FAT ASS FRIDAY Vol.1

January 30, 2015 by Ace in Culture, Fat Ass Fridays, Health, Personal Development | Leave a comment

YOU & YOUR FAT ASS

Vol. 1 FATS

A Majority of Americans today are a good 10 to 60 pounds overweight. What do I blame it on? No it’s not your love of Ice Cream Sandwiches or Bon Bons; It’s the thing you’re starring at, but more so the thing your Fat Ass is sitting on.

When we were blessed with the era of information, we were also shifted into the era of sedentary labor. Now what use to take 4 guys with Schwarzenegger arms, now can be done by a 110 pound female with the help of a robotic arm. Yep, that back seat to your new car can glide into place with just a little guidance from one human arm.

Instead of having to climb into an air duct to check humidity and vacuum, all you have to do is pull down a computer menu attached to probes in the duct and you can do it all from your cushy chair.

The new industrial injury has shifted from the low back or lumbar disc damage to “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”, “Obesity”, “Hypertension” and a “plethora of anal conditions”. Seriously, I’ve written several articles on taking really good care of your ass if you sit on it all day.

YOU DON’T WANT RECTAL SURGERY. Hemorrhoids OUCH, Anal Fistulas DOUBLE OUCH. And it’s not the condition, it’s the ugly surgery and recovery. This is why you need to pull up a bar stool, (Or stand) at the Café Americain on Fridays. I’m going to help you get rid of that FAT ASS.

Before I start the HOW TO part; I need to reprogram your brain. I’m not going to talk about diets or weight loss programs. KNOWLEDGE is POWER. So for Volume 1 just want to focus on FAT.

FATS: Taste really good. You’ll find it in Ice Cream, Red Meat, even my favorite sustenance Peanuts. Now don’t freak out on me, but there’s good fats and bad fats.

First: Bad Fats. These are “Poly-saturated” fats. It means that the molecule that make up the fat are small and sticky. What happens when you run fine sticky sand through Tubing with fine holes in it? The holes clog and fat builds up.

Now the Good Fats. Yes it is an Oxymoron. You should avoid fats if possible but most of the culinary arts do not. So if you’re going to buy oil to cook with. Buy extra Virgin Olive oil. It’s what is called Mono-saturated. What happens if you put large rocks through that same tubing that has been clogged with the fine sand? It tends to push it out of the tubing.

So it’s important that you look at the labels and see what kind of fat you’re eating. Peanuts are rich in fat, but it’s mainly mono-saturated fat.

I’ll try to keep this simple because I know most of you have not studied biophysics, but when you hear your doctor talk about good cholesterol and bad cholesterol; he or she is talking about good and bad fats. Only the scientific term is called “Lipids”. (As in Lip-o-suction) with this in mind; now you can understand HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. AKA “high density lipids” and “low density lipids”. Low density lipids or fat is like spackle. It sticks to your tubes, only in this case we’ll call them arteries and veins. High density lipids are like toilet bowl brushes. They lower the amount of LDL building up in your arteries. Pills like Lipitor are the equivalent of Draino. After 10 years of use, we’ve found that Drano can rot your delicate tubes. (Lipitor or “statins” can damage your muscles, the companies don not deny this). BTW, your heart is a big muscle. So the principle you want to remember is:

DON’T EAT POLY-SATURATED FATS.

Pardon the pun but, “chew on this info for a while”. We’ll talk about Carbs and Proteins soon. But I do not want to over load your mind. Lastly I want to talk about what fats are good for.

First: They usually taste really good. Second: If you survive a plane crash and you’re in the wilderness looking for food, your fat acts as a reserve form of sustanence. I’m not saying it makes you superman/woman but it’s been shown that fat people are usually the last to starve to death. On the other hand, healthy people are in a better position to find and catch or gather food.

YOUR HUMAN EXPERIENCE

January 27, 2015 by Ace in Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

The human lifespan is relatively short when you think about it. I strongly believe that you chose the life you’re living. (You are what you is) When I look back at my time in the military (Several decades ago) I can say I left with an honorable discharge and the enlisted rating of a non-commissioned officer. Not bad for a kid that enlisted at the age of 17 and didn’t know what he was doing. But I really wish I would have had some guidance. Since I am what I is; I guess climbing the ladder of Success in the military wouldn’t guide me towards what I knew was my first love. Music! But the military gave me many hours of free time to practice scales and work on soloing techniques.

