Recently, I have been thinking about the past. I do that from time to time because it helps me look at where I was and where I have landed in many aspects of my life. Sometimes we need to stop, take pause and reflect. For me, the reflection comes from old emails and blogs that I read to remember what was going on at one time or another in my past. Sometimes, it’s Facebook history and sometimes just the act of cleaning out my digital closets a little bit. When I was young I was encouraged to write a journal but I found it to be too much like an extension of schoolwork so I didn’t. Now with the internet and information made so easily available, it’s almost a naturally occurring event.

One time, I found some old info on a house I was looking at buying and it triggered memories of that period in my life. I remembered many of the details of that house and what was going on in my life. If I had bought that house, my life would have been radically different from the way it has turned out. I don’t long for what could have been but I am thankful for what became.
Today, I have completed just over a year of being back home following a one year adventure overseas. Sometimes I find myself missing the high adventure but then quickly realize that the grass is just as green here as it is anywhere else. This is the reason for the title of my blog today. “Starting from you currently stand”. It’s a relatively simple concept but often forgotten.
We tend to look at where we are in life and question what it is that we are really here for. We plod though our days hoping that something will happen and that the routine of life will be broken by something exciting. I made a choice to go overseas and live in a foreign land and live with the locals in order to find that excitement and break the routine and see what I was made of. It was a big decision but looking back, it doesn’t feel like it was..at least after the fact. It’s partially because after standing on that tall ledge of decision and looking at the leap I was about to take I have learned something about myself and life. That something was echoed this weekend by a guest speaker at my church. It is this…”Do stuff!” Things will happen of you get out there and do stuff because plodding along in a daily routine with everything planned out is boring and while it may seem safe and comfortable…it’s rather boring once you see what can be as a result of doing different stuff and not letting your past define what you cannot do but rather what you can.
One time I packed up and went on a cruise with someone I met online and the outcome was a fantastic friendship with some great memories. I learned about some things in life and to this day, I apply those lessons I learned as a result of doing something out of the ordinary. That friendship still exists and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Too often we don’t take chances to do things that stretch our perspectives. We fear the worst, wrap ourselves up in a cocoon of defense with legal disclaimers, bubble-wrap, knee pads and helmets. Life isn’t meant to be lived with everything planned out so that we would know exactly how it’s going to go and ultimately…end. Would you pick up a book and read it if you already knew exactly what the story was? You would however, read it if you had an idea of what the story was about though if it interested you. That’s kind of like life, do something different that interests you and don’t let your past limit your ability to do something new and exciting even if you don’t know exactly what the outcome will be.
Start living a new adventure from where you currently stand, use your past to realize how far you have come and how far you can go by just doing stuff that stretches your perspective and creates a little discomfort at times because you are learning and learning takes effort and effort creates some discomfort but is proof that you are making some progress.

Been reading about an increase in gas prices coming again.  This time it’s due do more EPA regulations. Has to do with regulations to minize the sulphur content of motor fuel.  Sulphur is a natural element…just like carbon. 
The EPA is a government agency that like most any agency is funded by tax dollars.  In order to get funding each year, most agencies must be able to justify their existence by showing that they have done something the year before to make a difference. 
If no funding comes, the agency would have to lay off workers.  This cycle of making changes to get funding to keep EPA workers employed sets up a condition that has created a very destructive agency.  We outsource so much of our work because of environmental issues and the costs associated with EPA regulations that we have lost our ability to make much of anything affordably.  We have continued increases in EPA vehicle emissions regulations and they are now further tightening the regulation on a naturally occuring element, sulphur.  Is this regulation to justify the EPA’s existence and show they are making a difference or is reducing an emission of a naturally occuring element from the periodic chart of elements a way to recieve funding for the coming fiscal year?
I spent some time living in a country that doesn’t have this foolishness and they seem to be doing quite well.  The busses puked out a black cloud of smoke sometimes when they started from a stop and refineries there burn off unusable waste products of the oil refinement process and create smoke and smells that while a little unpleasant, represents jobs for the local people.  They are one of the wealthiest nations in the world partiality because they don’t have agencies like the EPA wringing their hands as a special interest group worrying about the emission of naturally occurring elements.

