Out Of The Darkness

Hi Everyone,

I mentioned ordering my BadAzz Ford. Well, I failed to mention it arrived. I'll put a photo of the way it arrived and then, you'll see I'm not real cracked up about it. BUT, anyone who knows me knows a vehicle doesn't stay stock long.

As you can see, it's black. The reason I ordered black is because I had an idea I'd go different with the murals.

What I had thought....was I'd have it based upon the Blacknight theme. If you're not familiar with Blacknight, I'll put the photos I've got collected on it and then, you'll see how it will most likely look.

The way things go, my mind changes, expands, and plays with concepts.

With the Blacknight concept, it's not my own. It's not making a STATEMENT. It's not helping others and it's not making it a conversation piece.

The reason I NEED a conversation piece is this...my trucks are show trucks driven daily on the streets. I know they draw crowds and unless I'm making a statement, it's not waking people up to why the murals are there.

What I want to do is call the truck "Out of the Darkness". Now, why would I call it "Out of the Darkness"...you ask? Because "Out of the Darkness" is a teenage suicide prevention organization. And suicide is the highest ranking reason after car accidents for teen deaths here in the United States...and of those deaths, the highest reason given was homosexuality.

The thing I want to do is I want to do the truck so rather than having the Blacknight, you've got a warrior dressed similarly to this:

What's interesting is this... I've always wanted to get involved in something with the teen suicide prevention thing, but what's stopped me from working the hotline was the fact that I'd probably be insane if I was talking with someone and they did it right then.
Rather than do so, I figure I can make statements with the truck and tell adults and teens alike there is help. It gets something done and it gets a conversation thinking about what people need to think about should it happen in their lives, family, or whatever....and, if they happen to think the scars on my face are from that, then so be it. I'm cool with it.

I am hell on a keyboard

I thought I'd let you know the way it goes for me and keyboards.

When I first started writing, I went through eight keyboards in two months. Yes, I type that damned hard when I'm pounding out a story...and yes, it's a throwback of the old manual keyboard I used to have in college...and sue me if you can't remember what a manual keyboard looks like...much less a typewriter.

After that, I got one of those foldable, bendable, spillproof, rubber mat thingys which calls itself an "indestructable" keyboard. It lasted almost three months.

THEN, I got a laser keyboard. It's a real cool thing in concept. You put a fake keyboard down and then, lasers from a head scan it while you are "typing" away on it.
In principle, it's lovely. In principle, I paid damned near seven hundred dollars for the fuckin' thing only to find out the batteries for the laser head are double AA and they stop working every other day. I bought rechargable, and yet, it was such a fuckin' headache, it's now on my permanent computer at the house in South Carolina....the one seen at the head of this blog.

For my laptop, I bought a keyboard made with Microsoft's name on it which is a USB one. It's real nice, but as I said, I'm harder than hell on things.

First of all, Campbell's Tomato Soup. I made some and getting ready to sit and type when trip, spill, splash, it's all over the damned keyboard.

What's cool about this thing is it's "Spill resistent". I go over and take the hose to it at the sink and then use a blow dryer on it and voila, it's good as new.

I continued on with the thing, and let me tell you I sort of cringed when I paid $20 for it at Walmart, but it's outlasted everything else by months...with a plural on that... and I'm happy with it, so if you're considering one, jump on in there and don't be shy.

Here's where I am now. If I took a photo of the keyboard, you'd see a fuckin' mess. I'll tell you the story and then, you'll just cringe when I tell you how it went.

When I write, I have my own little zen circus going on....soft light...soft music...candle light...dog at my feet...the whole repertoire.

What's wrong with that? The dog wanted out. I stood up and unwittingly knocked the fucking glade candle thingy over. Guess where it landed? Needless to say, it's a fuckin' mess.
So far, I've taken a nut picker to it to get the wax off. Then, I've taken the keys off to get the wax off and out from under them. Now the keys are in the dishwasher in a bunch of old socks of mine going through a cycle.
Why? Because the dishwasher doesn't get so hot it melts them, but it does get hot enough it melts the wax off. Rather than having the wax clog the dishwasher, I'm having the socks absorb it...well, that's the concept and yes, I'm aware the socks will be soaked and can't absorb the wax, but let's hope something happens so the wax comes off.
What's cool is this... The hair dryer and the nut picker with a paper towel wrapped around it got everything else done. It's shinier than it was, so let's hope the keys come out ok...and yes, I'm posting this using the laserboard.

So, when you think you've got clumbsiness about you, realize I've got it too.

