Whatsthatsmell?

A Reprise of one of my Remembrance Day Favourites

May as well bring this one back, I wrote it a couple of years ago and re-print it each year:

 

 

Yesterday morning the wife, the daughter, and I were down in town, and it just so happened that the mayor was presiding over an act of remembrance at the war memorial in front of the town hall in honour of Remembrance/Armistice/Veterans’ Day.

Whilst waiting for it to begin, my eyes were caught by the following poem (hat tip to Steve for publishing it):

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.


Well, once my eyes were caught, they started leaking like no one’s business, and my daughter jumped up and gave me a big hug, her little hands patting my back.

Beginning in 1992, I spent six years in the US Navy. In the first three years of serving in the Navy, I was probably the most conscientious sailor one could hope to meet. I loved the Navy, I loved its history and I was damned proud to be seen in my crackerjacks. But something happened to me, gradually. Many of the goals I set for myself, and for which I thought I was punching all the right tickets were not coming to fruition. I was beginning to get a little burnt out on being so squared away for my first three years, with no – apparent – return other than a job well done.

After that point, I couldn’t wait to get out. Not that I actively tried, but I could have really left the Navy at the first chance presented.

I served the rest of my time, maybe not as conscientiously as I should have, but probably better than many of my colleagues, nonetheless. Looking back now, I’m a little bit ashamed of the fact that I didn’t necessarily give my best to the Navy, and by extension, my country. Back then, I could justify it by the fact that I was such a good boy, but Santa still wouldn’t bring me presents.

I may not have been proud of my service then, but I am definitely proud of it now.

You see, I have shared the experience of wearing a uniform in the service of my country with some of the greatest souls to ever grace this planet. Men who were definitely better men than I. Men who did not know what was in store for them when they signed that dotted line and received the queen’s shilling or that paycheck from Uncle Sam. Men who gave up their youths and their freedom so that the rest of us could enjoy our own. Many men whose remains now lay on the fields in which they were mowed down, or the watery graves where their ships lie.

Yes, it’s true, some of us join/ed the military because it was a way out or a way up from whatever circumstances may have been going on (I initially walked into the recruiting office because I was running away from something.) But no matter the reasons for joining, the sum total of the efforts of my predecessors, colleagues, and those who came after me was that this world is just a little bit better than it may have been had we not done our “duty”.

My father served in the Navy for 20 years. My uncle just retired from the Navy, himself. Both of my grandfathers served in WWII, one in the British Army and one in the US Army. And I am proud of all that they did.

I may have said that after my first three years I didn’t get anything from the Navy. But the truth is, my whole experience gave me the world.

Thanks to all those people with whom I shared that world and those experiences, and whose boots I could never fill. I am truly humbled when contemplating the greatness that came before, and that follows, my brief stint of service.

I didn’t see any action, and I am grateful I didn’t have to. But then, as they say, I was standing on the shoulders of giants.

Hallowe'en Rant: The Church Party

Okay, so they organised an "alternative" Hallowe'en party at the church because some parents are "concerned" about the pagan and satanic implications of Hallowe'en.  Okay, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut, as my daughter would enjoy a party, and despite me (an ex-pagan) going into a rant about how many pagans actually get offended by turning it into a children's holiday where their beliefs get mocked.

But what did they replace it with?  A Star Wars party.  And they tried to sell Star Wars to the kids as "Judaeo-Christian" thing rather than as a Taoist-Buddhist-Joseph Campbell hodge-podge of beliefs that are shared across many world religions...

Talk about false idols.  I am really disturbed by this.  The closest thing in Christianity that the theology of Star Wars comes to is Manichaeism, a Gnostic belief system that was deemed a heresy as early as the 4th Century.  Star Wars may have a story where Good ultimately triumphs over Evil, but there is an inherent dualism between the Dark and the Light Sides of the Force, an impersonal pantheistic force that penetrates everything.  Definitely not the G-d of the Torah nor Our Saviour of the New Testament.

I am really torn.  Do I inform the person who was selling this that she was misinforming the kids?  Or do I let it slide?  Is it really worth it?

One cheery note...

I enrolled for the final class that will allow me to graduate and get my Bachelors degree in March.

There was a little button in my online account marked: Apply for Graduation.  I clicked that button, selected Winter 2009 quarter, and felt that I've really hit a milestone.  It has been 21 years since I first stepped foot in a university class.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a little verklempt.

Sorry it's been quiet...

Not felt like blogging of late.  Lots of stuff to observe and comment on, but no will...

I think it may have a lot to do with the fact that we are watching the end of the world as we know it, and I'm just getting my head around it (and building up my grab-and-go box, just in case.)

I think there are a few things that will affect me directly, and perhaps get exacerbated by the potential nationalisation of everything and the potential presidency of Obama.  Kind of scary.

