"Fight Club..."

Have any of you ever seen the movie, 'Fight Club?'  I've mentioned it way too many times, along with one of the characters of the story, Tyler Durden.   There is this unnamed narrator who works as a product recall specialist... he is to determine if any potential market recall of an automobile meets the criteria established by cost-benefit analysis...

Early in the movie,  this narrator (Edward Norton) develops insomnia... he discovers that he is defined by his job and the possessions that control his life.  His condo mysteriously explodes... he finds himself homeless... and this is when he meets Tyler Durden, a charismatic extremist...


It seems that from this point forward, that Tyler Durden is the polar opposite of the narrator... Tyler Durden is "out there"... the narrator is safe.. predictable... even nice...


Near the end of the movie, the narrator makes the uneasy discovery that he IS Tyler Durden... this other personality that has been smoldering beneath the layer of the narrator's skin... and it seems a battle ensues for the possession/control of the narrator's soul...

Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and unnamed Narrator (Ed Norton)

__________

I've thought long and hard about my posting pattern... How else can I explain how on consecutive posts, I write about things like Monument Valley , or beautiful Sunsets , or The Grand Canyon... and how spiritual I find these places to be... how I am trying to get connected/reconnected...

And then I turn around and post about X-Rated Telephone Calls...  This kind of posting exists all throughout my blog... almost ever since I started it...

I think I have finally figured it out... it started to make sense to me the other night as I sat and watched 'Fight Club' on TV for the gazillionth time...

I have figured out that there is a 'Good' Shoes... and there is a 'Dark Side' Shoes...  Well, not really a Dark Side... but one that seems to be the polar opposite of the spiritual-seeking Shoes as opposed to the pig-fucking Shoes...

I think I have a Tyler Durdenesque character that is wrestling for control of my blog...  Does this 'Dark Side' Shoes have an identity? Does he have a name??  I'm not sure yet... but I know what he looks like...

Black Shoes...

Now you will know...

~shoes~

"Happy ThanksGiving!!!"

Gobbles

Thanksgiving, to me, starts the beginning of my favorite Holiday season...  My Mom would start preparing a week before... finding out  who all would be coming home for Thanksgiving... what they would like to have with the turkey...  My Mom was the best... and of course, I am biased...


Last Thanksgiving was a train wreck... I posted about it HERE ...  Instead of trying to see if my daughter can work me into her time schedule this year, I am driving down to New Orleans later this morning... I will spend a few days with her and her husband, Heff Bert...

Shannon and Bert 

Hallowe'en Night

The Superdome

My 'kids' and I will have a great time!!

I do love them so!!!

Happy Thanksgiving...

I do hope you enjoy the time and your families...

~shoes~

"Monday Afternoon Telephone Call..."

Seriously...

Seriously...

My Phone:  Ringggg... Ringggg....


Me:  Hello...???


Caller:  ... (pause)  Fuckface...


Me:  ... (longer pause)... Fuckface Motherfucker...


Caller: ...(pause)...you're a Fuckface Twat Licking Motherfucker...


Me:  ...(pause)  You're a Pig Fucker...


Caller: (gasps) Why... why... why did you call me a Pig Fucker???





Me:  Because you fuck pigs...


Caller:  Oh yeah... hahahahahahahaaaa...

~shoes~

"Traveling Shoes... The Grand Canyon..."

For purple mountain majesties...

I've posted twice about my October Road Trip out West... I've posted photos of Monument Valley HERE  and of a BEAUTIFUL sunset HERE ...


Here are my photos of the Grand Canyon... again, I totally credit my new digital camera for how wonderful I feel these photos turned out...

From the observation platform at Desert View, South Rim

About 15 miles straight out from this view point is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon...  There is a great sensory overload here... so much to see... almost too much to see... How can something this majestic... this unbelievable... this beautiful... have SO much going on in one place!?!?!

From the observation platform at Desert View, South Rim

I was so taken aback by all of the colors that appear in the layers of different rock and stone that are tiered down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon...

