So Very Sorry

I am so very sorry that I simply cannot devote time to this blog and you wonderful people. It's a shame, but there it is.

Remember that I'm on Facebook, and we can always stay in touch that way. I will check this blog periodically for any messages/requests.

I have a new job and for the first time in a very long time, my personal life gives me great happiness. So unfortunately there just isn't enough time in the world for everything.

I wish you all health, good fortune, and joy and beg you to stay in touch.

Census Phone Call Follow-Up

I got a call yesterday from the Census bureau. They wanted to follow up and ask additional questions. When they told me I HAD to take their call and it was part of the census, I grew infuriated.

As I pointed out, I'd read nothing about that and it certainly hadn't been mentioned on the census. I'm betting it's not illegal to refuse to answer any additional questions when you've already completely and accurately filled out the questionnaire and sent it in.

Besides, what a great con job it would be if someone called supposedly from the Census Bureau, and asked additional questions (such as your social security number, bank account number, etc.) I wonder how many people would fall for that?

I get a little antsy - I like my privacy. What can I say?

In the end, I chose not to stand on principle and I answered their questions.

What a sell-out!

Islamorada: The Florida Keys

I Need Some Escapism... Any Recommendations?

I hate TV shows because I have to deal with commercials. But I need some serious escapism so I'd like to hear what everyone recommends from books to movies to TV shows I can rent on Netflix (so I can avoid the commercials).

Old Friends

Facebook is truly an amazing resource for finding old friends. I've been thrilled to find some long-lost friends from high school although it's very strange to realize where we've gone in our lives. A couple of my friends have four or more kids. FOUR!

It amazes me, because I knew them when we were young and responsibility was usually never anything we could be accused of.

Obviously if they were total strangers, I wouldn't have the same reaction. For all I know, a perfect stranger has been a responsible geek from age 1 and would be a natural for parenting. But who could ever guess that we would become those wise, nurturing parents that we were always in awe of?

Which gives me hope for mankind.

The Lucrative Rewards for Curing No One

A friend of mine almost died of a drug overdose this weekend.

As I have a "no drug" policy, I have a very hard time feeling any sympathy for someone who makes the self-indulgent choices that I choose not to make. However, because I was the only one this addict could turn to at the time, I was the one who went to the hospital. Twice. Once to take him there for the O.D., and once to take him back during his detox as he was puking up blood.

Yeah, drugs are fun.

I called his best guy friend "Dan", who is a recovered alcoholic. During the weekend drama, Dan texted me saying "Oxys are what's killing everybody, just had an old friend die. He needs to go to rehab."

To which I replied "He's been thru rehab 3-4 times in the last year and a half. He could TEACH it. He needs to simply make up his mind."

Dan wrote "Well then, we will just watch him die, if he doesn't get help somewhere because what u c now is him making up his mind."

And what I said is completely true, given the quality of our rehab clinics. You see, rehab clinics get a ton of government money to conduct classes and therapy sessions for people who have been convicted of illegal drug use, or who qualify for a government program through other avenues.

These clinics can also anesthetize an addict who is going through withdrawal symptoms, so the addict is basically sedated as they come down. This only makes it easier for the addict to get on the stuff again, as there is no real punishment for it: The addict doesn't associate any real pain with the process, and in his opinion, the pain he causes others isn't important.

It also means the clinics get repeat customers, which is very important. After all, short of becoming dealers themselves, they need a constant influx of customers to justify the public funds they're dipping into.

There is one lone voice, crying in the wilderness, and his name is Dr. Stanton Peele. But Dr. Peele's clinic is too successful, in that it teaches self-control and stops the psychobabble which enables the addict. So, Dr. Peele's clients have a vastly lower recidivism rate than standard drug rehab facilities. That makes Dr. Peele a great threat to these clinics, and obviously they all keep hoping he'll just shut up and go away.

So our clinics in the Tampa Bay Area are worthless (and I assume most of them are). As long as they keep coddling our addicts and telling them that their choices are not their fault, they will never get better.

Which is exactly why there are no effective drug treatment centers here.

Dancing With the Harlots

I've written about sleezy kids' dance recitals before. It incensed me then, and still does. Interestingly, the parents at the studio that I wrote about must have thrown a complete fit, because I was dragged unwillingly to this year's dance recital and it was actually in good taste!

But this tendency toward making kids into adorable hooker look-a-likes continues.



The mothers are often the first to defend this poor choice because (obviously) it makes them look very, very bad. Also, they may be re-living their childhoods through their children - we've all seen the desperate mom who obsessively thrusts her kids into anything that she wanted to do when she was young.

But... what's the school's excuse?

One thing's for sure - a child molester can get a floor show cheap these days.