Fat Cat smugly removing an envelope from a mailbox: "Sorry there, old Smitty! There's no money for your pension!"
old Smitty: "How's I suppose to live?!"
Fat Cat: "Sorry there, old Smitty! The children need new textbooks and free bandages for their scrapes and bruises!"
old Smitty: "I don't got no children in the system and I can't make my car payments!!"
Fat Cat: "Sorry there, old Smitty! There's no money left for the public transit!"
old Smitty: "How's I suppose to get around?!! What the hell are you spendin' the money on??!!
Fat Cat: "Better button up that shirt, don't want to catch a cold, especially you! See ya later, old Smitty!"

This is why I'm glad I'm not a state worker. Due to the magical wizardry of the regime of the Blagojevich, Illinois still has no budget, cutting in services, potentially shutting down all government and asking current workers to "Could you please keep on working despite the fact that you won't be getting paid? That would be fantastic!"

Fat Cat smugly removing an envelope from a mailbox: "Sorry there, Surly Sally! There's no money left for your paycheck!"
Surly Sally: "How am I supposed to pay my bills??!"
Fat Cat: "If you could ever be so kind, Surly Sally, report to work and keep working and you will get paid 'nothing' !"
Surly Sally: " 'nothing' don't pay my bills!!!"
Fat Cat: "So long there, Surly Sally!"

For some reason I envisioned the Fat Cat having a quirky Harvard accent, but whatever. As a person who scrimps and saves every last dime and never splurges into anything, my instinct is to save, save, save. You know, I hope Illinois state workers are saving their money and not doing stupid things like buying a 42" flat screen TVs or an iPhone & Wii or more toys for snot-nosed Jr. Personally I hope this budget impasse continues, because I'd love to see a complete total government collapse of ruining Hell. If people think things now are bad, they surely can get a lot worse, and they were a lot worse back in the day. Kids today don't how great they have it. They have all kinds of advantages I never had, and I was basically taught in the tail's end of the Old School way.

It's not that I wouldn't feel bad for the people, but it's more about how the system is broken and it needs to be fixed. It seems like every single year, it gets worse and worse, and they keep borrowing and borrowing and taking and taking. The government doesn't know how to spend its money wisely, thinking the tax payer will always bail them out.

Here's the new motto for Pace buses: "Pay more, get less, and hope you don't need us on the weekends." Something is seriously wrong when a system in place is hurting the adults more than the children. So much of the budget has been put towards the children that it's causing major chaos in the adult's lives to the point that they can't get to work. This is 2007, not 1930 or 1850. There is more than enough free reading material online for children to read and learn stuff. But that's not even the point. The point is you're spoiling the kids and being irresponsible with your money. And if I were you, I'd lock my car doors because the children will be playing in the streets come this Fall.

"It's just um, you're really difficult to talk to when you're discussing Politics, Mark."

As I predicted some 15 years ago, the Simpsons movie will make a lot of money, regardless of how good or bad it is. That as it may be, maybe I'm just sick of the Simpsons, having been there from Day 1 in 1987 on the Tracey Ullman show & then the daily triple dose I was getting thanks to syndication, whenever that started. I'd say the show stopped being funny after season 10, and I still kept watching until the episode where Bart got fat on vending machine food and had a heart attack and was sent to fat camp. Even the great Albert Brooks couldn't save that episode and at that point, I had enough. Boring plots where nothing happened, terrible guest stars and Homer just getting so stupid, not to mention he resembled nothing like his original self whatsoever. Frank Grimes said it best: "If you lived in any other country in the world, you would have starved to death long ago."

18 years is a long time to watch a show. But enough is enough. I had it, and was sick of it, done with that ****, the hell with that! (foreshadowing to the future Mrs. Mp34mp??). Of course, seeing every episode 20 to 300 times will do that, too. Personally I hope I never see another Simpsons clip ever again (which I've only seen about maybe 3 accidentally since '05) so I'm doing pretty well. Another thing that puzzled me, was why, back in the day, did Burger King get picked over McDonalds for Simpson Brand Whoring? Maybe McDonalds didn't approve of the new primetime cartoon where the children were saying "what the hell" and constant marriage problems with the parents? Mind you, this was before Burger King puked all over itself when it changed from its McDonalds-esque french fries to the uh… mashed potato caked sticks we know today.

This generation seems to love the Simpsons movie. Maybe it's because us old timers don't because we have been there and done it for so long.

