November, the Month of Gratitude

November to me is an entire month of celebrating gratitude, with the civic holiday of Thanksgiving as the crowning event in the month. This year I am also happy to see a growing list of companies that are closing for Thanksgiving so that their employees can also spend time with their family and friends, reversing the ugly trend of just turning this magnificent holiday into just another shopping day.

One of the best things any of us can do to improve our lives on a daily basis is to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. It helps me to maintain a pleasant atmosphere and improve the results I get in my business. How does that work?

Easy. When you smile and are easy to get along with, people like to talk to you, do business with you and be kind and happy in return. When we express gratitude to our spirit guides for all the help and good they have brought into our lives, they appreciate our expressions because that makes our interaction more of a dialogue rather than a one way communication from someone who only calls on us when they want something.

I am grateful for having a good landlord who keeps the building where I live in good working order.

I am grateful for an auto repair shop that keeps my car in good working order and is honest and efficient, so I am happy to recommend them to family and friends.

I am grateful for the helpful and knowledgeable people who work in the grocery stores where I shop because they help me find things and offer useful advice.

I am grateful that my chiropractor, massage therapist, doctor and dentist are all people who not only do their work wonderfully well but they also have good attitudes and I am happy to work with them.

I am grateful that I have family and friends who live nearby and I enjoy spending time with them, and help them when needed.

I am grateful to live in a city that does a fine job of providing service to us, including the rec centers and the library which I use daily.

I am grateful for all my clients who have provided me the opportunities to serve them, and in turn I am grateful that being able to do so helps me make a living by doing work that I love.

Notice how when we express gratitude that everyone seems more cooperative and pleasant.

Notice how when we express gratitude that more and more unexpected good things happen for us or to us.

Notice how when we express gratitude that even things that at first seemed difficult or troublesome can often produce something good before it is over.

Notice how expressing gratitude fills the air around us with vibrations that are loving, kind, cooperative, compassionate, happy and good natured and these vibrations draw more of the same back to us. Like attracts like. Law of attraction. Sympathetic vibrations.

So if there is one thing that I could share with each one of you that would help you create more positive and beneficial results in your life right now and every day from now on, this is it.

Express gratitude every day, and watch developments in your life blossom and thrive.

Discover more joy every day, in every way. Life is good.

Welcome to the month of gratitude and Thanksgiving!

The Old Dog

One day an old German Shepherd starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a panther heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old German Shepherd thinks, 'Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!' Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the panther is about to leap, the old German Shepherd exclaims loudly, 'Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder, if there are any more around here?' '

Now, the old German Shepherd sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, 'What am I going to do now?', but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old German Shepherd says...'Where's that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!

Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. 'Whew!' says the panther, 'That was close! That old German Shepherd nearly had me!'

Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes, but the old German Shepherd sees him heading after the panther with great speed, and figures that something must be up.

The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.

The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, 'Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the old German Shepherd sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, 'What am I going to do now?', but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old German Shepherd says...'Where's that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!'

Weekend Magic

Today is Friday and a great day for invoking the magic of Freya for good fortune in your dating activities this weekend. Who couldn't use a little magic in their love life?

If you don't have an active love life, you want one. If you have one, there is always room for a little more sparkle and excitement.

What intentions are you setting as you prepare for your Friday night? What would you like to have happen? What are you doing to make it happen?

If you were to call on Freya and ask her for assistance with something, what would it be?

Freya was one of the most sexual of the ancient goddesses. She was very open about enjoying and using her sexual energy, so it is very fitting that the times of the week which are most popular for inviting someone to get together with you are Friday and Saturday night, with Friday night, Freya's night, kicking off the weekend celebrations of lust, flirtation and fertility.

Interesting how it all fits together. Why else are Friday and Saturday nights the biggest nights for dating and partying? Because most people work a schedule from Monday through Friday, so Saturday and Sunday are the times when they get to sleep late then get up and just do things they want to do, and be with people they want to be with.

