Another good one and some occasional oddness

Well....yet another great Bistro event. Tauri was great, Cat's art is so wonderful. Nice people and a very nice time. The good part of SL was in full effect. The good part of life in general was in full effect.

The more time I spend in this place, the closer the distance comes between this world and that world. They are really interchangeable at times. Mega times.

I'm so ready for a three day weekend in both places. Time to take care of stuff and just kick it. I like college football so that is a plus.. Go Cal Bears! Still waiting for that magic first morning when a sense a change.

Ok, thiis post is a hodge podge. I'm claiming it. today, in one of the worlds, I was at an inservice. It was good, cool people, kinda fun. A few, guys actually, broke off and went to Chipolte. The conversation was typical guy faire, you know sports, politics, kids, teaching :). The conversation took a turn for the odd when a participant declared," I love my wife but......."

So we go around the table and each guy presents his laundry list: shes jealous, shes self-absorbed, shes let herself go, she is boring. Made me sad but I dunno, but I imagine these women could generate some lists of their own y'know?

So the next topic, and btw I passed on go round #1, was I should have married,,,,, Answers included: A Hispanic girl, A Asian girl (thats a wide swath). Reason of answer: they know how to treat a man. The conversation didn't make me mad just created this feeling of silent sadness. So they look at me and I just say,"I got nothing man." They smile and make a joke, quasi respectfully of me being married so long I'm desensetized. Whatever dudes.

What really slapped me across my face was the bagging of someone publically. How bush is that? Theoretically they love this person, at least the ring on their finger should signify that. Why in the world would you say that, hey I think I screwed up and allow me to introduce exhibit A, B, C and D.

This just struck me with a matter of fact sadness that I just can't shake. Why do we treat each other without civility? Not only strangers, acquaintences and friends, but even those we have made a huge committment to.

Sure, its human to feel the occasional resentment and wonder about what if. But leave it at that. Don't make it a topic of conversation. Have some respect for the other person. Fuck, have some respect for yourself and the committment you made in the past. See you in some kind of world soon....

Sometimes.......I tell ya

Sometimes I feel like just chuckin' SL. My actions aren't quick enough, I put people in bad positions, I don't focus enough, I think I'm better than other people. And this is fun in what way? I've learned stuff about myself in SL that I do not like, first and foremost. I have had a hand in some bad situations.

But I'm me. Warts and all. My name is Dave, I have four kids that are a source of love and frustration. I love my wife but I drive her nuts and she can drive me nuts at times. We live in a real house with a real mortgage that is real high. MB20 wasn't lying when they told us life is hard.

When is enough SL enough? When it is just another layer of complexity that is thrown onto pre-existing ones? Kim likes to use the wheelbarrow analogy: the wheelbarrow is full and you are throwing more bricks into it? I have a strong back, a real strong back. My avis name isn't some lameass sexual reference. bigd. I'm tall, and I like being able to bring it if I have to.

You ever felt like you are painted into a corner? What a shitty feeling that is. Doesn't matter who applied the paint job, it just flat out sucks. If you are reading this and saying to yourself, "he must really dislike someone." WRONG!! I'm tired of having my actions put under a microscope and then the entire microscope put under another larger microscope. Dang....

I've only encountered one avi in my entire time in SL who was flat out not right. They are long gone. I like you guys. I love some of you. I'm tired. I'm bruised and I'm battered. I'm just me and human......

heres to a wonderful morning mmmmmmmm...huh?

Some mornings just get off to a good start because you have this song in your head. Yes, even at 5:11 a.m. Get loose Jimbo!


Don't ya love her madly
Don't ya need her badly
Don't ya love her ways
Tell me what you say
Don't ya love her madly
Wanna be her daddy
Don't ya love her face
Don't ya love her as she's walkin' out the door
Like she did one thousand times before
Don't ya love her ways
Tell me what you say
Don't ya love her as she's walkin' out the door
All your love
All your love
All your love
All your love
All your love is gone
So sing a lonely song
Of a deep blue dream
Seven horses seem to be on the mark
Yeah, don't you love her
Don't you love her as she's walkin' out the door
All your love
All your love
All your love
Yeah, all your love is gone
So sing a lonely song
Of a deep blue dream
Seven horses seem to be on the mark
Well, don't ya love her madly
Don't ya love her madly
Don't ya love her madly

a thought or eight....

While talking to a friend, we were both struck at the amount of sadness there seems to be on SL (TM) these days. I don't know if you can pinpoint its cause to anything more than the fact that there are real people behind these avis.