Boy I do not like Summer! I am definitely a Winter person. I can handle the cold a whole lot better than the heat. And speaking of Nazi Germany, the Chicago Bears have already banned cigarettes and cigars from The Spaceship Known As Soldier Field Brought To You By Corporate Whore __________, already beating a state-wide January 1st anti-smoking ban in Illinois. Meaning you can only smoke in your home, your car, in a cigar shop, and at least 15 feet away from all public entrances. So basically, you can't even smoke on the sidewalk anymore. So where do you go to smoke now? In the street? On the railroad tracks? The parking lot? Then there's talk in the Illinois legislation about raising the cigarette tax up .90 per pack, upping the state tax per pack to $1.88, one of the highest in the nation. Hey, don't be picking on the smokers just because you came up with too many expensive Socialistic programs & public transit couldn't cover its ass when gas prices doubled and tripled! Of course we all know the real problem: the children. Tax the children! They're the ones who are the real root of all these problems! I say, give tax breaks to the childless, and tax families per child! And the tax would go up exponentially with each child. Those people are clogging up the planet with their off-spring, make THEM pay for it. Oh ya, the State hasn't forgotten about you cigar smokers: a beefy 20,000% cigar tax increase, upping it to $10 per cigar. Who in their right mind would pay $12 for a $2 cigar??! And in this day and age of internet news and neighboring states, others will either quit or go elsewhere. Ever hear of modesty? These Fat Cats are so obsessed about controlling everyone in a Government Nanny-like state, that what would happen if people suddenly stopped smoking? It would be an absolute disaster! And in this day and age of internet and nicotine patches, whose to say it won't happen?

10 years ago we went from being able to smoke in the local mall, in the local Arby's, in the restaurant and the bar (of all places!) to now just this. It just feels like they're taking all our rights away. What's next? More higher cigarette taxes? Lower speed limits? More traffic lights to slow us down? Tax using main roads? (they're doing that in London plus NYC is looking into it) . Feels like we're getting pushed around by a bunch of little loser bullies. Bring on the Communism! Carpe diem complete Police State!

No tennis match this week (friend is out camping with his wife) but dug up a personal tennis logo I made based off the old 1976-1990 White Sox logo that I drew pretty quickly. I tried it with a thicker racquet; didn't look right. If I ever decide to waste money on tennis apparel by slapping on my own logo on racquets / shirts / whatever, this is what I'd go with. Speaking of which, I need a new racquet…. one that doesn't like a crappy 1998 gradient galore one which is ass-ugly.

Made some delicious homemade chicken soup again, tho the oyster crackers were tossed because they instantly turned to mush.

It's been a very busy week in the world of sports. The NBA took a huge hit with Tim Donaghy and his gambling and mob connections. I KNEW those Bulls games I watched seemed a bit odd! Another rider got caught doping on the Tour De France (what a surprise) and then of course, Michael Vick. I don't know what's going to happen to him (jail, banishment from the NFL) but he is going to Hell. I can't believe people are actually siding with him; saying he's entitled to a due process. But come on. Are people that blind / in love with their athletes that they can do no wrong? Is dogfighting not that bad of a thing to some people?? How could you even justify that?! Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Don't idolize athletes, for christ's sake. If I ever have kids, and Michael Jordan is the topic, and my son says "I want to be like Mike!", I will immediately say "No you DON'T!". I don't care if he was the greatest basketball player ever & won my team 6 championships (which I only followed the 1st three), the man cheated on his (then) wife before they were even married, and the guy is a total dick for a teammate.

Now for the even sadder news: Bonds hit # 754 last night. Boy that sure killed the buzz. 1 away from tying; 2 from owning. I think Bud Selig is making a terrible mistake on attending # 756. No it's NOT the right thing to do, and you don't owe Bonds or those naïve Giants fans a damn thing. Bonds is a sham. He will break the record at home (a given) and there will be a huge celebration; probably with a masturbatory 3-hour car ride around AT&T Park with his big fat bald head shining off the lights and his phony smile and his Science Lab body waving his arms. Personally, I'd like to see it happen on the road, he hits # 756, the fans completely ignore it, then he picks up his bat, slams it down, and screams, "WTF, where's my parade??! Where's my Jaguar?!!! Where's my solid gold toilet?!! Where's my solid 24-karat gold Jaguar??!" And then he would be showered with boos and syringes.

