Elections and The Stars

A fun game I play when every Presidential election rolls around is to look at the stars to determine who to vote for. Here's a list of our past Presidents. It's a good reference:
1. George Washington: Feb 22, 1732 Pisces
2. John Adams: Oct 30, 1735 Scorpio
3. Thomas Jefferson: Apr 13, 1743 Aries
4. James Madison: Mar 16, 1751 Pisces
5. James Monroe: Apr 28. 1758 Taurus
6. John Q. Adams: Jul 11, 1767 Cancer
7. Andrew Jackson: Mar 15, 1767 Pisces
8. Martin Van Buren: Dec 5, 1782 Sagittarius
9. William Harrison: Feb 9, 1773 Aquarius
10. John Tyler: Mar 29, 1790 Aries
11. James Polk: Nov 2, 1795 Scorpio
12. Zachary Taylor: Nov 24, 1784 Sagittarius
13. Millard Filmore: Jan 7, 1800 Capricorn
14. Franklin Pierce: Nov 23, 1804 Sagittarius
15. James Buchanan: Apr 23, 1791 Taurus
16. Abraham Lincoln: Feb 12, 1809 Aquarius
17. Andrew Johnson: Dec 29, 1808 Capricorn
18. Ulysses Grant: Apr 27, 1822 Taurus
19. Rutherford Hayes: Oct 4, 1822 Libra
20. James Garfield: Nov 19, 1831 Scorpio
21. Chester Arthur: Oct 5, 1830 Libra
22. Grover Cleveland: Mar 18, 1837 Pisces
23. Benjamin Harrison: Aug 20, 1833 Leo
24. William McKinley: Jan 29, 1843 Aquarius
25. Teddy Roosevelt: Oct 27, 1858 Scorpio
26. William Taft: Sep 15, 1857 Virgo
27. Woodrow Wilson: Dec 28, 1856 Capricorn
28. Warren Harding: Nov 2, 1865 Scorpio
29. Calvin Coolidge: Jul 4, 1872 Cancer
30. Herbert Hoover: Aug 10, 1874 Leo
31. Franklin Roosevelt: Jan 30, 1882 Aquarius
32. Harry Truman: May 8, 1884 Taurus
33. Dwight Eisenhower: Oct 14, 1890 Libra
34. John Kennedy: May 29, 1917 Gemini
35. Lyndon Johnson: Aug 27, 1908 Virgo
36. Richard Nixon: Jan 9 1913 Capricorn
37. Gerald Ford: Jul 14, 1913 Cancer
38. Jimmy Carter: Oct 1, 1924 Libra
39. Ronald Regan: Feb 6, 1911 Aquarius
40. George Bush: Jun 12, 1924 Gemini
41. William Clinton Aug 19, 1946 Leo
42. George W. Bush: Cancer

As you look at the above list, consider who the best Presidents were. Pick the best President who was in office while you were alive. Then, pick the best Presidents from the past according to history. See when they were born and what their sun signs were.

My favorite President who was in office during my lifetime was Ronald Reagan. Before that I liked Franklin Roosevelt (I loved his memorial in Washington DC). And I liked Abraham Lincoln.

You should take some time to read about them. FDR Quotes are my favorites. Bush should have spent more time thinking about this one: "More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars".

Abraham Lincoln also had one that Bush should spend more time admiring: "Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."

My favorite from Ronald Reagan: "Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."

But, I digress.

If you study astrology and pretend to believe it, you then know a bit about the different signs, look at past President's signs and compare them to people running for office today.

Obama was born August 4, 1961. He's a Leo. Previous Leos were William Clinton, Benjamin Harrison and Herbert Hoover. Did they have anything good to say? Herbert had a good one that the current administration could contemplate: "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves." Benjamin Harrison said, "We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."

So, I think Leo's are a mixed result.

McCain was born August 29, 1936. He's a Virgo. Previous Virgos were Lyndon Johnson and William Taft. I don't like Taft's quotes much, but there are a few gems: "The world is not going to be saved by legislation." LBJ was funny. A good sense of humor can go along way: "If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim." "

Bob Barr was born November 5, 1948. He's a Scorpio. We've had 5 Scorpios for President. That's more than any other sign except Aquarius. There have been 5 Aquarius as well. I'm not going to go through all 5 quotes by Scorpios. My dealings with Scorpios have involved lots of dishonesty, charisma, and short tempers. They lure you in with dishonesty and charisma and then when you become trusting they unleash the furry of their temper. The five Scorpio's were: John Adams, James Polk, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt and Warren Harding. Just so I can show that I did look at them, John Adams said: "Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war."

So, who do you vote for?

Finish D Aquarius D’s

I should have wrapped up the D’s last week.  There are not enough left for a memorable type post like I am accustomed to posting.

