The question was asked on a website when I was checking my 401k balance.

'What are your plans when you retire?'

And I sat there for a moment and realized...................
I have none.

I am a man who lives in the present and past. I give little consideration of the future, except maybe to assure I have kibble on hand to fill the kitties' bowl every morning.

What do I wish to do when I retire?
The only thing I can think of is to spend more time with Lori, God willing we should both be alive and kicking at that point.
Other than that, I draw a blank.

I guess I just suppose that life shall continue to go on as usual in ten years, which is about when I could retire and hope to have enough funds accrued to ensure my ability to live in a solvent manner at that time. God knows, I cannot assume that the social security net I have paid for all my working life will still be there when I need it.

I certainly won't have enough set aside to continue my Seti quests at the level I do now, assuming we have not yet found our little green bambinos by then.

I have no ambitions to travel. I feel safe and sound at home here.

The one and only thing I can think of would be to dabble with digitizing and sharing some of the vinyl tidbits I possess, some of which are getting more obscure and lost as time goes by.

Other than that.............geez.
I simply just put one foot in front of the other one day at a time and hope the skies do not fall.

It brings to mind two songs.

The first is 'Bob Dylan's Dream'.
While riding on a train going west, etc..
"We thought we could live forever in fun. While our chances, really, were as a million to one."

And the second fits me to a T...
Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall.
It is from the amazing album 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme', released in 1966 when I was 9 years old. My father bought a copy at that time, and I reveled in it. It was only as I grew older that I grasped the significance of some of those songs.

This is my life...............
As penned by Paul Simon.

Through the corridors of sleep
Past the shadows dark and deep
My mind dances and leaps in confusion.
I don't know what is real,
I can't touch what I feel
And I hide behind the shield of my illusion.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.

The mirror on my wall
Casts an image dark and small
But I'm not sure at all it's my reflection.
I am blinded by the light
Of God and truth and right
And I wander in the night without direction.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.

It's no matter if you're born
To play the King or pawn
For the line is thinly drawn 'tween joy and sorrow,
So my fantasy
Becomes reality,
And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow.

So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.

EDIT...
And, being a child of the sixties, this also applies...........
Grass Roots....Live for Today.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

The question was asked on a website when I was checking my 401k balance.

'What are your plans when you retire?'

And I sat there for a moment and realized...................
I have none.

I am a man who lives in the present and past. I give little consideration of the future, except maybe to assure I have kibble on hand to fill the kitties' bowl every morning.

Well Mark, a philosopical question for you then. If you don't secure or plan your future you won't be able to live in the past will you?

Good point, Chris.
I do so only to the extent that I do set aside the maximum amount of my paycheck to my 401k upon which my employer does a 50% matching donation to it.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And my hopes for a 3 day weekend go down the tubes again....
Got tagged today for an 8 hour day of OT on Friday.

Meowsigh.

But, I'll look at it as a good problem to have these days. Makes for a long week, but it does buy a good bit of kibbles. It just gets a bit harder to do when the weather is nice in the summer and one would rather be elsewhere.

---

"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

As I see it, from my point of view..........

This scene brings to a head just what is the problem with this world and country has come to.

Either way, I don't give a DAMN right now what the rest of you THINK you are entitled to..............


You all wish the borders to be open instead of closed and protected.
You all wish to assume all intruders are innocent and wish no harm.
You all wish to be ignorant of the truth then.

I am not going to spend another moment of time trying to try to explain to yopu why these things matter.
I am not going to any longer try to explain to you just why. And I shall not try to mourn your loss to your children when some border crosser shoves a shive in your back because he has come across illegally and thinks he deserves something better that you have earned.\\\\

Fine,...give it all up. Pay your taxes to support those who have paid none.

You are ignorant./ Totally ignorant.\
And I am NOT going to stand by you.
I am goin to buy weapons to stand opposed........as the movie clip says.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

What you have to know is that no matter what you think of me, I have had the 'butterfly effect'...........
Nothing that ever happens to this project ever again, before or since, shall be unaffected by ME.

I have unalterably changed history.

The path has changed.
OMG..............

---

"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Mark, I just noticed something in your avatar. Are your kitties looking at a bunny rabbit?

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Mark, I just noticed something in your avatar. Are your kitties looking at a bunny rabbit?

LOL, yes.
My avatar is my once in a lifetime kitty/bunny shot out of my front door.
All four of my loved ones were quite taken by bunny that day.
I happened to have my new cam handy and caught the shot.

Kitty on the far right is my dearly departed Squirrel.
The other 3 are my beloved kitty sisters, Purrball, Bandit, and Tigger II.

I thought at one time, I might change it, due to Squirrel's departure, but it is so simply ME, I could not bear to.

Thank you so very much for noticing. That little picture means so much to me.

Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Mark, I just noticed something in your avatar. Are your kitties looking at a bunny rabbit?

LOL, yes.
My avatar is my once in a lifetime kitty/bunny shot out of my front door.
All four of my loved ones were quite taken by bunny that day.
I happened to have my new cam handy and caught the shot.

Kitty on the far right is my dearly departed Squirrel.
The other 3 are my beloved kitty sisters, Purrball, Bandit, and Tigger II.

I thought at one time, I might change it, due to Squirrel's departure, but it is so simply ME, I could not bear to.

Thank you so very much for noticing. That little picture means so much to me.

Meow.

They certainly do look transfixed. And it is a great picture. Classic.

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Mark, I just noticed something in your avatar. Are your kitties looking at a bunny rabbit?