For one, my anticipated return to the US may be put off for a while, as this whole mess sorts itself out.  It may take longer to get sorted if the wrong policies are pursued (such as a tax hike on "rich" people.)  This is a very real possibility; as one commentator pointed out, there are far-left Democrats in Congress who have been waiting decades for a like-minded POTUS to help them re-engineer America.  Even if Obama is a "moderate", which seems unlikely given his past associations and self-admitted dabblings in Marxism, he is not strong enough to stand up to the apparatchiks in his party.

I really hope I'm wrong, because this could potentially be very problematic, because they are not going to be Fabian in their approach, like almost all good idealogues who finally get their way, they are going to overplay their hand.  And I don't think the American people are the sorts to take things sitting down.  A recent survey, for instance, put American opposition to the redistribution of wealth at about 85%.  85% of the US population is to the right of the Democrat Party platform.  And a lot of them are armed.

And, outside of the government, there isn't going to be a lot of job creation in the US with a Reid-Pelosi-Obama leadership.

The Republicans were dip-sh**s when they were running Congress.  And now we are all going to pay.

 

 

And this economic thing...A lot of Europeans are patting themselves on the back because they avoided this nasty subprime business that's happened in the US.  But as we are seeing the beginning of the end to the problems in the US, we are seeing the end of the beginning for Europe.  Where do you think all that bad debt ended up?  European institutional investors have always preferred debt over equity as investment vehicles.  Those lovely subprime loans looked really tasty a couple of years ago.

Plus the European banks have their own sub-prime messes to muddle through in the Baltics and the Balkans.  The European banking system is teetering completely on the edge.

Why do you think they are dictating to Bush that the US has to come along?  So that when their own systems go tits-up, the US's will too.  Unlike Britain and the US, the European systems have already been nationalized or at least collectivized (as in Germany) to the extent that the banks and private industry are so intertwined that they cannot be considered separate sectors.

So I haven't been of cheery mien of late.  But as with everything, this too, shall soon pass.  But what will take its place?

I Hope Mr. Young will remember...

A band formed by Mike Estes, who played guitar for Lynyrd Skynyrd in the nineties, and Dave Hlubek from Molly Hatchet (who’s since re-joined Molly Hatchet), Skinny Molly, played here at a local pub. 

They played loads of Skynyrd songs, a few originals, a respectable cover of Copperhead Road, and a rock-n-roll version of Dixie.  Kicked major ass, and my wife got to observe me in my full redneck glory.

Made me feel homesick...

Gotta go, I’m running out now to get a Confederate battle flag tattoo...

Saw Death Sentence the other night...

Death Sentence is a revenge film wherein Kevin Bacon is the protagonist whose son is randomly killed by a gang-banger in an initiation killing.  Instead of fingering the perpetrator in court and thereby sending him away for 1-5 years on a plea bargain, something flips and he decides to get even.

What ensues is an escalation between Bacon and the gang to which this fine young man belongs.

It was fun to watch, although I think it spent way too much time on character development.  Also, it preached a bit.  By taking it back to the gangbangers the overall PC message running through the film was that Kevin Bacon brings any subsequent misfortune upon himself.  And he "becomes" one of them.  Also there were a few whiny moments where the gangbangers complained about the media not caring if one of them from the wrong side of town was to get killed...No sh** Sherlock.  The difference is that the kid who was killed at the beginning was not a fellow drug dealer, just a guy getting a slurpie in a gas station.

This kind of wound me up a bit, because whether Bacon's character broke the law or not in becoming a vigilante, what he did was not the same as what the gangbangers did to start it.  His character was looking for justice.  The gangsters were looking for trouble.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't remember Death Wish expressing the same sort of PC moral equivalence wherein all violence is wrong even if it is just or in self-defense.

It reminds me of another fun to watch recent violent film featuring Clive Owen: Shoot 'em Up.  That film, like Death Sentence, had some fantastically over-the-top violent action which felt cathartic.  But, get this, the bad guys are a pro-gun rights gun manufacturer and his political stooge.

I mean...FFS...WTF...

I am getting tired of being preached to by people who capitalise on the cinematic portrayal of mindless violence telling me how wrong violence is, especially in self-defense or in aid of justice.

Is it me?  Am I being to sensitive to this crap?

Here we have some major ultra-violence laced with mealy-mouthed platitudes about how wrong it is.

It's not as if the industry of Hollywood is a bastion of morality, anyway.  Members of the most cutthroat, superficial, amoral industry in the world are presuming to be my moral compass.

Puh-LEASE!!!!

Listen Hollywood: If you're going to make millions from a film where the body count from violent means exceeds, say, 5, in the first five minutes of the film, then don't tell me how wrong it is.  I might be so suggestible as to stop watching your crap films altogether.