I have another colleague at work.  His name is Duane.  I’m not sure the exact date of his birth, but I know he celebrates at the end of January which makes him an Aquarius as well.  There are at least 3 software guys where I work (on a team of 14), that are Aquarius.  We are taking over!

I must continue with my impromptu pretty Aquarius series.  I had to do some research to find her so I must admit that I didn’t know her name or that she was Aquarius before today.  But she fits the bill for a pretty Aquarius whose name starts with D.  Pretty stiff requirements.  Her name is Denise Richards and she was born on February 17, 1971.  I’ve added Starship Troopers to my Netflix Queue to show my undying adoration.

 

I Love All Aquarius

I have a funky history concerning astrology. For some reason, it's quite entertaining to me. I think it's one of my eccentric Aquarius quirks.

Anyway, today on the radio, they said that Dick Cheney had a birthday last Friday. I didn't know he was an Aquarius. Suddenly his stubborn insanity makes sense. I attributed it to being socially inept and perhaps a bit under qualified for his job. But now I know he was just an Aquarius.

We experiment. We play games (but only games that we understand and are willing participants). Sometimes I'll be at the airport and a couple will walk by having a heated discussion. I'll be sitting by myself and giggling because I've created a story (my game) about their discussion in my own little head and have made it quite entertaining.

Sometimes, I experiment with people. I'll say stuff that is random, but sentimental to see how they react. I'll say mean things to see how they react. Everything is doused with a bit of sarcasm because in my stubborn Aquarius mind, people that don't get sarcasm are not intelligent. You can't argue with me. I'm always right. I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.

Now I know that Dick shot that guy while hunting as an experiment. He was already being blasted by the media so he thought, "how low can I go?" I'll keep doing things and saying things just to see how much I can get the media to despise me. Is it possible that I am so powerful that no one will suspect me? It's all an experiment. Now that I understand Mr. Cheney, I love Mr. Cheney. He should have advertised earlier that he was an Aquarius.

I'm Not Stupid, I'm an Aquarius

Some time ago I posted about the fact that I discovered that Dick Cheney was an Aquarius. It made me finally understand the man.

Today, I discovered that Sarah Palin is also an Aquarius. Her birthday was yesterday (2/11).

This leads me to the new T-Shirt I'm going to have made. It will say, "I'm not stupid, I'm an Aquarius". Let me know what size you need and I'll have one made for you. I need to get an idea of how many I need to order before I can price it. I might send one to Sarah and Dick for free. Maybe I'll get some publicity out of it.

Sorry, had to do some research. I'm thinking $15 a piece. What do you think of this design?

B is for Aquarius

I had a bit of trouble coming up with the killer B’s. It required some innovative cheating to look for help. Babe Ruth was an Aquarius but I hate baseball so he’s only given brief mention and there it was.

Brandon Lee who starred in The Crow was born on February 1, 1965. The Crow is one of my top 20 favorite movies. I’m not sure exactly where it ranks. I think I have to be in the mood for it. It has one of my favorite battle scenes with music from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. He, of course, died during the filming of The Crow through some prop malfunction. I never watched any of the sequels.

One of the reasons I drive a Trans Am today is because of a movie called Smokey and the Bandit. I think I watched it when I was about 9 years old. Burt Reynolds starred as the Bandit. He was born on February 11, 1936.

I have rather eclectically offbeat appreciation for music. Reggae music is one of the genres that is often underappreciated. The man who first brought it to my ears was also an Aquarius. Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945. His real name was Robert Nesta Marley. He was probably best known for his song, “I Shot the Sheriff”.

Last, but not least, is my colleague at work. I don’t know the exact date of Brett’s birth, but I know he celebrates a couple of weeks before me so that makes him an Aquarius. I interviewed and gave Brett my seal of approval a few years ago (we had an opening for a software graduate). When I interview new Software Engineers I look for the geeks. Too many people graduate and call themselves “programmers” because they read all the books and passed all the classes. They chose to get a computer degree because someone told them they’d make lots of money and there is plenty of work available, but these kind of people suck the life out of the industry. Brett’s a geek of the highest caliber.

Ed is An Aquarius!!

It may come as a shock to you, but one of the regular visitors to my humble blog is also an Aquarius.

He gets a posting all to himself because I’ve known him and called him a friend for almost 30 years. He’s even been my best man -- twice!

I started dabbling in Astrology about 8 years ago. I don’t take it too seriously, but it’s good for conversations and it’s quite entertaining. For it to be entertaining, I have to (at least pretend to) take it very seriously.

I started to look closer at Astrology when I realized the one man I had known and kept in contact with longer than any other was a fellow Aquarius. I reckon it is just a whacky coincidence, but it’s still pretty cool.

Ed was born on January 23rd.

I don’t have many friends. A lot of my old friends I hear from rarely.

In 30 years I think the longest I’ve gone without hearing anything from Ed is maybe 6 months. Maybe. I didn’t really keep track. He was always there.

