Hollywood

I have to admit, Hollywood, and Los Angeles in general, aren't as perversely pathetic and droll as I'd imagined them to be. Still would not want to live here, but I think I'll survive the experience. The jetlag, on the other hand, is an almost palpable entity. I hope a good night's sleep will vanquish it.

Being on an expense account is wonderful, too.

Hospital

And so I'm off to the Hospital... It's a pediatric one, so I'm sure I'll be the envy of a certain infamous 80's pop star...

I'll write more later, when I have the time, which I don't right now.

Oh! Before I forget, I've noticed even the Brits have lost their ability to use English properly. On the BBC this morning I was treated to one of their newscasters, with a perfect accent, insisting that an opportunity was particularly attractive to a Nigerian soccer star since the average minimum salary in Nigeria was 50 U.S. dollars. Go ahead, run that through your minds a few times. The. Average. Minimum. Salary. The mind boggles at the statistical genius required to even begin to formulate that phrase, much less utter it in the Queen's language.

Goddess!

Blessed Beast! Can it be, after all this time???

Awareness

Training constantly is starting to bring back some abilities I used to have, long ago. I guess I've been guilty of not trying hard enough.

Yesterday, tired as hell from the fire we had in the very early morning, which lasted through 8am, plus working all day in my regular job, I was returning home a little bit after dusk. I went across the final traffic light/intersection, which was green. The rest of my way home is simply up a small hill. There are no streetlights on that section, for some reason, even though it's a road with significant thru traffic.

I used to be able to sense things around me, 360 degrees and all that, without needing to actually see them. I remember thinking to myself, "stupid, asshole kid", while applying the brakes, for no apparent reason, and at the same time slightly turning the steering wheel to the left. While the car was braking, some idiot kid who was skateboarding down the hill swerved across my path from the other lane and on to the sidewalk on my side. I wouldn't have hit him then, even if I hadn't hit the brakes. That's when he did the stupid, asshole thing. His skateboard hit the curb, and bounced back in front of my car. The kid landed on the sidewalk and jumped back, the idiot, to get his skateboard. His bloodless face was beautifully lit by my headlights, a scant inch in front of them.

I didn't even break a sweat, or increase my heart rate. I just waited for him to convulse out of my way, and continued home. If I hadn't started braking a good 3 seconds before I had need to, without waiting to actually see him, or otherwise know he was there, he'd be dead, or at least, seriously hurt. Which wouldn't have really bothered me a lot per se, but it would have damaged my car and involved me in tedious paperwork and other nastiness.

When I got home I called my Chief, who's my only contact into town politics, and told him what had happened. I figure he probably knows the idiot kids (there were two of them, but only one almost bought it) and can talk to their parents and the pertinent authorities if it comes to that. I've seen them skateboarding around there many times, only never at that late time, when they're all but invisible.

Fire!!!!!

We got a page at 3am this morning, for an "involved dwelling fire", which is firemanspeak for "house burning to the ground". Well, they got that right. We arrived there within 3 minutes of the pagers going off, and there were already heavy flames coming out of all the second story windows. Turns out there was no one (human) in the house, the owner traveling on business at the time. A neighbor had come and walked the dog at 10pm, and she told us more or less where she'd tied it up inside after walking it, with a rope, no less.

We never found hide nor hair of that animal, nor the rope, and I didn't fret too much over it, either. It was a dumb animal, after all, not a cat or something else of high import. One of the guys found what he said were small bones, but I didn't look.

We ended up spending 5 hours at the scene, at first making sure we prevented the fire from spreading to the neighboring houses, then actually putting it down. There wasn't a lot to save of that house, I'll stop by and take a picture of it later, it's basically razed to the ground. The owner had at least two rooms dedicated to fantastically intricate and detailed train sets, which must have cost a bundle. I'm not really into that, but being into other stuff, I can sympathize with how he'll feel at the loss.

