Toyomafia - The Clubhouse. 151.880

Well, Hello!

 

Yup. Those are just pretty carp.

 

Around here, pike have the nickname "slough shark".

 

Drained the block and hoses for the “winter” ahead. Helped my buddy put a new Bimini on his Malibu ski boat that is up for sale. If anyone is interested hit me up.

 

The new cat came back to me tonight. Couldn't believe it. I mean, I know it's pretty much the blanket...

 

He's getting great vibes from your Arm-Tag.

 

Could have done more

 

That blanket is the equivalent of my table cloth! It’s great

 

Gotta give you AZ guys some credit. Impressed with the local brews on this trip.

 

Costco! They have the best freaking blankets. Kitten approved!

 

Try their Juicy Jack if you like hazy IPAs. That’s one of my faves.

 

Love me some Moon Juice!

 

Best part about those is they sell them in tall boys at Chase Field for Dbacks games.

 

Probably my favorite beer so far.

 

It may be Corny to some, but I try to start out my day before work, drinking my Coffee and thinking this. It seems to have really helped with my anger management problems.

 

Good morning, goodfellas!

I was thinking…

Imagine living way back in the day when something as simple as fog was terrifying.

 

I would have been scared shitless today

 

I’m still scared today!

 

Got some nice retro color slaps last night, just had to drink a few beers. Win-win.

 

I have a memory of a time when we deployed into the British downs, there was a full moon and fog was rolling in. This was the same time when the movie American werewolf in London was a hit. I was freakin. I wish for simpler times as well.

 

Well, I’m here to help.

FYI… thunder is not the gods being angry or moving furniture around.

 

No they're bowling in heaven.

 

That is what I was told

 

What’s scarier?
That thick fog you can’t see through or the random patch of fog hanging out all alone in a valley.
The little patch looks innocent enough, but it’s just a menacing little cloud hanging around, up to no good.

 

People used to be afraid of a lot of things they couldn't understand. Now it's mostly just other people.

 

I once dated a girl who’s dad was in a motorcycle gang.
He always said it was, Gods Harley.

 

True.
I don’t understand most people.
That’s why I avoid them, like the fog.

 

I had that tag I'm wearing made a long time ago. I hadn't been to the town I grew up in for 10 years and I was having a hard time accepting that I really hadn't been able to do or be anything that I had hoped to be at that point in my life. The Army pretty much turned my future into a VA file number. I was having a hard time dealing with it all.

One of my favorite quotes by Emerson is what is what I had put on the bracelet "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could." I was big into distressed American flags (and I felt "damaged') at the time so I designed it with the flag background. Anytime I felt the depression hit, I'd rub the tag.

Fast forward to all of the shit I was going through last week with trying to get the City to write a fair noise ordinance - I was on edge and angry. My resting heart rate was in the 120's (it's usually in the low 70's). I figured it was time to find the bracelet to remind me I can only do so much and to let shit go.

 

This is a transcription of a Jordan Peterson video that I try to watch or read every couple days and especially when I find myself getting wound up over the bullshit in the world today.

*edited the 2 political references and won't link the video but it's on Peterson's channel titled "A Wing and a Prayer"

God lift me from the intolerable burden of my ignorance, arrogance, wilful blindness, bitterness and resentment. As I pray that others rise above the same faults and temptations.

I watched one side release a message this week: There are terrible things afoot under the surface of our society, and the perpetrators are coming for you And coming for us And then I watched the other side respond in panic and anger, saying: There are terrible things afoot under the surface of our society, and the perpetrators are coming for you And coming for us.

Are there terrible things afoot, bubbling under the surface? Is something coming for you? And for us? Ask yourself how true that is of yourself and your own life Have you addressed all that? Are you concerning yourself with the dust in your enemy’s eyes, instead of attending to the filth that obscures your own sight?

Do we want accusation, suspicion, discord, derision and hatred? Or the peace and prosperity and happiness that beckons to us at this moment like never before? Who’s the enemy here? Is it the basket of deplorables? Is it the freaks and the queers? Is it the plumbers and carpenters and tradesmen and managers who work honestly and diligently during the day and the soldiers who stalwartly defend the borders and protect us? Is it the artists and visionaries whose expressions of unbridled creativity entertain and rejuvenate us and who continually offer to us an unending panoply of technological miracle? Is it the institutions that guide and protect us that so many lived and died to erect and establish which for all their faults have served us so well?

Do we want revenge or justice? Do we want contempt or mercy? Do we want war—or peace? And what are you aiming at in your heart of hearts?

I see even the best of men degenerating into the exchange of blows. I see even the best of men identifying the enemy in our neighbours and friends. I see even the best of men falling prey to cowardice and self-righteous anger. It needs to stop. I need to stop. You need to stop. Before it’s too late.

Who is the enemy here? The snake in your heart? The lies on your tongue? The arrogance of your intellect? The cowardice of our refusal to see? The enemy is that which divides to sow discord. The enemy is the pride and fear that stops us from lending a hand acoss the divide. The enemy is the great and eternal adversary of mankind. And if we demonize our brothers, our comrades-in-arms, do we not precisely call that dread spirit forth? Have we not yet learned?

Courage Trust Truth Love Even unto your enemy. Which is you. God forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us May what is highest guide our vision May what is highest open our ears May what is highest guide our tongues And may we pray Fearful of the hell we could so easily and carelessly create Deliver us from evil Shine a light into the corners of our dark hearts For thine is the Kingdom The Power and the Glory For Ever and Ever Amen

 

A door into a calmer, healthier room.