Getting On With Life.

I have now completed the main portion of my schooling. I can get a grade from the school for the work I've done, but owe a fairly large number of labs to complete the FAA requirements of the course. It will happen.

I waited a long time to look into getting a degree based on this course, and it was probably some weird fear that I couldn't complete the course that stopped me. Life has really beat me up over the years,some from my own bad choices, but many I things I had no control over. This time, I got a boost instead. I received a scholarship in the name of my favorite pilot ever, Art Scholl. It lit my fire again, and made me want to work more.

I have to admit I am stressed out and bummed at finishing the courses. I will badly miss going to class and learning so many cool things about airplanes. Guess I will have to satisfy myself with the general ed classes now to complete the degree. I am hoping to take some interesting stuff like astronomy. I suck at math, but maybe having to learn it for stuff like this will help.

In the end, I am seeking to go as far as possible with getting degrees. AND..trying to stay ahead of student loans by starting a new business venture.

BUT...

Its also time to get back to being healthy. Five or so years ago I got in shape and lost a lot of weight. Injury and an increased teaching load put the weight back onto me. I hate when I am 277 pounds. Currently, I am 236 pounds and unhappy.

The girl of my dreams and I are back to the gym, in spite of my agonizing knee pains. I need to pull back into eating less. My blood pressure is way too high and I know it, need to knock that down to.

I want to start seeing an old friend again, one that I used to spend hours with. The friend was the road as viewed from my bicycle. In fact, I used to bike commute as a choice for many years. I so miss that. Southern California damaged my health with its smog the last time I commuted for work. I ended up with asthma according to the doctor. I know it came from the morning traffic smog I was breathing.

Getting into teaching my martial art ruined my commuting schedule completely. There wasn't time to commute and make it to teaching after work. I regret this choice in many ways.

I am depressed beyond reason much of the time, all over stress I pile on myself. So, I am hoping its back to cycling. I bought the GOMD's a bike a year ago, and every time we have tried to go out....MY bikes have failed. Guess I had just about worn them out all those years ago. They are quality bikes, but more than well used. There is a chance that I will be getting a hybrid commuter/ mtb 29er bike soon. The more upright position may be the ticket to renewed health. It may be able to lad me to a recumbent I have always lusted after.

Do I think this is a direction to go? Well...sometimes you have to listen to chance. A friend tonight spoke to me at length about HIS joy of cycling, and encouraged me to get back into things. I'd say that was a sign. Then my math friend showed up...as I was thinking about her and her love of math.

Look out future, here I come (Guess getting the air filter/ ion generator fixed was a good thing, I am feeling a little better already!).

Chino POF Airshow 2008

Well, its been a year since I suffered and spent my last dime to get a camera to take photos of three P-38's together at last years show. Sinc then, I have taken thousands of photos of stuff at school, and all over the place. Happy Birthday to my camera.


This happens to be Steve Hinton in a Bearcat...filling the "Tumbling Bear" spot that Rob Harrison (The Tumbling Bear) usually fills with his Zlin 50. He had a rather bad day last Saturday in Modesto and is healing nicely. At least it was a "Bear" in the slot!



Everyone knows what these planes are I am sure....




Remember Baa Baa Black Sheep....?



The Horsemen Ride....!



....and you thought polishing the RV-7 was a chore!

Another Chapter Almost Finished

...in the grand parade of life. I've a week left in schooling for my A & P,and then a number of labs to make up due to illness and missed time. The intention is to finish the general coure studies to complete this as a degree, so that I can keep going into a higher portion of the field.

Rumour has it that the company I want to work for (all this time...) has dried up on jobs. That would really suck, as I could be quite the asset to their growth, and they would keep me intereted. Oh well, wherever I go I am it seems You can plan and work, but you have to know whn to give up and let things take their own course also.

There is a chance of a job involving travel, which I would distain at this point because I don't want to be away from home, but I might b forced to consider it anyway.

Chino Planes of Fame has their yarly airshow this weekend, and it marks a year of having a decent enough camera to gt good photos at airshows. Hopefully, by next year I'll have a great camera to take photos with- including lens that suit the task itself.

Now to finish page after page of homework that's been dumped on me. I thought I was getting caught up...

The Only Issue That Matters.

