South Of Someplace

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Your Inner Redneck

No matter where you go, no matter how long you've been away, you never quite lose contact with your inner redneck. He's always ready to jump out and have a little conversation when someone does something stupid. ;-)

Election Frustration

I am committed to voting in every election. I would encourage every citizen who can vote to take that responsibility seriously and to use it wisely.

Unfortunately, this election day was frustrating, because the ballot was effectively useless. The first question asked you to choose five candidates from a list of five candidates. Yes, you read that right.

The second race had exactly one candidate.

And that was it. The entire ballot was a rubber stamp for six candidates who were most likely hand picked by the local political machine.

Please forgive me if I seem a little irritated by these non-choices. This election didn't live up to my expectations for a representative democracy.

Monday, November 2, 2015

The Marathon

The Marathon is beautiful in its simplicity. There are no shortcuts for running twenty-six miles, no potent pill to make the miles glide by more easily, no trendy diet to inject your thighs with boundless energy, no secret strategies to trim precious seconds from your pace, no high tech shoes to minimize the miles required to build a solid aerobic base.

There is only your body and what you have conditioned it to endure through months of training, though long runs and recovery days, both fast and slow, day after day, week after week, in heat and in cold, in rain and in wind and the heat of a blazing sun, pushing yourself through one limitation after another.

There's only one way to make it to the finish line. Put one foot in front of the other, commit your time, tick off the miles, and string together a series of challenging workouts, fighting your way though good days and bad, until you're strong enough to tackle the entire course.

It's simple. It's beautiful. And if you can make it to the end, it will be one of the most amazing experiences of your life.

Rough Day For A Spots Fan

Yesterday was a tough day for me as a sports fan.

First, the Steelers lost to their undefeated division rivals, the Bengals. During the game, the Steelers' star running back suffered a season-ending injury.

Next, the Giants lost their eighth highest scoring game in NFL history despite seven (!) touchdown by Eli Manning.

Then the Jets lost to the infamous Raiders.

And finally, to top off a thoroughly stomach turning day, the Mets snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by blowing a ninth inning lead to lose the World Series.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to look at the scoreboard.

Friday, October 30, 2015

New York Minute 21 - Recessed Doorway

Yesterday, on the way to Starbucks, I saw a guy urinating against the wall in a recessed doorway.

(Two details of note: the guy had a guitar in a gig bag strapped across his back, and this incident happened half a block from a train station that has free restrooms!)

When I returned from Starbucks a few moments later, a woman stood in the same spot smoking a cigarette with a large puddle of pee beside her shoes.

The Truth About Dishonesty

I have an idea to liven up the presidential debates - real time fact checking. A loud buzzer will sound every time a candidate lies. Or maybe they could play a song, like Kendrick Lamar rapping "Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!" That would be fun, and it would perform a valuable public service. :-)

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Marco and Carly

Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina seem like clones to me. They both project false outrage. They both whine continuously. They're the same height, and they have the same haircut except Rubio is prettier.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Why Do Republicans Want To Run The Government?

Republican Presidential Candidates: All of them say that government can't do anything right, yet they all want to run the government. Are they deluded, dishonest, or both?

Monday, October 26, 2015

The Thrill Of Improvisation

My short story, The Horse Farm, is improvised. There's no outline. I make up each chapter as I go along. Most of the time, I have a general sense of where the story is heading, but sometimes the narrative forces me to change direction and follow an unexpected path. The driving force is believability, i.e. would the characters really do these things in their current situation?

The process is exciting, because I encounter surprises along the way. I get to know more about my characters over time, just as the reader does. Last evening, I worked on a chapter, and I realized that I needed to revise my expectations. What I thought would happen didn't make sense at that time. It would have been unrealistic.

Where is it all going? Well, I guess we'll have to see. I don't think that the story would have been very interesting if I had conceptualized every detail in advance. Writing it would have been dull. I prefer discovering the course of the story chapter by chapter. I hope that you'll enjoy it as well.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Storm of Vengeance

For those who believe that God actively uses weather to punish people, note that recent storms have caused catastrophic damage in Texas and South Carolina, while the biggest hurricane in history just passed over Mexico but left the country virtually untouched.

Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere. Can a brother get an Amen?