The Dream 072715

Row row row your boat
Is life merely a dream?
Consider more than stumbling
To move from scene to scene

Row row row your boat
Is this all that life means?
If so we're merely parasites
We might as well be fleas

Row row row your boat
Is life a passing stage?
If so then we're just animals
Dancing in our cage.

Mexican Star Wars

http://www.visualnews.com/2010/11/01/star-wars-mexican-art/

Shit and Shine Ola

I won't be posting here soon.

The neighborhood gone to crap, so I'm moving.

Don't know where yet.

Just letting you know.

Vowel Movement

Multiple Choice

1. Fill in the blank: "depr_ve"
1. a
2. i
3. e

2. Match the definition to each choice:
a) deny (a person or place) the possession or use of something.
    [ ] 1  [ ] 2  [ ] 3

b) make (someone) immoral or wicked.
    [ ] 1  [ ] 2  [ ] 3

c) to disprove
    [ ] 1  [ ] 2  [ ] 3

Sunshine On A Dog's Ass

Every once in a while you get lucky,

Like, just when you're about to irrevocably say fuck it and call it quits, life sends you a little reminder about what that really means in the end.

So, unlike so many occassions, you get a chance to shut your big fucking stupid  mouth, before you do something terrible that you can't take back.

Sometimes you don't get so lucky, and your mouth doesn't get closed in time.

I Must Work Harder

You want a "cost of living" increase?
You want a "livable wage"?

So tell us what exactly is a livable wage?
What is your cost of living?

What if we gave this "livable wage" to everyone? Then what?

The money will have to come from somewhere, so where do you think that'll be?

Increased wages ceratinly can't mean decreased profits for the "company".

So realistically it will just wind up meaning increased prices for you...

So, fundamentally the whole suggestion is contradictory since, if you follow the logic to its conclusion, it undermines itself anyway, right?

You should go back to work before we replace you with someone who'd be happy making a lot less than you do.

Look, you just gotta trust the system...

... and the Lord.

Help Help I'm Being Repressed

Persecution...

...it can feel like "hating the sin but not the sinner" or "hating the religion but not the religious".

Maybe it"s both, maybe it's neither, and maybe, just MAYBE, that perspective about either can change depending on which end of the gun you happen to be on when the hate is fired.

d (-_-)b

The Finite Moving Toward the Infinite

The struggle of the finite to pursue and understand the infinite...

True the Christian faith it is paradoxical in that it is both futile and worthy, optional and required.

However where most people fail or fall short is in their comprehension of the multifaceted depth and meaning when applying the truth of God.

Our understanding of any given biblical text changes as we do. It takes divine revelation to go beyond an understanding based solely in our own experiences and apply truths to circumstances beyond our own.

That's what make the word alive though, its application is not limited to our own situation alone but all situations, and makes itself available to seen in many lights. When we believe our truth is God's truth we begin to make God in our image, a task far easier that allowing ourselves to conform to his.

Some answers are done a disservice by being casually dispensed, and cannot be fully comprehended without the benefit of having arrived at them in our own experiences and through our own reasoning.

It is difficult to judge the shape of things by the shadows they cast, although we may see them in relation to their source of light. So we who know that the reality of any given situation is more like varying shades of grey, should reserve any tendency toward judgement and pray for those whose perspective is limited to black and white.

There's a reason Jesus was known as a friend of sinners and had a reputation that preceded him.
He met people where they were at.

As one of my favorite movie quotes goes, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way."

Life is a beautiful struggle whose answers cannot be reduced to bullets points and regimented formulas with blanket applications.

db

I Cannot Lie

Random Axe of Kindness

The New Old Fashioned Way

My newest insult?

I'm going to start saying, "You old bean soaker!"

We'll just see how people like that!

Same as it never was...

Nothing was ever the same once we left California.

I dreaded coming to Arizona, but I couldn't have known that the sort of blissfully ignorant happiness I had known there was never to be found again.

Perhaps it was part of growing older, perhaps it was the heat, either way I hate this place.

