[Onix]

Okay, I am a journalist and writer. I started, for some reason, perhaps 'cause my dad was into it for a while, as an intelligence analyst, just like Jack Ryan (The Hunt for Red October), but without the cool adventures, save parachuting on a rainy nigth once. I have been regularly working for the last 13 years, six of them in the U.S., with companies like United Press International, Associated Press and CNN. And now, I am back at the AP in México.

I also sold food and movies, mostly **** and Australian productions, but journalism and writing have allways been my main source of income.

 

[rickcr42]

man,there are days when Iask myself this very question,followed by "where the fck am I goin'"

Rebel without a clue?
Too easy.

How about ninth grade dropout with an IQ of 185 (my mom STILL weps over that one !).
Instead of THINKing,joined the United States Armed Forces.Made E5 in 18 months in a rifle platoon (time in grade is 36 months).
While I am not seriously dumb I have always benn kinda a hands on physical person.I have to not just know a thing is there but actually feel it,then bend the SOB to my will.
Classic Type Apersona
When I was a single man I was a damn nightmare.Maybe slept 20 hours per week
AAAAAH YOUTH

Banged around the country for a bit,spent a couple of fortunes,loved many women (OK.wasn't love but passed for it at the time)
Real fuc*ing nightmare

Then
[size=medium]WHAMMO[/size]
Met the woman who is now my wife,my friend,the mother of my children,my friggin' lifeline back to the planet earth......

As to what do I do to put de bacon on de table ?
Small scale general contractor.By small I mean additions,vinyl siding,interior/exterior painting,lead abatement,yadda yadda yadda

As my dear mother always says "why are you slaving when you could be using your mind"
'cause I would have to kill somebody.I deal with enough egos,but at least I deal with men !
Not some little **** wanna be
I have a beef on my job we go physical,then i fire the pri*k

As stated earlier,hands on

But the rickmonster is looking towards the future so have set up an electronics design firm that is only a write off at this point,but being one of the older folks around here,a good backup plan

As to why the rickasaurus has been MIA in recent times...........FINANCIAL FCKIN DISASTER means I have zero time for me or mine,let alone hobbies/passions.In fact,I have been such a snarly SOB that it is better that I stray rather than challenge

Like anyone reallygives a crap

Rick out

 

[Audio-Me]

React first, ask questions later.

:high fives rickster:

18 months? If I work on my recruiting skills, I could be E3 right out of basic (Navy). How long's the regular advancement period to go from E3 to E5? I want to make first class within three years.

 

[rickcr42]

depends on the MOS.I had a buddy who was in communications and someone had to actually die or retire before he could advance past spec 4,called frozen rank.I was 11 Bravo , light infrantry,and it was out there for those that wanted it-ranked moved fast.Squad leaders were fives,fire team leaders fours,threes behind chomping to move up.
In the Army,five is pretty much automatic after three.Six means NCO school and that is the incentive to re-up.
But again,depends on MOS.
Become a cook and you are screwed.no where to go,motor pool,same **** sandwich
Only hardstripers move and that unfortunately means rifles,mortors or artillery

BTW-gotta edit that last post,looks like a damn retard wrote it

 

[Audio-Me]

NCO, hrm, I might want to go to Fort Knox if I switch service to the Army. Can you still do that if you're in the reserves?

My father thinks I'm an ******* for joining the Navy, he'd rather see me make it into West Point or Colorado Springs. Yuck.

I'd rather be a captain than some punk General pushing papers.

 

[TimSchirmer]

HS student...University student next year

 

[rickcr42]

fast track to rank is and has always been either brown nose HQ or be one highly motivated kick ass SOB and let GOD sort them out.
So I guess what I am saying is , use the grey matter and suck up or get dirty and carry a weopon.
Not for everyone , only personality type "A" need apply

And while RA is possible from the eserves it is highly unlikely unless you bring a special skill to the plate (fighter pilot,intelligence,foreign language skills,etc)
A tough call in these times.
My oldest son graduates high school in june and had/has intentions of military service.While I think this a to be respected I am also fearful,no man should outlive his children.
At the same time I do not expect the children of others to do the gruntwork.Tough call.
And not does he want to do service to his country,he wants to bear arms,as in Ranger.
Pride and fear do battle indide the rickmonster
In the end it is his call , he is a man after all , and it is your choice on what you want to do in life.
What I can say is , without the structure of military service , guys like me are doomed.Total loose cannon with no direction and no discipline.
Check here and scroll about 1/2 down to see where I am coming from
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...0&pagenumber=8

 

[CaptBubba]

I'm a HS senior going to a private boarding school. Already got accepted to Clemson U and plan to go into electrical engineering. My goal in life is to make enough money for my parents to pursue their loves and have one hell of a 50th wedding anniversary.

I am not the stereotypical teenager. I have never "hung out" at the mall, have never been "cruising", don't drink, smoke, or do any drugs whatsoever, and would much rather spend an evening in a coffee shop attempting to play chess and trying to discover the true meaning of life than go out and "party".

That's me in 103 words.

 

[Audio-Me]

I choose B. =\ Get dirty...

Ranger, ahh, looks like your son and I have something in common. I'm a small arms infantry person.

Well I most certainly hope I have intellegence, have some foreign language skills (limited Korean), and would be willing to be the gunman of an AC-130.

