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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Yesterday when I arrived at the ATM machine and began digging around for a deposit envelope I realized there was someone close behind me--a couple of men, as it turned out, in uniform, one carrying a gun in hand in front of an armoured van and instantly I knew who they were but still, I was flustered, and I turned back toward the machine but it seemed that they were in a hurry to get on with what they were about to do and so I turned back toward them--cautiously and trying not to make any quick, jerky movements because I had a heightened awareness of that gun poised just within my line of vision, hanging there in a tight grip--and before I could say anything the uniform closest to me exhorted gruffly (or perhaps not gruffly but toughly), "What do you want to do?" and I walked away without using the ATM.

I wasn't sure I wanted to use the machine right then anyway, since I still had to make a trip into a branch and then would probably be returning to the ATM to make another deposit anyway, but I'm certain what really stopped me from going through with that transaction was the gun. It's not everyday that someone with a tensely-held handgun is hovering close behind you while you have money in your hands. Though the men are simply doing their jobs, and protecting that very money that I'm depositing, it's scary when you think that any number of things can go wrong: I make a quick and uncertain movement that catches the guard off-guard and he reactively raises the gun to my chest and...sure, they're trained for this stuff, and we like to think they're trained well, but you know how easily things can go wrong...
posted by Harold  10/07/2004 09:45:00 AM
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I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.