Freya opens the gateway to our pleasure each weekend. She celebrates abundance as well as sexuality, with our efforts having earned us enough money and freedom so that we can enjoy the weekend. And then heading back to work on Monday, she certainly supports our efforts to do well and make more money.

Doing what we like certainly facilitates our enjoyment of the activities by which we make money. And Freya is all about doing what we like.

For those of us whose money making activities often fall on weekends as well, I feel her blessing my efforts and making them ever more abundant, and then facilitating that flow of energy into the after hours, when the celebrations of life, and the expressions of love, or at least like, kick into high gear.

Enter the weekend on your day Freya!

So what is it you would like this weekend, reader?

The Joy of Living

The joy of living is not something you find. It is something you create.

Anybody can be happy when you are making buckets full of money and everything is going their way. It takes a person with a positive disposition to feel joy and find happiness when everything is not going easily.

Try this. When you feel like you are in a difficult situation, and you know that it is one you do not control, release your futile attempts at control. Notice how the burden lifts off your shoulders. Don't you feel lighter already? When things are out of your hands and they are ridiculously bad, just laugh. I just look at some of these things and say, OK, whatever. I keep on redefining my future instead of letting someone else define it for me. There is joy in that.

We all need to do whatever we can to move in the direction of our dreams. We can make wise choices about how we use our money. We can associate with people who love us, or at least like us, and will help us.

We can be optimistic about what comes next.

Now I have times when I feel the deep dark funk, the soul searching lows and down times as much as anyone else, but I realize that they are just part of the ebb and flow of life.

If you think that joy is something you have to search for to find, try this. Just decide to share a joke, sing a song, be optimistic about what is happening, and keep doing what you love, what moves you in the direction of your dreams, what makes your heart sing.

You will be surprised at how fast things will turn around. Joy is not something we find. It is not like we lost it while we were carrying in the groceries from the car or digging through old paperwork. Joy is something we intentionally create.

I Want My Heaven Now

I find it interesting that so many people care whether there is an afterlife and speculate about what it is like. My view is that I will find out when I get there. Meanwhile, I just want to enjoy this life.

These thoughts are not directed at any one religion, but rather all religions that concern themselves with the afterlife.

I can see how for some people it would be a real letdown to find out that after all these years of working and keeping up a house, looking after a family, spending 60 plus hours a week cultivating a career path that you drop dead and find out that there is no next life.

Of course some people adapt the point of view that it's OK if everything is out of whack here, because after we die, it will be better there. Some people are so certain of that that they will hurry their own death along to get there faster.

Not me.

There are certain moments here on earth, in this body, when we can get a taste of pure bliss. I don't know that any afterlife can top an orgasm. Maybe some people will try and argue that there is, but I still say that we won't know until we get there.

Are there other sublime experiences to be had in this lifetime? Yes, I can think of a bunch. Can you? If we can repeat those a bunch more times, we get to have heaven on earth.

Let the other people debate what heaven might be like. I am too busy looking for all the joy that is possible here. For some reason, I just got a vision of some BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, a summer salad, a cold micro brewed beer, and yes, that is another heavenly experience. I would make a longer list, but I need some sleep.

Yes, I want my heaven now.

Alice in Wonderland Again

Alice in Wonderland time again.

In California one candidate for senator who cut 18,000 jobs when she was a CEO of HP says she is interested in saving jobs. Really?

So does a guy running for senator in Florida who made a billion in derivatives on the collapse of the mortgage market. Oh joy! Do we want to know what his next get rich quick idea is?

A third person active in politics, whose company pled guilty to defrauding Medicare and state health programs and paid $1.7 billion in fines for that, does not want to see any health care reform. Gee, I wonder why?

Still think that George Orwell's 1984 was fiction? Years ago, when we read that novel in school, most people thought that the idea that anyone could rewrite the actual public record and recorded history that radically was simply exaggerating for the sake of writing a dramatic story.