I seem to enjoy playing the fool in some ways. I relish the absurd. Control is an illusion that is so many grains of sand slipping through your fingers. Castles made of sand and all that..

I can laugh, I can love and I can hurt. They all a part of the whole. About the only thing I can try, emphasize try, to control is myself and my surroundings. If someone is a constant source of bad feelings, be done with them, if you keep going around to a place that makes you sad, don't go there. Simple really isn't it?

No solution is as simple as I paint it. The beauty is in the fact that the first step is followed by the second, the third and so forth. I love going for walks. If I'm in world, lets walk together.

I stand corrected by my peers..

This is in response to the bitch slap Bliss issued LOL............

The Soul Cages
The boy child is locked in the fisherman's yard
There's a bloodless moon where the oceans die
A shoal of nightstars hang fire in the nets
And the chaos of cages where the crayfish lie
Where is the fisherman, where is the goat?
Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?
Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies
Where is the child with his father's eyes?
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
He's the king of the ninth world
The twisted son of the fog bells toll
In each and every lobster cage
A tortured human soul
These are the souls of the broken factories
The subject slaves of the broken crown
The dead accounting of old guilty promises
These are the souls of the broken town
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
'I have a wager' the brave child spoke
The fisherman laughed, though disturbed at the joke.
'You will drink what I drink but you must equal me
And if the drink leaves me standing, A soul shall go free'
'I have here a cask of most magical wine
A vintage that blessed every ship in the line
It's wrung from the blood of the sailors who died
Young white body adrift in the tide'
'And what's in it for me my pretty young thing?
Why should I whistle, when the caged bird sings?
If you lose a wager with the king of the sea
You'll spend the rest of forever in the cage with me'
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
A body lies open in the fisherman's yard
Like the side of a ship where the iceberg rips
One less soul in the soul cages
One last curse on the fisherman's lips
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
Swim to the light Swim to the light
He dreamed of the ship on the sea
It would carry his father and he
To a place they could never be found
To a place far away from this town
A Newcastle ship without coals
They would sail to the island of souls

Forgotten tune

Driving around with my two oldest yesterday evening, I asked them to pop a CD in. Hadn't heard this song in a long time. Had forgotten how beautiful it is. Good choice Noah;)

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in the fields of gold
So she took her love
For to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in the fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in the fields of gold
We'll walk in the fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in the fields of gold
When we walked in the fields of gold
When we walked in the fields of gold

Instant Karma! Sort of.....

Those that know our family are aware that we have 5 year old twins that have just started kindergarten. The female part of the program is doing beyond great:), the little dude is well.....a little dude, and 1/2 of my genetic hodgepodge.

As a child, I was free spirited.....maybe.........marched to a different drummer......uh huh........goofy......getting closer........wild.....thats it! I can distinctly remember as a 5 year old hiding behind a short wall and laughing as it got dark as my Mom became more frustrated at calling me in. I had that stuff going on. I do not know why I laughed at somethings that raised the ire of my folks, mostly my mom actually.

They talk about Ali having lightning quick hands. Take away about a foot in height and 100 lbs in weight and you got Moms. The woman could give a corrective jab like no ones business. Let me clarify: I didn't grow up in an abusive house (thank God) but the parenting game was different then.

So our five year old boy is well......my son. I love him like crazy. He belongs in the sweet boy snuggling hall of fame. My Dad would tell me, "Someday you might have a son." Then he would just smile. Well, we have have had three excellent ones. Right now as I write this I'm doing the genetic chart in my head that we all did in HS. Recessive here, dominant there.

He's going to be fine. Kindergarten, wearing new glasses, being separated in a different class from his sister. Its a boatload of changes for a 5 year old. Life can be tough no matter the age. What makes it manageable is the love that surrounds you on a daily basis. Here's to everyone having that 24/7 backup spelled L O V E.....

Next please!!

Some weeks are tiring, some weeks are odd, some weeks are endless and frankly my readers, some weeks are hard to put in words. But I'm gonna try with some help. We all lead ultra challenging lives. I wonder how future historians will look at our era in terms of the insane pressure we seem to put on ourselves and ultimately one another.

Maybe this represents just the beginning. Two hundred years from now will the demands that people have placed on them just cause them to seize up and go into vapor lock mode? It's kinda of scary to think about.

I just think this past week was atypical in a lot of ways. It had everything. I mean everything people! Insane dark depths, soothing warm tones, vibrant blossoms of real friendship and crystal clear definitions of caring and support for someone else.