Yet had I been mentoring myself back then, I would have said to myself, why don’t you take the test for the next level? I guess because all I wanted to do was create music and not become a higher paid member of the Armed forces. I didn’t realize I could have done both. I think subconsciously I thought by climbing that ladder, I would turn my back on my first love.

So I believe that before you sailed down the vaginal canal and had your umbilical cord ligated and severed; you said to the powers that be: “Sure I’ll take a shot at being born under these circumstances”. Sounds like a bunch of crap doesn’t it? Why on earth would anyone say: “Sure, I want to be born a Jew in Berlin around 1925”? Perhaps we have limited choices. “Who knows”? Again, like I said yesterday, you are what you is. There were many Jews that said in 1933: “See Ya. I’m heading for America”. I said that had I been born in the Sahara Desert, I would have moved to a new location where there was food.

It’s easy to say that now. (At my age) Where was that vision when I was a lower paid non-commissioned officer? It’s water somewhere miles from the bridge. I wrote once that we are all living in the past. (Literally, once your brain interprets stimulus, the event has already come and gone) So we need to anticipate or “be in sync” with the future. Instead of using Stephen Covey’s formula of “Stimulus, space, response”. We need to constantly put another space in front of the Stimulus part so that the space that does exist between Stimulus and response is smaller and we do not need to create our response based on an insufficient paradigm. This “space” is what Stephen Covey called being “Pro-active”. He made it the first principle of highly effective people. Dr. Covey said: “#1, begin with the end in mind”. Or as the “Tubes” called it, “The completion backwards Principle”

I’ll give you an example. You’re walking through the parking lot late at night. Do you read your text messages on your phone (laughing at a stupid video) or do you keep your keys in one hand and perhaps a foldable combat knife in your other hand while being aware of your potentially dangerous environment?

I’ll make it even easier. When you go to bed do you just turn off the Television and say goodnight or do you do a walk through to make sure doors and windows are secured?

I’m not saying live in fear, I’m saying live in preparation. Let’s go the other way. I’ll use my own situation as the example. If David Bowie called me and said: “Ace, I want you to fly to my studio in New York to audition for my touring band”. Do I say sure and get all excited and tell all my friends that I’m going to tour with David Bowie or do I make a check list of all of things like new strings, transporting my gear, my appearance, learning every single David Bowie song I have access to (up to and including Queen’s under pressure) and getting the material I don’t have access to?

I can see myself shaking David’s hand and saying: “Where’s our first stop on the tour”?

Here is another key to being a successful human.

Did you ever see Johnny Carson do his act “The Amazing Carnac”? Johnny would get questions from the audience (supposedly) and he would know the answer before he opened the envelope.

There are people in life that are so willing to finish your sentence for you because they want to impress you with their knowledge. It’s RUDE and ANNOYING! NEVER finish someone else’s sentence unless they say something like, I can’t remember their name, or help me out here. When you know you are going to meet someone important, someone you might want to work with; study everything you can find about them. THEN, in conversation, act natural. Nobody likes name droppers and certainly nobody cares to have their thunder stolen. Here’s another secret: “Nobody wants someone they know they can have”. So don’t show any form of worship. (That comes from the Ten Commandments. #1. It’s more than just a commandment. It’s great advice)

You can make your human experience so much more dynamic and enjoyable by using spiritual principles. These principles are not rules or regulations. They’re like the wind. You can’t see them, but if you set your sails accordingly, you can use them to navigate (sometimes quickly). And like all principles, it doesn’t matter if you believe in them or not. They exist regardless. Try not believing in Gravity. Dr. Stephen Covey wrote that he believed that God was responsible for these principles. It’s not a religion, they’re in all religions.

I would encourage that young 17 year old version of myself to read and try to understand the spiritual advice that is available to him with an open mind. In fact I did and it gave me the perimeters of right and wrong. It kept me out of jail. But nobody ever gave me guidance on setting achievable goals. But then perhaps life is not about “greatness” but simply “being the best version of yourself”.

“YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS”

January 26, 2015 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Key Lines written by Frank Zappa 1981

Do you know what you are?

You are what you is

You is what you am

A cow don’t make ham

A foolish young man

From a middle class fam’ly

Started singin’ the blues

‘Cause he thought it was manly

A foolish young man

Of the Negro Persuasion

Devoted his life

To become a Caucasian

He stopped eating pork

He stopped eating greens

He traded his dashiki

For some Jordache Jeans

He learned to play golf

An’ he got a good score

Now he say to himself

“I AIN’T NO NIGGER NO MORE . . . HEY! HEY! HEY!”

