Category Archives: Life In General

unexpected penalties

July 3, 2015 6:48 AM , Leave a Comment ,

You can fill up a notebook with all the tiny side benefits that getting into shape will grant you.  Unexpected little things that you never even consider but if you stop and think about it become obvious.

Like?

Well, aches and twinges and spasms that I used to get all the time and I used to take for granted as just a part of life.  Where they came from I don’t know.  What they were all about I know even less.  All I do know is that nowadays they are totally absent from my life.

Clothes fit better.  It’s pretty much an open secret that clothes were never designed for those of us that are big and tall.  They just aren’t.  Designers can work on the lines, and a good tailor can alter the hell out of them but ultimately it’s not the clothes it’s the body that lets us down.  One of the first things I noticed when I began losing weight was how suddenly this or that article of clothes started looking….well, better.

But along with the benefits come one or two penalties. I was at a small gathering of writers a few weeks back with some drinks and a couple of rounds in it hits me.  They were just beers but they walloped me like hard liquor.  I got this dizzy spinning sensation and I didn’t trust myself to stand up let alone drive so I had to wait out the effect.

It wasn’t always this way.  Some people don’t handle drinking very well.  I don’t mean the dizziness.  I mean that they change personalities after drinking and not in a good way.  They get mean, they get sullen, they become downright angry.

I wasn’t.  I would go through a couple of stages.  Firstly I would become (as has been reported to me) very fun.  I would be much more outgoing, more flirty, just much better company to be around.  After several drinks I would become introspective.  I would just sit inside my mind and stare out into nothing but inside my mind is going a mile a minute contemplating whatever it was that caught my fancy that night.

But one thing I never was, was hung over or stumbling drunk.  This is a new and I have to say unwelcome phenomena.  I put it down to two possible causes or a combination of the two.

Firstly, there is just less of me to handle the same alcohol.  Nearly a hundred pounds less.  That has to make a difference in the way you handle liquor.  Secondly, I’m just older.  My body can’t process out the toxins as quickly as it used to.

Luckily I don’t drink anywhere near as much as I once did.  On average I will have a drink once every six weeks.  This little “binge” I indulged in was in fact my first drinking session this year.  I don’t think I will repeat it very soon.

Posted in: alcohol, health, life in general

The friendship net

June 23, 2015 6:33 AM , Leave a Comment ,

Being a shy introvert I don’t tend to make friends easily. I tend to run alone in both the literal and figurative sense. Most of the time I will make plans on the fly and not even think about inviting other people to come along.  A bad habit I know. Things can get a little lonely at times.

But at times it does have some advantages.  The other day my social media page suggested I might like to do a yoga event for the Summer solstice at the Rothko Chapel at sunrise.  It was too late to organize anything (late Saturday night) so I just hopped in the car the next morning, parked the car in the neighborhood, took a quick 5 mile jog, and got back with a couple of minutes to spare just before sunrise.

When I do have time to properly plan things out I try to reach out to those that might share an interest in what I plan to do.  I think it’s important to share these things with people and give them the opportunity to enjoy these things as I do.  Of course sometimes that doesn’t pan out.

I used to take it personally when plans wouldn’t work out.  But I soon realized that we all live such busy lives that we can’t be expected to drop everything and change plans.  Still, it is nice when things come together.

I’ve learned to enjoy life for it’s own sake and make the best of what life hands me.  I will continue trying to make room for other people in my life but I will also learn to live life on my own terms.

Posted in: activities, friends, life in general

Living a life the best way possible

June 15, 2015 6:25 AM , Leave a Comment ,

It’s easy to quit and despair.  It’s easy to say “well I gave it my best shot but it didn’t work” and just give up on trying to move ahead.  It’s quite another thing to see a failure or a difficulty and to shift gears out of one venture and go into another.

This last week the world lost Sir Christopher Lee.  While most of the world knew him as a long time actor, very few people knew about his other exploits before becoming an actor or his other ventures and honors that he accumulated over a lifetime.  I could do a list of all of these things but I think there are plenty of websites and articles out there that do a fine job of this.

Looking at his life in a totality however it is worth noting that he never had an easy or obvious path to success.  This was an individual that faced setbacks and failures quite a few times over the course of his life yet he never allowed this to slow him down or stop his progress.

What’s more he was an individual that actively went out seeking new opportunities and interests on his own.  You would think that someone who had difficulties in his life might be content just to “break even” or just be a little better off but in his case he did not wait for these new ventures to present themselves.  He either went looking for these new ventures or he created them himself.

