Different Tactics

I've recently started seeing a man who I had known years ago and we recently reconnected, through pure coincidence or fate, whatever your pleasure may be.

It got me thinking though that there are other ways to not be a stupid jackass besides not doing something.  You can do it by actively trying to do something different. 

For example, I've ranted and raved against people being ignorant, being poor drivers, etc.  

But have I ever given suggestions for things people can do instead?  I don't think I have.  So today, I shall offer some advice that is good for all aspects of your life, but especially good for not pissing me off: 

Pursue happiness.  Find something or someone that makes you happy every day.  I've not known any person who was pursuing their happiness or with someone who makes them happy that actively strives to annoy others or to be a blight on their existences.

I think that if people found something that made them happy, really happy, dance around in the kitchen, do a jig in public and not give a damn who's looking happy, the world would be a better place.  I don't care what it is really, just find something.  If it's a person, that's wonderful, I hope you make them happy too, if it's something, that's great too because it'll always be there for you.

I'm not saying that you should be happy all day every day, because that's a pretty damn tall order, but be happy for at least a little while every day.  It's good for your health, because if someone annoys me now, I've decided to make them cheerful by injecting cheer into them via a hose straight up the ass...like a cheer enema. 

hehehe. Could be fun!  Maybe I should be a motivational speaker lol. 

Have You Ever...

had cravings for weird things because you haven't had them in a while?

That's what I'm going through right now.  I want caramel, and I want crunchy Cheetos.  Not together, because that's just disgusting, but I've been thinking about it a lot.

I found this really awesome recipe for butterscotch that I want to try, but I can't quite yet.

Soon though!  I'm almost to my goal, and once I get there, it's time to really start toning myself up because I'm dissatisfied with the way certain parts of my body are now.  After I get there, I can start bringing things back in in moderation and learn how to not let them derail me. 

Truth be told, I don't really miss much anymore and I hardly crave any of the things I used to gorge on. 


In other news, sorry about the long quiet spell.  I've not really had a whole lot to rant about lately, at least not in an intelligent way that wasn't just "FUCK YOU IN YOUR FUCKING HEAD YOU FUCKING FUCK KNOB!  I'M GONNA MAKE A NEW HOLE IN YOUR CORPSE AND FUCK YOU THERE TOO!!"  You know, that old chestnut.

Hopefully I'll be back to regular rants against jackassery soon.

Just Some Thoughts

It's been a little while since I've posted so I'm correcting that.  There hasn't been anything that's been immediately pissing me off lately.  Just had a lot on my plate so I'm gonna share some short thoughts, and some congratulations.

• With all the fires and drought conditions that have been happening in some parts of the country, and all the floods and such happening in another part of the country, do you think there's a genius or engineer or two that could put their heads together to maybe kill two birds with one stone on those problems?  It makes sense to take an overabundance of something from one area and use it to help out another area that's got very little of it.  Come on, someone.  Hell...let's start a fucking bucket line or something. 
• Tying in with the first bullet, if it's so fucking dry that there are wild fires springing up all over, then it's probably too dry for your campfire (particularly if you don't know how to properly build one) and for you to just be flicking your cigarette out the window.  Put that son of a bitch out first.  Seriously.  It's not that damned hard.  Ya lazy hump. Same goes for you folks on the ATVs.  Stay out of areas with a lot of underbrush, your exhaust is hot enough to ignite dried grasses.
• Congratulations and good job to New York!  Gay marriage is finally completely legal there, and there's no reason it shouldn't have been in the first place.  Gay people are just as human as anyone else, there's no reason that they should be denied rights just because their lifestyle is different, and some tight-assed people don't approve.  I don't approve of a bolt through the cock, but I'm not gonna tell someone they don't get medical treatment because they have one.  
• And finally, congratulations to me! I have officially been accepted into grad school and I can barely contain my glee.   I can't wait to start in the fall. I'm excited to get back into school and get started with a new chapter of my life.

Private Lives Are Not Indicative of Professional Capability

I don't know why I feel like opening this can of worms, other than I feel like I need to voice my opinion in some form or another in light of yet another political "sex scandal."