So the folks that want to be president are dancing around the same old, tired subjects. How long will they reinvent class struggles and misplaced lack of responsibilities as actual issues? How long this phony war to distract us from real issues will go on...? NOPE.

There is only ONE ISSUE that should be addressed that isn't being touched. The issue is the COST OF GAS IN THE USA.

I am sick to death of hearing how the price is going up because there are not enough refineries, or because they close down 12 months a year for yearly repairs. I don't care what the price a barrel is, and that its all being traded like gold now, so for some reason we all have to pay more for it.

Why are the energy/ oil companies not investing in new refineries while they are showing record profits? It seems if you can't keep up with demand you should be spending money to catch up.

The higher the price of gas goes, the more the average person has to cut back on any and everything they enjoy. THAT'S what is wrong with the economy. Why can't all the stuck up college experts figure it out? Maybe they should pull their degrees off the wall and have them ready when they need something to burn for heat next winter.

The rest of us, the people who have to work and not hide behind theory and vague ideas already know the only issue....and its creating all the other issues.

WHEN WILL ANYONE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT GIVE US THEIR PLAN TO LOWER GAS PRICES?

I say nationalize them all and nationalize the salaries of their CEO's while they are at it. Put all that money back into the economy and split it up among everyone else.

A Word About Max...

You know, I really need to post something abot a wonderful little fella that has been in my life around a year.

His name is Max.


He was a rescued dog that had been abandoned more than once. He came with his share of issues and problems, but thats ok- he is deep down a very good dog. We've gotten past the shredding of everything in site once we leave (because he LOVES his cage when we are gone). I still am upset over him destroying my speakers- seeing how no replacement for the speaker is available (studio grade moniters that sounded just right to my ears). He has, many times over, made up for it.

He keeps the herds of stray cats away with a growl from the door, which then keeps the car from getting scracthed up as they climb all over them with their irresponsible owners no where to be found.

He is over-joyed to see you when you come home, and morose and sad when you leave.

They say a house is not a home without a dog, and it's true. Now to get him a house and move out of this godforsaken apartment have languished in for so long. It'll take some work, but it will happen.

The Greatest Bands Never Win...

I am buried under homework and geting ready for a final. Out of the blue it seems that REM has started sounding like themselves again. I got the CD to prove it.

All those years ago thoselocal boy went up north to Ga. to open for some other unknownsand came back freaking about rREM. Got the first ep the day it came out and believed in them.

Years came and went, as did ad campaigns. OK, I was younger than them but older than the high schoolers who thought them theirs. They fianlly drifted off the scope. But at least they really hit the big time hard and it paid off.

You get th new disc and load it into the technologie to get it to your iPod and lsiten as it imports. All is well, the disc sounds good and without warning the iTunes doesn't end, it just goes on to the next track....of one of themost gloriuos bands to ever exist...THE RAINMAKERS!!!!! Suddenly I remembered what a time it was underground in the early 80's. The Alarm, The Rainmakers, Hanoi Rocks, Marillion, IQ....the list could go on so long. All bands that shined brighter than the George Micheals CRAP that coated the airwaves (Wham was good fun though....).

Support your best memories and find the bands lost in the haze. Bring back real music, kill everything and everyone associated with corp music (read that as "Rap").

I dream of a golden day when the best musicians record their stuff at home, use the internet to get to us all, sell us the download to cover th cost and get to bring the joy of our creations. No more A & R men making money on the backs of talent. No more college educated trend followers saying what we get to hear. Cut them all out for a Brave New World of music!

Iron Maiden is getting there, a few old favorites wander around the internet, rather unsure of it all.

Spend a day a week looking up folks like Mike Peters, The Waterboys, Pat Tomek (http://www.largelypro.com/mtblog/) and maybe with enough encouragment some of the folks will call old friends and bash out a few tunes.

May have hated Guitar Hero at first, and I HATE playing it....but anything that brings actual musical ability back and brings the art of songwriting and playing back is fine by me! I love the kids that got a guitar and now think the game is stupid....as they learn to actually make music!!!

SUV's are turning up more in the US, say Law Enforcement

The morning started like any other morning for Stan Widicks. He shared breakfast with his wife and three elementary school age children. He chatted with his wife, gave her a kiss and left for work. He didn't expect to be murdered that morning.

