Catharsis of the Bogue

Oddities, Profundities, Profanities and Dad Stuff

Category: pwc (Page 2 of 4)

I Won A Cruise! A Very Strange Dream…

May 27, 2014 / / 3 Comments

I had a strange dream the other night that I am not really sure what to do with.  Of course the thing to do is to share it on my blog. It isn’t very long, but it was strange.

Now, the dream.  I was sitting at home in my living room reading a magazine.  It must have been very enthralling because the phone rang and I threw the magazine in the air rushing to get the phone.  At this point I knew it was a dream because I have an answering machine if I am slow.  I don’t hurry to the phone.  But I did here. I didn’t even bother with the caller ID. (another dead giveaway this was a dream)

“Hello” I answered. “Hello sir! You have just won an all expense paid cruise to the Caribbean!” The voice from the other end said. “Great” I replied. “What do I have to do?” “Nothing.” they said. “Do you accept the cruise?” “Sure” I said not realizing what was to be involved.

A few days later a package arrived with details on my cruise.  I was going to be picked up from the airport in Miami and driven in a limo to the cruise line.  Everything was paid for, all I needed to bring was a set of old clothes, a shovel, and a cat no one would miss. This made me nervous.  Not for very long though, I had almost figured out how to get the shovel through security.

An internet search of large orange colored home improvement stores showed me where I could just buy a shovel. The old clothes were no problem, but where to get the cat…

The dream ended with me walking to an old girlfriends house carrying a pet box.

I am not sure what any of it meant at the time or has to say about my sanity, lack of it, or what can be interpreted by it. I am fairly sure I need to go hunting though….

Comments would be appreciated!
-Justin

My Brain Hurts! Free Thought is Hard.

May 27, 2014 / / 2 Comments

This is another picture that I have had for quite some time.  It makes me laugh every time I see it.

Thinking for yourself is hard.  It is hard when you have been conditioned to do what the boss (parents) says since you could pay attention.  Parents, teachers and employers want you do do what you are told and get the assignment/chore/job done correctly; someone elses way.  For jobs it needs to be done this way lest you get fired.

Sometimes questions come up.  It should be your obligation to look at both sides of the question and decide which course you should take.  You can agree with the question or you could not agree, just be prepared to back it up one way or another.  You don’t have to do everything your parents have always told you to do if you are old enough to live on your own.

That is where it was hard for me.  Going from my parents house where they did everything, to my own place when I got married, where I was in charge.  I had several migraines that first year because it was hard to handle the free thought.  I very much felt like the picture above, my head needs to stay where my parents want it but my life, and my psyche need to break away and be myself.  I finally think I have it down.  Only took near 10 years.

It is always a challenge to think for yourself and not let people control your thoughts.  You can do what you want to do.

Anyone else have thoughts? Comments are waiting below.

Justin

PS- Fiction Saturday continues with the conclusion of Death With A Vengeance!  Sign up for my newsletter for a special discount on the e-book that will be released at 4pm MDT.  The book will be for sale from my store page at that time!

Thanks for reading, A new story will be presented next week!

The Mountains Are Calling and I Must Go.

May 27, 2014 / / 4 Comments

Image courtesy of  http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/matthes/john_muir_glacial_theory.html

John Muir is one of my favorites. He was an amazing conservationist and lover of nature. He was also filled with quotes that resonate with me.  Probably my most favorite is the title of this post, “The Mountains are Calling and I Must go.”   Whatever it was he meant by this, it is part of me.  Much like the title to Irving Stones book “Men to Match My Mountains.”  The book is about westward expansion and an interesting read but the title is magical.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, I love the mountains.  I have posts about fishing and there will be more about the outdoors and being in them.  John Muir may be famous for the mountains of Yosemite in California but the Wasatch mountains here in Utah call to me.

I have been spending time in the mountains since I could walk.  I have grown up (partially) in tents and surrounded by trees.  There is a certain peace and awe that you can get in the mountains that you can get nowhere else.

In the most excellent and in my top 3 movies of all time is the film, “Jeremiah Johnson”.  It’s the story of a man who left civilization in the early 1800’s for the mountains.  He left to get away from the politics and city life and make his fortune as a trapper.  I have always wished it could be more of a tutorial than just a movie, but I like my computer too much.  One of the characters in the film has a line, “You can’t cheat the mountain.  Mountain’s got its own ways.”  I think of that every single time I am in the mountains and I am trying to manipulate my environment.  The mountain will make me conform, no matter what I throw at it, in the long run, the Mountain will prevail.

A long introduction to get to this, I can see the mountains from my front door, but they are 20 miles away.  If I think of my blog as a mountain, it is right here at my desk.  My Blog is calling and I must go.  I am sure my wife loves that.  “Not right now, I have to write” is not as eloquent a quote but nonetheless true.  There are obstacles to climb when getting a blog up and running.  There are ways that I want to do things but can’t; forced to conform with HTML code and PHP limitations.

As a blogger I am heading out into a mysterious and only partially explored territory.  Like the mountains in 1800 there is not much known to the general public about blogging.   The term is out there.  The basic idea is in most peoples heads, but few know the intricacies and the path to blogging success.

I am not interested in climbing mountains to reach the summit.  There are too few places to fish up there.  I am looking to get to the top of the blogging mountain though.  I have been running for 2 solid months now and the ever elusive 3rd month is dwindling fast.  That third month is not the summit though, it is just a plateau with a little shop that sells water and local flies.  Wait that is the real mountain, my plateau sells e-books.

My blog is calling and I must go should be on a t-shirt.  Nobody steal that there may be shirts at that plateau shop as well.  My blog is calling and I must go is kind of a mantra that has been in the back of my head while the Mountains are in the front.  My blog is a huge deal to me right now.  I am nurturing and growing it fairly well and I can only hope that it will grow and strengthen to a point where it is as solid and timeless as one of those mountians.

The Mountains are Calling and I must go.  I have Cabin Fever like crazy right now, If it wasn’t so snowy, I think I would be up there tomorrow.  What is really going to be interesting is what kind of posts I end up with from spending time in the mountains with only my digital recorder…

Later!

Of All The Books….

May 27, 2014 / / 2 Comments

When we first moved into our house almost 4 years ago we had a ton of books.  There were books that we had been saving to “read” later, and books from college, and books from the library out of date materials sale.

We had so many books that I built floor to ceiling bookshelves, each 6 feet long.  Recently we decided that, while we love books, we needed to thin the herd.

Now, I love books almost as much as I love the internet.  I always have.  I love losing myself in a story and losing sleep because the story is just that good.  There are certain books that were my only friends growing up, my only escape from the drudgery of Junior High.

In the past I always hated giving books away or donating them, because I was going to read that again! It is mine!  I have a Collection!  But that can’t happen anymore.  I have had to face some hard truths.  There are so many new books out there I may never get back to the older ones that are not favorites.

There are many favorites that I may never read again.  So I have purged many of the books that I used to have.  The good news is, there are always libraries to read new books from.  There are even books on CD which I love as well.

I just had a thought as I was packing up some of said books for donation to charity.  Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca, sort of.  Some of these books I looked at and said to myself in my best Bogart, “Of all the bookshelves in all the world and you ended up on mine”.

Cheesy I know, but there is a relationship that you have with books.  They come and go.  They give you what you need when you care to search.  They are patient and everlasting.  They are meant to be enjoyed and I am convinced now, that they are meant to be passed on for others to enjoy.  A book can enrich no one sitting on a dusty shelf in my basement.

Now for the DVD “collection”

-Justin

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