Ed introduced me to the Internet. I enjoy hanging out with people that are smarter than me. I figure that way I’ll be able to learn something every time I talk to them and I am a big fan of learning. I’ve learned a lot from Ed and continue to do so. Just checkout some of his comments!

I met Ed when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons with his older brother. Ed is a year younger than me and lived just down the street when we were growing up.

When I needed a best man for my wedding(s) Ed bought a plane ticket and flew down (both times) without asking for anything in return. I don’t think I ever said how much I appreciated it. I’m not good at showing appreciation. Maybe since Ed is a fellow Aquarius, he understands that.

When I was going through my divorce, it was a very difficult patch of time in my life. Ed was always there to talk to. He might be the only person I know that looks at things more logically than I do. Of course, the women don’t appreciate it. Is there such a thing as love in logic? Or logic in love?

I could write all day from my memoirs of our teenage years together. We played AD&D, we setup Bulletin Board Services, we played chess, we wrote software, etc. You name it, we did it. It’s the only thing I remember enjoying about being a teenager in the desert.

Here’s to Ed. Thanks man!

Where Have All The Aquarians Gone?

One of my colleagues, who is also Aquarius, also sports facial hair. A couple of weekends ago I had a deep unexplained urge to remove all facial hair. I was seconds away from turning on the razor when my wife talked me out of it. When I came to work on Monday, my colleague had removed his facial hair. I was glad that my wife had talked me out of it. How awkward would that be?

My first guest Aquarius today is Chris Duarte. His birthday is February 16, 1963. I saw him a couple of weeks ago at the Bedford Blue Festival with Buddy Guy. It would be remiss of me not to mention that he quotes Shakespeare when he's tuning his guitar on stage. It's just a strange Aquarian quirk I think.He is a Texas blues guitar slinger. Observe…

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812. Because of my piss poor education (you have to read the comments) I don’t think I’ve ever read any of his books. Perhaps I should remedy that.

Charles Darwin was born the exact same day as Abraham Lincoln: February 12, 1809. He married a cousin. I had a crush on one of my cousins once.

Speaking of crushes, I recently discovered that probably my first sort of real girlfriend (I mean I was 12 years old or something) is/was an Aquarius. She was probably my first older woman too. She was born on February 9, exactly 5 days before me. Her name is Cristy so she fits in nicely in my alphabetical list. I would post a picture, but that would involve me asking her permission and I’m not up to it.

Aquarius Again?

I grow bored.  I’m going to abbreviate and categorize, but we are still in the C’s.  In case you are new or haven’t been paying attention I am tracking all my favorite folks that were born between January 20 and February 18.   We are the Aquarius.

Pretty:

Christie Brinkley was born on February 2, 1954.

Pretty Funny:

Chris Farley was born on February 15, 1964.  I missed him when I was accidentally doing my comedians in a post a few weeks ago.

Pretty Smart:

Clyde Tombaugh discovered a large rock at the edge of our solar system and used his Aquarius skills to convince everyone that it was a planet.  He was born on February 4, 1906.  The “planet” was Pluto.

Pretty Brave/Lucky:

Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to take a solo flight to somewhere far far away.  He was born on February 4, 1902.

Pretty Bassic:

I used to be a Metallica fan.  After their bass player died in a tragic bus accident, their music afterwards was never quite the same.  I don’t know if it’s just me or not.  Maybe Cliff Burton never actually wrote any of the music but he was a helluva bass player and after he died, their music changed.

   Maybe he wrote all the music… He was born on February 10, 1962.

Metallica with Cliff –>

Interesting Presidental Statistics for Today

Occasionally, I discover something and it creates a flood of questions in my dangerously curious little head.

Last week, I was watching Obama sign something and was surprised to discover he was left handed. I get along quite well with most left handed people I meet. I think it's because I'm left handed too and my dad was left handed.

So, anyway, I made the comment that if Obama was an Aquarius, he'd be perfect. I'm a left-handed Aquarius. We are all perfect.

But, alas, Barack Obama was born August 4th which makes him a Leo. It's still not bad, just not perfect. In viewing people over the years, I've discovered which people I tend to like and which people I tend to dislike. It sounds frightening and it is, but I don't care. Normally, Cancers are difficult for me to tolerate. George Bush was a Cancer (in more ways than one). So, a left handed Leo should be much better than a right handed Cancer.

Durango is a Leo which is probably one of the reasons he likes Obama so much. I don't think he's left handed though. My brother is a Leo and I get along with him quite swimmingly. I used to get along with Durango before he abandoned me.

George was the first right handed president since 1980. Clinton was left handed, George's dad was left handed and Reagan was left handed. The amazing thing about Reagan is he was a left handed Aquarius. He was also a distant cousin of mine. My grandmother on my mom's side was a Reagan before she got married. I think Ron was a 5th or 6th cousin of mine. Carter was right handed. Gerald Ford was left handed.

