Shier than what?

Random Introductions & other forms of hedonism

Well since my last blog sit has been shut down for "non-payment" of bandwidth, I have decided to lay my hat here instead. A big thank you to the folks at Blogger for granting me the space to lay my rants, raves and otherwise inane writings that contribute nothing to this world, other than to self-servingly promote my ego to readers like you.

Let's start by explaining that I am an average guy living in an average neighbourhood, I have two exceptional children (if they aren't reading this, then you should know that they really are not that exceptional, but I'm covering off all the bases here), I have exactly one exceptional wife (because where I live that's the legal limit!), who puts up with my negativity and boorish behaviours on a daily basis but apparently my undying love for her makes her keep coming back for more, we have one car, three or four computers and an almost sister with whom we share a driveway. I'm a monstrous sports fanatic, to the point where I will watch curling or darts from time to time. I love to cook, and some days I can be fairly good at it, other days I think that maybe I should stick to writing. I have a great job – and I choose to keep that a secret, because my writings are not always in keeping with the image of the job I hold.

Having once worked in the music industry I have a love and hate for all things music. I am a music collector with somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7000 – 8000 CD's housed mostly on computer. My older brother, also a collector of music, once explained that he and I were alike in that while we love music, neither of us is a music lover, rather we collect music. In saying this he made me realize that I have probably never listened to over half of the music I own – but don't ask me to give any of them up!

My blog? Well I am best described as a period piece writer. I write pieces to go in a blog every once in a while. I am writing today, and may write again tomorrow, or the next day or both, then I may go a month or (as in a recent time) as much as a year without scribing anything – it's my blog and I will write if I want to!

What do I write about? I write about things that piss me off, things that make me happy, I may share a recipe, I certainly will tell you what I'm watching on TV, I may even write a critique about this, that or the other, and a lot of what I write is to talk about what I am listening to on my device (it's an iPod, but I don't want you to think that they are paying me to write this stuff!).

Growing up I had heroes. Living in Canada, a lot of my heroes were hockey players, Maurice Richard, Bobby Orr, Jean Beliveau, Darryl Sittler, and of course the greatest of them all Jiri Crha. In the arts I have always loved the music of Bruce Springsteen and the writings of Hunter S. Thompson. And that pretty much sums me up....I'm a Hunter S. Thompson wannabe without the drugs and booze and the paycheque from Rolling Stone.

So without further ado, let's get started on my blog.

For starters; I sometimes wonder if the deal with Barrack Obama (The Irishman that is not to be mistaken with O'Reilly)is more than even he wanted or expected. Don't get me wrong, I think he's an incredibly charismatic man, who not only earned the title of president, but more importantly, he deserved to win. He was hand's down the best candidate that either party had to offer and his oration skills are far better than any other American politician I have seen in years. Sadly, I think the world has expectations of him that may be far greater than even he can achieve. In speaking to my wife the other night, I mentioned that I thought the first 60-90 days in office with be the easiest; change everything that Alfred E. Newman (Dubya) did in his final 7 years and 11 months in power. Literally speaking, that won't take too long.

But what next? Make no mistake about it there will be plenty of things to do, but this is a relative newcomer to the political world and while he talks the talk and walks the walk, he'll also stumble and screw up – it's unavoidable, younger leaders always screw up something, big or small, it won't matter.

The problem as I see it - brace yourself – he's black. No it's not a problem that he's black, but the problem is that he's young and he's black and he's setting the table for future leaders in the "greatest country in the free world". When he stumbles, how long will it take for some white extremist from the south to blame it on race? I know the US has come a long way since the days of segregation and Jim Crow laws, however it's always been my opinion that a country that allows a gun club to be the largest "non-political" political group in the country, is only one or two steps clear of the stone ages. I don't really know where I am going with this writing today. I love the Irishman, but I hope his legacy is that of the greatest president in the U.S. rather than the first black President in the US, which is where we seem headed.

Thanks for reading.

See you manana…or the one after.

Labels: black president, cooking, introductions, music, obama, president

posted by G.M. Shier @ Thursday, January 22, 2009