This is happening in the apartment above us:

Activity at all hours of the day and night.
Lots of people coming and going all day and night.
Rhythmic pounding for a few minutes at a time.
Running water in the master bath for hours at a time.
An odd “Cat Urine” smell with chemical overtones coming from the master bathroom.

These are the direct annoyances we (everyone in our apartment) have been dealing with for the last few months. If you were trying to figure out what was going on, what would you think?

Well, maybe they are really active people? Maybe they have really odd schedules? After all, this is Vegas, half of everyone has a real odd schedule due to the casinos and such. So maybe I need to learn to live with it.

But it is that pounding that is really the biggest bother. When it can happen at any time day or night, sleep is not easy to come by. Then there are times they are thumping around up there as if moving furniture. Very distracting. Maybe one of the people is an interior designer and experimenting on their apartment. Again, got to live with it.

But what if it were not so savory a situation up there? Maybe we got a pair of hookers plying their wares. If you think about it, it fits. People and activity at all hours, rhythmic pounding, are all good and sort of support this if you place your imagination in the gutter. You could even say the water and the smell make sense too if you think about it. They could be hooking, then between tricks doing meth and taking a bath. Why not. It all fits now. Or does it.

Well, when we started looking into these distractions and talking to people, we realized that it was probably not prostitution happening, but rather methamphetamine production. Why? Well, the rhythmic pounding and smell are the give away. The pounding is rather strong for sex (although not beyond conceivable) but very short lived. Hmm, if you are going to get your rocks off you sure would hope it lasts longer than 30 seconds. So the pounding is not sex, but rather the pulverizing of ephedrine or pseudophedrine or some such, used in the making of meth.

The smell is the other give away. The stink from meth labs is described as smelling like cat urine. But if the smell really were cat urine then it would linger longer and all the time. But the fact of the matter is the smell comes and goes at very odd hours of the day and night. The smell when present is VERY strong and then goes away. This would not happen with cat piss.

Finally, there is one more thing that is a dead give away… the odor gets me buzzed.

This is not good, the effects are really killing me. I can’t sleep, I am irritable. My skin itches. I am seeing funky colors and my balance is off. In short it is getting me stoned. This is not so good as I do not want this.

So life has been less than perfect in our little Eden.

But what is worse than all the crap we have been enduring from upstairs is the bull that has been flung at us as we try to remedy the situation.

First we wrote a letter to the apartment managers describing the situation. The reply we got from them was basically, and I am paraphrasing, “If you do not like it, move.” I kid you not, the apartment management basically came out and said that they would not do anything about it even if they (the people upstairs) were violating their lease by conducting illegal activities. Oh, they phrased it nice, offered to let us break our lease without penalty or even move to a different apartment, but they were not going to do anything.

So that left us with taking action of our own.

Calling the police was a very strange and round about way of getting nowhere. We were told to call the narcotics division, but they are not on duty during hours when they are making the meth upstairs. So it was to call the patrol officers. So I called when the smell was strong, but the hour and a half later when they arrived the smell was gone and there was nothing they could do.

I called again when the smell was really strong and indeed the cops got here and could indeed smell the meth being made. What did hey do? They went upstairs, knocked on the door and did nothing because “nobody was home”. Right, or there was no one answering the door. It does not take a genius to figure out that they were not opening the door unless they knew someone was coming and all other knocks at the door are ignored. So, nothing happened, but they said they might be able to do something else.

An hour later they had their sergeant come in take a smell, but guess what… the smell was gone and they sergeant said the smell was not meth. Now nothing was going to happen because a stupid sergeant decided I was wrong. I was not wrong.

Then we were told to call the apartment managers. Oh the vicious circle.

OK, so here was the thing, if I could get employees of the apartment management company in to whiff the meth, then they could enter the apartment above because it showed a threat to the whole building. The could then enter the apartment and inspect it. If they saw anything (in plain sight) they could then call the cops and hopefully that would be that. No problem, right?

Wrong. The people upstairs usually do their production in the middle of the night. This way the odor is gone by the time the apartment management is on duty. By 8:30 am the smell is gone for the most part and there is nothing I can do. And yes, I called the apartment management emergency line, but after the third dropped call (my phone never drops calls) I gave up.

I don’t get it, why is it that I have to put up with a meth lab upstairs? I was here first (in fact I was told I am the longest tenet in the complex), why should I leave? Why can’t there be someone looking out for me? Why can’t the apartment management just lick them out?

Seems that the criminals are more protected than honest people being poisoned by the criminals around them.

The Father and His Sons

Moral: United we stand, divided we fall.

Well, dear old dad needs some peace and quiet, and being the wise father thought maybe if he could just get his kids working together they would argue less and be quieter. In doing so he then relates a simple example that illustrates more to it than just the value of working together. There is a lot to say here about family ties as well, the strength of the family when it is working together.  You may even make the allusion of that the ties that bind the sticks are the ties that bind families. These are strong bindings, emotions and family honor, and are what ultimately make up a happy family.

