First there was don't let your past dictate your future. (12/22/98) It didn't even have a horizontal line seperating MY web site from Fortune City's misguided, money-grubbing banner ads. But, hey,

• this was a free site then and it's a free site now. I'm not complaionig. Much. On that site, I wrote, "That thought somehow connected with another one, the fear of being hurt in a relationship.Itwasnotoutof the blue. I was thinking of someone in particular, someone I care for very deeply.

And some of that is in these rants.
                                    in these rants.
                                       in these rants.

Jessica, I saw you in the store about a year and a half ago, right around the time that Sherry and i were about to get remaaried. You wwere with the guy you had been just prior to the e-mail that gave rise to the hope thayt there could be something between me and you. Me: a 28 year old recluse, trying to do some writing but not really doing a good job of it. Where was my money coming from anyway? Did you ever think about that?

                                       Here's another line from the first rant, "Life is to be lived. Live it.
Love it.                      With all your heart. We should always embrace the uncertainty of life and love.                      In fact, we should revel in it."
I'm certain I never lived the words I breathed.

gop = get our president (12/23/98) For the next rant, I found the horizontal line to save my words and thoughts from the bad vibes coming from above, these damn bastard banners. The rant began, "We are living in an age where civility in American politics has been eaten away like Mickey Mantle's liver." Which I think you'll fond is a straight lift from Al Franken's book on Rush Limbaugh.

"I mean, let's face it.
If all the media pundits in this country
were laid end to end,
they still would not reach a conclusion."
This one came from David Brinkly. I just cnahged it from something else to media pundits. At this point in my rants and raves writings, I'm still basically a wannabe. I also said that George W. would not run and that Al Gore would be the next president of the country. So I was a little off!

new years revolutions(12/24/98) I start time stamping the rants as well as putting when it was posted. Why are the letters moving? What exatyly did I take? Well, my typings is till good. Here's soemthing I wrote in this rant: "1999 is going to be a good year for me. Something has changed within me in the last few weeks, something I can't really put a finger on. But I know it's there. Or should I say she? My life is now. Yours can be too. Can you feel it?" I had no clue what I was talking about, no way on god's green earth to fathom that I would be spending my 1999 Christmas in Memphis with my pregnant ex-wife. My son was in there and about to pop out. Talk about a major life change.

so that was christmas (12/26/98) is not an easy one for me to re-read.
i was obsessing over an 18 year old girl who,
in spite of that one really great kiss, was not going to be anything to be.
I knew this at this time. But it just hadn't set it yet.  A few more poems to write, I suppose.

"My sister's life was never in question."

At least not yet. This was one of the last times I saw here. Alive. I miss her every day more than the day before.

a life in the day of flood (01/04/99) The big news was that the Carolina Panthers just hired George Seifert as their football coach. This dude once had the best winning percentage of any active NFL coach. In late 2001, three years later, he's the guy about to get fired for leading the Panthers to a 1 and 15 record. oh, I had evidently lost the horizopntal line again. Shit.

don't look now but here comes the nba (01/06/99) Don't look now, but there went both the horizontal line and now any semblence of a title is gone. Michael is gone again, for now, again, meanwhile his old coach will move out west and start winnig all over again with Mike, Scott and Denny. He's got two fellows with names like Kobe and Shaq.

there was no forgiveness. and I've come to accept that forgiveness might not alwaysbe a good thing anyay. I've decided to leave forgiveness to the experts, those single woman who write Hallmark Cards. it should be noted that I found the horizontal line in that rant,

there he goes again: flood rails..... (09/09/99 -- 09/12/99) is best read in it;s entirety, one of those moods, bubba.

