Another Year Gone By

Another year gone by...

Current mood:nostalgic

Here it is, almost September again, and about 4 days away from the ol b-day. This has got me thinking back over the last couple of years. Saturday, I put my earring in. Lori had mentioned I dont wear it anymore. I had thought the piercing had closed, because I have not worn any jewelry since my accident. She went and got it and put it back in, and that made me think of all of the things that have happened since last I wore it.

I have been blogging for one year this month. My first blog was in September of 2005. Many of you reading blogs at MySpace may not realize there is a button to the left that says "Older and Newer" and that when you hit the end of a blog, there may be older posts lurking. I have 4 pages of content in my blog.

Back in the 90s, I kept journals for several years. I am not sure why I quit, but I did. I have them tucked away...about 5 years of daily handwritten ramblings. I may have to transcribe them to the pc someday. I used to post about what was happening in my life at a karaoke forum I haunted...and it is cool to read the archives and see the drama around the hurricanes, and the accidents, and the deaths... Kind of like an early attempt at blogging, since the public could post responses. I probably should archive them as well incase anything ever happens to their server.

Was looking at some of the old posts about taking care of my Mom and her inevitable demise. While I still think about her daily, I do not miss her suffering, and selfishly, the demands that her care placed on my brother, Lori and I. But I would do it all over again tomorrow if I had to . No complaints here, just observations.

Then there were the hurricanes. The current forecast has me waxing nostalgic over dealing with those things, especially in 2004 when we got the big whammy. I am not ready to face another major hurricane season, but if it comes I suppose I have no choice. Not much of a chicken little here...most of my preparation involved raising my insurance limits.

2004 would have been a good year to be blogging. This month will mark the two year anniversary of my accident. I have come a long way since then, both physically, mentally and financially. I had an amazingly fast recovery, but the full recuperation will take time, and is still ongoing. Still having good days and bad days, and I am sure that I will have lingering effects for the rest of my life.

Financially, it is a pretty hard blow to lose your income, maintain your current expenses, then add in all the medical expenses from the injuries. I managed to keep my head above water thanks to the generosity of my community...friends and strangers alike, who donated to my benefit fund. Now that I am getting on my feet, I find myself with a much more charitable nature. I see the point of helping when I can...that others may need what I have more than I do. It made a profound difference in my life, and I fully intend to pay forward all my contributions made to me 2 years ago. I understand the value of quiet, anonymous benevolence.

I work 6-7 days a week right now, merely because I can, and because the work is there. In my business, it can be feast or famine. All it takes is a change in the public favor, or for a venue to go out of business or change formats to cause you to lose a job. Fortunately things fell into place for me this year at the start with some better paying jobs, and all my days filled. I vowed to try to keep the pace for a year to get my debts in order. I had to do some financial juggling of my resources to make things happen, and now SunTrust has a very big hand held out to me monthly, but, I am aggressively taking care of it, putting every penny I make toward my problem this year. This is my rainy day plan. This way if something comes up in the near future affecting my income, I wont have any pressure immediately. AND, if all goes as planned, maybe next year I can schedule a day off, and the year after that, actually work a shorter work week and smell the roses a bit.

Lots of other personal changes this year, as well as changes involving those around me...friends, family, pets... My little puppy has turned into a lovable moose, lol, my other dog is showing more signs of her age and I think about her emminent passing. She is the Lulu to my Sidney Poitier. Her and I have come a long way, and I am looking forward to getting a similar result from Foster. He is already getting a little more obedient, and I take him outside off the leash. Will look forward to maybe walking him off the leash one day, like I do with Tiny. She was wilder than he was at the start so there is hope.

Samantha's 9 month old is a frequent lodger at the homestead. (I am reluctant to use the g-word...grandfather? LOL!) I am not a big fan of kids, but I will concede that if you had to have one, he is a pretty good specimen. There, how is that for antiseptic praise, LOL!!! No really, he is pretty cool...

Well, I could keep going on, but I think I will save it for another day. Lets see what another year brings in this life. Still feel and look younger than my age, although I have a grey stain on my soul patch that I cant seem to wash out, and Lori loves...I just tell everyone it is dry milk.

Best to you all...

