30 DAYS

For some reason, right now I'm in an intellectual mood, so I'm going to digress from the usual senseless banter and write some thoughts I had.

Have you seen the show on the FX channel called 30 Days? Its done by the guy who did the documentary Supersize Me. Brilliant guy. If you haven't seen the show, he takes somebody or some people and exposes them to something for 30 days to explore that "something" and educate people on the findings. It's on every Wednesday.

Last night, the show was about Christians vs. Muslims. VERY interesting. I'm not religious. In fact, the idea of organized religion is something that is foreign to me. Particularly as most are based on "faith", yet they don't typically respect someone else's "faith". Who makes them so self-righteous to think what they have "faith" in is the TRUTH??

At any rate, they took an insurance salesman from BFE West Virginia, a somewhat successful Christian family guy (but definitely a frat guy who never grew up), and stuck him in a fundamentally Muslim household in Dearborn MI (high Muslim population) and he was required to "fit in". He was to wear Islamic-like clothes, read the Qu'ran everyday, grow a beard and generally live like a Muslim. First off, this guy really was a tool. I got the impression he was a good salesman, but other than that - he was seriously clue less - the perfect candidate for the mission. The family he was placed with seemed very nice. They were educated (He was a Dr. and she was finishing law school)peaceful, gracious and polite. Also very true to their beliefs. They deserved better than to be stuck with this guy, but hopefully they were being compensated.

For much of the first two weeks, he was so consumed with not "going against Christianity" that he lost a lot of opportunity to open his mind to another way of life. He then found a cleric who made more sense to him and he was then able to begin learning. He was then able to find a respect for the way they live and some staunch misunderstandings carried by the vast majority of non-Muslim Americans (this was also documented throughout the program).

One of the re-occurring themes to the program was the association between Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. It would be absurd to pretend there isn't a link. It would be even more absurd to deny there is a reason for that association. But are all fundamentalist Christians abortion clinic bombers? Should we look at all of them as potential bombers? Of course not, just as being Muslim doesn't make you a terrorist. I WILL say, however, that the offenders should be dealt with in as cruel of way as they display. In otherwords, I'm tired of hearing about "war abuses" overseas. Fuck that! Torture away at these assholes who are decapitating innocent people and upsetting the peace of the general public violently. Publicly hang these bastards who are bombing abortion clinics. No mercy! Then things would quiet down a little.

Although I don't subscribe to any religion, It's in everyone's best interest to understand other beliefs and ways of life. Its a shame people in this country tend to be so blind (or maybe closed-minded) to these differing concepts.

that's my rant for the month, so have at it.

Oh, and check out this show! It's reality TV of the good kind.

SIX DEGREES

Did I happen to mention that I live by a lesbian bar?? Its called Six Degrees. It's a happenin' place. Trust me. I know. No, not because I've actually ever stepped into the place, but because the constant pumping base and screaming female voices hinder our peace and quiet. This, on top of the not so subtle comings and goings (and loitering) of the patrons. On any given night, women pour out and into the street and occasionally our lawn while arguing, making out, smoking non-cigarettes and whatever else you can think of. Sometimes all of the above at the same time. I've met the manager - she's actually really cool. And the other staff has expressed occassional regard for our tranquility. Nonetheless, most of the customers are pretty scary. And I'm not scared of much. Mostly because I don't think I could intimidate most of them. On the other hand, as most American males - chicks-on-chicks is a pretty hot concept. And although most of these women make me feel less masculine, some of them are actually beautiful.

Six degrees of another sort: My circle of friends here have a really incestuous past. It seems like all the girls have dated all the boys. WTF??? I have a very narrrow, but distinguished set of morals. One of these is that I don't date girls that my buddies have. Just don't do it. Bad form. This idea of everyone passing around "dates" is completely foreign. Do they all get together at some clubhouse (which is actually our house) and compare notes once a month??? I hope if I ever do hook up with one of the girls my report card is good.