Whatever set that blaze off, it certainly found enough fuel to go amok quickly. I just assumed the dog was a chain smoker and fell asleep with one lit.

I'm exhausted, but had too much shit going on at work to take the day off. Worse thing is, I'd planned on taking tomorrow off, but since I worked from home today, I'll probably have to go in tomorrow and take care of stuff needing my presence in the office, more's the pity.

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving, and the 4 days of rest it brings with it.

I'll be going to the hospital next week. Blogging might be really skimpy next week. You've been warned...

The Answer to the Question of Life, the Universe and Everything

42. Yes, I've known that's the answer for around 25 years at this point. Thank you.

I've come to think, though, that the main reason I'm here has been to learn about human community. I used to classify most attempt at socialization as meaningless wastes of time. I've since come to realize that, despite my misgivings, they serve a useful purpose.

I've gone from being the perpetual outsider, to making the motions of belonging to a group, to actually committing to a group. It's been a tough road, but I think I've undergone a tiny bit of spiritual evolution as a result. Now, I'm still the outsider in many ways, but I'm also an active member of a couple of groups, and that's made me a stronger me, through synergy as well as through the honing of abilities, some which I already had, some which I've had to develop in order to make the grade.

I've understood what had puzzled me for so long, how behaving in ways that favor the interests of the group over the interests of the individual can still be a necessary and logical course of action for said individual.

More on that theme later...

Not getting it

It's sad to see folks living in a time of paradigm change who just can't get it. They seem to lack the flexibility required to understand the shifting conditions and grasp the fact that the old ways just won't work.

Political correctness had its uses, and brought us some benefits, but now's the time to keep the good parts of it and let go of those that won't work anymore.

To wit, a lot of people haven't been able to wrap their minds around our current conflict. We went to war against Iraq for a declared reason that turned out to be wrong. Yes, we're all agreed that there aren't huge amounts of WMD lying around, even though Saddam was probably the most surprised by this fact. That does not mean there weren't many valid reasons to go in and take the sucker out.

It still brings a smile to my face when I recall Bush's answer, in Germany, to a reporter questioning him on why Saddam had to go. Bush answered, "because he's a dictator who gassed his own people". Trust the Germans not to understand why it's bad to have a dictator who gasses his own people. coughHitlercough

The world needs to be made safe for the Western way of life, that's the crux of the matter. Is our way best? It is to us. And I realize that's as subjective an answer as can possibly exist. I'm sure an Arab would equally say that their way, with women being oppressed, discriminated against and disenfranchised is the right way, too, for them.

Objectively, there probably isn't a right or a wrong way. Different tribes evolved different rules according to the circumstances they were forced to live under at a time when there was no possibility of easy mingling with people in far off places. What matter to an American 200 years ago if Arabs kept their women covered up and treated them like chattel? What matter to an Arab 200 years ago if Americans allowed their women the right to go around with their faces uncovered?

In today's world, with TV, global travel and an ever increasing flow of information, the Arabs feel threatened by the fact that our women are not chattel. And I know, there are other reasons, I'm just picking one example out of many. The thing is, if the Arab women see that our women are not suffering under the conditions that apply to them, the poor things might start to question why they have to live like that. Which would seriously threaten the male dominated power circles in Arab lands, wouldn't it? Can't have that, so let's try to do away with America as the foremost and most powerful example of the Western way of life. It's that simple.

It would be nice to be politically correct and say that the Arabs have a right to their beliefs and we should respect them. Very politically correct. And very shortsighted and suicidal, for us.

He who has power either uses it or loses it. If we don't take advantage of the power we currently have to change the world, then sooner or later we won't have that advantage and we'll have someone else dictate conditions to us. And I bet that "someone else" won't be as understanding, compassionate, benevolent and eager to share power as America is.

Wake up, folks. Smell the coffee.

Highly Irregular

Nope, I'm not in need of a laxative.

I do have, on the other hand, a lot of shit going on, mostly work. Blogging will be irregular for a while, so my apologies in advance.

