| Yet another sports related atrocity |
[18 Sep 2009|12:24am] |
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mood |
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 annoyed |
] |
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Dunta-Robinson-s-shoe-based-payment-demand-gets-?urn=nfl,190319&cp=79#comments
So he gets paid $9.667 million dollars a year and is complaining. Furthermore, when they fined him for his shoes telling the manager to pay him, it was $25k.
$9,667,000
- $25,000
= $9,612,000
Big punishment.
Now, I have to ask - why is it that we can pay hundreds on thousands of atheletes these six figure numbers on a yearly basis, but we can't feed the poor, house the homeless, fund the space program, find the cure for a multitude of diseases, keep the gas prices down, fix the roads, educate the youth, pay the police what they're worth, have affordable, lawyer and idiot-free health care, a decent president, or eliminate the massive debt we have from giving money away to other countries and bankers, a useless drug war that ends up overpopulating prisons and crunching taxpayers to pay for the inmates and operational expenses of these facilities, and social programs that do nothing but serve as fodder for a bought off media?
I think it's time we once again re-evaluate our spending decisions in this country. All of our money is being given to people that don't deserve it while being denied to those that do. We need to do away with Social Security? Bullshit. We need to do away with overpaid atheletes, senators, and actors.
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| The latest craze: Parasites in our Food |
[12 Sep 2009|03:09am] |
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mood |
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 bored |
] |
It's come to my attention that MSN.com keeps running editorials on food that may or may not contain parasites. All I can say is:
They've always been there!
Seriously. This craze over it has only the result of stirring people up and making them even more neurotic and paranoid for no good reason. Okay, so you don't want to eat parasites and have them living in your body and bothering you, I understand. I don't either. However, since they've always been there and this is simply another ploy by big business owners to cut off their competitions by pointing out something that most people didn't realize but makes no ultimate difference.
Save the hysteria. Some parasites are actually useful, fighting off infections and disease in exchange for nutrients from the food you eat and the air you breathe. We have a symbiotic existance with the rest of the world and when we try to make ourselves completely pure of it, we weaken ourselves to the worst of it, things that we would have normally survived without a second thought had we allowed ourselves to be part of nature. No one likes to get sick, but getting sick and getting well strengthens us. Even if it makes us feel horrible for a while, that we do get better means that we've grown stronger.
Nietzche said it best: "That which does not kill me only makes me stronger."
While my uncle called me an idiot when I was young for comparing this axiom to illness and recovery, it is just as true for it as it is for surviving a crisis, a battle, or any other related situation that could cause you to die.
Yes, there are parasites in our food. Anyone that's argued with vegans has learned this on both sides of the table - they say our food is riddled with parasites and disease, we say theirs is riddled with parasites and chemicals. In the end, does it really matter? I don't think so. We can't subsist off simply air and sunlight alone, and if we could, we'd be poisoned by that too thanks to all the chemicals we put in the atmosphere with our automobiles, aerospace vehicles, and nautical vessels with stacks.
Just a friendly message from your neighborhood anti-hysteria common sense guy.
I stay free.
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| Writer's Block: I May Be Crazy |
[12 Aug 2009|03:59am] |
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mood |
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 sleepy |
] |
I see a hip-bone, a coyote/grey fox with four eyes, a starship, a moth of some sort, a suit of armor with smoke shooting off around it, a pair of goblins sitting on a fallen signpost, and a couple of cute bunny rabbits sharing a strange looking carrot.
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| Update: |
[03 Aug 2009|08:44pm] |
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mood |
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 cheerful |
] |
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music |
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Hammerfall - By Any Means Necessary |
] |
I'm thinking my creativity well's running a bit dry these days. I haven't come up with an interesting update title in quite a while. But I guess that just comes with the territory, considering not just how many entries I've made in my time, but how my mindset has changed over time. I guess I also listen to a lot of Hammerfall. Can't help it; damn good band!
