Where is Anything Anymore: Road Trip Journal Part V

I'm getting location fatigue. I really have no idea where I've been. It's all a blur. One town after another, one long highway after another. The Red Bulls and drinking every couple of days can't be helping, either. There's no pace to it, no rhythm, just one long slog that molds into another.

Not that this isn't great country or a fine trip, it's just that it is slowly becoming one big ball with no beginning and no end. I guess I have the photos to dileniate one day from the next. I guess that's one of the reasons we keep photos, right?

That's one of the reasons I went on this trip. I won't kid you that I went on it because I love my dad so very much that I had to spend two weeks with him. Hell, I've been in love and I don't know if I'd choose to spend two weeks with her on an island somewhere or a well-equipped SUV, even. I wanted to go on this trip to see large chunks of this country that I've never seen before and I wanted to go on it to find and buy stuff.

Today I finally found some of the things I was looking for. It's only been a small amount of postcards and some clothing items. It proves that this junk is out there, though, it isn't just all

The things we buy have a certain allure. Whether or not that power is a good thing is a whole other discussion, but the things we buy and live around have more meaning than just what they're meant to do.

There's a Japanese called "tsukunogami," which is the idea that after an object hits its centennial, it becomes a living being. I'm sure I'm missing part of the trick here. The general idea remains, though, which is that these objects have an energy of their own.And I love it because it means that I'm not just buying up crap to fill my life with. It means that I'm buying up the spirit of something that has a history and an energy beyond you buying it over a counter. It's why old stuff is cooler than new stuff.

I see that in the photos my dad has already bought, in the photos that spurred this road trip on in the first place.A photo of a bunch of men in mustaches is just that until you come back to that exact place ninety years later and hand that photo back to the person who owns the place. It proves the place existed, that people went there and cared about it back then and it isn't just some ugly place where people get drunk. Not to say that it isn't that, as well.

High Point: Dad and I rolled down into town and after some detective work, which included talking to a cowboy who trained at the same Army base as my dad, we figured out where one of our old bar photos belonged. It was down the street aways and even had an article in the newspaper that very day (none of it mentioned the old business that was in the postcard, much less the giant bear in the postcard. . . ).

I had to talk him into believing that it was the place, but after finding a few architectural indicators, he finally broke down and admitted it was the place (not that I was right, just that it was the place that I was saying it was).

The building was abandoned and the door was wide open. We walked in, shouting ahead of us, partially out of respect for the place and its owners and mostly out of a desire to not get a face full of birdshot to the gut. It is Montana, after all.

Sub-High Point: I got to wear my Brokeback Mountain cordouroy jacket today when it started raining.

Low Point: I lost two pool games in a row by sinking the Eight Ball within three or four turns. It was rough. Real rough.

Waldoism of the Day: "We wake up, we eat breakfast, we dive, we eat lunch, we go to sleep, we wake up, we do it again."

This is How it Ends: Road Trip Journal Part III

I'm so drunk and tired.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Bust after bust after bust is, in short, every attempt to hunt down the machines. We had one lead, but as it turns out there is a big difference between Silverton, Idaho and Silver City, Idaho.As it turns out the place that we need to go to is nine hours in the opposite direction. As it turns out one is a residential area in the mountains and the other is a ghost town. And as it turns our our LEAD IS TOTALLY FUCKING FUCKED.

That's okay. At least I got some gravy biscuits out of the deal.

On that note: What's going on with Game of Thrones? As great as this season was and as great of an episode as "The Rains of Castemere" was, I can't help but feel that, well, that was an incredibly weird season finale. I mean, everyone is just left in this really weird place where things are about to happen, but we don't know what that is.

It feels like thirty minutes got cut out of the episode and we're just left to figure out what those thirty minutes were until the next season (which has been every season finale of that show).

You've got Jaime just kind of showing up, with no resolution to Brienne. You have Arya just doing a thing and then there's the next scene and that kind of goes on for every character. I could go on like this naming characters who don't have a real end to their story (Maybe Bran? Probably Sam?). There's no real importance religated to anyone, except Dany who we haven't seen for a whole episode and just has this episode title handed to her. Is that how you end and episode? Is that how you end a season?

It isn't a cliffhanger and it isn't catharsis. It's just stuff coming to a close, capped off by a credits sequence.That's pretty cool, I guess.

Meanwhile in the Bookiverse, you have one of ONE MILLION IMPORTANT EVENTS to end the season on and none of them go down. I understand why this is-- budget, time, pacing, artistic choice-- yet what they chose falls so far short of the mark, it's

Again: It isn't a climax, it's just an ending.

