The Whittling of America – Part Two - Enclaves

        Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Welcome to Part Two of ‘The Whittling of America – Enclaves’. For those among you, My Dear Readers, that read my work often, or frequently. You’ll remember that I took an adventure last Tuesday, July 23^rd . This adventure took me from my home here (for the moment) in Cypress, South to Disneyland and then finally to Rolling Hills Estates.

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I remember telling all of you, upon my return from Los Angeles, how this journey… This adventure had not only drained me physically (and left me in horrific pain) but that it had taken me from me an emotional toll, too. Over the next few pages I hope, that by retelling my adventure, you gain insight not only into me myself (Danny Hanning) and that, for maybe a moment, you have a larger view of our America.

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First I’m going to get the little something out of the way. Moreover, in advance, My Dear Readers, I sincerely apologize if at that anytime during my writings I offend. I never ever do that intentionally. If you’re coming here and reading my works it is my humble opinion you must be of above average intelligence. However, I listen to all the people that are my followers, my readers, my family, and my friends. I have no intention to talk down to anyone, but at times I will take extra time to explain and elaborate. Case in point; enclaves.

Enclave: “any small, distinct area or group enclosed or isolated within a larger one: a Chinese-speaking enclave in London.” (found here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enclave)

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Now, My Dear Readers, I did not put the definition above there to insult anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings. I put it there so that everyone would know how it is I’m using the word, specifically. The act of populations separating themselves in areas, either by walls or geographic means, has happened throughout time as long as there has been mankind. However, more often than not this process of populations separating themselves in enclaves has either bad or mixed results. As I tell you the story, and I promise there is a story coming very soon, I want you to keep in mind this one little bit of history.

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At the height of its power the Athenian City/State, under the direction of its ruler Pericles, they waged war against Sparta. The Athenian people were led into a false sense of security, during this war, because Pericles had made the entire City/State of Athens (and the nearest port) a walled in enclave. This went along fine. For a time. The Spartans came and sacked the villages and everything outside the walls. Inside the enclave the elite Athenians and their servants felt a relative (but false) sense of security. I say false because the act of putting yourself, your people, your population in an enclave is a double-edged sword.

The City/State of Athens was brought to its knees not by see some huge standing army, in this case, but by a lowly virus. Remember Pericles had walled up the City/State of Athens and the single road that led to the nearest port (I apologize I forgot the name and I’m trying to finish writing this I will try and look it up and put it into this at a later time again I apologize). So when plague came it went through the port, and was carried up the walled road to the walled City/State of Athens. The plague ravaged everyone.

It was this plague that brought the Athenian City/State to its knees, and made it vulnerable to the Spartans. In addition, it was the act of turning the city and the port into one large fortified enclave that allowed the virus to spread so quickly and interrupted. By walling themselves up they kept virus, the plague, from infecting anyone else and it flourished in this walled in enclave. Therefore, My Dear Readers, just let that float around in the back of your mind and I tell you my story. This is my story of my first trip to Los Angeles and nearly a decade. Just a quick side note, my Dr. I used to see right here in Los Alamitos at the medical center. However, he no longer has an office there and rather than try and build a new report with a new doctor I have decided to keep seeing Dr. Gorlick at his offices and Rolling Hills Estates.

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I was awakened at 6 AM Tuesday, July 23, 2013 by my alarm. Actually, My Dear Readers, I been awake most of that night. I was tossing and turning filled with worry and plagued by pain. However, when the alarm didn’t go off at 6 AM I got up, with Allen’s help, and started preparing for what promised to be a very long day. I had already contacted OCTA access, and Access for the city of Los Angeles. I had already scheduled all the pickups and drop offs for my journey going there, and coming back. So I knew, by scheduling all the long journey, that my day would start shortly after 9 AM and I would return home here to Cypress sometime after 6 PM.

For any average American this would just be a regular normal working day. Until 10 years ago this would’ve been actually a light day for me, Danny Hanning, as a property manager of 110 units in Westwood California. Unfortunately, and I don’t mean to harp on this, honest, I am not the man I was 10 years ago. This proved to be an arduous journey at best. I was greeted in the bathroom, at about 6:30 AM, with what else? Brown water!

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Not a great start for the day, I felt bad… deep inside of me. I grabbed my cell phone and made a quick video of the Brown water, then uploaded it to YouTube as I ran the bath again. I took my bath and I put on some casual clothes, first. I had my nice Tommy Hilfiger top (a Polo shirt) all ready. As well, I had a nice pair of Tommy Hilfiger slacks all pressed and ready to go. Also, I had my Oscar de la Renta sport jacket ready. I’d look very nice going to Rolling Hills Estates. However, first came the chore of taking the disassembled power chair, putting (rather ALLEN does all the lifting and ‘putting’ things, and getting them up and down the stairs) the broken down parts of the power chair on a furniture dolly, getting them downstairs, and then having Allen the reassemble the parts into my power chair.

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Once that was done? I went back upstairs, with Allen’s help, and got dressed the best I could by myself. Then I called Alan, on his cell phone, and asked him to come up stairs and help me fasten my pants, put on my shoes, and my leg brace. Now all that remained were things I cannot do when it comes to dressing myself. By this time it was approximately 8:35-8:40 AM and the Orange County access bus was not scheduled to arrive @ nine. So Alan I sat in the courtyard area and talked for a little bit, about the adventure we were fixing to take.

I had just gone over the complete itinerary with him, so he will be fully prepared, and he had gotten the change out of the change purse I carry in the backpack attached to the back of my power chair, for the first trip of the day. This first bus was going to take us from the Cypress Lodge South about 10 miles to Disneyland. Disneyland is a transition point between Orange County Access and Los Angeles Access. Yes you can actually take an L.A. Metro bus all the way from downtown L.A. ,or even the San Fernando Valley, right to the front steps of Disneyland. However, today was not going to be a day of fun at the amusement park and having our pictures taken with Mickey or Goofy. This was just the very first leg of a very long journey, and Alan I didn’t have a clue what we were in for.

So far in our journey we have been taken from… There… I really never told you, My Dear Readers, where it is I live. The neighborhood I live in is, most likely, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Orange County. Orange County is the very wealthy bedroom community of workers in Los Angeles. If you ever saw the Showtime series ‘Weeds’? That accurately portrays the majority of Orange County. I live in a room in, what was, an ‘extended stay’ motel. There are two others right here on this street. Prostitutes used to frequent this part of Lincoln Avenue. And when Allen I moved in there were drugs of all kinds, predominately methamphetamines, being sold from many of the rooms here in this building. I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, My Dear Readers, but I was instrumental in working with the city of Cypress Police Department and ‘We Tips’ online @ eradicating all the methamphetamine dealers, drug trafficking, and prostitution that was going on this building when I moved in.

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So, already in our journey Allen and I had traveled from a impoverished neighborhood in extended stay motel. Via a very nicely appointed, and air-conditioned, Orange County Access bus to the very steps of Disneyland. Disneyland, playground for the middle class and upper middle class is in and of itself an enclave of; roller coasters, gift shops, dining areas and all the entertainment and distractions one would imagine in a park of that size. As Allen and I were sitting in the drop off point for Orange County access to Los Angeles access. We watched as a stream of people came across the street and went in to the park area to pay their tickets and then entered the Disneyland Park itself in. We sat there for may be half an hour and we must’ve witnessed easily 3,000 people file neatly, single file, into the park.

