My Blog?

It has recently been brought to my attention that I have a blog. I know, I was just as shocked as you are.

Apparently, blogs, unlike books, have to be constantly updated in order to stay relevant and current. It does not matter the nature of the prior content in the blog, if it's not new, people do not want it. This must be why many bloggers blog about current events, politics, and the economy. There you can just talk about the next big thing. However, I have always tried to reign in any tendencies I might have of being political. I do not always succeed but most of the time, I like to think that my posts have been non-political and mostly about dating and relationships. This makes me more like an introspective self help blog. (Eww, really. This is terrible.) Unfortunately, unlike many therapists out there that just keep churning out books that say the same damn thing, I cannot bring myself to do it. I had some thoughts and view points, and as they occurred to me, I wrote them down. Then I moved on to other things. Plus, I stopped dating lots of people and started dating only one people. Talk about adventures in boring.

So, now what do I talk about? The awesome bread I made last weekend that complemented my homemade tomato sauce with meatballs and handmade sausage perfectly? Hmm, does not seem to have the same ring to it as "Let me tell you about this crazy chick I went out with last night." Plus, I have been trapped reading up on and creating a presentation on Medicaid and Social Security and planning for disabled beneficiaries. Let me tell you, this stuff is really exciting. I think my outline could put you to sleep in under five minutes. Although, it is terribly practical stuff. I even learned about these new long term care insurance plans that can help you keep your assets but still qualify for Medicaid. Crazy, right?

So where was I? Oh, right my blog. So, you see, the public demands that I update more frequently. Update with something, anything to appease the masses. One person said I could talk about how the divorce rate in the U.S. is down, but many attribute this solely to the fact that fewer Americans are even bothering to get married, not that our social fabric has become miraculously stronger. I suppose I could talk about the plummeting economy, but I feel so tired of it. Lots of very smart people knew this was coming and anyone saying this crisis is new or special, obviously does not remember the derivatives crash in the 90s. Know your history, folks.

One thing is for sure, my blog has been neglected and it, much like a puppy will become sad and starve without attention. Because blogs have a life of their own. Wait, what? Well, whatever this all means, I think I will be writing more. Although, I cannot promise a cohesive theme or even the most entertaining of topics, I will attempt to make words flow in some sort of coherent fashion. Certainly more coherent than this.

Wordless

I have been a little stuck for what to write about on this blog for quite some time now. I keep meaning to write but when I have time, I find that I lack anything interesting to say. The most I have been able to do is Twitter and comment on other people's blogs. Becauise of this, I have decided that I will go back to writing meaningless little fictional posts like I used to do now and again. I also plan on using other people's photos as inspiration. I have been going through Flickr, finding photos licensed under Creative Commons and which allow for me the right to use and modify their work. I don't think I will be making any profit from any of this, as it's just my blog. However, I will link to where the photo comes from so that the person might get some props if you like it. This is the best solution I have been able to come up with, as I simply do not feel capable of writing constant interesting posts about my life to date. I know that now and again, they will creep in, as things still do happen and some of them are exciting. However, when I lack anything like that to write about, I will do this fiction stuff instead. I hope no one minds.

Candy Man

In junior high, my entrepreneurial spirit took hold and I began selling candy at my school. This was not the sort of sanctioned candy sale put on by one of the school's organizations or at the school book shop. No, this was my own sort of shop, where I wandered around the school with tons of (at the time) kids' favorite candies - Now and Laters, bubble gum, Lemon Heads, Fireballs, etc. The candy was concealed in my long winter coat. Through a twist of fate, the inside pocket of my coat had torn and I was able to use the entire lining of the coat as an enormous pocket for the stashing of my product. Sure, some kids at other schools sold illegal narcotics, but at our school, sugar was our students' drug of choice and I was their supplier.

