Now that Labor Day has passed the summer is officially behind us (though not scientifically speaking until Sept. 23). It's 62 degrees in New York and, of course, raining some more, but what else is new. College Football has started and Notre Dame sucks once again, their season over before it began due to the sort of mistakes that can only be categorized as bad coaching. It was a weekend full of that sort of negative vibe.
What the hell is she doing?
I mean, yeah, that's one big ass tree, but she's been
standing like that staring at it for hours. There's been an
epidemic of people doing whacky nonsense out there.
39 people were shot in New York city over a 2 day span from Noon Saturday until Monday afternoon this labor day weekend. A lot of that may be attributed to the West Indian festivities that kicked off, or at least that's what the papers claimed, apparently this sort of thing happens every year during the West Indian festivities. I don't really pay much mind it, but that's downright disturbing. Most of the shootings were in Brooklyn; most of the shootings happened at parties, or at the hands of people who just left a party. There's no better way to celebrate anything than shooting up a room full of teenagers I tell ya!
I suspect this guy is behind it all.
Just look at him. If that's not a kid toucher, I don't know
what is. Last time I saw him he was trying to capture
the Ambiguously Gay Duo.
This is an old stat back from around 2005 or so, but 44 Americans are murdered every day, and that's not counting other violent crimes, just when they were actually killed. That's compared to 4 soldiers dying per day combined in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can get the figures off the FBI's website if you really want to do the research, but it just goes to show you that it's still not all that safe out there. Just because something bad hasn't happened to you... YET... doesn't mean you're protected in your magic bubble. Especially if you live in Brooklyn. That's not a shot or a crack at Brooklyn, it's just the truth.
Whatever it is that he did,
he was just following orders.
That's what henchmen do.
But don't try to get him to rat
out his boss... he aint talkin...
I can't imagine that those numbers have gotten any better; if anything they're probably worse. We're not just facing an economic crisis, a depression, we're also facing a crisis of conscience. Somewhere along the line we stopped holding ourselves to higher standards, we stopped enforcing the basic rules of decency out there which holds firm that there are things that are acceptable and things you just don't do. People really just don't know how to act anymore, and that doesn't come out of weekend shootings, those are the end result. The shootings are a result of the little things built up to an explosion, it's talking in movie theatre's, driving in the middle lane all the way to the end of an exit ramp and cutting in on the line of cars doing it the right way, not saying "thank you" when someone holds a door open that's got us here. 
Look at this poor woman. She's hunched over in
embarrassment, grabbing her ankle, crying in pain
while he tosses her around in front of a cheering
crowd like its a damn Roman arena.
Can you really blame him though? Just look at that
shirt. You can't pull off pimp without beating your women.
He's going to blame Dr. Venture there up top.
Until we fix the breakdowns in the very fabric of our society and restore that sense of pride in doing the right thing nothing that happens economically will make much of a difference. We'll only destroy it all over again. Greedy people will take advantage because they can get away with it. Animals will continue to act as if might makes right because we prove to them that it's true everyday. Stupid people do stupid things, and desperate people do desperate things, and when you throw millions of stupid desperate people together with no vision of a better way, a better world, a better you and no hope for a better life.... whoa, that's a powder keg sitting on top of 100 year old unstable dynamite, isn't it?
Its good she's not reading in the dark, but
someone should tell he that sitting a foot
in front of a 4 foot tower of ultraviolet light
isn't good for the eyes either. Her eyesight was
perfect until she bought that damn lamp. Dr. Zeus
made her do it. I told you... whacky!
And why would we be desperate? Because not only is the unemployment rate in the U.S. at 9.2% as of this weekend, but the underemployment rate is at 16.7%, thrilling news that also came out of this Labor Day weekend. In case you don't know, the underemployed are those of us that have jobs but don't make enough money at those jobs to pay the bills. The underemployed are the ones working 2 part time jobs at 70+ hours a week just to get by, only to have to do it all over again tomorrow. Right now 25% of the country can not take care of themselves. Yet adding to that desperation, in our consumer driven materialistic party all the time society, we're still putting all the value on the "Haves" while looking down on the "Have Nots". Worse still... no one has any answers as to how to fix it.
Blame the Chinese, they're behind everything.
Who do you think is funding Dr. Moreau up there?
Outsourcing your devious plots for total global domination
keeps the hands clean and frees up a lot of time for
more important activities like....
KARAOKE!
All of this has even made the likes of self improvement guru Anthony Robbins go on a Labor Day Rant! This is a long video, but you should really listen to what he has to say in it. There were some specific points he made in it, things I've said a lot and got slammed for in the past such as:
"I'm not talking about positive thinking bullshit"
"Everyone wants a piece of you when things are good. When you're down the people who are full of it disappear and you find out who your real friends are."