Maybe they could make something up about the harmful vehicle emissions of the inert gasses and regulate them.  At least on paper it would look like they were doing something and could be funded and keep their jobs. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  This truth can be said of anything that happens or of that which you do.
On the other hand, if doing the same thing repeatedly nets you success, then by all means, carry on…unless, what you do is at a cost to someone else.
Of course, what you do that appears successful on the surface may not really be so if someone enables that “success”.
Its one thing to have a silent partner but even a silent partner receives a portion of the spoils of success. 
Consider if you are truly successful or are you simply being enabled at someone else’s expense. Consider if you are acting in an insane manner by doing something again and again with the expectation of different results.
Know when to say when and find your own route in life.

I just watched the movie “Convoy”.  It was rather campy but it was fun.  There were the classic elements of good guy being pursued by bad cop and the audience is drawn into cheering on the good guy.  Some jokes are tossed out there that today would be taboo but they are still funny if you realize that life doesn’t always have to be politically correct.  Once such line comes to mind when “Black Widow”, a black lady trucker takes a sharp turn too fast and dumps her truck on its side.  She is helped out of the truck and she yells at the truck and says, “Stupid White Truck, I knew I shoulda bought a black truck!”.  There is trucking manufacturing company by the name of “White” and they were the makers of her truck.  Her truck was also painted white.  That was funny in the 70’s and it’s funny now.

We have become so obsessed with being careful not to offend others and we creep around on eggshells because we wouldn’t want to offend anyone and we might end up with a lawsuit slapped on us for saying or doing something offensive.  I was flipping through some pictures on the web and a coworker saw that one of the pictures had nothing on it and it was black.  He looks that and starts laughing and says “That looks like it’s a picture of a room full of black people and they have their eyes closed!”.  I started laughing…that was funny!  I know you are reading this and are probably thinking Oh no, that’s not funny, that’s offensive because what if a black person were to have heard it and it made them uncomfortable?  He went on to say that the only way you could see anybody would be if they smiled or opened their eyes.  More hilarity.  Truly funny material right there.  If I had been drinking a soda it would have come flying out of my nose.   Are you still with me?  Think I am a bad person for laughing at a joke like that?  Well he was black.  See?  Most people are conditioned to respond to certain things and many people have been conditioned to respond rather than think for themselves.  Another incident that once happened is that I bought a very nice cowhide that had been tanned and it was designated to be hung on a wall for decoration or used as a floor covering.  It is beautiful.  A young person I know saw it and said that’s a terrible thing and should not be sold as this hide had been..as decoration.  She went on to say it’s horrible to kill animals for their skins and fur…this is a programmed response from someone who had not learned to think for herself.  There are a lot of people out there who don’t believe in killing or eating animals but these same people don’t think it through when it comes to quipping off about how cruel it is to use a cow hide for decoration or how bad using a sheepskin to make a blanket.  I always ask what would you rather see when killing the animal?  Throw the pelt away or keep it and use it because the animal is going to be slaughtered either way.   That question usually is one that causes them to stop and think for a moment and they usually say “I guess if you can’t stop people from eating the animals, maybe using the pelt is a good thing”.  This is especially true when they think about the hamburger they like so much.

Our society has become programmed in a manner of speaking to the degree that we often don’t get anything done because we are afraid of making some people unhappy or we are afraid of being sued.  I once bumped my head on an equipment rack at work and I went home (Using sick leave) because I wasn’t feeling so good after that.  My employer had a fit over that after they found that I had injured myself at work.  The real issue wasn’t that they had a concern for my well-being and in fact they didn’t care about me personally but rather that if I had gone home and died they would have been sued.  I just needed to rest and I felt fine the next day.  I would have found it more obnoxious to be prodded and tested to make sure I wouldn’t have a possibility of bringing legal action.

Yesterday, I asked the caretaker of the Apartments I live in to see if he could fix my window latch.  It wasn’t staying closed and sometimes the wind blows enough to force it open.  I live 15 stories up and the only higher floor is the building owner’s flat…it’s up there.  My window has a ledge outside the window that can support a person standing on it.  This guy comes to the apartment, climbs up on the ledge and proceeds to attempt an adjustment of the window.  I am standing there ready to grab the guy if he starts to fall but there was no need.  He was just fine and it appeared that the heights didn’t bother him at all.  In the U.S. he would have probably been fired for not using safety gear.  Truthfully, I don’t think he has any and he keeps his job.

