I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to see the CHIHULY Exhibit yesterday

    I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to see the hand blown glass exhibit by CHIHULY.  It was my first time ever to visit the Garden.  While going down the stairs to the bathroom in one of the buildings I ran into my stepson.  He said something weird to me, I don't remember what it was though.  I think he was kind of taken aback at running into me there.  I was speechless.  He has grown so tall and he has lost a lot of weight, he looks great.  On the way back upstairs I said "Hello" to him and his Dad before I went into the Cafe to buy some bottled water (it was a hot one that day).  I didn't quite know what to do, so I tried not to make a big deal out of it and slipped past him and his sister as I continued on my walking tour of the Garden.  I saw them two more times that day.  I never was facing the right way when I went past my step daughter so I didn't get to say hello to her, I wish I had.  They are great kids, I miss them.

 

 

DAVID<~~~~~~~Family Man (without a family)

 

and for the record, AOL is incompetent...

    After work today I drove to the STL Mills Mall (David<~~child of the Eighties) to see The Omen,  I slept thru it.  I popped into the Games Workshop (David<~~UBERnerd) and picked up the new White Dwarf and a "Fallen Giant" Template.  Suffered thru the mediocre service at Tony Roma's Ribs (David<~~loves their Onion Loaf) and watched all the un supervised High School dropouts act the fool and use vulgar language at the top of their voices.  On the way home it started to rain and that tends to point me toward melancholy so I jotted this down...

 

What will the 'Half Full Man' do,

and how can he hope for more?

When all his dreams are dashed,

and hope is poured out on the floor?

 

     My Roomie has a keg and invited his cousins over to drink it with him.  I waved at them on the back porch as I headed to my den.  Now I'm pecking away on my laptop and chewing on my pen...

 

 

 

David<~~~~~on a Saturday Night (what a player I am...)

 

 

 

This I Believe

Family.  Love.  Fossils.  Art.  Stories.  Poetry.  Myself.  Lemonade.  Zydeco.  Dancing.  Autumn.  Cherry dipped cones.  Humankind.  Comic Books.  Musicals.  Forests.  Scary Monkey's wearing a Fez.  Celtic Music.  Air Conditioning.  Separation of Church and State.  New Wave.  Photography.  Sex.  Work.  Wargames.  Travel.  BBQ.  Wingtip Shoes.  Flat tops.  Harry Ramsden's Traditional Tomato Ketchup.  Calvin and Hobbes.  Herpetology.  Ireland.  America.  Bluegrass.  History.  Nasa.  Mythology.  Jazz.  Tolkien.  The Watchmen.  Snufkin.  Matching my belt and socks.  Shrimp Cocktail.  Candlelight.  The sound of crickets.  Blues.  My Claddaugh ring.  Butterflies.  Marlin Fishing Caps.  Science Fiction.  Adam Ant.  The Circus.  Sobriety.  Friendship.  Vidalia Onions.  Boston Terriers.  Morality.  How beautiful most women are when they think no one is watching them...

 

 

(David on a Monday night and I'm talking to my Dad on the phone right now)

 

Here is a sketch I did in High School of Jenny Renner one of our Cheerleaders...

 

 

A bubblegum update:  I left the Bubblicious in my car and the heat cause some kind of chemical reaction and made the gum inert.  I shoved the entire rest of the pack into my mouth but it wasn't even bubblegum any longer, it just had the shape of bubblegum and the color of bubblegum...

 

(David on day two of his three days off in a row...)

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

     Why chew one piece of Bubblicious Bubble Gum when you can shove TWO pieces into your mouth!  That way both pieces lose their flavor at the same time and you can make your jaw hurt from chewing way too much gum, ::points to the side of my head:: "Logical!"

     I just got back from FIRESTONE (notice that I did NOT spend any money at DOBBS).  I bought a new tire and now my car doesn't shimmy any more.  I was kind of getting used to the Latin Highway Rhythm.  I also stopped at AutoZone and bought a new set of hubcaps (they were more expensive than at Wal-Mart but I'll be damned if I spend any money in the Evil Empire).  Please don't get me confused with a "Car Guy".  My buddy Pablo can appreciate this, it took me three trips out to look at my car before I figured out what size of hubcaps to buy.  I also bought some bubble gum there and I am still chewing the flavorless oversized lump right now...