But here we are. People like these will buy enough advertising to convince some people that they really are looking out for our best interests.

Being a fiction writer gets to be a tougher job every day. how can you be more mind boggling than the news?

Of course, it will be hard for anyone to top the quote from the oil exec who said he was tired of talking about the oil spill in the Gulf because "he wants to get his life back." No doubt the families of the people who died on his oil rig, and the fishermen who can't fish, are thinking the same thing.

These characters make Alice in Wonderland seem normal.

When Stars Fell to Earth

It has been wonderful to come home from work and relax in the community garden and patio with my neighbors from time to time. I like all of them and we have fun. We all work in the garden. The other night we all brought out some musical instruments and sang and played for a while. Some nights we grill and drink.

When I was a kid, summer meant lots of baseball, basketball, running through sprinklers and swimming. Bicycling too, although I have more memories of riding my bike to deliver a daily newspaper route than the kinds of riders we see all around us today. If there was one thing I would have done most back then, it was play baseball. Well, softball actually. That was a lot bigger where I lived. Chicago might have been the only city where we used to hit with bats but field the ball barehanded. When I lived other places they always used gloves. They always had this kind of astonished look on their faces when you tell them that you played ball without gloves.

Today, I have a different appreciation for a summertime feel. I do my workouts in the rec center where it is air conditioned and I have no risk of sunburn. I do, however find it very sexy when a woman is sweating a bit and it glistens on her skin. Gym sweat is one kind of aphrodisiac, and droplets that sparkle in the moonlight is another. I like the feel of the cool breeze in the evening, and the rainstorms when we get them.

Kicking back with a drink with some friends and neighbors as we watch the sun go down and the moon come up just has that summertime feel to it. We let go of any thoughts of work or stresses about it, and just talk and joke and get happy.

We tasted the first fresh tomatoes off the vine yesterday. I have been enjoying fresh basil in my lunches for a couple weeks now. I'm going to make a pitcher of cold infusion basil tea with a little citrus zest.

Don't seem to see as many lightning bugs anymore. I like them, and in the summers you could always count on seeing those magical little lights, especially when you have a background of trees and shrubs. There were times when there were so many that it looked like stars that fell to earth, only instead of crashing, they floated in the air around us.

Enjoy the taste of the fullness of summer. It is sweet, isn't it?

Coyote as Chupacabra

It turns out that the animal reported to be a chupacabra killed in Texas this week was really a coyote deformed by mites and parasites, not a mythical creature.

However, there is an interesting life lesson to this story.

For one, that animal must have gone through an extreme amount of agony before it was shot. Perhaps it was shunned by other coyotes. Without fur for protection, perhaps even walking around outside in sunlight would have been painful. Perhaps it had to struggle to even scavenge or digest what it ate. It must have had a distorted life as well as a distorted appearance.

If we think about coyotes in general, they are survivors. People in suburbs of Los Angeles and Las Vegas and other cities now routinely site them in their neighborhoods, and these are not animals you normally see in urban areas. But you see, once we extended our neighborhoods out into what had been their neighborhood for eons, they learned to adapt and scavenge.

That survival instinct led them to follow the path of highways east, until now they are thriving in eastern and southern parts of the U.S. where they had never been seen before. They have changed the geography and environment wherever they go. For example, the wolves are natural adversaries of coyotes, so when people have tried to kill all the wolves, what they got in return was more coyotes.

Native lore attributes a dual intensity to the coyote, as both a creator character, and a dangerous destructive character. In the tales he can be both funny and vicious, and in both aspects, an important player in the fabric of life.

I don't know if these are reasons why people who help people cross the border from Mexico are called coyotes, but it would make sense. They are resourceful and cunning, but can also have the reputation for being ruthless. No matter what others think of them, they perform a necessary role in society. They exist as long as there is a demand for their services.

