Free thinking

Once again folks, I have been struck with "writers block". I have started numerous stories, but never got them to a state where I felt they should be published. I just didn't like them. Darn, if I was a writer in a newspaper, I would be toast! I'm like a lot of people, kind of frozen...kinda like "wow" all this crap is going on "bad stuff...really bad stuff". All I want to do is eat snacks and watch "the View". Today, I had to comfort a friend today who felt like she was about to be let go from her job, even though there wasn't any specific event or series of events that would suggest she was going to lose her job. (except the "News" talking about all the jobs that are being lost) People are scared. I do have some friends who are oblivious to all of this negativity, and are living like its 1999. They are truly above the "Debbie Downer" mindset and are not too concerned about anything. We really do seem to have two very different Worlds. Every day I try to convince myself I am not going to be a "part of the mess" Forge ahead and move about without worry. What will worry do for me? Nothing. There is no comfort in worry. Yet some days I can do it, and some days I cant. Friday I spoke to a guy that gave me some advice. He said "Don't embrace pop culture. Don't engage in "the mess", it will only mess you up. You know what? The guy is right. You have to pull back and rethink things and come up with your "own" plan. Too many of us are rolling with the herd... from birth to death, we are manipulated like puppets. Free thinking is real freedom but few of us ever pull it off. I've felt I have been a free thinker, but honestly, my mind and my thoughts are too polluted with the "World" I have been caught up with things which are not important in the big scheme of things. All is not lost, but I have to get real and get imaginative. In the end, I truly need to do my own thing. What about you?

The start of a Dream Season - Sounders FC

On April 19, 2009 at about 6pm, 32,000 fans came out for the very first Seattle Sounders FC game as a MLS club (They played the New York Red Bulls). This was no ordinary kick off. Quest Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks, was converted to a full on regulation Soccer Pitch, that look amazing. The fans came out in green and blue, and each had a Sounders FC Scarf, compliments of the team. It was a sea of scarves in the air waving, so impressively, you would have thought you were in England, or Spain, or Brazil. What in the world was going on here? Soccer has been the ugly stepchild of American Sports. Forever it seemed like the Big 3 (Football, Baseball, and Basketball) would rule America for the next 225 years, and in all likelyhood it will, BUT perhaps things are changing a little. Seattle has gone Soccer Mad. If they keep winning, things will really get crazy. It's interesting to point out that right now, there are more Sounders season ticket holders, than there are season ticket holders for the Seattle Mariners baseball team. And oh yeah, the M's will have their sellouts, but with only 16 home games, compared to 81 for the M's, the Sounder's games seem more special to me. The M's will have a little competition, and OMG, the nights where both play, will be a zoo! -

Fast forward to July 2011! The Seattle Sounders are STILL big and winning even more games this year. Tomorrow they host a friendly with Man United! Man Fricken United! Arguably the most popular team on Earth! Amazing, the Sounders ownership has kept this franchise on the right track. Let's hope they continue to pull all the right levers!

Death of a Newspaper

I have been reading the Seattle PI since January 1993. Not a super long time compared to the 147 years the paper has been around, but its not a short period of time. So much has happened. The PI has been my personal companion the entire time I have been in Seattle. Nothing else has made it with me this long. I'm one of those goof balls that "saves" newspapers. I didnt save them all, but I did manage to keep a paper every time something "big" happened. I pulled some of these old PI's out to look at today, and wanted to share a few headlines. June 28, 1999 "Dome goes out a winner!"Ms beat the Rangers 5-2. Dec 20th 1998 "Impeached!" Then, President Clinton was impeached and the PI gave us 6 pages of coverage. Oct 8, 1995 "The Magic never ends!" M's rally to beat Yankees to force a deciding game. The M's had never been in this position before. For Seattle, this was crazy and insane all at the same time. Yes, the Sonics had won a Championship in 1979, but the baseball team had never made it to the playoffs. This was silly, wonderful, stuff and the PI covered like we lived it, in a very fun and celebratory way. Not like the New York Times was covering the Yankees...they were stuffy. We lived it up and the PI lived it up with us. Like a friend, the PI was there to tell everyone who would pony up the 25 cents, the entire story....all the details. Oh, but I didn't just collect the paper when they had made it to the payoffs. I saved a paper from September 21st, the day the M's pulled into first place tie with the Angels with a 11-3 win over Texas. The M's went on to beat the Angels in a one game playoff. (I was there for that one). My Oh My, one of the best days of my life. The PI put together special editions to celebrate it over and over. I honestly think the PI helped keep the Ms success story afloat to allow the city council overturn the stadium vote, making Safeco field possible. Maybe Safeco field is was the house that Griffey, and the PI built. Now years later, I can look at these papers, and it all comes back to me. I just don't know if going online to see old editions will have the same feeling. Probably not. But this is the World we live in. I "get" news real time now...it comes to me over my iPhone or my blackberry, or on Twitter. Reading the paper in the morning is merely a ritual. I already know whats in there, I just wanted to see how the PI was going to cover it. The impressive thing about this, is the PI writers always kept my attention. I wanted to get their spin on things. September 14th "10 trying to board jets in NY held" A Nation, still shell shocked, is desperate to make sense of the unthinkable. March 1, 2001 "6.8 SHOCKER". Strongest quake in 50 years. The PI was there to help us sort through these big stories with details, not sound bytes. At the end of the day, you cant beat a paper for getting the details. No TV, Radio, or Twitter Tweet can compete with a great writer. Whats sad about this, is people seem to be finding comfort with knowing less. The headlines alone seem to suffice. The sound byte IS the story. No wonder a company like Enron or World com could get off the ground. By 1999, America had moved clearly into "sound byte" Territory. Details were fuzzy, but it was ok, the "bigger picture" was clear as day.

