Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

I can be an emotionally responsive person. I usually don’t realize how emotionally responsive I can seem because it comes naturally to me. I don’t know that I fly off the handle at the drop of a hat, but when my mood is in a certain space and the circumstances are in a certain place, I can get loud. I usually try to restrict this sort of behavior to my alone time but my family occasionally gets to see the best of it. It’s not something I’m proud of.

I never used to swear. I don’t remember my father swearing that much; I think my mom would occasionally swear around us kids. I didn’t really pick up the habit until I worked at the radio station where you needed to drop a few f-bombs to get anyone’s attention. Screaming and yelling and swearing was the normal course of action for speaking at any sort of meeting while I was working there, so I adopted the tendency as a matter of survival. When you work at a place where people throw knives (wish I was making that up), you sometimes need get rowdy. Again, not something that I’m proud of.

As I was going through my work email this morning, I found myself yelling out loud in my office. “What the F^!K did you think, numb nuts?” Now I don’t know if this person has numb nuts. Since the email in question was from a woman, I kind of hope that she doesn’t have nuts, period, but that’s her business. To each their own. I started firing off a snappy email when I decided to just close my eyes, count to 10 and then reassess the situation.

It really wasn’t worth raising my blood pressure over. You see, after I counted to 10, I realized that the world was still spinning and that nothing had changed, other than my blood pressure subsiding a bit. This prompted me to send out a simple tweet this morning:

I should probably stop calling other drivers “flea-bitten whores.”

Now I wasn’t driving at the time and actually the thought was completely random (that happens a lot with me), but it is something that I am going to remember via a sticky on the dashboard of my Jeep.

Since counting to 10 worked so well for me this morning (and my day has been just fine since), I decided to see if there was a way to remind myself that I should just take a deep breath. Of course, there’s an app for that.

Introducing CalmDown. Now when I get a bit riled up, I have the little ying-yang symbol in my menu bar to click on and remind me to calm down just a little bit. Yeah, it costs a buck but sometimes you have to invest in yourself. If this will help me lower my blood pressure and be a little more rational about things, then it’s worth it.

Now, if I could just stop the fucking swearing. Jumpin’ Mice.

One of the things that amazes me about getting older is how much time seems to be speeding up. I feel like I have kind of lost track of time a bit; it seems impossible to me that Earl and I have been together for over 16 years. It’s funny to think that I graduated from high school over 25 years ago. Heck, I can’t believe that I’ve been in my current job for 2 1/2 years already. I still feel like one of the new guys.

I guess there’s a part of me that wonders what it’s going to be like when I grow up. I still feel very much a kid at heart. The other day I watched an episode of “Maude” and Walter, Maude’s husband, mentioned that he was 48 years old. What? That’s only four years older than I am today and I don’t think I look or act like I’m only four years from looking or acting that worn out (no offense to Bill Macy).

Where on earth is the time going?

I ponder this because I am working from home today and I realize that it is nearly three in the afternoon and I feel like I just started my day. I then realize that I feel like I’ve just started my life and here I am at 44. Hell, I could be at my halfway point already.

I feel like I’m just getting through the warm ups.

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‘Stache On-‘Stache Off Update: ‘Stache On is ahead right now with some nice contributions to the Ali Forney Center. If you wish to contribute, please see this blog post and/or click ‘Stache On to vote for me to keep my mustache or ‘Stache Off for me to shave it off.

‘Stache On-‘Stache Off Update: ‘Stache On is ahead right now with some nice contributions to the Ali Forney Center. If you wish to contribute, please see this blog post and/or click ‘Stache On to vote for me to keep my mustache or ‘Stache Off for me to shave it off.
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So as I write this, I have been on a conference call for work for 5 1/2 hours. We are waiting for people in Ft. Wayne, Indiana to get where they need to be so we can figure out why the light is going up the glass tubes otherwise known as fiber optics. Surprisingly, I’m not cranky about this.

The reason I’m not cranky is because I am on-call this weekend and I have just accepted the fact that it’s going to be a weekend of uncertainty and not knowing what I’m doing. I have very little in the way of plans. I kind of like this idea of coasting through a couple of days. Even though I’m on call, I’m hoping that I will find time to relax. I just want to chill.

I’m still feeling the effects of my cold but I’m did much better today. It seems like it was one of the 24 hour bugs. The one dose of cold medicine did the trick, apparently, because I haven’t taken anything further. Perhaps that’s why I’m so mellow.

So it’s been a very hot summer thus far. This big mustache of mine has been creeping in my mouth, sticking out all over the place yet garnering a few stares in everyday life (which I enjoy). As I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, I contemplated trimming it back or shaving it off completely. It’s been a while since I’ve changed up my look a little bit.

