memorial day musing

Well it's memorial day in the US of A. The only thoughts circulating through my mind about the rah rah-we're the almighty power-holiday are of my deceased grandfather. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War 2. As far as I'm concerned it was the last war worth getting involved in. Fascism needed to be stopped, and the time was right to send a message to everyone that the horrific slaughter of million upon million of innocents would not be tolerated or acceptable in the modern world. The rest of Europe needed help and it was great to see things turned out in a decent way. France and England were saved and excluding the cold war everything turned out pretty okay.

Back to my grandfather though. He used to speak of his accounts over there as if of a fairytale. He took all the dehumanizing and awful details out as recounting his time overseas to myself and my older brother; and his sons and daughters as well. It may have been to decrease the strain of war and the pity on what he had to go through for the rest of the family, but everybody knew what really went on. It was cold. It was War. It was hell. Yet, through staying positive he was able to take his pain away. It was something he had to do. Fighting for the ultimate cause was legitimate excuse to enlist for him. To this day, I can only imagine seeing through his eyes. What horrors were seen first hand? How did he survive?

The pain of war is something nobody should go through. I remain strictly anti-war on all accounts. The only thing I can ever hope for is that the military will not be deployed to a foreign land to do whatever some Chickenhawk tells it to do. The true meaning of memorial day is to respect those who fought for reasonable causes and to try to ensure that nobody will ever have to suffer like the ones who fought in the first and second world wars. Like it's been written- "Fight war, not wars"

Happy memorial day. Send them home.

Friday night rat hole.

So it's another Friday and what a shocker, I'm not doing anything at all. It must be nice to have friends to rely on or a relationship with someone. It's been weeks since I've been able to get away from most responsibilities in this prison of a house this is. I take care of my sick father most of the time since there's nobody else for him to rely on for the time being. So that explains a lot. Being single sucks quite a bit but sometimes it's better not to have anyone to bog you down with their lies and their constant need for affection and attention. Anyways here's a few meaningful thoughts from the past week.

I went to the record store and found a used copy of a pretty enjoyable record, Share What Ya Got by Defiance, Ohio. Its the reish on NoIdea on oh-so pretty pink marbley vinyl. Anyways it had me thinking of how it ended up being there in the first place. The band has every single song they've done available for free download on their website. How could one not know what they were getting into before purchasing this one? Anyways, the good news is there was not one single scratch on it, which was good to see. Plays well, and is a pretty good album for the most part. It gets kind of gentle on some tracks with some getting too dream like and boring, but the folk punk (if that's a term) sounds of some tracks are unforgettable and "Chad's Favorite Song" is something to behold. Plus the dudes & lady seem like good hearted people based on the liner notes which gives them bonus points, and they seem to have their priorities in order.

Tried listening to the Vivian Girls again and I just can't seem to get into it at all. I mean its been the comparison point for other bands in some arenas, so I decided to check it out again tonight. I just seem to keep trying to find something that will grab me. The whole lo-fi angle is okay but the songs are just not rocking and end up putting me more into a dream like bored mode. Snore. And it's not that all ladies can't rock. But these ones can need a good jolt or something because they're making me fall asleeeeep. I'd rather listen to Tacocat, at least they have a sense of humor.

Started working two weeks back at my temporary summer post. I give people directions. Let me tell you, if you had to see some of the people that I see every day, you'd be just as paranoid on the road as I tend to get. From people with blank stares and no gerbil to crank the gears of their minds to the ones who just flat out can't read a map, it gets pretty scary. Then some people who get confused by road signs and where to turn. The best was today one lady came in and was driving all around the state of Ohio. She didn't want to take the toll road because it was too expensive, yet the Gas prices are once again being hiked to all hell by our government for the summer months, and by the time you meander outside the road you have wasted precious gas mileage by increasing mileage on the trip and through stopping and starting on tiny state roads. The logic is bulletproof, I know.