It was like that classic Clint Eastwood spaghetti western plus one. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and my addition, The Important. I love that movie so bear with me:) Pretty much there is some good in everybody with the exception of Angel Eyes. They will have different names, and be different things, but we have knowledge of an Angel Eyes in our lives or that will be present at some point. Just deal with them, it ain't no big thing. I would be remiss if I failed to mention that these "Angel Eyes" are both internal and external

On a far more enjoyable topic, how beautiful is a friendship when it starts to blossom? It's like watching a flower slowly open to reveal the wonder that is in inside. Such a pleasure to learn about someone, when they become real to you and you don't plug in the gaps with your own conjectures. Perhaps that is one of the most human of traits, we abhor lack of information, so we compose information ourselves to fill in said gaps. We are knowledge driven aren't we?

Some things or events just cause you to scratch your head and wonder why? They grind everything to a halt and you ask yourself,"What can I do to help this person?" Not a grinding to a halt and just stopping dead, but an instant reaction of "OK, I can do this and say this...." Perhaps that, in and of itself, was one of the biggest gifts that culminated this week.

Occasions that let you know what is important, what is real and the knowledge that in helping others, caring for others, we do serve a higher purpose. I'm all for that. Those that need my help will be in my thoughts and prayers as I daydream in our collective few spare moments this coming week.

And this just in.......

Another one of my news type entries highlighting the deranged and just plain disturbing.....

Among the many forms of customer sabotage, one of the most prevalent occurs in bookstores, where customers hide books by certain authors (Ann Coulter and Michael Moore, for instance) out of political protest. Some stores have even eliminated garbage cans, since too many partisan books were ending up in the trash.

Right wing or Left wing, you pull this stuff you are an ignorant moron. Let me flip through the Bill of Rights here a sec.......

In entertainment news.......

Although supposedly illegal for Americans, online poker and sports betting constitute a huge business. At any given time, as many as 100,000 people are playing poker at one of the large sites--- more than half of them Americans.

On that note, let it ride.........../hoo!!!

Life's rich pageant, part 4,213,557......

Our lives start as blank canvas. We apply the color and the brushstroke. We hold the brush, we pick the color. I guess I picked blue just for tonight........


From the very first day that you were born
to the very last time you waved and honked your horn
had no chance at all to watch you grow
up so sadly, beautiful
up so sadly, beautiful
Baby needs a brand new pair of eyes
cause the ones you got now see only goodbyes
had no chance at all to let you know
oh so sadly, beautiful
sadly, beautiful
Well you got your father's hair
and you got your father's nose
but you got my soul
sadly, beautiful
From the very last time you waved and honked your horn
to a face that turned away pale and worn
had no chance at all to let you know
you left me sadly, beautiful
left me sadly, beautiful
Sadly, beautiful
so sadly
so sadly

You want it, you got it!

Due to interest in my last blog topic, communicated via posts and IM's and emails, I have opened the voting on 2008 Dbag of the year award! This contest will be open until 12/31 and I will keep the results on excel. Stay tuned for updates and use your voice!

I will be planning a gala awards ceremony.

A timely award

I have become acutely aware that the occurrence of douchery is on the upswing in SL (TM). From a variety of sources this information begs to be shared with one and all. It ranges from people just being horrible and hateful to one and another and people sharing unsolicited porn with those who have not requested it. By the way pal, that photo is so photo shopped!

What can be done about this ever growing menace? I say this type of anti-social behavior requires immediate action! Therefore, it is my honor to present to you.......The Douche Bag of the Year Awards.

http://gawker.com/news/the-record-of-the-times/saturday-night-lives-2007-douchebag-awards-308182.php

Your schedule

Okay so its no secret that I teach. First weeks are always times of adjustment for everyone involved. Transition from summer into yet another school year. It' also a time to get used to a new round of students and touch base with ones from previous semester/years.

I'll generate a schedule for you. We have 4 90 minute classes daily. Your schedule is

1. Math
2. Biology
3. World History
4. English

Math - You just ate a hot dog and a cheeseburger at your local dinner and washed it down with two martinis. You decide to run home to burn off the calories you just consumed. It takes you about a half-hour to run there from the diner. How many times would you have to run back and forthfrom the diner to your house to burn off the calories?

There are 150 calories in the hot dog. 563 in the cheeseburger, and 548 in the two martinis. So the total caloric value of your yummy little snack would be 1,261 calories. A 30 minute run, the amount of time it takes to get back from the diner to your house, burns off about 275 calories. So you'd have to run back and forth about 4.5 times. (At which point you would probably hurl, which would screw up all the calculations.)

