About the Occupation

A lot of news coverage has been given recently to the "Occupy Wall Street" bunch. Let me say, I am a poor wanderer, I'm not part of the elite. However, I find the "Occupy Wall Street" movement to be, at best, pointless. Now, I understand that we all want something to happen in this bitter fight against having to reap what we've sown, but what is this supposed to accomplish. Inform people about things like "1% of the population controls a majority of the wealth. We are the 99%."

Do they seriously think people didn't fucking know this?


Now, I've met a lot of stupid people wandering about, but not a one of them didn't understand that there were rich people on the planet that controlled basically everything. This is how it has been for ages. Hell, that is how it is in other countries, not just the United States. Are we really just now getting upset about something that has been well known for ages. Even worse, do we really want to claim that by standing in the streets we can change the way our economy has been destined to end up since its creation? We live in a capitalist country. Don't expect for the wealth to be shared.

That's not to say I'm not all for a good Rebellion

Who knows, it might justify me carrying around the pistol on my trips

However, a rebellion requires real dedication and the willingness to sacrifice everything for nothing more than to make a point. You have to be willing to lay down your life for what you believe in. I don't think a single person on wall street right now has that kind of dedication to this cause. Hell, sometimes even that isn't enough, because you have to have a plan and a real reason behind your sacrifice. 

One last thing, and this one might get me chased out of town: I know when they make statements like "We are the 99%," the protesters are trying to invoke a sense of power in numbers. After all, if there are tons of us, a few rich people with resources and connections couldn't keep us down and in line. They couldn't possibly stand up to us. It's not like 6 million people have ever been controlled by just a few hundered thousand. 

Nope, nothing like that has ever happened

I've seen it all before.

Mark my words, this rebellion will be squashed. 

I've been asked to write a poem a week. I'm not particularly good at it, but I feel that some of them are worth publishing here. After all, the standards aren't exactly high here on blogger.

So here we go

The Burn

I look skyward

As black clouds coat the moon

I'm taken

To rainy days

Spent locked in the attic

Playing with retired toasters

and creased photos

fumbling through relics

Reveling in the safety their age brings

To days also spent in my matron's kitchen

Staring into a bowl

 Of chicken noodle soup

Listening as she makes plans for my life,

Or maybe hers

My safety net gone

I drop the matchbox

The gasoline 

It wasn't really intended to be so damn depressing. It just kind of happened. If anyone reads it, tell me what you think!

One last thing. Here is what has me laughing today:

 It really is a much bigger deal for people than I anticipated.

No One's Listening, So Say Something!

The wonder of having a blog is an odd thing. I often times find myself thinking of things to say, but not saying them for thinking no one would care or even bother to read it. This idea of "JUST SAY SOMETHING!" is one that escapes me most times. I feel I can't just say anything, I have to think it over and come up with something worth saying.

Which is silly.

As no one(or at least barely no one), reads this damn thing.

The only thought I've had in my head for a while is this one, and I feel like sharing it because I'm sure there are many out there who feel the same way:

Don't ask me what I'm doing. I'm not sure anymore.

To those that might read this, sorry for the moderately depressing post, didn't mean to ruin anyone's hour.

I keep my promises, Irene

So yesterday(or just very early this morning) I claimed I was going to say why Hurricane Irene was funny to me. In fact, there is a bit of comedy to be found in it for everyone, even if that comedy highlights one of the biggest problems and proof that our society has a short memory and are ineffectual at solving long term problems.  Before you immediately assume I'm a horrible person, at least here out why I think this way.

The big hurricane that's coming through is just the latest in a long list of disasters we've faced in recent years. Hell, this year Missouri was ravaged by tornadoes and places like Joplin, MO have yet to recover. While they were getting minimal funding from FEMA to help rebuild, that funding has recently been cut off. Why? Because FEMA is now operating on an "Immediate Needs" basis. Because the tornadoes occurred a few months ago, FEMA is going to stop supporting towns struck by them, simply because it was an old incident. Instead, they are going to focus on the impending doom that is Hurricane Irene.

 This is Craig Fugate, one of the guys in FEMA that decided that they could only operate by "Immediate Needs" 

To the left of Fugate is some black guy

Some of the more altruistic readers might be asking, "Why can't they just help everyone?" The answer to that is simple and the source of my humor in this incident. The government cut funding from FEMA for this fiscal year, well knowing that there were disasters headed our way.  That's right, they cut the FEMA budget, the one that helps people in disastrous situations that the USA seems to be prone to. Sure, right now there are some republicans rallying for more funding, but with a democrat controlled senate, no telling if that will go through (party lines seem to be thicker than the blood of the innocent - only dramatic line I intend to say all day).

