There are lots of great lessons in this song. It's a shame not everyone applies them.

Kick back watch it crumble
See the drowning, watch the fall
I feel just terrible about it
That's sarcasm, let it burn

I'm gonna make a toast when it falls apart
I'm gonna raise my glass above my heart
Then someone shouts "That's what they get!"

For all the years of hit and run
For all the piss broke bands on VH1
Where did all, their money go?
Don't we all know

Parasitic music industry
As it destroys itself
We'll show them how it's supposed to be

Music written from devotion
Not ambition, not for fame
Zero people are exploited
There are no tricks, up our sleeve

Gonna fight against the mass appeal
We're gonna kill the 7 record deal
Make records that have more than one good song
The dinosaurs will slowly die
And I do believe no one will cry
I'm just f*cking glad I'm gonna be
There to watch the fall

Prehistoric music industry
Three feet in la brea tar
Extinction never felt so good

If you think anyone would feel badly
You are sadly, mistaken
The time has come for evolution
F*ck collusion, kill the five

Whatever happened to the handshake?
Whatever happened to deals no-one would break?
What happened to integrity?
It's still there it always was
For playing music just because
A million reason why
All dinosaurs will die
All dinosaurs will die
All dinosaurs will die

I never saw this one coming...




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For some reason, as soon as I tell someone that I am self-employed, they assume I don't make any money. It's hard for people to understand that SALARY - TAXES - GAS - BABYSITTING < 0 is entirely possible. In my case, quitting my job and working for myself was essentially a de facto raise.

But people, family in particular, never seem to see it quite that way. They don't consider that I had to pay $100 a week in babysitting, $150 a week in gas, and so on until there was little left. Not to mention, I was driving almost three hours a day.

My former "part time" job was taking so much of my time that there wasn't even time to pick up anything else on the side. Even if I did, it wouldn't change the fact that I wasn't making anything from my primary job, which was taking about eight hours of my day between driving, preparation, and the 3.5 hours that I actually got paid for.

I've tried calling myself an independent contractor, but that's always translated as "dry-waller." I guess I'll just go with "consultant" and see how that goes. Then again, maybe I should just tell people I'm unemployed so that I can find out what they really think about me.

Perhaps this is a little late, but I have a solution to an age-old Christmas dilemma.

Not sure who you should be buying presents for? I've got an easy test for you. All you have to answer is this question: if you weren't going to any Christmas parties, who would you still buy for?

There are a lot of different ways to lead people. I suppose that many of them are okay, though I can't relate to some of them.

I've met a lot of parents over the years that have told there kids what is important. They've told them they will get good grades, they will go to college, and so on. If your kids respect, fear, and love you enough, they will listen to this advice and do what it takes. But I wonder how many hours such parents have ever spent helping their kids study.

Saying it may work for some, but I would argue that leading by example is much more effective.

So far, I'm one-for-one in getting my letters printed in the local paper. We'll see if they print this one. I'm searching the Web for a copy of the cartoon that this was in response to, but no luck thus far.

UPDATE: This letter made the online edition.

---

When I saw the political cartoon titled "I'll be home for Christmas..." at the top of the Op/Ed page of Sunday's edition of The Southern Illinoisan, I was looking on both side columns to find the article about over-the-top editorial cartoons. I never found it.

I'm certain that as I write this, your editorial staff is being flooded with angry letters, phone calls, and emails telling you how offended your readers were. Allow me to spare you the typewritten lashing that you probably expect. Unlike the cartoon in question, I'm going to attempt to draw attention where it should be during this Christmas season.

I hated that cartoon and I have no problem acknowledging that. But I can't really say I was offended. My first thoughts went to the families I know who have been personally affected by the war in Iraq. Rather than fretting over my own patriotism and admittedly conservative sensibilities being attacked, my heart went out to the only people that were truly hurt by what I saw – those who have lost family and friends to war.

While I'm certain that this cartoon was meant to strike at people like me, it does no such thing. It only hurts the friends and families of those that I presume the artist would claim to be protecting – those brave young men and women who are willing to risk their lives to give people both here and abroad the right to print that kind of garbage.

---

Whenever we are sick, the people around us will usually try to sympathize with us. For this reason, I don't usually say anything about how I'm feeling.

Now I'm not sick very often. When I am, it's usually something sinus-related. For some reason, when it's a sinus problem, everyone has to empathize with me. Just a "that sucks" would be plenty, but instead everyone has to tell me how they are having problems, too.

I guess I'm different about how and why I say things, though. I hate pre-programmed responses, and therefore I hate giving and recieving both sympathy and empathy.

A lot of people want to raise their children with the same religious values they have. I'm not sure how active a role I'll take in this with my daughter, as I believe more in leading by example than by command. But I know one thing I will encourage her to do: question.

There are a lot of questions I've always had about religion and theology. Unfortunately, the only people who will offer any answers are those who believe differently than I do. Because people of my own faith constantly told me not to question God, I was forced to go to other sources for possible answers. It tested my faith for a long time.

I don't know what kind of faith other people have, but I certainly can't relate to the people who are scared to question God. If God isn't big enough to deal with questions from you, His creation, then what do you really believe in? I can't speak for anyone else, but I believe in a God that loves tough questions. The answers don't always come in our time, but when they arrive they are certainly worth the wait.

But back to raising kids, it's important to allow your children to ask questions if you want them to ever truly believe. You may not always have answers, but at least let them ask and be honest when you don't know. Otherwise, your children will convert to atheism after their first college philosophy class.

Last night, my wife and I went to her first class reunion. It was an interesting thing to see, to say the least. I don't really have any interest in going to mine in two years, and last night didn't change that. But it did give me a chance to realize something about my wife and me.

My wife and I were the types in high school that were friends with people in every clique. And when I say "friends," I don't just mean we would talk to them like human beings. I mean, we really were friends with them and would do things with them.

In my own case, I never knew who I would be spending my friday nights with. It could have been other football players, a bunch of honor roll members, goths, cowboys, stoners, drop-outs, or just a couple of girls I ran into somewhere. It always seemed natural to be that way, even though most people picked a group and stuck with it.

Today, I have very few friends. In fact, I can't really say there is anyone I make an effort to see face-to-face on at least a weekly basis (outside of my family). Giving up coaching cut a lot of ties, as did moving out of my hometown and getting married, but I always assumed I would make close friends at work (like my wife has). I never have, which is just as well since I'm going to be working primarily from home in a month.

The strange thing is that this doesn't really bother me. However, what does bother me on occasion is the fact itself that it doesn't bother me, if that makes any sense. I often wonder how and why I ended up like this. I'm a friendly person, good-humored and well-liked by most people I meet, as best as I can tell. I'm not nearly as shy as I used to be, either. You would think I'd have tons of close friends and yet I don't. After last nights reunion, I think I see what happened.

The people in high school who hang out with a cross-section of their peers, as my wife and I did, get to know a lot of different types of people. That is great in and of itself and feels good at the time. But without a strong core of friends like the cliques have, there is nobody to hold you close to anyone else. You end up being the type of person that nobody ever asks about. Why not? They could easily ask, "Have you heard from so-and-so?" except who would they know to ask?

I'm not saying I wish I was in a clique or anything. I'm proud of who I am and the choices I made. It's just odd in a Confucian sort of way that being friends with so many leaves you with none in the end.

I had a feeling this would happen.

Dr. Mark Greene

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