Belated Happy 18th Birthday Streams of Unconsciousness! You're Now of Legal Age

The actress Ana de Armas, a friend of the blog

This blog is now of legal age, eighteen-years-old. Its birthday was actually on the eleventh of this month which fell during our recent European vacation. So today’s celebration is very much a case of better late than ever. Late or not....yay!!!!!🥳🎉🎂🎊

I thought it would be worthwhile to look back on all that has gone on since that first post in 2008. I see that many of you disagree. Well, I've never let common sense stop me. Here goes.

When this blog was born George W Bush was still in the White House and would be for another eight months and nine days. Barack Obama had not yet been elected and most of us were blissfully unaware that such a person as Sarah Palin existed. In the months and years to come she would help lower the national discourse with her folksy stupidity. Also in the coming months Joe Biden would be selected as Obama’s running mate and would go on to serve admirably as vice president. He seemed like a wise old hand who’d seen and been through a lot and was appreciated and admired for his efforts. Later would come his presidency during which he seemed at times to be comatose. That said he did a good enough job, though one wishes he would have timed his decision to step aside better. That Obama fella was all right and we’ve been missing him a helluva lot lately as the US teeters on the brink.

In 2008 Donald Trumpy was just a businessman and buffoon with weird hair who appeared occasionally on talk shows. No one was thinking that the blowhard would some day ascend to the highest position in the land and work at destroying democracy.

Back then the U.S. was dropping bombs on brown people in the Middle East. Some things never change.

George Carlin still had a month to live. His comedy today is as relevant as ever and he has come to be rightfully seen as something of a soothsayer.

Michael Jackson had another year on this planet. His departure devastated fans across the globe. His music — as they say — lives on although his legacy has been tarnished. Speaking of tarnishing legacies, Woody Allen has practically been canceled as his adopted daughter re-introduced to the world the false and spurious charges he was long ago cleared of — twice. To study the Allen case in any depth and with objectivity is to realize he is not a molester and that Mia Farrow manufactured the whole story. Back in 2008 Allen was still cranking out films and “everyone” wanted to be in one. He would make excellent films like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine and Rainy Day in New York before the Farrow hate machine would slow him down.

In May of 2008 there was no such thing as Instagram, WhatsApp or Tik Tok. Twitter was in it’s infancy and was years away from being taken over by dark forces. People were blogging and when I started I was one of many. Today a blog is a rare thing. I’m a dinosaur. 

In those days Bill Cosby was not in prison or a pariah. It wasn’t until 2014 that the allegations against him became widespread and part of the news cycle with him eventually going to the gray bar hotel.

In 2008 people were worried about climate change coming soon. Now it’s here in what may be the worst development the world has known since Hitler.

There was talk of artificial intelligence and it kind of sounded cool. Little did we know how prevalent it would become and what dangers would be attendant to it.

What about little ole me? What’s gone on with the author these past eighteen years? 

Thanks for asking.

When I started this blog I was still a middle school teacher but only for another month. I spent two years as a sub while I got my TEFL certificate (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language) and the last sixteen years teaching English to people from hither and yon (over sixty different countries) minus eighteen months during the pandemic.

I’ve been at three different schools all of which liked me and all of which I’ve liked. I’ve loved virtually every minute of my job which is in stark contrast to teaching middle school where there were many minutes I disliked, hated or even detested. So it goes.

I have maintained excellent physical health throughout this time. I haven’t had the flu at all and only caught cold about ten times. I’ve had a surgery or two but nothing major and haven’t been out of commission as a result for more than two days. You could accurately say I’ve been lucky, but a good diet and exercise are also contributing factors.

In the world of sports the highlight came only last week when Arsenal won their first premier league title in twenty-two years. There have also been three world series championships for the San Francisco Giants but they’ve mostly been crap since. Cal football had pretty good seasons during the first two years of this blog but they’ve been mostly crap since. This year however….I’ve made it to London for six matches since the birth of this blog including in each of the last four years. Arsenal have not been mostly crap although they hadn’t won a title until now.

I’ve made seven trips to Europe, six with the missus and three trips to the East Coast since ’08. I’ve enjoyed them all including our most recent trek earlier this month.

I’ve remained married to the same woman which speaks volumes about how tolerant and understanding a person she is. Also, she’s the love of my life. *sigh*

I mentioned my physical health being quite good. As for my mental health…well, I wish. There has been much depression. There’s been too much anxiety. There have been unhealthy obsessions. On the bright side I’ve stayed clean and sober and continued the process of working on being mentally healthy and happy. I’ve proven to be medication resistant and even tried Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation which worked for a few months. In am finding that dark chocolate helps a little.