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We, Alan I, also witnessed the tram buses coming from the different hotels and motels in the area. The Motel 6 residents would come in and a small size transport, not very well maintained, not very well appointed inside and dirty on the outside. Then you would see the very large Semi-Sized, transport for the residents of the local Doubletree. We watched as one group, of family reunion, came off the extremely well appointed and air-conditioned (and you get a cookie when you get off) tram. They filed off the tram from Doubletree in their all – all the same specifically designed for this family orange T-shirts. There must’ve been 20 of them, all in all, and they lined up along the side of the tram that they had just got off. One of the families took this large portrait of the family reunion group standing in front of the Doubletree bus on their way to have a family reunion in the Disneyland Park.

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This family looked cool calm and collected. Their clothes, even that men shorts, looked like they had been nice nicely pressed. They had freshly done hairdos and all of them had mostly brand-new sneakers and designer tennis shoes. Now, My Dear Readers, I compared them to the families that came off the Motel 6 bus. The families that came off the Motel 6 bus were carrying huge backpacks on their backs. Bottled water in their hands, and you know the packs were filled with food bottled water and extra clothes and everything that this family that had probably budgeted for years for this one trip had brought with them to make their trip to Disneyland more affordable. However, even at 9:30 AM the family that came off the Motel six bus (and I say this NOT to judge, but merely as observation) they looked hot already. Their hair was disheveled their clothes were wrinkled. It was just this stark contrast, readers, between the family that spent probably at least a year if not more saving for this one of family vacation at Disneyland and that family reunion group that came from the Doubletree Hyatt tram.

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They, each, come from their separate (financial) enclaves… Their separate worlds to try and celebrate the same thing. Be it for the Motel 6 families, or the Doubletree family, they were there for the very same reason. They were there to enjoy themselves as a family, to build memories for their children and themselves. It was just how they arrived, that morning July 23, 2013, that set my mind, and my mind’s eye, all ready into seeing what ‘The Whittling of America’ is doing to US.

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I was about to share these initial observations with my caregiver Allen when our next ride, arrived. It was the van, conversion, from Los Angeles Access, that had just pulled up in front of us. My Dear Readers, I’m going to take one quick moment and… and say something I’ve been wanting to say. From the very first pick up, Tuesday morning, to the very last drop off @ my building I live in. Every single driver I encountered was; professional, courteous, kind, nonjudgmental, helpful, friendly and everything else. This is the case, more times than not, with either Orange County or Los Angeles access services. And, at the same time, it is the single reason why I’m scared to death of writing on a mass transit bus. I don’t know that I’ve ever put this in print form… before words to it, My Dear Readers, but I’ve had one adventure in my power chair on an Orange County Metro bus and it was horrifically humiliating. It’s not just the stares, I can handle the stares, and the pointing to a certain extent.

But in just two rides, to Buena Park mall and back, I experienced; many passages giving me dirty looks, children pointing and not hiding the fact they’re asking “Mommy what’s wrong with him?”. I had people intentionally brush up against me and then mumble the most hurtful and hateful things. I was going to put some of them here… However, My Dear Readers, just remembering them right now for a moment was too much.

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So, we got on the LA access bus at Disneyland. Now we are now headed for the city of Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates. Shortly after getting on the bus, the driver mentioned that we had one shortstop in the Long Beach and then we’d be on our way. It didn’t register, with Alan, yet. You see Long Beach is where Allen and I met 26 years ago this December.

So, we leave Disneyland and we go down Harbor Boulevard all the way to be 22 freeway. We take the 22 freeway all the way West and get off, and I thought this was odd we did NOT get off the VA hospital, but rather at 7^th street. Now visually this is a big change, already. You see Orange County has four-lane surface streets all over the place. Buildings aren’t crammed together and everything is spread out. Everything’s is very large and green. You see the first time I moved orange County was because, in all the places I’ve lived in California. the way Orange County is laid out, the way it looks, reminded me a lot of my home Texas. So, we had just driven less than a half-hour from the bedroom community of Orange County and the entertainment enclave that is Disneyland. Down a short piece of freeway to get off the freeway into Long Beach. When I started working at Long Beach Memorial Hospital Miller Children’s Hospital, and I had not heard this before then, I heard one of the ER doctors prefer to Long Beach as “Watts at the sea”. (Watts is South-Central L.A. the ghetto area of urban L.A.)

I was working in Long Beach, at Long Beach Memorial/ Miller Children’s Hospital at the time of the Rodney King riots. They burned; the IKEA to the ground, and the DMV, and a library, and several small corner stores. Long Beach is where I was taken, October 1987, when I was released from the acute care hospital in Los Angeles after my head injury. FYI August 25, 1987 I had a Smith Corona Typewriter fall 15 feet and strike me on the head and cervical spine)

We drove down seventh Street we took a left on Junipero. Allen hadn’t noticed it yet, we will hear a gasp from him, in the back, in a moment. Nevertheless, I only knew where I was, My Dear Readers, I was on the very first street I walked on, literally, after my head injury. You see I knew where I was, and better yet where I was going, and I was all ready flashing hard on memories. We were coming down Junipero, and I just couldn’t believe it when we stopped right in front of the Villa Serena.

That, My Dear Readers, is when I heard the audible gasp from my husband of 25 years Glen Allen Gay, in the back of the van. I heard it loud and clear. The driver hesitated from turning off of Junipero on to Fourth, because she heard him gasp so loud and asked “Are you okay back there?” Allen replied that he was just fine and then he started the sentence “Danny, that is…” Only to have the sentence cut them off by ME saying Villa Serena. We ended up saying it in unison, My Friends and for good reason. Villa Serena is the Institute for head injured adults, that not only was where I transferred to right out of the hospital. It was the Institute Allen was working at when I was taken there for rehabilitation.

Villa Serena, My Dear Readers, is the place where my life, and Allen’s life, began to intertwine. It was also the place where, at age 30, I learned how to walk without much feeling that leg. Began the personal hell that is waking up every morning and go to bed every night in pain. And where I, Daniel Hanning, tried to hide the fact I was… I was trying to learn to speak… again.

Allen and I had our faces just glued the glass. That access van turned we were transfixed by the site of Villa Serena. As we turned the corner we saw the restaurant where we had our first date. The park… right next to the restaurant where Allen I held each other and each other’s arms for the first time. Still swimming in these sense memories, from back in 1987, I began to notice something else. I begin to notice lots of homeless people pushing carts. I begin to notice how tightly cramped the buildings were, how dirty the sidewalks and streets were, and the general run-down nature of everything. Back in 1989, at Long Beach Memorial hospital, the expression “Watts by the sea” made me laugh… sometimes. That day I saw it! I saw the impoverished nature of the community, I saw the lack of proper care in the buildings, I saw the homeless people and literally a dozen in a couple of blocks, pushing carts. Then, just as this was soaking in… thinking of what I’m saying. We make a right turn on the street that goes right behind the Long Beach courthouse.

