So much for empty promises

And so it goes. My promise to post weekly has failed. No sense attempting to justify my lack of prose. Suffice to say, I haven't had anything to say, lest I become one of those bloggers...blogites...bloggies. What is the politically correct term anyway?

Speaking of politically correct, I have decided that I have bigger issues this "Holiday" season than I normally would. Unfortunately, the issues are steeped in religion. So I'll try to be considerate of all you fascist heathens out there. Here's my beef. Why do people have yule logs so far up their chimneys as to care how other people decorate for the (dare I say it) Christmas holiday? Sure, I can appreciate the issue with the church and state. No fraternization with the enemy. Don't mix anything political with any thing religious. Don't say the pledge of allegiance or use American currency. Heaven forbid.

But this is the season of opening your hearts for your fellow man. This is the season for accepting the choices made by others and embracing our diversity. This is the season to be jolly. So why are we so far off the mark? Why is the minority dictating to the majority? (Let's face it, there are more Americans that celebrate Christmas than all the other recognized seasonal/religious events combined.) I'm not anti-Semitic, nor do I have any issues toward the celebration of the harvest or the honoring of the solstice, I'm not even a devout catholic. I just believe that a Christmas tree should be called a Christmas tree without the automatic association to Christ. It's a tradition after all, not a religious ceremony. And don't be offended when someone says, "Merry Christmas." They're not trying to convert you to anything, they are simply wishing you well. It's as bad as someone being offended at the words "Bless you" when you sneeze.

Now I certainly empathize with the Jews and the Muslims and the Pagans and even the Scientologists who don't have as popular of a tradition as the Christians. But you don't have to believe in Christ to believe in the spirit of giving and peace on Earth or good will toward man. (I will give exception to the liberal interpretations found in the Koran/Quran. Apparently there are those of the Islam faith that believe there will only be peace on Earth when all infidels are removed: ergo jihad - "Effort and progress" through war and intolerance of course.)

So, now that I've spewed my opinion, I'll wish everyone "A politically correct, non-denominational period of time to be no less than one Gregorian calendar month, yet no greater than two, to which one should find that "thing(s)" which make them release serotonin."

And gesundheit.

Pagan Rituals

So another year is fast approaching its end. And I find my lack of enthusiasm for the holidays coming much sooner than last year. Yes, just like the Christmas decorations at your local Wal-Mart being displayed around Labor Day, I too have my personal feelings displayed like a black garland strand all too soon.

All the festivities I used to enjoy as a child are now so commercialized and diluted that I can't tell one from the next. So, as such, I say "Bah Humbug" to them all! Happy Hallo-thanksmas everyone! And to not be politically incorrect to other religions and socially accepted organizations, "Merry Christma-chanu-quanza-kah."

And what sucks even more, is that my parents had to conceive me during the spring, which forced my birth to fall right in the middle of all the Hallmark claptrap. It's no wonder this time of year is my least favorite. I can't even enjoy getting older without the constant reminder that there's only 37 days 'til X-mas.

The good news is that after 34 years of this blurring of celebration, I can now recognize my loathing. No more do I have to sit and ponder why I'm so depressed. I simply "know." It's the corporations' fault. I accept that. I understand their obsessive need to rake in billions of dollars for the crap they sell. On some levels, I even respect it. But let's be honest. The whole reason for the holidays being celebrated is lost. And far be it for our educational system to put a single toe out of line and even attempt to mention Jesus or the Pilgrims without the fear of a class action lawsuit for teaching religion. It's gotten so bad that many states don't even celebrate Columbus Day, but instead take the federal holiday in observance of "All Cultures' Day." So, yes, I blame the government too. And the media. Their dirty hands have to be in this one too.

Do I smell conspiracy?

I'm not so much of a purist, mind you. I am not devout in any religion, and I don't prescribe to any one theological doctrine. In fact, I'm just your average, ordinary, cynical, Non-Partisan, pseudo-environmentalist-cum-neo-libertarian, realist. Nothing fancy.

