http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/don/46043 I can only hope that this story isn’t true. If it is “God” help us all.

The guy in the video is awesome check out his site at here. Also check out Bitch-Kittie’s blog(I’m trying to boost her hits, she needs the encouragement).
Yesterday was pretty uneventful, went to the “res” and bought my roommate more Black and Mild’s than he’ll ever want to smoke in his life for about thirty bucks. For those of you who don’t know we live right near the Indian reservation and most people love making them rich either off buying their cheap gas/tobacco or as I heard one trucker on the CB radio call it today “the gamblin’ house.” Anyway not too much going on earlier. But me and a couple buddies went out to this place last night that is supposed to be notoriously haunted(Western NY is just haunted as hell for some reason-this is a good book about it-click here). It’s an old ski resort that hasn’t been operational for years. There were two murders there that went unsolved and since then people have been reporting stuff. We only went for a bit with plans to hit a bar up for a drink or two then come back later because it was really early when we arrived. Anyway after getting a drink or two (this place doesn’t even take credit cards/but that’s the way it ought to be at a bar, and just look at the photo I mean it says it all really) in us we went back and someone else was there, apparently the old ski lodge is now someones weekend “lets go up to the cabin and get drunk” place. Oh well plans were abolished and we all went home. However we did get some funky “mist” pictures while we were there and to make sure it wasn’t just my buddies breath(he was taking the photos) I held my breath while taking them. There also wasn’t any fog. I was only going to post on this because I thought I’d have some awesome stories to tell, however it didn’t turn out that way, but we’re going back in a few days so I’ll report back on it then fully. Instead I’m up early today because finally the skies are clear and I can go out and take some nice photos of the area. I think I have only seen the sun once since I’ve been home and that was December 14. So almost two weeks of straight overcast. Booo depressing overcast, hoooraay beer. Anyway so it’s about 12 degrees in my house since we let the fire burn down last night(yes we heat our house with that old timey stuff called wood). Luckily I’m wearing my clogs from L.L. Bean and they’re a lifesaver, unfortunately that’s all I’m wearing, jk(no cold jokes). So today I’ve got designated already to go out and take on the brave world of the Allegany highlands and get some nice photos. We’ll see how that turns out. This here’s the sweetness signing off.

…Pretty much sums up my feelings on religion although I have been to mediums/grew up in what I think is a haunted house which lead me to believe there is something after we die or return to the earth as I like to think of it. Anyway watch the video, it’s short and informative.

Recently a good friend of mine who happens to have graduated from a Catholic school and I hailing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington minoring in religion, had a discussion of religion and not suprisingly we have very different views. He seems to think that Christianity is better than Islam. Now I wonder why? I know it can’t be the text. Because if you look at the Bible especially the Old Testament(sorry for calling it that Jews) you can find some horrendous stuff in there, and a lot of it is praised or commanded by God. “Charles Penniworth”(I’m keeping my friend’s identity secret to protect the innocent)explained it by saying the Bible is like a story, you start off bad and end up good culminating with the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus. I know well enough that this is just Catholic defensive babble. Surely a omnipotent, omniscient, omni-benevolent God could get it right the first time and not have to try, well three times if you consider Islam and extension of the same tradition from which it is. He(Charles)has a girlfriend from the UAE which is why I think he’s so defensive. But really the New Testament says some not so good things about women- my favorite quote, “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.” I can just feel God’s love spilling forth with that divinely inspired quote. My point being both books say some awful stuff about women among other things. Christianity spread to a place where eventually it has lightened up, a bit. I mean it was used to justify slavery not too long ago. My point being that it’s not the book that is any better or worse because whether you like to think so or not they were both written by men, but it is what people do with those words. Either book can be used to justify what you want. It’s a reflection of the culture more than it is the religion. And if you don’t believe me just look at the history or religion from its patriarchal roots to the more open society we have today and look how it’s changed. Unfortunately it’s also a great means of control, just read some Marx and you’ll figure that one out. What I love more than anything about these discussions is that other religions like Buddhism, Jainism, even the old Greek gods…etc. never come into it. I mean honestly if there was a perfect God why does he only show himself in different localities. At least get us all on the same page so we stop fighting in your name. I think if there is a God he’s(jeez God’s a man?) done an awful job of deserving praise, nor does he deserve any worship. “The fool hath said…” …that’s my professor’s website(better yet check out his school website), he’s an atheist, I am not. But I am definitely not a theist. If I have anything that requires faith, it is not a god, but rather being a Buffalo Bills fan. Damn you Bills, damn you…P.S. Sorry for linking the hell out of this entry. But it deserves a lot of them….I hope this pleases you Charles, enjoy your tea.