When I and Allen were there last the Long Beach courthouse was, I guess, a 5 to 6 story lime green building with wood @ dark black trim. It looked like it’d been built in the same time as avocado countertops. However, that’s not what we passed that day that July 23, 2013 that Tuesday. No, what we passed on that day was a gleaming brushed stainless steel skyscraper in the finishing stages of construction. In addition, here beside this beautifully designed architectural wonder gleaming steel, brushed stainless steel and glass façade, and in neighborhood dotted with a homeless. Now the street were on, just past the courthouse, goes right into the 710 Freeway.

The 710 Freeway is the only freeway heading west out of Long Beach then going north and south. The 710 is the major freeway you use to get you out of downtown Long Beach and down by the Port of Long Beach. Then out of that area up towards LA. There is a large green esplanade that separates the northbound, our direction, from the southbound lanes of the 710. The very next thing I saw, after the glittering and gleaming/brushed stainless steel, glass and steel monstrosity of the Long Beach courthouse? To my left I look forward in the very center of this esplanade. What do I see?

I see a ‘Hooverville’! I just put, My Dear Readers, an embedded link in that last proper noun ‘Hooverville’. Now for everyone that did want to click the link and go to another page? I completely understand. Let me explain, quite simply Hooverville’s were shanty-towns created by homeless Americans during The Great Depression. These shanty-towns were named after Pres. Herbert Hoover, because he was mostly blamed for the advent of the Great Depression. Again, My Dear Readers, this is July 23, 2013! I had just passed the brand-new gleaming façade of a beautiful new downtown Long Beach courthouse. Then, literally a stone’s throw away, where everybody coming in the Long Beach on the 710 will be greeted BY? IS: one very large blue tarp tied on each corner to a tree, surrounded by on all sides small little pup like tents, there are two porta-potties in the area, and a makeshift shower made from a garden hose and a large plastic tub that was full of water.

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As we curve right under the 710 I turned my head, painfully, to the left and I actually saw a naked 30 to 40-year-old man showering in the middle of the Hooverville in the middle of this esplanade. In just moments, My Dear Readers, I had traveled not only miles but I had traveled back and forth in time and through several stages… Enclaves of poverty and wealth.

Allen was struck speechless. He had not said a word since we talked about seeing Villa Serena and how everything seemed so small… 10 years later. That really struck us hard, how small the buildings were, how crowded the streets looked, how dingy everything appeared. It wasn’t and how we’d remembered it wasn’t how we saw it at the time. However, it’s the way it was and it was a shock for us. I was very happy, what little time I spent, in Long Beach. In Long Beach a lot of devoted professionals spent a lot of time and effort trying to make Danny whole again. I will never forget the good and kind people of Villa Serena and I will never forget all they did for me.

So now we’ve left the city of Long Beach, behind us and the first Hooverville I’ve seen in color (all the photographs of Hoovervilles from The Great Depression were in Black/White). Now, from the city of Long Beach we drove into the area, the commercial/industrial real area of the port of Long Beach. From the gleaming tower of the courthouse the city of Long Beach, to the Hooverville in the esplanade of the 710 Freeway we now entered a new… well… A new enclave. This enclave had two lane streets, two going north two going south. The road was packed with semi trucks going to and from the port.

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That was all I saw, My Dear Readers, semi’s and large commercial trucks. We were in the only personal van I saw in 10 blocks. There was no ‘on street’ parking, so we didn’t see any cars, trucks, vans, any kind of personal transportation anywhere. We passed; tattoo parlors, small buildings for window tinting and the car sound systems, mom-and-pop barbershops, bodega owners, and one really old and rundown Jack-in-the-Box.

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It was tight, it was cramped, it was dirty, and it was loud. (and I am NOT saying this as disparaging, just as a fact) Every single sign billboard we saw were all in Spanish. We were on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway)… and then, I think, we turned on Crenshaw. With the whole area was all the same. You hardly saw any cars or trucks being driven by people alone. There were lots of buses, the of the Metro train came all the way down here at one point we went over the Metro train track but it wasn’t until we got to the end of the 110 Freeway that we actually saw people and personal vehicles and transportation, again.

So here we passed, again, into another very different and real enclave. I… I honestly, My Dear Readers, I don’t see how anyone could live in that area.

… That is my nightmare I do readers as the nightmare I wake up in a cold sweat at night that’s the nightmare that I wake up crying that I Danny Hanning might end up homeless and on streets like those. It scares me to death.

We turn left, at some point, off the main road and we were on… I believe it was Crenshaw Boulevard. Then we turned left and we start going up a winding road.

Allen had been struck speechless since Long Beach, I think… I think he was experiencing and seeing… the same things I was experiencing… I was seeing. I honestly think it had knocked him out of his personal comfort space as well. However, as we were coming out of the port of Long Beach and up Rolling Hills Estates Boulevard you can see the brown layer of clouds. The smog layer, or that which lays on top of Los Angeles. The first time I saw the smog layer? Would’ve been in 1981 1982. Becky and I,( my first and only wife) and I had moved to San Diego. We were coming into L.A. to go to Disneyland. Coming in a Five Freeway, from the Mission Hills area, down into Orange Count and LA, I saw for what would’ve been the very first time in my life smog.

It looks like this big fake a multicolored blanket hovering in the air. A mile thick. The closer it got to the ground the darker it got… to the point where it got nearly black. Up from the black, closest to the ground, it then in a graduated from this dark rust color to a lighter brown to almost a tan color. From the tan color it then dissipated into the blue sky above. I was shocked. Having come from Southeast Texas, a (THEN) little town called Pearland, and having left in the early 80s. I had never really seen smog that thick. So when I saw it, that Tuesday going to see my doctor, in Rolling Hills Estates, I flashed back on that first time back in the early 80s with Becky and seeing smog for the very first time. And I was just mesmerized and how people can live and breathe that every day.

That is when Allen said the first words he said since Villa Serena. From the back of the van the driver and I hear Alan’s voice say “is THAT from a fire? Is that smoke from a fire close by?”

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Neither the driver nor I spoke we just sat in silence. I never answered his question and neither did the driver. However, the other day I was talking to Alan about writing this article. And I mentioned him saying… what he did… about there being a fire. He admitted, he told me then, “Danny I thought about how I thought it was a fire… and… I realized it was smog. And, Danny… I was… speechless”. Allen has lived here in Southern California his entire life, specifically the LA basin. Allen is 47 years of age, born in 1965. That Tuesday was the first time in Allen’s life he had ever witnessed the smog he’d breathed in every day of his life till I moved him to Orange County.

Well, My Dear Readers, is now 5 PM my time which makes it 7 PM and Southeast Texas. I had really hoped to finish the trip, and back, all in one posting today. However, I apologize it’s just not going to happen. I’m going to stop here right now today. For that I deeply apologize I… I really really do. But I still have to go over these eight pages and make sure that I have dictated. Is corrected. The whole thing… and, like, to go and correct the dictation… well when… it didn’t get it right. I promise you, My Dear Readers, I will do my best to finish that tomorrow or the next day and have it all ready for this weekend.

