Going to hell in a handbasket for the last 100,000 years

          People always want to recall the past events, that they were part of, as bigger and better.  One way we bolster our memories of ourselves is by looking with pity at the young preparing to take our place.
  
          I, too, am guilty of participating in this form or self-aggrandizement.

          For sixteen weeks of infantry basic training my unit exercised and ran in combat uniform and boots.  The Army soon changed its policy.  Trainees began wearing running shoes and a temperature-specific training uniform when they exercised.  I recall disparaging comments I made about these new recruits—they would, obviously, not be as tough as I.

          I later learned, from soldiers who'd entered the military a decade before me, that they thought similarly about me; back then, (in the days of the draft) drill sergeants used beatings and the threat of beatings to motivate trainees and since my drill instructors weren't permitted to touch trainees, I was—obviously—not as tough as they were.

          It’s human nature—the need to feel superior through negative comparison.

          A nomadic tribesman crossing the frozen bearing strait once said, ‘Kids today...they’ve got no respect...they're too soft.’  That hunter-gatherer was only repeating something he'd heard his grandfather say.  Without being asked to, these derogatory sentiments have left every adult mouth for as long as human mouths have formed words.  (Strangely, some have forgotten they are echoing their ancestors words...spoken, about them, a generation ago.) 

          Parents should worry if their children haven’t been arrested by the time they turn sixteen.  Being a juvenile delinquent is a birthright and as much a part of healthy adolescence as smoking cigarettes or getting pimples. — John Waters

Lilac Wine


Without obsession, life is nothing. — John Waters

Camping Clatsop State Forest

Cheer up. You never know—maybe something awful will happen tomorrow. — John Waters

vacation


As far as socially redeeming value, I hope I don`t have any. — John Waters

Older not smarter - Zonkey 2010

          Zonkey and my seasonal cat hikes resumed two months ago, but—so far—this year's wetter weather has resulted in less trail-time because he complains (loudly and persistently) when I attempt to take him where he'll get muddy paws.

          To show how much he has changed, I took a picture in front of the same fence as last year and adjusted it until the fence-boards were the same size.  He has gained over 4 pounds, his cream colored sides have almost disappeared (along with his svelte physique) and his namesake stripes are now much more apparent.

         I think his pictures nicely capture the maturation of his personality and attitude as well.  He was timid but curious last year; today he is proud and assertive.  The only thing that hasn't changed—he was never very smart... and still isn't.  He's still not vocal.  He enjoys drinking from a running faucet, sleeping on the back of furniture and is pervasively affectionate to anyone and everyone without exception.

Strive for art in reverse. — John Waters

Firewürks (with vestigal umlaüt)


I also hate those holidays that fall on a Monday where you don't get mailthose fake holidays like Columbus Day.  What did Christopher Columbus do...discover America?  If he hadn't, somebody else would have and we'd still be here.  Big deal. — John Waters (writer, film director)