Sunday, October 30, 2011

Double Standards

1. Home to Contradictions, 2. Six Degrees from Home, 3. Welcome Back to My Therapy, 
4.  Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III   23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:) Volume 2 >>>>>       
   

  
As pet peeves go this is one that used to bug me to no end.  I say used to because I used to care and now not so much.  I have learned not to let what others think deter me from using my own common sense but when I was younger I tried to reason with people.  The idealist in me was not so in the closet and I gave it my all with some people, trying to figure out why they endorsed such narrow views that allowed them to have something while denying the same thing to others... for any reason.  I have always understood rules if only in the most basic concept, but what I was not going to do... was be the only one following them.  I can also say that I have never wanted to be an example of what to do or not to do because my path was chosen for a reason as was yours.  But I asked a lot of questions when I was young about... why things are the way they are. 

My parents answers to many of these questions was always "Because I said SO!".  Which was highly unsatisfactory in its opposition to any more conversation.  The first double standard I remember noticing was boys had more freedom and therefor more fun than girls.  I would watch the cousins in the family at family reunions and the guys had entirely more fun than the girls.  I was a tom boy so I liked playing with the guys better. Even the cousin that had fun in a foot race by having two of his friends hold a hose just as I passed, that caused me to take a flying leap... into the grass and mud.  My poor mother spent more time scrubbing my clothes and fussing about how I'd hit every puddle, mud hole and grass patch between here and the moon.  I noticed at school that the the guys got away with a lot more than the girls and it wasn't because they were smoother about it...if fact most of the time they would do their stuff right out in front of anybody.  And the adults would say "Well boys will be boys!" Hummph.

As I got older I observed the division of labor between adult couples that I knew and it was mostly the women working a full time job, raising the kids and still responsible for the never ending chores around the house.  Men mowed the lawn every two weeks or so and maybe washed the car from time to time.  I do know that the roles can and are reversed in some situations, especially in this day and age, but I mostly saw the women work longer and sometimes harder for often less money from the job than their male counterparts.  I didn't like that and tried to find partners that wanted to be partners and not just some bump on a log but as many people out there know that is almost impossible in certain places and times.  How many out there have known at least one person that thought their mere presence should be enough to solve every problem you have!?!  But the double standards kept stacking up and not just between the genders.  At work I'd often see the people who did the least and talked the most being promoted even if it was just to get them out of the department they were in and the people that actually worked their butt off were the first ones to go.   

In fact the last night I worked at the bank mail room my shift at the time was something like 6pm to 2am and shortly after I got to work that evening my assistant manager called me into the office for... something... some small infraction that I can't remember now, but the tone he held was that of the All Mighty and ordered me to sit down.  I refused and he ordered me again even louder this time.  I refused again and stated I can hear just fine while standing up so could he please get to the point.  There were only 3 of us that held on to those hours and he said that wasn't going to happen any more and if I wanted to keep my job then I would have to accept the 8:30pm to 6am shift.  He was so rude and those hours would not work with a young child so I told him to shove it!  Months later I went to a local fast food place and there he was taking orders.  LOL... I left because I wasn't going to let him serve me food and then found out later he was fired for stealing money from customers by cashing checks from closed accounts and that was why he wanted us to change hours... so he could have more time to steal from the company.  Now I realized he got fired, but it was only because he was so blatantly caught red handed and that doesn't happen with the really gifted ones.

Why is it then when women get older they are often thought of as just old but some men are considered distinguished?  Why must men who sleep around want to do it with women who don't and vs/vs?  Why are men surprised when they marry a trophy wife, that they turn into a gold digger when the marriage is over?  Why are women (myself included) forever dating bad boys with the unreachable hopes of saving them?  And what about societies views of celibacy while they use sex to sell everything from cars to candy?  And while we are still on the subject of sex... why is it so many anti abortionist are the first ones to abandon the needy children already here then continue to be pro death penalty?  I even had a dead beat dad tell me he was against abortion.  Go figure.  No matter your views on the subject, I still think that each and every case should be weighed separately by the parties involved and the decisions should be left up to them and them alone.  It is not right to blanket everyone with your own personal views because everyone is not dealing with what you are dealing with.  Apparently it is easier to tell other people what to do than actually doing anything constructive with their own lives... like educating themselves about the differences in people.  Also why is alcohol legal when it is responsible for more deaths annually than many hard drugs combined while marijuana, a plant grown naturally with so many different uses is not only considered illegal but down right treasonous at this point in time?  I guess we'll just have to ask big pharma that question, because they ought to know.  And never mind the fact the no one has ever died from using it OR that is may actually help with some health problems.           

And these few examples are just the tip of the iceberg as many of you know.  Now it seems as if our whole world has become a double standard so nothing is as it seems.  Lying, stealing and cheating are rewarded handsomely and working hard, trying to do the right things and follow the rules get us hammered with penalties, fees and stiff jail time for small infractions.  Farmers are paid not to farm here but there are starving families in many countries.  The society demands that we be educated but refuses to teach us anything of value... at least in schools and charges us an arm and a leg to do it to.  Religion tells us to be tolerant of others and then is responsible for more deaths due to intolerance than any other form on earth.  It's old news that advertising and consumerism is not only expected but demanded even if you don't have anything left to give.  While on the other side of the world the poverty and starvation are so pervasive that many are dying by the thousands.   Those who have the most to give, give the least and those who have the least often end up giving the most.  To say that the double standards have sunk to a new low should be no surprise if you were paying attention and cared about it in the first place.  I cared and was met with a resounding silence so often that I stopped trying but now I am starting to care again.  It gives me hope to see so many other people who have braved the indifferent, uncaring world in whatever way possible... without subscribing to the bottom line of double standards.     