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As always, My Dear Readers, it is an honor that you come here and read my work. I am deeply honored when you ‘Like’ my articles and touched when you ‘Share’! From the very bottom of my heart I say

“Thank YOU!”

Please Share?!?

Danny Hanning's July 31st, 2013 Update

Dear Family, Friends, Facebook & The Other Shoe Followers,

I had hoped to take a day to rest. Just a morning and afternoon. My pain has become so intense, and now shoots through my face and jaw. IT has become the quite literally 'Intractable'. In that it never fully resolves... quits. If I am awake, I am in pain, period. But I digress.

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I had hoped to take a day off. However, things just keep getting worse (not only my health, now, but this building and the 'new' owners). Today, in their infinite wisdom, they have removed ALL THE DUMPSTERS. That's right, they are gone. We now have one HUNDRED (100) people dumping their garbage into the enclosure that USED TO house the dumpsters.

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One of the residents, here, went to the office and asked "Did you know there are NO dumpsters now. Where do we put our trash?" The manager, from what I am told, simply nodded and said "Does that mean you will be moving out, today?"

That was IT. Nothing more said.... nothing more done.

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It is well known, in the building I live in, that I am a writer and activist. They know I have taken the PREVIOUS owners to task and to 'Fair Housing'. So, it came as no surprise when the knocks came to my door. I have the reputation to “get things done….” And the residents look to me to help. Therefore, my ‘day of rest’ ended about 10AM and I have been working every since. Regardless of the pain, regardless of my lack of use of my left hand, I continue!

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I called the City of Cypress and filed a complaint. I am going to call the County of Orange Health Department. My work never ends.

Just an update.. just a little ‘News Flash’ for all of you My Dear Readers.

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I have planned, now, to release as soon as I can. Another FULL update (and a video), ‘The Whittling of America – Part Two’ and anything else I can put together by the end of the day. Please, keep an eye on me… and IF I disappear? I have a brother in Florida (Gainsville) Please someone call him and let him know.

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I am deeply honored  that you come here to read my words. I am forever in your debt. Thank you for your time… your support, your kindness. YOU, My Dear Readers,

Y O U  R O C K !!!

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Please Share?!?

60 Day Notice And MORE Bad News...

              Welcome back, My Dear Readers, I was having a nice day doing some laundry and eating a frozen burrito. Allen went down, to get the mail at the front desk, and they handed this Sixty Day Notice. No problem, we knew that was coming. We have been here more than a year, they have to give 60 day notice to vacate and a 30 day notice to raise rents (remember I said that…)

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Then the oddest thing happened, My Dear Readers, they told my caregiver we can "no longer pay rent month-to-month". "Only week by week. And that the rent will go up!" Without any written notice they are raising the rents.

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60 Day Notice And A Crippling Rent increase!

(This is the 60 day notice that terminates my residency here.. Where i have lived for a DECADE)

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I have been a property manager, here in Southern California (and in Orange County, too) off and on for two decades. According to the law they have to give us a Thirty Day Notice of any change in rent. I am sorry I am shaking as I am typing this, I am very upset.

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See, what this means is that they are treating us as ‘second class citizens’ and now (along with getting a new MRI, finding a place to live, packing, writing, and working hard to raise money) NOW I have to fight a legal fight? I… can’t… I don’t know how I will do all this… I need t legal aide… I have to go and see someone in my power chair (a whole day of pain)… I have to argue with the new owners to protect my rights. They will not like that… and likely target me for harassment and abuse!!!

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Now I am doubly threatened… double the hassle… All while I am trying to guard my health and go get my MRI. Why do people have to do things wrong to hurt others? They KNOW they must serve a 30 day notice to raise my rent. Instead of playing by the rules they will cheat me and make me fight with them in court???? While I am disabled?!?!?!?

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I need help. I am sorry. This is messed up and they are trying to take advantage.

I apologize very much. I hate looking like this... all vulnerable. I hate asking for help... and now I am majorly screwed.

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Please Share!?!

P.S. Anyone else, besides Allen, NOTICE that MY NAME is NOT Present? GOOD CATCH ALLEN!!!

And, On A Happier Note!

                   Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and an afternoon posting. I just had to come back and write something less…. Beggy. Thing of it is? This adversity is bringing out the strong writer in me! Get this, since the first week in June I have written and published FIFTY articles. (50) I’m, sorry for that break there… I was just taking a moment to ‘Smell the flowers’.

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That is fifty articles, of varying lengths and on many topics, in just over fifty days. Looking back, during that time, I have started and (nearly) finished the single most popular (to date) series of articles. Of course I speak of (the favorite of many of you) ‘MMORPGs And YOU!’

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This week I will write (if all goes as planned) the Seventh in the series… of a game yet to be decided. Within this same time period I have began these series as well; ‘A Week In Review’, ‘Sunday Funnies’ and ‘The Whittling of America’ (part TWO is scheduled to appear late this week). That makes me very happy. It is as though, through this hardship (and what ever might still be coming) I have created my voice. Well, my written and on line voice. My spoken voice I started working on in Middle School with vocal lessons. My speaking voice, I am very proud (and thankful) to posses. I lost it, for awhile, right after the accident. (Someone, remind me to talk about 1987 and the typewriter that fell on my head!)

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YOU, My Dear Readers, are instrumental (nice play on words) in helping me create my writing presence. Oh, I have written (one way or another) since I was but 8 (in 1965) when I bought an old Smith Corona typewriter from a yard sale in Pearland, Texas. However, it wasn’t until The Other Shoe that I developed my political writing style… and created ‘The Adventures of Princess Nadia’. (My ‘pet’ project… another play on words… I am simply On Fire!)

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I have to get back to making phone calls and looking for another place to live. My Dear Readers, I just wanted to share some of the happiness you bring me. “Thank you!”

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In closing, I simply must brag. My traffic (at both blogs) is fantastic! At and over One Thousand Views a MONTH! Know it of not? YOU, My Dear Readers, are a part of a movement. Each and every day I receive more; RSS requests (feeds for readers), Followers (from Word Press YEAH for Word Press!!!), and Facebook friends. It is an HONOR! If you would like to follow my blogs @ Facebook go here and ‘Like’ the page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Other-Shoe/422925147744171?ref=hl) You will get ALL updates on articles and SPECIAL notices!

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On the other hand… if you would like me as a Facebook friend? I would be Honored! I am ‘Danny Hanning’ I would be honored to make your acquaintanceship and even your friendship.

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To recap. My writing is blossomed, my blog traffic is on the rise, I have 105 (!) ‘Like’s for my Indiegogo campaign, and I am happy that you like what I write. This is something good… I am honored. This is something, that for me, will last the remainder of my life. I may not be able to walk, without help… or eat or bathe. However, I can still write and I can still entertain. You keep coming to read. I will keep working to entertain you.

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DEAL?

Thank you!

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Secretary of State John Kerry Breaths Life Into Palestinian-Israeli Peace Talks!

Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Today, My Dear Readers, I have the joy of writing about a subject very dear to my heart. This particular subject is a subject that I have; read about, thought about, and talked about a great deal since I was a boy of six in 1963. The subject (that is SO dear to my heart?) is My Dear Readers, Israeli and Palestinian peace!

