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Happy Halloween
Posted 13 years agoOne of the few holidays I don't hate. Happy Halloween everybody. If you haven't done so go scare the shit out of those kids. It's good for em. Puts hair on their chest.
As for me... I'll sit around in the country that doesn't celebrate Halloween and mope a bit.
As for me... I'll sit around in the country that doesn't celebrate Halloween and mope a bit.
Both highly amused and highly annoyed.
Posted 13 years agoAnd by the same thing no less. Let me explain:
I smoke cigars. This is not news. In Kuwait, smokers are the rule, not the exception. Everyone smokes, pretty much wherever they want to. Restaurants still have smoking sections. They tried actually to outlaw them just recently and everyone pretty much ignored the rules until they went away. The only thing they've managed, (barely) to make non-smoking since I've been here in the last two years is the airport, and even then you'll quite often see some dude in a white nightshirt wandering around with a fag hanging from his slack lips.
ANYWAY, corporate policy when I arrived essentially specified that in company provided housing it was up to the building manager to determine smoking policy in their apartments, so of course if all parties agreed, smoke up.
So I do, or rather, so I did. I managed to avoid SIX, count 'em, roommates by smoking cigars. This is not a problem, rather a benefit associated with smoking. Unless you're hard up for cash, I don't know ANYONE who would RATHER have a roommate, particularly the kind that get randomly assigned.
My Project Manager got wind.... >.< of this just recently and actually came by my apartment to 'see' for himself. Now I keep a clean place, and he couldn't gainsay that, but it smells like cigar smoke. He told me it wasn't allowed, I said it was and had the documentation to prove it.
...
So he changed the documentation and emailed the new document out project wide.
The cute little empty corporate suit changed the rules to deprive me of one of the few joys I have left in this desolate wasteland of a country so he could cram someone into the spare bedroom of my apartment.
*sighs*
Ah well. Five months and change to go.
I smoke cigars. This is not news. In Kuwait, smokers are the rule, not the exception. Everyone smokes, pretty much wherever they want to. Restaurants still have smoking sections. They tried actually to outlaw them just recently and everyone pretty much ignored the rules until they went away. The only thing they've managed, (barely) to make non-smoking since I've been here in the last two years is the airport, and even then you'll quite often see some dude in a white nightshirt wandering around with a fag hanging from his slack lips.
ANYWAY, corporate policy when I arrived essentially specified that in company provided housing it was up to the building manager to determine smoking policy in their apartments, so of course if all parties agreed, smoke up.
So I do, or rather, so I did. I managed to avoid SIX, count 'em, roommates by smoking cigars. This is not a problem, rather a benefit associated with smoking. Unless you're hard up for cash, I don't know ANYONE who would RATHER have a roommate, particularly the kind that get randomly assigned.
My Project Manager got wind.... >.< of this just recently and actually came by my apartment to 'see' for himself. Now I keep a clean place, and he couldn't gainsay that, but it smells like cigar smoke. He told me it wasn't allowed, I said it was and had the documentation to prove it.
...
So he changed the documentation and emailed the new document out project wide.
The cute little empty corporate suit changed the rules to deprive me of one of the few joys I have left in this desolate wasteland of a country so he could cram someone into the spare bedroom of my apartment.
*sighs*
Ah well. Five months and change to go.
The right to life (NOT an abortion screed)
Posted 13 years agoI was involved, albeit superficially and briefly, with a conversation dealing with socialism and its effects on society, specifically with respect to socialized medicine.
As an avowed capitalist with VERY few exceptions made for the social contract, I despise hearing about how good an idea socialized medicine is. When I ask, I most often hear something that boils down to something that as far as I can tell the vast majority of Europeans take for granted as immutable truth and at least 45% of Americans believe as well which is this: "I have the RIGHT to healthcare."
....
Noo... you absofuckinglootly do not.
You have a RIGHT to LIFE. Little considered but indisputable corollary to the whole life thing: You have an obligation to DIE.
If you dispute this, find me someone who is on his way to living forever. Medical science can't tell us everything yet, but it DOES tell us that we are programmed to self-destruct, and this process is called, colloquially, aging. As we age, shit breaks down more easily and often, and the shit becomes harder to fix and more important as things progress. Finally, you kick it, or rather, cease to have the ability to kick anything anymore. At that point we who remain usually either burn what's left or bury it, and move on about our own flimsy lives.
So tell me my fine socialist friends, if you have the RIGHT to life, but the OBLIGATION to die... how do you reconcile these two? Well obviously you've got some explaining to do don't you. Since the obligation to die is pretty much beyond dispute, the only wiggle room available here is in the right to life. Okay, so let's focus on that shall we? Yes lets.
What can the right to life reasonably entail? Well I think we'd all agree that people who are born should have a shot at living. Fair enough? I think so, considering that's how we as a species still exist. Beyond that though, the ground gets a little shaky.
You either call upon religious principles to say that G-d Himself demands we do all we can to aid our fellow man (He doesn't say that incidentally... what He says is that a man who DOES do this is blessed.) or you trump up some bullshit humanist crap that enslaves one man to another, or even worse, to all other men. (Man being in this case a general term; person takes longer to type and quite frankly I love offending feminists who insist upon its use, so if you're one such, piss off.)
I saw some ears perk up in the crowd... right over... there! Yes Sir! Question? Slavery? Ooooh! Yes, Sir. I shall explain don't you worry! Here's where the socialism kicks in!
There is a certain amount of healthcare that's built into what philosophers like to call the Social Contract. The origin of the term is most often ascribed to John Locke, though it is referenced in virtually every credible political theory, politics being in essence how one man gets along with another without somebody getting murdered in his sleep. The aforementioned shaky ground is just how much healthcare is called for before one gives in to the inevitable obligation around which no living thing may work.
Well, in essence, that depends on the capabilities of the society. Obviously an agrarian society whose medical capabilities max out at hygiene and sutures will not be curing many cancer patients. But medical capabilities are not the only ones in play, and that's where the socialists usually fall down on their faces, because they all assume that if it is possible it must be obligatory. If a life can be saved it MUST be saved.
Bullshit. Here's why:
We live in a world of limited resources. Limited water, limited air, limited land, limited intellect, there isn't in fact a single resource that the human species can draw on, with the possible exception of will, that is infinite.
When a resource is limited it must be allocated. If it were limitless, its allocation would not only not be in contention, its abuse wouldn't even occur to the user and in fact would not be possible, because a limitless resource cannot be abused.
Since we can count the number of doctors they are a limited resource, thus it is logical that their expertise must be allocated, and CAN be abused. Because the knowledge these doctors possess is difficult and laborious to obtain, their numbers are more severely limited than say... ditch diggers or WAN Security Engineers. The premium paid by society to make use of their services is thus higher. Those of you with a few sparks of intellect to rub together will see where this argument is going and I could no doubt close the book and walk off stage and you'd GET it without further prompting. For those of you who haven't bothered to think about what I've said yet nevertheless have a twisted desire to be abused, comment below and I shall lay down part two of this explanation completing, in absolutely torturous detail, why you cannot socialize medicine and that in fact, the more medical capability is enhanced, the less feasible socialization becomes.
For all the rest of you.... Pretty pictures.
Addendum: Bison are not always team players.
As an avowed capitalist with VERY few exceptions made for the social contract, I despise hearing about how good an idea socialized medicine is. When I ask, I most often hear something that boils down to something that as far as I can tell the vast majority of Europeans take for granted as immutable truth and at least 45% of Americans believe as well which is this: "I have the RIGHT to healthcare."
....
Noo... you absofuckinglootly do not.
You have a RIGHT to LIFE. Little considered but indisputable corollary to the whole life thing: You have an obligation to DIE.
If you dispute this, find me someone who is on his way to living forever. Medical science can't tell us everything yet, but it DOES tell us that we are programmed to self-destruct, and this process is called, colloquially, aging. As we age, shit breaks down more easily and often, and the shit becomes harder to fix and more important as things progress. Finally, you kick it, or rather, cease to have the ability to kick anything anymore. At that point we who remain usually either burn what's left or bury it, and move on about our own flimsy lives.
So tell me my fine socialist friends, if you have the RIGHT to life, but the OBLIGATION to die... how do you reconcile these two? Well obviously you've got some explaining to do don't you. Since the obligation to die is pretty much beyond dispute, the only wiggle room available here is in the right to life. Okay, so let's focus on that shall we? Yes lets.
What can the right to life reasonably entail? Well I think we'd all agree that people who are born should have a shot at living. Fair enough? I think so, considering that's how we as a species still exist. Beyond that though, the ground gets a little shaky.
You either call upon religious principles to say that G-d Himself demands we do all we can to aid our fellow man (He doesn't say that incidentally... what He says is that a man who DOES do this is blessed.) or you trump up some bullshit humanist crap that enslaves one man to another, or even worse, to all other men. (Man being in this case a general term; person takes longer to type and quite frankly I love offending feminists who insist upon its use, so if you're one such, piss off.)
I saw some ears perk up in the crowd... right over... there! Yes Sir! Question? Slavery? Ooooh! Yes, Sir. I shall explain don't you worry! Here's where the socialism kicks in!
There is a certain amount of healthcare that's built into what philosophers like to call the Social Contract. The origin of the term is most often ascribed to John Locke, though it is referenced in virtually every credible political theory, politics being in essence how one man gets along with another without somebody getting murdered in his sleep. The aforementioned shaky ground is just how much healthcare is called for before one gives in to the inevitable obligation around which no living thing may work.
Well, in essence, that depends on the capabilities of the society. Obviously an agrarian society whose medical capabilities max out at hygiene and sutures will not be curing many cancer patients. But medical capabilities are not the only ones in play, and that's where the socialists usually fall down on their faces, because they all assume that if it is possible it must be obligatory. If a life can be saved it MUST be saved.
Bullshit. Here's why:
We live in a world of limited resources. Limited water, limited air, limited land, limited intellect, there isn't in fact a single resource that the human species can draw on, with the possible exception of will, that is infinite.
When a resource is limited it must be allocated. If it were limitless, its allocation would not only not be in contention, its abuse wouldn't even occur to the user and in fact would not be possible, because a limitless resource cannot be abused.
Since we can count the number of doctors they are a limited resource, thus it is logical that their expertise must be allocated, and CAN be abused. Because the knowledge these doctors possess is difficult and laborious to obtain, their numbers are more severely limited than say... ditch diggers or WAN Security Engineers. The premium paid by society to make use of their services is thus higher. Those of you with a few sparks of intellect to rub together will see where this argument is going and I could no doubt close the book and walk off stage and you'd GET it without further prompting. For those of you who haven't bothered to think about what I've said yet nevertheless have a twisted desire to be abused, comment below and I shall lay down part two of this explanation completing, in absolutely torturous detail, why you cannot socialize medicine and that in fact, the more medical capability is enhanced, the less feasible socialization becomes.
For all the rest of you.... Pretty pictures.
