6 Months

I've created six months worth of posts, an exercise that has allowed me to write every single day, or thereabouts, and I plan on continuing that, but not on this blog. I will continue to focus on my fiction writing, every day, but this blog will become less frequent, at least weekly, possibly Saturday or Sunday as an almost definite, (which more or less makes it indefinite), and who the hell knows what I'm going to write about? Not me. Fiction writing takes more than me sitting down and cranking out fifteen or so minutes of randomness, barely proofreading, and occasionally finding a funny picture to go along with it. It requires effort, work, devotion, perseverance, etc. and I cannot do both. I'm not trying to get rich here, but I've a story or two to tell. 75 countries and 4 territories have anti-social individuals, just like me, just like us, and for that, we should be proud in what we have achieved. Write on. 

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

I can prove this old adage is untrue. 

A picture of "A Thousand Words".

Changes (Again)

Going to be making some changes to my blog, since it's starting to feel more restrictive than a pair of briefs. I'm not a fan of that when ti comes to creativity, let alone outpouring whatever I want to into blog format. I'll keep some of the more focused blogs that are fun, but sometimes when I'm logging in and start writing, I want to write about something else entirely, yet I'm forced to do something specifically designated for that day. Lame. Look for changes to roll out really soon. 

Random dog picture.

Target.com Won’t Ship to Kentucky

I got on their website the other day because someone wanted something and it clearly said it was available online, as well as being reduced in price because of something. I thought to myself, that’s a really cheap price and I’ve seen it sell for two and three times that on eBay. The lady wants it; I’m going to buy it for her. I made an account, because no real man has a Target.com account, and then I put the item in my shopping cart and had it delivered to me. Only a warning popped up that said, “We’re sorry, but we’re dumb, and you can’t have that item shipped to you for no real reason.” Okay, it actually did list a reason and it’s really stupid (and wrong.) “This item can’t be delivered to Kentucky!” Uh, why, because it’s a state in the Union where the majority of everything this side of the entire country ships through? That’s the stupidest response I’ve ever received. Luckily, I assumed it was simply because I had it going to a PO Box and not a street address, changed it, and it worked, but their reason for not initially being able to ship it made me more or less pissed off at them. 

You can't make stupid up.

Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

These things can haunt your life, and often do mine. Recently, I've been under it a lot. Writing often helps, even if it's just a tidbit, but you can always tell when I'm in it or not, when it comes to hammering away on the keys. Aside from my sporadic posting, and the one a day entry that I then have to catch up on in a hurry, I try not to show too many signs. But I never directly talk about what is bothering me, even when blowing minor grievances out or proportion. 
I don't handle stress very well. I know, some people think I do, but I'm very big on trying to be prepared for the future as much as possible. I've come to the realization that no amount of prepping will allow me to tackle doomsday, so I've given up on that. But the stress of uncertainty is the one that gets me the most. You cannot control the actions of those around you, can't read their thoughts, and if you're a guy, you're often oblivious to how someone else is feeeling. I've tried to accept that as well. Financially, you can only prepare so much. Either my dollar is not going as far, or I'm living further outside my means than I thought, and that's really sad. 
When the stress gets turned up a notch, I can handle it, but when there doesn't seem to be an end in sight, or the level doesn't return to normal relatively quick, it gets the best of me. I forget to take my meds, most of which are used to combat ADHD, which increases my level of anxiety. I get lost, confused, forget what time or even day it is, and before I know it, weeks or even months have flown by. Everything together leads to depression, and that reduces your energy levels and sometimes even physically hurts, just to move and get up and do something. 
I know that after awhile, most of this will go away. I'll prepare better for the future, and further down the road I will experience this same exact thing, while wondering how it happened again. I persevere, never truly give up, and hope that people reading this who have no clue what I am experiencing have gained a little insight, and people that have it way worse know that I at least understand the basics of what they go through way more than I.  

