08/16/2009 CAT, It's What's for Dinner
About a month ago I spied a little orange kitten outside my front door. Knowing better than to take in this stray, that could do nothing but become a financial burden to me and mine, the best thing for me to do was let it wonder about and let someone else feel sorry for it and take it in. And that is precisely the opposite of what I did. At first the thing was a little timid and scared of the two big dogs roaming around the house. Especially since the only place they would roam was where he was at. This kitten is a male you see. Soon, however, he was out and about tormenting the dogs and trying to play with the other cats.
I was feeding him kitten milk because he was tiny when I found him. My wife said he could eat regular food but for some reason when I was there this little guy never could seem to get the crunch out. So, of course, I would cave in and he would get what he wanted. This worked for a while and he does not ask for kitten milk as much anymore since I have been weening him from it but sometimes it just feels so good to give in and let him have some tasty milk. YUMMMM!!!
So imagine my surprise when one day I am getting the table ready for dinner when I start watching this kitten as he wonders around by the table aimlessly. I see him stop beside the dogs food bowl. We have two food bowls for the dogs to keep them from fighting but only one bowl had anything in it at the time. Anyway, he stops beside the empty food bowl for the dogs and then proceeds to step in it. This in itself is not very remarkable because cats have a tendency to go wherever they like whenever they want to go there. But what happened next just blew my mind. This kitten layed down and curled up inside the dogs food bowl. I didn't think I would ever stop laughing and my wife can't figure out what is so funny that I start laughing so hard all of a sudden. My wife got a picture. It is too funny.
Check it out.
I was feeding him kitten milk because he was tiny when I found him. My wife said he could eat regular food but for some reason when I was there this little guy never could seem to get the crunch out. So, of course, I would cave in and he would get what he wanted. This worked for a while and he does not ask for kitten milk as much anymore since I have been weening him from it but sometimes it just feels so good to give in and let him have some tasty milk. YUMMMM!!!
So imagine my surprise when one day I am getting the table ready for dinner when I start watching this kitten as he wonders around by the table aimlessly. I see him stop beside the dogs food bowl. We have two food bowls for the dogs to keep them from fighting but only one bowl had anything in it at the time. Anyway, he stops beside the empty food bowl for the dogs and then proceeds to step in it. This in itself is not very remarkable because cats have a tendency to go wherever they like whenever they want to go there. But what happened next just blew my mind. This kitten layed down and curled up inside the dogs food bowl. I didn't think I would ever stop laughing and my wife can't figure out what is so funny that I start laughing so hard all of a sudden. My wife got a picture. It is too funny.
Check it out.
08/10/2009 What the World is Like Today
Watching the news and with the experiences I have been having at work I am bewildered. The more I look and see how people are behaving these days it makes me want to stand up and say “what the fuck is wrong with these people”.
For instance, I heard about a guy who is a Buddhist monk in California who was admitted to the hospital emergency room for multiple snake bites to his arms. Ok, if he was out on a pilgrimage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and while climbing on a cliff to get to his Temple he wondered into a den of snakes that would be acceptable. However, the reason given by the man according to the Times Record News was that he was in his Temple when this Copperhead snake shows up at the front door so in true Buddhist fashion the monk picks up the snake and walks it around the Temple three times while blessing the creature. Now being a Buddhist myself, I can fully appreciate this story but there is one major flaw. Buddhists may revere life because all creatures have a soul but I have never known anyone but an idiot who would pick up a poisonous snake and let it repeatedly bite him in order to bless it. What the fuck man?
Another thing that is a little closer to home has to do with work. The economy is lagging. This everybody knows. So why is everyone saying things are getting so much better. They’re not. My company is in that phase that I like to call the layoff cycle. This is where they want to get rid of some people in order to cut costs so they shut down the entire plant that I work in until they can justify laying of a few workers. After the layoff however, we are back logged for orders so we have to bring in temporary workers to replace the workers that was just laid off. And now we are stuck pulling mandatory overtime while waiting for them to get more temps to come to work while they are not going to replace the workers they have fired or that have quit. In other words, the end is near for the place where I work. At least that is how I see it anyway.