Addendum: Bison are not always team players.
Raw testosterone and other positive cultural influences
Posted 13 years agoI mean what I speak
I do as I say
I hustle, I grind
Don't get in my way...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoCOg8ZzUfg
Some lines in there I obviously don't jive with, but in essence that is an awesome tune that has made it to the top of my pumping iron playlist. If you've been in the gym in the last four years, you've either heard it or you need it. Take a listen, put it on ya playa, keep ya form tight an rock dem weights like they balloons!
*ahem* And now, with proper speech I move on to other things. My vacation was pretty much paradise. I could tell some stories about the travel involved, which was in almost every way the antithesis of the vacation itself, but I digress. I had a good time and the trip to and from be damned.
Mamajuana!
(don't get it? Take a trip to DR and you will.)
I'll post a pic or two that will move to scraps (as do all pics of my real self and related content). Now I've got the long row to hoe that comes with a summer of dissipation. The body I've worked hard for has slipped a bit and my task from now to Christmas is to put my house back in order. In the meantime I'll continue working on Beyond the Veil and finishing those damn certs. I get paid for what I know and by the time I leave here in April I need to know it VERY well to continue makin' the bank. With three months left in the year I can already tell that next year will be another game changer for me, hopefully in all the right ways.
Will start making serious effort to save up so that when I go home I can buy or build a nice house, one that I want to LIVE in rather than rent out. Ideally I'd also like to pick up another rental, but we'll see. I may have to put that off for a bit. When I get home I will probably take three or four months off and see my family. I haven't seen my dad in four years, mom in two. Miss em. It calls for a road trip that I intend to take my time with, on my schedule.
Right NOW though, that's all in the future, and it may as well be on the other side of time. Soooooo much work to do. It's never enough and I'm never quite satisfied.... which is good I suppose. If I ever get that way it'll mean I'm on the way down and I am NOT ready to sit on a front porch, drink beer, and call it good.
Highlights from the vacation include Wyla, the Don Lucas cigar factory tour with Wyla, Wyla on the beach, ziplining with Wyla, Wyla across the table at meals, the hours sunning on the Catamaran with Wyla, watching the moon rise over the sea on a deserted beach with Caribbean rhythm in the distance and Wyla up close... if you don't see the pattern have your head checked. I got it bad folks, and it feels good. In future they'll never believe, EVER, that I met the love of my life at a freakin' furry con.
Which brings to mind that I have my reservations for next year's Confuzzled wrapped up. I'm going... with Wyla.
I do as I say
I hustle, I grind
Don't get in my way...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoCOg8ZzUfg
Some lines in there I obviously don't jive with, but in essence that is an awesome tune that has made it to the top of my pumping iron playlist. If you've been in the gym in the last four years, you've either heard it or you need it. Take a listen, put it on ya playa, keep ya form tight an rock dem weights like they balloons!
*ahem* And now, with proper speech I move on to other things. My vacation was pretty much paradise. I could tell some stories about the travel involved, which was in almost every way the antithesis of the vacation itself, but I digress. I had a good time and the trip to and from be damned.
Mamajuana!
(don't get it? Take a trip to DR and you will.)
I'll post a pic or two that will move to scraps (as do all pics of my real self and related content). Now I've got the long row to hoe that comes with a summer of dissipation. The body I've worked hard for has slipped a bit and my task from now to Christmas is to put my house back in order. In the meantime I'll continue working on Beyond the Veil and finishing those damn certs. I get paid for what I know and by the time I leave here in April I need to know it VERY well to continue makin' the bank. With three months left in the year I can already tell that next year will be another game changer for me, hopefully in all the right ways.
Will start making serious effort to save up so that when I go home I can buy or build a nice house, one that I want to LIVE in rather than rent out. Ideally I'd also like to pick up another rental, but we'll see. I may have to put that off for a bit. When I get home I will probably take three or four months off and see my family. I haven't seen my dad in four years, mom in two. Miss em. It calls for a road trip that I intend to take my time with, on my schedule.
Right NOW though, that's all in the future, and it may as well be on the other side of time. Soooooo much work to do. It's never enough and I'm never quite satisfied.... which is good I suppose. If I ever get that way it'll mean I'm on the way down and I am NOT ready to sit on a front porch, drink beer, and call it good.
Highlights from the vacation include Wyla, the Don Lucas cigar factory tour with Wyla, Wyla on the beach, ziplining with Wyla, Wyla across the table at meals, the hours sunning on the Catamaran with Wyla, watching the moon rise over the sea on a deserted beach with Caribbean rhythm in the distance and Wyla up close... if you don't see the pattern have your head checked. I got it bad folks, and it feels good. In future they'll never believe, EVER, that I met the love of my life at a freakin' furry con.
Which brings to mind that I have my reservations for next year's Confuzzled wrapped up. I'm going... with Wyla.
Soon to be gone for a week and other news
Posted 13 years agoIt seems that quite a few... and I do mean something like HALF the active furries that I have watches on are in some sort of dire medical trouble. Allow me to assure the readers of BtV that I went to do my yearly "is he still fit to deploy" physical and came out of it with assurances that I was as healthy as a... hehe.... bull.
For this I thank Gawd, my parents, and my willingness to go to a gym on a regular basis and lift heavy things. Minor thanks also go out to the Army, for providing said gym and a fair number of soldiers who remind me through example just how much farther I have to go.
In two days I will be on a plane headed for London. Once I get there I'll spend the night, then it's on to the Dominican Republic for a well deserved one week vacation! Hoody Hoo! My girl, my god-children, and my good friends will all be there. We've chosen an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, and the list of things we want to do is too long for me to bother putting it all up here SO, I purchased a Go Pro Hero HD 2 camera with sundry attachments. I'll probably hand this camera off to Wyla, who is doubtless more savvy with such things. However, for the really fun stuff, this camera is designed to be strapped to your head, chest, handlebars, etc. It's waterproof, practically indestructible, and I anticipate capturing some really fun and/or embarrassing moments with it.
I will be gone until the 9th, but Beyond the Veil will update on time. We have an update planned for Friday that people here will have seen before, and then the week after will be a normal comic update. Dream Taker and I have been discussing ways to do weekly updates, and what we may wind up doing is putting up character designs on the off weeks, or joke comics. Something to get us up to a once a week update schedule, even though the comic will maintain for now at two pages a month.
Falling also under the heading "other news" I will soon try again to pass the TSHOOT. My last humiliating attempt failed due to my rustiness with switches. I don't work with switches other than to set up DMZ's on them, and DMZ switches are not, as a rule, involved in spanning-tree. Since I didn't have any practice with spanning-tree I borked that whole series of trouble-tickets. I've since studied up. So we'll see. Ashamed as I am to say it, the TSHOOT is the easiest of the CCNP tests. Having failed it after passing the others in the series just brings home to me how important it is not to become complacent in my job and let the days go by with nothing but a paycheck to show for it. I get paid for what I know, so if I don't keep learning... eventually they WILL stop paying me.
Also in other news... come April of next year I will be leaving this gawd-forsaken wasteland of a country. I have no plans beyond the end of my contract, which amusingly enough is April Fools. Rough ideas include seeing my family for the first time in three some odd years, finishing a degree, buying a house and taking some time off. Life, as you know, is what happens when you're making other plans, so for all I know I could wind up in Germany or Japan on another contract two months from now. You just never know. Only thing for certain is that come next April at the latest... I'm fcking out of HERE.
What else is troubling me...
Not much. Here, for once, read a journal that is pretty much all good news. My life is better than I have any right to expect it would be. Healthy, happy, soon to be re-united with my woman, and of course, making the money, which as anyone who has been poor knows, makes everything else better. The only problems I have are first world problems, which aren't really problems at all by definition.
So here is wishing all of you all the happiness and success you can earn, and that you make the most of the opportunities presented to you!
For this I thank Gawd, my parents, and my willingness to go to a gym on a regular basis and lift heavy things. Minor thanks also go out to the Army, for providing said gym and a fair number of soldiers who remind me through example just how much farther I have to go.
In two days I will be on a plane headed for London. Once I get there I'll spend the night, then it's on to the Dominican Republic for a well deserved one week vacation! Hoody Hoo! My girl, my god-children, and my good friends will all be there. We've chosen an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, and the list of things we want to do is too long for me to bother putting it all up here SO, I purchased a Go Pro Hero HD 2 camera with sundry attachments. I'll probably hand this camera off to Wyla, who is doubtless more savvy with such things. However, for the really fun stuff, this camera is designed to be strapped to your head, chest, handlebars, etc. It's waterproof, practically indestructible, and I anticipate capturing some really fun and/or embarrassing moments with it.
I will be gone until the 9th, but Beyond the Veil will update on time. We have an update planned for Friday that people here will have seen before, and then the week after will be a normal comic update. Dream Taker and I have been discussing ways to do weekly updates, and what we may wind up doing is putting up character designs on the off weeks, or joke comics. Something to get us up to a once a week update schedule, even though the comic will maintain for now at two pages a month.
Falling also under the heading "other news" I will soon try again to pass the TSHOOT. My last humiliating attempt failed due to my rustiness with switches. I don't work with switches other than to set up DMZ's on them, and DMZ switches are not, as a rule, involved in spanning-tree. Since I didn't have any practice with spanning-tree I borked that whole series of trouble-tickets. I've since studied up. So we'll see. Ashamed as I am to say it, the TSHOOT is the easiest of the CCNP tests. Having failed it after passing the others in the series just brings home to me how important it is not to become complacent in my job and let the days go by with nothing but a paycheck to show for it. I get paid for what I know, so if I don't keep learning... eventually they WILL stop paying me.
Also in other news... come April of next year I will be leaving this gawd-forsaken wasteland of a country. I have no plans beyond the end of my contract, which amusingly enough is April Fools. Rough ideas include seeing my family for the first time in three some odd years, finishing a degree, buying a house and taking some time off. Life, as you know, is what happens when you're making other plans, so for all I know I could wind up in Germany or Japan on another contract two months from now. You just never know. Only thing for certain is that come next April at the latest... I'm fcking out of HERE.
What else is troubling me...
Not much. Here, for once, read a journal that is pretty much all good news. My life is better than I have any right to expect it would be. Healthy, happy, soon to be re-united with my woman, and of course, making the money, which as anyone who has been poor knows, makes everything else better. The only problems I have are first world problems, which aren't really problems at all by definition.
So here is wishing all of you all the happiness and success you can earn, and that you make the most of the opportunities presented to you!
Top 100 Webcomics?
Posted 13 years agoSo yeah. A few of the webcomics I read reference this site, so I checked it out and registered Beyond the Veil there and I figured what the hell. I'll troll my own page on FA looking for votes. If you watched me because I write BtV, then by all means, you asked for this. :P
So this is my plea: vote for us on TWC.
(Gah... did not intend for that to be a rhyme, but I admit it happens from time to time.)