The animal coyotes find a way to survive in the world at all costs. There are elements of this trait all around the world. For example, the character Loki in the Norse mythology contains many of the same elements. They are not exactly equal, but they contain that blend of humor and danger when pushed to the boundaries of the world, at which point the boundary is expanded. Then coyotes, and Loki, are no longer outside, but inside of the boundaries and part of our world that will always be part of our world.

You see, if we did not have these scary characters at the boundaries of our world, we would invent them. Have we invented the chupacabra or Bigfoot? Would the Norse stories be much more pallid without Loki? Can we have a world without something strange at the periphery? Consider this. In both the native coyote stories and the Norse Loki stories, we find humor. What would life be without humor?

If we perceive a sick coyote to be a supernatural monster, what does that say about the way our minds work? And for as much havoc as he wreaks in the stories, the only stories in the Norse myths that contain any humor are the ones where Loki is a central character. Perhaps the inseparable twins of danger and humor are part of the essence of survival strategies.

Human Signs

I don't know if it is just the area where I live, but on the busy streets, I seem to see more and more of these people who stand out by the curb waving signs at passing cars advertising pizza, sandwiches, shoes, tax preparation and stuff. I noticed that stores that sell beer and liquor don't seem to need the extra signs for people to find their way to them.

That is one of the odd jobs that I have not done, and probably won't do. I wonder how much they make. It must be kind of boring. I notice that some of them are wearing ipods and dancing while they find different ways to shake and wave their signs. It might be kind of a boring job, but who knows, it might be a great way to lose weight.

Who knows? Now that we have legal weed and lots of interesting characters in this area, maybe some passing motorists flip them joints to keep them dancing. One can always hope, eh?

Order out of Chaos

The question people like to ask is how decks of cards work. It is order out of chaos and the synchronicity of the appearance of cards that mirror what is going on affirms that there are no coincidences in life, only patterns we have not yet seen.

The cards contain images and ideas, each one different. When they are shuffled, there is no order. It is random.

So when a person selects some of the cards from the deck, they are extracting order from the chaos, and the flow of the cards they have chosen tells a story that is useful for them to hear at this time.

Why did they pull these cards now? Synchonicity. There must be some reason why they have come up now. It is ironic how the presence of the cards and the stories they tell intersect with what is happening in our life at this time.

There are no accidents in the universe, only patterns that we do not recognize until we step back and see them from a distance.

The random draw of the cards at this time provides the distance to examine the energies at work. Bringing them to the surface, exposed on the table top, both the subtle energies and the subconscious energies are suddenly made visible.

Our world is full of energies and movements that ripple beneath the surface, at moments visible, but largely invisible until our very motion, our free will of selecting cards, brings a sense of organization to our vision.

Each reading is a lens for examining our relationship to the chaos and how it appears as order in our life.

Each of our lives is a perfect example of making order out of chaos. The energies shape our perceptions and inform our free will choices when we see them.

Yes, there are things that are all around us that we will never see until we are ready. Yes, there are things that will never reveal themselves until we draw cards from the shuffled stack, and bring order from chaos.

Yes, this is how it works. When we choose to read, we choose to look at what is going on in our life. Chaos is always changing, and by our free will, we are always bringing order from it.

The Private Eye

One of the detective shows that was popular years ago always opened with the line as an aerial shot swooped over New York: "There are millions of stories in the naked city. This is just one of them."

I always wondered, being young and never having been there, if everybody in New York really walked around naked. It was a stunning thought. I wanted to see that.

All these years later, I still have no idea what that opening meant, but it still is a mesmerizing line.

This was early on, long before I became familiar with Pan and his cohorts. Long before I ever visited what they now call a clothing optional resort. Long before I ever attended one of those come as you are parties where people left their clothing at the door. I am sure that I was not the only one sitting there wide eyed, trying to imagine a naked city.

