bit on the civilized thing. Several more states now allow the LGBT community to wed, including Utah. Utah . . . who would’ve thought? Now if only we could arrange to ban all heterosexual weddings, then the institution of marriage would be safe for all time.

And in 2014 I assume we will see peace for all time in all lands . . . well aside from the little kerfuffles (love that word)  throughout the Muslim lands, mainly, but not totally in the Middle East.  (what does that term mean? The Middle East. Why is it Middle. If I’m sitting in Oz, the Outback would more realistically be called the Middle East.  The Middle East isn’t really even the East, except maybe that it’s East of London. It’s after all, West of Tokyo, so maybe the Japanese should called Baghdad part of the Middle West). But I digress. So, I assume that all Muslims throughout the World (including that Middle East place) will now stop blowing themselves up, along with other folks in marketplaces, and Hezbollah will stop lobbing rockets into Israel, and the folks in South Sudan will quit cutting off the heads of little kids in their villages.  Remember that Zen of Nothingness? No more 71 virgins guys . . . they’re fresh out.

So, peace will finally reign supreme . . . at least until January 2^nd, at which time all bets are off, and the crazy folks (them that gots religion) can resume killing their neighbors with impunity, just cuz they’re different. Only kidding . . . nope, I imagine that folks will finally regain some commonsense and cease for all time killing folks just because.

And peace will break out for all time.

And children will receive proper food, care and love for all time.

So come on people. Think a little harder. Just put away the guns and the bombs. Have another glass of wine instead. And toast to the goddess of love.

So come on 2014, we’re ready.

 

Christmas is coming

So, as we inch forward towards that merry holy day Christmas, we decided to get our trees a little earlier this year. Most times we await Beethoven's Birthday, or maybe mine, but weather and logistics prevailed this year. It was gonna rain Saturday and we needed a truck (our son-in-law's), so we ventured out last Friday. Also, our neighbors have done such a grand job that we were beginning to feel like the grinches in the hood.  So, we borrowed the truck and ventured out to the Bull Branch Tree place on Poplar Tent Road. They had a grand collection of trees, but then they always do. Gracious folks with splendid trees and wreaths for sale. Nice. Then, of course, we had to decorate. One tree for inside and one tree for outside. Still outdone by our neighbors, but at least we closed the gap . . .

Our outdoor (front porch) tree . . .

 

our indoor tree . . .

 

And then some outdoor curiosity

 

 

Taking Offense

Let’s see. Dick (his Cheyenne name is "He who shoots my friends in the face") Cheney is offended that our Prez lied to him about the Affordable Care Act.  I don’t know about you, but the claim that Dick Cheney takes offense when someone lies to him is just so . . . unbelievable. I mean, it’s similar to how I would react were the Faux News Network to take offense at the Colbert report, because it pretends to be a news show.  What is amazing is that Cheney actually surfaced from his spiderhole and engaged the public in this way. I guess I knew the man had chutzpah, but wow!

And on one of the other republican exoplanets, the state of North Carolina’s republicans, in their zeal to kill off the state’s public school system is now engaged in licensing “virtual” charter schools. Now, as best I can understand it, charter schools are already virtual public schools—that is they are fake public schools—they take public money but don’t have to meet any of the standards of public school systems.  So, what would a virtual fake public school look like? Well, turns out, it’s on-line. So, the kids can sit at home and “attend” the fake classes at their leisure, or let their parents attend the fake classes.

I’m wondering why we just don’t abandon schooling altogether (the preferred option for our republican legislators from what I can understand) and just operate a for-profit, on-line testing service. Kids can study, or not. It wouldn’t matter. If they can pass the standardized test (or get their parents to pass it for them) they get a GED (fake diploma). That way, we wouldn’t have to worry about teacher salaries, or even teacher certification. And all that dough we now put into brick and mortar? Sell it to the nearest Wal-Mart, or offload it on E-Bay.  Then our republican legislators will have more time to figure out when the state should secede from the Union.  I know, they could link up with other like-minded state legislatures and form a “more perfect union”, calling it something snappy. I know. How about the Neo-Confederate States of America. Catchy, huh?

