Pals (if any),


I’m not sure how I've come to believe in the things I do. I believe in global warming, for example. I think the world really is going through a climate change. Others think it’s a hoax. I believe that there is climate change because there is substantial evidence suggesting that it is happening. Also, I can’t figure out how anyone could make any significant money promoting such a hoax. There are people who will make some money on it, of course. But those people aren’t the same people who originally hatched the notion of global warming. Bottom line is, I think it is true.

On the other hand, I don’t believe in God. I’ve said that before in this hackneyed blog and my mind hasn‘t changed. I wish I had a god to believe in, but I don’t. There has been one god or another since the dawn of mankind. It seems that the human specie needs the concept of a supreme being. Consequently, I have come to the conclusion that god is a creation of man, rather...

Buddies (if any),


Hollywood usually doesn’t try to convey real love in their films. The movie characters generally have the hots for one another, and nothing more. They lust for each other. Sometimes film makers go so far as to have the movie’s characters having sexual encounters which is then passing it off as displays of love. The movie audiences are either too naive to understand the difference, or they just don‘t care. It is just entertainment, after all.

When I was a kid of about fourteen I had a crush on Leslie Herrel. I really did not know Leslie personally, nevertheless I thought I was in love with her. She was a pretty girl with nice legs and I would have sworn the feeling was true love. No one tried to talk me out of it, but it wouldn’t have done them any good anyhow. When you feel such powerful emotions, they’ve got to be genuine, or so you think. A few months later this lusting for Leslie disappeared, disappeared almost as quickly as it...

Chums (if any),

I got terrible grades back in school. I was truly awful, academically speaking. When I was getting bad grades back in the 2nd and 3rd grades, my mother thought that I wasn’t really applying myself to studying for exams. I guess she thought that when I was sitting there looking at my textbook, my mind was somewhere else. A few years later she abandoned that notion and hatched the theory that I wasn’t studying in a manner that suited my type of intellect. In the end, nothing worked. Just before graduating from high school, there at the end of my scholastic career, everyone in my senior class was given a little slip of paper with their name and a number on it. The number indicated where we graduated in the senior class. I never knew exactly how many students where in my senior class, but it isn’t impossible that I graduated last in the class.

Back in high school I had two cronies named Dave White and Pete Smith. Dave ended up being on the Honor...

Chums (if any),

I’ve never been married, and as far as I know I’ve never fathered a child. So my point of view concerning kids, especially boys, can seem a little bit oddball to some adults. I guess it’s that I’ve never had to view kids from the standpoint of parenthood. It’s always been from the vantage point of the child.

Anyhow, when I was a kid I was a lot closer to being a Huckleberry Finn than I was a kid who wore starched white shirts and a little bow tie. I don’t think this disappointed my parents but I do think I was a little too similar to Huckleberry Finn for either of them to appreciate. My father in particular. He was constantly complaining to me about my ripping a shirt, or most often, simply being dirty. I remember one warm summer afternoon, when I was about twelve, my father took me and one of my pals to Sears. I think the trip was to buy a new toaster or something. Anyway, we happened to travel by the toy department. There right in front...

Chums (if any),

I've just returned from two weeks traveling in Oregon. I went down the coast and then headed over to Crater Lake for a few days. While I was at a Crater Lake cafe, a group of motorcyclists stopped for some coffee and sandwiches. The group consisted of four middle-aged guys and their female "significant others". Everyone was dressed in heavy leather, and each had a helmet. The group was not part of a motorcycle gang or anything. It was four older dudes and their wives sightseeing on Harleys.

Riding a motorcycle, especially riding with others, is kind of an interesting sociological study. About twenty years ago I rode a motorcycle for about a summer. I often rode with a couple of friends. I can tell you from personal experience that sightseeing with friends might bring some enjoyment, but doing it on motorcycles doesn't add to the experience.

First, motorcycles are a lot more dangerous than going down the road in a car....