   


17. Lazy? No Exhausted >>>>>




http://www.sott.net/articles/show/238402-Moms-Multitask-More-Than-Dads-Enjoy-it-Less     

 http://www.activistpost.com/2011/12/true-equality-is-end-of-double.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ActivistPost+%28Activist+Post%29&utm_content=FaceBook

                

Saturday, October 29, 2011

One split second...

1. Home to Contradictions, 2. Six Degrees from Home, 3. Welcome Back to My Therapy, 
4.  Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III   23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:)  Volume 2 >>>>>      

   

Given the things I have experienced and lived through often makes me wonder why I am still here but Trey isn't.  By all intensive purposes I should not be here but have escaped death several times.  Trey was looking for some freedom that day and it is something I can whole heartedly relate to.  I do understand it was his time and that is just the way it is, but what I don't know is what is my purpose...now that he is gone?  What am I supposed to do with what is left of my life?  I probably saw more between the ages of 16 and 19 about the differences in life than most of the kids I grew up with but I also saw how Trey and his friends were doing things and they were no stranger to the wild side.  Some of them partied even harder than we did at that age and taking chances was like a second nature to them.  I was sometimes horrified but I did understand that I survived and hoped I could help him avoid the major pitfalls and looks like I failed miserably.     

I'll never forget my child hood best friend Trixie teaching me to ride a bike and later how to drive her stick shift Toyota, well before I had a license.  And the love/hate relationship I have with driving started there.  Although I do write a lot about the cars I drive, it is not because I overly valued the vehicles themselves but this is the easiest way my brain has for marking time.  My friends sister gave me my first cigarette and taught us how to smoke it.  Their mom made the best homemade biscuits I have ever tasted in my life and their dad always chewed tobacco which came in handy for bee stings.  Sometimes I could ride with my friend to school and sometimes she even let me move her car when we were at school.  One evening my partner in crime and I decided to go somewhere and neither of us told our parents about it.  We started our ride out fine and later she let me drive again but this time we were going on the big freeway toward downtown.  Well I striped her transmission and soon we were stuck in the Friday 5 pm traffic even though it wasn't as bad as the opposite direction.  We argued over who's parents to call and I was adamant it wasn't going to be mine!  We both still were in heaps of trouble but I learned that driving means freedom and freedom means everything.           

I skipped a lot of school in the 9th grade and it boiled down to me wanting freedom to do something... anything fun.  I pushed and pulled and drove my mom nuts and that's how I ended up in the group home.  Once she came to pick me up at the vocational school where I went for afternoon art class and it was clear across town from the high school.  That day I drove Trixie's car still with no license so when mom showed up... I couldn't leave and had to pretend like I was skipping again.  It's safe to say I know a thing or two about stupid.  It was way before the internet or I would have been dangerous.  We drove fast on the country roads but back then there was a lot less traffic because this was way before living in the country was cool.  I didn't see Trixie much after I left home because life goes on. She stayed there in the neighborhood and later had two kids, both with different degrees of autism.  I felt bad that she didn't get out but when I left home I knew two things: life was going to be hard and I was okay with that as long as it was possible.  I met my ex husband soon after that and he had my first car tore up pretty quickly.  Later we got a house, married and Trey came along but only had one car between us.  Even though we both worked 2nd shift I could get a lift to work but on the way home was always depending on if he had any over time, when he had a decent job at Coke or whether he cared to be bothered at all.   

I walked home from work through downtown towards the south side between 2 and 4 am, 5 days a week sometimes when I had a job at the bank mail room... usually with a letter opener or scissors up my jacket sleeve.  Once I was walking on a night off (thus unarmed) toward where I thought my ex was so I could get my car back (the car he eventually tore up).  On the way there I had a guy mumble something as he was walking in the opposite direction and then turned as he got close to stick a knife in my side.  He walked me about 20 feet and stopped between two large trucks parked in a front of a business.  My heart was pounding but I remained calm and was looking for a way to safely get away.  I had no money so I knew this would turn bad fast.  For some reason he had electrical tape with him and cut a piece off and told me to put my hands through the side mirror bars on the truck.  He put the tape over my eyes but I could still see down and then he squatted... for some reason.  Then I kicked him in the balls as hard as I could and ran as fast as I could.  I got away and he disappeared.  It was only afterward that I realized the implications and shook from fear.  But I was alive and that was important!

Shortly after my ex and I separated, I got another car and was happy to have more freedom again but got careless one day when I saw the seat belt hanging out the passenger door.  I opened the door and pulled the seat belt back into the car and shut the door forgetting to hold the handle up to lock the door.  I then went on to work and got off that night about 2 am.  I had just pulled out of the parking lot and turned on the street which has a stop light immediately after.  There was a guy walking in my lane straight toward my car.  As he passed he jumped into the passenger side with me and had a knife.  It seems like I have a gift for attracting the deranged.  He told me to drive a few blocks from the uptown area and into one of the projects.  We drove down a road and took a left passing about 20 others in sunglasses while it is completely dark save for a few street lights.  He told me to take a last left into a parking lot and as soon as I stopped, he jumped out with my keys.  I knew if I let him go I would be in serious trouble because I knew where he was going... to where all the others were hanging out.  So I got out too and went to his side to distract him and after a bit I saw my chance to grab the keys. When I did he grabbed for my throat but only got my necklace, I pushed him into the side of the car and got my keys.  I literally flew to the drivers side and got in.  He started running toward the others and I seriously considered running him over in my car... but I didn't. I just left and went home.  Shaking the whole way.

