It's the end of the world as we know it. Really, it is. Oh... you're okay with that? I should've guessed.

Woo actually posting something for once. You never expected this now did you, hmm?

It's been about 3 years since my last post. A lot of shit has changed. I'm a miserable bastard now... well. Moreso than I was before. And perhaps it's that new outlook through not so rosy glasses that makes me look at America with a slight amount of confusion, if not the entire world.

Since again, I haven't written anything in 3 years, I'd like to cover a multitude of topics that really make me wonder if there's something in the drinking water.

What the hell is wrong with society as we know it?

Let's cover America from an earlier standpoint. 1770's. Opressed by the British, we banded together in order to earn our freedom. We defended it in 1812. We fought as a country devided for our ideals during the civil war. And even those who didn't have their asses on the front lines were doing something either behind the scenes or to help in anyway they could.

Flashforward, America. 2013. I'm fairly sure we've gone full potato.

Let's look first, at the media. I mean, shit, why not. I'm sure most people who have read this far and don't think I'm a raging asshole or commie know where I'm going with this.

What constitutes news? To me? It's anything that effects life as we know it. Crime, business/economy, weather, etc. Anything I need to know to stay informed in what effects me in the immediate world around me.

I cannot stress this enough. I do not give a flying squirrel screw about what Hollywood is doing, what celebrities are doing. Whether it's sports, movies, TV, etc. If it's a story about charity or someone making a difference? Sure, I'm all for that. Amanda Bynes getting her 32nd DYI in 31st days? No. That is not news. That's feeding an animal of attention these people need. I'd just call it a personality disorder, but that's me. I'm fine with movies, TV, etc. Don't get me wrong. I love TV. I watch late night talk shows. But I don't need to know what someone is doing every hour of their lives. I already know people on Facebook who update me that much, and that gets tiring. Keep in mind, I LIKE those people! (Well... in cases. But the facebook post if for another night.)

So, we've covered media bullshit #1. That crap. #2. Paula Dean has made some questionable choices in how she's referred to our darker brethren of the world. 26 years ago. First off, let's review my first part. I already don't care. Why do I highlight this? It's 26 YEARS ago. Now I REALLY don't give a fuck about it. Why? Why is it because someone is a celebrity that their entire life is thrown under a microscope? If someone has the talent they need to be able to be this popular, they're obviously doing something right. NONE of us have a clean past. I got a call from the cops when I was 18 about some stupid things I did. Gee, I better worry about that if I was popular 25 years later that because I was a schmuck in my teenage years I should catch scrutiny from people who DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I EXISTED WHEN IT HAPPENED. May not have even been BORN yet. Please tell me I'm not the only person who finds this slightly more nutso than a Skippy Factory. (Smooth and creamy, please.)

That's my media screaming for now. Next up... politics, because to me these issues relate only for the simple fact that as a society, we've got the blinders on like Ray Charles. (Shout-out to Ray, kick ass music man. We miss you.)

November, 2012. Election, done. Over with. Obama wins, Mittens lost. Shit storm ensues of people complaining, "Ohhh, 4 more years of nothing happening. No change."

I refer back to 1776. It's nearly worse than that for how sheep-like we've become. If this same generation(s) went back then, we'd probably still be drinking a spot of tea half past 2. I'm not saying we need to overthrow this government, I say we need to stop BLAMING it. Jesus Christ people, you look at the tool to changing the world EVERY goddamn morning. And if one more person tells me they're not enough to fix the problems they see I will slap them in the face. The revolution was a grass roots movement of likeminded people that eveytually led to the change of an entire nation. Actually, the CREATION of one! Nifty, innit?

Yes, things are different now. But I once again say. Please stop looking to Washington to answer all of your problems. It's like staring into the sun, it gets painful quickly. For the economy, for things that could help a community. Why can't a township of people band together? Or a city? Hell, maybe neighbors? We've done it here, with neighbors getting together to help shovel out cars every winter. See a theme? Common problem, people work together to resolve it with a solution. The same logic can be applied. And we had the beginnings of it. Even in my home city of Phila-la-la-la. (Say that three times fast internet)

The 99% movement... Horray! People getting together about a common problem! ...Oh, they're just sick of rich people? And they're protesting? Well.. fuck. So much for that. Okay. Want to know how the 99% movement should have been used in my eyes? Convention of networking your ass off, by city or by state, however they set it up. Protesting a company does absolutely nothing to help anyone. (And I'd like you to look at everything you own for either clothes, electronics, etc... go ahead, I'll wait until you tell me you bought an i7 laptop made by your local mom and pop store.) But, I digress from the silliness. Why couldn't we use this to help these people create business? Help their communities, create jobs, and actually give it a personal feel so you're not just working for a borg that's headquartered 5,000,000 miles away and only cares enough to know your name when it goes on the check at the end of every week.

