When in Doubt, take a Nap

My biggest fear isn't public speaking, it's not even dying.

Although, that last one is unnerving.

My biggest fear is reincarnation.

Who would want to come back as someone else?

So you're telling me that if I am good enough I can come back as another person who is a little better than some guy who was trying really hard in life to be a good person so that they could come back as another person who is trying really hard to be a good person so they can come back as another person who is trying really hard to...

Sorry, I just took a bite out of some cheese.

Ok, let's just say that I do put in all of this effort but then I fuck up and get some bad Karma because I honked at an old person (which is a really shitty thing to do btw).

Now I have to come back as someone who is even worse than I am now?

That's insane.

Maybe that idea scares me enough to try harder. Now I'm back at it, trying harder.

Working real hard to be nice.

"Hi, how are you? I am fine."

So far so good.

Who could I possibly be when I come back?

I'm pretty sure my mail lady is a little nicer than me. Maybe I'll come back as her. Only problem is, her job requires a lot of lifting and she doesn't seem to be too strong. So that hurts her back. She probably gets a little cranky with her kids. That doesn't look good. She was hoping to come back as The Rock. He seems nice, plus he's in excellent shape. Also, he's in the movies. But, she snapped at her kid for not putting the lid on the peanut butter jar tight enough and it fell on the ground and now she has to come back as me.

So now I'm back at square one. 

This is a tedious cycle at best.

Or you can come back as a cat or a dog.

This sounds nice if you have a cat lady owner or someone who is down to rub your belly.

But, animals have it pretty rough too.

And how do you get out of that one?

Do you have to be a good boy? Or a really good boy?

What if you're not good at learning tricks?

One of my dogs is good at doing tricks but she's really cranky and the other one is dumb as a rock but is very sweet.

So who's getting out?

Is he going to be a parrot next?

Is it better to be a parrot?

Parrot's are very cool, but sometimes their owners teach them bad words being unaware of the potential reincarnation ramifications.

I think I'll just take up extreme beer drinking.

Alcoholics have no where to go but up.

It's all about the Bitches and the Money

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So I was talking to my dog.

Actually, I was reprimanding her for barking too much.

And then she was like, “the reality is, I bark a lot less than you talk.”

Now, she is obviously right, but I think we can all agree that the real issue here is that she used the expression, “the reality is.”

So I said, “oh, so you think if you add a qualifier to your statement that that somehow validates your position to the point of irrefutability based on a single pithy phrase like, ‘the reality is’, or ‘the truth is’, or ‘to be honest’, or, ‘honestly’, or some other bullshit?"

Really, those are the only ones I could think of.

 But you know, so it would sound like I am questioning her integrity if I disagreed. 

And she was like, “dude, you’re obviously making all of this up because you can’t think of a better way to complain about people trying to make themselves sound more important than they are in an attempt to silence opposition in a discussion.”

So I was like, “um, no, I mean, yeah.”

Then I rolled my eyes and she just laid there.

She knows how to push my buttons.

We didn’t talk for a while after that.

Really, I don’t even remember what we were arguing about.

That happens sometimes.

You get so caught up trying to defend yourself that when you are dismissed and you know they weren’t really listening but just trying to figure out how they were going to prove you wrong with a few words that don’t even have a lot of meaning to them but for some reason sound like they do. Kind of like when people are like, “libtards are fucking stupid.” And you’re like, “well, yeah. We are all stupid and tend to think with our emotions instead of trying to understand what might be lacking in our genetic make up that causes us to hold on to ideas that are not only harmful to others, but also ourselves.” And they agree but still can’t understand why you think it’s weird that the party that always hated Russia all of a sudden doesn’t seem to care at all that there is a very real possibility that their leaders are beholden to them while simultaneously being completely incompetent, and then there’s the emoluments stuff as well as cutting funding for everything good including healthcare and art and feeding old people and children, while increasing spending for the world’s most powerful military and holy shit, this guy has spent ten times as much in one month as the previous president spent in a year on travel and they were all upset about that and now they don’t care and they’re like, “the reality is, I trust him because he tells it like it is and crooked Hillary.”

To be honest, I think she's just fucking nuts. 

Take a Chill Pill and Get Over it because Who Cares?

My friends don't like my driving. It's because I get angry. 

I was raised to be angry. It's not my fault.

The nice thing about not having to take responsibility for how you feel, is that you are also not responsible for how you act.

Many times people have told me that they didn't like me the first time we met.

This makes me sad.

Sad because I almost never even remember meeting them in the first place, and that means that my memory is going.

I do feel bad though. Not because I don't remember them, but because they remembered me.

It always surprises me that anyone gives a shit about how I treat them.

I guess when you have no real self esteem, it comes as a surprise when someone, "esteems" you.

Paradoxically, I take it as a compliment and I have made efforts to be nicer to people that I meet, but they tend to be selling me donuts.

I do get angry though. But it's usually at other people who are angry because I am angry.

A little back story, there are times, and they are many, when I say something dumb.

I know, hard to believe.

So I say stupid shit and here's why, I am dumb.

I've always been dumb, it's something you get used to.

