Today’s earthquake and and the tsunami that followed started to make me think about 12/21/2012. If you are unfamiliar with this date, it is supposedly the day the world will come to an end. You can read about many of these here… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon. Now, I am old enough to not put much faith into things like Mayan calendars, but I must admit the similarities of the “predictions” of various cultures in very interesting. I find myself watching History channel a lot as of late, watching shows about Nostradamus’ predictions, end of the world theories and what not. These scare the crap out of me. The thought of a landslide in Africa causing a tsunami that wipes out the East Coast of the US all the way to Chicago is scary.
That aside, what worries me about 2012 is that it may become a self fulfilling prophecy. While I watch these shows and understand that they are talking about things that could possibly happen, I know that doesn’t meant that they WILL in fact happen. But, there are those who take this very seriously. 2012 WILL be the end. As media continues to cover this more and more frequently leading up to the date, more and more people will start to freak out. Potentially people with the ability to say “The world’s ending away, let me release this virus”. “Let me wipe Israel off the Earth”. There are too many unstable people out there that are just looking for a reason to kill a ton of people. If the world is coming to an end, what true consequences are there to their actions?
This is an area in which the media really needs to watch what they say, what they portray. Movies like 2012, coming out next Summer are meant as fun movies, but the truth is, this will scare a lot of people. I would expect that there will be a lot of problems leading up to the date with long lines for groceries, gas, etc as people stock up to try to baracade themselves from the end. If people are afraid that there will not be food or shelter to protect their families, all hell will break out. Shoot…. see it is too easy to ramble on about this.
Shark Week is once again upon us and I couldn’t be happier. Sharks are awesome! Sharks scare the crap out of me. I don’t know exactly why I am drawn to sharks so much, but since I was a small kid watching Jaws (I wonder why I am scared of sharks), I have been really interested in them. Whether it is a horror movie, a book, a TV Show, I love it. My DVR will be filling up this week.
I often find myself watching late into the night and wondering why I cannot turn the channel. While most people I know do anything they can to avoid their biggest fears, I don’t. I enjoy learning about these creatures. Great Whites that go airborn to catch their prey. Bull sharks that attack people miles down a river. They are beautiful and brutal at the same time. I would love to go cage diving with sharks. To say I jumped into the water with my biggest fear and looked it right in the face. Maybe someday I will get the chance to do that. I think it would be amazing to reach out and touch a shark that could potentially bite your arm off. There is something so primeval about a shark. They are killing machines that do so with unreal efficiecy. Other than humans, there isn’t an animal that can compare. They are the top of the food chain.
Sadly, sharks need our help to survive. If you log on to www.sharkweek.com, you can sign a petition to help ban sharks from being killed for their fins. This is a horrible practice in which the a shark is captured, it has its fins cut off and then it is tossed back into the ocean where it will die. All of this to make a soup. Please sign up
Today is the day after Valentine’s Day. Nothing special, but I am excited because I have a 3 day weekend, meaning I have tomorrow off. That makes me very happy. Even better, my 2 sons have school on Monday as makeup days for snow. On Monday, I will be relaxing. That is my main goal. Enough about Monday though. Last night, my wife and I went to our favorite Italian place. I’d give the name, but I enjoy still being able to get reservations. I was crossing my fingers for 2 reasons, first, they have the best homemade gnocchi I have ever had. It is light and it is tasty. Also, I was hoping that they would have cannoli. every time I have been there it has been sold out. Turns out, Valentine’s Day was my lucky day. One of the specials was gnocchi, which as always, was brilliant. Even better though, they had cannoli. The waitress brought me one of each of the flavors they had since they are always out when I go. One was a chocolate chip, the other was a candied fruit. Both were near perfection. The best cannoli’s I have ever had were on Columbus in San Francisco. They were crunchy, dipped in chocolate and the filling was creamy and not sweet. The ones I had last night were just as good. The filling was creamy, not gritty like most of the ones you buy. The sweetness came from the chocolate chips and candied fruit, not the cheese. I ended the night with a belly full of excellent food.
When I got home, I was a little inebriated and not quite ready for bed, so I turned on the TV and one of my favorite movies was on. Dazed and Confused. I own the movie, but if it is on TV, I need to watch it. I have seen it probably 50+ times now. I never get tired of it. If you have never watched it, it is a must rent. There are some actors in the movie that went on to do very big things, so I won’t spoil it, but definitely pick it up and watch.
