Weekly Update, March 22, 2021
Greetz internet friend and welcome back to my weekly update. Just gonna dive right in this week so hang out and hang on!
Professional
Still burned out. One more week till I get some time off.
Black Lives Matter
Like it seems like I write every week, I don’t have much to say on this subject except to reaffirm that Black Lives Matter!
Even though this is the BLM section, it seems important to also mention that I wish America would stop the Asian hate too. Historically, hate is one of the few truly American traditions, as unfortunate as it is, and as much as people will not like to read that. From the founding of the colonies, to the birth of the United States and countless instances over the four hundred or so years that Europeans have been on this land.
One thing that is great about America is that we are not doomed to our past, we can make things better! If you are a white person reading this, go find some non-white voices to listen to and amplify. I’ve got some listed in the people to follow section below, but you can also go outside that list and find others as well.
Things won’t get better by not doing anything. White people need to get more involved and active in the fight against racism. Things won’t get worse for us because BIPOC get more rights – it’s not zero sum! Gain in rights for one group doesn’t equal loss of rights for others.
Anyway, that’s all I have to write on this subject for now.
Politics
I saw that Moscow Mitch was threatening scorched Earth if the Democrats get rid of the filibuster. Other people smarter than myself have pointed out that ole Moscow Mitch has been scorching the Earth for the last 20 years! It’s hard to imagine how he could be more obstinate or how he could do much worse.
We (I mean we like as in Americans, ours hasn’t come yet) only got $1400 checks instead of $2000 as a compromise and EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN STILL VOTED NO ANYWAY! They had the audacity to say it was too expensive when the Democrats pointed out they had no problem passing tax cuts for the 1% of nearly the exact same amount and unlike that giveaway, the American people are going to use theirs to stimulate the economy! Moscow Mitch knows that it’s going to do exactly that and came out to do a press conference to say, “when the bounce happens, it’s not going to be because of the stimulus.” Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but nearly all progressives wanted Bernie Sanders and not Joe Biden. JOE WAS THE COMPROMISE!
There is going to come a certain point where new political parties are going to have to emerge. First, it’s pretty clear that unless he gets indicted and sent to prison for what seem like a litany of clearly obvious and demonstrable crimes during his time in the office – but note that I said IT SEEMS, because I’m not a legal expert. Just a regular citizen speculating on what look like violations of the emollients clause as well as the open investigations against him by at least two states – but again, what I do know?
So (if he’s not in jail) there (might) be a Republican and a Trump party. Would this cause a progressive wing to split from the Democrats because they are tired of moderates like Joe Manchin (who held up the $15 minimum wage which is itself not enough) and Nancy Pelosi slowing down progress? Only time will tell.
Would it be better to have four parties as opposed to two? I think if we are being honest with ourselves as a society, we would admit that the two party system is not working and we really need some change. Giant tech companies have more money and power (it seems) than governments and we are growing closer to the cyberpunk future that authors like William Gibson warned about.
In fact, just today I saw that Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft (and perhaps one other tech company) had more revenue than all the other companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (though I might be wrong about this fact and it was the S&P and not the Dow). My point is that corporations have too much power and neither they nor the ultra-rich pay taxes. Income inequality is worse now than during the French Revolution and things must change!
Alright, I think that’s a good rant for today, let’s move on to something more positive for the rest of this update.
Personal
March 17, 2021 was a monumental day for me. One of those days that marks the beginning of an era and I will celebrate for the rest of my life as some people celebrate important anniversaries. My wife bought me my first skateboard!
Since getting my board I’ve hurt my hip, both my feet, my right toe (really nasty bruise), both hands, jammed up a finger, and crashed really hard in my garage before buying elbow and knee pads. It will be a long time before I skate without elbow pads again, let me tell you! I will also share that today was the first day I’ve skated without falling!
I’ve also spent a bunch of time watching videos about skateboarding, particularly from my favorite skater, Rodney Mullen.
I have been interested in skateboarding since I was a teenage. My old man had a skateboard his father built and he told me that if I wanted to skate, I had to learn on that crummy board. Try as I might, I was never able to get it, so I was never able to get a real skateboard and learn properly. Well, 2021 is the year of trying things we’ve always wanted to, and my wife bought me a board. Turns out with less than a week of dedicated practice and a decent board, I was able to teach myself how to do it.
Every day since buying the board I have gone out skating. I’m also practicing in the garage, which I found out is a time-honored tradition. Feeling the freedom of cruising on a board and the wind on your face is wonderful. I’ve also been sleeping better – partly because I’m tired and partly because my body needs to recover from all the bangs and scratches!
I’ve been talking my wife’s ear off about skating, but I just want to end this part of the update by encouraging you to follow your dreams. I’m living in California, in a house that we bought during the pandemic, and I get paid to hack web applications and computer networks. I’ve earned a graduate degree in history in a year and a half, during which I also earned a second undergraduate degree in roughly six months of that time. Moreover, I started making records when I was and made records that you can find on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, and even I Heart Radio! I wrote a 60,000 word novel in thirty days.
I wrote all that to write this – you can do anything you put your mind to. My wife and I are watching The Big Lebowski, a movie with many great lines, and one of the lines that I love is as follows. “If you will it, dude, it is no dream.” I’ve shared a series that I wrote on this old (now defunct) website called peerlyst.com that was called, “Flying is just falling and missing the ground” – and I firmly believe that to this day.
Many of the best things in life that I’ve done were terrifying. Hard and scary, but when they were done, I look back at them with pride. Just because you’ve not accomplished what you want to yet doesn’t mean you won’t by the time your life is over.
I didn’t get serious about college until 27. Graduated at 29. Screwed up a grad program and got fired and came back and tried again. Over and over I’ve failed in life, but like the old saying in Japan – fall down seven times, get up eight. I hope I am quoting that right.
Anyway, that’s enough for this week. I hope you like the update.
People to follow (on Twitter)
Bernice King - The daughter of Dr. King
Martin Luther King III - The son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
@cetolyne - great friend, awesome programmer, super helpful!
@blenster - cool maker, very positive, well worth a follow!
Marley - first place champ! Marley is one of the best on Twitter!
Null Coder - another awesome person to keep an eye on!
@EvilMog - creator of the DC MUD and an interesting person to follow.
TrakoZG – an internet friend who tweets excellent things
Sofia Rune – brilliant scholar who shares things that are both insightful and valuable
MildThrone – up and comer with a small following for now, but I think this account is on the rise!
Johnny B. Ill – Brilliant musician with wisdom to share for those smart enough to listen
Tiffany Collins - This is my wife, who is making cool art and is well worth a follow!
One last thing – for the music and art lovers
If you want to find what I am doing on other platforms, this is my TikTok here is my YouTube channel and here is the music project Twitter. Finally, if you want to listen to the full songs that I’ve recorded, you can check out my Spotify or search most music platforms for, “Dude and the missing rugs.”
My wife is making incredible art, and this is her website here is her TikTok she is also on Instagram and Twitter and you can buy her art on Etsy – she has some very affordable prints as well as even more affordable and cool stickers! Finally, if you like her art you can support her on Patreon as well!
That’s it for this week, internet friend! Thanks for reading this far! I hope you have a very nice day and a most excellent week.
Cheers!
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