Gas Prices

Gas Prices

Current mood:aggravated

I am confused about the gas market right now. I know gas prices are coming down to bolster consumer confidence. I know gas prices should be going up due to the pipeline problems. Everyone seems to fear coming away from the $3.00 mark. When prices were escalating, everyone was quick to raise the prices, and now that the market seems to be in decline, even though we see a reduction, I am suspect that feet are being dragged.

I travel 600 miles a week or more in commute. I keep tabs on where the cheapest gas is and who is consistantly the most expensive. When the traditionally expensive places are matching the prices of the bargain guys, I just cant help but feel someone is pocketing a large profit margin at my expense.

Hey, this is America...free enterprise and all that. It just irks me to see costs so high when the oil companies are reporting record breaking profits. That is their right, but somehow, in this climate it feels a little unpatriotic for some reason.

We still have it better than most countries, fuel cost wise, then there is Argentina...still supplying its citizens for under a quarter a gallon...and then there is Brazil who responded to the gas crisis in the 70s by becoming self sufficient by planting corn and developing corn based fuels.

And here we are...America...the biggest consumer per person in the world, and we are told by our administration that consumption is the American way and we dont need to stop consuming...and no one seems to be pushing alternative fuels.

Could it be that the powers that be happen to be oilmen? But I digress...

Having been in the fuel business myself for many years, I guess I am just a little more skeptical as well as analytical toward the retail marketplace.

Just venting....

Article In Todays Paper

Article in todays paper...

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Neighbors/NewsTribune/flaNT21080906.htm

August 09, 2006

Karaoke highlights the night life at Beverly Beach

By KENYA WOODARD and LAUREN SONIS
Staff Writers BEVERLY BEACH -- On Saturday night, Pat Mynes and her "buddy" Sid rock the mic at The Shark House in Beverly Beach.

Mynes, who lives in the Hammock, has performed karaoke at the restaurant and bar for the past 12 years -- with dummies. The ventriloquist has performed with dummies for more than 30 years and often at The Shark House with Sid, the old biker, or Joe, the smoking camel who coughs while he sings.

Mynes calls the dummies her "buddies." They sit on her lap and croon along to the songs, she said.

Sid -- who wears a leather vest and sings with a gruff voice -- loves to belt out tunes like "I Love This Bar" by Toby Keith or "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher, Mynes said.

People who are initially hesitant to sing before crowds often loosen up after they see Sid, Mynes said.

"I bring him out and have him do a song or two," she said "So it kind of breaks the ice."

Mynes, who performs three times a week, said she loves singing karaoke with her "buddies" and the locals who come to The Shark House. "I have a great time," she said.

And so do the regulars. Mike Morgan of Palm Coast is one in a community of singers who takes pleasure in karaoke. The retiree who was in a band "about 100 years ago" is known around Flagler County for his Marvin Gaye renditions.

"I guess it's like how somebody would wear a Dale Earnhardt shirt," he said. "It's just a small way to say, 'Marvin, I miss you.' "

Regulars say about 50 to 200 people or so travel from bar to bar during the week throughout the county. They've become friends from their routine, cheering and slow dancing during the four-hour shows.

Flagler Beach resident Gladdys B. Chesser started singing karaoke when she was 76. Now 80, she's a regular, and residents say they've seen her dancing at a Flagler Beach bar, Finnegan's, until 2 a.m.

And some folks have gotten married, said karaoke show host Harry Smith.

The host runs his show, Harryoke!, six nights a week, a favorite among locals. In 2004, residents had a 12-hour benefit concert for Smith after he broke his neck and split open his head in a car crash. He didn't have health insurance at the time.

And after months of recuperating, Smith is back in action. He said the karaoke industry has changed some over the years.

He's wary of hosts who use pirated music to offer a wider selection. And though television show "American Idol" has encouraged more people to practice their singing, Smith posts an essay on his MySpace Web page about the pitfalls of "American Idol" and how he thinks the contests are rigged.

His waist-length ponytail blows in the air conditioning on stage as he nimbly shuffles through his thousands of songs and calls singers "Angolalala" or "Sassy" onto the stage.

"If you have an interest in getting a tattoo, you'd seek it out," he said, drawing a comparison to the karaoke following. "Other people work up to the idea, and once they get down to it, it becomes a lifestyle."

kenya.woodward@news-jrnl.com

lauren.sonis@news-jrnl.com

Why I Hate American Idol - An Essay

Why I Hate American Idol - An Essay

Current mood:cynical

Why I Hate American Idol - An Essay by Harryoke

I am not a snob. I can appreciate the crappier things in life. Sometimes crappy things can be good...often a hamburger is better than a steak, you can enjoy a cheap beer now and again. Sometimes the simple things can bring you the greatest pleasure. Sometimes riding a moped can be more fun than riding a Harley.