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day

A day to feast and to give thanks for the bountiful harvest of our lives.

The first cry of our first child born into the world . . .

Our earliest memory of Christmas morning . . .

The smile on the face of a grandchild looking into your eyes . . .

The first time you observed the glory that is a sunrise just beginning to peek over the hills . . .

A sunset, just after a monsoon rain . . .

The first time you looked into the eyes of your loved one and realized you were madly, deeply in love . . .

The sight of the first snowflakes of the season, beginning to blanket the earth, covering it with a pristine blanket, whispering to you of silence . . .

Then, the sight of the first crocus piercing the blanket of snow, promising the return of Spring . . .

The sight of your child walking down the aisle, resplendent in a gossamer gown, with eyes glowing with love and expectation, promising her loved one to bring a life together, filled with love . . .

A grandchild taking a first step without guidance . . .

Seated at a table, resplendent with color, glittering china and crystal, flickering candles, sumptuous delicacies each prepared with love and high skill, and gazing into the eyes of assembled family members, and saying La Familia . . . to our family, because family surrounds us with love, memories, and links to the past and to the future.

So many things to consider, so many things for which we are grateful.

Such is life.

Be grateful

Happy Thanksgiving.

Interesting Times

“May you live in interesting times . . .”

It would seem that we are indeed living in interesting times. When most of us are blithely going about our daily lives, trying to get into the Thanksgiving spirit, if not yet the Christmas spirit, many out there in positions of authority are working hard to disturb the planet in often dangerous ways. What do we have going on at the moment?

·         The US and its various allies are attempting to speak seriously for the first time since 1979 to Iran, in an attempt to de-escalate the state of crisis that has existed since the Ayatollah and his minions assumed control of Iran.  We are attempting to convince Iran to renounce nuclear weapons development in exchange for a lifting of the economic sanctions that have been in place for decades. This effort would seem a good thing, eh? Well, except for Israel and its annoying, warring leader Benny Netanyahu. Oh yeah, and except for our ally Saudi Arabia. The king there is always cranky and Iran engaged with the West makes him very cranky. Oh and then there’s our internal warriors, the GOP, or as we like to think of them, the Party of the Extreme Right Persuasion (PERPs for short). They dislike anything Obama suggests, just cuz. Meanwhile Iran just keeps on truck’n with its “nucular” options open.

·         And then there’s China and Japan, still feuding after all these years over some islands they both claim.  But China seems to be upping the ante by declaring that any unidentified planes flying into its airspace over the islands will be met with appropriate force. So, of course, we are continuing to fly our B-52’s into their airspace over the islands, without identifying ourselves . . . just, you know, cuz.

 

·         Then there’s Syria . . . remember Syria? They continue to shoot at one another , the good guys and the bad guys, except we don’t seem to know who’s who in that regard.

·         Oh, and now we have a new one—the Central African Republic-- one guesses it is located somewhere in central Africa, huh?. They all seem to be having a lot of fun killing anyone who isn’t already dead, but especially women, children and other innocent folks trying to get on with their already dismal lives. I guess it has something to do with religion, or power, but I repeat myself.  The French have kindly offered to send in another 1,000 troops to try to “keep the peace” Good luck on that one. I’m thinking Vietnam. Maybe you might consider 50-100,000 troops to “keep the peace”, just for starters.

And now, with all these happy goings on, we are supposed to be thinking about shopping, eating, and shopping some more. That is what Christmas is all about isn’t it . . . shopping??

Well, Black Friday is coming soon. So, remember, ignore all those awful shoot’m-ups going on around the world, and keep focusing on----SHOPPING.

Shop till you drop, baby . . . it’s what we’re all about as a Nation.