Let me just make myself plain, people have private lives, and no one is a saint.  Okay?  We're not in the Victorian era, and we have some pretty backward and archaic notions when it comes to sex and sexuality and sexual natures/proclivities, etc. Everyone is going to fuck up from time to time and they should be held accountable for those fuck ups, but their whole lives shouldn't be defined by it unless it's something really huge, like genocide.  Hitler may have been a vegetarian painter who was rejected by art school, probably liked to clog or some such shit, but when you systematically murder millions of people because you're in a snit?  That makes you a mass murdering fuckhead. That's the kind of thing that should define a person.

So, with that said, I don't think that "sex scandals" or the fact that someone got a traffic ticket makes them unfit to perform their job. Most of the time the societal transgression that people are accused of or actually did perform aren't illegal, and have no fucking bearing on their professional ethics.  People are constantly confusing Morals with Ethics and using them interchangeably. Sorry, that's not the way it works.  Morals tend to be societal mores and guidelines for acceptable behavior, thought, etc. Ethics (in this particular instance) refers to the practices of business and what is good or bad and ideas of that ilk.  They are NOT interchangeable and are actually exclusive of each other. 

I don't care that you find something morally reprehensible or it violates your personal code of honor or behavior or that it is against the mandates of your particular religion.  In most cases, it has no bearing on whether someone is able to perform their job effectively and well.  If there was a problem with someone's work, they probably wouldn't have been able to do it for long without someone pointing out that shit doesn't quite work right. Everyone is entitled to a private life and if there's something that violates a code within that person's social group, then it needs to be kept in that group.  A man cheating on his wife is between he, his wife, and their lawyers, should the need arise.

I'm talking about Anthony Weiner.  There have been calls for his resignation from office because people find his actions reprehensible and wrong and dirty and naughty and a whole slew of other words.  I don't think he should resign because honestly, all he did was engage in a form of fantasy.  He was fine and dandy with him carrying on this "affair" for several months until he sent a picture of his penis and the woman receiving it went to the press.  And folks, it was just a penis.  Almost half of the world's population has one, and if they don't have one, they've probably seen one before.  It wasn't like he sent a picture of him putting babies on spikes.  It was a dick. 

Now there's also an investigation about whether he used congressional cell phones or computer to conduct his "lascivious" actions.  What does it matter?  How many other members of congress use those things for personal communication and use all the time?  What does it matter as to the content?  It was just as personal a use as someone else using it to order pizza, or check his Facebook, or look at porn.  Sorry to break it down like that to some of you, but it's true. 

It offended your morality, but no one was physically hurt by it, and the woman trying to make herself the victim by saying that he "made her talk that way and do those things" is a repulsive glamour whore.  She is.  She talks about how he humiliated and degraded her by "making her" do those things.  If she were so humiliated, why did she go to the press?  Why is she talking to any reporter she can, doing interviews, giving sound bites? She simply wants to capitalize on someone else's disgrace.  It's schadenfreude.

But going back to the main issue here.  His sexual proclivities and exploits have no influence on his ability to be a congressman.  Like I mentioned in my last post, everyone is entitled to a private life and if his wife has a problem with it, she'll take care of it however she sees fit.  It's not for the media or the public to judge him for his private actions.  Stay the hell out of it. Does the man do his job?  Does he do it satisfactorily?  Then that's all the public needs to know and that should be the end of it.

Are You Involved in Any Way? No? Then Shut the Fuck Up!

In light of all the celebrities who are boinking anything that stands still long enough, and illegitimate children flying out of the woodwork, and people who claim they were "assaulted," "groped," or "touched," I've decided to make my position on this shit clear:  if it didn't happen to you or you're not directly involved, stay the fuck out of it.

Mainly I'm talking about the media in all its forms and varieties.  I don't need or care to see some celebrity's/athlete's/politician's sex/money/hangnail scandal in every news broadcast there is.  Frankly, that sort of thing isn't news.  Sorry, it's not.  People with power, position, and money are not somehow public property.  Their personal lives don't need to be splashed all over every media outlet there is.  They're people too with every right to privacy, just as those who are hounding them and those who are "reporting" on them are entitled to their right to privacy. I can guarantee you that Jim-Bob Dipshit with the camera would be suing the shit out of any media outlet that invaded his privacy and talked about any indiscretions on his part and reported every aspect of his private life, and then speculated about how evil and immoral he must be because of those indiscretions.