Another victorious outing of tennis, tho I did lose the 1st set either 4-6 or 5-7, I can't remember. Tho I was down 1-4 at one point and got it back to 4-4. Then I steam rolled in the next two sets, 6-2, 6-2, tho the 2nd loss in the 3rd set was due to a deuce that went at last 10 times, so finally I said 'F*** it,' and intentionally smashed it out of bounds on Ad-out. I'm not going to waste my energy anymore on a stupid redundant deuce. Tho I really shouldn't have played the dreaded 3rd set, I was already exhausted, hungry, left foot was about to cramp up, and was running purely on sweat and feces, tho basically my legs took over in the latter 3rd set. One game, I hit a backhand so perfectly that it went straight forward, barely over the net, landed about 6 inches from the net, and took a sharp 90 degree turn to the right. Yes, magic man don't try to understand. And now for my sarcastic mockery bit: "Yeah I'd be a pro too if I didn't have to waste energy chasing down the balls like the mere ballboys do."

Let's see, what else… made a grilled cheese with homegrown jalapeno & grilled in EVOO instead of butter served with tomato soup, it was fantastic. Yesterday made a toasted mock Quizo's Steakhouse Beef Dip with a mock french onion sauce & Mexican cheese. Very tasty, tho I used a little too much meat and not enough mayo & spices. And I ate some free garbage on Saturday, I had a Taco Hell beef chalupa. A bit greasy, it wasn't too bad, tho basically a taco on a small pita. And KFC's Hot Sauce is actually the same sauce they use for their Buffalo products.

Ah Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay. Arrested last night on a DUI for speeding while car chasing, failed sobriety test, driving on a suspended license, possession of cocaine, bringing a controlled substance into custody, all while looking like she has poop smeared on her face (went for a drive after going to bed, did we?). This is Lindsay's first legal DUI. This girl needs a serious talking to. Word has it she was chasing after a butler or some butler assistant. Normal people don't need butlers. Tho she was probably so coked up out of her mind she didn't know better. The way she's going, and if she gets charged with both DUIs, a 3rd is inevitable, and after the 3rd or 4th DUI, her license could be permanently taken away forever. Of course that wouldn't stop her, either. I wonder how aunt Tina Fey acted when she opened up today's newspaper. Expletive?

I don't know if I'd ever want to touch Lindsay (hey I am a guy, gotta keep up that stereotype), she's just so messed up and programmed in that horrible Hollyweird lifes'tyle and I can't imagine she's well read or actually has any hobbies other than shopping, smoking, snorting cocaine, getting drunk, getting arrested, hanging out with a bunch of floozies, making stupid movies and stupid songs, tho she is loaded tho she'll probably spend it all. Yes, it's best to steer clear of that hornet's nest. Phil Hartman was married to a cokehead and we all know where that went.

7-5, 6-4, singles tennis. I'm not used to winning tennis matches because, well, I've had basically no coaching and picked up everything from watching it on TV. For whatever reason, suddenly my service has gained some m.ph. (probably due to the new proper handshake grip) and even got 2 Aces 'cause I hit it so hard. Even had a particular great rally: I served, plenty of heat, it hit the top rim of my friend's racquet, it went 30 feet straight up into the air, landed to my left while facing sideways; about 2 feet from the baseline; I had to turn 45* so my back was to the net, and swung my racquet from my feet straight up into the air, basically 100% of the time is just a reckless and impossible desperation shot. The ball shot straight up behind me, and landed on the other side of the net, in play, about 1 inch from the net and about 8" left (on that side) of the out-of-bounds singles line, yet my friend was waiting there, the ball took a high bounce, he hit to my far right corner, I backhand it back & he was up playing the net, he hits it to my forehand, and I lobbed it high over his head & behind him and said, "Go for a walk!" and he was unable to return the point. I had never had that much luck on a point that seemed to be doomed. The ricochet the ball took off the rim of the racquet was extremely unusual, which surprisingly had a lot of topspin on it; hence it flying right past me. Suddenly I have range again; a huge advantage from dropping all of that weight.

Let's see, what else… for lunch we went to a local tavern and they screwed up my patty melt. This young hot brunette waitress comes and asks our order (a friend of my friend also joined us) and then…

Mark: "yeah I'll have the patty melt."
Waitress: "Do you want cheese on that??!"
Mark: **pause** "Um, yes, yes please."
Waitress: "What kind do you want?"
Mark: "What kind do you have?"
Waitress: "Well we have American, cheddar, provolone, mozzarella and swiss."
Mark: "American, please."
Waitress: "Thank you!"