The basic concept is also the complement to “divide and conquer” or “divide and rule”.  Or the sticks can be an example of “strength in numbers” and so there are many of topics to talk about. Concepts like teamwork and cooperation can easily be interpreted from this simple fable.

What about the individual sticks? Is there something to be said for them? Sure. We could expand the sticks into different types of sticks. Willow sticks are flexible and giving. Sticks from and oak are strong on their own, but stronger together. Some sticks are fragrant and sweet, some are just your average stick and happy to be part of the bundle. You can even say that twigs are powerful when banded together, illustrating that even the meek may be a force to reckon with if sufficient numbers band together.

I have to admit this is one of my favorite fables because it can take on so many different aspects. I tell it to my daughter and friends, her softball team and such. There are just so many ways to spin this one that you could talk about it all day.

Original:
A FATHER had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the faggot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons’ hands, upon which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words: “My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks.

The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller

Like will draw like.

When I first looked at this one I was very confused. Charcoal-burner? Fuller? What is going on here? Simply put a charcoal-burner can be one who makes or uses charcoal, a messy business in any event. Also, whose business would be in his house using charcoal (or simple coal)? In the case of the Charcoal-burner I am going to surmise he is a blacksmith or some sort of course metal smith. This is even harder to understand when the definitions for “fuller” are looked up.

There are two definitions for “fuller” that fit in this little fable. The first, interestingly enough, could be some sort of metal smith, one that may work with a tool to shape metal. The other definition is someone who shapes or fulls cloth. Basically this is making the cloth pleated. The first definition may relate to the charcoal, and the second could reference the “whiten” remark (as in bleaching cloth), or even reference metal working another way, as to polish metal could be considered “whitening” the metal. So what are we to make of these odd description and the even stranger moral that is opposite of what is implied in the fable?

And what about the moral if taken just by itself? “Like will draw like” is the concept of sympathy and contagion. Two things of similar design, concept or essence will be related to one another, e.g. a rock would be sympathetic with sand. Contagion is the idea that if something comes in contact with something else, they are then connected in a way. You put hair from the person you want to curse in the voodoo doll because then the doll and the person are connected.

How about this… let’s assume that the Charcoal-Burner is a blacksmith, and the Fuller is a metal-smith. I use these definitions for sympathy’s sake, like drawing like. The two men are both metal workers and thus a good combination of the two could be fruitful, sharing expenses and common tools and a forge. Aesop draws the moral from the blacksmith with the good idea and thus “Like will draw like” is applicable. The metal-smith finds a problem with it however, that even though the two men engage in similar practices, the blacksmiths occupation is course and dirty work, whereas the metal-smith is involved in much finer applications of metal and the dirt from the blacksmith would mar the metal-smiths work. Thus, while “like will draw like”, it may not be the best of circumstances for both parties. In fact, the blacksmiths “contagion” is detrimental to the metal-smiths work.

I have just made some real tough assumptions from the fable translation, but really, how else are you going to interpret it and have the whole fable make some kind of sense in this modern day? The more you look at it the less likely the “fuller” has anything to do with cloth because the two professions would not share tools and expenses and thus no point to the like drawing like. Even if you were to think about it as two people sharing simple living expenses and each have completely divergent occupations, it still does not sit well because that would be just about any two people and occupations could share the house, so what’s the point. There has to be a more compelling reason to share than any two people. With a blacksmith and a metal-smith we get that extra reason to share spaces, others don’t compel as well.

Maybe the fable should be translated like this:

The Blacksmith and Silversmith

Like may draw like.

I am not sure this is actually what Aesop may have been getting at, but at the time iron and silver work were both in practice and they would indeed be exclusive occupation though they are seemingly sympathetic with each other. The moral would then to exercise caution in seemingly similar circumstances for the devil is in the details. In fact you could put the moral of “The devils in the details” on this one, except there was no concept of the devil at the time.

The Lion and the Mouse

It happened that shortly after the Lion was caught by some hunters, who bound him with ropes to the ground. The Mouse, recognizing the Lions roar, came and gnawed the ropes thereby setting him free, repaying the kindness. The Mouse exclaimed, “You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you, expecting never to receive from me any repayment of your favor; but now you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to benefit a Lion."

Oh the heck with it… from this point on I am going to correct the grammar and English of these fable translations as I think they make the most sense. Also, I will clean them up for easier reading. The above is a good example of a cleaned up fable. I have attempted to use as much of the original translation without changing the meaning. If you read the original you would see what I mean. I also added a bit of imagery with “an act of largess” alluding to the Lions spot as king of the jungle (which may actually be important.)

The moral of the story:

For everybody and everything there is usefulness.