The jargon from those days was confusing to say the least. When you are in the naked city, how can you have any private dicks?

A detective show, full of naked people? What's there to uncover?

This was one of my early lessons in language and how it is sometimes used to confuse and obscure, and how sometimes, it can reveal.

Actually, if you ever watched that show there was never anybody naked in Naked City. But I am sure that a lot of us kept hoping.

Back in those days, there were a lot of things you could not say or do on TV. I guess they were afraid we might get ideas. Thing is, by the way they didn't say or show many things, made me even more curious.

As I see it now, there were other interpretations of Naked City, things that never would have occurred to me back then. You see, after many years of detective work myself, I have discovered that we are all naked under our clothes.

The Path of the Apprentice

Even those who are acknowledged by others as masters know that their learning from the path is never done. Learning more about your chosen field does not stop because someone gives you a certificate and others are always complimenting you on your work.

The person who approaches their work with openness, joy, a desire to learn more and perform better is always ready to accept new bits of knowledge and try new techniques. The person with this sort of disposition looks at details of their work and pursues refinements. When someone else in their field does something innovative, they are appreciative and say things like "that's interesting. I hadn't thought of doing it that way before."

On the path of the apprentice, the master does not always call themselves by that title because they know that they enjoy their work and that others have respect for what they do.

The person who is truly the master does not always flaunt their title, sometimes as a counterpoint to those who acquire a title too easily and use it simply as a self promotional gimmick, and sometimes out of a sense of true humility, acknowledging that one who is enjoying their journey on the path is never really finished.

On the path of apprenticeship, masters know that they are never finished with their journey, that there is always something interesting along the way, and that even a person who has achieved excellence and recognition is still an apprentice on the path. And this is not a disappointment. It is a pleasure.

Cards, Food and Friends

The deck of cards has to be one of the most creative inventions of mankind. It's small, fits in your pocket, yet provides uncountable hours of entertainment, and it is the most economical toy you can buy. What else can you buy for a dollar that you can have fun with for hundreds of hours?

Whereas other games have one set of pieces, one format, one set of rules. For example, how many different games can you play with a chess set, checker set or backgammon set? They are all great games with long histories, but each one can only be played with their own set. By comparison, with a deck of cards, people can choose between playing old games or inventing new ones. Kids can play with grandparents, since the basic elements of suits and numbers are easy to understand and remember. It is the rules of each game that varies.

After family meals, card games were a way to socialize, because you could play a game while talking and joking. Friends use card games the same way. You can get a bunch of people together and old friends can mix with new friends on an equal footing.

Obviously, they are a long time favorite way of gambling. When I go to casinos, I don't want to sit in front of a slot machine. I play card games, because I like the interaction with the dealer and the other players.

If we extend that same sense of socialization into using cards to do readings, there is still the socialization factor. Of course, people have personal questions they want to investigate with a deck of cards, and many people prefer private consultations for their readings.

And there are always people who come for their readings with their mother, sister, friends, lovers and spouses for their readings. They enjoy sitting in on each other's readings and chatting and joking with each other. Sometimes they remain silent until I say something that really registers with them, and then they ask "how did he know that?"

The constant shuffling and dealing of cards allows for an exchange, an interaction. Whether it is a playing card deck or a tarot deck, the cards still trigger interactions among everyone present.

So reading in a festival or expo setting fits into the mood of things that way. People can be enjoying each other's company, eating and drinking and looking around at all of the other sights, and then when they sit down and we shuffle and deal the cards, there is once again that interaction.

People have been enjoying this interaction for centuries because the cards come into play so naturally when people get together. Break the ice, try your luck, take a look ahead, try and win a little bet, cards by their nature suggest both action and strategy.

Even magicians who can do things like disappear people on stage still like to use card tricks are part of their repertoire, because the little things have just as much power to mesmerize as the big things.

So pick a card, any card, and let the action begin!

