I'm back and Six Things About Me

Okay, I'm back. The weekend was fantastic and I'm more or less recovered.

Last week before I left, dear sweet Malicious Intent tagged me with a meme. As with all memes I grumbled but since she did such a wonderful job of keeping my plan for world domination on track while I was gone I felt it only right to give it an honest effort.

So I need to list six non-important things/habits/quirks about myself. Here goes.

1. I have a small level of OCD. I don’t wash my hands 36 times or lock and unlock the door five times in a row or anything like that but there are certain things that I’m a little compulsive about. I hate having sticky hands. As a kid I refused to eat cotton candy and candy apples because they made me sticky. Still won’t eat candy apples. I have to have the bed made a certain way before I get into it. I like to have my clothes folded a certain way – that’s actually more of a practical one because they fit in the closet and dresser better if they are all folded the same way – okay maybe it’s not so practical. Things I use all the time, like my keys, must have a place where they always live and I must always put them there when I’m not using them. That’s actually because I can’t remember shit and if I don’t put them in the same place all the time I’d have no idea where the hell they were. If pictures are crooked I have to straighten them. Stuff like that. Of course, given this information you’d think I’d be neater. Nope. Just picky about certain things.

2. I like beer AND wine. I prefer dark beers and don’t particularly care for “light” beer. It’s like making love in a canoe – fucking close to water. I like coffee AND tea. Coffee with cream and sugar, tea black with one sugar. Hard alcohol of choice is vodka though I do also like rum. After an unfortunate incident right after graduating high school involving seven shots, seven beers, porcelain, and no memory of the preceding 10 hours before waking up – I have never been able to tolerate whiskey. Until recently that is, when I discovered Irish whiskey and realized that not all whiskey is the same. That stuff I can drink neat. Smooth. Pie rather than cake (but I usually won’t turn down either). Chocolate rather than gummy, chewy candy. And I’m a cat person that owns two dogs. The older dog is rather cat-like in many respects. The puppy, not so much…yet.

3. I hate it when I’m asked “What is your favorite ____ (fill in the blank)? My interests are many and they vary as much as my moods. Except in very rare instances, I’m hard pressed to name a favorite movie, book, color, whatever. Ask me again in five minutes and the answer will change. One of the few things I can name a favorite of – flowers. Daffodils. The great big, bright yellow ones make me smile.

4. Closed-minded people piss me off. It must be incredibly comforting for them walking around being certain that they know the mind of God or that they can answer with certainty the questions that no one can possibly know the answers to. I hope they’ll excuse me if I choose to remain open to possibilities.

5. I love Traditional Irish music. The old instrumental “chunes” with simple melodies of the type played by Irish musicians sitting in the corner of a dark pub surrounded by pint glasses filled to varied levels with dark beer. I was researching some ancient Irish mythology several years ago and stumbled across this particular genre of music and the instruments used to play it. I’ve been listening to it and learning to play the Irish whistle off and on (more off than on lately) ever since. The music that can be produced by a $4 instrument in the hands of someone that knows what they’re doing just amazes me.

6. I’m a registered Republican. Most people start out liberal when they’re young and get more conservative over the years. I did that backwards. Actually, I’m pretty middle of the road and tend to straddle the moderate fence moving from one side to the other depending on the issue. I don’t care much for the extremists on either side. They tend to fall into the category mentioned in number 4 above. Being some weird form of Taoist Pagan, I believe in balance. I’m hoping that if we can get everybody to run over to the Port side of the ship this time around we can start to get it upright before it capsizes.

Rules of the game:
1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

#1 through #3 are taken care of. I'm not going to do #4 or #5. Sorry MI, I don't always play by the rules. If anybody else reading this would like to play...feel free.

Album Cover Meme

Generally I don't like memes but every once in a while one comes along that catches my interest and makes me want to do it. Mal's great Letter to Myself at 13 for instance.



I'm not sure where this one started but I first saw it on Prepon's blog the other day, then over at Malicious Intent. It involves clicking on supplied links, following the instructions, and combining the random text and photo into an album (can we still say album or is it CD nowadays?) cover. So I clicked on the links. I have to say, if the random stuff had been lame I probably wouldn't have bothered investing the time but honestly - I might just have to take music lessons and round up some other musicians just so I can start a band with this name. Especially since I've written a post about this response AND it came up again just the other day. How's that for synchronicity? Anyway, I liked how it all came together so I thought I'd share. Here's what I ended up with:

Pretty sweet.

Here are the rules and links for anyone else that would like to try:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together (I'm an amateur, so if I did form the band I'd hire Malicious Intent to do the graphics - she does really nice work).

Have a great weekend everybody.

My Letter Across Time

I was tagged earlier this week by my buddy Mike over at Tongue In Check to do a Meme created by Malach. The rules are:



Link back to the person who tagged you.

