Month: July 2020

Twenty-two

As I promised, going to do a news story, and free-write.

For the news story, there’s this.

Obviously, with my tenuous health, and the state of the economy, these sorts of things have been of great interest lately.

I’ve been dumping money into my 401(k). And what I wanted to write about just now I deleted, because I might not be allowed to disclose.

I will say that I’m not old enough to qualify for any of the “catch-up” provisions in tax law, so it’s kind of forcing me to do things on my own apart from the “normal” ways of doing things.

As if there’d be anything different in my life.

I have a chunk. I’m not sure how long I could ever hope to live on it. I think probably some sort of long-term disability is more likely, honestly. What I have now would be more than I was earning not terribly long ago.

Even before the MS diagnosis, I was probably only looking at a lifespan of 65 years. MS, when you take a look at the actuarial numbers, takes ten years off your life. So that puts me likely dying before I’m able to tap anything without significant penalties.

Oh well.

I did listen to something interesting a few weeks ago that really changed my way of thinking about “investments.” Putting money into stores of value is not trying to get growth; it’s just trying to keep the value from going away.

In other words, I’m not planning to get rich off Tesla stock. Maybe next week, that’ll have appreciated a lot more than an ounce of gold or silver; what will it be worth ten years from now?

The same can be said for other things like real estate. Even if a big crash happens, it’s not going to be worth zero.

I can’t say the same for the Flooz I bought in 1999.

I’m also interested in buying stock that’s not publicly-traded. If I put, say, $10K into an apartment management/ownership group, maybe it’s a smaller payout than it was when I bought it. Maybe not. Maybe the Federal Reserve will juice the currency so much that it’s worth a lot more.

Even if it goes bankrupt, I’d be an unsecured creditor, and would get something back during the liquidation.

This is rapidly turning into the free-write I promised.

But I’m going to stop, as the weather’s nasty, and I’m worried about the power going out.

Twenty-one

The motivation to do this is waning quickly. I did write to my doctor when I decided to embark on this session.

I found in my archives an entry I’d written almost twenty years ago, where I beat myself up for being lazy.

Mind you, this was when I was working basically full-time largely overnight, along with taking something like seventeen hours in college. And I was beating myself up over it. I’d spend my two nights off per week largely out driving around, listening to the radio, smoking way too many cigarettes, and trying to figure out what I was going to write.

Yeah. That was lazy.

Notsomuch. But that’s where I was, mentally.

As far as this goes, I was going to go on with what I suggested yesterday, and just find a random news story, and write about that.

Today, instead, since this wheezing PC decided it was going to flake out while I was trying to find where I write, I flipped over to the TV input.

The station I’ve been watching lately was talking about this. Even the reactionary mayor was in full maybe-this-is-really-fucking-stupid mode.

Because it is.

Is it the stupidest thing I’ve seen proposed in the past few years? No. That it’s not says a lot about the pols who’ve been put in office lately. Yes, that extends to the current occupant of the Oval Office.

But the disappointment that they won’t be able to execute him for treason could be amusing if I could bring myself to be amused.

Instead, it’s just disgust.

If I keep talking about it, I might turn into what I’m calling one of my Fantasy Football teams this year. Since Redskins is no longer okay, I think there’s a nice ring to “Washington Wokescolds.” My fantasy teams is the DC Wokescolds, because using the proper city name was too long.

Do I plan to keep doing this? Yes. Why? Because I started it, and it gives me a reason to pick through my archives to see what I wrote once upon a time.

So, from this day in 2000, I found this.

See, I believe in big miracles – 7/21/2000

It’s an inside joke, and if you haven’t seen the Robert Tilton Spiritual Flatulence bootleg video, you wouldn’t understand. (I have a copy somewhere, if you’d like a copy, drop me a line. I might be able to oblige).

Anyway, I just thought I’d say that I miss Art Bell. Mike Siegel sucks hairy goat balls.

The reference is to something that was much shorter than the YouTube find here.

Obviously it was incredibly funny to a seventeen year-old boy.

More tomorrow.

Twenty

I’m doing this, though the temptation had really waned after I started in on it yesterday.

No prompts this time, just free-writing, and reaction to news that hit me on first scan of a news site.