Over the years I have developed a strategy. I deliberately say anything that comes out of my mouth. And then I laugh, hahahaha.

Get it, I was being sarcastic. Wait, what did I say? Yeah, just kidding.

So people get mad because I say dumb shit. Then I get mad because I don't even remember what I said. Then they get mad because I'm laughing at them for being dumb because they thought something I said was worth getting mad about. Then I notice that we are enjoying getting mad. Kind of like how my dog wags her tail when she's barking.

Did I mention that before? I don't know, either way it's a timeless analogy.

Dog's are timeless.

So and so's skateboarding trick, not timeless. Except for the Gonz.

Yeah, I'm that guy.

So everyone is angry because of evolution. We evolved to get angry so we can kill an animal with our bare hands and eat it without feeling bad. Then some super evolved indigenous people's decided to have respect for the earth and appreciate the animals. Then some other people who were still angry and thought that they were supposed to be angry because they wanted gold and stuff and god, instead of just food, killed them and took their stuff and now there are a lot of people who think that they are angry because they need something that someone else has or needs and god!

Ok, let's just calm down.

Fortunately we live in a society that has given us everything that we could ever want or need and we can watch tv and be entertained and eat delicious food and make fun of our friends even though we love them. 

The point being? When the little red hand is blinking, that means don't walk. The numbers are there just to tell people who are already in the crosswalk how much time until the light turns red and sometimes I can only make that right turn because I'm in the financial district and 500 people are all J walking together because of crowd mentality and the cop is mad because I'm yelling.

See, now your'e mad.

Alzheimers is Natures Do Over

Life is such a routine. I just peed, well, what I remember is washing my hands and looking over and noticing the toilet was just flushed. I couldn’t tell if I peed or not. Then I wondered if I had to pee. 

The fact that I didn’t have to pee should have been an indication that I did pee, but I could have just flushed the toilet for no reason, but that would have been weird. 

I forget things all the time. I tell myself it’s because I’m getting older and it’s normal and it’s only mundane stuff, but my vision is getting worse too. 

So something is going on. 

I don’t mind being forgetful, it really doesn’t bother me. 

Most of my life is worth forgetting anyway. 

I’m not saying there aren’t things worth remembering, it’s just that the rest of it is worth forgetting. 

Also, it’s been easier to not get angry. 

I mean, I am always angry. It’s just there. But, I have gotten better at ignoring it. 

Then, once in a while I walk around all day in an uncontrolled anger simulation. 

That is, it doesn’t feel real. 

Basically I’ve substituted being mad about every little thing all the time for feeling partially numb/happy and an occasional complete break with reality. 

The point is that I remember all of the bad things that have happened to me but a small amount of the good things. 

I remember when I learned smith grinds on a ledge, and the day I met April. (she doesn't remember that day though, so yeah, I'm the bitch).

What I do remember is riding my bike into a pickup truck when I was really little. And hitting my face skateboarding when I was 12. 

In fact, I can remember every time I hurt myself skateboarding.

I also have the good fortune of remembering arguing with my dad all the fucking time. 

So what I’m thinking is, maybe S and M people just want to remember when they have sex. 

Perhaps they forgot all of the times they participated in sweet, romantic, love making with kissing and spooning.

Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe if every time I go to the beach with friends, or have a nice day with my wife, or see a good movie, or eat something that tastes really good and doesn’t leave me unsatisfied (like Chinese food or cheeseburgers often do), or laugh really hard at something someone says, or say something dumb that makes someone laugh, or skate and not feel achy from years of falling down, or am enjoying a nice view, or if Bernie Sanders gets elected, maybe I can carry around a little whip with studs on it and have whoever is next to me whip me really hard a few times and tell me that I'm a bad boy, just so I won’t forget the moment that would otherwise get lost in the really far part of space that is so far away that you can only see it if you turn around but once you’ve turned around you need to turn around again to see it. 

I guess what I’m really wondering is, if I’m going to inflict bodily harm on myself every time I have a happy moment, do I have to wear leather chaps all the time?

All the Things I hate about Skateboarding

I don't normally write about skateboarding because I skate for the love, not for the money.

That means I don't sellout.

It also means I have never been offered the opportunity to sell out.

Either way, I kept it real.

Like when I first started skateboarding, I drew on my grip tape like Lance Mountain and Cab and I pegged my pants and didn't wear socks in my Vans.

Natas.

Then Matt Hensley bleached his hair and we ALL did too.

I wish I could have a picture of all the skateboarders lined up against the wall in 1989.

Basically it would look like a multiethnic nazi youth rally.

But, we would all be doing kick flip melons, so FUCK YOU!

Then I listened to NWA and Guns and Roses at the same time. Yup, no fucks given.

Oh, but I forgot to say how Junior High was the best time in my life because we would all meet up before school and this guy who had a moped would pull like 20 of us at once and we must have been only going 5 miles an hour because those things got no juice.

And we would try, "street plants."

And no, I didn't smoke like that one kid.

Then in high school everyone got good and we were like, yeah dog.

Then things took a little turn.

Our pants got really bright, really big, and kind of high watery.

