Ten Dollar Shirt

It makes giving cash more special

six and two thirds (give or take)

So, I spent that hundred bucks at Amazon and got:
Order Grand Total: $6.66

and in honor of Ray I left it at that.

"He was a good president."

"You're just saying that because he didn't get shot, didn't give away any Panama Canals, didn't get indicted, didn't get us into any wars..."

"I just heard it on the radio. They said he was a good president."

"What are they going to say? That he was a rat bastard? Of course they were going to say nice things."

...

Whenever I joke about my drinking, I most always make a gin reference - refer to the alcohol as gin even when it isn't. It just seems to make things funnier; whiskey is a close second which in turn is followed by the generic booze.

I got a hundred dollars to spend at amazon.

I have an urge to buy things that I normally wouldn't, like poetry books. I sometimes have an urge to see other things even if they are things I have already seen.

So, I'm open to suggestions.

...

If I had my way the New Year would start in the Spring.

...

Sometimes, the suggestions suggested by Word really piss me off. (That's not true, they just irritate me a bit.)

...

Out of my stack of books I started reading "Gun, Germs and Steel" again. Sometimes, I'll put a book down for over a year and a half before I'll finish reading it.

...

I like reading the reviews on Amazon, some folks get so riled up, like the author is forcing them to get on board with some train of thought. I always read as the author is saying 'This could be true" not like it's absolute truth even if the author is saying outrightly that it is.

I'll hear most any sales pitch but that doesn't mean that I'll buy the product. I don't get all indignant at the sales person. I've heard some great salesmen and enjoyed their skill and never bought a thing.

Every author has a message, a point of view, a feeling to express. If you read, you're getting someone's side of the story, even if they are 'facts'. I remember when dinosaurs used to walk around dragging their tails until someone realized that there were no tailprints to go along with the footprints.

...

So, the public transportation system has changed the way you can pay for your fares which in turn changed the way I pay my fare. I no longer will get a monthly pass. I now have a card that gets renewed monthly. The new system has some advantages but I'll miss using the monthly pass as a bookmark. I used to leave the pass in the book once I was done reading it, kind of like an indication of when I read a book. (I rarely read more than a book a month.)

Those passes were very thin and durable and made excellent bookmarks. I don't know how I will ever survive.

before she left

The guy was being an asshole. She was handling the situation herself just fine, so I just watched. Eventually, he left but she was still fired up.

"...If he thinks that then he can suck on my left tit!' She said glaring out the door.

"Oh. I did not know that was an option," I said with a smile.

"Oh, it is," she said still angry, still glaring at the door but then she must have remembered she was among friends and laughed as she added "But for him, believe me when I say, it would not be enjoyable."

Don't waste too much time on assholes.

I don't like this guy

I believe him to be a phony and I don't mean a phony Ben Franklin. What I've witness him do is rude and petty.

And he doesn't look that much like Ben Franklin

insignificant - of no distinction

significant - expressing a meaning a significant wink

important - mattering much

gentleman - a man of gentle birth.

gentle - mild


http://www.epicurious.com/


I can't tell you the best day of my life because I can't reckon it and conversely I can't tell you my worst day for the same reason. I can guess at the best and worse times in general.


I keep to the median mostly but sometimes the scale will slide.


"Once, me and my buddy were working lots of overtime. We would be switching off each night, watching the work progress. One night I was parked on the median and I saw a van drive by and the door slid open and I could see someone inside as they continued up the street. The next morning I heard that someone was gunned down up the street."

That was the third time I had heard the story, only this time I noticed that the way he told it didn't make sense.

Back then there were no vans had sliding doors on the driver's side and if he was parked on the median, he could only see the driver's side. Second, from where he was parked to where the shooting took place is about three blocks which is close enough to hear gunfire, especially at night.

It could be that he noticed the door slide open by looking through the windows on the opposite side from the door but I don't think someone would be using a van with windows all around for a drive by. And it could also be that he didn't hear the gunfire because of construction noise but he should include all that in his story.

I have little doubt that he was in the area on the night of the shooting but I have my doubts that he noticed the shooters.

Her daughter was getting a puppy for Christmas so I offered my video camera. Before I handed it over I checked the tapes: there was the raw footage of me telling that joke, some of my niece, some of what Little g shot when she was visiting one day and some business stuff.

I should do more videos, is what I thought.

...

I got some books, all of which were history, like the history of salt and the cod fish.

"You used to read novels," my youngest sister said. We sometimes call this littlest sister Bookie (because she reads a lot).

"Yeah, but I got tired of caring about the characters."

"And you don't care about real people?"

"Nope."


I do care about real people just not about the real people I read about in books which is slightly odd because I do care about the fake people.


...

I recognized him. He used to be a regular. He was sitting at a table. He used to normally sit at the bar. He always gave off a weird vibe or at least I thought so.

Later, he moved for the table to the end of the bar where I normally sit. I quietly cursed my friends' decision on where to sit but I wasn't the first to get there so I sat were they sat.

