Good Vibrations - Or Pre-Conceived Notions?

We just got back from a short vacation in southern California.....like a month after just getting back from a vacation in Maui...... I must say, that both were a bit of an eye opener for me. I guess I should say that reluctantly, because a few years back, the same scenario occurred for me after a couple of trips to New York.....Manhattan, to be more precise. You see, I as probably many of you, embarked on all of these adventures, eyes wide open, but laden with stereotype images of each place I visited, and while this post only deals with California, I must say, that in each case, the images in my mind, were not only dispelled, but shattered. Do not get me wrong, I love my native Texas, but the bubba mentality and perception of California, at least as has been my experience, could not be farther from what I found.
Yeah, yeah, I have heard the jokes......"Cali is like a bowl of granola - full of nuts, fruits and flakes".....uh has anyone read the Victoria Advocate lately?......or The Chronicle? Or The Dallas, New Jersey Morning news? I rest my case. There are freaks, geeks, cheats, tarts, old farts, young turks, and televangelists everywhere. Simple as that. You want traffic? LA has it......at the far west end of the Katy Freeway.........you want a ghetto? Take your pick - East L.A., East Houston, East St. Louis.......

Now may I brag about what I found in Orange County, on the beaches from NewPort to Huntington Beach, to San Clemente?(no, Tricky Dick was nowhere in sight). What I found was one of the healthiest, most alive places I could have imagined. All buff bods, beach babes, and golden haired surfer dudes? Hardly. I found an Austin with an ocean. Fat guys catching waves on their forty year old longboards, alongside teeners ripping it up on short boards, skateboards, and moms and dads with the brood in tow, just down for a day in the sand and sun. I saw myself renting and riding a Pee Wee Herman style coaster bike ten miles on the boardwalk, and just like on the Seadrift seawall, I saw Mexicans tossing cut bait out for anything that would bite that could be taken home for dinner, and I saw gringo fishing "scientists" with big bucks rigs, hoping only for sea bass, and halibut(or maybe they said they were just fishing for the "hell of it" (the surf was loud).

The fact of the matter, is that despite the preconceived notion I had in my mind about California, that it was after all, a validation of all of the dreams and images in my mind I had as a fifteen year old, listening to Surfin' USA, and Little Surfer Girl, and Little Deuce Coupe on my transistor radio in Seadrift or on the bus to ball games. The city is the city.....which like most big cities, sucks out loud. But the place the girl and I chose to visit, was everything we had hoped for, and that I dreamed it would be, and more. It just dripped healthy, wholesome, and friendly, and the locals and the storekeepers, innkeepers, and everyone else we encountered, were anything but O.C., pretentious, Hollywierd types.........will I go back? You bet, as soon as I can, with my kids in tow next trip. Hell, who knows? If they are as smitten with the place as I was, maybe they'll move there, and I'll have a place to crash when I go out to surf and ride my bicycle a decade from now.........

My Past and Present Cross Paths........

Thanks to bigj, I actually believe. After I posted my last little jab at bigj and his host site, the Victoria Advocate, and published the piece, I got an advertisement by Google on the next page, for "insults" at Laugh.com.

Briefly years ago, in my travels, I crossed paths with the rock group "Spirit", and got to know their road manager, a fella named Marshall Berle. Nice guy, and there is a much longer story to that one, but I'll save that for another time. Many years later, I contacted Marshall, and discovered that he had started his own website for comedy, called "Laugh.com".......Marshall called me later and told me of the drowning death of Randy California, in the rescue of his child from a riptide on the surf off Hawaii. Still saddens me to recall hearing that news. I liked Randy and his step dad, drummer Ed Cassidy as well. That's it, I just found it ironic that after a whiney assed post about a couple of obnoxious insulting blowhards, a website ad for an old friend, Marshall Berle should appear in my view and make me smile. As an afterthought, I would be willing to bet Marshall's uncle would be very proud of his nephew's contribution to comedy. You might have heard of Marshall's uncle - Uncle Miltie.........yup Milton Berle.

I'ma Let You Finish Kanye, But............

......they's a guy I know of(I think it's a guy - it hides behind photo avatars of everybody from Malcom X, to Superman and even LBJ)....as I was saying though, this boy makes you look like a rank amateur at interrupting and insulting folks. In fact, he won't even offer up a fake apology, as you and Venus are now attempting......

In the course of any given two hour span, he can offer insults, threats, taunts, and merciless name calling on up to five or six different blog subjects and a multitude of other commenters walls. To give you an idea of how smug he is in his tirades, he said and I quote him here: "People's dislike of me increase my confindence."
As you can see, you two have at least one thing in common.......your grammatical prowess and that y'all don't both write pretty good too. If you should care to have a look at his handiwork, hop over to his kingdom, the Online Victoria Advocate. I won't link him here, but you can't mistake his "work" for that of another. A few people occasionally wonder why he is tolerated on that site, but another blogger, EdithAnn I think, probably hit the nail on the head when she surmised that he is kept as a necessary evil, due to the fact that his presence and writing almost makes two or three of the staff writers there, appear to be literary giants.

