We won our nation’s independence for $2.4 billion in today’s money, the Congressional Research Service report said. That was good value, considering that we now fritter the same amount every nine days in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama, isn’t it time to rebalance our priorities?

After reading about those that fight wars, and those that want to fight revolutions, it’s important to consider the cost of those things.  The United States already spends almost 60% of its budget on military applications, what I believe is called ‘National Security’.  At what point do we realize that what we are doing isn’t effective or efficient, and then how do we make that change?  There are better ways to spend money, there are better ways to win hearts and minds.

You would never win my heart or mind by blowing up my countrymen.  Even if I didn’t like them much.

I ran across this story in the New York Times:  Firing Line.  I didn’t really come across it as in I was perusing the New York Times casually, and all of a sudden went, ‘ah hah, this looks interesting’.  I found the link via a tweet from one of the random weird people I follow.  Anyway, it’s about Appleseed.  Which I guess you would call an organization, and they will train anyone a modest fee to learn how to kill people at 500 yards.  A skill that would hopefully have limited application in day-to-day life, but I believe you could simply say that they teach marksmanship.  With serious guns.  Behind all of this is what I would consider to be thinly veiled anti-government militia training group with a nice cop out to say they are, indeed, not that.  The story is a long one, but after reading it I could give them some benefit of the doubt, in that the actual process of this marksmanship training, or perhaps association with more moderate sentiments, seems to defuse the more devout…the crazies.  Seemingly it draws people back from a more dark place.  I like to think that they begin to realize the futility of what they fantasize about doing, or that some modicum of reality interacting with fantasy satiates urges.

All that was to point out that I also found this, somehow: The War Project.  I only read one story there, Sgt. George Zubaty’s story.  It’s compelling stuff, and you begin to understand that there are some hard-core motherfuckers out there, that aren’t showy about it.  They just are.  I had read this story before the one above, and as I read the one above I thought about how mistaken those fellows learning to shoot targets at 500 yards are; though to their credit they seem to be aware of it, at least those interviewed.   I’m not sure that I wanted to make any bold statements, only that I found the juxtaposition of the two stories interesting, and for some reason it seems they are both pointing out something important.  I’m not sure what.

So…since the World Cup ended I’ve been in a sort of a silent, and lethargic, soccer mania.  My brain has been feverish with thoughts of playing soccer, and this has main manifested itself in thoughts of whether or not I could do it, should I do it, is this another passing fad, what if I’m really good at it and become a super star, what if I suck at it and then everyone hates me and then I am forced to end my own life…and a myriad other thoughts.

After all that I felt pretty good about doing some googlin’, and I discovered that the world of men’s ameautre soccer is not an easy on to break into.  It would seem that some basic understanding, some base level of knowledge is needed to really understand the information you find on the Internet.  At some point I discover the North Texas Premier Soccer League Association Club Thing’s website and I made a play at it by filling out the little ‘Player looking for team’ form they had secretly placed on the website in an obscure location.  I informed them that I am 36, have no soccer skills or experience, and that I’m terribly out of shape and perhaps a bit over weight.  I didn’t expect much to come of it.  But then I received an email from Texas Arsenal, who is not affiliated with the English Premier League team of the same name, sans Texas.  I learned that by reading the FAQ on their webpage.  I emailed the fellow back who had seemingly sent out the email, though it seemed to be a sort of general announcement that they were holding try-outs/practice.  It seemed interesting, and it was what I was interested in trying, but being a cautious person I emailed him back to make sure that someone like  me would be welcome at what seemed to a fairly athletic group.  He responded to let me know that it would be okay and that they could probably find a place for me.  That’s when I went back and examined the email.  I then realized that the practice time was at 6:30 the next day, and seeing as I was missing some required gear, AND the practice was located at best 40 minutes from me.  I admit that I still considered the logistics of pulling it off, but then figured that this was maybe too much, too soon for me.  So I took a pass, and at the end of the day I’m glad I did if for no other reason than that there was a heat index of around 105 degrees on that day.

So…still kind of wanting to play some soccer I decided to try a new approach.  I emailed Mitzy’s brother, who I know to have played soccer from time-to-time, to see if he knew of a good option for someone in my particular situation.   I hadn’t done this before because I was thinking that he had played somewhat seriously, and that I would just be opening myself up for a good scoffing, or perhaps ridicule.  Mind you, this was in my imagination.   M’s brother is a good chap.  Indeed, he has arranged a sort of tentative possibility for me, as it turns out he has a friend that plays in the ‘F’ Group for an indoor soccer league.  Now, F is as far down as you can go, and while I kind of turn my nose up at indoor soccer, in reality it’s probably the best place for me to start this desired insanity.

So this is all to document that I could be playing some indoor soccer in the relatively near future, and I’m quite jazzed about it.  How fun.