She wasn't in a good mood and it only got worse when he sat close to where she rang up the orders. He was talking to her. She offered no reply. I could hear the conversation but I was watching the interaction, waiting for the moment when a line would be crossed, but she made no visible objections even when he got up and placed his hand on her hip, there wasn't even a hint of her pulling away.

"Hey, do you mind not touching her," Jen yelled over. He didn't acknowledge her. So she said "Take you hand off of her." The waitress just went about ringing up her order.

I waited, half hoping he wouldn't respond, I was pretty certain I could take the guy. I consider both the bartender and the waitress as friends and now it was quite obvious he was causing a problem. At that point in time, the situation had risen to 'being my business'.

But the guy removed his hand and retuned to the bar where he finished his beer and then left.

About an hour and half later I left and then returned with a box of chocolates and two hand dipped strawberries. I handed the box to the bartender and waited for the waitress to come by her station.

"Here. Merry Christmas," I said as I handed her the small bag.

She hugged me hard and said "I only like Jen, you and Danielle. I hate guys like that jerk." I wished I had done more as she still held the embrace. She didn't meet my gaze as she let me go and thanked me as grabbed three pints of cheap beer for table 23 and I was glad she didn't.

My world went quiet and in that stillness of the busy barroom I wished for heroic answers but all I got was silence which followed me out the door and up the street.

I was lying on my bed face up with my eyes open because when I closed them the room would spin. It was five o'clock. I think it was the oatmeal cookie martini's that had done me in.

The company party was a seven. I figured I would blow it off so I rolled over and passed out until eight. For some reason I checked my phone; I had two messages waiting and after listening to them I realized I had to go.

I had two cokes and a ginger ale and I stayed chatting folks up until midnight. When I was leaving someone said that we should grab some drinks sometime.

Be careful what you wish for – I get ballsy and mouthy but it's usually with a smile.

So, the bio page.

The 'so' is to get your attention and 'the bio page' is to clue you in to what's about to come. If you're ever just sitting around with me, you will eventually hear 'so.' The mind is always going and 'so' is like a warning buzzer that something is about to come spewing forth.

And I often will get side tracked.

I was asked if I wanted to be on the company bio page; I said no and I gave the same answer a few weeks later when I was asked again, but she told me that she would like me on it. She sent me for head shots and told me someone would be calling me for information. I took a deep breathe because there just isn't that much stuff on me that should go on a company bio page.

The guy called me. He has known me for over twenty years.

What's your educational background?
Technically, just a high school diploma.

Really?
Yup.

No other post high school stuff?
Nope.

How'd ya...Outside interests? Working on the house?
Yeah, basically. You see my life.

Do you read?
Actually I do.

Now you're more of a backroom - back office guy...What is it that you do?
See that's the thing, what does she want to say about me? I don't know.


Basically, he's going to make stuff up.

favorite saying: "You realize the deadline is tomorrow?"

interesting and or unknown and or uninteresting facts: I dream of making a living at creating toys, I blog, I like buying books more than I like reading, I can out drink most of my friends, I never drop before the flop, I've butchered a tune on a piano, a recorder, a fluteaphone, a squeeze box, harmonica, guitar, mandolin - but I can't play any of them.

hobbies: leather craft, woodworking, baking, cooking, silk screening, paper crafts, origami, fishing, shooting, fencing, gardening, photo taking, code writing, needlecraft (mostly to make fun of someone), rock climbing (before it was vogue), hiking, button making, buying books, reading books, buying musical instruments, leaving trailing commas,


(I just shoved a whole mini carrot cake muffin in my mouth. You gotta love that Christmas spirit)

So, I read the bio. My bio. The bio of fiction.

If anyone actually clicks on 'so' as a label and I find out about it, I'm just going to shake my head and maybe feel a twinge of guilt for actually having a 'so' label. I should have a best of label - the ones I like best.

Anyway, the bio - high quality BS with a touch of ridiculousness, I liked it, but I drew the line with me reading science fiction. I have read science fiction and I used to enjoy it but I just got tired of remembering all those made up names and places and devices - it's all just too much work for the precious little reading time I afford myself. Early on though that's basically all I read back when it was cool.

And also science fiction readers are freaks, so it had to go.

so maybe it isn't just the cheap beers

I've rarely ever came across a fork in the road. I've always been more like standing in a meadow; standing there with wings and a shovel.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think that's a lot of wasted words. A good writer can paint a scene with a lot less and the scene will come with sounds and smells and tastes and feelings.




World's tallest man saves China dolphins


"All you've gotta do is reach in that dolphin and pull out any plastic that's in its stomach."

He's probably has had trouble fitting in. He's probably tried just to be normal. He probably still notices the stares. People probably avoid him until they need him to reach something down from the top shelve or out of a dolphin's gut.

He sometimes will hear the users say "Thanks" but most often he doesn't hear the word "freak" that follows.

He's a hero whenever he isn't a pariah.

He sometimes gets to walk through the front door but he always has to leave through the back.


Sometimes people are

Sometimes people just are