inherently different

My Academy Award Picks for 2006! Lot’s of long shots this year:

Best Picture: Crash Best Director: George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck. Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote Best Actress: Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Williams for Brokeback Mountain Best Original Screenplay: Crash – Paul Haggis Best Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain – Larry McMurtry Cinematography: Memoirs of a Geisha Costume Design: Memoirs of a Geisha Original Score: Brokeback Mountain Original Song: “In the Deep” – Crash Best Makeup: Cinderella Man Best Sound: King Kong Best Visual Effects: King Kong Best Foreign Language Film: Paradise Now (Palestine) Best Documentary Feature: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

"The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility." – Brooks Atkinson (1894 – 1984

Some people have a very difficult time making decisions. I am not one of them. Since I could remember I have been able to make hard decisions the instant a problem arises that requires a choice. That is the one aspect of my personality that I take the most comfort from.

I’m of the opinion that most people who have problems making decisions also have problems with responsibilty. They are usually the ones who blame others for their failures, seek paths of least resistance, and generally try to avoid being responsible for others. I dislike being around people like that.

Unfortunately, I have rarely found myself with people capable of making decisions when the chips are down and consequently, I am forced to make the decisions no one else will make. This in turn has lead people to believe that I am, at best, hard hearted, and at worst, heartless.

I don’t make decisions with my heart, so perhaps that isn’t necessarily wrong. When it comes to certain types of decisions, I suppose it is better to be heartless than brainless.

I wonder… I wonder if the chips were down, and decisions needed to be made, would you be the one to step up and make them? If push came to shove, and someone needed to take responsibility, would you do it? If the matter were life or death? Could you step up? I wonder…

I woke up today and forgot where I was. Perhaps this is the early stages of alzheimer’s? It was momentary, but still disorienting to wake up and not know why you are waking up in a strange place. Of course, as soon as I saw my gf, I remembered where I was.

When I was much younger I would wake up absolutely terrified. Of course, that was mostly due to my relationship with my primary care giver.

On another unrelated note, Kate Bush released an album recently and it is possibly the best album she has ever released… well, two albums actually since it is a double cd set. If you liked Kate Bush back in the late 70s and early 80s as I did, you’ll love Aerial.

And yet on another completely unrelated note, this is the kind of post you get when you rush things. Yeah, I did say that I wouldn’t post again until Limey changed his site design, but to be honest, it was a half-assed change on Limey’s part, so you’ll get a half-assed post on my part.

Taking a short break… um, not that you can tell since I’ve posted so infrequently lately… just have some work to do. As always though, available through email! ciao.

It is once again time to reflect on how absolutely perfect Maui is. It is so perfect in fact that mammals come here by the thousands each winter to avoid the cold of their normal environment. I’m not talking about some blue haired geriatrics either… i’m talking about my favorite cetacean, the Megaptera novaeangliae, or as it is more commonly referred as, the Humpback Whale.

The Red Queen and I have gone on a Pacific Whale Foundation hosted tour of the waters off Maui in search of these huge lovable whales each of the last two years and again this year, we were not disappointed.

Let me tell you, these fuckers are huge. Like oprah winfrey huge. We’re talking bahdunkadunk huge.

I have tons of pictures, but this has to be my favorite. It shows a female and her primary escort. The pair danced and sang for us like Sonny & Cher. It was a great outing and perhaps might require a return visit. How was your friday?