I was introduced to this girl the other day that I hadn't met before. She was very attractive and intellegent. We started talking and she said, "I was at Six Degrees the other night (for Skareoke night) and I thought of stopping by to say "HI" to you guys." She followed up by explaining that one of her friends' sisters is gay and hangs there all the time - so they went to hang with her. Viable enough story. After she left, my buddy listed the guys in our circle who have "dated" her. Fuck.

I think I should start hanging at Six Degrees. At least I wouldn't have to drive home.

GO PADRES! GOD SAVE THE ASTROS!

Went to my first Padres game last night -vs. Dodgers. Live baseball rocks. I don't care who y'are. I was invited by my buddy's girlfriend and her friends. Drunkies!! They met me at my office around 1900 after they had been at the bar since 1730 because my office is only about 3 blocks from the ballpark. I was still stone sober so I had some catching up to do, which didn't take much.

We had field level seats in center field. Great seats, and most importantly right in front of the beer stand. Buddy's Girlfriend was having an excellent time. Until....

DRAMA!

It was the eighth inning and some fans had gathered standing behind our seats. I'm a little fuzzy on how it actually began, but the next thing I knew she was in a heated argument with a group of gangsta looking Dodgers fans. So I had to jump in. I tried the peacemaker approach this time, since I wasn't much into the scrapping mood. They weren't really receptive to that approach, but by then security had showed up. Its always funny when people will all the sudden try to get violent when they know someone is there to hold them back. What's up with that? Pansies. Anyhow, to make a long and blurry story short, the cops showed up and took the punkasses to jail. HA! Fuckers.

Again, live Baseball rocks.

I could become a Padres fan, afterall you have to cheer for the Hometeam, right? I'll never give up on my beloved Astros though (who, by the way, swept the Rockies- in yo face Lissa!!).

I'M WARMING UP

The sky was blue and the breeze was slight from the northwest as I settled into my beachchair with a beverage of the lager variety, my newest book and watched the azure plain in front of me toss curls of white onto the sand. For the first time in 3 weeks, I was content. Relaxed.

My addiction to the book was only interrupted periodically by the bronzed beach beauties in bikinis parading in the mid-afternoon ocean air. There was a collage of personnel present. The surfer girls - blondes with sun-bleached streaks and body glove costumes. The Brazilians, with multicolored suits, dark and slightly reddened hair along with beautiful Portuguese accents kissing each other on both cheeks as they greeted. The Outlaw girls, with tattoos and piercing that would make Tommy Lee blush. The prancers, who strutted around with enhanced parts like Paris Hilton making a red-carpet entrance. And many more...

The entertainment came most, though, from the Dazers sitting in front of me with their cooler of beer and nothing else to occupy their time. Actually, they were beautiful and had just gotten settled in when a creepy Asian man with two bags began invading their space. As they arrived he had all of his things wrapped around his shoulders and tried initiating a conversation. They gave him brief answers and continued setting up camp while making it clear via body language that he wasn't on their social agenda for today. He decided, seemingly oblivious to their indirect, but obvious rejection, that he would set himself up two feet in front of them. No sooner did they get comfortable when he re-initiated contact. As he was trying to get them to talk more than the one-line answers they were giving to his intrusiveness, he was inching up on to their beach towels. After a few minutes, a guy sitting near them with his wife decided to intervene. Something I was contemplating - as I've done in many other situations - but this was almost too fun to watch. He politely asked the intruder to stop harassing the ladies. I'm not sure what exactly was exchanged but after a few minutes of bickering, intruder retreated back to his own things. The girls were quite thankful. A few minutes passed and the intruder packed up his items and put them back over his shoulder. As he was leaving, he said something to the hero (who was an intimidating character) about how he should learn to mind his own business. Hero simply responded, "I think that perhaps you should learn to do the same." I was impressed by his composure.

As the intruder waltzed down the beach hunting for his next prey, I wondered how people like that live. Does he go home at night and reflect, with embarrassment, about his intrusive behavior? Has he ever been successful in establishing a positive outcome with this approach? Would there be someone down the beach who would interject for the next unsuspecting victims? Is he on the FBI's most wanted list?