For all intents and purposes I'm hale and hearty and actually gaining weight against my will now that my metabolism has slowed back down. Apparently when I was smoking pot almost every day, my metabolism was shot through the roof and I dropped fifty pounds, all of which I'm steadily gaining back. I guess it was good for something, eh?
Anyway, that's not what I came up here to talk about. Actually, I just wanted to announce that I've finished this quarter of school (or will be finishing it in three weeks) with a straight-A average across the board. 4.0 GPA for the quarter!
Not bad, I'd say. I used to suck at school, but now I think I'm doing alright. =)
And that's pretty much all I wanted to say right now!
I stay free.
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| Wedding today: |
[01 Aug 2009|07:42pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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exhausted |
] |
So I went to a wedding hosted by two of my friends, Josh and Sarah. It went well, and the bride looked radiant. The groom... well, he looked good. They were happy to see me and were glad I came, despite the drama that went down a month ago.
Lance was there and spent most of his time sulking at another table or socializing with everyone but the bride and groom, and myself of course. I thought that was interesting to note.
Owen was also there. I'm glad he came down from Austin and it was really good to see him. He, Lonnie, and Poofie were the three people that really had very much to do with me. The rest of the people I either didn't know, or were Chris, Kristi, Wolf, and Amanda.
Amanda, as always, was pleasant when she saw me. She disappeared early on to take care of her baby.
Wolf talked to me a little, but didn't really seem interested in doing so. Still, that he even spoke to me means that we still have something of a friendship to salvage.
Kristi even spoke to me a little, which was a pleasant thing. I think if she wants to try to be my friend despite the drama, then I'm willing to go along with that. I have no problems with people wanting to be my friend, as long as they want to be my friend based on who I am and what they know of me personally. That she seemed to only be obligated to not talk to me because of Chris' insistence on being involved with business that's not his... well, it spoke well for her.
Chris, on the other hand, did his usual Leo thing. He seems pretty insistent on not being my friend because of Lance. His loss, really. I wish he'd be more of an adult than he is, but one can't expect miracles with some people.
Anyway, I'm tired from being out in the heat all afternoon, so I think I'm going to turn in a bit earlier than usual.
I stay free.
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| Post x2 of the day: |
[27 Jul 2009|02:23pm] |
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mood |
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 hopeful |
] |
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music |
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Naruto OST - Raising Fighting Spirit |
] |
I've gone through and revamped a few things, most notably my Icons. I decided to retire Q for the most part, and to go with something different. Naruto stuff is the theme of the day. I think what I've got up now fits my mindsets better and offers a little more variety in the theme of my replies and posts.
We'll see how it goes.
I've also noticed that I've had a knack of ending my posts on Myspace in a certain way these days. I think I'll try it out here, too.
I stay free.
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| Looking for something: |
[27 Jul 2009|11:50am] |
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mood |
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 nostalgic |
] |
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music |
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Naruto OST - Strong and Strike |
] |
I'm not sure just how many other Naruto fans I have on my list here, but I'm sure one of you at least has gone searching for the elusive theme played in the build-up of the Sakura/Ino exam fight.
I've not been able to find it and that bad-ass remix of Sakura's theme haunts me daily. I must have it!
Anyone got any leads for me?
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| Question: |
[25 Jul 2009|12:11pm] |
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mood |
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 bouncy |
] |
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music |
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Something about Charlie Sheenie's Weenie |
] |
I've pondered this for a while and finally, I'm just going to outright ask it.
When did "Speaking your mind" become synonomous with "Being an asshole to people"?
Surely people can speak their mind without being insulting, judgmental, or otherwise hateful about it. I know we've grown up spoilt in this country for the last three or four generations, surrounded by whirring, clicking electronic gizmos and the overwhelming crush of society where we don't know one in five hundred of our neighbors, but is it so vitally important to make some other fella feel bad because you wanted to "Speak Your Mind" and tell him or her just how horrible they are for being a nice person?
It's like it's a crime to be nice anymore.