I'm sure season four will start strong, but I still have to wonder: What the fuck? Maybe it was because I was watching it stone cold sober in Mormon country with an internet connection that only allowed me to watch the episode two minutes at a time. This whole situation was not ideal.

That was our Tuesday. Tomorrow we'll be in Montana and then who knows. I keep getting told that things are going to really pick up in Montana and I think that might be the only time anyone ever said that of that state.

High Moment: Dad and I revisited one of the darkest, ugliest hotels we've ever been to which was the Blue Gum Motel. My dad upon seeing it re-christened it the "Blue Bum Motel." He even had a song that went along with it. Well, after fifteen years or so of traveling we have found a rival in Wallace, Idaho's Brook's Motel, which has all of the ambiance of a prison converted into a dorm room. I am not a tall man, but I can touch the ceiling just by reaching up my arms. As good as the internet connection might be, I can't help but feel that I accidentally got booked into a federal prison.I'm half expecting a Saudi to kick down our door and ask if we want hookah.

(We don't.)

Low Moment: We over stayed our welcome at a bar where we were the only customers. While talking to her and her chest tattoos we found out that she had four kids. The whole time this nineteen year old with an energy drink was hanging out the whole time, chewing on his sunglasses. He didn't know who Jackie Gleason was. Neither did the bartender. Then she let her hair down to look sexy.He was a carnie. Then we left. And now I weep.

Waldo Wisdom: "Everybody in Idaho has a big ass and wants to fuck."

Somewhere in the distance I can hear a drunk howling. He must have read my blog.

Things My Dad Said Tonight

On putting soup in a bowl: "This is so complicated."

On Michael Jackson: "I don't understand why he never did the blues."

This is my life. This is the only one I have.

Top 5 Groups of People That Want to Kill My Dad

My dad is an old man. That isn't a relative judgment, the man is simply old and only getting older. He has has been for quite some time. What I've realized about him, though is that the older he gets the more people directly threaten his life in new an insidious ways. It's a cruel irony of life that all of the most terrible things in existence are invented in the last quarter of your life and that everything good in the world occupies the first quarter.

The threats to my father are very real and effect his life in blood-curdling ways. Every day of his life is full of threats to his life by jabbering hordes or barbarians just beyond our front gate. God help us if they ever figure out the side-gate's lock doesn't work.

I could go on and on about how and why and who his life is threatened by, but I'll let the internet's most original art form-- the list-- explain it all to you.



5. Afghans.
Here are what we know about the Afghans-- Fact: Since before time have tried to destroy the United States of America. Fact: An Afghan can keep you warm in winter and spice up a boring looking couch, but is not to be trusted. Fact: We don't know that the Afghan people aren't all Freemasons. Fact: Afghans need to be bombed.

We've been in Afghanistan (correctly pronounced "'Ghanstan") for nearly ten years and there doesn't seem to be any progress. We haven't taken any new territory in years and we yet to take the Taliban capital city (Barack Obama has had two years to take them out, why hasn't he done it yet!?). It is clear that this war can't be won by the liberal go to's of "building government" and "counter-insurgency." It is clear that we need to, as my father has pointed out on countless occasions "Bomb that whole place out."

Why the bureaucrats and intellectuals at the Department of Defense haven't thought this up yet is appalling and more than likely due to the Democratic legislature that's dominated the government since the beginning of the Bush administration. We need to drop nukes on the Afghans, it is the only reasonable way to save them from the threat of Czarist Russian marching over the Oxus River.


4. Iranians.
Iranian Muslims and their allies in Iraq are a new and frightening threat to America. We have never had a hand in the Middle East in any way shape or form and for some reason they want to kill us all and feed us all tabulleh until we start wanting more than one wife. Most of their problems can be laid at the feet of Jimmy Carter, who had the audacity not to attempt another autocratic coup like his better Dwight D. Eisnenhower. This is the only point in history in which the USA did something in the Middle East-- and even then we didn't do anything, so who looks crazy now, Iran?

The Iranians present a unique threat to my father and the American public by creating a two pronged assault on our values-- one by creating nuclear weaponry and the other by buying our restaurants and not paying rent. They both present equally nefarious threats and unfortunately with the nuclear threat, we can't just change the looks when they go away for the weekend.