So, what is there in life that makes it worth living. For me, it is my wife and family. There is also rock and roll, heavy metal, and thrash metal. In the immortal words of Rob Halford, “Metal keeps you young”. The thing is he is right. I have yet to find anything that comes close to a metal concert that makes you feel so alive when everything else is going to shit. So when I start feeling the weight of the world starting to settle on my shoulders, I think back and remember what it was like to head banging to a Testament song or even a Destruction tune comes to mind. Also about how I felt after the show when I could meet the members of the band and talk to them. Metal is a very personal thing and when or if you ever get to go to a concert, hang around after the show and I can almost guarantee that you will leave 150% happier than when you arrived. Most metal artists are some of the best people you have ever met while some are still a little young and have a little growing up left to do but all in all metal heads all over the world is nothing less than one big family.So go out there and support your brothers and sisters of metal and they will give back everything that they have just to please you, me, and everyone else. And the world will not seem so bad if only for just a few short hours.
For instance, I heard about a guy who is a Buddhist monk in California who was admitted to the hospital emergency room for multiple snake bites to his arms. Ok, if he was out on a pilgrimage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and while climbing on a cliff to get to his Temple he wondered into a den of snakes that would be acceptable. However, the reason given by the man according to the Times Record News was that he was in his Temple when this Copperhead snake shows up at the front door so in true Buddhist fashion the monk picks up the snake and walks it around the Temple three times while blessing the creature. Now being a Buddhist myself, I can fully appreciate this story but there is one major flaw. Buddhists may revere life because all creatures have a soul but I have never known anyone but an idiot who would pick up a poisonous snake and let it repeatedly bite him in order to bless it. What the fuck man?
Another thing that is a little closer to home has to do with work. The economy is lagging. This everybody knows. So why is everyone saying things are getting so much better. They’re not. My company is in that phase that I like to call the layoff cycle. This is where they want to get rid of some people in order to cut costs so they shut down the entire plant that I work in until they can justify laying of a few workers. After the layoff however, we are back logged for orders so we have to bring in temporary workers to replace the workers that was just laid off. And now we are stuck pulling mandatory overtime while waiting for them to get more temps to come to work while they are not going to replace the workers they have fired or that have quit. In other words, the end is near for the place where I work. At least that is how I see it anyway.
So, what is there in life that makes it worth living. For me, it is my wife and family. There is also rock and roll, heavy metal, and thrash metal. In the immortal words of Rob Halford, “Metal keeps you young”. The thing is he is right. I have yet to find anything that comes close to a metal concert that makes you feel so alive when everything else is going to shit. So when I start feeling the weight of the world starting to settle on my shoulders, I think back and remember what it was like to head banging to a Testament song or even a Destruction tune comes to mind. Also about how I felt after the show when I could meet the members of the band and talk to them. Metal is a very personal thing and when or if you ever get to go to a concert, hang around after the show and I can almost guarantee that you will leave 150% happier than when you arrived. Most metal artists are some of the best people you have ever met while some are still a little young and have a little growing up left to do but all in all metal heads all over the world is nothing less than one big family.So go out there and support your brothers and sisters of metal and they will give back everything that they have just to please you, me, and everyone else. And the world will not seem so bad if only for just a few short hours.
07/13/2009 Remembering the Good Times
Remember when you were young and life was just one big game to be played and enjoyed. It seems the longer I think the more depressed I get because I miss those days when there was nothing so big that I didn't get over it in an hour or two. Now it seems that all I do is sit and brood over things that I can't control. Maybe I have been nieve my whole life and am just now waking up to the fact that not all people are good and that they will take advantage of you without remorse like vultures if you let them.
The past week has been really bad for me. My grandfather paased away on Sunday, July 5 and his funeral was on Tuesday. At first I took the news relatively well but as time has passed I began to notice that I was not actually taking it at all. I was attempting to block it from my thoughts so I could look tough and not show any emotion. His funeral service at the funeral home was ok I guess. I loved how the minister giving the service turned an event that was supposed to pay tribute to and honor the memory of my grandfather into a sermon on why Christianity is the one true religion and how we should all become Christian (I am a Buddhist by the way). We spent maybe an hour at the funeral home before we loaded up to go to the cemetary. This is when my sister and I learned that there was no graveside service scheduled. We both knew that our grandfather did not have many friends and that his relatives did not speak to him very often but good grief. I remember at the service how all I could think of was how none of these people would come see him and when the casket was opened how there was an audible gasp at the sight of him because his luekemia had eaten away at him so bad and no one was prepared. It is like my wife says, if you don't care enough about the person to even talk to them when they are alive , why would you want to go to see the person when there dead. It makes no sense to me. All I can do is remember the good times we shared together.