Beerfest tomorrow, so it's not all bad...

Discombobulated

A cusp is being reached quickly, in fact, it's upon me. There's a high chance I'll be forced into something I don't desire and which is distasteful to me. At the same time, it's all happening as a result of schemes, plans and machinations I set in motion myself, so I'll have to play the cards I'm dealt at this point. Anything different would involve loss of face. And it's happening too quickly for me to react against it.

Still, it's going to severely piss me off if things end up happening the way it looks like they will. The chances of avoiding this grow slimmer by the day, even though they were looking pretty good only yesterday. A few phone calls have been made, and things that were certain are now less so.

Despite a cadre of buxom Buddhists chanting in unison to bolster my designs, too, which pains me even more.

I'd been hoping to return to a fold I left, but it looks as if I'm going to land in a hospital for an extended stay, instead. Sucks to be me, I guess.

Ah, well. So long as God Mammon rules...

New Seal

Priorities

My priorities have been slowly shifting over the past year or two. It's happened ever so slowly, but I've now reached a point where many of the things I held to be of the utmost importance a mere 3 years ago are now all but inconsequential. I understand many of the positions held by others that I've encountered over the years, and that at the time bewildered me. At the same time, most of the people I've associated with over the years now seem vapid, petty and antlike. Not all, though, just most. And I have to confess that my opinion on most of them wasn't all that high, even before this.

I now see I've been prophetic about myself to a degree I would never have believed. I'm close to seeing what needs to be done, in order to force the next cusp... I am filled with wonder...

Arbiter

I've never relished being tagged as an arbiter for anything, it's not a role that suits me. Nor do I enjoy taking sides when I'm not really involved in whatever's at play.

Of course, the Universe being what it is, that means that I end up spending an inordinate amount of time playing middleman and giving one side or the other advice on something. Many folks try to drag me into their arguments/fights, too, despite the fact that I have no vested interest in either side of the argument.

Serves them right if when I finally get bored of it and jump in, I end up doing something that screws up both antagonists.

Ah, well, it's just my fate. It's been that way since the Fall.

May God Pay You

Those who've traveled, even if only for short periods of time, through Spanish speaking countries will be familiar with the phrase, "Que Dios se lo pague!", which translates as, "May God pay you!"

That is the standard response given to you when you've done a huge favor for someone or, more frequently, when you've given a coin or two to a beggar. I've always been somewhat uncomfortable with the idea behind it, as I've taken it to mean, "Well, here you've gone out of your way to do something for me, but I won't consider myself indebted to you in any way, let God pay you back, if He will".

I've never believed in altruism on its own, since it flies against common sense and even Darwinism. If someone does something good for someone else, you can be sure they're getting something out of it, or expect to. Even if it's just that holier-than-thou, smug feeling that seems to make a lot of the religious types so happy about themselves. It's their equivalent to a daily fix of cocaine.

Many years ago I was going through a rough time financially, mostly because I'd made a couple of bad decisions at particularly bad times. I've had rough patches before, and I'm sure I'll have them again. But I'm good at getting back on my feet soon, so I rarely worry too much about it when it happens. That one time, though, an acquaintance and erstwhile business associate offered me full use of his office, steered some business my way and we even did a joint venture later on with a particularly lucrative deal that kept us both in the money for close to two years.

I got free rent, lots of business and lots of money out of the arrangement, and I never forgot that while my friend (we became and are still very good friends) profited from the arrangement as well, he didn't have to do it. He got one hell of a good software architect and programmer by having me around, but he could have very well hired one. The fact that he offered what I needed without me even hinting at needing or wanting anything speaks volumes about his perceptiveness, as well as his kindness and business acumen.

I never told him "may God pay you" since I believe in paying my own debts. And I keep good track of those, both good and bad. I'll go out of my way by miles to repay a favor, and I'll do the same for a good piece of revenge. And my accounting goes back for years, I'm very thorough and in no particular hurry to balance the books by being shoddy.