I was overextended pondering unanswerable questions and lay back with my book and beer. Content. Relaxed.

MY FIRST SD MAKE-OUT SESSION

I know how women are, but I'll never understand them. A buddy and I decided to
go have a couple of pints after work yesterday and well, a couple always turns into
a few, which eventually turns into many. Sitting at the empty bar minding our own business and a couple of attractive dames walk in and sit down near us. 15 minutes later, while I'm visiting the barfroom, my esteemed colleague strikes up a conversation with said girls - and of course, being the gentleman that I am, it was my duty to participate in such conversation. The one closest to me (and the most attractive) started bullshitting me about where she was from (far away) and all the other usual yada,yada,yada. Now, you can't bullshit a professional bullshitter. If your mother never taught you that - I just did. Being familiar with her alleged place of home, I asked her a few basic questions to which she had no answers. So I did what any polite, considerate, well mannered chap would do: I called her the fuck out on the carpet. To which she continues to try to keep the story up. So, I really was a good sport and listened - like a kindergartener at story time. We talked and drank for another hour or so (who really knows? It was a bar time warp) and I said I needed to get home. At this point she said, "not a chance!" and ordered me another pint. Of course I wasn't going to deny the bribe- after all, what kind of a guy do you think I am?? As I was finishing, she wrote her phone number down on a coaster and handed it to me. SHOCKER: She had a LOCAL phone number! I said, "Thanks. But I'm NOT going to call you." This line rarely fails me, and it didn't last night. She immediately grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me into a 30 minute make-out session at the bar. She was a really good kisser, which is a bonus. I'm still not going to call her.

This was a really good thing to happen because since getting here, I've felt like I lost my mojo. I was around many women last weekend, but didn't get any vibes - not even any good heavy flirting! I was thinking to myself, "Self, WTF??". But the mojo is back, I know this because I did get heavy flirting from the super hot hostess at lunch today...

Now I need to go practice my killer bow-staff skills.

OKAY. OKAY. OKAY ALREADY!!!!

Hey everyone!!! I'm finally back in action. I got into San Diego a little over a week ago and I'm finally getting settled in a little. Quite a transition, and I miss Texas (So I'll keep my same blog name), but its pretty cool here - I'm sure I'll grow to love it more and more. So thats the short story.

Oh, you want the long version?????? Why didn't you say so??

Lets see. Hmmm. How 'bout we go back to May 28th. For no particular reason other than that it was my Birthday. I was packing and my phone was burning up. People wishing me a happy birthday? No. People wanting to go out that night? No. People offering to come help me pack? Yeah. Right. People were calling only because word got out that I was leaving and they wanted to see if it was true. I threw myself a little pitty birthday party and packed some more boxes before downing a 12pack and drunken dialing all the booty calls I was leaving behind. Except for the one from the last 2 weeks because she pulled out the L-word a couple nights before and was receiving her walking papers (she just didn't know it yet). Oh, about the pity party - I was lying. The truth is I didn't really tell anyone it was my birthday, so they really didn't know. In fact, some people knew it was in that general time frame and over the course of the previous week had wished me a random happy birthday. This began with my Ex-wife, who left a message a week before apologizing that she missed it. WTF?? This many years and she doesn't remember?? I really shouldn't be surprised - "she ain't all thr."

The next couple of days were spent packing and organizing and all the other things one has to do prior to leaving. I was putting all of my belongings in storage there since I really don't need anything but my work cloths, iPod (UUGGHH!!!), golf clubs, fishing rod and a few other small items. Ughh on iPod because when I tried to use it on my new computer, the entire memory dumped and I lost ALL my songs!!! What's worse is I can't get my new computer to recognize the damned thing now - something about drivers that I can't seem to find in order to down load. Anyone. Anyone.