In both incidences I shut down so to speak and went into survivor mode.  It was almost beyond my control...this response to immediate danger.  I had been in confrontations before but nothing of this caliber and looking back I know I was lucky but there was something else.  I guess the will to survive is strong enough to over come many obstacles.  Not all though.  Trey wasn't driving the car but he did make the decision to get in that car at that moment.  One split second decision can cost you your life just as easily as it can save it.  I know after Trey died I couldn't care less if I survived and each day was a struggle.  Still I often think what was going through his mind in those last few minutes and if he suffered any.  Any parent who has lived through this has the same thoughts and even in the best of times are reminded just how fragile life is.  With all of this I know I am still lucky because I don't live in a war torn area or other regions where people are starving and being used for cheap labor by big corporations that care little for humanity.  Now more than ever I wonder what my job here on earth is other than learning.   

Life is hard.  That was the first line in the book The Road Less Traveled.  The last part of the equation I learned... driving means freedom and freedom means everything BUT freedom without knowledge means little or even DEATH.  We live and die and the cycle will go on and on.  That's nature and to understand that means you have to accept certain things as is and don't think for a minute that I don't know how hard that is.  Some people are looking for easy answers or the easy way and I have learned that it is rarely the right way.  In the end the easy way is often more costly and less satisfying.  I want to do what is right although I am not sure what is right until well after the fact no matter how much research I do.  The world changes fast and sometimes you only have a split second to decide.


7. Marvelous Mistakes >>>>>                

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Glamorous Life?

1. Home to Contradictions, 2. Six Degrees from Home, 3. Welcome Back to My Therapy, 
4.  Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III   23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:) Volume 2 >>>>>       

  
I loved Fergie's catchy tune and it was one that could stick in your head for days even though I am one of the most unglamorous person you will meet.  I do not enjoy attention in the spot light so to speak.  When I was younger it was different of course but as I grew up and into my role of adulthood I found that I prefer to listen to people in a group setting rather than talking especially if it was a topic I knew little or nothing about.  I also suffered from foot in mouth syndrome and have worked hard to get that one under control.  But I can talk one on one for hours as long as it is engaging and we both are learning something.  And let's face it... I am a lot of things but graceful is not one of them.  As a child I fell out of trees, walked into poles or columns, fell into fountains, walked into doors and tripped over my own feet more times than I can remember.  In fact once in 8th grade I think I had on sandals which mom loved for me to wear... even though I hated them.  I was running on the outside hallway and tripped spectacularly into a face dive in the concrete... in front of a boy.  I am no stranger to humiliation and being a young teen was the hardest time in my life.  In mom's infinite wisdom she enrolled me into dance class around the age of 5 and I stuck it out for 9 years.  She so wanted a girly girl I guess and dad wanted a boy so I don't think either of them were very happy that I was a tom boy girl.  It was not a pretty sight and every year we were to present a recital so our families could see how well we learned to dance.  One year I think I was 11 or 12?  and I had a little number with 4 other girls and I fell during the performance.  I felt about as tall as an ant and just wished I could crawl away... but I got back up and kept on going.  What else do you do? 



I'd like to tell you that mom's investment paid off but I can't do that with a straight face so I won't.  After I bought my house with stairs... it became the running joke about me falling up and down them.  Friends would ask me if my paramedics were on duty 24/7 and gave me the nickname Schleprock.  To be honest after so many times I stopped being so embarrassed because it was... what it was.  I have accepted we all can't be good at everything... even if we would really like to be.  I still love dancing but as long as no one is around or others are doing it.  I inherited being clumsy from mom and passed it on to Trey because he was known to do many of the same things I did.  So are you starting to understand why I don't seek out the spot light or want attention?  Good. :)  When I started as a private investigator, I didn't believe that is was a glamorous job.  Yes I watched Rockford Files and Magnum PI... but I have always lived in the real world.  My life was never going to be anything like TV and I was thankful for that. Really!

Our firm was old school meaning we were in the car with cameras... video and 35mm, dictaphone, paper maps and radio's.  We sat in the car and waited for many hours on end in lots of locations for maybe 5 seconds worth of action.  One hotel room here looks like another one at the beach or where ever.  If any of you have happened to watch the TV show Cheaters and think that it's cool, well you'd be in for a big surprise.  I have worked over 24 hours at a time and driven all over the south east.  Turns out when people are cheating on their spouse they are pressed for time and that causes them to fly to get to their destinations.  You have to be able to keep up with them in their sporty cars and find out who, where and when they are doing the things they do.  I have spent my fair share of time in parking decks, lots, hotel stairways, sitting in grave yards, on the side of roads,  in restaurants and malls.  Did I mention I hate malls?  If the people went to a single family house then we had to creep around it and try and catch a peek of them inside... doing things they shouldn't be doing.  I used to joke that the boss would have us repel from the roof tops if it would make a difference.

During an overnight case I was working in the country I had to try and get close to the house so I could take a picture of their cars parked together.  There was a lot of trees in the yard and statues of deer along with other yard ornaments.  After I think they have gone to bed I get out of the car and walk ever so slowly toward the house.  It was off the road a good distance and I am trying my best to be quiet with crunchy leaves on the ground.  The house was a huge two story with a semi circular driveway and I was about 30 feet from it when... one of the statues moved and snorted... which caused me to jump.... which caused the motion sensor to activate the flood lights... which showed I was about 3 feet from a huge buck.  Beautiful creature but I took off because I didn't want to explain what I was doing there.  Soon after getting back into my car, I heard a thump in the rear and turned to look and there was a raccoon setting on the trunk looking at me through the glass.  Whew... it was a long night.  In this business unexpected things happen as regularly as the Sunday paper.  