While I've much more to say, I'll only end up coming back into a circle, so I'd like to finish this way.

The world isn't going to fix your problems. You need to be able to find the people who are going to, and they're all around you.

Now if you excuse me, I need to go sniff some glue.

-Insert signature here-

A bout with the doubt

Oh the joys of pessimistic optimists…

I swear some people are out to get themselves with trips of life sucks into life’s great. Talking to a guy I knew earlier. He just went into a rant of how everyone was out to get him, how people did things to him to avoid him, etc. Then, he was just fine.

How does this happen?

I’ll be frank. Doubt has hit me before. On many occasions, and on many matters. And I’ve even noticed this in myself. How can we go from uneasy to almost purely giddy inside in 30 minutes or less? I mean, pizza delivery can’t keep that promise, so how can our minds do it?

Moreover, why do our minds torture us like this? Why do we get bad news, and turn it into perhaps the worst-case scenario? It might not even be logical, or possible, but we think it. What do we accomplish from this? I mean, we usually just put it do sleep when we feel “better” (or so we think) anyway. It’s never realized, but it’s also never resolved.

So what’s the purpose of it in the first place? Is scaring the living soul out of ourselves, or beating ourselves up helpful? My only argument is maybe it helps us to really be happy when something turns out good. Or maybe make us stronger, but even then, if it’s not dealt with, the only thing it can do is weaken you. It’s like seeing the speeding car coming at you, but not walking out of the way hoping it swerves.

I’d like to be able to live life without having to go worst case when something goes wrong.

My mind, and many other ones, disagree.

From the vaults... Macungie, PA 6-20-09... a day in the life of a railfan

6/20/09: Weather calling for 80% chance of showers. I'll let you in on a little secret. It was a 100% chance of showers. Needless to say, it was dull and cloudy this fine Saturday morning, with my first thought being, "I got up a 5:45 AM for this??". Well, then again, we didnt have much choice in the matter. This trip had been brought about by a purchase on e-bay. After talking with the guy for a bit, and realizing how location, we decided to just meet up with him at the closet spot to railfan. This being Macungie, PA. Now, before then I had never been to Macungie in the the spring/summer. We've always gone up in either November or February. In those trips, color was hard to come by, other then dull gray, black, and the occasional day of snow causing white to appear. This time however, with the garden in full bloom, it would be a much more interesting trip. So, up at 6, downstairs by 6:20, out the door by 7:30. Now, we had know it was going to rain, yet me nor my father were swift enough to put umbrellas in the car. It hadn't been raining down are way though, so we hoped it would just be cloudy. I-76 to Route 422. Route 422 to Route 100. Route 100 to Macungie, PA. Directions so easy, a caveman could do it.

We had made decent time on the way up, and true to what we had though, it was just cloudy. This held true... until we were coming into the outskirts of town. Light drizzle, we could handle that. Ok, a little bit hard, still doable. By the time we got trackside, it was raining pretty well, and me and dad just looked at each other for a moment. Said nothing, the look said it all. Our guy wasn't to be there for another hour, so we waited inside the car.

I reached down, grabbed my camera bag, and pulled out my scanner. Turned it on and let it sit on the dashboard. Wasn't on 5 minutes, and I hear someone coming my way. Once again, looking down into my camera bag, I checked the contents quickly...

Camera? Check.
Notebook? Check.
Sunglasses? Not required at the moment, but check.
Film? Check.
Sarcasm? No, I just act funny.
Back-up battery? Check.
Watch? Check.
Dashing good looks? *Checks mirror* Eek, well work with what you have.

