Its a long strange life, isn't it?

The end of the year snuck up on me, I thought I'd have some more time to do something a little more special, but man does it all go by so quickly. And at the same time, looking back it seems like this year dragged on forever. I think I've been four or five different people since I've started doing this blog in August, four of five more in the dark days that preceded that; there are a great many of those people I was that I didn't like very much, but the idea is to leave those inferior versions of ourselves behind, back in the dust, let go and move on to be something, someone, more.

Cindy Lauper said it best when she said "Oh shit, my career is over". No, no, kidding, totally kidding, she said it best when she said "Girls just want to have fun", or when she sang it to be more precise. Just from general observation and my own experience, that's as true a statement as any other. SO... helping us out today with the last post of the 2011 will be Playboy's Playmates of the Year from 2000 - 2010. I thought that would be fitting.

2000 Jodi Ann Paterson

I've still got that issue with Jodi Ann Paterson stashed away somewhere, I know because I remembered this shot right away.

This isn't going to be one of those "Best of 2011" nonsense articles that you're going to be seeing everywhere on just about everyTHING, no, I'll leave that to everyone else. It's not just because everyone else is doing it, they are, but because I tend to find those things completely ridiculous. Have you ever seen a "Best of" anything that didn't have something in the order that made you scream "What the F are you talking about!" ? Same goes for the "Worst of"....

 
2001: Brande Roderick

Who the hell gets to decide these things anyway? It's all very subjective, like the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure, and personally I find most of what's main stream to be completely ridiculous. The Yankees didn't win the World Series this year, that's firmly in my "Worst of" list. If you even give a damn at all there's a good chance you just let out a hearty cheer. See what I mean?

 
2002: Dalene Kurtis

Somewhere in there I got the best birthday present I've ever gotten from the very same person that turned me on to this site to be able to pump these pieces out to you every day. Both of those were great things for me this year, but that same person also drove me absolutely ape shit for months, and most of that was due to my own neurosis. So there's no point to any of that either. I honestly don't know what my personal best of 2011 is, nor do I know my worst, much less want to rehash that.

2003: Christina Santiago

Too often we get caught up in looking back on the past anyway. How many of us lead our lives that way, carrying all the crap we were supposed to leave behind into every encounter we have right now? The answer is most of us, so continuing with the exercise is just poor practice and no way to start off the new year, even if it is meant to just be a reflection on all that is no more.

2004: Carmella DeCesare

Looking ahead to the future is a minefield just as dangerous. None of it has happened yet, its all in our imagination, and the old "New Years Resolution" is a convenient mechanism for justifying procrastination. January 1 on the calendar isn't going to change any of the wrong actions any of us have taken in the countless days and years that came before.... its another "I'll do it when..." and quickly becomes next year.

2005: Tiffany Fallon

There aint no time like the present, which is a stupid thing to say while I show off pictures of women who were beautiful ten years ago but could look more like the southbound end of a northbound mule at the moment for all I know, but it also happens to be true. There IS no time but the present, right now, this moment....

2006: Kara Monaco

And what I know, right now, in this moment, is that through my many trials and tribulations of 2011, because of them, as the old is swept under the rug and the new about to be rolled out, I am a far stronger, wiser, and dare I say better man, and better person, than I was when the year started.

2007: Sara Jean Underwood

There won't be any listing of accomplishments or blowing myself now either. If I could do that I wouldn't be wasting my time typing this, I'd be at home taking action. You have all come with me over the past few months through a journey of nonsense and self discovery, and if you're a fan of this page you already know all of the "accomplishments" I may have gained.....

2008: Jayde Nicole

There have been times when I was able to tap into the better parts of who I am, as well as the good I see in others, and presented a path that would be a warmer, friendlier road to travel through this long strange thing we call life. Moving forward, these are the characteristics and ideals that need to be focused upon, nurtured, brought to life.

There have been times when I pissed and moaned, bitched and complained, or assassinated the character of certain people that I really know nothing about and am way off base on. In the past few days, something in the holidays I guess, I've come to see clear as can be that everything that I've ever complained about in other people was never anything more than bitching at myself for the things I see in me that I don't like and can't accept.