After some time, I broke off my business association with the friend I mentioned, and moved on to other, greater things. Due to the economy in the country where my friend operates, he started having a rough time, especially when it came to locking down the meat and potatoes kind of deals which keep a good cash flow running while one works on the larger contracts that keep you living like a king. Such is the life of the consultant. I steered as much business as I could his way, especially when I shortly thereafter became the Regional IT Manager for a fairly large multinational. At one point my friend's secretary, whom I was coincidentally boinking, admitted to me that my friend was very grateful, as was everyone else at his office, because one particular deal I had thrown his way had allowed them to cover rent and salaries for that month.

A year or two later I left that country, but I've kept in touch with my friend. Some time ago I was offered a cut in a very lucrative deal which required someone absolutely trustworthy as pointman in that country. I immediately thought of my friend and roped him in for the deal, promising to go give him the lion's share of the deal, in exchange for a percentage, which I had to split with the person who'd contacted me in the first place.

That deal worked perfectly, and we all got some good money out of it.

Chatting with my friend today, he confessed that deal was about the only money he made this year. That's sad. I'm sure he helped a ton of people over the years (I saw more than one example during the time I worked out of his office), and a lot of them are probably in a position to return the favor. I'm equally sure that most of them don't even remember the old guy exists. Yet I did hear innumerable times a "may God pay you" spoken to my friend.

I'll have to see what I can do for him, as I still consider the debt to be not wholly paid, on my side. While I don't actively work with or for anyone down there anymore, and haven't for years, I still have very good contacts, and an army of loyal sycophants.

I find it ironic, though, that the people who would argue vehemently that they're inherently good and God-fearing care not a whit about acquired responsibilities, what the Japanese would call giri, while an avowed evil necromancer like myself feels the need to return favors received in kind.

Pak Awakening

It always astonishes me how often I feel like a newly awakened Pak Protector. Still, as long as there are always new things to learn, as well as unlearn, then this reality will not bore me.

Be back tomorrow

Busy today, so I'll owe my fans a post.

Shorthand

I've developed a sore need to devise a shorthand way of writing different moves as used by the bujutsu style I'm training in. I'm about as good as anyone else at memorizing physical sequences, but I also have to admit I'm much better at memorizing other sorts of things, such as words, or numbers. I'm quite good at coming up with impromptu mnemonics, for example. It's a simple thing for me to, let's say, commit a book to memory, while committing a physical sequence of moves is a bit more complex for my type of mind.

I foresee a time when I'll either a) have to stop training for a time due to other priorities and/or b) lose access to my current teacher and/or c) just have a lot of time pass. No matter which scenario or combination thereof happens, it'll be useful to have a record of how a particular sequence was supposed to be done, according to the centuries' old tradition, and not have to rely on my having memorized them all correctly.

All of our sequences are combinations of a finite set of basic moves, said moves including but not limited to stances, steps, hand positions and positioning of the three parts the Japanese divide the body into, jodan, chudan and gedan.

I'm pretty sure if I give it some thought I can come up with a fairly simple 'alphabet' to write the words/sequences in.

My question is, taking into account how useful this surely would be, has it been done before? I hate reinventing the wheel...

Liberal Whiners

These past few days have been rare fun, reading all the liberal morons' websites and how they're bemoaning the fate of the nation. Ditto when it comes to listening to them on radio and TV. It's been the single most amusing week I've had since my ex's pressure cooker exploded in her face.

Amazingly enough, despite the results of the vote, the liberals still don't get it. There was a time, back when this republic was founded, when people could intelligently discuss issues and have a fair chance of getting to explain their point of view. A fair chance of trying to change their opponents' stance. Our country is about the only place on Earth that had a revolution, installed a democracy, and didn't end up with the ringleaders of the revolution being killed either by their countrymen, or in brawls between themselves. The sole exception that proves that rule was, of course, the Hamilton-Burr debacle.

