We're All Celebrities

Years ago I had this great ah-ha that everyone is a celebrity in their own right. That's right, each of us is famous or well-know for something.
So, I began making a picture of each person I knew personally that was very good at something or known for a particular incident, etc.
When you get these made into 8X10 glossy photos, they DO begin to take on a level of self-importance. Hmm, maybe I AM on to something!?

At a customers home today, I noticed he had a wall FULL of autographed 8X10 photos. I asked Mr. S about it, his father in-law managed a music theater in the mid-west for several years, and made a point to get these autographed photos. I'm guessing these are probably worth some money, besides being a cool thing to have on the wall.

'wonder what my celebrity photos will bring?

50 Years From Now

We were talking at dinner tonight about the TV show Mad Men and how it serves as a reminder of how the "good old days" REALLY were. (The G.O.D. being the early 60's).

Every now and then you get our all-American family casually doing something we now find offensive or rude. For example, the Draper family is on an afternoon picnic in the park, they are about to leave, so Don drinks down his can of beer almost to the bottom, then heaves the can into the bushes. Mrs Draper takes the blanket off the ground, shakes it so the wax paper, and wrappers are off it (and on the ground), folds it neatly and carries it into the car.

And that is EXACTLY how it was in the 1960's.

I was there, I am an eye witness.

This small example does not touch on things like the treatment of women, and minorities by those in power (white men). By today's standards, the standard operating procedure of 1960 is unfathomable.

It brought to mind a question: What common behavior do you see in our society now that will likely be just as unbelievable to people in 2060?

Here is one that comes to mind; tens of thousands of cars, clogging city highways day and night, mostly with one person in them. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest there will be a far better way for people to get around in the future.

D I V E R S I T Y

Short post just to let you know I'm here and I'm looking and listening.

For instance, I noticed the other day in Details... that there is a pretty good mix of followers. Several humans, a dog, a bird, as well as a cat.

I don't know about you, but I feel pretty good about that.

What is True and Good?

I wanted to call this piece "It's all Bullshit" but realized it might turn off a few people.

I was having a conversation with a dear female friend of mine a year or two ago. This gal is a few years older than me, that makes her early 60's. Working, and viable, but not a spring chicken.

She has done well for herself in making a rewarding life, self-realized, etc. But she does not have a partner sharing it with her.

My friend, (we'll call her "Happy") explained she would be glad to have a man around to share it but there just has not been anyone the caliber she would want.

I understand that.

I replied "as we get older, our bullshit detector gets honed very fine, and unfortunately, BS is what makes the world go 'round." I realize I am suggesting that many guys are full of it, so let me make it clear: I'm suggestion many guys are full of it.

I wish this were not true, but it is.

Did you ever wonder why there is no radio station for older adults? It is because they don't respond to the advertising radio stations do for the consumer goods. Younger audiences however, do. So Boomers, be prepared; you're next. Classic Rock? Next on the chopping block!

Take your pick from our cultural buffet:

• Reality TV


• Virtual Reality


• Google ads suggesting you can shop for your reality

Enough of the negative. Let's talk about what is real.

I'm sitting out on the back deck, being bitten by bugs, and THAT is real. If I were to make a fire in the chiminara, THAT would be real. I have yet to have a fire take a break for a commercial interruption.

I would love to hear from YOU. What is REAL in your life? It requires filtering out a great deal of what is being offered out there. What do you rely on? How do you get it? What happens when you go without it?

Sharing the REAL You

After reading an article about the Extreme Honesty movement (I think that's what it was called), I want to celebrate the concept, by introducing one of those silly quizzes that cuts past the crap and gets to the things people REALLY want to know. Join with me gentle reader, liberate yourself with TOTAL HONESTY. (Sorry, I'll quite shouting now).

1. What is your full, real honest name?

2. How much money do you make?

3. How much did you weigh at your largest?

4. How much do you weigh now?

5. Who would you secretly like to ravish?

6. Who would you like to have flirt with you so you could shut him/her down?

7. Are you on anyone's enemies list?

8. Who's on yours?

9. What is the most embarrassing moment of your life? (give full details)

10. Do you keep a hoard of cash at your home?

11. What is your shoe size?

12. What is your address?

13. Has anyone ever hit you in the face with a cream pie?

Don't send this to 10 friends, just forward them to me for a comprehensive study. The findings will be published later this year, from my hideout in The Bahamas.