JFK Redux

PBS-UNCTV aired a two-part four hour retrospective on JFK. We TIVOed the series and finished watching last night. A heart-rending piece, bringing back many memories of that awful event in 1963. We were 20 somethings, living on Nob Hill in San Francisco, right behind Grace Cathedral. I was traveling a lot. I had in fact just arrived in my corporate home office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I was driving a rental car, and had just pulled into the driveway of our office. The radio was on and the announcer was telling us that JFK had just been shot. It was not immediately clear what had happened, or whether the president would be ok. Then came the fatal news. The president was dead . . . dead!. It took some time for that news to sink in. I just sat in the car, in disbelief to what I had just heard. Who, why . .?
I went inside to report what I had just heard. Everyone knew. They all sat around in stunned silence. I called my wife in San Francisco, She answered the phone and told me that, she learned of the news because the bells at Grace Cathedral had been sounding in a mournful alert. She couldn't figure out what was going on, until she tuned in to hear the news herself. She was in deep shock. The news was so hard to grasp. Who would want JFK dead . . . a crazy person? What followed on the news (we had no TV at the time, having thrown out our TV as a useless invention five years earlier) seemed even crazier than our wildest thoughts. The guy who ostensibly did the deed had been caught and was then himself shot by some other bozo, while surrounded by police. Now if all that didn't arouse suspicion of a conspiracy, what would?
But we were stuck with it all. We now lived in a crazy world of thuggish people, armed and willing to kill at the drop of a hat. Nice.
From that point on, the notion of mortality entered my brain and has never left. My fear of flying began. Despite the significant travel I continued to do in my consulting business, I began to hate flying. And now, many years later, we have given up flying, after discovering that today's airlines, led by USAIR, are in fact dysfunctional.
But life goes on, and JFK is an increasingly distant memory. Ah Camelot. It was a wonder for a time . .

Oh Syriana

We watched Syriana the other night . . . and switched it off after about an hour and a quarter. Any film that cannot make itself understood in 1.25 hours deserves to be switched off.  My theory is that they were going for a John LeCarre story, except they neglected to hire John LeCarre. His “Spy Who Came in from the Cold”, for example, is richly complex, but also comprehensible to anyone paying attention.  In Syriana they introduce a dozen or so characters each with a separate story line, and then neglected to even begin stitching them together in that first 1.25 hours. And to even begin to understand it, you must memorize the names of the various parts, because they are always dropping names.  

Yeah, we got that the film was about corrupt oil company executives and staff (duh), corrupt CIA leadership and staff (double duh) and corrupt and violent Arabs (wow . . . really??)  So, they could have told that tale in about 30 minutes—a nice half hour drama, complete with commercials. The film had a large, capable cast, led by lover boy George Clooney, who looked a bit careworn for this particular part. So, the acting was fine generally.  It was just the incomprehensible writing and the story line that left so much to be desired.

Now, we generally check the reviews of films we rent on Netflix and this one got passable reviews. The odd one mentioned the complexity of the plot and the (too) many characters.  But maybe today’s film-goers demand more action, or the promise thereof, and less of the thinking stuff.  Too bad really, but perhaps we didn’t really need another story about murder and other fun stuff in the Middle East.  Or perhaps there is no actual intellectual content to anything going on in the Middle East.

Oh, and the other thing—pictures of Beirut proved depressing. We stopped in Beirut during the 1960s and loved the place. In this film it looked like the slums of any run-down city, with the addition of murderous thugs roaming around the place. Too bad.  But our Arab friends continue to corrupt their own culture, and, as noted in the film, will some day run out of oil and, therefore, a future. Too bad.

And on another of our exoplanets, the newspapers are full of stories about how Yasser Arafat was probably murdered, although no one seems sure of how – polonium, maybe??  And, of course, Israel is to blame—who else would do such a thing?? Heaven knows, nobody else in the Middle East would even think of killing another Arab.  Would they??