"They won't do anything about them." his widowed wife, the 26 year Melody said. "They cut you off, tailgate you and force their way in front of you and the cops just look the other way!". She fell quiet as Jiminey, her youngest began crying again He missed his daddy.

What happened that morning was that like every other morning, the father of three got into his small Miata car and left for work.10 minutes later he was first run off the freeway and then killed when 31 one year old homeschooling mother Misty Chambers lost control of her Hummer while trying to change the DVD for her children. Recordings of the cell phone call she was engaged in provided detail to investigators.Officers that arrived on the scene found the woman cursing at the gravely injured Widicks and blaming him for the accident. Members of both her church and charter district defend her as being a model driver, often ignoring the 6 tickets she has received in the last four months, and the fact that she was driving with a suspended licence.

Hummers are giant trucks designed for use of the US Military. They have exaggerated body's covered in armor,over sized tires used for running over insurgents cars and may times gun ports to allow strafing the enemy from the vault like safety of the vehicle. Civilian versions often feature the same deadly extras that make them so successful on the battlefield.Owners of these killers tend to be middle management with flashy houses in the suburbs and little attention to being good citizens.

Often times the civilian versions fall into the hands of unskilled drivers and other "Soccer Moms" as they are known. These women tend to have never held down any form of employment, bray loudly about their responsibilities of raising children and act with an outlandish sense of entitlement to owning these barely toned down killing machines. Joe Staunch, a Sargent in the local police department puts it this way, " They've got the cash, or did until the housing crash, to own these beasts. Nobody NEEDS a Hummer, they were made for the battlefield, not downtown America. But here are no laws to regulate who gets their hands on these things,and no laws that require any sort of training before heading out into traffic. Until the laws change, people are going to die every day as a result."

Joe had to cut sort the interview as he was called to the scene of another fatal accident, that involved an Escalade. "They're just as bad, but nobody wants to say so." He looked depressed at the thought of having to tell another young mother about the loss of a family member.

Having a Hummer, or other form of "SUV" (the civilian term for these over-sized military trucks) means you are 100% more likely to be involved in an accident with one. Police have found that the more SUV's that make their way out onto the road, the more fatal accidents they cause. But still, no one is doing anything about it. People talk about the dangers, but nothing gets done.

Lillie Sharecropper lost her husband two years ago, and she hasn't rested since.Lille has formed a non-profit organization to speak out against the dangers of allowing SUV's into the community. At a recent town hall meeting she stood in front of the crowd, offering facts, figures and finally photos of her own husband's fatal accident caused at the hands of a drunk driver in an SUV. At this meeting, she was heckled and interrupted repeatedly by a group of Soccer moms who came only to upset the meeting. They have every right to do so, as there are no laws that prevent them from harrassing and upsetting others.Many times these types band together after meeting at ballet studios and Tae Kwan Do studios, where their own children struggle for identity against numbingly average talents of other children much like themselves.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about. Idiots like her husband don't know how to drive and its their own fault if they get hit by an SUV. They don't seem to understand how hard it is to get a group of kids to all their appointments on time when the appointments get rescheduled all the time. They don't even know how to drive while using a cell phone and burping a baby! An SUV is the only car that I can drive to haul around 4 kids at a time!"

Lillie counters at one point with, "I guess you've never seen a station wagon?" Only jeers answered her direct and honest question. "It's the attitudes that have to change. The general public just doesn't understand how dangerous these things really are. Anyone can walk into a dealership and leave with a military grade piece of equipment designed only for killing people. Nobody NEEDS a vehicle designed for killing people. They may need transportation, but allowing them to run wild with these types of vehicles is wrong. What's it going to take before there are laws to protect us? Maybe one of the Bush daughters being killed by an SUV?"

Melvin Davies has owned trucks all his life. He even owns and restores old military vehicles. His collection numbers around 30 of various kinds of trucks, personal carriers and jeeps. His attention to detail and his carefully use of the vehicles is being threatened by the new wave of SUV owners.