 

David and I am so NOT a Gearhead...

 

 

I write because it makes me feel better to set things down...

 

an audience of one

 

the ceiling fan

skips a pattern

of shadows

across the face

of my digital clock

it flashes

the incorrect time

in an attempt 

to follow the beat

all is quiet

in my room

my laptop

hums to itself

I have a song

dancing

through my head

a catchy tune

familiar lyrics

I stare blindly

at the stacks

of things

I have accumulated

they don't look

as attractive now

just stuff

gathering dust

their stories fade

lose their meaning

did I really

go there

did I really

breath that air

or is it

someone else's story

I tap out the beat

on my keyboard

and try

to put it all down

so nothing else is lost

I perform for

an audience of one

 

David Austin Smith May 2006

 

 

(it's 1:13am and I'm not asleep)

Supposedly they are making The Watchmen into a movie...

I took an online personality test to see which of The Watchmen characters I mostly resembled...

I tested out as The Comedian (I'm not sure if I should be flattered or if the World should be afraid)

 

Here are some links that deal with The Watchmen...

 

http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~wald/watchmen-index.html 

http://www.capnwacky.com/rj/watchmen/chapter1.html

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/mooreportal/watchmen.html

 

 

 

::big grin::

 

 

DAVID<~~~~~~Tattoo Snob!

     There are tattoos that I have seen that I like.  But honestly most people do not think for themselves and just do what the person standing next to them is doing.  If I had a dime for every chick with a tattoo on the small of her back I could retire.  In my mind tattoos have traveled from "Biker" to "Punk" to "Trendy" to "White Trash".  Please keep in mind that I have had my tats picked out for a long time now and I had a subscription to "SkinArt" for the first year it was published.  But I don't have any tattoos on my body.  It is a permanent addition.  They don't come off with rubbing alcohol...  We have an entire Generation that look like two year olds that have gotten a hold of a permanent marker and scribbled all over themselves.  It is especially sad for the women.  They now have a permanent fashion accessory that they can't take off, there will come a time when they want to wear something and they won't be able to, or want to go somewhere and they can't because of their tattoo.  And just think, pretty soon we will have 60 yr old women with blue fuzzy tattoos like the WWII Vets have.  ::shudder::  One of the good things about women and tattoos is that if you ask to see them they will whip out their boob or undo their jeans to show you, that's kind of nice.  I haven't gotten my tattoos because I'm not convinced that they will look so good on me.  I don't want to be trendy (remember I took out the earring in my left ear when all the other guys got their ears pierced). So I don't know.  I dated a girl that had some plants and flowers that started on her lower back and ended up between her shoulders and it looked great, but she also had a pumpkin tattooed on her foot ::shrugs::  David<~~has been to a tattoo convention.  All the female managers I work with have tattoos (except the oldest one and she is planning to get one soon), but NONE of the male managers do...  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I graduated High School in 1983 and I witnessed the madness that was the fashion craze called Clogs...  Ugliest shoe in existence and it makes a girl sound like a cow coming down the hallway (at least the Crocs aren't loud).  So what is my opinion worth?  NOTHING.  Do what you like.  The world needs another Tweety Bird peeking out of some woman's cleavage...

 

(still sick and i'm in an ugly mood)

 

 

this entry is best viewed in a box and not full screen...

David<~~~~~~~SICK!

 

 

Today is my day off, the only one I have this week...and I'm sick as a dog.  I must have been a wicked person in my previous life...

 

david and i'm not feeling so hot...