I remember there was a time when I had lived with Granny and Grandpa Charlie. I was a kid and Charlie would be gone for a week at a time driving his truck. When he would come home I would make Granny get me all dressed up just like him and when he walk through the door it would be as if you were looking at scale versions of the same person. I would wear the same kind of clothes that he preferred and put on his Alberto V05 hair gel and part my hair to the right. and when he walked through the door he would go straight to the table in the kitchen with me in tow trying my best to walk exactly like he did. Granny and Charlie would have to laugh.
Now I would be a hippocrite if I was to make out like I spent the entire time with him in his remaining years. Far from it. Since I was a teenager my grandma and grandpa would make me so mad that I couldn't see straight. To the point that I would walk out and go home. But I would always tend to go back and see them again. It may have taken several months to do so and it even got to the point to where he would ask me if I was lost. I would tell him nope and that the way I figure it I was exactly where I wanted to be at that particular time. He would hear that and just smile. We would then go inside the house and he would sit in the same chair he had sat in for the past 35 years (figuratively speaking of course), and we would talk for about five minutes until I had relayed all of the things going on in my life and he would talk about when he was young and relay stories of when working in Borgur and many, many stories from his years on the road. After Grandma passed away a couple of years ago, he was all alone and it was so hard for him. I don't know if anyone besides Dean and Joanne (probably the only friends he had), would go and see him. I tried to get over and see him when I could but eventually I never knew when he was home. He was in the hospital too much. After my Aunt Tina passed away, ( who I knew would go and see him because she took care of him mostly), he was committed to a nursing home and I really intended to stop and see him everyday so it would be easier for him. That was not to be though. I would see him and it was all I could do to keep from crying. The man I once proclaimed to be the biggest in the world, except for King Kong that is, was reduced to the old frail man that was buried last week. But I went to see him anyway for a time, until I could no longer stand to watch him deteriorate any further. His memory was failing, partly because of the radiation theopy that he was under for so long, and then there was the drugs that he was on inside the nursing home for alzhiemers patients. It didn't take long. less than three months in that nursing home and he was dead.
Right now I am angry at a lot of people, myself included, because he was a good man that would do anything for anybody. He deserved better than to die knowing that no one cared about him. I am angry at myself because I didn't keep a promise I had made to him to go and see him everyday. I am sure he understands though. That was how he was and if there is a heaven I am sure he is there with grandma and driving his truck or working on cars or fishing. He could also be out hunting with Judy (the dog Grandma and Charlie used to have).
Rest in Peace, Charlie. I love you.
The past week has been really bad for me. My grandfather paased away on Sunday, July 5 and his funeral was on Tuesday. At first I took the news relatively well but as time has passed I began to notice that I was not actually taking it at all. I was attempting to block it from my thoughts so I could look tough and not show any emotion. His funeral service at the funeral home was ok I guess. I loved how the minister giving the service turned an event that was supposed to pay tribute to and honor the memory of my grandfather into a sermon on why Christianity is the one true religion and how we should all become Christian (I am a Buddhist by the way). We spent maybe an hour at the funeral home before we loaded up to go to the cemetary. This is when my sister and I learned that there was no graveside service scheduled. We both knew that our grandfather did not have many friends and that his relatives did not speak to him very often but good grief. I remember at the service how all I could think of was how none of these people would come see him and when the casket was opened how there was an audible gasp at the sight of him because his luekemia had eaten away at him so bad and no one was prepared. It is like my wife says, if you don't care enough about the person to even talk to them when they are alive , why would you want to go to see the person when there dead. It makes no sense to me. All I can do is remember the good times we shared together.
I remember there was a time when I had lived with Granny and Grandpa Charlie. I was a kid and Charlie would be gone for a week at a time driving his truck. When he would come home I would make Granny get me all dressed up just like him and when he walk through the door it would be as if you were looking at scale versions of the same person. I would wear the same kind of clothes that he preferred and put on his Alberto V05 hair gel and part my hair to the right. and when he walked through the door he would go straight to the table in the kitchen with me in tow trying my best to walk exactly like he did. Granny and Charlie would have to laugh.
