Difficult People

The Latest News From Jackson Press - The Tension Builds …

More dribble on the “Big Things in ‘08″ campaign we’ve got going on here in the Jackson household this year.

Evidently some readers have the curiosity of a cat and just HAVE to know what we’re talking about here. In fact, I was even threatened with Scientology if I did not disclose some of this good stuff that I see coming our way in 2008.

Now Scientologists scare me and I say this assuming none of you are Scientologists. If some of you are, in fact, Scientologists, then I DO NOT apologize for making fun of Tom Cruise, as I really do think he’s lost his marbles, Scientology or not. But I do apologize for taking the Great Alien Overlord Kriminon’s name in vain and I ask that you, dear Scientology fan of Civil Servitude, make sure you are on the Scientology Death Squad that L. Ron Hubbard’s fifth clone sends to Jackson Acre to eradicate my blasphemousness.

Oh, and bring a boat, cause it’s been raining and Jackson Lake’s back.

But on the plus side of things happening in 2008, we’ve not had as much extreme flooding as in past years, all due to the drain cleaning the county did for us in June. On the down side, there’s another pipe in the yard here that I need to dig up and reroute in order to eliminate all flooding on Jackson Acre and to possibly fix the never-ending sump pump issue. All I need is a week of dry weather and above-freezing temperatures. In central Ohio, that’ll be about May! Oh, and I’ll need a backhoe, too. I’ve always wanted to play with a backhoe …

To satiate some of your curiosity, here are some of the minor things of note happening in 2008.

First off, the wife and I go to see Van Halen in concert on, appropriately enough, April Fools Day. Van Halen was my favorite band during those formative high school years, much like the Beatles may have been to all of the Baby Boomers. Sadly, I never saw them perform live. Well, the old band’s mostly back together and doing a “reunion” tour, so we’re finally going to see them! Should be fun, provided no one breaks a hip jumping around on-stage before they get to Columbus.

An even bigger event takes place in March when I head back down to Big Bend National Park in Texas to kayak on the Rio Grande River! I first did this trip in 1996 with an Ohio State University Phys-Ed class taught by a friend of mine. There were approximately fifteen of us (mostly students) and we drove straight through from Ohio to Big Bend Nat’l Park (36 hours!), then spent four days kayaking in the back country wilderness of Big Bend on the Rio Grande. Click here for more info on Big Bend and scroll down the main page for a link to the panoramic pictures under “Virtually Big Bend.”

That trip changed my life! Before that, I’d never slept outside nor done any real camping. On that trip, I learned to live in the desert wilderness with the basics, to sleep under the stars (without a tent), to paddle a kayak down a river. That trip exposed me to real silence, without cars or planes or people all around. That trip showed me how many stars there really are in the night sky. That trip taught me how good life can be when you boil it down to the basics - eating, sleeping, traveling.

The Rio Grande trip is life with no pretext; an existence composed entirely of simplicity, where your only concerns are how beautiful the countryside is, when you’re going to eat, what you’re going to eat, and where you’re going to sleep. No cell phones, no computers, no distractions. This is life at it’s slowest, a sabbatical everyone should have to undertake at least once in their life.

On top of that, Texas is a beautiful state and Big Bend is a beautifully sparse national park. I fell in love with the desert there, so much so that I went back with the class again in 1997. I’ve wanted to go back every year since and this year I finally am. Very, very exciting!!

Another thing of note - I’m contemplating buying a new motorcycle. I have my eye on a 2002 Honda SuperHawk, a successor to my old beloved 1989 Honda Hawk GT. I’m calling the guy tomorrow to see if it’s still for sale. Very exciting! However, on a down note, I will be selling the Miata to finance the motorcycle purchase.

No, selling the Miata has nothing to do with the fact that the Miata is considered by many to be a “girls” car, or that Miatas were portrayed as squealing girl-cars in the Disney movie “Cars”. Disney be damned, contrary to those jaded beliefs, the Miata is almost the perfect sports car, with front engine-rear wheel drive, nearly 50-50 weight distribution, superb handling and a peppy motor, all in a sexy convertible package! It’s the Japanese Ferrari! And it’s as close to motorcycling fun as one can get on four-wheels. But, alas, I’d rather have a new motorcycle, so the Miata is for sale. Although I will miss having a convertible, so I’ll be looking for a beater drop-top Jeep to play around with later this summer!

One more thing - on a work-related note, my job duties are to be split in half in the next few months. The plan is to have me once again doing the work of only one person, rather than the work of two people, which I’ve been doing for the past three years, much to the regret of my sanity. But I’ve met many interesting people over those last three years, many of which I consider to be friends now, so the job has not been entirely without benefits. But it will be good to not be so stressed and in demand.

Whew, this was a long dispatch, wasn’t it?! My apologies, but we’ve got lots to share here! And the latest Civil Servitude is the icing on the cake. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Everybody Wants Some!!