First Things First

Here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.  Thanks for the visit.  As far as updates go, there are a couple.  First, this page.  There are also numerous Journal entries.  I've added four pictures to Vista Drive.  And lastly, coming on the 21st of December, the first day of Winter, a new issue of American Bliss.  Check it all out.

Afterthoughts : Learning to Swim

My old apartment building had a huge swimming pool, but I didn't get near it for fear that I would fall in.  Falling in was a big fear of mine because I didn't know how to swim.  Every time my cousins came over for a visit they would swim all day long.  Meanwhile, I had to splash around in the shallows.  Actually, I didn't get much farther than the third step.  Anything past that step and I felt like I was going to be sucked into the deep end.  I got tired of it.  I made up my mind to learn how to swim.  But, I didn't want to ask anyone to teach me.  I wanted to learn by myself.  I took to the water one day, determined to have skills by the end of the day.  My cousins were in the pool, having their usual fun, while I pushed myself to the 3 foot marker.  I felt I almost couldn't make it.  I could float, and hang on to the side of the pool, but I couldn't touch the bottom.  Even at a lousy 3 feet I couldn't.  I floated there for a moment, kinda proud that I was still sorta floating.  I pushed off the side of the pool back towards the safe harbor of the stairs.  Once was not enough.  I must have propelled myself to the 3 foot marker, and back, a few hundred times.  By this time my cousins saw what I was doing and offered some tips.  I took them, and went on... to the 3 foot marker, back to the stairs.  I then tried going a little farther, to the 5 foot marker.  While it was two extra feet in depth, it was about three feet farther away.  I could no longer rely on my momentum getting me all the way there.  I had to actually flap my arms and swim.  The first time I tried I didn't make it.  I was lucky to make it to the 3 foot marker.  But, I tried again, and again, until I was just about making it to the 5 foot marker with little effort.  I was still deadly afraid of getting sucked into the deep end.  But, at least now I felt that I could make it to the 3 foot marker easy.  My next challenge was making it across the pool vertically in the shallow end of the pool.  I knew that I could bounce off the bottom there, and still make it to the stairs of safety, if anything happened.  The more I crossed, the better I got.  Pretty soon I felt very comfortable crossing the pool.  By the end of the day I was over my fear of swimming.  I didn't go to the deep end until the next day, but I know that if I hadn't made those first baby steps, or baby flaps in this case, I would have never learned how to swim.

Editorial : Boring

Boring is not a crime, but when entertainment is bland and boring, it makes me a little mad.  So much of what's out there, movies, TV shows, and music is boring, bland and white bread.  Entertainment today wants to be all things to all people.  But, moreover, there is this insidious pandering to kids.

Entertaining kids has become a billion dollar business.  But, when companies try to entertain the whole family the edge is lost.  A lot of things aren't meant for kids, and I like it that way.  When I was young I used to wait for the day when I was going to be old enough to do certain things that I couldn't because I was a child.  Now things are bland because entertainment can't be offensive, in any way.  Everything has to be family safe.  You know what?  Family safe is overrated.  There are things children shouldn't see, or hear.  But, there are things that, as an adult, I should be able to see.  Without having to worry that it could be too harsh for kids.  There are things that are supposed to be harsh, edgy.

These days have to be bland also because people are easily offended.  You know what?  I'm offended by blandness.  I'm offended when something is boring.  My time is precious, I don't have time to get bored to death by something that's bland for family consumption.

Yeah, but I'm fighting a losing battle.  The world of entertainment is becoming inoffensive, safe, and completely boring.