The "Missing" Holiday revisited

Well, I don't know what's going on, but the push for more and more merchandising has buried Thanksgiving YET AGAIN!

I'm lost.

I mean, before Halloween was over, there were TONS of stores in my area all decked out in Christmas lights, tinsel, and other decorations.

Before Halloween was over!!

I don't get it anymore. When did the "almighty" dollar mean more than personal values?

I mean, the dollar really isn't that valuable when you think about it. I'd much rather have Chinese or Indian currency right now.

I want there to be some kind of major grass-roots push to rekindle the love of Thanksgiving.

I mean, it's a perfect transition from "greed and gimme" Halloween to the spirit of giving with Christmas.

With Thanksgiving, you're thankful for all the blessings you have. Friends, family, food, life, love, happiness!

Without it.. What are the holidays all about if not to stuff the pockets of some nameless, faceless shopkeepers?

Who's with me? Who is willing to get folks to push back, and WANT to recognize Thanksgiving not just as a "free" paid holiday, but one that is worth some extra attention?

Happy Veteran's Day!

This time of year, I always get a bit nostalgic. I have friends and family that have served, and I have many others I have known who have gone out on duty to only return in a box. I count myself EXTREMELY fortunate that I am still among the walking, living folk, and not a memory. Time once was, I would have rushed head-long into a fight, and not given a second thought to what I might lose.

Even today, I have a difficult time thinking of my time as valuable. I consider myself a throw-away value, and it takes many people by surprise. How can I value myself so little?

Easy.

I'm a survivor.

I've lived through things I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

But that doesn't seem to explain it all, either.

I know plenty of other folks who have lived through what I did, and can easily think of themselves as worthwhile investments of time and effort. Why should I consider myself differently?

Because I don't know HOW I made it.

There were plenty of times when I wished it would end - permanently for me - and be done with it.

Because I was so willing to give up then, I've developed a lack of regard for myself, my time, and my actions.

What others would consider an extravagant sacrifice of time and energy, I see as just one more thing I can help with.

Why?

Because I consider each and every day that I am alive yet one more day on loan. I feel like I died quite a while back, and now I'm given - by grace - even more time on this earth.

This isn't _my_ time. This is _His_ time, and I'm just here getting to enjoy the side benefits.

This isn't to say that I'm a saint.

I'm not. I have some serious faults.

But by grace, I'm alive, and able to give what I can and what I am able to others.

This is what I struggle with, and I wish I were more appropriately appreciative of what I have.

 - Jorm

Post-Democalypse 2014!!!

Well elections are over, and I am still wondering if this country is going to wake up, or if we're going to still walk around in a kind of post-sleep haze.

I mean, yes, there have been changes made. However, I don't see any glaring differences between the folks we've voted into office and those of the folks leaving office.

We've put new plans into motion, and stopped some from being enacted. However, I don't see any REAL good coming out of the plans being put into motion, and I don't see any real value in stopping the ones that were denied.

What has happened to this nation of ours?

When did we stop being accountable for our actions, and instead use "the other guy" as an excuse why things didn't get done?

What is honestly stopping us from making the right decision?

Why can we not take affirmative action, and GET THINGS DONE without having some small extremist group whine, bitch, cry and moan about it, and get national media attention on the small group while the large group sits there, takes the beating, and then gives up on the project?

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

I'll tell you.

Me, in my infinite wisdom, will enlighten you as to what is happening with this country of ours.

We have become yet another Rome.

We are no longer a Democracy. We are a Republic.

I think we've been a Republic for much longer than we're willing to admit, but the truth is that those people with wealth and power are dictating policies in this country, NOT the people themselves. The rich and powerful are getting more rich and powerful with each day, while the working class and poor work harder, longer, and get even more poor.

How soon until like Rome, this nation collapses?

Not much longer, if our national debt has anything to say about it.

I mean, COME ON! 17 TRILLION dollars in debt??

And yet we keep authorizing 4-7 BILLION dollars in spending, and consider it "good spending".

How far would that get you in your own home budget?

If you owed $110,000 for your home, and you kept spending $300,000 annually instead of paying off your house, what would the bank do?

If you needed to pay $1200 a month for utilities and bills, but you kept spending your entire paycheck on guns, food and gas instead.. What would happen?

THIS.. This is what is happening to our country.

We spend on things, and we ignore the problem. We don't budget, we spend it. We don't plan, we react. We don't enforce, we just make more rules.

Let's outlaw everything! That way, our population that is law-abiding will be breaking the rules just like the criminals do, and it'll be easy for our police force to meet their arrest quotas!

I mean, if we make more laws, criminals will start being afraid that they're breaking a law.. right?

We need to wake up. We need to get vocal. We need to take action.

Our initial founding fathers and leaders didn't ascribe to just ONE political party. They stood for one thing.. Our Country.

Not an ideal, not a party, not a special interest group.