>.<
www.topwebcomics.com/vote/14538/default.aspx
What? Haven't seen Beyond the Veil? I write it, DreamTaker draws it... and you should really see it:
http://beyondtheveilcomic.com
On a completely unrelated note, Shpongle is proof that some music requires heavy drug use.
So this is my plea: vote for us on TWC.
(Gah... did not intend for that to be a rhyme, but I admit it happens from time to time.)
>.<
www.topwebcomics.com/vote/14538/default.aspx
What? Haven't seen Beyond the Veil? I write it, DreamTaker draws it... and you should really see it:
http://beyondtheveilcomic.com
On a completely unrelated note, Shpongle is proof that some music requires heavy drug use.
No one was murdered because of the image in this link.
Posted 13 years agoAnd really, if you've paid any attention at all to what's going on in the world, that's really all you fcking need to know.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/no.....s-image,29553/
http://www.theonion.com/articles/no.....s-image,29553/
Last CCNP test today
Posted 13 years agoWell, I've put it off for far too long and when I stopped putting it off life interfered, but finally, finally, I will take the TSHOOT test for my CCNP today.
Let me tell this story briefly, just because now that I'm looking back on it, it's amusing.
I scheduled my test at Achiever's Academy in Salmiya. Salmiya is one of the districts surrounding Kuwait city, and if you've never been to an Arab country just think of Egypt from the Indiana Jones Raiders movie, and insert brightly colored billboards EVERYWHERE in Arabic. That's it.
So anyway, I drive on down to the local area, but the testing center has moved. I learned the block numbers for the new one (didn't help, of all the signage up everywhere, no street signs) and went on down. 40 degrees Centigrade and oh... close to 100% humidity with a blinding sun burning out of the sky as though presaging Armageddon.
Car broke down. I'd given myself an hour and a half to find the testing center and I spent MOST of that wandering around on foot with a sixty pound bookbag on (with reference material I'd planned to cram with before the test). Never did find the place and wound up having to take a taxi to work, which I had later that day. 200 bucks for the test, a case of near heat exhaustion, and nothing to show for it, not even a failed test.
This time the test is scheduled on the base where I work and I know exactly where the building in which I'm to take it is located. I've taken the day off preceding to study, and the day after is the beginning of my weekend.
If I fail this time, at least it will be because I actually took the test and failed, not because I wound up wandering around like a dazed tourist in an awesome but older movie set.
In ten hours, give or take, I'll update this journal with pass/fail. Wish me luck if you care to. :)
EDIT:
Failed. I R RETARDED.
I have no fucking words.
Let me tell this story briefly, just because now that I'm looking back on it, it's amusing.
I scheduled my test at Achiever's Academy in Salmiya. Salmiya is one of the districts surrounding Kuwait city, and if you've never been to an Arab country just think of Egypt from the Indiana Jones Raiders movie, and insert brightly colored billboards EVERYWHERE in Arabic. That's it.
So anyway, I drive on down to the local area, but the testing center has moved. I learned the block numbers for the new one (didn't help, of all the signage up everywhere, no street signs) and went on down. 40 degrees Centigrade and oh... close to 100% humidity with a blinding sun burning out of the sky as though presaging Armageddon.
Car broke down. I'd given myself an hour and a half to find the testing center and I spent MOST of that wandering around on foot with a sixty pound bookbag on (with reference material I'd planned to cram with before the test). Never did find the place and wound up having to take a taxi to work, which I had later that day. 200 bucks for the test, a case of near heat exhaustion, and nothing to show for it, not even a failed test.
This time the test is scheduled on the base where I work and I know exactly where the building in which I'm to take it is located. I've taken the day off preceding to study, and the day after is the beginning of my weekend.
If I fail this time, at least it will be because I actually took the test and failed, not because I wound up wandering around like a dazed tourist in an awesome but older movie set.
In ten hours, give or take, I'll update this journal with pass/fail. Wish me luck if you care to. :)
EDIT:
Failed. I R RETARDED.
I have no fucking words.
Can you fcking believe it?
Posted 13 years agobeyondtheveilcomic.com has been updated.
Yes, we're back.
Right now I'm looking at starting with a bi-monthly update schedule and we'll work from there.
*blinks*
Holy shit. We're back.
Yes, we're back.
Right now I'm looking at starting with a bi-monthly update schedule and we'll work from there.
*blinks*
Holy shit. We're back.
Why are we not posting?
Posted 13 years agoActually, the reasons we're not posting have kind of run out. DreamTaker has all the software, she has the hardware, and she's been drawing up a storm. The only real reason left is my reticence. I want to make sure that when we start the comic (yes, again) that it stays started. For that I'm looking essentially for signs and symbols, and even those are starting to pour in.
I expect that within the next 14 days as of this posting, there will be new content, and that the content will continue to flow, albeit slowly at first, but regularly if that.
I have new and abiding respect for web comics who have been running for years on a regular posting schedule. It takes great dedication to make that happen and as a consumer of webcomics I did not appreciate that dedication. As someone who has been working sporadically on one for three years... let's just say I've come to an understanding of how difficult it can be. Is that a personal excuse? Ehh... kinda. But the time for excuses is fast nearing its end, this time I suspect, for good.
So yeah, beyondtheveil.com will in all likelihood be on the rise here within the next few weeks. I'm nervous (as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs) but determined.
In other completely unrelated news, I have two tests scheduled, one of which is coming up in 3 days and at that is about three months overdue. I should have gotten this out of the way long ago, but I'm going to go finish my CCNP with the TSHOOT test next Wednesday. Go me. After that, on the 28th of September, I'll be testing for my CCNA Security specialization, which is a pre-requisite for the CCSP tests, all of which I'd like to have done by the time my contract ends in April.
I'm tired of being in the desert. I want to go home and enjoy fast connection speeds, just application of the laws, reasonable temperatures, four seasons, and most of all, a mere 40 hour work week. In order to get these things, it never hurts to be more skilled than everyone else applying for the same position. And if not more skilled, at least more certified.
I also kinda figure when I get done here I'll collect my bonus money and take three to six months off and do nothing except maybe go to college and bum around for a while. I'll have been away from the US for over two years by that point, it'll be time for a vacation.
I expect that within the next 14 days as of this posting, there will be new content, and that the content will continue to flow, albeit slowly at first, but regularly if that.
I have new and abiding respect for web comics who have been running for years on a regular posting schedule. It takes great dedication to make that happen and as a consumer of webcomics I did not appreciate that dedication. As someone who has been working sporadically on one for three years... let's just say I've come to an understanding of how difficult it can be. Is that a personal excuse? Ehh... kinda. But the time for excuses is fast nearing its end, this time I suspect, for good.
So yeah, beyondtheveil.com will in all likelihood be on the rise here within the next few weeks. I'm nervous (as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs) but determined.
In other completely unrelated news, I have two tests scheduled, one of which is coming up in 3 days and at that is about three months overdue. I should have gotten this out of the way long ago, but I'm going to go finish my CCNP with the TSHOOT test next Wednesday. Go me. After that, on the 28th of September, I'll be testing for my CCNA Security specialization, which is a pre-requisite for the CCSP tests, all of which I'd like to have done by the time my contract ends in April.
I'm tired of being in the desert. I want to go home and enjoy fast connection speeds, just application of the laws, reasonable temperatures, four seasons, and most of all, a mere 40 hour work week. In order to get these things, it never hurts to be more skilled than everyone else applying for the same position. And if not more skilled, at least more certified.
I also kinda figure when I get done here I'll collect my bonus money and take three to six months off and do nothing except maybe go to college and bum around for a while. I'll have been away from the US for over two years by that point, it'll be time for a vacation.
OMG excited
Posted 13 years agoI was very lukewarm on the Romney bid for the presidency. I knew I'd vote for him all along because Obama is a frkin' communist and I don't like communists.
I have to say though that I think Romney hit a homerun when he elected to nominate Paul Ryan to the VP slot. In my own opinion, it gives Romney a huge boost and shows that he wants the Republican base to really come out and vote.
See Paul Ryan in action, then look at Joe Biden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxMZ1WdINs
I would have rooted for Romney. I will VOTE for Ryan.
I have to say though that I think Romney hit a homerun when he elected to nominate Paul Ryan to the VP slot. In my own opinion, it gives Romney a huge boost and shows that he wants the Republican base to really come out and vote.
See Paul Ryan in action, then look at Joe Biden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxMZ1WdINs
I would have rooted for Romney. I will VOTE for Ryan.
The City of York
Posted 13 years agoIn Yorkshire England... it's nice.
Very odd concatenation of people from all over and my conclusion regarding them is that fashion in ANY sense of the word seems optional in York. I am not into fashion or rather, my fashion remains steadfast in the face of change. Jeans and a button down are pretty much an indestructible style.
I saw some things in York though that defy even MY muted sense of propriety. Hose without shorts for instance... or long-tailed shirts that make it look as though the woman wearing them has no pants on because they completely cover her otherwise ass-cheek revealing cut-offs. I've also come to the general conclusion that women who wear boots that do not pass the shin along with short shorts are even dorkier than men who wear socks with sandals. Why? Because men who wear socks with sandals are saying, "I have no self-awareness but am good at math." Women who wear short boots and short shorts are saying, "Look at my far-too-white legs and despair."
Orange hair. It looks like crap. ALWAYS.
I saw an inordinate number of "I heart NY/DC/LA/etc" shirts being worn by people who likely had never visited the places they supposedly heart. Why do I think so? Cause they're tweens or early twenties and very few people who make decent money at that age wear such corny clothing. This is lame, even if I'm wrong and they were all at those locations and actually DO heart them. Stop it. Get a shirt from Hard Rock like everyone else who wants to declare they've been somewhere. It's more credible, especially when I JUST passed the store IN YORK that is displaying the "I heart NY/DC/LA/etc" shirt you're wearing. On another note: NY/DC/LA ALL SUCK. They're horrible places to live and only good to visit in tiny doses within tiny well-defined tourist trap areas.
If YOU ever get the chance to go to York, visit The Evil Eye. Great little bar with an awesome second story view of the street. Also another place near one of the city walls called Gibson's. Great drink specials there.
The Minister is an awe-inspiring site, the greenswards were indeed VERY green, and the whole town was remarkably picturesque, including the Shambles, a street that could have come straight out of Diagon Alley. The Jorvik tour was also pretty nifty. Food was pretty good as well, but bring your own mustard. The English either don't use it or only have the spicy stuff, which is fine sometimes, but on a burger I want French's. Subway had no vinegar. How the hell does Subway have no vinegar??? *facepalm*
Do not stay at the Parkinn hotel. Problems included: faulty doors, piss-poor shower design, and a "king" bed that was in fact two twins pushed and sheeted together. Daily linen changes... didn't happen. We got fresh towels, but they just made up the bed with the same sheets. Next time I visit England I think I'll try a B&B. This is the second hotel on the island with which I was thoroughly unimpressed.
Thank you Wyla for showing me the sites and sights and I had a fantastic time overall. Once again I bitch because if I noted all the really cool stuff, the post would run forever.
