Drunk and a little confused

I’m somewhat intoxicated but I’ll try to keep my handwriting legible.  We’ll see how that goes.

It has come to my attention recently that I have made a glaring error in my blogging, leading some readers to be confused as to who I am.  Now, I’m normally a very private person and refuse to share many details about my life, but this air of mystery has left one big question unanswered.

Am I a skinhead?

White power skinheads are members of a white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture.^[1][2][3][4] Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations. (Wikipedia)

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A One Sided Debate

Since it seems Curiosetta is unwilling to participate in a discussion, I guess I’ll just post my rebuttal.

First, I’d like to just take a moment and explain why the comments that sparked all this pissed me off so much.  There are some crazy people with extreme views that go around and snipe at people online, usually hiding behind anonymity.  Those trolls are annoying but most readers can look at those comments and see that they’re just crazy and extreme and disregard them.  Those types of trolls don’t bother me, they’re more sad than anything else.

No, the people that bug me are the ones with extreme views that are smart enough to incorporate legitimate issues with bullshit misinformation or ridiculousness.  These people piss me off because when you question them they fall back on the nugget of legitimacy.

I’ll give you an fake example.  “Texting and driving is extremely dangerous.  Only uneducated idiots from Colorado text and drive.”

If someone argues against the inflammatory (and stupid) ‘uneducated idiots from Colorado’ part, the original commentor can pull out stats about how dangerous texting and driving is and obviously anyone who disagrees with them is pro-death.  They’re essentially relying on one part of their argument being close to inarguable to lend legitimacy to their whole statement.

Traveling and Loss of Sleep

I’m on the road for work this week, attending meetings and giving presentations.  My job is mostly a solitary one but a couple times a year we all get together and share our various war stories, trying to impress our bosses.

This week, when I was supposed to be wowing my coworkers and supervisors I hit a mental wall.  First off, as surprising as it might sound here, I’m really quite a modest person and don’t like tooting my proverbial horn.  Talking myself up in real life isn’t something I enjoy doing.  Secondly, I’d gotten less than six hours of sleep in the previous two days due to traveling and the time differences.

I got up in front of the group, power point ready to go.

We’d already been at the meeting for a couple hours, one of the organizers told me we had thirty minutes until the scheduled break.  Would that be enough time for my presentation?

A Dangerous Precedent?

It seems like every time I check my news feed I see half a dozen articles that piss me off.  I should really just stop reading the news, it always puts me in a bad mood.

Today I read a piece on the Huffington Post, “Why the Boy Scouts new policy on gays sets a dangerous precedent.”  Article.

Before I go into the wrongness of the article I’ll give you a little background on myself.  I was an active member in boy scouts for many years, during that time (fifteen years or so ago) were the first debates about homosexuals in scouting.  I came down firmly on the side of gay rights.  It was too early then, the changes were shot down.  Many boy scout troops are also sponsored by religious organizations, mainly Christian, something else I was not a fan of, but that was the driving force behind the ban on homosexuals in the organization.

However… I think the BSA (Boy Scouts of America) just made a step in the right direction and opinion pieces like the one in the Huffington Post are steps in the wrong direction.

I can be an asshole sometimes

I often tell people I’m an asshole, it’s surprising how few people believe that.  I might not be one all the time but I have flashes just like everyone else.

This evening I was having dinner with Stephanie.  She was talking about how videos were more and more common, cameras everywhere.  In some ways that’s pretty awesome, the ability to hold everyone accountable for their actions and record meaningful events.  On the other hand it’s a terrifying, 1984-esque concept.  It led to the following conversation.

Stephanie: “Someday soon we’re all going to be recorded 24/7, all accountability all the time.”

Me: “No way, uh uh.  I’ll move to a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere if we ever reach a situation even close to that.”

(That’s not an uncommon comment from me, I often talk about how I’d rather be a hermit than live in a society I don’t like.  Which is more and more likely every day.)

Stephanie gave me a sly look: “You always picture yourself alone in that cabin or do you see someone else with you?”

I thought about that for a moment before giving her the honest answer:  “Nope, all alone.”

That pretty much ended our almost romantic evening.  No regrets.

Quotes and generalizations

“Show me a loyal husband and I’ll show you one who’s never had a real opportunity to stray.” – Bel Mooney

I saw the above quote on a blog today… and it’s a little hard to explain how fucking angry it made me.  Not the post itself, that was fine, just the quote.  Similar statements are unfortunately common, we see them all the time, but this one very specifically pissed me off.  Really, the sexism (and cynicism) in that single line made me want to puke and then punch someone in the face.

.

When I got married I was totally in love, head over heels, dedicated to her.  I did everything “right”, making sure she was taken care of, I treated her like a princess, I was responsible, respectful but fun, romantic, patient and caring… And to make sure I could take care of her I joined the Navy.  Good money, benefits, etc.  We moved far away from home, two newlyweds on an adventure.

Nothing is Permanent

“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.” ~Dalai Lama

Two weeks ago I got a phone call from my mom, my Grandfather had passed away.  This morning I got a phone call from my mom, Grammy passed away a couple hours ago.  Before you get any warm fuzzy feelings about the timing, they’d been divorced for some 35 years because she cheated on him.  When he remarried soon afterwards and managed to be happy, that was like an ice pick in her gut that never went away.  She made some half-hearted attempts at dating after the divorce but as far as I know nothing serious ever happened and she spent most of the next 35 years alone.

CV on our sleeves

You ever have one of those days when you feel like everyone in the world is stupid?  A bunch of self-centered pricks?  And what’s worse is when they decide they need to share their wisdom by providing advice, either online or in real life.

That got me to thinking, There are so many bloggers out there that provide advice about relationships, life, and just about everything under the sun, myself included.  But should they?

If you were going to get financial advice, you’d want to see someone with qualifications, experience, and with a lot of financial success.  You’d want to see degrees on the wall, a nice car parked out front, and a suit that isn’t off the rack.  You’d want to know they’re the right person to give you advice.  They need to be a representation of the place you want to be.  They’ve made it, so they can advise you on how to make it.  On the other hand, if you showed up and noticed a bunch of overdue bills on the desk, an eviction notice on the door, you probably wouldn’t take the financial advice very seriously.

Absolutely epic cock block

Okay, I’ve got a dozen different posts I’ve been working on.  This is none of those, I had to take a break and tell this story because it’s too fucking epic to miss.  Hopefully you’ll laugh your ass off at my expense.

(My exhibitionist dog)

This morning, my dog and I had a bit of a disagreement.  We were on our usual morning walk and she decided that the couple walking the dog on the other side of the street must be the devil.  They were a nice looking young couple, athletic and attractive, walking what appeared to be an elderly Labrador.  On my street, that’s pretty much the norm.

My dog’s senses might be better than mine but I had a hard time believing that the outrageous explosion of barking from her was justified.  I had to practically drag her back to the house while trying to tell all my neighbors that she’s actually a sweetheart and that behavior was abnormal.

Awkward Dating Moments Don’t End in High School

One of the things that has been so nice about dating as I get older is that everything seems much more comfortable and straightforward.  You either get along or you don’t, everyone has a better sense of self and what they’re looking for, we’re not bumbling teenagers anymore.

Apparently, I allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security because last weekend I had one of the most awkward moments I’ve EVER had on a date.

I’ve been dating this chick, we’ll call her Stephanie, for the last month or so.  You might have noticed that there haven’t been any posts about her yet.  There’s a reason for that, it hasn’t been anything worth writing about.  She’s nice, successful, and sweet but kind of boring.  There’s nothing wrong with her, it’s just been a very…  unremarkable.  Which is saying something since I remark on everything.