On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.

Above is a snapshot of my lady love NOT weathering the onset of the 2008 NFL season opening Sunday. Some people are not cut out to sit around drinking wine and eating Louisiana hot sausage while watching American football. Every Sunday from here to the end of the season will hopefully be spent on my couch eating good food and drinking beer or wine and watching my teams: the Raiders and the Vikings. I was born a Raiders fan and got the Vikings in the divorce from my wife who's from Minnesota. I love football. I don't bother memorizing stats and who won what and where and who got traded or drafted out of whatever college. I don't really care. I just want to enjoy every season and every game as the singularity that it is, especially when one considers how bad a good team can become in the off-season.

Fall is the best because it's also hunting season. Pretty soon Ghost and I will be running around in the bush trying to find birds and rabbits and dammit if we ain't gonna be livin' it up! I think my little buddy will finally discover his true purpose, besides licking his balls and eating glasses. I hope to also find a bit of inner peace as I haven't been upland bird hunting in ages. I find it therapeutic to take long walks in untouched southwestern deserts and foothills and the life and death aspect of hunting also centers me. I could be the bird. Sometimes, I think I am the bird or rabbit, usually around the first of the month and tax time. Ah, hunting... there's so much more to it than people think and they'll probably never know it because they can't get past the primitiveness of the whole endeavor. I like the death and the blood because it stands in stark contrast to the beauty of nature and the joy of really being one with the Earth when you're out in the bush. The air smells different, the light hits things and highlights them differently, the actual earth in your hands feels pure, and best of all your senses truly come alive. I know no one will believe me but, for me, hunting and surfing and skateboarding are all part of the same continuum of sensory stimulation and soul stimulation. I feel alive when I do these things, I feel alive and healthy and, rarest of all for me, hopeful. Hopeful about my future and the future of the people I love and hopeful for the future of the world around me.

Peace out, bitches!