Yo App

Some jerkoff just made a million dollars off an app that says, "Yo?"
Yes, investors have given him that cash because the app, which he made while taking a dump in the bathroom, is nice and simple. This is as bad as those apps that are really just hyperlinks and connect you to a website. The fact that people made money off of them was insulting enough. I would make a STFU app, but it probably already exists and I don't want to even check. 

The app that says it all.

Nobody Cares About World Cup

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Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

I'll admit that I don't know much about war as far as it concerns politicians. I'll admit even further that the current state of affairs here in my own country make things even more confusing, since we've had nothing but untrustworthy politicians in office since before I can remember. Iraq is a country divided by primitive hatred along ethnic and religious lines. Sure, not everyone there is like that, but certainly the ones with the guns and willing to murder and die for those beliefs. If I believed we were there to help people, it would be one thing.
But if the United States wants to go to war in another country, because it is raising gas prices by ten cents a gallon, then I'll stick my neck out and say it: I have no problem paying that much extra for gas if it keeps is out of another war, especially ones we cannot win. There were no weapons of mass destruction and these countries were only a threat to us because we keep putting our nose where it doesn't belong. You cannot force America on the rest of the world and if they want to be like America, it would only take the population deciding to. Grow the fuck up.

Bowe Bergdahl

How much longer before this guy gets his own book and movie deal?

In case you don't know, he's the soldier that was captured by the Taliban five years ago. Yeah, he's apparently coming back home tomorrow. Some claim he's a hero. Most claim he abandoned his post, went AWOL. A small select claim he's a traitor. But I know exactly what he is, a Manchurian Candidate. I don't want to hear anything about that show, Homeland, because that's way too modern to have influenced anything. But the Manchurian Candidate was turned into two movies. Cred. Basically, Bowe's father will run for political office after a few years of his son being back, and then his son will murder the president. He's being controlled by his mother, in case you're unaware. 

Before POW.

After POW.

THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

300th posts, bitches! I've never had a blog go this long without being deleted due to some sort of terms of service violation or other bullshit, and I'd like to thank Google for there liberal policy and standing up for the freedom of speech. I'd also like tot hank my forefathers who overthrew the British, all those other countries, and my other ancestors who were here first, so that we could have a constitution that guarantees that right.

I'm Right, You're Wrong

Because this is my blog and not yours. It expresses my opinions and not yours. People read my blog because they: like it, hate it, disagree with me, agree with me, think it's funny, think it's entertaining, think it's insulting, are doing research on internet psychopaths, or work for the government. I do this because I find it therapeutic, and it's nice that ten people read it (and hundreds get lost here on a regular basis), but your fifteen minutes of recognition are going to be anonymous, since no one will know who I'm talking about, except you. 74 countries and 4 territories stop here. How many people have you reached in your lifetime?

Capitalizing God Makes You A Religious Fanatic (Lessons In Life)

The other day I responded to someone’s ridiculously outdated and historically inaccurate meme on Facebook. The meme’s main goal was to bash organized religion and promote a non-working scientist to heroic status by blaming the fall of Rome on Christianity. I merely responded that it had less to do with God than it did the high oil prices and a recall of certain chariot models at the time. I assumed she would get my joke, but she didn’t, and instead pointed out that Christianity and a more general belief in “god” has been the cause of the decline of civilization everywhere it went. I countered, again joking, that she may have been confusing Christianity with the British Empire and that they even colonized religion, creating their own version of Christianity in the name of “God”. At this point, she realized I was a “close-minded, ignorant, fundamentalist,” with “little to know knowledge of history,” “probably Republican, homophobic, racist,” and she went on in her rant, so I stopped counting all of the typical bulletin points that define her two-sided categories people fall in. I apologized for only having a minor in history and openly admitted that I only took a few courses in world history and that my professors, and the books we read that were written by historians, were obviously incorrect and disproven by the meme she found on the internet. I went on to include that the fall of one of the largest, most powerful, and probably successful empires of all time obviously only had one cause for its collapse, since there is usually only one cause for pretty much everything, like wars. Then I was also labeled a war monger, which went hand in hand with my worship of the “christian god.” When I asked how she gained such powerful perception and insight into me, she responded that she could tell because I capitalized the word god, and Christianity. Before I was blocked, I merely asked her if she was aware that, in the context she presented it, God is a proper noun, just like Christianity, and the basic rules of English grammar demand they be capitalized, like the first word of a sentence, which she also repeatedly put in lower case.

