Monday, June 2, 2008

Nothing in particular

Apr 28, 2008 8:41 pm43 Views
Don't like to go more than a month without posting SOMETHING, and since I've not been spurred lately with any particular motivation or line of thought, I'll keep the blog going best I can.

Highlight of the past month was a trip south to meet someone with whom I shared a point of view online, and sure enough, it extended in person. I just was glad to get out of the house with a purpose, and the affirmation of able to relate well with someone new was treat unto itself.

Around the house since last I posted, I got all 48 of my tomato plants, and 21 pepper plants, put out and mulched just in time for the spring rains. They'll make a near-insane amount of produce until it frosts, which I give away to all my friends and family, the folks at the senior citizens center my grandmother visits, and to my pizza delivery customers. It makes me grin to see someone gladder to get three or four absolutely fresh Better Boy and/or Celebrity tomatoes, than they were their pizza. The folks at the senior citizens center, eyes glowing like a little kid's at Christmas, tell me I'll be blessed, and I believe them.

To feed and nurture my off-kilter sense of humor I have remained a faithful online reader of The Onion. Even after all these years it still cracks me up, every time. One of these days I'm going to break down and get some T-shirts from them, featuring jokes that not everybody gets. In particular I like the one that proclaims, in cursive script, "I'm getting pretty good at masturbating." Perhaps I could wear it when I shoot a new profile pic?

The so-called 'economic stimulus' check will be arriving soon, and since it's my patriotic duty to spend it, I will...I have had my eye on a Canon digital Rebel camera so that's probably where it will go. I still have the film Rebel from my days at the newspaper, complete with the Canon 28-80 lens I added back when I couldn't really afford it. The new camera can use it and the flash I already have, which is nice, although it presents a dilemma. A digital Rebel, body only, goes for about $500 online...or I can trudge to Wal-Mart, spend that same $500 and get the camera complete with a big zoom lens. I guess more for your money is a nice problem to have.

Oh well...perhaps not the most interesting or thought-provoking blog post, but ye few readers can't say I didn't try LOL.

More on video

Mar 24, 2008 4:07 pm76 Views
Gone Baby Gone (2007) A little girl is abducted from her less-than-perfect mama and swept away into the shadows of Boston. While that's bad enough, private investigators brought in to find her discover that it's worse. Suspense, emotion, action and vilification...a lot going on here. Three stars.

The Assassination of Jesse James (2007) A long, drawn-out look at the end of the America's most legendary criminal, portrayed this time by Brad Pitt. Based a book from 24 years ago, this film has traditional Western action, with a slow-burning plot, and a brooding score by Nick Cave.Three stars, with half a star deducted for the movie being about 30 minutes longer than it needed to be.

The Brave One (2007) A talk radio host (Jodie Foster) is found by trouble and revisits her trauma upon those who have it coming. Her case winds up in the hands of a detective (Terence Howard) who knows more than he'll let on.I first saw this type revenge tale in 1972's Death Wish, and the plot has a few holes in it, but was still a good watch and not completely predictable. Plus, it's a lot more interesting watching Foster as the lead instead of Charles Bronson.Two and a half stars.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) I started out laughing at a subculture I never knew existed: those obsessed with who has the top score at Donkey Kong. But before long, I was drawn into the evolving human drama this documentary portrays.It took me back to high school, when video games were the hottest thing going, and reminded me of being too preoccupied back then to go chasing after girls!Three stars, with quarters burning a hole in my pocket.

Video picks

Mar 12, 2008 3:25 pm85 Views
Some of these have been out for a while, but seeing as how movies on video are what passes for entertainment around my house, I thought I might as well parlay my rentals into even more entertainment on here.

Into the Wild (2007) The story of Chris McCandless, a college graduate who took it upon himself to look for himself, and look for America, making his way hitching and working his way to Alaska. I knew how this would end, having read about this cat in 1992, when I also happened to be in Alaska. But it was still a great story, since it told all he went through getting there...idealism, realism, and everything in between. The best segment, to me, was the shortest, in which he spends time with Hal Holdbrook's character in Death Valley. Four stars out of four...do check this one out.

