Journey as of July 1st

yeah, kinda creepy.

Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Sarah Palin

I was never an Elvis fan as a kid. In my world you either grew up with the Beatles or with Elvis but never both.

I missed any of the “good” Elvis years. I was born in 1969 so by the time I aware of him he had turned from the young, edgier, star to an older, bloated, caricature. He shook hands with Richard Nixon while professing his anti-hippie views. What’s not to dislike?

Looking back historically it became clear to me that in his prime Elvis was the real deal. Elvis had a much richer voice than any of the Beatles. Elvis’ music was just as catchy. Many artists whom I love were greatly influenced by Elvis, from Jim Morrison to Thin Lizzy to U2.

But Elvis had some bad advisers, Colonel Tom Parker being the worst. He isolated the young artist, turned him toward some bad decisions and away from some opportunities. That and Col. Parker dealt himself 50% of the profits from any Elvis venture.

While it may have been clear that Elvis wasn’t comfortable telling his management “no,” a lot of people seemed unable or unwilling to tell Elvis “no,” most tragically his doctors. He was over-prescribed many drugs. Clearly his death was hastened by his prescription drug abuse. I’m sure he didn’t think he had a drug problem, since the drugs were given to him by doctors. He wasn’t scoring drugs like some dirty hippie, right?

Elvis: dead on the toilet. An inglorious end to be sure.

I was never a Michael Jackson fan either.

Had I been exposed to more Motown records as a kid, I might have been a fan of Michael Jackson from his Jackson Five days. Not so much. Of course I had heard plenty of Jackson Five songs (like I had heard lots of Elvis songs) but I wouldn’t have went out and bought any of their albums.

Off the Wall came out in 1979. By that time I was a rabid KISS fan and wanted nothing to do with dance music. 1979 was all about the FM soundtrack (great, great collection of songs there, worthy of a blog post of its own), or even the Grease soundtrack, but Michael Jackson might has well have been a Gibb brother. No thanks.

So when Thriller came out, there was just no way. A ton of #1 songs is hard to argue with, but c’mon… (or “sham-on”-on, or “mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-coo-sa”-on) dance music is dance music. I might tap my toes to it but I’d sooner buy a Madonna album (yick).

So while Michael Jackson was clearly talented and very influential, I didn’t fully appreciate him as an artist. I might not even now but I won’t rule out feeling kinder about the music as I age, if only for nostalgia.

Like Elvis, Michael Jackson also had bad advisers, first and foremost his father, Joe Jackson. It seems unquestionable that Michael’s strange adulthood was the result of an abusive childhood. But there were more bad advisors including lots and lots of folks who were attracted to Mr. Jackson because of his money and in spite of his just plain weirdness.

If you are rich enough you can buy yourself a chimp (against better judgment) but for the love of Dog somebody should have said “no’ to his inviting children for sleepovers. No, stop, wait a minute partner, whoa hold up there little buckaroo – whatever verbiage conveyed the message most effectively.

Like Elvis, he had plenty of doctors who wouldn’t refuse his request for dangerous prescription drug and, like Elvis, prescription drug abuse contributed to his untimely death.

The similarities between Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley seem clear buy why, you might ask, am I grouping my Govenor, Sarah “Skinny G” Palin with them?

Skinny G (or as she will now be known on this blog “Skinny GOA”) shared a lot of traits with The King and The King of Pop.

All three were talented, all three were lucky, all three were ambitious, all three are American icons beloved by zealous fans, and all three had some of their wackiest ideas validated by sycophants who had little regard for the health and wellbeing of their employers/colleagues.

Skinny GOA has been something of a giant-slayer for most of her political career. She beat incumbents to win the office of Mayor of Wasilla. The Republican Party old boy network didn’t like her but she still won the office of Governor of Alaska. She was the ultimate underdog. You had to love her.

Well, you might not have but I certainly did. I never had a pair of blue suede shoes or a red leather jacket with lots of zippers but I jumped on the Palin bus. Heck, I ran to catch it.

She was a true-believer and although I didn’t share either her religious or most of her conservative political beliefs, I loved her go-getter spirit and I figured that as Governor she wouldn’t be able to actually do any damage to our civil liberties. Alaska is a red state but we do things our own way. We have no problem telling our government that they are full of crap whether it’s because they are leaning too far left or right.

Then a curious thing happened. John McCain tapped her as his Vice Presidential pick for the 2008 Presidential election.

Skinny GOA had previously done things her way, following her beliefs, and ignoring any discouraging words. This had worked for her. She probably thought her string of political good luck was not just incredible but actually God’s will.

I don’t know this to be true but it’s the only explanation I can come up with for what has followed the 2008 election loss. She didn’t go home and quietly regroup. She didn’t return to Alaska to focus on serving out her gubernatorial term.

Skinny GOA had become a national celebrity and it seems there wasn’t a camera she didn’t want to stand in front of or a microphone she didn’t want to speak into. From People to Runner’s World, she was a magazine icon. She was one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.” She flew away to attend lavish parties and give speeches and stump for other Republicans.

And since it has become clear that she would have had a tough fight for reelection she has decided to resign her office a year and a half before the end of her first term. Why? She claims she is doing Alaska a favor by not being a lame duck and that she has a higher calling.