Its such an important concept, a HUGE one.....

2009: Ida Ljungqvist

Moving forward, my focus has to be on those things, the improvements I can make in myself, and to me, that's what New Years Celebrations are really about, not looking back, but moving forward.

In the coming days you'll be getting an opportunity to look into the entire maddening thought processes that I've gone through in the time we've been together and see just what a mad man I really am, how great, and how terrible. The "Best Of" and the "Worst Of" coalesce into a whole person, into a life, my life, your life, and its the same way for us all, those we love, those we hate. We all go through the same process, even if yours may be a clearer, cleaner path than my own. Its an important idea to keep in mind when we look at other people and ask what the hell is wrong with them, or pontificate on their greatness. Out there somewhere someone is doing the same thing to you, but in the end, we're all the same really.

 

2010: Hope Dworaczyk

Thank You so much for allowing me to share the many things that I have so far. My hope, moving forward, is that we can all look at the ways that we can improve ourselves and our situations in life to cross that magical threshold into the life we want to live. My hope, moving forward, is that before we judge one another, put each other down or point our fuckin fingers and say "That's the bad guy!", we take a step back and understand we're all screwed up in some way and just trying to do our best to make it through, whatever it is we're trying to get through, in the only ways we know how to deal, and that idea will lead to a little more compassion in the world. My hope, moving forward, is that we begin to mold a new reality, one that's closer to the heart, further from your iPod.

And I hope I can find a way to do this for a living, because its fun.

That's all folks!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!



Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

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The Turduckin was worth the wait....

It takes about eight hours to cook one of those bad boys, but what do you expect from a turkey that's been stuffed with a duck that's been stuffed with a chicken that's been stuffed with stuffing? To add a little extra to the mix, as if it needed anything more, we covered the birds with bacon, because everything is better with bacon. I put bacon in my cheerios. This is why people are so damn fat is this country.

We got a late jump on the cooking process and hadn't eaten a thing all day outside of a few dessert pastries. Not one of us had eaten. We were starting to get on each others nerves, now this is the kind of Christmas I'm used to, everyone getting on each others nerves.

"Shut Up! Shut Up!" I heard my buddy Anthony yelling at Ringo from the other room. My brother Ringo has his problems, he lacks the social graces that most people expect from others, and this has kept him from experiencing life the same way as the "normal" every day person, which in turn leads to more lack in social areas, and this is coming from me, a guy who pisses off pretty much every one that meets me.

But Ringo is also a great kid, a far better person than I've ever been, and while he shows very little fear and will just about punch anyone dead in the face without a moments thought if you rub his rhubarb wrong, he often overestimates his skill in certain areas, and needs to be protected in others. Ringo very well may have punched Anthony dead in the face, and he would have deserved it to, you don't tell another grown man to "Shut Up", much less yell it, unless you're a bully, a spoiled ass, or simply lack respect, so you get what's coming to you if it happens. Of course, Anthony would really put a hurting on my brother afterwards, which is something I wasn't going to allow. This whole thing could quickly tumble out of control, so I went in there.

Anthony is a pretty big guy, in good shape, and whether it was that or the fact that we were in The Man's house on Christmas and didn't want to cause trouble, Ringo simply put his game controller down and walked out of the room. He sat on the couch and didn't say anything the rest of the night, and he was the one who bought the bird.

It's good nothing went down like that, my broken wrist isn't right yet and I can't be getting into any freys, especially with friends of mine, but had it been that way I would have had something for him. You wouldn't know it from looking at me, but I grew up a fighter, and have since been trained to do certain things. A few months before I began writing this blog a few punks around the neighborhood also thought they'd get tough with my brother, three of them believed they were going to jump him and I wasn't going to do a thing about it. It didn't work out so well for them. And it wouldn't have for my friend either. In Anthony's mind right now he would destroy me if it were to get into that. In his mind.

