life...
here's what happened over the past week:
Tuesday:
major dental work.
trip to the pharmacy.
pain killers.
vodka.
drooling.
Wednesday:
more pain killers.
beer.
more drooling.
cleaning.
last minute shopping.
watching my daughter and her boyfriend do the baking I was supposed to do.
hanging out with my other daughter, drinking martinis and listening to vintage vinyl.
Thursday:
pain killers.
coffee.
angst.
a wonderful dinner with the most special people in the world.
washing dishes.
more pain killers.
vodka martinis.
excessive drooling.
Friday.
pain killers.
coffee.
more vodka martinis.
more drooling.
generally fucking off.
college football.
basketball.
Thanksgiving leftovers.
picking up my daughter after her car died.
Saturday.
coffee.
trip to the recycling center.
trip to Pep Boys for a new battery for my daughter's car.
replacing battery in same.
pain killers.
vodka martinis to excess.
more Thanksgiving leftovers.
Sunday.
minimal shopping excursion.
moping around the Manor.
driving my daughter back to Philly.
more Thanksgiving leftovers.
football.
Cold Case.
more football.
the big crash.

by the gods, I love the holidays!
Sunday night, it was down to just me and the Mrs. at Stately Sal Old Goth Manor... it really is quiet and lonely without the girls here. I really, really miss them.

And now, it's back to some degree of normalcy until the Solstice and Christmas roll around... and I can't wait.

'night.


pearls before swine...

Stuffed Old Goth...
URRRRRRRRRRRRRP!
pearls before swine...

what a day...
I was up very early today. I cleaned up the last of the remodeling debris from the dining room and parlor. I took a huge load of crap to the recycling center. I raked leaves and carted them off until it got too dark to see what I was doing. Now I'm going to have dinner; swiss cheese and broccoli stuffed chicken breasts and a few bottles of Beck's. Tomorrow I have to get up early again and do the shopping for Turkey Day! Then some more raking, then putting some trim back up around the laundry room door while watching the last NASCAR race of the season. I still have to get the window air conditioners out of the windows and finish putting up the storm windows. The work around the Manor never seems to be done. I think I'm going to live to be a hundred years old because there will always be something that needs doing. I really think that when you stop doing, you die.
I still need to pick out the laminate for the countertops and get them done before the Winter holidays. And put in the new sink and fixtures. And look for a new range. And a range hood. And build a shelf over the counter for the microwave. And put a new door jamb on the dining room door. And make a set of cafe doors to ge in between the kitchen and dining room. And put them up. And clean the coal stove chimneys for winter. And clean and polish the oak floor in the dining room. And put up the outside lights for Christmas. And build a new china closet for the dining room. And build the breakfast bar in the breakfast nook. And put a new ceiling light in the breakfast nook. And clean out the little barn. And work on my plans for a new big barn/workshop. And rebuild the old pantry. And put new flooring in the pantry. And get my tatoo. And finish my Christmas shopping.
Wow. I think I better take a nap.
later.

pearls before swine...

Equal Opportunity (White) Trashing...
hey, I poked fun at Dubya yesterday, so today I can take a shot a the Dem's, ok?
I mean, how can I help it? Look at this...

The William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library opened yesterday. Is it my imagination, or does dumb fuck's library building look like your typical hillbilly trailer..?
I guess you can take the asshole out of the hills, but...
I can see it now -
"Hey folks, welcome to my Lie-bury! Y'all come on in now, ya hear! Oh, don't y'all mind my old guard dog Jeb..."

"He's got some choppers, don't he? But don't worry, he don't bite much anymore since Hillary had him fixed. Come to think of it, neither do I!
Anyway, what do ya think of the place? All it needs is a set of wheels under it, huh?
And what'ya think of our spacious parking lot?"

"Plenty of room for all sorts of cars and pickup trucks! Hell, you could even park old fat-assed Michael Moore out there! Oh, and speaking of fat asses, make sure you visit our special Monica Lewinsky Memorial Wing and Cigar Shop...
Well, I gotta skidattle, old Jimah Carter's comin' over so we can sit on the porch and have a good wail over the untimely passing of our good old friend Arafat!
Hey, make sure you stop at the Souvenir Shop out back!"

"Y'all come back, now, y'hear!"

pearls before swine...

well, I'll be (The) Damned...

looks like one of my favorite old school punk bands has resurfaced and stirred up the usual mess!
pearls before swine...

YEA!...
the kitchen flooring is finished! Well, with the exception of a few odd pieces under some doors and a few pieces of trim, but in time, in time. Now I can finally start cleaning up the rest of the house, all the crap from the kitchen is spread throughout the dining room and parlor. I'm done with remodeling until after Thanksgiving. I'll be spending the weekend tidying up the grounds, which have been horribly neglected; the gardens need to be cleaned out of all the dead and dying plants, the dead vines need to be pulled down from the trellis (although the do impart a distinctly Gothic look to the back of the house...), the shrubs need pruning and the storm windows need to be attended to. It never ends, but you know, I love it.
I am so looking forward to Turkey Day. There's nothing like the smell of the house on Thanksgiving and there's nothing like sitting down with kith and kin to enjoy the feast. And when you do, please remember to give thanks to the brave men and women of our armed services who will be spending the day in harm's way. They and so many before them are the reason we can sit down and enjoy ourselves in peace not only on Thanksgiving Day, but every day.
Well, I'm beat. It's time for a little snack and then off to the Land of Nod.
I bid you good 'eve.
pearls before swine...

