American Idiot

Obamney 2012?

 

Since I’m not watching the Presidential Debate I figured I should probably drop in a long overdue blog post. But because I am not watching the debate, I feel the need to justify that with a brief political rant. Don’t worry, I’ll add little tags so you can skip over it if you’d like.

Begin Political Rant

First, I’d like to combat the notion that you have to watch the debates to “be informed.” I (unfortunately) caught the ten minutes of tonight’s debate and it was the same old boring mix of empty platitudes and blame-gaming. Long story short: policy and execution are never actually discussed in these debates. They’re mentioned with a dismissive wave of the end that doubles as a Jedi Mind Trick: “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” People who constantly tell you they know what they’re doing, rarely do. If you are interested in the actual policies of the two candidates here are two websites you can visit: barackobama.com and mittromney.com

Second, now that we’ve established there is absolutely no information of any use that can be gleaned from the debates, I can attack the stigma that states that anyone who doesn’t watch the debates is either an idiot, apathetic, a bad American or some mixture of the three. I am not an idiot (on paper), apathetic, or a bad American (wearing a “Freedom Isn’t Free” T-shirt and listening Bob Seger right now). It’s a large jump to a conclusion to assume that because someone 1. doesn’t watch the debates and 2. has no favorite between the two candidates that they are somehow mis- or under-informed or apathetic. I care deeply about this country. It’s the only one I have. There are much more judicious uses for my time than to suffer the condescending double-talk of career politicians.

Third, the structure of the debates is inherently corrupt. The entire system has been corrupted to preserve a two-party hierarchy. I no longer believe we live in a democracy. We live in a representative oligarchy. Just because you get a choice between cyanide and strychnine doesn’t mean you actually have any meaningful power, control or influence. The fact that third party candidates aren’t even invited to these debates is proof enough of the flaws in the system. If these third party “anarchists,” “yahoos,” and “tinfoil hats” were so ridiculous then why not let the American public discover that for themselves? The voting populace, after all, is a set of grown-ass adults that do not need to be “protected” from third party candidates like five year olds from R-rated movies.

To summarize my rant: the debates are useless, the system is corrupt, and people who ignore the debates and vote for third party candidates (or cast a blank) are not “bad Americans.”

End Political Rant

 

She’s a Late-18th-Century-Colonial-House

My bathroom is a little TOO in touch with its feminine side

She’s mighty, mighty. Lettin’ it all hang out.

So now that that’s handled… you may noticed this blog has taken a more personal turn recently. So people might dislike that and some people might prefer that to being subjected to amateur fiction. Since I do this for free I only care marginally about this, and only so far as it placates my (enormous) ego. The long-and-short of it is that my mind has been less occupied with escaping the shackles of my wage-slave oppressors and the horrors of my cubicell, and more with making sure the aforementioned oppressors continue to pay me to sit in the aforementioned cell, so that I can pay my mortgage.

Which brings me to: HOLY SHIT I HAVE A MORTGAGE?!

Operation: Turn My House Into Not A Shithole (as always the guy who names these things is on vacation. It’s a union job) has also decided to rent a large chunk of real estate up in my brain. I got some good news from my electrician today and still haven’t heard back from my plumber. Progress, as they say, is a slow process. I wish change was easy as Shepherd Fairy made it out to be, but when it comes to home makeovers/improvements/repairs/partial demolitions it ain’t.

On the plus side, outside of actually coordinating the work I have enjoyed pouring the blood and sweat into my new house (not so much on tears/dollars). I’m hoping to have it move-in-ready by early November. That’s a quaint notion since the real estate listing stated “MOVE IN READY” followed by somewhere between 3 and 6 million exclamation points.

 

Boxing Gloves

Six Pack or Keg?

Because no woman has ever said “Check out that guy’s beer belly. So sexy,” I have found myself back in the fitness game. For those of you who don’t know, I wasn’t always the giant walking tub of cookie dough and regret you see before you. Back when I actually had to put in effort to get laid, I relied on my personality. And when that didn’t work out I went to the gym. Somewhere along the way I met my girlfriend and all that time previously spent at the gym was subsequently spent enjoying my life. As with anything fun or tasty or enjoyable, it was clearly bad for me. At least cosmetically. So yesterday I started working out in earnest and today I check out Bare Bones Boxing over in East Hartford for the first time. I forgot how much boxing kicks my ass. I’m blistered and sore and worn out.

My philosophy on exercise has always been that if I’m going to investing so much time and effort into working out that I should get something more out of it than a nice physique. When I first started trying to get in shape I took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a brief period of time, and then I did some powerlifting (which is much cooler than it sound) and then boxing. Powerlifting is probably my favorite – and for me, the most effective at adding muscle and losing fat – but you’d be surprised how few places there are that have bumper plates or squat racks or even barbells. It’s awfully hard to squat, bench or deadlift in a Planet Fitness. Luckily for me, Bare Bones has all the equipment I need in addition to the boxing classes at a reasonable price. So I’m excited to get back on that horse.

 

What This Blog Is, Ostensibly, About

I started this blog as a place to share and promote my writing. It’s kind of hard to do that when there’s not a lot of writing to speak of. I still have a few ideas rattling around, but the time to work on them is scarce. I’m hoping that once I get settled into the new house (I’m not even sleeping there yet) that I’ll be able to set up my office and start pumping out works that are longer (and better) than what I’ve been posting so far. That is, of course, if boxing and/or hockey don’t concuss me.

 

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