Something That Happened.

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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!

Monday, June 23, 2003

Saturday, September 19, 2009: Reading some of these old posts are excruciating. In the past day or so I've deleted a few of the really short and idiotic ones but some of the lengthier ones, like this one, are difficult to let go of. So I'm keeping it posted but I've amended its outdated links (excepting the final one: the final link doesn't make sense anymore but I'm keeping it anyway):

Yesterday I spent the day watching NASCAR racing.

Actually, I was flipping between NASCAR and CART racing since both started simultaneously. Now, I'm not your typical auto racing fan. I rarely watch the sport, but when I do I really get into it.

Yesterday, for example, I couldn't seem to get enough of the battle to the finish line between the Gordon brothers (they are brothers, aren't they?). To be honest, it wasn't really a battle -- Robbie Gordon clearly had the advantage -- but Jeff was keeping Robbie's pedal to the metal.

I lost interest in the CART race sometime after the first half of the race and switched to the NASCAR race permanently; NASCAR was more fun and maybe that's because NASCAR seems a bit more human than CART racing. NASCAR's got the family histories: the Dales, the Pettys, the Gordons, and probably several more I'm not aware of. CART has the Andrettis, I think, but I'm not sure who else.

The cars themselves in NASCAR are more human: the CART cars are machines, with hardly a container for a person; it's somewhat like a miniaturized version of a plane's fusilage, but fitted for only one person, designed purely for utility. The NASCAR vehicles, on the other hand, are real cars -- or at least, they look like them -- and although they're slower than the CARTs they remind us of our own vehicles.

For other reasons I haven't yet analyzed, NASCAR is also more exciting to watch on T.V. (In person the CARTs are much more exciting than on T.V.; I've seen the CARTs in person and once your senses are assaulted with that experience, it's difficult to forget; the CARTs are loud and certainly quicken your pulse.)

So that's my take on auto racing, for now. If you want more on auto racing you've got to read a racing blog or sumpin'. I'm going to get busy finding out when the next race is so I can sneak away like Secret Agent Josephine did that day she was supposed to be at work. (Okay, that was dumb. That last link had no reason to be referenced, other than the fact that person, or blogger, or whatever, had mentioned skipping work to go to the Toyota Grand Prix one day. But that just demonstrates the lengths to which those mad racing fans will go to watch those wheels roll in person--to smell the burning asphalt, to hearing the thundering bees.)

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posted by Harold  6/23/2003 07:46:00 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post

Businesses in Huntsville, Alabama

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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.