So, with that all taken care of, I looked up at the crossing at the east end of the area. Light starting to flash, I got out of the car. To my surprise, it was a very late NS trash train rolling though town. Lined up, got my shots, and ducked back in the car. Not too much damage done, only slightly wet after that. Not 10 minutes later, with much harder rain, the signal goes green for another westbound. Again, I wait, see the train as it makes the curve roughly a half a mile away from my location, and jump out. I see the consist. It's a freight??? I'll be soaked after this one. And of course, this thing was a monster, with rain pouring down on me. It felt nice, but that wasn't the issue. I was worried about my camera more then I was worried about myself.

After that, it had continued to rain, even harder then before, which baffled me because I didn't think it could get much worse. Of course, at the worst of it, Bob shows up with our e-bay winnings. Got the cars, gave him some famous dead presidents, deal closed. With that, instead of jumping in and out of the car, we decided it would be better to hang out over at the gazebo. Atleast then I could get photos in relative dryness. So, I opened up the car, got out my bag, and started running over, until I head something behind me. I turned, and to my chagrin, another westbound was about to blast past me. Fumbling for my camera, I grabbed it out with barely enough time to snap off the empty autorack train. I can guess that most of you won't know what I'm saying with this, but that train was probably the best of the day just for the horn. Haven't heard a Leslie that strong in many months. Kinda made me smile against the poor quality of the day.

So, now in the gazebo, and pretty much soaking wet, I waited to see if the rain would let up. It wasn't until about 11:00 AM that the rain finally stopped, the first time. Lucky for me, I was far dryer at that point. Up to this point, we had seen a big 'ol 5 trains, and about an hour and a half talking with fellow railfans. Then, this other guy showed up. I'll describe him as a pleasant PA blue color guy. His english, a tad bit southern sounding, but still atleast discernible compared to other people whom I've talked to on these trips. He said that when ever he shows up, trains run through. So, I talked to him about that, until I heard this sad fact:

"Oh yeah, I saw this train go by really fast a few days ago. It was red, had windows, and there were about three of 'em."

>.>

THE OFFICE CAR TRAIN????? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didn't need to know I missed that one by a day or two. Ok, well, I missed that. But I still have another 8 hours. Anything can happen. Except my scanner had been giving me fits. I don't know why this occurred to me, but I took the antenna off, blew what appeared to be dust out og both then antenna itself, and the contacts on the scanner. Reattached the everything, and put it back. Not 10 minutes later, I heard way off, "NS 213 clear 33-1W out". Wha...? I couldn't get reception from two miles away, now I'm getting something over 7 miles away? It was just dust! This brought no end of laughter, and needless to say, I was more then willing to join in. So, a block of three went trains through, and then not to far behind that block of trains, a fourth went through. After that, the guy left for the day, pretty much saying, "Well, my job is done."

It also hadn't been just railfans out here that day. With the gardens in bloom, there had also been people in the gazebo that were helping people with the maps that had been made. This was one of eight gardens on a tour around the Allentown area. So, we were getting all kinds of people. Even a few that hung around long enough that we started talking to them about trains. Mostly me, I just like talking with people. At least two had said by the time that they left, that I had interested them in trains.

After a quick lunch, more sitting. We had worked the total trains up to 10, and were hoping for more. The rest of the days action was spread out pretty well, though they still ran fairly close to each other. I don't know why I looked at my scanner before the 35A came through, but I just did. I saw the word "Bearcat" on the front, as that was the model line. I thought, "Didn't I talk about bearcat neighbors with Kristi and Bailey in chatbox once?" I know it was some kind of animal, but that just stuck in my brain at the moment. Well, that is until I saw 35A make the sweeping curve up above me, then it was 100% back to trains. This time though, I went down into the flower garden, and got my shots of the train and flowers at once. I hope they turned out well enough, but with film, I won't know yet. Digital I would have had a couple good once by then, but I'm always afraid of the artsy shots, just because I am using films.

34M issued me my blunder of the day. Focusing on the trailing engine, I neglected the fact that there was a string of 8 Erie Lackawanna hoppers behind that. Now, the Conrail engine was, tops, 15 years old. The EL hoppers? Try 45+. So, after calling myself quite a few choice words in my head, I went back to chatting with the rest of the people out there at that point.