With trimmers in my hand, something in the back of my head told me that I had to do something special. After all, this mustache has been described as “epic”. “It’s huge!” “It looks like he has a small country sitting under his nose!”

I couldn’t bring the trimmers to my face. If it’s going to go, it’s going to go in style.

So I have decided to keep the mustache for the next three weeks and let the masses decide it’s fate. If this “epic” mustache is going to go, it’s going to go in an epic way.

So here’s the deal. I have started the “‘Stache On-‘Stache Off” campaign to raise money for the Ali Forney Center, which provides housing for Homeless LGBT Youth. I’m lucky, I have a loving family and have had the support of my relatives for as long as I can remember. Others are not so lucky and find themselves on the street with nowhere to go. This happens way too often and if there’s something I can do to help, even if it’s this little thing with this mustache I have, I’m going to do it.

So, this is what I need you to do. If you want the mustache to stay, donate to this campaign:
‘STACHE ON-‘Stache Off.

If you want the mustache to GO, donate to this campaign:
‘Stache On-‘STACHE OFF.

The bucket with the most amount of money at 2359 ET on 24 Aug 12 will determine the fate of this mustache. If it stays, it hangs around through the end of the year. If it goes, though I hate being clean shaven, I will shave it off completely and then probably grow a little mustache of more reasonable proportion after a few weeks. And of course, all proceeds go to the Ali Forney Center.

Please help me help those that need a safe, secure way to find their path in life.

Thank you.

So there’s a third season episode of “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman” called “Time Bomb”. In this episode, guest stars Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark play time traveling scientists from 2155; Joan wants to cash in on the capitalistic opportunities of late 1970s America and Ted is the inventor of time travel and needs to stop her. Of course, Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman does most of the stopping and there’s a bit of an attraction between Wonder Woman and Ted’s character. It always happens.

Aside from the fact that computers are apparently going to be very noisy in 2155 and decorating schemes are obviously going to go all to hell (see photo above), I bring up this episode because there’s an interesting bit of dialog that I have always kind of agreed with. Joan’s character is relaying how technological advances are slowed down because “The Council” (whatever happened to a Presidential figure in the future?) has deemed that no technology would be introduced to society if it was determined that it would have a significant impact to social norms. Once the cultural and societal ramifications were studied and determined, then new technology would be released to the masses.

I think that’s a groovy thing. I wish Joan and Ted were around when cell phones were being invented.

I just stood in line at the local Subway in an effort to order my lunch. In front of me was a young lady. I know that kind of wording makes me sound old, but she had to be only 16 or 17 years old. She was dressed seductively with shorts similar in cut to Wonder Woman’s 1970 costume shorts (less stars = more ass). Up to her ear was a smartphone. It looked like it was a Blackberry, appeared to be well worn and was decked right out in all sorts of bedazzlement.

The folks at the area Subways have put up signs that say “Please don’t talk on the cell phone while you’re ordering.” It’s politely worded. The font is friendly. There is no suggestion of reprimand, just a reminder of what folks should find to be standard manners.

Apparently the young lady can not read and does not comprehend standard manners.

As she giggled and carried on on her bedazzled Blackberry, she barked out things like “a foot long turkey!”. When the Subway assembly man asked her as to the type of cheese she would like, she clicked her tongue on the phone, said “hold on” and gave a stare at said Assembly Man before saying “American”. Luckily, she was able to indicate that she wanted her sub toasted before resuming her important giggling on the phone.

When it came to vegetable assembly, she continued barking out random items from a garden while talking on the phone before bringing the whole process to a halt and declaring, “oh! I want avocado!” Now if she had been paying attention to the matters at hand instead of talking to the remote, tinny, giggling sounds coming from her bedazzlement of wonder, this would not have messed up the assembly line, where subs were then rearranged, backtracked and reassembled.

All because she couldn’t put her phone down.

While I was observing all this merriment, I felt my phone vibrate it’s “text message!” pattern in my pocket. I did not bringing everything to a screeching halt to read said message, I waited until I had paid my money, assembled my large, unsweetened iced tea and sat down in the Jeep before proceeding.

Little Miss Short Shorts was still talking on her phone as she tried to carry her sub and drink on a tray. She almost ran down a woman in a walker but by god she was able to continue on her conversation.

Joan and Ted need to travel here from 2155, pronto, and show the world how much better it can be if we at least consider the societal impacts of technology before implementing it. Until that time, I fear that it’s only going to get worse.

I’m writing this to remind myself of this woman’s behavior, because I freely admit that there are times that I have had messed up priorities when it comes to using my phone.. As I try to better myself each day, a reminder of why I try to better myself is always a good thing.