"I didn't really notice when they started calling them SUV's, they were always just jeeps to me and my friends. First the jeeps got called SUV's, then the old Panel Wagons and Suburban type trucks started getting called SUV's. All of a sudden they were everywhere, and the prices to own and maintain them went through the roof. " Melvin added. " I don't understand why all of a sudden everybody got one. It's not like they have a lot of uses, and if you aren't careful with them, somebody can get hurt or killed." He glanced at the TV, which was showing yet another death caused by the gleaming war machines on a local street.

"That kid had no reason to be in an SUV. He was 16, his parents were rich, and now he's killed a whole family and two of his friends. His family lived in an urban neighborhood and didn't have any reason to own one of these things." Melvin agreed.He seemed disgusted when the report ended with the news that after two other "accidents" with injuries, the criminal was sentanced to 30 hours of public service and nothing more. " They're gonna ruin it for all the folks who work hard and work to safely enjoy their trucks. It makes me kinda sick to see. I hope they don't wanna take away my jeep because this stupid judge's son killed all them folks."

"I've got rights, because this is America and that's why are soldiers are dying overseas for. They are protecting my rights to own an SUV! I've never killed anyone with mine." the short, fatted woman near the door added. Lillie answered back, "Maybe you haven't killed anyone yet, but you will. A friend of mine overheard you at the ballet studio talking about how your first SUV got totaled. You laughed because the other guy got hurt, and bragged that you were getting a bigger one next time....which you did. YOU'RE the exact kind of person who should never be allowed to own an SUV!"

The room erupted into chaos and police had to be brought in to break up the riot. At the end of it, 6 cars in the parking lot had been "Bumped", and SUVer's term for backing into a car hard enough to damage it and then leaving without giving the car's owner their insurance information. As the parking lot cleared of SUV's, most of the other vehicles owners were disappointed to find "Does it have a hemi in it?" and "Hummers don't kill people, economy cars get them killed." stickers stuck all over their cars. "That's just not right." one man said, adding that he hadn't been there attending the meeting, he was the night janitor trying to support his family of five on his second job. A job he needed since his wife had been killed in an "accident" with an SUV.

The next morning, officer Staunch contacted us, after he got of shift, "It was a bad one. There is some sort of weird rivalry between the owners of US and Import SUV's. Nobody wants to talk about it. Two rival SUV owners pulled up next to each other and tried to prove whose was best. A car full of deaf children on their way home from the zoo will never see another Panda as a result!", He stopped for a moment, "I'm sorry, it may be wrong, but things like this happen every day and the public doesn't ever hear about it! I KNOW about Hummers, I learned how to drive one in the military, but if you told me that I would be facing that kind of killing power on the streets of my home town in the USA, I would have laughed at you. We feel helpless, you can chase them in a police cruiser, which is specially designed for pursuit of other criminals, but at the tap of a brake pedal I will never see my own family again. We elect these lawmakers...when are they going to step up and DO something about the problem?"

In the length of time it took you to read these, more people have died at the hands of SUVers. But don't tell the companies that make them about it, they don't care. They don't feel responsible at all for the death and carnage made possible by their SUV's. Maybe they'll feel different when they lose a family member to a rival SUVers uncontrollable rage.

I KNEW IT!

OK, Let's try embedding a video. Never done that before. This one is full of cussing, but its a must see. I just KNEW this was what was going on with roleplaying games and first person shooters:

Ghosts

I've been up a few hours, and ghosts haunt me today. So very many ghosts to contend with.

Ghosts of friends long gone, ghosts of my past. Ghosts of things I've forgotten, ghosts of the charm I once had. Ghosts of people and places. Ghosts of contacts with them. Ghosts of e-mails and phone numbers, ghosts of them all now gone. Ghosts of my hopes and drams,ghosts of what might have been. Ghosts of what now will be, ghosts of how to begin again. Gosts of tomorrow and never. Ghosts of never and forever.

The sky outside weighs heavy with dew. Th sky outside clears slowly to a crystal clear version of the unknown.

What happened to who I was going to be? Shattered in an instant of twsting crushing metal and glass. I suffer still at what I lost, because I now know what it was and how it never came back. It left me not good enough to be who I intended to be.

This time, this year, I work to gather this brokn shards of my life and skills to become....myself.

The soundtrack continues. Its a little louder again.

