This afternoon, I moseyed down to Clemson University in none other than, Clemson, South Carolina. It is about a forty minute drive, so I listened to a bunch of old geezers whine about politics on talk radio, but ended up jamming out to a hits station on the satellite radio. I spent about three and a half hours traversing the 400 acre campus. I observed lovers leaning on one another under a shade tree, smiling faces, and a few grunge rockers. Ah, love and youth on such a brilliant day. I walked by as a couple, leaning up against an ancient oak tree, embraced each other giggling. You know, that first accidentally or innocent kiss, when you’re both talking, sniggering, and all of a sudden you find each other in that moment of repose. Well, it’s peaceful in the beginning.

Anyhew, I discovered jealousy in my own heart, while observing all of the young people in the throws of love. I’m not a bitter person, and I certainly don’t want to become a bitter dried up shell of a man. No! The heart always heals. It may take the rest of your or my life, but it’ll heal. Please don’t let a bitter divorce or atrocious breakups ruin the rest of your life. Life is too short for such nonsense. Live everyday with your heart on your shoulder, as I do. It hurts like hell sometimes, but it is better than being a desiccated shell of what you or I used to be. It hurts, I know. It’s downright agonsing sometimes, but we can all overcome heartache. Love is awaiting us all.

Finally, I’ll post these pictures a few days apart for all of you “low bandwidth” people. Of course, you all can go to my flickr page and not have to wait.

So, tell me some of your love and lost love stories.

I wrote this scribble (or whatever you want to call it – shite), while in the doctors office the other day. You see, I have allergies, and I have to either deal with it, take enough allergy medicine to render myself useless, or move away. I will probably do the first two for the time being. Seriously, pollution is a problem that we can’t ignore. If it’s not affecting you now, it will in the future. What kind of world do you want your kids and grandkids to inherit? Would you rather them have forest laced in green foliage, sovereign oceans and lakes and rivers pellucid and free of chemicals, and an atmosphere cleansed of carbon and sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain, or the exact opposite, which is where we are headed?

Coal is not our friend! At present, there are 151 new conventional coal-fired power plants in various stages of development in the U.S. of A.. I’m not bustin’ on America, but we use less renewable fuels than we did 20 years ago! What’s up with that? Sure, China expels more pollution than the rest of us, but since America is the “richest” country in the world, shouldn’t we be the first to step up and demand stricter sanctions on ourselves and other countries that use old and backwards power facilities. Come on Bush, I know you love OPEC, I mean APEC, but it’s time to do what is right!

Speaking of coal and disasters, forty-one years ago today, 144 people, of whom 116 were children, were killed, when waste from a coal mine slid down a mountainside into a school in Wales, U.K.. It is the most infamous coal disaster in British history.

The rain is dancing amidst rainbows,

While I painfully sit and observe the sniffs and sneezes.

I ask the doc, “So, what’s the cure then,

And don’t say that it’s something that I must endure”?

Doc glances at his flu chart, and replies, “Move to the country,

Where the air is crisp and the sky is blue”.

“Right then, where’s the bill”,

I pray, as I survey the chicks chirping in the windowsill.

“Ha, move to the country he says.

I’ll say my goodbyes and fly through the sky

To a place where people are free and full of glee”,

I thought, whilst exiting the doctor’s office.

“What we need is a revolution

To stop all of this damn pollution

– Not just air, water, and soil pollution,

But mind, political, commercial, media, and governmental pollution”,

I laughingly whispered under my breath,

As I glared at the haze of death that has encompassed my city of origin.

The nose knows of the delicate rose that makes the heart grow.

Indeed, I must go,

In order to elude the wickedest crow

That consumes the populous,

Like Bush at an oilrig shop.