I just believe that our society shields itself from what is really there. It's the whole "out of sight, out of mind" principle, flavored with "as long as I've got mine" and "not in my backyard" thrown in for good measure. We're so afraid of offending someone, somewhere that our opinions can't even be offered without fear of backlash. It’s gotten so bad that we’re a country full of strangers in a world that’s never been as closely connected as it is today.

So this holiday season I have one wish, and it comes at no cost to you. It’s one-size-fits-all gift. I hope people will try to put aside their preconceived notions about religion, color or nationality. That they’ll disregard other people’s political stances or sexual preferences. That people will just be honest and intelligent. That they will take some time and just think; think what it means to be alive. Maybe even offer a little understanding and respect for their fellow man.

Shit! I’m starting to sound like a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie of the week.

Tonight on Lifetime, the touching story of an actor who’s listened to too many John Lennon songs.

It’s no wonder I hate the holidays.

On Writing II

It's odd. I have an entire week to think about what to put in my blog, but come Friday I have nothing. No clever ideas. No witty commentary on world events. And no smarmy concepts to ridicule the glut of blogs out there. (Though I will admit, I started this week's blog using a guest writer. Suffice to say, had I pursued another contrived, blog-bashing premise, my one reader would inundate me with his comments on how I'm degrading this bastion of online journalism.)

So again, I'm faced with the perplexing problem of providing provocative prose. Alas! Alliteration! Altogether amusing and ambitious. I find fun and frivolity in formulating fascinating fiction. Often overlooked on our opus of oration, omnibus and opuscules. Yet years of yearning usually yields yards of useful euphemisms. Tired of this tirade of tumultuous text? Tough! Today's tome tests the tenacity of triviality and temptation. Lest you loathe literary license? Methinks, maybe more mortals might make more meaningful morals manipulating means meant to meditate and massage the mind. Just a juxtaposition. Jocularity just of jibes of juvenile gestures.

Sidebar- Sure, some selections seem shady; sounding superficial and salacious. Seemingly superfluous and spurious. So? Suppose society supplements some sophisticated sustenance; subsistence suppressing cynicism? Sufficient supplies surely should support some stupendous and significant substance.

Nevermind numerous, numb neurons. Now our Nation needs nutrients. New nuggets of necessary knowledge. Natural and native. No nihilism. No negativity. No narcissism. Nondiscriminatory, neonatal nobility; negating nadir. Nice!

How? Hmmm.......
How 'bout a helping hand. Who here hasn't happened upon humanity's horrible hardships: headaches, hernias, hemorrhoids? Heaven's humble heart hopes heathens here hearken heedfulness.

Hasta Hommies.

The preceding blog was brought to you today by the letters F and U.

The Week in Review

Damn!
Hard to believe it's been a week already. Remember a week ago I promised to post every week? Wow! Those were great times. Time sure does go by fast when you're required to post on a regular basis. Granted it's a self-imposed requirement, but I do try to honor my promises.

So to make it easy on myself, (since I have no real reason to post other than I have to), I'll recap the exciting events of the past week.

The week of Oct 7-14, 2005:

Well, I went to work every day I was scheduled. Didn't call off or play hooky. I'm so proud of myself. At work I fixed computers and supervised assistants, and even had the opportunity to read email and do research on the web. Not only did I go to work, but afterward, I went home too. Feels good to accomplish so much in such a short time.

Oh! This is exciting. I had a meeting to attend this week. What a great opportunity to offer my well thought out ideas to people whose opinions I regard so highly. I really feel that my presence was appreciated and valued. Can't wait to see the implementation of my plans. I'll keep you posted.

Now if that wasn't enough, you should hear what I did at home. Almost too much to tell. Didn't eat breakfast or lunch all week, bad habit I know, but that's just part of the hectic schedule that is Glenn. Good news, though, I did eat dinner every night. Even prepared a few of the meals. Watch out Emeril! Ah, and the evenings; a little TV, some relaxing reading, even went crazy one night and listened to music while playing a game with the family. We're such the multi-tasked family. I do have to admit that I was a bad boy this week. I had a glass of wine with dinner on Tuesday, and darn it if it didn't make my fall asleep early.

