Human Writes
I been a bad boy...
I promised myself I would post to this blog on a regular basis. It's not happening. Time is definitely an issue, but I'll try to be better.We went to see a wonderful movie last weekend. It's called "Peaceful Warrior" and its based on Dan Millman's book "Way of the Peaceful Warrior." Although martial arts are never mentioned in the movie, the teachings sound very much like Budo (the way of the warrior). I liked the movie so much I went out the next day and bought the book, but I haven't even had time to start it. My gf has another one of his books, "Everyday Enlightenment" and the journal that goes along with it. If I can ever make the time, I'd like to read both books and then do the journal. That would certainly give me something to write about! I'll keep you posted...
Yay, I did it!
I passed my Maryland Life and Accident and Health Insurance licensing exams this past Saturday! Boy am I glad that's over. I hate tests. I always feel like I failed, even though I usually do well. These (they are two separate exams) were no exception. Anyway, now that I have passed them, I'm one step away from escaping my current job situation, which basically sucks. My boss, who is an otherwise generally nice human being, who can actually be quite generous, is an ogre to work for. He yells and berates people and then, ten minutes later when he has blown off steam, jokes and laughs with them and expects them to carry on as if nothing has happened. I'm not the only one looking to get out and, since our staff isn't that big, if everyone who is unhappy leaves, it's not going to be pretty. I won't shed any tears. I have an offer pending my completion of a couple of tasks, one of which was passing the exams. I feel like a POW who's escape tunnel is almost complete.So What?
I know I'm gonna piss off some people with this, but it's my blog, so I'm going to vent.I read today that Newt Gingrich has admitted that he was having an affair at the same time that he and other Congressional leaders voted to impeach Bill Clinton. My reaction? "So what?" Bill Clinton was not impeached for having an affair, he was impeached for lying under oath, or perjury. I've heard it argued that it was okay for him to lie, because it was not a fair question to begin with. Wrong. One of his employees (not just a federal employee, but a White House staffer) charged that the President had requested sexual favors from her and when she refused, she had been demoted and removed from her position in favor of another woman with whom he was having an affair. If true, this is a violation of federal labor law, not just for government officials, for any employer. There are people sitting in jail for doing this. Such an accusation MUST be investigated to determine if charges should be filed. As part of this investigation, the President was asked to testify under oath. He swore, under oath, that he did not have sex with "that woman - Monica Lewinsky." Now, I don't care if Bill did the entire Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad on the Lincoln Desk with a box of Cohibas. I don't even care if he goes on David Letterman, looks directly at the camera, and says the same thing. But when he says it to a judge, under oath, during a legal investigation, he didn't just step over the line, he ran across it like a sprinter.
I seem to remember, but don't hold me to it, hearing read a transcript from Gingrich's first divorce trial in which he DID admit, under oath and for the record, having an affair. It was devastating and, considering the district he represented, could have meant the end of his political career. But he answered the question honestly. Why? Because our system of jurisprudence required him, and everyone who gives sworn testimony, to do so. If his career had been ruined, it would not have been because of the question, but because of his actions. Newt understood that. I haven't heard anything that makes me believe that Bill does to this day.
To those who say such questions are unreasonable prying into people's private sex lives, I say "Fine, then change the law." But you can't just ignore it until you get around to changing it. And before you write your Congressman or Congresswoman, think about the owner of the restaurant down on the corner who fires the single mother of two because she won't fool around, in favor of the hottie who promises to give him blow-jobs in the storage room. Do you really want to end the only protection that single mother has? The President and the restaurant owner have to abide by the same laws. The President is "First Among Equals." He does go to the head of the line. But he is not above any other citizen. If you would prosecute the restaurant owner, you MUST prosecute the President or face your own hypocrisy.
Newt Gingrich had an affair? So what? He told the truth about it.
Wow, guess God was listening...
The last few days have been almost Spring-like! High temps have been in the 50's. That's really only the average temps for this time of year in the Washington, DC area, but after being so much below average for so long, it feels almost like shirt-sleeves weather. If I sound obsessed with the weather, I probably am. I really really REALLY don't like cold weather. I pretty much feel like a hermit every year from the onset of cold weather until early Spring, only venturing out when I have to for as long as I have to. And about this time every year, I'm just ready for the cold to be OVER. I would (and have) seriously considered moving to Dallas, or Phoenix or somewhere in SoCal, but my entire family is within a two hour drive of DC. And except for her parents, who moved to Florida when they retired, my gf's family is also here. So moving away would mean leaving ALL of our friends and family behind. Even so, it's not out of the question in the next few years, not just because of the weather (although that is one of the reasons), but because this area has not been very good for us economically. My gf is studying to become a licensed Massage Therapist and she should be done around the end of the year. I have my Series 7 (Registered Securities Representative) license and will take my Maryland Life and Health Insurance licensing exam next week. We'll see what happens after that. If our fortunes improve significantly, we will probably stay, but if nothing changes, we could go looking for greener pastures. Only time will tell...Can we get some Spring, already?!
