Pilot's Log

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of May 3, 2012

Seventeenth-century physicians sometimes advised their patients to consume tobacco as a way to alleviate a number of different maladies, from toothaches to arthritis. A few doctors continued recommending cigarettes as health aids into the 1950s. This bit of history may be useful to keep in mind, Sagittarius. You're in a phase when you're likely to have success in hunting down remedies for complaints of both a physical and psychological nature. But you should be cautious about relying on conventional wisdom, just in case some of it resembles the idea that cigarettes are good for you. And always double check to make sure that the cures aren't worse than what they are supposed to fix.

Longtime readers here know I hate tobacco. And that I also hate the mass marketing of prescription drugs. I do see modern medicine through at least a little skepticism, if not cynicism.

I really could have stayed another week in Florida, but I got enough of the things on my list done and all the people who matter most to me. Darn it, if America had actual passenger trains running I'd shuttle between here and there all the time.

* "And I'm Never Going Back To My Old School..." As said earlier, on St. Patrick's Day a high school classmate had invited me and my brother to a party at an Irish/Sports bar. Going was a necessary mistake. The music was way too loud to carry on conversations. We found our "party" but beyond two or three people we didn't "mingle" and while I thought I recognized one woman--I didn't want to talk to her. The truth came to me that if I really wanted to socialize with my classmates in school, I would have. These days there is no meaning attaching me to this crowd. All of a sudden I feel okay with having been shunned and flunked. I just didn't fit in.

* Too many of the people I know are now attached to oxygen apparati. If you smoke, quit. If you don't smoke, don't start.

* I will never again go in a Disney store. Mike dragged me in one so he could look at Princess figures. They'd never hire me, but I bet working there would drive a lot of people insane.

* I will probably swear off eating more than one meal a day at a restaurant. Not so much the expense, or necessarily the food...just the stress is enough.

* Q-105 is back. The Tampa station is now Sixties/Seventies/Eighties oldies rather than baseline Top 40, but they haven't lost the style that made us fans for so long.

* I decided to not be the Lipinski Proxy this time. Dana's fantasy baseball league is down to five participants so their draft today will probably run a lot quicker even without my assistance.

* Atlanta's highways are bedlam. Both ways we had trouble with crowds and volume slowdowns. Dunno what route I'll take next time tho'.

Hey.

I want one of those Oreck air cleaner units. The tobacco smoke from the farms burning their bumper crops is getting to me. Ugh. I know some glues that are less obnoxious-smelling than this stuff.

FP

PS:

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	4.4
Mind:	5.5
Body:	6.1
Spirit:	3.3
Friends/Family:	2.3
Love:	0.8
Finance:	2.9
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Hey.

Well, the job interview went nowhere--as expected. You see, to sell insurance in Tennessee (and probably every state) you need to get a license from the state, which costs around $300 in examination fees and whatnot...assuming the applicant passes the test. I don't have $300 to "invest", and so my "no" vote was assured. Nothing against the company...I'm sure the insurance office manager was perplexed when I mentioned that I had never even gave much thought to insurance as a consumer, let alone a seller. (I don't handle that kind of business in my household and frankly I'm scared for my own lack of consumer savvy. I've applied myself in other arenas and while it hasn't exactly sustained me, I had hoped for better.)

I guess I'll surf Monster.com again tomorrow and see what appears.

* * *

I don't drink, don't smoke and stay away from drugs for one main--and very personal--reason...I watched a friend get drunk once when I was a teenager and I didn't like what I saw at all. I think about this incident every time I hear in the news about a teenager who went to a party and came back home in a body bag--either through binge drinking or drunk driving accidents or outright violence. If we don't take responsibility for ourselves right away, we throw ourselves into the hands of evil and destroy ourselves--whether we realize it or not.

As for parents who let their kids drink, I think they should be held to account for not exercizing their authority. I don't advocate jail time, but things like restitution, group counseling, compulsory community service should be handed down to them. It is logical for our society to take action on this issue because anything that harms our pool of youth will eventually harm us as a nation.

(And if you use this argument on abortion, I argue back that unwed fathers in our society should also be held to account...too many of them ruin the lives of women through unwanted pregnancies and this is also a grave problem. I support a woman's right to choose simply because there are far worse things I can think of happening to our society if this right is taken away.)

* * *

These days I try not to think about politics. I've tried to be apolitical but unfortunately the times do not support such an attitude. The more I think about politics the worse my thoughts get. Maybe I'll write more about this later...I'm just using this paragraph as a space marker.

FP