What's funny about all of this is how easily our government forgot about their biggest faux pas in recent memory(that isn't the economy): Hurricane Katrina. The biggest issue with Katrina is that FEMA was underfunded and unprepared to deal with such a large disaster. Hell, they are still trying to put all the pieces of Louisiana back together (well, no they aren't. That need isn't immediate.). So what do we do? Instead of giving increased funding to FEMA to prepare for such a disaster to occur again, we just say, "Nah, that shit only happens like once every hundred years. So we're good to use some of that money on the White House dance party." It boggles the mind and summons one hell of a dark laugh out of me to think that this is how we choose to prepare for disasters like Katrina.


Disclaimer: I am not a republican, nor a democrat. I don't really fit into a party and I tend to vote based on personal research into each candidate. Because that is clearly the only thing that matters why you talk about your party affiliation.

The Return

So it has been a while since I last posted. I spent my entire summer working at a camp for scouts, which was pretty great. I came back to a new apartment in a new town, a new university and didn't yet have internet, so I couldn't post. Now, however, I have my internet back! It's time to start up these blogs again!

I'll be posting tomorrow(or given the time of this post, later today) with some comments about hurricane Irene and why I find it funny. And it's not just because I always heard that dexys midnight runners song as "Come on Irene."

...Okay, it mostly is, but still show up tomorrow.

See you soon, friends.

Sickness tricks

So, I said I would tell you the other thing that kept me company while ill, and here it is.

Today's subject is

Dark Cloud

Whenever I'm low on cash, but feel like a game, i'll go over to a local store and pick up some really cheap old PS2 games. This was one such game. It was left to collect dust on my game cabinet for quite some time in the shadow of newer games, but my illness was the best excuse I could find to dig this out of my back catalog. The story of this game is probably the most laughable thing ever and can easily be forgotten, but it's basically about an evil dude who summoned an evil genie who started destroying the world. A magical fairy saved everyone but put them into these little balls that you have to go collect to help rebuild the world, then you are expected to fight the genie. You were selected by the fairy to save the world. I call my character fairy boy every time I play. Immature? Yes. Fun? You fucking bet. 

Anyway, this game is about as classic a dungeon crawler that you're going to get. When you enter your first dungeon you get bombarded by a wave of information. You have weapons, all of which have a breaking point. If your weapon breaks, it is gone forever. The only weapon that doesn't break is your starting weapon, which is always pretty worthless. Your weapons are also able to be upgraded after continued use, and after leveling to a sufficient point they can be broken down and added to other weapons. You also have a thirst gauge while in the dungeon. If your thirst gauge runs out, your health starts to deteriorate. 

Along your travels you develop a team of allies that you can switch to while in the dungeons, but they are all moderately useless and only occasionally shoehorned into the game. 

All in all, I found myself slowly becoming an accountant going over my inventory and weapon building trying to figure out how to max out my stats to increase the speed of my swings as well as their power. It was a great experience, and you can easily lose hours on it. I was informed that I should play Dark Cloud 2 now, as I am told it was much better in the story department.

Can anyone confirm this?

Double Post Monday(Don't expect this to happen ever again)!: Scary Stories - A Dramatic Reading

Two posts in one day! This one is me getting rid of my backlog of stuff to talk about. I should admit, I am a fan of scary stories and tales that cause goosebumps to go up your spine. I actively seek out these stories and often find just the right thing to get my fix. One day, I landed on a gold mine in the form of one woman's youtube channel. The subject of this post is

The Little Fears

I blame this book for my obsession with scary stories

The Little Fears is a youtube channel that takes scary stories from around the web that were traditionally in a written format and gives theme a dramatic reading. I personally find the reader's voice to be smooth and relaxing, which often betrays the actual meaning of what she is saying. It creates a sort of cognitive dissonance that is perfect for unsettling someone, rather than jumping out and scaring them. It is this kind of gradual horror, and occasionally psychological horror, that I feel our entertainment mediums are really missing the mark on these days. We need more slow creeping horror and less jumping at the screen horror. In that facet, The Little Fears provides wonderfully. There is only one video that she has ever released that could even be viewed as a 'screamer.' Even then, it doesn't appear to have been intended that way. One fair warning though, she updates so rarely, that one of her readings will only show up once in a blue moon. However, it is almost always worth the wait.

Go give her some views, she deserves it.