Say Hello to the Sun!

Hi, everybody!
Hi, David Aaron!
Wow. I wasn't expecting any Dr. Nick fans in the house!

Anyway, as you can guess, I've finally gotten a response to that dream I posted a couple of days ago. Note ... I put the wrong dates as the updates at the top. I thought Tuesday was Wednesday. That happens a lot to me.

As far as the dream goes, I'm going to copy and paste it to a new blog so people can continue to muse over it. ... If anyone else is inclined to comment, it'll be on the sidebar below the George Carlin quote (which will change, and is supposed to be a description of this blog, anyway) and will be called Mind Movies in the Night.

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I'm not really taken with web surfing these days. I usually like to go to precisely what I want to look at and take no detours along the way. When I was in college the first (and second) time around, that behavior caused me a great deal of trouble. I couldn't tell you how many hours I lost in front of a computer, but I can tell you that it was enough to help me get into academic probation!

But, today, surf I did. And, I turned up a wonderful little cartoon with a twisted ending. So, I apologize in advance to anyone on a dial-up connection, and welcome you to say hello to the sun!

Updated on 9/29 and 9/30/04
Wondering If It's Time for Therapy ...

I know it's something I shouldn't joke about (therapy), but I can't help myself sometimes.

It's not politically correct. But, then again, neither is the joke I made in front of Helen Keller's house last year.

We arrived at the gates of the park where Helen's childhood home is situated, only to find out that we had gotten there five minutes after closing time. My mother and I were heading back up to Lexington the next day, and she was disappointed.

"We didn't get to see Helen Keller's house." Mom said.

I didn't wait a beat to console her. "Don't worry Mom," I said, "neither did Helen."

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Meanwhile, back at the actual post ...

Like I was saying about joking about therapy, I know it's not a cool thing to joke about. But, I think dream interpretation is an offshoot of therapy. (Or perhaps it's the other way around?)

Whatever dream interpretation is, I'd like to give friends, family, and blogospehere acquaintances from around the world a shot at interpreting a dream I had last night, (I know, I know ... All the response to my blog has been primarily from this country. But, that still counts as around the world.)

I was running around with the Scooby Doo gang. Yes ... Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo ... And Velma.

I saved Velma for last for a reason ... In this dream, Velma and I had a mild romance going. There was a lot of hugging and hand holding. Every time she lost her glasses, I was there to pick them up. And, every time she was being chased by a monster, my heart would be in my throat (and I would be right on that monster's heels, no matter how hideous it was!)

The Gang figured out the reason we were being chased by so many horrid monsters was that we had been sent to Hell ... Y'know ... Hades. (It was a strange place. No fire and brimstone or anything like that. Just a place with no escape ... And from what we gathered from the people we met down there, no matter how badly anyone could get injured, no one ever died. They simply suffered their injuries forever.)

Velma and I got separated from the rest of the Gang, and somehow we wound up in front of the King of Hades. (Yeah ... Greek images in one of my dreams, along side the Scooby Doo gang of the live action movies.)

I was holding Velma close to my side. I looked into her eyes, and held her hand as I pulled away from her embrace. I stood right before Hades himself and said "If you must keep any of us here, keep me. Velma doesn't belong in a place like this."

I then woke up ... In a very good mood. I'm still feeling good right now.

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Ok, interpretors. Have a field day!
(By the way ... I'm not adding another entry until someone comments!)

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Humpday Quote of the Week!

I told you! I'm not adding a new entry until someone (anyone) comments on my dream journal entry! But, I don't want to interrupt the flow of humorous quotations, either. So, here's one from George Carlin;

Not only do I not know what's going on, I wouldn't know what to do about it if I did.

A Quote? On a Monday Morning?
"There's Xanadu. Or, is that what you find in the bottom of a Xana's cage?"
The Mayor of Townsville (not in Australia, mind you ... The Townsville from the Powerpuff Girls DVD I bought yesterday.)

A Promise

Ok, no more politics on This Space for Rent. If I'm going to be accused of participating in all the "liberal rancor" (don't kno what that is ... sounds like a Star Wars Creature to me ...) then I will place it in its own little box.

This web log returns to its original intent. Which, I still don't quite know what that might be. I think I meant it to be a writing exercise ... A place where I can go to work on my flow. A place to work on obtaining that long missing, almost mythical creature in my life ... That dreaded "Elbow Grease!"

