Who do I still think I am??

This one's about promises but not a love story.

30DBC PROMPT: "What issues would you take a stand on, and what campaign promises would you make, if you ran for Mayor of your current town or city?"

What's up y'all? Man, these stipulations in these prompts are straight killin' me. Listen...I prefer being as specific as possible, and I'd probably be the first one to complain when a prompt isn't as pointed as I'd like it to be. And I swear this isn't me just whining to hear see myself type words. I have a valid gripe.

What if you don't wanna live where you're living anymore, but haven't had the means to leave yet? It sets a dirty political standard, I'd say.

Really. I have no connection to the area I'm living in right now. I'm like a pending free agent or something, who knows he won't be re-signing with his current organization but unsure of what the market has in store for him. And how do I know this? I'm currently in a work experience program being offered by the county I currently reside in, and what was my job today? They drove me off a half hour into the middle of absolute nowhere- no, really, I have no idea where- until we hit a church, and then helped make lunch (well, not quite...more like unpacked lunch from the back of a truck and warmed it up) for about 15 senior citizens, most of which were more than capable (and willing) to do everything themselves (including the dishes). My town doesn't want me, and I don't want it.

Ok...<awkward pause>. Well then...onto today's prompt anyway, because that's what we do around here.

I suppose if I were to look at my little neighborhood and try to craft some kind of mayoral candidacy, I'd make it easier to recycle. As it stands, there aren't very many places you can take bottles and cans back for a return on your five cent New York State deposit. In fact, there's just one in the immediate area, but good luck actually using it. If there's not a line forming (see yesterday's entry regarding how I feel about lines) for their use, then the do-it-yourself machines are probably full. And if they're full, it's because the store that operates them only has one cashier on, and she's too busy ringing people out. So a couple more of these return centers need to be established, especially in areas of higher consumer traffic. There's no reason why any of the schools, or churches, or community centers can't have some of these machines, and share a cut of the money they make (and yes, that five cents you pay per can or bottle adds up...and someone else pays the person who collected the returned recyclables to take them off their hands). It's a little thing like this that could make a big difference, because people like me just end up get frustrated and wind up throwing soda cans out because there's nowhere within walking distance to be a good community member/human being (although I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone actually came after me and fished my returnables out of the trash for their own benefit and was willing to walk a lot farther than I am to take them back).

Then, while I'm at it, I'd tighten up the noise ordinance laws around here. Hey, I'm all for peace and love and understanding, but let's be a little more accommodating of our neighbors. The local hippies like to gather at the corner of my street Saturday mornings, imploring cars to "Honk For Peace!" and "Beep To Bring The Troops Home" and "Toot For Truman" or whatever their great unwashed signs say...and every Saturday morning, when I could be sleeping in, I find myself wondering what the hell is going on outside that everyone's beeping their friggin' horns, until I remember it's the hippies at it again. And you'd think I'd know this by now. It was cute the first time, and maybe the second time...and like I said, I'm fully supportive, but let's just do it at a more reasonable hour, like after 12 noon. Nobody (unless you work 3rd shift, and I don't think very many people in my immediate block or two work anyway) should be sleeping or trying to sleep past noon anyway. From noon 'til, let's say, 6pm, it's a friggin' free-for-all. Make as much noise as your little heart's content making. Then, shut it . Unless you wanna have an outdoor concert. Or apply for a special "permissible noise ordinance" permit, which extends your merrymaking until 11pm. All proceeds will benefit some worthwhile cause, I'm sure.

Finally, someone needs to fix the bus system in this God-forsaken little dump community. Seems like it runs when it wants to, and the routes don't all make sense. Some overlap to the point of overkill, and when they don't, half the time the drivers don't really know where it is you want to go. And have I mentioned before that the actual bus station, where the buses live at night between the hours of 6pm and 6am, isn't actually on any of the bus routes? Get on the closest route and ask the driver to take you there...you'll get halfway across the town and back as many times as you want without getting there, all for the measly cost of one fare. I think the system needs to be changed, and can be, with no loss of service and at no additional cost to the taxpayer. Give me a month, and I'll show you better routes that reach more people and save gas mileage. It's possible.