Every other revolution in the world ended in a bloodbath of one sort or another, or at least in a conflict between the revolutionaries. That holds true for Russia, France, Mexico and virtually all of South America. Not here. Ever wonder why? Because our forefathers set up a system where people could intelligently discuss the issues and arrive at a decision via vote that everyone else would support, even if not all were 100% in agreement with it. The only time in our history that didn't work was when Slavery was discussed. And that really wasn't a failure of the system, it was a complete contradiction built into the foundation of our nation which had to be deleted by pouring untold gallons of blood on it. Proof of the success of our system is that even after that, we corrected the situation and moved on, still a single nation.

Well, that's changing in this country. The liberals, and Gods forgive me I used to be one of them, so I know whereof I speak, no longer think about the issues. Nor do they even make the token gesture of approaching the rest of the country and engaging us in a meaningful discussion. No, all they do is come up with catchy slogans and one-liners, make sure they put forth a crew of celebrities to brand their slogans on to the public's mind and then insist that they have a plan.

I have no hope that the liberals are capable of coming to their senses and trying to be a part of this country once more. They all seem to think that the country is composed of only New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and D.C. This election should have proven to them that there's a lot more to this country than just the big cities were the Artsy-Fartsy and liberal intelligentsia hold sway.

It's a shame. Meaningful discussion is critical to democracy. But you need to have two intelligent sides in order to engage in it. Sort of reminds me of most of my marriages/unions. Unfortunately, most of the cute ones tend to be low in the IQ department. Must be a coded gene. Hey! Can it be a coincidence that most of the celebrities, of which a high percentage are painfully cute, are also so clueless?

Mind, Body and Spirit

There's a trinity, alright, but it's not the one the fundies always go on about. Which, by the way, has always amazed me. I mean, they go on and on and on about there being only one God, and how they're monotheistic, and before they take another breath, they'll cheerfully explain how God is really 3. Not content with that little contradiction, you then get the Roman Catholics who've added God's Mother and a good thousand demigods they call Saints into the mix. The Hindus have less Gods than the Catholics do! But I digress, as usual...

I was talking about mind, body and spirit. That's a phrase you'll hear a lot in the martial arts world, although it's older than that. It refers to the balance one must have and maintain in order to be in good shape.

I've always taken that to equate to mind as the pursuit of knowledge, body as physical training and spirit as magick. In recent years I've neglected the latter in favor of the two former. This was willfully done, as I'd been guilty of the exact opposite in the years before these. The time has come to recover that balance, which unfortunately may light figurative red lights on someone's controlboard, but the risk must be taken. The time is nigh.

History

History teaches us many things. As the years have gone by, I've turned heavily towards historical writings, and less and less towards fiction. Reality is stranger than fiction, I was forced to admit to myself many years ago. Once you start delving into the history of anything, you quickly start noticing that there are overt and covert causes behind almost everything that happens. Rarely is there a distinct, unique and visible reason for something. Sure, you can find that so and so did something for an apparent reason, and you'll find evidence to back you up. But at the same time you'll discover, without needing to search too hard, other reasons for the event to have taken place. These hidden reasons will have substantial evidence to back them up, but you'll find that most people will dismiss them as fancy, or worse, paranoia, no matter how much evidence you bring to light. Moreso, in some cases where a researcher grows too insistent, or starts providing too much evidence, something will usually happen to terminally shut him up. No, don't go by what I say, go read up on this.

Here, let me give all of you a starting place. Research Alamut, go and see what it was that the Eagle taught...