Well I was searching the name of a book I was going to tell everyone to read called “Into The Wild” and I see that they are making a movie about it. At least someone is making some decent movies nowadays. Between that movie and “Monkey Wrench Gang” there should be some decent films coming out. Back to the book “Into The Wild” I think everyone should read it. It will make you reevaluate you’re relationship with yourself and the world around you. I made the unfortunate mistake of reading it while I was in Italy thus ruining my trip because all I wanted to do was walk out into the woods, namely Alaska and just discover the wilderness for myself. I know that sounds pretty soft/hippyesque but I’m telling you this book is awesome and will make you do the same. I also wanted to give a shoutout to a community of blogs in the spirit of Edward Abbey, there’s some pretty good stuff in there. One more thing though. I hoped to come home after being in the semi-mild weather of Wilmington, N.C. and what do I see, not snow!. Yah, it might be in the 30’s and 40’s but it’s dreary(to be expected in western N.Y.) and rainy. This is one awful excuse for a white Christmas, It’s that damn global warming, and it’s ruining my Christmas. Anyway that’s all for now I’m busy trying to figure out what to get myself for Christmas. Adios.

Well when I couldn’t figure out what to post on today it became very obvious that I’ve never posted on Edward Abbey. Now here’s a guy who is greatly overlooked as an author. I think partly because he was controversial and died a bit before his time. Hell maybe it was his time but if he’d stuck around a few more years I bet he could have made a bigger impression. I’ve always been big on the environment and outdoors. I never knew how much until I moved away from my quiet little village nestled in the Allegany Mountains of New York. I think doing my first year of school in Albany, and then moving to Wilmington, N.C. pretty much solidified my love for the outdoors. Especially Wilmington where land is being flattened and condos are being put up by the day. So much for wild habitat and sandy, eastern woodlands, lets have condos and strip malls instead. The point being between seeing all that destruction or as some call it “progress” and reading Edward Abbey I became pretty convinced on my my goal in life which is to help save the environment from fuckheads who live in condos and such(side note-I was once one of those fuckheads.) Edward Abbey is a must read for anyone with a spark of anarchism and pure rebellion against the plastic, cookie cutter society we have today. He was preaching about the destuction of the land and overpopulation long before it ever became and issue. I mean this is a guy who was talking about the dangers of nuclear energy before Chernobyl. I’d encourage anyone to pick up “Desert Solitaire” or “Monkey Wrench Gang” for the Christ-mass holiday. He might piss people off, but hell it’s good to get pissed off everynow and then, if you don’t then you aren’t living. I think this is a good quote from ol’ Ed, “If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers, craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists, then the rich would have little power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor to rule: That was the American dream.” The man loved himself some nature, some good women, and fine(but cheap) beer. What more does a person need in life. This guy was a true American by every sense of the word. Raised in rural Pennsylvannia and became one of the most inspiration writers of his time. We need more writers like Ed Abbey and more people to act on his ideals of freedom and the American way. I myself hope his message is spread. But hell you can do it for me and just buy his damn books (real cheap off amazon too.) Well I’m going to drink a beer because as Ed says, “A drink a day keeps the shrink away.”

You know what I absolutely can’t stand about tattoos? It’s that they take so damn long to heal. Its been almost four days and I accidentally scratched myself which might mess it up because its pretty damn deep, stupid son of a bitch hasn’t healed. Maybe I should have sucked down some more vitamin A. Screw it. Anyway, Me and my pops got into a little discussion on why I think Christianity and for that matter most other religions are a crock of shit. There are a few religions out there that I don’t mind…Buddhism, Jainism, some native religions. At least those are either peaceful or have learned to live with the land and respect it. The main religions, Christianity, Islam and hell I’ll even throw Confucianism in there even though it’s technically more of a philosophical belief are all a crock of shit. Especially the first two. I don’t think there are enough words in a post for me to get all that I don’t like and all the historical/literary discrepancies that can be found within both the Christian history and Bible and the same can be said for Muslims and the Quran. Oh ya Merry Christmas, enjoy that pagan holiday. I still crack up thinking that people actually think Jesus was born on December 25!!! Just like Easter is when he died, ya it does celebrate it but the dates are off. Thank the Romans for that one. Last but not least FINAL GRADES…I don’t know if it counts as straight A’s if you get A-’s, it’s a 3.8 anyway, but here’s the list…