Iran is also Muslim. That means that they are bad. What about Saudi Arabia, you say? No, they aren't Muslims. Who told you that? That is silly. If the Saudi Arabia was full of Muslims, then I think they'd have something to do with 9/11. Oh what's that? You were mistaken? Yeah, I thought so.

Right now an Iranian is trying to build a bomb. While I'm sure the Democrats in congress would love for them to have a fully functional bomb, what we need to do to save Israel and my dad is to get into a third land war in the Middle East. Luckily, unlike the past ten years, we have the man power and cash to fund a project like that. What's even better is that it will all be paid for and taken care of by the time my dad dies, preventing the Iranians from inflicting any sort of economic payback.

People forget about 9/11 because they don't care about our country as much as my dad does. My dad loves his country so much that during the Vietnam War, when he was asked to enlist, he signed up for the Reserve and valiantly protected his country for a week out of every four. Were there any VC sneak attacks between 1966-1968? Nope. Because a healthy mix of zeal and not wanting to leave the state.

Right now an Iranian is trying to build a mosque on Ground Zero, the holiest land in the United States, right after all of the churches and where ever else they attacked on 9/11 (I think it was a field of some kind). Muslims don't understand that Ground Zero is sacred, not unlike their wailing wall or that Cash to Gold place on Raymond Ave. Since all of New York is now a holy site, having been covered in ash, dust, and TV broadcasts of the 9/11 attacks, it is only fair that Muslims build their mosques under the East River, as our constitution dictates. That way Americans can live in safety, without any more Muslims trying to take over our country, possibly in conjunction with the Chinese or maybe rap music of some kind.


3. The Chinese
China wants to take us over. It's already and established fact that China is going to overpower us economically in ten years, forcing us up past being the number one economic power in the universe to last place. That is how lists work. I wish it were not as ugly as that, but it's a fact. China will stop at nothing to butt in line in front of us, which will only lead to a series of butts that will only stop when Zimbabwe or Czechoslovakia or some other country finally steps in front of us. When you start speaking Chinese one day, don't say that I didn't warn you. . . except that if you did say it, I wouldn't understand you, because I don't speak Chinese.

It is clear by their increasing needs to express themselves freely and demands at more government transparency that the Chinese are just trying to lull us into a false sense of security. Once that is done, they'll club us over the head and take over our country just as the Russians did between the years 1956 and 1960 and the Fire Nation did between 1989 and 2003. We cannot let this happen again. The only possible way to prevent this is to warn people by telling them that the Chinese are taking us over. Say is as many times as you need to until the words lose all meaning. That is when you know the words are working.

If the Cold War taught us anything is that the nuances of human beliefs are just smoke screens to take over Vietnam. And we all know how that went. A Communist is a Communist, no matter how much trade he does with us or no matter how much debt of ours' that he owns. They aren't to be trusted and will stop at nothing to. . . do something.

I'm not entirely sure how the Chinese are going to take us over, but their military spending has increased from 13% of our military budget to 15.2% of our military budget in just thirty years. This rapid uptick in spending can only lead to one conclusion: The Chinese are going to take us over. Either by marching over the Bering Straight, into Alaska, then catching a ferry over to the mainland, or by hiding themselves piece by piece in to-go boxes, biding their time in our fridges, waiting for their moment to reassemble and strike us as one.

Also, the Chinese can't drive.



2. Mexicans.
Mexicans are as old of an enemy of America as the Freemasons or maybe the Jews, depending on what mood they're in.

Mexicans have been stealing jobs from Americans for years. The most obvious example of this dates way back to the 19th century, when a cobbler left his shop for the day. When he returned in the morning, he found that Mexicans had broken in and finished all of his cobbling in secret, without his permission. Typical Mexicans, stealing jobs out from under good, hard-working Americans. Also, the Mexicans played crappy accordion music and one of them might have had a baby in the bathroom.

"But, James," you say, sipping your espresso, readjusting the Afghan around your neck, "Mexicans contribute so much to our society."

Oh, do they? DO THEY REALLY?

Let's do a checklist on what these "Mexicans" have and haven't given us:
* Mexicans did not invent the light bulb. If it was up to them, we'd still be lighting candles like shnooks!
* Mexicans can't even get pitas right. A tortilla, more like tortilladon't. . . Wait, that's shit, give me a moment.
* Mexicans didn't win World War II. They didn't even lose World War II. Make up your mind, Mexico.
* Mexico didn't see one of the all-time, greatest films of all time, Scoot Pilgrim Versus the Universe. Mexico said "I'll wait until it's on DVD." How are we going to get a sequel if you don't see it the first weekend, huh?
* Mexicans might be lizardpeople.
* Wait, I got it, I got it. Tortilla, more like tortillyuck! Yeah. That's good punnery.
* Mexicans stole the pyramids from Egypt. You know what else they stole? My six-speed bike.
* My geography might be off, but if you replace "Visigoths" with "Mexicans," it becomes clear that the Mexican people destroyed the Roman Empire. Do you want us to become like Rome, bloated and vain, with wars in the middle east that we can't pay for, hobbled by ineffective government and cheap farm labor? Do you?
* Mel Gibson made a movie about ancient Mexicans. . . I guess that's one stroke in their favor.

There is no job a Mexican does that can't be filled by an Irishman, who's at least white and at least seem to speaks some kind of English.


1. Liberals.
Liberals are the single greatest threat to my dad and the American people. They're everywhere. They're in our schools, they're in our government, they're in our army (when they say we should stop spending/carpet bombing people), they're on our TV, they're in our Communist parties, they're in our key parties, they're in our key clubs, and they're the number one reason Coke doesn't taste like it used to.

The best presidents in US history have all been good, old-fashioned Conservatives, like Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, and all of our worst presidents have been infamous characters like Bill Clinton and his Magical Surplus Tour and Barack Obama, the single worst president in the history of the United States, including that one year a snake got into the Oval Office and we were forced to abandon the White House. No Liberal has done anything good for the people of the United States ever.

In your ignorance of these threats you might say, "But, wait a minute, didn't a Democratic president win World War II for us?" Well, nice try, but FDR only won that war by using "conservative values." It looks like egg is on your face. Oh, and the myth of FDR pulling us out of the Great Depression? Another liberal lie. The corollary to this should be obvious: Any time a Conservative did something wrong it was because he was being liberal (not to be confused with Liberal) or, possibly, his was crippled by a Liberal congress, like George Bush was time and time again. There is no dark chapter in American history that does not have the stink of the Liberals.

For many years the Liberals stole the newspaper off my dad's front lawn. Also, they once left the fridge open and all of the dairy products went bad. Another time, my dad left his shoe-shop for Classic Liberalism.

There is no conceding to the Liberal, there is no understanding or aid to be given to them, because they are inherently stupider than the rest of us, also they chose to be this way, so they deserve everything they got coming to them. So, it works both ways. Being a Liberal is the worst thing a human being can be and about the most despicable. America wasn't founded by these men. It was founded by hard-working men with old fashioned ideas like freedom of religion, right to representation, right to bare arms, and freedom of speech. Good Conservatives like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Payne all pitched in, using their traditional, Conservative values to campaign for

Liberals, unlike the Chinese, Mexicans, and Muslims, don't want to just take everything we have, but erode it completely. They want to take away our rights to destroy the Constitution. Democrats are the greatest threat that we face as a democracy. They want to change the letter of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by doing something. That's right, everyone, something!

Liberals don't care about the Constitution, that's why they pass laws to take away our rights. For example just look what Barack Obama has done! Just look at all of it! Taking away our rights! There was that one thing. Yeah. And that other thing! I bet you feel the pinch of the boot heel on that one. Oh, yeah, and his health care. Yeah! How about that. Taking away our rights by installing the most banal form of government health insurance imaginable! I bet in three months you'll be attatched to a government-created, life-support system that you have to feed your paycheck into just to buy another week of life. But what if you have a bi-weekly paycheck? Too bad. Welcome to Obama's America.

That isn't what our slave-owning, affair-having, rich, white, dieist forefathers had in mind when they wrote our Constitution in secret, having less than half of the approval of the American people for a revolution! They probably had something else in mind! Probably not this! And they probably had more wigs, too!

Also, our president is black! And gays might want basic civil rights! That kind of thing never used to fly in America and the trolley only cost a nickel. Now we don't even have a trolley and our nickle is made out of lead and crushed-up dreams.

If the Liberals had their way and the Constitution was undermined and changed the way they want it not only would slaves be legally treated like human beings and non-property payers be allowed to vote, but women and all kinds of minorities, as well-- including the Irish! Imagine that, a Catholic getting sworn into office! Not in my America. Not in George Washington's America.

So, when you vote this November, don't think of yourself, think of my poor father who's life is in direct and literal danger by the hordes of so and so's coming over the border/ocean/walls/congressional hearings/delis/Mexican restaurants. American liberty is in your hands American, don't fumble it.