I Miss the Old Days

When I was just out of my teens, in the early 80's, life seemed sooo much better. During that time Ronald Reagan was president, the Soviets were still the ENEMY, and people didn't have so much to worry about. There were no cell phones, home computers were to be found in the homes of only the rich or super geeky and Tom-Tom was a kind of drum. It was during this time I developed my love for two things-.22 rifles and going for long walks in the woods. I've always liked walking and my first .22 was a used Marlin Model 60. I wish I still had that gun. It was cool, it had an carving of a squirrel on the wrist. And accurate as hell, I could shoot 1" groups with that bad boy all day long. I traded it off for another flavor of the day, but I still had a penchant for that model.
Over the years I've owned 5 different ones, so I guess that was my favorite
model .22 rifle. When I wasn't working, I'd take my rifle and go wandering off somewhere in the woods( hence the Wayfarer moniker),
and think about all kinds of stuff, I still do, but then it was all so new; I was young, I had my whole life ahead of me.Now, I fear for the future; I have no idea what's coming next. There's people out there who want to do things that are most unbecoming, the want nothing less than to be in complete control of our lives. Just a scant twenty years ago such a thing would have been unthinkable, now they can't push hard or fast enough.
Only God knows what's next on the agenda, I just kinda wish that Sam
Beckett was real and could go back and right all the wrongs and make things just as simple as they used to be.

Happy Holidays?

When I was a kid, Christmas was my favorite holiday, for obvious reasons (as I think it's probably most kids' favorite), but, as I've grown older Christmas is certainly a humbug. Today, my most favorite holiday is the one that's run roughshod over in order to get to Christmas- Thanksgiving. It's a fairly humble day, not yet completely commercialized, full of family and fun and food. Even with its historically
inaccurate mythology, it's still a good day. Christmas (and its related ethnic counterparts, Channukah and the contrived Kwanzaa) has lost whatever meaning it may have had. Originally set to commemorate the birth of Jesus (which is NOT December 25th), Christmas has returned to its pagan roots. No longer a sanctified day, it's now filled with all sorts of
over-commercialized drival. It's become a day I dread. The music is annoying, the crassness of "gift giving" is nauseating, and all of the assorted effluvia that identifies with it is enough for me to want to hit something. In my opinion, there are only two good things about Christmas: a paid holiday and "A Christmas Carol", the one starring George C. Scott. I think if Scrooge were alive today, he would say,
"Screw it, Christmas is STILL a humbug!".