A Day in the Life of Chaos

Very young Patrick There is a land far to the north that in many ways seems disconnected from reality.  When you live there it is like living on an island and news from the outside comes in snip-its that leave you at times questioning your involvement with the rest of the world.  It is a magical place and I when I first came to know it,  the largest city was still developing.  Many roads were unpaved.  Television was primitive.  There were only three networks and shows would come up on tapes from Seattle with a two week delay.  Try to avoid a Monday Night Football score for two weeks!  The town was so news starved there were actually two news papers.  How many cities these days can boast that? The people that lived there were as disconnected as the place.  They seemed to all be running from something and everyone had a different and unique reason for their flight.  Somehow in the self imposed exile there was company among strangers.  Everyone seemed to revel in being different, be

Rodney Dangerfield aka Thornton Melon I have never been much of a dieter per say yet as I age my body seems to be adding to itself like the rings on a tree.  I try to ignore it by comparing myself to the rest of America.  As one of the worlds most overweight societies I tend to come out looking pretty good.  To quote the immortal profit Rodney Dangerfield, "If you want to look thin, have fat friends."   Despite the reassurance of the comparison between myself and the general physique of America, with a quick look down I can't help but notice the vague outlines of an emerging pregnancy.  "It's not fair."  I mumble to myself as I look into the mirror.  I don't eat that much.  I hardly ever snack and I try to be as healthy as I can.  I eat very little red meat and try to avoid soda.  Okay, I have a bit here and there and there is of course beer but it is really not excessive.  Despite all of this my 45 year old body seems to want to hang on to far more