I’m not really a grammar Nazi, and I get that some devices don’t auto capitalize (or that you’re a fan of e e cummings), but your grammar, spelling, etc. is a measure of your level of education. I’ll ignore typos and even the fact that you can’t type complete sentences, since grammar and education may not be your thing. No judgment at all. But do us all a favor, especially if you’re going to rewrite history, and learn what to capitalize. Also, making assumptions based on nothing at all makes you look like a complete ass. The world is a large place with lots of people that don’t fit so neatly into groups. The only assumptions you should have made about me was that I am a smart-ass, dislike, or at least don’t take seriously, poorly researched memes that have been posted way too many times, and have been classically educated in both history and English. Or maybe I’m wrong?

Stop Buying Inconvenient Vinyl

I hardly buy CDs these days because for one, you can take MP3s and make the CD yourself, and two, it rarely comes with anything that makes the physical media worth purchasing. I’m a fan of them not using the plastic cases as much, but the cardboard ones don’t protect the CD worth a damn, so what can you do. If you’re not going to include a booklet, you can at least make your packaging something to look at. And why the hell do people include a booklet with no damn lyrics? Who does that? Instrumental bands and that’s about the only ones with an excuse. It’s pure laziness, like me not writing blog entries every day, cramming on a work day when I’m bored and have nothing to do, only to then backdate them like you are the one not paying attention (or Blogger has some weird server issue and isn’t releasing my entries.)

But the inflated price of vinyl is pissing me off even more. I get that they cost more to make. I also get that they cost more to package and ship. Also, with so many small shops trying to compete with the larger ones (and failing, because they don’t pick up a niche,) it makes it rather difficult to get what you want, especially at a decent price. The internet helps with that, to a degree, but I’ve noticed certain bands from the United States, small ones that no one has ever heard of (the bands, not the states), releasing vinyl albums in other countries and that’s that. You heard me right. A lot of bands will release their album on vinyl in a country like… we’ll say Turkmenistan. We’ll pretend that they’re more into vinyl, have a factory there that can produce them cheaper, and they sell better there. I’m find with that.

What I’m not fine with is these bands not putting forth any effort to get these records here in my own country. I don’t live on a remote fucking island; I live in the country that more or less invented pointless consumerism, and I’d like to buy your vinyl record for a reasonable price. Instead, these bands put links to the label that produced the record for them. In this example, the band, who I will not name, but am certainly tempted to, wants me to purchase their album for 20 euros. Sounds like a decent price. Okay, no, it doesn’t, since this is their debut album and comes with nothing special (not even a gatefold, and it has one, two-sided insert).  20 Euros is damn near 30 dollars, and it’s going to cost me almost 17 to ship the damn thing here, and a lot of countries love FedEx, which doesn’t ship to PO Boxes, or my door, half the time, so I’m not paying 50 bucks for a crap shoot on getting a record from some nobody band that doesn’t have the decency to hook up with a domestic distributor. Take your CDs and shove them up your ass.

Of note, however, is the fact that I can get the album I want for about half the above mentioned price from a few markets. I’ll take this time to single out a few of them. Rarewaves-Imports can be found on Amazon and eBay. And Marvelio can be found on their own site and Amazon. These guys had the album I mentioned above for a reasonable price, and usually do. You’ll get no hipster inflation here. 