From the observation platform at Desert View, South Rim

On the Trail to Phantom Ranch...

We had decided to take about a 5 mile hike down the face of the Grand Canyon on the Trail that will eventually take one to Phantom Ranch, a lodge that is located on the floor of the Grand Canyon.  This lodge is so popular that one has to arrange reservations almost a year in advance.  It was so overcast... so cold... and at one point, the sun broke through and lit up this formation in the Canyon...

On the Trail to Phantom Ranch...

Scenery like this makes me feel SO insignificant... so small...  When one figures and thinks about what all has transpired on this planet in the millions of years it's taken to form this Canyon... and how our existence on that time line is just a speck in time...

As we were driving from Desert View to Grand Canyon Village, we saw this HUGE herd of elk just off to the side of the highway...  I am estimating that there must have been about 15 or so of them... and this one majestic bull elk...

What a country we have... How fortunate I feel to have been born in this Land...

God Bless America...

~shoes~

"Learning Curves and Other Shiznit..."

Learning Curve: (n) learning curve (a graph showing the rate of learning (especially a graph showing the amount recalled as a function of the number of attempts to recall))

I've mentioned  my family's business several times... a scrap metal recycling plant.  I worked with my brothers and my Dad there before setting out on a different Life Course.  It was difficult working with two brothers who refused to allow the business to operate as a business... they were insistent on it running as an extension of the 'Family'...

Not Necessarily my Brothers...

Several years ago, when scrap metal prices reached record highs, the theft of copper and other non-ferrous metals soared... and so did the theft rates of these metals.  As a means of trying to combat rising theft rates, the State of Mississippi (as well as other states) passed laws requiring extensive record keeping and reporting methods that could only be met by purchasing expensive and complicated computer systems.  We spent around $50,000 for the systems and soft ware... 


When problems arise, they tend to call me... I will go down and help them straighten out their problems.. which mostly consist of... "How do I send an email?"

Learning Curves are Hell...

A Typical Learning Curve...

A Rather Atypical Learning Curve...

About a month ago, They needed me to come down and show them how to email photos of some material that had possibly been stolen to Law Enforcement.  This really is a two-sided Learning Curve because most of our Law Enforcement here in the County don't understand the technology either.  They are supposed to be able to go on-line to this bureau to whom we report the material, and download the information that they need.  But I digress...


One of the brothers call me today, tell me that they need help with the computer... when in reality, they need help sending an email... While I'm at the office showing them again how to do this, I ask him to open his email so we can check something...


Brother:  "How do I do that?"


Shoes: "You don't remember? I wrote the instructions down in a note book for you..."


Brother:  "What note book?"


Shoes: "Never mind..."


So I open the email folder... and discover that he hasn't gone into his email since the last time I was at the scrap yard helping them with these problems... Hell, he had email from scrap purchasers concerning the quality of some material that had been shipped... very timely material, and because they shun technology, they aren't aware of things that are going on every day with their business...


Watching them work on a computer is like watching a monkey use a typewriter... Just not pretty...

Not Necessarily My Brother...

They have been insanely successful with the business in spite of themselves, I fear... but I do love them... if I had to work with them, well... I just don't think I could...

____________

There were three things I learned this past weekend...

#1:  There is no such thing as a 'neener second'... I was trying to convince someone that a 'neener second' was a shorter period of time than a 'nano second'... in order to prove my point, I asked a waitress at a restaurant about 'neener seconds...

"No such thing as a neener second" she said as she popped her chewing gum... She was smarter than I gave her credit for being...

#2:  There is such a thing as a 'Coot'... but of course, I knew this... I couldn't convince others of this, however...

A Real Coot...

An Old Coot...

... and #3:  "It's not cheating if you put peanut butter on your testicles and your dog licks it off..."

______________

No Alcohol was consumed during the creation of this post... 

although there should have been...

Hmmm... Redheads...

~shoes~

"Traveling Shoes... Arizona Sunset..."