 

[ai0tron]

right on RickG

There are people in art who struggle over expression and the means to expression just as there are those in music. It is very hard IMO to get the two to see eye to eye, although I have used music in several of my artistic pieces... The problem with it is, when people hear the music they say, wow, the music sure goes well with that... who is it? And then suddenly it becomes a conversation about the music. Music distracts from meaning and more or less lends itself to overbearing and imprecise emotional concepts, which due to our limited vocabulary are not all that wide ranging. This is what music is typically used for, in fact, most peoples definition of "music" limits it to this type of bland emotional description. The music industry has not progressed one iota in terms of new forms of expression either. We get angry, we get sad, we get vengeful, we get renewed, and ultimately all you've got is what's being rehashed, again and again. I suppose part of the problem is in fact the temporal nature of music, but please, musicians everywhere, we do not need yet another "jam" band, we do not need to experience "jazz" all over again... Can I hear something I have never heard before??? PLEASE???

The saving grace of music is poetry in 99% of the cases, every once in awhile though, there is a song that really transcends our consciousness and takes it away even without words. Music that draws forth from your mind a specific idea. Not just "Oh Im a loser baby so why dont you kill me" over and over and over again. "Im locked in a dark room with nowhere to go"... thanks for spoiling it with your poignant flash of the obvious.

I wish musicians would see how expressive they can be as an abstraction, instead of trying to play a fiddle to their hearts lonely desires. Thats kasey kasems top 40 kind of ****, thats the **** that if it were a picture it would be hanging over the fireplace with a heart that said "home sweet home" on it. It's cliche and kitch. It's nice, but it ain't Art, its just artistic.

Art, yes, I once worked in the "art" department at a book publishing company, I can tell you that no matter how hard I worked, I would never, ever call the things I made at that job Art. Never.

Art is a sublime metaphysical extension of an IDEA, a specific idea that suddenly finds itself embodied physically, transcending the plane of thought into reality. Art gives life to the IDEA, the idea itself is BORN so to speak into the world. Britney spears and her ilk are not artists, they are driven by pre-pubescent misconceptions of a hormonal nature. Which sadly, most of our country's youth find themselves the emodiment of. Sadly, I am/was one of them. But I try not to be... usually.

The point is Art has progressed over a much larger period of time than music, and music has pretty much only just lately begun to get interesting. But I keep seeing these winey little pot heads singing about nothing important, or valuable, or new, or remotely interesting... it typically just has the same semi-pleasant tune some other **** cookiee cutter rock band has. Th epoint is, music is barely even art anymore, barely, a couple lone soldiers are carrying the flag of art, but most of musicians are just milking the system.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by ai0tron ...but please, musicians everywhere, we do not need yet another "jam" band, we do not need to experience "jazz" all over again... Can I hear something I have never heard before??? PLEASE???

Not bloody likely -- it's all been done. Every note's been played, most chords captured and identified.

It's not like there's a new species waiting to be discovered.

Oh, sure, you might find someone like Zia -- a combination I bet you haven't heard before, she writes most of her stuff in 10 and 13 tone scales.

But those are becoming harder and harder to find. Better to just give up.

 

[cajunchrist]

If musicians aren't artists, then why do they call them 'recording artists'?

 

[Audio-Me]

They con the public in the studio???

 

[cajunchrist]

You guys are very cynical.

Cynicism may be accepted as a normal state of mind nowadays, but it's a poisonous attitude that ruins your chances of really getting enjoyment out of life.

As far as I'm concerned, musicians are artists, painters are artists, sculptors are artists, etc. Any endeavor where someone is expressing themselves in any medium is an art. Fashion design is art, gardening can be an art if the gardener is using gardening as a means of self-expression. Same for competitive sports; watch Michael Jordan play basketball and tell me that man isn't an artist.

I think we argue a bit too much about the meaning of words on these boards. Beauty is all around you, and nothing is more beautiful than witnessing the honest self-expression of another person. Maybe if we proceeded with our hearts a little more and with our heads a little less, we could be happier.

 

[setmenu]

'Good' and 'bad'[or should that be average] art.
I howl and decry standards with the best of them.
But which is better?
A football field covered in the finest cut diamonds or a field covered in gravel with a single beautifull cut diamond in the centre.
which diamond is going to be more noticed and elicit more attention thought etc?

We have [on the most part in the money rich world] a huge amount of Quality 'stuff'.
Endless choice.
Little real appreciation or understanding, things just taken for granted.

Audio equipment for example, 40 years ago a lot of modern average stuff would have been high end.

To decry as average , static or even retrograde modern mass
'artistic' work,products or standards assumes man,s tastes or
sensibilitys are supposed to advance independent of the whole.

I do not think art as an introspective media can necessarily do
this.
As art in the past has often[mostly] been adjunct to religious or
spiritual matters,and it has been those core things that have tempered
or advanced[?] mans nature,with the artistic component to help
focus the mind.

Without some shared language art [high art!] becomes meaningless except to an elite few who are in on the joke[or studied the peculiarities of a particular artistic language].

Hence the common simple[shared] language of mass art.
Driven by a modern consumer ethic and in an attempt to sell more
product this language becomes ever simplified to quickly reach
the target emotions and presto! people are guided into a simplified social emotional culture.
This repression of a complete range of expression I believe can
create the same social unrest that a repressive religion can!

So..those little diamonds in the gravel have more purpose than ever.
But the moment there are more diamonds than gravel,it should
then again be those little plain stones we should aspire to!

Bit simplistic I guess..but there you go..

Setmenu