Merriment and Maypoles

May 1 is the day that Maypoles were erected in villages and fields and people danced around them, weaving brightly colored ribbons as they danced. The Celts named it Beltane after the god Bel. The Germans refer to the evening leading into it as Walpurgis Night, when witches would gather to welcome in the spring. All of the countries of Europe had similar traditions, with varying folk traditions, and names that reflect each culture.

The reason for these large phallic symbols was to bring joy and fertility to this year's crops. As a symbol for the fertilizing the earth, this was very public and festive and often times other ritual dances also celebrated the earth coming back to life and producing abundantly.

Some people would also have sex in the fields and gardens as a way of using sympathetic magic, their celebratory couplings infusing the fields with their pleasure, their energy and their hopes for a great year.

Given that we are not all farmers or gardeners, still there are seeds that we have planted in our lives this year that we want to grow. Those seeds could be the next stage of our career or job, they could be the seeds of the various relationships we are nurturing. They could be the seeds of success in all aspects of our lives.

Another old tradition is the jumping of the bonfire to signal the return of the heat and fertility into our lives.

Bringing fresh flowers into the house is a way of bringing in the spirit of spring. Flowers send their signal through the whole environment that the colorful fragrant bursting out of energy is all around us.

Although it is barely spring here in Colorado where we had snow this morning, and gardeners do not plant their outdoor gardens until after Mother's Day, when I was in Ireland several years ago at Beltane, the newspapers had photos and stories about welcoming in the first day of summer.

Beltane is the polar opposite of Samhain, or Halloween or Day of the Dead. it seems very fitting that ancient people had one major holiday signaling the beginning of summer dedicated to birth and rebirth, and another exactly six months later, signaling the beginning of winter, and honoring the dead.

In another symbology Beltane and Samhain can be seen as the yin and yang. The energies of the major seasonal shifts signal major shifts within people as well. If we attune our energies to growth right now, and we enjoy the bright colors and energies, we are priming the pump, and affirming that we will bring beautiful creations into being, beginning now.

Celebrate the season with positive thoughts and actions to expand upon our previous successes and build new beginnings where and how we choose.

Between Reader and Writer

New technology has also radically changed the fields of writing and publishing. What you are reading right now is a perfect example of this. I took up blogging because it is an efficient way for me to write what I would like to write and then share it with whoever wants to read it. And not one piece of paper has to be used in the process. All you have to do is visit this site to read it.

In the past, I self published two books of poetry. It was not just the printing that was expensive, but there was an incredible amount of work involved in visiting bookstores and trying to get them to carry my books, and most insisted on consignment, which means you are putting your product out there with no compensation until after it sells. So I did tons of performances and readings to introduce people to my work. Lots of work for a little bit of money.

Later on, I wrote a couple of books, but could not find a publisher who was interested. They had lots of questions about my platform, and disappointingly few questions about what I wrote about. Platform in their terms means that you have an audience already built up, ready to buy your book. For example, if a person has their own radio or TV show, they have a way to promote their book on the air every time they broadcast. Publishers also like to rush things into print when a person or topic is suddenly hot. So where the publishing process used to take a year or two to get your book on the market after they decided that they wanted it, celebrity books can be popped out in a matter of months, from start to finish.

Since I was not famous on that level, they were not very interested in what I had to offer. Many other people have had this same experience. Before the Internet, the only alternative was to publish it yourself, paying a printer then driving around with a box of books in the trunk of your car, selling them wherever you can. Now you can share your work on a website or blog, or offer versions that a person could download. And you don't have to give one thought to trying to convince some agent or publishing company representative that you really do have something worthwhile to offer them. You present your writing directly to the readers.

You just put it out there and see what kind of feedback you get. Some days you get lots of feedback, some days you don't, but there is a very satisfying feeling to be able to be able to express yourself in writing, without any censorship. Plus it offers an opportunity to make new friends and have interesting conversations with people you might never have met otherwise. Some may live in other parts of the country or other countries. Discussions can take place in person or by email.