When I first started we would get to eat out at some of the best places in town.  Ones I would not have been able to afford otherwise and it was nice.  We worked on several high profile cases over the years and it showed that just because people had money doesn't mean they had good sense or were any happier than the rest of us.  It was a whole other world to which I was a witness to.  I had it easier than the guys in the field because I am far less threatening looking to many people and I found if you were nice especially to the cops then it could go a long way toward easing any situation you may find yourself in.  This one case we were working in Georgia had turned bad pretty quickly after following a person there because of the guy working with me.  He was an ex policeman and thought he knew it all.  See in Georgia they had apparently just passed an anti stalking law aimed a PI's, I guess because one of them may have got caught with their pants down?  So when our person of interest called the cops, who came out to the hotel and spoke with my partner, I moved down the highway and found a nice big mall to park in while he did his thing.  It was lucky he wasn't arrested because the tensions were running high that night.  And later when he finally got free and asked where did I go... I told him that there wasn't a point of both of us getting arrested for his stupidity.  Besides the boss didn't pay me enough to go to jail.  Especially in Georgia.  My exes family is from there and the little experience I had in that city at 16 was not pleasant because they threatened to lock me up just for being 16 without a parent with me.  What kind of crazy stuff is that?

Our weirdest case was a man who had a girlfriend that looked exactly like his wife.  They met up one night at a local movie theater who's parking lot was lit up like a football stadium and parked in the center of the parking lot directly across from the exit doors.  When the crowd let out and were walking toward the parking lot, they all had a great view of the activities going on in the car.  While my partner was trying to get shots of them in the car, I was filming the crowds reactions as the walked by... it was great!  Apparently money can't buy you class either.  Another case in Tennessee I found myself drifting onto the shoulder of the road with a guardrail that led to a very steep drop off... a cliff!.  It was late, I was driving a car that one of the guys let me use when mine was stolen and had worked for 18 hours and still had more to go.  I was lost and looking for a place with no address, just route numbers when this curve came up...  I just about didn't stop the car in time.  I then pulled over, realized that no one would have been able to find me or even identify me in case the car blew up because I wasn't in my car.  Then I hurled, got my breath back and continued on.  All that was recorded on the audio tape from screeching wheels to losing my lunch and when the others heard it they were stunned.  

The absolute hardest thing for me was going to court and having to be a witness.  I hate speaking publicly period but it gets even worse in court.  My first few times on the stand I probably looked like I was ready to jet out of the seat and attach myself to the ceiling like old Sylvester the cat.  My leg would shake uncontrollably making my voice sounded  like I was talking through a fan and I probably looked like a complete idiot up there.  I am truly thankful that most of the cases settled before we had to go to court because it didn't really seem to get much better.  Another fact is just by sitting in court waiting to testify I could see that we were all just pawns in the game and he who has the most wins.  Another difficult thing that most people don't think about is that it is really hard to find a bathroom when you really need one.  And with my luck no matter when I chose to go, the people I was watching would leave about then.  I just couldn't win for losing. 

To me the most interesting people were the ones I met working the cases that had nothing to do with the cases themselves.  Having worked in the service industry one way or another for years gave me a deep appreciation for others performing similar duties.  These would include the parking lot attendant at the buildings we were in, to hotel or restaurant staff.  I even ran into a guy I worked with at McDonald's down at the beach who I hadn't seen for about 10 years or so.  Once while I was filming at the beach the critical part of getting both parties behind closed doors and even though I was in the shadows across the way, all they had to do was look behind them and they could see me.  While filming I heard a shuffle behind me and breathing but I didn't move until the people were in the door.  I then slowly turned around and a lady said to me, "I almost hired one of you for my husband, but then decided I didn't want to know."  I was so relived she wasn't a whole lot of different things, all I could think to say at that point was okay!  You know I had done a lot to break the habit of lying in my life but being a PI means you have to use a lot of pretexts to get information and I found that it was much harder to do now.  And you had to be ready for the boss who would ask rapid fire questions like the DA in court.  

You remember that attorney I've been mentioning through out this whole series?  Well he worked in both of the buildings I worked in through my job at the law firm and as a PI.  I met him once in the office and couldn't help but saying " Hi, I've heard a lot about you for years" and left it at that, but he gave me a quizzical look as the boss then asked him a question.  I'm sure he was trying to figure out who I was as I was jetting out the door.  Later I would talk to his secretary outside on smoke breaks and learned that she knew Krystal well from coming in to the office and was surprised that I did too.  I am sure the way news travels it didn't take him long to figure it out.  We also lost a lovely lady who had worked in the office for the firm for so very many years to breast cancer and as luck would have it she lived in the same county as my grandma in SC.   

Because of the turn around there was always a new guy to train as well as do the job too.  Another double standard I got tired of was training guys to do the job while still doing the job itself and they sometimes started off making more than I did currently.  And they wonder why I and many before me was a pain in the ass?  Hummm... let me think.  The ones fresh out of school were still looking to have a life and would keep asking questions about how long it was going to take.  They didn't like the answer... as long as it takes.  Being a PI was not a job it was a life and you had to be ready at all times.  I mean you could sit at home for a few days with nothing to do but let me start a project or make plans and that phone would ring just a sure as the sun would rise.  We worked many of holidays and helped out in the office when we were needed.  We had many people come and go in this profession and more often than not I would hear them say, this is not what I thought it was going to be.  My response was... Well what did you think it would be?  And I would hear that tune in my head...The Glamorous Life.     