As for the blog itself well you can see by the labels on the right I’ve covered an array of topics. Most commonly I’ve written about films and in the early days of the blog I wrote almost exclusively about movies. This has been great for me because I’ve become a real student of cinema and fancy myself as something of an expert. At the very least I’m a cinephile and film snob.

I’ve included a fair amount of fiction on the blog though not lately as most of my fiction efforts are going towards the novels I keep writing that keep not getting published (I’m trying).

This will be my 1,743rd blog post (raise your hand if you’ve read them all). I’ve come here when I’ve been happy, sad, angry, inspired and apathetic. The blog has proven to be therapeutic. The reality is that today virtually no one reads the thing (I barely do myself) but I’m a persistent son of a bitch and keep cranking out content that no one sees. Do I wish more people read the blog and occasionally offered comments or asked questions? Yes, of course, that would be nice. But if these posts continue to be met with resounding silence, no matter, I shall carry on. I don’t know no better. I love the process and if no one sees the results.

Happy 18th Streams of Unconsciousness. You can now vote and join the military and get married. Just don’t try to buy any booze here in the States. This is a law abiding blog — if an irreverent one. 

Cheers, y’all.

Championships Are Forever -- With Much Love to Arsenal

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦; 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨.” - 𝘋𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘱.

The pinnacle for a sports fan is when their favorite team wins a championship. In most sports for most teams they are extremely rare. I was in my fifties before I experienced the San Francisco Giants being World Series winners. I have never seen  the University of California football team win a conference championship and they’ve never come close to a national title.

A few days ago Arsenal Football Club of the English Premier League won their first league championship in twenty-two years. It came after three successive years of finishing second. 

I fell in love with Arsenal on May 2, 1971. I was an excellent "soccer" player in those days. I’d been good at a lot of sports, but in this one I excelled. It’s a heady feeling being superior to most everyone you face in a sport (and yes, it very much went to my head, humility was a stranger to me as a young man). But I had no team and no hero. There was "soccer" in the U.S. but just as it is today it was of inferior quality. It was hard to get excited about the Bay Area’s entry in what was then the North American Soccer League — the Oakland Clippers. They were made up primarily of players from Yugoslavia. No disrespect to that former nation, but it was hard to relate to them. If they had players from a variety of countries maybe with an emphasis on Brits, it would have been a different story. Also the stadium wasn’t exactly packed. In fact it was mostly empty and had all the atmosphere of a picnic. 

But on that fateful Saturday, Wide World of Sports was showing the FA Cup final from London. Arsenal was playing Liverpool. It was an extremely rare to see soccer on TV, especially from Europe. It was decades before the World Cup was televised here.

Though I don’t recall for certain, at the outset I was likely rooting for Liverpool  because that was where The Beatles were from. The game went to extra time and a chap named Charlie George scored a beautiful goal to put Arsenal ahead, 2-1. His celebration culminated with him laying on the ground with his arms spread. Charlie had long flowing locks, eschewed shin guards and his socks were rolled down. He looked like a rock star. I had a hero and a team. As the next match I played in began I tossed my shin guards aside and rolled down my socks.

Two years later I was standing in the terraces of the North Bank section of Highbury cheering Charlie George and The Arsenal on as they thrashed Manchester United, 3-0. It was (and remains) one of the great days of my life. I’ve been a Gooner ever since. The atmosphere in the stadium was unlike anything I'd experienced and at that point in my life I'd already been to a lot of different kinds of sports event courtesy of my father. Fans were not merely cheering, they were chanting and singing -- constantly. These supporters weren't just rooting  for their team, they loved them.

For much of my life it wasn’t easy being an Arsenal supporter. This had nothing to do with how good or bad the team was and everything to do with living in a different continent. I was left looking up scores in the paper the day after matches. It was hard to feel a connection. Thankfully in the late '90s, games from England began to be televised in the States and we got the internet in our house. I could not only watch matches, I could read about them, watch videos and connect with other fans — many in England — via forums. One such person who became a cyber friend. I finally met him in person earlier this month in Copenhagen where — fittingly enough — we watched an Arsenal match in an Arsenal-dedicated pub.