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I know when most people think of the conflict between Israel and Palestine not many people are drawn to the year 1963. However, 1963 (April to be exact) was the year that President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi dies in office and Kadish Luz, Speaker of the Knesset, (THAT was the first time in Israel’s history that had occurred)becomes acting President.[1] The charter for the most violent and bloody government of the Middle East was drafted “under Egyptian auspices following an agreement at the Arab Summit Conference in 1963 by Ahmed Shukairy”[2] that organization was the P.L.O. (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ was awarded its Oscars. No matter where I looked, I witnessed the match being lit that started the firestorm and bloodbath that is the ‘Modern Day’ Arab Israeli conflict.

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[caption id="attachment_1225" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Flag Of Israel[/caption]

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Please note, My Dear Readers, that I made a special effort to note that this was the beginning of the ‘Modern Day’ Israeli-Arab/Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arabs have been trying to slaughter Jews since Abraham brought Isaac down from Mount Moriah.[3] Maybe that’s a little strong, let’s say within months since they came down. 1963 saw the beginnings of the Palestinian Liberation Organization or P.L.O.  An organization that, for the next 40+ years, and specifically under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, shed more Jewish blood than in any other time except the Holocaust.

So it was 1963 when yours truly, Danny Hanning, began reading and learning about this Arab-Jewish conflict. Several times, in the past 50 years, I have been delighted to see Democrat Presidents of the United States involve themselves in the Middle East and do their best to bring peace. In 1978 it was then United States President Jimmy Carter that, after 17 days of secret negotiations, brokered what is now known as the ‘Camp David Peace Accord’. It was the ‘Camp David Accords’ that earned Pres. Carter his ‘Nobel Peace Prize’. And it was well deserved.

With the Camp David Accords President Carter had laid the very foundation for the acceptance of the state of Israel by any member of the ‘League of Arab States’. (Egypt recognized Israel and it ended the Egypt-Israel War) There is a organization not many of you, My Dear Readers, have ever heard of I am willing to bet. Founded in Cairo in 1945 this League’s beginnings is actually depicted in the movie I mentioned above ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. The Arab League was not forming to eradicate the Israeli people and destroying the  Jewish state of Israel. The P.L.O. (for many years) made the eradication of the Jewish State its #1 priority and it was written into their charter . However, I digress.

in just the past six months Secretary of State Kerry has made six trips to the Middle East and an effort to broker the restart of the peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Secretary of State Kerry met, on July 17, with nine of the members of the Arab League who support an Arab-Israeli peace plan as proposed by Saudi Arabia. Another very good sign of promising peace, resulting from these talks, is that the now Palestinian leader Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is part of the old P.L.O. (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and not Hamas.

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[caption id="attachment_1226" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Palistine flag[/caption]

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I know this might be somewhat confusing for some of you, My Dear Readers. I do not mean to be insulting, and I apologize if I’ve come even close! It’s just, you see, that for decades we all thought the PLO was the most horrible group of people and we could not negotiate peace with the PLO. That was, until Hamas showed its teeth, and then gained political power, only to engage in intransigence and shelling of innocent Jewish people.

America, and the world, once having to deal with Hamas (as a political power) has given myself and a lot of other people a lot more respect and understanding of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. [As well? Just a side note from me, Danny, but every since Yasser Arafat died… well, the P.L.O. has ‘mellowed’ in its old age. Hammas is the kurr dog looking for blood and the P.L.O. has become the older and wiser body.] You see one really important difference, this time, is that Mahmoud Abbas has been able to put aside a lot of the small and irritating roadblocks that Palestinian (Hamas)negotiators, in the past, had put in place. With the intransigent members of Hamas not present and the new leader of the Palestinian people working to remove all these old roadblocks. Secretary Kerry has cleared the way for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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All of Kerry’s shuttle diplomacy trips, and the concessions Mahmoud Abbas made, have given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all the political cover he needs to resume the broken down talks of 2008.[4] My Dear Readers, it has been that long since these two parties have sat at the same table with the agenda Arab-Israeli peace. After; five long years, the election of Hama as a political party, and some of the worst and bloodiest shelling of Israeli Jewish people in this century. The pendulum has definitely swung back, towards peace. If by fate we have a Democrat as President. A Democrat President that has expressed strong interest in reengaging these parties in deliberate peace talks. [I am not trying to ‘score’ any political points. Honest I have made a promise to myself, and several of My Dear Readers, to stop being polarizing politically and speak more of policy. I have, in the past, inadvertently offended people I deeply respect. I do not want to do that every again. As well, I want no part of the hyper partisanship that is harming our great nation and dividing friends and family]

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In just the last few hours Secretary Kerry, in what seems to be an incredible coup de grass has appointed Martin Indyk as a special envoy and head of the U.S. team that is helping broker the deal. Martin Indyk is the former US Ambassador to Israel under President Clinton.[5] It is almost like Secretary Kerry is ‘staking the deck’ before tonight’s meeting. That’s right, My Dear Readers, you are getting Real Time foreign affairs news right here @ The Other Shoe. While I was writing, and while you are reading (if it is still Monday night 7/29/13) you and I are experiencing history together! Right now, tonight!

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Well, I want to get this published and up for everyone to see. I just really wanted to put up an article, for the first time, while the news was happening. However, now that I have breeched this subject with you, My Dear Readers, you can look forward to me discussing this more, in our future. I promise to make this all about policy and do my LEVEL BEST not to take political sides. Least I offend some of you, and I respect you all!

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Thank you. Thank you for dropping by. Thank you for reading. Each and every time you come to The Other Shoe you honor me. For that, I can just say (again)…

“Thank YOU!”

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The Dreaded Monday July 29th UPDATE!

             Welcome back My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Today is an update in my continuing adventure “Where Will Dan Live?’ version 1.0. Today I went to the office, and met the representative of this new owner. She was quite tight, with the information, but I did gather enough to cause me some panic. We are to be notified, in writing, on Thursday. August 1^st what fate will befall us.

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However, I did gather this: We will get a 30 day notice if you have lived here a year of less. For anyone here a year or more, we will receive a sixty day notice. Nobody will be allowed to stay, at this place of residence, that has lived here before we are to be discarded. Having been here ten years I will receive, this Thursday, a notice to vacate my home of over a decade.

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I am now, with knowledge in hand, still pretty freaked out about my circumstance. I have no saving, that is to speak of, and no car, nor truck, to move my belongings. I have a license, but no insurance. Having not been in this situation before, I am really quite flummoxed. My roommate/caregiver has freaked out and he is angry. I am scared and concerned and he desires to rage against the machine. I just want to move and be done with this place.

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Which brings me to you, MY Dearest Dear Readers; unfortunately I require a little assistance. I’m not joking around, and I am surely not kidding. I apologize if I look like a looser. But here is some food for your thoughts. Somehow, someway, I live on $967.00 a month from Social Security. My rent, to date, was $770.00. That ends September 30th 2013. (Actually it ends when/if I pay rent here September 1^st, 2013)

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However, all it not lost I have found an avenue. I have found an inexpensive apartment, that will likley take me (with my current finanical and credit situation) It has a rent of $940 and a security deposit of $300.00. I am paying rent, here, on Saturday of $770.00. My campaign ends August 25, 2013!!!

