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Wow. I am so excited about using this stuff I don’t know what to do with myself. I hope more people start using it. We are about to paint over our paneling with Freshaire choice paint from Home Depot. I was kind of bummed at first, because I read that I would need to put a latex primer over the paneling first. I didn’t think the environmentally friendly paint was going to fit the bill, but as it turns out. The pain is latex and they carry a drywall primer. Perfect for what i’ll be doing this summer. Man … am I excited. More on this later, just wanted to get the link out there.
Today’s chapter is called “Showdown.” And that is exactly what it is about. A showdown between what I call semi-antagonists. There is a Monkey Fist involved. I can tell you that much. The outcome of thses events will set in motion the final bits of rising action that will dominate that final third of the book. I am currently listening to Modest Mouse among others.
Environment … boy what a catch phrase that doesn’t mean anything anymore, eh? “Save the envirionment?” What does that mean? I have a magnet that says “support our environment,” but what does that mean? When someone looks at the back of my vehicle, I am instantly stereotyped as a tree hugging sissy who doesn’t understand how the world works and who is overly conscientious. At least, every time I turn on the TV, that’s how I feel.
I was watching Mind of Mencia last night, and well, I have to admit, I find that he has a lot of truth to spray accross the airwaves and a lot of humor to go with it. But he said it himself … right and wrong is only based on one’s perspective. That is true, right and wrong is very heavily based on perspective, but it seems to me, that perspective can and is often used irresponsibly or without good logic. Still, how could you prove that if it is based on perspective? But that is not even my point. Last night on his show, Carlos Mencia made his round of attacking people including: Whites, blacks, Asians, vegetatrians … there were others I am sure … but then he went on to attack what he called the people that really piss him off. Last night … it was Prius owners.
Apparently, Prius owners think they are better than everyone else because they are helping their environment and no one else is. Prius owners are tree hugging MF’s that need to STF up and stop looking
down on everyone. Honestly I don’t even remember exactly what he said (Forgive me, it was early in the morning). I could look for the transcript of the show, but … it’s not that important to me. My purpose is not to criticize Carlos Mencia, my purpose is to show that he difined what I already feel is a problem.
First of all, I don’t own a Prius. I would like to own one someday, but that day is not today. However, if I had the money, I would have a Prius. And I would buy it because in some little way it would help the environment (whatever that means anymore) and I would also buy it because it would help me save money on gas. I would not buy it,however, so I could drive around and make everyone think I was better than them because I drive a Prius, and I think I am helping the environment and no one else is. That would be the same as me joining the Peace Corps and proceeding to think I am better than other people who are not a part of the Peace Corps. Now I will admit, I am not perfect. I have a dislike for the way society functions a lot of times, but that is because I am naturally cynical. I still don’t think that means I think that I am better than anyone else either because most of the time, I gripe, because I am good at it and it makes me and my friends laugh.
Nevertheless, I find nature to be a terribly important commodity that i wish more people would learn to enjoy and appreciate. 
At the same time, I hope that they don’t learn to enjoy it, so that it stays more well preserved with less visitors to national parks and such. And yes, a selfish part of me doesn’t want them there when I go, but the honest side of me knows that I always have good experiences with people when I get out in nature. Maybe that has something to do with nature’s positive affect on people, and I’m not talking about tree hugging either. Getting back to the point, I don’t think I am better than other people because I believe in helping the environment, and i don’t think people who drive Priuses are any different. What scares me about this entire statement about Prius owners is this: not that Carlos Mencia decided to pick on Prius owners, but that after his statement there was a strong applause from the audience. It was one of those hearty applauses that implies that they agreed with what he was saying. To me, the scary part is, whether Carlos really meant it or not (and I hope that he did not and was merely trying to be funny), a lot of other people really do feel that way. They just don’t like environmentalists.
“Why is that” I ask? Is it because all envrionmentlists look down on everyone else and think they are better than everyone else? Is it because they think that all we want to do is stand around and tell them they can’t drive their SUV’s and farmers can’t use their giant gas guzzling trucks? It saddens me to see this. I don’t want to do that. I am not here to tell everyone else I am better than them. If anything, nature helps you realize how much you need to depend on each other and work together. All the same, I do believe we are falling behind in an issue that is very serious. For too long, we have lived away from the land and off of it, but not in and among it. I do not think we should drop everything and go back to the woods, but I do think we need to recognize the dangers of excvessive living both from an environmental perspective, and from a spiritual or psychological perspective.