No, nothing's happened to set this off. Just a question I've been pondering for a long time now and figured I'd whack the beehive with the stick by "Speaking My Mind"! *insert alarming revelation 60s cartoon sound here*
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| Drama escape: |
[08 Jul 2009|04:59pm] |
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mood |
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 complacent |
] |
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music |
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Drowning Pool - Let the Bodies Hit the Floor |
] |
So I've learned recently how to best deal with drama. Getting mad, getting upset, getting indignant... these things only perpetuate the stupidity that is drama. The longer you perpetuate it, the longer it will go on until it consumes your life.
Frankly, I don't care anymore, and I really probably shouldn't have to begin with. I should have told Chris exactly what I thought I should which simply was "Dude, don't even start with me. You don't know what's going on and you're safer just staying out of it until this blows over."
But in my final exercise of drama, I told him what his mistake was, regardless of whether I cared that he realized it or not. What I didn't realize is that I truly didn't care what he thought and what he even thinks now. It's just how life goes. None of this was his business nor did it involve him in any way at all. That he chose to get involved was his real mistake, but it's a mistake he's going to have to realize on his own. Much like anything else with that boy, he's going to have to learn on his own that he makes snap judgements that he shouldn't be making, and when he does get over himself, I'll try to care. No promises; I'm all out of "Give A Damn" these days.
I'll probably talk to him again, either way, because it interests me to do so. As ignorant as he can be at times, he's an intellectual stimulation that I've come to enjoy over the last ten years and not one that I really want to do without. But what I want and what I need are two different things. I want him to be in my life, but I don't need him, you know what I'm saying? He probably thinks he hurt me by bailing on me, and that's fine if he wants to go on believing that. All he did was make me angry and disappoint me, which is quite the opposite of what his bailing on me was supposed to accomplish.
So yeah, that's about all I've got to say on that. My final word on the situation is that I just don't care anymore and the drama that he and Lance want to surround themselves with is not my concern. I've done pretty much all I can for both of them as it is and that's more than any friend could or should have been on the spot to do in the first place. I know my rightful place and if it's not chosen to be acknowledged, then my only real option is to move on. I stand where I stand and how others choose to acknowledge me is their decision. I have no desire anymore to influence those decisions as it really isn't genuine when I do.
I'd rather have it be real. If it's real admiration, real hatred, or real kinship, then I'm happy for it. If I've had to convince someone else to like me, then it's a waste of my time, my breath, and my energy.
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| Grr.. |
[06 Jul 2009|10:40am] |
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mood |
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annoyed |
] |
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music |
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Rammstein - Zwitter |
] |
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107267/pay-cut-cities.html?mod=career-salary_negotiation
Articles like this annoy me. They build up this horrible doomsday story about wages being cut and things are so pessimistic... and then you discover that the highest cut has only been about 2.5%. Meanwhile, in the hottest parts of the south, average wages have gone up roundabouts 2.5%.
So high paid New Yorkers are earning 2.5% less than what they were? That's not an economic crisis - that's a slight shift. People making over 80k a year are cut to approximately 77k a year. Unless they are living paycheck to paycheck, a foolish thing to do when you have that much coming in, they'll be fine. According to my sources, New York is one of the highest paid cities in America, if not the world, and while the cost of living is pretty high there, it's still only about 20 an hour for a comfortable place with curtains and a couple of security bolts on the door. We're not talking a dive. That's for 14 an hour. We're not talking on the street, either... that's everything in down.
Oh, and minimum wage used to be the bare minimum someone could make to survive with an efficiency home and be able to eat. Now minimum wage is what we pay high school and college students still living with their families. "Migrant" workers are paid even less than that. Minimum wage has become the baseline for price increases around the country. Raising it only makes things more expensive. I'm not sure when prosperity in this country went from making enough to live comfortably and have some hobbies on the side to screw everyone so you have the entire pile. When did children become the ones in charge?