NEWS FLASH...
President Bush nominated Margaret Spellings to the post of Secretary of Education today...

Here he is admiring her, ummm, qualifications...
After which, he choked a chicken...

I mean, pardoned a turkey in the annual White House Turkey Amnesty ceremony...

I've gotta stop drinking so much coffee during the day...

pearls before swine...

Iraq war update...
apparently the Iraqi's are catching on...

Please feel free to steal the picture (I did...) and post some Photoshop work of your own!
Have a nice day.
pearls before swine...

wanna get away from it all..?

try Tristan da Cuhna, the most remote, permanently inhabited island in the world. It's located in the South Atlantic. It's actually quite a happening place. You can keep up with all the goings on by visiting their on line newspaper, The Tristan Times. Check out the story about the Albatross that visited the island, the first one in fifty years! And the local pub is now open again after being damaged in a September hurricane! Sounds like just the place for me to retire to. I wonder if they have a goth community?
pearls before swine...

BAAAAAAAAAAA..!

Hey, Erin, the next time you get savaged by a petting zoo goat, you can always find some help here.!
pearls before swine...

this old lair... and my weird computer
In spite of my mouth pain, I managed to get two thirds of my new kitchen flooring installed this weekend. I got all the cabinets back in place, as well as the appliances, I managed to disconnect and reconnect the gas range without blowing up the Manor or gassing the inmates. I got all the base trim in and trimmed the bottom of the kitchen door so it would open over the new flooring, installed a new sweep on the bottom of the door and a nifty folding doorstop so we wouldn't have to use the old Mexican Fish Planter to hold the door open. I now have to get everything out of the breakfast nook and do the flooring in there, but I can pick away at it during the week. I'll have everything done but the new countertops by Eat the Bird Day.
My computer never ceases to amaze and frustrate me. For the past year I've had a problem with viewing web pages; all the fonts displayed really large, so I'd have to scroll side to side to see a full page. I change the resolution on my monitor and the fonts displayed almost normally. I treated myself to a new keyboard last week, the old one had gotten to the point where the keys were sticking and the space bar required a mighty blow of the thumb to make it work. I bought a ten dollar keyboard at Staples and all of a sudden, the fonts are displaying correctly. Now I have to strain to see some of the smaller fonts, but I'm afraid to screw with the resolution again just in case it goes back to the way it was. Very odd...
I haven't been able to use the pain killers the dentist gave me, they give me severe stomach cramps, so I've had to endure the residual pain from Friday's dental hijinks by taking Tylenol. It's easing up a bit anyway, so I guess it really doesn't matter, does it? Oh, and the antibiotics give me gas; I've been burping like a frat boy for the past three days, much to the chagrin of the Mrs.
Well, I'm hungry. I think I'm going to go throw a few pieces of left over pizza in the blender so I can take them through a straw. Only kidding, I can actually chew a bit now, although my jaw hinges are still sore from the swelling and my gum is very tender. Three more sessions and it will be over, I can't wait.
Well, have a lovely evening.

pearls before swine...

Sore Old Goth...
OWWW! I spent two hours today in the dentist chair. It was supposed to be just a filling, but it is turning out to be major surgery. I had to have an old cap pryed off, then the tooth drilled out and all the pulp removed. There's a vein of decay that goes down into my jawbone. I have to go back in a little over a week to have a root canal and a temporary cap put on. The I have to go to a periodontist and have my gums cut open and have the root of the tooth and the bone rebuilt. Six weeks after that I have to go back to the dentist to have the permanent cap put back on. Right now my head feels like it was hit with a baseball bat. My face is all swollen and so are my gums. At least I got some good pain killers out of the deal. I guess I'll be spending the weekend putting down my new kitchen flooring while I'm half stoned on my ass. Nothing is ever easy. Oh, well. That's what I get for taking care of my teeth. If I let them go, I'd probably be better off. Go figure.
Oh, and I've decided to swear off politics and current affairs for a while, my head is starting to get all clogged up with this shit. It's time to start posting stories, poetry and nonsense again, this bloggy thing has been far to serious lately. Time for some fun.
Anyway, I'm going to go put an ice bag on my face and lay down and enjoy the little high I have going. It's just over freezing outside and it's raining... a beautiful goth night!
later.
pearls before swine...

fucking Canada...
I was just watching the burial of that savage Arafat on Fox News and there, right in the middle of the almost hysterical throng of people, was an obvious Westerner, waving a huge Canadian flag! Unbelievable. If France is the pussy of the world, the Canada is the swollen, throbbing clit. If Bush has any brains, he better think about sealing the border with our "Friendly Neighbors to the North"... I wouldn't be suprised if they're allowing terrorists to mass within their borders for an impending attack. Fuckheads. I hope they all freeze to death this winter.
pearls before swine...