Just like the punks in the street, he wouldn't have known what hit him. But then, No Body Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

But that's not what this was about. You have to understand, my buddy Anthony is a great guy too, you just have to know him. That's the same exact thing anyone would say about me, and he's definitely more main stream than I am. If you put it to the social test, the polls would agree with him and I'd be the one who's nuts. So its not about that, its the lesson in the day.

Adriana Lima

The Knick game was long over and there was no football this Sunday due to the holiday, so we were deep into hunger and boredom already when Anthony walked in. Ringo loves video games, and he likes to create characters in his wrestling game based on the characters from my first novel VPI: The Saga Begins and watch them fight it out. Personally I think wrestling is for fruits  and 12 year olds, but millions of guys everywhere can't get enough of the shit, and its Ringo's thing. Besides, its at least as entertaining as any of the other garbage that's on TV, and if he's enjoying it, if it makes him happy, then what do you care?

"WHAT IS THIS?" Anthony was screaming right away, "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" The Man and I didn't much care either way at that point, we were hungry and wrecked, but Anthony went on a twenty minute tirade ripping the entire affair apart for how ridiculous it was. I can't say he's wrong, the amount of things I'd rather do is probably incalculable. Of course, there Anthony was getting into it a few minutes later, at points cheering the action on before stepping back and tearing into it again. This is how it started, and the two of them didn't get along for the rest of the day.

Izabel Goulart

How often have you been ripped apart like that for doing something you enjoy, whatever it is? How often have you done it to others? This is how society gets you to conform. This is how individualism is stamped out. It can be so deflating to someone's spirit. Most people will hang their head and never do something they really enjoy because of it.

AH, but the self actualized person doesn't care. They just do what they do.

By the time the Turducken came out of the oven we were on edge, Ringo was obviously upset, and I felt bad for him. But when that bad boy hit the table it all went away. There wasn't a sound for a half an hour as the four of us devoured a meal that was meant for at least twice that many. Turduckin has so many flavors that its difficult to describe them all, so I won't even bother trying, the important thing is that it was so damn good that the irritation we had all felt just a short time before had magically melted away. We were all happy, having a good time once more.

The Turduckin was worth the wait.

Later on, after we left, I had to help pick up Ringo's spirits. I told him to remember, if you're into something then chances are someone else is into it to, so don't listen to what other people have to say about it. Sure enough, upon researching the subject we found that Playstation online has thousands upon thousands of characters for this wrastling game that others out there had to spent a ton of time with perfecting for others to use, things like a Bruce Lee that looks and fights just like the real guy. Youtube is full of video's that other people had made of their own characters fighting it out in the squared circle, just like Ringo likes to do with his time.

Sure enough, an activity that one guy sneered and turned his nose up at and attempted to tear down proved to be something so much bigger to so many others. My brother was validated once he found a circle of people that was just like him.

The lesson I'm getting at here is this: Don't listen to other people when they try to tear you down for who you are and what you do. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about yourself. As Louise Hay would say, "what other people think about you is none of your business". Chances are they have no idea what the hell they're talking about, and if you just do your thing, eventually others out there will appreciate it just as much as you do.

In some sad news, the Chimp who played Cheeta in Tarzan died at the age of 80.

"He could tell if I was having a good day or a bad day. He was always trying to get me to laugh if he thought I was having a bad day. He was very in tune to human feelings," Cobb was quoted as saying.

Ron Priest, a sanctuary volunteer, told the Tribune that Cheetah stood out because he could walk upright with a straight back like a human, and was distinguished by other talents.

"When he didn't like somebody or something that was going on, he would pick up some poop and throw it at them. He could get you at 30 feet with bars in between," Priest said.

Cheetah could walk like a man, had empathy and the will to make people happy, and could fling shit like a champ. What a Chimp! R.I.P.

Until Next time

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

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The Losing Culture

The Man had asked me to take a ride, he had to drop something off to a particular See You Next Tuesday that neither of us could stand, and he didn't want to deal with her alone. The real issue was that he didn't want to go to jail for hauling off and punching her dead in the face, a very realistic probability. The minute I had gotten into the car my stomach tied in a knot and a deep anxiety over took me.