ATM Fees

I made the mistake of forgetting not only my lunch, but also one of my bank cards at home, on top of not having enough time to eat breakfast. We have an ATM at our work which is  for a specific bank, like most are, but unfortunately, it was for the same card I left at home. I was forced to use another one. I knew I was about to be ripped off, but I wasn’t aware of how bad. A text popped up and said that the ATM was going to charge me $2.50 for using a card from another bank. Then the text popped up again, talking about the $2.50. I assumed it was the same charge, so I agreed to both of them. When I checked my bank account later that day, I realized it was for two separate charges. Not only did an ATM charge me to take money out of it, my bank did the same thing. My bank, the guys who I bank with charged me. I don’t know much about banking, but I find it weird that both fees were for the same amount, as if a bunch of dicks who run banks sat around and agreed that they should screw people over for the same price, twice. The worst part is that I only withdrew $10. I had shitty lunch and paid a lot of money for it. Hang the bankers. 

ATM fees are usually marked up 600%.

Mass Murder

"100% of gun massacres occur by people with mental illness. If you disagree with that statement, be prepared to make the case that there are some rational, cool-headed people who, after thinking clearly and weighing the pros and cons, decide to commit mass killings. There aren't. Rather than focusing our efforts on demonizing society, guns, gender or family, we should focus our efforts on getting people with mental illness the help they need. The fact that there's stigma associated with receiving mental health care is a problem. If you know someone in need, reach out and try to get them help. Trying to rationalize an irrational act is futile. Rational people don't go on shooting rampages." -Maddox

This is about as real as true as it gets, but calling for societal changes, and these changes actually happening, are not the same thing. James Alan Fox, pretty much the world's foremost authority on mass murder, believes that you cannot spot or prevent it, since these killers for the most part lead ordinary lives. You can, however, spot them because they obviously stockpile weapons and ammo in preparation for bad things that are going through their head. Before you cast judgement on some nutcase who went around murdering people, ask yourself if anyone was there to support them in their time of need, and that answer will almost always be no. Then ask yourself if you have ever gone out of your way to lend support to someone, and if that answer is no, you have not done your part to stop mass murder. 

Brogan Dulle

It's really sad that this young man was found last night, apparently having killed himself, after over a week of overwhelming search efforts from friends, family, community, and law enforcement to find him. Even sadder, his body was discovered in the building directly next to his residence, and while I'm not going to entertain the idea that the police somehow failed in their job of finding a suicide victim by not busting in the doors of every single building in a ten mile radius, I am going to turn on society as a whole.
Why the fuck aren't all search efforts this great? Why is it that thousands of people were wearing missing shirts, handing out flyers, combing neighborhoods, violent ones at that, for this guy, but not for anyone else? Why are we picking and choosing who is worthy of our search efforts, and being as he was an adult, why don't we do this for the thousands of other kids and teenagers who are reported missing? Answer me that and I might hate most of you less.

Memorial Day Is Not Veteran's Day

Every year someone thanks veterans across the globe for their military service on Memorial Day. The only problem is Memorial Day is not the same thing as Veterans Day. When you correct them, they often respond with an air of superiority that Memorial Day should apply to all of the troops. Okay, so Memorial Day honors troops who have died while serving, and I personally would like to keep the number of troops honored at a bare minimum. I get that you don’t know the difference between that and Veterans day, but when it’s clearly explained to you, don’t be a dumb cunt and try to salvage you’re already ignorant and disrespectful remarks to someone who does know the difference first hand.

So here’s a hypothetical. You’re mortally wounded while in service to your country, even officially declared dead. However, by some strange occurrence, you wake up alive, even having those near death experience memories. Should you be honored on Memorial Day, or just Veterans Day? This stuff keeps me awake at night. 