What I don't appreciate, is someone trying to sell me moped and calling it a Harley. Don't present your crap beer as premium, when it really is crap.

America is being sold a bundle of crap called American Idol, and the American public are flocking like lemmings, innocently falling over the edge. Some are aware, some don't care, some enjoy it for the crap that it is, and I can respect THAT. What I cant respect, and detest, are the myriad viewers who think that it is real, who think that nothing is planned, that their vote really counts and that the average TALENTED person on the street has a chance of making it on that show.

American Idol is nothing more than a cash cow for Mr. Simon Cowell. Simon has his fingers in each slice of the pie that is American Idol. It is in his interest to milk as much cash out of the machine as is possible. Can you blame him? Absolutely not, it is free enterprise. Who I can blame are the blinded members of society who think that AI is actually a talent contest, and who buy into it, just as Simon predicts they will. Simon wants into the pocket book of the everyman...Joe and Jane six-pack in the double wide. The type of people who thing wrestling is real...the type of people you see at Wal-Mart, or at McDonalds feeding their 2.3 snotty nosed kids, LOL! The average working class citizen.

Who is Simon to be a judge...what are his credentials?

He was born into a stable family, and took a job in the mailroom of EMI records. At 17 he pestered for a better position, and started an in-house vanity label called Fanfare. In 1988 using his credentials as a bonafide producer, seduced a disco dancer named Sinitta and to sleep with her signed her to the vanity label. Fortunately this was a good move as her single (So Macho) sold millions and he reaped about a 1.5 million reward. Not bad, but he lost it all to a financial error...including his house and car. He went back to live with his parents.

He then took a job with Arista records as an A&R man. Keep in mind, Simon is not about finding the talent, he is about making the money, so he took Arista from the noble task of signing talented acts, to being a vehicle for the sale of crap acts to the general public...novelty acts or fad acts that would appeal to a broad audience of middle America and households with children. Some of his coups were signing The Teletubbies, Power Rangers and WWF Wrestlers. For his efforts, the US press dubbed him "The Antichrist Of The Music Business". He made a move to RCA records. His reigning success was the promotion of the cheesy Irish boyband Westlife.

Britain had already had its own Idol show, and they had another show called Popstars. Simon came up with the idea to one-up it by adding the element of the public vote. He teamed up with Simon Fuller and created Pop Idol in 2001.

Now Simon Cowell was a star in Britain...for his acerbic tongue. He came to America in 2002 to sell his idea to US TV, and sold it to Fox because Rupert Murdoch's daughter was big Pop Idol fan. The rest is American (Idol) history.

Every contestant on the show sells their soul to Simon in exchange for contracts. Any piece of tripe sold after the fact Simon has a piece of. There is a format to who they will and will not let on Idol...those who think it is open to the public are sadly mistaken. Any one of you who have tried out for Idol know what I am talking about. Even the BAD acts on the show are calculated. The voting is open for rigging...the net is rife with info on how to multiple vote. The last winner received more votes than the last president did. That may mean more people voted, or it may mean fewer people know how to vote more often. Like the votes would matter anyway...and no matter who wins, Simon gets the money and the back end.

I will not take anything away from those who have won and gone onto greatness. I just cant buy into the hype machine that takes you to that point.

I cannot take anything from Simon. He deserves credit for being an astute salesman and knowing how to get the money. As a package though, I am resentful at the large number of viewers who think that it is real...those who come to my shows and say that my better singers should go to American Idol. I would not wish that on my friends, LOL! Many of my friends have tried out and been rebuffed for not falling into the profile of who they think an Idol should be. Because, remember, the Idol has to be sold. American Idol is a soap opera. The more the public can relate to the winner, and empathize with the winner, the more records will be sold...and that means more money in the machine. And of course Chris wasn't going to win...he was apparently a star in his own right, and the contracts were already pouring in, so exit Chris...who Simon already owns a piece of...and allow Taylor aboard. Now that is more cash cows! Ca-ching! It is all business baby. And it is all about getting into the melons of the lemmings, keeping the water cooler talk going, promoting and selling those records. But it is not real.