It’s funny how this was written 35 years before anyone ever heard of Barack Hussein Obama. It was also written about the time that Stevie Ray Vaughan started the “Blues Revival”. It was the B side of Valley Girl.

MTV refused to play the YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS video.

Although Frank Zappa was known for his satire in his song writing, behind the satire was a message of how messed up we can be as humans. I think this song could have been re-titled: “Get over yourself”.

I’ve always said that if I was born in the fucking African Desert, I would have taken the late Sam Kennison’s advice and “MOVED TO WHERE THE FOOD IS”. The human mind is so vulnerable. Satan comes along and says: “You ugly”. So you become introverted and shy. Then Satan says, “You’ll never go anywhere or do anything with your worthless life”. So you become even more vulnerable and join a cult. You build your façade on a cult of personality. You fake it until you make it. But sometimes,

Just sometimes………………. You buy a paperback written by a self-help writer. If you’re lucky, you submerge yourself into personal development and you don’t care what others say. That really smart guy named Albert Einstein once wrote: “Within each of us lays a genius. If you judge a fish on his ability to climb a tree, he’ll go through life thinking he’s stupid.

Ya see ~ that’s the key to being a human. Get your head right; then devote every action you do towards that person you want to be. Stephen Covey, one of the greatest self-help writers of our time once said that he was inspired to write self-help when he read line that said: “Between stimulus and response there lays a space. In that space lays your chance to determine your response”. He realized that the future of his life was often a direct result of the response he chose in that space. Sometimes the response would be to give a person a hug and comfort them. Sometimes it was a short space where you needed to decide to kill or be killed, or fight or flight. No matter what the stimulus is, your result should be in alignment with who or what you want to be as a human.

If you need help; complete this sentence: “I am going to be a _______ because of my unique ability to ________”! Feel free to use as many words as you need such as” I’m going to be a Chef because of my unique ability to use spices in a creative way that makes people happy!

Or, I’m going to be a Police officer because of my unique ability and desire to protect those who cannot protect themselves”!

Once you’ve decided what you want to be, (and are satisfied with the “because” part of the sentence) everything you do should bring you closer to your destination. And even once you become what you want to be, put the word “Better” in front of the first blank.

You see, your voyage here on earth is always about becoming. It’s never about arriving.

I want to be “the best guitarist/singer/writer I can be because of my unique ability to play the guitar with incredible skill and write songs that touch people so they will remember me”!

DISCOVERY I.D.

January 20, 2015 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture | Leave a comment

My wife and I use to watch almost nothing but Law and Order and all of their spinoffs. (SVU, Criminal Intent, Homicide; Life on the streets etc…) Then we discovered CSI. We originally started watching CSI Miami as the “Horatio” character seemed intriguing. Then CSI Miami turned into a Tits and Ass show and we discovered the real thing. CSI aka CSI Las Vegas. This was truly a great “Who done it” show. Unlike the NBC franchise Law and Order, CSI would give you more than a glimpse of the lives of the agents.

Dick Wolf, who produced Law and Order didn’t want the show to focus on the characters but wanted it to be story driven. That was a great concept until NBC turned into the National-Bolshevik- Communist network. We try hard not to watch NBC at all. Anything associated with MSNBC soils my eyes.

CSI, in an attempt to compete with Law and Order, created CSI New York. That sort of pushed us over the edge. One thing that you noticed about the CSI franchise was that the individual shows had their own lighting scheme. Yeah I know, it does seem strange. You could literally see a CSI lab with nobody in it and tell which CSI show you were watching. Miami was Orange (It gave it that beach sunset feeling) Las Vegas or the mother ship was Blue. (Poker chips?) Then for some reason they gave New York the color grey. It just never fit in with the Las Vegas and Miami show.

When Obama was elected in 2008, CBS committed self destruction. They got rid of the two stars that carried the show and replaced them with Lawrence Fishburne. Now I liked the character Morpheus, but in this case, they tried to fix something that wasn’t broken. Just as Law and Order lost 2 million viewers when they felt they needed a blonde (Elisabeth Rohm) to compete with CSI’s blonde (Marg Hilgenburg). CBS lost about 6 million viewers when they tried to get in good with Obama.