We need to get back to that way of thinking. We need to embrace that we have ONE thing our leaders need to be accountable to.

I could care less if a man (or woman) politician is some self-serving whore, as long as they're voting and doing what it takes to make and keep this nation healthy and viable.

I mean, Thomas Jefferson wasn't the biggest saint I've ever read about, but his planning and ideas were above reproach for this country.

Obama? He's just a good teleprompter reader.

Let's regain focus, and get back to what really matters.

I'll leave you with this video.

http://youtu.be/ZPHSXUS0_1c

Think..

Back in the day, I loved the group Information Society.

Why?

Because it was wanna-be techno music, and it also incorporated Star Trek samples into their music!

Win-win baby!

I really actually enjoyed the lyrics and message that they had for their earlier music. If you could get by the industrial electronic underground sound, there was a passionate and living lyric under that throbbing and beating pulse of sound.

Take this lyric from their song "think":

Imagine if I said I sometimes need you I need you to this day.Imagine if I said I sometimes hear you call my name.Imagine if I said I still could love you.Imagine what you'd say.Imagine if I said I sometimes still can see your face.Think about all the things we shared.Think about all the times we cared.When all of your hopes have come and gone,Think about me and I'll be there.There's something in the air that feels like winterThe kind we used to know.Yesterday can seem like such a long, long time ago.Who could ever count the miles between us?But now I know it's true.

That's a powerful message right there.. I mean, it's not STUNNING or anything, but it does effectively get the point across, doesn't it?

I wish I could get more folks to let me know what their favorite songs were, so I could listen to the messages that they enjoy listening to...

Little Things

You know, it never ceases to amaze me at the things that will make me return to things I'd left behind.

Take this blog, for example.

I haven't really posted much on this since I left my old job behind, and yet here I am, looking to turn a new page, and start my online "diary" again.

Why?

I don't know.

I'm not sure that I really want to go back to this.

However, I do know that I was making personal steps and milestones while ranting and raving about each and every little thing that jumped on my nerves.

Let's see how this does, and who knows? Maybe I'll be able to quit my day job and BLOG full-time!

Or maybe just worry about the small steps of writing things daily would be a good start.

*cracks knuckles*

Let's kick this pig!

 - Jorm, returned from the semi-dead

Sporadic post: Don't get used to it!

I keep forgetting I have this blog, and then when I start to read about some of the things I've written, I chuckle to myself over how I handled them: both poorly and well.

Why?

Because I have come to accept that I am a flawed human. I know I'm not going to always make the right decision, but I am going to accept that I am responsible for my own actions, and I will make the best out of any given situation.

After years of self loathing and self abuse, I have come to terms with my flaws and faults.

Am I better person because of it?

Right now? No.

Give me a few years to understand how to relate to people again, and I'm sure I'll get better at it.

For now, just being able to accept myself for being me? That's the most important thing.

Next?

The world!

Balancing a budget

I have a question for you all, and I'm hoping that you'll be able to answer it the way that I tend to answer.

First off, when you pay your bills, and balance your budget, do you figure into your budget how much you're planning on spending the following pay period? And does that amount increase exponentially each pay period?

No?

You mean you look for ways to cut back on extra expenses, and then you make your payments in order to get your budget and finances on track, right?

Why can't our nation figure this one out?

I mean, it's a noble gesture for any campaigning president to say that they aren't going to raise taxes, and that the middle class isn't going to bear the brunt of the repayment of our deficit.

The truth of the matter is far from noble, though.

Tough times call for tough actions. I don't like the thought of having to pay more in taxes, but I dislike having to pay in perpetuity the expenditures that our nation keeps piling on itself year after year.

Our budget keeps growing, we keep spending, and we don't look to try to balance anything out. But we will make promises about not raising taxes, or having the middle class carry the burden of helping pay back what we owe.

Let's get real here.

We need to take steps to get out of financial ruin, and in order to do that, each class is going to have to face some ugly factors.

The rich folks are going to be taxed quite heavily. So are large corporations. Not only that, but these corporations are not going to be able to "sharehold" these expenses to their subscribers, so this means that the high-end jobs are going to take a serious paycut, and some low-end jobs could be lost.

The middle class is going to have to pay more as well. There's no getting around it. About 70% of the income in this nation is done by the middle class, and if you're going to cut out 70% of your earned income before trying to pay bills, you might as well use an eyedropper to fill a 50 gallon fishtank. It's not going to happen within anyone's lifetime.

Lastly, the lower class is going to have to take some hits as well. Food stamps need to be cut down. Welfare needs to decrease. We need more stringent guidelines for all folks with state or government assistance, just to make sure that they really DO need the assistance, and aren't just trying to skate by doing as little as possible, and getting the most that they can.

Put these steps into practice, and you're not going to be very popular, but you will get the job done.

The problem is that for the job to get done, you're going to have to become the villan, and villans don't tend to get additional time in office.

This is why no political official is EVER going to be able to get our deficit brought under control.

