xmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. please put a penny in the old man's hat.
in the past, before i retired and ceased my daily pilgrimage to the downtown core, i would go for a lunch time stroll and hand out money to the panhandlers. i'm thinking about doing it this year but it depends on the weather. yes, i'm a fair weather philanthropist. a few days ago i gave 5 bucks to a panhandler outside the mall. big deal.
more importantly than xmas being around the corner, the days will start getting longer and as they say, the trend is your friend. it's always a good thing when you know that tomorrow will be a better day. christmas is basically a pain in the ass to me. in dr suess' how the grinch stole christmas it was said that his heart grew three sizes that day, but in my pessimistic view of christmas, many people's carbon footprint grow three sizes as they purchase massive amounts of decorations and gifts that aren't needed. seeing new growth on a cedar tree is a much more spiritual event than sitting around and listening to people either boast or belly ache or looking at 3 dudes in robes bring unneeded junk to a baby.
on the 26th i'll sincerely say, merry thank christ it's over day.
now to the fun. last year i said that the pouges' fairy tale of new york was my favorite xmas carol but this year it's the 12 days of xmas. rowdy roddy passed away this year but his spirit lives on:
on trafalmadore, this is our national anthem. we play this version for all holidays and every sentient being from every galaxy that i have encountered both in the future and the past cannot suppress a smile upon hearing it. so enjoy the moment, they call it the present because it's a gift!
i love you sons of bitches.
20 comments:
I heard the average spent in the United States is year is about $850. I spend about half. But I give all year not just at Christmas. Didn't Ebeneezer Scrooge kept Christmas Spirit all year after he was visited by the three Christmas ghost.
Coffee is on
Nice of you to hand out the dough like that! The Pogues one is one of my favorites. Today I heard a Christmas carol by Local H that was rocking as hell. I miss Roddy. He died the day before my wedding.
Well, you could always swim against the tide by planting a tree instead of cutting one down. Then you could find a butch one to climb - a tree I mean.
Going to be in the 70's here, I didn't spend a penny on christmas.
dora - i remember watching a christmas carol with alastair sim many times with my dad and good old dad would quote scrooge throughout the year.
kenneth - i miss roddy too. him smashing the coconuts over snuka's head might have been the greatest moment in rasslin' history.
gb - i planted a few trees when we moved in and really want to add an alaskan weeping cedar but i don't have any good spots left. it'll soon be spring and i'll soon be measuring the two cedars i planted.
king - we have mixed rain and snow at the moment. i hope to christ we don't get any snow on xmas, i don't have snow tires and have to venture out.
I don't come across many panhandlers..there are some in Waco but I am not in that part of town..I raise money for the oldies so I figure that is the best I can do..merry christmas you old fart.
Funny film.
Panhandlers never gave a damn thing to me, so why should I give anything to them unless it's something to put them out of their misery so they won't ugly up the streets, the bums.
js - merry xmas from the ghost of ruby! and merry xmas to nate!
snow - i'll have to get the king's opinion re your stance on panhandlers before responding.
Fuck panhandlers, they eat better than we do, they have a good scam going.
You and nine other folks gave a panhandler five bucks, that was fifty bucks for sitting on his/her ass with a sign. Fuck, I remember the days when I had to work pretty hard for fifty bucks.
Toss one a quarter and see what kind of look you get.
i hope you guys are just pulling my leg.
Love Rowdy. Gonna try and get that on FB. thanks billy and merry xmas.
“i hope you guys are just pulling my leg.”
I have been plagued in my neighborhood by homeless campers, along with their drugs, garbage, and shit, for decades, and have spent hundreds of hours doing everything I can to protect my neighborhood from people who don’t give a damn about anything but finding money for their next bottle of liquor. I have no thought but what they’re homeless because they’re complete fuck-ups who have alienated everyone who ever cared about them, and therefore completely deserve to live as they do. I don’t even go downtown anymore because of panhandlers who have ample leisure for everything but work. Even if you want to help them, why not give money to a reputable agency or else work in a soup kitchen or otherwise offer them something other than quick money for drugs and booze. Even those who are devoted to helping the homeless speak of fast cash as nothing more than a crutch to enable them to avoid positive change. I saw two young bums ask an old man in Costco parking lot for “spare change,” and he said, “I work for my money, boys.” I had as soon see the homeless shot as fed, so no, I’m not pulling your leg. I despise the bastards.
bob - like i'm so fond of saying; mamas don't let your babies grow up to be rasslers.
snow - .” I had as soon see the homeless shot as fed, so no, I’m not pulling your leg. I despise the bastards."
i can see your point if there's a homeless camp close to your home. we had a homeless camp pop up on our art gallery lawn and the place was totally destroyed over the course of a few weeks.
but if i see an old guy in need of cash, even if he isn't asking for it, i'll probably open my wallet. i don't have much compassion for young strong guys but old guys down on their luck strike a chord with me.
Billy, we’re still friends, then. I didn’t know if we would be. Yes, I’ve “fought” the homeless for decades. They camp in front of my house in cars, trucks, vans, motorhomes, and school buses. In the morning, they crawl out from under the bridge across from my house, and Eugene is ever in danger of legalizing all of this, which would mean that I would have no way to do anything to get rid of them. There is a powerful homeless lobby here, but what so many either don’t know or, more likely, don’t care about, is that if homeless camping is legal, the homeless aren’t going to be disbursed, but are going to stay on the flats near to downtown, preferably in areas with with large parks nearby. This describes my street. When I last wrote, a couple who had camped in a truck the night before drove away and left their garbage in front of my house. I only have once a month garbage pickup, yet I have to throw campers’ trash away. I could go on and on about the petition I’ve started, the hours upon hours I’ve spent getting rid of just one camper (it can take over a month), and so. Everyone feels for the campers, but few feel for the people who have to put up with them.
HERE YA GO....
snow - you have my sympathy. it's one of those situations where i can't see a solution. if you provide housing for the homeless in one area, then the homeless from other areas will flock to that area looking for a better life. it seems to be a problem that needs a national solution rather than a regional solution.
i guess this is why the wealthy live in gated communities.
Hum, 1 AM and it is snowing out there.
our tent cities are still going strong - VICTORIA TENT CITY
and there are still DRUG OVERDOSES AND ALL SORT OF SHENANIGANS going on in them.
as i like pointing out my bleeding heart liberal friends; WE ARE NOT LIVING IN A JOHN STEINBECK NOVEL and the camps are not full of tom joads.
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