My Sincerest Apologies...

to the breweries and distillers I have so faithfully supported over the years. As of Sunday 26th February, 2006, I have decided to end my consumption of hard liquors and brewed beverages. No exceptions. Not even my beloved tequila or loyal scotch whisky.

I suspect that by saying this publicly there will be more credence to the accomplishment of the task at hand. We'll see how long it lasts this time.

I moved among them and they asked...

Who was that man? Don't you detest any forum (online or not) which requests "a short description of yourself"? You, being the multi-facted creation of experience, education and hereditary, should find a way to introduce yourself adequately in "500 words or less"... Uhh... Okay. Well, just for the fun of it, this is mine:


Me figured out, think you got? Mohawked, dreadlocked, tattooed, pierced biker from the Caribbean with 2 pet pit bulls. Cllichéd does that sound? Surf I love to and have a time all round good. More satisfied person, friends say you won't meet more than me. Christian Hedonist I am, and definitions support each other, I enjoy that the truth of both of those, the majority of the world doesn't understand how. I am for detail a stickler, while a very laid back life enjoying in the paradise. I also like to have fun with others, both ways in that can be taken. Oh, and "words", fun with, too.

I think I'll use that for everything from now on. What do you think?

My dogs bit Kong

I got the babies some new Kong toys over the weekend. They're happier again now.

So am I.

So is the landlord.

C'mon now!

Common sense, I contend contrary to the popular saying, is very common.

Surely we are all capable of what would seem to be the simple task of allowing one plus one to equal two. However, I suspect most individuals (and worse for the populace, most groups) are still ignorant not of what, but of how to enable this invariably advantageous method of observing, perceiving, thinking, and living. It is akin to some parlour trick, some piece of street-corner magic, some simple slight of hand that we all clamour to see over and over, yet are not gifted with the knowledge and ability to employ for ourselves.

Common sense does not require special training. It belongs to no elite privileged group requiring subscriptions or membership fees. In fact, if left to act alone, common sense will inevitably enshroud even the most unperceptive among us with a seemingly clairvoyant ability.

Almost every human being has had the benefit of seeing objectively at least three times in their lives. At least three. At some point almost everyone has been able to enlighten another. Almost every human being has caused the words, "Ahh, that makes sense" to be uttered without having had to put forth any debate in favour of the obvious. It was enough just to shed the illuminating clarity of common sense.

Still we find those among us who are too stubborn, ignorant, dedicated, misguided or lost to see what is plainly presented before them in black and white (because even colour can be debated). I am a firm believer that if the relevant information is provided, the purpose explained, the outcome predicted, even with the directions included in some cases, common sense, as they say, will prevail. I am a firm believer that if given all these factors, an individual maintains a position of ignorant disbelief and incredulous (il)logic, they are unworthy of the opportunity of a new horizon.

Then there are the new "high thinkers" that purport to envision a wiser, less obvious way of interpreting their daily lives. They know what makes sense, they know difference between smart and dumb, they even know that one plus one can have more than one answer. But they are determined to exploit the idea that some ulterior latent meaning exists. In everything. Come on now, if it smells, looks, tastes, sounds and feels like an "A", for crying out loud, maybe, just maybe, it's an "A"!

Common sense is common. Perhaps too common for mankind.

Note of nothing

Forgive me if this brings back the haunting memory of a feeling you once attempted to circumvent.

When called upon for "a few words", many find that they have nothing to offer off the sleeve. Generally speaking, that can be attributed to being caught off guard, unprepared, or simply out of one's field of comfort. Conversely, when the topic has been studied, timelines have been given and focus is dedicated to a task, and once again, one finds oneself without words, it is referred to as writer's block. A mental incapacity to overcome the perceived pressure which disallows the creativity, or at least the information, to flow.

However, why is it when you have nothing to say, no one to say it to, and no reason try, you are most compelled to create? Is there a magnetism that exists in mental voids as does the failing of a supernova in the creation of the theoretic black hole? At our most Stygian, banal moment, it is torturous to discover the personal desire to shine.

Here do I find myself, pondering why I must write what I have not, and yet do not plan to conceive...