Patterns…

1200px Fibonacci spiral 34 svgAll our lives are defined by patterns.

Some of us are more attuned to sensing and or seeing those patterns.

As a Software QA person, I honed that ability to a fine point.

Sometimes software demonstrates a highly repetitive defect in a very short period of time. At other times, a pattern of failure is demonstrated over a longer period of days, weeks, or months. A person like me, tends to start noticing patterns in everything around us.Fibonacci sequence nautilus shell1 Fibonacci sequence

We’re all familiar with fractal patterns whether we know it or not. The waves crashing on a beach and the water receding, the view of a hurricane from space, the form of a maple leaf.

Another pattern defined by math is the spiral of a nautilus shell. That pattern is seen in nature everywhere. A fern leaf getting ready to open, the nautilus shell, snail shells, usually demonstrate “The Golden Mean” mathematicians call it the Fibonacci sequence.

The point is, once you see the sequence, you can’t unsee it.

This is a brief view into how my head works. 

It’s not just math though. I’m not gifted with the ability to see equations like some people are. For me, doing math is actually kinda hard. But If I can see it represented in some kind of three dimensional space, I suddenly get it.

I suppose I’m more a creature of spacial equations than theoretical equations. A physicist can work out the math behind velocity, mass, gravity, and distance to tell that a monkey can leap the gap in between buildings, or from branch to branch.

cactus.jpgThe monkey, on the other hand, feels it and “knows” he’ll make the leap to the nice bit of fruit on the branch without a whiteboard. It’s instinct and spacial relationships.

People behave on the boundaries of chaos. Groups of people move and react in generally predictable ways, but when it comes down individual decisions people get very chaotic.

That being said, sometimes people are insanely, tediously predictable.

This appears to be the case with the other half’s employer. 

For the second time in 10 years a female boss appears to be drunk with power, feeling that she’s above reproach and deciding that the other half isn’t communicating.

The other half has responded by producing the emails, and text message exchanges. Instead of putting the issue to bed it’s only exacerbated the conflict. Now the boss is becoming more erratic, generating multiple changes in direction within a week, or day, not clearly communicating the changes and expecting people to read her mind.

I’ve seen this pattern before. In my own life with female bosses and in my other half’s previous female boss.

The pattern appears to be based in vengeance. It’s designed to create an overload of changes in hopes that the targeted individual or individuals will drop the ball and be demonstrably incompetent.

Incompetence equals unfit for job, which equals a termination offense. 

It’s a straight up process, and it works. All it takes is tenacity and the targeted individuals making mistakes.

The mistakes happen automatically because the boss is at the same time is usually haranguing the targets, increasing their stress and waiting for the targets to slip up, like a hungry shark in shallow water under a well greased bridge.

There are variations, of course but generally either the stress makes the target find another job, or they get fired.

One of the more common flourishes is to make sure that the target “fails” very publicly, securing the Bosses “High Ground” of righteous indignation.

It’s a similar system used by wives and mothers to “win” arguments with husbands and children. 

The only time I’ve ever beaten this system is by producing 5 different presentations and being able to give one of the five presentations to the boss at a moment’s notice. In that case the boss changed her mind 3 times in the conference room. My ability to produce whatever she wanted clearly irritated her. My “win” still cost me my job for being a smart ass.

Not to worry, she fired me, but one of her male colleagues hired me the same day. He & I worked well together for several years until the company was sold.

Essentially my experience in these situations has always been fatal. As such, I don’t fight the battle anymore. I save myself the stress and aggravation by finding another position. No win scenarios are pointless to fight.

When women are drunk on power, they’re egalitarian about how they abuse it.

Remarkably other women are less prepared to fight on equal terms than men.

For most men, it’s aggravating beyond belief (See American divorce rates). For women, it’s kinda like a double whammy. The women feel betrayed and aggravated. It makes women easier targets, because they do the wrong thing, & slip more easily off the greased bridge.