So with both franchises turning to shit, and television being taken over by reality TV; the channel of all Cop channels was launched. Discovery Investigation or Discovery I.D. as you may find it on your cable channel. We were first attracted to a show called “Homicide Hunter”. It features a great retired Murder investigator named Joe Kenda. He narrates the stories from an abandoned Jail house or an old Dusty Warehouse. Joe is a great guy. He’s the kind of guy that (when you were a kid) you would sit around on the living room floor while he sat in the recliner and told you stories about the bad guys he caught. The reality is; Lt. Joe Kenda put away 387 murderers. Now a days, that’s 15 seasons. (26 episodes a season)

This is a link to some behind the scene interviews with Lt. Joe

http://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/homicide-hunter/videos/behind-the-crime-addison.htm

But what made me fall in love with Homicide Hunter is that they call them like Joe tells them. Unlike Law and Order or CSI where all the bad guys are “Rich white guys”, the stories Lt. Joe tells, reflect the 52% of the prison population that come from the 12.9% of the country’s census. Discovery I.D. doesn’t go out of their way to kiss Obama’s ass.

The rest of the shows on Discovery I.D. are also really interesting but they lack Uncle Joe. (Who in a way resembles Principal Skinner from the Simpsons) Joe truly makes Homicide Hunter special. In spite of the many low budget bloopers like a crime committed in 1982 with a gas sign saying 3.77 a gallon for gas or a 2010 silver Acura driving down the street when it’s supposed to be the 80s. But they’re able to get away with it because as I said, when you were a kid and Uncle Joe was telling you a good story, two cars could have crashed down the street and you would be oblivious to it.

As for the other programming, Web of Lies is a great series about internet crimes such as internet dating gone wrong. Obsessions is about people that are, well, Obsessed with another person and will kill to keep them. Murder Book is more of a Hawaii 5-0 cop show with real people, I would go so far as to say all of the shows except “Who the bleep did I marry” are all very well done. The last show mentioned has the most obnoxious narrator that sounds like Martha Stewart on Quaaludes, the show is about people who rush into bad marriages.

Finally I have to flash back on the year 2007. It was the year my injury made me take time off from work. I use to watch a show that I believe is still on called the first 48. Now my wife who grew up on Hill street blues and McMillan and Wife (Cop shows) had gotten me interested in cop shows. So I would watch “The first 48” (48 hours after the crime) every day. But since the stories were real, I started getting really depressed at how fucked up our society is. (And even worse, the direction it’s heading). So I found another show called 24 that had me glued. A few years later, I showed my wife one episode and we ended up buying all of the back seasons on DVD. Jack Bauer had our attention anytime. We have every episode, even the newest season which is not out on DVD yet called “Live another day”. It’s on our DVR.

I only bring this up because although my wife loves watching the current shows on Discovery I.D. she’s asked me if I can put something positive/cheerful on before we go to sleep. I think 3 hours of real hideous crime a night is actually getting her to the depressed point that I had gotten to. So we usually end up watching the 3^rd period of the Sharks Hockey game or an episode of some Psychic Medium like Kim Russo or Theresa Caputo.

f you like Who done its; You have to watch Homicide Hunter. Lt. Joe Kenda is the greatest character real or fiction on the small screen.

What is the Café Americain?

January 9, 2015 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

When I was a child, my parents were nightclub owners. But the restaurant was open for breakfast so it was more than a nightclub, in fact, there was a wall dividing the club from the Restaurant. Going through the dividing door was like leaving a cafeteria and going into a dark club from a James Bond Movie.

But in the morning, the same people would come in with their morning news papers and talk about the war in Vietnam or that Damn Richard Nixon. It was sort of a “Starbucks” with decent food and coffee”. I recall many conversations about sports or the talk about the new bridge being built.

I also have (If you haven’t noticed) a deep profound admiration for the movie Casablanca. The title of Casablanca was originally: “Everybody comes to Rick’s, Which was my father’s name. People were just so damn friendly back in the early 60s. The place even had a jukebox and a soda fountain. How cool is that? So, Today, a recycler could make a killing on the newspapers that were thrown out by lunch time. Personally I was fortunate because I was able to watch my father cook. This had incredible unintended consequences. Had you walked into my house two nights ago, you would have thought you were walking into a gourmet restaurant. The smell of sautéed chicken and string beans with cumin, garlic, onions, soy sauce and curry filled the air.

I wish I could upload smells to the Café.

But that’s what I had in mind when I called my blog “Ace’s Café Americain” back in 2005 when I started it. Yeah although this server has only hosted the Café since 2014, I actually started the Café on “BlogSpot.com back in 2005. But as you may or may not know, things were fine until the 2008 election then the current administration turned most publications into Pravda. Now I can barely log onto my old site. So before thing got really bad, I tried transferring some of my better articles over to the new site here at “Word Press”.