Biology- a musical condom designed to play louder and faster as lovers reach a climax is scheduled to go on sale in Ukraine. Grigory Chauvosky from Zaporozhye said his condoms come fitted with a special sensor. It transmits a signal to a miniature speaker in the base of the condom which plays a melody during sex. he told local media,"As the sex becomes more passionate, it registers the increased speed of the movements and plays the melody faster and louder."

World History- Mao Zedong never brushed his teeth, preferred instead to rinse his mouth daily with green tea. Sound skanky? Perhaps. But the "Great Helmsman" maintained a harem of Red Guard hotties to keep him company well into his dotage.

English- "Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night". Please respond to this journal topic as if you forgot and did just that......

Have a good year:)

5 Things You Might Not Know About Me!

I'll run with Joonie's blog topic...it was fun;)

RL

1. Growing up I wanted to be an Astronaut or a Vetenarian.
2. I grew up connected with an Uncle who was very connected with the
Teamsters.......ahem
3. I make jokes and laugh all day long at my job and get paid for it!
4. I love my job.
5. My surfing experience in grindy Hawaiian surf has taken a toll, my body
feels like I have taken a beating some days.

SL

1. I am hetero in SL and RL. But....I love bringing out SheD. She is way cute and
and way a virgin.
2. I enjoy both SL and RL. People that interfer in either just suck.
3. My inventory is around 7600
4. My two oldest sons detest SL.
5. SL makes me laugh very, very hard.

Two for Two

Another crap night for sleep. Damn. I sleep hard for 90 minutes then up for 3 hours then catnap till I get up. It totally sucks. The cycle is new enough where I don't feel exhausted but that will come with continued disruption.

What do I think about? Everything and nothing. An odd statement yes. Some constant worries and some issues that I have buried just below the surface for months. Thats the problems with shallow graves isn't it? They just don't get the job done. I guess I have the blues and thats ok. At least there is a great soundtrack to go along with it.

As I stand by your flame
I get burned once again
Feelin' low down, I'm blue
As I sit by the fire
Of your warm desire
I've got the blues for you, yeah
Every night you've been away
I've sat down and I have prayed
That you're safe in the arms of a guy
Who will bring you alive
Won't drag you down with abuse
In the silk sheet of time
I will find peace of mind
Love is a bed full of blues
And I've got the blues for you
And I've got the blues for you
And I'll bust my brains out for you
And I'll tear my hair out
I'm gonna tear my hair out just for you
If you don't believe what I'm singing
At three o'clock in the morning, babe, well
I'm singing my song for you

Elusive sleep

I don't know what it is. Some nights sleep just eludes me. RL just will not let go. The mind races over this and that detail. The the audio senses kick in and you hear things. Not fearful things but doors clicking, etc. Got some sleepwalkers so that always bears a check.

The dream life being revved up seems to coincide with all of this. I have symbolic dreams, memory lane dreams, fantasy dreams. I even had a dream this evening about blogging. LOL

Am I stressed out about something? Naw, no more than usual. Starts of school years are stressful on a family level but professionally this is #15. I'm comfortable in that. Having Kimala away in RL tends to predominate my thoughts. I know she is a big girl, totally able to take care of herself but I can't hug her or kiss her and feel her closeness to me. Hell, I even miss the look that says with no words, "You know I love you but you are an idiot right now."

Ok, so I have blogged. Did that. Now I've got to do the HW that I nicely avoided yesterday evening. The Five Themes of Geography. If that doesn't put me back to sleep nothing will. JK. God help me but I do love History!

I'll have to confer with Bliss regarding this insomnia. Seems like NYC would be more fun to have insomnia in than Phoenix. Here I'll write notes, there....maybe go shopping? Have a wonderful day everyone.

Ok so..... some odds and sods

It's Tuesday. School year started mostly well. I'm slingle. Wait....that sounds like a board game.

Kimala is in D.C. till friday so I am solo parent for the next few. Always works out bc my steady rollin' older two always step up, not back. Such little studs.

I'll miss her like crazy but you gotta do what you gotta do. To be honest, I think it is harder on her than us. Can't even fathom the Mom angst that must come from being away from your children. I know you will read this hun, we are and will be fine. We will have a rager when return to us on Friday eve.

I wanna thank Joonie for the fun of recent times. What a sport and great person to be a friend to. Let me give you a heads up......if you are mean to her and just like being a nudge and sticking in your nose here and there...... fill in the word of your choice. I have one, opps its two.

I thank you for reading this less than scintillating blog post. It'll pick up the next go around.

Hee Hee

For the months I have been in SL, I have had an imaginary line drawn around myself. It was self-imposed. It kept me safe and it was a buffer.