So yay, vote for me! Oh, I have one more suggestion...maybe I should just find another place to live.

BCF PROMPT: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.' Is this true?"

Is this true? Of course it's true. To love is to give all of yourself over to someone else, and hope they don't destroy it. To love if to know your own worth and hope neither of you does anything to devalue it. Loving is... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTjqz0_wsZo.

You don't appreciate how full your cup is until someone empties it (and I'm not just sayin' that 'cuz someone knocked over my coffee cup at the Church Of The Fifteen Holy Senior Citizens today either...but seriously, a total of 18 people in a room that could easily seat seventy-five, and someone had to send my stinkin' little 6oz coffee cup flying, just after it had reached the perfect drinkable temperature. No, I'm still not upset about that ). It's a chance we all have to take (again, not mad about the coffee cup thing). You can't know loneliness until you've had it launched across a room by ok this is about the damn coffee...why can't people be more careful around hot beverages that have tiny little straws that you can't even drink through sticking out of them??

It was probably for the best that it ended up on the ground rather than in my system anyway...and only those who've been in love can say that without flinching. There are so many things you can only learn once you've bought the ticket and taken the ride...like knowing that the person you're most compatible with is yourself, because you've either turned your significant others down or driven them away. No need for examples; I'm that guy, and I deserve all the alone time I can only hope to one day achieve.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I'm not even concerned that I may have posted this song before in my varied blogging history.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

I cannot stress enough that coffee at the perfect drinkable temperature, as once defined by my brother DMFM, is not something to be toyed with or treated lightly.

I'm sure I had more to add, but all the rage that was pent up within me over that damn spilled coffee cup took control, and that's how we ended up here.

And in the effort of full disclosure, here's the unfortunate chain of events that occurred. I had just poured a third cup of coffee, and like I stated a few paragraphs prior to this one, the mugs were really tiny. I added some sugar-free non-dairy French Vanilla creamer (because I'm sweet enough, thanks) and set it down in a very out-of-the-way place, which also happened to be next to a wall. On a counter, next to a wall. Got that so far? Some lady comes in, with a box that contains a bag that holds two litres (because half the box was in French) of hand sanitizer. She's ecstatic because it was $2 at Dollar General and it's in the aisle with the soaps and deodorants and what a great deal and if you take the top off and take off this other piece and you just squeeze you can refill all the other hand sanitizer pumps and isn't this great and this went on for almost ten minutes and . Finally, the woman set the box down on the counter, at least one foot (in inches, because this isn't France) away from my coffee cup. I found it funny that, after giving everyone a demonstration in the kitchen about how great and easy this giant bag of hand sanitizer was to use, she still had written down her instructions on the inside of the top flap of the box. Meanwhile, just before lunch, the director-person was joking around with the other helper-lady about how she should mention the sanitizer as part of her daily announcements, and how the helper-lady would show it off as if she were some kind of game show model and everyone would go "Oooh!" and "Ahhhh!". And that's what she did...only instead of grabbing a box containing two litres of hand sanitizer, she blindly flailed her arm and somehow managed to forcefully backhand my coffee cup without busting her idiot flipper on the wall next to it. And then she looks around and is all like, "Oh, tee hee, who's was that? Tee hee!" Hi...fifteen senior citizens sitting at the tables of the Church Of The Fifteen Hungry Senior Citizens, and three of us helping, and you know who one of them is, and another one of them is you. And that's where the story happily ends, forever and ever. Amen.

On that note, tomorrow I can sleep in uninterrupted by anything and it might not be below freezing, so that means the day is oh-so-full of possibilities! Or, I'll probably not really do much of anything, which I'm cool with also. Peace, I don't care where, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!