The New Revolution

(cue Rod Serling)

Meet Fred Cubil, being an old guy, and having lived through many a trend, fad, and/or evolution, he can't help being amazed at the way things change, but don't really. Case in Point:

In the 60's there was the counter-culture. This was made up of young people who were really paranoid of the government. There was a fellow named Richard Nixon in the White House, and it was widely believed (by the fear mongers) he was illegally spying on his "enemies", and generally up to no good.

The no good stuff centered around fear that storm troopers would be rounding up dissenters and placing them in "camps" in the middle of nowhere. The fact was that leading radical hippies WERE rounded up, booked on charges of possession (of a small amount of cannabis) and given long jail sentences. Counter-Culture leaders would call for "Revolution!"

Thankfully, this did not happen.

As you may know, through legal means, and really dedicated journalists, it was discovered that President Richard Nixon WAS illegally spying on his enemies, and was often up to no good.

Now, 40 years later, we have another movement, (headed by a different demographic,) that seems to be going in the same direction as the movement of 40 years ago. It will be interesting to see if that word comes up in regards to the paranoid feelings toward the government.

Revolution.

A quick observation on radical politics: Like the see-saws we played on as children, the further you get from the center, the less balance you possess (or offer).

The argument: "If (insert hated government official here) does (insert greatest fear here), then that will open the door to more (insert feared catastrophe here). This, in turn, will lead to (paint visual picture of Earth spinning off it's axes here). They must be STOPPED at any cost!"

These "If/Than" arguments only serve to inflame people that are on the brink anyway. I've been laughing at the foolishness of it, but it may be time to challenge pretzel logic.

Obama is Going To...

I, being of sound mind and body, try to keep out of personal political "debates" as much as possible for reasons like:

1. They Don't mean anything


2. They only cause friction among friends

Well, there's more, but those two reasons alone are enough to make me want to NOT talk politics with people in general. I do have my own thoughts on these earth shaking subjects, and do share them with people generally considered "safe" to talk to.

Being a Liberal (formerly known as a Moderate), I listen daily to AM radio to keep a finger on the pulse of others who don't think as I do. I'm sure Conservatives do the same...right? I must confess I can only last a few minutes because that's all it takes to get me laughing so hard I can no longer hear the person on the radio. I apologize for this, I will try to do better.

There is another reason I listen to Conservative Radio, and that is because of the Hitler Mustache thing. I know, there is a shortage of the little mustaches, as Neo-Cons have bought them out to paste on President Obama photos. In my mind, I paste them on the "gentlemen" and "ladies" of the airwaves, I won't name them, you know who I mean. Why is this important?

Well, to start, the Nazis of Germany were not Liberals, they were Conservatives. They had a message of "Restoring the Homeland to Greatness". The glory is always in the past. Their enemies were vilified in the media, etc.
I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that the great majority in the middle who could have done something but didn't, often didn't because they were laughing so hard at the foolish charges being laid by the young, new movement*. By the time they realized it was no laughing matter, it was too late.

*Who could possibly take such rubbish seriously?

Who's Under That Skin?

Don't cha love life's little ironies?

Case in point; 'Attended a meeting tonight at the suburban home of a fellow church member (our VP, BTW). This is in an upper-middle class subdivision. Discussion centered around several things, but in particular, issues of safety at the church parking lot in view of potentially unstable homeless individuals in the area. A good deal of speculative theory was exchanged, and a list of possible actions to be taken, keeping in mind the nature of the subject, our religious values, perception of those who felt threatened, etc.

I had to excuse myself for a job I was needed for, so left a few minutes early.

As spousal unit and myself began to get in our car, a rather large man suddenly appeared waving his arms and began bellowing at us. I was already in the car, he was on the passenger side. I jumped out of the car and got to the other side to see what was going on. He appeared irrational babbling about his driveway, then mentioned he had let the air out of my tire.