Magnificent Comment

I've traded a few emails with a buddy today, basically exchanging our views on the election, and our concern for the future of the country should ignorance continue to grow at its current pace. He closed one of his emails with the following comment, which I have to admit if it hadn't caught me with an empty bladder, would have made me pee myself from laughing so hard:

Watching the concession speech today, I noticed that once again Teresa Heinz Cthulhu was wearing a rather loose suit. I have a theory that she dresses this way to hide the tentacles. I keep having these visions of John Kerry many years ago, hunching over a copy of the Mad Arab's Necronomicon to summon a Demon who would help him achieve power and wealth. If Teresa isn't Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth in drag, she's pretty damned close. And much more scary.

The Country Has Been Saved (barely)

This is to be a time of healing, I'm being told. Where Democrats and Republicans are to work together for the good of the country. I seriously hope so. I do have to wonder why that couldn't have been done from Day One. Anyway, Kerry is set to concede publicly any moment now, and the President will deliver victory remarks at 3pm or thereabouts. I consider this election to have been critical for the country and I'm gratified at the result, for one, as well as the turnout. The fact that Bush has received the highest vote count in the history of the nation, and is the first candidate since his father to get more than 50% of the vote is telling. I take that to mean that not all is lost, that the majority of the country isn't brain dead, and that we can still turn this around.

On the flip side, that still leaves almost 50% of the population so ignorant of the issues plaguing us that they were willing to choose the worst possible man for the job. It's no laughing matter that we averted a catastrophe by such a narrow margin that everything hinged on one state. That people would not understand the nature of world politics, the nature of the conflict between Extremist Islam and ourselves, and the sort of leadership we require to come out on the other side victorious should frighten us. The fact that they don't seem willing to invest the time and effort needed to grasp these concepts, and instead prefer to be led by the nose by their celebrity guides is even scarier.

I don't deny that there are other issues that need to be looked at, among them Gay Marriage, Stem Cell Research, Illegal Aliens, the Economy and other important topics. I'm not even going to pretend that I don't disagree with Bush on some of them, at the same time as I share his view on others. But the only way I'd ever agree with a President on all the issues is if I were that President, so that's par for the course. Regardless of all that, I still maintain that the one greatest threat we should be concerned with right now is Islamic Extremism. What few have understood yet is that this isn't a fight against one or more countries.

It's not about Iraq, although Iraq was a part of it. We are safer now that Saddam has been taken out, if only because he was a potential supporter of the Extremist cause. His downfall also sent a message to other leaders in that part of the world. The message is a simple one: We will go after you, even if it's for the wrong reasons, we will take you down if you mess with us, and once you're removed, even if we're proven wrong, you're still out of the picture.

I know that has made Arab leaders take notice. Now, if I had my druthers, we'd be taking out the House of Saud, too, but I do recognize they are a necessary evil for the time being. They should nonetheless be on our list of people to take out at some point.

This war against extremists has to be to the death. They will not stop until we have backed down and shown them we're not up to the task, or until every last one of them has been killed or otherwise neutralized. There can be no negotiation at this stage, no armistice, no middle ground. Nor can the rest of the world be allowed to say how we can or cannot wage this war. That was the greatest danger I saw in Kerry. He would have folded. Or worse, he would have let his famous indecisiveness cripple our actions. The only way to deal with this enemy is total obliteration, or such a massive retaliation that the Arab world will have to start policing itself in order to avoid the cost of our wrath. It's that simple.

Some people have said to me that with Bush in power, there's a greater chance of another attack against us, another 9/11. My answer has been that there will be such an attack, regardless of who is in power. It's just the nature of the beast. Sooner or later something terrible will be perpetrated against us once more. At that nexus, I definitely prefer to have a man like Bush in power, and not one like Kerry. Bush might not be as bookishly intelligent as Kerry, but I'll be damned if a 'nukular' attack on Mecca won't cause the same damage as a nuclear one.

Inhuman Punishment

Last night, as per a page sent out on Sunday, we had been asked to show up at our firestation in full dress uniform at 7pm. We had no idea why, except for the Chief and Assistant Chief who'd sent out the request, but then, we didn't really care. We all showed up in our parade attire and then asked what the occasion was. Firefighting's like the army, you get an order from a superior and you more or less go out and comply, unless you really feel the order's a stupid one, or goes against a regulation, in which case you might take other action. Once you have complied, though, you'll usually turn on the question-formulating part of your mind and give it a full head of steam.

