Happy Anniversary to me and my blog

Hey all you lovely folks in the Blogsphere. Today is the fifth anniversary of this blog (Yeahhhhhh!)

I started this blog April 4 after my Ex cut off access to my grandchildren Zyg Ramsay and Mila Ramsay. So, one of the purposes of this blog was, and is, to establish an electronic paper trail that, years from now, would lead my lovely grandchildren to me, or if I have already reached the end of my life, remind them that I never stopped loving or thinking of them.

I apologise to you, my readers, if some of my blog posts seem a tad weird.  I really need to keep some people's names prominent on the search engines so that they, sadly the wrong people to have been entrusted to safeguard my grandchildren, know that they are being watched by us - kind, caring souls who feel passionately about protecting children.

Over the past 1200 blog posts, my following has grown from zero to many tens of thousands. To you amazing folks in:

•  Canada
• America
• UK
• France
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Nigeria
• South Africa
• Russia
• Ukraine
• China
• Guam
• Switzerland
• Viet Nam
• Poland
• Iran
• Saudi Arabia
• Pakistan
• Australia
• Japan
• South Korea
• ... and quite a few other countries

 I thank each and every one of you and I hope my posts about Mother Earth, nutrition, non-violence, fitness, anti-euthanasia, politics, ethics, my friend Mr. Fuchs, birthdays, and passings have been both entertaining, informative, controversial, and creative.

Happy Birthday Zyg Ramsay

Happy Birthday Dear Zyg... think of you every day... love you every day
(if this vid doesn't play please view it on YouTube HERE

Happy Anniversary to me!

Hey all you lovely folks in the Blogsphere. Today is the fifth anniversary of this blog (Yeahhhhhh!)

I started this blog April 4 after my Ex cut off access to my grandchildren Zyg Ramsay and Mila Ramsay. So, one of the purposes of this blog was, and is, to establish an electronic paper trail that, years from now, would lead my lovely grandchildren to me, or if I have already reached the end of my life, remind them that I never stopped loving or thinking of them.

I apologise to you, my readers, if some of my blog posts seem a tad weird.  I really need to keep some people's names prominent on the search engines so that they, sadly the wrong people to have been entrusted to safeguard my grandchildren, know that they are being watched by us - kind, caring souls who feel passionately about protecting children.

Over the past 1100 blog posts, my following has grown from zero to many tens of thousands. To you amazing folks in:

•  Canada
• America
• UK
• France
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Nigeria
• South Africa
• Russia
• Ukraine
• China
• Guam
• Switzerland
• Viet Nam
• Poland
• Iran
• Saudi Arabia
• Pakistan
• Australia
• Japan
• South Korea
• ... and quite a few other countries

 I thank each and every one of you and I hope my posts about Mother Earth, nutrition, non-violence, fitness, anti-euthanasia, politics, ethics, my friend Mr. Fuchs, birthdays, and passings have been both entertaining, informative, controversial, and creative.

Peace,

Congrats Mila Ramsay on your marathon time

Way to go Mila! And thanks to all the runners for supporting homeless services.

"High Hopes"

CN Tower - Toronto Canada - yesterday morning

"Once there was a silly ole ram,

Knew he'll punch a hole in that dam.

No one could make that ram scram 

he kept buttin' that dam."

..... Frank Sinatra

Happy Anniversary to me!

Hey all you lovely folks in the Blogsphere. Today is the fourth anniversary of this blog (Yeahhhhhh!)

I started this blog April 4 after my Ex cut off access to my grandchildren Zyg Ramsay and Mila Ramsay. So, one of the purposes of this blog was, and is, to establish an electronic paper trail that, years from now, would lead my lovely grandchildren to me, or if I have already reached the end of my life, remind them that I never stopped loving or thinking of them.

I apologise to you, my readers, if some of my blog posts seem a tad weird.  I really need to keep some people's names prominent on the search engines so that they, sadly the wrong people to have been entrusted to safeguard my grandchildren, know that they are being watched by us - kind, caring souls who feel passionately about protecting children.

Over the past 900+ blog posts, my following has grown from zero to many tens of thousands. To you amazing folks in:

•  Canada
• America
• UK
• France
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Nigeria
• South Africa
• Russia
• Ukraine
• China
• Guam
• Switzerland
• Viet Nam
• Poland
• Iran
• Saudi Arabia
• Pakistan
• Australia
• Japan
• South Korea
• ... and quite a few other countries

 I thank each and every one of you and I hope my posts about Mother Earth, nutrition, non-violence, fitness, anti-euthanasia, politics, ethics, my friend Mr. Fuchs, birthdays, and passings have been both entertaining, informative, controversial, and creative.