Send a letter back in time to your 13 year old self.

Tag 5 more people to do this meme.



Dear Bruce,

This is a letter from you – 35 years in the future. The year for you is 1972 and you’re 13 years old. For me (well, you really) it’s 2007 and I’m 48. Yeah I know, you think that’s really OLD but trust me you’ll rethink that when you get here. You’re experiencing some disbelief but just go with it. I know that out of anyone in your family you’ll be able to accept this.

Some background on you so hopefully you’ll know I’m telling you the truth. You’re the youngest of four brothers. The older three are all close in age but there’s an 11 year gap between you and the next oldest. You’re “the baby”. You hate that but you might as well accept it, it won’t stop. It’ll always be that way and you’ll hate it even more by the time you get to where I am. You live with your parents, brothers and your grandparents in an extended family. You father is Irish but everyone else is either all or half Italian and they’re volatile. It’s loud and the general form of communicating is yelling. You sometimes feel like you were adopted. You were not. You have big spaghetti dinners every Sunday and you love to sneak in the kitchen to steal a freshly made meatball or dip a piece of bread in the sauce pot when you think your grandmother isn’t looking. She is and she knows. When you were little you loved riding around with your grandfather (even though you usually got car sick before the end of the driveway, see, I know) when he ran errands for his business. You’ll never forget when you were around ten and he took you to lunch in a restaurant called “The Boat House”. He led you to a back booth, ordered two roast beef sandwiches and two beers and told you to enjoy. He knew long before you did that you were too sheltered and more than a little bit spoiled by your mother and that it needed to change.

That memory makes it hard for me to tell you what I’m about to say. Your grandfather is sick and in the hospital, you know that. What you don’t know is that he will never come home. Even though no one has told you the truth, he’s very sick and I’m sorry to say that he’ll be gone in less than a month. Because you have again been sheltered you will never be taken to the hospital to see him. Insist on going. Your family has good intentions but that seldom makes them right. You should have the chance to say goodbye. I’m sorry.

With the exception of 4th grade (that teacher was a witch, just forget about it) school so far hasn’t been bad. You’re about to enter 7th grade in Junior High School and I’m very sorry to tell you that it will be the worst year you’ll have in school. You are in a very difficult transitional period in life and there are others who will add greatly to that difficulty. An evil demon from hell in the human form of a girl with the initials SS (you know her) will continue to enjoy using you as a target and she will only get worse. It’s never cool to hit a girl no matter how badly you want to but take solace in the fact that Karma is real and she’ll be just as miserable an adult as she is a kid. If it makes you feel better, spit on her when no one’s looking. Also, there’s a guy named Ron. Please remember that fighting never solved anything, should be avoided and that you shouldn’t be the one to start a fight. Except in this case. On the first day you meet him, punch him in the face as hard as you can. Drop him like a fucking bad habit. Trust me it will save you a lot of problems down the road and it certainly won’t hurt your relationship with him. The good news is that you’ll have some good teachers to talk to, the year will end, and you’ll be a stronger person for the experience. After that it starts getting better and you’ll actually begin to enjoy yourself.

Your brother is about to start his own trash removal business. You’re going to start working for him on weekends and summer vacations. It will be exactly what you need for a while. It’ll keep you busy, put some money in your pocket, and the physical labor will have you in great shape by the time you’re in high school. You’ll come out of that transitional phase that I mentioned just fine.

Now’s the time that you should start working on being a better student. You’re not stupid, in fact, you’re pretty smart (if I do say so myself) but you are lazy and unmotivated. That will be made worse by the dread of going to school every day this coming year. You don’t want to form habits that will last into the following years so you need to make a special effort whether you want to or not. It will be worth it. You have a pretty curious mind and you like to learn about a wide variety of subjects and figure out how things work. That will never change. What you do need to try to change is your follow-through. There’s nothing wrong with sampling a lot of different things but once in a while stick with something long enough to be good at it. It doesn’t happen overnight. For instance, you know those guitar lessons you took? I really wish you would’ve kept at it. You’re not terribly musically inclined but you’ll always wish that you were so practice. By the way, while we’re talking about music. Do you remember when you were in Cub Scouts and your dad was troop leader and they brought in some music teacher to organize you to sing Christmas carols to the people at the old folk’s home? And the guy said you couldn’t sing and made you take a speaking part? That shit still bothers you/me. Who the hell tells a kid that he can’t sing Christmas carols to old deaf people in an old folks home? Fuck him! If you ever get the chance, take singing lessons. You’ll never be a great singer, you’ll probably never be a good singer but at least you won’t be afraid to sing Happy Birthday out loud to your kids.