Mark in thought: " 'do I want cheese??' Um, the 'melt' part of a patty melt is the cheese! What's the melt part to you, the sautéed onions??? The rye bread??? Does rye bread melt in the pan??"

Oh yeah, they screwed up the cheese. I ended up with swiss. Which is fine, whatever. I'm not gonna make a scene over something trivial like that; and besides it took them 10-15 minutes to finally take our order despite it being 1:10pm and the place was practically empty, 35-40 minutes to wait for the food and I was starving from the ass-kicking I gave at tennis. And of course, she didn't end up serving our food (someone else did), nor with separate checks. Good thing she'll get by in life on her looks. Yeah she was that hot.

Yes, I have cheese. I'm sure everyone else will be excited as HeyStu was when we had this convos the other day, but damn it, miracles like this don't come around often. There's this little store in Downers Grove, IL, like on Main St. or something, called (edit: it's Angelos) I was there with a friend on the 4th to get cheese for our bbq, and a quarter pound was only .65 cents!! Apparently that was a 4th special, 'cause I went back 2 days later and it was .87 cents, but whatever. So I got me a nice big block of Land O Lakes deli sty-le American Cheese yellow; $4.00 / 1.15 lbs worth, which is a total bargain compared to the Patricia Heaton-whored Jewel (Albertsons) where it's over $8 a pound for the same stuff. And I have like a hundred uses for American cheese, too, so it won't be sitting there collecting mold. And this is the good stuff, none of that crappy individually wrapped cheese that tastes all waxy and oily. Kraft is krap.

A recent internet find I found Lindsay Lohan chain-smoking not one but TWO cigarettes at once:

http://www.lohangroupie.com/lindsay-lohan-chain-smoking/

A really c-lassy broad, she is. Somebody who I showed these pics to said she looked like a crack whore. Now I don't know what the hell Lindsay has been putting in her body, but chain-smoking tobacco seems to be her new hobby. Tho it is pretty sexy when a woman smokes, but looking at her now, I wouldn't hit that, but me and The Todd would have totally hit Jailbait-Lindsay (or maybe we're both just closet / unaware homosexuals completely over-compensating, I don't know) but there's just something about her now that's just so… icky.

And people, oh God! Stop having sex in your showers!!! I don't care if you're happy or young in love or drunk, keep the fornication out of the shower!! That is supposed to be a clean, cleaning sanctuary! It's an area for cleaning and cleaning only! I wonder what kind of sh*t people have been doing where I've cleaned in their showers Ick. Ick. I cringe now, people, at your showers. I never, EVER did anything like that in the shower (I did piss in the shower a few times but I was like 10 and I got yelled at afterwards) and I'm becoming very afraid to shower in your homes, people.

Tonight is the MLB All Star Game. Gee, this game doesn't seem to have the same importance or excitement as it once did. Hmmm, why is that? Oh I don't know, Interleague Play, expanding the roster to 32 per TEAM, and oh, stupid sh*t like making an exhibition game actually count for something!! That tie game in Milwaukee was single-handedly the straw the broke the camel's back on the reign of terror by Bud Selig. At least Fay Vincent had the balls to ban Pete Rose. So who will win the game? I really couldn't care less. Representing the White Sox is portly closer Bobby Jenks, baseball's version of KOTH's Bobby Hill, and the Cubs have two guys who I don't care about. And the only reason I'm watching is out of tradition, and that anything can happen at an All Star Game, whether it'd be somebody throwing at someone's head or destroying a young catcher's career by plowing into him. And btw, the Home Run Derby uniforms & caps suck.

Victory is mine!

Awaken up extremely early from a deep drunk sleep by the annoying buzzard of a high-pitched alarm clock from the early 1990s, I woke up, chowed down on some pasta in tomato garlic sauce, a slice of white bread, some milk, water, multi-vitamin & a can of Dr. Pepper for a power breakfast for morning tennis. Despite this odd breakfast, it did the trick. I was down 4-5 in the first set, amazing since it was 2-4 at one point, got it to 6-5, then beat my old self to 6-6 to force a tie-breaker, which of course contains the ever confusing 7-point tie breaker with rules. Which I won 7-2 (7-6) and won the 2nd set 6-0. Yes. Winner! Man, I haven't won at tennis in years. '05's 100 degree match resulted in a 1-1 set tie stuck at 4-4 in the 3rd set.