16. Double Standards >>>>>                   

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Lazy?...No Exhausted

1. Home to Contradictions, 2. Six Degrees from Home, 3. Welcome Back to My Therapy, 4.  Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III   23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:)  Volume 2 >>>>>      

 
I have seen the word lazy thrown around a lot and I resemble that!  I have never been a ball of fire by any means and like to conserve my energy whenever possible.  On the other side of the coin I don't expect to be taken care of and know that it is up to me to do the job.  So if I can find a way to do something easier and better, I am all about.  Practicing and enhancing these techniques over the years has helped me do more using my own natural rhythm and I am pretty sure that it doesn't fit into a normal pattern.  Like many others though I found myself wishing there were more hours in the day the older I got.  Just keeping up with the dishes, laundry and the trash after working a full time job is hard enough.  Add paying the bills, balancing the budget with buying supplies and those make up just the basics.  If you have kids of any age then there is always homework, school conferences, activities of all types, bath time and dinner on a schedule.  Who has time to clean the house much less sleep in this over worked society we have created for ourselves?   I found I get a lot more done when I am alone than I do when others are around.  The distractions keep breaking the flow of momentum that I need to finish what ever I am working on.  No matter how sufficient I became in getting things done though, it was no match for the absolute sheer volume of never ending busy work that keeps us moving all the time and kept me Running on Empty.

I didn't get a lot of sleep growing up because my mom couldn't sleep much.  She felt that if she can't sleep why should I be able to and sometimes she would even get the vacuum cleaner out at 9 am on a Saturday.  It took many years but I have finally won mom over to my side and now she sleeps late everyday.  After I moved out, sleep was a luxury because surviving took precedence and after having a child you can pretty much forget sleep until they're a teenager.  When I did crash out I slept like a coma victim who heard very little.  One time I spent the weekend with some friends on the farm and they cranked up the chainsaw for a stump in front of the house and the room I was sleeping in.  Never heard it the first time and they must have told that story to everybody at one point.  One of the main reasons next to Trey, I bought my house was just so I could sleep in peace but as most of you know that is not always the case.  Another reason I bought it was because I was tired of moving all the time when the people I lived with went crazy and that was a regular thing around here...and no it's not lost on me that I could be the one making them crazy!  It's a true gift I have but I try to keep it in check. 



                             One of the many pictures people take of me when I was sleeping.







You see the thing I value the most is my time.  It was something I didn't have a lot of and wasting it became something I couldn't bare.  I don't mean I am important therefor my time is more valuable than yours.  I mean the little free time I have was mine so I didn't want to waste a moment of it but I will value your time as well because you probably feel the same way.  I don't waste time on pipe dreams or get rich schemes.  I don't waste time on things that go nowhere because I've traveled enough dead ends to know better.  I definitely want to finish things right the first time because I sure don't want to do it twice but sometimes when dealing with the corporate world or other people, it makes it impossible. We all need time to recharge our batteries but so very few have the luxury of doing so and make no mistake it is now a luxury.  In a world that will try and sell us any time saving devise then place coffee shops on every corner to keep you going so you can keep making money to buy stuff that is supposedly going to save you more time... is just like being on the hamster wheel.  I also didn't understand a lot of the off hours get togethers with people at work because I already spent more time with them, than I did with my friends and family.            

I have written before that I think about many things... not just the everyday musings but in my life I have tried to find solutions to problems that take all the affected people in account.  Contrary to popular belief, I did work my butt off over the years balancing many different commitments, people, wants, needs, hopes and dreams... most of those for others in my life.  I have never felt right about just going out and getting mine, without listening and compromising with others... To a POINT!  That is the main reason I knew I would not go far in the corporate world... I had ethics and little tolerance of BS.  I am not trying to sound altruistic because I am not.  My philosophy especially in the business world, is that if I want peace then I have to solve problems that arise so that you can be happy and hopefully go away... and that is pretty selfish.  Sometimes though you find you can't make some people happy no matter what you do or don't do and that leads to mental anxiety.  Everybody has at least one person in their work or home life that drains their energy and I call those people hoovers... because they suck the life right out.  I've had one at home and one at the job at the same time on several occasions.  If you have a stressful job, on top of family and friends with issues and complaints then you have a recipe for mild exhaustion to a full blown break down.  My biggest downfall was taking on too much at one time usually depending on people who were undependable.  My faulty reasoning was get a bunch of stuff done at one time and then I can take a break.  But after a while I began to realize that the breaks just weren't coming and if you need them you have to make them yourself.

I have been known to disconnect the phones and crawl under my rock because the world keeps on kicking my butt and sometimes you just need to unplug, and not just from the hoovers.  I have found that you have to turn off the tube or manage what you watch carefully because it sells fear, war and righteousness... even if they are far from right.  For some though unplugging is like going without crack and being alone is not an option.  If you are afraid to be alone sometimes then you are afraid of yourself and you should be asking "why is that?"  Anyway it turns out that 6 months wasn't enough to make a dent in the absolute mental exhaustion I had.  It has taken about 3 years just to get to this point I am today.  I can look back and see more clearly because I have had time to decompress and my hope is that more of you will do this too.  Now I can see that the whole system we all live under is designed to use us up and throw us away.  It is easy to label people as lazy because it then explains their failure to succeed and then we can absolve ourselves of any responsibility for creating this mess our world is in now.  I am fortunate to have cared more about my sanity than what others thought especially about my laziness. But every decision I made to participate in this rat race we live in was one step closer to the day I lost my baby Trey.



18. Crossroads of Life and Death. >>>>>                          

Friday, October 21, 2011

I made a choice to make a change...