But, still, NO FUCKS GIVEN.

Because it was the shit.

Skate fashion takes risks, OK?

Then we toned it down, a little.

Just a little. Pants were still big.

Big and cargo.

Nike shirts and adidas shoes, hat sideways.

Shoes were laced, properly.

I have to admit, this was a tough time.

There was just a lot of pop and steez out there, much like today, but better steez. Well, there is a lot of good steez today, but also a lot of, not.

Old guys will tell you, when they were younger, things were as they should be.

So, I'm going to skip past the Osiris time, and to some extent Shorty's, with the exception of Smolik. The other guys ripped, I was just older and not paying as much attention and Chad and Jamie were way too hype.

Then PJ Ladd or something.

New kids, shifty nollie heel, no thanks, watch Mouse again (I know, typical).

Still skating though.

Totally grown up and shit, whatever.

Then there is now (how do you make a sound of a shovel being smashed in your face by all the internet videos that give you internal ass zits?)

Anywho.

So now there is a lot going on and people are wearing all kinds of things and doing all kinds of tricks and there are things here and there and your'e like check this out and your friend is like, "that's wack" and they're like, "check this out" and your'e like, "that's wack" and you silently agree to disagree and secretly think your friend is tripping on some bullshit but they're tight and your'e both sad, bitter morons who can't admit it but you still seem to have a lot of fun and can even talk about whatever and it's all good.

So yeah, I got a pair of half cabs for christmas.

It's not old school either, you can just do that shit now.



Oh, and if I you didn't notice, the way the words are intricately placed, if you blur your vision (yeah, vision) you will notice the word GONZ start to come toward you in 3D.

Give us our Nuts Back Vince

Once I was in the woods and I noticed this really fat squirrel. Now, I don’t have anything against fat squirrels, I just noticed he was fat because I was also noticing how all of the other squirrels were really skinny.

I thought that it might have been a trend for all of the squirrels to eat their nuts and then go to the bathroom and stick their tiny little claws down their tiny little throats and well, basically what I’m saying is it was beach season and we all know how narcissistic and insecure squirrels are.

But then I noticed something. The big fat squirrel was chasing the other squirrels away when I tried to give them a piece of my asiago cheese everything bagel with artisanal cream cheese.

I know what you’re thinking, who the fuck would give a bulimic squirrel an asiago cheese everything bagel with artisanal cream cheese?

Only an asshole.

But they were cute and I was really hoping they would be my friends.

Kind of like how I sometimes send Matthew McConaughey hand written letters telling him how I think it is really cool that he commits to roles by learning an accent and losing a lot of weight and taking up cigarette smoking in order to play one of the most interesting and convincing characters that I have ever seen on tv and a heartthrob in Dazed and Confused and really just cause me to rethink the whole sexuality thing to the point where it’s not even about sex any more but really about just needing something that it seems like he might have and if he would only take the time to hear me out we might become really close friends and maybe he could introduce me to Woody Harrelson.

But mainly people would think I was important because I was friends with Matthew McConaughey.

And everyone knows that if you are friends with someone important you are basically as important as they are.

Oh yeah and then some guy told his kids that it was ok that the big fat squirrel got all the food because he was obviously smarter and worked harder than the other squirrels and that meant that they should be kicked out of the tree they lived in for the past twenty years because they weren’t interested in coding… I mean, gathering nuts.

I Feel Your Pain, Because you Hit Me

I was recently talking to someone about a, "hot button issue", wait, is it hot button? I thought I heard that somewhere.

Seriously, I can't keep up.

I think it should be hot button because we click on buttons all the time.

It's pretty much all that we're about.

When people say they are, "about that life", they're talking about clicking buttons.

So yeah, we did not agree.

The funny thing was, they were like, totally wrong.

Don't you hate that?

I do.

So when I explained to them that they were wrong, their response was, "you're a doody face."

I have to admit, I didn't see that coming.

So back to me being right, it sure feels good.

I love being right in an argument, it's always better than whatever boring ass topic we are talking about.

This one was about race though, oh yeah, two white people talking about race. Of course shit got eentense.

So I was like, "I have a black friend" and they were like, "I read a book about slavery" and the gloves were off.

They were all, "you shouldn't be condescending because you are white" and I was all, "you sound paternalistic."

And they said, "I'm glad I didn't go to grad school."

That one caught me off guard though, because if you don't go to grad school, you can't give presentations to groups of all white people and tell them that they are all racist with the exception being yourself because since you acknowledge the inherent racism in our species that in some way exempts you from said inherent racism while maintaining a lack of belief in an inherent racism (which is what you were arguing against but really were arguing for without knowing it) although it is for white people and not everyone else which ironically is a racist position but you don't think so because you don't want to because you want to believe that all racism is a learned behavior which raises the mathematical likelihood that not all white people would be raised in an environment conducive to a racist outlook but that makes your argument fall apart because all white people are racist with the exception of yourself, which is, (sigh) a contradiction.

It's more satisfying to tell people they are racist in person than on the internet anyway.

Oh, and you can really piss people off by defending the fact that you are a, "white man."

People hate that one.