 

 

 

 

 

It's 1:11am on Sunday morning

I closed tonight.  I stopped at Uncle Bill's for some pork chops and hashbrowns.  I finished the book I was reading.  My boss suggested it to me.  I was the only person in the restaurant that was eating by myself.  There was a huge family gathering with about 12 people gathered at the three tables they had pushed together for them.  A group of 7 High School students was dressed up, they were eating an early breakfast after the dance.  An oriental couple sat at the front of the restaurant.  She had on a billowy black dress, and wore black strappy high heels on her feet which were attached to very shapily legs.  The people in the smoking section kept the entire place smelling of smoke.  I am going to make a broad statement that is none the less true, "All smokers are litterbugs."  My waitress was named Jen.  She used to wait on me all the time when I ate there regularily late at night.  She would ask me what I was reading and she once set her foot up on the seat I was sitting at so I could see the tattoo on her ankle.  When I left the restaurant I put a quarter in the gumball machine, then put another one in too.  I was hoping for a pink bubblegum ball.  I got a blue one and then a green one.  It's ok, they were filled with "Nerd" candy, lol, how appropiate.  I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen's 'WE SHALL OVERCOME The Seegar Sessions."  Folk, Traditional, and Bluegrass music, I love it, his voice is perfect for folk.  I hauled some of the books I had recently purchased into the house:

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak (this is a great book about a girl in Nazi Germany narrated by Death)

DOC HOLLIDAY THE LIFE AND LEGAND by Gary L. Roberts (if you liked the movie Tombstone you will love this book)

RAVENOR by Dan Abnett (Sci/fi...David<~~~~~getting his "Nerd" on)

E.E. CUMMINGS COMPLETE POEMS 1904-1962 (bought this one because the cover had a coffe stain on it and I didn't want to see it wasted)

 

from the song Mrs. McGrath...

"All foreign wars I do proclaim, Live on blood and a mother's pain, I'd rather have my son as he used to be, Than the King of America and his whole Navy!"

I just lost the poem I was working on

I was writing a new poem on my journal and AOL just ate it...

 

(grumble grumble, gonna go eat a hambuger now...)

 

 

 

 

::does the Cabbage Patch::

    I stopped by my Dry Cleaners on the way home from work today.  I had dropped off my Marlin Fishing Cap to be cleaned.  It is still really old and falling apart, but I love it.  It is now khaki and black vinyl as opposed to "sweat stained" colored.  The original cap I bought for myself when my first fiance and I toured New England to celebrate her graduation from college.  One of our stops was the LL Bean Factory Outlet store in Freeport Maine.  I have always been a sucker for unusual hats.  As a kid I had an Australian Bush hat (the brim turned up on one side and had mosquito netting tucked away inside), in High School I had a ball cap that read "Go Big Blue", and in College I wore a black Greek Fisherman's Cap and an orange Preppy Sun Hat (that had two buttons on it: One of a Cow thinking "No Nukes" and the other of a Nuclear Power Plant thinking "No Cows").  AnyWHOOOO...  I turned a corner and there he was, hanging on a wall with his brothers, on sale.  LL Bean had a sign up explaining that Hemingway popularized it when he lived in Key West, there are photos of Pappa wearing it on his boat "Pilar" when he went deep sea fishing off the Keys.  John Wayne also wore one in his movie "Hatari" (a rip off story of Hemingway in Africa on Safari).  The orgin cap was named "Bill" of course and is now retired and living out his Golden Years framed behind glass hanging on my wall.  Ever since I began wearing Marlin Fishing Caps I feel weird wearing a normal sized ball cap, they feel tiny on my head.  The only normal sized cap I feel OK in is the General Dynamics cap my Dad literally took off his head and gave to me to wear when I was visiting him on the Ranch in Texas.  ::shrugs::  I have my cap back now and I am a happy camper...

 

David on Monday evening (and I have it on right now)

 

 

A goat's tale...

     Last Saturday I was off, it was a rainy day and I was bored...so I went to the Zoo.  I took my camera so I could snap some pictures, my book so I could read when I ate lunch, and the rain coat that I wore when I toured the UK so I wouldn't get wet.  The pictures I took are included in my Webshots album and above.  Let me tell you a story...

 

     When you first arrive at the Zoo you can purchase a "Zoo Pass" that allows you to ride the Zoo Train, the Carousel, see the Insectarium, attend the Children's Zoo, get a bag of popcorn free, and get a free souvenir pen and pencil.  A pretty good deal all around.  I bought one.  Eventually I made it to the Children's Zoo.  I always go, they have excellent exhibits on frogs in the main building.  They also have a petting zoo... ::grins:: David<~~~~~goat scratcher from WAYYYYYY BACK!  In the yard they have pygmy goats and some beautiful pigeons in a coop.  So I am walking around petting goats, talking to goats, scratching goats between their horns, trying not to step in goat poop, you know the usual stuff.  I am fussing over a fat little goat when one of the older nannies gets interested in me.  She keeps walking around to my left and is obsessing over something on that side.  I'm thinking is she chewing on one of the cords dangling from my raincoat?  There is nothing on that side except for my book in my pocket.  So I spin around fast trying to see what she is doing and I'm just quick enough to catch her yanking my bookmark out of my book.  I bought it at work, it's a cloth bookmark woven to look like an oriental rug.  Presto, Chango, just like magic the goat makes the bookmark disappear.  A kid nearby yells to the Petting Zoo attendant, "That goat just ate something".  I worry that this might cause blockage in the goat or something so I spend a bit of time trying to get my bookmark back, but the goat is really determined to keep it.  The attendant eventually gets a wet and slimy bookmark out of the goat's mouth and puts it on top of a fence post to dry for me.  I tell her that I don't need it back.  I also notice the other "trophies" that have been rescued from the clutches of the Petting Zoo yard, quite an impressive collection...

     This is a metaphor for life really.  Sometimes as you go about your normal day things happen.  Goats try to eat things.  Do you get mad at the goat?  It is only doing what goats do...not it's fault, it can't change it's behavior, it doesn't have a choice.  You just let it go, not worth the trouble.  Just go about your day and have fun at the Zoo...

 

David on a Sunday ::winks::

 

 

I figured out who the annoying guy is...

The person who was putting the "Hate Speech" on my journal is the BA Stalker.  He hangs around in the room and harrasses everyone and makes up lies about the room regulars.  I guess it was my turn.  It is a shame that there are people out there with such miserable lives that the only attention they get is when they act the fool.  So from now on I will not say it's name and will keep it on iggy, that's the worst thing you can do to attention craving people like that.

 

David on Thursday

 

 

 

Yesterday, I received some stock from my Company

     Hello faithful readers... Yesterday I received an envelope in the mail with the details of the Grant of Stock Options from my Company.  They gave me a bunch of shares with 25% coming to me every year for 4 years.  These are called Restricted Stocks because I can't sell them or transfer them untill they vest.  But on the upside, I don't have to pay for them, they just become mine over time.  So now I get to obsess over some new stock prices...LOL!  I used to have a ton of stock with KB Toys but I had to sell it all off when I was unemployed.  So it's rebuilding time, socking away a little bit for my nest egg...Tweep Tweep...

 

David on a rainy Saturday morning, I think I'll go to the Zoo...

 

 

The original Pledge of Allegiance

 

"I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

 

                            

 

                :)

 

 

I love Cowboy Mouth

GLAD TO BE ALIVE (by Cowboy Mouth)

Anybody can be sad, you can't see the good when it goes bad / Then you end up blue and through but that's alright / Got my share of people who love me / Got my share of problems that bug me / Every now and then it's hard but that's alright / How many times have we been here before? / (Chorus) When you're walking down the street / Feel the rhythm in your feet / Of a life that's rushing by / Are you glad to be alive? / Nothing ever goes as planned / Get your head out of your hands / Scream and shout like you were five / Are you glad to be alive? / Sometimes you gotta sneak in the back door / You can't always get what you ask for / But what you need you got inside / And that's alright / How many times have you been here before? / So pick your sorry ass up off the floor / (Chorus) / So that's my story / 'tis sad but true / For those who know me / What else are we to do? / (Chorus)

 

Music can change your life...

 

 

(HA!  I will NEVER give up)

The first sign of Spring!

    THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY i WAS DRIVING ON MY WAY TO WORK AND i STOPPED AT AT LIGHT AND NOTICED SOMETHING SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION.  MY PAST EXPERIENCE TELLS ME IT'S A TURTLE.  i CAN'T TELL IF IT'S ALIVE OR NOT SO i WAIT FOR THE LIGHT TO CHANGE.  WHEN IT TURNS GREEN i SLOWLY EDGE OUT INTO THE INTERSECTION TO SEE FOR SURE.  YEP IT'S ALIVE AND STUCK IN A VERY PRECARIOUS POSITION.  i TURN OFF MY CAR AND HOP OUT TO SNATCH IT UP.  THE LADY BEHIND ME LAYS ON THE HORN AND i HOLD UP ONE FINGER TO SAY TO HER, "HOLD ON FOR ONE SEC PLEASE".  WHEN i CLEAR THE FRONT OF MY CAR i NOTICE ANOTHER GUY HAS STOPPED ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AND AS i SCOOP UP THE TURTLE HE YELLS "COOL" AT ME.  i RETURN TO MY VEHICLE AND HOLD UP MY PRIZE TO THE LADY BEHIND ME TO SHOW HER WHY i STOPPED.  SHE SMILES AT ME AND NODS HER HEAD.  i DEPOSIT MY NEW FRIEND IN THE FLOORBOARD OF THE PASSENGER SIDE OF MY CAR AND START UP THE ENGINE.  i ALMOST MISS THE GREEN LIGHT.  MY NEW FOUND BUDDY IS TRYING TO CLIMB THE CARPET AND DISAPPEAR BEHIND MY DASHBOARD.  i TAP THE TURTLE ON THE TOP OF IT'S SHELL WITH MY ICE SCRAPER IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET IT TO STOP IT'S VANISHING ACT.  i ALMOST GET INTO SEVERAL ACCIDENTS TRYING TO WRANGLE 'MY LITTLE HERD OF ONE' SO i PICK IT UP TO KEEP IT OUT OF TROUBLE.  IT IS AN ORNATE BOX TURTLE AND HAS THE MOST ORANGE ON IT THAT i HAVE EVER SEEN.  REALLY BEAUTIFULL AND OLD.  THE EYE COLOR OF BOX TURTLES TELLS YOU WHAT SEX THEY ARE, THIS ONE HAS THE BIGGEST ORANGE EYES BUT i CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT SEX THAT MEANS.  SO I'M DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD WITH MY LEFT HAND, SETTING DOWN THE TURTLE WHEN i NEED TO SHIFT AND TRYING NOT TO GET INTO A WRECK.  LOL, i MUST BE A SIGHT, GRINNING FROM EAR TO EAR HOLDING A ORNATE BOX TURTLE IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC...  i ARRIVE AT MY STORE AND HAUL MY CATCH INTO THE STORE WITH ME.  NO ONE COMMENTS THAT THEIR BOSS IS CARRYING A TURTLE THRU THE STORE, i GUESS THEY EXPECT THAT KIND OF STUFF FROM ME.  ::SHRUGS::  i SHOW IT TO SEVERAL OF MY ANIMAL LOVING CO-WORKERS AND THEN HEAD TO THE RECEIVING ROOM.  i POP OUT THE BACK DOORS AND TAKE MY BUDDY OVER TO THE WOODS AND DEPOSIT IT IN THE WEEDS NEXT TO THE CREEK.  i WATCH IT FOR A BIT AND THEN HEAD BACK TO THE RECEIVING ROOM BECAUSE THE CAFE TRASH NEEDS EMPTYING.  IT ONLY TAKES ABOUT 5 MINUTES AND THEN i HEAD BACK TO THE WOODS TO LOOK AT THE TURTLE AGAIN BUT IT HAS VANISHED.  GONE.  i HOPE IT STAYS OUT OF THE ROADS FROM NOW ON...

 

 

St. David the Patron Saint of Lost Turtles...

 

 

I had an annoying guy putting comments on my journal today

While I was in BA, some random guy started putting these rude hateful comments on my journal.  Idiot didn't realize that I have an Alert set up so that I know when someone posts a comment.  I erased the "Hate Speech" as soon as he typed it.  He couldn't figure out how I knew...::shakes head at stupidity::  I also put my responses to his posting on my journal.  I control the content in here ::shrugs:: he needs to get some common sense and learn how to function in a polite society...

 

DAVID AUSTIN SMITH

04/10/06 AT 11:28PM

 

I like to dance because I'm good at it...