1. Home to Contradictions, 2. Six Degrees from Home, 3. Welcome Back to My Therapy, 
4.  Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III   23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:)  Volume 2 >>>>>       

   
For the better and to be a better person. So very much easier said than done and I will be the first to admit that.  Some people are so resistant to change that they will avoid it at all cost, but I am one who appreciates change even if only afterward.  I get bored with shallow or narrow minded people and try to avoid banging my head against the proverbial brick walls as much as possible because they will not be moved and it really is a waste of effort.  But I did manage to make a really good friend named Sherri when I was about 17 and first starting work at the bank mail room in uptown.  She is super smart and loves learning and will probably be in one class or another until she just can't go any more.  She had a passion for math and science.  She was always very independent and was quick to help any one out, especially me.  At one point in time she was my landlord and we (8-10 of us) all lived in a 3 bedroom apartment.  Sherri and I worked the night shift and so we spent a lot of time together and she has the patience of Job to put up with me for so long.  In her early years at college she was taking psychology classes of all kinds that was required to become a school teacher.  The least I could do was help her study for tests while we were sorting mail.  That was before the automatic age of everything and both of us were full time and she would challenge me to see who could sort mail the fastest.  It was funny to watch a super batch of mail to be delivered and have to call in help from the processing floor.  If you didn't sort often most likely you would only do about 10- 15 a minute but we had our speed up to about 50 or 60 a minute.  Sometimes they would just stop and watch us, but we had fun in our own little world for the most part.

During the many hours of working and studying I asked her about everything from why the people we know or I knew was so screwed up (and there was a lot of them) to other topics ranging from religion, politics... which I knew little about... to our differences between each other.  She really helped me see the world through another lens because she challenged me to think about life in new ways without ever telling me what I should do.  She helped me understand why people are so different and how it all relates to how I approached life.  I'll never be more thankful for that because I was really looking for answers not an agenda and she was kind enough to take the time.  Not many people get to find someone like that in their life time and for those I am truly sorry.  Talking to her after talking to my ex then was like having to put in another computer program or sometimes like slamming the the gears in reverse when talking to the ex.  The worlds were so far apart there wasn't a bridge long enough to handle the gap.    

Sherri made a place for me in her family and was even the one who bought the pregnancy test with Trey.  She attending my wedding so long ago and I was at hers when she finally took the plunge years later.  One time I wore Sherri out with the Whitesnake tape so much so that she threatened me with a entire week of classical music if I played it one more time.  I did and she did.  She also introduced me to Stomp, Eyna and Loreena McKennitt who I just love because although I had heard a lot of their music in movies, I never knew their names.   I ended up living with her and her family twice over those early years and looking back on our run down house with more books than a library and I miss that time so much.  Not because it was easier, although it certainly was but it was the connection that I had with them.  They were different and they accepted my weirdness without a second thought.    I have been trying to be a better person with her in mind because she really set the bar high and I fear I still fail miserably.   

                                                               No that is not alcohol.









I met another friend named Scott at a pool hall I frequented and later worked at.  At first glance he looks like a typical redneck named Bubba and he likes to talk... usually loudly.  He worked on cars at one of the local dealerships and was a very interesting guy.  He really didn't fit the mold on many things and he proved that men can really think... if they want to.  Over the years he has proven to be the exception to many rules and I've never met anyone else like him.  When we met I had a lot going on and he didn't, living a semi care-free lifestyle.  Well 20 years later the situation is reversed because he has a lot going on and now I lead a more care-free lifestyle.  :)  One of my small pleasures in life is when he comes home and he's had a rough day, but there is still one more thing he has to do before he can quit (like move the truck) and will complain he doesn't have any time... I reply... Make time.  He used that line on me so often with many other ones thrown in and that used to frustrate me to no end!  Not any more.  Through out the years he has worked on my cars and I AM HARD ON CARS.  I worked as a courier at a law firm and delivered pizza at the same time for a while and any delivery job is tough on a car.  And you can't lie to your mechanic because the truth will come out.  One Christmas I was late getting down to my grandmothers house.  For 25 years the road she lived on forked to the left, but when I made that turn around midnight, I found myself in a ditch because they had turned it into a hard left turn several feet down the road.  By the Grace of God I was able to rock the car out after a while.  I was going to keep quiet about that particulate incident... to say I've had a few would be a gross understatement... but during the next oil and brake change he asked me to explain the red mud and grass in clumps under the front bumper by saying I see you've been off roadin' it again!  Busted! 

For the record I had my first big wreck at 19 and it was on Highway 218... the same road Trey died on and then 2 years later his friend Danny.  I came around a curve and hit a Toyota, that hit a new Firebird, that hit a custom van, that hit a brick mail box.  I don't screw up often but when I do, I do it right!  Over the years I have jumped curbs and seem to pick up every piece of debris on the road and found myself in a ditch a few times.  One time I was following a guy for work at a rather high rate of speed and there was a deep drop off on the side of the road where I hit and busted two tires and rims.  I Can't Drive 55, while doing that job.  For those that think you are unlucky driving... I've had my Honda stolen twice from outside of my house within 2 months AND hit an uninsured driver that pulled out in front of me in 06.  While Scott didn't do all the work it was safe to say I had a body and repair man on speed dial for a long time... and no it was not always Marvelous.  In fact the guys at the shop where Scott worked wondered just what I was doing to the car because I was in there all the time and Mayhem and Murphy were regular visitors.  My body guy, a friend of Scott's always had a smile on his face when I showed up.  It was almost like Christmas for him.  

   

Scott and I are opposite in a lot of ways like he came from a republican family and I am independent all the way.  He had a charmed life and I had a difficult one.  He loves Charlotte and I don't.  He likes the old way and I like change.  Yet our differences seems to work out for the most part and allowed our friendship to continue.  Scott has been the one who was THERE when others walked out during the most difficult times in my life... Everyday.  And that counts the most when it is all said and done.  Our friendship was so important to me that it was the number one main reason I didn't want to have a relationship with him. Partly because of my track record combined with his inexperience and I knew that it would get really ugly if it didn't work out.  It only took him about 13 years to finally come to the same conclusion. 

