February Depression Posting!...and some Stones...and Rick Santorum...what a hoot.

PERFORMANCE ART TRASH CAN!

Soooooo..... Look, I have to apologize in advance because I had have mislead you. I am not depressed this February.... and it is KILLING me. This is the time every year that I write about February, depression and my favorite February obsession....Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Instead, here we are half way through the dreaded, dreadful month and...well... I don’t know how to say this but I feel OK. Perhaps it is being self employed. Perhaps it is having my children all gone. I don’t know. My job is busy. I have been working 7 days a week. my wife is working 7 days a week. My Church still does not have a pastor but... everything is kind of OK. In fact it might be good.

My guess is that it is the mild winter we have had. I hate to be cold. I really hate a cold biting wind. But it has not been like that. It has been one of the warmest winters I remember and it has been awesome. In January and early February when there are days you do not need a coat...well, that rocks. Maybe it will be like this year after year and I will never have to be sad again in this darkest of all months. I got up Friday morning and heard the song birds singing and just thought....OOOOOOHHHHHHH NOOOOOO! If things run at all true to form the end of the month or the month of March will have tons of snow and hard freezes and these poor little song birds will be crushed...like February tends to crush the very light of the soul.

***

But lets move on to other things. Had breakfast again Saturday at 11 Mile House. For first half hour I was the only one there other that the guy sweeping the floors and the chatty waitress. The bacon was chewy but other than that it was a perfectly serviceable breakfast. I will give them a few more tries on Saturday morning. one morning I will have a bottle of Busch and play the jukebox at 7:00 A.M. That will be a good day my friends.

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They, (whoever it is that does sucj things) re-released a special deluxe super duper edition of the Rolling Stones perfect album “Some Girls”. The album had a great mix of ten really good songs and at least 3-4 classics like “Beast of Burden”, “Shattered” and “Miss You”. I rediscovered from that original album the song “Before They Make Me Run” which has been on non stop play in my car.

After all is said and done
Gotta move while it's still fun
Let me walk before they make me run
After all is said and done
I gotta move, it's still fun
I'm gonna walk before they make me run!

With Keith Richard’s rasping the lyrics while he was facing criminal charges in Toronto and recording in Paris... it is just a great angst song. The bonus tracks on the reissue are voluminous and include great songs like “So Young”, “Tallahassee Lassie” and Hank’s “You Win Again”. It is worth buying on iTunes or in the store. Relive it, and if “Beast of Burden” is not the best break up song ever...kiss my ass.

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Rick Factotum:

Really? Really Republicans? In a year when our economy is the issue. When Big government is THE Problem... you are going to run a converted big government, earmarking Senator who got fired from his own State after one term? I agree the guy is like able though I have in protest stopped wearing sweater vests which he has at least temporarily ruined for me. If you run him, instead of the election being about Big Government which is the election you want, it is going to be about Gay Marriage and Contraception (not even abortion but contraception).

Quote: "One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.... Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. It's not okay. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be."

As a Christian I might agree with some of this. As a sometime libertarian this stuff really frightens me. As a human being I am mortified.

Quote: "In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don't both need to. ... What happened in America so that mothers and fathers who leave their children in the care of someone else — or worse yet, home alone after school between three and six in the afternoon — find themselves more affirmed by society? Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism."

Really? It has nothing to do with the fact that a high school educated man can no longer go out and find a job that supports a family? It is all the radical feminists fault? let me be clear, I hate radical feminists, but reading stuff like this makes me think i would rather have a beer and argue with them than sit with this self satisfied goof with all the answers.

And finally this, though there are more:
Quote: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. ... That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing."

I like a conservative Christian man who is really going to spend a lot of time being out there in front of the battle against “gay sex”. WTF? As near as I can tell there is no one under 40 who holds these views. I know that is a generalization but I mean we need to deal with the world as it is and it has moved on. even if Rick has not.

Annual February Whine/Rant

Regular readers of these pages know of my passion for the month of February. Referring to it variously as "The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul" (thank you Douglas Adams), the month of Darkness, the time in St. Louis when there are "a lot of suicides", "my time of despair". In Groundhog Day Bill Murray speaks generally to my feelings about February: " I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life." Yes... that summarizes it. The Holidays are firmly over. Although the shortest day of the year is well behind us the cooling that these short days have accomplished on the earth's crust and the lower atmosphere continue unabated. It is 6:28 A.M. as I type this and there is no sign of light. This evening after work I will drive home in the dark...again.

Many old people go south for this time of year and as I age (badly and prematurely...and bitterly) I understand why. Cold makes my bones hurt. Aside from my clear depression and SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) everything hurts more. My skin, which every year diminishes in it's elasticity (supposedly due to my aging cells not being able to reproduce enough copies of themselves, and the copies they produce evidently weakening and becoming more inferior in every generation) dries to a point where finger tip crack and I itch...all day and all night like I was being devoured by bugs!

So we have that going for us. It is a time to hunker down. You cannot really wait for Spring at this point because the promise of Spring is so illusory as to be criminal. Here are few tips for surviving until the plants start to sprout and birds start to head back north again.
1. Watch a lot of college basketball. It is a great sport with great competition. Even though it is likely dominated by large, corrupt, steroid juiced programs it is still one of the purest nightly spectacles of athleticism we are treated to. It eventually leads to March Madness and in March there is of course the hope of Spring.

