House For Sale

Amidst the overwork and dual pressing nature that is my life -- there exists yet another problem. I have a house for sale. It is a very expensive house which has meant that very many people are scared away from it. 

The asking price started at almost $2M but has now crept downwards significantly -- not because the house is worth any less, but strictly because it is so difficult to get a jumbo loan (which would be required for most people to afford this house). I have had many lovely people (and some not so lovely -- flippers) look at the house since it was first put up for sale after my wife "She" died of cancer. But no luck yet.

Suffice it to say I put it up for sale just prior to the largest economic turndown since the Great Depression (see Great Recession of 2008)-- but now the lack of a sale is just getting depressing in a "not-so-great" sort of way.  I urge anyone who wants the Bed and Breakfast lifestyle to consider buying this house. It is beautiful -- it is in a wondrous location in Savannah, GA -- and it is a prime property, even with the fixing up required to make it your own. And everything is negotiable.

Racism

We in America have gotten to the point that we need to deal with racism as the ignorant perversion it really is. People who insist on being racist violate human and societal codes with impunity. They place their own ignorant views on a pedestal and use their own middling attempts at excusing themselves as the foundation of their esteemed placement.

Racists are fools -- morons, jerks, selfish pricks, and just plain mental slobs. They don't understand that any justification they might use (religion, sociology, politics, etc.) is further proof of their palpable stupidity. Racists are forever wallowing about in their own superiority, never understanding that they are actually drowning in their own dung. 

We Need a Revolution....NOW

There is a terrific play from several decades ago entitled "Marat/Sade" that has a song in it that has the closing line of the above title. And it is always true!  We DO need a revolution ...now; on many things, in many areas, in multiple organizations and disciplines.

We need a revolution in education -- getting us back to the Latin root of the word "educate"--leading us out of ignorance, inspire us to lead ourselves forward. We need a revolution in government -- to return to the idea that government is not just "of" and "by" but also "for" the people being governed. Now -- politicians appear to only work for themselves. And education only works to please the stupid -- the students who are stupid enough to think education is all about money, and the "educators" who insist education is all about jobs. Both are wrong on every level possible.

We need a revolution in relationships -- bringing us full circle back to the individual and not the message, the person and not the super-ego, the love and not the acknowledgment, the union and not just the communication. "We need a revolution...NOW!"

Students, of College Age, and Sex

My speech students always want to try to do a titillating kind of speech that includes discussing "sex." But they never want to say anything "real" about it at all.  They want to quote statistics, warn everyone about std's, perhaps even scare them about unwanted pregnancies (the younger college students); but they never want to actually "talk about anything real about sex." They don't want to get into what it might feel like, how it might mess up their moral code, how it might rearrange their priorities, or even about how it works--or should work--and often doesn't work! 

Nope "sex" is dealt with like metaphysical terms: "God," "the devil," heaven, or even "the soul." We can't say too much about "sex" because we might embarrass ourselves, or those who are listening. We can't say "anything" because we might step over the line and say too much -- and reveal something about ourselves. My 25-year-old students still smirk and giggle about topics like "masturbation" or "fellatio" or "love."  In the abstract these and other concepts and actions are fine -- but when spoken about directly no acknowledged details are forthcoming. My students are mostly still children -- and not tuned even to the ways of their own bodies. How sad! How American!

Death of Administrivia

Someone somewhere should find a way to do away with all dumb administrative busywork. Bureaucracies everywhere live and die by this stuff.  Schedules, revisions,
scheduled revisions, revised schedules, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseam, ad infinitum!

It wastes time -- it discourages productivity -- and it makes a headache out of everything else. It is all sooooo painful! About 95 per cent of all such busywork is truly unnecessary and aids only the small minds of every bureaucracy.  I am, however, now a part of that hierarchical bureaucracy again --- and it is beginning to wear me out. 

Death, Sex, and Taxes

Yup, taxes in the US are due tomorrow! And "sex" is long overdue for most of us, difficult to handle for some of use, and easily accessible for some few of us -- damn!
And "death" -- well, death is always there waiting.

I realize now I have made an unintentional vow of celibacy. Why? Is love too hard, too difficult, too time-consuming, too impossible! "Yes" to some of the above -- "no" to all the rest. At my advanced age "love" moves much too slowly and "sex' is much too barren. And there it is. Sex when you are young, and "sad to say it," and sexy is easy.
Just take off in that direction and you are sure to "land well."

But when one ages -- sex is more like a trial by fire, than a fired and passionate soul. Sex becomes -- a chore, an excuse, a reason to be lazy, a reason to be wasted.

Taxes supersede all of the above -- because "attention must be paid" -- and so must taxes!  No relief; no obfuscation, no coyness! "Pay, or die" or maybe have sex instead. 

Karma

Karma is absolutely real.  It is not a figment, nor a ghost story, nor any kind of fable lined up to provide hope for those of us who have been badly used.

It is a turnabout of experience, an unremorseful giver of pain or pleasure, an unremitting and constant force for balance. Karma changes things -- it reswings the pendulum; it restores the equilibrium; it resets the game.

Karma is time -- it is movement -- it is the return to the beginning by way of the future yet always honoring the present.

Karma is.   

Provoke Thinking

More and more of us should be objecting to the way things are.  We should resist the tides of fashion and think and speak for ourselves.  We should not be afraid to say what we think -- to make the unusual choices -- and to live as we feel most comfortable living. 

Peer pressure has no meaning -- because everyone is your peer!  Every one's ideas are worth something -- and so are yours, and mine too!  We don't need to be reassured; we only need to think and act in our own best interest. If we are kind and open to others -- our best interest should be similar to the best interests of those around us.

It's okay to rattle some cages, including our own. To think differently; to have a "perspective shift" that pulls us away from the expected; to act independently and forthrightly -- those are all good for us and contribute to our fundamental human nature. To be human is to be your own person -- amidst a crowd of people like you -- and not be afraid or ashamed of being different. 

Gaming the System

Why do people cheat -- in love, in work, in personal responsibility, in ordinary work ethics, in government dealings like taxes, etc.?  What is there in the human thought process that makes "cheating" so attractive? "Just this once" I'm going to "let go" and "be unfaithful!"

"She is so attractive" and/or "I'm so lonely" -- and other excuses by the ton. We all do it -- but why do we? Why do we risk what we have for the moment of pleasure? Why do we desire what we currently don't have?

April Non-Fool

April Fool's Day is a charming and I think completely American tradition! Happy
April Fool's Day to you!