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I should have all the funds form the campaign, by September 1-3, 2013. However, the ‘room’ of which I speak “Goes quick" as it is on the ground floor. (Meaning I would FINALLY be able to use my Power chair)

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That cuts things pretty fine, but I think it will work. I just need your help. I will have to hire movers, I am incapable of moving (least someone from Texas were to show up and help). Quite honestly, that will be the most expensive. See, I cannot lift, I cannot hold, I cannot carry and all I can really do is help pack. Which is good, I am quite the proficient packer.

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I just do not want to loose any of the nice things I currently own. I do not have much, the computer I write on and an HDTV and DVD player. But I do need help with funds to pull this off and move. I am hoping to a better place. I am willing to settle. I just fear homelessness. And without your assistance? That is where I am heading and I am not kidding.

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That is all for toady. I will post more tomorrow. Please, have a Great Week! As always, I am honored that you come here and read my words. “

“Thank you!”

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P.S. Hey... you are looking WAY down here? KUDOS! For YOU a 'Special Treat'! Only known to those that looked down this FAR? A TREAT! Coming tomorrow 'And, On A Happier Note!' to The Other Shoe! Hope to see you here!

Sunday Funnies July 28th, 2013

Welcome Back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and July 28^th’s edition of the ‘Sunday Funnies’. Today our star is my boy Alexander. After all, he is this houses’ star.

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The video, that I am about to share, some may have already seen via Facebook. Alexander is in a spry and determined mood. He knows I am going to eat some peanut butter crackers, but today he does not want to share!

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Enjoy!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/F770rWdxd68]

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My Suffering Never Ends... Now More Brown Water!

Welcome back, My Dear readers, to The Other Shoe and a update in tragedy. As if to add insult to injury I go to take my bath. Only to find dirt brown water coming from the spout.

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I am shaking like a leaf, from my head down to my toes. I am gripped in fear of being homeless just to be forced to bathe in this? I know that I am a bother… hell, I think some truly hate me.

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I cannot not let that get in my way. I have to fight for my home. But, can’t I simply take a bath in clean water?

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Below… PLEASE help me? If only for a few dollars? Thank you… now back to your day.. and I’ll get back to freaking out.

Thanks!

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(Cypress Lodge July 27, 2013 Brown Water)

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Tragedy Befalls Yours Truly...

Tragedy Befalls Yours Truly...

 

Last night, I finally relaxed… just a bit. Enough to get a good night’s rest, for the first time in weeks upon weeks. Please bear with me, I am typing this by hand… started about 10:10AM Pacific time. I just this morning got some unfortunate and troubling news. Seems this building has already changed hands! We, the residents of this domicile, were not given any notice no word no clue. Oh, yes, the building was to be sold.. but that wasn’t supposed to be final until August 1^st.

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Today July 27^th, 2013. I was made aware that the manager (Kevin Rosen) was moving out. A new management company is changing locks, and we will get to know our misfortune on Monday! That is correct, after a decade of residence, Monday I will be told if I will be allowed continuing residence.

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Proof I have none, they have refused to create documents, the new people are on the property as I write. They refuse to put anything in writing. They refuse to discuss.

           

           

                        “You will all be informed on Monday.”

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How brutal is that, how insensitive and hurtful. There are families here, small children… and one disabled writer who is talking to you. This has me gravely concerned for my health and my disability. I have no place to turn except here… and you.

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Assistance I seek… more now than every before. The sword of Damocles has been loosed from its moorings and is poised to fall. I must get back to sorting… and packing what I can. I refuse to be caught unawares and forced to leave anything behind. My gosh… this is gravely disconcerting. Like some punishment. Though I have done nothing wrong, I am made to feel unsafe. For those who seek proof, call if you like (714) 761-9151 Gloria is working… see if she will tell you more than any of us.

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From now until Monday morning… I won’t sleep… I won’t rest. This has me frantic and panicking… but who cares its just money… right?

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As always, ,it has been an honor to have you here. Please excuse as I am writing with my hands… and they are shaking. I will touch base soon. At least I hope I will. Thank you for your time. Have a good weekend.

  

Please Help?!?

 

A Week in Review July 27th, 2013

Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and another ‘A Week in Review’. If it’s time for ‘A Week In Review’ then it must be Saturday! A summer time Saturday, is there anything better? The smell of fresh cut grass, and someone cooking on a grill. A slice of Americana right in your backyard. I remember those smells, I remember the steaks. I remember the sunburns from mowing the grass.

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While I cannot compete with that, though I did have a very productive week. In spite of the twelve hour tour of everything from Disneyland all the way to the Pacific Coast (highway). I still have that adventure to write about, I will get to that… rest assured. Today is for looking back to what was written here @ The Other Shoe.

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So, without further adieu here is this week’s review!

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  Sunday Funnies – July 21st 2013 : “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and to another edition of ‘Sunday Funnies’. This week has been hectic, to say the very least. I have worked every single day, for as long as my body allows (forget stopping for pain, that hasn’t happen in more than ten days). My heart has been heavy, this past two weeks, for more reasons than I can count… or even care to number. When deeper into depression, I fall, I reach out (in desperation) for something… someone, to make me smile.” I miss her soo deeply and so very much. Princess Nadia was my very best friend. She could talk, in her own way, and laugh she could cry and even pout. She never let me down, she never let me sit long with a frown. I will miss her always, though… in a way… she’s never left my side. At least I hope that… Hey, Princess Nadia!

  
  


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  MY TOPIC Opens ‘Face The Nation’ TODAY : “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to another edition of The Other Shoe. I am very excited to see that Face The Nation has followed my lead and used Congressional Intransigence as its lead subject matter. See below, where Face The Nation asked for questions to ask the Speaker. Low and behold!? They used my suggestion!” Simply one of the best moments in recent history, not since 2010 has this happened to me. This Sunday, on ‘Face the Nation’, Mr. Bob Scheiffer used my suggestion and asked the Speaker ‘What’s with the Congressional Congestion!?’ For the second time, in as many years, a suggestion I gave to ‘Face the Nation’ (via their Facebook feed) was used in a question. The question (this time) was for the Speaker… and he did not better, than his sidekick from the Senate. Read about it all… you know where…

  
  


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  The Longest Day : “I just experienced the longest day I had in a ‘Month of Sundays’. Starting at 6AM, to prepare for this arduous day, and ending when I was dropped back here at 6PM. In those twelve hours I traveled not only in miles but back and forth in time as well.” As I pointed out, earlier, I am working to tell this story. A story of enclaves and clicks that are harming our nation? It belongs in the series of articles I call ‘The Whittling of America’. Soon, I promise, I will continue to write. About this day and that fateful ride.

  
  


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  Duo-Documentaries of… : “…brown water. Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and a “Duo of Documentaries of Cypress Lodge Brown Water”. Well… actually? They are more like documentation videos than documentaries. I did take a little liberty in the title, I will agree. However, how else was I going to get your attention, to this same old problem, again?” What more can I say… what more can I do? Nothing, that is what. I have; reported, recorded, conjouled, and pleaded. I have ask and demanded and begged and even pleaded (again). Nothing has changed. Nothing has improved. Soon I may have to move… and I get so little sleep. I keep working so very hard… hoping to ingratiate you all to indulge in generosity. Well, I can hope.

  
  


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  Reports of My Death…: “… have been greatly exaggerated. (Mark Twain) I know, that for some, my absence has been disturbing. I deeply apologize for any concern my silence has created. My journey, on Tuesday, took much more out of me that I had imagined. IT took more physically, for sure, but there was a strong emotional element. I am hoping to write and share that with you, My Dear Readers. However, my hands have been mostly uncooperative. I have the speech to text program, but he still needs correction (training it is called by Nuance).” Yes, I AM depressed… thanks so much for asking! I spend twelve hours, getting there and back, only to have my Dr. set me emotionally back. It was not his intention, nor even his desire. However, seeing it in handwriting it just comes in loud and clear. “Severe Spinal Stenosis” Need I say more? Forever in pain… now into my teeth and face. A nothing anyone can do… because I am not rich. Because of my lack of money. I cannot live in a place where I feel safe, have clean drinking water or a nice place to lay my head. I just keep on praying… and working just as hard as I can. “But by the grace of God, go I.”

  
  


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  MMORPGs And YOU! – Part Six – Star Wars The Old Republic : “Welcome back My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and to the Sixth edition of ‘MMORPGs And YOU!’. Our subject for today? ‘Star Wars – The Old Republic’ Based on the intellectual property, that we all love, ‘Star Wars’ serves as a fantastic backdrop for this genre of games, MMORPGs. A little gaming history with this edition of ‘MMORPGs And YOU!’.” Three days in the making, that felt more like three weeks. However, I just had to have it ready for this weekend! Each and every edition, just gets better than the last. I am so happy that I did this, make the series of articles. I hope My Dear Readers are still reblogging my work. It is such a great honor to have people share. I am at the end of the week, and the end of my energy. I hope that, once again, this week. I have met the expectations. Through the hoop I hope I have jumped, and won your support, I will do whatever it takes… just be sure you do your part.

  
  

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That brings us to the end. The end of; the week, the article and the first two weeks of my campaign. I have just thirty days left, to convince and conjoule. I hope that I manage to earn my passage… away from this hell.

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As always, it is a great honor to have you visit me here @ The Other Shoe. Have a great weekend and…

ENJOY!

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MMORPGs And YOU! - Part Six - Star Wars The Old Republic

[caption id="attachment_1143" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Rise of The Hoth Cartel Splash Screen SWTOR[/caption]

(Rise of the Hoth Cartel Splash Screen)

Welcome back My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and to the Sixth edition of ‘MMORPGs And YOU!’. Our subject for today? ‘Star Wars – The Old Republic’ Based on the intellectual property, that we all love, ‘Star Wars’ serves as a fantastic backdrop for this genre of games, MMORPGs. A little gaming history with this edition of ‘MMORPGs And YOU!’.

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 [youtube+http://youtu.be/1f1bv-p6suE]

(Enzomatrix Riding Speeder Bike In Empire Space Port)

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This was the very last game venture for the venerable game development team @ Lucas Arts. Working with Bioware via Electronic Arts (the 800 lb gorilla in the gaming industry). When Disney bought out Lucas Arts (this was back in March) they shutdown (from what I understand) the Lucas Arts gaming studio. I do not believe that this rupture, in the gaming universe, will spell the end of this awesome MMORPG. They have already consolidated the servers, and gone FTP (Free to Play). This game did not make the FTP transition well, but I will get to that later.

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[caption id="attachment_1142" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Enzomatrix/Danny Main 'Toon' At Startup Splash Screen[/caption]

(Enzomatrix/Danny Main 'Toon' At Startup Splash Screen)

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The Jedi Knight series of games (thanks to companies like Raven Software and I.D. software) brought single player game graphics to multiplayer games and maps. They were the first, way back in 1998. I don’t think I will ever forget my first experience having a light saber battle, with some guy in Pennsylvania. Granted, it was choppy and there was a great deal of hitching. I think that even for a moment we might have hitched at the same time and the game completely froze, for both of us, for just a nanosecond. .

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/qJ692oSXyqc]

(Air Space Battle In Game Video SWTOR)

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Nevertheless, we were Light Saber Fighting across the internet! Lucas Arts excelled at that bringing a pioneering gaming moment to gamers just like me. The MMORPG ‘Star Wars – The Old Republic’ delivers a like experience. For sound (music) you have John Williams playing in your ears throughout the entire game. Everywhere you go, everywhere you fight and die… there’s John Williams playing in the background in huge orchestral style. It makes key moments, in the game, seem almost cinematic. See, right there… that is what Lucas Arts did with games. Lucas Arts made games that were larger than life.

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[caption id="attachment_1136" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Enzo on Courasant with Bldngs and ships[/caption]

(Enzomatrix/Danny At Spaceport On Coruscant)

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I won’t (at least I do not think I am) go into all the different classes. You can be; A Jedi and be one of three species. You can be a Storm trooper and wear that neat white plastic armor. Then there is the Smuggler, which is a Hunter Class type. The Jedi are broken down into assault or defender/Healer types. You can choose the Dark Side, too. There are Dark Side Jedi and they look pretty gnarly and very dark.

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 [youtube=http://youtu.be/cwBC0Qv06h0]

(Enzomatrix/Danny Riding Speeder Bike on Ice Planet HOTH)

. You have a ‘Skill Tree’ where you place points. Where you place these points = what skills and Jedi Powers you can use. This part of the game is quite similar to how skills in World of Warcraft used to be. Your Jedi can be quite specialized, as far as which powers you can use. Jedi Guardians are a Healing Class and Jedi Knights are Fighters or Defenders. My second favorite class was the Heavy Gunner class of Republic Storm Troopers. The Heavy Gunner was a gas to play. With the right chain gun he can, literally, mow down waves of attackers without blinking an eye. So, there are more than a dozen combinations of characters and classes. I have just begun to scratch the surface.

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 [youtube=http://youtu.be/0KMJ02Wyf4M]

('News Cast' In Game Video The Old Republic)

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The Old Republic comes complete with Professions and Trades. If you can equip it someone can make it. When I left the game, I had a toon for each type of item that could be made in the game. All that is left is leveling the skill and find the right recipes. You can even construct your own light saber (a Quest Chain for all Jedi classes) from parts you manufacture yourself. You build the; hilt, power crystal, Modifier, and Augment. Then, you put them all together and spark-up your self-made Light saber. There is Alchemy and Armor Making. There is crafting power crystals and blacksmithing armor.

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[caption id="attachment_1140" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Anarcouxs/Danny On Ice Planet Hoth[/caption]

(Anarcouxs and Companions On Ice Planet Hoth)

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As with all other MMORPGs there is an Auction House for the sale and purchase of items, made, found or looted. There are vendors of every imaginable kind selling every item imaginable. With the recent consolidation of the servers there are many crafters for each server representing every type and class of item. However, I would not rely on the Auction House or vendors to equip and armor your toon. The more you can create for your toons, the better off you toons will be and the less in game currency you will need.

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/7u9qYK-N9xE]

(The Old Republic Space Battle)

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I could go on for hours about everything that Star Wars The Old Republic has in common with all other MMORPGs. Basically because SWTOR has everything that every other MMORPG has and it all looks like it belongs in this universe. What SWTOR has going for it? Everything happens in the world of ‘Star Wars’. The game occurs about the time of the cartoon series ‘The Clone Wars’. Right around the time of the very last ‘Star Wars’ movies.

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[caption id="attachment_1134" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Enzomatrix/Danny on the Bridge of His Star Ship[/caption]

(Enzomatrix/Danny on the Bridge of His Star Ship.)

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I loved, and still hold an affinity for, ‘Star Wars’. It is a story of hope. The hopes and dreams of a boy from a small town… in a strange land. A story with chivalry and sword play. A story with clearly defined Good and Evil. A world where dreams and aspirations are achieved, and surpassed. Mankind lost something, when we went from fighting and killing those we opposed by hand. It takes courage and the conviction of one’s beliefs to slay another man… facing him only inches away… with a sword.

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[caption id="attachment_1135" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Enzomatrix/Danny With Companions On Coruscant)[/caption]

(Enzomatrix/Danny With Companions On Coruscant)

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As always, My Dear Readers, it has been a pleasure to have you here @ The Other Shoe. You honor me with your presence; you give life to my work.

“Thank YOU!”

Please Share?

Reports of My Death...

... have been greatly exaggerated. (Mark Twain) I know, that for some, my absence has been disturbing. I deeply apologize for any concern my silence has created. My journey, on Tuesday, took much more out of me that I had imagined. IT took more physically, for sure, but there was a strong emotional element. I am hoping to write and share that with you, My Dear Readers. However, my hands have been mostly uncooperative. I have the speech to text program, but he still needs correction (training it is called by Nuance).

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I do not want to cause any undue concern. So I am posting this short memo. Since I last posted; I have spent hours fighting with my 'Part D Medicare Pharmacy' provider. They hold the keys to the medications I need. However, they do not even know that Vicodin ES is the very same thing as Hydrocodone biturate (Trade and generic/chemical names of the same medication). Regardless of the fact they know tremendously less about said medication. In the infinite wisdom they are preventing me from obtaining this breakthrough pain medication to me. I have been taking this medication, without interruption, at this level for the past five years.

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Suddenly now they will not allow me to take my Vicodin ES the six times a day that I need. Well, they won't pay for six pills a day. Aye, there's the rub! For all the complaining, by some of the population, it is not the government that is standing between me and my doctor. It is a greedy insurance company just wanting to cut costs. In this case? 'Cutting costs = me in even more intractable pain for longer with less relief and less sleep. That is what you get when you put the almighty dollar in charge of a party.

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Harder, it is, for me to write. When pain wracks my body. Just moments ago the pharmacy released some medication. I have been taking Vicodin ES six times a day for four years. Previous to that I took Vicodin ES five times a day, before that four. The reason why (the one they sell Congress) is that I am taking more than four grams of acetaminophen a day. A year ago it was four point five grams, the limit. Each person metabolizes acetaminophen differently. People with low renal clearance can experience renal failure if they take too much for too long. I am not one of those people.

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For two days I have been without all the pain medications I need to be... well, mostly, 'pan-free'. In actuality? I am never pain free. Over the years I have built a tolerance for pain. Higher than when I was a boy or a yong man. When your life is pain? You get used to pain, and learn to function, or you.. don't. I can handle the pain... but my creativity greatly suffers. As does my ability to get words on to paper (or into a word program and published). As I said, earlier today I was finally allowed some relief from my pain. So, I just had to wirte, and tell you all I am alright.

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I am off schedule, as you can see. For that, I apologize sincerely. I have planned, today; getting the videos and screenshots made for 'Star Wars - The Old Republic'. These will be for the publication of 'MMORPGs And YOU! - Part Six - Star Wars - The Old Republic'. This will be the sixth installment of the quite popular series. I know that a lot of you, My Dear Readers, are waiting for this articles to be published. I am working, as hard as my hands and pain will allow, to get this much anticipated article ready for publication. As soon as it is done, I will gladly bring it to you.

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I have been spending some time... with "The Adventures of Princess Nadia - The Healing Light'. I have finished the construct of the entire first book. All of the plot points are done, the chapter structure complete. My cliff-hangers in place, and all my character blocking is complete. Just a little more work, in the background, and I will be ready to actually write what I am seeing.

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I explained, to James Coate, the last time we spoke. How my book is alomost writing itself. How, when I sit quietly and think about these characters I love so deeply. That they come alive in my mind and I can witness what they do. How they interact, how they speak, how they move, who they love, who is lying to them, and how is trying to kill whom. It plays out, behind my eyes, like a play... all I have to do? Get behind the keyboard (or hook-up to my mike, and start speaking) and write. I see them, all, as clear as day. I see how Nadia's tail is always up and behind her head, like a scorpions tail.

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How King Nakita wraps his tail around his right arm, so it doesn't get dirty on the ground. How Alexander is always talking. Either to himself, or to someone else, his mind is just always working and his mouth is always moving. How the fancy Lady rats walk their pet mice on the end of leashes. How well-to-do males wrap their tails in fancy cloth, almost like a cross between mufflers for their tails and ties. How, the same, well-to-do female rats, while walking their mice, have chosen to decorate their tails with shinny baubles and jewelry. How the Rattus Superioris spend much time and effort (even training) to walk upright, imitating their fellow citizens (of Rattopia) the D&A rats do naturally.

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I see the whole world, how it was created... and how it will be... I've said too much. When I am in great pain. They come to me... and play. I swear, it is almost like; Nakita, and Nadia, Ben and Alice all want to help keep my mind off my pain... so, they come out and they play... and play... and play. My only challenge? TO get it all written down.. least I foget it. But, I really don't forget. Everything that is happeing, in this novel, is feels germane. It all feels natural, as though each action and reaction comes from within the character. I have to admit. This whole experience is quite pleasant. Only the physical pain, that comes from typing or sitting up and writing, all that pysical stuff causes me great discomfort and growing pain.

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However, it will not stop me. Nope, 'The Adventures of Princess Nadia' the adventures of all her people (the D&A rats). The adventures of; Alexander, Benjamin, Alice, Rebecca, Henry, Whiskers, Darius, The Albino Sisters and even the father (that put wealth ahead of family... even his son) Darrell. They all play out their story right in front of my closed eyes. I just need to write it down and put it in the correct order. I have been doing some of that, today and yesterday.

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So, my articles are a little delayed. Not missing just a little late... a little behind. I will catch up, I will produce. Please, My Dear Readers, do not stray too far. Do not abandon me for dead. I am not.. just a whole lot of pain.

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As always, I am honored that you come here. i am honored that you read my work. It is an honor to entertain you, and an honor when you share my work.

"Thank YOU!"

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