I initially wanted to write this blog entry about my exodus from FaceBook (Acebook) today, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow. After 10 years, I left that data mining institution and will not sign up for anyplace that wants to know info the FBI or CIA would love to know. I did stay on Twitter so I could win a free reading from that loud mouth Italian from Long Island…..Theresa Caputo. So you can catch me there if you are addicted to socmed.

Until next time,

Ace out.

TRICKLE DOWN CORRUPTION

December 21, 2014 by Ace in Culture, History, Politics | Leave a comment

TRICKLE DOWN CORRUPTION

I remember when I was growing up, there were two things that were as reliable as the sun coming up and tides rolling in.

The President of the United States stood for the Constitution, Truth andFreedom
Neither rain nor sleet nor even hail; nothing could stop the U.S. mail.

Now the president is amongst the most popular public liars. Yet he doesn’t just stretch the truth, he’s become a sociopathic liar. He along with Nancy Pelosi and other political buffoons don’t seem to understand how video works.

To validate the above accusations we have the consultant of Obamacare saying that “Non-transparency along with the stupidity of the American voter was necessary to get the law passed”. Pelosi went on Television and said she had no Idea who this Gruber person was. Yet we have video of her bragging about what a great job Jonathon Gruber from the prestigious M.I.T. was doing with Obamacare. Yes the same Gruber who called the American public STUPID.

After the Stupid American Voters chose the habitual liar over Mitt Romney, Obama felt he could lie with complete impunity. “Not even a smidgeon” to use his choice of words when lying to Bill O’Reilly on Super Sunday. His will to lie is so absurd; he sat on “Univision” and lied to the Hispanic host who came out and called him a liar and even asked him if he was worried about being impeached? Basically Obama sat and argued that the sky was green.

What effect has this had on lower Federal branches? Lois Learner is pleading the 5^th in front of a congressional panel about her participation in denying conservative action groups their 5013C tax exempt status prior to the 2012 election. Actually she used even dirtier actions than denial, she just didn’t act on them. That’s even worse than denial. If you think a good employee will quit if you tell them something they don’t want to hear, what do you do? You say, let me think about it. (You haven’t decided either way thus causing paralysis).

The NSA went crazy spying on everyone. I’ll bet they downloaded my music for free. Our once loyal allies in Europe got spied on. Germany was furious.

Hell, even Fox news channel’s James Rosen was investigated by the D.O.J. for not turning over his sources.

Sharyl Atkisson of CBS was a fine reporter until she decided to do her job and uncovered EMAILS from the D.O.J. to the Whitehouse regarding the Fast and Furious scandal. Atkisson was dismissed from the lap dog network CBS and went rogue.

She later released a book called Stonewalled. A great title as that is the typical Modus Operandi unless you’re a less than intelligent non-law abiding citizen selling “Lucies” (Loose cigarettes) in Time’s square. If you do that, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will have you taken down with the equivalent of a S.W.A.T. team and you may end up with Andrew Breitbart.

Now if you are breaking immigration laws, Obama will assist you in your crime by telling the ICE units not to enforce the laws of our constitution.

If you are a drug Cartel, “BONUS” just get a kid 18 or older to go into a Texas Gun shop and have them buy as many AR-15s (Civilian M-16s) as the local Cabela’s has in stock. Don’t worry, when the owner calls the D.O.J. to warn them of what appears to be a scandal, the store owner will be told to “Stand down” and then eventually get blamed for selling the guns to the illegal immigrant. As for the D.O.J./AG? He received executive cover from the liar in chief.

Speaking of Stand down……….

We have CIA agents who testified they were locked and loaded in Benghazi and chomping at the bit to go in and rescue Ambassador Chris Stevens when they were given a “Stand Down” order.

Then we had one of Obama’s professional liars (almost as good as he is) take her dog and pony show on the 5 Sunday shows spewing a lie about the attack on our embassy in Libya being about a YouTube video that nobody has ever seen.

What happened to the great deceiver? She got promoted to U.N. Ambassador. I guess in this administration; you get promoted to your ability to lie for Obama.

The Secret Service.

OK I don’t want to piss these guys off, but what Fraternity did the White House find them at. It just seems they have a prostitution directory in every port.

As for the Nimrods that jumped the fence and did an end-zone dance in the White House, I guess the SS knew Obama wasn’t at home. (But don’t they just have to push a button to release the hounds)? Perhaps the K-9s get confused.

So let me get local about Federal corruption.

