The Bible

I read somewhere that the Bible is , year after year, on the best seller's list.

In my "about me" section, I state that I am not a religious man.

I was born Catholic and was hussled off to church, every Sunday as a youth, guided by my mother who I know  now was only following "standard operating procedure" for the son of an Irish and Italian in that era (1955 - 1965).  And I know this now because after receiving the crowning glory of "confirmation", my mother never got dressed up on Sundays any longer, and I was not forced to go to church.

And unlike school, I was never told that "not going" would get me in trouble. So , I was very happy to be over with religion.

When I surf through blogs in different categories, I will more often than not, encounter Bible related blogs, with stories of blessed lives, accompanied with passages from the Bible.  Some even have whole scriptures as the post for the day.

I would have to say, without hesitation, that the extent of my knowledge of the Bible would have to be whatever television shows or documentaries I have viewed during my lifetime, that had some religious content.  I have been to plenty of motels, during the time that they put Bibles in the night table drawer, and never once bothered to read a single passage.

So , here is my point to this blog post today.  I started to read an "online" English version of Genesis from page one.  I am assuming that what I selected is the beginning of the Bible.

Now, I am hoping  since I discovered that a huge segment of bloggers seem to have a genuine faith, that my many questions about passages from the Bible, be addressed and commented on from any objective and informed reader. 

My plan is to read a few pages of the "online English translation" of the Bible every day, and enter any queries in all my future blog posts.  I am also going to post what I think I learned from the pages I am reading.  Please comment on anything that you feel I might not be getting right. 

So, after my first readings, I am asking myself :
Why could man and woman live to be centuries old in the beginning?

And then I couldn't mentally grasp the meaning of this passage : 8:20 And Noah made an altar to the Lord, and from every clean beast and bird he made burned offerings on the altar.  What did he burn?

So far the Bible is interesting, and what I am reading seems like general knowledge that I accumlated through the years from TV.  Just those couple of questions above are presenting me with belief issues.

I am going into this Bible reading thing with an open mind and the premise that I should take what I read "in good faith" that it really happened that way.

  

Don't Do Crack.......worth repeating......Don't Do Crack

I want to tell you a bit more about the girl named Blondie.

You remember.....the NJ Go-Go girl that I was sleeping with for about 8 years. See blog entitled "She Devil".

The reason Blondie comes back into mind, is that today I found myself planted on a bar stool at Lookers Gentlemans' Club.  I was emersed in a sea of artificial fog, while I gazed upon what I thought to be a goddess from the heavens.  OK< OK....so a 55 year old man sucked down his southern comfort and beer too quickly and everything looked good.

Well, anyway, this beautiful, voluptuous , Swiss blond joined me at the bar after her 10 minutes on stage had elapsed.  She must have thought I had money, because the first thing she asks for is a bottle of Champagne.  I put the brakes on right away and advised her that we would have to get to know each other a little better before the Champagne starts pouring.  I really just didn't want to pay the $200 she was trying to earn for the bar.

During our brief conversation, Miss Swiss I'll call her, revealed to me that she did not have any photos of herself, and that no one has ever offered to photograph her.  I don't know what it takes to become an agent for a model, but let's say that a potential agent starts out with , let's say, Tyra Banks, for their first client.  Wouldn't that kind of put the agency on the map right away?  Because Swiss Miss would be that gem or catalyst that could start my new career and she has agreed to allow me to be the first one to photograph her. 

I will then be zero-ing in on blogs of models and agents to see what is on the minds of people in that field and find out where to go next to get some exposure.

The title of this post is a warning to all beautiful blonds, or whatever color you wear your hair.  The beautiful vuluptuous blond that I was sharing a bed with for 8 years turned out to be a crack addict.  Some one has to tell me how she hid that from me for the first 4 years.  I did not dump her after finding out, because she was still hot.  But as time went on, the crack began to take away from her life.

Besides the money it cost me to bail her out of jail after resisting arrest, and the money it cost me to find my car after she borrowed it and lent it to a crack friend who subsequently stole it,  CRACK has now left her with very little teeth and the jail time put some major starch pounds on that once hour glass body.  DON'T EVER DO CRACK.  YOU CAN NEVER COME BACK FROM CRACK.

Do I Deserve a Biography?

When I first started my blog, I described it as a "biographical documentation" of my life's experiences......

If you read my description now, you will see that I changed the wording to a "culmination".

One of my favorite shows on TV is BIOGRAPHY.  It is on A&E, and is a well done presentation of the stars and important figures we have all come to know.

So , I have to ask myself, if you don't do anything in your life except raise your kids and work and earn a living, am I deserving of a Biography, just because I am the one writing it?

I 'll have to ponder that one for a few days.

My Dream Life

I can wake up anytime I want to.  Now I only have to figure out if it is from my sleep or the nightmare of living.

After working for 33 years, my retirement from the Carpenter's Union in NJ left me with a nice pension.  Even though those underhanded thieves, the IRS, is dipping into it each month with a levy ( I sincerely hate those bastards and can see why that guy killed himself when he flew a plane into the building) I continue to grind out some cash with Ebay and gambling.

Now, gambling has been the vortex of my Natural Disasters, yet for the past two weeks I have been making money at the Meadowlands Racetrack.  I have developed a system that when adhered to methodically, will churn out a profit every day.  It has nothing to do with figuring out the horses, but instead is a study on probability and statistics combined with a progressive and variable betting pattern.

I do not have to study the past performances of the horses and decide from those results who has the best chance to win a race.  From past experience, they all have a chance to win a race, so with 8 horses in a race, and me picking just one, the odds are against me.  Duh.