"You need a breakthrough"
He says these things straight out in this clip, and it points out why, of all of these people cropping up doing what he does, that he's still the best. What he acknowledges that the "positive thinking" crowd refuses to is that even if you do everything right you still need opportunities, you still need something to happen, and for many of us, those breakthroughs just don't come, and they certainly haven't or aren't coming any time soon.
And there it is, the evidence, the crux of the plan....
they're going to replace all of our women with
cardboard cutouts.
If you want companionship you'll have to go through
them now. Cardboard cutouts are just fine. You can even
talk to them a bit. Its when they start answering back
that you have to worry.
Robbins hits on the same rock wall that I've been smashing myself against for the better part of my lifetime, and certainly over the past few years, and that's that no matter how hard we try to improve our situation, there are times that nothing you do can change it and there's really nothing that you can do about it. This follows right along the path of Eastern philosophy when they say that life has pain, all we can do is decide how we feel about it, how we let it affect us. As Anthony Robbins says, when it really hits the fan and everything is out of our control, all we can do is focus on the things that we CAN do something about. Often the only thing that is is how we think or how we act.
They're letting us keep one or two of the ladies
around, just in case we need a little something extra....
like two front teeth... or are those the bottom teeth?
And as if the Universe needed to hammer that point home, that sometimes things just don't go your way and there's nothing that you can do about it but accept the situation and let go of the frustrations caused by fighting a fight you just can't win and stop fighting just for the sake of fighting... I got word Friday night that Jess, my ex that left me in the middle of the night, is now engaged to be married.
It was an odd feel that washed over me; I wasn't upset at all. Quite the contrary, I'm actually about as happy for her as I can be. Whatever happened, I take the blame for it; I could have loved her a whole lot better than I did, and marriage was what she always wanted. Hopefully she'll be able to squeeze out a kid or two too. I gained a large sense of relief because I couldn't give her what she wanted, but she didn't lose out on it because she wasted time with me.
Of course, ever since it's seemed like the whole world has stopped. You can't help but think in these situations "what about me?", and I've done my share of that. I've accomplished so much since she left, but every bit of it has felt completely empty because I've had no one to share it with (another thing Robbins mentions often), and nothing I've done has done anything to change that.
But never fear... These guys are on the case.
Have you ever seen a sight that's filled you with
a greater sense that all will be well.
No matter how heinous the plot devised by Dr. Evil...
These guys will save us!
For everything that's happened over the past couple of years, all the hard work that I've done, all the life lessons learned, all the goals knocked off the list, I find myself right back in the same exact situation I fought so hard and did all of those things to get out of 5 years ago and more. And the people that I carried with me all that time, the ones I've been scarred by, have all moved on to other lives and seemingly left me behind, no longer even a dot in their rearview. Hearing of the engagement took all the fight I had left out of me. Not in a bad way, but in that way you only find through acceptance. This is what it is; this is life. Maybe not for others, but this is what life is for me. And so it's time to stop fighting for all those things out there, focus on the few things you can actually do something about, and try to enjoy whatever it is that does come to you.
And we'll all live happily ever after...
THE END!
I like myself a lot, even if very few others do. I just don't like the situation I'm in, and no matter how hard I've tried I can't do anything to change it. I wonder how many of us have said the very same thing, felt that very same way. But being depressed about it doesn't work either. How does that make anything better?
Instead I said "Fuck it", the 2 most powerful words in the English dictionary as the best teacher I ever had, John D. Vasques, said often. I spent Labor Day weekend watching 3 kick ass Phish concerts and eating Barbecue with The Man and caught my favorite Elvis flik.
And there was much rejoicing.
So what really is the point then in today's ramble if it's not to say how bad things are and we're all screwed? It's this... even when nothing's working for you you can still always decide how you feel about it. Work on being a better you, even if that means saying "to hell with it" and having yourself a good time. Sometimes it's all you can do.
Later People!
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
It can be an odd situation. Every person has their own unique experience, so, no one can give the answer to fix it. But, you do have to have moments where you get clarity - and much like turning the focus ring on a camera - you go back and forth; up and down, until it comes into sharp focus.
ReplyDeleteYou're becoming more focused - and for what its worth, 2005 was when I realized, just as you have said, "Work on being a better you, even if that means saying 'to hell with it' and having yourself a good time."
But you already know these things, as you have taught me a lot of this. :D
You have plenty of people to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with. After all, that's what family is for.
ReplyDeleteYour day is coming and when it arrives, all of the people you mentioned will look at you and say, "Why wasn't it me that fulfilled John and gave him what HE always wanted".
That's the day I look forward to seeing.
Big Sis.