The place where I live is different but I think I have the beginnings of an idea of where they are.  They have modern technology available to them, they have money to buy it, they have a natural resource to sell to continue to bring in revenue and the cycle continues.  I think the key differences in the successes they enjoy here is that they are where the U.S. was in about the 1970’s when it comes to environmental impact and litigious behavior.  I’m not suggesting that we throw out the true progress we have made but let’s start applying some common sense to what we are doing.

A good friend of mine worked for the last lead manufacturing company in the U.S.  They were being heavily regulated over the impact they had on the environment to a degree that they had to cut back on production.  The lead they produced was some of the highest quality in the world.  From a non-thinking person’s viewpoint the immediate response might be that’s great, they were producing enough pollution to be regulated and they have been stopped from damaging the environment.  Some questions if you don’t mind.  1.  Did they stop producing lead and stop damaging the environment?  2.  Does the demand for lead get curbed along with production being curbed?  3.  Does the production simply get moved to China where the same damaging effects are still present but jut not visible to the regulators in the U.S. ?  4.  Does this regulation displace more workers?  5.  Will we now get an inferior lead product from China at an inflated rate because we don’t produce yet another product because of over regulation? The last question, How does this help our economy?  How is it OK to let someone else do what we ourselves won’t do?

Last night I went outside and I found an SUV blocking my guests car in my graveled section of driveway.  This wasn’t just blocking by being parked on the street but the SUV was driven up into my driveway, half hanging out in the street and about 4 inches from my guests car.  What’s more annoying is that the house where the SUV owner was visting had PLENTY of room to park in the driveway of the house they went to.  Strike 1.   I’m thinking that I have been patient about this sort of thing because often there are cars parked in front of my house and they belong to my neighboor’s guests and there is ample room in their driveway to park.

Last night I had had enough, it was cold and wet.  I went to do the headlight and tail light fix on my guests car and I see what I have just described.  I calmly walked over to the neighboor’s house and asked for the SUV to be moved.  The home owner said she did ask the SUV owner to not park there but the owner said she wouldn’t be there very long.  I’m thinking this is strike 2 with this SUV crap and now i’m a bit annoyed.  Someone comes to my neighboor’s house, parks thier ride in my yard and when told to move it, they just were ignored with justification as to why it was OK to do that….they wouldn’t be there long.

The homeowner goes in and gets the SUV owner to come out and move the thing.  OK this should be interesting.  Not really a big deal but I’m already spinning a bit but I’m thinking this will be resolved soon.  Here comes the owner and I say, “Would you mind not parking in my yard please?”  “I think you can find somewhere else to park besides my driveway”.  I get the same response as the homeowner said they got…”I wasn’t going to be here long”.  Strike 3!   Now I’m way pissed because because of the response and so I asked “Why didn’t you move your car when they (The Homeowners) told you not to park there?   Here’s the best part, the owner is a very cute young lady that just had that air about her of “I’m too cute to be told what to do and you can’t talk to me that way” and so she says with an indignant attitude.. “Are you serious?” As if I have absolutley NO right to question her about parking in my yard…My response was “yes I am serious!” 

What I wanted to say in a Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermy Drill sergeant kind of way was…and I should be nice…and I was….but this came to mind…”Hellz yeah  I’m serious princess get yer Sh-t outta my damn yard!   I don’t care how cute you are, others may kiss your a$$ in hopes of scoring with you but as far as I am concerned your high maintenance crap isn’t worth putting up with and no amount of cutsie crap from ANYONE like you is worth it…NOW MOVE IT!”

One would think I have issues with pretty people but I don’t…It’s the high maintenance pretty people that annoy me. 
All too often our society has allowed them to get away with things that the rest of us trolls wouldn’t stand a chance of getting away with.
When they are called on something they do that is in bad form and they are unable to handle it, they will ask questions like “Are you Serious?”
These people are often considered “High Maintenance” and unless you are sadistic you will steer clear of this type of person…
In my case I chase them outta my yard because High Maintenance Ugly goes all the way to the bone.

-C.R.