Once a Soldier...always a Soldier

It's been more than 16 months since I last put on my uniform. Everyday I go through photographs and think about days gone by. Everytime I try and talk to someone about this, I hear the same thing: being a soldier is an ugly, dirty and wrong job. It consists of killing people, training to kill people, or assisting others in killing people. I've been told that the work of a soldier (to protect his country) is just a bullshit excuse governments use to push us into fighting wars for them that will bring them more money and power. They tell us we're not noble...we're not courageous...

Here's my response - I'm a soldier. I did not join to fight wars. I did not join to be perceived as noble by anyone but myself. Until I joined, I had never fired a gun. Until I joined, I never trained in hand-to-hand combat. I never did want to kill a person, but one-day, I had to - not out of personal necessity, but from an order from some old guy sitting in New Delhi. And that scares the shit out of me. But I'm in the United Nations International Guard. And when that day came, for better or worse I did my duty. I did whatever it took. Does that not make me courageous, even noble? The army, soldiers, me - we protect you. We fight for you. I have had to kill someone I don't know - for you. I live with that - for you. Whether you appreciate it, whether you realize you need it, whether you think you'd rather not need us, we are YOUR army. Tell me you don't need me. Tell me I'm a stupid gun-touting fool. But don't say I'm not noble.

I've seen the pain, I've seen the suffering, I've lost brothers, I've lost friends - now go f**k yourself.

Caught on Oil

My take on the current Gulf of Mexico (renamed – Gulf Oil) is as follows:

1.  The oil coated bird in the photograph above is at the top of the food chain. All the plants, fish, and animals in the Gulf that aren't seen are dead or dying. The elimination of these creatures is also working it's way up the food chain which will result in a reduction in those creatures that may survive
2. The creatures that are rescued and de-oiled - where do they go when released back into the wild; instinctively, back to their nesting grounds- and re-coated with oil.
3. The waters in the Gulf warm the east coast beaches by their currents – east coast – oil is on its way north.
4. According to ecologists in Alaska, the coast line is still coated in oil just below the surface 20 years after the Exxon Valdez “spill”, so expect the Gulf oil to be around for decades to come (where's it going to go); it sticks to the plant life in the coast marsh lands.
5. Fishermen's livelihood in the Gulf - GONE; and all secondary businesses – boat repair, local restaurants, etc.- GONE.
6. Resort beach towns along Gulf - reduced to short-viewing tourist attractions for those wanting to view “up close” - empty deserted oily beaches.
7. New regulations for off-shore drilling - dampened by oil company lobbyist who promote continuing self policing
8. World wide gas consumption - continued increase demand with China & India prosperity and expansion.
9. Environmental impact beyond the Gulf - significant to other oceans beyond Atlantic; as well as U.S. rivers; ships that get coated in oil will disperse oil over much of the world oceans.
10. Future life - unknown, but not enhanced by the free flow of oil from the Gulf today and other “spills/leaks” in the future. Unknown effects on air, salt water, water, soil, plant life (both in water and on land) as well as the rest of the food chain, but I suspect it probably is not and will not provide positive results. 
11.  

Additional note: We have self destructed on our own. No one can fix the damage done and continuing to be done. Irreversible. Mankind has started the downward destruction of itself and is taking other life forms down with it. Or am I dreaming and is everything alright? I think I'll lean toward “dreaming” and know everything will be put back as it was. The president of BP has said so in TV ads costing millions of dollars and the US president has said he will hold BP responsible to repair the damages to land and sea so I'm planning to sleep better since seeing and hearing their assurances. Thank you for such wonderful news, I am truly comforted and am strengthened by your resolve. BP please keep the TV ads coming, double their play and spend those advertising dollars; and US politicians please continue showing your anger and showing up with an oily bird, fish, dolphin, or soon, maybe a whale or two. Even wipe down a bird or two when on camera and then I'll know you're really serious and willing to chip in and put everything back to normal. THANK YOU!

From an (anthropologist) friends point of view, I would say that the best thing you can do for the world at an individual level is be an informed consumer. Know what you buy, what you use, where it comes from, and the impact each product and service has on other people and the environment. Your money is your power, your voice. Make as much as you can, and direct it to places that are improving the world. Be educated so that you know what improvement really means. Redefine consumption from an informed point of view. Without demand, there is no production. Quit placing financial power in the hands of those with no social or environmental conscience, and support those individuals/companies who base decisions on a bigger picture than (selfish?) profit.

Penguin rap

Lyrics by MC Twin

YO I’m a Penguin
I’m just a Penguin YO!
In Spanish that’s Yo Soy un Penguino       
It don’t matter that I can’t fly
I can swim and slide on my side
I have blubber on my body
I spend my time flying through the sea waters
I’ll take all your daughters

Listen to the beak as I speak
Cus it’s the Penguin RAP

I’m just a Penguin YO!
That Waddles
Waddle Waddle Waddle Waddle What!

