Merry Christmas everyone. A quiet day, cooking, dabbling, watching T.V. and enjoying myself. Life is good. Ho, ho, ho . . . -Jeeem-

Merry Christmas Jim . . . .

I bought a laptop. A nice one. R-E-A-L-L-Y nice. Life will never be the same now . . .

I am in debt up to my eyeballs.

-Jeeem-

Okay, I've been quiet lately . . . I just can't drag myself to post anything here unless I really have something that I feel is worthwhile to say . .

As most of my incalculable fans can attest to, I work in an environment that is centered in confidentiality. We are goverened by federal law. Strict federal law. So what? you say . . . well, shall I say I do not fancy a law suit in writing about something, . . . . .hypothetical let us say . . . . that would er, uh, constitute a roman a clef of sorts.

Met a guy today who was a mirror image of me when I was in my heyday. Complete with a six foot two-by-four on his shoulder. He will leave tomorrow. I will miss him. We had a struggle this week and I cannot determine yet who struggled the most, but a connection was made and I can only hope that I got through that tough exterior of his.

It was scary to re-live the pain of growing up in severe abuse and to see the tears of true feeling and emotion, tears he never would have shown anyone else beyond the interior of my office. I will miss him. There is a message here somewhere and I think it was in the good work I am capable of doing when I get motivated. This guy was a challenge.

I was not motivated to return to a full client load when we started up again. I even made the comment, "I'm just not into this." I have a tough job. I meet resistance, denial, hatred, obnoxiousness, conning, manipulation, lies, spite, immaturity, tears, pain, depression, fear and mental illness every week. This week brought me back into perspective with why I am in this field in the first place.

The typical response is, "Somebody's got to do it."

Well, got news for you. Very few do and the ones who do, usually don't last. This week I helped someone. What I got was some tears, some trust, a smile, a handshake and, "Thank you Jim." That's worth it for me. . . . . -Jeeem-

I have nothing to say. I would only be writing to write and I do not like doing that. My time is being put to good use and THANK GOD that does not involve running around in the Christmas, "Gotta get a gift" rush. I shall return when what I am thinking is worthy of being placed in written words. -Jeeem-

Some guy bought the property across the road from me and all the immediate neighbors are in a tizzy about it. I'm not thrilled about the unsightly mess he has created with his ever growing junkyard of broken down vehicles and poorly working earth moving equipement, but he has the same rights as everyone around here. I've decided not to be so territorial as the others. Hell, I've got my rectangular acreage that I call my own and he has a right to his. People just don't like change. It was obvious to me my neighbors didn't appreciate it when I said, "Well, if you didn't want anyone building next to you, then perhaps you should have purchased the land." Duh! What are they thinking? The guy is only trying to do what we, the other land owners, are doing . . . . staking our claim. Why beleaguer the guy when he's just trying to live his life and get ahead.

The strangest thing happened to me the other day. One of my co-workers strolled into my office as I was relaxing and listening to some Ravi Shankar on a CD and made the comment, "Did you know that George Harrison was a student of Ravi's?"

"Yes," I replied.

"I hear George Harrison isn't doing so hot nowadays," he remarked, telling me he had heard of George battling cancer.

The next morning George Harrison had passed on (or DIED as Malachy McCourt would have stressed). The shocking thing about it was I had probably not thought of or mentioned George Harrison in well over a handful of years before that incident.

My co-worker came in the next day and was horrified. "I jinxed him," he said, meaning it. Although I don't believe in that sort of hogwash, I acknowledged that it was pretty weird.

The "Quiet Beatle," they put it. Good summation. He was cool. I liked him. The Beatles made such an impact on so many people and touched so many lives. I am hoping to visit Liverpool in my travels this coming April. -Jeeem-