One of the reasons why I always cringed when I heard friend “x” was having a kid has to do with how hard it is . . . how hard it has become to raise a kid over the past eight years.

We live in a strange era where theives steal breast milk from mothers, where schools are struggling to fund the government mandated “no child behind” program at the sacrifice of other school programs, where lots of laughs aren’t shared around family time but LOL is shared around a cel phone . . . where a parent needs to beg, borrow and steal just to help their kids get by.

It was always tough raising children, but for my generation it became a tough <i>battle</i>.

According to this article, Jay Richardson, the son of the late  J.P. Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) is auctioning off his father’s casket. The Big Bopper was killed along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in the airplane crash some call “The Day The Music Died” on Feb. 3, 1959.

Now I’m all for relatives directly profiting on the successes on their family, but this is ridiculous! I think that piece of birthday cake stolen from George Harrison’s birthday party years ago would sell quicker than The Big Bopper’s casket.

This is a real shame because I think this inadvertently tarnish’s the Bopper’s legacy and turns it into something ghoulish . . .

Instead of buying the Bopper’s casket, let’s listen to some of his music:

Here’s Chantilly Lace - direct from an old 45!

My good friend Eric J wrote “. . .  most newsrooms are filled w/ journos who don’t Twitter, don’t do link journalism & are non-participants in the Live Web.”

The problem is that: 1. Most “jurnos” don’t know what Twitter is, 2. Most newspapers still think the Internet is a novelty and not a resource and 3.The ones who do use “the live web” have so many pop up and pop under ads on their Web sites that it’s not even worth loading their sites half of the time….

I always thought “History Never Repeats” by Split Enz was a good new year’s song:

Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th President of The United States in 20 days, ending eight years of the presidency of George W. Bush.

When Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 election (not elected, DECLARED the winner), to me, it was a serious blow to democracy - 50,999,897 people voted for Al Gore, while 50,456,002 voted for George Bush.

Among many other things, Bush’s presidency did not just wipe away the social and economical boosts of the Clinton years, for the most part, it also tore down the hopes and dreams of my generation. Many of them are struggling to pay off student loans (like myself - more on that soon), or struggling to raise their families, or find a job that pays a decent salary . . .

Now, I don’t think one president, or one person will be able to solve all of America’s problems in a snap. However, I think Obama being elected is a step in the right direction.

But oh, those past eight years. . . brutal, brutal years . . . I’m just glad my generation is still around to write about.

I decided to take a break for awhile to think about what I want to get out of this blog….and basically, well…here’s an analogy for you: my old duck pin bowling league coach in Baltimore once told me not to think too long once you get that bowling ball in your hand. Just BOWL. And as Allen Ginsburg said: “First thought, best thought.”

And indeed, this is the fifth BLOGAVERSERY of struggling young man [dot com]. The amazing thing is, aside from the fact that I am STILL STRUGGLING (now even more so) many of the blogs I’ve linked to on the first site have all come and gone. I’m glad to be still here, struggling or not…

Five years on, yep, still strugglin’ - but hell…

2009 will be a good year…one way or another. See you guys more throughout the year on this “blargh”.

Judging from the new Web site of the President-Elect, it looks like the White House might actually have a blog - maybe even a Youtube channel?

Meanwhile, most American newspapers are still using generic WordPress templates made more than 4 years ago, and yet they think they are “cool”.

From lostwackys.com

I can’t stand people who yell “I hate Monday!” or “I hate going to work!” - especially when they say “I wish I was at home, sick, sleeping.”

At home, sick, sleeping, is probably one of the worst places you could ever be . . . ever.

TWO weeks - TWO FRIGGIN’ WEEKS after I got a flu shot. . . I got…some sort of funky flu.  I’m not too sure if it was the flu, but it was funky in a snotty way.

I was wondering when someone would call me “Captain Boogie” - that’s how bad…bad, is bad.  Real bad.

The worst part about being sick is when BIG moments in your life happen and you have to miss it.

When I was ten years old, it was summer, summer, SUMMER….and I missed a good portion of it because I had chicken pox.

This year?  It was the ELECTION.  I almost didn’t vote because I was afraid I’d get other folks sick at the ballot box (my ballot was literally a tainted ballot).

I fell asleep as President-Elect Obama made his speech . . . promising hope for a new day . . .

. . . alas, it still didn’t whip out this virus thing.  You haven’t lived ’til you can dress as SLIMER from Ghostbusters without having to buy anything from the costume shop….

He's so snot

Curse you, snot.

I wrote this on my blog on February 10, 2007.  That’s a lifetime before Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, SNL sketches, Hillary Vs. everyone, etc. etc. etc. etc.:

The problem with politicians today is that they’ve all become way too out of touch with the American people and more in touch with the petty, trivial issues that currently rule Washington. Politics have all become more and more a game about oneupsmanship, to the point where Washington has become a farce of itself.

Lately politicians have been so focused on supposed issues such as the airplane the Speaker of the House rides on instead of concentrating on real issues like the war in Iraq, education, and social programs.

It has gotten to the point where the people that we’ve elected to higher office have all forgotten about their constituents. They’ve become content with business as usual, and business as usual means not getting the people’s business done.

The reason why I’m supporting Obama because he IS NOT content with business as usual. He sees an America that is not filled with red states or blue states, but instead sees an UNITED STATES of AMERICA. He’s here to unite, and not divide.

He’s also not afraid to speak out about what’s right, even if it means going against his own party’s position on issues; he was not afraid to criticize and question the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war, while many other people in his party were all too afraid to ask if what America was doing was the right thing to do.

And those are just some of the many reasons why I’m supporting him. I hope you guys do as well.

www.barackobama.com
============================================
February 10, 2007 is almost a lifetime ago now. I think I made the right choice back then.

I hope, on Tuesday, everyone makes the right choice too.

Yes…I know….I SLACKED this year.  Big time.

However, over at my friend Tricia’s blog, well, she had a baby.

On Halloween.

The kid couldn’t wait to trick or treat.

So, in dedication to Rainer Ingersoll Lawrence, who, for Halloween, came out of his home as . . . a baby, here is a CLOSEOUT on Halloween clips…

OK - now, this is cool. Some theater group out there named Terminal Pictures - they’re actually taking NOVELS written by Ed Wood (yep, the guy wrote books) and adapting them for the mini-silver screen. This one is a preview of The Vampire’s Tomb.

And how about another one from Terminal Pictures - based on Wood’s book DEVIL GIRLS.

BOOORIS THE SPIIIDER

Casper The Friendly Ghost…by Daniel Johnston.

LOOK! There’s that very creepy Count To Ten With Nobody video from Sesame Street again. I swear I had so many nightmares from these surreal Sesame Street moments.

Alice Cooper - Elected.

Alice again and Dee Snider - Be Cruel To Your School

OK - last and final clip. I have been looking for this one for AGES:

Look What The Cat Drug In - Video by The Brothers Quay. Music by (the very under appreciated) Michael Penn.

Ok - last entertainment posts for a while. Coming soon I’m going to be blogging about….struggling….as a young man….something I haven’t done for quite some time. Which is strange considering that the name of this blog is…ah, yea yea yea…

EDIT: What I meant to write was that I haven’t written ABOUT the struggling part in a long time. I am struggling, yes, true, but so are so many other folks out there from my generation. Soon I’ll be writing about them as well, which is all long overdue.