I used this buffer to shield me from things I didn’t think were right. Not moral, not ethical. I was comfortable being bubble boy, in a sense. I was smug in not being one of those people. I thought this was the niche that I have carved for myself in the metauniverse.

This all changed for me when Joonie Jatho waltzed into my life. Initially I was curious because of an answer she put on a survey. Well, as often happens, this curiosity expanded into meeting her, getting to know her and ultimately, falling in love with her.

She is truly an incredible person in so many ways. She is well educated, well versed in art and literature, open and honest. Dammit, I’ll say it…..she is Beyond Great! Our relationship isn’t purely cerebral, I might add. She can craft a saucy IM like nobodies business. Whew…. One time I had to go outside and just turn on the garden hose.

I truly feel fortunate to be blessed by so many stellar women in SL. Kimala, Blissie, Parker, Mikki, Quiet, Aeryn, Jenda, Bordina, Lizz, Mis, Yordie…. WOW

The one final SL guideline/rule that I feel I must hold on to is the following: I will only partner with avatars whose first and last initials match (JJ, KK, BB). Hey its SL, anything else goes! /hoo!!

My gal pal

This strutting fine fox She D popped in take a quick survey. Total confirmtion on what I had always expected....

Rock on gf'er....

Your Inner Eye Color Is Brown

You're smart, thoughtful, and the ideal woman for most men You are kind and easy to trust. Men open up to you like no one else. It's this inner warmness that attracts guys - and makes you an instant soulmate.

What Color Eyed Woman Are You Really?

Cusp of beginning.....

I'm and countless others are nearing the cusp of a new school year. Teachers are like anyone else, they are the good, the bad, and the ugly. Again with the 1/3 breakdown on life. It's so there.



As the process/journey begins anew I talk with colleagues, students, parents. I ask them what they consider to be key ingredients of a successful year. This is what my questioning has generated. It's cool stuff I think.



Smile: its more attractive than the finest designer clothes.



Think "kaisen": its a Japanese word for an entire philospohy, one that means "continuous improvement'." Self improvement is something you sneak up on. You make headway the same way your hair grows, when no none is paying attention.



Read: its one of lifes great pleasures. It opens up new worlds, expands your imagination and teaches you ways to cope with the challenges of life. Charles Eliot said, "Books are the quietest and most constant of friends, the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."



Laugh at life: its serious business indeed but there is always humor in it. It's way more fun to laugh than to cry.



Feel lucky: The ever present cynic may say, "Expect the worse, and you'll rarely be disappointed." The optimist expects to find a pony in a pile of manure. Start each day with a sense of anticipation and good things are likely to follow.



The answer is "Great": Often when people ask,"How are you?" they keep passing without even waiting for the reply. Which is all the more reason -- the next time someone asks you-- for you to bellow back: "Great!" Soon, people will be smiling automatically when they see you because they know whats coming. It might be beyond great.....

Nat Random

When I was a kid, I loved reading newspapers. The feel of them in your hand, the sounds they made as you turned the pages, and everything in them were an attraction to me. I don't think you get that tactile sense of something in your hand when you look at the computer monitor.

One of my favorite things to read in the paper was a feature that would appear weekly called Nat Random. No real coherent theme, just an odd assortment of jumbled information. A lot like my own thought processes:). Well, here is my attempt to recreate a piece of that feature......

In Plato's Republic, when Socrates expresses a belief in the essential goodness of man, a student named Glaucon counters with the tale of the sheperd Gyges, who discovered a ring that made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things -- seduced the queen, murdered the king, and so on. The story poses a moral question: can a person resist the temptation of evil if he knows his acts cannot be witnessed?

Sydney, Australia, developed a creative approach to driving late-night hooligans from a public park --the city took to blasting Barry Manilow songs. The tactic was hugely effective, but not without a downside: the people that live near the park were driven crazy by the Manilow music. The hooligans probably moved off to some nice quiet spot, while the tax-paying, law-abiding citizens became involuntary Fanilows.

Who doesn't need a good alibi every now and then? For people who can't come up with a legitimate one, AlibiNetwork.com is there to help: "Alibi Network is a cutting edge full service agency providing alibibs and excused absences as well as assistance with a variety of sensitive issues." The company's fee includes covering your trail with fake phone calls, phony travel documents, and so forth.

Like so many seemingly overwhelming problems, the horse-manure dilemma problem in NYC at the turn 19th to 20th century was resloved, quite painlessly, by technology. The electric streetcar and then the automobile led to the disappearance of the widespread use of horses in the city, and with them their dung.