Thank you, Lord!

Well, well, I figured I'd have to write before crashing this evening.  The Neanderthals called The Boston Red Sox are not going to the World Series.  They lost in Tampa Bay tonight and the world, as much as it is spinning out of control in many ways, now feels a little bit better.  I am so happy to not have to hear Boston fans sing, "So Good! So good! So Good" for many months.  Now all that Tampa Bay needs to do is get a new logo for their hat.  Since they have already removed the devil from the ray, why not just drop that "B" and become the Tampa Rays.  At least then their letter logo wouldn't be representative of a highly infectious disease.  And, by the way, looking at their mascot, you gotta ask, what exactly is that?

Changing Gears

So, now, I'm Joe Plumber, aka anyone who makes over $250k a year.  I work my ass off.  I've given up the 6-pack, as it puts on too many calories anyway.  My snake is oily; dirty.  I need a bath and I think Hussein Obama is a terrorist.  I refuse to call him by his first name because of his privileged upbringing in such a wealthy country as Indonesia in the 60s/70s.  It was there where he met Bill Ayers while he was blowing shit up in random cities in the US.  While Ayers was blowing shit up in America, he sent telegraphic messages to Hussein Barack while he was studying in a terrorist jihad Catholic School/Madrasa in Indonesia.  At the tender age of eight, Hussein Obama learned how to overthrow the American economic system in the US and how to infiltrate banks in Western Europe.  In a rickshaw, he met Osama Bin Laden and further coerced with him on how to destroy his lunchbox after he ate his sandwich and before other kids could snag his HoHos.  After this discrete meeting Hussein Obama returned to the US to live with liberal Columbia students and practice law at another (god forbid liberal institution) Ivy League School.  The rest is history.........

Song of the Week

I think Wednesdays will be dedicated to a song I have been listening to a lot this week.  So, this weeks song is........ Cigarettes, Wedding Bands by Band of Horses.  This one has hit home to me ever since I first heard it.  The chorus repeats "They lied" and then turns it into a ladidied, lididied repetition.  I guess the song is kind of a fuck you to institutions and family drama.  

So, as you listen to the song, you'll notice that there are some striking lyrical illustrations in the first verse.  A dogwood fence has been destroyed by violence, a drunken brother attempts to intervene in some capacity.  Dogwood is considered to be a strong wood and was actually used in the past to commit violence.  Due to its strength it was used to make daggers, as it wouldn't break as one was stabbing someone.  So, the assumption can be made that whatever broke that fence was some kind of emotional/physical tornado.  

Further, there is the drunken brother.  Images of drunken brothers remind me of weddings, funerals, etc.  Therefore the lie could be a death or a marriage, but having to intervene is ominous.  Finally, one last note, simply based on the first verse, which would support an expensive event (funeral/wedding) is the idea of the working man's wage being pissed away.

Guided by Horses is a force.  They are cinematic in ways.  Most of their lyrics are quite minimalist, like a great Carver story.  Your mind can wander and wonder.

I just bought Deerhoof's new album and have been revisiting Springsteen's Nebraska ( a masterpiece).  Possibly one of these two will make the song of the week next week?

A Conversation With Joe 6-Pack at the Bar in Palinese

Joe: Golly, Ed! I sure had a goshdarn hard day.

Ed The Bartender: Golly, Joe! What the heck happened?

Joe: Well, my Main Street store had so few customers today and yet, I couldn't get one darned thing done because I watching my IRA portfolio just go down the tubes. You betchya it hurt to watch that!

Ed: Gee, well, Joe, have a Budweiser! If it makes you feel any better, I had a blunder of a day, too. Ya better believe it!

Joe: Well, golly gee, what happened to you?

Ed: Hucksters came in here and walked out on a $90 tab. Those knuckleheads really left me in the dark.

Joe: Ooh, that is so, goshdarn awful. This world makes me really mad!

Ed: Gee Whiz, Joe. You are so right. This world can be so darned cruel. You can bet your bottom dollar, I'll try and catch those cronies!

The Cat Analogy

Commanche.  He gets his name.  With a period.  Because he is Commanche.  Commanche is my cat.  I have owned him now for 10 years plus some months.  Commanche was born when Clinton was still president and the country was doing okay.  Commanche can also read my mind.  I am not going to go on some long, droning blah, blah, blah about him.  Yet he holds some random key to the current economic meltdown in the US.  

He got really sick on Sunday, the 14th of September.  He cried and moaned and couldn't pee.  So, off to the vet we go.  We go to the expensive vet in Park Slope.  We have already spent $3000 there on his sister who got really ill and made it.  Barely.  Now she has a growth on her vagina and is incontinent.   Back to Commanche.  He was blocked and couldn't pee, as stated above and he needed some work done on him.  

The first assumption was that he needed a catheter in his little penis to unblock him.  He would have to stay a few nights in the animal hospital.  Most likely this would work itself out and Commanche would walk out of the building in his little bag, in my arms three days later and all would be fine.  He's be in bed with me and purring.  I'd be the happy pet owner with a slightly lighter wallet.  All would be fine and owner/pet relationship would continue harmoniously.  

But it didn't work out that way.

I was denied fucking pet/vet credit.  I guess the industry has gotten that tight in this day and age.  The oddest thing about it though is that you apply for "vet" credit on the same website as you would people credit.  So, it turns into this odd site where you are searching through hospitals, clinics and veterinarians.  So weird.

So, I got denied.  If this cat can't get the surgery he needs he will die.  

Oddly enough, after frantic phone calls with numerous vets, pleading, freaking out on the phone, etc......  They tell me they can "dip into a fund for people like me."  

And this is where the analogy truly begins.  We can always dip into funds.  We are so rich.  That is the bottom line.  I am just a measly teacher, yet there is some fund to dip into somewhere that allows me to continue living an alright life and not worry about some dire shit and a little cat in a country of 300 million people.