A Career Kamikaze......And a Confession of Sorts

This is one of those stories I can write that might actually be acceptable for my boys to read. I have so many yet "on hold", that they probably need to remain shielded from for a while yet. This one does not involve Texas Rangers, indictments, or a midnight meeting with a boat or a plane. Just a good old fashioned story about learning things the hard way. The other stories will have to wait a while or be told in the second or third person.......

Why DO kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Probably the ones that do, fit the colloquial definitions:(1. said of exploits, missions, etc: suicidally dangerous or 2. foolhardy, reckless), and are safe in the knowledge that while they shouldn't be attempting a particular feat or adventure, that that little voice or driving force is gonna win anyway, so a helmet probably is warranted.

Do any of you have kids that take that approach towards having fun and well, life? I'm batting .500 in that department - .333 if all three of us boys are averaged in...... My oldest is the one who calculates risks and studies possible outcomes. He's the one who, when I am trying to defend my driving, slam dunks the conversation with "but dad, you smacked a train in broad daylight".(he's also the only one of the two who's had a broken bone, but in all fairness to him, the little one gave him the push) Hard to argue with that one.
My baby,(11)on the other hand, is the one who'll grab my hand and jump, no questions asked, and then get down to working on a landing spot and if necessary, "plan B" with me, cool as a cucumber. Mom mans the medicine cabinet and the E.R. transportation,(so far it's been just her driving for the most part - she's only called for an ambulance once - for me after a motorcycle exhibition gone wrong) so consequently, in most cases, she insisted on driving on our family excursions.
Works for me. Freed me up to look out the window with Buford and take pictures.....
I took out my skis this weekend, (I love my skis)in preparation for the next four or five months and some anticipated road trips to the "Land of Enchantment". They looked great, but upon closer inspection revealed some surface rust on the edges. Time for a run to the ski shop for re-edging and a hot wax. That made me think of a time once long ago in Austin. Another "kamikaze" experience if you will....... I have somewhere, an old pair of Bauer or CCM hockey skates I liked almost as much as I do my skis. I worked a second job as a guard on the ice at the Ice Age rink in Northcross Mall, played hockey VERY briefly, and mostly just enjoyed skating. One night after we resurfaced the ice, and even before the door had closed on the Zamboni, I hit the ice nad made a mad dash, at full speed, the length of the rink. My then wife, was standing behind the boards and plexiglass at the opposite end of the rink, and my plan was to barrel up to just shy of the wall and hockey stop about a foot away from her, spraying the glass with snow/shaved ice. What I failed to mention here (and also failed to remember in the heat of the moment and at the height of my testosterone fueled charge), is that I had had my skates sharpened that day. Anyone who has ice skated or played hockey will know that to initate such a spectacular stop, all that is required is a subtle flick of the hips and a lean and a twist into it. What I also overlooked was how fresh edges & new ice act in concert. In so doing, let me just say that in executing the ever so slight hip flick maneuver to pull my stunt, absolutely nothing happened. I hit those boards in an explosion of flesh, denim, hair and plywood in what to anyone looking, had to have all the appearances of a man/boy in a full bore, effort at ending it all right then and there. Oh, and I crumpled and fell like a garbage bag full of vanilla wafers too. As I recall, I then pulled myself up, opened the door and vanished down the stairs rather than take a victory lap in front of the crowd who, if they hadn't seen it, they heard it and came running from as far away as The Drag and Antone's. God, I am so happy that I had the presence of mind not to yell "hey y'all, watch this" just before I pulled the pin on that one. I really do try and impart the wisdom I have gained from incidents like this over the years, to my boys and to any youngsters who will listen. Problem is, when you're under thirty, and the adrenalin is pumping and you really know better, there's always that little voice........."go ahead, YOU CAN DO IT"......