Very odd concatenation of people from all over and my conclusion regarding them is that fashion in ANY sense of the word seems optional in York. I am not into fashion or rather, my fashion remains steadfast in the face of change. Jeans and a button down are pretty much an indestructible style.
I saw some things in York though that defy even MY muted sense of propriety. Hose without shorts for instance... or long-tailed shirts that make it look as though the woman wearing them has no pants on because they completely cover her otherwise ass-cheek revealing cut-offs. I've also come to the general conclusion that women who wear boots that do not pass the shin along with short shorts are even dorkier than men who wear socks with sandals. Why? Because men who wear socks with sandals are saying, "I have no self-awareness but am good at math." Women who wear short boots and short shorts are saying, "Look at my far-too-white legs and despair."
Orange hair. It looks like crap. ALWAYS.
I saw an inordinate number of "I heart NY/DC/LA/etc" shirts being worn by people who likely had never visited the places they supposedly heart. Why do I think so? Cause they're tweens or early twenties and very few people who make decent money at that age wear such corny clothing. This is lame, even if I'm wrong and they were all at those locations and actually DO heart them. Stop it. Get a shirt from Hard Rock like everyone else who wants to declare they've been somewhere. It's more credible, especially when I JUST passed the store IN YORK that is displaying the "I heart NY/DC/LA/etc" shirt you're wearing. On another note: NY/DC/LA ALL SUCK. They're horrible places to live and only good to visit in tiny doses within tiny well-defined tourist trap areas.
If YOU ever get the chance to go to York, visit The Evil Eye. Great little bar with an awesome second story view of the street. Also another place near one of the city walls called Gibson's. Great drink specials there.
The Minister is an awe-inspiring site, the greenswards were indeed VERY green, and the whole town was remarkably picturesque, including the Shambles, a street that could have come straight out of Diagon Alley. The Jorvik tour was also pretty nifty. Food was pretty good as well, but bring your own mustard. The English either don't use it or only have the spicy stuff, which is fine sometimes, but on a burger I want French's. Subway had no vinegar. How the hell does Subway have no vinegar??? *facepalm*
Do not stay at the Parkinn hotel. Problems included: faulty doors, piss-poor shower design, and a "king" bed that was in fact two twins pushed and sheeted together. Daily linen changes... didn't happen. We got fresh towels, but they just made up the bed with the same sheets. Next time I visit England I think I'll try a B&B. This is the second hotel on the island with which I was thoroughly unimpressed.
Thank you Wyla for showing me the sites and sights and I had a fantastic time overall. Once again I bitch because if I noted all the really cool stuff, the post would run forever.
Just got back from
Posted 13 years agowhat has to have been one of the if not the most fantastic vacation I've ever been on.
I and a lovely lady whom I had the honor to meet at Confuzzled went to Dubai for four days and three nights and for that time lived at Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah. That was a singular hotel in just about every sense of the word.
Rather than go into lengthy descriptions of everything I'll probably post a gaggle of pictures which will go into scraps after a while.
The highlight of the stay though has to have been the lovely young lady who has me convinced that if Karma is real my actions had to have resulted in the deaths of a LOT of terrorists... or there's a reckoning in my future. :P
Unfortunately Dubai in July is pretty warm... to put things mildly. And since we were on an island the whole weekend, humidity was also rampant. As well there seems to have been a dust storm present pretty much the whole weekend. We caught glimpses of the Burj Khalifa, but there was no point in actually going up because there literally would have been no view at all from the top. Just haze. The only time we could actually get a half-way clear view of the building itself was when we went to Dubai Mall, which is all but attached.
As for the Atlantis... everything was pretty much awesome, though it got off to a slow start when they switched up the room request I'd made. We spent an extra few hours in the Imperial lounge waiting for that to be straightened out, which it eventually was, to my and her great delight.
Be warned though: The Atlantis is very family friendly. This is a warning? How so?
There are screaming children everywhere. There's actually a french restaurant at the Atlantis that almost attracted our custom exclusively through the promise that no children under 12 were allowed in. Neither of us even knows what french food actually is. My closest idea is Le Madelines. We wound up going to a steak place instead, which was fantastic by the by.
If I keep going it'll just be gushing. In summary: I went, It was good beyond rational measure, and I have returned a richer man for the experience.
I and a lovely lady whom I had the honor to meet at Confuzzled went to Dubai for four days and three nights and for that time lived at Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah. That was a singular hotel in just about every sense of the word.
Rather than go into lengthy descriptions of everything I'll probably post a gaggle of pictures which will go into scraps after a while.
The highlight of the stay though has to have been the lovely young lady who has me convinced that if Karma is real my actions had to have resulted in the deaths of a LOT of terrorists... or there's a reckoning in my future. :P
Unfortunately Dubai in July is pretty warm... to put things mildly. And since we were on an island the whole weekend, humidity was also rampant. As well there seems to have been a dust storm present pretty much the whole weekend. We caught glimpses of the Burj Khalifa, but there was no point in actually going up because there literally would have been no view at all from the top. Just haze. The only time we could actually get a half-way clear view of the building itself was when we went to Dubai Mall, which is all but attached.
As for the Atlantis... everything was pretty much awesome, though it got off to a slow start when they switched up the room request I'd made. We spent an extra few hours in the Imperial lounge waiting for that to be straightened out, which it eventually was, to my and her great delight.
Be warned though: The Atlantis is very family friendly. This is a warning? How so?
There are screaming children everywhere. There's actually a french restaurant at the Atlantis that almost attracted our custom exclusively through the promise that no children under 12 were allowed in. Neither of us even knows what french food actually is. My closest idea is Le Madelines. We wound up going to a steak place instead, which was fantastic by the by.
If I keep going it'll just be gushing. In summary: I went, It was good beyond rational measure, and I have returned a richer man for the experience.
I have noticed
Posted 13 years agothat a lot of people are posting these ridiculously abrupt, deliberately non-sensical journals. At first I thought, "Well, I guess I just watch the weird ones," but no... it's not just that I HAPPEN to watch the weird ones. This seems to be a trend, a thing, or if you will, a... *shudder* meme.
So like a good little net goon here's my little effort to join the meme and participate by tossing out something completely fcking random. Bear in mind I'm not really good at this because I happen to think that speaking is more worthwhile when the things you say make sense. So here goes:
"And by the way, you're supposed to have anxiety, did you know that? You're supposed to be worried that the rent's not gonna get paid, cause that's how the fuckin' rent gets paid!"
-Christopher Titus
In case you were wondering... journals are NOT TWITTER. DO NOT POST YOUR THOUGHTS OR FEELINGS IN TEN LETTERS OR LESS!
If you want to be a twit, then go tweet. If you want people who care enough about you and your life to read your thoughts on any given thing, WRITE A PROPER JOURNAL.
That is all.
So like a good little net goon here's my little effort to join the meme and participate by tossing out something completely fcking random. Bear in mind I'm not really good at this because I happen to think that speaking is more worthwhile when the things you say make sense. So here goes:
"And by the way, you're supposed to have anxiety, did you know that? You're supposed to be worried that the rent's not gonna get paid, cause that's how the fuckin' rent gets paid!"
-Christopher Titus
In case you were wondering... journals are NOT TWITTER. DO NOT POST YOUR THOUGHTS OR FEELINGS IN TEN LETTERS OR LESS!
If you want to be a twit, then go tweet. If you want people who care enough about you and your life to read your thoughts on any given thing, WRITE A PROPER JOURNAL.
That is all.
Confuzzled 2012 AAR
Posted 13 years agoConfuzzled 2012 was easily the best furry con I've ever attended.
So rather than listing all the awesomeness and making this journal unnecessarily long, I shall instead list the things that could have been better with the weekend:
Ahem.
A four star hotel should have fcking A/C unit in every room. You would think, right? No. Only A/C in the whole place seemed to be in the executive suites and main venue and was there usually somewhat inadequate. Fail. Motel 6 has A/C. MOTEL 6. Hell I'm pretty sure I've been in rest-stop bathrooms off major freeways here in the states that had good air conditioning. Homeless people living in rest-stop bathrooms had better A/C than I had last weekend.
Being in the country was mostly to the good. I really really REALLY enjoyed stepping outside and enjoying the breeze and smelling grass in the wind. (That may have something to do with where I had to come back to, but let's not bitch too much mm?) However, the fact that anyone not local essentially had to beg borrow or steal transport into town to get anything, and there was NO MONEY MACHINE at the hotel itself was... well... kinda shitty. Next year I may pack a box of essentials and mail it to con in advance just to make sure that, God forbid, I don't wind up needing some extra booze for a room party on the second night or say... if my deodorant gets confiscated en route (this happened in Germany), I don't need to pick up some backup non-stink spray.
That's pretty much it.
Everything else about the con rocked. Met some fantastic people, everyone was very friendly and the twisted side of the fandom was kept to a minimum as far as I could see. I really liked the Mephit Furmeet in its first few years, and I've enjoyed the occasions I got to go back to Furfright... but Confuzzled has definitely taken the cake. It'll be really hard next year to justify going to A-kon instead, even if I'm back in Texas by then!
So rather than listing all the awesomeness and making this journal unnecessarily long, I shall instead list the things that could have been better with the weekend:
Ahem.
A four star hotel should have fcking A/C unit in every room. You would think, right? No. Only A/C in the whole place seemed to be in the executive suites and main venue and was there usually somewhat inadequate. Fail. Motel 6 has A/C. MOTEL 6. Hell I'm pretty sure I've been in rest-stop bathrooms off major freeways here in the states that had good air conditioning. Homeless people living in rest-stop bathrooms had better A/C than I had last weekend.
Being in the country was mostly to the good. I really really REALLY enjoyed stepping outside and enjoying the breeze and smelling grass in the wind. (That may have something to do with where I had to come back to, but let's not bitch too much mm?) However, the fact that anyone not local essentially had to beg borrow or steal transport into town to get anything, and there was NO MONEY MACHINE at the hotel itself was... well... kinda shitty. Next year I may pack a box of essentials and mail it to con in advance just to make sure that, God forbid, I don't wind up needing some extra booze for a room party on the second night or say... if my deodorant gets confiscated en route (this happened in Germany), I don't need to pick up some backup non-stink spray.
That's pretty much it.
Everything else about the con rocked. Met some fantastic people, everyone was very friendly and the twisted side of the fandom was kept to a minimum as far as I could see. I really liked the Mephit Furmeet in its first few years, and I've enjoyed the occasions I got to go back to Furfright... but Confuzzled has definitely taken the cake. It'll be really hard next year to justify going to A-kon instead, even if I'm back in Texas by then!
Guy Pearce
Posted 13 years agoI was so taken with the TED talk teaser trailer for Prometheus that I dug into Guy Pearce a bit and the man seems to be quite a talented actor. I picked up a horror he's in called... what was it... Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. Looks like something of a hokey creature feature but it has the air of a movie built more on suspense than gore so I should enjoy it.