2. Hunker down in bars. They are dark, so you do not notice it is dark outside. Even at noon. Look for bars with fireplaces. look for bars with lots of alcohol. Look for bars with jukeboxes. Make sure you get a ride home.

3. Watch a lot of television. Really along these same lines avoid higher art and literature all together. it will only make you feel bad. On the other hand an old episode of" Malcolm In The Middle" allows you to reflect on how much better you have been spending your time then the people did who wrote and acted in this series.

4. Quit your job and/or stop going to school.

5. Stay away from fire arms, knives and high ledges and cliffs.

6. Do not make any major moves in relationships.

7. For God's sake don't even think about exercising!

8. When possible, yell at your children and blame them for things (like your failed dream of becoming a water colorist).

9. Avoid simple, innocent and kind people as you do not want to be responsible for dragging them down with you.

10. Rub lard all over your body to avoid the afor mentioned dryness that comes with this weather.

11. Kick the dog. if you are blessed as I am to have two dogs, only kick one. The fact that you are not kicking the other dog will make the kicked dog feel even worse.

12. Yell at your kids again.

It is a time to hunker down. To be thankful for little things like space heaters and hot coffee. It is a reasonably good time to contemplate the miserable wreck your life has become and to make some plans for the future and resolutions to change...once it gets warm. Drink some more. Watch some more television.

So, tonight I am watching "The Untouchables having gone through several hours of oral surgery on a cracked tooth and I am...waiting for the snow. They started by saying one inch and now they are saying a total of six inches. I am excited because I like the disruption of the snow. I feel like an old man but as a sometimes boss I feel like when you know it is going to snow, you get up an hour earlier, you make plans for child care, and you get you ass to work. But that is not the way it is any more. Now, when it snows it seems to stop everything. And this February, if it is going to be cold, and dark, and gray... let it snow. That might cheer me up.

Is Fall Gone? What The Hell?

Once again in a fit of seasonal depression the St. Louis Diner Review went on an unexpected hiatus. Very sad. The outcry from the public was palpable. People were lost without the ranting wisdom of the Diner Review. A trip to Michigan. A week of debauchery with my wife remaining in Michigan further side tracked me. More the n anything else the weather side tracked me. I know I lamented the end of summer but I never expected this. Where did fall go? Why is God angry with me? These are the questions I have been troubled with in my absence from this digital page.

Now it is Homecoming at Lutheran High South (Lancers 41, Kennedy 7) and my daughter is at home with what appears to be swine flu. I have mowed the lawn, bought her movies, fried a pound of bacon for my sons who are home from college, missed going to "Where The Wild Things Are" with them and am awaiting the delivery of some chik-fil-et nuggets from my son who went to the Apple Store as i watch bad movies with my daughter. It leaves a Diner Reviewer with time on his hands.

The sun came out today! It is the first time i have seen it in a while. Along with the Lutheran South win (their second this season and WATCH OUT Herculaneum next week) I am generally upbeat other then my daughter having to miss her homecoming dance. Even better as I have been wasting the day buying her movies, People Magazine (evidently all is not well with Jon and Kate) I have caught some football scores which have made me smile. The evil empire of Ohio State (who I hate even though they have not won a bowl game in the time my kids have been alive) lost. Florida is losing. Notre Dame is losing (though I have been made to understand that Jesus is going to let them back...too). If Mizzou wins tonight... well hell....then I fear for the Jacksonville Jaguars tomorrow because the Rams might no longer be the owners of the longest losing streak in football.

I have missed fall. Between the crappy weather, my wife being out of town, on line poker and bad television...I have not been able to get out and really enjoy the rain and grayness. The leaves... the leaves are starting to pour down. It is cold. I am still needing just a little transition between the 80's and the 40's yet even as i watch Florida take the lead over Arkansas and further cement their title hopes I remain buoyant in spirit. So you too should not lose faith or hope. In the coming weeks the Diner Review will be:

Reviewing the Rooster Downtown
Delving into the First Amendment (but not testing it)
Discussing this concept of "The Greatest Generation"
Thinking about some new music
Considering some concert reviews

Perhaps even more. But in the meantime just a few overly intellectualized introspections on some current events.

1. The Cardinals: Very Sad
2. Barrack Obama and The Nobel Prize: Seriously, you know I like the guy but who gives a shit?
3. Rush Limbaugh being an owner then non owner of the Rams: Seriously, you know I do not like the guy but who gives a shit.
4. Healthcare: You cannot fix this system without tearing it down. This is a huge mistake that will make everyone unhappy. No one will try and reform healthcare again. It is the death call of anyone's political career. Too bad because it is obviously a hopelessly screwed up system that has delivered us fantastic, high quality and unbelievably expensive.
5. The economy is not recovering for main street and our friends who propped up the money center banks are going to let a lot of our local banks fail... and that is a disaster for you, me and small business and will further centralize wealth and if we are not successful in finding a way... further ferment the revolution. That is bad.
6. The Tea Party People are crazy BUT all of us have a reason to be be very concerned about the direction of our country but seriously, blaming this particular administration, or the last one, or the one before that...pointless.

I think that is it. Later this week...the greatest generation gets theirs.