Bait and Switch Politics

Ever since I can remember (o.k., the mid-70's). I have noticed the American tactic of stupid news stories covering up what's REALLY going on...espicially if what's going on isn't good news. It works like this:

Something goes terribly wrong in a. the economy,b. a war somewhere, c. national issues, d.etc.,small mention of which is made in the US media. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere...a HUGE story buries the airwaves for weeks at a time, covering and making everyone think about the "real" issues at hand.

Did anyone else notice the man in charge of the "war" in Iraq quit last week? No...I guess Elliot Spritizer's dick and Brittney's moron sex toy are a GREAT DEAL more important to think about than a person who is in charge of leading a war in an entire miltary arena!

I remember years ago some stupid story was out, and I told everyone else, "What's really important is all the way around the world and we aren't hearing about it.". Back in those days I had a shortwave radio that filled me in on the bombing of Libya and troubles in Beirut that the American media didn't announce. A full two weeks later, both situations "blew up" in the US media.

I really don't believe for a minute there is a free press in the USA. Can all these people working in the field REALLY miss the important facts that badly? For god sakes, even NPR was on the whore banging bandwagon all week long! I really, really don't care about these fluff stories.

What about the war and what about the economy?

It ALL gets down to gas prices right now. My buisiness has fallen apart because people can't afford anything extra when gas costs so much. I can go back and chart my loss of students to increases in gas prices. A few folks have actually confirmed that if the gas used to commute to work costs so much, they have had to pull cash from other things to cover it.

There isn't a single person running for president that has said the phrase, "Gas prices" EVER during this run. I don't give a shit about anything except gas prices. The MORONS who put an oil man into office and then can't believe record profits from oil companies should be beaten senseless. What was the big story then...? Lance Bass is gay? Brittney is married to white trash? There are weapons of mass destruction in a piss ant tiny country that wouldn't be stupid enough to use them against us?

What happened to this country? It began to fall apart with Raygun and his yuppies. We can all see the effect of years of trickledown economics now....guess what...IT DIDN'T WORK! (I used to say that what trickled down to the majority of people smells like the piss it is. )

Oh well, as long as they don't try and take away our guns there is still hope. Did you see that Brittney's manager agreed to stay away from her another month?! (Why don't they prosicute Brit's parents under the Mann Act? They exploited her and transported her across state lines for immoral purposes....making themselves rich.)

Almost There.....

...The Miata is back in one peice again, and it runs.

I took it for a smog, and all the levels tested amazingy low- sort of like it was a brand new car. The shop was surprised at this, as it has 197,000 miles on it. Doing the valve job really seems to help it all. It now runs better, smoother and with more power than I can ever remember.

BUT...it failed the smog test because the computer had no history in it. I guess it cleared when the battery cable was disconnected. This means I have to driv it at least 100 miles to reset the computer, then have it retested.

Damn...I have to DRIVE the car I have been missing so bad for like 8 months? It had half a tank of gas, and I topped it off for like 14 bucks. DAMN...topping the truck (at least twice a week) is no less than 80 dollars a time! Maybe my finanaces can recover now.

Even the clutch feels pretty good at this point Maybe in another class cycle I can get a new clutch for it.I hope so. Geez, I'll be out of my classes then, with only 4 zillion labs to make up.

Wow...only like 25 bucks a week for gas....I ain't used to that at all! It might even get better ileage at this point also. EVERYTHING inside the top half of the engine is cleaned to like new condition. No gobs of oil and crap plugging everything up anymore.

I have to go to work now.....in my CAR.
Wonder if the room will be full tonight............

Cleaning House

I have recently looked at much of my creative output from the last 20 years. Some of it was half-baked and unfinished, some had potential, some was done. Much of it just wasn't where I am anymore to any degree.....so.....

....I have destroyed over 200,000 words of written material this past week. That's about 70 sets of song lyrics, a number of short stories, and one full novel of around 230 pages. Like a garge full of old crap you no longer use, it feels better to be cleaned up and out.

Currently, I have zero desire to write novels or songs. This is weird, as for the fact that for as longas I can remember, I have worked on writing. Wonder where the drive/ interest went to? Perhaps its the fact that there are 80 cazillion novls of littl to zero worth out there, and the numbers say that it would be a waste of time to try and get published. I do have something of an interest in working on some biography type stuff or some historical stuff around aircraft. Oh well, when I get time.