( More ranting beneath the cut for the sensitive, ADD, and interested )
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| Feeling better about life |
[01 Jul 2009|06:39pm] |
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mood |
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 creative |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Hammerfall - Born to Rule |
] |
Over the last week, I've come to realize that I'm happy. It's been a while since I generally had a positive outlook on my own life. While I do despair over the state of how things are in my homeland, I know that I'll be okay, no matter what happens. And I'm going to wait patiently for the tide to turn and for things to get better in the world around me while doing everything I can for the ones I love.
I've reached a point in my life where I'm on track and moving forward, I'm making something of myself and no longer stagnating in the living hell of my own mind, deadlocked into a state of unending depression, misery, and angst.
It's taken a while and I know I've scared a lot of people. I do feel bad for that and I know insanity doesn't count as justification to take that way. But I have been insane. For many years, I knew nothing but madness and I lost myself into a dark, cold abyss. It terrifies me to think about myself and what I did, what I had to do, and I lost much of my humanity in those days.
But now? Now I'm whole again, healed. Sane. Blissfully sane.
As a reminder to myself, I changed my LJ up quite a bit. I know the changes have been noticed and the "Determined Madman" thing is a reminder to myself that through it all, I survived. Much as you all did. And eventually it will change when I come to terms with what I went through over the last several years. Until then... well, we all need our mnemonics to help us learn, memorize, and remember.
Oh, and I aced my first exams for this quarter. =) A sure sign that I'm a changed man making progress.
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| Internet Issues /= Win |
[29 Jun 2009|03:25pm] |
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mood |
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 relaxed |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Hammerfall - Blood Bound |
] |
My Internet has been down since approximately Friday due to AT&T dropping the ball and screwing the pooch with their attempts to upgrade my area to the U-verse doohickey. While I'm all for upgraded Internet, as DSL sucks my nuts, I'm not for service interruptions that leave me high and dry while there's business to attend to.
As a few of you may have heard, my best friend recently got informed on to his fiancee by yours truly after I got fed up with his inexplicable need to get extra-marital pussy. I've covered his ass in the past, doing everything I could for him to help him stay out of trouble, but this time he went one too many and even went so far as to lie directly to my face about his involvement with the woman in question. That was enough for me to pull the plug and he's shown himself to be a terrible person in the meantime. While I'm not inclined to go into very much detail, it's sufficing to say that he ran around and told Chris some things that are A) outdated and B) not meant for him to hear. While I don't try to cover up and say I didn't say what was told to him, it is important to remember that I have moved on and that Kristi is no longer a woman that I find lustworthy. I like many qualities about her that I want to find in a mate of my own, but as far as she goes, I'm not interested and haven't been for quite a very long time. I believe you all recall my walk around Hearst that resulted in me returning to my hometown pissed off, distraught, and being otherwise extremely negative.
Things haven't changed since then. Why Chris has decided he needs to believe obsolete information without question is beyond me, but that's his call and his loss. I'm through hanging with children that want to play high school drama level games. I thought we'd grown up and started being men, but it becomes increasingly apparent that some people would rather live in the past than owe up to the present.
So, rumor has it I'll have my internet access back tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath. For the time being, I've got the school computers with which I have limited capacity to check up on my state of affairs. Livejournal seems to work just fine for the most part, as does hotmail and yahoo. Hopefully if anyone needs to contact me directly about anything, the messaging system on LJ here will alert me to the message you send.
Anyway, I'm just fine and more angry than I am hurt. I anticipated that my former best friend would try to get back at me, and even that he would go and drop the information I'd given him knowing full well he'd try to use it against me if I ever gave him a reason to. I'm disappointed, however, that Chris believed him unquestioningly. That's really about the only thing I'm hurt over. I thought we were better friends than that, that we'd moved past it all and gone ahead with our lives with the knowledge that we'd had some bad mojo a few years ago. That I was wrong... well, it just told me all I needed to know.
And if I end up losing more of my friends over this... well, that's also going to tell me what I need to know. No one else has bothered to come out and say something to me, so if I find empty places where my friends are supposed to be, then I can safely assume mice where I thought there were men.
