Mel Gibson throws a fit for the world to hear!

As has been reported Mel Gibson has been recorded saying violent and hateful things to his girlfriend, mistress or whatever she is and as usual the media in this country are talking about it like it is some news worthy story that should be told.  In the last few weeks it has been Lindsay Lohan and her trial and how it has been for her and even her dad has gotten media attention.  I for one am asking the question, “Why do you care what these people are doing”?.   The media will say the reason they report on these “hollywood types” is because we want to hear about it and sad to say, but I believe this to be true and I list below a few reasons why some in this country care about these Hollywood people.

1)Bored with their own life some people want to live in someone else’s life.

2)Some people think these stars are bigger than life and are mesmerized by everything they do.

3)My life would be so much better if I had the life of a Hollywood star.

4)Their lives are so much more fascinating and fun than my life.

These are just a few and I could go on and on, but you get the point.  I like to watch movies, shows on TV and keep up with a few actors I enjoy and there is nothing wrong with this but I would like to point out that we all need a balance in life.  Anyone one thing we latch onto can keep us out of balance with other things in our life and fixation on Hollywood and what they are doing is one of them.

I was talking with my son and agree with what he said about how the media in this country keeps this whole society wrapped up in stuff like this while serious issues in this country are ignored like the economy, healthcare and the war in Afghanistan.  While we are asleep at the switch paying attention to trivial things like Mel Gibson throwing a fit, this government is out of control with what they are imposing on us in the way of taxes and telling us how we should live!

All of us should pay attention to what is going on around us and stop worrying about what People magazine, Entertainment tonight have to say and pay attention to what your government is doing and prepare yourself for the election this fall so you can make a difference and send a message to Washington that we are paying attention and will not be distracted by Mel Gibson or Lindsay Lohan and their personal problems.

People Observation #8: Treated better at the local “honky tonk” than at Church

I have posted about our dance lessons and meeting new people and how fun this and got me to thinking about this and how we have been treated by some church members in the past in comparison to how we have been treated by our new relationships in the last few years.  For starters this is not a slam on the Church as I am a Christian, served on committees, attending regularly etc… all my life so my view is from extensive experience.  When we began to take our lessons and go to the local “honky-tonk” several people came right up to talk with us, within a few months we were invited with the group to a cookout, we went to the gun range together etc… and have made some good friends.  A few months later we met a different set of couples and within a few months they were inviting us to go on their out-of-town dance trips they had been taking together for several years and accepted us into their group which I thought was awesome.

In comparison to some church’s I have attended there are group’s already established and they do not want to let you in. Or, some people are self-righteous because they think you don’t attend enough and judge you for it.  Of all places where you should be included and not judged for things out of your control is in your Church!! I hope people who call themselves Christians really think this is ok?? The Church is not a country club for certain people to decide if they are good enough to be included or not.  It is sad that I can meet people who are not regular church attenders treat me better than some I have gone to Church with and it should not be this way. Then some wonder why Church attendance is dropping in this country and can’t figure out why.  We all can make mistakes and not realize what our attitude can do someone else, but if you did make an honest mistake then own up to it and try not to do it again, but don’t continually have a sorry attitude towards someone else especially in Church and if you are a Christian.

People Observation #7: Being Self Centered always leads to conflict

I was out with our group of friends last night for dancing and there is one man who attends that lives in our area while his family lives 7 hours away.  He will dance with the different ladies at the club and a few in particular on a regular basis.  I talk with him and we are friends and says he works here in the medical field and says he can’t find a job in the city he is from which is much larger than ours.  This person attends this club 3-4 nights a week while his wife takes care of the kids back home.  This seems odd to me but I do not judge or condemn anyone as this is his business.  But the reason I bring it up is because there apparently has been a change in the last few weeks.

Several weeks ago he said his wife called stressed out about the kids and he was upset saying about this.  Last week he left early and the last night he was not even there and some said the wife has put and end to “honky tonkin”!!  I am not picking on this person but I post this to make point in relation to the title of my post. This person seemed to be interested in himself and claiming “I just want to have a good time”.  Maybe not even thinking about the toll these decision were having on his family.  Sometimes we all can get caught up in “ourselves” and not take the time to think about others especially in our family situations.  When we only think about ourselves this can lead to conflict and sometimes years of separation and disconnect from those around us.

To me this is a good lesson, when the “red alert” is going off about the way you are acting then stop and listen to the alert it could save you a lot of grieve and headache down the road!

People Observation #6: Today they speak!

As I posted yesterday about my dance competition I wanted to add about my observation of the people I met and some that I was already familiar with.  I met one lady who talked to me about their group event from another city and was very interested in us attending their event, she was very pleasant and nice and we had a good conversation.  Seemed like to me the non professional dancers acknowledged and spoke with you but, there was another group of people from the dance club from the same city I live and how they acted and this is the point of my post.

We have seen these people out at local dance events and they sit off in a corner to themselves, don’t speak to anybody but who is in their group and present themselves as arrogant and egotistical all because they can dance better than others or think they can.  I don’t kiss up to anybody and I don’t care who you are if you can’t act civil.  Don’t get me wrong I believe in networking and all but I am not going to kiss somebody’s ass so they will like me!  Anyway, we competed in our dance competition categories and according to others we ran into and the judging we did well.  What do yo know?? Some of these people in the “stuck up” group acknowledged us, spoke to us and one of the women even asked me to dance!!

I just don’t get this?? I don’t think you should present yourself as superior to other people no matter what their ability and standing.  The next time I am in the same area with these people I am not going to run to them like they are my new friends!! I am going to stick with the friends I have!  There is no issue with being good at what you do, but remember “pride goes before a fall” and this could happen to any of us so that is why I stay humble and it has served me well.

