Another Busy Week

And not accomplishing much of anything. 🙁

I’ve been working on all the usual stuff around here. Still looking for work. Spending hours filling out online applications for any offshore job I happen to see posted. I’ve been talking to one company for a couple of weeks now, but they don’t seem to have any idea of when they might (or might not) need me. It’s very frustrating, but at least they’re still talking to me. That’s more than I’ve had in over 18 months now!

We finished up working on one apartment and got it ready to rent. I thought we had it rented before we even finished working on it, but that fell through. I think it will go pretty quick (I hope so). I’m still waiting for the roofers to fix a leak and the levelers to honor their warranty (good luck!!).

I have one more apartment over there that needs work, but I need to wait til the rents start coming in before I can afford to start on it. It doesn’t look like it needs as much work as the last one, but I never know what I’ll find once I get started. 🙁

I had some good friends come down and visit. We pigged out at the Chinese buffet and had a good time catching up on everything.

Other than that, I finished 2 paintings in class on Tuesday. I took them both to Hobby Lobby to get them framed. One of them was finished in time for me to enter it in the People’s Choice show (I’m always amazed at how many really talented people we have around here in this area). The other won’t be ready for at least another week. I think they both turned out OK, but especially with the lighthouse, not really what I was trying to do with them.

I wasn’t quite finished with the lighthouse when I took this photo. I’ll get another when I get it back with the frame.

I went to my usual political meeting Tuesday night. We’ve decided to re-start our project to get the BWA to remove the fluoride from our drinking water. It really doesn’t do anything for your teeth by drinking it. It only helps if you apply it topically (like with toothpaste). It’s really not at all good for you. Yeah, I know, most people will read that and think I’m just another tin foil conspiracy theorist. I think there’s more than enough evidence to show it’s not really necessary for good teeth (or any other reason).

So, I spent some time researching that. I also got a writing assignment for Great Escape Publishing. Whoo-whoo! Another byline!! I really need to find the time to query more publications. But that takes a HUGE amount of time! I was very hopeful when I applied to Big Grey Horse when they said they were looking for Texas writers. I think they would’ve contacted me by now if they were interested. 🙁

I’ve been working on my yard the last few days. In between the rain. I’ve got the front yard about 25% finished now. It makes a big difference when I pull all the clematis vines off and put a little mulch out. All my citrus trees are starting to bloom. The grape vines are starting to leaf out. The strawberries are coming back!

Today I took a break and went to the movies. I go to the matinee when it’s cheaper. I wasn’t sure what to watch, either Logan or Get Out. I decided to watch Logan. It was pretty good. One of the X-Men movies. A pretty good action movie featuring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine fighting the forces of evil in the shape of another mutant (Boyd Holbrook as Pierce).

I don’t want to spoil it, since it really was pretty good, but it’s not all blood and guts. There was actually a pretty good story. I’m sure there will be more sequels down the road. 🙂

Tomorrow is the biggest day of the year around here. St Patrick’s Day Parade at Surfside Beach! I have to get up early so I can get down to the beach in time to check everything out before the judging. Take a look here. Once the parade starts, I’m done with that! Time to wander off to the various parties. 😉

I hope the weather cooperates. It’s calling for 90% chance of rain tomorrow. 🙁

Paints and Politics

Tuesdays are usually busy days for me. I get up early so I have time to check email, take out the garbage, eat breakfast and get out of the house by 9:00.

I’ve been going to take painting classes at the Art & Science Center every Tuesday morning (if I’m not able to go to work in Houston). I’ve missed quite a few classes, but I can still see some improvement.

I have only completed 2 paintings so far. I’ve started a few others, but not close to finishing them yet. I don’t really like any of them very much so far. One friend of mine told me she really liked one abstract (mess) I was working on. I thought about it for a while and then turned it into an alien jungle scene. Kind of reminded me of something Rousseau might have done. Here’s the before…

I had it framed and gave it to my friend. I wasn’t all that surprised, but she liked it better before I added to it. She thought I ‘ruined it’. Here’s the after…

Which one do you like best?

The other one I’ve finished was the 1st one I started in this class. I’ve really been trying to learn how to paint water. I found a picture in one of the art books in the classroom and tried to get the technique down. It didn’t turn out much like my reference, but I think it wasn’t too bad for my first try.

Today, I was trying to finish up a couple of others I’ve been working on for a while. This will be my last class since I’ll be at the TBEX next Tuesday. I still have a long way to go on both of them, but I think they’re shaping up nicely.