Like I said above, it’s easy to despair. Despair is easy to do.  It’s comfortable, it can be done at a moment’s notice, and requires little to no investment.  Despair can be such a hard temptation to resist sometimes.

But lifting yourself up, having the presence of mind to look around and plot your next move, getting on with your life as it stands after a setback, that’s hard.

I think that’s something that a man like Christopher Lee can teach all of us.

Posted in: activities, advice, attitude, life in general, opportunities, thought

Perspectives

June 13, 2015 6:30 AM , Leave a Comment ,

If you open your eyes, and I mean really open your eyes you will find that life can amaze, astound, appall, and leave you speechless on a nearly daily basis.

We have so many things that we fail to appreciate when we look at them that we will never be able to fully consider let alone understand in this life that I can’t even begin to enumerate them.

One thing that I have learned to appreciate however is how a subject can change meanings and become a totally different thing if you let yourself take a slightly altered perspective on the matter.

We can come upon a situation from one viewpoint and direction and if we fail to look at it objectively it can take on particular meaning and it is often difficult to change that perspective unless you alter the way you perceive that subject and then an almost magical thing can occur.

That thing that you were so sure about, that you thought you knew changes almost immediately to something else.

Houston is a great place to find these changes in perspectives.  Because we have no zoning laws the neighborhoods here are a mishmash of urban and suburban and country.  All right next to each other.  Poor neighborhoods alternate with rich.  High rises sit right next to ranch style houses and those next to poor apartment complexes.

It’s something that I see on an almost daily basis and I have to wonder if people living in these neighborhoods ever stop to wonder and think to themselves how their neighbors from different socio-economic backgrounds perceive the world.  Do their viewpoints agree with my own or are they so set into their situation that they can’t step back and see the overall situation from a different perspective?

Posted in: activities, aging, life in general, speculation

Discussions that we should have but we’re not having

June 9, 2015 6:46 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I rarely watch TV anymore.  I don’t find all that much that excites my intellect or that is thought provoking or that I can respect.  I find the opposite to be true.  I feel that most television programming is an insult to the viewing public.

I find most programming to be a waste of time.  Most programs pander to the lowest common denominator, sex and violence.  They rehash or rework tired old ideas and concepts and expect the viewing public to not notice that the plot lines are painfully and ridiculously predictable.  But what I find most disturbing about television is how it serves as an electronic anesthetic and distraction for the public when real issues come up that need to be discussed.

The viewing public would much prefer to pay attention to the most vapid and banal television shows rather than to become informed and or take action on matters which direct or indirectly affect them.  Matters which they very much need to voice their opinions, yet they don’t.

So it’s worth noting when a program comes on that at the very least brings some of these topics up and captures the public imagination in an entertaining yet informative format.  The program that I am thinking about is Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Episode dealing with Net Neutrality

For those that don’t know, John Oliver is a British comedian that emigrated to the states and began writing material for comedy shows like The Daily Show with John Stewart. After a successful run at the Daily Show he decided to try his hand at his own news oriented comedy show on HBO.

The results have been significant.  Not only is the show extremely popular but several of the topics that he has covered have been given closer scrutiny by mainline news organizations and his efforts have gone viral on social media and have arguably helped promote some changes in some contemporary topics.

Oliver has covered topics such as the above mentioned Net Neutrality, FIFA, the wealth gap in America, police militarization, and the prevalence of Sugar in the American diet.

Now, I don’t happen to agree with everything he does.  I don’t agree with all his view points, as a comedian he tends to frame the debates in humorous ways, and he doesn’t cover all the topics that I wish he would but I have to give him high marks and praise for bringing these topics to light and giving them the attention that they are due.

I think that in an age where too often television executives don’t want to bother with sophisticated or thought-provoking television shows and would rather just distract the public, that we need to give praise and promote shows that at least encourage the public to think and start important conversations about topics that affect us all.

Posted in: communication, culture, current events, life in general, politics, review, television, thought

Adapting to Houston’s weather

June 7, 2015 4:29 PM , Leave a Comment ,

I was at a fair and standing under a tent on an early June evening with a fan blasting right behind me and it still felt ridiculously hot.

Yup. Houston’s Summer had arrived.

Summertime in Houston isn’t so much a season as it is an ordeal by fire.  It is often the last barrier to recent emigres considering whether or not to make the city into their new home.