On my October, 2010, Road Trip... I headed Westward to find My Balance... My Harmony...  My Spiritual Health.  I saw so much... I feel like I connected with whatever it was that I needed to find.  I believe the the Spiritual World and the Physical World do blend into One...

On the way back to Nevada, we were driving West on Interstate 40 in Western Arizona when this beautiful sunset presented itself. I'm not sure if my traveling partners experienced it quite the way I did... I believe that so much of what we experience in Life is measured by our own Perception of these events...

Look at these marvelous colors that Mother Nature provided that evening... 

"As the sun sets, its light passes through more and more of the darkening atmosphere en route to the eye.... in the process all the warm colours of red, yellow and orange begin to dominate the visual spectrum over the cool colours of blues and greens. The stronger the darkening, the redder the colour." 

"According to Goethe.... light and darkness meet in a turbid medium to create colour." 

"According to current physics.... these warm colours arise through the scattering of of light through Goethe's 'turbid' medium. From molecules in the air, light is scattered according to strictly mathematical laws and in the process these colours are produced. Where light meets darkness, colours flash into existence." 

This one sunset provided such a wonderful exclamation mark to this trip.  These photos appear as they did when I downloaded them from my camera.  There was no enhancement of the colors...


Much of what I feel I am seeking is about Life... of Living My Life, Honoring the Lives of those Dear and Near to Me... and Honoring the Lives of Those who have gone on before Me...


I found these Native American Proverbs... and for some reason, they just seem appropriate...

You must live your life from beginning to end:
Noone else can do it for you.
 (Hopi)


Don't be afraid to cry.
It will free your mind of sorrowful 
thoughts. 
(Hopi)


Life is not separate from death.
It only looks that way. (Blackfoot)

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. (Cherokee)

~Namaste~

~shoes~

"Lunatic Fringe..."

I was talking with someone on the phone last evening... she said she was looking for some fringe at a fabric store for a project she was working on... I could hear her asking the clerk about 'fringe'... and I asked her to ask the clerk if they carried 'Lunatic Fringe"...





This was a song by Red Rider, a Canadian band... I'm not sure if they ever had any other hit songs... The singer for 'Red Rider' was a fellow by the name of Tom Cochrane... who also recorded this song...  Tom is quite an accomplished musician...

These are great "driving" songs... just hit the highway, and turn that mother up!!!!  Another one of my favorite driving songs is this one...

I have always loved 'Golden Earring'...

Lunatic Fringe???

On a different note, Shoes had a birthday this week... Dayum, I'm getting OLD!!!

This appears to be the right amount of candles...

~Old Shoes~

"Veterans' Day..."

In Flanders Field

John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up the quarrel with the foe;

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch: be yours to hold it high.

If you break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

_________

Today, November 11... is Veterans Day... I remember my Mom and Dad referring to it as Armistice Day, the day that the end of World War I was recognized world-wide...


"Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice..."

Over time, Veterans Day was altered to honor veterans from all wars...   I remember when I was a boy, Dad took me to Illinois to visit the family homestead... and later to the Brown Family Cemetery... one of the headstones he took me to belonged to a young man by the name of 'Leland Brown'... on his headstone is inscribed...

"One of Pershing's 100 Heros..."

My Dad told me that during the course of World War I that Leland had pulled off something similar to Alvin York's accomplishments...

Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944

A late brother-in-law was an 18 year old the day he landed on Omaha Beach in France... to begin the last thrust of the war that was designed to push the Germans out of France... back into Germany... and end the war.


Before his stint in World War II was over, he would be wounded in France, and again in Belgium at the Battle of the Bulge...  He was a kid...  What were you doing when you were 18???


There is footage of the landing in Normandy that always haunts me... there are three soldiers running onto the beach... and one falls motionless... I keep waiting, hoping to see him stir... move... do something to indicate that maybe he tripped... or was just wounded... Of course, he doesn't.  Over 2,500 young men died on the beaches that morning.

