If Not Money and Sex, Then What?

Freud said it's all about money (or power) and sex, and it seems to me that things have gotten even worse with those two in my lifetime. In a previous page I remarked that there used to be what is a now-missing code of ethics. Best friends betray due to outright sexual invitation from another's wife. Members of church prayer groups lose their retirement in investment embezzlement from one of their own. These events happen periodically and repeatedly, and there doesn't seem to be enough shame nor honor to prevent it. This is depressing! Where is the world going to? How do I get off?

Is there a way to deal with it? Is there another... attraction? Is there another reason to stay in this world?

I have said that I have found some very rare individuals that are responsible, mature, kind, helpful, trusting, contributing, complimenting and respectful... with a good positive attitude, who enjoy life and do the right thing, no matter what. These are as rare as jewels, and I call them angels. I cultivate and treasure these friendships, and love these individuals, because they give me hope, a reason to live and an emotional hug. They contribute.

I prefer being around these people and I keep a smile around them.

I keep having to remind myself of this.

Live well, love often and laugh much.

- © 2008 by Willy
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Accidents and Injuries

Like the bumper sticker says on redneck pickup trucks, Shit Happens. It happened to my good friend Dave today... during a group ride on a gorgeous, sunny day. At the end of a long descent, he turned right from a 4-lane into a small road and collided with a vehicle that was moving slowly or perhaps stopped. He's in the hospital with a bruised lung (they have inserted a tube for drainage), a separated collarbone and some road rash. He's sore, stiff and beat up but already looking for a recumbent to ride while he heals... Dave loves riding.

Injuries take a long time to heal... if ever... for old farts like me and Dave. And injuries do a number on our fitness level. Neither group nor solo riding is immune to risks. Dave will be back among us soon, I hope.

- © 2008 by Willy
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People Are Funny That Way

When I was young and becoming an engineer we had a Redneck Code of Ethics around here. It was just common sense, morals and values. It included not to mess with somebody's woman and not to steal the waitress' tips. Quaint concepts, eh? Nowadays there's no holds barred and money and sex have no constraints. What's happened to people? I don't get it.

Technical problems are solvable given enough time and money, and, once solved, they stay solved. Not so with people problems, which are seldom solvable, and thus endless. Unfortunately, some people don't want solutions but would rather stand in squalor, stay upset, and draw others in, who then get upset too... which is just weird to me. They must get something out of it. People are like fruit... one rotten apple spoils the entire barrel.

We have to deal with people, though, and it is easier to deal one-on-one. More than that and it becomes exponentially more difficult to do anything and everything, and it's best to step away. People are like sharks... once the pack tastes someone's blood, there's a blind frenzy among them.

Machines are based on logic. People are based on emotions, and they lie as needed, to themselves and to others. Everyone lies, some more and some less. Everyone cheats and steals, some with more finesse than others, from financial account fees to leaving work early. Many hearts are irreparably broken due to lying and cheating. There is no real reality truth... everybody has one. People are like a forest... gossip and damage spread like wildfire.

This is one real crazy world! And to think that I thought that I was the one that was crazy! Ha!

I'm not saying I dislike every person, but everyone has a problem. Nobody is perfect, myself included. I can't help but love many of my brothers and sisters, even though they, too, have problems. I especially love responsible, mature, kind, helpful, trusting, contributing, complimenting and respectful people with a good positive attitude, who enjoy life and do the right thing... no matter their faults.

-© 2008 by Willy
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P.S., No, I don't tolerate fools well.
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Control

In solitude alone
can man know true freedom.
- Montaigne

Did you sell in this diving stock market? That is a decision only you can make, if it's your money. One of my buddies did. I have not and will not, instead will wait the 5 years for a recovery... and pick up some bargains now. It's my money.

I'm helping another buddy move in with his gal tomorrow, and I told him that I wish him luck and will pray for him. I'm not living with anybody else. It's my life.

Man is never as capable as when he is independent. Alone, without ties that bind, we have both nobody to hold us back and nobody to blame. A free soul can contribute. It is our dependence on another that holds us back. Nobody else can guide us better than ourselves... only inspiration makes us better. That is, nobody other than God makes us better.