Polar Bears, Whales, Walruses all bow down
To the Only Bird that Wears This Crown
I’m a Penguin Son
Just ask my sons

Oh here comes another one
Plop, Hi Daddy

I swim all day and eat delish fish
I don’t even need a dish

I’ve got all the ice
Being a Penguin sure is nice

Iceberg in the
Cus Yo I’m a Penguin
I’m Just a Penguin
That Waddles
Waddle Waddle Waddle Waddle What!

Drinking

Just growing up a lot of crap
Ask for one thing how hard is that
Just gotta touch another drink
Just stop act and please think
Ship has got hit sunk
It’s your kid or get drunk
Are they worth it or you gonna get crunk
Messed up who woulda thunk
Used too be young and a hunk
Never ever thought booze would catch up
Woozy droozy screw the kids that’s sup
Do one thing that’s all but you take another gulp
Substitute the shit with pulp
Not that strong got it on your mind
Family life is not find
Black it out from the brain
Forget the pleads and let tears rain
Each drink causes more pain
Realize it’s a disease and get better
But with every insult you take it in vain
Now all the ones who cares give up
They lose their cool and go insane
How the fuck can you ignore so much when it’s a one lane

How blogging is like fishing

You might be wondering, how in the world can blogging possibly have anything to do with fishing? Well I have done both, and here I describe my view of each of these things, and perhaps even a basic philosophy of life and patience.

I love fishing, many of my best memories are with my friends fishing around the lagoons in the lowlands of Lagos, Nigeria.

If you like sport fishing, you learn that fishing is all about being patient. Sure you need the right bait, you need a good deep hole, you need to know your “secret” fishing places. But in the end you cast your line out there and wait, and wait some more… and some more….

For me the fishing trip was never really about the actual fishing. The first part of fishing is the adventure of “getting there”. There is also the enjoyment of learning to navigate your way through bush, and water and everything else for hours on end just to try and find a spot in the middle of nowhere but that only a few people have probably ever seen in their life.

Then there is the actual fishing itself. Sitting in quiet solitude, with nothing but your thoughts in your head, watching your fishing line, wondering if you will get any bites. Perhaps, pondering the meaning of life sitting in soaking rain...This is what fishing is like for me, and why I enjoy it.

I’ve been blogging for a few months now, and I think there are several similarities. Sometimes, I feel like each blog I write is like selecting the bait I will pick (the proverbial worm). I have no idea who will take the “bite” and start to read what I have written. It all depends on how you define a “bite” I guess.

But again, blogging, for me, is mostly about the “joy of getting there”. I already have a lot of funky thoughts and ideas that I have been writing for years. Writing what is on my mind is a great stress reliever for me. There are no deadlines or assignments, it’s all about the fun of chatting to myself. If no one else is reading it, oh well. I’ve never been the kind of person that takes others opinions to heart anyway.

Maybe, some day, someone will take a bite, and maybe there will be a payoff, but for now, I just sit patiently with my fishing rod cast into the pond, and wait to see what will happen.

For the record - I'd ALWAYS let my fish free.

Neon lights

Neon lights oh so brights
Can you tell neon wants a fight
Got neon in my sights
Knock out neon lights
Say negativity
Fight me you aint got the energy
Synergy back of
You turning the color of pee
Neon shines
Neon be all mines
Neon run and hides
Neon lights I will find
Neon thinks it takes the shows
Knock down so fast
Neon lights think it glows
My lights so hot
Don’t mean to gloat and boast
Go with it and leave you toast
Burnt to a crisp
That’s it take a few sips
Get drunk and lis
Neon lights will not be missed

Thunderstorms & lightning bolts

It rained today. It wasn’t the clean kind of rain you hear about in stories. It was dirty. The sky slowly changed from a grey blue, to yellow, and finally to brown. The light reflecting off the dirt particles in the water turned it brown.

It was an interesting sky to say the least. It’s hard to say what kind of feelings this sky invoked. To just hear about it, one might assume disgust…. But that wasn’t it. I felt romantic and alive as I sat out in the thunderstorm. This wasn’t fake rain. It was real rain.

This was real life.

I sat for several minutes in the thunderstorm, listening to the rain. It’s strange how heavy rain can lull me to sleep. But just as I was drifting off, a loud crack shook me awake.

No, a lightning bolt didn’t strike us…a few 100 feet away from us. I had my eyes closed, so I didn’t see the flash, but my friend did. We sat in silence as we felt a change in the air. It became dangerous.

But still we sat, facing the storm, waiting it out.

I sit here now, with my friends in the same rain, though the sky has since gone dark. Now it’s time for the calmer rain, the rain that gently washes away the damage of the earlier thunderstorm. The sky will be blue again tomorrow.