My plan was to leave on Wednesday June 1st. I was all packed. New tires. Car gassed up. Scruffs' bed set up in the co-pilot's position. OH, I forgot to mention she was going nuts from the first time I broke out a box! Constant whining, which is something she really only started doing over the last few years. After vacating my place on Tuesday night, Scruffs and I headed over to my buddy's house to stay the night before leaving early in the morning. L-word Girl decided to track me down there and drama ensued, which I really won't get too far into. I went to the bar to try get some alone time and check over a map. This is where the worst news EVER came. My buddy and new roommate in SD is allergic to dogs!!!!! But its Scruffs!!! She's hardly a dog!! She's more like a Dr. Seuss character. Is he allergic to Grinches? Cat in the Hats? Marvin K. Mooneys?? Apparently. Once more, it was time to get drunk. I'll figure this all out in the morning.

Wednesday and my hangover is telling me I must watch daytime television. So I did. And as usual I was disappointed. Later in the day I started to ponder Scruffs. How could I leave her behind?? We've been together for 10 years!!! Through thick and thin. She's been my send off committee in the morning and welcoming committee at night in two states and 4 houses. I can't leave her. Lets get drunk.

Thursday and my hangover is telling me that I really need to figure shit out. And watch a little daytime television. As with the day before, I was disappointed. What are my options? I can take Scruffs and leave her with another friend in SD. Or I can take scruffs and she'll stay at the office. Or I can leave Scruffs with my brother (whom she loves more than me, it sometimes seems) for a couple of months and bring her out once I get settled and most likely have my own place. As the day draws on, I realize that option 3 is probably the best thing for her right now. After all, she's familiar with my brother and his house. He'll take great care of her and she's buddies with his dog and cat (he reports they all follow him around the house in line like he's the goddamn Pied Piper). It was the best thing, I know. But I miss her so much. I feel like something is missing. And its not a beer.

Its Friday and I'm pulling out of Houston. West bound, I-10. Lots of things running through my mind. I remembered the day I drove into Houston from the east, also west bound on I-10 five and a half years earlier. I remembered how excited I was. Scared too. Unsure of my future and hoping I would be everything everyone was expecting me to be. Wondering what kind of friends I would make. Needing to find a bathroom (What can I say, it was a long drive from Miami!!!). I remembered how I felt when I left Miami and how this felt so similar. I drove until I saw the lights of El Paso, which is roughly half way. I found a hotel and checked in for the night. Then I went to drink.

Saturday, I get up and motivate. This day, I'm only going as far as Phoenix - around 5 hrs. One of my best childhood buddies is a firefighter there and I haven't seen him in a few years. Plus, I promised M'tini a few drinks. Phoenix was a lot of fun and it was also good to catch up with my old friend. I was on the road again. Next stop: San Diego.

I rolled into town around 4 in the afternoon. I think. I was a little unsure because my phone, watch and car clock all had different times. Casualties of multiple time zones and the lack of foresight to change them all synchronically. I spent the next few hours acclimating to my new environment and discussing the new strategies with my new business partners. The next morning, I was up promptly at 5am. Not because I wanted to be up then, but because my body was still on Central Time and/or I was anxious to get the day started.

I worked until 10pm that night. As I did most nights that week. With no grog. But finally the weekend came and I made up for it. Met lots of new people and don't remember many of the names, but surely people I'll run into again. Most of the people I know here are kind of on the "club" side. They tend to hang at the places "to be seen". Not that they are pretentious - because they really aren't. Just popular for being good people, which is the only reason I tolerate going to the clubs. I would much rather hang at one of the Irish pubs and talk about girls, baseball and firetrucks. Oh well.

On Sunday we BBQ'd and had some people over, meaning we invited girls. We drank too much wine. Not really. Just too much considering we started at noon with stiff-ass bloody marys. Yesterday, it was back to the grind and obviously, I'm still at the office and its past 10. I'm going home now though.

So that's all I got. Hope I haven't lost too many readers by being out of the loop for so long! Forgive me.