Aquarian Weekly 1/3/07
REALITY CHECK

WISHES FOR 2007

Instead of the usual boring list of self-improvements people begin whipping together at the start of every new year, I thought I'd change it up a bit and search outside. Okay, sure, I could stand for a little self-improvement. Who couldn't?

For starters I might reconsider eating less crap, cutting down on the absinthe, and curtailing my abuse of the cats for sport. I probably should also quit shooting my pellet gun at speeding motorists on the street in front of my house, or serving "the special Kool-Aid" to the neighbor's kids, or this childish obsession with sabotaging the Boy Scouts of America. I promised my wife I would no longer co-opt her wild shenanigans for column material like the time last week when she rammed her Jeep into a brand-new Mercedes driven by a middle-aged lawyer while juggling a map, two-lattes, spinning the radio knob, and shifting gears with her knee. When the stunned guy got out, she politely asked, "You got a speed pedal on that shit-box fuck face?" (Hey, it's still 2006 when I'm writing this - one last one couldn't hurt).

And I guess it's time I put silly pranks aside like sending singing telegrams to J.D. Salinger or betting so-called "terrorist organizations" over the Internet they couldn't obtain uranium by the weekend. Okay, and no more midget porn. Oh, and I should start calling midgets Little People. And positively no more road rage, or at least this terrible habit I have of winging the really big Arizona Tea bottles at motorists trying to pass me on the right when I have my signal going and am clearly attempting to enter a jug-handle. Most people hate that; except my wife, who likens the experience to "an evening with Ben-Hur".

I will also stop telling everyone I meet that Britney Murphy is the quintessential thespian, when I know she is not. I must cease paying homeless people to moon the Fox & Friends show through the 6th Avenue window behind the hosts. And I will absolutely stop telling anyone who asks if I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior that I am Jesus Christ and I'll get rid of that phony ID I had made up at the State Fair that proves I'm Jesus Christ.

Hey, but I've grown a great deal in the past few years. My public urination and cursing at nuns has gone down considerably.

But enough about me, let's get rid of annoying societal issues.

1. No more apologizing for offending people. I am tired of celebrities, political figures, sports goons or whoever speaks their minds rescinding their comments once they realize they've offended someone. No more reorganizing the pure thought and succumbing to sensitivity. Say your piece and stick by it. Everything offends someone. Everything you hold dear offends me. Do I ask you to apologize? No. 2007 must be conciliatory-free or it will not stand.

2. In the spirit of number 1., let's not pay attention to Rosie O'Donnell anymore. She is a stupid ass. Seriously. You know the guy on the subway platform screaming about aliens stealing diamonds out of his rectum? Let's listen to him instead. And while we're at it, don't pay attention to any more celebrities. This includes talk-show hosts. People with a camera in front of them will do or say any pathetically futile thing to get you to listen. Don't do it. Ignore the famous. It's good for the soul.

3. Oh, and one more thing about the whole talking and listening thing: No more athletes, professional, amateur, or weekend are allowed to say anything anymore. They are not smart people, and they don't have a scintilla of interesting points to their conversation. Truth is most of them are goofy shitheads. All of them, actually, accept the ones I like, and they're the ones that don't do all the talking. Muhammad Ali was cool and funny and revolutionary. These guys are not. They either shut up or we don't listen. Quiet 2007 in sports.

4. Speaking of sport, and really most of our society, let's stop saying the latest thing is the Best or the Worst. It's probably not the Best or Worst. Just because we endured it or saw it or are fascinated by it as an infant by shiny things does not make it the ultimate anything. And while we're at it, no more Top Lists. Why does every innocuous subject spawn a Top Ten or Top One Hundred List? Who makes these lists? More dumb asses and shitheads, probably. Let's cut those out this year.

Shit, sorry - back to me for a second. I would like to take a moment to publicly apologize to the Better Business Bureau and the NY Attorney General's Office, and, I guess, to Maxim Magazine for making several claims that its editorial staff is a secret Nazi Kabal run by the biological offspring of Heinrich and Margarete Himmler. It was wrong. I can't believe anyone would have believed that. And don't worry; I'm not really "sorry" they're offended. It's just not true. Although, you have to admit - well, you would if you were a freelancer - that it only "appears" that way.

5. Let's not mention global warming anymore. Let it go. It's fine. I'm digging this crazy unusual warmth up here in the mountains. No snow, no ice. Sure other people might bake and terrible ecological disaster may befall future generations, but anyone reading this will be long dead or closer to it by then and we have to enjoy every day as it comes. Live in the now. It's very Zen and quite self-empowering. Plus, I like it. And another thing, Al Gore is Satan and I'm not sure how much we're supposed to support the Dark Lord's causes. Go ask David Duke. I'll wait.

6. I was just tossing this around, but hear me out. Let's all accept Islam as our religion. Just to fuck with things. You don't have to actually do it, just let's pretend to become a Muslim nation and rail against capitalistic demons and infidels. Try really, really hard. A mass ruse. Think about it. All we have to do is say we're all Muslim. Muhammad is all right with us. We dig burkas and all that other crap. It's just as silly as anything else we believe or stand for and it's much safer. Then we get to pull out of Iraq and disband the Homeland Security tax sinkhole and get rid of all the unconstitutional stuff the federal government laid on us and get back to the way things were. Okay, so, let's get that going for '07. We can have a slogan - "Islam Yeah!"

Oh, one last thing. This is important to me - I will no longer tell strangers I was raised by freaks in a circus. It was a carnival. Sorry, mom and dad.

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