Anti-Aquarians…Meet My Niece

I’ve been subtly pressured by two people to cease and desist with my weekly Aquarius posts.  One of these persons is a Leo.  The other is a Virgo.  I’m doing research now to see if there is some deep seated and unjustified animosity between these two signs and the loving Aquarius folks.  I’ll try and keep you posted without further frustration to the Leos and the Virgos.

My Aquarian star this week is my niece, Emily.  For all my life, I have been the only Aquarian in my list of relatives that I keep up with.  A few years ago my older sister produced a baby Aquarian girl and she’s nice and sweet and pretty and smart just like her Aquarian uncle.

Odd Sense of Humor in the Stars

My blog is therapeutic for me. I normally write about things that bug me and my crazy opinions about why it bugs me. Today I will try something different.

I, believe it not, have a wickedly keen sense of humor. It can also be randomly insane.

I'll take this time to tell a true story about myself that will leave appreciative readers giggling and unappreciative readers going elsewhere for sanity.

When I got divorced 8 years ago, I started studying astrology. I went to a class and the lady teaching the class had everyone sit down based on their sun sign. I'm an Aquarius.

If you were being observant at the class, you would have noted that she left out one of the signs. I asked her about it later and she said that sign doesn't believe in Astrology so they never show up for her classes. I think it was Leo.

So, over the years I developed a one question test that I'd ask people at bars to guess their sign. I had a partner in crime for this. He's a crazy Sagittarius.

So, we'd go into a bar. Find the table with the hottest women we could find and go sit with them and say, "If you let us sit with you for a while, we can guess when you were born."

I guess I should mention at this point that I can't handle stupidity and I can't handle stubbornness. I suspect the two are closely related.

So, at this point in my story, I could be running for cover depending on how blank the expressions are looking back at me. Sometimes you get that 'deer in the headlights' look of the woman thinking, "Wow, I should have waited until I was 17 to drop out of high school."

But, more often than not, I am given enough positive reinforcement (read drunken entertainment) to continue my charade.

My first question is "How old do you think I am?"

Capricorns get irritated. They'll play, but they won't be happy and they usually guess old just to piss you off.

Aquarius say, "Well you are in here drinking beer so you must be at least 21". It's sarcastic humor. We hate being wrong, but we like experimenting and playing games with people's heads.

Pisces are hard to guess. They will happily play along as long as everyone else is, but their answers are not normally first and they change their answers to follow their predecessor's lead.

Aries will play, but they'll think you are stupid for playing such a silly game and will try to change the subject to politics or some other boring irritating subject that will get everyone's blood pumping. They'll say, "I think you're 40. Wasn't that how old Bush was when he quit drinking? Don't you hate that man. Worst President ever".

Taurus will play if they think you are cute enough and there isn't something else going on. If they are watching the band play or are in the middle of a different conversation, you might as well be talking to your hand -- unless you are really hot. I have good luck with Taurus.

Gemini are really hard for me to talk to. They pretend to play along, but the game has to be all about them so they'll tend to say, "Well, I'll tell you how old I think you are, but first you have to tell me how old I am. And don't you like my dress today?"

I don't like Cancers. George Bush is a Cancer. I have some Cancer friends who may be reading this so I have to be careful. So, I'll say -- in general, Cancers are slow. They talk slowly for some reason and I lack the patience to listen to them reason. "Uh. Do I get to ask you any questions before I guess your age? Is there a chance that you might be armed and take it out on me if I guess your age too high? What, uhhh, happens if I guess it right? Will you tell me if I'm right?"

Leos won't play, but they'll sit at the table and listen to their friends play. Unless their friends get really stupid then they'll try and put a stop to it. To me Leos are entertaining, but I have trouble guessing them most of the time. Sometimes Leos will play along if they are bored, but it will be "in passing".

Virgos get all silly when asked. I'm not sure why. I think perhaps they are too serious about life so they take a rather silly question and attempt to make it super silly in order to keep the scales of silliness in balance. Their typical answer is, "Do you ask everyone that?" followed by 10 minutes of intense giggling and beer snorting.

Libras are hard for me to guess correctly as well. I can talk to them and they are curious, but they lack a sense of humor. Getting a Libra to participate in the "guess my age" game requires proper presentation without too much wit. You must make it intriguing and not at all funny. They are the ones, that will defensively say, "Why does this matter?"

Scorpios are too busy thinking about themselves to really worry much about the answer. They are easy for me to guess because I dated a Scorpio for a few years and I can see them coming. I like Scorpios. They are entertaining. I just don't trust them.

Sagittarius are my favorite. It's like they are just waiting for a reason to be entertained and I can be very entertaining. What they don't realize is they become the entertainment because of me. And then I'm doubly entertained. They are easy to talk to, but their need for entertainment will make their response something like this, "If I guess your age within 2 years, you buy me a shot of tequila. If I guess wrong, then I'll buy you a shot of tequila. I'll play your little game if the outcome involves frivolity and drunkenness."