Today’s news? This.

Everything touching the Epstein story just evokes a what-the-actual-fuck response.

Somehow it seems totally appropriate that there’s photos of both Trump and Clinton with him.

What’s happened with the story I linked is that the judge who is handling the case’s family were murdered. But they think it’s another issue, altogether. Or something.

No, I don’t think electing Crackhead Joe (hattip to Michael Malice on that one; he’s not the crackhead, that’s his son! And there’s the point….) will fix this.

Now to dig through very old writings, and find something I wrote on this date in a previous year.

Nope. Not that one. Or that one. On to 2013. Nope, not that one, either.

Better luck tomorrow, maybe.

Resistance Is Futile

Thirty-one days of writing ahead. It’s happening, despite my attempts at fighting it.

So what am I not going to do?

Pick prompts.

If I’m not free-writing, I’m going to just look through the news, pick a story, and shoot out a few lines.

July Eighteenth is Hot

I have two friends, and a relative who’ve got birthdays today. *does quick math* Halloween parties? All Saints’ Day? Armistices Day?

It is incredibly hot outside; 99 Fahrenheit here right now. Though there’s a taco truck visiting my ‘hood, I’m resisting the urge to go outside.

Fighting the urge urge to write again this summer, too. I did find some interesting prompts, but the weird Creative Commons stipulations made it too difficult to really consider using them. Whatever.

So what do I do on this hot day? Listen to the Peddling Fiction Podcast, look at some of the idiocy on Facebook, and stay inside.

Just No

Well, today’s been spent trying to figure out how to pay my protection racket to a professional organization that shall remain nameless.

At least the guys in the fancy suits actually provide something worthwhile.

And the restaurant suggestions they give generally turn out to be worhtwhile.

I’m also having major reflections on the NFL after seeing what the post-Awokening mob have done to the Redskins, and seeing this on Twitter this morning.

Can I support a league that is so closely tied to the company that employs him as a spokesman? Should I?

This line of thinking was certainly feeding in to my back-and-forth with Robbie “The Fire”. on Twitter yesterday:

He’d been talking about starting a corporation, the “F You Corporation,” that sells things apart from the woke mob.

But I’ve been quietly doing that sort of thing, on my own, for years. I used to not need to advertise it.

Can I say, “no,” to Nike, and the NFL?

Yeah, I actually probably can.

Would it make a difference?

I have no idea.

But I can leave, and live my life as I choose.

(And, see, this is where I start in to the whole bit about how if you disagree, well, shoot me, because I don’t deserve to live if me living is not up to your standards….)

Some people, about whom I care, might be disappointed, and that’s something I have to weigh.

But, regardless, at this point, there’s absolutely no way I’ll purchase a single thing from Nike if they continue to employ CK.

If someone asks me why, I’ll explain.

Otherwise, it’s for me to know, and just walk away. (And take my dollars with me.)

A Question

Where did the Non-aggression principle touch you?

Listening to this right now, after seeing a friend on the cesspool that is Facebook blame everything that’s bad in the world on libertarianism.

Que?

You can go through life without forcing people to live you in the way others deem appropriate.

Sure, this is very much influenced by things I read when I was shivering in my one bedroom apartment near Newport News Shipbuilding.

I think I actually didn’t have a TV much of the time I lived there.

But I think that was where I read How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World. (Apologies for the Amazon link; it was something that came up easily in my didn’t-used-to-be-evil branded browser.)

But it brings me to my point. I’m going out of my way to avoid giving them any of my money. Same goes, now, for FedEx, and Nike, based on what they’re doing to the Redskins.

You are allowed to make your own choices. There’s nothing wrong with that. Believing that, also, isn’t a problem.

But you might not make the right choices!!1!

Okay.

Since I might choose to make decisions you don’t like gives you the right to have me killed?

Got it.

This is where I’d normally start talking about how I’m a bad person for drilling down the political ideology to its base level.

But, no, I’m not.

If you don’t want to associate with me because of my choice not to force you to behave in the methods I view as appropriate. Well, okay. Come at me, bro.

On second thought, don’t. Leave me alone, even if it bothers the shit out of you.