I especially like this one (below), the photo doesn’t really do it justice. 🙂

I really get the feeling like I’m out there on the water. I wish I really was. 🙂

So, that’s what I do Tuesday mornings.

Tuesday evenings I go meetup with my friends from the local Campaign for Liberty group (ex- Ron Paul meetup group). We like to talk politics over dinner at a local restaurant. Lately we’ve been meeting at the Bella Roma on highway 332, next to the old skating rink. They serve large portions of pretty decent Italian favorites (pizza, pasta, etc). I usually get either ravioli with Alfredo sauce or the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. The Italian Cream Cake and Cheesecake for dessert is good too.

Lately we’ve been talking a lot about how we’ve managed to come so far from our beginnings as a free country. Last week we were watching a slide show, but as we kept stopping to discuss various points, we didn’t finish the whole program before they started closing down the place- it didn’t help that we had one extremely socialist guest. 😉

I do like to argue, but this guy put me to shame! I think the only thing we all agreed on was that the ‘banksters’ were screwing us and the entire world.

The more I learn about what’s really going on, the more frustrated and depressed I get. At this point, I think the only way possible to really live as we’re meant to- is to get completely out of the ‘system’. I don’t know how to do that, or if it’s even possible any more. All I know is that I’ll never accept the way things are now (even tho I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall most days).

So, I go to the meetings on Tuesday nights, just for a change- to talk to a few people who mostly do ‘get it’. Yeah, we still argue about things, we still struggle to understand- but we try mostly to inform people. We’ll never fix what’s wrong with this country or the world as long as the vast majority prefers the status quo.

Yeah, OK- call me a ‘conspiracy theorist’. But what if it’s true?

 

 

Conspiracy Freaks

I’m about to head out to my weekly political meeting. Or, as most people refer to it as “those crazy conspiracy freaks going at it again”!

Does it REALLY matter if it’s a conspiracy if whatever you’re concerned about IS really happening?

Personally, I couldn’t care less if it’s technically a conspiracy or not. I just want it all to STOP! I’m not nearly as involved/informed as some of the other members of the group. I just don’t have the time (or the inclination) to spend SO much time investigating and following up research on SO many different things.

Things like:

  • Fluoridation
  • Chemtrails
  • Federal Reserve, debasing our money
  • Global warming
  • Weather manipulation, HAARP, California drought
  • GMOs
  • False/Shadow government, failure to legally reconvene congress after the civil war
  • Drug wars, prison state, prison-industrial complex
  • TSA, NSA, PATRIOT ACT
  • Obamacare screwing up our healthcare system even worse than it was
  • Common Core, government schools, TV, etc dumbing down the population
  • Agenda 21
  • Rising taxes and inflation, forced to work longer to survive, less free time to think
  • Families breaking apart, kids and elders left on their own
  • More and more and more rules and regulations, run jobs and businesses out of the country, huge loss of personal freedom

The list goes on, and on, and on. I don’t know if every one of these things is really going on, is really as bad as some of my friends there make out. I DO know that SOME of them are, that’s enough for me to keep going. to keep fighting.

There are SO many ways we are being used, and abused. I go to the meetings to TRY to find ways to deal with it all. To TRY to find solutions. To TRY to find ways to inform and educate enough other people so they’ll come to care about all this stuff and join in the fight.

My friend Mike thinks I’m nuts. He tells me I shouldn’t worry about any of those things, I should just let Obama (or Hillary) do their thing and everything will be fine. It’s all the Republicans fault according to him (yeah, I’m simplifying a little bit, but not by much). Sorry, but it’s NOT just the Republicans fault! It’s the fault of BOTH parties and I get SO tired of hearing one side argue about the other!

BOTH parties are STATIST! That is the problem and THAT is the reason we have so many of those problems I listed above! Until we get the population of the USA to believe in FREEDOM and LIBERTY like we all used to believe in, then things are just going to keep on getting worse.

In America, we the PEOPLE are the supreme rulers! Individuals are MORE important than the state! The government works for US, NOT the other way around!

Harry Browne asked a question when he was running for President a few years back. He asked people “Would you give up your favorite federal programs if it meant you never had to pay income tax again?”. Sadly, almost no one would.

 

The Freedom Myth

the more we can spread this information (which is the truth about what’s going on), the better off we’ll be.