Defacing Art

In the Beginning

I actually wrote and mailed a letter today, something I haven't done in a while.
Of course, I also sent some correspondence via Gmail, something I do everyday...
   ... I guess you could say mail & email I created them. ;)

While Good Men Do Nothing

Church burning...

It speaks volumes about the strength and unifying power of the church as a community of believers.

As a strategic maneuver of divide and conquer, burning a church is probably the most logical action such a hate could make since it attacks on two fronts, both the physical and spiritual at a very personal level.

It is a true test of faith to those within the church to see how it is handled.
Being hate motivated most instigators / perpetrators fail to consider the historic precedence of it as being a risky maneuver.

Its effects are often short term, and it can often be counterproductive, serving as a catalyst to unify the victims, and rally the support of others as well, in a common cause.

The immediate appearance of division, is often a period of regrouping.

It hurts to be sure, but Jesus speaks quite a bit about persecution and the enemies of the faith, although this is a little more multifaceted, since it incorporates racial bias and sheer terrorism in its attacks against the innocent.

I could quote plenty of comforting and powerful Bible verses, but if that's the community you're a part of you know them already.

God is God.

That said the lack of media coverage and public outcry against these horrific acts reminds me more of this quote, "It has been said that for evil men to accomplish their purpose it is only necessary that good men should do nothing." -  J. L. Bell 1916

Q) Small Church vs Big Church

A large church is the way to go.

The facilities and AV gear at small churches doesn't really make for a truly entertaining and convicting worship experience.

At small churches there's not usually, awesome hd photo backgrounds for the lyrics, and the sound isn't just bad but most of the time it's so quiet you're often times forced to listen to the horrible singers in the seats around you.

With good coffee and snacks in the lobby, at big churches you can sneak out during the opening band and grab a quick bite before the  speaker or "pastor" comes out to deliver their routine or TED talk.

Not to mention that at small churches you're more likely to be in an awkward situation when you see people you don't like.

Often times, at small churches, after sitting through a whole service with them, hearing their singing, people want to chat afterward too, forcing you to miss that golden 10-15 minute window to beat every other church goer to the restaurant before there a huge wait for a table.

Totally the opposite at a big church, it's great, because you can scoot on out of there to get a good lunch afterward with the people in your small group / home study.

You can have some small talk and maybe even talk about the next social project you can throw money at since you have the budget of a big church!

It's actually pretty awesome at a big church.

And let's be real here, people generally look and smell better at big churches. Don't even get me started on the difference in parking lots, or the convenience of 3 choices of show times on Sunday, plus the Saturday night option at the big churches. Super convenient in so many ways.

Face it, all small churches want to do is grow up to be big churches anyway right?

I wonder how many churches there are?

I guess I should just be glad there's more than one...

A Positive Rhino Review

Over the past 23 ½ years the focus of my employment has been in that of both Employee and Client relations in multiple capacities. Starting in the Fall of 1989 I joined Rhino Arizona, following 6 ½ years of experience and education, employing people in the construction industry, as well as training other satellite offices in standard HR policies and procedures and the fair treatment of field employees.

My passion is people and over the course of my time in that industry I had seen workers taken advantage of in regard to pay / hours, job site accidents (including those resulting in death) from a consistent failure to adhere to standard PPE education / enforcement, and little to no instruction in regard to job skills or safety training.

As a person of conviction, with respect for life, to put it lightly, I had become increasingly dismayed with the practices and pay involved. I had barely begun looking elsewhere for work, hoping to work in some other capacity and in some other industry when I received a call from a friend of mine that worked for Rhino, with the invitation to work for Rhino in the same capacity. 

Given my experiences I was more than a little apprehensive, but took the job. 16 years later, I find myself happily working in that same capacity for Rhino Staging, as a company that is the very  antithesis of every source of my previous discontent.