Once again the challenge is how the creative person can make money for their work. What I have done is put a paypal donation button on my blog so that people who enjoy what I do can support my efforts. I have written over and published more than 600 pieces on this blog so far, and anyone who wants to read them can access all of them for free. That represents a lot of time and effort on my part, and donations are a way for readers to show their appreciation, and will help me make a living as well. I thought this option is a simple, gentle way to go forward.

Once again, creativity has gone from essence through various types of forms, then back to essence again.

Laughing at Life

It is hard to overemphasize the value of laughter as a great stress relief strategy. It is hard to overemphasize the value of shared laughter as a bond between people. I use it at every opportunity.

One of the other benefits of laughter is that it has also been proven to increase our body's own healing abilities. Don't you just love those metaphysical effects? We engage in a kind of thinking that lifts our spirits and it also helps us heal.

Sometimes it is hard to be more absurd than real life. I heard one person say recently that he didn't need to go see Alice in Wonderland because he is on the other side of the looking glass already. He said that he can take a trip to Wonderland by pouring himself a cup of tea and watching the news.

The ironies of some news stories just beg to be parodied. On one day, you have someone proposing to pass new laws to regulate yoga teachers, and the next someone opposes regulations for payday loan companies. Last year political drag queens included a Libertarian running as a Republican and a Republican running as a Libertarian, while Sarah Palin kind of reminded me of a cross between Peter Sellers in Being There and a character from a Monty Python movie.

Various characters surface in the news who prompt new versions of blonde jokes and who hasn't seen or heard a Tiger Woods joke by now?

When we are feeling stressed, there is nothing that can break the tension better than a good comedy or stand up routine.

Stand up comedians are today's court jesters. The best have a knack for picking up on cultural trends and current events and evoking laughter through the recognition of the contradictions and absurdities posing as reality.

The number of new comedians seems to have increased during in recent years, perhaps because the news has become so absurd.

Laughter can make us feel better while we get on with what we have to do next and can prompt us to look at new solutions. We need to laugh so that we don't take ourselves so seriously. Often, truth is revealed in silliness. And it feels so good. Don't you feel lighter after a good laugh? Laughter is like love. Everybody appreciates it.

When You Shoot With Your Lunch Money..........

Years ago, I liked to shoot pool and spent a fair amount of time hanging out with a friend who showed me the finer points of the game. We had a good time and just played for fun, but every once in a while, some guy would come over to our table and ask if we wanted to shoot for money. Usually we turned down all those offers.

My friend had a saying "When you start to shoot with your lunch money, the pockets start to move."

There were other nights when I would be out with other people and would shoot for beers or money. Sometimes after a few beers, I could not sink even easy shots, but at other times, I could make every shot on the table even though I was hammered. Does beer help improve aim and follow through in shooting pool? Mostly not, although it depends on how much you care.

One night I went out drinking with some of my buddies and we ended up in a bar somewhere. We were shooting for fun. Then this good looking woman comes over to me and asks if I would like to shoot for a friendly wager, like $5. I won the game. The word "set up" didn't register with me because she was wearing this low cut top with lots of cleavage. As she pays me, she says, "My friend would like to play you next."

So this guy comes up to the table with his own cue, and he wants to up the bet to $20but won't go more than $10, and as soon as we lag for the break, I notice my friends betting on the other guy. The picture suddenly came into focus.

She was smiling. And I smiled. Somebody else would be a sucker for the big bet. The pockets were not moving. He was just a better shot. So I left the table and had another beer.

Lots of new business "opportunities" look like that little pool game. They want to sucker you into doubling down, doubling down, and you never have a chance. Being able to recognize the difference between real opportunities and fake opportunities gives you the big clue as to when to leave the table.

And now that we are all looking at new and different opportunities, it pays to tell the difference.

Hail Spring Fever!