Now, I'll just skip to the end. (Partly because I don't want to bore you with all the details, and partly because my hands will hurt if I do.) I had been talking with a guy from the Conrail Historical Society, and dad had still be talking with the two brothers that had been up there for a good bit of the day with us. My scanner picks up what sounds like an Ethanol train coming at us from the west. I hear the horn as it starts blowing for the crossings a few miles east in Albertus, PA. Hmm, Leslie, automatic value at that. I'm getting a Conrail Dash-8. Yes...and no. Yes, it was a Dash-8, it had a Leslie, and it was an Automatic Value. No, in the fact it wasn't really a Conrail. Conrail owned it, but it was under the ownership of LMS instead. Now onto the horn. Sometimes "The Automatic" is fine, but in this sense it was bad. That engine was the bad. Overblowing was he, especially compared to one that had gone through earlier with a far better horn. So, 68Q now baring down on me, I got ready for my shot. Just then, one guy jumps infront of me to get a good look at the train coming. Now, I knew he wouldn't move, and I only had about 20 seconds left. So, bad knees and all, I ran out a distance to get a clear shot, and it appeared. IN BLUE!! 8461 pounds through Macungie eastbound running hard at Allentown, PA and points north. So, thus closed the day. 16 trains, 5 blue engines, and a roll of film later. At that point it was 7:15 PM, so even with an hour's worth of sunlight left atleast, we decided to call it a day. NS had put on a nice show, seconded only by Mother Nature. I laughed at that for a moment, as I was gathering all my stuff back into the bag before we headed home. The sun angle was gorgeous as we rolled home. I only wish we had got one more before we left.

All in all, a a great day, with good people, and fast trains.

I'd like to thank the following people.

My parents: For making that day possible.
Uniden: For the scanner I used that day.
Ricoh: For the camera I used that day.
Mead: For the notebook I used for my train movements, and odd thoughts that came about as well.
Norfolk Southern Rail Corp.: For just doing a bang up job in general.
Air: For helping me breath.
Fat Freddy's: For the cheese steaks. YOU GUYS ROCK!!
And you: Yes you! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Gives me a reason to write it, eh?

;]

-Cody

WTF is FTW

Anyone notice how chat speak appears to grow by day? Granted, it's probably saved me some time in posting something, but where do we make a cutoff?

I mean, I've seen it on more and more forums. It isn't even just for the kiddies anymore. I've seen a few adults that are probably as old as your Grandpa using it. Not 'zactly funky fresh as you'd expect, fo shizzle.

There appear to be new words... EVERYDAY! LOL, ROFL, IMHO, LAWL, LMAO, and a whole slue more of 'em. Makes me wonder why I was such a good boy with me 'reedin and 'rythmatic up until now.

I understand it's a good method of saving time but still getting your point across, but where does it stop? I mean, will I see ILY in Greeting Cards? Will I see it in business reports? Where does this stop?

The internet pretty much gets an F for keeping us tride and true to what we learn in school. Granted, I use some as well, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather type out an entire sentence in cases, and spell most words without google's help.

Could be wrong, but this is what I believe, IMHO... Oh damn it.

Pull off that Band-aid

Over the last couple years, I've noticed something. It takes longer for the average cut to heal. Bruises hurt longer and stay longer. Everything appears to linger almost before it's done and over with.

Perhaps it's just the thing I've got the guts to call a brain backfiring again, but it seems like even mental pains and strife lasts longer now then it did before. I was under the dilution that as I got older, I'd be able to handle thing better. I'd be able to work through things quicker.
Maybe it's because I'm dealing with different things before then 7 year old Cody was, but it seems like that was very wrong.
7 year old Cody had a problem? You could fix it with Blue's Clues, a Jello Cup, and Bop It (Forehead please). It was all good. No issues, no problems.
Now? It can be far from it. There's angles to analyze. There's things to ponder and wonder about. There's things that you just can't figure out that can't be fixed by gelatin now. I actually need to fix what is at fault now, not just cover it over.

Am I saying this is a bad thing? Not necessarily. Sometimes it's been a pain in the butt to get through it. I feel like pulling my hair out because I don't get why something failed or why something doesn't work.
Or why someone is angry with me yet won't tell me or would rather be somewhere else.

I get bothered now when things don't go 100% right.

I get bothered when I can't figure things 100% out.

I get bothered it takes so long to handle something that looks so easy on paper.

Is this all part of getting older? The 'ol "Coming of age" bit? I dunno. All I know is this.

I want Jello.