Fried Chicken and the Pursuit of Happiness

Get out your piece of paper, get a pencil or sharpie or whatever... hell, get a crayon... but at least choose the 64-pack to get a good selection, and draw up your battle lines...

if you want.

Now, the beautiful thing about America is that there is choice.  Politically.  Religiously.  Economically.  Amorously.  Sorry, couldn't think of a better word at the time.

A funny thing is they all tie together.  But should they?  Maybe, maybe not.  I'm not a Founding Father, but hey, you know those online questionnaires that actually ask really good questions like... What would you ask God when you go to Heaven, hoping ya go there?

I'm adding: Do you hate gay people?

I don't think the God my mind fathoms and has faith in can imagine that God to say 'yes'. If God is Love, and Love is not Hate, then God is not Hate. God is Love. God is God. and right now, a lot of the politically inclined religions are giving out man-made rules instead of keeping it simple.
I'm throwing this out there.  Remember, I did mention to get ready to draw your lines if you wanted.  But this is an opinion, respect mine, i'll respect yours, and maybe we'll agree, or agree to disagree, but leave agreeing on an agreement.

I was raised in the Catholic religion.  Today, I try to live by a Catholic-based Christian faith, keeping it simple. I'll get hit on being picking and choosing. But that's why it's faith and not religion.  Will this alienate me?  Excommunicate me?  Maybe.  I don't know.  But Lord knows, i'm trying to be good, so... Anyway, ... choice.

Actors and Actresses, Politicians, Sports figures, and who knows the occupation... and i'm using the hetero side of things... God-hoping, have a long and wonderful marriage.  But then you see, hear, or read about the controversies.  the scandals.  reality tv and the news of break-ups and the 90-day, let alone 48-hr 'marriage', and you think, it happens. These reality game shows for The Bachelor, The Bachelorette... you start out with one guy or girl, and you have 50 people to choose from. Talk with, date with, fuck around with... and then you pick on a pre-recorded Finale your choice, who you want to marry? and then usually after the Finale, they show that y'all have already broken up.   what's the next headline?  but if two non-hetero's related to gender decided to get married... oh FUCK NO?  Marriage is a sanctity. Yes, I agree. But if marriage is for heterosexual mates only, then it's not being kept well.


Haters are gonna hate.
I remember about how it was rare for 'mixed' couples to be out.  Different ethnicities and all.  A lot of people look, stare, sometimes make comments.  Hey, know what?  They usually make good looking babies.  I know.  We get those comments a lot.

There's so much talk about 'holy war' between religions and yet there are people married with different faiths.  I'm talking Islamic and Jewish.  I don't see one partner strapping on a bomb into the bedroom.

So what else is there?  Verbalized opinions?  Lord knows, if I relied on people telling me who to love, I would not be where I am today, and I wouldn't have an awesome wife and a beautiful child. Well, i stand by my decision and was ready to stand by it to the degree i needed to anticipate in case. But it would have been their loss, not mine. I can only imagine.  That's really all you can do for now because how else can you picture, what if the tables were turned, and hetero-relationships were the not-so-accepted, and all that.

Marriage is a union.  It's a decision, a contract, a binding kinship.  You have to pay for a license and all that.  When the government tells you who to marry and how, then i will have to question that government.  When a religion that tells you to be understanding and tolerant preaches otherwise, then i will have to question that religion.

Everyone points to the Constitution for every frickin' issue in the United States.  Bear arms, free speech, etc.  Seems the Declaration of Independence keeps getting left out, but i recall this being taught first before the Constitution in school.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Today, there's still news about Chick-Fil-A, and the plans to either promote them or to boycott. City leaders in discussion of whether or not to have them expand or build. I can see the economic impacts by doing either.

 Drawing up battle lines and what not. Does this make me a scrub if I disagree with that the CEO said, but damnit, I want an original #1, value sized fries, and a large diet coke? Fuck, if Whataburger pulled that shit, i'm sorry, but i'd have to use common sense, know it was a person's opinion versus store policy... well, unless they made it store policy to discriminate... but if not store policy, then to still buy the burger and fries i grew up to. Hell, Target is promoting same-sex gift registries for weddings and what not. If you're a Target-shopper, and you disagree... guess what. You'd better start lovin' Walmart. If you like CNN, but don't like Anderson Cooper, well,... watch Fox news or MSNBC.

