Sun Is A Tank On Fire

This is a photo blog of my recent family vacation in Baltimore, Maryland. I took a Saturday night flight out of Portland, Oregon and arrived in Wilkesbarre/Scranton Pennsylvania on Sunday morning. Mom & Dad picked me up at the airport and we drove back to Mifflinville, PA where they live. We stayed there for a few days and then headed down to Baltimore for the next few days. Mom, Dad, sister, nephew and me, together in one vehicle. We stayed in an upscale Marriott Hotel right on the harbor, which was nice, but a little too richy-rich for my taste. Day one was spent at the Baltimore Zoo, here are some pics: Meet mom & dad. Meet sister & nephew. Good times! Let's move on. The following day was our trip to the Baltimore Aquarium, which was badass and my personal favorite of our three destinations. Here, have a look: Our last day in Baltimore was spent at the Science Center, but I didn't get very many pictures there since I got food poisoning from dinner

This will be a life update blog with a few current events sprinkled in for good measure. I have so much to talk about, I really don't know where to begin. How about this: I just got back home (to Oregon) from a week-long vacation visiting family on the east coast, and let me tell you, it was exhausting. I feel bad for what I'm about to say, especially since there's a slight chance some of my family will read this (doubtful though, since I've been writing poems/blogs/short stories online for many years now and none of them seem to notice). I should probably add an "in their defense" to what I just said in parentheses. In their defense, it's probably a good thing they don't read everything I write. I am well aware that some of the stories and poems I write are not G-rated, and quite often I tend to test peoples' emotional and personal boundaries, but all I really want is for them to recognize that I've dedicated myself to something my entire li

Once upon a time there lived a butterscotch butterfly with beautiful wings that shimmered in golden delight whenever the sunlight would hit them. He would spend his days fluttering from one flower to the next, and every time his magical feet would touch down, the flower would instantly turn into butterscotch. All the little creatures of the forest loved this. They would hurry over to where it landed and lick the sweet butterscotch treat that used to be a flower. This made everyone happy, that is, except for the butterscotch butterfly. You see, this little magic butterfly had only one wish, and it wasn't to turn flowers into tasty treats. He wanted to race go-karts! All through the day and all through the night, the butterscotch butterfly would dream of racing the go-karts that zipped around the go-kart track in the field next to where he lived. Every weekend the human kids would show up with their parents, and every weekend those kids would laugh and laugh as they raced their lit

I am sad. I'm sad because I'm lonely again. I'm lonely again because love has tricked me one more time. If relationships have 1,000 pitfalls, I've found myself in 900 of them for sure. As time passes by and relationships fail, I find my energy dissipating, and the vigor I once had gets lost somewhere in the heartache. This probably sounds really lame coming from a guy, but hey, we have our soft moments too.  I like love. I like being in love. I miss my girlfriend. Now that we are over, I find myself thinking about how much I loved her, and how much she loved me. I'm saddened by the fact that I could never match the level of passion that she had. I think I let her down, even though I was doing the best I could. We both let each other down in different ways, but I lament my inability to reassure her just how much I loved her. I miss her, I hope she is doing well. While I'm on the subject, I'd like to play a song for you. Grab your headphones first, because

     "I miss her," Mike said as he reached across the table and scooped up the dice. He held them in his hand for a moment, inspecting the black dots as he jostled the two white cubes against each other, watching them change from 11 to 4, then to snake eyes. "Shit, man, she was so cool. Remember that night you first met her? When she was allowed to play on our poker night?" He gave the dice a good shake and released them onto the table.      Andrew looked down at Mike's roll and pondered for a moment before replying, "Uh, yeah, I remember, you dick. You're talking about the night when one unknown chick cleaned house and went home with all of our money, right? Most of us haven't forgiven you for that, just so you know." Andrew let a feint smile appear as he picked up the pencil and jotted down the new score. "She really was something to watch, I've never seen anyone play poker like that before." He grabbed the dice in both hands

I've been trying to keep an eye on the recent developments in Libya, trying to determine whether the good ol' Red White & Blue will be ensnared in yet another war. Obama says "No!" to implementing ground troops, I say he's full of shit and will do it anyway. We already have covert CIA operatives within the borders doing who-knows-what to who-knows-who, so it's just a matter of time. This puppet is no different from the others, and the military industrial complex is very, very hungry. I can hear it's belly growling even from the solitude of my apartment: "Me hungry! Feed me! Gaddafi... Muslims... Al Qaeda... Iraqis... Afghans... Feed me!" Speaking of Al Qaeda, I heard they are fighting with the Libyan rebel forces, which is odd, because I was lead to believe Al Qaeda was the terrorist organization responsible for 9/11. So, if they are on the rebels' side and we are on the rebels' side, that means we're aiding them in their onsl