For now, good evening.
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| Two in one day! |
[21 Jun 2009|11:21am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
chipper |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild (still) |
] |
So I went to a kareoke bar last night and didn't sing.
Yeah.
Believe me, I wanted to. I have the courage to get up in front of people and make a fool of myself; however, I have to get it to quit hiding and come back me up. Ideally, I just have to find the right song, I think, so that I won't feel like a complete dork and still sound pretty good while I do sing. I know I can, it's just I'm usually doing it in the car and I've got the actual singer singing the song along with me. Therefore, should I miss a key, I'm covered up and drowned out by the music.
Heh. Yeah. I'm a little bitch. What of it? You do it too!!
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| Nigeria! |
[21 Jun 2009|11:17am] |
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mood |
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amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild |
] |
"Dear Insane, Overdramatic Lunatic:
Who started this, anyway? Are you a minion, or are you the one that wrote this thing?
Do you realize that in most non-third world countries, banks have signs posted saying that this obvious scam is rolling around the internet?
Do you also realize that you're talking to someone that has had no business with Nigeria, ever, and thus would have no file, no bank accounts, and no desire to care about your LSD spawned e-mail booty call offering non-existant money from a country that doesn't even have an economy?
Sir, I have your name, and the CIA will be arriving shortly. I recommend that you and these people I supposedly pissed off despite having never had any dealings with anything even remotely near, in, on, or towards Nigeria make your time and think of something a little more interesting than a bad script from a 1920s talkie.
No, you will not get my phone number to discuss this. You should have left the matter dropped and not brought my attention to the ridiculousness inherent in what you came up with during your hallucinations.
Thank you, and good day."
_____________________
That's my latest reply to the whole Nigerian Bank scam that keeps spamming my inbox. I'm seriously wondering why I'm bothering to reply to it, but so far, I've yet to get a message failure response in my inbox when I do. Maybe there's a real person that I just made feel like an idiot, or made them laugh because they think I'm an idiot.
Either way, I don't really give a damn about Nigeria and I'll never have business there. I guess the insinuation just gets me angry.
Anyone else got interesting stories or anecdotes about inbox spam they want to share?
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| Posting posting posting |
[15 Jun 2009|11:30am] |
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mood |
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contemplative |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Hammerfall - Carved In Stone |
] |
Isn't it awesome that I'm starting to post more frequently? I don't know if I think so, but YAY anyway.
Anyway, what's the latest? Well, I've been suffering pretty severe bouts of depression lately, stemming from acute physical loneliness and attachment desires, while at the same time experiencing intense jealousy at a odd times, especially when I see a woman I would love to be with being with a complete scumbag. Of course, that's not so odd. What's odd is that I've gotten to the point where I realize what my problem is when it comes to meeting women and being interested in them. Ya'll ready for this?
I'm too much of a praise-giver. That's right. I apparently schmooze.
Go figure. I am a schmoozer, but not because I want stuff and things. I just like giving compliments and expressing appreciation. But no one bothered to tell me that, in this day and age, that's a horrible, bad, EVIL, NICE GUY THING!!! RAWR!! NICE GUY POWERS ACTIVATE - FORM HORRIBLE RAPIST ABUSER TRUE SELF!!!
...Seriously, though, yeah, turns out that it's bad that I give compliments. I'm not allowed to date anyone because I give them too frequently and thus it is somehow creepy. I guess, however, that if someone praised me constantly and I couldn't hold a conversation with them, I would find it a bit creepy or disturbing or something.
So what does this mean?
It means I have to change my method pretty big. That's all there is to it. I could do so much better if I learn to keep my big trap shut and stop being blatantly interested. No woman wants someone blatantly interested; they're after someone that expresses interest briefly and concisely, then shuts up about it forever. At least until she brings it up again.