Of course, the war that haunts me and my generation is the Vietnam War... I am still appalled at how the troops returning from Vietnam were treated by America...  Not only were the young men and women targets in Southeast Asia, but also back in the states... I still remember some of the looks I got when I traveled in my Air Force dress blues...


Whether one is supportive of the wars being waged today, it is reassuring  to see that America supports our soldiers...  There is still disturbing news. Just last night, there is talk that the United States Marine Corps is being faced with possible reductions in man-power, and possibly even being eliminated... How sad... they are celebrating their 235th anniversary of existence.

I am disturbed to hear news that Arlington Cemetery... where many of  America's military dead heroes are buried... has dishonored so many by burying many of the soldiers in the wrong graves... or disposing of their ashes in very disrespectful ways.


These people deserve our respect and our attention... Giving them the medical care, rehabilitation, and final respects are the least we can do...


I was disturbed to hear news on the television this morning about the number of "unattended" funerals for deceased veterans... where no one shows up for the service... 


We are the great nation that we are because we have had 235-plus years of people willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for our Country... for our Freedoms...


There is a wonderful Veterans Day post over at Red.Neck.Chic... by Robelyn... you can find it HERE ... it is a 'Must Read'...

Honor our military members...

We owe them...

~shoes~

"Arty Stuff..."

 I've always been somewhat of an art fanatic... I was even an Art Major in college for about two years until I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make much of a living at it...


I've always been somewhat creative... I love to draw, paint, play music... 


When I went to Santa Fe back in August, I visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Her work is beautiful...

Georgia O'Keeffe

For most of her Life, she lived in and around Sante Fe, New Mexico...  among my favorites of her are her 'Cloud' series...

The clouds in the skies in New Mexico really do look like this.

Some of her work in her later years became more sexual in nature...

Another one of my favorite artists is Walter Anderson... he was a Mississippi Gulf Coast Artist...

 Walter Anderson

He may well be my most favorite artists... you all know how I am about declaring 'favorites'... I tend to be all over the place when it comes to 'favorites'... His most favorite subject seemed to be that of Horn Island... a barrier island about 9 miles off the Mississippi Gulf Coast... He had this small boat, and he would row/sail out... spend several weeks at a time there drawing and painting.  He also liked to make linoleum block prints.  He would go to Ingalls Shipyards at Pascagoula, MS... they would give him the linoleum that came off the floors of the naval vessels that they were over-hauling.  

 Linoleum Print...

He loved painting watercolors of his environment...

He suffered from emotional issues... He was quite difficult to live with... he would go away for weeks at a time to work... and at times, he would lock himself away in a room at his home in Ocean Springs... and wouldn't allow anyone to enter... he always kept the door locked... and no one entered the room until after his death...

I remember once upon a time when I was married, we had traveled down to visit "Shear Water Pottery"... a business owned and operated by his family... and this little woman asked us if we would like to see his house... "Of COURSE!!"... and she led us next door to this...

Of course, it didn't look like this when he lived there... one could see his boat still tucked up under the far side of the house... and the little woman opened this one door and showed us this...

... and this...

... and this...

... and this...

He had painted the ceiling... the floor, the walls... the doors... it was his "home"... this is where he spent most of his time... in his "place"...  I remember we were taken aback by all of this...

I asked the little woman... how do you know so much about all of this? All of his history?? and she replied...

"... child, I was married to him..."

WOW! We had just been given a tour through this man's Life by his wife!!!!

If you like art, and aren't familiar with these artists... look them up... I think you will be pleasantly surprised...

On another note, I found another artist who's work I like... her name is Kacie... and this has this fabulous site,  Pistols and Cupcakes ... I was browsing through her site and found this...

... and thought...        "I'VE GOT TO HAVE THAT!!!"

It now currently resides at the Casa de Red Shoes...  anyhoo... there is some great talent here in blogland... and I encourage you to check it out!!!

A special word to my Mom... Thank you for what you did for me a bunch of years ago today... I love you so!!!

~shoes~