Beyond the Veil IS moving forward... at a steady clip believe it or not. DT and I are working on the next several pages to set up a buffer and we're going over the overarching plot, talking pretty much daily as she squeaks in work for me between her day job and familial obligations. She's serious about this comic and so am I; I'm actually pleased that lately she seems if anything more enthused than I am (though that could be just because between the job, new work-out schedule and lack of sleep I'm just weary all the time). Her enthusiasm is very catchy and I've been cranking on the plot points and major character developments I want to work into the story. We talked it over and one of the things she urged me to do (which I have agreed to) is to write the story for BtV in a novel format and she will storyboard it off the written work as well as talking over the translation from text to pretty pictures. This means among other things that I will at one point or another collect all my notes from the beginning of the comic and write THAT portion as well. Who knows, if there's interest I may post it in sections in the BtV forums.
Kuwait is warming up rapidly now... getting to the point where I break a sweat just walking to the chow hall and that's on night shift.
What else is troubling me... well, nothing really... though I have noticed three weeks in to a new bodybuilding routine that my left arm is about a quarter inch smaller cold than my right. Gives out several reps early on curls and shoulder exercises... will have to spend extra time on it to bring it up to speed, so to speak. I've put about 3/4 of an inch on both arms since I started, but that kind of rapid progress is easy at the beginning and going from 14 to 15 inch arms has been much easier than going from 15 to 16 will be.
I've been slacking a bit on my legs but that ends tomorrow, and of course my best feature (chest) is responding well; I'm back up to pushing 225 for 3 on the bench. Will also be starting some forearm specific exercises next week because my grip is failing me on several exercises that I could otherwise put more weight into or do more reps with, most notably the hanging leg-raise. It's been recommended that I get straps but I really don't want to have to rely on them this early... I'd rather let my grip fail than risk a weight that could damage my core before I'm ready for it. Most of the major compound exercises (squat, deadlift, bench) I've either not been doing at all or put at the very end of my workout so I literally can't try pushing my limits.
My back is also responding well, which pleases me a great deal because a broad back with good definition is just sexy to me. I'm actually surprised at how much I enjoy working my back now; the lingering soreness feels AWESOME and gives me an excuse to stretch big and often.
I want to really press forward this year and reach one of my long-time goals, a 300 pound benchpress. That will blow the traditional 2/4/6 ratio out of the water (since I can already do over 200 on the bench, but nowhere near a 400 deadlift or a 600 squat) but who cares, I'll fill in the gaps eventually (no one likes chickenlegged bodybuilders. ;p). The goal is almost laughable when one of my longtime friends (who granted has been bodybuilding ten years) puts up 500 and has 18 inch guns cold in the morning. Oh well. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is an enviable body, but I have made considerable progress on the latter. I'll let Italy fend for itself. :P
Another side-effect of the new regimen is that I've gained about ten pounds back, not ALL of it fat but most because I simply do not have the time to work in two daily workouts on a schedule that includes 14 hour days five days a week. Still, with Confuzzled at the end of the month and me wanting to look my best (even if I've no real expectations of the con I try not to go out in public looking like a slob) I may try and work in a twenty minute run in the mornings or something. I've also been cheating on my diet weekends, which of course will not be happening THIS month, because now that Warren is gone (long story short, good friend left Kuwait) I won't be eating out every weekend to celebrate his good fortune in escaping this hellish sandtrap of a country anymore.
I've written a couple fetish pieces for the alternate account on the weekends, and gotten thoroughly hooked on a F2P game called Super Monday Night Combat.
If you're still reading I commend your dedication to the irrelevant details of what is in essence currently a very boring life. I'm exhausted, just waiting to put the clothes in the drier so I can rack out. As a reward (sort-of) for sticking with me this long... here is a short clip from Ahnold that I absolutely LOVE for a few reasons, but my favorite has to be his feelings on getting a pump... you'll just have to watch and trust me, if you don't either nod in agreement or laugh out loud... well, um... there's just no hope for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvHTE5oAXAI
Beyond the Veil IS moving forward... at a steady clip believe it or not. DT and I are working on the next several pages to set up a buffer and we're going over the overarching plot, talking pretty much daily as she squeaks in work for me between her day job and familial obligations. She's serious about this comic and so am I; I'm actually pleased that lately she seems if anything more enthused than I am (though that could be just because between the job, new work-out schedule and lack of sleep I'm just weary all the time). Her enthusiasm is very catchy and I've been cranking on the plot points and major character developments I want to work into the story. We talked it over and one of the things she urged me to do (which I have agreed to) is to write the story for BtV in a novel format and she will storyboard it off the written work as well as talking over the translation from text to pretty pictures. This means among other things that I will at one point or another collect all my notes from the beginning of the comic and write THAT portion as well. Who knows, if there's interest I may post it in sections in the BtV forums.
Kuwait is warming up rapidly now... getting to the point where I break a sweat just walking to the chow hall and that's on night shift.
What else is troubling me... well, nothing really... though I have noticed three weeks in to a new bodybuilding routine that my left arm is about a quarter inch smaller cold than my right. Gives out several reps early on curls and shoulder exercises... will have to spend extra time on it to bring it up to speed, so to speak. I've put about 3/4 of an inch on both arms since I started, but that kind of rapid progress is easy at the beginning and going from 14 to 15 inch arms has been much easier than going from 15 to 16 will be.
I've been slacking a bit on my legs but that ends tomorrow, and of course my best feature (chest) is responding well; I'm back up to pushing 225 for 3 on the bench. Will also be starting some forearm specific exercises next week because my grip is failing me on several exercises that I could otherwise put more weight into or do more reps with, most notably the hanging leg-raise. It's been recommended that I get straps but I really don't want to have to rely on them this early... I'd rather let my grip fail than risk a weight that could damage my core before I'm ready for it. Most of the major compound exercises (squat, deadlift, bench) I've either not been doing at all or put at the very end of my workout so I literally can't try pushing my limits.
My back is also responding well, which pleases me a great deal because a broad back with good definition is just sexy to me. I'm actually surprised at how much I enjoy working my back now; the lingering soreness feels AWESOME and gives me an excuse to stretch big and often.
I want to really press forward this year and reach one of my long-time goals, a 300 pound benchpress. That will blow the traditional 2/4/6 ratio out of the water (since I can already do over 200 on the bench, but nowhere near a 400 deadlift or a 600 squat) but who cares, I'll fill in the gaps eventually (no one likes chickenlegged bodybuilders. ;p). The goal is almost laughable when one of my longtime friends (who granted has been bodybuilding ten years) puts up 500 and has 18 inch guns cold in the morning. Oh well. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is an enviable body, but I have made considerable progress on the latter. I'll let Italy fend for itself. :P
Another side-effect of the new regimen is that I've gained about ten pounds back, not ALL of it fat but most because I simply do not have the time to work in two daily workouts on a schedule that includes 14 hour days five days a week. Still, with Confuzzled at the end of the month and me wanting to look my best (even if I've no real expectations of the con I try not to go out in public looking like a slob) I may try and work in a twenty minute run in the mornings or something. I've also been cheating on my diet weekends, which of course will not be happening THIS month, because now that Warren is gone (long story short, good friend left Kuwait) I won't be eating out every weekend to celebrate his good fortune in escaping this hellish sandtrap of a country anymore.
I've written a couple fetish pieces for the alternate account on the weekends, and gotten thoroughly hooked on a F2P game called Super Monday Night Combat.
If you're still reading I commend your dedication to the irrelevant details of what is in essence currently a very boring life. I'm exhausted, just waiting to put the clothes in the drier so I can rack out. As a reward (sort-of) for sticking with me this long... here is a short clip from Ahnold that I absolutely LOVE for a few reasons, but my favorite has to be his feelings on getting a pump... you'll just have to watch and trust me, if you don't either nod in agreement or laugh out loud... well, um... there's just no hope for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvHTE5oAXAI
Question:
Posted 13 years agoWhy on earth are you watching my page?
Actually answering will help me provide more of the sort of content you watch this page FOR, so please don't be shy, post up!
A) I saw your Beyond the Veil comic, can't wait for it to get going again, and watch you for news!
B) The commissions you get done by other artists are really quality, and I watch so I don't miss one!
C) I work with chain or really just dig chainmaille jewelry and the pieces you post up are pretty cool.
D) I read, you write. I really liked x story, and are you still working on it?
E) I read porn, you write porn. Write more porn.
F) I've met you and you were just too cool not to watch.
G) You were part of a rash of watches I threw out there so I could get shouts and comments in return on my page. I don't even know what the hell is on your page. Here, lemme drop the watch so I don't confuse you.
H) I'm sure I had a reason at one time... I just really don't remember what it was.
In other news, yes, Beyond the Veil IS still on my plate and I am still working to get it started again. DT has just about everything she needs; just waiting on Photoshop (which is on its way to her) and I'm going to get a buffer of 3 or 4 comics before we start posting again. Likely it will begin slowly, with one post a week. Once DT and I find our groove again, we may try upping it to two posts a week. I also managed to convince her to get livestream set up, so in future there may be Beyond the Veil stream sessions where you get to watch the comic as it's being drawn!
For those few of you to whom this may apply, looking forward to Confuzzled. If I'll see you there, post up! And now I shall spend the next three weeks watching no one post up and this will depress me immeasurably (which is to say not at all, thus by no measurable amount). Seriously though; if you actually watch for a certain kind of content, let me know.
Actually answering will help me provide more of the sort of content you watch this page FOR, so please don't be shy, post up!
A) I saw your Beyond the Veil comic, can't wait for it to get going again, and watch you for news!
B) The commissions you get done by other artists are really quality, and I watch so I don't miss one!
C) I work with chain or really just dig chainmaille jewelry and the pieces you post up are pretty cool.
D) I read, you write. I really liked x story, and are you still working on it?
E) I read porn, you write porn. Write more porn.
F) I've met you and you were just too cool not to watch.
G) You were part of a rash of watches I threw out there so I could get shouts and comments in return on my page. I don't even know what the hell is on your page. Here, lemme drop the watch so I don't confuse you.
H) I'm sure I had a reason at one time... I just really don't remember what it was.
In other news, yes, Beyond the Veil IS still on my plate and I am still working to get it started again. DT has just about everything she needs; just waiting on Photoshop (which is on its way to her) and I'm going to get a buffer of 3 or 4 comics before we start posting again. Likely it will begin slowly, with one post a week. Once DT and I find our groove again, we may try upping it to two posts a week. I also managed to convince her to get livestream set up, so in future there may be Beyond the Veil stream sessions where you get to watch the comic as it's being drawn!
For those few of you to whom this may apply, looking forward to Confuzzled. If I'll see you there, post up! And now I shall spend the next three weeks watching no one post up and this will depress me immeasurably (which is to say not at all, thus by no measurable amount). Seriously though; if you actually watch for a certain kind of content, let me know.
