Tuesday, October 19, 2010

HOW Y'ALL FEEL OUTTHERE... AHH YEE-AAHH!

CATCHING UP AND GOING STRAIGHT AWAY

My landing has not been as smooth as I had hoped BUT, it has not been a disaster... in fact, far from it.  People are friendly and I have considered doing a video entry once I figure out how and where I am going to shoot it.  Before I left the Motor I picked up an off-brand video camera from CVS with the idea of going around recording scenes of how I see Omaha.  As I said, things have not gone as smoothly as I had hoped.  One of the first things that went awry was my losing the tires to my bike, and there was really no excuses for that.  The episode shook me, because it was avoidable had I not let my guard down.

Because of their expense, I had hand-carried my wheels on the bus.  I did not want to shove them into the box with the bike to get mushed and bent beneath the weight of other luggage.  It went well all the way up to the cab ride from the hotel to my apartment.  For whatever reason, I saw fit to put my wheels in the trunk of the cab with my luggage.  The bike box occupied the back seat and I sat up front with the cabbie.

What I did not recognize was that the 'cab' was just that, something in quotes as it was cab-like.  In my rush, I hopped into a jitney cab and while he was helpful, he took off before I could get my wheels.  Meanwhile, calling the cab company was a dead end, as they stiffly made it clear that it was not one of their cabs that I took.  Took week to get my ride right, because Friday I bought a child's bike... please, I don't know 'why' (which means I do, but I want to spare myself and you, dear reader, the mundacity of retelling that tale), just as I don't know 'why' I am in the building that I am in.  Nebraska had made the suggestion that I ask for another location and that was my first choice.  But when I recieved the offer letter for where I am at now, I replied straight away that I would take it without consulting with my sponsor.  Why that happened is related to what happened in June of last year between us, a problem with our lines of communication.  Anywho, I am here and though it is not the 'choice' location, it isn't bad at all.  There is a park directly across the street and the hills that I mentioned in my previous visit are as daunting as I thought they would be.  But as for all that, oh well.  I will deal.

Dealing with the DHS is an online thing here, so I will have to check the mailbox to find out how that goes.  There is an Anytime Fitness down the hill from me... and if I did not know any better, the hill goes down for over a 1/2 mile, close to a full mile as the crow flies.  Don't get me wrong, I still feel pretty good about my decision to come here.  If anything, I am coming down with a mild case of the bends.

SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?



The politics here kind of irrate me... being that the state is conservative and all.  The race for the 2nd District seat between Lee Perry and Tom White is going to be one that I watch as a bell-weather for the final two years of President Obama's first term.  The incumbent Perry thinks that privatizing Social Security is a good idea and that tells me all that I need to know about him.  It is also why I think it would be the measure of white anger at the election of a black President.  That is all the Tea Party is, after all.  A bunch of semi-literate reactionaries who want for the imagined era of stability that in the history classes and books I was educated with, never really existed.

America has always been a unstable mix of different philosophies and politics that managed to find enough common ground to continue to move forward at a pace that was a half-step ahead of the rest of the world.  I think that is still true today.  This is not the first time that an ignorant minority was fired up by unseen puppet masters who had an agenda.  Joe McCarthy led the red scare and all... but despite what they think in Texas (not pickin', jus' sayin'), those were misguided efforts like those at the heart of the Tea Party platform (uh, what IS it that they stand for again??  I mean, really...).  Talking about smaller government when many who are at THE FRONT of their political efforts either have benefit from government programs to build their current lifestyle and/or have defrauded or have family member who have defrauded the very programs they want to cut.

When it comes to the Tea Bags, I have decided to stop playing nice.  I think that it is a movement which at its core, is manipulative and puposefully divisive.  By setting groups against each other as the haves, those who get but don't want anyone else to get any either, and the can't get and don't want you to get any either groups, no one sees who is constantly getting away with the cheese.

For instance, I was in the community room with a cat who was watching Fox News... a brother doing so ON PURPOSE.  I sat down and watched with him as they trotted out some economic cat to talk about the effect that ending the Bush-era tax cuts will have on the 'average American'.  Mr. Flack acknowledge that it directly affects only the top 2-3% of American wage earns... so that limits the effect on 'the average American' right there.  But they scared up enough talk for the 5 minute segment and I looked at the brother, listening and soaking in the fear that they were selling.

That was unnerving to me.  Not that he was only watching Fox feed him misleading information, but that he was doing so on purpose.  I find that amazing, the persausive power of propaganda.  I didn't speak to him (nor do I want to 'speak' to anyone here... more on THAT later, 4-shure!!) because I don't want to offend anyone just yet.  For the life of me I had wondered how someone on the low end of the economic scale found themselves voting for the GOP.  Understanding how people can be socially conservative is one thing... but when it comes at their own expense... it makes me think that these people are as stupid as turkeys staring at the sky when it rains.

PERSONAL STUFF

One of the subjects I have never gotten around to talking about, is sex.  Less because I am oddly bashful about it (you would have to be here to understand it... we will see if it comes out in here, cause I would love to get feedback here, or @ markonit@aol.com) and more because of WHY I want to talk about it.  Unlike other things that I think I can do or that I feel that I achieve a certain level of mastery of (yes, you too, can crack like a pro with my taught left hook!!), when it comes to sex, it is something so easy that a caveman could do it!

But that is another post.  Oh, I DID get my bike put back together and to be honest, the cat did a couple of 'extra' things that I hadn't counted on.  So I will talk about that along with sex, because I think they are sort of interrelated.

6 comments:

Mizrepresent said...

So glad things are going well and you got your bike back together. Can't wait to read what you will write about sex? lol. Have a great week!

Constance said...

Hmmph. Sex and bicycles. True, you never forget how to ride.
But you can buy a bike you like fairly easily.
Whereas, finding someone to have sex with you love is a far more complicared and emotionally risky proposition.

Anyone can f***. But being good in bed means being CONNECTED, having chemistry, and that, oh my friend, that is a rare and precious thing to have and not at all simply one body part fitting into another.

Not that you said it was, mind you.
Curious to hear what you have to say... more of it, that is :)

betty said...

sorry about the bike incident Mark! I think that, along with the maybe not best location you are living at, are all parts of just settling in and getting used to new surroundings, minor set backs but doable and workable around them

it is good too that people are friendly; I've lived where they weren't and that was hard to adapt to

betty

Ken Riches said...

Glad you got your wheels back in order and are finding things tolerable.

Toon said...

Iowa might be a touch more liberal than Nebraska, but that's because they have fewer friggin' Mormons. You won't find much enlightened politics in these parts.

Sarcastic Bastard said...

Glad you are getting situated, buddy. A park so nearby is great. I have one right down the street and go there a lot.

I don't get the FOX News thing being a draw for minorities either. That shit is crazy.

Thinking of you,

SB