So if you view it, view it for the crap it really is, and understand that there is no basis of reality. More power to you if YOU find it entertaining. Don't believe the hype.

Modern Patriotism

Modern Patriotism

Current mood:cynical

Woke up this morning and was flipping thru the channels to see what the world had to offer before getting up and starting my day. I am a pretty big history buff, especially concerning local history, so I was pleased to find a program discussing Volusia and Flagler county life during WW2, spoken from the perspective of people who are still living who were here during that time. It was a great show, very informative, and accompanied by great visuals.

It was kind of neat getting into the gung ho mind set that Americans shared at that time of life...all the great efforts for the war, and the sense of patriotism and can-do spirit that existed.

At the end of the documentary, at probably the last 5 minutes, they had a montage of the people involved with the documentary speak of the patriotism...that no one felt as if it were a burden to contribute to the effort or sacrifice for the effort because that is what you did. They spoke of only knowing one country, the US, and doing anything they could do to help at wartime.

I was transported back to a simpler time, and it gave me cause to reflect to my own personal history and think back to a simpler time when technology did not exist.

These people were so sheltered, so innocent, and not in the least bit cynical. They were taught that the US is the best, and being attacked, we had to do whatever we were told and do it gladly. That begat the mindset.

That could never happen again. I think the closest we have seen lately is on the day of the World Trade Center events. The rallying patriotism afterward was probably the strongest I think we have or will see for a long time, but it of course was short lived.

We are a cynical lot, and immediately, thanks to modern technology, we are better informed and more deeply informed than our ancestors were in the 40s.

It was refreshing to see the patriotism of those who experienced it in the 30s-50s, but after Vietnam in the 60s, coupled with the better coverage of political events, more open public records and the speed of the internet, I believe the day of that type of blind patriotism that existed for WW2 is now extinct.

We as a society also think more globally than our parents or their parents. We have the world at our fingertips thanks to the net, and satellites which were not available even only a few short decades ago.

This is not a criticism of those who are patriotic, nor a call to arms for those who are not. This is just the observation of a middle aging guy who saw something thought provoking and thought about it.

Thought I would share.

Just imagine if CNN could have covered the crucifixion....hmmm.

Got stoned at home today...and had a visitor.

Got stoned at home today...and had a visitor.

Current mood:accomplished

Those who know me well know I have been getting my house in order...got a nice new paint job, and trying to tighten up a few loose ends appearance wise and fix some things left neglected.

Today's project was planting junipers in the flower beds in front of the house and filling them with red lava rock. It took 20 bags of rock and 22 bags of topsoil to complete! Just loading and unloading the materials was enough work, but Lori and I are both sore and tired, and I imagine I will be hurting tomorrow.

There are a lot of stones around the house, some getting grown over, so I took a bunch of them up and created another patio area in front of the driveway. This will help keep dirt off the house when it rains now, a new problem since I trashed the old gutters. I will have to post some piccys soon to show off the work...

While on the way out of the house to get the materials, a kind woman stopped and was looking at the house and said she used to live there. It happened to be the woman I bought the house from. She lives in Vermont, so I never actually met her. I have had occasion to get to know her son, who is a friend of Loris daughter, but we never got to meet.

We invited her in and showed her what we had done to the place and she told us about some of the history of the house...both archetectural and spiritual. As Lori noted, she came in a stranger, and left a friend. I had always wanted to contact her, but never got a round to it. It was a pleasant surprise for her to show up, and I am so thankful she stopped in.

Now, gonna go lick my wounds and drink Canadian beer...til tomorrow beckons.

Humorous Real Life Anecdote

Humorous Real Life Anecdote

Current mood:amused

True story...the setup: I am working a party and take a break to eat before packing up to move on to the next show. I am at an outdoor table with maybe 9 other people present. The principles to the story are the sweet elderly lady sitting about 3 people to my right, and the overtly, flamboyantly gay Hispanic fellow sitting directly across from me.

Gay fellow has huge salad bowl in front of him. I jokingly say, "My that is some salad you have there, you must be a happy fellow!" to which he replies "Yes, I think I am going to have an orgasm!!".

I reply: " I am not a big fan of that dressing myself!"

The sweet elderly woman innocently chimes in "I dont think I have ever had it."

The guffaws ensued.