Wordless Wednesday

New Years Day 2009

…And so ends the season of excess.

Now that all expectations have been smartly dashed

It’s a strange culture that begins each New Year with a hangover—a profound physical, emotional, spiritual malaise:

The throbbing head of too much drink,
the dry-mouthed realization of looming financial straits,
the sour stomach of stale relationships,
and the empty resolutions of the coming year.

Remedies are rumors,
as elusive and dissatisfying
as last December’s overwrought desires.
No tonic will ease the soul’s disquiet.

Father Time a fitting symbol:
Hunched and weary,
leaving the wreck of winter
to a new generation of naiveté
(an infant,
and a rising cycle of dreams).

Yet…

On the brown hillsides of cold scrub…

green hope

in hard soil grows

once more.

Sylmar Fire Oakridge Mobile Home Park

On Wednesday, our engine toured the burned-out Oakridge Mobile Home Park, which lost about 477 homes on the night of the Sylmar fire last weekend. These were not small single-wides, but rather, large modular homes complete with brick foundations and manicured front lawns.


With us was Captain David Yonan, who has been credited with helping save the remaining 131 homes there. LA County units returned to make an incredible stand that morning. You can read his story here.

I know that after firestorms, phrases like "war zone" get thrown around a lot, but I really can't think of any other force on earth that could cause such vast destruction. Acres and acres of rubble and burned out cars sitting in driveways of now-nonexistent homes. I could only shake my head.

As we walked around, I tried to draw our boot fireman into an existential discussion of theodicy, God, and the notions of fate and luck.

But as I've said before, in the end, everything must go...

The End of Happiness

So…what ever happened to “Get Happy” month over at Switch 2 Plan B?

Fair enough question.

I mean, let’s face it—after promising 30 days of giddy postings, did I follow up with even a single “happy” essay?

I started the month out by explaining why I didn’t walk around with a smile on my face all day long (like some creepy people I know!). Then I publicly sorted through my various anxiety disorders for your personal entertainment...

Then I left town...

Sorry. Lost interest. Come on! Who are we kidding? That proposition was a loser from the start, and you knew it!

The truth is I write whatever the hell I want.

I’m a rebel, baby! No good!

And that’s why you keep coming back!

Everything must go…

Played

Skulls
Tats
Skull tats
Full sleeve
Harleys
Baggy pants past your ass, boxers showin’
Nose piercing
Eyebrow piercing
Gangsta rap with angry lyrics about shit you never had to endure
Black clothes
Mohawks
Goatees
Shaved heads
Doc Martins
Hi tops
Hard core metal with angry lyrics about shit you never had to endure
Age-ism
The N word
Arguing about who can and cannot say the N word
Clintons
Bushes
Red v. Blue
Cynicism
Christian-bashing
Fox News
The Daily Show
Smugness
Hypocrisy
Accusing others of hypocrisy
14 miles to the gallon
Bumper stickers about your faith/lack of faith
Illiteracy
Short attention spans
Texting
Self-aggrandizement
YourBook
MyFace
Hookin’ up
Kids having kids
Leaving your wife & kids
Binge
Ingratitude
Bling
Virtual
Viral
Reality shows
American Idol
Dawg
Ho
Ennui
Disaffection
Affecting disaffection
Taking offense
Aggression
Your bad-ass stance…

All of this junk is PLAYED!

It’s all, what?—ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years old now? It’s over…

Do you really need a 40-something to point this out to you?

Everything must go…