Holy Smokes

I breezed through the dining room the other day while my darling Granny was watching the news, on my way out for a cigarette break, and saw something on her TV that made me stop and stare.

Holy Smokes, LLC.

Yeah. You read that right.

Now, it seems like a really cool idea for serious outdoorsmen and hunters and the like. Or very staunch supporters of the 2nd Amendment and gun rights.

I don't know if anybody else has heard about it yet, but what are your thoughts on it, bloggers?

Police

So, as you all are probably well aware, there is a certain Canton, OH police officer who, ah.... for lack of a better term, FUCKED UP while the dash cam in his cruiser was recording. He acted way out of line, and most people across the World Wide Intarwebz are of the opinion he is in desperate need of a psyche eval and the promise of never wielding any sort of authority, EVER.

Really, though, after I watched Ossifer Dipshit's atrocious behavior, it brought to mind something that has actually been bouncing around in my head for a few days now, since I'm back home.

Growing up as my father's daughter, we rubbed elbows with a lot of police officers and such. He was friends with a lot of badges. In addition to that, you're taught as a child to trust the police. If something bad happens, go to the guys wearing badges and guns, in the cars with the pretty red and blue lights and they'll help you.

Then you grow up and you realize... not so much. Stories like the one out of Canton, OH and many others like it come to light, and you don't trust that badge so much. Or if you're like me, you watch the way the cops act in your town towards people, or you know people who get into trouble, and you become a lot more edgy. Cops ask a lot of questions these days, with their power trips, and they abuse that power.

You don't trust the cops. You don't trust the government. Hell, half the time, you don't trust anyone.

Or maybe that's just me. All I know is since I moved out at the tender young age of 19, I haven't trusted a single badge. I've avoided them at all costs. Hell, with the Death Star not being street legal (and the fact that in Springfield, MO, if the cops stop you, they run *everybody's* ID, and seems like everybody up in Missouri that I know has warrants out for this reason or that), I've become quite adept at dipping out on police officers when I see them anywhere near me in traffic.

And maybe that's just negative thinking, or a wrong lifestyle choice as some might say, but... I don't want to interact with the police. More and more I've come to realize that they aren't going to protect, they aren't going to save me, they aren't going to help.

I have to look to myself for that.

[Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company]

I have an idea for a tattoo. I just don't have the skill to draw it up myself. Why don't you pull up a chair and listen to me describe it? Who knows, one of my readers might be able to do it for me. Stranger things have happened.

I am from Texas. And no matter how much shit people around me may give me about it, I am proud of that fact. Don't like it? Go fuck yourself, see how much I give a shit.

Anyway. Since I doubt I'll grow old and die in Texas, and I can't always go around with horns on my car to prove I'm from Texas in THAT way, what's the next best way?

Yes. Ink.

What I have in mind sounds... sorta simple, but really isn't, because of one thing. Let me describe it.

I want the outline of Texas on my shoulder, and I want it filled in with the Texas flag. Sounds simple, right? Not so much. Instead of a plain black outline, I want it to look like scar tissue. Burns, in particular. A Texas-shaped brand, to be perfectly specifice. Complete with the appearance of skin stretching and the shadows of burned flesh contours.

Yeahhhhh, now we're getting somewhere, aren't we? Thought so.

Anyway. Branded outline, Texas flag colors filling it in, and in the appropriate lettering (which I haven't found yet), I want it to say "Don't Mess With Texas" around it. Part above and part below, to be specific.

Anyway. That's the idea I have in my head. Let's see if I can pull it off. Who knows, I might be able to.

And when I can find the right person to draw it up, I'll get it done, and I will finally join the masses of inked freaks.

It's all about the pain. The picture is just a souvenir.

Forgive Me, Intarwebz, For I Have Sinned...

But first, a video.



Now. Onto my confession.

I used to be one of those young people that didn't pay attention to politics and voted. I didn't pay any attention to the presidential campaign, and I voted for Obama.

And I regret it immensely, trust me.

Part of me starting to pay attention to what was going on was the fact that I started reading people who let their opinions be known, and linked to various news articles. And I realized that I agreed with their opinions. And they would talk of things that a lot of mainstream news channels wouldn't cover, and I would get angry. Things like this that I linked to some time back. Obama's administration was considering doing *this*? I couldn't believe it, and I raged.

As the Redhead is so fond of saying, it's "America of the people, by the people, for the people". We are the ones in charge, not them. The White House? That belongs to us, and we employ anyone that resides there. Congress? By all rights, they are OUR bitches.

A lot of people have said it before me, and a lot of people will continue to say it after me: if we want things to change (real change, not Hopenchange), we have to be the ones to set the ball rolling. We have to get things moving towards the change we want.

And it all starts with you, sitting at home. Call your congressmen. Write to your representatives. If you don't like what's happening on Capitol Hill, go to the protests. If you don't like what they're doing, then vote their asses out when the time comes around.

You want things to change, you have to make them change. Get involved. Don't sit by and ride the waves, saying "Things well get better when [Insert Political Allegiance] gets back in the White House." It may for you, it may not for other people.

Get involved. Make the changes you so desire. Because it's not gonna happen on its own.

Dream big. Or not.

It is a person's perogative to dream as big or as little as they like, I've always felt. And yes, parents always want their children to be happy and achieve their goals. That is a parent's job. You wanna be a doctor or a firemen or an astronaut? Go for it. Work hard and you can.

I do not dream big. I do not have any major goals for my life.

You know what my goal is? To fucking make ends meet and survive to see next Tuesday.

You know why I don't dream big? Because I can't even dream small. Hell, less than dream - I can't set a small goal of something I would LIKE to do for the day, week, month.

I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I don't know where I want to live. I don't know what kind o house or lifestyle I want to have. And in all honesty, I don't care to worry about it. It does me no good to get all butthurt because I can't become an astronaut or whatever.

Another fallacy they tell you growing up: you are in charge of your own life. Yeah, I call bullshit on that one. You are in control of certain aspects of your own life.

To a certain degree, you can choose where you want to work... But after a while, if the bills start to pile up and the eviction notice gets nailed to your front door, you will take a job shoveling shit if it includes a steady paycheck.

If you're in a relationship, especially a long-term monogamous relationship, you are no longer in complete control. If you want to stay in that relationship, you have to make compromises. And sometimes, you don't get to do what you want to do.

I don't dream big, because I can't even dream small. I live my life day to day, paycheck to paycheck.

Now take your preaching and go say it to someone who cares.