For years though we hung out together going to concerts, car shows, pool halls to shoot for leagues around the state, restaurants where we broke bread many times and state fairs.  In one of my rare moments of having an opportunity to reciprocate of small practical joke at the state fair we came across a vendor selling those tall Dr. Seuss hats.  I got a black and white one and picked a nice rainbow colored one for him.  He wore it all over the fair with no clue to it's meaning until we left and happened to see a rainbow sticker on the back of a car. By then I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and he kept asking what is wrong with me.  Luckily he was a good sport about it which was good because living with Sherri and her husbands gay friend meant there were bound to be times that a few of his more openly gay friends would be about.  But Scott accepted everyone's differences and didn't even flinch when he saw open displays of affection.  That was a huge turning point with me in having two different worlds coming together in peace.  Before that I didn't think it was a possibility.  In one of the pool rooms we frequented I found out the owner had a few legal problems but he had a really good attorney who could handle it and it was the one I had heard about from the farm

Some of Scott's favorite concerts were Kansas, Boston and Journey.  Mine were Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic and Pearl Jam but he used to joke about micro bus, micro bus... his truck when we would pull up to the parking area.  We both loved Kenny G (yes we are getting older but still like all kinds) and Jackson Brown.  We had both seen Lynyrd Skynyrd enough so play Freebird!  Scott introduced me to the KISS method of keeping it simple stupid, and explained why the grass was always greener on the other side... because it was fertilized with so much bs!  He taught me A LOT about cars and it came in handy because I could then use them as analogies if possible whenever I needed to explain something.  It only took me about 10 years to understand when he says he does not understand... it really means he doesn't care about that.  



He also gave no mercy when playing pool and would leave me the worst shots... if he left one at all.  I got really good at making the hard shots after a while like banking a few rails or cutting the ball just so... but I still could choke on the easy shots like the 8 ball for lack of practice.  Looking back that is really what my life has been like...  handling the hard stuff but missing the easy stuff.  Roughly about 5 years or so after we had been hanging out I had, had enough of trying to explain my position to him and when a friend of his on our pool team who was just my type, tall, dark and full of it asked me out I said..Yeah!  The other little problem was this guy had just broken up with another girl also on our pool team at the time so after a month or so when I finally told them both, then all three of them were mad at me!  It had been 5 years since I had been with anyone and I could think of no better way to get my point across.  I really got tired of people not hearing me... so I make them hear me.           

Again I am not proud of that because I know I hurt Scott then and could have found a better way of handling the whole thing, but I was pushed past my patience and there it is.  It took a while but he forgave me and the guy too.  He still comes by from time to time and helps out with stuff.  He even ends up knowing another girl who I would meet much later on.  Scott and I have been through an awful lot over the years but we still remained very good friends.  If it wasn't for him I don't know where I'd be now and I can finally start to repay all the kindness and time he gave me over the years.  After talking about it for 15 years he finally cashed out his 401k right before the market crashed and bought a tow truck to start his towing business.  I was proud of him and looking back he made the right move.  He has hired 2 other drivers and has 3 trucks total since he started but still thinks he is basic.  I am trying to get him to understand he left basic when he took that left turn to Albuquerque as Bugs Bunny used to say when he started the business.  I needed a place when I gave up my house and he needed help with the mountain of paperwork that covered every surface in the house so now I work for my room and board.  It's a little like the blind leading the blind here but we make it through one day at a time.  Lets face it... I won't be driving the trucks and the insurance people would laugh me out of the building! Life is so much simpler now that I don't own anything and I know I am incredibly lucky when so many others are struggling just to survive.  I just wanted to say thanks to the 2 who helped save my sanity in this life I have.  And thank you to all the people who help their friends and try to make this world better one person at a time.   





9. Connection to the farm >>>>>     

Friday, October 14, 2011

I am the 99% because I care more about you...than money!

While money may have made the world go around it is fixin' to come to a complete stop.  We have stripped our resources to the bone, we have created poverty for many generations to come and we are fast approaching the tipping point of becoming deprived of every right we were we born with no matter where you live.  I have been aware of this to varying degrees through out my life.  A lot of people are "waking up" so to speak but as always their reality will be subjective.  There are a lot of debates going on in Facebook, blogs, or in person and it is easy to see the divisions of party lines or even cultural differences playing out.  It is not only expected but by design because if we all keep arguing with ourselves about who did what and who is right...then we will not be paying attention to what is really going on.  The game is divide and conquer and boy are we divided...I am just not sure who we plan to conquer at this point.  And believe it or not there are still those who are asleep or in denial and will remain that way until the END.  I have spoken before about people not hearing me and even pondered why but understand that to accept the world as is...is a very terrifying idea and coping with that is far beyond their capabilities.  To me that is sad and depressing because we will not be free as people until we are ALL free.

If you know me then you know I have pretty much lived in the hood most of my life.  Also growing up in the south east where racial, cultural and sexual differences are met with varying degrees of disapproval with churches on every corner.  I have to admit I am prejudiced...but not toward any one nation, color, gender or sexual orientation...I am prejudiced against ignorance, cruelty, depravity, oppression, greed and power.  Absolute power has corrupted absolutely and so the entire system must be replaced.  For that to happen the old one must crumble but that will not happen without a fight.  Until everyone realizes that psychopaths are the problem that have taken over the world and psychopaths come in every "flavor" in every family on this planet, they will have a hard time defending themselves against the true enemy of our time.  

