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Take a look at the world through my eyes.

The Disclaimer

I must apologize for the lack of congruency of some of these blogs. I actually started writing these at the beginning of 2006. These were only blogcasted through a closed circuit of e-mail friends who every now and then responded. I tried to keep as many responses as possible. But unfortunately many have been lost. This at times will make some blogs seem kind of chopped up.
If you are offended or insulted by the content of any of these blogs, my apologies. But then again, perhaps it is just what you needed!
Also if you find your name in any of these blogs I am obviously talking about somebody else with the same name. You’re not the center of the universe you know. Gaud!!!
Proper spelling is not something that I have ever really understood. I really do not know how this particular activity ever came into existence. Therefore I do not participate.

The Blog Cast

All blogs written by the author are broadcast via e-mail. If you are interested in getting "The Blog Cast" please contact Rusty at rustyfirestone@gmail.com so he can add you to the list.

Rusty the Baby

Rusty the Baby
My first blog!

Three Religiions

Three Religiions
Facing the wall

Sat., December 12, 2009, Captains Blog: Drugs

Several weeks ago I was headed to the “Chapare” (the tropical region of Cochabamba) with some friends of mine who were visiting from the US. The Chapare is a local touristic tropical town where many like to go down to get out of the altitude to see the tropical fauna, fish and relax. The Chapare also has yet another fame (or shall I call it an infamy) and that is that it is a non-traditional growing zone for coca. Coca is the plant from which cocaine is made from. Now to be fair the Bolivian natives have been chewing the coca leaf for like a Brazilian years! (Joke) Seriously though it was a pre-Columbian product which was shipped around the Incan empire and was (still is) consumed on a daily basis. For those of you who are not familiar with coca the simple chewing of the leaf give you no more of an effect than drinking coffee in the am. It takes something to the tune of several bales of coca to make a couple of grams of cocaine. Now I say that the Chapare is a non-traditional growing zone is because the traditional zone here in Bolivia has always been in a place called “Los Yungas” which is the tropical zone of La Paz. The Chapare became a growing zone sometime in the early to mid 1970’s if I am not mistaken. As the matter of fact for you movie buffs if you saw the movie Scare Face there is a scene where a guy gets pushed out of a helicopter over and into a jungle. The subtitles say “Cochabamba, Bolivia” which is actually the Chapare region.
Anyway back to my story. As we were headed down to Villa Tunari, the main population center of the Chapare, saw something rather interesting. I saw a little old woman drying coca leaves on the side of the road. The reason this was interesting is that 3-5 years ago this was unheard of. I do not go to the Chapare that often. As the matter of fact the last time I was down there before my visit with my friends was about 5 years ago and at that time the coca harvest was strictly controlled. So the cultivation of coca was almost all but prohibited in this region. You can understand my surprise to see the blatant cultivation of coca on the side of the road whereas before this was done way deep in the jungle far from the prying eyes of the Narco Police.
Why this is happening is that we have had a president who sympathizes with the coca growers of Bolivia. As the matter of fact he used to be a coca grower himself. He just finished his first term and was just re-elected this last Sunday for a term of office which is for the next 5 years.
I was just talking to a friend of mine who just got back from Argentina yesterday. While he was there he said that the local Narcs caught a barge headed for the open seas that contained 5 metric tons of cocaine in in the River Plate. This is the estuary that divides Northern Argentina from Southern Uruguay. It is pretty obvious from where this came from. Since Mr. Evo Morales has kicked out the American DEA from Bolivia I was told that most of their operations would be concentrated in the countries around Bolivia to catch it coming out. But as I see it this is like the little Dutch boy trying to stop a leak in a dike while the storm is raging. As a result there has been a huge economy boom in Bolivia. It is no wonder why Mr. Morales had a landslide victory.
Once again to be fair the drug trade is not new to power building as a mechanism. The US economy would collapse completely if it were not for the drug trade. I am told that the largest cash crop in the US is Marijuana. Then there all those “party drugs” that both Americans and Europeans can’t seem to live without.
If you go back in history you will see that the largest (official) Empire the planet has ever known was fueled for a large part by a drug trade. When people think of opium most will think of a Chinese drug. But it is not very popularly known that most of the opium consumed in the 18th and 19th centuries in China was cultivated and refined in India. It was the British companies and merchants who then shipped it into China. China came to a point that its officials said opium was degenerate and made the importation illegal. British reaction to this was to reject this ordinance. They then started sailing frigates up and down the Yellow River blasting every port town in site. These activities became known as the First and Second Opium Wars. It kind of brings our beloved American Revolution into context. How much money was the British Empire really profiting off of 13 small colonies? There was some money coming out of agricultural trade but did it justify the costs of the military presence that the British had there or even all the local conflicts with the other local colonial powers? I mean they could not even make any money off of tea there!  So when the thirteen colonies rebelled it seems it was just a matter of pride for the British to keep their holdings in North America. I am willing to bet that at this time the income from the Far East mammothed what was coming out of North America. The king I believe it was George at the time must have said “It is just not worth fighting over, is it? We’ve got something much nicer in the orient. Let them go….perhaps we’ll try back again in 1812.” Ah but what a glorious revolution it was for us Americans!
After looking at historical and modern economies I am finding it difficult to see how it is correct for both North American and European powers to put pressure on the supply end of the market of a small impoverished country like Bolivia when they are doing very little to curb their own appetites. I only see hypocrisy in the way that these major powers after profiting so much themselves off of the drug trade when they put pressure on one of the poorest countries on the southern hemisphere. If the US were to put as much money as they have out into the “Drug War” into neighborhood rehabilitation centers and centers for children at risk I don’t think that the drug trade in the US or anywhere else would look like it does now. But then again this is not profitable is it? Where there is a supply there is a demand. Also please don’t get me wrong. I have high respect for those out on the street putting their lives at risk in Law enforcement. The decisions need to be made from the top. We as citizens need to support those who are willing to look out for the public of their countries. We may say we do not sin as we are not direct consumers so we do not commit the sin of commission but many times we do not support those who are willing to do things directly in our community and this is a sin of omission. The community around us is all we have and we need to find ways of protecting and making it better. It is our responsibility. We cannot go on putting the blame on impoverished countries half a world away. The problem is on your doorstep.