You may come here in November and be charmed by all the restaurants and parks.  You may come here in March and be thrilled by all the culture and sunny weather.  Then again, you may come here in August and turn right back around and refuse to get out of the plane.

It’s not a gentle land and definitely not one to wander about without some sort of air conditioner or fan on during the long Summer days.

This evening we were discussing the recent rain storms that had plagued the city for a couple of weeks and relating what we were doing when “the big one struck” on Tuesday night.

Most of the stories centered on underwater roads and monstrous hail stones that pelted anything and everything in sight and of all the downed fences and broken tree limbs that still have to be collected by the garbage collectors.

But here we are a week later and we were sweltering in the stifling heat and humidity.  I reflected that life in Houston was often like that.  Things were apt to change quickly in this town and if you didn’t adapt you would at best be left behind.

We’ve little to no experience with the bitter Winters that others experience up north but when these storms do make it to Houston we wisely stay in and don’t even try to brave the cold.

Of course we have a lot of experience with Hurricanes and we are often prepared days or even weeks in advance of the large storms.  Here’s hoping that we have none of that this year.

In the meantime we are adapting to our Houston Summer and preparing to host this familiar pattern of weather.  Hot and sunny for the next 5 or 6 months.

I’m already missing the rain.

 

Posted in: Houston, life in general, weather

The roots of corruption

June 5, 2015 7:06 AM , Leave a Comment ,

One of the big news stories currently being discussed is the investigation into charges of corruption at the world soccer federation (FIFA).  Several high-ranking members of that organization have been arrested and the head of FIFA has been forced to resign as a consequence of the controversy.  Not just minor little thefts or petty little bribes but mind-boggling huge bribes and corrupt practices that go beyond the pale.

Ordinary people like myself have to wonder at the culture that engendered and possibly even encouraged this type of corrupt practices to flourish.  How could this have happened?  Where were the safeguards and monitors that should have prevented this?  Even the basic tenets of standards and good practices seem to be missing here.

A blog that I recently read sheds some light on this.  Two of the points raised in this blog seem to be pertinent here.

Firstly, there seems to have been a culture within FIFA that not only tolerated but almost encouraged the corrupt practices that took place within the organization.  Bribery seems to have been expected not only by the perpetrators but also by the members of FIFA who seem to have accepted handing out bribes to officials as part of the costs of doing business with FIFA.

Secondly, a slow or even non-existent judicial process that sought to either stifle or shut down any sort of investigation and punishment of corruption with regards to these officials.  Corruption at FIFA has been a sort of open secret for years yet no one around the world and certainly not within FIFA sought to do anything about it due to the fact that no sanctions would ever be taken at all.

A third point that wasn’t in the blog but I feel also contributed to this problem is FIFA’s success.  Being the world’s largest sport federation and creating such a wildly popular sporting event such as the world cup I think gave FIFA officials the sense that they could do no wrong and that they were above the law.  Over time their excesses have grown and grown to the point that they have become inexcusable and impossible to overlook.

One has to wonder about other large institutions like governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations and ponder which of these may be hiding corrupt practices behind a veneer or infallibility or success.

How can reformers or critics point out these excesses without fear of reprisal and with the hope that change will take place? How can those within an organization spot these corrupt practices as they take place and take steps to curtail them before they bloom?

 

Posted in: business, current events, ideas, life in general, speculation, sports, standards and practices, thought

attachments

May 14, 2015 6:13 AM , Leave a Comment ,

People are weird.

At one moment we can be calm, rational, and sometimes even distant individuals and the next moment we act with passion, with humor, and even with childish glee.

An example.  I was having a Twitter conversation the other day about cars with a close friend who had also recently bought a car.  We were discussing car nicknames.  We both had given our cars nicknames, and it wasn’t just us as several others chimed into the conversation with their pet names for their cars.

Here we were, adult individuals and we were giving our cars pet names like we were kids or something.  Another example?  I went to register my new car on the car website and they actually asked if my car had a nickname.  Why?

My car won’t go any faster or save more gasoline or avoid other cars with a nickname.  So why do it?

Maybe it’s a hold over from childhood as we named everything in our small world in order to get a small measure of control over things that were otherwise out of our control.  Maybe it’s a relic from the days when Greek sailors would name their ships and paint eyes on the bows so the ships would “see where they were going”.  A little bit of home-made magic.