Maybe there is something more to this moral. I think it is very interesting that “the King of Beasts” is used in this case when any animal that may eat a mouse could have been used. I think there is some social commentary happening here. After all, how often would a lion really go after a mouse, even one crossing right over his face? It would take more energy to catch that paltry tidbit and consume it than the mouse could provide in return. Any cat could have worked just as well as a lion (yes, cats were domesticated by Aesop’s time.) Could Aesop have been sending a message to a local politician or governor?

Seems to me there is a subtext here. A powerful man should be good to his slaves or servant for there may come a time when his dependence upon them is more that just a convenience. Coming from Aesop this would make a lot of sense since he was a slave before being freed. It is even possible that he created this fable to make a point to his master. If so, we can see Aesop was a sly one indeed, a master of circumlocution. It is easy to see a time where Aesop’s master may have dealt harshly with a slave and Aesop, a trusted and wily servant, approached him and said, “My lord, have you heard the fable of the Lion and the Mouse,” and made a most sharp point.

It is also interesting to note that the Mouse does honor his commitment to the Lion when there was absolutely no need for the mouse to risk being put in the middle. The mouse has personal honor and that says a lot for its nature. The Mouse recognizes a higher level of commitment other than to itself. In other fables the mouse or other small animal is completely contented to get away and survive another day. That is not the case here, a higher responsibility is acknowledged, a responsibility to Master, Lord, King, Emperor or State knowing that there is a reciprocating responsibility, even if it is just the largess of a king.

The Mouse is wise, the Lion is benevolent, the world is civil.

The Ass and the Grasshopper [Crickets]

AN ASS having heard some Grasshoppers [Crickets] chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded to know what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, “The dew.” The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.

There are times that we all want something we just cannot have and this poor Ass paid the highest toll for his wishes. There are all sorts of limitations we all must live with, we should learn to accept them. After all, if the Crickets wanted to envy something about the Ass they certainly could have admired his stubbornness, strength and endurance. So that leads us to the unstated moral:

One should not envy what one cannot be (have).

Yes, for whatever reason this particular fable does not come with a moral. We all see the obviousness of the moral, but is the lack of a moral a mistake by Aesop or is it in the translation. I certainly have to wonder about this since Aesop was very consistent in setting down the fables. Personally I think that translation may be the culprit here, and in future fables there are going to be many mistakes in translation (in my opinion.) In The Bat and the Weasel there may be a mistake in translation also, but if there is it is subtle and may not be incorrect. Here, certainly the translator could have proved his opinion of the moral, simple as it is.

Also, do grasshoppers sing as crickets do? Is this yet another mistranslation? I think we are seeing a very obvious mistake, one I am happy to correct in this modern age. As with all translations there are the literal translations and the expressed translations. The first may actually mistake meanings of word within context and the second expresses the idea and thus a more accurate, if not literal, meaning.

To make my writing more clear, I am going to institute the following standards:

[Brackets] – The word within can replace the preceding word(s).
Underline – This is a change from the original translation made by me.
Italics – This will be the text I am going to base the entry on.

If there need to be other standards I will set them down as needed. Back to the analysis…

Maybe commentary is more accurate at this point other rather than analysis. How many people do we know that want more than they can have or want to be what they just can’t. How many people go to great lengths to attain what someone else has and then find that it is not for them and it was folly from the beginning to want whatever it is. In this age of instant communication and hyped media we are exposed to any number of desires that are simply not meant for us. Why do we yearn for these things? Do we not know that we will die if we try to live only on dew?

There is a pretext of humble existence implied in this fable. The hardworking ass should be happy with what he is, a useful and productive member of the farm. Yet the ass is not happy being just a useful and productive animal, he wants to be the creator of beautiful music too and thus dies in the attempt.

We all have our strengths and should contentment with those strengths and not over-reach for something that is just not possible. I think this is a very practical principle, as are most of Aesops morals.

The Bat and the Weasel

A BAT who fell upon the ground and was caught by a Weasel pleaded to be spared his life. The Weasel refused, saying that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. The Bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. Shortly afterwards the Bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another Weasel, whom he likewise entreated not to eat him. The Weasel said that he had a special hostility to mice. The Bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped.

It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.

Once again into the fray of “truths” brought to us by our old friend Aesop. This time we explore the constructive lie and ask whether we really needed to lie at all.

The Bat here is the one we have to watch closely. Why did he lie to the first weasel? We know he is not a bird, and indeed just a bat. He is not a mouse, but what really is the purpose of naming himself thus? Why lie?

In the first case it is interesting that we see the white lie at work; a lie but none the less a harmless lie of misstating its species. The second time around the harmless lie is no longer really good and the bat tells the truth and is thus spared a second time. Could the bat have told the truth both times and been freed? Surely so, but then we would not have the illustration that a small lie can do good.