Peace,

James

To all screenwriters who aspire to success

Hey all you aspiring screenwriters. 

I laughed when I noticed that since 1992 I have entered the same screenwriting contest seventeen times in March. Then received the same rejection letter seventeen times in August. 

Today's entry - my eighteenth - is going to be a winner however. Who could say no to a story where "The U.S. army invades California when two black women - a surgeon and a barista - form a new country and attempt to separate from America."... Or at least I hope they can't say no. 

Perhaps if I change my last name to Hemingway and begin smoking fat cigars I'll have better luck..

Happy Birthday Zyg Ramsay

Love you a lot, miss you terribly, think about you and Mila every day

If this video doesn't play, please click HERE for the YouTube version, thanks.

Man vs. speeding Lexus SUV

"Whether the rock hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the rock, it's going to be bad for the pitcher."

......Sancho Panza in "Man of La Mancha" 

The aftermath of my  'interaction' this morning with a 4,000 lb speeding SUV. There goes my regiment of walking 10,000 steps per day.

The Big Smog: $4 coffee, sodium laden sandwiches, and Karma

"Is Heaven One Floor Up" - Los Angeles International Airport - departure terminal - now

I guess the ridiculous prices for bad food shouldn't surprise me - What do I expect from an airport? After surveying the various stores I finally settled on a prepackaged yoghurt and granola parfait ($6.41) and downed one of my meal replacement bars for a little extra protein.

Four hours before my flight leaves - trying to keep my mind busy reading, writing, wandering throughout the terminal - anything to keep myself from remembering that I am only a 30 drive from my grandchildren Zyg and Mila Ramsay - lovely children that I haven't seen for more than 3 years - lovely children that I have been prevented by my ex-partner Michelle from seeing, and holding, and kissing ever again.

I was never a Christian and therefore never believed in 'forgive and forget' - instead, I keep lists - one for kind people who I will be eternally indebted to and a list of people who I will not be 'indebted' to. I have every expectation that I will repay the people on both lists before I die.

Happy Thanksgiving Zyg Ramsay and Mila Ramsay

Happy (American) Thanksgiving Zyg and Mila.

Dear Zyg and Mila:

It has now been 1096 days since I last saw your lovely faces and 34 months since she succeeded in cutting me off from you.

It is your country's Thanksgiving, but it is me who is thankful that the two of you came into my life. Don't forget that not a day passes that Grandfather doesn't think of you and miss you.

Love you both lots and lots,

Your Grandfather (A.G.)

Welcome to Los Angeles but don't loiter

Los Angeles International Airport is full of ghosts. As the ebony rubber wheels slam down on the runway's hot skin just minutes ago I noted that I'm sitting an aisle away from the ghost of my 20 year old self, confident that I had solved poverty in Upstate New York after working only ten months of 1966 as a social worker.

Then....Walking through the waiting area I see a 1971 version of my long dead Mother and Father, still married. They smile when they see their draft dodger son exiting the plane from Canada - my adopted home.

Then... Visiting the men's bathroom, I take note of toilet stall furthest from the door. It was on March 3 of 2014 that I spent unknown minutes - hours - eons trying to convince myself that I wasn't having a heart attack minutes after receiving news that my Ex had cut me off from my grandchildren.

Now I'm back in LA. Some might say that I am an Angeleno returning to his roots. But I am fully aware that there is nothing for me in this expanse of sweltering asphalt, anorexic palm trees, obscenely large servings of food, brilliant minds, entrenched racism, grinding poverty, ostentatious wealth, greed and abundant crime.

Yet, here I am. For how long, I do not know.

Sorry Mamas the Papas, California Dreamin' was never on my iPod. 

You can follow my Los Angeles adventure on my blog.... oldguyinparis.blogspot.ca

Los Angeles students force the cops to surrender their grenade launchers

"A coalition of Los Angeles high school students and grassroots organizers just accomplished the unthinkable. After nearly two years of sit-ins and protests, they forced the police department for the second-largest public school district in the United States to remove grenade launchers, M-16 rifles, a mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicle and other military-grade weaponry from its arsenal.

But the coalition did not stop there. Members took over a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board meeting in February to call for proof that the arms had been returned to the Department of Defense -- a demand they eventually won in the form of an itemized invoice for every weapon sent back to the DoD. "(Department of Defence)

Read the story in Truth Out