LOL, yes.
My avatar is my once in a lifetime kitty/bunny shot out of my front door.
All four of my loved ones were quite taken by bunny that day.
I happened to have my new cam handy and caught the shot.

Kitty on the far right is my dearly departed Squirrel.
The other 3 are my beloved kitty sisters, Purrball, Bandit, and Tigger II.

I thought at one time, I might change it, due to Squirrel's departure, but it is so simply ME, I could not bear to.

Thank you so very much for noticing. That little picture means so much to me.

Meow.

They certainly do look transfixed. And it is a great picture. Classic.

They were....
We all were locked in that moment in time for about 10 minutes......
I did not move, they did not move, bunny did not move. It was like the classic mexican standoff.......the first one to move gets it.

Bunny was the first to launch, and all hell ensued then, LOL.
Kitties bounced offa the wall and every other place.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Oh, and speaking about bunnies and such.......
My mule........

---

"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Oh, and speaking about bunnies and such.......
My mule........

LOL - "My mistake; 4 coffins"

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Oh, and speaking about bunnies and such.......
My mule........

LOL - "My mistake; 4 coffins"

There was another Clint quote from long ago,.
From Unforgiven, I think,.

"It's a hard thing, killing a man. You take away everything he's got, and everything he's gonna be. We all have it coming, kid."

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Meow.............................
Finally some time to unwind.
Our department at the firetruck factory has caught up enough that I get to enjoy the 4th of July shutdown week. I am off until the 13th.
Well, it's a partial shutdown. Some departments are NOT caught up and they are working most of next week.

I have some projects around the house I'd like to attend to. Some tree pruning, cleaning the gutters, other things that never seem to get done.
And I have Toothless lined up on Tuesday to drain the cooling system, replace all the radiator and heater hoses, as well as the heater core. Install some extended life antifreeze, and that should keep the cooling system good to go for years.

And some strictly lazy time with the kitties. They love it when dad is offa work and can pay them some special attention. More brushing and petting time for the kitties.

I have been getting rather burned out from all of the OT I have been working, so this is very much needed downtime. And, LOL, the way our schedule is panning out, I'll probably be right back on 12 hour shifts when I go back on the 13th.

But I'll take the break whilst I can get it.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And ya know...............
I have to post this.

I have been constantly reminded by others about my lack of 'Political Correctness'.

And yet, a certain buddy across the big pond and many others, no doubt, get a hoot out of this clip.....

Now just HOW PC is this NOT??

Ya see, it's usually just a matter of who's ox is being gored at the time.

I happen to abhor politically correctness in all it's shapes and forms.
Because it is usually just somebody trying to defend their politically incorrect point of view and foist it upon others.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Somehow, I don't remember the exact wringing of the conversation........
But, this afternoon at work a coworker and I came to the point where I mentioned 'An Illegal Smile'.
He said what?/ I said...you must have heard that song...

Blank stare.

I thought everybody had heard that song.................and he was not more than a few years younger than I am.

I said again...'Illegal Smile'....not a glimmer. He walked off thinking I was a nutcase...as many of my coworkers do....I don't talk to much at work.
I just........work. And that is why, I suppose. My world is my own, and to broach it to others just does not work well most times.

I did not even try to ask him if he had heard Sam Stone.

I did not serve, but had my nerves shattered by other means.
My younger brother jumped off of a bridge, and I had to identify him on a bloody slab in the morgue.
My ex GF long ago married my father, after divorcing my mother. I am OK with that now and talk to them both at times... Mostly just Dad.
Strange things in my life. Now I just ponder a lot. Because if I really tried to justify or make sense of it all my mind would simply shut down and take a hard right turn and crash for once and for all.

So, I ignore what I can, remember as little of the past as possible, and just get on with crunching.

And some of you don't understand that.
And do not forgive me for that.
But I do try to forgive you.

Meowsigh.

---

"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

July 27th.............coming again.
It is coming around once again and once again I have to look back.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHhtl82GsCo]July 27th....[/url'

I don't know quite what the significance is.
I may never know.

But, as prot says, well, I don't know any longer what prot says.

I only know what the kittyman says.

And he says that life is stranger than you know it.


And life, this life, on this planet, cannot be any thing other that that.
July 27th.

Mind you of that date.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

George Carlin.........still miss his wit and way with words.
ALL the words.
Here is a bit of an interview without some of the words which some of you cannot seem to handle.
He had a wonderful mind, kids.
And he was a wonderful influence on myself and many others.
Free thinking individuals.....

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I am not a hooker..............but at least I am not pregnant, anyway..............

Well, I have been misread at times as well.

'am I in trouble'? No, not if you give me the keys................................

Some of you might get out of town for a couple of days.
It might be good for all of us.

Best Chevelle sounds ever recorded.

Of course, they were all implanted when the bits were filmed earlier.
Listen, though.

Rumour has it that the 495 was not strong enough to impart what the engineer in the flick wanted. They supposedly implanted a 504 Caddy engine bored out to 590. Posssibly pure bullshit, I know.

It might have been, might have not. Fact is, all that reamained was done via sound effects. Although even getting the sound right of that big block Chevy was an achievement in itself.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Please, before you go on the path I have gone upon,
ponder.
The Seven Bridges Road....

Just a kind warning of where it might lead you...............
My father once said to me...............

Son, don't do what I do.............do what I tell you to do.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Ya see, even the wiki does not have much info on us back then.
Jerry, and I have had a few comms, wishes to be left alone, like myself some days.
Last I talked, he was a simple mechanic in a small shop in Detroit, and wishes to be left that way.

I am managing things with Magic Dick, just now, and he has been much larger in his after dick life that you might imagine.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster