Sunday Mornin' Pancakes

Fishing Report: Halifax River

For those using the right bait, Mudcats have been stacking up along the bottom... all over the Halifax. 
Cut yourself an extry long stringer, as I believe this one of the few fish left that you can not limit out on. And while you're
on the bottom, be sure to drag some baits at a slow pace. While spooking away the regulated flounder, some mighty hefty skates will move in and happily take your bait! They lay nice and flat,.. like a stack of delicious Sunday mornin' pancakes on the bottom of your boat.You will hardly notice them as your water line sinks 3 or 4 inches in the course of an afternoon.
 If midday action seems slow, make a strategic move near some pilings with some stink bait. Regulated sheepshead should shun this....leaving your bait wide open for the ever envied dogfish. Greatly underestimated for it's food value because it is so gosh darn ugly....there is a great piece of sweet white edible flesh just behind it's devilish green eyes and the poison glands near the pectoral fins. And give the poor booger something to bite on...while removing this tasty morsel.
Well that's it for November fishing report. Be sure to stay clear of anything that is regulated for a happier, more productive expedition. And don't forget the stink bait. Tight lines......! Elrok

Elrok movie review: SKYFALL "Spectre" coming November 16

Spectre coming November 16 
"SKYFALL"....movie review....
Wow! The first 15 minutes of this movie had me on the edge of my seat in suspense. I was thinking..."naked shadows.....naked shadows...where's the naked shadows?!?!". Finally, the naked silhouettes that stunned you at thirteen, re-appeared in contemporary but classic "Bond" fashion. Ahhhh....now the movie can begin! A thriller that pits man against "Matrix" as an aging "Bond" takes on a comic book type villain bent on revenge. Movie wants you form a sort of. .."bond" with "Bond", as a glimpse of his tortured childhood is revealed and he actually sheds a tear. Or was that sweat dripping off the edge of his nose in the end? You make the call! Yeah....go see it. When you gotta fight the urge to empty some of that half-gallon movie soda pop.....there's probably good reason. No liquids, caffeine, or other diuretics for 12 hours before movie. Sit in the back of the theater in case you really have to make the quick dash to keep bladder from exploding.

Introducing SUPERHERO "Lavender Luke "

           He's a 'different' kind of Superhero. Born without x-ray vision, unable to leap tall buildings in a single bound...aids societies ills with magic...in a bag filled with lavender teas, lavender epsom salts, and of course....two holsters of POSTUM! ......Lavender Luke                                  

  Lavender Luke

It's going to really hurt to ask....
What monstrous things might you unmask?
When you dare to strike the path
to  Lavender Luke..
And though his genes can't be his fault
He's found some lust in Epsom Salt
Which made his Lavender-less pores exalt!
Lavender Luke!
What kind of man would dare to bathe
and think his macho be unscathed
while drinking Postum made for gays?
That man is Lavender Luke!
And so the salty crystals soak
A Queersome man to many folk
...but it's worth the fun they'll poke..
Lavender Luke

With thanks to my sister Wanda,  for  helping me in some trying times, by sending me love in the form of lavender tea and lavender epsom salts!   Real men don't cry at movies or take bubble baths alone, ain't that right?  You are my favorite sister named Wanda. << ( thanks Will :)  ) 

Leaving Summer

It always seems as summer ends and the beaches grow cold and barren, my mind settles into a mode of reflection and contemplation. 
Some memories frolicking in the ocean waves.... ROAR ! with laughter and passion!     

Others bring monotonous waves of pain....

Gentle clouds in the distance .   No footsteps in the sand.   Misted path obscures what lies ahead....

"The List"

.

... Ah, yes..."THE LIST". It's for anal retentive people who like to have a feigned sense of accomplishment, when what we actually should be doin' is CHILLIN' on our days off! Stoopid me, though...always had a list. When I was younger , things were on the list like ..."tie shoes",..."find girlfriend", ..."buy more list paper" .... Yes...."make new list"...was on the list too! Have you ever seen that old SNL skit.."Cooking with the Anal Retentive Chef?"

Jiffy Foot

Back in the 1960' s and 1970's...there was a widespread outbreak of  "jiffy foot"   here in the Southen U.S.   It was a condition that slowly spread and blemished  children's bare feet.  The pads of their feet became calloused and irreversibly blackened and remained that way into young adulthood.  The cure?   Shoes!   ( and health board policies of  "No shirt, No shoes, No service!"  )

"Jiffy Foot" is used to describe what bare feet look like after they have shuffled around on a dusty Jiffy Food Store floor....

( Tx Dawn)

Is Pope Francis Gay?

Is Pope Francis Gay?

"It has been estimated that at least 33 percent of all priests in the RC Church in the United States are homosexual."[12]

Blasphemy! Hellbound on a Sunday morning!..... To dare ask such a question about the world's most pious man! But there is at least a 33% chance...that he is actually gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that...      https://youtu.be/rGAyQAkXajg

I have often said that is time for another Ten Commandments. Obviously confused about the word and will of God...Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the first ten, and descended to deliver these laws to his decadent and confused Israelite followers.

