Dan the man

Fifty shades of gray, I think for both sides, for him it’s living a lie everyday almost like Batman. Corporate bigwig by day making world changing decisions, by night an abusive sex crazed maniac who mind fucks unsuspecting young women, who are just starting a career that they believe they’ll make a difference in the world only to be mentally and physically abused and it seems to be acceptable because he’s wealthy and hot, and the rest of us are not. She is young, pretty, naive to a fault, but curious as to the way billionaires live. Take the money out of the equation and you got and overweight blue collar worker who enjoys have a few beers after work and a young barmaid or waitress and then it not so hot, it’s creepy, but it is guys like me the average American working man, who busts his ass every day to make end meet.

Caligula was one I watched years and years ago, The watchman was another in a long list of movies I mostly walked out of. The early 2000 I was going to the movies at least three times a month, it was my thing, I watched the first Mission Impossible movie and all the ones after in the theater. I believe back then movies were just better, they weren’t so reliant on foul language or graphic sex or any sexual content they were made to entertain, to keep you in your seat until the closing credits. I have no idea how to make a movie, but I do know that it must be entertaining to be good and honestly listening to hot women dropping Eff bombs constantly or just using two hours of sexual content takes whatever story line there is and flushing down the toilet. I feel Hollywood has exhausted every good idea for a movie and now they’re remaking old movies and trashing them in the process, or they continue to make the same movies six seven eight or even nine times and all they’re doing is making the first movie over and over. The fast and furious a good movie totally watchable for the first maybe second time, but the seven after that was just two of three hours of my life I can’t get back. Top gun, a great movie, twenty five years later no so great, barely good. Indiana jones, first one great the rest not so much, Jaws scared me out of the ocean for a long ass time by the third one it was as laughable as Sharknado. It’s been many many years since I’ve been in a movie theater and I’m okay with that because I am the star in my own movie.

I love this topic, and having traveled around world I found the best way to familiarize yourself with any city is to his the streets. In America I’ve been to maybe twenty or so cities and always took a day or two to walk around get a feel for it, find the busiest diner restaurant or cafe and sit and eat have coffee and ask questions, the locals know the area inside and out. One of my very favorite cities is Buffalo NY. I spent seven summers there and still after not being there for over ten years I still keep in touch with the friends I made there. One summer I was mugged and my car got broken into in one month and it was happening to a lot of people in our neighborhood so we went to city hall and got the mayor involved and we were able to find two of the three people involved in the crimes and we all went to their trial to insure they got incarcerated and they did over ten years. Another memorable city was New Orleans I spent a week there and left feeling I had lived a lifetime of experiences the music the food the people together it was awe inspiring. The one thing cities in America share is bad neighborhoods give the feeling of danger when out and about even during the day I felt the need to be very cautious. Now in other countries like Thailand which is my favorite country I never get that uncertain feeling no matter if it’s in Bangkok Chang Mai Pattaya the street hustle hits different, they’re not shaking you down for cash it’s mostly prostitution and it’s funny to hear them speaking broken English. Paris is a beautiful city tons of museums and people from all over the world so you have to be alert all the time and it’s a constant hustle from all kinds of people, not a place we want to go back to. Switzerland was so amazing we’re going back in the spring, it’s really the only time of year to be there, every city is very walkable and they have zero crime there. The whole country is breathtaking from every direction. Vietnam was so beautiful were have it on our list of places to return to. For me walking a city gives you a sense of what it’s like to live there, talk to the locals take a taxi ride and strike a conversation with the driver get a little lost or turned around you’ll find your instincts will kick in and you’ll get back to where you started in no time.