This of course makes finding new jobs more challenging. I’m not by nature a misogynist. When it comes to bosses I’ll always prefer to work for a man.

Things are just a whole lot easier.

All this is to say I’ve noted the pattern occurring with the other half, and yesterday I described my concern.

All I got from that was “I’ve noticed and thank you for your concern…”

Okay I’ve said my piece. Unfortunately, now the chips will fall where they may.

I will try not to Road Rage…

IMG_1107.jpegThat’s been my mantra for the last few years.

In Southern California that’s not an easy mantra to keep.

I’ll admit there are times when I do something on the road that’s just plain DUMB!

But those events are rare and that’s mostly due to having a plan about where I’m going and how I’m going to get there.

I do not cut across 3 lanes of traffic to exit the freeway, I’ll go to the next exit and turn around. I don’t tailgate. (Unless you come into my lane suddenly, and baby if you do that, It’s ON YOU!)

On mountain roads, I’m even more careful. Usually these are single lanes and most of the curves are blind curves. Going into a turn at 60 MPH and finding that traffic is stopped as you round the bend is a recipe for very bad things to happen. This is doubly dangerous during winter when you may have ice on the roads.

Even in summer you can round a blind curve and find a large assed rock sitting in the roadway. Guess what? You’re not going to be able to stop… Ooops!

At night in winter, when the temp is hovering around freezing, and the couple of people ahead of you are driving within the speed limit and carefully. I tend to hang back at least three or four car lengths. 

That gives me time to stop, and also means I’m not rushing someone, who for all I know isn’t familiar with the road and hasn’t driven much on snow or ice.

It’s just plain common sense.

That’s the situation I found myself in last night coming home from Big Bear. There were several cars ahead of me. They were all driving well and commensurate with the conditions and posted speed limits.

In other words, they were being responsible safe drivers and while they were moving slower than I could have been, I respected their caution. 

I downshifted and was letting the engine do the braking while generally maintaining my usual following distance.

I was the last car in the line and was actually enjoying the drive. There’s a Zen to knowing what your car will do and being with like-minded drivers. Every one of them was maintaining a good following distance and it was obvious that they were simply wanting to get down the mountain safely.

Every single one of them was using the passing lanes as intended, keeping to the right and allowing people to pass if they wished. Those folks that were passing weren’t passing to be in a hurry, it appeared to be mostly about the gearing and weight of their vehicle. They’d pass a car then settle back into the line, the only notable exception was that they weren’t on their brakes as much. We all signaled when the passing lanes ended and moved back to the left.

It was actually very pleasant. The moon was bright, the stars were pretty, the butt warmer was on, and I was relaxed.

Of course it couldn’t last… 

Another car pulls up behind me. I can tell it’s a Jeep from the headlights, and they’ve come out of nowhere. Obviously they’re in a hurry but there’s no passing lane (and won’t be for another 10 miles) and this idiot is right on my ass. 

He must’ve been able to see the line of cars in front of me and the ripple of brake lights as each of the people in front of me slowed to enter the next 25 MPH hairpin curve.

But (he or she) is fixated on the fact that there’s following distance between me and the next vehicle. Obviously, the .25 seconds that following distance represents is important. 

Sigh!

The car in front of me lights up its brake lights as the driver slows to enter the next hairpin. I likewise touch my brakes to slow and the Jeep turns on its brights.

Uh gee, thanks! Now I’m partially blinded entering a hairpin curve, (A helpful roadsign contained a drawing describing the curve.)  Partially blinded, I slow more because I can no longer see the wispy lane markers. This simple act of safety apparently enraged the driver of the Jeep.

I do my best to ignore them and concentrate on making it through the curve. As I come out of the curve the line of other drivers has come to a complete stop. I do the same and now the Jeep asshole is really pissed.

There were some rocks on the pavement which the careful drivers were picking their way through. The brights from the Jeep are annoying the car in front of me too, they’ve slowed considerably to pick their way around the obstruction.

I glance at the Nav system. 20 miles to go like this… Great!