I learned to do the Polka!

I have made a few posts on my blog about the dance lessons I have been taking but not gone into a lot of detail but wanted to post the current state of my “dance career”!! lol.  Anyway, this past weekend my wife and I competed in our first competition and we had a great time.  We have been preparing intensely for the last six months as we competed in 7 different dances but we have had the most fun with the Polka.  It is lively with upbeat music, kind of like how I am so that is why I wanted to mention it in my blog.

I did not feel like I was nervous but obviously when you do something for the first time there is some anxiety involved, but also excitement.  Anyway, to add to my “excitement” for my first time not only did we have to dance the Polka first we were the only ones in this heat for Polka!!  Talk about anxiety!! But it never crossed our minds to scratch as we had come this far so we were going to finish. I had talked to my instructor afterwards and she has known people to scratch if they are the only ones in the competition.

I have posted video below to show how much fun we had and are having!!  As most of you know it is important to set goals and try something you have never done before and see it through!!  There is such a sense of accomplishment that says “I did it” and makes you want to keep trying.  As you can tell by the video it seemed like the people clapping had fun as well and that made it all the more special.  I may post my other videos of the different dances if it inspires other people in their goals but I will see how this one does first!!

Plan B is my video of the Polka at the follow address:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzUUr0daeRQ

Neubworthy notes on U.N. sanctions against Iran

The U.N. voted 12-2 for more sanctions against Iran because of its suspected nuclear program with Turkey and Brazil voting no and Lebanon abstaining.  Interesting that in this vote Russia and China went along with the western nations in approving the sanctions against Iran.  Obviously, these U.N. votes or resolutions to do have sway over any country in trying to get them to “behave”.  But, makes you wonder what made Russian and China go along this time when in the past they have been against anything the security council wanted to do in the case of Iran and its nuclear program.

To me this seems to be headed down the same track like Iraq; UN sanctions, resolutions, threats of more sanctions and finally some type of military response.  I have lived long enough now to have a view of history in relation to current events and you can see when a problem is not dealt with at the time, you only put off the inevitable of having to deal with it later such as Iran.  The Ayatollah Khomeini took over in 1979 which was allowed by President Carter and at that time Carter was probably thinking if we make nice with him all would be ok, well it wasn’t!! Iran has been at war with the U.S. for 30 years through its proxy’s and because we did not deal with them 30 years ago this is where we are today.

Just like I stated above and applies to all aspects of life you have to deal with the problem in the present because if you don’t, you will have to deal with it sometime in the future whether you like it or not.

Life advice for Today

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about his work situation.  He is younger than me and was asking about working in a corporation and sometimes he sees other people getting to do things or opportunities that he does not get and is getting frustrated. I have talked with him before about the three things I try to apply in my work life that hopefully help in trying to get noticed that will help your career and they are 1)Have a good attitude, 2)Work Hard, 3)Listen to the Coach.  He thinks he has done these things and says he is getting frustrated about it.

I told my friend this has happened to me over the years and sometimes it is nothing you have done, but for some reason unknown to you things are not playing out like you want.  I told my friend if I get to the point where he is then I try to do several things to deal with it.  I will try to take additional education courses and training as this helps me to get my mind off of the immediate issue and makes me feel like I am making some type of progress or doing something about my situation.  In my personal life  I have my wife who I can share with and as I have stated in a previous post we enjoy dancing and taking our dance lessons.  This may sound strange but because of the amount of brain power it takes to learn and complete a dance, all my brain energy goes into this and I have completely forgotten about what has been frustrating me for the week.

I told my friend to try something that fits him that will help him focus on something else besides his situation because he doesn’t need to sit around and get all frustrated and bitter.  I would recommend this to any one who might read this post.  As you go through life there are going to be a lot of frustrations and we all need to vent, but to sit around and stew about it  doesn’t do you any good.  Like I told my friend, what he does for a living or a promotion he did not get does not define him as the person he is.  What defines him is his character, integrity, honesty, his word and how he treats other people.   This can be hard for all of us to do, even myself, but we all need to find a way to make this work.  Life too short to sit around being hacked off all the time for things we cannot do anything about or that is out of our control.

Dance Lessons

I wanted to blog about the dance lessons my wife and I have been taking. When our youngest son was a senior in high school we started talking about what we were going to do with are free time since we would not have to chase and haul kids around anymore.  We had seen and heard about others whose kids had left home and the husband and wife don’t know each other anymore because they were raising kids.  We didn’t want to be like that so we started trying to think of something we could do together so we decided to take dance lessons.  Some of our friends will say “you only doing it because your wife wants too” which is totally not true.

I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and I have found it to be a big stress reliever as well.  As the man I have to lead, listen to the beat, and think about what I have to do next and I find that during my lesson or going dancing I totally forget all the other stuff that has gone on during the day because I need to concentrate. We have also met new friends that we would have never had the chance to meet if we had not decided to try something new. Right now we are working on “Polka”!! I never did like country music and could not stand it, but the beat goes with the dancing I like and here I am listening to country music!! I will keep posting about our progress.

So my “neubworthynote” about this is to say:  To those of you that are married and your kids have, or about to leave the home  begin to find something you and your spouse can do together to make sure you stay connected especially after your kids have moved out.  Try something new and get out of the house, off the couch or whatever but try something new.  I still have to get myself thinking like this, but my advice is to just get up and try something new.  Life is too short!!

That is why I am “trying to blog” because I am trying something new.