As it turns out, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made as I have found Rhino to be the exception rather than the rule when it comes to raising the bar in regard to their respect and concern for employee treatment. This is clearly exemplified in the following:

• ·         Rhino’s mentoring practice for newer & less experienced employees helps to ensure guidance and consistency in best workplace practices.
• ·         Rhino’s Online & In Person Educational Courses are made available for anyone expressing the desire to develop and improve in their industry & skill development.
• ·         Safety Training is not isolated to safety specific courses but incorporated and emphasized within all of the Rhino courses.
• ·         The provision of PPE for use on the job, available to use for free and for purchase as well at a minimal cost and without the need for payment up front on most items.
• ·         The use of a point accumulation system as a guideline for employee assessment & reviews helps ensure that all employees are treated as fairly and equally as possible without personal bias. That said however, it is not so stringent and rigid in application that allowance for unusual or extenuating / emergency circumstances cannot be accommodated. Which bring me to the point of our…
• ·         Flexibility in Job Assignment & Acceptance  Rhino Arizona works with many employees to accommodate personal schedules by providing allowances, within reason, to accept or decline work without the concern that it may affect future opportunities if handled professionally. In fact we work closely with the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences to assist their student in meeting their required internship hours while being paid!

I could easily go on about the many ways that Rhino is continually striving to ensure their employees not only a living, but a longevity in our industry.

Allow me to close by saying this: Having worked with many people in a wide variety of circumstances in both a personal and professional capacity over the years, I know and understand that wherever there are people, even the happiest of people, there are bound to be discontent people as well. Such is the nature of people in general. The approach and resolve of these issues is the defining difference that elevates Rhino above many other companies within our industry.

I mention this only to say that I would never suggest that (here or anywhere) there is to be found an honest group of people that doesn’t have at least some discontent among them, which is necessarily a bad thing depending on the approach and source of it. The difference here at Rhino however is the collective and individual willingness to listen to the issues to find and understand the source of individual and collective discontent, in order to address and act on them to improve as a company for the benefit of all.

 David A Baker

Seventeen Ounces

I've seen and been through some stuff in my day, therapy played a part in helping me to at least get out from under what I couldn't get over.

To me, the most helpful aspect of therapy over the years wasn't the so much the good advice as much as the normalization of my own perspectives, and knowing that I wasn't alone in my personal brand of insanity.

I suppose for most people those would simply be called friends, and not paid professionals, but I don't understand most people and they don't seem to understand me.

It's confusing and frustrating most often, for both of us.

My oarents were no exception and it's been no great boost to my self esteem or sense of personal security to experience the comfort level of honesty people seem to feel when they tell me about myself from the outside view.

In many ways, on many levels even my best qualities aren't what I would consider to be good, although they have that potential. I am the sort of person that's much easier to endure in small doses here, than in every part of the process that gets me here...I know this much about myself, and I've come to accept it.

Honestly over the course of my life, I haven't known many (if any) people that are like me... I would say I haven't known any but given my inherent survival technique / ability of living in the here and now alone, and forgetting so much that is  behind me, I suppose I can't say for sure that I haven't.

I'm never quite sure what to make of those rare people who occassionaly seem to understand or relate to me on some level or another. Do I embrace them or run from them for being like me?

In that uncertainty I've found it best to reserve the judgement I would wish to be withheld to just let people be what they are and then let them see me for what I am.

History always repeats however, so I know that inevitably, eventually, one of us will leave if only in the interest of self preservation.
It simply is what it is.

But, if there's one us there must be many more, somewhere. Therapy and observation have shown me that much.

Perhaps one day we will find each other and learn what normal must feel like to everyone else.

Until then, you'll have a blog to read right here.

Solo Cristo Salva
db

It's True

I can't stand sitting down!

I Mean if You REALLY Think About It

All American flags are white flags.

A Facebook Response

I didn't write this, I only offer it for thought and thoughtful response

I say this with sincere love to my many friends who are passionate fundamentalist Christians who believe that the SCOTUS’s decision yesterday on marriage equality is an abomination to themselves and to God: As a lawyer, I need to attempt to set the record straight. 

Our country was created by our founding fathers very deliberately to prevent the establishment of a national religion from our governance. The Church - Catholic or Anglican - was central to almost every other country in the world historically, especially England from which our founding fathers separated. It was critical to our founding fathers that one central religion NOT be declared and NOT be incorporated into our Constitution or governance. They understood that an establishment of a national religion would ultimately abridge the very rights they believed were fundamental and were meant to be recognized and protected by the Bill of Rights and ultimately the Constitution. 