I would actually like to get back to rockets and model aircraft to some extent right now. Guess that starts with cleaning the apartment up and laundry. Hope the Car is back from its final part of being repaired today. 8 miles to the gallon in the truck is still killing me.

30 Years Of......

Its gotten rather annoying that I CAN reflect back on 30 years of anything at all.

I have always carefully gaurded against beng stuck in the "Back then things were better...." type of thinking. BUT, in many ways that seems true.

FEW bands these days sound like they mean it. Its th legacy of letting in crap like "alternative rock". Face it, you should have just admited that "punk" was people who couldn't play anything more than what the three chords allowed. Tha's not groundbreaking, that's pathetic.

Oh well, we've always got Wolfsmother.....

Things one loves.

2008 will be a good year. I will not let it be otherwise.

Karma sometimes flashes and is fun. The troublesome, lying student and strange parent that caused me so much grief a number of weeks ago came in and annouced he is "Taking a break for a while..." after having missed a month already. Really? I hadn't guessed!Hope you get 20 bucks for your gear on e-bay, you'll find some team sport more suited to your attitude. Why did I ever give up all my interests to teach useless little snots like this anyway? I should have taken up illegal drugs, at least people would feel sorry fo me then.

The phrase I hate worse in this world is, "Wow, it must be great to do something you love and make a living from it!" Hmmmm....ok, I finally put definition to it. I don't love this martial art in the least. I have been highly interested in it. I have been sometimes challeneged by it, but I have never loved it. AND...I have NEVER loved teaching it. I didn't take it up to spend all my time making sure everybody else had fun. I took it up because I wanted to have fun. What I loved was music and writing and anything to do with airplanes, and even sometimes cars. There was the whole world of shortwave DXing too. Can't do that when you are off teaching at the prime time of the day for reception of stations. Pretty much all the things I have no time or money t do as a result of how much time I have spent making sure everybody else is having fun

School is rough, but I make slow progress. I will reach my goals. Nevermind dying trying...its KILLING trying.
Grrrr.

Overwhelmed

It's been a while since I posted. I wish I had some interesting stuff to post, lik the good bloggers do. I dislike cats, so I guess I can't be a real bloger. Why the hell do so many people waste bandwidth with pictures of their cats?

I still haven't reassembled my dead car, the weather has either been freezing cold or raining....which makes it a mess to work on the car outside. In the meantime I am going broke driving the truck.

I am very far behind in school due to the tramas of the end of last year. Looks like I am best served to catch up the labs from last year and test out on that half of the program. I owe twice as many labs for last semseter as I do for last year. What a nightmare. I am feeling the pressure to get things done, so I can get the hell out of teaching for a living.

I am sick and tired of dealing with what are now known as helicopter parents. Kisa today don't learn responsibility, and are all cuddled far past the youthful age that they should be learing responsibility. I've had another bad parent experience, and I just want to quit and go work nights at a grocery store or something to earn my income until school is done. I migt have to anyway, as its not paying the bills as it is. I may lose overall income, but I would lose close to a $1000.00 a month in rental expense, and save untold thousands of dollars of gas and vehicle repair costs.

I need to get caught up with school, thats all there is to it.

Just Keep....Moving...

It's finally a new, better year than last year!

So....the FAA says that the normal passenger or crewmember on an airplane weighs 170 pounds. This number must have been chosen in the late great glory days right after WWII when everybody waqs smaller than they are now, and fit having just fought wars and all the like. I haven't been 170 pounds since fifth grade, and I suspect the years and years of cycling that built my legs up made them into muscle that won't drop below a certain point.

Timing has it that The Girl and I have joined a gym, and paid a Trainer to harrass us into working out better. Hell feels like this. Someday, all those 20-something trainers will also be 46 and know what THIS feels like. I hope I am in the room to see it.

I'd like to get back to cycling, get back to rockets and autocross stuff...plus get my Private Pilot's ticket. I suppose that I need to finish all my labs and get my A & P ticket first, so I can afford to do the other things.

It's an Olympic year, and hopefully that means new students this year. That might mean getting get caught up on bill before all else.

Let the slaughter begin! 2008 is upon us!

Not Long Now....