Gosh, it's so hard for me to believe that all that happened this week. It's amazing I have any time left for performing improvisation, or assisting with the casting of a new production for The Learning Channel. Of course that's not very exciting.

Well, that's about it. Glad I could keep you up to date with everything important in my life.
Have a great week. We'll see you here again real soon.

Bless.

Oh the Humanity!

I feel so dirty, succumbing to peer pressure. What am I, 13 years old? I've been trying to not have a banal blog, like so many others, and only post when something intriguing occurs in my mind. But, apparently, that doesn't happen too often. So now here I am again posting to please my fan base.

As such, I hereby pledge to do the following: (in no particular order)

• Not be so contrived in my postings. From this point forward I'll use my humor and wit only for good, not for self-indulgence or for the senseless bashing of loyal reader(s).

• Post more often. Once a week to start, perhaps more if necessary. This should be acceptable as my prior posting schedule was on the timeline of "Whenever I damn well feel like it".

• Tell heartwarming anecdotes from my childhood. Who doesn't love a good tale of abuse and neglect, especially when it can be dredged up by friends at inopportune times?

• Attach useful links and cute photos of animals in clothes. What blog would be complete without that homespun, American feel of apple pie recipes and snapshots of Rover wearing a burkha?

• Be more sensitive. It goes without saying that I should have more respect for the idiots and morons that I deal with on a daily basis. Though they may be the dregs of society, and have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, they still serve a useful purpose to someone...somewhere

So for now I bid you adieu, but only for the next 6 days, 23 hours and let's say 27 minutes.

Oh and before I forget, enjoy the following:
Apple pie recipe

For Scott

Thanks to my esteemed friend Scott, (the webmaster of dribbleglass.com) I again feel compelled to add to my blog. The guilt imposed upon me by Scott's passive aggressive nature has finally wormed its way through my digestive system and is currently causing my lower tract to constrict and convulse in an odd yet disturbingly pleasant fashion. Thanks Scott.

I have not embarked upon any new ideas since my last post, nor do I suspect one will come of this current stream of consciousness. Nevertheless, I feel Scott (and other readers yet to be known) deserve to know what currently resides in the synapses of my brain. That having been said, I have nothing to write about, or more to the point, nothing that I feel needs to be shared with the world. That having been said, I have said everything I need to say.......for now.

On Writing

I have to admit, I'm impressed with the voluminous amount of blogs that individuals post on a daily basis. I, myself, had such high expectations when I first began putting my words to the web, but after much consideration and the occasional shrug of my shoulders, I resided myself to the fact that I'll write something whenever I bloody well feel like it. Nyah!

But this again gets me thinking, "Just who are these people that blog every day, and who do they think they are?" I mean, other than the posts by journalists and the avant- garde/neo-political/edgy bloggers who's really reading the stuff that's out there? Friends of the writers? Daily aquaintances that would hear the writer's opinions at the water cooler anyway? Net enabled dogs and cats? Who?

Take me for instance. I might have something interesting to say, or I may perhaps have a quip that's so witty I feel inclined to share it with the entire online world, but so what! What makes me so special that my ego actually thinks what I have to say makes any difference? And more importantly, who's reading this to tell me so? (other than, of course, my friends and cats)

That's why I find it so amazing that there are people out there who actually center their lives around the daily posting of the trivialities of their lives. Maybe they feel that they are establishing themselves as creative writers? Or maybe they believe that the gigabytes of storage being devoted to host their ongoing autobiography is essential to uphold the thermodynamic principle of entropy? Or perhaps still, maybe their hopes are that in a million years someone will unzip the digital archives of their lives and find some important, little tidbit which will answer the eternal question.........

