The buzz this week

For those of you that haven't heard, Isaac Hayes has left the vocal cast of "South Park". Hayes provided the voice for "Chef".

Apparently, he wasn't happy about an episode that pokes (a LOT) of fun at Scientology.
Fellow believers John Travolta, Tom Cruise and even R. Kelly were singled out in the episode.

Thursday, Comedy Central was going to re-air the episode but when millions of viewers, (ok....maybe a few hundred?) tuned in, we instead saw a different episode which reps for C.S. later were quoted as saying they wanted to show an episode which showcased "Chef" because Hayes was leaving.

The REAL scuttle-butt was that Tom Cruise himself was to blame for the last minute switch-a-roo. This was further promoted by the fact that the company putting out his latest movie, "MI-3" also owns Comedy Central and Cruise threatened not to promote the movie if the episode, which has a Cruise character hiding in a closet, was ran.

Now, I personally have not heard any news confirming Tom's snit, but my gut instincts say that he seems like the type of guy (after seeing a clip where he is on a Red Carpet event overseas to promote "War of the Worlds", and after getting squirted in the face with water by a fake microphone, goes on a small tirade) can totally see him pulling a stunt like this.

Since when have actors gotten SO big in themselves that they can not, will not,see the humor in parody?
I mean, come on! South Park has been satirizing everything from gays in the military, to the Ku Klux Klan and Hayes has not had a problem cashing his checks. But once Parker and Stone (the creators of S.P.) go after Scientology, put Tom Cruise in a closet and fill almost an entire episode with jokes of "trying to get Tom Cruise to come out of the closet", they've gone too far?
(Ok, I'll admit that that last part does seem like a personal attack on Cruise but DAMN it was funny).

One episode had the S.P. kids trying to build a ladder to Heaven, and showed a Saddam Hussain character having a gay relation with Satan, and that was ok??

As long as there is South Park, and other forms of parodies and satires, there will be people that don't like it. But is it really fair for one or a few entities to have the power and clout to be able to whine "well that doesn't make me look very good. I don't want anyone to be able to see it."

Putting representatives of real-life people can add to the comedy of a situation to remind us that dumb things are happening around us all the time.

"Chef" will be missed.

ERIN-GO-BRA-LESS

Happy St. Pattie's Day to all!
(especially the gals that choose to "go commando" today)
;)

"We got the dog fixed"

I've often wondered about this phrase.
"Getting fixed" is the way to say you've had your pet (or human) spayed or neutered, which is a staple of Bob Barker's.

To me, when you fix something, you repair it, mend it, or make it workable again.
But when applying this thought to your pet (or human) it just doesn't make sense.

Was your pet (or human) broken to begin with?
Did he/she need mending in some way? NO! NOW YOU'VE MADE IT SO THEY CAN'T REPRODUCE.............EVER............

Ok.........so one could argue that they've "fixed it" so they can't make babies.
But it just doesn't sound the same.

It would make sense to think that based on their previous state, that now they are broken, for they cannot make babies............ever...........

Welcome to North Iowa....................

For as long as I can remember, the weather has been a hot topic of discussion, especially during the winter months.

I can remember back when I was a kid, November through the end of March were the months we had snow. And lots of it.
My folks have pictures of our old house and there was at least a couple feet of snow.
But as times go on, the weather seems to have changed.

Today, it is raining. RAIN................in MARCH..........wtf.
Yesterday there was actually thunder AND lightning which is odd since there is still several inches of snow on the ground. Even today, it looks as if it could have snowed only yesterday, but we are encountering a lovely rain shower. The temperature is a mere 34 degrees, so there is a fear of waking up tomorrow to a cornicopia of accidents due to slick roads.

I guess the old saying is true. If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change.

Winter boredom

Fighting the 'Winter blahs' can sometimes be a chore in itself. This Winter was no exception.

I'd kicked around the notion of taking my kayak down hill sledding, but opted against it in the event I might meet up with a tree, thus negating any usage out if it this summer. So instead, I gave into a suggestion a friend of mine had been beating me about the head and shoulders with for quite sometime:playing D&D.

D&D, or Dungeons and Dragons, as it's formally referred to, is a game dating back some thirty years. Essentially, it's a fantasy role playing game where you create heroic characters and embark on any of various scenarios in search of treasure, rescuing fair maidens, or slaying monsters.
Or as the official website describes it:
D&D is an imaginative, social experience that engages players in a rich fantasy world filled with larger-than-life heroes, deadly monsters, and diverse settings. As a hobby game, D&D is an ongoing activity to which players might devote hours of their time —much like a weekly poker game, —getting together with friends on a regular basis for weeks, months, or even years.

I've taken on the role of a Dwarven-Druid. Basically, a short nature-boy capable of using magic spells and talking to animals. A bonus to this character is that it is awarded an 'animal companion' which fights along side. Picture "BeastMaster" meets "Lord of the Rings".

I must say that in the beginning, I'd held off playing due to the fact that this game requires a LOT of imagination, memory, and creativity.
Now, I possess a pretty good imagination, but not much common sense. Meaning, I could picture a monster, but short of wetting myself, wouldn't know much of what to do.