This scares me. If she is really as unswerving in her beliefs as it appears, especially in her belief that she is always right, she’s only going to listen to people who agree with her.

Skinny GOA, I know you don’t take advice from bloggers and you’ve never taken advice from me personally (although she has stopped wearing Bono sunglasses in photos) but please, please use this new opportunity. You already have a book contract due, just take some time to lay low and reflect.

I know you don’t believe the media who berate you (and they have mercilessly) but don’t believe all the cheerleaders either.

Not everyone who agrees with you is your friend. Good fortune is not an endorsement from God that you have been chosen for some special mission. Having a higher profile doesn’t make you right, it just makes you louder.

Fame and not being told “no” killed Elvis and Michael Jackson.

It is my sincere wish that Sarah Palin’s post-gubernatorial life is long and happy and healthy.

I also hope she receives, and more importantly takes, better advice than the other mavericky icons before her.

Chromosomes

Separated At Birth, the Spring Edition

as in, spring me from jail due to inept federal prosecutors.

In protest to his unfair prosecution, former Alaska State Representative Vic Kohring grew his hair in jail (really, what better time to get your hippie Jesus look on?).

The result is spectacular. As in... Dude.



I love the Big Lebowski.

check out a Vic Kohring news story at: www.adn.com

Surprise

For nearly 3 months I’ve been consciously not blogging about something big and in so doing (or not doing) I haven’t posted much at all.

That ends tonight.

We’re having a baby.

Kelli is 17 weeks pregnant with an itty bitty baby girl.

Understanding that all pregnancies can have problems and that we are, to put it bluntly, super old, we wanted to wait until all the basic things looked good and healthy before we made a big public deal out of it.

So far so good. Now it’s a big public deal.

I’ll have lots of thoughts to share (or maybe just record for posterity) in coming days, weeks, and months.

Things are changing. Everything will change. Things I don’t even think are changeable will probably change.

I’m starting to get a wee bit excited.

And I’m not going to apologize if this turns into a big ol’ gushing daddy-blog, it will be what it will be.

Did I mention we’re having a baby?

Mark your calendars for Mid-November at which time we’ll be giving our thanks for the birth of one Miss Journey Reese Anderson.

A Great Weight Has Been Lifted

In reality a few medium sized weights have been lifted.

I had a cake topper project to sculpt and I had to prepare a 45 minute presentation for an advanced CIT class. I knew about both of these things since November. The cake topper had to be completed by the end of April and the presentation was last Thursday.

You would think that I would have started both projects in November and have been done since Christmas. Well, okay, you wouldn’t actually think that if you know me. Those who know me would correctly assume that I’d have waited until the last minute and then worked feverishly to finish both projects.

I’m a procrastinator. Yet I’m not one of those carefree happy-go-lucky procrastinators who fritter away the day on merriment and then whip something up at the last minute, confident that everything will work out fine.

Instead I’m the type of procrastinator who starts a project on time and works on it intermittently but obsesses about them continuously. Despite obsessing about it I will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid working on the project when I’m “feeling uninspired.”

What the hell does “feeling uninspired” really mean though? I’m pretty sure I’m not bipolar but I definitely go through waves of enthusiasm for completing a task. If I’m not feeling inspired I have plenty of other stuff I could be doing.

As a kid whenever I told my parents I was bored they always came up with the same smart-assed suggestion (or sage advice) about cleaning my room or doing other housework. I learned not to claim boredom (if only to avoid housework).

Consequently when I have a project that needs doing now but I can’t get myself to work on it , I’ll actually do housework or make yet another attempt at organizing my stuff and eliminating all the crap I seem incapable of throwing away (Need a power cord for a Power Mac computer from the 90’s? I probably have one. That HP engineering calculator I bought when taking engineering classes in the 80’s? I think I still have that too. Remote controls for stereos I no longer own? Guilty. Although there are probably stereo components or VCRs in boxes that I never use which belong with those remotes.)

So I have plenty of stuff I need to get done anyway. And those Netflix movies aren’t going to watch themselves. Every day a Netflix movie goes unwatched reduces the number of movies I get for my monthly fee. We can’t have that.

And the best ideas for projects like stained glass or polymer clay come when I’m already working on three projects which need to get done first. I try to jot them down and stick them in a file but now I have a file of crap I need to sift through – whenever I get the time.

Well, now I have the time. The cake topper landed briefly atop the cake (pictures to come) and is now in the bride’s china cabinet next to her Waterford. Mission accomplished.

The presentation has been presented. Maltreatment and Brain Development in Children was my topic and I think I got my point across. Luckily I was the last presenter.

When I started this road through anxiety and panic attacks I would have pleaded to go first. Now I’m much more comfortable to be last. I can pretty much keep the anxiety away through self-awareness and sometimes half a Xanax (as prescribed). I’ve managed to become pretty good at doing last minute tailoring of my topic to hit on ideas mentioned in the other presentations and therefore tie everything together. Plus I an incapable of being entirely serious so my presentations usually include humor. Hit them with the light funny stuff at the end of the day to keep their interest, that’s why I’m all about. If all else fails, set a guitar on fire. It worked at the Monterrey Pop Festival.

So now I am temporarily project-less. I have stuff in mind but I’m taking a week off from obsessing about projects.

Plenty of other stuff to obsess over.

Old Car