Seriously, I don't care to see it, a lot of people don't care to see it.  It's cruel.  The only people who's business it is are those that are directly involved.  It's hard enough to go through things like that without not being able to escape it.  Again, the public doesn't own these people or their families and as such are not entitled to every minute detail of their lives or their existence.

Stay the fuck out of it.

*Addendum*

This, of course, doesn't apply to embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds or tax monies, or domestic violence or abuse cases.  That shit I care about and I will take it out of someone ass.

Offer Your Sacrifices for the Cult of Child

So I've come to the conclusion that this isn't going to come out quite the way I want it to and I frankly don't give a fuck anymore.  I'm just gonna say it and let it come out how it will.

Is it just me or is everything becoming "child friendly" these days?  Let me set it out for ya:  there are activities, shows, channels, and places that a child doesn't belong and so it shouldn't be sanitized so parents don't have to do their damn jobs.

I'm not saying that children have no place or that parents are universally lazy or incapable.  I'm not even saying that I don't like children; in general, I do.  I'm just saying that children don't need to be considered and included for everything.

It's bullshit that I, as an adult who has made the conscious decision not to have children at this point in my life, have to suffer with poorly behaved children in places where they maybe shouldn't be.  Movie theaters for example, but more specifically, theaters that aren't showing some fluffy children's movie but are showing something that is an adult movie. Blood, guts, ass, swearing, sex, etc.  Those are all adult content, children shouldn't be sitting in there watching them with their parents because the parent couldn't find a baby-sitter. Restaurants are another place where you should really think about if it's an appropriate place for your children, particularly sit-down restaurants.  There's nothing like trying to have an civil conversation with someone sitting across from me and it's punctuated by the screams of a baby, or the whining of a child who doesn't want to wait for his food and he's bored and some parent making half-assed threats about punishment and leaving if they don't stop acting up. 

My parents never would have tolerated that.  Going out was a privilege for us and we made damn sure we didn't fuck it up. 

Networks that aren't meant for children (such as Comedy Central, Bravo, hell just about anything that isn't Disney or its affiliate) are edited for content and language, partly because of the possibility of children watching.  Almost every TV, satellite, and cable company has an option to block channels or only make them viewable with a password, so parents should be taking advantage of those features instead of censoring the content broad spectrum even when there are those of us who are annoyed with it.

If you make a joke about children, it had damn well better be cute and cuddly or else you're heinous.  Don't you dare use hyperbole to describe your vexation and frustration with a child, and definitely don't even hint of violence upon a child, even when it's hyperbolic and obviously not serious.  

Apparently if you're not gushy and mushy about children it makes you some sort of evil freak who should be shunned and ridiculed.  Particularly if you're a woman, you should be champing at the bit to have babies and should be all dewey-eyed and protective of all crotch fruit.  Like I said before, I've consciously decided that I don't want children at this point in my life, possibly never.  This doesn't make me some weirdo or evil person.  It doesn't mean that I've less of a woman or anything, or that I don't care about my country or society, just means that children aren't my way of doing it. I think there are too many children out there with bad parents already and I don't need to add to that.  I don't think I have the patience to be a parent.

I just want to know what other sacrifices we're going to offer upon the altar of the cult of child?  How much further are we going to indulge this child fetish that means that everything needs to be safe and happy.  I know others have said it, but how much are we really weakening our society by not letting nature take its course?  George Carlin has offered varied and numerous views on children and how Darwinism works.  I agree with him. 

So once again, do children really need to be the key audience, the main criterion that things are centered around?  I don't think so.  Trust me, a swear word will not scar a kid for life.  They're just words.  There are no "bad words" or bad language.  Words won't kill you, or make you bleed.  They might hurt your feelings and sensibilities, but it's not going to kill you.  The words themselves aren't bad, the intentions behind them are the only things that make them good or bad.

Food Is Not the Enemy

I'm sick to death of infomercials and people who think they've got the inside track on what's "healthy." 

I really am.  I'd like to know what stone tablets these hard and fast rules are on. Experts are constantly making discoveries about foods and reexploring old grounds when it comes to foods and eating properly.

But before we go to the issues surrounding food, let's go to an issue surrounding appearance; being thin and slender does not equate to being in good health.  The mantra of any person who's ever had a single psychology or statistics class knows that "correlation doesn't imply causation."  Just because someone's thin doesn't mean they're the paragon of health and just because someone is fat or heavy doesn't mean that they aren't.  I'm sure we all know someone who eats complete crap, wouldn't know broccoli if it jumped up and beat them around the head, but still manages to be rail-thin.  I can guarantee that most of the time, if they were to have a physical done, their doctor would tell them they're in atrocious health.  There's a lot more involved with health than just what you look like or what you weigh.  You can't see cholesterol.  You can't see glucose levels.  There may be someone who's fat, like me, but may be in better health than some of those people who reflect more of what is considered to be "healthy."  You may not know that I work out by looking at me.  You may not know that I actually am in great health by looking at me.

There have been recent studies that have actually found that being overweight actually is NO MORE  a liability to your health than being thin and in some cases is actually more protective against fatality. This study explains it in more depth. This article makes it a little more clear and accessible. It shows that it it's just not really a factor in determining mortality.  Age is more of a factor.

But that's just to open the doors to realizing that weight and body shape do not determine health. Neither does diet, at least not alone.  There are many factors that determine health: genetics, diseases that are unrelated to weight, digestive issues and intolerances, hell, even allergies.  Diet plays a huge roll in almost every different type of life style.  People have different diets for all sorts of different conditions: People with Celiac disease can't eat products with gluten, people with IBS should stay away from foods that contain yeast, etc. etc.

Food shouldn't be vilified.  All that does is make it harder for people to eat foods that may not be healthy according to the "gurus" with their fad diets that come and go and can fuck up a person worse than what they do on their own.  And that's all most of these fad diets do, they either reduce portion size, or cut out certain things and make it "evil"...things people can either do on their own, or things that don't really address the problem of educating people how to eat well for their own life styles or needs, and doesn't really address the cost of "healthy eating."

For some people, eating and food are addictions.  Unlike damn near every other substance that one can be addicted to, you can't live without food.  You can't avoid contact with it, and you can't change your habits by changing your friends and getting out of those situations that make you want to indulge.  Food is a fucking necessity.  Which is why making eating bad, and making foods bad and vilifying the act of eating and the foods that damn near everyone enjoys doesn't work.  You can't avoid food.  We aren't the Jetsons, food doesn't come in pill form. 

I know I'm sort of talking in circles but it's because this issue enrages me.  It pisses me off that entire categories of food are written off because "holier-than-thou, I know the answers to it all, bow before me" food nazis say they're not good.  Education is better than just writing something off.  Let people make informed decisions.  I don't care how well you eat most of the time, everyone has their crap food they love and just want to indulge in every now and then.

Some eastern religions talk about moderation being the key to life.  It's true.  Most people (read: MOST) people, when given the tools, the knowledge, and the choice, will eat what's healthy for them without being prodded and instructed to do so.  Food is not inherently "healthy" or "unhealthy."  The associations people put on them are what give them the perception they are.  There are certain circumstances where having a Twinkie is a very healthy option. 

Let's look at long-distance runners shall we? I think we can all agree this subset of people tends to be very healthy.  Let me tell you something about them: they don't exist on carrots and lettuce.  Many of them eat foods that would make health nazis cry.  They need foods high in proteins, fats, and calories to support the insane amount of physical activity that is involved with long-distance running.  Donuts are a perfect example of a food that is considered "unhealthy" but is needed for these people to perform their healthy activity. 

Now, this has gotten long enough, but I hope it's opened some moth-eaten pocket in everyone's mind and encourages them to use some common sense, not judge based on societal pressure rather than scientific fact and mitigating circumstances.  I really hope you've learned that food isn't the enemy.  Food is just food.  It's there to be enjoyed and eaten regardless of by whom.