The U.S. mail which use to stand for trust, reliability, and confidence is now just another scam outlet. We expected such behavior from the luggage workers at the air-lines. But does anyone remember the legendary “Pony Express”.

Now you better be prepared to “Pony” up a few hours on hold with USPS if you want to find that Christmas package your Grandma sent you. I hate coming down on the Post office as my mail carrier in California was one of the finest workers the postal service has ever employed. On the other hand, in my new location, it’s like being stopped by the Mexican Police.

Perhaps it’s the unintended CON-sequences of affirmative action, but recently, I tracked a package from Texas that stop at a local location on December 5^th. OK, I know it’s the Christmas/Hanukah season so I waited 10 days before calling USPS. I guess they heard Obama say: “If you like the package; you can keep the package”. Sadly, the supervisor of my local post office got caught in a typical Obama-esque lie. He said that he had: “called me and we had “resolved the issue”. After going up the ladder to the Department of CONsumer affairs, my package arrived the next day.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the President of the United States or the Post Master of your local post office, integrity has become a thing of the past. I call it

“Trickle down Federal Corruption”.

AGE and ACCOMPLISHMENTS

December 5, 2014 by Ace in Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Pablo Picasso was 55 when he painted Guernica.
Dom Perignion was 60 years old when he made his first bottle of Champagne
Oscar Hammerstein was 64 years old when he wrote the lyrics to the “Sound of Music”
Winston Churchill was 65 years old when he became Prime minister of Britain
Nelson Mandela was 75 years old when he was elected President of South Africa
Michael Angelo was 72 when he designed the Dome of St.Peter’s Basilica in in Rome.
Ben Franklyn was 79 years old when he invented Bi-focal eye glasses.
Frank Lloyd Wright was 91 years old when he finished his work on the Guggenheim museum.
Dmitri Yordanidis was 98 years old when he ran a marathon in 7 hours & 33 minutes in Athens Greece.
Tesicki Igarashi was 100 years old when he climbed Mt. Fuji.

Your whole life is ahead of you.

SELF-ESTEEM

August 27, 2014 by Ace in Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Self-Esteem by definition is: “a realistic respect for or favorable impression of oneself; self-respect”. The key word in this definition is the term “realistic”. Is this based on a subjective impression or does it require outside objectivity?

Let me say at this time that self-respect shows in the way that you present yourself. You cannot be helpful to others if you have no respect for your own appearance. I’m not talking about the shape of your nose or the hair on your scalp. I’m talking about hygiene. I’m talking about cleanliness. I’m also talking about watching over indulgence. Your weight is indicative of your concern for your overall health. We know that if you try to lose weight to appear attractive to others, you will likely fail. If, however, you lose weight to be healthy, you are more likely to be successful. Strive to be as healthy as you can be.

I have the key to your self-esteem and so do you. (Although you might not know it). You cannot improve your self-esteem by actions you take to impress other people. Self-esteem does not come from others being envious of you. It has nothing to do with what you wear, what you drive, where you live, or how you look. In the end, your self-esteem is about what you do to help others. I can throw a hundred tired clichés at you such as: “It’s better to give than to receive”. But until you start to change your life for the good of others, you will struggle with your self-esteem. It’s called “Self” esteem for a reason. It’s not called “Others” esteem. When you do a good deed, do it for the pleasure it brings the other person. Do not do it because it makes you look good like political “Photo op”. Do it because it makes you feel good. That feeling is better than the looks you get from wearing a 12,000 dollar suit in a 200,000 dollar sports car.

This explains why the deity point of view about life is to be humble and to be a servant. What has Miley Cyrus done for you lately? Yet the books of the late Stephen Covey are timeless and still life changing. If you can begin to see others as targets for pleasing, it doesn’t matter if you are successful as many refuse to be happy. When all is said and done though, you tried. Nothing can degrade a paradigm of self-esteem based on the desire to make others happy. The feeling you get from the smile on another person’s face from helping them or complimenting them is priceless.

Once you attain that level of thinking it doesn’t matter if you are the King of the forest or a destitute pauper. You’ve entered the realm of the divine. One of the most meaningful verses in the Bible, to me, is a pragmatic one even though it doesn’t sound like one. It’s in the book of James, chapter 4 and verse 6: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. That is not simply a biblical platitude. It gives one insight into true happiness and, yes, Self-Esteem. The one speech President Kennedy is best remembered for is when he pleaded with his fellow countrymen to: “Ask not what your country can do for you; but what you can do for your country”. It may sound like political rhetoric, but it’s truly a late 20^th century version of James 4:6.