The vehicles ahead pick up speed and I follow suit. 

I’m looking for a turnout. I’d like to get this moron off my ass, they’re way too close and every-time I brake I’m concerned that this idiot is going to plow into the back of my car. I’m no longer relaxed. In fact, I’m starting to build some road rage.

There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior, what exactly does this idiot think, that those other vehicles are an illusion? I’m thinking seriously about stopping my car and having it out with this stupid fuck. (I think to myself, “There’s no excuse for you to be itching for a throw down either.”)

I drive on.  I maintain my following distance to the next car.

I’ve got exam gloves in my pocket from my day of cleaning up after renters. I could put them on, block the road, beat the shit out of this moron, push their Jeep down the cliff to be found in spring, and leave no fingerprints… That puts a smile on my face and I realize I’m giving in to road rage.

I calm myself, step back from the abyss and keep driving. The moron behind me turns off their brights. That’s better, then the brights come on again. Grrrr!

The next turnouts are iced over and inaccessible. I keep driving.

Finally a passing lane opens up I move to the right, as does every other sensible driver. The moron passes exactly 3 cars before the lane ends. Now they’re stuck behind a UPS truck and another car. They’re not going any faster, but they’re in the debris trail the UPS truck is kicking up as they round every bend. All the rock chips must be doing a number on their paint. As they passed I could see the Jeep was blue. 

I smile…

15 miles further on, the mountain road dumps into a two lane highway, then a freeway.

We’re below 2000 ft and the temp is a balmy 40 F. I take the faster of the two lanes and I’m suddenly behind the Jeep. I’m not doing anything to annoy or harass them. I’m just there biding my time…

The two lane dumps onto the freeway and there’s indecision from the Jeep about which lane they want to be in. They’re obviously trying to decide which transition to take onto the 210. They have a choice, San Bernardino or Pasadena. I’m setting up to head toward Pasadena.

The interchange is fast approaching, I hit the button setting my car to “Sport” mode. I now have the full power of 300 HP and tighter handling and suspension of my vehicle at my command. They’re still wavering in their decision about the interchange, left, right, left, the Jeep appears to be bouncing off the lane markers.

I think they’re probably meaning to head to Pasadena. I accelerate to pace them, preventing them from making the lane change. It’s a long sweeper interchange and I’m doing 85 with ease. So is the Jeep. They accelerate and so do I. They’re signaling, ( these days, in this situation signaling is the equivalent of begging. Especially in this situation, since this driver hasn’t used a signal once down the mountain.) I don’t care – apparently neither does anyone else. Other people that the Jeep has annoyed are right on my tail.

There’s no opening and the moronic Jeep sails off toward San Bernardino They’re tapping their brakes in the fashion idiots will, when they realize they’re lost and looking for a way to turn around. I know that they can’t make any choices to even get off the freeway for 7 miles, and their best option is to go on down to the I-10 interchange 14 miles down the road.

Other people behind me toot their horns in a friendly way as we make the transition signaling our intention to merge. I gently slow to ambient freeway speed and signal to take the next to the slow lane avoiding 18 wheelers.

I notice a guy next to me with his interior light on. He’s the driver of the truck that had been in front of me when this all started. When I look over he gives me a “Thumbs-Up” sign. I nod and he’s smiling as his interior light goes off.

I’m smiling too. Maybe the Jeep driver will get lost and subsequently mugged in San Bernardino. One can only hope…

I never said I was perfect.

I only said my mantra is, “I will try not to road rage”

Besides, I wasn’t raging. I was purposefully driving to my destination.

Remember, there are other ways to exact your pound of flesh and they can be just as satisfying.

Saints or Sinners

brett-kavanaugh-frown-ap-img.jpgKavanaugh is a sitting Supreme Court Justice!

The fact that as a 20 something he had his pants down at a party, was drunk, and a sophomore or freshman in college is absolutely nothing, nada, zilch, zero. Big Deal, So What?