...until 2007 will be dead and gone. Up until the end it has been a mess. Pain runs rampant as the expense of joining a gym. The gig tonight was canceled, leaving us nothing to do other than try and sleep off the exercise agonies. Just figures doesn't it...the LAST possible thing that was planned for this year gets screwed up. I shall remember 2007 as "The Year That Sucked" for many years.

Here's another picture of one of those damned airplanes that keeps flying around here all the time. Its like they are taking pictures or something. Probably the police department back up to some sort of monkeyshines.

Hurry Up and End 2007.

I can't wait for this year to end. Its been one diaster after another all year long. Cars breaking down, truck breaking down, school becoming overwhelming, Mocha and Peewee BOTH dying, future mother-in-law nearly dying, computer dying, wedding being put off as a result....the whole IRS thing and countless other CRAP. Top it with no trip to Florida to visit my dad.

It gets down to a TERRIBLE economy, in which my business drops everytime gas prices go up another 10 cents a gallon. I don't care what the numbers say, everyone I know who is in business is ready to quit because they are getting nowhere.

In short, I can't wait for this crappy year to be over. 2008 will be a better year.

Goodbye to Peewee

Yesterday just sucked. Peewee has been raging against the effects of very advanced age for some time now, and yesterday he lost the fight.

So many years ago he wandered into my girl's life, when she was only a little girl herself. He took over and became the Head Dog,despite his tiny size. In a malstrom of other dogs he always had his way, displaying a certain lovable pig-headedness that you couldn't help but love. At the time, the family already had too many dogs, and her father didn't really want to keep him, but my girl insisted. Peewee and her dad became fast friends.

When my girl lost her dad, Peewee turned all his love and affection to her. They were closer than close. When she moved in with me she missed him terribly, and one day he just moved in with us. My place became a home on that day.

He was old and fragile when first I got to know him. He wasn't ding so good, so we went out of our way to get senior dog food for him, pamper him and do whatever we could. Of course, he displayed all manner of issues, but when he came walking in with that little confidant stroll, all was just fine in the world. He even got well enough again to enjoy playing and pouncing about...and walks in the park.

Once, on a trip to the mountains, he stood at the top of a mound probably 4 feet tall, surveyed the scene..and then lept! That's a big jump for a 7 pound, 15 year old dog, but he was just fine. H once raced around to met us after we were gone for the day, over-joyed to see us. That was a fine day....until...

...he had the second of some manner of stroke or seizure. He was never quite right after that it seemed. There he was, all himself, and then he wandered off. He seemed increasingly lonely. We worried about him, and so we got Max, to keep him company. Max looks like a giant version of Peewee, and has an equally demanding personality....but he soon learned Peewee was boss and respected that. Soon enough, his pig-headness came back and he was bossing the larger dog around and keeping him from his food.They made a nice pair together. Both seemed happy at the company, and they even got to the point of sleeping near each other much of the time.

These last six months have been hard, Peewee losing control of himself and peeing everywhere. I had decided that all was fine, as long as we had him with us. He was to be part of our wedding, which had to be postponed because of all the other crap. Now, he will neverbe able to take part, and I am destroyed by it. We plan to find and wear lockets with his photo in them when we do finally get married. Still, it won't be the same as having the loving little smelly dude there having his way with everything.

We buried him in HIS spot in the front yard of my girl's house, where he sunned and stood guard for so many years. To hell with the perfect lawn we destroyed doing so,and to hell with the sprinkler system we didn't know was there. I've found a statue that looks very close to him on-line, and think we will probably order it to mark his spot.

I miss you so much Peewee, fare thee well on your journey! I promise to take care of your girl for you, and to keep her from harm.

Let's just start the christmas season depression early.

I haven't been looking, because I am broke, but it seems The Waterboys are playing like 3 dates in the US after not being here for some years. None are near me-so....I will miss them this tour. I have never missed them in the US since the first tour. This is so depressing.

To top it all, Iron Maiden tickets seem to have gone on sale this morning also. Guess that's out too.

I feel like I have wasted my time/ talent and energies to have worked so hard, for so long, to have a place that others may enjoy their interest in the martial art I teach, and its all at the expense of my own security and enjoyment of life. Things need to change. I don't want to waste another minute. I want to be involved in music and writing at the level I wanted all this time, with a job that pays me enough to make progress in them and enjoy them.