CRW 408 Advanced Poetry Writing A-
FST 393 Sound Recording A-
FST 395 Intermed Sem Film Production A
FST 498 Internship In Film Studies P
PAR 343 Atheism And Unbelief A-
PAR 370 Tibetan Buddhism A

Well I’m finally getting into the swing of things back home, and that swing is really slow. Of course I have to see all the family and what not, but that’s always fun. I wish I had a lot to post about but to be honest I’m just posting to make up for the last two weak posts. The family has finally seen the tattoo and although it didn’t receive complete acceptance I think my family is used to the fact that I’m going to do something strange or stupid at least once a year. Though in my opinion this is neither strange nor stupid, that buffalo bills logo tattooed on my ass might have been but…jk. I finally have been messing with my new digital SLR which is badass. And I’m only through figuring out the automatic features on it. It’s going to be a lot of fun messing around with that. Man, I just realized how hard it is to get motivated to write without some caffeine in me, I’m feeling a bit sluggish. It also could be from all the food I’m been inhaling since I’ve been home. I’ve probably put on a good five pounds in two days, and its worth every day of my life I’ve cut off - I love food. Not a whole lot going on the rest of the week but I’m sure I’ll have a good story or two to tell. Oh ya, visit Bitch-Kittie’s site via mine, I’m trying to bump her visitors from my site to over 25% because if I do she said she’d pay me $100 dollars. You all heard it hear, she’s going to owe me, so visit away!

My House…click the thumbnail to see the bigger version.

Dear lord I wish I had more energy to write a
post, but GO BILLS!

I made it, all twelve hours of barely staying awake at the wheel and swerving from rumble strip to rumble strip. O.k. It might not have been that bad, but it was pretty close. It is 5 o’clock right now and I just woke up from a 1 hour nap and that is all the sleep I’ve had in close to 33 hours. I’m a bit tired. Hence the reason for a such a short post. But I am home and this will be home base for at least until Xmas(Noticed I didn’t say Christmas, that’s because I don’t believe he died for me.haha. Anyway that’s enough blasphemy out of my mouth. Goodnight all ye weary travelers.

Well I’ll be leaving the warm weather of Wilmington, N.C. in a few days to go home for a couple weeks. Taking the nice 12 hour drive back to Portville, N.Y. We’re having a Christmas party Friday night and I’m heading home Saturday morning(really early). So that’s going to suck, but hey gotta live it up while you can. But what I’m really excited about is when I drive home through P.A. I take my usual route but this time I’m going off route a bit to visit the one time home of my favorite author Edward Abbey. Ironically his home is a town called Home. I’m taking a camera and will get a picture of the plaque they have as a tribute to him. It sounds like a town smaller than mine. Anyway that’s pretty much it for now I just finished all my finals and have two days to kick around and do nothing. However tomorrow I’m getting my tattoo and I’ll post pictures either on my webshots or on the blog entry once I figure out what size it has to be. Oh ya and I got my first “tag” on Bitch-Kittie’s blog, go check that out. Anyway take care. “lol.”

I wasn’t going to write anything because I’m pretty busy today studying but after taking a quick break by reading Outside Magazine for a bit I wanted to give a shout out to two great sites you all should check out. The first is a microlending site called www.kiva.org Microlending is essentially giving small amounts of money to people in poor countries so they can start their own businesses and beginning making money themselves. It’s a fantastic idea and the nobel prize winner this year has a book out about it. The point being if you give poor people who are willing to improve their lives a chance not only will they pay you the money back they will also appreciate that chance much more than anyone in the U.S. The great thing is that is it interest free. If you have a couple bucks laying around after Christmas I urge you to give it a try it’s really a great thing. The second is Tom’ shoes. Basically how it works is that for every pair of shoes you buy they give a pair to poor children who could not otherwise afford it. I haven’t bought a pair myself but they look damn comfortable and it’s for a good cause. I just hope they aren’t made in a sweatshop somewhere overseas by similar people that are getting the shoes, that’d be a hell of a case of irony. Anyway check them both out they’re great causes and you lose nothing by at least looking into them. peace.