Now I would be a hippocrite if I was to make out like I spent the entire time with him in his remaining years. Far from it. Since I was a teenager my grandma and grandpa would make me so mad that I couldn't see straight. To the point that I would walk out and go home. But I would always tend to go back and see them again. It may have taken several months to do so and it even got to the point to where he would ask me if I was lost. I would tell him nope and that the way I figure it I was exactly where I wanted to be at that particular time. He would hear that and just smile. We would then go inside the house and he would sit in the same chair he had sat in for the past 35 years (figuratively speaking of course), and we would talk for about five minutes until I had relayed all of the things going on in my life and he would talk about when he was young and relay stories of when working in Borgur and many, many stories from his years on the road. After Grandma passed away a couple of years ago, he was all alone and it was so hard for him. I don't know if anyone besides Dean and Joanne (probably the only friends he had), would go and see him. I tried to get over and see him when I could but eventually I never knew when he was home. He was in the hospital too much. After my Aunt Tina passed away, ( who I knew would go and see him because she took care of him mostly), he was committed to a nursing home and I really intended to stop and see him everyday so it would be easier for him. That was not to be though. I would see him and it was all I could do to keep from crying. The man I once proclaimed to be the biggest in the world, except for King Kong that is, was reduced to the old frail man that was buried last week. But I went to see him anyway for a time, until I could no longer stand to watch him deteriorate any further. His memory was failing, partly because of the radiation theopy that he was under for so long, and then there was the drugs that he was on inside the nursing home for alzhiemers patients. It didn't take long. less than three months in that nursing home and he was dead.
Right now I am angry at a lot of people, myself included, because he was a good man that would do anything for anybody. He deserved better than to die knowing that no one cared about him. I am angry at myself because I didn't keep a promise I had made to him to go and see him everyday. I am sure he understands though. That was how he was and if there is a heaven I am sure he is there with grandma and driving his truck or working on cars or fishing. He could also be out hunting with Judy (the dog Grandma and Charlie used to have).
Rest in Peace, Charlie. I love you.
07/08/2009 Unfinished Tales
I am sorry to have taken so long to write more on my blog since I have returned from Japan but oh well, in one hundred years, who will really care anyway. So much has happened since I stepped foot back on U.S. soil and I am pissed right now.
To begin with, I did not know that my wife and I can not go and see her family in Japan. Ever since we started talking about going back, my family has been giving me a lot of shit about it. First, my mother calls me up and starts the conversation by trying to smooth over some of the rough feelings we have had over the last year or so. I really didn’t know what she wanted because she has never called me before unless it had to do with money. Then out comes the reason just out of the blue. “Are you really going to Japan,” she asks in a tone that makes it really sound like a stupid idea and how dare we even think of such a thing. So I tell her yes and that we will be back in a couple of weeks when I should have told her yes, and if you have a problem with it we will not be coming back.
Then we get to Japan and have the best time we have had in ten years at least and when we get back I could notice the change as soon as we landed in L.A. We did not even finish taxiing to the gate in the airport yet. Well, I call my mom after we get to Dallas because she wanted me to call her when we got back then we went home. We hadn’t been home for 24 hours yet before my work calls and tells me that I have been taken off of day shift and put on nights. I knew the reason was so they could put a guy that was on nights on my shift but couldn’t because no one who was willing to go to nights. They gave me a lame excuse at why they chose me which I saw through from the start. Go figure that when my wife checks our bank account, she finds that I only got paid for one week of vacation but when I asked how much vacation time I had they told me two eighty hours or two weeks. I got screwed on that one but it is ok, I made up for it as soon as I got back and was put on nights because I had to work 32 hours of overtime which gave me a better check than if I had gotten paid for my vacation.
After this I have to deal with the fact that I am now permanently on nights so I make the best of it any way I can. Then low and behold, here comes more good news. I find out that while I was in Japan my Aunt Tina passed away. Well as soon as she was gone, my other aunt does all she can do to have my grandfather committed to a nursing home because he has developed dementia due to radiation therapy for leukemia. He was hit so hard with that radiation that he had some of the worst burns up and down his arms that I have ever seen. And they wonder why it cut off the oxygen to his brain enough to cause dementia. My aunt finally talked the doctor into declaring him incompetent in order to get him sent to a nursing home. He wasn’t there for three months and they had him so doped up he was confined to a wheelchair. He finally dies on Sunday. He was eighty-seven years old. Sure, he led a long and good life but I think he could have lived longer still had someone who was able to take care of him been willing to. This subject will have to wait until later to be told however.
My experiences after coming back were not all bad however. I did get to see my sister and my cousins Heather and Shannon, which was the highlight of my time back home. Next to that I would say that the Testament show in Ft. Worth last month was the other thing that did not totally suck. The show rocked and other than the second support band which I thought really sucked on top of being rude and disgusting, which some people get of on these days for some reason. After the show we got to meet the members of the band but the spirit was dampened because when I was talking to the member that I wanted to meet the most, our conversation kept getting interrupted by this person or that one. Someone was even rude enough to interrupt us while I was having my picture taken with him. And people wonder why I would rather be in Japan.
