Month: July 2003

  • Past, Present, Future – Round Twenty-one

    PAST: Nobody’s going to get angry at you about it now. So go ahead and tell us how old you were the first time you got a taste of an alcoholic beverage. You didn’t really wait until it was legal, did you?

    PRESENT: I don’t have anything against drinking, I just don’t want to be a drinker. What about you? Do you abstain, go wild or just have a sip of wine from time to time?

    FUTURE: Continuing the “what would you call it” thread, create a mixed drink and give it a name. Fanciful ingredients are encouraged, of course!

    As always, if you’re even thinking about answering, please comment accordingly with a link to your website. And when you link back, link not to this specific entry but to http://greyduck.net/ppf instead. Thank you!

  • The Official Position

    You may have noticed my recent silence here and elsewhere (though not everywhere). In large part my lack of updating was caused by a lack of anything to say, pure and simple. A smaller part of the problem, however, is an increasing desire not to get caught in some nasty crossfire.

    You may have noticed a certain level of vitriol between various involved parties who I won’t name at this point. My policy up to now has been: I will, in no way, attempt to dictate the content of anyone’s personal website. I will not take sides or attempt to excuse the behaviour of people over whom I have no authority. I encourage everyone to write what they believe to be true, or necessary to say for their own personal well-being.

    To this I must add a new policy.

    I would appreciate from all involved parties an agreement to at least attempt to deal with relevant accusations and recriminations in some private manner before airing such content publicly. Certain factual errors have crept into various postings that are not helping the situation one tiny bit.

    The truth is that many of my friends’ perceptions are unalterably colored by months of negative commentary I made in private correspondence. This has damaged whatever positive relationships may have originally been possible. I habitually took my venting too far out of line without also dealing with those frustrations in a direct and responsible fashion with the party involved.

    I can’t take back the things I’ve said or done. I can only apologize to everyone involved for making things ten times worse than they ought to have been. And before you think I’m being whiny and overly apologetic, I will state for the record that at this moment I am in a relatively clear state of mind, and I’m not beating myself up. I’m stating cold hard indisputable facts.

    There are several months yet during which I need to be able to live somewhat comfortably under the same roof as the woman I married and still care about. I’m still not going to tell anyone they shouldn’t write what they feel they truly must. I’m only asking for some forebearance, for my sake if nobody else’s, on the topic of the breakup.

    Anyone who knows me could tell you that one thing I can’t stand to do is directly impose on another human being. Well, I’m going to attempt an imposition now:

    If you have something to say about anything that’s been said or done by myself, herself or anyone directly associated with either, please do so in private first and take it public only if there’s real cause to do so. This world wide mudslinging isn’t helping anything.

    Thank you.

  • PPF means so many things…

    Looked through the referrers just now. I’d like to point out that it’s not Friday yet, you wonderful meme-junkies. But that’s okay, I appreciate visitors from far and near, no matter when or why they come.

    What really impressed me is that someone found this place by searching for “ppf.” Turns out that Past, Present, Future is only 2nd on Google for that search. That’s right, folks, the Pakistan Press Foundation is out in front. At least I beat the Professional Pilots Federation though. Yeah, something to be proud of. Take that, People & Planet Friendly!

  • Eww. Just, eww.

    Thanks awfully, Jenn, for giving me the following link. Yeah. Not for the squeamish, methinks.
    ‘Fly boy’ continues to suffer

  • Past, Present, Future – Round Twenty

    PAST: What was your sense of “national identity” like when you were in grade school?

    PRESENT: How patriotic do you feel nowadays?

    FUTURE: You and a group of like-minded folk decide to secede and form your own nation-state. What do you call it?

    Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go engage in the American pasttime of blowing stuff up. Mind you, it’s only virtual stuff…

    Oh yeah. Leave a comment, would ya? Just so I know you were here? And if you link back, make sure it’s to this address: http://greyduck.net/ppf/

  • Happy Birthday, Sis

    Little Sister turns 26 today.

    If you happen to read this, Christine, just know that I’m proud of you and I hope your future is full of happiness and purpose.

    Happy Birthday to you.