After high school you will go to college at a small school in Maryland. It will be a fantastic experience for you. It will open the door for you to things that you never knew existed and will provide a much needed opportunity to grow and mature. It’s a liberal arts school and despite its religious affiliation and the presence of that influence, you’ll never feel that anything is being shoved down your throat. You’ll learn how to think, not what to think. That’s more valuable than you know. You’re not going to be a doctor but that’s okay, you never really wanted to be anyway. A few years after school you’ll fall into a profession and although you’ll never be particularly passionate, you’ll do well. There will be a few bumps along the way with work, mainly due to the fact that you just don’t fit in well with the corporate world and their bullshit – you’re too independent (deep down, you don’t care much for authority, in particular, the abuse of authority). All in all you’ll do okay.

I’m sure you find this all very interesting but I know you well my friend and what you really want to know about is girls. Before I go into that let me say this. You have and will continue to have a passing interest in astrology (not the “the stars rule my life” kind of interest, more like the “what’s the weather going to be like this week?” kind). You’re a Pisces and the classic description of a Pisces fits you to a tee. You’re romantic, creative, imaginative, a dreamer, and you’re sensitive. You’re sensitive to others that you care about BUT you also get your feelings hurt easily. Less so as you get older but still, it’s there. Also, you love to be in the company of girls. That’s been true ever since you discovered them in kindergarten. Those two facts about you taken together will prove to be a blessing and a curse for a long time…but in the end it will work out splendidly. In the first grade you fell in love with Juanita and risked ridicule from other boys by playing hopscotch with her at recess. That more or less set a precedent. In a few years when you’re looking at extra-curricular activities, I’ve got one word for you. Theater. Think about it. In sports you’ve got a bunch of smelly, sweaty guys rolling around on the grass with each other and taking showers together. In theater you’ve got a bunch of attractive, talented, creative girls; a bunch of gay (in 1972 that would be queer, but we don’t say that anymore, it’s offensive) guys; and YOU. Do the math. Besides, it comes into play later.

In high school you’re in great shape, you’re not bad looking, you start to get noticed and have fun but not much really happens. College is where it takes off. You have a series of relationships with high highs, low lows and you will get hurt. But I’m not going to warn you off of any of them. You will learn from them but more importantly in some weird fated way each one leads you to the next one until eventually you arrive at the ONLY one. At the end of your senior year you’ll meet someone from outside school. You’ll move in with her and stay in Maryland after graduation. She’s NOT the one. In the fall of 1981 when you’re 22 you’ll go to see her in a theater production. You won’t know it but there you’ll catch your first glimpse of the right one. Three years and a lot of life experience for both of you passes before you’ll see her again. This time you’ll both be in a theater production. She’s beautiful, smart, talented, and funny and she looks amazing in a sweater. You become friends and a lot of flirting takes place. The show ends and you part company but you think about her a lot. Be patient. In the spring you stage manage the next production. One Sunday night you walk into the rehearsal studio and see her across the room. She’ll be wearing a white dress with a red belt and red high-heeled shoes. Fasten your seatbelt. Take that first step towards her and do not look back. I’ve given you more information here than I probably should have but I do not want you to fuck this up. Honestly I believe that it's meant to happen and it will no matter what you do, so be patient and let it. I can’t stress how important this is. She will be your life and is mine and everything meaningful for you from that point on will come through being with her. We’ve been together for 22 years, we have three beautiful daughters that fill us with joy and pride and I promise you…life is good. It all starts when you realize that you cannot let her get away, so don’t.

That’s not to say that there will be no bad. I wrestled with warning you about some painful things that will happen along the way but in the end I can’t for fear of changing what comes after. If I had assurances that nothing in my present would change I would give you much more information but no such assurances exist so I'm forced to let life happen. I’m sorry. More sorry than I can tell you. Sometimes bad things happen to good people but life moves forward. Don’t take anyone or anything for granted.

Remember to close your mouth and open your mind and that life is a journey that ends with the destination of death. You'll never know how long the journey will be, only how long it was. Enjoy the ride and don’t be in a rush to reach the destination. It’s all about the ride. You’re doing fine - you will do fine - and as I said, life really is good.

Oh, two more things.

1) The first Saturday in May 2005. The Kentucky Derby. Bet the #10, #18, # 12, and #17 horse on the Superfecta. A $2 ticket will win a record $1.7 million.

2) Powerball lottery drawing for Wednesday August 22, 2007, numbers 12, 37, 40, 48, 50 and powerball 37. There was no winner for that drawing and it rolls over to $340 million. You can get a ticket in Pennsylvania. Don’t forget.

As far as who to tag...This meme has been circulating all week and I'm late getting it done so most everybody I know has already been tagged. So I will nominate:
1. Crashed Site
2. Spirit Uncensored
3. Three players to be named later or anyone that hasn't been tagged that wants to take a crack at it.