1408 (2007) A writer who makes his living penning accounts of the paranormal, in which he stridently disbelieves, is put to the test in a NYC hotel room that is just plain evil. Good combination of effects, suspense and action, and better-than-average adaptation of the Stephen King book. Three stars.

Stardust (2007) Normally I tire quickly of this type fantasy film, but based on the good review from Ebert and Roeper, I went for it, and I was glad I did. Good witches, bad witches, fairies, heroes, villains, God, the devil...will existence be saved or snuffed? Packed with movie stars, too, so this one is great even if you don't believe in any of that kind of fantasy crap. Three stars.

Michael Clayton (2007) This story, built around self-conscious lawyer played by George Clooney, pretty much has it all when it comes to big business doing as it likes in pursuit on the almighty dollar. That type story has been told onscreen countless times, but I was never sure quite what was going to happen with this one, right up to the very last scene. If you like drama, you won't want to miss this one. Four stars.

American Gangster (2007) Based on the true story of a street criminal (Denzel Washington) who notches up his aspirations and violence to the highest level, eventually drawing the attention of an honest but troubled cop (Russell Crowe) in late 60s Harlem. It would be hard to imagine two better-characterized leads, since you get back-stories showing the good and bad sides of them both. Four stars.

Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) A look at the cover says this one is about characters played by Halle Berry and Benecio Del Toro, and it is, but he overshadows her from the start. Her family is visited by tragedy, apparent from the start since the story is told out-of-sequence. With time it's made clear that he has trouble of his own making, and needs help getting out of it. Things do get better, but nobody gets to live happily ever after. Three stars (with one star deducted for the at-times-overwrought performance by Berry.)

No Country for Old Men (2007) The Coen brothers first got my attention with Barton Fink and hooked me with Fargo so I knew this one was going to be good. It did take Best Picture, after all.But after watching, I struggle for a description. It probably is the best movie of 2007, but what it's best at, would be hard to say.A satchel of found dirty money in the Texas desert gets things going, and when the closest character to a hero tries to do right, the plot is thrown into overdrive. And you won't see the ending coming. Four stars, though you might want to bathe after watching.

Wild horses

Mar 3, 2008 5:55 am106 Views
In the midst of converting from VHS to DVD more of my collection of live music from TV, from 1994 came Gavin Rossdale (voice of the band Bush, spouse of Gwen Stefani) covering a Rolling Stones song on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I've been a Stones fan since I strayed from my parents' record collection, so I've heard the original version about 1,047 times. But the cover brought out a whole other aspect of the song; he rendered it so that all the overtones of longing, regret and letting go were brought home to me at once.

First verse--longing
Second verse--regret
Third verse (note it's the shortest)--letting go
I even wrote down the guitar music to it, knowing full well I've only myself as an audience for now. Anyway...in the past, I have seen and not quite understood the point of others' use of lyrics in a blog post...but I get it now.

Wild Horses (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards 1971)
Childhood living is easy to do
The things that you wanted, I bought them for you
Graceless lady, you know who I am
You know I can't let you slide from my hand
Wild horses couldn't drive me away
Wild, wild horses couldn't drive me away

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you've decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lights
Can make me feel better or treat you unkind
Wild horses couldn't drive me away
Wild, wild horses couldn't drive me away

Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let's do some living after we die
Wild wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild wild horses we'll ride them someday

Shaving

Mar 3, 2008 3:53 am114 Views
It was all right the first couple of times, but it wasn't long before shaving my face got to be a figurative pain in the ass.

First welcomed as a rite of passage into male adulthood, putting a razor onto my shaving-creamed face and gently dragging it around until my face was smooth quickly got to be drag, literally."Yeah, I guess", I told those who said I looked better with a fresh shave. In my younger days, I saw shaving as a silly bow to generally accepted social preferences. Later, it was a concession made in the name of looking my best. Nowadays, I shave just enough to keep from looking homeless. In the near future, I envision keeping on shaving to look younger. Then there is the fact that the longest-lived gray hairs all live on my face, and they are multiplying. I need a shave right now, as a matter of fact.