Peace be with you.
FeO2

Dec. 4th 2009, Captains Blog: The bi-monthly randomocity

Last night we started to get in the spirit of Christmas amid the summer evening storms which have been assailing our small City of Cochabamba. The tree was put up and the usual sibling fussiness was dealt with. Then the kids were finally put off to bed. We decided to have a night cap as we listened to some music in order to calm our nerves. I would like to say that we had a nice time as we sipped on our glasses but in reality we devoured the bottle, but still a nice time. Then Tammy mentioned something that was interesting. “You know a friend said to me that Cochabamba is much like the mythical fortress of Camelot. In Camelot it would rain all night and be sunshiny during the day” Which is true because as of late it has been hot and sunny during the day and rainy at night. Later that evening I sat out on the bedroom balcony with only a comforter wrapped around my body watching an electrical storm roll in while listening to the rain fall. Occasionally I would turn to look at my wife’s slender figure shrouded buy a white blanket appear and disappear while she slumbered. It truly is a magnificent place this Cochabamba.
To speak more on Bolivia we have our national president and parliament elections this Sunday. I am afraid that the outcome is already known quite well but right now but it is my opinion that the race is to determine how parliament will be divided up. The opposition is trying desperately to gain a foothold here in order to balance power. It will be interesting to see how right fits against left. There has been much mudslinging. Just the other day I saw home video footage on the news of a crew of workers loading up suspicious looking voter boxes into the back of a pickup truck that had no tags but had political party banners all over it. I’m thinking “Could somebody be careful enough to take off the license plates and then leave political banners all over the vehicle while performing such a nefarious activity? Or is it some kind of a set up. But then again I have been wrong before when I have thought ‘Nobody can be that stupid!’” I don’t know.
Also an interesting note about the incumbents (president and vice-president) is that they are both post middle-aged bachelors. For this they have been accused of being homosexuals and many times being direct partners. Then to combat these rumors the spokes people for the president state “This man cannot be a homosexual! Just look at the amount of illegitimate children he has had.” Also in one of the current presidents life movies(as there have been several) it depicts him as a partying bachelor which in several scenes show him whoring in a whore house in the Chapare region with the local cholitas (indigenous women). I guess that is all the proof we should need that the man is straight Not really that I care about the amount of Levitical laws the man violates in his bedroom. Still a far cry from US politics….or is it?
Either way there are real issues that are in the balance. To name a few are as follows. How will Bolivia define its relationship with the US, Chavez, and Cuba? Is Bolivia a pluri-nationalistic nation or not, or what does that even mean? What is to be done with the exploration and exploitation of Bolivia’s natural resources (which there are many gigantic reserves of all sorts almost untouched)? What about national health care? (Sound familiar?) What of Bolivia’s ever deteriorating infrastructure? Etc.
Keep Bolivia in your hearts and thoughts on Sunday.
Coming clean straight from Camelot
FeO2

Wed. 30, Sept. 2009, Captains Blog: Huayna Potosi 6,000 meters/ 19,999.999999999 feet above sea level.