I'm Baaaack

Had a truly refreshing four-day break at Centerparcs, a.k.a. Butlins for the Middle Classes; instead of little T-Jays and Chantelles running around, we encountered little Tarquins and Indias.

Have to say, it was rather civilised, as well, and actually had us pining for the civility of Frankfurt (but without the Hessische).

When we got to our cabin, it smelled of wet dog, and when we called to complain, they instantly upgraded us.  And this set the tone for the whole trip.  I don't believe I've enjoyed such a consistently positive customer service experience since leaving the US.  Every employee we encountered was genial, chatty, and happy to help.

Normal blogging to commence shortly.

As far as the wet dog smell goes, it appears they reserve the far southwest corner of the park for dog owners, but you wouldn't know that from the web site.  If you ever do decide to reserve, I recommend paying the extra £25 or £35 to ensure a more central location.

Feeling slightly smug of late...

Reading articles like this one...

Families face a £1,300 annual increase in their mortgage payments after the country's biggest building society announced a rise in its lending rates.

Here's why I'm feeling smug...

Four years ago, when we began formulating how much money we could afford to borrow to purchase a house, I calculated how much we could afford to pay, at the time, as a monthly payment even if interest rates went up to 10%.

Based upon that number, that's what we had in mind as the cap to the size of our mortgage.

We also made the unorthodox decision to buy a larger house and share it (live in it) with my wife's parents.

When it came time to apply for the mortgage, we locked into a ten-year fixed rate at 4.89% on the amount of money we thought we could afford to borrow even if we had to pay as high as 10% at some future date.  Which was half the value of the house we purchased with the in-laws.

And more than a few acquaintances thought we were completely nuts on both counts - living with the in-laws and locking into a 10-year fixed rate.

Although it took some adjustment, living with the in-laws has turned out to be one of the best decisions we could have made, especially for our daughter.

And locking into a 10-year fixed rate was another prudent thing to do; and a few people thought we were even nuttier for doing this.

For some of these people, their lifestyle and spending decisions were predicated upon eternal rising house prices and low interest rates with the ability to remortgage cheaply every two years or so.  I imagine this is fairly representative of a large part of the population.  People bought houses on the basis of how much they were allowed to borrow and not on the basis of how much they could actually afford.  And many of them also bought with self-certifying mortgages, so they could stretch the truth a bit about their actual incomes.

Okay, so now house prices are going to take a temporary dip while the market sorts itself out.  But unless something's done about wholesale immigration to the UK or major land use reform, housing prices, at least here in the South East of England, are going to remain rather buoyant.  (If I had known the full extent of immigration to this country, I would have bought back in 1999 or 2000, when I could have afforded it even better, on a contractor's income.)

I have a real problem with the moral hazard being created by the various plans for bailing people out that politicians keep alluding to.  This may sound smug and "uncaring" but I say let the chips fall where they may.

Borrowing money for a house far into the six digits is the most important financial decision any one is going to make in their lives.  There are plenty of free places to find all the information you're ever going to need, to look at it from all angles.

If an increase to the interest rates adds a little over £100 to your monthly mortgage bill, and this is unaffordable, it was you that borrowed too much money.  It's not the fault of the "greedy" banks and mortgage companies, as many of the news stories of late would have you believe.

And another funny thing happened to me...

Today...

One of the people who is affiliated with the project management organisation for which I am the PMO Manager (but not the ultimate guy in charge) sent me an instant message asking me if there was anywhere she could pray a couple of times a day.

Faster than you could shake a stick, I replied...Don't think so...Ask the building manager.

There are times where I am truly grateful that I am not responsible for making some decisions.

I showed it to my boss and told him I was glad that that wasn't my call...He said: "yeah, I know what you'd say!"

It would have to be a conflicted decision if I had to make it, that's for sure.  I often see things like this happening elsewhere and tut-tut over the outcomes of whatever controversy gets raised.  But I'm not sure how I would react if it really was up to me.

This whole US Election thing is great...

I found myself explaining the US election process to a couple of people who work with me, today. 

I found myself going on like some people drone on about football, and about like, I imagine, trainspotters may drone on about their favourite engines.  And it took loads of discipline to stay focused on what was in front of me rather than scanning the web for the latest election info...

Even if my guy doesn't win the nomination, the drama of the whole thing makes it worth following; there are so many surprises so far.  Also, whoever becomes POTUS next will be pivotal to the rest of the world for the rest of the century.  No matter who the Democratic nominee may be and no matter who the Republican nominee will be, there will be a very clear choice for the American people at the general election.  There are so many BIG things going on both domestically and throughout the world, and they will be handled in very different ways by the different candidates.

Just wish I could stay up all night listening to the radio and reading articles and then go to work tomorrow.

As the great Captain once said, though...

Once a liftetime, twice a day,
If you don't work you get no pay...

Oh why oh why must I be in a contract and in university courses through such an interesting political season?