Anyway, that's the rough draft of my next significant life change. I'm going to quit being a praiser and just stop caring when I start being interested. It seems to be how guys are meant to be. And granted, as I want to be a guy that's happy, I think it's time I settle down and be how a guy is meant to be, y'know? The worst that can happen is that I die alone, which seems to be the result I'm going to get if I keep going the way I have been.
I dunno. Some random hope in the darkness. Let's see what happens.
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| So question for the single people: |
[14 Jun 2009|06:21pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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contemplative |
] |
Single people: What do you do to relieve the crushing feeling of depression and hopelessness that comes over you from the void of being alone and repeated rejections?
I'm curious to know how others deal with it. Privacy for responses will be on, so feel free to say whatever you want.
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| Oh god how I wish |
[14 Jun 2009|12:21pm] |
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mood |
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 cold |
] |
I really wish, sometimes, that we were the hate-mongering war-loving bastards that every other country makes us out to be. However, the fact that Kim Jhong Il is still alive, still abusing his own populace, still developing nuclear weapons and NOW THREATENING TO USE THEM ON US.... yeah, I don't think we're the warmongers that we're made out to be. Even our own citizens can't prove we're warriors when we're letting some little hateful creep tell us how it is and said own citizens are saying it's fair, it's right, it's what we deserve for being such bad people.
I tell ya, the whole thing stinks. Maybe it's because I live in Houston and thus am right in an ICBM strike area, but I feel a little twitchy after reading on MSN.com that Korea's making nuclear threats DIRECTLY AFTER developing nuclear weapons.
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| Amsterdam to ban beer bikes? |
[13 Jun 2009|11:22am] |
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mood |
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amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Hammerfall - Titan |
] |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31321164/?gt1=43001
Oh yes, there's a logical result for you. Ban a bicycle built for ten but keep the booze legal. Y'know, while I consider alcohol being legal at all to be the best joke ever told, I'm not one to say that people shouldn't be free to put whatever they want in their own bodies PROVIDED that they DO NOT HURT or INCONVENIENCE others as a result. Each case should be handled on an individual basis, not a blanket generalization law that leads to stereotyping, fear and smear campaigns, and an overall uplifting of the ignorance that seems to run rampant, particularly in the United States.
In Amsterdam, the fact that everything is legal and the only two things that are an inconvenience on their society seems to be my fellow Americans and beer bikes, can we really say that these people have it terribly bad off? With virtually the only crime that happens in that country coming from its tourist industry, I'd consider their potential illegalization of marijuana to be the stupidest move that could be made. We've seen proof that it doesn't cause problems in a small society, but when you take it away and leave only beer and cigarettes as the only vices... well, look at the United States. Cigarettes are becoming illegal as the anti-tobacco companies finish locking in their paranoia claws on the rich, stupid, and teenagers, which means pretty soon booze is the only vice left. And we all know what happens when people drink. Just ask the pedestrians in Amsterdam.
Or anyone that's been paralyzed in a car crash with a drunk driver and didn't have the good fortune to die. It's time we woke up, people, and embraced tobacco and cannibis as appropriate vices. Alcohol's time has passed. I would rather have a vice that is likely to kill me in 30-60 years, as opposed to one that may cause me to drop dead that night, especially if I've taken cold medication earlier that day. Or be the result of my untimely demise because some dude thought his testicles were five thousand pounds and he could do anything he wanted because of that.
Ban beer, keep deca-bikes, legalize pot, and save the world from retardation and death! (oh yeah, drinking while pregnant has a significant potential for brain damage for unborn infants, not to mention a very real likelihood of death, as opposed to smoking which may cause blah blah blah. May cause. Will cause. Analyze the difference here - are cigarettes so bad when compared to the true evil here?)
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| I am sitting in class, drinking a NOS. |
[10 Jun 2009|06:11pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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content |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Ronnie James Dio - Sacred Heart |
] |
So I'm sitting in class with a couple of beautiful women seated within arm's reach. Probably not going to get any of that but hey, it's a pleasant feeling for a guy, eh?
Anyway, just posting because I can. Being a college student with computer access is the shiznit.
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tdarklighter's journal