Maybe in a cold digital and increasingly distant world we need to feel that there is something warm, organic, and familiar around us.  Even if it is something lifeless like a car.  Giving it a name seems to imbue it with a little bit of life, seems to make it a little less cold and a little bit warmer.

Sometimes we all need that in our life.

Posted in: Automobiles, habits, life in general, thought

Extra energy

May 12, 2015 7:06 AM , Leave a Comment ,

[Author’s note:  This is an edited and reprinted post from April 2007]

So I step out of the house and go to my car this morning and I see that nature has pollinated all over my shiny Dodge.

The formerly midnight blue glossy coat was now covered by a yellow dusty cover. Those harlot pine trees had done all their business all over my car. Nature is in full bloom

Birds and bees are doing unspeakable and I would think unnatural things. Couples out together, the wafting fragrances of Spring are in the air and a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of how long it had been since he had last…..pollinated.

Other species have it easy. Young Rams for example will butt heads to see who is the fittest and strongest one to mate. This has two advantages. One it assures the survival of the species, but a more socially practical benefit is that the losers have such a bad headache they forget all about pollination for the rest of the year and don’t cause trouble.

Human males of course don’t butt heads, and the only other suitable outlets for this frustration (pillaging, war, midnight street racing) are tightly regulated by law these days.

So that tends to leave a lot of pent-up energy that needs to be released. Now people with the time and the inclination will use up this energy with hobbies, working out in the gym, plotting world domination, or discovering unified field theories. Luckily my laziness has evolved beyond these simple pass times to embrace a much more worthwhile endeavor. Beating up orcs in Everquest.

So whenever the frustration is too great I’ll take out my high level character and wander to one of the beginner zones and start pounding the hell out of anything that moves.

No one but computer generated files suffer and after an hour or two of laying waste to an entire culture you get a sense of satisfaction and forget about any other needs.

Of course that still leaves my pollen covered car in the drive way, but that’s what car washes are for.

Posted in: activities, attitude, culture, dating, life in general, relationships

mindless hate

May 10, 2015 6:28 AM , Leave a Comment ,

Sigh.

It takes a lot to get me angry these days.  Maybe it’s a function of age and passions have cooled, or maybe I don’t have as much to get angry at these days.  Sure there are things that frustrate me, all around me and I get frustrated on a daily basis.  But anger doesn’t manifest itself in my life anymore.  At least I didn’t think it did.

I was driving around getting various chores done early on a Saturday morning.  I pulled up at a turn signal at a large intersection and as happens more often than not there was a panhandler there.

He looked thoroughly beat up by life.  Dark tanned skin, ratty and dirty clothes, and nothing than skin and bones.  Most public officials frown on people helping out panhandlers but I will pass out a few dollars every once in a while and I suppose I will continue to do it in the future.

But just before I hand my money over he stops me and pulls out a printed sign.  He asks me if I was a christian and just then I read the sign that’s filled with a litany of hateful anti-homosexual messages.  The sign looks like it was printed on a computer and the paper was laminated so it could survive out on the streets.  I think to myself “You’ve got to be kidding me”.

He starts up on some rehearsed speech denouncing same-sex marriage.  I stop him in mid-stride and tell him “I am not going to listen to this.  We are not going there.”  He walks off down the median and mumbles something that sounded like “Have a nice life, homosexual lover”.  Of course he didn’t say homosexual.

I think about getting out and saying or doing something regretful but the light turns green and I drive off instead.  I have to control my foot to not floor the pedal.

I am incensed.

It’s a naked, mindless bigotry that I have not witnessed in a long time.  It’s not the veiled or hidden prejudice that you see in popular media or hinted at by people you may casually know.  It was this stupid, in your face, and even prideful hatred that I thought no longer existed except in some of the most backward of places in the middle of nowhere.

I am flabbergasted for the longest time.  Just mulling it over and over in my head.  It’s like I can’t believe I just had this encounter.

What makes it worse is that this is a guy that most likely has had to live with the sting of prejudice against homeless people.  People have probably made negative judgments about his character without knowing anything about him and here he is doing the same thing.  I want to find this guy and ask him what made him turn into this hateful person?  Was it his family, a teacher, some friends that warped his perspective and made him the way he was now?

I am left angry by the encounter.  Angry that this still exists, angry that people can still fall prey to such notions.  Angry that I can’t really do that much to change the situation.

I wish I could end this post on a happy note but there is really nothing happy about the episode.  This is just sad.

Posted in: culture, driving, Houston, life in general, prejudice, religion