When chosing what character and class you wish to be, some deal of thought should go into it. EVERYone wants to be the Barbarian. Smashing, killing, creating havoc appeals to just about anyone and truthfully, it's pretty much the easiest character to play. Not much thought goes into how to deal with a monster when playing a Barbarian.

I chose a Druid because by nature (no pun intended), I'm kind of a nature-boy at heart. I couldn't survive in the wilderness, but I sometimes enjoy watching the fauna and strollig around the flora. So a druid seemed the right course of action. As for taking on the race of a Dwarf, I'm short. 'Nuf said.

I've met with a group once a week for the past few months and I must say that I really enjoy it.
It's kinda geeky, yea, but it sure beats the hell out of staring at a video game for several hours at a time doing the exact same thing I can do with a small group AND I get to use my brain! (bonus)

My character has achieved Level 5 which basically means he can use a certain amount of spells per day, has a strong animal companion (which at present is a rather large badger), and now has the ability to morph into an animal once a day, which will certainly come handy.

So anyone wanting to do something different, check out D&D for yourself.

And yea, I pretty much have given up getting laid ever again.

Long time coming.............

Greetings, again.
It's been a while since posting and there's a darn good reason:I've been spending more time offline in order to try and sort some personal things out.

When I first started blogging, it was on the advice of my good friend Dave, and up 'til now, I've shied away from the very reason I began:dealing with my divorce.

In terms of blogging, he said I should watch what I say on here for fear of repercussions, which makes total sense. But in my quest for topics, I seemed to come right back to what I've been steering away from. As a result, coming up with other topics just seemed to hard a task as I'm not a writer by hobby anyway.

But now, in terms of my own therapeutic resolve, I just felt it was time to at least put my thoughts down once and for all in the hopes that I will be able to move on completely.

In essence, this is my story.

I met a girl back in '93. I'd heard stories dealing with her alleged 'character', but ignored them due to my having not dated for a while.
Essentially, we had our first son in '95 and our second in the latter part of '96.

In the middle months of '99, we decided to wed, feeling it would somehow 'solidify' our new family. Unbeknownst to me, she had been having an affair with a man she'd met online for a few months before wed.

A few months after we wed, I found out she'd been carrying on this affair with him, who I found out was twice her age. Eww.

For the following few months, she went back and forth between, "I want to stay" and "I am going to go". Christmas Eve of 1999, she wanted time to think.

January of 2000 came, and I was staying with her brother. Against his advice, I called her to try and reconcile. After a heated conversation, she said "I love him and after our divorce, I'm moving WITH the children to be closer TO him". Did I mention he lived 10 hours away from us?

Needless to say, I went ballistic and subsequently spent 60 days in the "gray-bar-hotel". She was not hurt, but scared.

In the middle of '00, while I was in jail, she packed up with the children and moved those ten hours away. By the time we got to court to deal with our divorce, been living there two months and the judge could do nothing to make her move back.
As a result of her moving, and my wishes not to have two young boys on the road 20 hours every other week, I accepted being allowed to see them every third weekend started at 5 on Friday, ending at 7p on Sunday. But as a result of her moving before papers were even served, she had to drive 8 hours, with me picking up the last few.
She was pissed.
All of a sudden, it became MY fault that our children would miss one if not two days of school. It was MY fault she'd been in near accidents due to her fatigue.

Fast forward five years when her new hubbies, (yep. she married the old guy), ex wife got remarried and moved HIS two children ten hours away from where they were living,stating her new husbands job would keep them there for at least five years.

My ex decided she wanted to move back to our town to be closer to her family.

After discussing it with her, and her not agreeing to share placement (we'd already been awarded shared custody, but, how can that work ten hours away??), I took her back into court to amend our decree.

I went in feeling confident that no judge in their right mind would deny this request.
I mean, come on! My children were going to be living mere minutes away now, giving us more time together, and me more opportunity to help raise them. (btw:my relation with my children seemed to become stronger due to the move. THEY did not like being away from their daddy).

In a nutshell, I got a sexist judge who thinks it's the mothers job to raise the children and a fathers to provide support. My shared placement hearing was turned into, by the judge, a custody hearing. Which is odd if you take into consideration we already HAD a shared custody in place.
One comment made by the judge was that "(she) should not be penalized for wanting to move closer to her family". To hell with what the kids want, I guess.

Oh, on a side note:just a mere three months after my ex moved back to town, her husbands ex moved HIS family BACK to the same town they'd moved from. Of course, my ex said "yea, she really screwed US".
Wait a minute, didn't you screw your children when you moved THEM ten hours away from their father?


So there you have it. The story that's been gnawing it's way to come out and be released from the bowels that have kept it somewhat dormant for way too long.

Some might say that I've been holding on too long. But in my defense, you just can't get over something like that. At least not very easily.

I've become somewhat of a recluse, not really doing much in the social world.
I've also gained some rather odd views on the whole dating situation, not to mention "step-children" which I may share someday.

So for now, I sign off again, hopefully for not as long a time period this time.