A gay marriage will still need a license. It could also be taxed, just like everyone else. It would also bring in some income to stores. and there'd still be a need for decorations and catering. I'm just saying.

Bottom-line is this. Sooner or later, as most movements go, attention and objective adjudication needs to just stop at the media, and get worked on. Imagine when women couldn't vote, there was a deepened segregation, and other things in history. It's not a matter of each movement has gotten its way, but each has made a statement against oppression. When you take away a freedom, a piece of America goes with it.

You can take your pen, or pencil, sharpie or crayon... and maybe start drawing your battle lines. Or, you could keep it simple, take the crayon box, see the colors of the rainbow happily sitting there, waiting to draw a beautiful picture. And yes, it's ok to color outside the lines. It's ok if the sky is green, the rain is purple, and whatever else.

Marvin Zindler always ended with, Good golf, good tennis, or whatever makes you happy. Just be happy.

Life... Or something like it

It's lunchtime. That's a big thing considering I don't often take lunches at work. So I'll take one today. I started reading a blog entry by Bronnie Ware. See it here: http://theburiedlife.tumblr.com/post/27501710757/top-5-regrets-from-dying-people It's a very poignant and thought provoking entry. At least to me it is. When I first started at Lockheed Martin, I was bright eyed, throw at me whatever you got. Yeah, I was single but I had a sense of immortality. But I think now it was a false sense. Now married to a wonderful woman and have the most awesome minion, I mean, daughter... This is true immortality... To pass on your essence, and know you're not the end of the line. But it's this very immortality that reminds me of my own mortality. Mary told me today that between now until Emma turns 18, there are 960 Saturdays left. Knowing that she will reach an age where Mommy and Daddy won't be her only world, that 960 soon becomes smaller. If there's a definite thing I learned in Dr. DeCuna's Pathology class (I'll share more of that later), it's that numbers suck. The blog post from Bronnie is a good reminder. Cherish life. I may choke on this chocolate frosty for all I know... And I may have a few regrets, but the joys my family and friends have given me far outweigh that. I've often told myself before that the more we live, the more we die. The numbers of our year of birth to that year of death, as I've heard at funerals, it's the dash that matters the most. We just need reminders now and then. So as Seal's song title, changed to fit my need, says, here's my prayer for us, the living. May your life be with few to no regrets. Enjoy what you have. If you believe in Heaven, and strive to get there, make a Heaven on Earth while you're at it.

Start it back at 1

It's been about 6 years almost since i last touched a blog.  maybe it's because life just got busy.  maybe it's because it got old.  maybe it got to where, it was not so much the in thing.  the in thing.  huh. 

but after looking up my old one, and read some of it, it's funny how it's like an old friend you haven't seen or chatted with in so long, and ya pick up where you left off, like an old conversation, or something.  Lord knows, the older i get, my memory's not what it used to be, a walking rolodex of useful and useless information... now, thank goodness for Google and all that.

As for the old blog, well, yeah, i laughed cuz even though something i typed back in 2004 or 2005 was way back when, after reading it, i'm like... i actually remember that.

Memories.  no, not the song from the musical, motherfucker :), i'm talking about the shit that helps make life.  just like the theme to an 80s show.  yeah, you know it.  you take the good, you take the bad, take a look and there you have the facts of life.  the facts of life.  so yeah, those memories help remind me of where i've been, what i've done, or at least the shit i typed out and felt like i didn't have it to hide.

By the way, i'm laughin if you actually start singing or humming, or better, have that song stuck in your head now.

so, with that in mind... i just might pick this habit up again.

and if you know me well enough, i bullshit and layeth the truth with the stretched, but it's all good.  i'll do some verbal therapy, and i'll talk about the craziest, you won't believe you know me let alone be a friend,... but it's from the head.  and from the looks of it, sometimes uncensored.

and there you have the facts of life.  the facts of life.  HA HA, you're still singing that song in your head.