Stop the world and I will Mind-meld with you

STOP THE WORLD

AND

I  WILL MELT WITH YOU

OR THAT OTHER GIRL IN THE CORNER

The world surrounds us and our societies are at  war with our human natures and cultures and ethnicities...

and I am alone.

So  what's new? Nothing so much as I am mournful and melancholic about the solitude I find myself in.

I did it to myself. I had to have standards, I  had to "live" with my mother. I moved to TN timbucktwo. I see  the irony of it all.

Writing about weddings has done me in, and then  I had to go and get this song stuck in my head.

Well here I am playing my cello in the wilderness. which  reminds me of another song thing. 

After listening to that, my lovelorness has mellowed into something that makes me feel like this great painting by Lynn Noelle Rushton, (http://www.dallasartsrevue.com/members/R/LRush/Rushton.shtml) credit.

Imagine, if you  will or must, what seeing a sculpture like this (yes actually this  one- The Kiss by Rodin) does to a preteen boy who has just discovered girls.

Or one like this, same trip to Europe. Ruined for  life is  what it does.

 Now take  all that and mix it together with a picked on lonely and awkward boy with a  largely absentee father who at times is very romantic with his mother,  drop him in a coed boarding  school in the middle of the Veldt in Africa and  let  him loose to began dreaming and experimenting with a bunch of rejected children also at the boarding school. I look back now and miss those blissful nightmarish  days where I felt strong unbridled emotions and fumbled my way through learning to kiss and dream of touching girls. As  it turned  out in the end, in some ways the best and worst 2 years of my life. I "loved" 3 or 4 girls (and I remember their names). 

• Olyvya who was my  first kiss (but only in complete privacy)- I botched it in classic style of a boy wanting to do an open mouth kiss. She gave me another chance  later but while it was a more memorable closed mouth kiss. The awkward fumbling of that evening in the tiny school  library will forever haunt my memory. Did I love her? Yes- I believed it back then. I love her now,  but  for almost completely different and thus inexplicable reasons. 
• Kim Spiller. She seemed to be forever ingrained in my memory and yet now I cannot really pull her to memory in  focus anyway. I can still remember her holding me, the incredible excitement. I wanted to love her and eventually  did. We had this one thing in common we  both really wanted each others best friends. I guess I should have known and maybe I did. Bart Ridder was with Natasha Springett. She wanted Bart and I wanted Natasha and they wanted each other as much as 13-14 year-olds want anything. We pecked each other more  than kissed at first and somewhere in our desires  for others we found we desired each other  (probably in our desire to be with someone else).   I hope that if she should remember me, she thinks  of me fondly instead  of the 'we're breaking up' letters we exchanged frequently. 
• Natasha Springett, who had more troubles  than any girl should ever have. I  hope  she found peace and her brother as well. She was  a dark beauty and had a natural way of being appealing almost all the time, even when she was screaming at Bart. I  wanted her and had  no way to express it. I wrote her poetry for years and years before I knew  she was the one  who I was writing about. Natasha was all perception  on my part. I remember a  movie where the guy wants a girl and constantly dreams about her and then finally gets to talk to her and finds that  she isn't anything  like what he had thought. (Can't remember what  that movie was). I touched the edge of what I thought  Natasha was and  then  like all dreams she  was gone.
• Gillian. Poor Gillian, who was as plain  in appearance and  innocent of being everything she was accused of. How I wronged Gillian. I could burn in Hell for what I did to her and all for nothing. It was  the first time in my life that I realized how much a few words could  damage or damn  someone. I loved her after a fashion. She probably was worthy of a deeper more forgiving love. I told her how I felt  about her and she responded but some kids found out and I was made the butt of their sneering  so I snubbed Gillian to save face (it's sad that I would be forced to  relive  it over and over again in movies and TV for  all time). I later apologized but you really cannot take words back. If  I could  have I would have loved her just  to make up for what I had done- which is of course all  the wrong reasons for love.

 

 A few years later,  I fell  for  my  fist American Girl and thus set in motion my wanting the one girl I had a snowball's chance in Hell  of every getting any reciprocation from. Her name was Meshelle Houston, she was never even remotely mine, just the beginning of a long and  fairly fatal string of girls and later women I would want and never  have a shot with.
I missed Wendy Smith, apart from the  fact she was  coupled with a perfectly likable guy. But she  haunts my dreams and imagination because she seemed genuinely interested  in me. 
So  I dedicate this  to  her, not for  what is or even what was- but rather for  the promise of what could have been  if I had been anything other than what I am.
What am  I?