So what kind of rap can I get, regarding preferences of a man's shaven face? And for anyone who was drawn in by the subject line...yeah just my face. Trimmed elsewhere for all-day comfort and proper ventilation in hot weather. Although, other thoughts on shaving are welcome.

Sherri Jackson, Robin Meade, talk dirty to me!


Feb 19, 2008 8:27 am118 Views
All right, I am big into the news, so who better to pine for babes who read the news? First for me is Sherri Jackson she is an on-air personality for WIAT 42 in Birmingham and DAMN she is hot...I have been watching her for years and she just stays hot as hell...I don't usually get 'that way' over black girls but Sherry would catch my eye even if she was purple, for crying out loud. It doesn't say it on her bio, but Sherri can also sing the blues like you wouldn't believe.

Reigning over cable news babe-land is Robin Meade, the good morning sunshine on CNN, who reached me by getting knocked up and staying on TV looking hot the whole time. Just this very morning, I sighed over her her glowy smile and shinily shaven legs, knowing she's a mama...ahhhhh. Oh well, no particular point to this post, other than to call attention to a couple of news babes I dig.

p.s. whatever happened to Rudi Bakhtiar?

Do's and Don'ts for the Perfect Date

Feb 9, 2008 1:04 am147 Views
OK, I'll just go on and admit that I stole this from a female profile full of things I really liked reading. It gave me a reason to believe! My additions and comments are in bold. Feel free to add your own comments or other interjections as you see fit.

Dos And Don'ts For The Perfect Date

1. It's okay to suggest a drink instead of dinner for a first date. She dreads a boring four-course ordeal, too.
Having been out of the dating world for, oh, 13 or 14 years, that revelation is a RELIEF.

2. Call her by early evening on Monday to confirm a Tuesday get-together. (Weekends aren't for first dates.)
Agree on both.

3. Leave your home and work numbers. No home number and she'll assume you have a wife or girlfriend.
I'll give you my home number because hardly anyone calls me! And you'd call my work number only if you wanted to order pizza LOL

4. If you want to keep the plans a surprise, at least clue her in as to what to wear. You do not want an overdressed, overstressed woman navigating the Talladega pits in high heels.
I positively LOVE surprising a date with my date plans. Gets me excited, just thinking about the ways I could demonstrate my coolness to someone who doesn't yet know me that well. But having been in the pits at Talladega Superspeedway for my old job, I can say that not only would she not have any trouble navigating, she'd be lavished with attention.

5. Yes, she'll notice if the date location you've chosen is conveniently around the block from your place.
Well yeah, sure. But if she digs you, will it really matter?


6. Don't assume that just because you're out with a beautiful woman, she knows how pretty she looks -- she wants to hear it from you.
Mmmm, that borders on dirty talk to me. Telling a date how hot she looks is foreplay for foreplay, so to speak.

7. Ask if she's too cold or too warm, and if changing the temperature is in your power, fix it.
Men love being masters of their domain.

8. Men judge women according to whether they can picture having sex with them; women judge men by whether they can imagine kissing them. White teeth, fresh breath, and unchapped lips make her more apt to pucker up.
Agreed. There's a much more intimate and explicit extension of this logic but I'll leave it to the more imaginative dirty minds.

9. Do not ask her, "So, what kind of music do you like?" The last 25 guys asked that. Be original.
Not even I have been out of the dating world long enough to forget that originality is tantamount to an aphrodisiac.

10. She loves when you insist on ordering dessert. Sharing = extra sexy.
Isn't that kind of move in some cutesy Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie??? LOL But I'll keep it in mind.

11. Tip well: Grab the check, mentally divide the bill by 10, double that number, and throw down the tip. Do it quickly but casually. Believe me, she'll be watching.
Since I work for tips, this one is instinctive and I don't care if she is watching, or not.

12. If she touches your arm, she's interested; if she touches your leg, she's interested tonight.
Mmmmm...how soon can I line up THAT kind of date???

