WHO AM I: I am a Professor At the University of hard knocks. If you can’t learn from your own mistakes, maybe you can learn from mine.
Born July 20 1958 on Vancouver Island BC Canada.
I am not atheist, not theist, not dogmatic, not smart, not anything. So who am I?
I’m the Spectator. I watch the fights that go on on this internet. I ‘Try” to not get involved, but, sometimes I do. There are at least three camps a person can belong to. There is the Us and Them Advesarail camps. “either you are with us or against us”. And then there is the lets wait and watch camp. It is thought by some that We watchers must sooner or later join some camp and continue the war, but they are wrong. We watchers will just wait till the fighters are all dead. Then the world will bleong to us.
I like to watch. I learn a lot more when I listen. There was a time when I just waited for my turn to talk.
I have gone several 5 year periods without watching commercial TV.
I like my own company. My computer is hooked up to my 32″ HD Screen now, and I think I may be addicted to it, just a little.
Views On Health:
The Medical doctor is the last person I would go to for advice on health. Medicine is my ‘Last Resort, not my first’. First I will look at my Diet, exercise, and attitude. I love to swim, and I love my bicycle. I have found that a good Bike ride will cure most of my problems.
Addiction:
I had my first drink at the age of 5. I was given the opportunity to help my grandfather go get some cider from the barrels in the basement. He had to fight me to get the hose out of my hands. I know today that Addiction does not come from any particular substance. Everyone has some form of addiction. Some of it is pretty serious , but most of it is not.
My 2nd and LastMotorbike:
I wrecked my knee in 1980 riding a Yamaha 1100 special.
So I went to Germany and lived there for 6 years. I am a Dual Citizen German/Canadian. I lived with my relatives over there . I worked in a sawmill there.
My Current Bike:
I gave up my Motorcycle and just rode bicycle the whole time. I had a few good Memorable cycle tours.
1.Germany through France Portugal Spain, and on to the border of morocco. 4000km.
2.Yugoslavia and down to Greece, only 1000km
3. New York to Newfoundland and then across Canada to Vancouver Island. 10,000km.
I can’t bicycle tour like I used to anymore, because I have to work all the time. I need a lot of spare time on my hands to do a 80 day across north america tour.
Today I just race to beat my own clock. I’m not Inclined to compete with anyone. Winning is when I improve, and stay healthy. The bicycles today are just absolutely Aksum. The technology just makes these things fly down the road almost by themselves. I average about 28 km/hour on a normal 2 hour ride. It may be slow for some people, but for me it is the next best thing to Flying.
My Music:
I did a lot of music. I loved to play my Ibanez Hummingbird acoustic. The sound was great. I would get lost in sound for hours at a time.
I got into electric and played the bass in 4 bands. I used to like to watch the people dance as we jammed. I thought that was grand.
I also did solo jam sessions where people got up and danced. They danced to my Box Guitar , I think , because they liked my Rhythm.
My Bass was mostly rhythm with a strong understanding of Solo, or Lead>. I was the only guy around who owned a bass, so that is why I got the job. Most guys wanted to become Guitar gods, and had no interest in bass.
I wish I hadn’t deleted all of the Recordings that we made in those years. But in the days of Tape recordings, you would just record over the old tape. Today it would have been nice to listen to some of that Noise we used to make. With computers, there is no limit on Storage.
My first band was Called the Eclips. 5 of us lived in a big house and we had a party every night in the basement. I lived off of the money I got from the empties I cashed in each day. We had a lot of people coming to the house. The band pretty well ended when one night, when the drummer punched me in the face, and the Singer broke a beer bottle and held the jagged edge to my throat. Somehow the walls all ended up with holes in them that night. Those were days I will ‘Never Forget’ but most likely ‘Never Quite Remember. It Really is a ‘long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll’ . It was back in 1986
I was forced into music by my mother, who liked the accordion. I never did. But the Rock and Roll sounded good on the radio at the time. Smoke on the water was an easy song to play with one string.
Today, I’ve lost most interest in playing music. I’m not sure where the spirit went, but I’m sure that if it ever returns, I will be playing again.
I got into lyrics and words. I became interested in words, more than just rhythm and clever hooks. I found that words were my new addiction. Read every day, most of it on the internet, and I am learning to write.
The pages on this blog, are basically the “Best That I can Do”.
It takes me days to write just one page.
The Worlds Shortest marriage:
In 1994 I married a Bi-Polar, clinically depressed gal, who I had only know for a few weeks. The marriage only lasted 10 days.
This is where my interest in psychology began. First I was asking the questions about ‘what the hell was wrong with her”. Then I had to get serious and began asking the real important questions. “what the hell was wrong with ME. What the hell was I thinking?”
I found out that my thinking was undisciplined, almost childlike. I lived in a bit of a daydream most of the time. I was going to be a Rock Star and make millions of $$$. As soon as everyone else got their act together things would work out for me. It was always the other guy who wasn’t doing his part.
Today I know that I can’t wish things to happen. I have to work for things. Even understanding and knowledge are not inherited. I have to ask questions.
Of the 100 or so false beliefs that I held as true, one of them was that marriage meant we ‘ride off into the sunset, and live happily ever after’
I also thought of myself as very honest. If I said I loved you, then that was the honest truth. Today I know that I sometimes LIE> Yes I am full of crap sometimes. But in the last 15 years I’ve improved considerably.
Another thing I learned was that Lust was not the Same as Love.
In short, Don’t believe everything other people tell you.
The big reward today is, that I can now see, at least in part, when other people are walking around in a fog, and I try and help the best I can.
*you can only fool a fool*..*it takes one to know one*
I am one, so I speak from my own meandering experience.