This has been one hell of a long day. Started off early going to the gym to get it out of the way. Apparently though it was douchebag day at the gym and everyone there just wanted to hang out at the machines and talk with their buddies. I didn’t know the gym was meant for socializing now rather than working out. So I just left rather than waste my time waiting for some 120 pound pot head to get off the bench. Then I had to finish my poetry journals, which I just finished moments ago, two straight days of working on them. I also worked five hours tonight and there were only three of us in the restaurant so I had to help close which sucks. I’m in a bad way right now, too much stress, not enough caffeine and probably one of if not the hardest test in my collegiate career coming up in less than two days. I’d pray but I think it’s pretty safe to say praying doesn’t work, at least not to a Judeo-Christian God. I might do some puja offering to Surya(really people whats the difference?). Alright 10-4 over out.

It’s been a long two days. Working both days plus buttloads of homework and final projects etc. And it isn’t stopping anytime soon either. Tomorrow I have to wake up and workout at 6am and start working on projects and studying for my Atheism test Wednesday. Then I have to work tomorrow night at 5 so its going to be quite a busy few days. Luckily I got out of work early tonight so I don’t have to worry about it for a few hours. The Buffalo Bills kicked some ass today so technically they could still make the playoffs. I’ll be home and going to the game next Sunday, so they better keep this win streak alive or I’m going to be super pissed not only because they’ll be out of the playoffs but also because I haven’t been to a game in a year. Also I think me and my roommates are all getting tattoos at the same time. I’ll post pictures after I get it but it should be sometime later this week. Other than that there’s not a whole lot going on just busy busy and trying to keep on top of it all. I’ll leave you with a quote from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay …

My candle burns at both ends;
it will not last the night;
but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-
it gives a lovely light!

Watch the video, how dumb is America or at least some asshole republican media figures…they actually think that Happy Feet has themes of anti-global warming that are there to get into the impressionable young minds of children watching. Well, GOOD!!!, Yahweh forbid that we take care of the planet we live on. Anyway…Not a whole lot going on today, thankfully. Woke up late and had to turn in my edited DV tapes for class then went and worked out feeling a bit hungover if not sick. I managed though. After struggling through that I went and rented the new Pirates of the Caribbean, I just paused it to write this, but so far so good. Now I just want to eat my beef stew that’s cooking on the stove and finish my poetry journals. My best friend called me from D.C., he’s there working and meeting with Eric Massa who ran for the congressional seat in my district back home. I guess he met two filmmakers that just got back from Iraq and they were telling him they started out doing an internship at Discovery. But I have a feeling that approach isn’t right for me. Not that I don’t mind working my way up the ladder but I’ll be damned if I’m trying to learn about film making and some asshole is making me get his coffee or sort through his paperwork. I’d rather be out in a leech filled swamp somewhere with a hundred pound camera on my back than do that shit. At least you’d have something to show for the latter example. And in the spirit of Christmas I’d like you all to take a look at this site and see what a bunch of pagans we all really are…ahh thanks Santa. That’s all for now, I’m going to finish this movie and go read the new issue of Outside Magazine which is a great magazine if you’ve never read it. Peace, love and Gap.

Redford is the man(see video-I love that he says “damndest”). Anyway finally a day of rest. I thought today was Friday which meant that tomorrow not only would I wake up hungover but also that I’d have to revise my poems and be to work by 5. I wasn’t too happy about it until I realized that today is in fact Thursday and tomorrow is Friday. That means all I have to do is workout and do poetry tomorrow which is much better than throwing work into that. So tonight I’m heading out with the guys to Hells Kitchen to drink some brew and relax. Haven’t been out in awhile so it’ll be a nice break. Also there will be more videos and posts relating to the environment on this blog as that was the intended purpose along with documenting my awesome and fantastic life of riches and luxury. Screw you asshole(inside Joke).

Yo- Just got out of my second final in two days, aced both of them for A’s in both classes. The real hard ones are going to be my poetry journals for advanced poetry though. Also my atheism class is super hard on the test but it is also one of my favorites because of the teacher. I’ve got most of the kinks worked out on this blog and am becoming “more better” at it. Once I get the digitial slr (it’s the D50) for christmas I’ll be well on my way to blogging with the best(that means the likes of bitch-kittie, check the link section). Well folks I’m pretty hungry and all I have is nacho ingredients so it looks likes it’s fiesta time with some nacho’s and Schlitz beer(3 bucks for a six pack-smokin’ deal). Peace.

Well this is my first post on the new blog. I hope everyone likes the new design. I’m certainly more satisfied with it. Anyway that is all for now because I’ve got to make sure everything here is in working order…more to come soon,