My Three Nephews

The first thing I should say is I don't feel that fuckin' old to have nephews this age. I am, so I gotta be nice and claim 'em.

The second thing I'll say is there are issues between their dad and I. Of all my family, he doesn't claim me, and we get along like pitbulls. He's a drug crazed alcoholic asshole...in my opinion, and I'm a judgmental fuck...as he puts it in his opinion.

Just the same, I got a call last night telling me the oldest turned 18, so he got thrown out. The others want to leave also, so I got on the phone and told my brother I'd take them.

At first, he wanted to argue, but by the time I'd made calls to get Family Services involved....and yes, it is considered child abuse if your 18 year old high school senior son gets thrown out of his home....

Needless to say, they're coming to live with me and I'm considered the "coolest". Go figure.

By the end of the conversation, they emailed me photos. What's crazy is the last time I saw them, they were 'little shits'.

Bear with me during the transition.

What A Dumb Ass!!!

Word is being leaked like you wouldn't believe "Big Poppa" on Atlanta Housewives is Lee Najjar.

Officially, I'd like to proclaim that man "Dumbass Of The Decade" for allowing something like this story to be allowed to get put out there. Obviously it's true because there's more than plenty photos on the web of Kimberly and him together.

In case you didn't guess it, I'm hopelessly addicted to the show. I've got my favs and I've got my hates...as I'm sure everyone else does.

What's absolutely crazy is this... The photos are admissable but explained away. When it comes to phone texts...

that's utterly insane!

Obviously, Lee went to the same school of fucking around my ex did! It's all easily found and it's all right out in the open.

The man deserves to hand over millions to his soon to be ex. If she doesn't file, it's because she's a total dumb fuck worse than he.

By the way, thanks to the blog I got the photo from.

TalkShow with Spike Feresten

Hi Everyone,

Imagine my surprise getting a call tonight from my Mom telling me she was watching a show on the Fox Network called TalkShow with Spike Feresten and it had the concept for the Buckets of Blessings.

What's nice is he actually called it Bucket List in the skit. I just did a Google on it and it's Season 3 Show 10.

Am I upset? Hell no! I do wish they'd let me help publicize it, but ANYthing they do to help publicize one of my stories is fine with me!

Paypal Sucks

Hi,

I just got off the phone with Paypal's so-called customer service. Needless to say, I'm pissed.

What if I were to tell you that I bought a pair of pants from a man on eBay. The pants were supposed to be a size XL. When they arrived, they were a size so fuckin' small my ass couldn't even fit in them!

I emailed the man who I bought them from and he was kind enough to refund them back to me. Notice I say the word REFUND here. It's called a refund when you get your money back...RIGHT??? Not according to Paypal.

With Paypal, if the man sent me my money back, it's called a PAYMENT. Since it's a payment, they want their money from the payment as a transaction fee.

Anyone with half a God damned brain staring at a computer can see it's a refund. I sent the money. It's shown as a transaction where I sent the money. He sent the exact same funds back, so it's all there on the computer.

Well, I called Paypal. I don't like it when someone takes money which doesn't belong to them...no matter the amount. In this case, it's fifty eight fuckin' cents.

It took some doing, but I got through to a live human being. Don't ask me how, but it happened. I'm saying that because they've got a phone system which is rather complex. I hate that shit.

SO, I get this guy on the phone and it's actually someone who sounds American...so I will give them a plus there... Now, I stayed calm. I had a giggle to my voice telling him they erred. I explained the whole damned transaction and he even said he saw the money was sent to the man and he saw it was sent back to me...the same exact amount.

Where he fucked up was he saw it and said "I'm sorry sir, but there's nothing I CAN do." Let me repeat that..."CAN DO".

First of all, I worked with a computer system like theirs for far longer than I care to admit. I'll also tell you I know the ability to refund an error in the system is possible. What he should have said is "I'm sorry sir, there's nothing I WILL do."

Now, let me repeat. It's only fifty eight cents. However, it's fifty eight cents they weren't entitled to versus fifty eight cents they were entitled to. Do that a million fuckin' times a day and you've got over half a million dollars tax paid.

Needless to say, my opinion of that stunt got the dude told, "You keep the fuckin' fifty eight cents, but I'm going to blog the hell out of it!" SO, you see it here first and then, you'll see it wherever I can copy and paste my opinion.

It's not often I get on a rag like I've got now. I'm supposed to be relaxed and very Doris Day about shit. Needless to say, my blood pressure is probably through the roof and once again, I'll repeat. Paypal Sucks.