You promised me you'd buy pants, Minmax
Posted 13 years agoDon't question it... just go. Go now, and laugh... but take plenty of time with you, the archive is extensive.
http://www.goblinscomic.com
http://www.goblinscomic.com
meme.
Posted 13 years agoThe "Talk About Yourself" Meme!
stolen from
ksharra
0. We all know what we call you, what about the folks at home? Whats your name?
Well my 'extended' family call me Sky or Uncle Sky (for reasons that require more explain space than is justified here.) and my associates call me by my last name, which is Dillard.
I don't allow people to call me by my first name unless they are: REAL friends, ACTUAL family, or sex.
Most people here can call me Ceb, since the slaughter of my full handle seems to have become something of a pasttime among English speakers.
1. How tall are you?
6 even, 5'11 in the late afternoon. ;p
2. Natural hair color? (if you can remember it)
Dark brown
3. What about eye color?
Hazel
4. What orientation are you?
Straight
5. Are you single, taken, or undecided?
Single
6. What do you do in your spare time?
Read, write, game, travel. Used to be world class Air Hockey player, but the sport is dead.
7. What's your job?
Mercenary/Government Contractor
8. What's one thing you like about yourself?
BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS
9. Alright, now what about something you dislike about yourself?
Can't bench 300 lbs (yet)
10. What's some things your friends noticed about you when they first met you?
I've been told I'm a good conversationalist and tell great stories.
11. Of what faith/religion are you(if any at all?)
Deist
12. Do you drink?
In moderation and uh... not in moderation at certain parties and in certain company
13. Do you smoke?
Cigars and pipes. Cigarettes are nasty. No pot thanks. Government clearance and all that.
14. What are your fears?
Failure
15. What are your dreams/goals?
Get a good woman to share the rest with. Perhaps when I'm done securing my livelihood crank out some genuinely publishable reading material.
16 .Ever had any crushes/ex's in the past/present?
This is like asking if you're past puberty yet. Yes.
17. Who's your best bud?
He'd be irritated with me if I put his name on the internet, which should tell you that I have some odd friends. Here in furry? Beowulf. I can't help but like the guy.
18. Alright, you got the cravin' for munchies, what'cha reachin' for?
Peppered or homemade Beef Jerkey... or smoked salmon... mmmm....
19. Favorite drink?
Diet cherry pepsi
20. Favorite color?
Gray (yes, wierd.)
21. If you had any super power, what would it be?
I would have a 2000 point unlimited powerpool (Hero 5th edition)
If I'm being limited to the spirit of the question rather than the letter... oddly enough, I would want the gift of tongues.
22. Favorite movie?
Hrm... In no particular order: Spaceballs, The Princess Bride, Gladiator
23. Least favorite food?
um... This is actually a hard question. I'm pretty easy when it comes to food... Meatloaf?
24. Quick! You have only one meal left before you die!!! What is it?
Cheese sticks and artichoke spinach dip appetizer, Medium rare prime rib with fresh horseradish and au jus, cheddar mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans or succotash, and key-lime pie for dessert.
25. What do you drive/wish you drove?
Right now I drive a Mitsubishi Gallant that the company gave me here in Kuwait. Wish I drove? The Delorian as depicted in Back to the Future II.
26. Most disliked bug?
Roaches
27. Most hated pet peeves?
procrastination, excuses, mooching
28. Dislike in life?
People who act like their moral code should somehow be legally binding on my behavior. People who act like victims, whether they are or not.
29. Most annoying?
This is rather vague. Vague is annoying... we'll go with vague.
30. Most disliked TV show?
I don't watch tv, but Spongebob is way up there (or down there) on that list.
stolen from
ksharra0. We all know what we call you, what about the folks at home? Whats your name?
Well my 'extended' family call me Sky or Uncle Sky (for reasons that require more explain space than is justified here.) and my associates call me by my last name, which is Dillard.
I don't allow people to call me by my first name unless they are: REAL friends, ACTUAL family, or sex.
Most people here can call me Ceb, since the slaughter of my full handle seems to have become something of a pasttime among English speakers.
1. How tall are you?
6 even, 5'11 in the late afternoon. ;p
2. Natural hair color? (if you can remember it)
Dark brown
3. What about eye color?
Hazel
4. What orientation are you?
Straight
5. Are you single, taken, or undecided?
Single
6. What do you do in your spare time?
Read, write, game, travel. Used to be world class Air Hockey player, but the sport is dead.
7. What's your job?
Mercenary/Government Contractor
8. What's one thing you like about yourself?
BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS
9. Alright, now what about something you dislike about yourself?
Can't bench 300 lbs (yet)
10. What's some things your friends noticed about you when they first met you?
I've been told I'm a good conversationalist and tell great stories.
11. Of what faith/religion are you(if any at all?)
Deist
12. Do you drink?
In moderation and uh... not in moderation at certain parties and in certain company
13. Do you smoke?
Cigars and pipes. Cigarettes are nasty. No pot thanks. Government clearance and all that.
14. What are your fears?
Failure
15. What are your dreams/goals?
Get a good woman to share the rest with. Perhaps when I'm done securing my livelihood crank out some genuinely publishable reading material.
16 .Ever had any crushes/ex's in the past/present?
This is like asking if you're past puberty yet. Yes.
17. Who's your best bud?
He'd be irritated with me if I put his name on the internet, which should tell you that I have some odd friends. Here in furry? Beowulf. I can't help but like the guy.
18. Alright, you got the cravin' for munchies, what'cha reachin' for?
Peppered or homemade Beef Jerkey... or smoked salmon... mmmm....
19. Favorite drink?
Diet cherry pepsi
20. Favorite color?
Gray (yes, wierd.)
21. If you had any super power, what would it be?
I would have a 2000 point unlimited powerpool (Hero 5th edition)
If I'm being limited to the spirit of the question rather than the letter... oddly enough, I would want the gift of tongues.
22. Favorite movie?
Hrm... In no particular order: Spaceballs, The Princess Bride, Gladiator
23. Least favorite food?
um... This is actually a hard question. I'm pretty easy when it comes to food... Meatloaf?
24. Quick! You have only one meal left before you die!!! What is it?
Cheese sticks and artichoke spinach dip appetizer, Medium rare prime rib with fresh horseradish and au jus, cheddar mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans or succotash, and key-lime pie for dessert.
25. What do you drive/wish you drove?
Right now I drive a Mitsubishi Gallant that the company gave me here in Kuwait. Wish I drove? The Delorian as depicted in Back to the Future II.
26. Most disliked bug?
Roaches
27. Most hated pet peeves?
procrastination, excuses, mooching
28. Dislike in life?
People who act like their moral code should somehow be legally binding on my behavior. People who act like victims, whether they are or not.
29. Most annoying?
This is rather vague. Vague is annoying... we'll go with vague.
30. Most disliked TV show?
I don't watch tv, but Spongebob is way up there (or down there) on that list.
Vacations and variations
Posted 13 years agoI'm not an artist, never have been, and the closest I'll probably ever be to one will be admitting to a certain envy regarding the skill and talent required (but in me absent) to render the images in one's mind on paper.
There is however one quality which I do share with artists, and that is the oft commented upon frustration with the fact that no matter the level of skill, the image in one's mind never comes out QUITE the way one would like. In my case however, the fact is that no matter how much I learn in my field, I never know QUITE enough to settle into a job and be happy.
I make good money, but I don't make good money living where I'd like to live; I make good money because I'm living where NO ONE in their right mind wants to live. I could make DECENT money at home, but not enough to retire when I'd like to retire. So here I am, faced with a return to studying, and wondering how long I'll have to be out here, gathering more experience, learning more skills... I'm under no illusions. The field I've chosen changes so rapidly that the minute I become comfortable I start falling behind.
There are other factors that may or may not come into play this summer, but I'd rather not speculate on them because quite frankly that would reveal a bit more of my character than I feel comfortable putting in a public forum. Suffice it to say that while I'm not open to illegal avenues of revenue, I don't mind at all the fact that some portion of my income is predicated on war and the acceptance of physical risk.
My vacation served several purposes. It reminded me of the rewards one has when one is financially solvent. It reminded me of the joys of friends and family. It reminded me that the work I'm doing is worth it because it allows me to do things with the people I love that I would not otherwise be able to do, or even contemplate.
It also reminded me that as long as I'm out here, I'll probably be alone. It reminded me that I really don't like where I'm currently working, and there are really no comforts here other than personal vices. It reminded me that if I intend to take full advantage of this limited opportunity I need to put every drop of effort into doing it now, because I really don't know how long I can take this place.
As for variations, I've been listening to several variations on Pacabel's Canon in D Major and I must say there are some very talented artists out there doing WONDERFUL things with classical music.
If you've an appreciation for music and you enjoy variations on a theme... this theme is one of the most time tested, and it along with its variants can make quite a complete playlist on their own. I recommend you do some exploring... and if you find some you particularly like, share them in the comments below.
There is however one quality which I do share with artists, and that is the oft commented upon frustration with the fact that no matter the level of skill, the image in one's mind never comes out QUITE the way one would like. In my case however, the fact is that no matter how much I learn in my field, I never know QUITE enough to settle into a job and be happy.
I make good money, but I don't make good money living where I'd like to live; I make good money because I'm living where NO ONE in their right mind wants to live. I could make DECENT money at home, but not enough to retire when I'd like to retire. So here I am, faced with a return to studying, and wondering how long I'll have to be out here, gathering more experience, learning more skills... I'm under no illusions. The field I've chosen changes so rapidly that the minute I become comfortable I start falling behind.
There are other factors that may or may not come into play this summer, but I'd rather not speculate on them because quite frankly that would reveal a bit more of my character than I feel comfortable putting in a public forum. Suffice it to say that while I'm not open to illegal avenues of revenue, I don't mind at all the fact that some portion of my income is predicated on war and the acceptance of physical risk.
My vacation served several purposes. It reminded me of the rewards one has when one is financially solvent. It reminded me of the joys of friends and family. It reminded me that the work I'm doing is worth it because it allows me to do things with the people I love that I would not otherwise be able to do, or even contemplate.
It also reminded me that as long as I'm out here, I'll probably be alone. It reminded me that I really don't like where I'm currently working, and there are really no comforts here other than personal vices. It reminded me that if I intend to take full advantage of this limited opportunity I need to put every drop of effort into doing it now, because I really don't know how long I can take this place.
As for variations, I've been listening to several variations on Pacabel's Canon in D Major and I must say there are some very talented artists out there doing WONDERFUL things with classical music.
If you've an appreciation for music and you enjoy variations on a theme... this theme is one of the most time tested, and it along with its variants can make quite a complete playlist on their own. I recommend you do some exploring... and if you find some you particularly like, share them in the comments below.
Bassic
Posted 13 years agoOne week, give or take...
Posted 13 years agoand I get to go home for the first time in just under a year.
I'll be there a week and then I get to come right back here... bah.