What's up with Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas getting 15 to 20 inches of rain? (I know, stalling / broken weather flowing pattern with La Nina factors) Floodin' ain't cool, man. Tell the rain n' the squares to go away! You ain't cool in this part of town.

And I don't have to tell you that hot dog eating contests is pure idiocy. While now an American is the new champ, Joey Chesnut downed 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Let's see now. 66 hot dogs. The first food to be banned on my Purification Diet was hot dogs, the day after a disastrous outing at the Cell where I consumed four $1 hot dogs. Let's take one typical hot dog, normal size, normal brand (it's all garbage) at 1.6 oz. Total Fat 17g (26%), Saturated Fat 7g (35%), Cholesterol 50mg (17%), Sodium 540 mg (23%). Let's have some calculation fun. 66 X that = 1122g (1716%), 462g (2310%), 3300mg (1122%) and 35,640mg (1518%). And that's not even including the bun, either, which has roughly 2g (3%), 0.5g (2%), 0mg (0%), 146mg (6%) / 132g (198%), 33g (132%), 0mg (0%), 9636mg (396%). Add all those up:

Total Fat 1254g (1914%), Saturated Fat 945g (2442%), Cholesterol 3300mg (1122%), Sodium 48,576 (1914%). Does anybody see the pure stupidity of eating more than one hot dog, let alone 66??! I've heard of this Chesnut person before as well as Kobayashi, and I know they've been doing this for a while now. Will they live to see 40? No. Was it worth it? No. Are they total idiots? Yes. I used to eat 2 to 4 hot dogs a week roughly, with various ingredients (Chicago Sty-le my favorite) until one day I got my head out of my ass and realized that it was the toppings that I was enjoying, rather than the hot dog itself. De-idiotizing onesself is a virtue. Advice for all: hot dogs are pure garbage. Advice for all: hot dogs lead to death. Dat is all.

Achy old bones of mine. I played tennis on Wednesday for the first time in two years. I'd like to play more often, but haven't over the years, due to either A) everyone is too tired from work or B) is too fat to play. Of course I'm also about 50 pounds lighter since the last time I played, I'm sure that'll make a difference.

Of course, I lost 7-5, after being down 1-4, then got it to 3-4 and eventually 5-5, but my serve deserted me on the 5-5 game. That was pathetic. I double-faulted TWICE in that game. And since we're old men in our late 20s, we totally half-ass it on the 2nd service because well, it's stupid to beat yourself when you don't have to.

My backhand, is easily my bread and butter, a skill I mastered from my hundred's of hours playing ping pong. The scouting report on moi: 6' 4", 176 lb, lefthanded, quick range, long legs and arms, refuses to give up games, medium-fast overhand serve, cut-throat backhand and **gulp** absolutely dreadfully appalling forehand. My success rate of using the forehand is about an 1 in 10 standing. I couldn't believe my forehand was so awful, especially it being the stronger arm and all. Balls would either go straight down or straight up. Turns out after the manner of the fact, is I was simply gripping my racquet the wrong way on the forehand. Apparently I was supposed to grip the handle with my thumb resting up like a thumb's up; as opposed to my thumb's down grip which I use on my backhand.

So there you have it. The big man will be deemed unstoppable once the forehand is mastered. Of course, I've never been coached and everything I've done was what I saw on TV. Well this old body has to take a rest for a few days before I head back out there. The following is a short reference list:

• Wear shoes made for tennis
• Wear a pair of socks on each foot (trust me)
• Full jug of ice cold water
• Towel
• Change of clothes w/ another pair of socks
• Hat / sunglasses
• Sun screen (ow)
• Restring racquet after a few years
• Always have at least 6 balls of the same number
• Widen grip on racquet
• Handshake grip on the forehand
• Eat high carb meal before playing

Figured I'd wing this ****.

