By Our Love

Don’t worry, I’ll be brief.

(For the record… any colored text is a link… we all know this, yes?)

You probably did the text message thing for Haiti, right?
You might have even donated to Red Cross by way of the Big Red Button.
Maybe you donated during Hope for Haiti, potentially after watching John Legend’s beautiful rendition of Motherless Child.

But haven’t you wondered… where all the money goes?
Haven’t you ever wondered how it really works?

Here’s your chance - but time is short so… let’s do this.

My good friend, the Eternally Grouchy and Occasionally Hilarious Mike Lewis, is going to Haiti and he’s bringing your $$$ with him. He’s going to be bringing medicine and supplies to people who need it; he’s also bringing American currency to Haiti as apparently trade is coming back around on the streets but currency out there is a rare commodity.

He’s promised to blog about the trip as much as is possible from out there, but obviously there won’t be much chance of that happening in “American Facebook Time” - he will, however, be documenting the trip and posting it up once he gets back. He’s leaving in less than a week so cough up some of that coffee/beer/ciggie money and make this happen!

Seriously, come on. Don’t you wanna be a part of this?
As many of you know, I’m out of work currently and looking for a new gig. However, while I’m doing that I still get to drink clean water, take showers, sleep under a roof on a bed and eat food that is good, fresh and healthy. (Well, let’s be honest - not always exactly healthy…)
Now do me a favor - and you can be mad if you want, just… be mad later - ask yourself this question:

Can you really enjoy a $3 or $4 coffee knowing that you weren’t willing to the price of 5 days worth of that to people who are in real, measurable and undeniable need?

I can’t.

I believe God has a plan for my life and that I don’t really have anything unless He’s given it to me, so I’m donating some cash.
You can too, and we both know it.

This is what I need you to do, my dears:

1. Start a PayPal account if you don’t already have one.
2. Make sure there’s some dough in it.
3. Send as much of that dough as you can spare to Mike by signing in to your PayPal account, clicking the “Send Money” tab, filling in the “To” form with: mike@thisshirt.org and following the prompts.
So easy.

While you’re at it, you can sign up for the project he and my boy Bill Power are putting into practice, This Shirt Changes Lives, which takes part in situations just like the one in Haiti and gives actual support, care and money to those who need it. The price of membership starts you helping actual people in need immediately.

I’ll close (mostly) by saying this: Most people have love in their hearts for their fellow humans. A great deal of that love was on display immediately following the earthquake near Port-Au-Prince. But I believe, and I think you’ll agree once you thing about it for just a second, that the real challenge is keeping that love on display after emotions have run their course. Now is the most important time to support and…

Love.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34,35

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

If you care to comment on this post… do it here!

Bad Religion to enter studio on May 1

Per Punk News:

Bad Religion now has plans to enter the studio on May 1 to record their fifteenth studio album. The album will be produced by Joe Barresi, who also produced 2007’s New Maps of Hell and engineered 2004’s The Empire Strikes First.

A fall 2010 release is expected. Prior to entering the studio, the band will be playing a few shows in California and Nevada.

News : Book Release: Out of Our Heads

 

 

Half of My Life is Over

Half.

Over.

Yes, I have turned 40.
I’m basically a Zombie, and not a cheeky/quirky Zombie created by a director as sardonic social commentary, just… half dead.
That title could actually state, “Half of My Life is Over… at best.” (according to these fascists.) So, honestly, like my buddy Chris White says,
“It really is all down hill from here.”

40.
Forrrrrrrty.
4-T.
Four-Tee.

As a young punk rocker, not even the adults that I liked were over 40, unless they were named, “Grampa” or “Gramma.”
Now, my best friend in high school is… a grampa. Wow.