Anyway, after the Testament show, I went back to work and had nothing to look forward to with the exception of seeing my grandfather at least everyday that I worked. Well, that didn’t work quite as planned because I couldn’t stand to see him in that place. After I started to lose sleep and have nightmares I had to quit going. It looks like I should have kept my promise to myself. Then a couple of weeks later he fell or something and was confined to a wheelchair, which I am glad I did not see, and the next thing I know he is gone.
Which brings me to the funeral today. I go to the funeral home and meet everyone that I want to meet and give my condolences, which is only proper right. Well, after the service at the funeral home we find out that they did not even want a graveside service which would take all of five minutes. The only thing said about my grandfather the entire time was that everyone considered him to be the strongest man they have ever known. Which is true in my case as well but nothing about how cared so much about everyone but had a hard time showing his feelings. But thinking back on all of the times I went to see him in these last few years, he told me everything that I needed to know. He enjoyed every minute of time we spent together. This was especially gratifying because he also said that none of his other grandchildren ever came to see him. I noticed that the entire thing was a sham. Just something put on for show. The man performing the service used my grandfathers funeral as a platforms to try and convert me to Christianity, weakly tying my grandfathers death into his sermon. All I can say is in all due respect, FUCK OFF!!!!!!
I would rather go to hell as to worship such hypocritical bullshit.
To begin with, I did not know that my wife and I can not go and see her family in Japan. Ever since we started talking about going back, my family has been giving me a lot of shit about it. First, my mother calls me up and starts the conversation by trying to smooth over some of the rough feelings we have had over the last year or so. I really didn’t know what she wanted because she has never called me before unless it had to do with money. Then out comes the reason just out of the blue. “Are you really going to Japan,” she asks in a tone that makes it really sound like a stupid idea and how dare we even think of such a thing. So I tell her yes and that we will be back in a couple of weeks when I should have told her yes, and if you have a problem with it we will not be coming back.
Then we get to Japan and have the best time we have had in ten years at least and when we get back I could notice the change as soon as we landed in L.A. We did not even finish taxiing to the gate in the airport yet. Well, I call my mom after we get to Dallas because she wanted me to call her when we got back then we went home. We hadn’t been home for 24 hours yet before my work calls and tells me that I have been taken off of day shift and put on nights. I knew the reason was so they could put a guy that was on nights on my shift but couldn’t because no one who was willing to go to nights. They gave me a lame excuse at why they chose me which I saw through from the start. Go figure that when my wife checks our bank account, she finds that I only got paid for one week of vacation but when I asked how much vacation time I had they told me two eighty hours or two weeks. I got screwed on that one but it is ok, I made up for it as soon as I got back and was put on nights because I had to work 32 hours of overtime which gave me a better check than if I had gotten paid for my vacation.
After this I have to deal with the fact that I am now permanently on nights so I make the best of it any way I can. Then low and behold, here comes more good news. I find out that while I was in Japan my Aunt Tina passed away. Well as soon as she was gone, my other aunt does all she can do to have my grandfather committed to a nursing home because he has developed dementia due to radiation therapy for leukemia. He was hit so hard with that radiation that he had some of the worst burns up and down his arms that I have ever seen. And they wonder why it cut off the oxygen to his brain enough to cause dementia. My aunt finally talked the doctor into declaring him incompetent in order to get him sent to a nursing home. He wasn’t there for three months and they had him so doped up he was confined to a wheelchair. He finally dies on Sunday. He was eighty-seven years old. Sure, he led a long and good life but I think he could have lived longer still had someone who was able to take care of him been willing to. This subject will have to wait until later to be told however.
My experiences after coming back were not all bad however. I did get to see my sister and my cousins Heather and Shannon, which was the highlight of my time back home. Next to that I would say that the Testament show in Ft. Worth last month was the other thing that did not totally suck. The show rocked and other than the second support band which I thought really sucked on top of being rude and disgusting, which some people get of on these days for some reason. After the show we got to meet the members of the band but the spirit was dampened because when I was talking to the member that I wanted to meet the most, our conversation kept getting interrupted by this person or that one. Someone was even rude enough to interrupt us while I was having my picture taken with him. And people wonder why I would rather be in Japan.
Anyway, after the Testament show, I went back to work and had nothing to look forward to with the exception of seeing my grandfather at least everyday that I worked. Well, that didn’t work quite as planned because I couldn’t stand to see him in that place. After I started to lose sleep and have nightmares I had to quit going. It looks like I should have kept my promise to myself. Then a couple of weeks later he fell or something and was confined to a wheelchair, which I am glad I did not see, and the next thing I know he is gone.