We all think that lies, even small lies are bad things. But we all lie every day to help us get along in the world. Most of the time the lies are so small that they are hardly recognized. The lies can even be unstated by not saying anything when speaking up is really called for. These little lies are the grease of society and allow us to live, and in the case of the bat, literally live.

The literal moral provided with the graph is truly a simple statement. Use what you can and have around you to your advantage. This is so obvious that maybe it is too obvious, hence I see the “little lie” as the turn of the circumstance. I see a more useful and deep moral in the example that the obvious and I am not certain the moral is in line with the example.

Maybe I would have written the fable like this to fit the moral better:

THE BAT fell from the grape vine as was caught by a weasel. The Bat pleaded for his life and offered the weasel a beautiful ripe grape that happened to have fallen nearby. The weasel let the bat go to happily munch on the grape. The next day the bat fell again and was caught by another weasel. Again the weasel offered a beautiful grape to the weasel but the weasel did not like grapes so the bat caught a small cricket and offered this to the weasel and escaped again.

It is wise to turn circumstance to good account.

The second version of the fable reads more as the moral would have you believe and maybe more to what Aesop was thinking. Aesop being a slave would have had to be quick-witted to survive better. This being the case he would have used his circumstance and surroundings to his advantage (good account). This version does get around the sticky “lie” of the original, but maybe that is exactly the reason it is there.

Maybe Aesop wanted us to consider the “little lie” and thus made the moral a bit more austere than it needed to be. These paragraphs are more subtle that one might imagine and as you study them you need to look for a deeper truth. So maybe my version is not what Aesop had in mind after all.

I do not claim to be a great philosopher now do I even represent myself as having studied philosophy at all, this is just what I see in the fable and how I interpret it. I may be far off in term of what other wiser men may think, but for me this is the truth of the story. I am suspicious and see the little lie and ask if that is where Aesop is going. It was after all not needed, so why bother. This must be where Aesop wanted to take me, nudged by the none too relevant moral, so I have to look closer.

Read Aesop as a skeptic and you may find more there and you bargained for.

Note: While writing this entry I tried to look up online examples, explanations and analysis of this fable but was unable to find anything. This being the case I think I may have found an interesting subject to blog on in an extended manner. I will use my own powers of observation to dissect these fables and opposed to just relating them I will try to explain them. Again, I am not an expert, so it should come as an interesting exercise as this moves along.

The Wolf and the Lamb

THE WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf’s right to eat him. He thus addressed him: “Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.” “Indeed,” bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, “I was not then born.” Then said the Wolf, “You feed in my pasture.” “No, good sir,” replied the Lamb, “I have not yet tasted grass.” Again said the Wolf, “You drink of my well.” “No,” exclaimed the Lamb, “I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.” Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, “Well! I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.”

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

The nice thing about the above paragraph is that it is 2600 years old and I do not need to worry about a copyright. And to the authors’ credit, “The Phrygian has spoken better than all” and still his words echo through this modern world as guides everyone should be exposed to.

So, who is the author and the creator of these guides? Well, he was born a slave if you can believe it or not. After two masters, the second set him free for nothing other the wit and wisdom. Not bad for simple slave training. Eventually, the quick-witted man sat with the sages of the time, men like Phaedo, Menippus, Epictetus, Solon, Thales, and Croecus. Still can’t place this great sage? Well, he was big in the court of the King of Lydia and finally settled to live the remainder of his life in Sardis where he was employed as a politician. After that he toured the countries and can be accounted in Corinth and Delphi where he had a strong influence. The extraordinary wit is none other that Aesop who’s fables we feed our children.

There are hundreds of Aesop Fables, yet I would bet few of us could only recount maybe one or two of these. The Tortoise and the Hare is by far the best known. Sour Grapes, Flies and the Honey Pot, The Wolf in Sheep’s’ Clothing, The Sheppard’s boy and the Wolf, and The Cat and the Mice are still some told to children but we are not spending the time to educate or kids to these fables. With 300 of these fables it would take the better part of a year to recount them as one a night. Since they are generally very short, you can teach these to your children and then discuss the moral of the story. Wow, can you imagine the children learning these morals at such a young age? What would our world be like?

How about the adults learning the Aesop Fables too? It does not take very much effort as to why I chose the above paragraph as pertaining to the current world situation. If all the world leaders were to read this graph of ancient wisdom we would all know we see right through most of your dealings. We learn to be suspicious of our leaders and let them prove by example how they treat the world around them and not create pretext. One simple paragraph and Aesop could save the world. And this is only the first of his Fables.

Now, does that mean I am putting our current President Bush in the part of the Wolf? Well in some respects, “If the shoe fits…”, yeah I guess you could say so. But do I put him their as the exclusive cause to the worlds problems, the Alpha Wolf? Certainly not. He is only one wolf looking to eat the tender lamb of the peoples searching adoration. And even though he is not “popular” any more, it was not the case six years ago or even three years ago when we had the chance to replace him and did not.

