top 10 most iritating phrases

Posted on November 8, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 – At the end of the day

2 – Fairly unique

3 – I personally

4 – At this moment in time

5 – With all due respect

6 – Absolutely

7 – It’s a nightmare

8 – Shouldn’t of

9 – 24/7

10 – It’s not rocket science

I concur. And I could add a few more:

Whatever

Oh snap

Don’t go there

Boots on the ground

I’m like … I was all like … meaning I said, or I thought.

Alleged victim.

Oh, I could go on forever, irritating you. And you’d be all like, “Crap on a cracker, Kyle. With all due respect, I personally think at this point in time, it’s a nightmare.” And I’d be all like, “Whatever.”

amazing

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

What a night, huh? A landslide for Bakak Obama. Yesterday I said wake me when it’s over, because I could barely stand to watch. I was expecting a very tight, white knuckle finish. Tonight, I can’t eye my eyes off the TV.

I’m so relieved: we’re going to have leadership. Two more months of bald incompetence, then it ends. And talk about dodging a bullet; I’m convinced it could have gotten worse. John McCain has no vision of better possible futures for US, and his Tina Fey lookalike is just a joke.

Hey world, how do you like us now?

I’m happy.

wake me when it’s over

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

Well I’ve got my sample ballot all filled out. I’m ready to hit the polls first thing in the morning.

I plan to vote for Senators Obama and Biden. And I’ve made my choices for school board and water district too.

I haven’t posted for a while. I had a cold for a week, and was mostly watching TV and going to bed early. Colds suck. They make you feel out of it, you know? One day last week, I was working at my desk at the office, and I suddenly had this thought:

Hey, which shoes did I put on this morning? Am I wearing the oxfords, the runners, or one of each? Should I look?

That’s the kind of thinking that leaves no doubt that a guy ought to be getting more sleep, drinking more water, and taking his vitamins.

I hope you all enjoy Election Day. Get out and vote. Unless you’re a poor little moron with an itch to vote for the warmonger and the wolf hunter. Then please please stay home. We’ve had enough of that crap.

solitaire

Posted on October 25, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

Ever notice how much writing has in common with playing solitaire? You can play your way into a game for quite a while, building your sets or whatever they’re called, and things are going fine. Then not so much. Skunked again. The card you need to keep playing is under that card you can’t use, can’t move, unless you by God cheat. Other times, you can tell write off – I mean right off – that you’ve got a lousy deal. Might as well shuffle and try again.

That’s what it feels like to me tonight. I had this cool idea to write a vignette – a really short story – about a guy who goes through life thinking it’s totally bizarre that people want to build cemeteries close to, or within, the towns and cities where they live. Why do the living want to keep the dead so close? And whose city is it, anyway?

So I’ve got what I think you’ll agree is a cool premise, especially this time of year, with Dia de los Muertos just a week away. But I can’t seem to lay a groundwork to introduce my character and his setting that will get me to my premise with any sort of alacrity or art.

Skunked again.

Merd.

first thing we do …

Posted on October 21, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

Alton attorney accidentally sues himself

Here’s a little somethin for my buddies Erik and Bill.

Twilight

Posted on October 19, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

I had a dream when I was twenty-three
– you remember – my last year of college.
I was far from home and it was cold.
There was a flock of crows, a thousand,
maybe more, flying eastward at twilight.
The sky was saffron and they were pure
and perfect black, cawing loudly down
at me. Suddenly they stopped, frozen
in flight, in mid-stroke of every wing,
silent. I waited. It grew dark and every bird
began to glow dim red or blue, brightening,
becoming magic lanterns hung by wires
from the pure black sky.
When I was forty, they had our grandpa
in the hospital – you remember – he had
that stroke and took so long to die.
There were magic lanterns hung by wires
in the dining hall, glowing red and blue.
So I waited with him. I waited months,
years, and then a generation beside him.
He died and I am waiting even now.
I’m growing old, but they still haven’t
turned back into crows.

pet peeve

Posted on October 12, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

I have a bone to pick with bloggers. Bearing in mind that I don’t know everything, I ask you, is this good communication?

Today I finally arrived here in order to attend this.

You’ll have to do some reading and thinking to discover that that doesn’t happen there, and that neither that or there was likely to interest you in the least.

It’s amazing how often I see it: a blog post whose whole function is to say ooh go look at this shit.

A link in a blog post should be an invitation to get more or different information, not a misdirection and a delay in place of any writing at all.

Here’s another example:

Oh holy crud, this just makes me sick.

What am I gonna go look at? Can I have a hint before I click?

Let us bear in mind, fellow citizens, that the purpose of blogging is communication. It’s not communication if I have no idea what I’m reading about until I go read something else.

Just my humble opinion! And I know I’ve done it too, and that I have a bad habit of fertilizing my own blogs with quotes. I offer a gentle constructive criticism. So please don’t get all you know.

way to go, Bear

Posted on October 12, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

Big congratulations going out today to my cousin’s son, Bear Pascoe.

FRESNO, Calif. – Bear Pascoe of Fresno State was named John Mackey Tight End of the Week by the Nassau County Sports Commission. The Western Athletic Conference senior recorded 5 receptions for 33 yards and one touchdown as Fresno State defeated UCLA 36-31. The touchdown catch by Pascoe was a major turning point in the game as Fresno State never trailed again from that point forward. In addition, Pascoe blocked a kick attempt, the fifth of his career, most by a Bulldog in school history. …

Pascoe leads the Bulldogs in receptions and is tied for the team lead in touchdowns.

“Bear Pascoe is a great football player,” said head coach Pat Hill. “We are proud of what he’s accomplished in his career. He has a great career ahead of him. He’s a Valley player who’s proud to wear that red helmet.” [Link]

He’s a really good kid, and we are very proud and happy for him. I know that our Papa Bee is smiling, following the season up yonder.

stop the war

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

Sent by e-mail to Congresswoman Lois Capps today:

Dear Mrs. Capps, I received your e-newsletter about ending addiction to oil. I can’t speak for my fellow constituents, but I don’t consider this a priority. If people wanted to avail themselves – and their industries – of alternative energy sources, we could and would do so. We’re burning fossil fuels, at our own peril, because we like it. It’s the American way.

Stop the war. That’s what’s killing our economy as it kills so many people. You folks in Congress could have and should have impeached that nattering incompetent, arrogant George Bush when you had the mandate and the opportunity.

Stop the war now. Don’t wait for Barak Obama’s inauguration, because it may not happen. This society is too sick and full of fear for such assumptions of sanity.

fear

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Paul Atreides

My sister-in-law posted this on my Facebook this week. I think it’s one of the most profound insights I’ve pondered in a while. And I believe it does not overstate the unreality of fear. Sometimes it seems so much me, so much what I am and own, but in truth it is trying to own me.

journalism

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Kyle Kimberlin

Journalism is publishing what someone doesn’t want us to know, the rest is propaganda.

-Horacio Verbitsky, journalist (b. 1942)

At first glance, my response to this is well, that’s a little bit narrow, maybe even cynical. Then I pondered it a while and decided it just might be true. Especially if you think of journalism as being essentially investigative, leaving out things like sports and storm damage.

Your reaction?