Meredith

"For a good time call Meredith"

That was the number in the bathroom stall of the 'Lazy S' bar.  I was in a mood to drink and to drink a lot.  I was somewhere between feeling sorry for myself and not giving a fuck when I noticed Meredith's number on the wall.  Normally, I wouldn't even bat an eye or give a second thought to such a number that was most likely scrawled there by some scorned lover that thought her to be a whore, but what do I know.

I step outside to get away from the bad karaoke, only to step into the stifling heat of a mid-summer's night.  I grab a cigarette, pull my phone out of my pocket and dial the number.  The alcohol has me sweating like a Salem witch on trial but I'm nervous and anxious to see what this call brings forth.

2 a.m. and I'm dialing some number found on a bathroom wall.  Good way to be found dead in a week, I think to myself.

The phone rings three times and as I am about to hang-up on a bad idea, she picks up. "Hello?" she says in a sleepy just woken up voice.

"Is this Meredith?" I ask.

"Yes.  Who's asking?"

"I...uh...got your number...um..." Stammering on the words as I try to figure out how to explain I came about her number, then I just say, "Are you looking for a good time?"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"No. It is not.  Are you looking for a good time?  Cause I'm in the mood for one."

"Look," she says with slight annoyance in her voice, "I am not a hooker or some slut.  Did Greg put you up to this?"

"I don't know a fucking Greg.  I'm looking for something wet to jerk off into and your it."

"I told you, I'm not a fucking whore."

"And I'm not looking to pay."

A long silence ensues.  For a moment I think she hung up and then, "Do you smoke?"

"You want me to pick you up some smokes on my way over?" I ask rather sarcastically.

"No dumbass.  Do you smoke weed and do you have any?  Those are my terms.  No weed, no good time.  Got it?"

Her terms?  Sounds good to me.  "Deal."

Wish me luck.

Happiness & Acceptance

A friend on Facebook posted that they were empty inside and that they wished they were happy like they used to be and this got me thinking, "What is 'Happiness' and what is it that makes us feel 'Happy'?"

Happiness is not something you can force, it is something that is brought upon by a release of dopamine into the body from things or moments that make us happy.  Those things or moments bring forth little episodes of Happiness that pass all too soon, but it is a string of those same moments or things that keep the feeling going and start to bring forth the belief of a general Happiness.  This is the times of our lives that in the future we reflect back upon to say we were Happy, when we are down in the dumps and we wish we were back at that moment of time so we could be Happy once more.

Happiness is more than things or moments, it is also acceptance.  It is accepting the fact that there are some things we cannot change, no matter how powerful or in control we think we are.  Is accepting that our last relationship didn't work out because of their unfaithfulness, no matter how Happy they made us feel.  It is their infidelity that cannot be changed and must be accepted as such.  Once you accept that certain things cannot be changed or only changed slowly through time, can you find Happiness.  It is the acceptance of being in debt, of having a cheating mate, of the passing of friends or family or many other things, that you must come to terms with first, before you can find true Happiness.  Without that acceptance, you will constantly crash against the hopelessness of those things, lamenting on how the world is unfair and you can never be Happy.  You will just be focusing on the negative in a downward spiral of unhappiness that will lead to things that lead to short term Happiness, i.e. drugs, alcohol, adrenaline rushes, emotionless sex.  These are short term fixes that just leave you wanting more and looking for your next fix, that never truly solves the problem of not accepting the underlying causes of the unhappiness.

Just remember:  "Don't worry -- be Happy."  -Meher Baba

Inception

I watched Inception the other day.

That might be a surprise to some seeing how I mentioned if given the chance, I would punch DiCaprio in the neck and that I have no love for him at all.  Reason is, it seems that he always plays the smarmy, cocky, self-absorbed types in most of his movies.  The type of guy that you might consider a friend, but try your best not to have him around all too much, simply because you cannot stand him.

So anywhoo.

I liked Inception, even through my hatred for one person, I liked it.  The idea that you can enter into someone's mind through there dreams, is an interesting idea and that while you are there, can steal information from them, is even better.

In the movie, DiCaprio's character has to enter into the mind of a newly appointed owner of a power conglomerate and plant an idea for him to break apart the company.  For them to do this, they have to go three levels deep, which means they have to go within a dream, within a dream, within a dream to be able to plant the seed of the idea.

Does it work?  

The ending doesn't give you a clear answer.  You see, during them dreaming, one of the characters is shot and wounded in the first dream, they take him deeper into the next two dreams, which is all good, except he dies in the first dream, killing him in the other two.  Normally you would just wake up, but because of the drugs they are using, you just go deeper into your dreams.

Why does all of that matter?

Well, the character in question is going to be responsible in helping DiCaprio be able to legally go back home to the States, since he is wanted for the death of his wife.  So, without this guy out of the dream state, all of this is for naught and DiCaprio's character goes deeper to find the guy and bring him back.

So they all get out and DiCaprio's character gets to see his children once again and live happily ever after and go see Shrek 15? 

Not so fast.  The last parting scene is DiCaprio's character walking out to see his kids after spinning a toy top on a table and the movie ends before seeing if the top stops.

What?

I'm not gonna give the complete movie away.  I'm not that big of an asshole.

So anyways, good movie, go see it.

Winn-Dixie Fuel Perks

If you live in the South, you are probably within a short drive of a Winn-Dixie supermarket, that in and of itself is not necessarily a noteworthy thing but for this article it is.  Winn-Dixie has this program going on and has been on going for some time, called Fuel Perks.  Now, the basis of this program is that when you spend so much money at the store, you are credited cents off of gallons of gas at your next fill-up.  It starts with five cents and goes up for every fifty dollars you spend and sometimes they have special deals where if you buy certain items, it automatically adds x amount of cents to your card.

Now this is a nice incentive to buy from Winn-Dixie stores.  You get food, plus money off your next purchase of fuel.  Win, Win.  Right?

Wrong.

This is a no brainer, how can saving money on gas by buying food be wrong?

Simple.  It's a racket.  Meaning that Winn-Dixie is conditioning you to buy there just to get money off of fuel so that anytime you need something, you are more likely to get into your vehicle and drive to the nearest Winn-Dixie while bypassing all other places of convenience along the way to purchase your loaf of bread and gallon of milk.  All in the hopes that this five bucks you will be spending, will put you over to saving ten cents a gallon on your next fill-up.  Of course your little trip was five miles one way, in which, you passed three gas stations, a Dollar General, a Super Wal-Mart and a mom & pop grocery store.

All of which, would have been closer and several would have been cheaper but in your quest to save a few pennies at the pump, you spent more in it driving your LandCrusher6000C.