Dear Universe I Am Dancing In The Dark

5 Songs:

Dancing In The Dark- Bruce Springsteen
Dead Man’s Party- Oingo Boingo
Don’t Give Up- Peter Gabriel
Don’t Tell Me-Blancmange
Don’t You (Forget About Me)- Simple Minds

Dear Universe,

It is your old friend Jack checking in again. Been a while since we had a to heart-to-heart and I think it is time we have a sit down to figure out why some things are the way they are.

Don’t worry, this isn’t the kind of Tony Soprano sit down where you have to worry about getting whacked. You are the universe and I am just an ordinary Joe who has developed a particular set of skills that aren’t serving me the way I want them to.

I am told that things happen for a reason and that all will work out as it should but I am also told that there is free will involved so even though all will work out as it should there might be a variety of things that happen before and during while things work out as they should.

Don’t know about you but that reminds me of the news that the double stuff in Oreos isn’t quite double.

Forest Fires, Riots and Earthquakes

Ok universe I am sort of betwixt, between and bemused by the crap you are pulling. Remember you put me through multiple earthquakes, the LA Riots and had me evacuated from a forest fire.

You have made sure that I understand what it means to be punched in the mouth, kicked in the gut and slapped in both the literal and figurative sense and let us not forget heartbreak.

Because you made sure I learned about that too, can’t decide if this makes you a sick motherfucker or a great teacher because all of this has helped me understand and appreciate the sweeter side too.

That sweet side outweighs and most of the time overwhelms the negative crap. No doubt that on the plus/minus register the pluses outweigh the minuses and that life is pretty damn good.

But you know I don’t just let things go. You know that when I am attacked by the crap flinging monkeys of life I will reach down and throw it back at them.

It is not a matter of being a tough guy or not taking shit, but my unwillingness to always accept what is said or handed to me.

Why?

Why don’t I just accept things? Well universe you are to blame for that. You taught me to ask questions and to push back. You taught me to stand firm and hold on when things are hard because they change.

And that is why I ask some of these questions because when things don’t make sense I try to figure out if there is a reason why. Sometimes there is.

Some things don’t make sense and I don’t waste time trying to figure out why but that is not how it is with everything. Sometimes they don’t make sense because people don’t want to do the work.

Sometimes they take the easy way out and say “because” for no reason other than it is easy.

Well universe I have gotten pretty good at doing things the hard way and not always because I like or want to. But it has helped me develop a good work ethic and an unwillingness to accept certain things.

Don’t tell things happen because G-d has a plan that I can’t understand because my capacity for understanding is pretty damn deep and that sounds like me telling my kids “no” because I am exhausted and can’t offer any other explanation.

And if G-d exists and is all powerful then he doesn’t get tired or exhausted so…

Musical Intermission

Here is another five songs:

Dreams- Fleetwood Mac
Eight Miles High- The Byrds
Eleanor Rigby- The Beatles
Elysium- Gladiator Soundtrack
The End- The Beatles

So What

Ok universe, you all powerful, mystical and mighty something or other– stop saying ‘so what.’ Stop rolling your eyes and asking me to climb mountains so that some scraggly bearded yogi can give me some sort of wise sounding answer to the mysteries of the cosmos.

I asked you before and I am asking you again to give me a straight answer as to what you expect/want me to do. Yeah I know I don’t listen to anyone and that I march to the beat of a drummer who has no rhythm but trust me when I say it will be better for both of us.

• Saved: Life