Thursday, September 24th of this wretched year of our Lord 2009, Base Camp ¨Delta¨ 11,000 feet above sea level. Today is the first day of our trip up Mount Huayna Potosi (why-na, po-to-see) 6,095 meters/19,996 feet meters above sea level.
1:30 pm
For the first leg of the trip we were delayed about one hour in Jorge Wilsterman Airport in Cochabamba as modern air travel commonly dictates. But we finally left and arrived in La Paz the capital of Bolivia where the climbing company picked us up to drive us to the shop to be fitted for gear. Then it was back on to the transport and out of town to the base camp where we were to spend the night and acclimatize.
On the way up we went through several valleys. One of the most notable things that was pointed out was the place where the Chacaltaya Glacier used to be. This was a 3,000 year old glacier that has melted away in the last 5 or so years. It was the highest ski range in the world while it existed. Now there is nothing but a bunch of broken rocks where it used to sit. I shake my head when I think that I actually know people who do believe that global warming does not even exist.
Upon arrival at the base camp we were briefed by Sabino (our mountain guide) on what the weekend schedule would be. He then served us lunch which turned out to be better than what I thought it would be. Before the weekend I plan to make an outrageous and ridiculous demand of him. I just don’t know what that will be yet. I will have to rely on my wit and creativity.
7:40 pm
Tammy and I took a nap shortly after lunch. Surprisingly we slept for 2 hours. After waking up we went on a walk around the base camp. We discovered a lake that was damned which generates the electricity for the City of La Paz. The weather was interesting as it would go from being cold from cloud cover to really hot when the clouds would roll away. The whole walk was this way in that the weather was in a constant flux of change much like the altitude headaches that would drift in and out of my head. I thank God for the coca I was constantly chewing as it helped stave off the altitude sickness.
After our walk when we got back to the cabin we met Dave the Swiss guy. But from now on we shall refer to him as Dave ¨the out house Bogarter¨.