For far too long I've forgotten that purpose. Heck, I think I'll just make this a stream of consiousness sort of thing.

Hmm ... I think the word "fart" is hidden in the previous paragraph.

... Maybe I should dam up that stream ...

Hey! This Doesn't Happen Very Often!

I have an actual family renunion tomorrow! A family frickin' reunuion!!! I'm excited, can you tell? I mean, I've misspelled "rennuion" three times!!!

Neither side of my family has reunions very often. For some strange reason, we've all elected to treat family members and members of the general public the same.

On my dad's side, I suppose this might have to do with the fact that we're blood relations to the O'banion "Family" of Chicago, Illinois. (The picture you see is of the man whose sister gave eventual rise to me. I know from what my grandfather told me that a John Hiles married a Mary O'Banion. I don't think Mary brought any of her brother's psychosis to the table. I hope.)

On my mom's side, the lack of reunions might have to do with religious differences. They're mostly Pentacostals, though. Some are liberals (like my grandmother) and some aren't (like some of Granny's sisters and brothers). They can't see how my grandmother can be so religious and still support Democrats. (She supported Clinton, too! The horror!)

The two sides come together pretty well in me. Both Mom's side and Dad's side encouraged me to think for myself. So, if nothing else, I can say I learned from both sides of my family to not blindly follow anyone.

Here's a link to show just how far that goes with me!
Fact Check.Org! These folks will show distortions from both sides!

(I would add also that my family taught me to stay the hell out of trouble on the streets!)

Happy Anniversary, You Lucky Lovebirds!

It was a little over a year ago that I managed to renew contact with a dear old friend of mine. The last time I saw her, she was trying (with limited success) to keep her ex-boyfriend out of her life. You all probably know the story by now. If you don't, you can scan through the archives of her blog to catch up. But, this post today isn't about the past.

It's about the future. A new day has dawned for my old friend. She is facing new, delight filled times ahead. But, there will be challenges and more difficulties along with that delight. After seeing her pull through some of the things I know she's gone through, I know these next few days, months, years will not keep her down.

Congratulations, D on your Third Wedding Anniversary.

May there be many, many, many more to come.

Humpday Quote Tomorrow. I'm Mad Today.

I wrote another one of those posts that never saw the light of the web yesterday. I went on about being hacked at AOL and having some jerk send a mass mailing from my address.

In case you got anything from my AOL account ... Know that if it's about unscrambling pay per view channels, I didn't send it! If there are movies on those channels worth watching, I recommend buying them. If it turns out that those movies weren't worth watching, demand your money back! Remember! Money talks! The only way to eliminate sucky movies is to pay for the ones that don't suck!

Followed Some Advice Tonight

I now have a small radio in my corner. I can (and did tonight!) drown out that pseudo-conservative drivel that is The Savage Nation. (Sheesh! If ya hate Dan Rather so much, why not have someone wack him?)

Yup!

No more having to hear about the "Liberal Media" and their complicitous silence about "Islamist" barbarism in Africa and around the world. (For the record, Mikey, I listened to NPR tonight, and they did indeed point out that Arabs were doing all the slaughter in Sudan! So there!)

I'll no longer have to hear him railing against liberals for not calling terrorists "terrorists." If you don't know what I'm talking about here, he (and others, to be fair) keep talking about how they keep hearing things like "hostage takers," "insurgents," and "rebels." To Mike Savage and the like, a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. Well, all I have to say is that shi-tzus, greyhounds and chihuahuas are all dogs ... But you don't hear me complaining about the AKC, do you?

To bad I'll never get to hear if they think the Weather Channel is too liberal.

And, before any of you all out there start wondering to yourselves about it, it does indeed piss me off that children died in Russia ... That there are people being beheaded in Iraq. But, you'll never get me to blame all of Islam for that. That's like blaming all Christendom for the acts of Torquemada. Or Hitler. Or Timothy McVey. Or Eric Rudolph ...

... You get the picture.

Bush Gaffe Live!

"(Since the formation of the early National Guard in the 1600s)... they have helped in the defense of the colonies and helped win the war on independence."

George W. Bush ... No more than five minutes ago.

A Failed Attempt at Commenting on a Talking Points Memo

Since a certain change has taken place at This Space for Rent, I've decided to try becoming a more professional writer. Perhaps, even, something of a web journalist (editorialist).