I never cared for history when I was growing up in fact when we started to study it in school all I saw was a bunch of old white men claiming they won one war or another.  My thoughts were if they hadn't learned anything from history then why would I bother?   I have obviously changed my opinion on history and the more I read about the real stories as told from many different authors the more fascinated I become. Fascinated at the lies and how deep they go and is there an end?  One of my many problems with history is how far it covers up slavery.  The Indians and black folks being the most prominent in our history of course but the whole market from males, females and kids for the underground sex or drug trade that runs rampant today.  My question will always be how do the people in power KEEP get away with this?  My next big concern is the never ending WAR on everything and everybody that get's in their way.  The Holocaust is a constant reminder of a particularly brutal class war designed to enslave a mans soul.  That it could happen again seems like a locomotive heading out of control at maximum speed.  Apparently the elite are that only ones allowed to break laws but they are building more prisons to put the rest of us in.  If we are not happy with this economic prison currently named the American Dream they will provide you with another more ridged one which is slavery in and of itself.  The Latino population as well as many other ethnic cultures will be used as scapegoats and make no mistake when they get done breaking every other nation down they will turn to us with swift and brutal efficiency learned from many years of practice.    

I only remember vague impressions I had as a kid when I caught a sound bite from the news that dad usually watched.  I remember hearing Reagan's speech about trickle down economics and immediately had the image of someone peeing on our heads and...that's not right!  When I learned he was a former actor that spoke volumes to me because most paid actors can really pull off a con job like that!  I knew I couldn't bare to listen to Bush Sr. talk because he just sounded like he was full of it so I tuned him out completely.  When I heard Clinton debating what the word is...is I knew were screwed because that's sort of a basic and since he couldn't get that right then the advanced stuff was going to go far beyond his capabilities.  For the life of me I could not figure out how we got Bush Jr for 8 years because that defied all logic.  Period.


It went against my rule of not wasting precious energy to vote for Obama in 2008...but I did.  I have understood for some time that the election process was rigged like so many other things and decided it was not worth the effort.  I didn't vote for Obama to prove I wasn't a racist...I did it because I wanted to see hope in faces of the people where I live.  Yes I know it was false hope and for that I am truly sorry but I had hoped that it would inspire all races to get involved and see just what humanity was up against.  All politicians are puppets to the corporate elite and we all let it happen.  I am just as guilty as the next but I will not be quiet about it any longer...even if you don't want to hear it.  It is important and I care...not so much for my children but for yours.

For the few who still stand with the 1%...Don't get sick. Don't have an accident. Don't lose someone you love and drain your savings to bury them. Don't lose your job. Don't have kids. But because you probably will do some if not all of these things at some point in your life...Don't look for help from the 1%. After all that... don't worry because we the 99% will still be here for you.


http://www.truththeory.org/occupy-the-movie/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWeiewgsGWY

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235720-US-Occupy-Wall-Street-Occupy-America-Occupy-The-World-Occupy-your-town- 

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/25-7


http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/153164/why_is_codepink_part_of_the_occupy_movement


http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/153172/how_do_we_know_ows_is_winning_elites_are_desperate_to_suppress_it?page=3


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/the-slavery-footprint-how_n_975516.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/us/police-officers-involved-in-pepper-spraying-placed-on-leave.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share


http://october2011.org/blogs/kevin-zeese/99-s-deficit-proposal-how-create-jobs-reduce-wealth-divide-and-control-spending#.Tsik6IlGnqt.facebook


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237858-US-Woman-Gets-Jail-For-Food-Stamp-Fraud-Wall-Street-Fraudsters-Get-Bailouts


http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/18-5#.TsajGHaqpoY.facebook


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237822-US-Blood-on-Wall-Street-Violent-Occupy-Wall-Street-arrests


http://americancensorship.org/


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237538-9-Ways-The-Hijacked-Federal-Government-Is-Waging-War-Against-The-American-People


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237350-Finding-Freedom-in-Handcuffs


http://www.alternet.org/story/152933/noam_chomsky_speaks_to_occupy:_if_we_want_a_chance_at_a_decent_future,_the_movement_here_and_around_the_world_must_grow/?page=entire


http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/30-4#.Tq3vz4eKOko.facebook


http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/everything_you_know_about_occupy_wall_street_is_wrong/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZLyUK0t0vQ&feature=share


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/iraq-vet-oakland-police-tear-gas_n_1033159.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236671-US-New-York-cops-defy-order-to-arrest-hundreds-of-Occupy-Albany-protesters


http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152811/the_shocking,_graphic_data_that_shows_exactly_what_motivates_the_occupy_movement_/?page=3


http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/10/it_takes_a_village_to_turn_an_occupation_into_a_movement.html


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236546-We-Are-The-99-Who-Want-Peace-Harmony-And-Love-On-The-Planet


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-boykin/occupy-wall-street-media_b_1019707.html


http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152743/12_most_absurd_laws_used_to_stifle_the_occupy_wall_st._movement_around_the_country/?page=entire


http://www.wbtv.com/story/15735285/cover-story-occupy-charlotte-opposition#.Tp-cVTstkoA.facebook


http://www.truthdig.com/report/page3/a_movement_too_big_to_fail_20111017/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj8UlxhfJLw&feature=share


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236402-US-New-York-Zuccotti-Park-A-Photo-Essay-on-A-Political-Movement-and-the-Kindness-of-Strangers


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27053


http://www.occupystream.com/


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_elites_are_in_trouble_20111009/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D983q4xOnZg&feature=feedu


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY5fdLoN0Xk&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253DaY5fdLoN0Xk%26h%3DWAQG2b1GiAQFjGSKqIzNj_-SEH_i1KpmbPFa70gC1DF74yA&has_verified=1


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235735-US-More-than-500-arrested-in-Wall-Street-protest


http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/mainstream-media-outlets-ignore-occupy-wall-street-protests/article14576.html


http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2011/09/23/live-blog-of-occupywallstreet-other-us-cities-launch-occupations/