Friday, 25th of September, 2009, acclamation camp ¨Charlie¨, 17,000 feet above sea level.
5:00 pm
Yesterday I was talking to Sabino about climbing conditions. I happened to state in a rather detached way ¨One must respect the mountain¨ to which he nodded. I then for some reason went on to state with out thinking much ¨One must respect the Pachamama¨ Then he gave me a very grave look and said ¨Yes that is the most important part of our activity.¨ The pachamama is a part of the ancient Incan religious system. Many high planes indigenous people still believe that Pachamama (mother earth) controls all that is good above ground. She controls the weather, the crops and all nature. Interestingly enough the act of mining is considered to be an act of rape against Pachamama. When a miner is under ground he is at the mercy of ¨El Tio¨ or the Devil. Pachamama has no domain of anything that happens under the earth. All of the mountain guides have really strong views on the Pachamama cult.
Tammy and I just climbed from Base Camp ¨Delta¨ to acclamation camp ¨Charlie¨. On the way up we met several other climbers coming down. They reported favorable conditions. Even so many of them were not able to summit the peak.
I feel the altitude here much more. Tammy and I took about 2 hours to do some gear orientation with Sabino. We suited and geared up and ice trekked up to camp ¨Bravo¨. The view was great. We looked down on the ¨Altiplano¨ the high planes and also ¨El Glaciar Viejo¨ The Old Glacier¨.
I also had my first hand at ice climbing. It is a very exhausting activity. Even more so at these altitudes. It is food, coca leaves and coca tea that are keeping me from being on my hands and knees wretching. Tonight we are all to be in bed at 7 in order to get up at 12:30 am to begin our final ascent up to the 20,000 foot summit.
Saturday, 26th of September, 2009, La Paz, 8,500 feet above sea level.
11:00 pm
I just had one of the longest days of my life!! I got up this morning to suit and gear up at 1:00am. 13 people were divided up into 5 groups for the climb. We set out at 2 am. We then walked for 4 hours over snow and ice for what seemed to be straight up. Our group Sabino, Tammy and I were all tethered together by a rope and personal harnesses. As the minutes turned into hours of tramping the air grew thinner and thinner. After about 3 hours Tammy turned to me with a tear streaked face and said ¨I am really not liking you right now¨. She was referring to the fact that this was all my idea.
The sun finally came up. It was one of the most magnificent sun rises I have ever seen. Of course it was accentuated by one of the darkest nights I have experienced. So it could be a biased statement. Also the light revealed the depth of the crevasses that we had been jumping across all night. Many were hundreds of feet deep.
We summated around 8:00 am. The final hurdle to reach the peak was a 10 to 15 foot ice wall climb. This is very difficult at 20,000 feet but once at the top the view was spectacular. It was like standing on the top of the world. To one side I could see Lake Titicaca the highest navigable lake in the world which also meant I was also looking across the boarder into Peru. On the other side I could see La Paz, Mount Illimani, and the ocean of clouds over the tropical zone of the La Paz department known as ¨Los Yungas¨.
I suppose that when you look at the numbers of this climb it does not seem that impressive. But when you are in a place where every 5 steps completely leaves you out of breath, you have to concentrate on not vomiting, and your head feels like it is about to explode things come into perspective.
Sunday, 27th of September 2009, El Alto International Airport, La Paz 10,000 feet above sea level.
10:00 am
As I sit here at a table I stare at a full view of Huana Potosi the mountain I now have a very intimate relationship with. There is somehow a holy presence to this mountain. There are many faiths that have deep respect for mountains. Christianity is one such faith. Moses was given the 10 commandments on the mountain. Christ’s most famous sermon was given on a mountain. But one of my favorites for the use of this blog is that fatherly love was taught through the story of Isaac and Jacob on a mountain. Many might say ¨No that is a horrible story to talk about fatherly love! ¨ I disagree. I think it is a great story to talk about the love a father has for his son. It is the basis for the Christian faith as a matter of fact. God tested Jacobs love and found it to be strong by using a very difficult test. Many times a mountain will not be easy on you, It will test you very nerve. But with time a sense of satisfaction will lead to respect and an intimate relationship that feels very much like the love that a father and a son will share….if that makes any sense to you my reader.
Also as I sit here and look and Huayna Potosi I see that it is now covered from top to bottom with fresh blanket of snow. It started to snow yesterday as we were descending. It seems that we got in the last good couple of days of the season.
I am now looking forward to Mount Illimani for next season. That one stands at 6438 meters/21,122 feet above sea level. It took out an Easter Airlines jet back in the early 80´s. He is one bad dude. We will see you there.

FeO2

Monday, June 29, 2009, :Thoughts on post mortem and “Remember God is always right”

Captains Blog: Thoughts on post mortem and “Remember God is always right”
Well last week I ended my monthly membership at the Gymn a friend and I were training at. I decided I was going to change my routine for another type of exercise which is more of a mountain scaling type training.
I could not help but reminisce on the times me and my best friend had in the gym together. The daily experience was usually a physical duress mixed with moments of philosophical enlightenment. On the last day of lucidity and pain I and my work-out companion were reminiscing on the meaning of life between vigorous pulls on a low row machine. We were going through the different activities of the human existence that made life bearable. I am not sure how but some way all this existentialism kept being interrupted female passerby with particularly rounded out hind quarters wrapped in tight leotards. Luckily these interruptions only lasted the two seconds it took her to walk by.
Where was I? Ah yes existentialism. Anyway we were going through that which classified the human experience in a list form. Some of these were the first alcohol experience, grade school mortification, being with a woman, siring a child…etc. Then it dawned on me. I said “Is killing another man a part of the human experience? Because if so this is not something I may never know. What about you?” This to which my companion paused thoughtfully and replied “There was that time I almost killed you.” This of course took me off guard for a moment then I smiled. “Ah yes but luckily I had the foresight to hide all but one of your cartridges and the only one I left you I emptied out all the shot out of so you were just shooting blanks. Ha, who da fool now!”
Enough of that rot… I took my son, Thomas, to see the Transformers over the weekend. There was a host of new additions to the pantheon of characters but as far as special effects I felt that most of what I was seeing was the same as the first movie. I will admit there was some new effects but hardly made it worth the hours that I spent in the theater. What did make it worth while was definitely not the lack of plot and predictability of the out come but the fact that as soon as the lights came on at the end of the movie I looked over at my 10 year old son to see stars in his eyes and smoke coming out of his ears. He looked at me and said ¨That was awesome!!¨. It was at that point when I realized that every 10 year old boy wants to be Sam or some kind of variant of Optimus Prime. Interestingly enough they did incorporate into the story where a hero, a Colossus, dies and then comes back to life to save the world. Where have I heard that one before? Speaking of ripping off Greeks and other traditions there was also an element of stealing the earth’s sun in a Modern Day Prometheus fashion. Apparently the movie did rake in colossal profits over the weekend despite bad reviews. I guess it was guys like me who were hanging out with their 10 year old sons. This BTW did make it worth seeing. So my suggestion to you the reader is to see this movie ONLY if you have a 10 year old son or 10 year old male relative who will make it worth your whilel. Let it be known that I wanted to go see Up with Tammy and Maddy. Damn the modern multiplex!!!
Later that day…in the evening to be exact, I decided to watch a different movie to wind down and to also to continue my Hellenistic experience. This movie was Zorba the Greek. I was fascinated as this was a movie taken from one of my favorite novels written by one of my favorite authors Nikos Kazinstakis. The movie was masterfully directed by Anthony Quinn who starred as Zorba as well. It was one of the few movies which actually caught the spirit of a book in cinematic form. It shows Zorba a simple man who embraces life as it comes. He loves women and believes that friendship is the most important treasure there is on earth. When his friend and “Boss”, the young English narrorator of the story, says that he does not want to pursue a relationship with a beautiful young widow on the island of Crete he says “I do not want to cause trouble”. Then Zorba ensues with one of my favorite quotes of the movie and perhaps the thought which encapsulates the whole film as well as Mr. Kazinstakis’ novel: “Boss!! “Life is trouble, to live is to cause trouble and there will be no trouble when you are dead!”