* flood blinks at the sight of his own enlightenment (10/20/99) an enlightenment should never come from a Kevin Coster vidoe. Skip right over this one.

the coming new world order (12/05/99) not badly written. I almost throught I was an actual writer. kinda boring though

big business stays right on track:
the proposed bnsf/canadian national merger (12/20/99) this was my first railroad-related rant. and guess what? out of the loud voices of Wall Street and fellow idiot railfans, I was one of a very few saying this merger would never happen. And I was right. Allow me to run a few laps around the computer desk to celebrate.

a year in the life of flood (03/06/2000) Monday March 6, 2000  /  maybe not the best time to try
                                                       2:50 a.m. -- 4:20 a.m.     {\         to mend fences
                                                    Chester, South Carolina      |||||||    or at least to explain
                                               on a Coca Cola high with a little  ----  my actions
                                                  sleep deficiency thrown in)    :::::::  or inactions

More On South Carolina's Battle
Over the Flag
by Joseph C. Hinson

I must have skipped over the original rant on the flag. Who cares? They're all fucking in-bred rednecks anyway.

Don't let your past make you look like a fucking moron!!!!
Great. Another damn rant about me and my life. First off, you'd think I would have learned by now. Every time I post one of these, I get an e-mail from someone wishing to point out that I'm wrong in every assumption, every memory and every opinion contained within said rant. So why do I keep setting myself up for that? Well, for starters, I'm a fucking moron. Secondly, I'm an egotistical bastard, enough of one to think that you, my dear reader, would even give a rip about me and my little life.

stb puts brakes on railroad mergers (03/17/2000)
The blockbuster
Burlington Northern Santa Fe-Canadian National
merger has been placed on hold just three days
before the railroads could officially file their merger application.
(Oh. I'm good. I called this one way before anyone pundit had time to use the mouthwash.)

The
Problem
With
Being
All
Knowing

^{I had to}."

Mid July 2K was when I finally started hitting some good shots with my rants. There was john rocker: american psycho (06/06/2000) which basically said he was a bastard and should be traded to anyone who would take him. The Toledo Mud Hens anyon? There was then the murder of peter mcwilliams (06/20/2000) which is required reading for anyone who surfs my site. Then they started coming quickly the libertarian party: harry browne for president 2000 (07/24/2000) sexuality in america (07/30/2000) george bush the younger (08/07/2000) -- which really left no doubt how I felt about him then gerald ford: whore for the fbi? (08/08/2000) just grin and bare it (08/08/2000)

the great clinton cock hunt comes to an end (09/24/2000)                                was hitting on all cylinders.
I felt proud for that one                                       while at the same time just waiting
                                    for the man to slip out of the public limelight. As if.

those lying republicans (09/25/2000) the great debates (10/17/2000) the big debacle: election 2000 (11/2000) yes, virginia, there is a santa. but there's no such thing as jesus. that's just a myth (11/30/2000)

There was something about is our president-elect learning? (12/14/2000) that I was not pleased with. It could have been written better. It also bogs down because I can't decide to trash George W. or Rush Limbaugh.

pardon me: the clinton pardons (03/11/2001) was good and looks at the pardons from other presidents, both Dems and the opposition. the death of dale earnhardt (03/18/2001) asks questions that not many others seems to care to ask. All right, how many more NASCAR drivers must perish before the cars are safer?

September 11, 2001 (10/26/2001) overcoming train traffic (11/09/2001) things i am thankful for (11/19/2001)
franklin graham? his father's son? (11/20/2001) talk about a free market place! (1121/2001) the holler daze (11/22/2001) freedom-loving people (11/24/2001) overcoming train traffic, too: trains are a threat to public safety (12/10/2001) these rants were hitting on all cylinders in their own ways. I've tried to stop putting so much of my life in these.

It's been three years since I started these rants. I thought I would have more of these by now, but that's fine. I plan on writing when the need rises and to keep getting better. If you go through them front to back, I think you'll see I'm muh better now than I was in 1998. (Joseph C. Hinson -- 12/15/2001)

By the way, I wrote this while on sleeping pills that were just prescribed to my wife this morning. It was like I had downed an entire bottle of Jack with a bit of Coke mixed in, just like the old days. Jeff, Jason, you out there and ready to go again? Tim? Jody?