BC is For Aquarius

In typical Aquarian fashion I am twisting things up. Sometimes, I discover an Aquarian that I left out so the whole alphabet thing is hard to maintain. I will proceed in a somewhat randomly alphabetically ordered fashion. It’ll be fun.

I looked through my C’s and there are way too many for one week’s worth of justice. They’ll continue into next week. See if you can find the Aquarius traits in these famous people. I might help.

I left out Bill Maher last week. His political views are similar to mine and I like his sense of humor. If you read my past postings and you read the Wikipedia article on Bill, you’ll see some striking similarities. For example: “Maher is highly critical of organized religion, which he often describes as a neurological disorder that justifies crazies and stops people from thinking logically.” He was born on January 20, 1956.

On January 21, 1924, Benny Hill was born. His name is actually Alfred Hawthorne Hill. My dad forced me to watch the Benny Hill Show religiously when I was growing up. Funny, funny stuff. To this day every time I hear “Yakety Sax”, I think of Benny Hill and my dad. Odd…very odd.

Since I seem to be stuck on comedy I’ll wrap things up this week with Chris Rock. He was born on February 7, 1965. Most people I know can’t stand the guy. For some reason, I find him hilarious. I always have.

I’m An Aquarius, Who Are you?

I’ve decided I’m done with the C’s.  Sorry if I left someone out.

Progressing to the letter D’s, we have:

Dr. McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, was born on January 20, 1920.  You have to be a Star Trek fan.

I’d feel remiss if I didn’t continue a bit on my enticing pretty Aquarius women category with Diane Lane, who was born on January 22, 1965.  She is probably most famous for her steamy scenes in the movie, Unfaithful.  Yum!

Douglas MacArthur was born on January 26, 1880.  He has a similar problem to mine.  In his history page it says, “In April 1951, MacArthur's habitual disregard of his superiors led to a crisis.”

Dick Cheney was born on January 30, 1941.  I’ve already blogged about him.  I’m not much on repetition.

Since we are on Vice Presidents, we might as well do one more and end with Vice Presidents this week.  Dick Cheney was called by some, “The most influential vice president in history”.  Another Aquarian Vice President from not too long ago was Dan Quayle.  He was born on February 4, 1947.  While Dick was famous for shooting his hunting partners.  Dan was famous for his memorable quotes like, “I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”

Alice in Wonderland

As you sit and contemplate the imminent release of Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland on March 5 featuring a star studded cast including: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

I only ask that you do one thing.

Just one simple thing that I haven’t talked about in months now.

I mean I was quietly hushed through intimidation and peer pressure, but this must come out.

It really must be released for public consumption.

I’ve tried to hold back as long as possible, but the urging in the back of my weak mind finally became too strong and I was forced to unleash the beast.

Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27th, 1832 was a left handed Aquarius.

His writings are filled with wordplay and puzzles.  His pseudonym Lewis is an anglicized form of Ludovicus, which is Latin for Lutwidge.  Carroll is an anglicized version of Carolus, the Latin for Charles.

Enjoy the movie, brought to you, in no small part, by an eccentric left handed Aquarius.

Saint Patrick's Day Money Parade

I just wanted to take a little bit of time and wish everyone a happy Saint Patrick's Day and my mom a happy birthday.  Sometimes I feel a little disappointed that she was born on Saint Patrick's Day and I was born on Valentine's Day.  Saint Patrick's Day would be much cooler.  But, then I wouldn't be an Aquarius.  I'd be Pisces and no one wants that.

Anyway, when you are out drinking your beers today remember this: last year the federal government collected a little over 3.6 billion dollars from taxes on beer!  This year let's help balance the budget via alcohol!

Saturday at Marienplatz

I think I mentioned in my last random posting that I went to Oktoberfest the weekend of October 1st.  I am almost two weeks behind in my bloggings.  There’s just not enough time.  Just as a teaser we went and rocked downtown Frankfurt last Saturday.  At least I think we rocked it.  I vaguely remember walking out the front door of the house and meandering down a cement path towards a cab station where we were to be chauffeured to our alleged “rocking” facility.

But, Saturday at Marienplatz is a story that can not be left completely untold.  However, the details must be slightly obscured to protect the guilty.

I guess our story starts at Oktoberfest.  I was there, but it was very busy.  The magic thing about the Munich Oktoberfest is there is no place to sit unless you get into a party tent and the party tents are completely full before lunch.  On Saturday it was worse.   By lunchtime, I was tired of standing and I was getting hungry and I didn’t want to eat standing up so I left and went to Marienplatz.

Another interesting thing that should probably be mentioned is that I got asked directions twice.  Both times not in German and not in English.  I either looked really smart, really friendly or someone had secretly taped a tour guide sticker to my shirt (in 10 different languages).  I became very good at pointing.  Oktoberfest that way, Marienplatz that way.