That he was shoved, pushed, or whatever penis first into another drunk person at the same party regardless of their gender is also nothing.

I’d love for the same diligence applied to fucking Kavanaugh over to be applied to any or all of congress, Republicans & Democrats alike.

Let’s just see what kind of skeletons shake out of those investigations. Given the age of most of Congress, I’d be willing to bet that there are situations that by today’s standards would be full on rape. 

What 20 something doesn’t have some questionable activities? Remember Bill Clinton? OMG he smoked pot when he was 18 it was against the law and he supported a criminal element by doing it. How about Obama? Uh yeah… I thought so.

puritans.jpgWe used to call that kind of stuff “Youthful Hijinks” and the society would politely look the other way as long as no-one was in fact raped or hurt, and those activities didn’t become habitual. How many in congress today weren’t bathing and engaging in free love in the 60’s? How many of those people were burning flags and protesting the Vietnam war? How many were on the FBI watch lists for their affiliation with “Subversive” elements?

Uh huh, I’ll just bet our Congressional leaders would shit themselves if we all started scrutinizing their college pasts. 

is Kavanaugh hung?

I ask because a buddy of mine, (God rest his soul) was built for large women and small cattle. Get a drink or two in him and dare him to drop his pants and you’d get a show. He’d bet people that didn’t know him his was the biggest they’d ever seen then he’d prove it, and walk out of a party with a hundred bucks profit and that was a hundred bucks in 1980s money.

The poor man didn’t get laid a lot because of his size, but he was good natured about it. Before you think something gross or that he was deformed is some way, he wasn’t. He looked perfectly normal, just extra large and that was soft, he got much bigger when erect. 

So before we string Kavanaugh up lets take a step back.

Let’s not frame the man’s past indiscretions by today’s freakishly puritanical standards. Let’s stop a damn minute and look at Kavanaugh’s actions through the lens of the time.

What college sophomore then or now hasn’t done some questionable things?

iu.jpegRemember streaking? Maybe you don’t it would depend on how old you are. I remember police chasing a streaker across a football field mid-game and everyone in the stands laughing their asses off. It was in good fun and whoever the streaker was he was obviously on a track & field team. The police were out matched and that was why it was so damn funny. That game had absolutely the best half time show I’ve ever seen. The brass section of the band started playing the theme from The Benny Hill show which made it even funnier!

Even if the police had caught the guy, it wouldn’t have amounted to anything more than a small fine.

I hate to think what would happen today. Probably a full on Fucking SWAT team response!

Soft uncut cock 17When did we become so humorless?

When did a man’s penis become so offensive?

Arguably the nation was founded by puritans but in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s we were breaking free of that kind of stupidity and moving toward a more well balanced view of genders. I’ve got external plumbing and women have internal plumbing and that’s just fine. There’s nothing offensive about either.

I personally have been at parties where all the participants ended up naked. Not necessarily having sex but one person dared someone else and the next thing we knew everyone was naked and just enjoying the view. There was the occasional joking push where someone’s privates ended up in someone’s face to the amusement of everyone.

Hippiesfree loveIt was nothing then, and regardless of today’s standards it should remain exactly what it was, nothing chalk it up to youthful goofing off, or silliness.

The thing the really kills me about this latest Kavanaugh accusation is that the woman in question apparently doesn’t remember the event. So if she, as the supposed “Injured” party doesn’t remember it why should any of the rest of this nation give a damn?

One thought comes to mind…

It’s that the people pushing this, have an agenda. That agenda is apparently to do anything and everything in their power to discredit the President. I’m not particularly fond of the President but enough is enough The President has been President for 3 years, isn’t it time that we just move the hell on? 

If the political parties are so upset with President Trump, then those political parties need to present the American people with some reasonable alternatives.

Stop wasting our time and money. Stop creating divisions.

It’s official my BMW brothers…

We are no longer the most aggressive assholes on the road.

We’ve long been maligned for driving fast and aggressively. Those days are over my friends.