"You let the air out of my tire?" I was shocked.

"I didn't want you to just get in and drive away!"

He then attempted to tell me all the problems he was having with the people we just left.

"you let the air out of my tire?" I was still too dumbfounded to be afraid.

He sort of apologized and offered to refill it with a tank of air he had. I guess it was in the garage behind his Corvette. With that he disappeared in that direction.

I tried to see HOW flat the tire was in the dark, and after a couple of minutes, made the decision to drive to the nearest gas station to refill it.

We took it slow and got there without shredding the tire. It was on a main road, had some "interesting" characters hanging around. I'm pretty sure there were drug purchases going on there. It was kind of jammed up around the air pump, but the 3 interested parties were patient and everybody got their turn. I was last.

I looked over the car of the fellow ahead of me; it was rather pimped out, obviously a source of great pride. When he got through he (with great class) handed me the pump with a "here sir, do you need this?" Held down the hose so it didn't slap back while I filled up the tire.

The contrast was so great from the crazy man I had just left that I had to tell him the story.

"If he had a problem with his neighbor, why did he let the air out of YOUR tire?" he inquired. "He was just irrational" was all I could think of.

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Your mission (should you decide to accept it): When do you feel most secure in public? More insecure or threatened? What is it based on?

Costa Whata?

Just returned from a much anticipated tour of Costa Rica. Very cool, and even if there ARE people who do this sort of thing all the time, I felt it was the trip of a life-time. You've already heard about it (if you haven't been numerous times), so I won't go into all the stuff about how there was beauty everywhere, and friendly people, bla-bla.

Me, I, Cubil will cut to the chase and just report the things I learned while down there

(small crowd shows it's approval: a smatering of applause).

• organized commercial tours are not awful, in fact, they're pretty good!


• I feel closer to people from that part of the world


• There are some still Unattractive Americans out there *


• The food there is not totally foreign, but there are some Unidentified Frying Objects (and fresh fruits) to provide adventure of the gastronomic kind.
  

OK, I'll expand a bit-

The Commercial Tours (We used Caravan)... nice! Not just because of getting great value (you do), but you get to know people from all over the country for 10 days. As much as I enjoy planning things like this, leaving it up to experts didn't bother me one bit. It was fine NOT driving around the country trying to find things, it was fine that each day was planned to be more awesome than the day before. Now, hand me my walker, I need to go to the bathroom.

I got to practice my Spanish in a real world situation with people who don't speak English. I loved it! 'Got an insight into what it could be to really talk good one day! And yes, we mingled with real locals, not just the extras planted for our enjoyment along the route. As I said, it was cool. When we got back we grocery shopped at Fiesta and without thinking, I started a conversation (in Spanish) with an employee in produce about pineapples.**

On the U.A. issue, what I saw (from fellow travelers) wasn't ugly as much as a subtle rudity. More of a lack of sensitivity. And to be fair, I only saw it twice in 10 days.

When I'm away from home, I try to act like a good guest, and accept things as they come without rating everything. The incident I'm thinking of in particular happened on leaving (end of tour).

We were working towards finishing up with our guide (Sergio) when a fellow traveless (mid-age woman) started telling him about how they lived in xxxxxxxx and how he should look them up if he's ever there, the usual insincere crap people say. Then she goes "we'll put you up in a tent in the backyard, it has a very nice view of the bay". Thinking this is a big kidding thing, I join in with an inquiry about the quality of the tent.

It was Sergio's reaction that clued me to what it really was: This woman had a need to announce to him how much better she is than him. She didn't come back with "oh, I'm just teasing" followed by a sincere statement of appreciation. And worse, I seemed to be participating! For a while I told myself this woman simply was ignorant of social graces (and that IS true), but what is truer is: she was a bitch!

Later, I thanked Sergio and tried to give a sincere message of appreciation, but I could tell; he had written me off as "one of them".

'Didn't mean to make this post steer to the negative, it WAS a great trip I would do over in a heartbeat.

Isn't it funny how clear the one harsh moment stands out in the mind over 999 other terrific moments?

*formally known as "Ugly Americans"

** I now know impressive new things about picking ripe pineapples