I must admit I wandered Marienplatz for a bit.  They had some interesting stuff going on with some animal rights entertainment or something.  Pictures of big ugly chickens with breasts and women wearing fur coats in little chicken wire pens.  I’m not sure what it all meant, but the music was not bad and it was ever-so-slightly entertaining.  Let’s see if I can find some pictures.

Interesting tidbit about the above picture.  I think I hung out with the man in the blue shirt later that afternoon.  Now, I’ll have to compare pictures.  You can too.

I was looking for a place to sit down, have a beer and eat some lunch.  I finally found a place.  This place had 3 waitresses working the tables.  I wish I had pictures.  There was one cute and friendly waitress, one pretty and bitchy waitress, and one not so pretty and not so cute amiable waitress.

I managed to get the bitchy one.  I honestly asked the cute and friendly waitress for a table, but somehow I got shuffled.  It happens when you are sitting by yourself.  They don’t want you to eat up in valuable seating.  The cute and friendly waitress was the obvious choice for the larger parties.

I should also mentioned that they were both Asian.  The amiable one, not so much.

So, I sat.  I ordered a hefeweizen.  The bitchy waitress asked me if I wanted large or small milk.  So, I said, “A beer”.  And she brought me some kind of pilsner.

I drank the pilsner, ordered some spaghetti and made eye contact with the cute and friendly waitress and pointed to my empty beer glass.  She came and asked me if I wanted another one and I said, no, but I can have a hefeweizen.  The bitchy waitress finally brought me a hefeweizen.

While this was going on some excitement was beginning to happen on my left.  There were four English speaking people sitting at the table next to me.  I assumed they were married couples so I didn’t gaze too much at the lovely ladies for fear of getting in trouble, but I did do a sly bit of eavesdropping.  It’s almost impossible not to when surrounded by a bunch of people you can’t understand and then suddenly, you hear something strangely and alluringly intelligible.

Then Dick Van Dyke showed up.  He asked, in German, if he could sit at my table.  I said sure.  I can’t remember what dialect I applied.  It was probably some embarrassing form of Texan.  I don’t really remember his name although I’m sure we shook hands and perhaps shared names.  I call him Dick because he was a Chimney Sweep there in Munich.  He was a very friendly guy.  He spoke a little more English than I could speak German, but we shared a beer and finished our meal together.

Then the chatty woman at the table to my left gazed into my eyes and said something like, “So you can speak English?  Have you been sitting there enjoying our conversation?”  She said it smiling or I would have run.

Then Vince said some off the wall comment about the lack of good looking women over the age of 40.  I can’t remember the exact sentiment.  I was eavesdropping again and details are not important.  Then, the chattty woman.  We’ll call her Laura asks what I think of that.

I said, “He’s right.  Good looking single women over the age of 40 are hard to come by.”  Laura and her friend left.  We’ll call her friend Kim.  And I have that affect on people (the leaving part).  But, in all fairness I had had over a liter of beer.

Then John, Vince and I start talking and I discover they are vacationing from South Africa.  Of course, I have to know if they watched any of the World Cup games (which Vince admitted to). 

Rattled side bar.  Durango, my blog instructor, tells me I get rattled sometimes.  This is a rattled sidebar.  Actually I think 90% of this post has been rather rattled.  In case you haven’t read any of my clever postings before I kind of make it a hobby of mine to study astrology.  Now, Vince was reminding me an awful lot of an old buddy of mine back in Dallas.  It was eerie.  Turns out they are both Sagittarius.  Sagittarius is a fire sign.  Aquarius is an air sign and for some reason air feeds fire and huge billowing flames of insanity normally ensue.  Oh, I’m an Aquarius.  In case you, ahem, didn’t know that by now.

I can’t remember exactly how the subject came up.  It’s possible he asked me if I’d ever been to Munich before and if I knew any cool spots.  But, I think it was more creative than that.  Anyway, I stayed across the street from Marienplatz about 7 years ago for about 3 months so I did know some places.

I told him about the Mexican bar down the way that serves tequila and the Irish bar down in the cellar next to the Church.  He opted for the tequila.  The explosion was near monumental.

He called his German buddy, Jergen, he called Kim back, he called Laura back and we all headed to Sausalitos.

I remember ordering the first round.  They had Don Julio which is one of my faves that my other Sagittarius buddy introduced me to so we ordered that first and between the 5 of us finished off the bottle.  Then, well, I don’t remember. 

Rumors abound and my texting was embarrassing.  And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.  Here’s a picture…

See the guy in the blue shirt.  I think he’s the same as the previous picture.  I didn’t realize it until I started writing.  That’s Vince toasting.  Damn Sagittarius.

Inconsequential Mutterings

If you look at my previous posting.  The one from last week immediately following this one in the blog roll I call Random Ramblings, you’ll see that I listed several topics in my chaotic little mind which I would like to write about.  I’m thinking this won’t cover any of those enticing possibilities.  I’ll let them lie there and fester for now.