The new titleholders are Tesla drivers.

IMG 1009I apologize for the poor photo quality, I was trying to catch a shot of this particular asshole as he ran away, like a little pussy!

His license plate is CAPMGMT he’s an older white guy and this little financial  parasite almost got an asswhuppin.

Getting on the freeway in rush hour traffic. I’ve just picked up my car from the dealership. The entrance ramp has one of those “2 car per light” stop ‘em ups.

I’m car 1, he’s car 2. the light turns green and I open it up to get up to speed, My left  proximity alert flashes. This little prick has changed into the partial left lane that is narrowing to 1 lane… MY LANE and is passing me on the shoulder.

I flip him off, then he darts in front of me and does a brake check. Little fucker! I stop, but my car is not happy about dropping from 60 to ZERO in 1 second. 

Perhaps it’s that I’m seriously stressed. Perhaps It’s that I’m tired as fuck. Perhaps I’m just sick and fucking tired of the shitty San Diego drivers. But now we’re stopped. I dump the seatbelt, flip on the hazards, take off my glasses and I’m stepping out of the car on the thankfully empty entrance ramp in basically one move.

I’m gonna have me some Ass!

Pussyboy sees my door open and guns it. He’s driving one of those pig nosed Teslas (not even the expensive one) they’re wicked fast off the line, I’ll give ‘em that.

I get back in the car shut the door buckle up and gun it. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th  flash by and I’m on the freeway, I’m not endangering anyone, pussyboy is weaving all over the place I’m continuing in a lane, making reasoned maneuvers and signaling to change lanes. I’m closing on him and he hits a clear space just as I do. He’s accelerating away like a scared rabbit. 

Damn! That Tesla is impressive.

I’ve got a 350 mile range even at these speeds. I’m wondering if his rate of energy burn is messing with his driving range. I’m still in “Comfort” mode on the car… Fuck it! Lets play! I press the “Sport” selector and it’s like afterburners kick in. I’m closing rapidly on this little piece of filth.

He sees me coming and accelerates, I’m seriously considering just pacing his sorry ass, forcing him to deplete his charge. Run him to ground and then ahem… “help” him.

We top excessive speed and are heading to ludicrous speed, (Thank you Mel Brooks!) then he backs off. There’s traffic congestion ahead and he’s telegraphing his uncertainty about which lane to choose.

He can’t decide where to go. (So much for decisive Capital Management.) His Tesla is bouncing off the lane markers as his indecision slows him down. I’m even with him, I can see he’s freaking out. I just smile in as evil a way as I know how.

I mouth, “You’re MINE!”

He’s looking at me and I see fear. Ahhhhh Balm to my tortured soul.

He sees me raise the phone to take his picture, suddenly he skitters off the right and makes for the exit to another freeway. 

For a second, I think about following him just to work his nerves some more. 

Nah… 

Black Sapphire MetallicI take my foot off the gas, nice predictable deceleration begins I switch back to “Comfort” mode and my 440 glides to ambient traffic speeds.

His little pig nosed Tesla is definitely faster. But I’ve got better tactics, a hell of a fuel reserve, and bigger balls!

So BMW brothers, we’re not the top agro assholes on the road anymore. But don’t fear, we’ve still got tricks up our sleeves from years of avoiding the morons out to take a piece of us.

I’ll be happy to get out of this shit hole. To do that required that I come home tonight and book a truck to move my shit.

For tonight though, our honor has been defended.

Drive safe.

And yet ANOTHER example of inconsiderate behavior

IMG 0996So I get into the shower, preparing to load up my car on Saturday to leave. 

I come out of the shower at 7:40 to find that I have no hope of getting where I need to go. 

Yes that’s my car on the right side of the photo with no hope of getting out and no reason to believe these guys would be doing this on a Saturday. 

in just 10 minutes they’d deployed a cherry picker and had men hanging from ropes in the tree they were cutting down. They kept saying just a few minutes. I went back inside to wait.