My selections are now made soley numerically.  I hesitate to reveal the entire system because if I continue to grind out a weekly income, I will market this system and assist the thousands of horse players who continually play the horses, yet rarely win.  My system will eliminate the frustration that accompanies the weary calculations of selecting the possible winner, only to have your horse come in last, or be nipped at the wire by a nose.

I now, unemotionally, select a designated number on the horse, and patiently await it arrival in the winner's circle.  And as I stated, everyday this week I have left the racetrack with a profit in my pocket.  This could be my dream life.  I am going again today and will continue to record my daily progress.  As with all gambling, self control and your bankroll must be kept in check for a long term winning outcome.

Stop by tomorrow for another update.

Spongebob Averts A Disaster - My Hero

My 28 year old son stood in my bathroom and gazed around at it's theme that I proudly invited him in to examine and remarked, " I find it disturbing, Dad, that a 54 year old man with no small children would decorate like this?"

          




















He was commenting on the Spongebob Squarepants theme that I created for my small bathroom in my one bedroom apartment.  My shower curtain is a bright yellow with Spongebob's big bright yellow face covering the entire curtain.  The ceramic tiles outside the shower area have 3 - 15" stickers of Spongebob in various poses.  A 3" continuous Spongebob border outlines the ceiling.  My mirror is outlined with little 1" x 1" stickers of Spongebob and his friends.  I installed a special towel bar that displays the "never used" bath towel and washcloths, screened with a "Spongebob Surfing" display.  My sink cabinet handles are molded figures of Patrick and Spongebob. And finally, to the right of the sink, I converted a "Spongebob Joystick" into a towel post and mounted it to the wall where I drape a washcloth.

All of the above items (with the exception of the joystick) were acquired through Ebay.

I have been such a huge fan of Spongebob and his friends since I first viewed the cartoon series with my younger son Ray (now 21) when he was a young boy.  I actually try to live my life by many of Spongebob's standards.

That is why when I saw in the news today that the Spongebob cartoon was responsible for the saving of a choking victim, I was proud to have such a hero displayed on my bath walls and relieved that I might not be as "disturbed" as my oldest son stated.  OK, it still might be a little strange, but at least this cartoon character gives my obsession some sanity.

So,  I leave my little apartment today, with my Spongebob crafted door key in hand (a gift from a friend), proudly wearing my bright yellow Spongebob T-shirt, excited to reveal to the world (the guys at the local hot dog stand) the heroic impact that my friends, Spongebob and Patrick, had in a real life emergency.  Check it out here - Spongebob Averts A Disaster

Love And Hate

When I moved into my apartment last year, I can truthfully say that it was the absolute lowest point in my life.  My mother and I became estranged after the death of my father last year.  It was quite a shock to me since I always considered myself to be a "mama's boy" and I thought our relationship was on rock solid ground.

Little did I realize how much of a liability she considered me (because of my financial debacles) and how frightened she was to be left alone to run the family cab business that my father had built.  I should not say alone because she chose my younger brother with which to align herself, while she legally incorporated what was a smooth running cash Taxi business, leaving my name off of all the paperwork.

Sorry, but I am not being a jealous baby here.  While my father was alive, I was the one who handled all his affairs,and did all the business legwork after he lost his vision to "macular degeneration", and most certainly felt that I would be the one to continue to do so after his death.  I was not even offered a clue by my remaining surviving parent, as to how the "now legal" Taxi
business was to be run, and was  summarily cut off from its existence.

I am not embarrassed or ashamed to state right now that while I was busy pissing away the rather good income I earned my entire employed life (a union carpenter), I always had a deep rooted security in assuming that in my older years, I would inherit, or at least be a part of a million dollar Taxi franchise.  To be severed from the family business, due to my father departing from this world first, is a nightmare I could never have imagined.

Thus, the culmination of my Natural Disasters.

Oh, and by the way, the casino chips were genuine.  I sent the blond into the casino on her own as I waited in my car that I parked adjacent to valet parking.  There was no way I was going to go into the casino and stand next to that girl while she passed 25 - $5 chips that she found on the ground, in a white plastic bag, along with 2 hunters knives, outside the door of the visitors annex of the Union County Jail.  Blondie (see previous blogs) later told me that she pawned the knives herself for some pocket change.

So, as my ex "go-go girl" girlfriend emerged through the lobby doors of the Tropicana Casino, with no security guards on her tail, I beeped the horn to alert her as to my location, which I changed after dropping her off.....just in case. 

She hopped in, handed me my cut, and we drove off to another casino up the road, where she proceeded lose her share, and I managed to somehow not even gamble one penny  of it. I just couldn't see driving 2.5 hours to come home empty handed .

As I continue to recount the numerous self inflicted disasters of my life, I am reminded of a glowing bright spot that ventured into my life during the weeks and months that followed the move into my new apartment last year.

This splash of happiness came in the form of a little 4 year old Indian boy named Manu, who resided in the apartment next to mine.  I will save the tale of our meeting and the bond that we developed for a new blog page. This little boy named Manu, who could not speak a word of English, would give my life some meaning again, and help me to understand the power that love and caring for others can have in filling our voids in life.

Natural Disasters meets Natural Phenomenon

ICELAND VOLCANO SPARKS UP SOME LIGHTNING IN THE ATMOSPHERE

I thought this photo of the Iceland Volcano was spectacular, and I wanted to share it with my 20 second viewers.  I have a personal obsession with Vocano(s or es?) as it is.  To be close to one in all its fury must be sensational.

This link  http://www.flickr.com/photos/skarpi/4527797541/sizes/o/ will bring you to the larger photo where the Lightning in the center is much clearer.