Dog Blog

Instead of the traditional cat blog, (which by the way, I have two kitty cats but they are kind of boring), I would like to introduce my two Dobermans Beau and Annabelle. From time to time, I will be keeping all of my thousands of fans updated on their adventures. At the moment, they are doing the pee pee dance so I guess I had better finish this quickly.

Elections, Hillbilly style

Yes, its that time of year again. Time for all the people to get out and vote for the people they think will be best suited for the job of running the city, county, state and nation. The ones that have the best interests of those they represent in mind. Uh....yeah right! Almost cracks me up to type it, let alone think about it. If they wanted to actaully do good for the people, they wouldn't spend all that campaign money on all these ads slamming the competiton but instead, they would use the time to tell us how they are going to fix everything...then actually follow through with it. See, you think its funny too.

This is where big city politics and little town politics differ. Or at least it used to back when I lived in a little town. Most if not all the people running for the various offices did it for the perks and the power. They knew it, we knew it, everyone was happy. In the county elections, oh about 3 months or so before an election, you would start seeing blacktop driveways, or for those that were way out, plenty of fresh gravel leading up to the house. If the driveway was already in good shape, you would see trees cut, land cleared or just what ever needed done. The amount of work done was always directly porportional to the number of people in the family (above voting age that is). If you lived in the town, where there wasn't a real need for blacktop and such, you could rely on those running to feed you a lot (pig roast, fish fry's, etc.) and get little Timmy or sweet Suzy out of trouble when they got a ticket or got arrested.

So while I am sure they might have done something good for the area a time or two, they ran and we elected them mainly for the perks. We didn't have to sit and listen to hours of bullshit about why they were the better person and the other was a evil son of a bitch and we liked it that way. We didn't have to find out that 20 years ago, in a drunken stupor, one of them mentioned that he once uttered the n- word nor did we have to find out, in a stunning revelation, that the current elected official once experimented with some mind altering substance on a dare (and even inhaled oh my!)

So, for all you out there thinking of who to vote for, look at it the hillbilly way. No one is going to spend 1 million dollars on a election campaign for a job that only pays 50 thousand a year only because they want to help those they represent. Hell, if thats the case, they would just give everyone an equal share of the million and get elected for sure! Just go out and vote for the person that you think can get you out of trouble, get your driveway blacktopped or that can roast a pig better than the other guy. You will get a lot more for you vote in the end.

On a side note, Socrates (you know, the old guy from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) once said that no person should be alowed to govern that shows interest in doing so. Hmmm, wonder if he was on to something way back then....

Perception is reality...most of the time

Most of the time, I tend to take things at face value. I generally judge the book by its cover so to speak. There is a saying, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression" and I usually agree with that. I am a decent judge of things and people and usually can tell a lot about them within 5 minutes of meeting them.

But I have to admit, this past week has changed my ideas on that. There have been some major changes that have come about, specifically I will be changing jobs soon and my schedule completely. I am moving to a different shift of work and all the things that I do are going to be affected. While I haven't worried about it that much (you gotta do what you gotta do), the effect this news has had on those around me has been quite suprising.

I belong to a martial arts school where I have been teaching, studying and generally kicking ass for 18 years. Prior to that, I had my own school where I taught for 13 years. So, yes, I have known everyone in the school for a long time. And during that time, I have made a lot of friends, taught a lot of students and more than likely, pissed a few people off. Anyway, the other night, I informed my classmates and teacher that I would not be coming to class anymore because I was changing shifts. I expected, knowing all them as well as I do, the usual "ah, that sucks" "we will miss you" " and the obligatory "thank god, its about time you left". That is what I expected because I had always taken them as classmates and students, there to learn and work out and such for themselves. But what expected and what I got weren't even close. Instead, I got offers for them to see that I got on first shift (I think they were kidding..I think), people coming up to me with genuine concern that I would no longer be there to help them, and more than a few offering to find alternate times to work out with me, help me and learn from me. I must admit, it actually made it harder to have to leave than I thought it was going to be. I guess knowing that I had made an impact on so many people showed me that all the bumps and breaks and surgeries were worth it.

To all those at the gym, you will be missed.

A clear case of Perception not being reality......

Part 2....leaving my current job.

Perception is reality

The opinions stated here will all rely on my perception of what I read, hear, see and so on. Some of them might be backed up by hard, published facts while others won't. This is my point of view, plain and simple. The bottom line is that we look at things the way we want to see them and no amount of fussing, cussing and discussing will change our minds. I see it half full, you see it half empty. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things the exact volume, only that we see it in the first place.

Perception is reality....

Greetings

Hello everyone. Since it seems that blogging is the latest craze, and that everyone seems to have an opinion these days, I figured that I would add mine from the perspective of a common hill billy. Born in the hills of Appalachia, I guess that qualifies me as a hill billy-redneck-country boy, etc... (More on that later)

So, from time to time, when the mood strikes or something is going on in the world that catches my eye, I will give you my opinion on it. Not that I really care if agree or not, but at least I can sleep better knowing I tend to help y'all out.