13. When in doubt, hold her hand.
I wonder if that still holds true when either or both daters are 40, but I'll take your word for it.

14. Very small protective gestures go a long way and show her you're a gentleman: Offer your arm as she's stepping from a curb, direct her away from shards of broken glass aka Say Anything. She'll notice if you wait until she's safely in her car or house before you leave. Wait the extra 90 seconds, and next time you might be going in with her.
Would pistol-whipping the asshole guy who grabs her ass or catcalls her be a little much? JUST KIDDING!!!!

15. She expects you to know her eye color after the first date.
If a man doesn't know her eye color, it's a safe bet he isn't interested in a second date.

16. Women need momentum -- without it, they lose interest or wonder if you have. Momentum = a minimum of one date a week, plus a couple of phone calls in between.
Again, I have not forgotten that despite anything they say or do, women like to know they are at or near the center of a man's universe. Otherwise they are easily gravitated elsewhere.

17. She knows that when you invite her over for a homemade meal or to watch a movie, it's code for "tonight is hook-up night." Don't play this card any earlier than date three.
I get off on making a woman dinner while she watches, and I love the feeling that comes with showing her a great movie she's never heard of. And that is true even if that's as far as things go. But I really appreciate the heads-up! LOL

18. A Friday or Saturday night is required by date four. Otherwise, she'll wonder who else you're seeing.
I'll hafta take your word on that one.

19. Rule of Groping: If anything happens that couldn't be shown on prime-time TV, call her the next day. Otherwise, she'll feel cheap and used.
I've been hip to this one since high school, with a slight twist: If y'all did anything to get you hard, and her wet, you better treat her like it went all the way.

20. Don't say, "I'll call you," if you have no intention to. She'd prefer that you say nothing at all.
What kind of shit-ass dude do you think I am??? LOL

Can't help but

Feb 9, 2008 12:05 am137 Views
I know that I hurt from being divorced...but...I am already willing to risk getting hurt again for the chance of being happy again.

There's no doubt I tell more than I should about myself and my feelings to people I have never met...but...I do it anyway because I want it known who I am and why I am.

I am aware of the fact I could leave out a lot about myself, that I could present myself in a calculated way, that I could tell people what I know they want to hear and have a stack of sex-ploits to talk about....but...I would rather be me and hope for the best.

I know of men my age who delight in playing emotional games in order to get laid, and that they don't have to put a lot of effort into it...but...I am not put together that way.

I have always read and been told that there are women who appreciate and desire a man who thinks and acts with a sense of moral right...but...I have yet to ever meet any of them.

Let me see your ID

Feb 2, 2008 3:23 pm143 Views
Buying my usual post-work package of adult beverages last night at the grocery store I use every day, a new teenish girl was running the register and she asked me for my ID! I was at first incredulous, then felt myself glow when I realized that she was serious. I brought out my wallet and said, aw you made my night, girl, I have 20 years to spare being old enough to buy beer, but I felt like kissing her on the MOUTH. lol I realize the store clerks are trained to ask for ID when a customer appears under 30, but still! That means she actually thought I wasn't 30! I went home feeling like I was hot shit.Is there any other small pleasure that could make a person feel better than that? If there is I want to know about it!

Getting my ass divorced

Jan 31, 2008 2:29 pm202 Views
Spent the morning at the courthouse settling up and getting divorced. My ex filed last April so it was about time this got over with...and now it is. Now I'm waiting for the reality to sick in. Here I am posting about it, but I would SO much rather be explaining my situation up close to someone else, if you know what I mean.

Tell me about your Internet meets

Jan 16, 2008 12:14 am170 Views
For no particular reason I wonder tonight, what stories ye few blog readers may have to tell about meeting people you 'met' over the Internet. More specifically...I mean, tell me about how things have gone, meeting in persons with whom who first made contact online.