In 2006 I made a pilgrimage to London to see Arsenal in their last season at historic Highbury Park. The Gunners were 2-1 winners over Liverpool. In 2008 I saw them in their new stadium, The Emirates and again in 2017 (both victories). In 2017 I went on a stadium tour led by Charlie George -- I met my hero! I’ve been to matches the last four years (one draw and three wins) including three weeks ago, on the 55th anniversary of Charlie George’s goal. The Gunners won, three-nil. I always get choked up when before the match the fans sing part of Louis Dunford's song Angel, specifically the part known as North London Forever.

Charlie George's iconic celebration

Today every match is available on U.S. television for a modest fee added to the cable bill. (Remarkably not all matches can be seen in England. I find that bizarre.) I also listen to an Arsenal-dedicated podcast (appropriately called the Arsecast) follow the team and individual players on Instagram, follow other Arsenal lovers on Bluesky, read about the team on various sites and watch videos related to the club.

I’m obsessed.

Indeed my obsession with the team has become so all encompassing that I only closely follow two other teams: Cal 's football and Cal women’s basketball teams. I barely pay attention to other sports and watch none. 

So you can imagine my reaction on Tuesday when second place Manchester City dropped points at Bournemouth thus clinching the title for my beloved Arsenal: I was happy. I’m still happy. I’ll remain happy for a long time. 

Interestingly I did very little jumping up and down with joy. I only barely shed tears. I’ve felt more of a contentment, a deep satisfaction, a relief and immersion in a warm glow.

Once you’ve won a championship either as a player, coach, parent or fan (and I’ve experienced it as all four) it’s yours forever. It can’t be taken away. If you lose all your games the next season you still were title holders the year before. It’s permanent. Wins and losses are that way. You suffer a painful loss to a rival and it’s there forever and winning ten in a row against that team will not wipe away that loss. You do your best to forget those defeats and while  hold ing those wins and championships close to your heart. 

The team you love becomes part of your identity. That’s why it can sting when someone says that they hate the team you love, they are saying that there’s part of you that they despise. It feels personal.

Some people don’t like sports. I can appreciate that. They’re saving themselves a lot of time, frustration and anxiety. But for me the positives of loving a team far outweigh the negatives. There are few joys to match that provided by sports. Also there’s the love. To really care about a team is to love them. And goodness we need all the love in our lives that we can possible get. You're  part of a community. I feel that every time I go to a match. Everyone there is like an old friend. 

I'm proud to love Arsenal. They've always been known for their multicultural fan base, for their early embrace of Black players, their early support for the LGBTQ fan base. And now they're champions of England. In my heart they always have been and always will be champions.

Despite a Nightmare Ending, a Great Trip, European Vacation '26, Entry the Seventh and Final

Tampere, Finland

I’ve literally had nightmares about my luggage being lost. Yesterday I lived one of these awful dreams. It’s amazingly frustrating to stand there at a carousel watching suitcase after suitcase go by and not see your own. I’d have torn my hair out but why add physical pain to my physiological misery? We were’t alone. A couple of dozen others from our flight were in the same boat. Turns out our bags took a later flight and will be delivered to us today. They better be (shakes fist).

But it’s good to be back home. I would have loved another few weeks of travel but I always feel better about life right after a vacation out of the country. Good for the soul, the intellect and one’s perspective on life.

It’s estimated that as many as forty percent of U.S. citizens have never traveled internationally. Statistically it is more likely that people who have not and won’t travel abroad are politically conservative. I recall Sarah Palin actually bragging about having never left the United States. Other factors like income and education level help determine the way people travel — or don’t. But I do feel confident in saying that many conservatives here don’t even consider vacations abroad. Disneyworld, Yellowstone Park and Miami Beach are good enough for them. Conservatives don’t like to challenge their narrow and limited world view. That's the bigots life.

I’ve talked to a few of my fellow ESL teachers about this and all of us have been to more foreign countries than U.S. states.

Anyway on this trip we were in four different countries (counting a day trip into Estonia) and there are so many other places I want to see such as Austria, Portugal, Chile, Vietnam and Japan. If someone will cut me a sizable check I’ll take in those countries and more and in return record my impressions on this blog. Deal?

A few random thoughts from our journey:

*Where the hell are the homeless people? I saw one in Helsinki and one sleeping on the floor of a Metro train in Copenhagen. Maybe these countries take care of their less fortunate. What a concept.

*Everywhere I’ve been in Europe you get good bread and delicious pastries. Here in the states, not so much.