Town of Salem

I’ve been a bit incapacitated as of today and I got bored not being able to do anything. I gave this browser game called Town of Salem a chance. I know, it sounds like some lame game about brewing potions, and to be honest, you’d think they would at least have witches as the regular villains, but that’s not the case. If you’ve ever heard of the party game called Mafia, then you know what Town of Salem is about (or can Google it and stop reading my blog.) At the start of the game, everyone is assigned a role. Most people will be town members, each with a unique special ability that aids the town members in the investigation. At least three will be Mafia members. I know, why didn’t they make them witches instead, since it’s called Town of Salem? I guess they wanted to make it obvious who they were ripping off. One person gets to be the serial killer. The game is split into night and day. At night, everyone can use their abilities. A doctor can heal one player, who, if attacked, will survive. A jailor does just that and can question someone, and even execute them if they feel they are not telling the truth. The mafia can plot with each other to frame and kill people. The serial killer obviously kills people of his own accord. During the day, everyone discusses who they think is guilty, using the clues from their abilities used the previous night to find out who the bad guys are. The daytime is the political aspect more than anything, where you have to convince the others to vote on who to send to trial. The accused can then plead their case before the town sentences them. In this, either the Town wins, Mafia wins, or serial killer wins. There are a few other characters, such as the Jester, whose goal is to get himself lynched by the town to win, and the executioner, whose goal is to get his target lynched by the town to win. These characters win so long as they accomplish their goal, regardless of if the Town, Mafia, or SK win.

The game looks a bit ridiculous and gives you some cheap graphics, combined with some stupid choices, like what house you live in, but the dynamics are a lot of fun and it’s still in beta, so no reason to gripe. You can play a game in around 20 or so minutes and it’s a lot of fun once you learn how to play it, so I recommend it. Don’t log in with your Facebook account. Just don’t.

Town of Salem 

Led Zeppelin Stole Everyone's Music

Apparently some band that no one has ever heard of is suing Led Zeppelin today, claiming the opening of a song, Stairway To Heaven, was ripped off from them. It's no secret that LZ is perhaps one of the best cover bands in the history of music, but how did this group who originally wrote the opening not hear Stairway to Heaven anywhere in the last 100 years it has been released? Don't get me wrong, it's criminal to steal music and take credit for it. But I'm not sure if LZ actually took credit for it, since they didn't design the track listings on their albums, as far as I know.
Think about it though. You're an aged musician who made very little money in your entire life. You have a right to be pissed when someone takes your song and turns it into a hit without crediting it to you. However, I personally see Led Zeppelin as the world's greatest retirement plan. Let's wait until I'm calling it quits so I can sue them for back royalties on my song that no one ever heard or cared about until another band got famous. As an end note, pretty much every artist that got big ripped off music. There aren't a lot of the top acts that haven't been accused of it. It's wrong, but it happens. It's crappy when someone isn't credited. It's also just as crappy to hold off on a lawsuit until you're out of money.

No One Should Have To Work

I see people post shit like that all the time, and for once I completely agree. No one should have to work, and you don't have to work, so what's stopping you from quitting your job and living off the land? You. 
But the reality is that your 40 hour work week is something society has developed to help you live within it. For once, if you didn't have a job, you would have no money, which seems to be the main point of contention for most people. You need money to pay bills, especially utilities, which honestly you don't need. You could go without all of them, but don't forget that they had predecessors, so that heat and light you enjoy so much will be replaced by maybe wood, which you have to chop yourself, assuming you own the land you live on, and then you will have to have enough trees to sustain you and your family. Running water will need to come from a well or cistern, or you can go get it out of the river, every day, which would really suck in the winter. Twitter would be carrier pigeons. Facebook would be an actual book full of pictures and anecdotes. Blogger would be random, one-man plays that toured the country. 
What I'm saying is that despite the fact you don't have enough money for your high speed internet and Starbucks, living off the land is more than 8 hours of work a day. Most days you can double that if you're starting from nothing, and it will take years just for you to adapt to the land and understand it's habits. Additionally, you'll need money for just about everything you start up, unless you're going to use tools you made yourself. There's a reason so many of them are made out of metal these days. 

Has no vinyl records.