When I showed up and asked the Chief what was up, he admitted that he didn't know, either, just that the Borough Council had requested we show up at their monthly meeting that night. He presumed it was to give us some money, since they provide a significant chunk of our funding.

After loading our turnout gear^* in the truck and the rescue vehicle we would be driving, we finally got on and headed out. The ride was a short one, and we piled out and went into the building, where we found that the meeting was about to start. After the Pledge of Allegiance and the reading of the prior meeting's minutes, the Council motioned for the representative from the local Chamber of Commerce to step forward, and said they might as well change the order of the agenda and start with us. Unfortunately, he said the Treasurer hadn't arrived yet.

We then had to sit through a few discussions on things like plumbing and maintenance of public facilities. Dry talk, but interesting. I like to understand how things work where I live, and the internal politics are a key part of that. After 15 or so minutes of this, they wrapped up that part of the meeting and the Chamber of Commerce's Treasurer, who had arrived by then, was allowed to get to us. He made a short speech saying how wonderful we all were, and how grateful the Chamber was with our Fire Co. for the assistance during the recent flooding (Ivan). He then presented our Chief with a check, since nothing says thank you quite so eloquently as hard cash.

Our Chief graciously accepted it, and we were then given a round of applause. It was at this point that the inhuman punishment began. Our Chief obviously considered it rude to take the money and run, which is what we should have done, and instead sat back down.

We were then subjected to one idiot who wanted to build a bigger (or additional, I never got it clear) dwelling on his property, even though he knew it went against the zoning laws, so he was trying to get an exception approved. Despite being told that it was unlikely such a thing would happen, he nevertheless subjected us to a good half hour of spiel, plus much reviewing of his maps and blueprints. And instead of the Council shutting him up, they let him drone on and on and on and on... Finally, they told him the issue would be tabled and decided on in the following meeting.

To add insult to injury, another moron stepped up with a similar and even more outrageous request, since this one actually wanted part of his addition to be on Borough property, because his lot wasn't big enough. They only let him drone on for 10 minutes or so before tabling his request for the next meeting, though. My eyes were glazing over by then, and I was seriously contemplating breaking wind or something to relieve the tension.

Thankfully, my Chief couldn't take it any longer, either, and rose, excused himself (and us), and we finally left. I commented that I'd signed up for regular stuff, like rushing into burning houses, and rescuing people from crashed vehicles in imminent danger of exploding, I never signed up for dangerously boring activities like Borough meetings!!!!

On a parting note, there's still time to vote for Bush. After all, we all know who the unidentified foreign leaders that are supporting Kerry are:


^*We carry our turnout gear always when we leave the firehouse for some ceremonial event or other. This is done because we ride in our response vehicles to the event, and in case of an emergency, it would be too timeconsuming to go back to the firehouse, change, and go back out again.

Political Correctness

Last chance to do the correct thing, politically speaking, folks... Tomorrow, get your asses in gear and go vote. The country should be scared spitless that the Wanker Extraordinaire might get his foot into the Oval Office's door. The fact that half the country seems to be relishing the possibility is far more frightening than Al Qaeda is, objectively speaking. I mean, all Al Qaeda could do is destroy some more real estate and kill some more people. Kerry can screw up the whole country. How's that for a weapon of mass destruction?

There are many points on which I disagree with Bush, and to be honest, I personally don't like the man a lot, and he does carry a lot of baggage with him. In fact, with all the negative things one could reasonably say about Bush, it's even more worrying that the best thing the Democrats could come up with as a contender was Kerry, with the runner up being that hilariously strange screamer, Dean.

I know that I'll come out on top regardless of who wins the election tomorrow, but it'll still be a scary 4 years if it's Kerry at the helm.