So, I typed Talking Points into a search engine and started reading.

Now I'm reaching for a pain reliever with a sleeping aid.

I'm not going to bother commenting on our country's political shenanigans. After reading one post and forty comments about a CBS news story (from the show 60 Minutes) that I haven't seen, I've decided nothing can be gained by even mentioning ... Anything at all.

Are people, in all seriousness, just now coming around to questioning the veracity of news reports? Are they not questioning the veracity of everything they see or hear? Or even the relevance?

I've decided that I'm not going to block out one source of news in favor of another. I read, I watch, I listen to as much as I can stand. Here lately, that hasn't been very much at all. The only source for needed news I've found is something called Independent Media. It runs on Free Speech TV, and it's not without its slants and/or biases.

It was Free Speech TV that helped me to realize that I would not be able to hack it as a professional journalist. It was there I saw a report about Yucca Mountain ... First as it aired on, of all places, the usually liberal PBS network; then, as it was submitted by the reporter who did the story. Certain details he had gathered that explained exactly why locals were opposing the toxic waste site were deleted. The end result was that the aired reports made the local protesters look like a bunch of kooks who had nothing to worry about. As someone who would have liked to be a journalist at one point, this really put me off my lunch. I don't know what I would do in a situation like that. So, I preemptively quit the profession. I decided instead focus on Geology (I'll still do writing on the side, mostly poetry and observances ... things I hope will be funny.)

So, along with my realization that I won't become a professional journalist (this realization occurred about a year ago), I'm starting to wonder why I might need any news at all. I know that not following current events might make me a dull conversationalist (the only thing I have to say right now is "Why should I care about Bush/Kerry's Vietnam record?"), but maybe that will force me to be more creative.

I could really go on and on here. For a thirty-year-old who has no college degree, and has done nothing remarkable with his life, to sit and comment on our state of ... Being ... Would seem to some to be a waste of time on the part of both the reader and the writer.

But Comment I will, dammit. And there are far worse things I could do with my time.

Post Number 253;

or Humpday Thursday

My experience has taught me that a man who has no vices has damned few virtues.

-----Abraham Lincoln.

Since I really couldn't pick just one quote I liked by ol' Abe, I included a link to the page on which I found the one I ran.

This Isn't Humpday

No quote today because, technically, this is Tuesday. The quote will com tomorrow.

Until then, I've decided to give Google Adsense a try on my page. (They'll have to review this site to see if it meets with their program policies.) I hope it gets approved. I've been thinking about putting a Paypal link on my site and giving that e-panhandling a try ... I'd rather see if I can allow advertisers on and see if they'll pay me (and blogger too! ... Seeing as blogger's allowing me to publish on their server for free ... *heheh* *whew*) for the space.

Free Computer!

Well, I suppose it helps being known as the computer geek in the family. Whenever someone else in the family has trouble with a computer, they call on me. (Yes, before you ask, it does cause headaches. The only thing I have going for me is the fact that computers don't seem to crash quite as often when I'm using them.)

Here's my little secret ... I leave the software in the locations I found them in. Every time a relative thinks it's time to tidy up their desktop ... If they feel they have too many icons on the screen ... They start creating new folders and stuff excess icons in them. So, the next time they need to start a program, the command lines to its components aren't valid. The program either won't run, or it will completely paralyze the computer.

That's essentially what happened to my grandmother's computer. When my cousins managed to get a virus on it, they (and quite possibly the virus, too) started deleting things at random. The end result was that the CD-ROM drive stopped working. It would not load an entire set of programs, and when you thought it would ... The system would completely freeze up.

There was an icon on the desktop, though, that said 'recovery.' It looked like one of those yellow 'sharp left curve' signs posted along two lane highways. I double clicked on that, and no more than two hours later, I had a fully functioning 60 gig hard drive with 480 meg of RAM and 2.13 GHz AMD Athlon processing!

Jinkies!

And all of that for not crashing copmuters as often as others in my family might!

Someone said once that they were looking forward to seeing some of my pictures. Well, after much waiting, here they start (thanks to that new cable modem, I'll be posting a lot more!)

These are three of my little neighbors. I call them Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. (A guy at work came up with that. I think it's rather fitting, not only because of the type of animals these little guys are, but also that my name is Dave.) 

Happy Humpday!

He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.
--Groucho Marx


Nostrodamus ... And now Groucho?