Oh well. While home I'll be running a Pathfinder game for my gaming group, which I am told eagerly awaits my return for I am teh hot shits when it comes to storytelling. This puts some pressure on me to come up with something interesting, and I think I've got a good one lined up: Going to run the group through Katapesh, over the mountains and into the Mawangi Expanse on an expedition to some heretofore undiscovered ruins. It will be a full group of six, so I'm really looking forward to running this one. Putting together everything from stock encounters and mini-boss style npc's to unique random tables and a dungeon with four levels each of which takes cues from a different theme.
Will probably start the pc's at level 3. If they're good, they could make 5 by the end of the session (I'll be running them on the fast xp tables), but that depends entirely on how well they gel. Two of the players are people I've never met, but the father of my godchildren vouches for them, so I know they're good.
If all goes well, I'll have them save the character sheets and I'll prepare an entire arc for them to run through when I finally return from this, the ass-crack of the world.
On a completely unrelated topic and for those of you who have something of a taste for schadenfreude, estimates put the death toll in Iraq at between 90 and 100 teens stoned or beaten to death for their 'emo' hair stylings. Evidence suggests that this was approved or abetted by their Ministry of the Interior. I live right next door. I fought actively in the war to free these people from the tyranny that was Saddam Hussein, and THIS is what they do with their democracy.
http://m.english.al-akhbar.com/cont.....h-emo-haircuts
For all of you who hate the idea of an Imperialist America pushing it's values on other nations I have this to say:
Ahem.
"Fuck you."
We may mock our emo brats and they ABSOLUTELY deserve every bit of that mockery, but they do not deserve to be dragged out into empty lots and crushed to death with cinder blocks one limb at a time, saving the head for last, rinse lather repeat until the poor little shit assumes ambient temperature.
I think if these people had a bit more of America instilled in them, they might not ruthlessly slaughter their own children.
Arguments about what we can and can't afford aside, we could have prevented this. Instead our 'respect' for the cultures of others has resulted in this and countless other atrocities committed in the 'democracies' WE set up.
So again, to all you cultural relativists? All you multy-culty shits? This is on you. American Imperialism never would have allowed this. These deaths come courtesy of YOUR policy. Welcome to the real world. Enjoy the tour.
I'll be there a week and then I get to come right back here... bah.
Oh well. While home I'll be running a Pathfinder game for my gaming group, which I am told eagerly awaits my return for I am teh hot shits when it comes to storytelling. This puts some pressure on me to come up with something interesting, and I think I've got a good one lined up: Going to run the group through Katapesh, over the mountains and into the Mawangi Expanse on an expedition to some heretofore undiscovered ruins. It will be a full group of six, so I'm really looking forward to running this one. Putting together everything from stock encounters and mini-boss style npc's to unique random tables and a dungeon with four levels each of which takes cues from a different theme.
Will probably start the pc's at level 3. If they're good, they could make 5 by the end of the session (I'll be running them on the fast xp tables), but that depends entirely on how well they gel. Two of the players are people I've never met, but the father of my godchildren vouches for them, so I know they're good.
If all goes well, I'll have them save the character sheets and I'll prepare an entire arc for them to run through when I finally return from this, the ass-crack of the world.
On a completely unrelated topic and for those of you who have something of a taste for schadenfreude, estimates put the death toll in Iraq at between 90 and 100 teens stoned or beaten to death for their 'emo' hair stylings. Evidence suggests that this was approved or abetted by their Ministry of the Interior. I live right next door. I fought actively in the war to free these people from the tyranny that was Saddam Hussein, and THIS is what they do with their democracy.
http://m.english.al-akhbar.com/cont.....h-emo-haircuts
For all of you who hate the idea of an Imperialist America pushing it's values on other nations I have this to say:
Ahem.
"Fuck you."
We may mock our emo brats and they ABSOLUTELY deserve every bit of that mockery, but they do not deserve to be dragged out into empty lots and crushed to death with cinder blocks one limb at a time, saving the head for last, rinse lather repeat until the poor little shit assumes ambient temperature.
I think if these people had a bit more of America instilled in them, they might not ruthlessly slaughter their own children.
Arguments about what we can and can't afford aside, we could have prevented this. Instead our 'respect' for the cultures of others has resulted in this and countless other atrocities committed in the 'democracies' WE set up.
So again, to all you cultural relativists? All you multy-culty shits? This is on you. American Imperialism never would have allowed this. These deaths come courtesy of YOUR policy. Welcome to the real world. Enjoy the tour.
Brave New World moments (rant, disregard unless bored)
Posted 13 years agoAnyone who has ever read Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World" will recognize the idea of having a moment where you realize that the world you knew is not the world you currently face. While I'm not at the point of taking the Noble Savage's way out of things, I am approaching, gradually, the notion that the nation of my birth may not be the nation where I am laid to rest.
I have always been an unabashed jingoist, and still am to the extent that it means the classical culture of the United States is far superior to that which is to be had or found anywhere else in the developed world and most other places besides. Being extraordinarily widely traveled and having sampled the cultures of Asia and Europe as well as North and Central (though not south America... yet) America that should mean something to people not blinded by other priorities. When I say I've seen how the other side lives, I bloody well mean it. People in the United States have no idea what true poverty is. None at all.
Alas, it comes to me that the simple retort of my childhood, "It's a free country and I can do what I want," has been corrupted so heavily by leftist influences that its very sound has twisted in my ear. In the guise of loving freedom, groups and associations in my nation advance the notion of state-controlled everything, and personal responsibility for nothing. When I was a child I may indeed have been free to do what I wanted, but it was also understood that if I did wrong I'd be punished for it, and not necessarily by the state, which is the key point.
When I was growing up. words were worth fighting over, because they had meaning. "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," was a mantra, a prayer repeated over and over by the mocked and the ridiculed in the vain hope that if it were often enough repeated, they would become true. It was spoken by the people too weak or too afraid (either of the aggressor or the wrath of their parents) to strike out physically against those that assailed them with these oh so painful words.
Now words are acknowledged to be painful, but the state has so far gained control of and manipulated the idea of justice that only authoritarian figures can be believed to have the power to correct injustices. The idea of shooting back, which has been long bred out of Europeans, is being now educated out of Americans. The days when you didn't talk like that to your neighbor because he had no fear to come over and beat your ass cherry red on behalf of society are long gone.
Punks and thugs, once confined to certain areas of town where 'the respectable' didn't go, now roam at will and steal from anyone they please in cities across the nation because no one has the wit to realize that by passing the buck ENTIRELY to the police, the citizen has left himself defenseless when, as is the case the majority of the time, the police aren't around.
There was a story late last year of a sixty + year old man who was knocked off his bicycle by three teenage thugs attempting a robbery. He shot two and killed one. When the police arrived on scene and questioned survivors and witnesses, the surviving thugs were charged and the old man was released. THAT is the America I grew up in, but it is one that is sadly and slowly disappearing. That old man took personal responsibility and what's more, he forced the kids to take it too. Good for him. I'll be the survivors think twice before they decide to knock over an old man for bubblegum money.
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=361536
When I was growing up, I still remember another kid in my kindergarten bringing dad's rifle in for show and tell. He disassembled it with the help of the teacher and showed all the parts to the class; it was awesome. If someone's child did that today the kid would be remanded to the state and the parent's would probably be arrested. Earlier this year a four year old girl DREW A PICTURE of daddy holding a gun, and the father was arrested. On what planet, in what country, can a child DRAW A PICTURE and send one of her parents to prison? Certainly not in the nation I grew up in... and no, as it happens this unfortunate father was in Canada. What did the child say about the drawing?
“He uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters,” teachers say the girl explained.
The man was arrested when he came to pick his daughter up from school, strip searched, and held whilst his home was invaded and searched as well. Don't believe me?
http://rt.com/usa/news/jail-sansone.....-waterloo-333/
The Canadians have recently made some strides toward putting the big boy pants back on their civilians by retracting a long gun registration law, but their largely European take on hand firearms would certainly have had an old man thrown in prison for defending himself on a bike trail with a hand gun. Stories abound in the UK of self-defense landing victorious defenders in prison, and they wonder how the riots last year got so out of hand.
Personal responsibility, though still practiced much more regularly in the US than other locations, is vanishing into the mists of time as the feds gradually take all pretense of control from local governments and private citizens, usually in the name of the children or public safety. The idea of a public that protects its own safety and is not docilely hand-fed its treats has no appeal in the leftist mind, and the leftist mind has been behind great strides recently in social evolution here in the US.
There was a time in the US when the rich were celebrated because they had achieved the American Dream. Now they're reviled because wealth is so poorly understood that people in the 99% think if one person has wealth and another doesn't there must have been theft involved. The idea that wealth is creatable has become baffling to the increasing number of people who receive checks signed by the government.
At one time it was understood if you had skills no one would pay for you had a hobby not a job, and you'd best learn some different skills if you expected to put dinner on the table and clothes on your back and a roof over your head. Thirty years of telling our kids, "You can be whatever you want to be," has left us with three generations of kids who are convinced it's true, much to the detriment of themselves, their families, and society in general.
People eventually always accuse me of lacking compassion because much of what I have to say falls in line with social darwinism. Not a popular idea and not one I entirely subscribe to, though it certainly merits close observation.
In the end though I am not a social darwinist. I am in fact a realist. And here is the troubling reality at the heart of all: while wealth is creatable it is not at any given time limitless. If you as an individual can't afford something in a real world setting, you don't buy it and don't receive the benefit of having it. If you WANT it, you work to earn the currency required to obtain it, be that item a new shirt, a tv, life-saving surgery or a meal at McDonalds. The government's ability to defer the real price of services that cannot be afforded has allowed our political representatives to convince half, if not more of the nation that it can indefinitely provide things that cost money for free. If that free service could in fact be made free, then we'd all be fools not to go get whatever it is, so long as it's something we needed or wanted.
In fact that service is not, and never has been free, and in some cases it costs so much that even a 100% tax rate couldn't pay for it all. This explains, or begins to explain, the national debt and other debts in Western nations around the world. If you want to see what government promises will get you in the long run, have a look at Greece. Their government promised the people things it could never pay for, and the people ALL BOUGHT INTO THE LIE. Now they're rioting because true costs have been brought home to them. Socialism FAILS because it relies on OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY... and that money is not limitless. When it runs out, or the people from whom you are stealing or borrowing decide or are forced to cut you off... the house of cards collapses.
So in the end, you can only have what is in your means. Unfortunately, those means may not include the things you need to survive, and the bald fact is that your fellow man's responsibility for you IS limited. Your responsibility for yourself, no matter what your government tells you, is on the other hand, quite absolute.
If you want to chase your dreams, DO it... within reason. But as the somewhat sarcastic demotivators say, not every kid gets to grow up to be an astronaut. Not every kid gets to live in a mansion... and perhaps tragically, not every kid is entitled to live to old age on nothing but the charity, forced or otherwise, of his social peers.