Personally I find all the political second guessing distasteful. If there is one thing I can give credit for to Hilary Clinton is that she has not pulled the old “I was against it before I was for it and then against it again” routine. She has stuck to her original opinion and while she has changes her current view as to what needs to be done now, she sticks by her decisions of the past. Thank you Hilary for not creating pretext.

And for all that is said about our Commander and Chief, he is laying in the bed he made and standing by his convictions. There is something to be said for that kind of stubbornness. I don’t agree with it, but there is something to be said for it. But whether wittingly or unwittingly our President has led us into a pretext and has landed us in our current world situation. Who knew what or who is to blame is beyond the point at this juncture, we need to simply untangle the pretext and move on. If apologies are to be made then I want to hear them. And even if they are to be made and the world tension gets relieved without an apology, I can handle that too.

But don’t think for a second that GW is the only one that needs to do the untangling. Many nations have contributed to the state of unrest we find ourselves. We are in a world where the Doomsday Clock is getting closer and closer to midnight and the superpowers are no longer the cause for it. Everybody has a hand in it and nobody is reading Aesop anymore.

I know, I have an idea… I will send copies of Aesop’s Fables to all the world leaders. I will send translations in English, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and dozens of other languages in a hope that these world leaders will read them and understand the truths they espouse. The morals of Aesop are not culturally biased. They were before the Bible, before the Koran, before almost all other learning. These morals are simply human observations of the truth and need neither proof nor explanation as to why they are relevant.

Let’s teach these morals to our children and maybe we’ll as parents learn something.

You see the ads for all kinds of money making schemes online. Data entry services, surveys sites, and emailing schemes all tempt you through your email and ads on other sites, but do they really work? I am about to find out.

There are things I want to do, but to be honest, a regular 9 to 5 job was just going to get in the way. What I need is a job that I can do from home, build up and eventually make money without interfering with other things I want to do, like write. So, you can see one of these money schemes is very tempting.

I started looking into the data entry game. It is a simple idea, companies supply you with links and you get paid when the link you provide generates a lead or a sale. The question of course is how to create that many links and follow the sales, and of course get paid. And to do all that, you have to know the secret. And FYI, I will not be revealing the secret at this time.

The companies involved in the chain of events that have to be worked through are all honest and popular companies. I checked out the businesses with the BBB and there are no complaints. The trick (not the secret) is how each work with each other to generate your pay (the secret). And as I worked it through and drew out the flow chart and got past all the varied fees and setup accounts, I began to see that this may actually work and not be “the scam” that so many people think it is.

What people think of as “the scam” are the sites that you have to visit that tell you “the secret”. Usually these sites charge between $50 and $100 for a set of instructions on how it all works. It seems like a scam because it is a conglomeration of seemingly non-related companies working in ways that you would not expect. Then you start getting into the additional fees and you think it is just a scam to generate “user fees” that will not go anywhere. But there is an end, and at the end is a workable moneymaking business.

To break it down, emailing schemes are good for high risk cash. I say high risk because becoming a spammer can cause you a lot of trouble if you do not know what you are doing. Also, you really need to have a technical knowledge of networks and mail protocols so you reduce your chance of getting caught. For me email is too high a risk for the reward knowing what I know and having worked as a spammer for two year. Yes the money was good, but the work was real work and not easy. But then again I was mailing and tracking 500 million emails a day. (You think that is easy? Try it once and watch how fast your accounts get shut down. Then figure out a way of doing it without getting caught.)

The “surveys” are not a great way of making cash, but they can generate a lot of barter merchandize. This can be very useful to reduce you cost of living. If you think about it, spending 10 minutes to fill out a survey and getting back coupons for 100 cases of Coke at no charge is a pretty good deal. You will be saving a few hundred dollars over the long run for practically no work. Also, there are tons of free meals at just about any restaurant so you could be eating out a lot of the time for just the cost of the tip. Bet you can’t serve an Olive Garden style dinner at home for $6.00. So once again, you are saving money by not spending it..

In the survey category is also the “secret shopper” and live survey options. Some of these actually do pay cash, some reimburse you for what you spend. Again, it is like getting something for nothing and pocketing your hard earned greenbacks.

Then there is the data entry area of online moneymaking. You enter ads for companies and as they sell, you get paid. When you first start out it is slow going because the even though you may enter 10 or 20, each with 15 keywords, you slowly realize that you need hundreds or even thousands of entries going to really start making money. So as you work it is a slow start. And here again, the slow start is going to make you think it is all a scam. You have to be persistent.