Let's see take this  guy

add this guy

and this guy

a little of this  guy

and a little of this guy

and  bit  of  guys this guy acts as

combine that with the perseverance and honor of Nevarre

the humor and skill of the  Dread Pirate Roberts

The  brilliance and wiliness of Vizzinni

if  you need me to explain this one, go back to  the top

foolishness and  ineptitude this portrays

Just added this for effect

multiply by  wanting this, the romance and willingness to defy the odds

And you get this as a result, Mikemummbled (without the bump) the one and only Michael  van Vuuren. 

Man, I really need to get a theme song!

Heck,  I suspect I feel better.

Let's do this all again tomorrow!

and

(wait  for it)

THAT'S LIFE ACCORDING TO MIKE.

Thought on Weddings and being Single

MARRIAGE AMONGST THE RUINS OF SINGLENESS 

Saturday, I shot a wedding.... by shot I don't mean I went out with a bushmaster .223 assault rifle and upheld all the lousy reasons  that I have remained single.... no actually I videoed a wedding filled with beautiful people and not so beautiful people.

It was so beautiful and thus fairly depressing

going home alone.

Michael, forever the bridesmaid never the bride... thank the stars!

I  guess it should be groomsman and not the groom, save that I have never even been that. 

I ranked up as usher at my brother's wedding. zip at  my neice's wedding, semi photographer at a cousin's wedding. you  can see where this is going...

 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come: 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

   If this be error and upon me proved,

   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

People get married.

Couples get married.

This is  the way  of things.

Not my way of things apparently.

I  suspect I will end up  being like  that woman in 27 dresses,  although I am  way past 27 by now. of  course, I have  only videoed 4 weddings where I knew anyone there.

I video the one above. this is my favorite picture from  that wedding. I love them both, and  wish them well. I know that some of  what I want is a matter of compatibility. On  the other hand much  of it seems  to be luck.

 This  is me

Me blowing bubbles. 

this is me, single and largely unloved in the romantic way, anyway  wondering that for someone who would have termed  himself a  romantic to  not  be  or for  the  most  part ever been in a  romance.

 

Wanting what "everybody" wants

wanting to be with someone

makes me think of Queen. A  song:

As snug as a bug in a rug, We all need somebody to love... right?

I love my cat.

I'd love somebody  to love. 

The romantic in  me calls out for this, but more than this  (yes another  song comes floating up from the past) 

There is definitely something about weddings that make  me think of songs that formed the core of my  sense of passion.

It's  the moment he slides  the ring on, the moment that she bites her lower lip and admits that you are the only one she  has ever loved. It's the moment in almost  every "Rom-Com" movie where you know that dreams could come true.

We  want to believe that people will stay happily married.

I want to believe/pretend that if only I wanted it  bad enough that it could happen to me

that is without all  that messy complicated stuff.

yet

I am missing the crucial ingredient for my wish cake.

The Girl.

Now that is life-  at least at this  moment- life  according to Mike.

Should we ban Banning

AMERICANS LIKE  TO BAN THINGS!!!

What is with this phenomena. If you are afraid of something, then you should ban it.
lets  make  a list of things I know America has banned over the years.

