almost there

it's the last day of january and the weather is lovely here in the great pacific northwest, sunny and about 5 degrees c.  the bad news is we might get some snow in a few days but tomorrow is the first day of february and that means march is just around the corner. another 2 months and with any luck i'll be zipping around on the scooter.  that will be heaven on earth for me, hopping on the scooter and wearing nothing but a t shirt, jeans and an old pair of sneakers.

by april i should be a real old freak. last july the kid got married and i was forced to get a short haircut and trim the beard back to almost nothing. i'm pleased to say that i haven't had a haircut  trimmed  the beard since early july. i've decided to let it grow for a year and see how things unfold.
it's almost 7 months now and things are getting pretty scruffy. the kids don't give a shit and find the whole thing quite comical but the lovely mrs myshkin is none too happy with my excellent imitation of a homeless man.

i'll put on my old leather biker jacket and look like a geriatric hells angel on a scooter. maybe i'll even pop into the cracker factory and show the drones what happens when a man no longer has to toe the company line in order to pay the bills. from what i hear, there's been another house cleaning at the cracker factory so most people won't have a clue who i am and will probably call security.

deadwood is almost done for the season so it's time to find a replacement for my 15 minutes of bliss before hopping into bed. it's been a few years since i watched john from cincinnati and i'm dying to hear butchie scream, "i gotta get high,  man!"

billy says i better don't get too high, and he still loves you sons of bitches.

something wonderful

let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

several wonderful things happened last night. the wonderful things would have been much more wonderful if they had happened spontaneously, but waiting for something spontaneous to happen is a young man's game.

the evening began with a truly wonderful bowl of bean soup that  had spent the day simmering and absorbing all the magical energy that had been waiting months for something worthy to dive into. a good hearty pot of bean soup can produce commercial grade methane gas. i'll be producing methane for the next few days.

after the dishes had been washed and the rip walked, it was reward time. years ago, things would have began with a glass of whiskey but the world turns and things change. last night things got started with the sparking of a bud and the eating of a raspberry cookie coated in white belgian chocolate. it was a good large cookie that i won't soon forget.

then it was time to put on little music, the be good tanyas, and finish the book i had been saving for this wonderful occasion, cannery row. i had about 15 pages left to read and they didn't disappoint. cannery row is definitely in my top 10 list of novels. it makes me happy, and happy is good.

then it was time for the second course, the final episode of the second season of fargo. the final episode was good, but i think the penultimate episode was better. watching season 2 of fargo was time very well spent.

and finally it was time to get grounded and set my mind straight. twenty four minutes of pure bliss; deadwood! al swearengen always puts my mind straight.

so i ate, i drank a little bean soup and i got merry.  now it's time to hop in the mighty hyundai and go see the doctor and that son of a gun is in for a surprise. rather than take the tests and medications he prescribed, i bought a real lucky coin and so far, i haven't lost the son of a bitch.

billy loves you sons of bitches

is it too late?

is it too late to change my new years resolution? maybe add a clause or rider?

i've spent a lot of time today looking for a pair of glasses. a while back i bought 4 pairs of prescription reading glasses. i thought it would be good to have spares in case i lost a pair but at the time i also realized that there was a potential problem. having an additional 4 pairs of glasses also meant that i would have 4 more things to lose. well guess what, i lost a pair.

i had a brain freeze, fell and broke a pair of glasses so it was time to take inventory and decide on a new favorite pair but  it quickly became evident that a pair was missing. and every time i turned around to look in a different place, a certain dog was standing behind me almost causing another fall. old age can be a problem.

the worst part of looking for lost stuff is rather than finding the item i'm looking for, i realize that i've lost other stuff and soon i'm looking for so much stuff, i can't remember what i'm looking for. so this all leads up to the rider i'm going to add to my new years resolution:

I HEREBY RESOLVE NOT TO BUY ANY MORE SHIT!  THE GOAL IS TO END THE YEAR WITH LESS SHIT THAN I HAD TO BEGIN THE YEAR.

while searching for a snow brush in the trunk of the mighty sonata i found 5 umbrellas. this was in addition to the 3 umbrellas on the rear seats. it just goes on and on and on.

now what can take my mind off all the missing stuff?

billy loves you sons of bitches.

the resolution - 2017

and the winner is ..........................

this year the resolution is moderation.

in the past i've been very fond of saying, moderation is for monks. if things work out, i'll be a monk for a significant chunk of 2017.

i'm talking about exercise and diet. my resolution is probably the opposite of 95% of the resolutions made by other fools such as i. i'm stiff and sore, my whole body aches. there's a really good chance that most of my aches and pains originate from all the exercise i do. moderation is for monks and in the past i've not moderated my exercise, i've overdone it.

same thing for weight, i want to put on a few pounds.  with almost zero body fat, i'm too sensitive to the cold weather, i need some insulation.

there's a good chance that all my troubles are the inevitable changes that occur with aging but son of a bitch, it's worth a shot. in my case, it's easier for me to exercise than not to exercise. 

while the rest of us plan for the coming new year and enjoy the comforts of home, there is a group of needy souls that usually go unnoticed, the homeless drug addicts. vancouver's downtown eastside is often called the biggest shit hole in the developed world. poverty and addiction are everywhere. when i was 15 years old i got my first job as a dishwasher in the area and experienced the horror show firsthand. it was alcohol and heroin in those days and now opiates and methamphetamines have been added to the mix. i often ride through the area on a sunday morning in the good weather and the stark poverty and suffering are unbelievable. 

WELFARE DAY ON VANCOUVER'S DOWTOWN EASTSIDE

the thing that always blows me away is the openness of  the drug dealing and trafficking of stolen merchandise. the federal government makes the drugs illegal but the city of vancouver does not enforce the law, they enable the addiction. there is virtually no effort to rehabilitate these poor souls, just give the appearance of giving a shit. we pick them up and save them from the brink of death from overdosing and then push them back onto the streets to do the whole thing again and again and again.

there but for the grace of god go i.

and of course i need an altar to pray for my salvation.

and best of all, now i'm ready for summer.

billy loves you sons of bitches and says: it's all bullshit, don't let it get you down.