MUSIC SPEAKS TO ME

a guitar riff greets me

the bass drum demands my attention

the bass mummers in the background

a piano holds the conservation

and keeps it on track

music speaks to me

it's a language that I know

my body responds

and moves of it's own accord

keeping the beat

keeping the conversation going

closing my eyes

nodding my head

tapping out the beat

against my leg

my feet move

they have somewhere to go it seems

tap tap slide

time to move

time to dance

time to be

 

 

DAS 04/10/06

 

(I bought the soundtrack to The Sopranos today, can you tell?)

 

 

lol...

 

I have to decide to move past this

I went out to eat seafood for lunch today.  I ate at Red Lobster down in Chesterfield Valley.  I found myself in PetsMart looking at Vivariums.  I am thinking about doing a Madagascar tank with Tomato Frogs, a 'Phantasticus' Gecko, a Hissing Cockroach, and one of the Day Geckos.  I would put in a mammal from the island but he might attack the other animals.  I would also like a bird but he would poop all over everything and one of the herps might eat him.  I then wandered into World Market.  In my head I was going to look at things to decorate my new bedroom with, I also checked out hammock prices.  But I knew I was kidding myself when I ended up standing in their "Easter" dept.  I went to World Market to buy stuff for their Easter Baskets when I still lived with my wife.  I don't know if I will ever get married again, the odds are against it.  I am not the "giving up" kind of guy, but I'm not stupid.  I just feel foolish saying "Never Never Never Quit" when in reality I have about a 10% chance of ever getting married again.  I have an even lower chance to ever fool around.  Some CATCH 22  huh?  So I have to find a way to live with this.  It sneaks up on me sometimes, I go a whole day without thinking about it at times.  It gets better... A Conservative Liberal (soon to be Divorced, if I ever get off my butt and do something about it) Atheist with a Type A personality, too much debt, who wants to have a family but is attracted to women his own age (the majority of which already have kids and don't want anymore or can't have kids due to their age), that lives with his College Buddy AND is a major nerd.  Some catch huh?  If it was anyone else but me it'd be funny and I'd be laughing. 

Laugh Cuckooborough Laugh Cuckoobourgh, how gay your life must be...

 

 

 

 

::dances the dance of fools::

(capering and everything)

::knocks off my own hat::

 

 

 

 

 

David on Sunday Night (whoops I forgot to go to Church)

 

 

 

 

QUESTION:  What is the sound of self pity?

ANSWER: (see Above)

 

 

 

::picks up my Jester's Hat, dusts it off, and laughs when the bells jingle::

 

 

 

 

 

 

The King of Fools

THE KING OF FOOLS

 

i sit here waiting

for courage to remember

the hurt is fading

nothing left to hinder

the truth must be spoken

the pain isn't as close

as it once was for me

the consequences are gross

in a vain attempt

to write it all down

the King of Fools

adjusts his Crown

he takes out his pen

draws it across the page

leaving a visual clue

of all the pain and the rage

the death of a dream

leaves him empty and lost

The King of Fools

always counts the cost

because dreams die easy

and dreams die quiet

one ugly hearted woman

started that riot

the King of Fools

was an easy target

he stood there smiling

called onto the carpet

for things he did

and things she imagined

for things she wanted

money was all that mattered

she gave him a burden

that he has to bear

the King of Fools

pretends he hasn't a care

he smiles away

the pain and loss

his dream is gone

he counts the cost

everyone sees the King

in his harlequin glory

not noticing his pain

not knowing his story

that's ok with me

i am that King

the King of Fools

remembers everything...

 

 

DAS 4/6/6

hmmmmmmmmmm

LAME

 

it's early in the morning

and I'm not in bed

I woke up early

had these thoughts in my head

they drove me upright

I'm staring at my screen

can't get to sleep

if you know what I mean

so I type these rhymes

in a vain attempt

to ease my mind

about the life I've spent

the things I've done

and the things I haven't

the dreams I'll achieve

and the thoughts I'll patent

So I'm looking for a way

to end this poem

with some stupid cliche

or a forced rhyme like home

 

 

(any complaints please direct to the Rhyming Board Local 3594)

 

 

i'm still david...