Arafat drops dead...
and how fittingly in France... now if only the fad would catch on with the ruling class there, huh?
No matter... bigger fish to fry on this side of the pond. Please see the press release from former President (?!?) Jimmy Carter, the bleeding heart would be Socialist's web page on the event (with my pithy comments in bold, of course...)

---

Statement by Jimmy Carter on the Death of Yasser Arafat  
 
  11 Nov 2004  
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jon Moor
404-420-5107


Yasser Arafat's death marks the end of an era and will no doubt be painfully felt by Palestinians throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.
Gee, will it be as painfully felt as the shrapnel from a Palestinian homicide bomber's bomb belt by innocent Israeli men, women and children?
He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate, Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland. While he provided indispensable leadership to a revolutionary movement and was instrumental in forging a peace agreement with Israel in 1993, he was excluded from the negotiating role in more recent years.
In other words, he was responsible for the organization, funding and carrying out of terrorist attacks. He illegally bankrolled his terror campaign by pilfering world funds meant to relieve his country's social problems. In 1993, he helped forge an agreement which he then sanctioned breeching less than a year later, and resisted all attempts to come to any negotations or discussions. He was self-excluded.

My hope is that an emerging Palestinian leadership can benefit from Arafat's experiences, be welcomed to the peace process by Prime Minister Sharon and President Bush, and be successful in helping to forge a Palestinian state living in harmony with their Israeli neighbors.
If they're smart the new Palestinian leadership will quit the terror campaign, negotiate a reasonable peace with their neighbors, break all ties with Hamass and Islamic Jihad and become a member of the world community.

---

Of course, any progress that could occur is equally in the hands of the Israelis. They haven't exactly been reasonable through the long course of strife in the region. Maybe it's time everyone took a step back and a long breath and tried this again.

Oh, and President(?!?) Carter, go fuck off, ok?
pearls before swine...

gothie chow...

(shamelessly pilfered from SomethingAwful.com... and the original artist. I just couldn't help it, I had to steal it... I almost pissed my pants...)
pearls before swine...

wow...
what an ego... you don't think that anyone is really going to put any credence to anything you say, do you? Why would you think that a washed up, has-been like you can offer anything of worth to a rational, free thinking person? Do you really think that because you were in some forgettable movies and sing other people's songs that you're somehow entitled to foist your bullshit on everyone? You're an arrogant, laughable cunt...
Nice picture, by the way... all that's missing is an adoring crowd gathered at your feet. Is that really how you see yourself? You are everything that is wrong with so called celebrities.
And, yes, the "reign of witches" will be over some day. I can't wait...
pearls before swine...

duh...

pearls before swine...

instead...
of wasting a Friday night having fun, watch this instead. You might find you have much more to fear than another four years of George Bush... there are forces at work on you that you don't even know about... and you can't vote them out of office.
pearls before swine...

Hey! Is that Dan Rather...
throwing himself to the lions after suffering through the defeat of his pal Kerry???

Nah, it's just some asshole trying to convert some lions to Christianity... I guess he never heard about the unique relationship between Christians and lions in the days of the Roman Empire?
It never ends, does it..?
pearls before swine...

here ya go, Senator Kerry...

please use just one, then pass the box on... there's a long line of the weepy eyed waiting just behind you.
and, really, better luck next time. You're obviously not a stupid fellow, or you wouldn't be where you are. Just a few words of advice, if I may:
1. disassociate yourself with the likes of the Hollywood loudmouths, the so called rock stars and especially the like of fat assed Michael Moore. That shit rubs most people the wrong way. If you have supporters who backed you soley because Susan Sarandon or Bruce Springsteen said they should, you don't need people like that... you need people who can think by themselves.
2. sit down, have a few beers and think about what you said and did when you came back from 'Nam. I think that was one of the great determining factors in how things ended up. This isn't 1973. People are over that crap. Maybe a heartfelt apology and admission that you were wrong would have helped. People are willing to forgive if you give them the opportunity.
3. Americans, as a national family, are still hurting from 9/11. (the event, not that jerkoff's movie...). They need and want to know, in all faith, that the person at the helm is really not only looking out for them, but is one of them. President Bush may not be a common man, but he knows how to talk to him and make him feel good. Agree with his methods or not, you can't go trashing his efforts like you did and not rile folks up. That business about appealing to other nations of the world to allow us to kick ass didn't go over to good, either. We're on the verge of becoming a member of the ever growing world village, but we still haven't quite forgotten how we got here and who we are. That will be a factor in the American psyche for some time to come and should never be dismissed in such an out-of-hand way.
4. and, most importantly, when you say you have a plan to do something, please let us know what it is. More people may have gotten behind you if you at least put your cards on the table and presented a real solution to getting out of Iraq, or securing our borders or just making us feel ok about going to sleep at night.
Well, like I said, better luck next time.

pearls before swine...

VOTE..!
I've voted in every Presidential election since 1972 and there has yet to be one that has the gravity of this one. All I can tell you is to vote with your head and your gut. Remember, your vote effects everyone, not just you. Sometimes you need to decide what is right, even though it may not sit well with you, personally.
And that's all I have to say about that...
pearls before swine...