Just racked up a brilliant score of 184 on Lexathon. Found 116 out of 239 words (49%) at 3.58 words per minute. http://bit.ly/lexathon Beat that!

People who operate drills are really boring.

Alone

If you find the banks are leaving you aloan, it's not for lack of interest.

Increasing the volume: 041413

dick justice - henry lee - YouTube

dick justice - henry lee (from "anthology of american folk music", 1952)

"Get down, get down, little Henry Lee, and stay all night with me.
The very best lodging I can afford will be fare better'n thee."
"I can't get down, and I won't get down, and stay all night with thee,
For the girl I have in that merry green land, I love far better'n thee."

She leaned herself against a fence, just for a kiss or two;
With a little pen-knife held in her hand, she plugged him through and through.
"Come all you ladies in the town, a secret for me keep,
With a diamond ring held on my hand I'll never will forsake."

"Some take him by his lily-white hand, some take him by his feet.
We'll throw him in this deep, deep well, more than one hundred feet.
Lie there, lie there, loving Henry Lee, till the flesh drops from your bones.
The girl you have in that merry green land still waits for your return."

"Fly down, fly down, you little bird, and alight on my right knee.
Your cage will be of purest gold, in deed of property."
"I can't fly down, or I won't fly down, and alight on your right knee.
A girl would murder her own true love would kill a little bird like me."

"If I had my bend and bow, my arrow and my string,
I'd pierce a dart so nigh your heart your wobble would be in vain."
"If you had your bend and bow, your arrow and your string,
I'd fly away to the merry green land and tell what I have seen."

I am not yet complete

I am a caterpillar,
a very hungry caterpillar.
In this cocoon for a time

I must learn
which leaves are good for sustenance
And which will slowly kill me

One glorious day I will be released
To be the butterfly I was created to be
But that day is not this one

I am a fish
caught by the fisher of men
I have been released

Not into a bowl
to live a life of comfort and confinement
But into the ocean
to live freely

Swimming among the sharks,
who would love to devour me

I have been slow to learn of the cruel fishermen
That would leave me to drown in their nets
That would feast on my carcass,
and throw away my remains

I am not the prize catch
After their hunger is satisfied,
They will,
and do,
move on to their next.

I understand this now.

I am dust,
and I will be blown away with the wind.
When the life breathed into me,
is taken from me,
returned to its giver,
I will return to the earth
from which I came

I am only one part,
not unlike the millions of others
I am barely a even a factor in the equation

I am almost nothing,

and yet I exist

My thoughts and words mean little, to most
But they are all I have in defining who I am
And if, in the quest for understanding I Am,
I can not be honest

Well then...
I can not truly BE anything worth being at all

This Post is Not About Ants

People don't usually undertake much in the way of inconvenience when it comes to not stepping on an ant. You might step on an ant and never even notice.

People will however undertake a good deal of inconvenience when it comes to not stepping on an anthill. Step on an anthill and you will notice in a very big way.

d(-_,-)b

The Hear and Now

If you want to totally miss hearing the true answer, just keep looking for the one you were hoping to hear instead.

Salty Bottoms

A friend of mine once said to me that no artist worth their salt is anyone you'd want to know on a personal level. He's pretty much right.

I've been thinking about that along with contemplating the dual tragedy that the death of so much great talent is often a result of self over-medicating (of sorts) by their own hand, and the "artists" that seem only to go on and on living all the while polluting the world with evermore mediocrity.

I medicate for pretty severe ADHD. Having that affliction had been both blessing and curse, but it is one of the reasons I'm prone to some rather odd creativity and a love of music.

As my therapist once said, my not thinking like everyone else means I do my thinking mostly outside the box.

Sure that can make things thought, bit it's fine because I've seen normal and you can have it!

I don't imagine however if I had pursued a career in music that I would have the sort of health care that I do now, thus medication wouldn't be an option to me. Honestly without it, I'm such an easy person to be around I get really depressed, really quickly.

But in thinking about all of this, I also have to imagine that an inability to medicate might not have been the worst thing either from a creative stand point had I gone that direction. Of course who knows what my life would have looked like our how long I might have lived either.

All of this to say, I think one of the reasons we have so much creative talent in this country is that we've let health care become such an unaffordable luxury for the working poor that they can't afford to legally medicate. So they self medicate and as their afflictions continue to grow so does their creative process.

I knew a depressed singer/song writer that got insurance and went on Prozac. After being on it a while, I asked him how he liked it. He said he felt a lot better but went in to say that he hadn't been able to write a good song since he started on it either.

History shows that mental afflictions, and chemical imbalances are quite conducive to great art.

So please America, of you care about the business of art at all, continue to disregard the welfare of the artists by continuing to making health care out of reach for them.

Oh sure a lot of people might suffer and die, but consider at all this great art and how it's value increases once the artist finally does die.

It's always about the money....always.

Luck pt 2

(Original post)

So, my daughter Maddy (9) comes in to the house and casually and says, "Hey, look what I just found, a four leaf clover." 

Thinking that she didn't understand the rarity of her find, I told her that throughout my childhood, I used to spend hours looking for just one of these.

Her response?

"Well, I just looked down and there it was."

There must be a lesson in there somewhere...
_______________________
The lesson?

Well after thinking about it for a while, and examining my own life, I'd have to say:

1) Some of life's best memories happen when plans don't go as we had hoped and we can manage roll with that.

2) Some of the best things to be found in life are found when we aren't even looking for them.

Thoughts?

Lucky

So, my daughter Maddy (9) comes in to the house and casually and says, "Hey, look what I just found, a four leaf clover." 

Thinking that she didn't understand the rarity of her find, I told her that throughout my childhood, I used to spend hours looking for just one of these.

Her response?

"Well, I just looked down and there it was."

There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

Pitchfork on my Back

If you find this shirt in XL let me know.
It's one of my favorites and it's certainly seen better days.

There's No Corn at the Alamo

not is there any in my yard...

Mad Art

The World is an Unfair Place

I'm not sure how out why this merits a headline, when I do the exact same thing everyday without a coach.

The Importance of Enunciation

Increasing the Volume: 041213

Big Rock Candy Mountain - YouTube

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains by Harry McClintock
One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fires were burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
There's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
And the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go
Where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall
The winds don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railway bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew
And of whiskey too
You can paddle all around it
In a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
The jails are made of tin.
And you can walk right out again,
As soon as you are in.
There ain't no short-handled shovels,
No axes, saws nor picks,
I'm bound to stay
Where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the jerk
That invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
....
I'll see you all this coming fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

I'll see you in Hell

Don't blame me.

It's in the Bible...
Love the Lord your God with all your heart.
If you have seen me you have seen the Father.
If you love me you will keep my commandments.
Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Conclusion:
No one is perfect.
No one loves Jesus.
Everyone is going to Hell

Now then, isn't taking things out of context fun?

I think I'll start a church...

Of Men And Machines

Machines must be maintained.
They require time to cool down and down time for service.

A machine can only work so hard for so long. Eventually it starts to fall apart or something inside finally just snaps and it quits working all together.

Twice the Ride at Half the Fare

How long can the show go on giving evening performances at matinee prices?

Especially when those who are paying think they should get popcorn and a drink included.

Twice the ride at half the fare?
It can't last long.

The actors demand their wage.
Costumes must be bought.
Rent must be paid.

Welcome to the real world

If you're 40, and I let you down, I might feel momentarily bad at best. But if you're 4 and I let you down, well that's just crushing.

Sorry, I know you can't read, but I'm sorry.

Hello Lover

If I had to be counted among either, I would by far rather be someone who was hated for loving over someone who was loved for hating.

More Summery Than Fallen

Please note the differences in the following two sets of words (which spell check will not correct) and choose appropriately when typing your resume. 

Summery versus Summary & Then versus Than

Apply as Needed

With what you've done, with what you have....

When you're sure it can't possibly be enough, it will probably be more than enough.

When you're sure that it's way too much , it will probably not be nearly enough.

Panhandlers

Professional would workers.

Just One Pepsi

The longer a person lives with any dysfunction, the more normal it seems. Especially if they have, in their own world, nothing to base normal off of.

My youth afforded me plenty of dysfunction...

As I began, I started to realize that my own dysfunctions were just that, (my own) and as I started to see what healthy people lived like, looked like. I could begin to change.

In other words, in order to understand just how messed up I was, I had to understand just how it was that I was so messed up.

That journey began long ago, however changing doesn't get easier over time, the surface symptoms simply become less apparent that's all.

So that in my journey I find that the greater my understanding about the nature of my depravity, the greater my realization of its depth as well.

As time goes on, I find I am able to move beyond the lesser but more obvious problems, but consequently I then become all the more aware of far  greater and yet less obvious problems.

The more I come to know really only serves to underscore how very little I know.

It is by God's grace alone am I able to continue on in what I would otherwise regard as a pointless and unwinnable fight.

As I have said on the past, I will say again now:

What's gone is gone
What's done is done
The battle rages
But the war is won

db