1. Alcohol:  Prohibition as the legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale ofalcohol and alcoholic beverages. In 1920, the USA banned Alcohol. Prohibiton lasted until 1933. It didn't  work, created more crime  than it  solved and society suffered at large for it. We still practice it in various places. Still  I am for controls on Alcohol consumption and  production. 
2. "Illegal Drugs" Marijuana, weed, mary jane,  etc. perhaps the  most laughable illegal drug of all time. The worst thing that can  be said about  weed is that it is really high in tar and stinks to high heaven. I  have personal experience with this drug in  as much as I have seen it used at many levels  and while never having consumed of  it directly, have still gotten  high off of it second or third hand. Under those effects, I  almost made some awful decisions- fortunately one of the weed smokers stopped me (maybe unfortunately). I won't say the drug is harmless or non-addictive. Pot-heads are like other addicts in as much  as they become increasingly despondent and dependent on their next fix. I  have yet to see or hear of a violent pot-head. you  see ads on TV that say Pot-heads are forgetful and  that maybe true but I have yet to see a shootout involving the  use of marijuana. Growth and sales yes (different degree entirely). Should Marijuana be legal. The short answer is yes. The long one is it should  be controlled like any other drug...like tabacco, alcohol.
3. "illegal drugs" the hard stuff, heroine, opium,, cocaine. The War  of Drugs has been going  on since Nixon declared it officially in 1971. Only  recently, Obama removed the use of the term "war on  drugs" and now  they (the  feds) refer to it as  something else. In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs, declaring "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed."^[13] The report was criticized by organizations that oppose a general legalization of drugs. However, the ban and controls  were actually  set up with Prohibition and In 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created.  Yep, it  probably  will go down  ass the dirtiest, craziest world war ever not fought anywhere. More money and more people have been killed in it. There could have  been a better way to deal with the rising issue since it led to substance creation like:
4. "illegal drugs" Homemade substitutes mostly fueled by the pharmaceutical companies. Meth, Extasy, designer drugs, crack, smack, crystal meth, date rape  drug, etc. Need I say  more. Make some things harder to get and human inventiveness comes  out of the wood work. Prohibition led to homemade gin,  junkyard whiskey, prison brews, because if you can ferment it, you can drink alcohol baby!
5. Books. My personal favorite. This country has made an art form out of book banning and book burning. In fact, it is still the most common form of banning alive and well. For all the good it has done and all the harm it has done as well. The  irony like most things that are banned, is that the banners never read the book in question and do it on word of mouth from an anonymous source most often. I have seen book banning personally. In high school, in Tennessee (think  Bible Belt  Buckle) my high school banned AD&D on the basis of a Southern Baptist Deacon who caught his son  with a copy of the Fiend Folio (probably the best drawn/illustrated  monster manual ever) and called the school and all D&D books were banned from then on. You couldn't even have discussions or a club. if you were caught with a D&D book it was detention and the book was confiscated. The fall out, every fantasy book was scrutinized and viewed like drug paraphernalia! Ironically, it just made  me want to play  it more. Catcher in the Rye and  The Tropic of Capricorn are stilled  considered banned books. I have read both and it's laughable to consider what could have made them so controversial especially when you consider the tripe and despicable stuff that those same schools make students read now as part of the curriculum!  take a look  at The Chocolate War or Are You There God,it's Me  Margaret sometime.
6. Assault Rifles. hotly contested eventually reversed. Gun control does  not  mean banning it. But you cannot convince anyone of that. I  have  already pretty much covered this one in earlier posts.
7. Cop-Killers. Armor  piercing bullets. When dum dums and splatter slugs are not enough. I  put this  up in the range of  exploding  bullets, and nuclear tipped shells. No human being needs  armor piercing bullets unless your bears/deers and neighbors are prone to  wearing Kevlar and bulletproof vests. The only people who really  need this bullet need it to kill US troops and Police Officers.
8. Smoking. Finally. Well  smoking  in public.  let the smokers smoke but ban the smoke that I have had to inhale over  the years, the same smoke that has  settled on my clothes that makes  me nauseous to the point of  being ill. When I have to go to a smoker's house I wear an  outer shirt and sit as far away from  them  as possible without being  rude, close to a door or ventilator  (not  that it helps much). After  I leave, I strip off the outer clothes  or bring spares. Sometimes I have to shower to get it off of me.  How many smokers do  I know? Several, but I am related to 3 of  them and they  are pretty heavy smokers to boot. I wish they would quit for  their health for their children, for mine. 
9. Abortion. Good Golly what a mess, and what an ordeal since legalized abortions do  actually limit the number of back room abortions  that go on when  the ban is  in place.

          I could go on but I  pretty much have made the point  I wanted  to make.

          In general, Banning is bad and seldom works effectively.

          instead we should try to find a middle ground. usually understanding the item/action in question will lead to better alternatives. We should ban banning.

and that is life according to Mike

Michael Moore speaks what has been on my mind of late,,, yeah love him or hate him, he is still right

January 4, 2013
Those Who Say "I Support the Troops" Should Just Stop, Out of Respect for the Troops
By Michael MooreThursday, January 3rd, 2013

I don't support the troops, America, and neither do you. I am writing this as I have just learned of the suicides of two more of our active duty reservists who live here in the Traverse City, Michigan area. That brings the total number of soldier suicides (that I know of) in the past year, in this rural area, to four.

I am tired of the ruse we are playing on these brave citizens in our armed forces. And guess what -- a lot of these soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines see right through the bull**** of those words, "I support the troops!," spoken by Americans with such false sincerity -- false because our actions don't match our words. These young men and women sign up to risk their very lives to protect us -- and this is what they get in return:

1. They get sent off to wars that have NOTHING to do with defending America or saving our lives. They are used as pawns so that the military-industrial complex can make billions of dollars and the rich here can expand their empire. By "supporting the troops," that means I'm supposed to shut up, don't ask questions, do nothing to stop the madness, and sit by and watch thousands of them die? Well, I've done an awful lot to try and end this. But the only way you can honestly say you support the troops is to work night and day to get them out of these hell holes they've been sent to. And what have I done this week to bring the troops home? Nothing. So if I say "I support the troops," don't believe me -- I clearly don't support the troops because I've got more important things to do today, like return an iPhone that doesn't work and take my car in for a tune up.

2. While the troops we claim to "support" are serving their country, bankers who say they too "support the troops" foreclose on the actual homes of these soldiers and evict their families while they are overseas ! Have I gone and stood in front of the sheriff's deputy as he is throwing a military family out of their home? No. And there's your proof that I don't "support the troops," because if I did, I would organize mass sit-ins to block the doors of these homes. Instead, I'm having Chilean sea bass tonight.

3. How many of you who say you "support the troops" have visited a VA hospital to bring aid and comfort to the sick and wounded? I haven't. How many of you have any clue what it's like to deal with the VA ? I don't. Therefore, you would be safe to say that I don't "support the troops," and neither do you.

4. Who amongst you big enthusiastic "supporters of the troops" can tell me the approximate number of service women who have been raped while in the military? Answer: 19,000 (mostly) female troops are raped or sexually assaulted every year by fellow American troops. What have you or I done to bring these criminals to justice? What's that you say -- out of sight, out of mind? These women have suffered, and I've done nothing. So don't ever let me get away with telling you I "support the troops" because, sadly, I don't. And neither do you.

5. Help a homeless vet today? How 'bout yesterday? Last week? Last year? Ever? But I thought you "support the troops!"? The number of homeless veterans is staggering -- on any given night, at least 60,000 veterans are sleeping on the streets of the country that proudly "supports the troops." This is disgraceful and shameful, isn't it? And it exposes all those "troop supporters" who always vote against social programs that would help these veterans. Tonight there are at least 12,700 Iraq/Afghanistan veterans homeless and sleeping on the street. I've never lent a helping hand to one of the many vets I've seen sleeping on the street. I can't bear to look, and I walk past them very quickly. That's called not "supporting the troops," which, I guess, I don't -- and neither do you.

6. And you know, the beautiful thing about all this "support" you and I have been giving the troops -- they feel this love and support so much, a record number of them are killing themselves every single week. In fact, there are now more soldiers killing themselves than soldiers being killed in combat (323 suicides in 2012 through November vs. about 210 combat deaths). Yes, you are more likely to die by your own hand in the United States military than by al Qaeda or the Taliban. And an estimated eighteen veterans kill themselves each day, or one in five of all U.S. suicides -- though no one really knows because we don't bother to keep track. Now, that's what I call support! These troops are really feeling the love, people! Lemme hear you say it again: "I support the troops!" Louder! "I SUPPORT THE TROOPS!!" There, that's better. I'm sure they heard us. Don't forget to fly our flag, wear your flag lapel pin, and never, ever let a service member pass you by without saying, "Thank you for your service!" I'm sure that's all they need to keep from putting a bullet in their heads. Do your best to keep your "support" up for the troops because, God knows, I certainly can't any longer.