I want to hear whatever y'all have to say, the good meets where the person was everything you hoped; the creep-outs where the person had all the personality of the cushion of your computer chair; and the ho-hum, just-kinda-there meets. Now I know about the vagaries of the human condition and how interpersonal relationships vary with the personalities involved, and all that. What I want to hear about is, how has it gone for you, meeting people online? Is it any better or worse than meeting the old-timey ways? Were you better off trying to 'get to know' somebody online? Or would you have done just as well half-drunk, hitting on an attractive someone in a bar? Did you find someone online with whom you could click? Or would things have gone just as good (or bad) being fixed up by friends or meeting at a party?

I attach no particular meaningful insight to this post; I was just wondering.

Me and Alaska






















Dec 29, 2007 12:34 am165 Views
As I am lucky enough to have chatted with a couple more folks lately, as always I feel compelled to share what I feel like makes/has made me the way I am. One thing that keeps coming up is Alaska and the time I spent there. So, I'll put it out there for anybody who wants to read to make myself more apparent, and hey, I STILL dig talking about that place and time, so much so that, it doesn't make me feel like an old fucker the way it usually does when I recall being young and cool.

Spring 1988:As a college junior at Samford University, I met a girl who was from Valdez, Alaska. This little town of about 2500 people was where the Alaska pipeline ended, and on the ocean, I learned.In addition to her being my first 'real' girlfriend, the stories about life up there positively mesmerized me.My first job when I was 16 was working at a grocery store. My girl said that was a hard job for the Valdez Market to keep filled in summer.






Being head over heels in LOVE, and lured by the promise of $8 hour pay (a shitpile of $ for stocking shelves and running a register back then) I went with her when the semester ended. Once she was back home, and I was 3,000 miles away from mine, in 5 or 6 weeks my girl decided she wasn't so much in need of a boyfriend, after all. I had purchased a round-trip ticket, and despite my predictable emotional response to being dumped, I fought back with resolve and determination to make the most of the rest of the summer.

They liked me at the store, which made things bearable. I worked 10 at night to 6 in the morning, and pretty much had things to myself, working the way I wanted to get stuff done, such as filling grocery orders for fishing vessels, merchant vessels, and oil tankers in port, one of which included T/V Exxon Valdez. My experience at my job made me a couple of buddies at work, one twice my age, the other younger than me, but both were way, way ahead of me in the Fun-Having Department. At that point in my wanna-be hippie life, I thought it fun to get high on weed once in a while, in a casual stoner kind of way.

Back then, weed was LEGAL in Alaska, which did not take long for me to discover. Not only was it legal, the pot was of extraordinarily high quality, every single time--'dirt weed' did not exist there. So, I found out that getting high and staying high all day on just a little tiny bit of weed was a pretty fucking cool way to be. And yes, since it's daylight from 4:30 in the morning to about 10:30 at night...what the hell, I'll have me a beer too!By the time my return flight date arrived, I was pretty damn close to being happy and quite well-rounded.Then school got started back, and I got deep into my history studies with good grades to show for it...always did well at classes I loved. Having been told by professors whom I respected that my history and political science major would do little in the way of making me a living, I took their advice, and changed my major to secondary education with the aim of making my way as a history teacher.When social opportunities became available... I was equally well-adjusted. It was quite the revelation to learn that yes, indeed, there were girls around who liked partying with guys like me, and hooking up with no intention of it going any further than that!!! A year before, I would have argued to no end that I was too serious about giving my heart about the woman of my dreams yada yada yada...funny how getting dumped 3000 miles from home will get a man over that point of view, isn't it? Baptist preachers got to send their children to Samford tuition-free....so it soon became apparent that a sufficiently-motivated young man could have his choice of preacher's daughters willing to defy all they had been taught, any night of the week! That discovery greatly accelerated my sexual self-actualization...for example, over the course of a semester, I met and eventually dated each of three sisters whose names were Faith, Hope and Charity....but that's another story for another post LOL

March 15, 1989...I promptly used my income tax refund check to buy another plane ticket for summer in Valdez, by myself this time, knowing a whole hell of a lot more than I did the first time.March 24, 1989..with its captain passed-out drunk after visiting the bar across from the grocery store at which I worked...tanker vessel Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound just a few miles west of Valdez, spilling millions of barrels of crude oil, as most of ye few blog readers can remember seeing on the news.I called the store where I had already been promised my summer job back, and asked if they still needed me. They said YES, please come back, we can't keep help since everyone in town is out working the spill, so we'll pay you $12 an hour instead of $8, and can you get here any sooner?Thus began one of the most hedonistic blurs in all my days. I camped out for 4 months of summer due to the lack of housing...population of town jumped up to about 8,000 after the spill. So I lived rent-free, didn't have and didn't need a car, no utility bills, and the store's deli fed me 3 meals a day as a perk.