Is it your right and perspective to say, “Environmentalists want to take everything away from us.”? Absolutely it is your right, does that make it true? No. Does it help to solve problems? Well I guess that depends on what your perspective is. But I can tell you that ignoring dangers because you refuse to understand them can be detrimental. Besides, what is so terrible about nature? Nature is the Earth. Earth is Nature. Man is only a part of that. Man, alone, is not the Earth, and Man, alone, certainly is not Nature. You can’t take up a lead pencil and expect it to 
write in blue ink. It just won’t happen. You can’t ignore the warning signs of the earth and act surprised when the shit hits the fan. You can’t build up a concrete and air conditioned society and ignore the fact that nature was here first and is what were are. You can’t eat rocks and you’ll be breathing air conditioned carbon if you don’t start hugging a few trees here and there.
So again, it saddens me to see all these people mocking Prius owners as if they are some inferior breed, when in fact they are embracing our future while everyone else is desperately clinging to the past. It saddens me that I have to sit in a job and listen to people rattle on about how Global Warming is a hoax and blah, blah blah … come on people … even if Global Warming was a hoax … there is no denying that pollution exists and it is only getting worse. Who cares what the immediate affects are or are not? The environment, that is the air we breathe and the food we eat, and the animals that help keep the food chain going and the trees that give us oxygen as they open their arms to hug us because ,come on, we give them the carbon they need; the environment still needs to be preserved and protected from human overconsumption and irresponsibility.
So, it saddens me to see the earth fading into oblivion right under the eyes of those who refuse to believe the truth. You know, people refused to believe Hitler was capable of genocide until it was much, too late.
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… and we’re back on …
I can’t believe it. The Orân, she came back up without a hitch. This is a cause for celebration because you just don’t understand how many times I have had to revive her from near death experiences. She’s mostly in good shape, but she has a loose processor. My computer spends most of its time leaning to one side. I call it the Oran because it is named after something in my book. There have been complete sets of weeks when I couldn’t get her to sit correctly and get back up an running. The fact that she came back up so easily is simply fantastic.
Well, I had an unexpected visitor today. And I wanted to give her credit for a wonderful post on her site about winter. It is a touching remark about peace and snow. I responded to it, because she had left a comment on my site and I felt appreciative, but I liked what I wrote, so I’m going to re-post it here.
Winter is beautiful when it snows. Unfortunately, Tennessee seems to get less and less of it each year. As a teacher, I pray and beg the powers at be to let it snow, just like I did when I was a child, both in hopes of getting out of school. Tennesseans can’t handle snow, you know. I guess that’s why it doesn’t snow as much. Or is that Global Warming? I’m not sure. But I do remember a few rare “blizzards” in my childhood, and the silence. The whisper and patter of stealthy white flakes sewing together their magnificent blanket. I remember a gentle breeze that rustled no leaves; only moved the flakes a little to the right or the left. Peace is a beautiful thing that I think nature gives to us. Whether you believe in a God or not, peace is granted to us all. Wonderful memory. Thanks for sharing.
The movement of the study to its new location downstairs is commencing now. This means I will be disabling my already volatile computer system and hoping that it will turn back on once it is in place. As things are, we will just have to see. Everyone of me keep your fingers crossed. May God bless this transfer …
see you on the other side …
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Well, with my wife being pregnant, I have doing a lot of cleaning, and with it being the end of the teaching year, there is quite a lot to clean up. Yesterday, I cleaned the Kitchen, the Living room, and the Bedroom foyer (our bedroom has two sections makes me sound rich don’t it). In addition to cleaning those areas of the house, I also swept and mopped all of them plus the downstairs. We have a couple of three dogs that like to drop their hair every where, and our little dogs are in the habit of dropping other things. SO in an effort to combat that, we are putting ourselves on a schedule and I have cleaned all the floors with vinegar in hopes to get rid of any traces of smell. I still have the spare bedroom and the study to get to, but we’re re-assigning those rooms, so I’ll be moving a lot of furniture as well. Also, we’ve hired a behaviorist for Bree, the German Shepherd because she has developed some over-protective tendencies. We will be meeting with her later this week. I couldn’t believe there actually was one in Knoxville. Soon, I intend to start writing about hybrid cars and such.
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- A.K.A – Bree
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- She’s the Princess
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- Sam