A Little Revolution of Sorts

Well, the last couple of days have certainly been interesting for myself and a few other current and former Vicad bloggers. I think in a cranky moment, I probably forced the hand of the questionable "editors" at the "paper"........I basically begged them to pull the plug on me, and they did. That's not all bad, though the behavior I exhibited online with them was like less than acceptable, by anybody's standards. I kinda took the Popeye "that's all I can stands, cause I can't stands no more" tack I guess. I had a long run with them, and for the first couple of years, the format was enjoyable, and the stable of accepted bloggers, was a respectable bunch, with a couple of esteemed writers, a slew of rookies, and a good cross section of readers and commenters, some of whom in time, took the initiative to start their own blogs, and in a few cases, do a damn good job as well. It's too bad the management and editorial staff of the Advocate couldn't hold up their end of the deal, but rather, brought in a really clueless editor, followed by a few of his pals, who in my estimation, turned out to be a bunch of carpetbaggers, with little if any, grasp of the local culture, history, or what their long time subscribers and readers wanted in a newspaper. Basically, they brought in a geek team, with a Myspace/Facebook, freaking Twitter mentality, and supplanted over the course of nearly three years, everything and everybody that had made the Advocate what it was. I suppose we will see in the long run, or sooner, if my estimation of the mess there is accurate. I will say, that as it had finally devolved to, I and apparently some others will say good riddance, to the pitiful new bunch that is sinking the ship, and good luck to the remaining old guard who are in such a cover their own ass panic mode, that they sit idly by and watch the fiasco unfold and cower to the carpetbaggers, because they hold the hatchet. For anyone who questions my assessment of these preppie wannabe newspapermen, I urge you so sit in on some of their sophomoric commentary and clueless to the fact that are being broadcast live silliness, to go here at ten oclock, any weekday morning:
http://www.livestream.com/victoriaadvocatelive?referrer=mogulus
Feel free to monitor these dweebfests and report back to me, and particularly to them. Get involved. It is an interactive netmeeting. I'll be lurking to see......
My task now, is to try to shed this grouchy attitude that came about as a result of this de-evolution of a paper that I was raised reading, and finally allowed to write in on occasion, and try to rediscover the pleasure and gratification I derived from telling an occasional story, or sharing an opinion, and reading the comments and reactions of those who read them.............
The part I will not miss, is some of the johnny come lately jerks that showed up after Mistuh Cobler turned the forums into a free for all wankfest, and instituted a set of rules, then totally disregarded those rules and rode roughshod over the flock, indiscriminately nuking and banning any and all who challenged his horseshit dictator editorial style, and worse yet, took a couple, three of the old guard folks and instilled the fear of God in them, regarding their employment/retirement possibilities, and dragged them down to his level.
I'll be fine......and I will continue to blog here, and hopefully, will give this burr in my ass a dose of merthiolate and forget it all. I will be watching and waiting though, for the day when those Kansas/Colorado boys' "let's hitch our star to the hispanic angle" bunch act finally wears thin and circulation falls to the point that the owners give them the boot. I only hope it happens before they decide that it's a better plan to just throw in the towel and close the doors and turn out the lights.

Mistuh Cobler......as J Would Say

Just an FYI. IMHO, this newspaper is a joke, and your comment about being a free agent soon, may come sooner than you think if you and your cronies don't get serious about putting some quality and some THOUGHT back into what graces your pages and if your online circus continues in the direction is is headed. I was once proud to have been chosen as one of the original bloggers to grace the pages here, and hoping against hope that the nightmare of the Myface fustercluck you have created, would eventually raise some flags and scare the owners into reigning you in. Having been removed a second time, is proof enough to me that you are spineless and clueless as far as what sells as news and how to gather and report it without duping your readers into doing the legwork for you. I'd ordinar1ly close with "good luck", but I honestly hope your run of luck runs out soon, and that the Advocate is restored to it's past status as a respected regional publication, rather than continue to be ridden into the ground by a bunch of wannabe internet geeks who come cheaper than actual newspapermen (and women). To have been ousted by your henchmen for a second time feels a lot better than it did the first time. Almost a validation of sorts. Enjoy your little literary circle jerk with your boy who can do no wrong. A token you wanted, a token you got. He'll be the cause of your ultimately being dumped too.

Kicked Out Of Hell - What's Next

I almost feel a bit silly, even writing this........but I was canned by a small town south Texico newspaper as a blogger, after almost six years of writing for them, and seeing the paper go through a handful of software upgrades, and a transformation from a respected locally published daily, that rivaled the city rags for content, columnists. and generally a good morning read, to a tabloid type publication, with a Myface style blog and comments forum that opened it's pages to an really wide range of daily posters. While for the most part, the folks blogging, though waaaaaay too many, were reasonably benign and actually in a number of cases, very informative and entertaining, there was one or two, who made it their mission in life, to monopolize the bandwidth and basically create in one case at least, a bully pulpit, tolerated, if not feared by the wimp editorial staff, due to it being penned by a boy of color, a token blogger if you will.........whose every word was combative or hate laced, yet in the eyes of the pale ranger editor of questionable credentials, a midwest yes man, who surrounded himself with like types, or struggling interns, who was actually afraid to take steps to limit or criticize the posts of said token blogger. Damn shame actually, because I honestly believe that in the long run, said token blo.......gger, and the aforementioned editor will both be unceremoniously stripped of their respective "duties" and will be looking for a new gig as well......
The Victoria Advocate was once a really good regional daily newspaper. Could be that rather than rcover, it will just go the way of so many other papers.........only at maybe an earlier date than it might have, had the owners not nade the fatal funn.......er, mistake of hiring the breadbasket shyster, "let's draft citizen reporters to do our work for us" bunch that is at the helm of thier hellbound train. No big.........I live in the city.......I have the Chronicle, The Times, the Morning News, and the WaPo all available at the local newsstand. In Vic, they have only the dying Advocate........well, there is a better paper available......for those who'll drive to Port Lavaca to pick one up........