Adventures in My Mind

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Oct 31, 2007

Happy Halloween

When I was a kid, I wanted to be Gene Simmons. Here is Gene in a vintage pic from around 1977. The Love Gun and Alive II period. Yes! I know that much about the band. I told you: I wanted to be Gene Simmons.

Anyway, I also love Halloween. Always have. So it was obvious that I would combine my two loves. I wanted to be Gene so much that I dressed as him three years in row for Halloween, 1977-79. It was great! With a cheap makeup kit from K-Mart, a borrowed wig, and some strategically place aluminum foil, I was transformed into a bona fide Rock God.

Tongue (not nearly as long as His) thrust out, eyes rolled back, arms thrust high in full rock & roll salute, I was a sight to behold. I prowled the halls of my elementary school and the streets of my hometown like a pint-sized doppelganger of my idol.

My friend, Jimmy Tanner, was also a huge KISS fanatic. He joined me those three years as alternating members of the band. One year, Paul Stanley. The next, Peter Criss. And finally, Ace Frehley. He may have wanted to honor all of our musical heroes, but I could do no less than fully honor the one and true God of Thunder.

Those three years were the best of my Trick or Treating years. The remaining years were spent as uninspired hobos or zombies or punk rockers. The care and detail of those costumes could never match the passion I showed for The Demon. Sure I still got plenty of candy, but it was never the same.

So tonight, 30 years later, I'm hitting the streets again with my own kids. Not as Gene (at least not on the outside), but the memories are alive and well.

Happy Halloween!

4 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 10:37 AM

Oct 30, 2007

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

So all charges have been dropped and everyone will get along in a great big kumbaya moment. I say "Bullshit!"

Have you seen the footage of Meyer getting tasered by University of Florida police officers? If not, a YouTube search on "Don't Tase Me Bro" will find all the results you need, including a couple good parodies.

I'm troubled that this young man, however annoying he may have been, has been forced to present such a contrite attitude as part of the deal to avoid charges, while no one even hints that the officers may have been over aggressive in his removal and subsequent tasing.

I watch the video and see a young loud mouth who is pushing boundaries with his questions and his demeanor. I also see university police who are way to quick to shoo him from the room. And as for his reaction to the officers putting his hands on him, I find his response perfectly acceptable. Up to that point, he is guilty only of being annoying. That should not have been cause for the officers to physically restrain him. Then things get crazy when he rightfully asks, "What are you doing?" and states "I haven't done anything!"

He is tackled to the floor by several officers and is eventually shocked with a taser while in their custody.

This is not a level-headed response. This is not a justifiable use of force. This is definitely not copacetic. If there were any apologies to be given, I think the university police should've offered one as well. None of the officers necessarily need to be punished, but an apology that suggests that they were over zealous without breaking any laws sure would've been nice.

Meyer on the other hand is forced to say things like "It was my actions that forced the officers there into a position where they needed to take action." Maybe so, but the actions they took were in no way justified by his. It was a gross overreaction to even attempt to remove him in the first place to say nothing of the later electricity applied to his body.

Yes, Meyer acted rashly, but youthful impetuousness doesn't automatically qualify one for several thousand volts to be sent through one's system. Nor does it mean that one should take all of the blame of situation where other clearly share in culpability.

I just don't like the taste of the whole thing. You may not agree, but I think "The Man" got away with one here.

Link

1 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 2:20 PM

Oct 23, 2007

A Small Goal on a Long Road

I now have one of these ...	in this ...

After 12 years of on and off training - almost 20 if you count those 1st few classes my sophomore year at State - I've earned the rank of shodan or 1st degree black belt in Aikido.

The rank itself doesn't do anything to separate me from non-black belt students. I'm not in a privileged class of initiates to any secret societies. I don't know how to do the vibrating palm strike or kill a person just by looking at them. And everything hasn't suddenly become easy for me.

In fact, things have gotten much harder. Over the years I've gone from just trying to learn the techniques to trying to truly understand what makes them work and how I can best modify them to suit my physical abilities. The real work has only just begun.

The rank does, however, demonstrate a level of commitment to my art that separates me and all others who've achieved it, and more advanced ranks, from those who 'used to take karate/taekwondo/judo/kung fu etc.'. It takes a long time to earn a black belt in Aikido, with time between ranks often being a year or more. And it's even longer between black belt ranks. That's a lot of time in the dojo, a lot of additional seminars to learn from other teachers, and a hell of a lot of break falls (see picture above).

I've put in my time and learned some skills. The belt is simply a small token to recognize that effort. Ultimately, my new black belt isn't about mastery. It's about perseverance and commitment. Two things that I am much more proud of than the techniques I've learned.

3 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 1:01 PM

Oct 22, 2007

One for Wooley

Warning! Adult Fucking Language.

2 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 12:31 PM

Oct 16, 2007

Living As if There Was One Day Left

If so, what would you do?