I foresee a day when the riots of Greece will happen in the states. By then, God willing and ability allowing, I will be beach-side somewhere else, reminiscing fondly of the days when America was a great nation. The United States is still the greatest nation on earth, but all nations rise and fall. Some nations re-invent themselves and keep the same name, but the principles that previously drove their cultures are just as dead as they would be had the name changed along with the faces of those in power. Within the next ten years or so it will become clear whether or not America can withstand the tide of socialism sweeping the globe, and MOST of the current indications seem to point toward no... which is a tragedy fit to make a grown man cry.
Titan AE was, by and large, a crap movie. It did have one good line though that I've had occasion to use often over the years.
"I weep for the species."
I have always been an unabashed jingoist, and still am to the extent that it means the classical culture of the United States is far superior to that which is to be had or found anywhere else in the developed world and most other places besides. Being extraordinarily widely traveled and having sampled the cultures of Asia and Europe as well as North and Central (though not south America... yet) America that should mean something to people not blinded by other priorities. When I say I've seen how the other side lives, I bloody well mean it. People in the United States have no idea what true poverty is. None at all.
Alas, it comes to me that the simple retort of my childhood, "It's a free country and I can do what I want," has been corrupted so heavily by leftist influences that its very sound has twisted in my ear. In the guise of loving freedom, groups and associations in my nation advance the notion of state-controlled everything, and personal responsibility for nothing. When I was a child I may indeed have been free to do what I wanted, but it was also understood that if I did wrong I'd be punished for it, and not necessarily by the state, which is the key point.
When I was growing up. words were worth fighting over, because they had meaning. "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," was a mantra, a prayer repeated over and over by the mocked and the ridiculed in the vain hope that if it were often enough repeated, they would become true. It was spoken by the people too weak or too afraid (either of the aggressor or the wrath of their parents) to strike out physically against those that assailed them with these oh so painful words.
Now words are acknowledged to be painful, but the state has so far gained control of and manipulated the idea of justice that only authoritarian figures can be believed to have the power to correct injustices. The idea of shooting back, which has been long bred out of Europeans, is being now educated out of Americans. The days when you didn't talk like that to your neighbor because he had no fear to come over and beat your ass cherry red on behalf of society are long gone.
Punks and thugs, once confined to certain areas of town where 'the respectable' didn't go, now roam at will and steal from anyone they please in cities across the nation because no one has the wit to realize that by passing the buck ENTIRELY to the police, the citizen has left himself defenseless when, as is the case the majority of the time, the police aren't around.
There was a story late last year of a sixty + year old man who was knocked off his bicycle by three teenage thugs attempting a robbery. He shot two and killed one. When the police arrived on scene and questioned survivors and witnesses, the surviving thugs were charged and the old man was released. THAT is the America I grew up in, but it is one that is sadly and slowly disappearing. That old man took personal responsibility and what's more, he forced the kids to take it too. Good for him. I'll be the survivors think twice before they decide to knock over an old man for bubblegum money.
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=361536
When I was growing up, I still remember another kid in my kindergarten bringing dad's rifle in for show and tell. He disassembled it with the help of the teacher and showed all the parts to the class; it was awesome. If someone's child did that today the kid would be remanded to the state and the parent's would probably be arrested. Earlier this year a four year old girl DREW A PICTURE of daddy holding a gun, and the father was arrested. On what planet, in what country, can a child DRAW A PICTURE and send one of her parents to prison? Certainly not in the nation I grew up in... and no, as it happens this unfortunate father was in Canada. What did the child say about the drawing?
“He uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters,” teachers say the girl explained.
The man was arrested when he came to pick his daughter up from school, strip searched, and held whilst his home was invaded and searched as well. Don't believe me?
http://rt.com/usa/news/jail-sansone.....-waterloo-333/
The Canadians have recently made some strides toward putting the big boy pants back on their civilians by retracting a long gun registration law, but their largely European take on hand firearms would certainly have had an old man thrown in prison for defending himself on a bike trail with a hand gun. Stories abound in the UK of self-defense landing victorious defenders in prison, and they wonder how the riots last year got so out of hand.
Personal responsibility, though still practiced much more regularly in the US than other locations, is vanishing into the mists of time as the feds gradually take all pretense of control from local governments and private citizens, usually in the name of the children or public safety. The idea of a public that protects its own safety and is not docilely hand-fed its treats has no appeal in the leftist mind, and the leftist mind has been behind great strides recently in social evolution here in the US.
There was a time in the US when the rich were celebrated because they had achieved the American Dream. Now they're reviled because wealth is so poorly understood that people in the 99% think if one person has wealth and another doesn't there must have been theft involved. The idea that wealth is creatable has become baffling to the increasing number of people who receive checks signed by the government.
At one time it was understood if you had skills no one would pay for you had a hobby not a job, and you'd best learn some different skills if you expected to put dinner on the table and clothes on your back and a roof over your head. Thirty years of telling our kids, "You can be whatever you want to be," has left us with three generations of kids who are convinced it's true, much to the detriment of themselves, their families, and society in general.
People eventually always accuse me of lacking compassion because much of what I have to say falls in line with social darwinism. Not a popular idea and not one I entirely subscribe to, though it certainly merits close observation.
In the end though I am not a social darwinist. I am in fact a realist. And here is the troubling reality at the heart of all: while wealth is creatable it is not at any given time limitless. If you as an individual can't afford something in a real world setting, you don't buy it and don't receive the benefit of having it. If you WANT it, you work to earn the currency required to obtain it, be that item a new shirt, a tv, life-saving surgery or a meal at McDonalds. The government's ability to defer the real price of services that cannot be afforded has allowed our political representatives to convince half, if not more of the nation that it can indefinitely provide things that cost money for free. If that free service could in fact be made free, then we'd all be fools not to go get whatever it is, so long as it's something we needed or wanted.
In fact that service is not, and never has been free, and in some cases it costs so much that even a 100% tax rate couldn't pay for it all. This explains, or begins to explain, the national debt and other debts in Western nations around the world. If you want to see what government promises will get you in the long run, have a look at Greece. Their government promised the people things it could never pay for, and the people ALL BOUGHT INTO THE LIE. Now they're rioting because true costs have been brought home to them. Socialism FAILS because it relies on OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY... and that money is not limitless. When it runs out, or the people from whom you are stealing or borrowing decide or are forced to cut you off... the house of cards collapses.
So in the end, you can only have what is in your means. Unfortunately, those means may not include the things you need to survive, and the bald fact is that your fellow man's responsibility for you IS limited. Your responsibility for yourself, no matter what your government tells you, is on the other hand, quite absolute.
If you want to chase your dreams, DO it... within reason. But as the somewhat sarcastic demotivators say, not every kid gets to grow up to be an astronaut. Not every kid gets to live in a mansion... and perhaps tragically, not every kid is entitled to live to old age on nothing but the charity, forced or otherwise, of his social peers.
I foresee a day when the riots of Greece will happen in the states. By then, God willing and ability allowing, I will be beach-side somewhere else, reminiscing fondly of the days when America was a great nation. The United States is still the greatest nation on earth, but all nations rise and fall. Some nations re-invent themselves and keep the same name, but the principles that previously drove their cultures are just as dead as they would be had the name changed along with the faces of those in power. Within the next ten years or so it will become clear whether or not America can withstand the tide of socialism sweeping the globe, and MOST of the current indications seem to point toward no... which is a tragedy fit to make a grown man cry.
Titan AE was, by and large, a crap movie. It did have one good line though that I've had occasion to use often over the years.
"I weep for the species."
Have a face full of awesome. It's on the house
Posted 13 years agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysu5uf-xkyE
Ever since White Devil showed me this I've had it on frickin' repeat. No words, just awesome. A face full of it.
Enjoy.
Ever since White Devil showed me this I've had it on frickin' repeat. No words, just awesome. A face full of it.
Enjoy.
An amusing story...
Posted 13 years agoOne of the many monumental decisions (at least for me) that I've made in the last month or so was the decision to shave. And by that I mean not just my face, but all the way down past my navel. For a man who has since puberty done a fairly good impression of a bear; this left me feeling quite... naked actually.
Nevertheless I made the decision and I'm not one to take half-measures. I also, god help me, ordered a home laser kit from a company called Silken. Here's where the fun starts.
Those of you who know me know I'm not exactly a metro sort of fellow. I'm not known for my tact, and I'm CERTAINLY not known for being effeminate. So imagine the call if you will, when after receiving an email that there were problems with my order I had to call up this woman's health care product company and got... well in the end several, of their operators.
If it is possible to convey over the phone the impression that under a professional veneer you are scared fit to piss your panties... these women are ALL masters of the craft. I never lost my temper; in the end I had to reassure several of these women that I wasn't angry. I was transferred several times and I get the impression that along with the transfer the new operator was informed that Satan was on the other end of the line demanding satisfaction for a lifetime of sin.
In the end, my order was processed by a woman who's microphone was far too close to her mouth and who whimpered at least once when I had to repeat (because of a bad Skype connection) my processing information and ticket number. Another whimper was the reply when she asked in hesitant tones why the connection was so bad and I told her it was because I was Skyping from the middle east. This all occurred on the second call; they actually flat out hung up on me during the first attempt (which they disguised as yet another transfer).
I'm not sure which is the more amusing point. Is it the fact that a grown man with a fully certified platinum man card had to order something from a women's product company or is it the terror with which the operators universally responded when it was clear that such a man was on the distant end of a phone HAVING A PROBLEM with an order.
Either way I am amused, and thought I should pass that amusement on.
Nevertheless I made the decision and I'm not one to take half-measures. I also, god help me, ordered a home laser kit from a company called Silken. Here's where the fun starts.
Those of you who know me know I'm not exactly a metro sort of fellow. I'm not known for my tact, and I'm CERTAINLY not known for being effeminate. So imagine the call if you will, when after receiving an email that there were problems with my order I had to call up this woman's health care product company and got... well in the end several, of their operators.
If it is possible to convey over the phone the impression that under a professional veneer you are scared fit to piss your panties... these women are ALL masters of the craft. I never lost my temper; in the end I had to reassure several of these women that I wasn't angry. I was transferred several times and I get the impression that along with the transfer the new operator was informed that Satan was on the other end of the line demanding satisfaction for a lifetime of sin.
In the end, my order was processed by a woman who's microphone was far too close to her mouth and who whimpered at least once when I had to repeat (because of a bad Skype connection) my processing information and ticket number. Another whimper was the reply when she asked in hesitant tones why the connection was so bad and I told her it was because I was Skyping from the middle east. This all occurred on the second call; they actually flat out hung up on me during the first attempt (which they disguised as yet another transfer).
I'm not sure which is the more amusing point. Is it the fact that a grown man with a fully certified platinum man card had to order something from a women's product company or is it the terror with which the operators universally responded when it was clear that such a man was on the distant end of a phone HAVING A PROBLEM with an order.
Either way I am amused, and thought I should pass that amusement on.