If you hate cold weather like I do, this February in Maryland has truly sucked. It's usually in the 30's and 40's and kinda rainy with a little sleet and a few snow flurries thrown in. I'd be very grateful for that right now. We had 20 straight days of temperatures about 15 degrees below average with wind chills in the single digits. Then we had a sleet/ice storm (what you got depended on where you were in the area) with temps in the upper 20's. Then we actually got up to normal temps, mid-40's, for two days and everyone was breathing a sigh of relief and talking about Spring. We're talkin' 40's here, not 60's. Then we had two days back in the 20's with sustained winds of 35 mph and gusts up to 55 mph! Today it's back up to 45, but tonight and tomorrow morning we're supposed to get some sort of precip. It could be cold rain, freezing rain, sleet, or any mixture thereof. Enough already!I keep trying to visualize sunny and 80°, but I don't think anything is happening. Heavy sigh.
Catch-22
I thought, just for the record, I should explain how I came to join Tribe.net. You see, I was Googling another topic when I came across a thread from the ! Naked Sun tribe. It was about sleeping in the buff and at what age people started to do it. I thought it was a pretty interesting discussion, so I decided I'd put in my two cents. Well, to post an entry, I discovered I had to join Tribe.net. No problem. I'd been on Tribe.net before and thought it was interesting, but I hadn't felt compelled to join. Now I did, since ! Naked Sun seemed to be a group of people with whom I had something in common -- a love of simple, non-sexual, not particularly exhibitionistic, nudity. So I joined Tribe.net and then I tried to join ! Naked Sun. No dice. Because I didn't have any friends on Tribe.net, the moderator wouldn't let me join. Thus the title of his posting. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Joseph Heller's novel, or the movie made from it, I have attached a link to the Wikipedia article here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22. In this case, the Catch-22 is that I can't join ! Naked Sun until I have more online friends, but the reason I want to join ! Naked Sun was to make online friends. None of my "meat-space" friends are in any way computer oriented. When it comes to computers, they range from being able to produce competent spreadsheets and word processing documents to "How do you turn this thing on?" I'm pretty sure none of them has ever had a web page and most have probably never even read a blog, much less had one. Also, none of them are naturists, although some have a vague knowledge that I like to go to nude beaches. So, I've been searching other groups to join in the hope that I can make other friends online and that, eventually, the mod of ! Naked Sun will let me in.One of the things I truly dislike about nudist clubs is their exclusivity. Since I was a single male when started enjoying outdoor nudity, most clubs were off-limits to me. It wasn't a big deal to me, since I prefer beaches and forests anyway, but like anything else, I rather resented being told I wasn't welcome, even if I didn't really want to come in, because of my status, not because of anything I had done or said. Maybe being African American made me even more sensitive to this; I don't know. But now that I've been on Tribe.net for a few days and had some time to think about it, I'm beginning to wonder if I really want to be part of ! Naked Sun. If the mod is going to treat it as an exclusive club (don't get me wrong - it's his tribe and he has every right to run it his way), I'm not sure that's something I want to be part of. They have interesting discussions, but is it worth it if they're held behind closed doors? Yes, I am bummed that I couldn't join the discussion that interested me in Tribe.net in the first place and I'm writing this to vent my frustration. But I'm also thinking out loud. We'll see how this all works out...
Wassup wit dat?
I thought I'd see what pictures people had posted about the town where I live, Laurel, Maryland, and there weren't any! That was unacceptable, so I decided to upload some. They're from the 2006 Independence Day Celebration. Every year on the Saturday nearest to July 4th, Laurel has an all-day celebration with music, a parade, a car show with prizes awarded in various categories, field games for the kids and adults, tons of food vendors and, to cap it off, one of the best fireworks displays in Maryland. It's organized by a group of volunteers, of which I'm one. We also do fundraisers to pay for it. I realized going through my pictures that it looks kinda redneck, but it's not at all. Its actually quite diverse, as is Laurel, and a lot of fun! For those who have never been "behind the scenes" on a fireworks shoot, those barges being dropped by crane into Laurel Lake are the firing platforms and, yes, those are the fireworks loaded onto them. Definitely a no-smoking area. "Civilians" are not even allowed on that side of the lake.If anyone else from Laurel is interested in joining the committee, just give me a shout and I'll give you the where and when!