*People are forever eating those pastries in Europe but they’re not getting fat. Where the hell are all the obese people? You hardly see any.

*Non-alcohlic beer is sold in every bar and restaurant I’ve been to in Europe. But decaff coffee is hard to find. Europeans like to be heavily caffeinated. 

*Most places you go in the world people are friendly and polite (course it helps if you’re white). Folks couldn’t have been more charming and helpful. They don’t seem to mind tourists at all.

*Finland used to be about the whitest country in the world. Now there are plenty of people of color. I’m proud of my people for becoming increasingly accepting of immigrants.

* Technically I drank alcohol on the trip. At the Copenhagen pub the person who bought one of the rounds didn't realize they were supposed to get me an N/A beer. I took two sips and was suspicious before the buyer's father quizzed him and the mistake was discovered. I don't think I have to start from day zero. 

*Only one of the many taxi and uber drivers we had was not an immigrant from a middle eastern country. 

* The showers in Europe suck. Weird, small, no water pressure, often not enough hot water. C'mon, do better.

*Big cities without much litter are truly sights to behold.

*Grand trip. Football match. Ferry rides. Nature. Museums. Historic buildings. Kind and charming people. Good food. Good drink. Best of all I was with the perfect travel partner, my darling, wonderful wife. 

What Do Danes Do With Their Trash? European Vacation '26 Entry the Sixth

Minutes ago I was standing in a square in Copenhagen enjoying the feeling of the sun on my face. It was my first experience with the sun in the Danish capital. We have not had warm weather here which is fine but the showers yesterday and rain on Monday were most unwelcome. When it hasn’t rained it has been mostly to partly cloudy. As frequently noted on this blog, I’m not a huge fan of the sun. It’s nice now and again but it was certainly appreciated this morning. It promises to be a very nice day which doesn’t do us much good as we’re flying to London in the afternoon. (Early tomorrow we fly back to the U.S.).

We haven’t encountered anyone in Finland or Denmark who didn’t speak English and indeed almost everyone save foreign born cab drivers speak it fluently. Talk about convenient. I’ve not once asked a native: do you speak English? Because it’s like asking: do you use food as sustenance? (Okay, that was a weird analogy.)

We’ve ridden the metro a lot the last few days and as I noted in my last post it is amazingly efficient and clean. Although yesterday we had a torturously long three minute wait for a train.

No one litters in this country (or in Finland) yet it’s a chore to find a waste basket in public areas. So what do Danes do with their rubbish?

Complaint department: the showers in Europe suck big time. Virtually no water pressure and you need an advanced degree in mechanical engineering to figure them out. 

Yesterday we saw what looked like more royal palaces and more ornate four-hundred-year-old government buildings. Also more large public plazas and immaculate parks and spires reaching to the sky. Copenhagen is a feast for the eyes. 

I went to the War Museum. It wasn’t bad featuring as it did artifacts from very skirmish the Danes have ever been involved in. I appreciated the fact that it didn’t romanticize war instead making a point to show the brutality of it. For some reason they had a surprisingly large amount of samurai paraphernalia. 

The missus and I made a pilgrimage to Juno the Bakery which she has followed for years on Instagram. It has a reputation for excellence that we discovered is justified.

I had a simple bread, butter and cheese sandwich which was one of the best eating experiences I’ve ever had. The bread was sublime. I topped it off with a pastry (honestly can’t remember what was in it) that was like an orgasm for my tummy. We bought cookies and such to take away. It was well worth the visit plus it afforded us an opportunity to see yet another part of this city.

Danes are in a hurry. We’ve noted that they walk fast and bicycle fast. Our meandering requires constantly stepping aside for a native rushing here or there. Even parents pushing strollers go at full speed. But they do like to lounge during breaks and after work for a coffee or a drink. Amazingly they’ll sit outside for the beverage, chilly weather be damned. I admire their fortitude. Supposedly Denmark has one of the lowest rates of cigarette smokers in the world but we encountered far too many, a lot of whom were enjoying their smoke along with drinks at outdoor cafes. Maybe it seemed like a lot to us because we come from Berkeley where virtually no one lights up anymore.

So this is it. The trip is — for all intents and purposes — at an end. It’s been grand. I do believe I’ll sum it up in a post a few days from now when we’re back home enjoying our creature comforts. I love travel but am the first to admit that there are many inconveniences associated with being on the road effecting sleep, bowels, stomach and sense of direction to name but a few. Oh yes, and those damn showers.