Maybe there is a bigger price to pay for losing our local paper, and other cities losing their papers, and I hope I'm wrong. Either way, I'm going to miss Seattle PI. I'm going to miss it a bunch. The PI was always there. Come Wednesday, it wont be in the driveway, but instead, it might be in my inbox.

I don't know about that.

The year of being MAD!

Aren't we PISSED OFF!!!.....at Something? Oh yeah, let it rip, we are angry. This is the year of being MAD! We are so mad at a lot of stuff in 2009. Mad at work... Mad about Pay freezes, or worse, the sense we are not going to make as much as we did before...or worse Mad because we lost our Job. Mad because we cant FIND a job. Mad because we cant get the money for school. Mad because our homes are worth a lot less (remember bragging about all the equity we had?) and no one wants to buy them. Mad because we cant pay the rent....cant pay our bills. Mad about the Stock Market collapse. Mad because (for some) our taxes are going to go UP AND deductions are going away. Mad because now retirement just got put off until like... never. Mad because our 401K now looks like a .4b. Mad because we cant do all the things we did a few years ago, like buy a latte. We are mad because we cant SPLURGE like we used to. Like a little kid on a big giant financial TIME OUT.... this sucks wind! Put into to the corner and shut down from our crazy spending sprees. WTF I thought that card was good!? Ok, so maybe it was Nuts to buy a new car EVERY year. Or a HOUSE every 2 or 3 years ( Think about that one) Buying Stuff...Shopping Nordstoms/Barneys/Tiffanys/Prada - Living La Vida Loca! ....That's what the weekends were for... Ugh! That impulse weekend trip to Vegas just ain't in the cards. The annual girls week trip... the week with the Guys ...cancelled. The family trip to Europe...Ugh, no. Even the trip to Grandma's house was a little "lite" at Christmas time. Family Reunion? Sorry, cant make it. Everything is being scaled back. So quietly, we are boiling inside. Steaming about this F***ing economy and waiting to explode about something or on somebody, with the realization this is way more than a recession. Worse, this thing ain't going away anytime soon. So we are mad at anything and everything. The person driving slow in the right hand lane. The CIO who just walked away with 300 Mill... A-Rod... The Octomom.... The Bachelor... we are even pissed off at the weather. Normally, we can tolerate a little snow, a little rain, but this year, the weather seems worse (and maybe it is) and it does because we don't feel good about everything else. We just want to sleep this off and call it a bad dream.

So. What now?, besides playing the lottery. (Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't bought a lottery ticket, a LOT of lottery tickets). My Dad says this is recession is a "good" thing..a time for cleaning house. Look, America (and it seems the World) got too carried away, as we have done many times over the years (late 1800's and of course the roaring 20's and the ga ga 80's). Caught up in a orgy of materialism and money worshiping. The Party was even BETTER than Prince said it would be in 1999, and we went BIG!... Sometimes, I feel like after those Towers came down, people said "Better get my living in, like TODAY!" and we all went a little crazy. We were all like George and Weezy on the Jeffersons, and baby, we were "Movin on UP!!! and UP and UP....and UP!!! In the end, the bills had to be paid, and boy the bill was a Whopper!!! There is not enough Tylenol in the World to cure this financial hangover.

BUT!.....I'm Optimistic for the future, and believe we are on the brink of a new age. A lot of amazing things are in store, and the opportunities will be many. The last thing we need is a downer attitude ( as easy as that is to have right now). Yep, we took a big hit, big as we have ever taken in our lifetime, but come on... we have to get off the mat, dust ourselves off, roll up our sleeves and get with the program!!! Being Mad isn't going to help anyone. If anything, be Glad. Be Glad you're alive! Be Glad for your friends. COUNT your blessings. Be Glad for your family. Be Glad for today. Be Glad for what CAN BE. Collectively we can have positive mojo, and the faster we will get out of this thing. Really. Be Glad! Spring is around the corner, and better times are ahead. ...and hey, lets enjoy these prices. Stuff may never be this cheap again