RANTS FROM OBLIVION

Hey, ya bored?
Apparently, some people are.
I never realized until today just how bored they are.
Let's face it, people want to be entertained almost constantly - TV, friends, sports, drinking, love and romance (aka sex), travel, etc, etc...
Well, what if you've tired of all the fruits of joy? What if you've done it all, seen it all, been everywhere, know everything?
I heard a song today and the guy was singing "you caint do nuttin fer me aint been done by someone for me before"
This guy is definitely bored. Boring too, I'd say. But let's not get personal.
And then today I came across a gizmo to help this bored individual, as well as all those poor over-satiated, over-indulged, jaded folks hanging around with frowns on their faces.
The picture above is of what appeared to be initially, a remote.
But AHHH, upon closer scrutiny, a particularly perspicacious plumber, Rich Majewski, found the answer to so many peoples' prayers. As he studied the remote's functions, one specific button caught his attention. The picture below basically says all you need to hear, see, touch, taste, or smell:



Second button down on the right is screamin for a squeeeeze - go 'head, try it.

So now all you need is to push a button and fun rains down on you - parades begin in your honor, dignitaries invite you to dinner, superstars are IM'ing you, policemen protect you, you can actually DANCE! not that disjointed 'Elaine-dance' you've been offending friends and family with at weddings and circumcisions - hmmm, maybe that was confirmation - I cant remember. But damn, you sho nuff boogeyin' now.
Wow, fun. Who'd have thought it could be so easy??!?!? And so cheap?? - just the cost of a remote....
Ha! Not so hasty my little tasty pudding pop. Unfortunately that remote is connected to one little requirement - you must be "successful". How else ya gonna be able to AFFORD that $6,500 pricetag attached to it?
DAMN! so close. You should know by now that happiness isnt cheap. Happiness requires unwavering purpose, intensity, unrelenting tenacity, sacrifice, wisdom fortitude, knowledge, piety, (hmmmm, its beginning to sound verrrry Catholic) but the list continues for about 2 or 3 more paragraphs....
So all is lost, eh?
Nahhhh.
Fun fortunately is right there on the end of your fingertips. All ya gotta do is lighten the fuck up - dont be so up tight - keep it simple - chiiilllll - mellow down easy. Well that's no easy matter either bucko. One of the hardest things to do is to Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) It takes years of understanding the universe to get to that zen spot that'll take you out of that state of compulsion - the compulsion to be successful, or yes, even to be enlightened.
Cause one day you wake up and you say to yourself - fuck this crap, I'm just gonna have fun and thats when you realize you dont need no stinkin "fun gun" - the damn "fun" was in you, fucking with you right from the beginning.
So chuck the remote and go kiss your dog or kick 'im if you're wierd and thats what kinda kicks it takes to get you off - ya goddam wierdo! YOU need a shrink!!!

Love and kisses

CULTURAL DIVERSITY:
(CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS)
LEFT - RON, SERIOUS GOOD OLD BOY WITH EXPERIENCE GALORE

RIGHT - MATT, ARCHITECTURAL STUDENT WITH PIERCINGS GALORE










GETTIN PRIMED FOR MARDI GRAS
















HOME WHERE I'M STAYING BY THE FRENCH QUARTER











HOUSE I'M WORKING ON - ORIGINALLY THIS WAS COMPLETELY GUTTED DOWN TO THE BARE STUDS AND CEILING JOISTS








CHECK THE CROWN MOLDING IN COFFERED CEILINGS

OK, I'm new to New Orleans and tonite its the Eagles vs the Saints. Now I'm truly a Giants fan thru and thru - GO GIANTS....and although I'll feel bad for all my friends who are Eagle fans as the Saints head to the Super Bowl, I wont feel THAT bad.

Found a lot (with a house yet to be demolished on it) in a neighborhood that once was nice, before Katrina, and you can see the original folks are back, hard at work rebuilding their homes. This lot/house had a garage on it too. $30,000 - great price. Across the street a new home - nice looking - is just about finished and just sold for $160k.
Housing prices are really starting to climb so a lot for 30k is pretty special. The picture on the right is the original floorplan/ad/description for the house when they had it built years ago.

I walked in the garage and you could see that the owner, who's an elderly gent, had a little shop and an office and the wood he'd stockpiled in the shop area was all askew and twisted and ruined; the office was all moldy. The rusted desk was still there with evidence of life as it had known, but abruptly stopped dead still. It's in that moment that you can sense the human toll. That this home was somebody's reason to get up in the morning to make a better life for their family, cooking breakfasts and Thanksgiving dinners for years; somebody's sense of security, their peace and joy - the Christmas Eves, graduations, proms, weddings. Now just a target for the wrecking ball - rendered meaningless and being essentially given away to the highest bidder. And you look down the block and you see 30 more homes and the lives attached to them all permanently changed. And the next block is the same and the next mile and the next.
It's overwhelming. Then I found out next door to the house I was looking, the owner had drowned right there in his own home.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a lot on my mind and finally did my meditation where I feel all of myself as being one and the same with all of the universe and an expansive peace calmed my soul. Thanks God!

I'm glad I'm down here. I can't wait to do some good for someone. I should be settled by next month. I'm in a cute old New Orleans shotgun style home about 4 blocks from the French Quarter on a beautiful old avenue - Esplanade. My God, there is some spectacular ante-bellum architecture all around. A coupla blocks off the main drag tho, and it's the mean streets, so in the midst of beauty you have to remember that the undercurrent that aint so pretty is right around the corner. Gun shots on New Years Eve right outside - sounded like a 44 magnum - that deep fat cartridge sound - POP POP POP POP. You brace yourself.