If you did 10 entries a day, after a month you would have 300 and a decent chance of making some cash. If you did 50 a day, by the end of a month you could be doing very well indeed at $5 to $50 (or more) per successful click. Do the arithmetic; it will begin paying very well even with the fees that must be paid. Netting some good cash is possible. Then think about this; bust your hump and do 50 entries a day for 3 months. By the time you are finished you will have over 4000 ads running with 10 to 20 keywords each, for a possibility of up to 80,000 chances your ads will be seen. This is now significant and I can see there being some serious cash made. Think this through and you will see why I want to work this angle over the other ones. By summer I could be very happy.

So the arithmetic works like this… Your ad is displayed X% of the time per keyword. This is the crucial factor, the higher X is the better. If 1 in 100 of the displays are actually clicked on and then 1 in 10 of those is actually a sale (yeah, for those simplifying that is 1 in a 1000 displays results in a sale) you can see how this is completely a numbers game. So your paid about 1 in 1000 (to 10,000) times your ad is displayed generating between $5.00 and $50.00 or more. Your cost is the cost per click (the 10 times in a thousand) costing you a maximum of $.30. So, you make money.

Now, that is all theory and not been proven to me yet. I am after all just now starting to work this for real and only time and persistence will tell the tale.

Here’s to persistence and money, may the Greenback Devil stay off my back.

Anyone have a clue as to why I can’t sleep at night? I can go through the normal questions, environmental factors (huge factor), stress, medical, psychological, but will it help. Let’s see.

Simplest one first, environmental factors. Of late I have become very sensitive to smells. The only reason I can think of as to why this may be the case is because I quit smoking about 9 months ago and my nose has finally cleared up and now I am experiencing a normal level of smell which seems exaggerated. If this I what normal smell is like, give me the muted smell like when I was smoking. The smells that get me the most are those of mold and mildew but I can’t track down the sources of the smell. There are no obvious “patches” of exposed mold or mildew to generate the smell. This is frustrating to say the least.

One other change in the environment has happened. We, meaning me and Nan, think that our new neighbors are a pair of hooker. Why? Well, parties at odd hours lasting for about an hour or two, lots of heavy noises on the roof, activity at all hours, and other things that lead us to this conclusion. Also, someone up there smokes in the bathtub or something. Once in a while I can smell cigarette smoke drift through the exhaust fan vent and into our bathroom. Turning on the fan only seems to make it worse. Is it possible the moldy smell is coming from up there? I don’t know, but the odor is strong enough to wake me up and hence one reason why I can’t sleep.

Stress if course is another factor. I admit, I have a lot on my mind and worries to drown a wet rat in, but usually this is not enough for me to loose this much sleep over. Yeah, I have the tension headache, the acidic stomach sometimes, but again, these have never been enough for me to not sleep with. Hell, I used to be proud of the fact that I could fall asleep just about anywhere and anytime. Now, this is not the case.

I would consider medical as one of the causes for sleeplessness, especially if I have not taken my meds, but even when I do take them I still cannot sleep well. As for other medical considerations, I have just gotten over a long recovery from appendicitis, but that does not feel to be the answer as to why I can’t sleep.

Earlier in the week we could have used muscle aches and pain as an excuse (though when was pain ever a reason for me not to sleep) since I had “worked out” last weekend and pushed myself to far. But as the week went long that became less of an excuse.

One last medical thought is that I am detoxing after months of sustained medicine use. I had this happen once already as I experienced a week of withdrawal from the morphine I was taking. Then after I stopped my antibiotics it experienced strange tastes and such as those meds washed out of my system. Now I am slowly lowering my use of Soma and Lortab (hydrocodone) because I just don’t need them (Not that I did not like the loopy feeling I got on them). So there may be a reason for the restlessness, but it does not feel like that is the reason.

So that leaves psychological, gee, who’da thunk it.

I know I am messed up in many ways, and maybe just maybe one other the demon I have to deal with is prodding me in my sleep. Dreams have been a mix of good and bad so maybe there is another issue I have to work out sooner rather than later. It would not be the first time this has happened to me. I remember years ago there was something bothering me and I could not sleep for almost a month. I was going bonkers and finally I figured out something and came to grips with it and finally I was able to sleep again. So maybe that is the root of my insomnia.

So we wrap it all up: Odors are killing me at night, hookers are making a lot of noise at all hours and smoking and I my inner demons are once again on the warpath till I find out what they want and fix it.  I eliminate stress because I have never lost sleep over stress before (although a psychologist would say that it could be affecting me now) and medical because I have the diagnostic assurances that this is under control,.

So here I am, at 4:30am entering a blog post because I can’t sleep right now. Even though I had a good day, got some exercise, relaxed, and did things to relieve my troubles, I still can’t sleep.

But maybe I should clarify sleep… I do not get the sustained eight hours that most people require for a good nights sleep. Even with sleep aides I can’t manage more than about six hours at a time. I drift off during the day, even in the car going places (I am not driving), or after a paragraph or two when reading. But then again, I experience micro-sleeps and that that is not beneficial. As I stated in another entry, I have drifted off several times while writing this only to be snatched from slumber awake again. It is annoying to sya the least.