The idea of spring cleaning goes back to the ancient Romans. February was time for purification and cleansing. Time to clear out the clutter and debris and get ready for the new growth in spring, which naturally leads to the spring fertility rituals.

Centuries before there was a Valentine's Day, there was a Lupercalia, a very popular festival celebrated at mid February, featuring the return of the Horny Old Goat. Did he ever really go away?

It was a very bawdy, primal festival featuring lusty play and fetish toys such as little whips that were used to arouse erotic energies.

Yes, it was a randy celebration of the rites of spring that makes all the giving of greeting cards, chocolates and roses boring by comparison.

In short,the ancients cleared the way for a vigorous rebound of energy to shake off the lethargy that resulted from all the overabundance of food and drink during the Yule holidays, leaping into the new year with a wink and some lip-smacking lust.

Hail Spring Fever!

Stop Making Sense

Of course, yesterday's blog about everybody going naked in the airports was a firmly tongue in cheek piece, although maybe some people missed it.

The way humor works is that absurdity can sometimes point at the truth better than a serious discussion. When you approach subjects like this in a practical way, you can seem like a fool. But who is really the fool? Let's take a look.

For example, if the 9/11 terrorists were here in this country under the false pretenses that they were going to school, why would it be hard to verify this? Since all schools now have records of their students on computer, it would seem like the INS or FBI or whoever needed to know could have simply verified by a search of computer records whether those guys were enrolled in school and attending classes.

Then TSA was created to screen people and check bags at airports. Why didn't they just assign the National Guard to do that? The National Guard is already employed by us, most of them are supposed to be stationed at home in the US, and they have uniforms, weapons and training.

Instead, the former president created a whole new bureaucracy to oversee these agencies, and a reasonable person can wonder if we really have better security for all the billions of dollars we poured into this new bureaucracy.

I am just a practical person and sometimes being practical is really the big taboo.

Here's another suggestion. Why not just fully legalize maijuana, tax it, make money for needed items like health care? Then reassign all those cops who are facing the impossible task of stopping all traffic in marijuana to agencies that need them? They could help apprehend violent criminals or patrol our borders? Or maybe let them handle security at airports and transportation terminals?

OMG, stop making sense!

The Naked Truth

How long will it be before we all have to present ourselves naked at the airports in order for everyone to know that we are not carrying any weapons? Maybe that's really the goal of the terrorists. They want to see America naked.

It seems inevitable that in order for people to feel safe, we will all be walking through scanners that X-ray vision. And for those who have suspicious bulges, it will be into the little room with you, where you have to take it all off to show that you have nothing to hide.

Since the scanners will expose us all to little doses of radiation, wouldn't it just be healthier for everybody if we just took off our clothes and did away with the scanners?

Remember the old Mae West greeting? Is that a gun in your pocket or are you glad to see me?

Well, I guess people in warmer climates will have an easy enough time parading around airports naked, but it will be a different scene in all those places that have near zero temperatures in winter.

Why stop at airports? Why not just declare the US a naked country? We could just walk around naked all the time and that way everyone will know what a friendly country we are. We have nothing to hide.

Nudism could be the wave of the future. Just think how much you will save on clothing costs. Especially all you fashionistas who feel compelled to buy new clothes every season to keep up with what the designers say are the fashion trends.

All those makeover shows would go right down the tubes I guess. Well, you could still do something to accessorize your body hairs. And I guess nail painting would still be in vogue.

All these years, so many people thought that people who enjoyed walking around naked were just a little screwy. Little did they know that they would come to be seen as the farthest forward fashion trend setters.

It might be a great war strategy too. It could drive Osama and his buddies nuts to see hundreds of millions of people naked. A lot of his lackeys might have second thoughts about whether they need to blow themselves up before they see this many virgins.

Well, OK, it may be hard to come up with that many virgins, but you never know. It's hard to tell who's who when everybody's naked.