Healthy?

I'm officially spending more time at health food stores than regular grocery stores. Eating healthy makes a difference that I can't argue with. I've come to the conclusion that you could go crazy with it. I'm not trying to go overboard, I'm only trying to make an improvement. Since I stopped going to fast food places and eating bar food for dinner five nights a week I've noticed a difference. Eating habbits are the only change I've really made and the waist is shrinking. I'd like to say that I've been exercising and cutting down on beer and cigarettes but Rome wasn't built in a day.

What The F*#k!

Driving in the streets of Phoenix, Arizona lately has brought me to a conclusion, people can not drive in this town. Today I watched two cars waiting to make a left turn. The drivers of both cars were women on their cell phones. The woman behind the car that was first in line to make the left hand turn drove around the car in front of her and made the left hand turn almost causing three accidents, all while still talking on the cell phone.

I've been seeing this far too often lately, people making a left hand turn from the right side of the street. How far does your head need to be up your ass to pull this one? If I see another jackass not pull over for an emergency vehicle I'm going to lose it. I see people slow down as a fire engine passes but I see very few people pulling over. When I was a kid, everyone pulled over for emergency vehicles. If the ambulance, for example, was coming for you or someone you loved you'd want people to get the hell out of the way wouldn't you? Sure you would, so do your part and move over.

That brings me to road rage. If someone cuts me off and nearly kills me in the process and I get pissed off, that's road rage. I think it's a natural instinct of survival. If someone cuts me off and I pull them out of their car and rearrange their face with a baseball bat, now that's road rage.

Phoenix has a habit of taking three lane roads and shutting two lanes down. You look around to see what they might be doing and there's no crew, no hole, no dirt just barriers obstucting traffic and signs that very few bother to read telling you that you're about to become stuck in a traffic jam. Two days ago there was the typical three lanes down to two scenario on Tatum, it was raining, there was an accident and the emergency vehicles couldn't find it because traffic was backed up so far. All I can think is that more people should ride a bicycle.

Fat Tuesday Part 2

I really thought I was going to have a great adventure last night talking to festive people and finding out their views on Mardi Gras. I was surprised to see that there wasn't a wild crowd at any of the watering holes I went to. The only beads I encountered advertised Corona beer. The two beers on special were both Mexican imports. I would not be deterred. I ordered jambalaya, a traditional rice dish cooked with sausage and seasoned with herbs. It can actually contain just about any kind of meat but in this case it was sausage. It was very bland. After I finished my dinner I went back on task. I asked a young lady in her early twenties named Tina what Mardi Gras meant to her and she had never heard of it. I thought she was kidding at first but after I spoke with her for a while I could tell she wasn't. I decided it was time to move on to another bar.

The next stop on my Mardi Gras pub crawl was a place that featured live music. I thought live music would be more in the spirit of things. The music was good but a little on the mellow side. It really didn't inspire a lot of reckless abandon. There was certainly a better vibe at the new bar but the party seemed a bit half-assed. As a matter of fact, that would seem to be the recurring theme of the evening, half-assed. Don't get me wrong, I still had a good time but it wasn't a Mardi Gras kind of time.

Mardi Gras means decadence to me. It's about good Cajun food, spirited drinks, festive jazz music, women showing their breasts in exchange for cheap plastic beads and just letting loose on a Tuesday. This year the spirit fell short. I guess a lot of people didn't even know it was Fat Tuesday. Carnival? No, just another Tuesday night indistinct from any other. I know, all the days we have are special but that isn't the point. Imagine Christmas without any Christmas trees or cookies or Charlie Brown Chritmas special. Imagine Halloween without costumes or candy or The Monster Mash or It's the Great Pumkin Charlie Brown. Maybe that's the problem, no Charlie Brown special for Mardi Gras. Is it really a holiday if there is no Charlie Brown special for it?

Fat Tuesday

Bust out the beads and bring on the craw fish it's Fat Tusday! I will have to see if I can find my favorite beer from cajun country, Dixie Blackened Voo Doo. If I'm not mistaken the Dixie factory was a Hurricane Katrina victim. I thought I heard something on the news about them being back in business. I hope so, good beer. To the best of my understanding Fat Tuesday is always 46 days before Easter. Being that the date of Easter varries from year to year so does Fat Tuesay. Mardi is french for Tuesday and gras is french for fat, beyond that I know very little about why we celebrate it. To learn more about this holiday is my mission for the evening, that and eating good food and drinking a few brews. I look forward to writing about this one. Look for Fat Tuesday Part 2 coming soon.

Valentine's Day

I've never been crazy about these "Hallmark" holidays but it doesn't seem so bad this time. I'm feeling good about it for a change. I'm done with negativity. All this time I thought the problem was some kind of mystery. It turns out it was negativity. My being negative attracted negativity. I don't know that we can ever fully avoid the emotional vampires and the verbal impalers of the world but we certainly have the choice to not spend our off hours with them or act like them.

Why the sudden change in attitude? I've been eating healthy food. I am no longer impressed with my former beer and chicken wing diet. I'm also taking heart burn medication, that truly changed my world. I may even work out a little. I have my goal for 007, healthy body, mind and soul. It's not too late to find direction this year. I'm excited. I'm so glad that there will be no more smoking in public places on May 1st. I hate smelling of smoke when I'm not smoking. I haven't quit completely, but it will be a lot easier come May 1st. So far this week I've smoked Monday night when I was enjoying a few light beers. Going out is where I crumble. Everyone around me is doing it and I'm not over it yet. May 1st.

Cave Creek Eddie Gig

My friend Eddie Elliott had a gig at a yoga studio in Cave Creek. There were those that had their doubts about the venue. The up side was that we could bring our own beverages. My friends Brooks and Angela made the trip with me. On our way we stopped at Safeway and bought a few bottles of wine and some really cool plastic wine glasses. They had a stem on them and everything. The drive was nice and when we got there we took our seats (folding chairs on loan from Cave Creek Coffee Company) then began to enjoy our wine. When more people started to file in there were a few familiar faces like Eddie's mom Sheila and her friend Anita but mostly there were strangers. It turned out to be quite crowded but what a cool crowd. People brought chocolates and cookies and were sharing them with everyone. The thing that struck me most was the genuine feeling of love in the room. Eddie played one of the best shows I've ever seen. He said it was the great vibe in the room that helped. Eddie and I had talked about playing a Neil Young song together but we didn't have much time to run through it so I told him we'd try it some other time. As the evening was coming to an end Eddie said he'd like his good buddy Jim to come up and play a song with him. How could I say no? We played Harvest Moon as if we'd played it a million times and then Eddie ended the set with his song 404. 404 is an acappella song but I followed his led and we kept time by tapping our guitars. Later that night Eddie told me he had planned on ending with Harvest Moon but it just felt right to go into 404. It was a truly inspirational night. I could use more times like that. Couldn't everyone? I hope Judah, the owner of the yoga studio, decides to host another night of wine and song.