So maybe now I will crawl back into the bed and try again because I can’t hold my head up any more. Tomorrow I think on it some more and try to figure out why nox can’t envelop me and restore me whole.

When was the last time wrote about anything other than trivial matters? I know I wrote about my time in the hospital, but was that really about me at all or just about everything around me. Seriously, the last time I wrote about myself was the end of November. Interestingly, after that post I have felt a lot better about my memories of my parents. But what have I done about anything lately?

I have been dealing with the aftermath of appendicitis and have not really felt like much of anything. There have been days that all I want is to stay in bed and not deal with life. I have been depressed, although thankfully, not as badly as I would have been had I not been on Welbutrin. With that depression I just have not been in the mood. So I guess it is a good thing that I am writing again even if the writing is about such trivial matters as movies and television shows.

Only now, coming up on four months from the start of an episode in my life that I could have done without, do I feel like I want to get back on the horse at all and get things going. But my body hurts and I feel so weak. Yeah me, weak, the big oaf of a guy who couldn’t possibly be weak, but I am. Example; last Sunday I did some walking and have been regretting it ever since. Let’s just say the mind is willing but the body is not capable.

Here I am getting up in the morning and falling asleep again my 10am. I try to focus on anything and I fall asleep. Even during the writing of this entry I have fallen asleep several times and I bet I will do so some more. Then, in the evenings when I want to sleep, sleep eludes me. Is this part of the depression?

And finally, the warm and fuzzies are not there in regard to my blog writing. I know this is a temporary thing, I like writing and it will come back, but I want it back sooner so I can get back in the swing of things. I hate feeling like the world is moving on but I am sitting here and not keeping up.

I have to say that it is not that I have not had support from special people around me, I have, but that does not mitigate the depression and bewildering spin I am in. Everything is there for me to get back into the swing of things if I can only find strong enough reasons.

I know, maybe I need to wallow in an orgy of lust and wet spots. Maybe I should take a vacation and start later (nah). How about waiting for my world to finish falling apart and take it from the depths of depravity back to normal and adequate.

Or maybe, just maybe, I should start doing something about it right now. I’ll call friends, set out plans, start looking forward and hope, no will, my life to commence again.

There are very few movies that I really rave about, but the latest Frank Miller adaptation, “300” is going to be one of them. It is about the Spartan myth about Leonidas and the 300 that faced down the hoards of Xerxes. It is about honor and friendship in the face of death, and about the love of a father for a son that cannot be expressed. It is about the love of a King for his land and people. It is about the most amazing display of blood and gut I have seen since Kill Bill, but even better done.

In the style of the last Frank Miller graphic novel adaptation, Sin City, “300” tempts you to let go of what you expect of normal movie styling and accept the noire anime that the graphic novel illustrated. Usually the illustration acts as a storyboard only for movie should pacing, but in this case the graphic novel is the template for how the movie should be filmed and rendered. And in this the film was completely successful where “Sin City” attempted to do similar but was not quite there.

A huge tip of the hat to whoever did the historical research on how the Spartans engaged in battle, because for the first time I felt like I was being shown what a real ancient battle must have been like. It was not the tin soldiers in rows upon rows waiting to pound each other into silliness, there were real battle tactics and understanding into the phalanx formations. Of course it was blown a bit out of proportion, it is myth after all, but it was close enough to be believable.

Detailed description of this movie is difficult because it is so different. You could call it live action animation, or even highly stylized noire done in high contrast and re-colorized, but whatever you call it you experience two hours of eye candy. And this was very good eye candy.

Go see it, but do not take the children, this is not a cartoon you would want them to see. And of course here is my highest recommendation … this will be in my DVD collection when it comes out.

It’s 6:00 am and you turn off the alarm clock for the last time. Despite the need to relieve yourself you pass out again, the night has been haunted you. The expected sleep never came because the Greenback Devil has been visiting your nightmares sabotaging your effort to rejuvenate. And now, even as you wake, you can swear you saw him just at the foot of your bed and you bolt upright with cold chills; the chance of further sleep now completely gone.

If you do not have the Greenback Devil working for you, days can become tortured events. The ringing of a phone marks a battle between you and one of his imps, dreading who may be on the end of the line. The mailbox is filled day in and day out with his imps who make you agonize as you open that unidentified mail. Even knocks at the door could be something other than the pizza you ordered. It gets so bad that you wonder if maybe the imps aren’t making off with your things so you check too see if your car is still sitting in its’ spot several times a day.

Finally, still sitting in your bed, covers pulled up to your chin you come to the realization that you must accept the Greenback Devil for exactly what it is, a merciless taskmaster who tempts you with your daily creature comforts. You want these monstrosities, the wide-screen TV, the leather covered furniture, the fast car and such, but to get them you must accept the Greenback and the hold it will have over you.