    The air of confusion, chaos and perceived decadence on the issues of abortion, homosexuality, women's rights, and pedophilia abuses by Church leadership, certainly exists today..and seemingly warrants clarification. The Church will call it "Renewal"...asserting that what was written is sufficient..and we just aren't listening! There is very little.. "wiggle room".. , when it comes to interpreting Biblical verse:

" But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

"And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body."

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;"

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

We are all sinners. Pope too!   Maybe he is gay....not that there's anything wrong with that!

https://youtu.be/rGAyQAkXajg


Preaching from the gallows.....elrok

Falling Off The Turnip Truck

It had been a bumpy ride anyway ....but I was used to that.  Just me and the turnips back there, tooling down a dusty country road after a hard day pluckin' em . I musta dozed off for a second,.....and as we rounded the corner.....well,  ...I just fell out!   Woke up in a cloud of dust ...looked up....and  Carlos just kept going. "Hey!!!"  I yelled,  as the festive sound of Mexican music faded into the distance. A day that started out as a hundred did before, became the day that it finally happened to me.  I had just fallen out of the back of a turnip truck.....

     For the longest of times, it was just me and them turnips back there. We knew nothing....wanted nothing...aspired to nothing. Mostly undesirable vegetables whose value was appreciated by very few.   I stumbled in a slow circle wondering where I would go.
     Suddenly, a huge black limousine appeared from a dustcloud.   A tall, dark man with sunglasses opened the door and told me to "Get in!"...    I got in.    He explained that he had been looking for me, and wanted me to come to his party.  "Most of the people coming..."   he explained...." are just like you!"  
    "Wow!"   I said..  "They all work in the turnip industry?   Do you think they could get me a job!?"     Before I could draw another breath, the doors unlocked and a large blackleather shoe came across my right cheek,   and I was once again left in a dustcloud.
      Minutes later, another black limo came sliding up the dry dirt road next to me.   The doors popped open,  and a well dressed man in a blue tie exclaimed to me...."Hi!   I'm Mitt Romney....and I'm running for president.!   I've been looking for you.   You just fell out of the turnip truck, right?"
     "Well, actually....I think I just fell out of President Obama's limousine."
The doors slammed shut and the man said to the driver..."Too late!....Let's go!...., and he flipped me a bird as his black tinted window rolled up and he sped away.

Bless you, damn you!!

She sneezed.  I said "God bless you.". She sneezed again.  "God bless you!"', I said again. She sneezed again.
                                         "I said God bless you, goddamn you!"
Bless you, ...damn you!  As if...on my command or recommendation,.... a soul should be placed in God's favor and protection. Or condemnation....

What makes me think that my will might become the will of God?
 Because I may pray for your cursed soul,  will my whisper to His ear change His judgement?   Who is He judging?  You?  ....or your influential friends and family?

My soul may very well be damned.  Should God rely on my life's witnesses to determine my ultimate fate?  Will they have seen something He missed?

If we are somehow conjoined in spirit and brotherhood...perhaps the pleas of those who know me might buy me the wings of glory.   Will the rope they throw me be long enough to reach the depths of my Hell?  Is it their judgement, or His?

I said God bless you, God damn you!   Sometimes I find myself counting on the blessings of others,  and discouraged by their curses.  I do not know what influences they have,..or if they have any at all!
My destiny is ultimately of my own choosing.  But if I am judged by my failures,  I hope that a wink and a nod from my brothers has some influence...

Thank You For Your Patience!

Awww!   Your welcome !   Thank YOU!!  ..for the 15 minutes of soothing elevator music you are about to play for me.
Complain?
Oh!,  no!   Not me!   I am a patient man!
You know it..I know it...You thanked me for it....and so it must be  true....

My patience.

It is one of those things that is taken, before it is given.   Assuming that gratitude given before  action is taken, will ensure that action is taken.

I am going to turn these tables.  After stealing minutes of my life,  the first of the next four operators I will talk to today will willfully accept my gratitudes.  Implied and without substance,  with no grounds in reality or needed proof of worthiness....I will take their faceless recorded and canned gratitudes,   and give a few in return.
" Thank you for taking the time to listen to me!  " (  squirming operator leans back in swiveling chair and draws an impatient breathe )
.....15 minutes later.."  Thank you once again for your patience with me!   You are the first person in this company that has shown true integrity!"  ( suicide gesture of thumb to forefinger holstered for a moment , as the operator bathes in my recognition of their integrity)
" I am so glad you are not the stereotypical operator,  who just quickly spins me to the next operator,  and we suddenly and mysteriously lose connection" "  You are a great example for your company and I can see why they hired you"  ( re-affirmed existence for human trapped in rat-maze of cubicles.)
"Thank you for taking me directly to your supervisor!  You know, some people would have hesitated, or even lied and gave me a false supervisor to try to trick me into feeling satisfied.  You have been fantastic!  I will be sure to tell your soop about all the help you have given me today.  Thank You!"  (  hypnotized by the warm effervescence and daydreams of "thank you's" in a thankless job,  the operator robotically summons his supervisor)

Steal back some of that patience that was stolen from you,  through implied gestures.
It is a time when stealing and giving ...become the same thing.

Ben Carson, ..it's not brain surgery! (Which is why you do not belong in this Presidential race...)

Well, there we have it . This Nation's 'smartest' Presidential candidate! "Doctor" Ben Carson! Brain Surgeon! He's gonna 'smart' our way out of America's impending doom. But don't let your religious beliefs get in his way! He demands that you "subjugate" your religious beliefs to the U.S. Constitution....our new "Holy Bible". Should we thank God for his wisdom?

Is the Pope Catholic ?

What used to be sarcastic way to answer a question with an inanely obvious answer...might be obsolete soon.  Has the Catholic Church succumbed to the will of it's masses in lieu of the will of God?  Has it checked it's financials, and decided that it must change...er,  ...re-interpret God's word in order to keep it alive?   Reminds me of all the poor souls killed or jailed during Prohibition.  Criminals, were they?  Is hell-sending sin from yesterday...suddenly...not a sin  today?   Watch closely to see if wavering finances and waining church attendance lead to....less  "sin",   as the Church elects a new Pope with a seemingly more "open" mind.  The sins of yesterday may be erased with simple " reinterpretation".
    Is the Pope Catholic?   Maybe...not so much.....  as his role becomes more politicized in attempt to attract or keep parishioners.  Is the Church slowly morphing into a.....democracy?  

Global Fantasy

What enters your mind's fantasy when you think of "global warming"?  Lush green forests morphing into scorched parched desert?   Extra hot summers?  A malnourished polar bear balancing precariously on floating chunk of Arctic ice?   Skin cancer?   Sweaty hot summers?  High air conditioning bills?   Rising tides?  Curs-ed Republicans?   World famine and wars?   Apocalyptic doom?  God Himself relinquishing the Earth to Satan?

Human influence on Global warming is probably non-debatable. The lie propagated by the left on this issue...is that America can legislate, tax, and budget to fix it. This cocky-ass pompousness and self-righteousness represents exactly how we see ourselves. We are the only people on the planet! It may be a sad state of affairs....but no matter what the U.S. does to legislate, penalize, incarcerate, tax, ...or otherwise coerce and oppress it's own...we will not be able to dictate what the rest of the world does about the man-made element in global warming. It makes no sense to bankrupt this country even further....in a silly and ill-fated attempt to stop global warming, while the rest of the world continues the staus-quo. We are not the whole world! We do not rule other countries, or own the planet! What exactly is the plan to stop it? To lead by example and hope others will follow? Global warming is happening.....but it is still debatable to what extent it is caused by humans and their creation of 'greenhouse gases', and to what extent it is a natural occurrence. And if God may grant you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change....you might find opportunity in such an occurrence, and begin to recognize that there might actually be some benefit to this global climate change. But if you like to be spoon fed, accept political propogandas, and fail to distinguish between an education...and an indoctrination...you may become blind to them and oblivious. Discern the truths in those you admire, and in those that you don't!   Beat your own path to enlightenment!

A Shark has Come Between Us!

August 2014

I caught this "shovelhead" shark this morning by Ocean Deck. . How?   Well, first....I swam out past the breakers, and dove down to the ocean bottom. Then, I covered myself with sand like a flounder, with only my eyes sticking out, ....and a helpless mullet held tightly in my teeth.  This curious shark swam by, and  I GRABBED him!!!   We wrestled underwater for a few minutes....and I surfaced VICTORIOUS!!!!


P.S. Mullet is okay and swimming happily toward Ponce Inlet.
     

  Law enforcement was hovering nearby …  since this was close to the Ocean Deck ,  ...a beach bar where drunken patrons often try to sneak out on to the sand with an illegal beer in hand. A young sunburned lifeguard  made his way through the growing crowd on his four -wheeler. 

 He  could see an angry crowd developing  around the shark spectacle. The young lifeguard had to had to "call in ",  to see if the catch was legal,   and if I wasn't "officially" shark fishing!  It took them (VCBP  ,Volusia County Beach Patrol)   about 20 minutes to sort it out.  Soon,   I found myself caught in the middle of a very diversely opinionated crowd.

  There were some pretty heated tourists ….who felt sorry for the shark, and demanded to the beach patrol that I throw him back!  Then ….there were guys offering me 25,.. 50 dollars if they could have it!  (that's probly illegal )  . They were actually screaming at each other,   and the small crowd took sides ....with the   "eco-minded animal rights"   people on one side,   and the " Hemingway fish-killing macho-types "  on the other. 

   "Let him go...he didn't do nothing to you!"   screams one lady, practically in tears.   "No,   I wanna take him back to Kentucky with me!"...says the other side. "He's just a baby.....let him go, you moron.!! " , shouts a skinny  rainbow guy from behind a very large angry woman.    " Let him go??   What are ya nuts?!!   There are kids swimmin' out there!!",   proclaims a drunk guy in a Winston hat who made his way down from The Deck! 

   I had  netted a mess of finger mullet and had them frolicking in a tidal pool...(shark was by-catch).  A lady from the eco-minded side of the crowd begins to glare  at me with a seething contempt in her eyes,  and is working herself into a small rage.  She reaches into the tidal pool    and picks out my finger mullet.   One.....by-one....by one ...like 15 or 20 times,...  she bends over the small pool ( making sure to not lose eye contact with me) picks up the wiggly mullets , stomps over to the shoreline,     and releases them into the surf!   Like...15 or twenty times!  One by one!  By the TAIL!  

I just smiled...and if you know me...kind of marveled at the ridiculous chaotic scene!  In this lady's mind...  she was doing her part to save the planet,   and was showing love and empathy for all of God's creatures... as she plunked the gasping mullet into the shark-filled waters,  ....each one of them becoming the delicious straggler carnally irresistible to ocean predators .....as the poor baits flutter around in panic outside of the safety of the  school! 

  Yeah...fishing might suck lately,  ....but I think I have found some sort of sick pleasure in this sort of scene.  It is a microcosm of  what our society has become!   Emotionally driven poorly informed and spoon-fed amateur  ecologists saving the planet with a love fantasy.  

    I think I will try this again soon...and maybe this time bring a GO-PRO. 

The God Particle vs. The Big Bang Theory

 "If the known laws of physics are extrapolated beyond where they are valid, there is a singularity". What?   "beyond where they are valid"?

It is a manner of thinking akin to the archaic "scientific" belief in "spontaneous generation".
Is it genius to come up with a theory that is afforded such great credibility, because it cannot be disproved ?   I know some pretty good liars, and unless you can get inside the chaotic brain patterns and psychotic brain chemistry, and somehow map and explain their elaborate lie.....you will never "disprove " them. Is their lie now true?

IQ may distinguish a man of science from the masses, but his mind's limits remain the same. Unless, of course, the answers were gifted to him in a sort of  "immaculate conception"....his mind a womb for his gift to gestate.  He,....science's  Virgin Mary.....chosen to give birth to it and show us the path to enlightenment.  

Spontaneous generation and "The Big Bang Theory" , are ideas spawned from a frustrated attempt to explain the unknown.  Something from nothing.

How did the universe begin?  Ooh!  OOh !  I know!  I know!    There was this,  er...big,...bang!  Yeah, !  A Bang!  And then " POOF"!   ...there was this stuff floating around and crashing and 'sploding and stuff, and then it turned human!  Your welcome!

"The particle accelerator, which will be restarted this week,  (March 2015) has already found the Higgs boson – the God Particle – which is thought to give mass to other particles.
Now scientists at Cern in Switzerland believe they might find miniature black holes which would reveal the existence of a parallel universe.
And if the holes are found at a certain energy, it could prove the controversial theory of ‘rainbow gravity’ which suggests that the universe stretches back into time infinitely with no singular point where it started, and no Big Bang". ---Sara Knapton, science editor, The Telegraph
You may be right, or you may be crazy.  But to believing you can conceive the inconceivable, proves you are the latter.

You may believe that God is a laughable notion made up by feeble humans in an attempt to explain the universe around them.  Will you replace it with your laughable notion made up by other feeble humans  to explain the universe around them...and then call it  "Science"?!
Spontaneous generation. The believers are still out there.  Their " Jesus" is Stephen Hawking....

U.S. Government Creates First Man-Made BLACK HOLE! Hadron Collider Racing to Compete!

Creating tiny black holes! Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland are still smashing atoms in an endeavour to produce microscopic black holes that exist for fractions of seconds. Across the pond, however, The U.S. Government has ALREADY SUCCEEDED  in producing the world's LARGEST BLACK HOLE!  It has existed for almost a century ! And they have NOT been able to contain it!!

This amazingly HUGE  and EVER-GROWING black mass is sucking the life and freedom from it's own citizenry,  and could devour anything else that gets too close!  The U.S. Constitution...The Bill Of Rights... Basic Human Rights , Liberties and Freedom... have been sucked into it and swallowed  while hard-working citizens frantically  throw money at the swirling giant hoping to satisfy it!  Oppressed submission  and surrender has them offering their own lives and the lives of their children as human sacrifice to an evil and all-consuming beast !

Eerily yet consciously  feasting on the human light of freedom  to expand it's vast darkness, the U.S. citizenry has closed it's eyes in a stagnated FEAR .   Prayers of God-less men unanswered, they must hide in their homes and quiver under the bedsheets while the hungry beast inches ever closer... searching for souls to feed it's insatiable appetite!

Ice Cream for Everybody!!

I keep hearing how Trump is "not qualified" because he has no experience in politics! Yikes! What this country needs...is more "good" liars, .....those "practiced in politics".....thoroughly indoctrinated... and catering to the whims of their chosen political party or PAC. Yes, yes...the Ice Cream Man and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders has so much more going for him than Trump! He will have  U.S. Government issued Ice Cream for everybody!!  And what about Hillary's experience ?  She has been wearing a proverbial dog collar for philandering husband Bill Clinton for years. What kind of feminist plays down a cheating husband?  One who sees benefit in riding his coat-tails to the gain votes!.  Look...these guys are politicians! What they are good at....is lying, scheming for votes, catering to poll data ...and usurping your civil liberties as they legislate to expand the ever-growing black-hole of government.  Why would anyone choose to hold the category of "politician" in high esteem? Trump, although risky Presidential material, has an unrefined but much needed candor about him. Unfortunately, being a slick and slitheringly manipulative politician has become a pre-requisite for becoming President!! Don't hold Trump in high esteem...and certainly do not hold any of those other bastards in high esteem either. Hold their feet to the fire! That is a civic duty.

The Beaten Path

So you decided to go for it.
 Finally  machete through the thickets to that place you have never been before.
 Did you find Heaven?  Bliss?  Revelation? Rebirth?
Creating a pathway in your mind .....an access to places lost or forbidden....driven by curiosity...boredom...your quest for freedom....rumored enlightenment?   What did you find there?

There are paths overgrown for reasons.   No one wants to go there.

When your curiosity gets the better of you,  remember that once you have beaten a path to that God-forsaken place ,  you may find yourself running back in holy terror!  And since  the trail has been trodden....it will be easier to go back there.   The  terror may come to you without hindrance now.

The same can be said for enlightenment.  The path there overgrown, for many would choose not to have it.
   
Choose carefully your beaten paths.
Chiseled accesses to places frightening...or enlightening.
Once you have created the pathway,  it will be easier to go back there....the once jungled journey you have now made a much easier trek...
..

Something's Fishy

... Gently coaxing my dear daughter through the entrance of our local fish market, her eyebrows instantly raised as we entered. "Sheeew!!! " she said, as she pinched her nose and jerked her head high , aghast. She looked around amazed that no-one else was bothered by the smell. I watched as her eyes slowly began to tear.  She looked up at me....eyes pleading to leave,  yet wanting to endure... knowing my love for the world of fishing. She let out a cough, and a gag or two, as I ordered some grouper and scallops.  Distracted by a few large fish heads to be sold for fish soup,  and then by a tank filled with live blue crabs...she slowly began to assimilate. We studied the different varieties of sea life, displayed  proudly as gems in their glass enclosed cases. By the time we left, about 45 minutes later,  the stinky stenches had permeated our clothing and found acceptance with our olfactory nerves.   We had assimilated.
      Fish stinks. There is no denying it. Only accepting it,   or getting used to the smell.   There is no market for mullet perfume,  or for squid flavored soda pop.   We must be careful what we assimilate to....lest we become what we hate. Recall those things that would never have been accepted just a short time ago,  but are now part of our culture due to the shame of political in-correctedness,  sly political incrementalisms, and assimilation. Choose to hold dear the things inside that you know to love,....so that you don't become what you hate...

The Forgiving Mirror

I am much better looking downstairs.

The bathroom down there has no natural lighting,  and that...combined with God's grace in giving me  this failing eyesight, ... softens the lines and blemish of age that has become me.

I am 20 years younger down there....when gazing into that mirror downstairs.
                                           
                                                The forgiving mirror....

Eventually, though,  ....I must leave the house after that last reassuring glance.
With the proper distractions,  I can carry the image to the end of the day.

There are times when I must look at myself without the aid of a mirrors reflection.
When  what I must see ....is who I am inside.
 
And I find that in order to make it through the day....I still must find a forgiving mirror.....attempting to rationalize those things inside that are old and ugly,  scarred and blemished.
Permanent parts of who I have become through years of silent sin and stifled conscience.....
.....of wounded love and hopeless romanticism....
.....of dreams unrealized .

      Reality  is harsh ....but sometimes I find it important to use the bathroom upstairs...

Whirlwind

                            Repeated lies become facts of fiction.

 Beneath the membrane that separates fantasy from reality there is chaos. Heat of passion rising through cold reality. Crusted corridors casting eery shadows on the light.   Love fending lust. Courage overtaking fear. Desires morphing into need. What would be your sanctuary....from your self-created whirlwind?

    Truth lies in the light...and in the shadows.  It hides from no-one,  but can be hidden. Be a seeker of truth.  Don't let repeated lies become your sanctuary from the whirlwind.  Who on this earth knows you better than anyone?   You do.     Recognize your inner chaos ,  and only take sanctuary in the truth.

Perception' s Deception

  Have you ever "said it without sayin' it"?    Through a smirk...or a smile...or a roll of the eyes,  conveyed a thought that didn't require words. We all have. Gestures that are common or well known,  ....or those that are recognized only by those most intimate to you.  Even when you speak,  there is a response to speech patterns and body movements that convey and inject things you never said.  You may even become someone you never were...in the fantasy of someone elses perception.

     You have lived your whole life, and are still a mystery to yourself. Yet there are those audacious enough to think they know you in a matter of minutes.   Do they?

     Statistics, ...demographics....behavioral patterns...culture...social influences...formative paths created in your youth.  A bad father....a broken home...socio-ecomomic scales?  DNA...genetics...that decide who you will be and whether you fit the norm.  Drugs that homogenize humanity and attempt to curb the "disorder" that is your ....personality.  

       Parts of a gigantic human puzzle.....where the pieces are not cut from a jigsaw,...but are the ebb and flow of chemicals that ignite the spark-readied receptors and set free hormones that make us feel life.

       Avoid the potential deception of perception.  Remember that you can never hold the squirmy chameleon that is one's own mind. It is ever changing.  It is eerily and wonderfully unique.

Go to Bed Hungry

     Sleep....peaceful sleep. Your chance to exit the chaos for a while.
      Hunger... beggar of your contentment.  Thief of sleep.
      Why would you ever choose hunger,... when it may keep you from your slumber?  Why would you attempt to feed yourself from the human menu of insatiability?     When it feeds the consciousness that is life.   When it becomes a matter of the soul...
     Do you have no  passion....no desire....except for sleep, peaceful sleep?
Sometimes it is okay to go to  bed hungry. Then,   let your dreams follow you into reality.  When you finally awaken, feed the hunger that is your passion and desire, and keeps your spirit alive in the arms of hope.
     It has been estimated that more than a billion people go to bed hungry every night.  It's time to join them. It is time for you, as an American ...to feel the bottomless pit and pain of hunger.
You can even stuff  yourself with milk and oreos , and sneak a 3 a.m. snack. But wake up with some passion for the things that feed your soul. Do you consider yourself lucky to go to bed with a full belly.....but an empty soul?
                      "....until the next revolution"....(elrok)
                

Enabling Will

     The most integral part of the ability to accomplish anything....is a matter of will.  Without will...there is nothing.  No beginning.  No heart's thumping desire to attain. We can be smart, astute, born with great aptitude, aggressive, patient, endearing, manipulative, spirited, a bastard, cunning, forthright, disciplined, organized, thoughtful, ....born with an innate ability to lead, to build, to destroy, to love, to hate, to be true, to influence, to attract attention, to persevere, to gain perspective.  All of them useless without will.

      We all have the ability to defend the helpless. But can we muster the will to do it? We all have the ability to squeeze the trigger, cut the throat, hurl the brick, or swing the tire iron that would end a life.   But what of the will?
       Will is ability. And it is comingled and in constant battle with fear.  Fear sometimes enables the will. ...energizes it...like a nitrous pill or an adrenal needle thrust into the  heart to keep it pumping with  vigor and vivation.....
      Learning to use fear  is embracing freedom...relinquishing it's control of your will.  From fear or love or lust for life and freedom...it is time to enable will.

    

Forsaken

   

 Trust.  Given ...lent...built.  The sum of bridges constructed , borders crossed, and sins ignored.  Family with faith and hope. Precursor to love.  Enlightening to the point of blindness. All of us have it,  and  want a place for it.
     It is an emotion of the soul. It is yours to keep or give, shelter or expose, bury or set aloft. It is expressed in comforting relief of conscience or guilt.  A mind's cornerstone of freedom.
     We are all skillfull manipulators of trust. Not just a natural tendency....but a necessary  component of survival....we will build trust with an instinctive intent to breach it.  An art formed of desire and need.  Insidious and self serving. Subconsciously ...skillfully....manipulated. Observe the natural human tendency to build trust, .....just to breach it..
       "The best way find out if you can trust someone....is to trust them".   Ernest Hemingway

Finding Freedom

     As you stoop to adjust your seat cushion, a tiny dime glistens...calling you to rescue it from it's obscurity there.  You reach between the cushions and pocket it. You aren't sure why. But seemingly unknown forces caused you to recognize value and attach worth. Brain synapses firing , breaking through murky grey obfuscation. Hurdling barriers or creating new paths to a place permanently etched in engrams, and finding home.

     Freedom is a place carved into the soul.  Lost in the illusion of comfort and security, smothered by fear and trampled by forces of oppression, we may leave it for a while as illicit embers burn underneath the layers  we have allowed to cover it.

      Remember that your legacy as an American is born of freedom. Daring and tenacious enough to fan the flames around the heated gases within our human soul.  We will discover it as it catches our eye again and travels along the permanent pathway from synapse to soul.  Something in our nature will cause us to rescue it from it's obscurity and attach value. Something in our memory will take us back to a time when freedom was our most precious American treasure..

      "Until the next Revolution......".....elrok

Walk The Line

    Faith.  Does it open your eyes?  Or does it blind you?   As you finally take a step from the clutches of hope...will you sink into the abyss of hopelessness? Or will you embrace the light of faith?

    Hope and faith can be dangerous illusions. Your fall from hope can lead to despair. Wallowing in hope can lull you into corroding complacency.  Blind faith can have you flying airplanes into crowded buildings,   accepting creepy sexual crimes from your  religious leaders, or exchanging your Bible  for the U.S. Constitution.
     You must walk the line between hope and hopelessness, faith and blind faith. There will be no easy answer. Every living step must be weighed, as arrows pierce you from above, or the cold hands reach from the hollows of your floor.
     Freedom requires this cursed responsibility.   These are the scales of liberty.


    

Is That My Nose?!

    

    There it hangs.  Right in front of you. Right smack in the middle of your face. But a lifetime of conditioning has taught you to ignore it...that ever growing monstrocity filled with cartilage, hair and mucous .  Focusing on it would only make you cross-eyed.  Or perhaps, if you've got a monster like mine, a little self-conscious.....

     Your nose. At the very center of your outward image.  Largely ignored...forgotten...                                                                                                                                                                                                                     There are so many things in our lives that have become "too familiar to be recognized"....   whether they be  the more tangible ones like your nose,  your neighbor, your co-worker, your salt intake.... or the things inside, like your manner of handling stress, your  ever morphing perspective,  your capacity for love or emotion, your ability to muster will.  And of course, those things more ethereal, which have been bequeathed to you...like your values, your freedom,  this life of yours, and time tested mores and standards you will test again to prove your individuality.
      It is important to reflect  from time to time ....on that which has been lost to your consciousness or has become vague by it's cursed familiarity.  Obscured by life circumstances,  and forgotten.  They are the structure built by the cells that define your humanity.  They are worth noticing...

Dude!

 ......this officer was eventually fired, ONLY because this was caught on film. Imagine what kinds of things happen that are not caught on film. Unfortunately, teenage skateboarders whose vocabulary is limited to the word "dude", will be left to run amuck in city streets now, until the officer can be replaced. Friggin' skateboarder
https://youtu.be/StSYRSm-yNI

 https://youtu.be/UHSWCMqYQc4



...you see, " Eric", ( 14 year old white skater boy heathen) and his buds will be forever changed by this incident. Perhaps, they will forever live in fear, or have an underlying and seething contempt for police officers. Contempt that unaddressed in already rebellious teenage years, might lead to a giant fuck you. Now, if this officer is representative of just 1% of the force in Baltimore...then there are about 30 of these officers on the force who are about to stroke out about a city ordinance that MAY have been violated by a skateboarder. Damn punk kids! hey, I am not prejudice about skater dudes...I'm just sayin'  Now, I wonder how many black kids have been "mistreated" by those 30 officers, who might not have prejudices against skateboarders only, but against black kids as well. Maybe that prejudice was brought with them before they were hired....or maybe it was developed by their experiences in law enforcement . All black kids are drug dealing belligerent punks and hoodlums, we all know THAT right? Thirty ( and this is probably very conservative) officers endowed with such authority, granted public trust that was not necessarily earned, armed with attitude and weaponry....can create a lot of contempt in a city.....maybe even some hatred. Have you ever had a person who held a position of authority over you, abuse you? Sucks, doesn't it? What if they were allowed, by virtue of their authority, to abuse other members of your family? Maybe your daughter, or your son, your black wife, your cousin. .... You might just take it to the street.


http://findingfreedom-elrok.blogspot.com/2014/02/proving-grounds.html

Sip Your Marguerita!

Sweet America!
......sometimes I think every American needs an ISIS asshole in their backyard..    planting tulips, or sweeping a roadside storm drain. Smiling and winking at you with insidious anti-American evil thoughts coursing through his brain..... as you drive by him on your way to the beach.

 Sending your sons and daughters to fight unknown forces ...for unknown causes.... in unknown lands...while you lie on the beach and thank them while  sipping  your marguerita......just somehow ain't cuttin' it!

My God! The mamby-pamby bullshit things we squabble about with such vehemency!  It is a sure sign that we are TOO FAR REMOVED from the REAL fight!

Keep sippin' that marguerita and living your inebriated dream of freedom while waving your favorite colorful banner and trying to take the other guy's down. In the meantime, there's a REAL fight going down.....

Maybe if it was closer to home, you would be reminded of how much the crap you have been squabbling about is frivolous bullshit!

Screw Them All.....?

Polonius:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

  ......on occasion, I have tried to use this phrase to teach my kids. But the message for them, was that you must know yourself before you can pretend to know anyone else. That you must know your weaknesses and vulnerabilities, your goodness and your strengths, your propensity towards bias or prejudice and your capacity for love or hatred,.. before you can understand your own judgements and attempt to pass judgement upon others. It is a lesson of humility, not one of "Ya gotta be good to yourself first  " as I have heard so many chime in their interpretation.

https://youtu.be/n13FhFrtu_8

Zealots

https://youtu.be/MuZhnNR6vzc 

Have you ever met zealots who mis-interpret criticism of America and the status quo...as hatred of America? It is your DUTY as a citizen of this great country...to question and be critical when necessary. Your "leaders"...whether they be lawmakers, the judiciary, or the executors ...as a group, or individually...are not pious deity, and the U.S. Constitution is not the new Holy Bible. Love of country, sometimes, is to be critical of it. I guess it's a tough love..... Don't gamble on an Obama...or a Bush...or a Clinton...to be your Savior...

Earth to Dr. Carson...! Earth to Dr. Carson...? Dr. Carson.....are you there?!?!

Dr. Carson ....what planet have you landed on?    "Brains"  planet?  Self-touting may be necessary in a political campaign,  but while traveling above us in your spaceship...please take a few moments to gaze back...at the bigger picture. I believe with luck, innovation, and perseverance....you may one day actually find planet "Brains"!   This will require something a degree cannot give you.   .....Empathy!  for your fellow citizen.  Cognizance!...of a goverment running amuck.
"If you have an unpleasant experience with a plumber, do you go out and declare a war on all plumbers? Or teachers or doctors? Of course not. And it makes no sense to do that with police either.” .................. (Dr. Carson quote)    
 As a master,.... ( or even Doctor!!! ;))  of vague analogies,  I recognized this was a good one!.  It is important to assume the opposite sometimes, in order to truly and fully understand the circumstance . So, time to play the devil's champion....at least in your view, Dr. Carson!                                                 Consider this:     Could it be, perhaps, that a "war" has been declared on the general citizenry? That young men's ...( and esp. young black mens')... life potential has been taken away and their access to the benefits of society snuffed....for non-violent drug offenses and trumped up charges? Could it be that the cycle of legislation-to-enforcement -to-the judiciary-to-the prison system....is ever growing, consuming, and self-perpetuating? Don't mess with the man, or talk back, or display emotion, or defend yourself, or look at him funny...or you just might see your jay-walking ticket turn into fifteen separate offenses. "We need you to know who is in charge, boy.!."Check your jails. Run some numbers. See 'what',.. then ask "why'?". Could it be...perhaps...that the system you trumpet as your champion, is feeding these poor souls to the lions as you sit in your colosseum's stands jeering with  your thumbs pointed decidedly downward!                                                                       And then, as for another masterfully vague analogy: Do you think that maybe several hundred thousand innocents were slaughtered as "war" was declared on police states in Iraq and Afghanistan? Did those poor, powerless, and innocent souls somehow manage to stay in your periphery as you waved your banner of righteousness and condemned them as evil fools , allowing such a state to exist? Will you think the same of us, if we allow a police state to flourish as we wallow in increasingly clouded dreams of American Freedom?
....plumbers, teachers, and doctors..... are not armed in military fashion, nor are they given license to kill. It is true that there are many good police officers. It is also true that many of them have assimilated to a culture a of  'brotherhood protectionism'  when citizen's rights are violated.  And many of them suffer from a wide range of psychological problems brought on by the pure nature of their "jobs".  One must contemplate why. ...Yes why, would someone want such a job in the first place? Perhaps desiring to attain such a job has honorable intent. Perhaps aspiring to attain such work, is brought on by some degree of inadequacy overcompensated for in this line of "work". More outside psychological evaluations need to be done, and re-done on the people endowed with such great power, authority, and weaponry.                   Contemporary  trends in governments and legislation have been toward dis-arming the citizenry (gun control laws)..... while arming police forces to the TEETH.                                                                                                                                  What rationale can possibly justify  flagrant disregard for human rights, of which only very FEW have been exposed by the relatively recent access to instant video footage. Just imagine what has NOT been caught on video!  It is enough to make any real American shudder!  These officers, and their close-knitted brotherhoods across the nation, are NOT judge and jury in the field. These citizens are innocent, until a court of LAW determines otherwise .Police officers are NOT a court of law. We have a Judge and Jury for that. ! And what is the justification for such intimidation.....? Why, to subdue and subjugate the American public, of course. Tasers? Sorry...100,000 volts or more! injected into another human is an act of CRUELTY! And this type of "cruel and unusual" punishment inflicted too many times, and too many times whimsically.....AND IN MANY OTHER FORMS as well. This is what happens, when you CHOOSE security OVER FREEDOM!  Through FEAR,  is a willingness to accept many atrocities perpetrated by your government, and to keep your eyes downcast as your brother's human rights are violated in the name of public safety. Until it affects YOU, of course. Through incrementalism and assimilation....you have already lost what so many in our military have fought for you too keep. Too many of you pundits wave the banner of freedom, while simultaneously snuffing the flame of freedom. And as for the poor souls whose lives we have sacrificed in our name and in the name of freedom.... they have died for nothing, if this trend continues......