Cause some trouble this week!


FeO2

“Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. “ Roman 6:9


This one is for my Pops who is a child of the sixties. It’s a Roger Whittaker.
I don’t believe in if anymore
“Now if you load your rifle right
And if you fix your bayonet so
And if you kill that man my friend
The one we call the foe
And if you do it often lad
And if you do it right
You'll be a hero overnight
You'll save your country from her plight
Remember God is always right
if you survive to see the sight
A friend now greeting foe

No you won't believe in if anymore
It's an illusion
It's an illusion
No you won't believe in if anymore
If is for children
If is for children
Building daydreams

If I knew then what I know now
(I thought I did you know somehow)
If I could have the time again
I'd take the sunshine leave the rain
If only time would trickle slow
Like rain that melts the fallen snow
If only Lord if only
If only Lord if only

Oh I don't believe in If anymore
It's an illusion
It's an illusion
No I don't believe in If anymore
If is for children
If is for children
Building daydreams…..”

“I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying.”. Woody Allen


¨The only thing I do gracefully is fall from grace¨ Rusty Firestone

Sunday, June 7, 2009: Captains Bolg ¨Plan B is that if all else fails he will just become a Franciscan monk with an internet community¨

This was my statement when I was predicting my fathers plan to Tammy about my hia move to Tarija, Bolivia. Then Tammy stated ¨That would be a great opening line for a comedy novel. Unfortunately it is too close to reality. Either way I do support all of his emotional endeavours.
Speaking of community I did attend my the local water syndicate meeting this morning. Living here in Tiquipaya, Bolivia (a rural suburb of Cochabamba) where we do not have a city water system so the community formed a syndicate. It was interesting as most of the people that attend tend to be mostly “campesinos” or country folk of indigenous racial decent. The meetings for the most part are held in the local language of Quechua which I do not speak. Who’s fault is that?!?! Anywho as I walked into the room I could smell that half the people were chewing coca as the locals have for several thousands of years and they were all staring at me as I was the only white boy in the crowd. I new that most of them new who I was as North Tiquipaya is a very small community and they see my riding my bicycle around on a very common basis and many are aware of the social projects that I direct in the local and greater community. The feeling of the meeting had a very Cezar Chavez twist to it. It was not very different than having a meeting out in the fields. I was reminded of the movie that I watched last night Blood in, Blood out. A movie about a group of half brothers who were torn by the LA gang culture. What made me think of this movie is the fact that there was this character who was having a conversation who was the major gang leader of the Sam Quinton Hispanic gang. The gang boss was reminiscing when he asked the other inmate “Have you ever picked fresh grapes from the vine? There is nothing like it. There is no more pure feeling that eating grapes directly off the vine. It is like you are next to God” This of course brought me back to my own roots of how I used to visit my grandparents in the San Joaquin Valley. My Grandparents were Hispanic immigrants as well who were tied very close to the migrant workers as they were ministers in the Nazarene Church. I remember from my visits seeing all the workers come on Sundays for church and they would bring all kinds of freshly plucked fruit from the fields. I also have memories of going out to fields and seeing the workers work and doing some picking myself.
While I was thinking all this at the meeting when it came to me as sort of a revelation that these people, my neighbors, were the only thing that I really had as safety and stability in the community that I lived in. Once when I was hosting a visiting mission group I had 2 participants robbed while walking around the neighborhood. It was a freak occurrence and nobody was in harmed way but when we went to report it to the local police they did nothing. It was the local community leaders and neighbors that took action and a form of community justice was brought about. I find this ironic as with local politics my upper class friends are opposed to the current Bolivian President who wants to formalize community justice because it is the only thing that has saved me around here. Perhaps it is that they do little things like during a meeting they all call each other “companiero” which translated literally mean “companion” but is used as “comrade”. Anyway this was this week’s effort at community building and being involved.
On a side note I am still amazed when I look around seeing a contrast between my being a person who was born in a country that lives by the sword and it’s citizens not standing up for what they believe in (liberal or conservative) and where I am now where people stand up all the time but there is never any war. Hmm.