The bar across the street from the store closed at 6 AM, the same time we clocked out, and reopened at 7 AM, which gave us time to eat deli chow and smoke funny looking cigarettes on the parking bench in front of the store, waiting for the bar to open.Jobs on the spill started at $16.60 an hour, for those with a valid Social Security number and a pulse, working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week with a week off every three weeks. Those with any sort of skill or trade whatsoever could earn to 5 to 7 times that rate of pay.

Cocaine, while never my thing, flooded town beyond belief. At the store, we could not keep in stock baking soda and Chore Boy scrub pads...this being right before crack hit, folks had to cook their own freebase, I was told.Every other type of craziness associated with way too many people with way too much money also flooded town. I was still the wannabe hippy pothead in all this, but I tasted crazy time once in a while. Bought a lot of drinks for people I did not know, just because they bought me a drink first.

There was the one night a big fat dude sent over shots of Yukon Jack, grinning like a possum, so after a while we sent the waitress back over to him and his friends with a couple pitchers, along with a joint rolled full of Matanuska Thunderfuck. They grinned some more and next thing we knew, all of us were standing out back puffing down and talking about what had us busy, what we were doing there, etc. The big dude said he and his buds had a band, and had just gotten a record deal, and were visiting Alaska to celebrate. Sure man, that's cool, what kinda music do you play? Blues, I guess, depending on who you ask...but we are just here to have a killer time right now and DAMN that is some kickass pot where did you get that yada yada yada....before dude and his friends left they gave me a tape with handwritten labels, sure enough it said blues.It was not until spring 1990 that I finally dug out that tape and checked the other side of the label....it said Blues Traveler...hmmm well that's cool...it was another year before I actually 'heard' of those dudes I'd met and puffed down with.

Summer of 89 got gone with the blur still roaring by, I had to get back to Samford and give them all my not-so-hard-earned cash. It lasted a year or so, coinciding with me deciding that I did not want be a school teacher in the spring of 1990.

Stayed stoned and bored and slinging pizzas until 1992, when one of my equally stoned and bored good friends said he wanted to go to Valdez that summer. I'd known Mike since 89, and had told him how cool Valdez was, and he had spent summer of 1990 there by himself. He had it in his blood, too.The two of us and a friend of mine from Pell City who intended to move to Seattle drove his Toyota pickup from Pell City to Dallas to Denver to Seattle that May. Made it on 9 tanks of gas (3 tanks per dude) Mike and I flew on to Valdez, where we camped out and started work: him at a tourist hotel restaurant; me at a cannery full of 'fish-hippies' until he got me hired on at the place he worked. Met a 5'10" waitress from Arizona who worked there, she had a BF so I got stuck in The Friend Zone, still chased her, wrote her after getting back to Alabama, was shocked one day to open a reply letter from her saying that even though she was technically engaged, she was going back for another summer working in Valdez WITHOUT her BF to put him to the test...the next day I bought by plane ticket to get back up there for the summer of 1993. Once there, the two of us got to be better friends, but still just friends, me being respectful and well-mannered.

The first of July, a skinny redhead from Minnesota with a filthy mouth and very nice breasts turned up for her second summer at the hotel, working as a housekeeper. With the waitress unavailable beyond the Friend Zone, and the redhead not shy about going after something she liked, it was not long before my head was TURNED. We started dating a few weeks after she got there, and two weeks after officially becoming An Item, moved in together at my room in employee housing. I made up for time I wasted pining for the unavailable waitress; my new love put me to good use helping her forget all about every asshole BF she'd ever had.