Obviously, such a major milestone did not pass unnoticed.
Fifi put together a nice little evening for me the Sunday prior to the actual day (Jan 13th if you must know. Cash is always appropriate. k thx bai.) and I got some awesome gifts. Then my actual birthday came and things got a little iffy.
She had my 40th pretty well laid out; I had the day off and everything. We were gonna go see this little movie called Avatar on some plain ol’, everyday, run-of-the-mill theater called an IMAX. Have some dinner, relax. Very birthday-y kind of birthday.
We hit a slight snag when, upon waking, I checked my email.
Hey, it’s my B-Day, let’s see who says something funny.
The first subject that I saw in my inbox was the name of the restaurant I mentioned in an earlier blahg, titled Lot the Bar Manager. My heart immediately started pounding. My wife was downstairs, waiting for me to get up and enjoy the day she had planned for us. As I read on to find that I would be looking for a new job soon (The Neat Year Continues!), I could actually hear my heart beating.
Like, with my ears.
I am forty years old and jobless.
Seriously?
I can’t be having a panic attack. I don’t really know if I even believe in them.
Ugh.
Okay, regroup. Kinda saw this coming but… like this? Today? Not really.
I attempted to keep it to myself:
I’ll just tell her tomorrow. We can still enjoy today. I only turn 40 once, and she really wants it to be a good time… and so do I, dammit!
Hard to really express how that went down, honestly. She’s the nicest person I’ve ever known - you can’t just pretend to be in a good mood around her. So when I finally went down stairs to open her gift, I lasted about 9 seconds. She was all excited to show me a Vegas trip she’d purchased for us, and as she was explaining it to me I just sort of crumbled and spilled the beans.

For the rest of whatever life I have left to live, my 40th birthday will be remembered for my wife’s tears.

Happy Barfday!

Well, needless to say, the day was a little less light-hearted and fun than we’d anticipated. As a child, my mom told me that presents & parties & what-have-you are less likely the older you get. She told me birthdays would be “less important.” What was she actually trying to tell me? That as you get older, the likelihood that something horrible will happen on your actual birthday would increase? Thanks, ma.
Still, I was with my girl. Life could be worse, right?
God has a plan, His will ultimately is righteous, etc.
This whole pesky “faith” business can really get under your skin, but whatchu gonna do?
I had plans. But hey - no problema. Time for new plans.
No. Big. Deal.

Now, one might read those last bits and think to oneself, “Wow, this guy is really dealing well with having the rug pulled out from under him.” If that is the case, let me say,
“Thank you, to the Academy.”
(Get it? It’s because I’m acting. I’m putting on an act. I’m like Meryl Streep.)

Because I’m very much not fine.
I’m freakin’ pissed off and frustrated.
Maybe a little scared.

I was trying to build something and I took a pretty big leap to be a part of it.
I wanted to.
I knew God did not want me where I was, but… did He want me here for… this??? As I mentioned on my facebook, the lyrics to Keith Green’s “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt” had been playing over and over in my head leading up to this final showdown and subsequent life overhaul. To be truthful: Egypt (aka My Life as a Nightclub Bar Manager) was looking pretty good.
Why did I do this again?

If I thought that I’d find some comfort in sharing my sad little story with some of my friends, I thought wrong. Because as wise men once said, “Things are tough all over.”
Sure, people are sympathetic. Sure, some of my friends were even upset at the way things went down.
But ultimately: No one wants to hear it, man.
I mean, you just read all that, so if you’re still with me, you clearly at least care a little. But would you choose to hear about this particular subject ever again? At some point… ya gotta move on. Everyone’s got problems - but unless you live in Haiti how can you really be cryin’ about… anything?

So, if it’s time to stop cryin’ and dust myself off… now what?
Maybe there’s an opportunity here.
I feel disappointed, somewhat discarded, definitely disrespected, but really: Can’t I take anything out of this experience? Does it have to go down as such a fatal and final black hole in my life’s history?
Hard to tell when I’m so close up, honestly. It’s too close, too personal, and has taken up essentially every aspect of my life since it started. Maybe I need a little perspective?