A couple of weeks ago I went out with some friends who have moved to the other side of the Metromess.  I used to see them once or twice a week.  There were times when we’d spontaneously decide to attend harmless jazz concerts Tuesday after work and end up at some white trash bar in North Fort Worth doing karaoke until 3 AM.  Planning leads to expectations which leads to disappointment.  Indecisive spontaneity brings forth nothing but surprises.  I’d rather be surprised.  Therefore it’s my plan not to plan.

My friends who moved to Rowlett are predictably unpredictable and they are great because of it.  They came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we went and did Karaoke at Daddy Rabbit’s Market of Trepidatious Surprises.  Fun was had by all.  I coined the phrase, “confidence implies inferred consent”.  I coined it when I was watching this drunk bozo making his moves on women up and down the bar.  Think about it.  I’ll wait here.

Last Thursday I went to the Rockin’ Rodeo to see a concert.  Now, for me to set foot into a place called “Rockin Rodeo” is slightly less disconcerting than me walking into a Catholic Church for Sunday Mass.  Being that it’s in Denton there were lots of college women.  The eye candy was nice.  I went with Lisa and she helps out with that.  I think I’ve mentioned Lisa before.  You’ll have to look it up.  There’s a search box in the top left corner that searches through all my wonderfully chaotic cacophonic creativities.  You’ll never know who you might meet.

Last weekend I had a new friend drive in and visit from Vernon.  I say she’s a new friend, but I’ve known her now for a few months.  I guess when you get to be old and decrepit someone you’ve known for 2 years is a new friend.  If you don’t know where Vernon is, look it up.  You’ll have to use maps.google.com.   

Anyway, we went to The Holy Grail Pub in Plano to have dinner, have some drinks and wait for Lisa.  We had some good dialoging including my new debate topic that I learned from The Russ Martin Show.  Last week he said that the only thing Americans excel at is complaining.  Quit complaining and start solving.  Complaining is not a solution.  I think he was talking about the people complaining about the fence that they’re building between us and Mexico.  I solved that one already.  

The Holy Grail is a cool place.  I recommend getting there early and getting a seat at the bar.  There’s always at least one beer nerd behind the bar and if you pretend to know how to spell Hefeweizen, they’ll be sure and chat with you for, up until now, unknown lengths.  I had a Franconia Hefeweizen and then we split a bottle of Infinium which is what you’d get if you, for some reason, decided to mix a bottle of champagne with a hoppy pilsner (or something like that).  I’m not sure I liked it, but the bottle was really cool.  The bar maids are also a special brand of eye candy if that’s your kind of thing.

I think at one point I may have even mentioned how much I thought Durango might appreciate the ambiance.  There were more erudite Texans in my company than he could shake a stick at.  There may have been some Idaho blood in there somewhere.  I’m thinking for Durango’s next Blogworthy Epiphany of Madness he and I should tour all the breweries in a 100 mile radius and do live blogging onsite.  All those in favor?  Drunken Belligerent Brewery Blogging for the win!

Saturday night, we all went to The Granada Theater in Dallas in Lower Greenville.  Cool place and a nice area.  Parking was $8 directly behind the theater.  We saw Jason Eady.  His band wasn’t available so he did a solo acoustic set.  I was quite appreciative of his lyrics and his songwriting.  He said his birthday was coming up at midnight which would make him born on January 23.  My best friend was born on January 23.  It also makes him an Aquarius.  Yay Aquarians!  My friend from Vernon (we’ll call her Jen), Lisa and I are all Aquarians.  It was an Aquarian night, but I’m not allowed to talk about that without fear of reprimand from D’ango the Leo.

The headliner at the Granada was James McMurtry.  Jen had convinced me that I needed to see James.  He’s not an Aquarian, but he puts on a pretty good show I must admit.  He’s kind of Bob Dylan meets John Mellencamp?  His song called “Choctaw Bingo” reminds me of a Beatles song.  It’s not this one.  You’ll have to look it up.  I’ll give kudos to the victor.

Aquarians

Set your calendars folks.  Every week I’m going to bring to you my favorite Aquarians.  I’m thinking I’ll go in a kind of alphabetical order although some letters will have more than one and I’ll leave out some.  In order to protect the innocent, I’ll probably alphabetize by first name.

And remember, favorite doesn’t mean I like them the most.  It may simply be that they are entertaining.  I’ll probably have to give a few details with each entry.  There might be some very evil Aquarians.  I’ll have to do a bit of research along the way.

Oh yeah, it also doesn’t matter if they are living or dead.

I think it’ll be fun.  And we’ll all be sooo happy.  It all starts on Thursday!

The Green Mile

On Saturday, I'm getting married again.

When I was wee little child I never imagined getting married more than once. But, as I learned early on, "Shit Happens".

It's funny how things work. Now that I'm about to get married for the third time all kinds of interesting tidbits come about. My doctor recently asked me if this is, "three strikes and you're out". I told her, "no, third time is a charm". She went on to say something else about my second divorce seemed easier than my first divorce and I said, "practice makes perfect'.

It was after my first divorce that I went to counseling. The best thing I learned from my counselor was that it's all about perspective. I wish I had learned that when I was 20. "Change your way of thinking; change your life". You are not going to a movie by yourself, you are going to the movie you want to watch and not having to share your popcorn.

Now my life is an ongoing game of perspectives.

I have a friend I've known since I was about 11. We were both kind of nerds in a small town. We played Dungeons and Dragons together religiously. We put computers together back when the only things going were Apple II's, Commodore 64's and TRS 80's. He was the best man at my first two weddings and he's flying in from India to hold my hand during this wedding as well. Some things never change.

In case you've been reading my blog for longer than I've been writing it, I play this game with astrology. You can read about it here.

I'm an Aquarius. I was born February 14th. My future wife was born February 11th. When I was 5, 6 and 7, I used to hang out with a girl down the street. She was born February 8th (I think -- it was sometime in February - she canceled her Facebook account so I can't look it up). My first kiss was from a girl born on February 9th. After my first divorce, I became really good friends with a girl born February 10th. Which is saying a lot coming from a guy who has few friends. One of my few girlfriends (I think I had 3) in high school was born January 29th.

The best man at all my weddings? He was born January 23rd.

We're all Aquarians. We're all happy.

The other day I was reading my daily dose of useless news when I came across a headline about Shakira's abs. Shakira was born on February 2nd. The reason her abs were on the news was because she had a baby on January 22nd. Her boyfriend (the child's father) was born on February 2nd. I feel like Sharika and I have a common bond. We surround ourselves with happy Aquarians.

I doubt I shall be blogging again for a while. I'm packing, cleaning and entertaining guests, getting married on Saturday and going to Jamaica next week. I'll have better things to do.

The Texas Play and the USA

I know you are all reading with great anticipation this much awaited weekly update.

I promised earlier, pictures and tales of my trip to the Palo Duro Canyon for July 4th.

I drove for 6 hours with my two lovely children and their dog. I'm mostly allergic to animals, but I took my allergy medicine and I dealt with it. She actually traveled well. Her name is Jazzie and she's a Pomeranian. When we arrived in Canyon, we were greeted by Gracie. She's a Shih Tzu. She's a cool looking dog (Shih Tzu on the left, Pomeranian on the right). By the time I left Canyon, my eyes were starting to swell from the shock to my allergic system.

I am always amazed at how far you can see when I'm there. It's kind of nice to be able to see to the horizon. My dad is fond of telling the story about the people that moved to the Texas Panhandle from the big cities and had to go running back because of the agoraphobia.

I also mentioned before that we went and watched the Texas play at the Canyon. I think I've seen it for about 5 years running now. I'm not entirely sure you need to see it more than once, but it's worth a one time venture to be sure. The Palo Duro Canyon (where it is done) is the 2nd largest canyon in the USA.
The Texas musical is mostly a historical show about the Texas Panhandle. After watching it 5 years in a row, it's rather boring. This year they changed things up a bit and I liked the changes. I don't know if I liked them because it added something or because it was different. I do know that this is the first time I've ever gone that it was sold out. And we always go around the 4th of July so the date had nothing to do with it. I suspect by word mouth, lots of people had been notified of its improvement.

They have a contest every night giving a gift package to the person traveling the furthest to see the play. They said that in something like 44 years they have never had a winner from the USA. The winner this year was from Taiwan if I remember right. I wasn't paying real close attention because my 3 year old niece was sitting behind me giving some insightful and not to be missed entertaining commentary. She's an Aquarius.

One of the reasons we go see it around the 4th of July every year is because they do a tribute to America that is not to be missed. It normally brings a tear to my eye. And I write that in an uncharacteristically non-sarcastic manner.

The pictures are kind of blurry because we didn't have a tripod and it was dark, but my daughter did a pretty good job.

It starts out with a guy riding a horse through the canyon behind the stage carrying an American flag. It's all dark except for the spotlight on him. He brings it into center stage and all the performers come in behind him carrying the flags of all 50 states. Then everything quiets and the lights dim with a single spotlight on the horseback rider carrying the American flag. He sits in the middle still carrying the flag, takes off his hat, puts it over his heart and they sing America The Beautiful. Typically, the crowd stands and sings along. It's amazing.

No matter how much complaining people do about our government, this is still the greatest country in the world and as long as "we the people" continue to believe, it always will be.

But, then it gets you to thinking. If you travel, you know America is beautiful, but so is the rest of the world. Why can't the entire world be United just like the states of America? With today's technology the world has become smaller. I don't think it's too much to ask that we can become the United Countries of Planet Earth.