We like having power, and we like being in places of prestige. How can you have either of those if you upset the folks who put you there in the first place?

Then you have issues like Detroit having to declare bankruptcy. Yup, the motor city looks like it's going to have to get reposessed. Sure, the inner city looks nice, thanks to the millionaires who have funnelled enough cash into the city to make the areas where they live and work look really good. However, the rest of the city looks like photos from a demilitarized zone.

Did you know that it takes almost an hour for police to show up for an emergency call in Detroit?

That means you can get a pizza delivered faster than emergency services!

We need to start deputizing pizza delivery drivers, so that we can not only feed these folks, but also have protection in 30 minutes or less!

Then the most amazing thing I found about this was that the major car production facilities in this great city have had record-setting years financially, and are not about to try to help "bail out" the city they call home!

I just don't get it.. Do you?

Truth.. Well, sort of!

Time for truth!

Well, at least truth as I see it. You all get to read my opinion, and if I choose, I might read your responses. However, there aren't many folks who read my blog anymore, since blogging seems to be a dead art form. Anyway, it's still a really REALLY good way for me to exorcise my demons, and not go completely postal on an unsuspecting public..

Speaking of which.. Who truly believes that video game violence begets even more violence?

I don't. I believe that we all make choices. Some are good. Some bad. Some folks make choices and because of their upbringing or family station have an impact on many more lives than others.

To me, it's more about a lack of morality and accountability rather than a game or mental stress.

Check that. I think mental stress might be a good and valid reason. If someone else stresses me out today, there might be an added goodie in my trunk when I head home tonight!

Anywho!

I feel that a lack of active parenting and teaching of strong and ethical morals is the leading cause of our troubles right now.

Back when I was growing up, my grandparents raised me so that both my mom and dad could work to support the house and family. Because of this, I have a perspective that is older than my years can actually credit or account for. I have plenty of people my age who keep wondering where my "old soul" opinions and beliefs come from.

I believe in hard work. I believe that if you do a job, you do it to the best of your ability, and get it done right the first time instead of planning on coming back and fixing things "later".

I believe in the "spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality. I choose to believe that negative reinforcement in parenting is a very effective tool. It doesn't work for all children, but for about 90% it was quite efficient. The other 10% needed something more creative. The problem is that we as humans want a "fix-it-all" solution, and then try to apply it to any and every situation instead of evaluating the situation, and making adaptations to our actions to tailor it to our needs.

It's like giving a hammer to a caveman, and then wondering why he's also trying to use the hammer to kill flies, mosquitos, fleas, and lice... He complains because either he can't hit them, or he hurts himself, and we're to blame because we gave him the hammer!

What is up with this overwhelming drive to raise the minimum wage?

I don't get it. Minimum wage was set in place so that folks who had no skills could get a job, improve their skills, and get a better paying job. NOT stay at the same entry-level job and expect to support themselves and a family!

When I started working, the minimum wage was $2.50. I did inventory work, because the shop owner who hired me couldn't stand numbers and stocking. I was very good at it, and was even able to make use of an early computer program to get an early database started for his store inventory.

Did I expect to make a living counting bags and cans?

Absolutely not.

I did take the skills I learned while doing this job to get another office job at a larger supermarket. From there, accounting and payroll skills came my way. And so I learned and grew. I didn't just sit on my hands and expect my boss to want to pay me more and more to do the same job over and over again. THAT IS JUST LAZY.

I know lazy. Trust me. I can be as lazy as anyone when you give me the chance! I just choose to NOT be lazy when my income and livelihood depend on how well I apply myself to my work.

If we were to increase the minimum wage, we then start to de-value those people who have done everything they can to improve their situation. Why would I pay some college whiz-kid $20 to work when I can have some snot-nosed high-school teen do the same job for $15? If I don't like the work, I can recycle plenty of teens, and still save myself that $20 an hour position..

What does that say for the folks who have worked for me for years, have been getting regular increases, and then find that they are making barely more than the new kids I brought in off the street? Do you honestly think that companies are going to increase wages across the board to make things "fair"? I don't. I bet you wages will stay RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE, and folks who were making a decent living will suddenly be scraping by, starting at square one again trying to work up the ladder, while the new kids sit back, and expect us to pay them just for giving another body at the workplace.

Where did this sense of self-entitlement come from?

I don't know, but this is yet one more disturbing trend that I am seeing, and it really bothers me.

I have come to terms with my grief!

I know, I know.. Big surprise, right?

It is for me.

I have never been good at expressing my feelings to people in person. I can rant and rave anonymously to perfect strangers about very personal things in my life, but I can't hardly give a differing opinion to someone I know about dinner selections. I'm just a very easy-going individual when it comes to going with the flow.

Tell you what. You go ahead and raise the minimum wage. I'll sit at home on unemployment, expect you to pay me, and pretend I'm killing you all on my newest video game first person shooter.

How's that grab ya?

Jormengrund