It wasn't that he can't drive and my life was in danger that did it; he can't, and it was, but that wasn't it. What gave me that uneasiness, I discovered later, was that I despise this person so much that the idea of being around her was making me sick. As soon as he did what he had to do, and we left her at some random ghetto bodega, the anxiety, the knot in my stomach..... they completely disappeared.

James Brown

On the way home, turning to the right to see a woman that looked exactly like James Brown a thought came over me that made many of my recent struggles come clearly into focus. It had nothing to do with the God Mother of Soul. HEH!

Danielle Lloyd

In sports we often talk about certain teams, the ones that never win and seem to always find ways to lose even when the fete appears unthinkable, the franchises that do every thing all wrong and can never end the trend, having what they call "Losing Cultures". These teams are so defined by their losing ways that its all they seem to know how to do. It gets to the point where its all pervasive, it fills every member of the organization, from the front office to the coach and right down to the players themselves.

All one has to do is to watch them once, see the lethargy with which they approach their daily activity and its clear as day.... its as if their will has been broken, that they've lost hope of better days, they've given up. These teams expect to lose, and so they do.

Alessandra Ambrosio

When it comes to turning things around for these franchises they very first thing they do is talk about "Changing the Culture" of the organization. But when people are conditioned to lose on a daily basis its nearly impossible to turn them around and snap them out of it. Just like with social programs such as welfare, psychologically, when people get used to a thing you just can't take it away from them. So the only option left is to dump everyone on the club with that losers mentality and replace them with people who not only know how, but expect to win.

This concept of the Losing Culture isn't exclusive to sports, it infiltrates every group in life whether that be a business, a family, group of friends or anything else. When morale is low it affects everyone. When everyone morale is low its like walking into a dive bar full of old men with no teeth, rancid breath, and all of them passed out with their heads on the counter. There aren't going to be any supermodels walking through that door, no new money coming in, nothing. It just continues to stay the same until those old men die off or the bar goes under. Depressing, isn't it?

I'm always going on about support systems and how imperitive they are to success, yet when I walked into my house and looked around, when I looked back at the groups of people I had surrounded myself with, it struck me that I am currently, and have always been, a member of a losing culture. Not only had I been trained to lose, and to expect to do so every time, but so had everyone else around me.

This is where preachers of the Law Of Attraction and Success Principles the world over will tell you every time that you have to get as far away from negative people as you can, because they will infect you with their losing ways and drag you down with them. The only way to change that, to save yourself and break through to the winning side is to change the culture.

But how does one just cut off their friends? Worse yet, how do they cut off their family? Unless you're just completely cold hearted its all but impossible, isn't it? Its especially difficult when, like you, they too were raised in that same losing culture, and the losing ways were never really their fault.

There are way more people out there in the world that have been subjected to this very thing than there aren't, and the real bitch of it all is that they, more than anyone else, need positive people, positive influences, what we call WINNERS, to help them make that positive change in their lives. Except these winners want nothing to do with them, afterall, who wants their own winning culture to be infected with someone else's losing ways? Who wants to be dragged down? No one.

That right there, my friends, that space in between, is the gap we need to find a bridge to cross if we, as a society, are ever going to close the separation between the have's and the have nots. But it takes real courage from both in order to do so, a social courage that's in short supply in today's world.

One person who doesn't seem to have this problem is University of Georgia Head Football Coach Mark Richt. It had come out that he had been paying is assistants and support staff who make his job possible out  of his own pocket with the school he worked for refused to do so. That's called integrity, and I now have a new, deep respect for this man, and will now root for the Georgia Bulldogs as long as he's a part of what they do there. I hope we can all learn from his example.

On a stranger note, a kid with two heads was born in Brazil recently. You have to read this article, they explain how normally cut off one of the heads very nonchalantly, but couldn't do it with this one because they're both healthy heads.

My final Christmas message to you, my hope, my wish from you all, is that these holidays you change you mind set to be more like Mark Richt. Take it upon yourself to show the people around you who may be down on their luck that they too can be a winner in life, and make sure that you help see them through to the other side. You might not just be saving one life, but changing the culture for an entire troupe of people. And what else could this time of year really be about?