Which brings me to the funeral today. I go to the funeral home and meet everyone that I want to meet and give my condolences, which is only proper right. Well, after the service at the funeral home we find out that they did not even want a graveside service which would take all of five minutes. The only thing said about my grandfather the entire time was that everyone considered him to be the strongest man they have ever known. Which is true in my case as well but nothing about how cared so much about everyone but had a hard time showing his feelings. But thinking back on all of the times I went to see him in these last few years, he told me everything that I needed to know. He enjoyed every minute of time we spent together. This was especially gratifying because he also said that none of his other grandchildren ever came to see him. I noticed that the entire thing was a sham. Just something put on for show. The man performing the service used my grandfathers funeral as a platforms to try and convert me to Christianity, weakly tying my grandfathers death into his sermon. All I can say is in all due respect, FUCK OFF!!!!!!
I would rather go to hell as to worship such hypocritical bullshit.
06/18/2009 Inspiration in Hard Economic Times
Everyone knows that the economy in the United States is on shakey ground right now, so why am I inspired even though I am expecting to be laid off from my job next week. Well, I can still get up in the morning, albeit barely because of the aches and pains of arthritis in my ankles, knees, lower back and neck, and have hope that I can find another job. This is the reason I am going back to school. So why is it that I am so inpired? That is not a terribly long story but it is one that I hope will inspire you as well.
I am listening to Testament (The Bay Area metal band) right now and thinking about how Chuck Billy, the vocalist of Testament, has come through the toughest fight of his life battling cancer. I have lost several family members to cancer so when I see someone who has fought through such a terrible ordeal and can come out ot if with the spirit and power that Mr. Billy has, I am filled with joy because I have seen what cancer does and it is heartbreaking. But it is inspiring to know that the passion of Mr. Billy for what he does and the joy he brings to the fans of Testament is what got him though such an ordeal and is worthy of the highest amount of respect and praise.
This brings me to the point of my commentary. I know that with my impending layoff, I will have difficult times ahead financially, but with my continuing to educate myself and persevering to achieve and by looking forward to opportunities yet to come instead of dwelling on opportunities missed, I have the potential to acheive a better life. It is like the song goes, "don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years" (Adrien Smith, Iron Maiden).
Posted by Dumb American at 4:19 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Cage, All I can Say is WOW!
I have just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read. It is a book called "The Cage" by Kenzo Kitakata and I was on edge since page one. If you like stories of ordinary people then you will love this. The seory takes place in Japan and it is riveting to say the least. I would not be surprised if once you read this book, you would not start thinking of how you would like to be just like Takino, the hero of the story.
The story is truly remarkable yet unremarkable at the same time. There is greed and curruption and double crosses all the way through the book and you are left not knowing which way is up at the end of it all. I hope you read this book and when you do I know you will enjoy it. So up the Irons and dust off your horns because this book will rock your world and leave you screaming for more.
I am listening to Testament (The Bay Area metal band) right now and thinking about how Chuck Billy, the vocalist of Testament, has come through the toughest fight of his life battling cancer. I have lost several family members to cancer so when I see someone who has fought through such a terrible ordeal and can come out ot if with the spirit and power that Mr. Billy has, I am filled with joy because I have seen what cancer does and it is heartbreaking. But it is inspiring to know that the passion of Mr. Billy for what he does and the joy he brings to the fans of Testament is what got him though such an ordeal and is worthy of the highest amount of respect and praise.
This brings me to the point of my commentary. I know that with my impending layoff, I will have difficult times ahead financially, but with my continuing to educate myself and persevering to achieve and by looking forward to opportunities yet to come instead of dwelling on opportunities missed, I have the potential to acheive a better life. It is like the song goes, "don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years" (Adrien Smith, Iron Maiden).
Posted by Dumb American at 4:19 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Cage, All I can Say is WOW!
I have just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read. It is a book called "The Cage" by Kenzo Kitakata and I was on edge since page one. If you like stories of ordinary people then you will love this. The seory takes place in Japan and it is riveting to say the least. I would not be surprised if once you read this book, you would not start thinking of how you would like to be just like Takino, the hero of the story.
The story is truly remarkable yet unremarkable at the same time. There is greed and curruption and double crosses all the way through the book and you are left not knowing which way is up at the end of it all. I hope you read this book and when you do I know you will enjoy it. So up the Irons and dust off your horns because this book will rock your world and leave you screaming for more.