Come ON! A little notice? How about a little consideration? Common Sense? Maybe a little thought that there are people who MIGHT have plans on a Saturday morning?

Oh and NEVER mind the sappy sawdust raining down all over the place, especially considering that the car was washed and waxed yesterday. If I’d had any clue whatsoever I’d have parked elsewhere.

We can’t do our laundry before 8 am what makes it okay to fire up heavy equipment and chainsaws at 7:30 in the morning?This is just another example of why I’m so damn tired of humanity in general and being in high density population areas in particular.

Well soon I’ll be moving back to the mountain, for a time at least. Then it’s up to me to figure out where the hell I want to go.

It’s not about this one instance. California in general is turning into a real shit hole.

Lets make a list shall we?

1 No plastic or paper bags anymore. Oh you can buy them, but it’s for the environment. (Mandated by law!) You know… paper bags are a biodegradable, renewable resource…

2 No smoking, and you better believe that the anti-smoking patrols will hunt you down. (Not even going to debate the pros or cons of smoking. It’s about freedom of choice to live your life as you see fit.)

3 No vaping (In San Francisco, give it time… pretty soon the whole state will adopt that rule. It’s about the Children don’t ya know.)

4 No junipers (the plant) in your yard this year in mountain communities. Yep, apparently a single 2×3 foot plant on the perimeter of your property is an unacceptable fire hazard. Of course it doesn’t matter that the plant has been in the same position for more than a decade, and has survived multiple fires including the house itself and subsequent reconstruction.

5 Excessive, convoluted, and confusing laws about the ownership of firearms. A gun you purchase legally this year may be illegal next year.

6 Ammunition registration (and taxation). Now you have to pay an additional fee on ammunition. It’s one rate if you purchase it by registering your address and that address is the address you previously registered 3 years ago. It’s an entirely different and excessive fee if you happened to have moved within the last 3 years. (It doesn’t matter that pretty much only law abiding citizens will be the ones paying the fees. Criminal elements of course don’t) It’s for your protection! Uh no, the ammunition is for my protection and perfectly legal target practice at approved gun ranges.

7 An additional fee for fire suppression in mountain communities. Yep, this on top of your property, state income, school, and sales tax. This one is being challenged in court but you pay the fee until the case is decided. (This fee, by the way, is used to fund the people who drive by your property and send out citations if they don’t like the plants in your yard. However very little of the money is used to remove dead pine trees from the California national forests, you know… where the real danger is.

Every year you have to spend your time fighting for the right to landscape your yard the way you choose. My yard is landscaped with California Native plants for water conservation and those plants are trimmed down when they finish their blooming cycles. Many of these plants are taller than 6 inches at maturity. Anything taller than 6 inches above the ground results in a citation.) This is for your safety.

8 Mandated compact fluorescent bulbs in your home. It’s getting tough to find a nice old fashioned incandescent light. So California wants you to have Mercury vapor and a bulb that as it ages can produce unhealthy levels of UV. Uh GREAT! You want to save energy don’t you? It’s for the environment.

9 Poor and congested roads, littered with potholes and trash of all kinds. But the worst of this is the gravel and rocks left behind by trucks driving four abreast on the freeways. All with signs that say, “Keep back 300 feet. Not responsible for broken windshields” At 70 miles an hour being 2000 feet behind the morons driving their uncovered, overloaded trucks, isn’t going to prevent your car from being sandblasted. But it will prevent you from being able to identify the trucker or trucking company. Well, the police force is stretched too thin to enforce the laws about obstruction of traffic, littering, or driving on the freeways with an uncovered load. Besides, these drivers are on the lower end of the economic scale and they have to drive as many loads in a day as they can. They don’t have the time to cover each and every load. But what about the time and expense of windshield replacement? Well you’ve got insurance right?

10 A legislative body which is, at best incompetent, and more often than not simply corrupt. This body thinks nothing of consequences of their actions assuming that whatever problem they create can be solved by raising taxes so they have more money to piss away.