Religion-based loss of basic rights had been their experience in England and they wanted to prevent that here.

The fact is that this decision yesterday was a LEGAL decision about the scope of our Constitutional rights as humans and US citizens. It was not about religion, religious beliefs or religious freedom. It is about equal rights, just as the decisions to give women the vote and the decision to abolish slavery were about equal rights. 

Rights are not and should not be up for a popular vote or up to the states to determine. Rights are absolute and cannot be dependent upon anything other than the fact that the person is a human being and is a citizen of the US. If those two conditions are met, YOUR belief system about what is MORALLY or spiritually right or wrong does not matter and should not. You should be glad that is the case, because it would be just as easy for another religion to take over and curtail your rights as a Christian (something that has happened throughout history).

In fact, one religious party believing they know the truth for all humans is how terrible oppression starts - that is how Naziism started, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the Klu Klux Klan, Al-Qaeda and now ISIS - the most destructive, hateful, murderous periods of human history have arisen directly out of one religious group (ironically, most of these examples were lead by Christians) believing their religion and religious beliefs were THE truth, and therefore they had the right to take away the rights (and lives) of those who lived or believed differently than them. 

Our founding fathers wanted to prevent that outcome. So does our current Supreme Court. THAT is the law of the land and I could not be more grateful to be an American than when human rights are protected. I don’t have to agree with you to believe with all my heart and soul that YOUR rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should be protected against oppression or prejudice. LGBT US citizens deserve exactly the same treatment. God Bless America.

p.s. Those railing against the decision of marriage equality as a basic constitutional right are confusing the idea of constitutional (i.e human) rights with certain types of behavior (the stuff they call "sin"). But human rights are inherent in all human beings and US citizens - not doled out based on who is behaving "well" and who isn't. All US citizens should have the equal right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, regardless of the "sins" they commit. The only behavior that should curtail your constitutional rights is if you commit a crime (a felony) and are convicted. But even then, criminals can still marry, have kids, own property, work and live in our communities. The only things they can't do is vote and carry firearms. If committing a sin was a barrier to receiving basic constitutional rights in this country, we would all be in big trouble, not just the LGBT community

King George Explained

So I posted this:

Life is like an all you can eat buffet with sporadic business hours.

Then I was asked to explain it.
So here you go...

I was just thinking how some people spend time filling their plate, arranging their food, figuring how much food they can carry, and when closing time comes, there they are, all that food & still hungry.

And now you know.

It's Always About Money

The Confederate flag became a symbol of hate when it was used by General Lee in the civil war.

A war, from the perspective of the South, about the economic impact the South would be forced to endure by losing the free labor of slaves or more simply put money, and the perspective of the North human rights. (Not to suggest that the North was much further along in their views.)

It was never accepted or used as a flag of the collective South until well after the failure of their secession. (Note that even General Lee declined this or any flag be flown at his on funeral) Later, during the Civil Right movement, angry white trash supremists started thinking they needed to shift the blame of their inferior social and financial well being from their mental inferiority to a racial issue and boo hoo about victim status. 

How? Strom Thurman used it during his campaign for presidency as a unifying symbol for people who stood for racial segragation.

There's no way around it though, unlike the Nazi's adoption of the swastika which had been used throughout history in various cultures and languages to mean a myriad of other things, the "Confederate" flag was always meant to represent slavery and racial division/hate.

All that said, the support of its display as being based in any sort of historical context only further exemplifies the ignorance that perpetuates hate.

Good Company

Walk closely and in good company, you will be less likely to get lost for long and more likely to get through it if you do. db

Inspiration From Unlikely Sources

Sometimes when I feel discouraged or defeated, I reflect back on the kind words of a stranger that I met during the mayhem of Superbowl scheduling.

I had not met him previous, nor have I spoken to him since, but I will remember his passing words to me during ome phone call for a very long time I imagine, and they were this:

You and me Dave. We're going to beat this mother f*****.

The passing words of a stranger to a stranger can mean more in the future than either would imagine at the time.

Be good to yourselves,  but of far greater importance, be good to each other.

Solo Cristo Salva
db