“The best surveillance systems are your neighbors watching your back and you doing the same for them”

¨I hate it when people say somebody has a ´speech impediment´, even if he does, because it could hurt his feelings. So instead, I call it a ´speech improvement´, and I go up to the guy and say, ´Hey, Bob, I like your speech improvement.´ I think this makes him feel better.¨ Deep Thoughts, Jack Handey

Have a great week!

FeO2

Sunday, April, 10, 2009 "Moonlighting"

So I woke up this morning just before dawn with this really bright moon shinning in my eye. For those of you who have read my face book daily post you will know that my first thought was ¨I really want to play with fire.” Such a strange urge that I have not felt in a while. Anyway I looked around to see Tammy laying there at my side strangely pointing at something in her sleep. Was she trying to tell me something from the great nether world of sleep that she would not be able to while she was awake? These are all strange ways to begin a day.
So from here I got out of bed and left the guest room that we have been sleeping in since our house is being remodeled. I walked across the moon lit lawn to our house. Once I got to the house I poured myself a bowl of corn flakes. As I emptied the box I realized the call of the morning. So I proceeded to the fire place and lit the cereal box on fire. As I watched it burn and wondered “What do abnormal people do at these times?”
But I am now happy to report that tonight I will be back in the house as the workers are all done plastering the walls. My room is still in need of a paint job but I at least will be able to sleep on the library floor.
Anyway I have to go as I have a strange need to flip my Bic!
FeO2

Sunday, April 5, 2009 "I bet you forgot about me!!"

Forgive me reader for I have sinned, it has been 9 months since my last blog. Or something like that…anywho as some of you may or may not know I have been having health issues. I have been battling hepatitis A. It was interesting that I was chatting with a friend of mine and she was asking me how I got it. After I was explaining to her how one gets hepatitis A, which what is called a fecal-oral transmission (Basically you are eating other peoples poop cuz they ain’t washin’ they hands!) my friend responded in a “Yeah I know how you get hepatitis but what I want to know is how did you get yours?”. I this point I did not know what to say. My mind wondered to many superhuman ways that I could have gotten this disease. Perhaps an asteroid came flying in from outer-space and struck me a la Monster vs Alians and then contaminated me with hepatitis A. Or perhaps there is a strange lab near my domicile which is doing strange experiments in the middle of the night and some how I was contaminated that way. But alas I believe I got it from eating cheap food that I bought from a local street vender who had no running water to wash up which is pretty much everybodies story who contracts this disease. Dirty hands-dirty food. I lead such a boring life.
On the other hand though I have found yet another way to torment my friends in the fact that I was handed the web site of a church in which a friend of mine is the pastor. I checked the site and it has a section where he post his sermons. As I am a junkie for most anything in print I could not help but stop and read several of the sermons. Also the designer of the site made the mistake of putting a section into the page for posting comments for all his congregation to see. :-D Moo-hoo-ha-ha-ha!!! http://www.knoxpasadena.org/index.html.
Anywho I spent most of the weekend reading, downloading music, watching communist movies by Iron Weed Productions, and fudsin’ around in the garden.
How was your weekend?

“What is it about a beautiful sunny afternoon, with the birds singing and the wind rustling through the leaves, that makes you want to get drunk?”
Jack Handey

Raoul Duke: [narrating] We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like:
Raoul Duke: I feel a bit lightheaded. Maybe you should drive.
Fear and Loathing