Based on 40 years of living, there is one thing I’ve actually learned and applied to my life:
Time Tells All.
Maybe this situation will be clearer in a few years.
Actually… probably.
Maybe it was time to ask myself how things really are, as opposed to how I’d hoped they’d be. Even better, maybe it was time to ask myself what aspects of this whole mess I could have avoided had I just paused long enough to really examine what I already know.
Here’s something I know:

Friends + $$$ x expectations = Disaster Formula 101.

Too much pressure involved when you don’t want to let your friends down. What might be a difference of philosophy with a total stranger becomes something far more personal, far more painful when a friend is involved.

This should have been obvious from the beginning but I don’t think I wanted to see it - also probably a factor in this situation and those similar.
Maybe with a little real contemplation - some weighing of potential outcomes - this might have been avoided.
Well, again - probably - is more like it.

Things don’t always work out the way you’d like them to.
Fact.
Also a fact:
Things usually work out better if you don’t just plow right ahead with them because it “feels right/seems right/the timing is right,” and so forth.

Wow.

That kind of felt good.
Like a workout that stretched long unused muscles. (What? I have some. I do.)
What else is there?
I’m not talking about looking back and saying, “Wow, wish I’d have known that.” I’m talking about looking back on questions debated - in some cases for months or even years - and finally coming to absolute answers.
I’m talking about widely accepted beliefs proven wrong or right after some real time has passed with which to test those beliefs.
I’m talking about myths being proven to be myths… or not.
Fears being quenched… or realized. Good decisions and bad ones.
Time.
Perspective.
I’m telling ya, once you start looking at life from that perspective… it gets a lot clearer.

What else have we learned?

Glad you asked!

Lets start easy, then work our way forward (See that?? A little lesson I learned after years of doing the opposite. See how good this works???)
Like this:

It’s stupid to stand around and wait for the next number to drop after you’ve left a roulette table.

No, Britney Spears really isn’t the next Madonna. (I called this one, btw.)

Telling your kid to “Go to school in case you need a backup plan,” is horrible advice.
Worst. Motivation. Ever. Try this instead, “Go to school so that you are comfortable in your own skin while you pursue what you really want to do - it’ll help you keep your passion sacred, and might even prevent you from making stupid, desperate decisions.” Then, let your kids find out there is no pot o’ gold at the end of the Pipe Dream on their own. Either way it’s brutal, but this way it’s more sudden, jarring and brief. Think of the adhesive bandage analogy you’ve told anyone contemplating how to approach an impending confrontation. You can’t “soften the blow” of disappointment when it’s on that level - but the dread of hearing your parents say, “I told you so” that plagues the back of your mind while you pursue your dreams effectively kills whatever minor joys there might be along the way and may ultimately ruin whatever opportunity comes their way so… knock that shit off.

The Rich get richer, the Poor can make a little money helping them enjoy it. How many instant-millionaire mortgage brokers do you know that are still livin’ it up?

The cast of True Romance contained Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, James Gandolfini, Samuel Jackson and Christopher Freaking Walken - but Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette were the stars. A little time tells a lot, jus’ sayin’.

Sinead O’Connor might have been a little crazy, but when she tore that picture of the Pope to pieces, she was dead on.

The birth of Digital File Sharing really was the end of music as we knew and loved it. And by “as we knew it” I do mean, “We knew it as a living, growing, potential-ridden opportunity for people incapable of great athletic feats or born without silver spoons in their mouths… and now it is dead and available only to those who have very little need of it.” Nice job, thieves. You’ll never know the experience of gettin lost in an album of any kind… and it serves you right.

Verses in the Bible like Proverbs 23: 1-3 are there for your protection, not to make you uptight.

The number of MySpace (’member dat???) and/or facebook “friends” on your page really doesn’t count for much worth measuring for marketing, promotion and/or personal edification in any real, concrete capacity. Sure, there are moments, but as to longevity and consistency… c’mon.

Speaking of friends…
“Finding” friends on facebook begs the question: Why were they lost?

Miss any one right now? Why won’t you just… call ‘em?

Please feel free to add your own “Time Tells All” observations… here!