• Cubs fans: you have a disease, a sickness and you need help. You are not normal, and you need rehabilitation. You are not / ain't right. Your team will never, ever win anything and you're just torturing yourself. You look foolish, people are making fun of you / taking pity on you, and you know Wrigley Field can't last forever. You people really need to wise up. I've seen your team lose in ways never even possible, or at least that's what I thought. And you look, well, odd. You don't look like regular folk. Everytime the Cubs win, or score a run or get somebody out, it's a shame. A damn, damn shame. And remember, the "C" on your cap stands for "Crappy".
• Tv.com can kiss my ass. Apparently there's either a lot of love for boot-stomping man-hating bulldykes on this site, or the people are too damn stupid to know sarcasm / a joke, even with an admittance some precious inches below.
• Only lesbians like Tina Fey. I can't put it any other way. I just can't.
• Some kind of hex apparently has been put on the White Sox, but at least that bum Joe Crede won't be getting that huge long-term deal that he so greedily wanted (amongst the hiring of overall douchebag Scott Boras). With season-ending back surgery and most likely done in a White Sox uniform, Karma has spoken and that the '05-'06 Crede was merely a flash in the pan. Plus wise GMs don't hand out long contracts to people with bad backs.
• I am really torn on what to make tomorrow: chicken fried steak or slyders.
  

Another bizarre Van Dykes Parks lyric that seems to have etched a niche into my cerebrum. I had to be one of the few teenagers who had 1966-'67 Beach Boys "SMiLE" recordings going on in his head and humming under his breath that was featured on the 1991 box set release of "30 Years of Good Vibrations" that I was listening to in the mid 90s. I still wonder how "SMiLE" would have done in 1967 had it been released, which would had been around early summer & the time "Sgt. Peppers" had turned everything upside down. Tho judging by "Pet Sounds" piss-poor charting, probably not very well. Tho when given the choice of either "Pet Sounds" or "Sgt. Peppers" in the 1990s until 2004, people I know seemed to prefer "Pet Sounds" 'cause it rocked more.

This is brought up because I recently dug up Brian Wilson's "SMiLE", 2004 studio edition, and gave it a whirl. And of course, stuck in my head are "Roll Plymouth Rock" (originally Do You Like Worms) "Surf's Up" (released spruced up in 1971) "In Blue Hawaii" (with lyrics now) and Pet Sounds-era version of "Good Vibrations" which is a minute longer. After reading about the 3 themes of the album, it makes a whole lot more sense than the almost-completed-but-unfinished 1960s stuff I grew up on, but man, it sure would had been nice to hear the Beach Boys in their prime do the harmonies & vocals instead of The Wondermints; Wilson's backup vocalist band. I, as well as most people, thought they just used remastered old tape for the music. But no. It was all recreated in 2004 note-for-note and some instances, using the old equipment in the old Sunset Studio in California from back in the day.

Tho basically the following was already made available before this 2004 realease:
Our Prayer (20/20) (30 Years…)
Heroes and Villains (Smiley Smile) / (30 Years…)
Roll Plymouth Rock (30 Years… Do You Like Worms)
Barnyard (bootleg sans lyrics)
Old Master Painter / Are You My Sunshine (bootleg sans lyrics)
Cabin Essence (20/20) (30 Years…)
Wonderful (superior Brian-vocal version on 30 Years… / lackluster Carl-led vocal on Smiley Smile)
Song For Children (new / probable bootlegs)
Child Is Father of the Man (unfinished bootleg)
Surf's Up (Surf's Up '71 & two versions on 30 Years…)
I'm in Great Shape - I Wanna Be Around – Workshop (Workshop at end of 'Do It Again' )
Vega-tables (Smiley Smile / 30 Years… )
On A Holiday (unfinished bootlegs)
Wind Chimes (Carl-led superior vocal on 30 Years / lackluster Carl-led version on Smiley Smile)
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Heroes and Villains Intro on 30 Years… / bootlegs)
In Blue Hawaii (bits of Heroes and Villains on 30 Years…) new lyrics
Good Vibrations (most of Pet Sounds era lyrics & extended bit on 30 Years… / bonus track versions) plus many 'Heroes and Villains' bits showed up on the updated songs.

Well all I have to say, is I like it, (other songs have have stuck from other times) and I'm glad Brian lived long enough to complete it. It's not a bad album, just different, tho not a true Beach Boys album for the times. The 3 themes of early Americana, from Plymouth Rock to the Old West, farmlands, the building of the railroad and new housing. 2nd of with childhood and fatherhood. And the 3rd of 'The Elements Suite' & 'Elements' of Earth with food, wind, fire, water.


"I know that you'll feel better when you, send us in your letter and tell, us the NAME of your… your fav-o-rite ve-ga-ta-ble….."