I don't really know what I would do, but I'm sure it wouldn't be much. Seriously. Not much at all. I know that we hear all sorts of self-help gurus and life trainers and whomever tell you that each day should be treated as if it was your last - that each moment should shine with its own glory and dignity so that your (theoretical) last day would serve as your personal testament to the sublimity of human experience.

Write that book. Climb that mountain. Take that dream vacation. Grab the hot chick down the hall and ... well, you get my point. Just do it. Live! Live! Live!

While I respect and often practice the Buddhist concept of living in the moment, I respectfully disagree with the philosophy of going for the gusto in the waning moments of one's life.

When I think of what I would do, I think of simplicity. I think of small moments that often get overlooked in the day-to-day grind of living, working, providing, and surviving. I think of the quiet moments: small touches and smiles from the woman I love, sitting at the foot of my children's beds and watching them sleep, the aroma of a home-cooked meal wafting through the house, a song in my heart, and a bounce in my step.

These seem more important to me than spending my last hours in pursuit of something other than what had been given me. A counting of one's blessings you might say.

As a writer, I appreciate Asimov's quip: "If I only had a few hours to live, I'd type faster." But I'm not sure I'd spend my time doing that either. All I would do is try to cram whatever I was writing with all the things in the above paragraph. I would be sitting in a room alone describing the things that I cherish while the hours slipped away and set me farther away from all of those things.

Why not just go for a walk and say those wonderful things and forget about writing them down. Let those who would grieve me decide what is and isn't important about me and my thoughts. Let the living be a testament to the dead and not try to write my own epitaph for them.
Yes. Life in my last days, assuming I know that I am indeed living them, would be a much simpler affair than we've been coached to have. The time for living a fulfilled life is not when there are countable moments left, but much sooner than that. If you've waited that long to do something inspiring or worthy of pride, then playing catch up will be of little use.

Maybe I'm closer to the idea of living in the moment than I thought. I believe that chasing after goals instead of recognizing and celebrating what had been there all along says more about how you wish to be remembered than about how you actually lived your life.

It may be better to say that we should live each moment as if it were the most important, because it is. There truly is no tomorrow or yesterday. We only have today and more precisely this very moment to be the best we can be and do all the things that we wish to do.

I know this because this morning, my three year old daughter wisely told me that "after tomorrow it will be today". I said, "You're absolutely right, sweetie, absolutely."

1 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 10:42 PM

Oct 11, 2007

Five Years Already? Has It Realy Been that Long?

Just another day in the 21st century. The world is crazy place. The Bush administration continues its jack-booted dance party across the face of the Constitution. Weather patterns are in upheavals. Oil prices are over $80 a barrel. Prices for everything else aren't far behind. Britney was ordered to turn herself in after a hit-and-run in August. J-Lo has twins. Oorah! Ain't that wonderful.

And, in case you missed - because you've certainly heard little of it from your standard mainstream media outlets - today is the 5th anniversary of Congress giving Bush the authority to attack Iraq.

There were 23 others who voted "No" as well, but Barrack Obama would like to remind us all that he is the only presidential candidate who can say that.

And here is a little reminder that even though he's crazy as a loon now, Senator Robert Byrd (who also voted "No" by the way) had some pretty cogent thoughts as we hurdled toward a preemptive war:

To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50% children is "in the highest moral traditions of our country". This war is not necessary at this time.

And Jimmy Carter says Uncle Dick is a militant.

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 1:06 PM

Oct 9, 2007

Yahoo Music to record execs: No more DRM, ever - Boing Boing

Yahoo! Music's Ian Rogers has told record companies that he and Yahoo! no longer want to inconvenience users with draconian DRM technology.

I'm here to tell you today that I for one am no longer going to fall into this trap. If the licensing labels offer their content to Yahoo! put more barriers in front of the users, I'm not interested. Do what you feel you need to do for your business, I'll be polite, say thank you, and decline to sign. I won't let Yahoo! invest any more money in consumer inconvenience.

Everyone was wondering if Jobs and his Killer App, iTunes, would get other tech companies to rethink their strategies of complicity with the RIAA. Most thought maybe so, but how long would it take? Apparently just a few months. And it comes not a moment too soon.

Currently, everyone - from Microsoft to Intel to Yahoo! - who has anything to do with the electronic distribution of recorded media is in thrall to the RIAA and their pathetic attempts to keep the water in the sieve of their decrepit business model.

It seems that technology producers are wising up to the fact that they can no longer simply blame publishers when songs downloaded or copied legally can't be played on any other device than the one to which it was originally downloaded. It was/is the technology that prevents it from working on your computer, mp3, and your CD player. And consumers have had enough.

Fair use is not piracy. And music downloads, legal or otherwise, is not the cause of the sorry state of the U.S. recording industry. It is substandard product designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator and a homogeneous lack of diverse talent.

Link

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 11:28 AM

Oct 4, 2007

Join Me on Netflix

If you have a Netflix account click the link below to become friends and share movies, comments, etc.

If you don't have one, check out Netflix and tell Blockbuster to piss off! Then click the link below to become friends.

Link

1 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 10:55 AM

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