Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A 7-year plan.

7 years seems like a long time.

It will probably feel longer than it is because I'll spend it knowing what I am missing.

The 7-year plan is this:
Continue doing what I'm doing for 7 more years, take early retirement, and make a go of freedom.

It's the best plan I can come up with considering my circumstances.

Dreams die. I've murdered a few in my time, and recently put the ice on the "live on a sailboat" one.

Goals, on the other hand, can sometimes be reached.

My wife and I had possibly the single most important discussion we have ever had on Sunday and yesterday we completed all the paperwork we will need when we meet with the lawyer today.

Bankruptcy, not divorce.

No, she decided that she wants to keep me around a little while longer, and I am pleased with that. It would have been the work of a minute for her to choose divorce, and I gave her the perfect way out. She thinks I'm (or can be again) worth the trouble.

We decided, though, that the current life we lead needs some serious overhaul. We are going to try to make some positive changes and the first step is getting the financial crap in order. That's going to take 3-5 years under Chapter 13, again barring some great miracle. 3-5 years is time enough for us to get some other stuff in process. I've still got some writing in me, and I am hopeful about the Brazilian Project.

So, she tacitly agreed with the "7-year plan."

We've decided that, if the stars align and the Buddha smiles on us with clean teeth, we will become gypsies in 7 years, traveling in some sort of mobile home, the type is undecided at this point and that's really a discussion for the future, anyway. A sailboat is right out, unless we can find one on the -real- cheap.

There is a pinpoint of light coming into my life, but I'm not going to give myself an opportunity to be optimistic about it just yet.

I'm going to try to create a list of rules (guidelines, maybe?) in order to help us live more simply.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep focused on the future while trying not to lose sight of the present. There's things to do.

Life is short, art is long, and success very far off.

Indeed.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Who, me?

I'm an atheist democrat (as far as I can ascribe to a political party) who believes in both the death penalty and a woman's abortion rights.

I believe in the right to bear and freaking use arms. I don't think gay people, black people, white people, Asians or any other "class" should be protected more than any other class. The exception is handicapped people. I think both the Indians and the slaves got a raw deal, but their descendants alive today have the same chances I have, so I don't owe them anything.

I think we need to do something about the illegal aliens pouring into our country, but I don't know what that is. Socialized Medicine is a good idea, I think. I have three books my desk: Webster's Dictionary, the Harbrace College Handbook and a King James Bible.

I consider myself an environmentalist and a believer in animal rights, but I like to fish and I am considering taking up hunting, but only so long as I can be ethical about it. I eat meat. I used to drive a 4 x 4 Jeep Cherokee and I would laugh at my own irony for using it to haul my glass, plastic and paper down to the recycling center. I have been known to buy a bottled water every now and again. I eat only dolphin-free tuna. I try buy organic when possible. I think first-offense poachers should, upon conviction, be imprisoned for 6 months and their hunting privileges permanently revoked. I think we need stronger environmental laws. I think the ACLU is a good thing, after all I swore to defend and protect the constitution, too.

Given that, I have a general distrust of lawyers and politicians, even though I work for one. I believe in personal freedom, but even more so believe that personal freedom comes hand-in-hand with personal responsibility and you can't have one without the other.

I believe that some cops suck, but not enough to account for the prevalence of cop-hating in this country. I wish more police would read Sir Robert Peel's rules. I believe that both Hobbs and Locke were right regarding the state of man, because every man is different. I think Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK, but I am open-minded enough to consider real evidence and not Oliver Stone's version of it.

I think there exists life on other planets but I haven't seen any real proof that they have come here. The pyramids and statues on Easter island amaze me, but I don't think aliens had anything to do with it. That said, I like TV shows about UFO's and aliens. I'd like to think that Bigfoot exists, but I haven't seen any solid evidence.

While I am genetically a whole bunch of things, I'm culturally a white southerner, but I suffer from neither ignorant racism or liberal guilt. I think Obama was born in this country, and even if he wasn't his mother is an American, so that should be enough. I have a Barack Obama T-shirt. I also have Blackwater USA t-shirt. I wear them both without irony. I don't think Obama is a Muslim, though I am surrounded by people that do. I don't think George W. Bush had anything to do with 9/11, but I am sure as shit he used it to his political advantage. Who in his place wouldn't have?

I think the Electoral College should be abandoned for one man, one vote. I'm very pleased to have been born American, but it was luck of the draw. I could have been born in Angola, Brazil or Somalia. That said, I hate people who hate me just because I am an American, and I can be a jingoistic ass if someone says something negative about my country. I've lived in a socialist country and it was really great.

I think Elvis Presley was great. I think Elvis Costello is good. I know all the words to NWA's song "fuck tha police" and I have the Sex Pistols on my Ipod. I don't smoke. I like beer, booze, and wine more than I should. On my 40th birthday I attempted to run 40 miles but only made it about 38 before I dehydrated. I haven't ran more than 3 miles since that day. I used to bicycle competitively and when you say "winner of the Tour de France" I always think of Greg LeMond.

I'm afraid of heights, but I like flying in planes and helicopters. That said, I despise "air travel." I have a manual typewriter that I sometimes use for personal correspondence. I like letters more than e-mail. I like e-mail more than phone calls.

I stutter sometimes.

My favorite movie is "Fandango" and I've been to Marfa, Texas, but I didn't see the lights. I have 3 guitars and I have been learning to playing since I was 14. I'm not much better now and still have no sense of rhythm.

I'm in the process of getting rid of everything.

Except my dogs. We have five.

It's a start, I reckon.