I don't "support the troops" or any of those other hollow and hypocritical platitudes uttered by Republicans and frightened Democrats. Here's what I do support: I support them coming home. I support them being treated well. I support peace, and I beg any young person reading this who's thinking of joining the armed forces to please reconsider. Our war department has done little to show you they won't recklessly put your young life in harm's way for a cause that has nothing to do with what you signed up for. They will not help you once they've used you and spit you back into society. If you're a woman, they will not protect you from rapists in their ranks. And because you have a conscience and you know right from wrong, you do not want yourself being used to kill civilians in other countries who never did anything to hurt us. We are currently involved in at least a half-dozen military actions around the world. Don't become the next statistic so that General Electric can post another record profit -- while paying no taxes -- taxes that otherwise would be paying for the artificial leg that they've kept you waiting for months to receive.

I support you, and will try to do more to be there for you. And the best way you can support me -- and the ideals our country says it believes in -- is to get out of the military as soon as you can and never look back.

And please, next time some "supporter of the troops" says to you with that concerned look on their face, "I thank you for your service," you have my permission to punch their lights out (figuratively speaking, of course).

(There is something I've done to support the troops -- other than help lead the effort to stop these senseless wars. At the movie theater I run in Michigan, I became the first person in town to institute an affirmative action plan for hiring returning Iraq/Afghanistan vets. I am working to get more businesses in town to join with me in this effort to find jobs for these returning soldiers. I also let all service members in to the movies for free, every day.)
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com

Ok, since I have basically agree with all he has to say. let me add a couple of things he left out.
As a Christian, I am supposed to be against war, wars,  and violence in general. I  am, in general, basically the only justified war is a war to end all war and not WWI or WWII- because they were anything but. The whole terminology of war is wrong and using  war like that is like using an oxymoron. Basically we should reject war/violence to reach a means of peace. If you truly want peace, it will not be achieved through war. Not ever. If you wish for peace between  yourself and your enemies, then find a way to stop being enemies.
It's crazy to talk like that.
A  few people in History have talked like that and most of them were killed for it.
Mahatma Gandhi
Jesus of Nazareth the Christ
The Buddha
John Lennon

However, unlikely as it is, this has been done and the peace has lasted for generations.

War on the other hand leads  only to a false peace where the defeated lick their wounds and fuel their fear  and hatred until like after WWI, the Germans unified and waged a war of domination and annihilation that scarred Europe and much of the world ever  since.
War leads only to more war. Soldiers seldom come home, or  ever stop being soldiers- which  sometimes is a good  thing but more  often is not a peaceful result.
In the last 300  years I would like to know of one single war  that did not lead to another war and so on.

The only wars that have ever really been won (at least according to the victors or survivors) have been where genocide complete and utter in its execution has been used. Well,  that  is probably  only theoretical anyway.
I will point out wars that are still being fought at some  level.
The Civil War (need I say "the South will rise again?")
The Chechnya War (there was utter annihilation that utterly failed)
Korea (ask  anyone who has been to the Thin Red Line if they think it will begin again)
China vs Japan in the  hundreds of wars between them.
Taiwan  and the  Rest of China
Just about any Native American (Indian)

The point is war only solves things in the narrow vision of short term. If the Atomic Bomb ended WWII and nothing else did- then why is it still an issue more than 60 years later?
My argument is thus, the Atomic Bombs did make an end to WWII, but it was not the best way or even the most permanent way to end that war. I was not there and I will not say  that if I had to make that decision that I would not choose to do the same. But I will say why we had to invade the Japanese Territory to end the war  in the first place. Even wars don't end with the total destruction of an  enemy.
Again, I was not there doing the fighting, but then again neither were any of the actual decision makers who gave the orders to invade or drop the Bombs.

When someone says to  me,  give peace a chance.
My  answer is of course, but  will anyone else do the same.

That is life according to Mike.
  

Movie Special featuring HISHE

Today I am celebrating movies and bad scriptwriting. What do I mean?
let's consider this-
Batman:The Dark Knight Rises

Batman: The Dark Knight

Don't get me  wrong, I loved both movies but I could have written a better movie.
and it's not like it's much of a stretch, because I am Batman.

Anyway let's pick on George
Empire Strikes Back
actually this was the best movie, but still does make you wonder especially since we get the "prequels" which changes the sequels if you watch them in order.
Return of the Jedi
This was the worst until Phantom Menace came along and improved it immensely.
 Star Wars
This is plausible but I suspect that the original DS probably only could fire once per turn (RPG reference)