It’s easy to brag about the things that you’ve done in life. Your words of accomplishments may or may not impress the listener but it’s much more rewarding to say nice things to others that make them feel better. It needs to sound genuine and not just an insincere load of smoke up their ass.

Try it and see if it changes your life!

SEEKING HEROES

August 27, 2014 by Ace in Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Hero worship is a serious problem in our country. It’s not just because of the lack of positive role models; rather the lack of self-esteem coupled with peer pressure. At 2:00AM one morning, a Lutheran Minister and I were sitting in an all-night diner discussing baseball. We got onto the subject of the fans and then after a course of Eggs and Hash browns, we had come to the conclusion that the world’s problems all stem from insecurity.

Have you ever wondered why little girls see Miley Cyrus as a hero or role model for “Twerking”? It’s because she gets attention. Forget about the indecency of the act, is this what women feel they need to do to be noticed? Going back to the first statement, it’s about insecurity. Bad behavior is about insecurity. (Bad attention is better than no attention). We see this in many of the mass killings. The killer will kill with no regard for consequences because it’s the attention they are generating. How many times have neighbors of mass killings been interviewed only to hear: “He was such a nice boy and use to help people in the neighborhood”? We even have a disgusting yet sad video of a young killer who was in angst because he couldn’t get the good looking girls to like him. Ironically, I can only remember his face from the video and can’t even remember his crime, other than he killed several people.

It’s true from the clothes that we wear, to the cut of our hair, to the music we hear and the brand of our beer. It has to be acceptable as we’ve let it define us. We divorce because somewhere in the relationship the seeds of insecurity were sown. Kids with new Jordans get killed if they get caught alone on an off street. Look at how far we’ve come from going to school bare foot in the snow. (A popular fable my parents use to tell me, even though they grew up in California). 150 years ago, insecurity was coming home with nothing for the family to eat. Now it’s living in a tract home versus a custom home or driving a domestic economy car versus a European sports car.

The greatest generation deserved the title. They did what they had to do to defeat Hitler. (My feelings on the excessive bombings of Dresden and Nuremburg aside), they made America a better place for the boomer generation. Then they SPOILED us. In the 60s, marketing became ubiquitous on radio and television and every house needed a “Frigidaire”. In the 80s every house needed a “VCR” and a “Jacuzzi”. In the 90s every house needed high speed internet, and after Y2K everybody needed a cell phone and a big screen TV. We’re so spoiled, our biggest problem is having too much food to eat. Do you get the picture? But the single most important thing we often fail to attain is something you can’t buy at Wal-Mart. Attention. You can buy bling and get people to look at you, but to connect with people and exchange concerns for one another is the hard part.

James Foley & John the Baptist

August 25, 2014 by Ace in Culture, History, Personal Development, Spiritual Relilgion | Leave a comment

REINCARNATION VS RESURRECTION

Each one of us is born into this world with his or her unique set of circumstances. Our parents have different I.Q. levels. They each have their own set of problems as well as personal belief systems. I’ve always wondered if a child abandoned in the wilderness would grow up with a capacity to love or do we need to have love shown to us before we can love others? Is it like riding a bike? Or is that the reason most parents have an inherent love for their offspring? Even mothers of cubs can demonstrate their love in the form of protection if you get to close to her children.

Are the circumstances for a white child born in south Chicago the same as a black child born in Mobile Alabama? Why are some humans attracted to the same sex in spite of being born with sexual organs designed for procreation which requires the opposite sex? Why did Jesus say to the thief of the cross behind him that he would be in “Paradise” today with Him”? In short, we are all different in one way or another.

WHAT IS RESSURECTION?

I have studied the Christian Bible for 50 years.

I am far from being a Bible Scholar. Then again, the saying: “Those who can do and those who can’t teach” comes to mind. But my focus today is directed towards my fellow Christians. For the majority of those choosing Christianity as their direction for an “After life”, it boils down to this. When you die, you go to one of two places, heaven or hell. The gate to Hell is wide and you will supposedly have lots of company. The gate to heaven is narrow and “only a few” will find it. (Matt 7:13-14). When asked if there are any 2^nd chances, you will encounter an emphatic NO and will be directed to Luke (16:19-31). This is the story of Lazarus and the Rich man. In short, The Rich man is Mr. Burns from the Simpsons and Lazarus is a street person who begs for Pizza crust at the gate of the Rich Man’s mansion. (OK, I’m paraphrasing) but this is a good analogy of the parable.