And now Santa and that lovely young lady up top will be moving us towards ringing in that New Year, so I'm out of here for now.

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota

This Aint No White Christmas!

It doesn't look as if we're going to be having any kind of white Christmas in NYC this year, the storm that would have brought the snow ended up being rain, the kind of mist that makes the roads a mess and brings every clown that can't operate a vehicle out to play. GOOD! I can't stand snow, all it does is muck up the works. Thank God for that... or Ra, the sun god.

This morning I forgot my coffee as I ran out the door, left it right on the counter, so this may be a long day. You've all been there before, forgot something you set up specifically to grab for the go only to have an "OH, NO!" moment later when it was too late to go back and there was nothing you could do about it. Don't you hate that?

If you're a coffee addict like me you know how rough the day is when you haven't had that cup of Joe. On top of that, it seems like one of those twilight zone mornings, when its as if you're in a bubble, no one around and nothing going on.

 

Who the hell is Rod?

Well... the roads WERE terrible and all the bad drivers did in fact come out to get in my way... so THAT's going on. Everyday on the way to work, on the way home, and my lunch break in between I encounter some ass who can't operate machinery and think at the same time wielding a four wheeled mobile death device before my very eyes. I see this, how terrible people are at something as simple as driving, and wonder how it is that we've ever made it this far, and how it is that I can't seem to get ahead in life when there are so many people out there that are just completely backwards.....

And I know you know what I'm talking about. Its the plight of us all.

They've discovered where most of the stones from Stonehenge came from, about 100 miles away in a place called Rhos-y-felin in Wales, and that around the site several sun worshipping stations were erected also. This is what brings up Ra. I won't get too into my ancient alien conspiracies.... they exist, we're alien retards... or sea monkeys. There's no way Stonehenge wasn't a landing pad for a UFO, just like there's no way primitive people could have moved building materials that we can't relocate now 5,000 years ago without a little help from their friends. Their friends being aliens.

Now its got me on a hunt for an MP3 download of Chariots of the Gods, the ancient alien almanac that started it all. I need to know how the Bible is actually an alien text book translated in a way we can understand, without totally blowing our tiny human minds.

There's nothing tiny about the human mind, by the way. Your body has enough energy to power a city. Your mind can do anything.

Warrior was actually a good flik. A little long, and some of the drama scenes were over done and poorly acted, not to mention that it was predictable, but all of those type of movies are. Still, overall very enjoyable, at least for a buck.

Jennifer Morrison , the star of ABC's Once Upon a Time plays a small role in it, and I still can't decide if she's up there or not. She was on House for a long time, and I wasn't sure then either. The best way to put it I guess is that she's really good looking for a woman my age. Take that however you want.

Nick Nolte plays himself in the film. You know how much we love Nick Nolte!

And you'll be happy to know, my inheritance from Nigeria or the secret relative of mine from the U.K., wherever it came from... yeah, its just been released. I don't know the details, but the Barrister has it all under control. They told me so in an email.

If you thought Iran and North Korea were the only ones we have to worry about nuking us, think again. Russia is developing a 100 ton ballistic missile and threatening to pull out of whatever new treaty we have with them to disarm our nuclear weapons. Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. And looking at what our society has become since the end of the cold war, how stupid, lazy and complacent our people have become, do you think we're really prepared for this sort of thing? I doubt it.

 

Geez, Russians, nukes, aliens, warriors and a White Christmas.... what the hell am I talking about? This sounds like the makings of a Schwarzenegger flik from 1986. Like I said, its a weird morning.

Thank RA for Sexy Santa's. Without them this whole mess today would seem like a major downer. Its just the way my day is going, which tells you all you need to know about how I feel about the Law Of Attraction. Stub your toe in the morning and your whole day is shot.

And tell me Rudy Ray Moore wasn't THE BEST! We lost a giant right there, and you didn't even know it, did you?

I had better get out of here though before this really gets out of hand. Maybe tomorrow I'll represent myself better. Like I've said before.....

Later people!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota