Twas The Day Before Christmas And

     All through the house, the TVs were going and the boys were as silent as a mouse. Dad had music playing from his phone, relishing in the fact that his ex-wife wasn't home. The oven was cooking lunch, so that three cute little boys could have something to munch. As Dad's voice rang through the house with each song, the kids danced around and joined in the fun, for outside and shining was the glorious sun. Cold as it was, the house was warm with love and affection. Video games were being played and tons of smiles were made. In a few hours it would be time for dinner and bed, with visions of presents dancing through their heads. 

     I don't know why I just did that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. As you can see, I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to writing things down, especially when they come directly out of my head. I didn't plan that out at all. It just kind of happened. As we move along throughout the day, the house is filled with peace. The kids are playing games and being nice to each other. There have been no arguments or yelling. It's amazing what can happen with just a little music and some simple quick rules for the day. That and the fact that the ex isn't home. I'm not trying to bad mouth her, but my kids are master manipulators when she is involved. I'm the one always getting yelled at when I try to get the kids to act right. She uses the excuse of "they're kids" or "they have disabilities" even though she is the one that has always told me to never use their disabilities as a crutch. Hypocritical of her I know, but you don't see half of the shit that I put up with. Once 2017 rolls around, I'm not putting up with it anymore. I'm done being the whipping boy and I'm done getting controlled. She claims that she doesn't control me, but the more and more I pull away from my feelings towards her, and the more I spend time looking at everything that is going on around the house, I have started to noticed that I have been blind for the last couple years. She has been subtly controlling me with just simple words and phrases that make me feel like I have been hypnotized to give a response for. All of that is over now. I have seen the error of my ways. Now, this isn't to say that things in the beginning weren't blissful or loving. They were great for the first couple years, but over time, between stress and kids and work, we had grown to resent each other. Things would have been a little easier if we hated each other, but we don't. 

     Moving on from all of that now. I don't want to ruin everyone's holidays by having you read about all of my problems. Today has been a great day so far. The kids slept in a bit. The ex is out and about with her boyfriend. She won't be home until later tonight, so I have all of the time in the world today to chill with my kids and laugh with them. If I can find the Christmas Eve boxes, the boys and I will do our Christmas Eve tradition of opening the boxes and watching a movie before going to bed tonight. I suppose I should make sure that the ex is okay with it before I just do it. Sometimes it seems like she only cares about herself at this point and could give a fuck less about everyone else. I have had music blaring through the speakers all day. I did some cleaning and rearranging of stuff. I'm really wishing that I had a can of Copenhagen Wintergreen or Mint right now. It's about time for me to start doing my video game thing. I don't even know what I want to play right now. I just might stick to my handheld devices since I know that if I turn on the PS3, the first thing that I am going to hear is, "Dad can we play Minecraft??" I'm not dealing with that right now. They are having fun playing on the XBox, so I will keep it that way. Just music and video games. It actually is a lot better than it sounds. I should do this every time I have them once they all move out and the kids get to visit me. Probably be the best times we will have together. 

     Well, off to figure out lunch for myself and get into relaxation mode. Love you guys and thanks for listening to my rambling. As always, smile and have a good day.

I'm OUT!!!

Wickid 

Broken Banks and Masts

     If you read my last post, you know that I was destined to go to Captain's Mast for bringing a cell phone down onto the boat. Well today was the day that everything went down for me. I was expecting most of what actually happened. Here is my tale.

     I showed up to work early like I always do because I believe that being early is a sign of competency and responsibility. Plus, I learned early on in my career that being late sucks. I was wearing my dress blues and ready to face what I knew was going to happen to me. It was all pretty cut and dry. I messed up and made some mistakes. No need to blame this on anyone but me. I was in the wrong and I knew it. I spent the morning standing since I didn't want to ruin the nice creases I had in my uniform. It was still in the dry cleaning bag from when I dropped it off months ago. Everyone that needed to be there started showing up around 0630. Now when someone goes to mast, their entire chain of command is there. The Leading Petty Officer (LPO), the Chief, the Department Chief, the Division Officer (mine apparently didn't know I was going to mast), the Department Head, the Chief of the Boat (COB), the Executive Officer (XO), and obviously the Captain. The Captain does all of the talking via a script. Yes, there are certain things that he has to go over and he can't be expected to remember all of it. Everything is prepared and the room is emptied. The cooks set up the green felt on the table and make sure that everything is ready to go. I come in and do some facing movements, tell him who I am and why I am there, and the proceedings begin. Quick backstory: I knew that I was going to lose some money and I even told a few people that I was probably going to lose about $1200. Keep this in mind.
     We go through everything and the Captain tells me what I am being charged with and gives me the opportunity to speak. I tell him I have nothing really to say because I have the right to remain silent. Everything is all formal. Yes sir, No sir, things of that nature. He then gives everyone that is there a chance to speak on my behalf. Everyone there starts with how well I do at my job and how well they know me. What they think of my work ethic and everything like that. They also tell the Captain how they feel and what they think about the reason that I am there. I mean everyone gets to talk about me. All the way up to the XO. He does his spiel and recommends that I get one last chance to provide information as to why I made poor choices during the past couple weeks. The Captain asked me the question again if I had anything else to say to help lessen the severity of my punishment. So I told him my story about what is going on with me in my personal life. He already knew it since he got briefed by the XO and the COB. I think he just wanted to hear me say it. It definitely helps when you tell him what is going on. After I was done and so stated that fact, he doled out the punishment. I was awarded (funny isn't it?) an oral reprimand, reduction in rank to the next inferior paygrade, which was suspended, and I lost $600 for two months. Basically, he yelled at me and told me how I did wrong and what I needed to do to fix it. The reduction in rank to the next inferior paygrade is kind of self explanatory. I won't lose rank as long I can keep myself on the straight and narrow for the next 6 months. That is what the suspended part means. For the next two paychecks, I will not be getting $600 of it. Remember when I said that I would lose about $1200 for this. I called it and wasn't even trying to. I was dismissed after everything was said and done. I'm now able to breathe a sigh of relief and get one with my life now that things are over with. 
     
     I got pulled in to talk to everyone afterwards just so they could see how I was doing. I'm doing fine and this will all pass. I know what I did wrong and I know how to fix it. Things will get better and I will be back to my old self. Kicking ass and taking names like I know how to do. 

     There you have it. I know you were all waiting with bated breath just like I was. Just know that I won't be doing anything to put myself in this situation again. I have no more silver bullets. No way to save myself again. 

I'm OUT!!!

Wickid

As I Stand Before the Mast

     So as you all may remember, I left you a little tidbit of information about shit that has been going on with me in the last post. What you don't know is that I am going to Captain's Mast for the second time in my career. Since you got that little bit of information, I guess that I need to give you a little backstory into the previous masting. So here it goes.....

     Back in November of 2008 while I was on the USS Nebraska, I was in my second year of my tour there. I was qualified as far as I could be at that point. I was still a Third Class Petty Officer and I was in a rather bad relationship at the time. The chick was kind of abusive and I didn't even know it. Looking back on that relationship now, I can see where it went wrong and why it was such a horrible one that ended rather terribly. That is another story for another time. Anyway, it was another long fourteen hour day on the boat. For those that don't know, I can spend up to 120 hours per week on the boat doing maintenance, standing watch, and other work related items. That's four 24 hour days, and another three 8 hour days. It's rather intense sometimes. I was off-going from duty and all I wanted to do was go home and get a shower. I was tasked with doing Diver's Tags before I could go home that day. I didn't want to do them and I was always doing them. I was resigned to just getting them done and then leaving. It took me roughly an hour before I could start hanging all of the tags. There are quite a few that I had to hang. I was going along and doing everything like I normally would. I had a routine so to speak with the way that I did things. Needless to say, the one time something goes out of whack, it leads to crazy things and missteps. I was working on hanging a tag and dropped my pen. I went to retrieve it and then continued hanging the tag. I finished all of the tags and went to go smoke. Sometimes things can get stressful. 
  
     I was standing in the smoke pit topside when I was approached by someone saying that there was a problem with the tags. They said one of the tags was hung incorrectly. In a fit of anger and stress, I ran back down on the boat and went straight for the tag that they told me about. I moved it into it's correct position, breathed a sigh of relief and then went up to Sonar. What they didn't tell me was that the second checker had already found out what was wrong and then went and informed the Duty Officer. So, as I was standing in Sonar, my buddy Andy, who was the second checker, came in and asked what the hell I just did. I looked at him funny and said that I fixed what I needed to. He got angry, called me stupid and said that he was fixing it the right way. Quick side note, when you screw up a tag, there is a procedure to fix it all. I forgot about that when I fixed the valve. The Duty Officer came up to me about 10 minutes later and asked me if I shifted the valve over. At that point, adult choices took over and I told him I did. That's when the paperwork started and I ended up in front of the green felt table. At that time, I walked out of there with a reduction in rank to the next inferior paygrade (suspended), half month's pay x2 (suspended), and seven days restriction. I was confined to the boat for seven whole days. I turned that into a huge joke for my benefit. I called the submarine my MBDMSM, also known as my Multi-Billion Dollar Mobile Submersible Mansion. It gave everyone a laugh. There you have it. That is the story of my first Captain's Mast and how well it went because I told the truth. 

     Fast forward to this masting. On the 30th of November (weird month for me apparently), I was down on the boat for duty. We have one car currently so I have to find rides and stuff to get to and from work. I carry my phone on me. I'm not supposed to. I got caught with it. I attempted to play it off with saying that my kids put it in my bag without me knowing it. Nobody bought it. Now, I had to redo my statement and then I spent Thursday afternoon talking to the Executive Officer. Surprise for everybody involved except the XO and the Yeoman. So I sat through that and explained everything. Told him about the divorce and Damen and Lucas being my EFM children and whatnot. I went back to standing phone watch and tried moving on with the day. I still had no idea what was going with me because I was being charged with two Article 92's and an Article 107. Now to elaborate, an Article 92 is a catch all article. The Article 107 is for Falsifying an Official Document. A little after three that afternoon, I got pulled into the COB's office. Chief of the Boat for those that are wondering. He talked to me for about a good hour about everything. Why I didn't tell him about the divorce and why I didn't mention it at the DRB (disciplinary review board) and what was going on at home. I did, however, find out what is happening to me though. Everything I told the XO changed everything that was going to happen. I'm now keeping my job and not losing rank so I won't be ending an 11 and a half year career over another poor choice. Tuesday is the day that I will be going to Captain's Mast again and I just have to make sure that I keep a poker face for what I know is in store for me. That is what I know for sure. I'm pretty sure that I will probably lose a little bit of money for a fine and that I may have to do some EMI (extra military instruction) for my choices, but I am okay with that. 

     There is my story of why I am standing before the mast yet again. I need to actually research why it is called Captain's Mast. It sounds like it would be an interesting story to tell you guys. So until next time, I am Wickid and I leave you to your reading.

I'm OUT!!!

Wickid

The Saddest Day

     This is by far the saddest day that I have had in a very long time. For those that know, I have owned a 2005 Nissan Altima for over eight years. I bought it in 2008 and I finally got it paid off last year. That car has been there for me through thick and thin. It's been across the country twice and it has lasted me over 100,000 miles. I bought it with roughly 72,000 miles on it and I drove the thing like I stole it. 
     When I finally got it paid off, I was so excited to have another car that I owned. It was mine. Nothing could take that away from me. I was so proud of myself. A few months after I got it paid off, some asshole on the highway cut me off and I ended up wrecking the back end. Tore off the bumper and broke the passenger side tail light. It was probably the maddest that I had ever been in my life. I got over all of that and continued to drive that little car. Lost function of a headlight and still I continued to drive it. All I needed to do was get that fixed and I was good to go. 
     Fast forward to August of this year. I was getting ready to go out to sea so I took all of the necessary precautions to get the cars taken care of. I got Power of Attorneys so that I knew that no matter what happened, my ex-wife would be able to take care of things while I was gone. I told her not to lose those and to make sure that she made the repairs necessary as she got the funds to do so. One day, she had to move the car because the new neighbors were about to hit my car with their moving truck. She parked it in front of the house as per the normal of what I would do. The one mistake she made was that she left the damn key in the car like I have told her numerous times not to do. The doors were unlocked as well. During the night, by our best guess, is that a couple teenagers decided to goof around and see what they could get into. They apparently got into the van and my car. Both of the vehicles were unlocked. For shame. When she got into the van the next day, she realized that it had been gone through. Her keys were still in the van in their normal hiding spot. She decided to see if my car had been gone through. She hid my key in the car and before I left, I made sure that the car was clean and orderly. When she opened my car door, it was wrecked on the inside. They went through my entire car and apparently found the key. At this point I bet you are saying, "They stole the car." You would be wrong friends. They stole just the key and left the car sitting in the driveway. My Altima is a 5 speed manual transmission. Not many people know how to drive cars like that. My guess is that they didn't know how to drive it and left the car sitting there. I was pissed! Not only did my car get broken into, but the ex-wife also lost the damn Power of Attorneys that I told her not to lose. So there was nothing that she could do about getting my key replaced. It's about 150 dollars to get the key replaced. 
     Fast forward to today. I have been contemplating getting a new car for a while now. I was on the fence about it because I really wanted to fix my car and get it running again. I knew before I left that I needed new tires and an oil change. A few other minor fixes and a couple major ones because of the age of the car. It was going to cost more to fix than what I really wanted to spend on it. So I have been getting rides to and from work for the past couple weeks until I could finally decide what I wanted to do. This has also led me to get caught with my phone down on the boat which is probably going to end up with me standing in front of the Captain. I got in trouble because of it and I have that weighing on my mind now too. That is another story though for another post. Anyway, I have been talking to a friend on the boat and he told me that he would come pick my car up and haul it away fro 200 dollars cash. It's a profit for me because I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't get much out of the car. Plus, it is more than anybody else would pay to come haul the car away. He is going to fix up the car and give it to a family in need, so I did a good deed for the day so to speak. Someone else can get some use out of my car. 
     Watching them take the car away today had me thinking about everything that I have been through with that car. All the fun road trips. All of the time spent driving it around and having adventures. Things of that nature. I have spent the better part of the day remembering everything that has happened. I just started looking for a new car. I wanted to get a truck since I think it would be more useful for me. From bad weather to being able to haul stuff, I thought it would be a good investment. Trying to find a truck that fits my needs and my kids is a bit difficult. Everything is so expensive around here when it comes to trucks. I'm getting frustrated because I want to get a truck, but it looks like with the divorce, paying for child support and medical for my two kids, I won't be able to afford a truck. Now I am back to searching through all of the sedans for something that I like. My mother-in-law is taking me tomorrow to her auto dealership to look at cars. I found a 2007 Nissan Altima for just under 8,000 dollars. Maybe if I get lucky, I can get a loan for the car and have something that I am familiar with to drive. The car looks nice and I'm hoping that it is something that I can afford. I still have the van to pay off so it might not happen. 
     Trying to find something I liked has driven me bat shit crazy so I have decided that right now I need to just not look for something and try and relax. This is why I have you guys. I can vent and nobody judges me. You all just read my posts and continue on with your days. The silent types. I like it that way.

I'm out!!!

Wickid

The Day After.......

     What is it about Thanksgiving that has people in a mood to do nothing the next day? It's the turkey. Blame all the laziness on the gawd damn turkey. I didn't have much of the turkey last night, but it has me feeling like I ate 90 pounds worth of food. 

     Most people also get to putting up the Christmas tree on this day. I'm for it. It's whatever. So now my tree sits in the corner all nice and decorated. The kids had fun putting up all of the stuff on the tree. It hasn't been a happy day though. Like you guys read last night or early this morning, my wife's boyfriend and his son are here at my house. Now most of you that I am a pretty easy going person with opinions about most things. I tend to keep to myself sometimes because it is easier than trying to explain what it is I do and whatnot. As you might have guessed, I have been keeping to myself while trying to play an active role in my kids live's since I have gotten back from sea. This has been made exponentially harder because I have to learn how to deal with all of this while trying to learn how to adult all over again. For the last seven years, I have been catered to and things have been taken care of for me. It has been nice, but it has also made me feel incredibly dumb. I'm sure that after a bit of an adjustment period, I 'll be able to adult to just fine on my own again. That's besides the point though. The one thing I look forward to after the Thanksgiving feasting is the putting up of the Christmas tree. It brings me great joy to put the star on top of my tree. I get one of the kids to help out and they sit on my shoulders and we put up the star together. Close up on the boyfriend and his son. They put the star up on my Christmas tree this year and I'm not too happy about it. I even voiced my opinion on it because this is the last time that we will have the children together under one roof for the holidays. Yes, I'm getting a divorce and we will have split custody of the children. They will have two of everything now because of this. That isn't the part that bothers me. I know, strange isn't it. You would think that would be the thing that bothers me. It doesn't. It's the not being able to put the damn star up on my Christmas tree with my children. I haven't even put on my own Christmas ornaments because I'm still too upset to do it. I feel invisible in my own damn house. 

     I've been so accommodating and friendly and trying not to cause problems with everyone that is involved. The kids don't need to see that and I have to teach them how to properly treat a lady no matter what kind of bullshit situation they find themselves in. It has been very hard for me. I've also been trying to better myself and not be a jerk or an asshole. I've also been trying to not yell at the kids so much because I was always doing that. Now, I'm just being gentle yet firm when the need arises. I'm to the point where I'm just here and wishing I was out to sea again. Things are so much easier that way. It's not that I don't want to be at home with my kids, it's just that I know that the only person I have to worry about is me. No one has to worry about me because I'm as safe as safe can be when you are surrounded on all sides by tons and tons of water. Do I want to be out to sea all the time? No, but I also don't want to be invisible and useless in my own house. I can't help cook or clean or do much of anything except for the things that my ex doesn't want to do because apparently that is all I'm good for. I give baths and brush teeth. Do the occasional punishment when I catch the kids doing things they aren't supposed to be doing. Literally that is all that I do around here now. I mean yeah, I take care of my kids and I hang out with them and I do stuff with them, but the problem I have is that the star on the tree is my thing and it was taken away from me. Oh, go ahead and say that I can do it next year, but I might not be here next year for the holidays. I could quite possibly be underneath the water again, who knows? 

     Alright, enough about my problems. Sorry guys and gals, I had to vent that out because I needed to just get it off my chest. Ironically, this is the whole reason why I started this in the first place. Now as I sit here listening to the T.V. as it plays the newest episodes of the Gilmore Girls, I'm trying to find my center to get back to the level of relaxation that I want to be at. I should probably find some sort of alcohol and down a few of them right after I throw a pinch of Copenhagen Wintergreen in my lip. Don't judge me. I have horrible habits that I enjoy immensely. I'm 30 years old people. I'm to the point where I will do what I like and I really don't plan on changing for anyone. Like me how you see me or don't. I don't plan on getting married again. There will be no more children birthed from these loins. I'll be in a long term committed relationship that makes me happy. That's all I want. No games. No drama. Just a relationship that is built on mutual trust and happiness. One where we know that life is busy and we just have to find a way to make time for each other. That's what I need. A person who can handle some baggage that I have and can deal with my kids. Ha! You all thought I was calling my kids baggage. For shame!! But for real, I'm tired of the bullshit. I want something that makes me happy and that will push me in the right direction.

     Well, it's time for me to go figure out what I intend to do with the rest of my day. As long as it doesn't involve staying up until 2 in the morning playing video games, I think I'll be alright. Call of Duty lured me in last night with it's multiplayer and zombie mode. I couldn't stop it. 

I'm OUT!!!!

Wickid

What have I been doing?

     This just so happens to be the question of the last few years. Nobody knows what I have been doing because I haven't been on here to tell you about it. Things have been hella rough needless to say and that is a severe understatement. 

     I literally just spent the last four hours playing Call of Duty Black Ops II. Why would I play this game? I played it because I needed to relieve some stress. It made me feel better. I'm not very good at the game, but that is besides the point. There is a lot of stuff that you guys missed and I have so much to tell you all. I don't even know where to begin.

     Well, it is roughly two a.m. here on the west coast and I am still up and doing things. That's not true at all. I was actually on my way to bed and I decided to jump on the computer real quick like to check something out. I saw this little schmoondib on the favorites bar and clicked it. Low and behold, I still have access to this and it hasn't changed much since I last left it. Quick story, the urge to type hit me and now here I am, typing away to you guys. 

     Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. The only difference is that my wife's boyfriend, yes that's right, and her boyfriend's son, joined us for the holidays. A little backstory might be in order here. Roughly two years ago (ironically when I last posted) the wife and I ran into a little snag in our marriage. Mainly, I was a fucking idiot and I made some poor life choices. One thing lead to another and well we tried working it out. Multiple times. We did marriage counseling and marriage retreats to try and get that spark that we lost about 3-ish years ago. This past March, after I had been sleeping on the couch for about 2 months, she came to the conclusion that we are better off as friends. Now, I tried to fight it for about 2 or 3 months before I finally quit and just said "Fuck it". So now, both of us are seeing other people and trying to get all of the paperwork and shit together so that we can get divorced. Our 7 year anniversary was last Sunday. We didn't celebrate it at all. 

     I have made it back to another sea going command everyone! Yay! I've even already done my underwater thing and come back from it. Home in time for the holidays. What a way to finish out the year huh? It was one of those deployments that made you ask "Why?" Like why are we doing this stupid shit right now? Why do I have to go on watch again for another 12 hours when I just spent like 9 hours on watch already? Why am I still awake? That last one is prevalent here on shore too in case you were wondering. So yeah, I did my underwater thing. It was fun, but I am now happy to have some time off even though I have to go down to the boat and help it get back out to sea. 
  
     I also didn't tell you guys that I got diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. I now do most of my sleeping with a mask on my face. It works really well on the submarine and I have been sleeping rather well since I have acquired it. Nothing like not breathing while you sleep. I did that for three years and now I have to wonder why it took me so long to get checked out. You know what? It took me forever and a day to get checked out because I don't like going to the doctor. Like seriously, I hate going to the doctor. Don't ask me about the dentist because those are fighting words. I despise the dentist. They always find a way to make it so you are in pain and then tell you it's because you don't floss. Anywho, I am laying here on the couch right now wearing my mask. I am required to get at a minimum, 4 hours of continuous sleep while wearing this mask. It's a good leverage tool when people want to mess with my sleep. I just pull that bad boy out and wave it around from time to time. 

     I'm also dating a new chick that actually works for the Navy. Dipping my pen in the company ink as I've been told. No offense to anyone out there who may be reading this, but I'm actually happy with this decision. You have no idea what it is like to be with someone who doesn't care or doesn't pay attention to the things you say. It is so much better that I am with someone who has been underway and knows the pain of having to be gone for months on end. I don't have to explain acronyms or anything. Well, for the most part. She is a surface sailor so things are a little bit different up on top of the water. 

     Well, it is really late you guys and I have a feeling that I will have 4 kids running around early as balls in the morning making tons of noise. I guess I have to go to sleep and try to get some rest. 

I'm OUT!!!

Wickid

P.S. - I'll be trying to get on here more often since I really only have to take care of myself and help with the kids and housework. It's a pretty sweet setup. 

Really People??

     I have seen some shit in my short 28 years of life here on the planet that we call home. I have seen the fall of the twin towers. I have seen the declarations of war. I have seen suicides and murders. I have seen tears and agony. Happiness and smiles. Hugs and kisses. Friends and enemies. Out of all of that stuff, I have been able to handle pretty much all of it with a quiet stoic voice. I have seen crazy "challenges" that have gone viral and populated a social media with the rapidity of a nasty virus. Again, I have stood by and watched as people did some of the stupidest things that I have ever seen. I've witnessed on the news about the shootings in schools and movie theaters. People going "crazy" and killing other people. Race crimes out the yin yang because somebody has some beef with someone else. Criminals getting off free because of a myriad of reasons. Things that shouldn't happen are happening. It bothers the living crap out of me. 

     I say all this because I am finally tired of seeing it all happen. I'm tired of watching people shoot up places because they feel they are superior to others. I'm tired of seeing people get into gang fights or having race crimes happens because you had a misunderstanding and you think the violence will solve it all. I lead into all of this because we, as Americans, are fucking stupid some times. For example, one of the most recent challenges that I have been seeing flying all over the interwebs is this "Stomping the American Flag". Like seriously? Do you have nothing better to do than to hate on a symbol? Or let's go to the recent decision of the state of South Carolina and them removing the Confederate Battle Flag from their government buildings. Why? Why would you remove something that is a part of the history of the United States? Is it because you fear this symbol? Is it because you are "offended" by it? Or is it because some racist little asshole shot up a church in your state, killing 9 church folk, because he "was doing what god wanted him to do"? So in your panic to "find an answer", you petitioned to have a national symbol removed? You are under the belief that it symbolizes racism and hatred. Have you actually done any research at all? Have you looked past your insecurities and discrimination to actually find the right answer before you went ahead and did something that I see as stupid?

     Before you all start barraging me with links and hate mail about why I am wrong or how I am going to hell because you think I support this recent act of lunacy, I want you all to know that I actually did some research because I feel that this is a topic, while touchy, is a rather good one. I looked up the meaning of the Confederate Battle Flag and it's history. I went into different sites because no good researcher only uses one site to find all of his/her information. So while I was at work the other day, doing nothing, I perused about 15 websites about the Confederate Flag. I read all manner of interpretations and reasoning behind all of the hatred and whatnot that is surrounding this part of our history. The one thing that sticks out the most is this one phrase: "Only the winners write the history. The Yanks won so they got to write about what happened." Take that at face value. In all reality, this is probably the truest statement that I have seen written. Why would you let the loser write about what happened? If you were boxing against someone and you lost, what would they talk about in the papers? THE WINNER! You, as the loser, would get mentioned, but that is roughly about it. 

     It is people like the politicians that are in office now and those that have severe knee jerk reactions because they think that they have "to do something" when a tragedy happens is what is completely wrong with the world right now. I could say all day that I wish for world peace, but I know in my heart that it is an impossibility. It is because of people and their inability to be flexible. To be understanding of others. To just shut the fuck up and listen. 

     I am also one of those people that believe in evolution. I don't really care what we evolved from, I just know that we didn't just show the fuck up one day and call it good. We all had to start somewhere. I was reading this article last week while at work. I was perusing the webs and I came upon this article about this 22 year old guy that died over the 4th of July weekend. At first, I was a little sad because no parent ever wants to bury their child. It's not the natural order or process of things in life. Sometimes that is unavoidable and you take it and roll with it, you move on. As I was reading this article, I was dumbfounded to see that it was all this guy's fault. Let me set this up for you. Guy was 22. Legal drinking age. Hanging out at a party with his friends and family. Has fireworks that he is setting off. One in particular is a reloadable mortar. Gets the bright idea to reload it and tell people that he is going to light it off while it is on his head. People tried to stop him and failed. He lit it off. He now lays 6 feet under. 

     Now to me, I think this dude needs the Darwin award. Evolution and Natural Selection has done it's job. They took someone who wasn't too bright and removed him from the equation. While I feel for the family, I still have to laugh because this all could have been avoided. A few days later I was again perusing the news and saw another article about the mother of said deceased man calling for stricter laws when it comes to fireworks. Her main arguing point was that "he thought it was a dud." I'll just let you think about that last statement right there........ Remember, he had a RELOADABLE mortar that he just lit off........ Finished reading the statement? Got what she said in your head? See how STUPID it is? Fortunately, the cop like person that they interviewed hit the nail on the head when he made a statement saying that he thought it was highly unlikely that the dead dude thought the mortar was a dud. Again, the knee jerk reaction I mentioned earlier. While in the state of Washington it only costs $10 dollars to go out and get your pyrotechnics license, you save yourself a whole lot of hassle is you just THINK about what it is you are doing. The end of the article made me chuckle because they mentioned the use of common sense. In fact, I even posted it to my Facebook because I found it so humorous. What this whole situation boils down to is the ability for people to think about what they do before they do it. It leads to the age old saying of "If he jumped off of a bridge, would you do it?"

Let the hate mail and nasty comments commence since I am sure that I pissed someone off by even posting this. If you don't like my view point, oh well. My opinion and my freedom of speech that I personally FIGHT FOR TO PROTECT. I'm not saying that you are wrong, I'm just saying, think about it. Mull it over and go do some actual research. The world is ruled by technology nowadays so it won't be too hard for you to go find what I mentioned. Just don't be lazy and actually read what you find. Don't let the news and the social media sway you from being a THINKING person capable of your OWN THOUGHTS.

With that in mind,

I'm OUT!!!