As you finally go about the routines, you face your wallet, the abode of many Greenbacks and his impish minions, Visa, Amex, Discover, and of course their leader, MasterCard. Your wallet is unfortunately not loaded with the Greenbacks that you now realize hold his followers at bay and who can cause so much torture. You instead fold it and stick it in a rear pocket content with squeezing the Greenback and his minions between your ass and the seat. Now you realize why men carry wallets where they do, out of site and inflicting some of your own torture on the unfeeling demons that reside within.

Sitting down at the table, Captain Crunch mocks you with raucous noise as you chew and titillates you with sweet flavors of maple and corn. It is your last bowl, the Crunch dust is floating on the milk, you’re going to need more Greenbacks to buy more Captain Crunch. Then it hits, the Greenback Devil has invaded every part of your life. The breakfast cereal, the dishwasher detergent, the toothpaste and even the medications you need to stay alive and in health all force you to work for Greenbacks. You are hooked and the world around you does not even notice that it has been taken over by a fiction so pervasive that it is invisible.

But it is worse for you, you are not part of the Greenback Generating Machine, you are unemployed and Greenbacks come with little or no frequency and the imps are starting to take their toll on your life. You can find no solace in the fact they you are not part of the fiction that rules the world, in fact the world considers you less than human because you are not hooked on the Greenback fiction. Friends leave you because they cannot be bothered with someone not part of the shared delusion. Opportunities seem to slip by you for you are not acclimated to the Greenback way of doing things.

You understand now, as you stare down at the last of the Crunch dust laced milk in your bowl that you have grown in a way that is outside of the common perceptions and that if you are not careful you could be labeled by the deluded masses. You could be labeled “Insane”, or even “Malcontent”, or possible “Vagrant”. You could be labeled a lot of things, “Deadbeat Dad”, “Tax Evader”, “Rebel Rouser”, “Communist”, “Disaffected” or “Public Enemy Number One”. The masses will do anything to maintain the illusion for themselves and if you are not careful you could become a victim of the fallacy.

But you know that your point of view is not without merit. You know that you have turned down opportunities because you did not want to feel like a hypocrite. You have refused to do things you feel are wrong, like defrauding seniors out of money. Why? Because you grew a conscious it alerted you to the longer range ill accepting the course offered would cause. You escaped a job once because it was just not right to slam everybody in the worlds email boxes twenty times in a day. The escape made you feel better; you have now injured a machine that injured half a billion people a day with annoyances. You are guilty of being moral and ethical to yourself, and if the truth be known, everybody else, but the fiction cannot accept a person like that. Last time it did it put us into two thousand years of additional fallacies and counting.

The question now becomes how long can you hold out against the delusion? You need Greenbacks to survive in this world and you are not willing to go rural. Even then, it would take a stack of Greenbacks to get there before you can go rural and live off the net. To what extent are you willing to accept the stigmata from the culture around you before you throw up your hands and give in to the inevitable? You do not know the answer to that, but you can feel it would take a much strong personality than yours, so you know there will come a time where you will pursue the Greenbacks again.

So, how long do you hold out, allowing the imps of the Greenback hound you? How long will you submit to the daily grind without the creature comforts you are fantasizing about? When will you wake up in the shared delusion that is the world around you and existence for everybody that you know? Is Utopia any where near? Can you last until your point of view is the accepted point of view? And now you know, the answer to all these questions is inadequate to sustain you and you once again give into the delusion. You go and search for the cog that is missing in the delusion and take the place that it serves.

But maybe there is a way of serving the delusion without giving into the whole. You look for something that is “out of the way” or “off the scope”. You look for the stealthy ways of acquiring Greenbacks. You search for easy ways to generate the Greenback income to survive so you may then live the life you want to live without the delusion encompassing your whole twenty-four hour existence.

The realization of what needs to be done hits you and starts a revitalization within you. It is the conundrum of the Greenback, you may hate it, but it feels good to be in pursuit of it. In fact it feels great to be part of the big machine. It feels wonderful knowing you are an eager participant in the race of acquiring more Greenbacks than the Jones’s next door over. And every time you pull out an imp to pay for that new top-of-the-line computer and pair of fashionable shoes you make yourself more and more the Greenbacks slave and give the imps more opportunity in the future to harass you unrelentingly. You are again part of the delusion and you love it. You love it until something breaks in your little system and then you hate the fact that you ever got involved in the Greenback delusion at all.

But you set aside the idea of the delusion and pursue the Greenback again. You immerse in the delusion and chase your vanity filled dreams that the Greenback can fulfill. You are again wallowing in the illusion that everything is alright, and you thank the Greenback for it.

God bless the Greenback Demon, we love you, for now.