Jesus is telling the story of the two earthlings. Of course, after both of their deaths the rich man ends up in the lake of fire (Hell) and he sees Lazarus getting a back rub in better place. Jesus tells us that the rich man pleads for a second chance, not for himself but for his brothers to convince them that Hell exists and to listen to the disciples and learn the way to salvation or the narrow gate. (We won’t argue about how Lazarus learned to enter the narrow gate). The point being, Christian teachers teach that there are no second chances.

When Ace Andres dies, I will be judged to see if my name is on the manifest. And I understand this. But I also understand that the Ace Andres with beautiful long Raven hair, fast guitar hands and a bad neck is not the spiritual essence of what makes Ace Andres. I have done what the New Testament says needs to be done to be saved. I was baptized,(full submersion in water) confessed my sins, asked for forgiveness of my past sins and future sins, repented (which is an ongoing thing) and have championed Jesus as the only way to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now let me define salvation. It means you’ve been “salvaged” from going to the scrap heap. You were made worthy of a complete restoration. How do we get this “restoration”? Does God wave his hand and you are perfect? I think not. God casted out a very beautiful Angel and 1/3^rd of the Angels in Heaven to Earth for rebelling against God. So I believe it is safe to say that Heaven is not a lawless place or dimension.

There are only two humans who have been resurrected. Jesus the Christ and while performing his miracles on this planet, ironically, Jesus resurrected a human named Lazarus. Lazarus, a friend of Jesus was dead for 4 days. He was “Graveyard Dead”. Jesus knew of the sickness of his friend and took his time getting to him. (Talk about allowing bad things to happen to make a point) Jesus got there and was scorned for taking his time. The point was, Jesus took his time so he could work His miracle and raised Lazarus, (who had been dead for 4 days) from the dead. (John 11: 1-45)

That’s resurrection. This is what Abraham was telling the rich man was not possible.

WHAT IS REINCARNATION?

This is not only directed towards my Christian readers, but it’s also important for my agnostic and new age readers and friends. Keep in mind, when Jesus raised Lazarus after 4 days of death, he resurrected the human known as Lazarus, the friend of Jesus the Christ.

Here’s the short version.

You die and your body turns to dust. (Cryogenics notwithstanding)
Your spirit/soul is judged.
If you are saved, you go someplace good, if not “Cya, wouldn’t wanna Bya”.
*Speculation- For some anomalous reason God sends your SOUL/SPIRIT back to Earth or Alpha Centauri or someplace for more work or learning.
Your spirit “Possesses” an infant human body that is void of a soul/spirit.
I think some babies are born with virgin infant souls and others are born as meat jackets awaiting the reincarnation of a previous SPIRIT.
Bottom line is it’s your SPIRIT being sent back again NOT the same YOU. You may have memories of a past life and you may actually have habits and mannerisms of a past life, but now you’re someone else. So NO you are not resurrected like Jesus and Lazarus but your spirit is allowed to possess another human body for whatever reason. Personally, I think God can see the good in a soul that we often cannot see in ourselves so we’re sent back to get it right.

“Back in the Day” (sorry) but 2014 years ago, the concept or belief in reincarnation was a common belief. How can I say this? In the gospel of Mark chapter 8 verse 27, Jesus asks his disciples: “Who do the people say I am”? Why does Christ ask his followers this odd question? He didn’t say: “What do the people say I am” rather “Who”. Everyone knew He was Jesus. They knew who he was. He was more popular than the Beatles and the people only had one name to memorize. (Not four)

Now listen to what his disciples told him: “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” Why would His disciples say that the people thought he was someone who had previously died in the Old Testament?

FINALLY

In the Old Testament, God tells Malachi that Elijah the Prophet will return before the coming of the Christ the Savior. This was a concern to Christ’s disciples:

“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:1)

“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” (Malachi 4:5)

When the disciples of Jesus heard and believed that Jesus was the Christ, they asked about Malachi’s prophecy about sending Elijah back.

In (Mark 9:13) Jesus explains:

“But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

Again in (Matt 11:13-14) Jesus says:

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.”

Finally Jesus spells it out in (Matt 17:12-13)

“But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him…” Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

So God didn’t literally send Elijah back (Body and Soul) but sent Elijah back reincarnated as John the Baptist. Just as the journalist James Foley, John the Baptist was beheaded as well. Call it perhaps the price of doing the will of God. I call it obedience.

WHY REINCARNATION?

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is”. If we haven’t worked out our anger issues, if we still have desires of the flesh, if we stumble with the truth, maybe the only way we can get it right is by being thrown back into the population for another learning experience.

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