Thailand, more specifically my wife’s family and the townhouse she had. This was a feeling that I never had in past experiences maybe it was because I was older now but I didn’t think that was it, because the older we get the more set in our ways we become and this was my first time traveling out of the country so everything was new and exciting to me. When I moved away from CT. to Florida that was the first time I lived on my own away from family and friends and even though it was exactly what I needed to do it was scary and felt nothing like home. I found work and kept myself busy enough in and around my neighborhood and the beach and it didn’t take long for this to feel like home to me. It would be four years before I found myself in a relationship, she moved in with me and it was nice for quite a few years, but something was always off, just a little bit, but I learned that a little bit will grow into a lot and it would break us and it did so I found myself single again and was good with it my house felt like a home again for the first time in a long time. When I met my wife I was a busy guy working seven days a week and she was doing the same, she was three months into a six month travel visa from Thailand and working at her cousins restaurant every day. We were able to find the time to spend together and learn about each other and it felt so right, perfect really. After she went back to Thailand life returned to what it was before, I missed her and we talked once in a while, but I was still busy so life went on. After a year or so she said she wanted to come back so I called her cousin and got her a flight back, she arrived in April and we got married in August, that was over ten years ago. I soon realized that a house is only a home if the right people are in it and home is anywhere we are together.

An evacuation of nearly everyone except me and my wife of course. I’m kidding, kinda, I am aware that growth is occurring everywhere and no matter how far we move it’s still happening where we are. It was one of the reasons why we moved from Venice Fl. To theAsheville NC. area, but it’s happening here as well, not at the level Florida is here you don’t have your neighbors so close their pissing in your guest bathroom, you have room here and mountains and trees so you can avoid neighbors easily. I do notice the uptick in traffic here during the summer/fall season, but after that it’s quiet and I am in love with the sounds of nature, the stillness that comes from the lack of people just walking around my neighborhood and not see others is a breath of fresh air literally. I cannot think of anything that’s better that the silence that comes with winter nor can I believe that mankind can do anything remotely positive to improve our environment on the contrary we’re great at destroying nature to make way for the way we want to live, isolating ourselves from nature living behind brick and glass and controlled environments where nature is not welcome.

Stay diligent, do your homework. When we decide to travel my wife will start checking the airlines months in advance to get the best price for our flights, and she checks them every other day. Find recommendations for hotels resorts spas shopping whatever it is that you’re going to be doing. Social media, friends of friends anyone that’s been there, ask questions especially if you’re traveling internationally there are a lot of steps to take, the paperwork alone is a lot. Hotels and resorts we contact directly and negotiate a price, renting a car you’ll need an international driver license or hiring a car for a day may be cheaper. In the end you’ll want to have everything covered and in place a few weeks before you leave that ensures a great experience.

When we moved to the mountains in NC from Fl. I took up hiking or some would say walking in the woods, on designated trails close to civilization, many miles away from off grid stuff. In Fl. I walked a few days a week and rode my bike a lot which was easy because Fl. is very much like my first girlfriend… flat as hell. NC. On the other hand is very much like my wife… voluptuous. Tall mountains with winding trails make bike riding difficult, even on the main roads it’s still up and down hills and curvy you guessed it, like my wife. So I decided I would spend more time with nature and less time with people because the only person I like to be around is curvy with mountains.

The day I married my wife, which was ten years ago today. I can relive that day every day. We got married at a beach pavilion it was a late afternoon ceremony so it was a little cooler, the breeze coming off the water was refreshing and comforting. We were surrounded by our family and friends all of who gifted us both with love and kindness. I wore my favorite suit and had one of my dearest friends by my side, my wife arrived on time and was as radiant then as she is today. We have enjoyed ten amazing years together, traveled thousands of miles seen many different countries enjoying so many different cultures and people. We did this ourselves we built our lives just the way we wanted it.

Head on. Face to face. It took me most of my life before I found a way to deal with the challenges that life throws our way. I realized most of the day to day life that we live is pretty mundane and even uneventful so there’s never a reason to get our panties in a bunch or throw a hissy fit because something didn’t go you way, because really just because you believe it should happen one way doesn’t mean it will. Most of the time it’s just the opposite and if you’re smart you will realize early in life things don’t always go your way, if you lucky you may get one out of ten of if you’re really good at planning parties, events or making travel plans you know the uncertainty of every step so you do your due diligence to put the odds in your favor, and that is all you can do. If it all goes to shit do it again only this time listen to your husband because we’re pros at that stuff.