"Ah, Mary Jones chose this day, July 19, 2005 to ride the bus to work as opposed to driving her gas-guzzling suv. This selfless act set in motion the changing tide of human existence and forever altered the reality of the species. Amazing, that she had the foresight to document this event, and establish in the annals of her race this key event which led to our discovery of the meaning of life."

So why do it? Why spend countless hours clicking away at the keyboard at such a futile and insignificant endeavor? And why would someone so cynical as myself subscribe to any part of it?
Hmmmmm..............................
Apparently no one is there to respond. How odd.
I suppose I'll offer my own response, then if someone reads my post in a million years, they can contemplate their own opinion and wonder if my corporeal spirit will be around to witness it.

So my compelling thought is that this type of journal writing is cathartic. A bit more voyeuristic than the traditional diary writing, but therapeutic just the same. It affords people to be expressive and daring all at the same time, much like driving at rush hour but without all the greenhouse gases. I guess that's why I do it. Not because what I have to say is profound, 'cause let's be honest, there are no revelations in my commentary. But because I tend to feel a little better about myself after I've posted something.

So I suppose the greater question is, "If everyone else shares this ideal on blogging as medicine, then how fucked up must the people in the world be that they need this little digital pill on a daily basis?"

I'd respond again , but I'd prefer to ride out the blogging high I'm currently on.

Searching for ideas

Finally got everything set for the website, so now comes the most relevant aspect of this so-called online journal--the topic. It's pointless to ask anyone to contribute suggestions, since the pragmatic side of me knows that no one but myself is really even seeing these words. Strange as that may seem to you, since you're reading this saying, "Hey what about me? I'm reading it." Regardless.......as I type this, there is no one viewing my posts. So, back to the point in question, "what to write about?" I suspect that I am not the first person in the world to ponder this notion, and certainly it's not the most profound concept I could be dealing with, yet just the same, it's 8:00am and you get what you pay for.

So my first official topic is......(obligatory drum roll)......... Anonymity. Wow! Hey, Glenn, that's deep. Now, wait a moment, before you click away on some random link, hear me out. There's the obvious argument that in today's technological day and age there is no such thing as anonymity, but I would argue against that concept. True, it's much easier to track someone down on the internet than it used to be back in the day, and sure Big Brother is watching everything you do, from your cell phone calls to your credit card purchases to your pay-per-view habits. But I suggest that all this points to is a big computer talking with other "less big " computers about insignificant data that has no correlation to "who you are."

You are much more than a database full of randomly calculated numbers and misorganized information. Your persona is deeper than the terabytes of psychological profiles housed by the CIA and FBI. Your soul and spirit are not shaped by your latest E-bay purchase or your RPG character on Everquest. (I will concede this last point on some instances based on individuals I know that live EQ).

My point is that while information on the internet may identify you and categorize you, it does not define you. Now I know you're saying, "Ok, that's all fine and good, but doesn't anonymity mean 'not having your identity known?'" Yes, but I believe the definition is more significant than just associating a name with a person. It's about the unknown; the character, the emotional constructs of an individual, the motivations and relationships of the person, not some sort of state of being that's determinate on whether your name is in a telephone directory. The quality and condition of your identity should be a result of your actions, and by this I mean something more substantial than signing up for the Columbia House Music Club.

I raise this idea, simply because I feel anonymous. Not just in the sense that most people in the world have no clue who I am, even though they might randomly access this blog or my website, but that people don't know me. People associate me with computers and the whole acting thing and my family sees me as a father, husband, brother, son, et al, yet I still can't help but feel unknown. This is obviously a result of my own choosing; my need to isolate myself emotionally and restrict myself from being vulnerable, but nevertheless, it is my choice.

So, now you have some insight into my idealistic world, and "No", this does not mean you now know me. I still claim anonymity despite your ability to Google me. I retain this privacy indefinitely, and no amount of Xanax will change that. So nyah!

First Blog

First Web Log. How very exciting for you. I will obviously have to come back and write more later. But as this is simply a test, I'm sure you can appreciate the need for me to actually test it out.

Cheers