11 You can’t use oil based paints in California. That includes car paint, house paint, or deck paint. Oh, we don’t want VOC’s [Volatile, Organic, Chemicals] in the air it causes air pollution. You should use water based paints they’re environmentally friendly. But they’re not as durable and require very specific preparation and temperature conditions to apply. Oh and as an added bonus… to make a minor repair requiring paint on your car you have to remove all the factory paint down to the metal. Increasing the cost of the repair and subsequently the cost of insurance. That’s ok… Don’t you want to paint your house every other year? You’re not going to keep your car for more than 3 years are you?

One or two of these issues wouldn’t be so annoying. I know that I’ve not enumerated all of the ills of California. However, in just this short list the conclusion is that Freedom of choice is being usurped one item at a time and there is no sign of end. The feeling is that “Our Betters” will continue to decide how we live and act because they know best.

I’m not built to have anyone tell me how to live my life. I don’t accept this from Religion, or Physicians, and certainly not Politicians.

I was raised to believe that I lived in a free country. But increasingly I question that assertion. The more rules and regulations, the more likely you are to be in violation of one or more of them.

I’m reminded of a colleague who was from Russia. She once casually told me that everyone was criminal in the town she grew up in.

When I asked how that was possible, she replied, “Politicians were elected by the Russian Mafia. They were called ‘ New Russians’, they were all Mafia and they made so many laws that we could not live, or go to work, or to school without breaking some law or another. The politicians and their friends were immune to the laws they made. But we were not, so eventually the common people were all arrested and jailed at various times,  for various infractions, then released when their punishment was through Now they had records. This made it easier for the criminals to continue committing crimes and through intimidation, the common people who just wanted to live their lives were silenced. The government was all Mafia and were very rich and getting richer all the time. Eventually, we couldn’t make a living without working for the Mafia so most of my family left and came to America. Those that stayed are now big criminals but have no freedom outside Russia. Those that left for other countries made new lives, and walk in the sunlight. But I and my husband are leaving America. We are trying to go to New Zealand. America has changed and it is not as free as it was. It seems as though Politicians here are more like ‘New Russians’. They are driven by greed and wealth. So we leave, and hope to live our lives in freedom and peace without government telling us how to be.”

That was the last time I saw her. At the time I thought she was wrong. That was 15 years ago, now… I’m not so sure.

I can say, over the past 15 years I’ve found California to be more oppressive, and dread each and every election, because I know yet one more onerous law or regulation will be passed. With each new rule, my personal freedom is eroded and I’ve reached a point where I no longer wish to participate in a system that seeks to control so many aspects of my life.

Perhaps I’m too sensitive to it. Perhaps it’s my Rebel upbringing. Perhaps it’s just my personal refusal to submit to domination. Perhaps it’s simply that I’ve always had a problem with authority.

I realize that people are inconsiderate everywhere in this country. It’s the “ME” syndrome. The best I can hope for now is to find a place where I can keep space between myself and the next person. The chronic inconsideration may just be a function of dense living, I’m not sure.

All I know is that I no longer like being in California. I also know that I do not want to live my final years in this place.

Well, it looks like the tree trimmers are still going at it. Thus far this has put a two and an half hour delay into my day. I’ll also have to wash the car AGAIN, that’s twice in two days. It’s 86 degrees and the sappy sawdust is baking on my car which means I’ll probably have to wax it again. At this temp I don’t really feel like humping shit down to the car only to drive another 2 hours up to the mountains and unload it. I’d planned to load everything in the cooler portion of the morning and be gone by 8. I’d planned to be on the mountain by 10. Obviously that isn’t going to happen.

10:35 AM 7/27/2019 So I’ve now cancelled my weekend plans. Gee thanks ASSHOLES! This will mark the 5th week in a row that I’ve not been able to get to the mountains for a little peace & quiet. Oh well only one more week at the job, then I pack this place up and move back home.

I can take it… after all I haven’t any fucking choice now do I?