The profits were enormous, as I was able to markup everything by 100%, and I had no real overhead costs. Sure, in some cases, I had to take the time to repackage everything. For example, when you buy a bag of 100 sticks of gum, you need to break it down into something more palatable to your average junior high consumer, like bags of ten. There was some effort involved, however, as the nearest store from which I could replenish my stash was about 10 miles away - 10 miles of insane, mountainous hills. Fortunately, my mother was supportive of my new found career, once I told her about it.

Unfortunately, my school was not as pleased with my job creation spirit and did not seem to feel I should be aiding the youth of America in their pursuit of a sugar fix and early onset diabetes. I guess they wanted to have the market cornered for themselves. In any event, after much back and forth, and repeated harassment, my budding career was brought to a halt. Mostly as a result of supplier difficulties. I guess the only people more upset with me selling candy to the masses were the ones supplying me with the product. Even though the store that supplied me was in a completely different town and they were incredibly unlikely to be able to sell to these people otherwise, they were somehow outraged that I was able to make such a sweet profit. They probably would have never known I was doing it but I guess sooner or later they got suspicious as to where the seemingly limitless supply of candy I was buying week-in and week-out was going and questions were asked.

Another bright future cut short. In retrospect, however, it was one of my favorite jobs. I set my own prices and my own hours and I never had to worry about someone else slacking off.

Bad Topics

We are not allowed to talk about the 17 year old impregnated daughter of McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin. I am told it is an off-limits topic, as how a family chooses to deal with such an event is personal. Unfortunately, the conservative position (and in this case Sarah Palin's position) of advocating abstinence only education, makes it a completely relevant topic. The fact that the nominee's daughter (Bristol) is pregnant seems to undercut the position that abstinence only education keeps children from having premarital sex. After all, if they ever happen to hear about condoms, they are all going to go crazy and start fornicating like rabbits. It is a tough situation because you do not want to have the daughter thrown into this political turmoil and quite honestly, I do not think she needs to be. What should be up for discussion is whether or not the candidate's position on abstinence only education works and I think you can address this issue without involving Bristol too much.

This weekend, I was at dinner with my friend and his mother. My friend's mother is a Democrat and her husband is a Republican. However, it sounded like she had decided that she may vote for McCain because he had picked a woman as his running mate. Something about this is disturbing to me because it is just reverse discrimination. Once again, we are not measuring a person for their own individual qualities that make them unique, but simply the immutable ones over which they have no control. If you put a male running mate with McCain with the exact same ideas as Palin, you would not find this woman voting for McCain, but because it is a woman, suddenly it makes McCain a viable option. I have the same problem with people voting for Obama because he is black. Granted, some black people may vote for him with the belief that he uniquely understands the black experience in a way no white person ever could (and the same goes for women voting for Palin and the female experience). However, it seems to me that one should really want to vote for the person that is most qualified and that has the plans that are most like what you want to see happen when the person is elected.

This is why I am completely disappointed with my choices this year, as neither candidate has very good positions in my opinion on most of the issues. And I fail to find either of them to be very qualified. McCain is an old man that is for sale to the highest bidder, in my opinion. It pains me because I liked McCain when he ran last time, but after watching him over the last seven years, I am really disappointed in him. Add to this the idea of electing a 72 year old man and having the real possibility that he could have medical problems and end up leaving the country in the hands of a woman that has never had the job of running a diverse society with over 1,000,000 people and no foreign policy experience, greatly concerns me. When I go to have surgery performed, I want someone that has done it multiple times and done it well. I would think when I go and select my next leader, I would want similar qualifications. I also do not agree with most of McCain's positions. Obama is largely untested. Sure, he can speak nicely but some of his positions lack real substance and some of them (like health care) are not anticipated to have any real impact for many Americans. I looked at other party's candidates but was even more disappointed with them, as many of them have incomprehensible positions or lack any clear position on anything except their key issue - like the environment for the Green Party.

I really would like to be excited for the upcoming elections, but I still have trouble finding someone that truly seems qualified. I guess maybe we should just not talk about it.