Tell The Police I Didn’t Cook Your Dog

When a reader complains about my headlines being too outrageous my first thought is to email his wife and tell her that she needs to get him some help. Maybe it is professional or maybe she can massage a smile onto his face. I don’t really know, I am not a shrink.

But I am a troublemaker, gadfly, rabble rouser and big brother which means that I have been known to stir the pot a time or two.

I Got F*cked

Outside of headlines I am not afraid  to spell out that I got fucked and not in the kind of way that would make me smile or lie down and think about how wonderful the world is.

Been thinking about that post and Remember When I Punched That Wolf In The Face and conducting a sort of year end mental review. Call it an internal house cleaning or just basic introspection and I’ll nod my head and smile.

Smile because one hell of a bad chunk of life seems to be mostly behind me. One long period of being beaten, badgered, buggered and all sorts of other less pleasant moments is how I look at those things in the rear view mirror of life.

Doesn’t mean that I don’t have moments where I hold my breath and wait for the sky to fall or that proverbial other shoe to drop because I do.

Don’t particularly like that response but sometimes we train ourselves to respond in certain ways so now I am working on training myself to respond…differently.

How Much Control Do We Really Have?

How much control do we have over life and what happens to us? If you ask me I’ll tell you we have next to no control over quite a bit of it.

I can’t make people do what I want them to do or force them to act in any manner other than their own choice. Yeah, I know some of you will come up with examples that prove otherwise. I am physically capable of forcing many to adjust their behavior but this isn’t about coercion or bribery.

It is about daily life and the things that happen. I couldn’t stop the economy from crashing and the impact it had upon me and so many others. Couldn’t prevent a brain tumor from killing a friend or a common thief from shooting a father.

All I can do is work upon my own attitude and choose how I wish to act or react.

I used to hate when people said that but I have found it to be quite powerful and useful. That means I try to pay attention and recognize the important moments and look for ways to turn situations into something more enjoyable and beneficial than they may start out.

Find possibility and turn it into opportunity.

Just Write

Been ridiculously busy with some things and consequently haven’t been able to write the way I want to. It is a bit frustrating because the constant interruptions and chaos makes it more challenging to produce the kind of pieces I want to but from a different perspective it is an opportunity.

An opportunity to continue to train myself how to just run and roll with the punches. A chance to see if I can figure out a way to work more effectively under adverse conditions.

But it doesn’t mean that there aren’t moments where I think about sending the neighbor a note asking them not to tell the police I cooked their dog.

Maybe that would help them understand that even those of us who love dogs grow tired of hours long howling and barking.

And now life calls and it is time to resume working.