greetings from corruption land!

Ok, it's been awhile. I decided to put my act on the road again and wound up in Chicago somehow. Someone talked me into this while I was bitching about dust storms and rattlesnakes and mice that were a fact of my existance in Az.

Severe culture shock, coming to the big city. I mean, I did live in San Jose for many years, and Portland, OR, which are technically cities, but really did nothing to prepare me for this. Chicago is a CITY. Yikes!

It has it's benefits. I can wander over to the 7-11 at midnight for smokes, for instance. And get a decent pizza just about anywhere, anytime. Not have to plan my shopping trips in fear of forgetting some little thing. There are actual jobs here. And trees - not overgrown cacti-like things. But it's taken me a few months to get used to the pleasures of traffic again, and apartment living. The biggest critter to worry over here so far are Cockroaches. Haven't seen any Rats, though the age of this building pretty much assures that they are around.

Coming from the west, any building older than 30 years is a relic to me. Most everything around here is at least twice that age, probably closer to 100 years. There is a kind of comfort in that. I don't know why...seems to me such structures surviving 100 years in such a climate is a miracle, and they are probably all near collapse.

OK, I did grow up on Long island. The weather is not new to me, but I'm out of condition and spoiled by the mildness of Northern California. Let's see what I say come winter when my toes turn blue.
Long Island of then was not anything like Long island of today as far as crowding....In the 60s, Folks from the city were just dicovering that there was this whole Island out there they could build vacation homes on, but not that many of them were that adventurous. You have to know the way they think to get a snicker out of that.

But, what I was driving at, is that I wasn't driving back then, anyway. So I have little experiance with this sort of crowding and bustle. My friends here have to watch the hayseed all the time to make sure he doesn't get run over or maimed.

This is a pastime around here: hitting pedestrians and dragging them for distance. In Phoenix, it was possible to get up a head of steam before hitting something, but they saved their targeting for other vehicles, which seems nicer somehow than running over Nuns and children.

In San Jose, they generally hit fixtures: signs, fences, houses, bridges..rarely each other..unless they were really angry and fixin to start shooting. Then they might trade paint. Maybe.

And you never heard a car horn out there. I still jump and cringe when I hear one here. Which is at most intersections. Not sure how much is directed at me, but being as I still have my AZ plates, probably a good deal. LOL. Fuck em. Luckily for them, I am unarmed these days. Usually.

Last point of the day: I guess the Feds started in on all the corruption in the local government recently: drug dealers and hours scams, trucking scandals, payoffs, etc...and folks around here seem shocked. OK I thought..look at the infrastructure and ponder just where your tax dollars, parking fees and such are going. Not the schools. Sure as hell not the roads. I drove on smoother surfaces up mountainsides in AZ. The water system is older than England. The power grid probably hasn't been updated since WW2....

Hell, they've got a Daley running things: what did they expect?

Is it just me?

But it's kind of fun, anyway.

Sturgeon in orbit

I have the TV on..mostly for white noise these days, but ocassionally I do lock on to it. I was just listening to some news anchor doing a spot for his evening news broadcast and the main theme of it was: "It's my job to make sure Americans know when they are in danger".

Umm, no, OK numbnuts..your job is to report the damn news. Whatever happened to Walter Cronkites' no nonsense news delivery? Guess it didn't sell cars...

The deal should be simple, as they don't really cover anything beyond the borders of the USA unless it's something earthshattering or they are just out of interesting stuff about the new reality shows.

But if you really watch the news, I mean the stuff that passes for news stateside, they are really more concerned with selling than with any sort of public service function. Why lie like that?

Furthermore, the world is not a safe place. Every one of us is in danger at all times, and it's been that way since we were all truckin around Africa in skins. You could get conked on the head by a meteorite...anythings' possible. So don't bother trying to reassure me that everything is currently safe.

It's not some great public service to tell everyone that the prescription drug 1000 americans take may result in nostril cancer 40 years from now. I don't care. And why are you telling me I'm statistically overweight? I do have mirrors ;)

Tell me whats going on in North Korea or Ruwanda or Iran or Northern Ireland or the Ukraine. Or Pakistan/India. Information like that would be a tad more useful. Knowledge of one's world is the best way to understand the dangers.

I guess if they ran it, though, no one would watch. Besides which, It's kind of fun swearing at the TV.

I could switch to BBC or PBS, but that's just not fun.

:)

Sunday Morning in the high desert

Haven't been blogging in some time. Not that it's all that important - no one missed much.

Been feeling somewhat intro/retrospective this morning. I guess it's because I realized it was 2005. Where the hell did that come from? I remember pretty clearly sitting at my desk in 6th grade, thinking of what would be in the year 2000. Let's see...that was...1973? I was having a hard time picturing what I would be like at age 39. or 40. I've flown past that without much of a look back.

Too busy surviving. If you would have told me it would be like this; these last 30 years, I dunno if I would have agreed to go forward with the whole aging thing :)

Then again, I think of all I would've missd, and it's no contest. Moments like just a few ago: Sunrise in the desert mountains. Something I never would have dreamt about seeing as a kid back east. Snowfall in Yosemite. Watching the moon shimmer off the Columbia river. Karen's bottom ;), Trying like hell to teach my nephews to play baseball and laughing so hard my jaw hurt. Stupid shit like that.

I guess there's been a few rough patches. I drew the family joker on alcohol, and it cost me dearly for ten to twelve years, but even in the midst of that, still saw and did some amazing shit...some of it I wouldn't have ventured into had I been more sober and adult, but I wouldn't trade them now. It's the old live and learn thing..maybe these days I appreciate the stupid little things in life, the moments of just being and seeing, a bit more because of my trials.

I guess this happens. Occasionally, I hit the playback button and just sit back and wonder. . I really didn't think I was going to age, ya know?. Who does?

But more and more, I come away feeling happy and hopeful from these little bouts. The regrets don't seem as signifigant. Not sure why this is.

Aw the hell with it. ;)

Carry on.