Can I control myself? Damned right I can... the buck stops here. Can another control me? Yes, if I let them, and they try all the time! They're called mothers, spouses and significant others. Can I control others? Shiiit no. The next time I fall in love, I will keep it to myself. She'll never know it.

"I can't make you love me if you don't" - Bonnie Raitt



- some of this © 2008 by Willy
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Keep Quiet

T. Boone Pickens once said that the higher a monkey climbs a tree, the more people that can see his ass.

Visibility has its drawbacks. You are a big, obvious target that others can not only sling mud at but shoot down too.

I like where I am. It's amazing to me how much power I have from the bottom. I can get a lot done without getting seen. And I don't get shot at.

The key to my mental health is to keep my head down. Survival is to say nothing and to try a little to look like I might know what I'm doing, which I do. I just keep quiet, and get things done.

All the monkeys up high spend most of their time and effort throwing mud at each other, and sometimes one of them gets killed. People can be such asses.

Not for me!

- © 2008 by Willy
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Home

Home is over the rainbow, where the skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

Home is a feeling, not a place. Home just feels right. Home is a feeling of calmness, of quiet and of rest. It can happen to coincide with a physical place, but if so then that physical place had better have the above qualities.

After two weeks, I just got home very late last night, to that feeling of calmness, since there is nobody else at home now. A couple of years ago, when returning from a trip, there was no such calmness... just tension, walking on eggshells while waiting for verbal attack, kind of like Inspector Crusoe waiting for Kato to pound on him when he got home (in the various Pink Panther movies a couple of decades ago).

Today I slept late, showered, lunched out, shopped, washed, organized and put away. Watered and fed the birds and animals. And rested... laid down in front of the TV, propped my legs up, and enjoyed the calmness while watching the birds flock to the feeders.

There no place feeling like home. Great feeling. Won't give it up ever again.

- © 2008 by Willy
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Luck

I know that luck favors the prepared, but sometimes preparation isn't enough.

Last Saturday I was baking in 104-degree desert heat in the sun, walking at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Visor, sun block and packed Camelback were not doing it, I had left Cottonwood campground and I had a couple of hours to get to Phantom Ranch. I hadn't seen a soul for a half an hour when I saw a Sahara hat atop a rock. That's freakin' luck.

Tuesday morning the group leader woke up in a bad mood because my snoring had kept him awake for several nights in our crowded shared-room sleeping arrangement. However, at our destination motel in a crowded Zion vacation/tourist destination, a vacant room existed. That's pure luck.

Who knows how many bad occurrences were averted. There were no accidents or injuries other than sore feet. That's luck too.

I've been lucky many a time. A dozen years ago we had a recession in town and layoffs but I was able to find jobs for me and my group through help from connections as well as a good work ethic reputation. After my divorce, my kids came to live with me and I had the discipline and privilege to raise them. A good young friend of mine became a priest, so we maintain a unique relationship. I've survived two traffic wrecks, storms at sea in small craft, climbing and caving accidents, a point-blank shooting, divorce, teenagers, many different kind of heartbreak and countless other physical and emotional events. This was due to preparation, work, people's kindness and asking for God's mercy... luck.

I'm a lucky man: I prepare and I pray to get lucky. And I do.

- text © 2008 by Willy

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P.S., Yes, OK... North Kaibab down to lodge in 7, next day from lodge up thru Bright Angel in 6 1/4 hrs. First down, and first out, of a dozen or so.

Canyons

The goal of every drop is to return to the ocean.

I'm winding down a week of hiking canyons in Arizona and Utah, flying home tomorrow. I've seen nature at its grandest, and it was impressive. From the challenge of rim-to-rim Grand Canyon to the fun of sloshing The Narrows at Zion, I gained a new perspective on earth's rugged beauty: I saw what a drop can do while pursuing its goal, and it gave me a lesson on persistence.

I'm glad to be done and look forward to resting my sore feet, looking at the pictures, and making a canyon. I have drops and drops to go before I sleep.

- © 2008 by Willy

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