Summer once more drew to its end. She went back to Minnesota in November; I stayed in Valdez until January having by that time secured other types of work at the hotel, and deciding it was time to go on and finish my degree at Samford come spring semester, get a real job and start living a straight life with this incredible redhead.

March 1994...she came to Alabama to live with me. I hesitated in my dedication to finish my degree, and to this day, there it still stands, I guess, lacking 9 hours of student teaching.She worked at a dental clinic, fell in love with my family, enrolled in nursing school with my encouragement. She took to it very well; and even though we lived apart at times, our love kept growing and we married in 1998. She graduated in 2000 and promptly started work as a registered nurse.All right, that pretty much concludes the Alaska portion of my life...for now???

After my divorce ends however it is going to end, with my kids being bound unto whomever they will be bound...it very well could not take much thinking, or more than the one time asking, for me to end up back in Alaska. I have not forgotten how to make my own way very very far from home, and know how to take another on a trip that will change the way their lives look.....

Getting my ass divorced

Dec 26, 2007 3:22 pm161 Views
After the wife filed on me April 25 , I finally have a date in divorce court Jan. 31. She wanted to take everything, and take our kids, and suffice it to say....I refused to go along with that proposition.

I don't write to get bogged down talking details, though. I am overpaying a fat-ass lawyer to worry about all that stuff. What motivates me is simple: getting this divorce shit OVER WITH.Yeah, it will mean that I can start over, that I can put myself back into the world of dating, that I am officially available. But in spite of what people have been telling me, about how good a taste of freedom will be, I can't help looking past getting laid, and getting on with LIFE.

Don't get me wrong, oh ye few blog readers. I want to find women who are in the same boat I am, so to speak, emotionally and relationship-wise, to unleash a pent-up store of hormones and passion, to please and be pleased, and all of that which I have missed SO much.But even more than that, I want to find someone who just wants to be treated right, in every way imaginable.

So...are my expectations too high in the face of my impending divorce? Anyone who needs more info before offering input...I will answer any questions here as best I can.

The Wreck

The Wreck
Nov 25, 2007 11:43 am183 Views
Out of the all the things that have ever happened to me, The Wreck follows only the birth of my son and daughter, and getting married and divorced, on the "what makes me who I am," list.

On September 30, 2001, my best friend Mark and I were on our way back home from a day canoeing Talladega Creek. I was driving my 1972 VW, with the canoe on top. In a sharp curve, at about 50 mph, we were struck head-on by a 1985 Honda Prelude driven by a drunk deaf woman. My car went airborne and landed off the road. I do not remember any of the details; I know only what I have been told and what I have been able to piece together in the time since.

The outcome was predictably calamitous: Mark was killed outright, and I was grievously injured but for some reason, left alive with a traumatic head injury, broken neck, seven broken ribs, pelvis broken in two places, collapsed lung and many, many cuts and abrasions.

One of the witnesses of The Wreck was a college professor who not only knew first aid, but taught it. He rushed over, checked us both, and saw me choking on my own blood and gasping for air. He ever-so-slightly eased my head back, enough to let me breathe but not enough to make me into a quadriplegic. To this day I marvel not only at the fact he not only wanted to help, but that he knew what he was doing.

Soon enough, local EMTs arrived; I have been told that I attempted to fight them off and resist being helped. But quickly I was transported to Citizens Hospital, where a physician summoned a Lifesaver helicopter, which took me a specialized trauma unit at a Birmingham hospital.From there it was a two-week stay in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit.

My broken neck was immobilized with a halo, I was fed by tube, and got air through another tube in my neck. Later, I was moved to a standard room, where I remained until mid-November. From there, I went to a rehabilitation hospital, where I remained until I was finally discharged Dec. 7.

Well, this is hardly the standard fodder for these blogs, that's for sure! But I felt like anybody who has even the slightest interest in me ought to know all that about me, and this seemed like the best place to get it told.All right...I don't plan on making this blog a place for me to get all serious and heavy, honest!