Painful things: Dropping jars on toes and paying taxes

This morning while trying to get raw coffee out of the pantry, a jar fell out and landed right on my big toe. I have a huge bruise now, and it hurt like a sonofabitch. The average person may ask, why do you have raw coffee? That's because we roast our own coffee. And if you ever tasted some of our coffee, you'd understand why. The coffee you buy in the store is stale and burnt. We don't have some expensive machine to do it for us either. We roast it in a ceramic coated cast iron pot on the stove. It takes about fifteen minutes to roast enough for a couple of days for four adults. So my toe is sore :(

Today is laundry day too. We have an old wringer washer, and the mum-in-law and husband are doing laundry. I was going to help them, but I dropped the jar on my toe, so I am sitting here instead. I did roast coffee, while sitting on a stool. I don't think my toe is broken, but it's not going to be pleasant the next time I have to put on shoes to go to school on Tuesday. If you ever do laundry in a wringer washer, you'll realize just how crappy these modern appliances are. We have a modern washer, that's not even a couple of years old, that takes an hour to do one load and then doesn't rinse clothing worth a damn. They can do all of our laundry in the wringer washer in an hour, many many loads. It would take two days for that new crap of a washer to do that many. As for the water, I'm sure it's trying to save water or some such nonsense, except for the fact that you have to run five rinse cycles to get the clothes to not have lines of dirt in them from it not putting enough water on them in the first place. It's fucking stupid. The low flow toilets are the same way. In an attempt to save water, I wind up having to flush the thing multiple times because it's not enough water. Some do-gooding idiot attempts to save the environment without thinking things through. That's society in a nutshell right now for you. The quality of our lives have been degraded by a bunch of mid-level bureaucrats.

Speaking of which, I was looking at tiny houses last night. Supposedly those things are supposed to help you save money, except of course, of the ones I looked at the price was quite a bit more than what you can get a normal house built for. $500 a square foot is a bit on the luxury end if you ask me, but again, what do I know? I'm just an artist. I mean, you can get a regular trailer house built for that much. I can't imagine that the materials would be even half that.

I would like to have a little cabin, off the grid, out in the middle of fuck-off nowhere, and be completely off the grid. Not have to go buy food, or pay for electricity or water, but instead have solar panels and a good well, and raise my own food, and not have any debt so I didn't owe anyone anything. Now wouldn't that be nice? Too bad you couldn't tell the IRS to bugger off as well.

The Strategy of Silencing those with whom you disagree

In the early Renaissance, with the invention of the printing press, making print much cheaper and easier to produce, the Catholic church, recognizing that it was easier to spread heresy by written word than by word of mouth in a time when travel was quite difficult and time consuming, came up with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, known in modern times as the "Index of Forbidden Books." Books that made the list were destroyed by fire if found, sometimes along with the people who owned them (unless of course said people had money or friends to bribe their way out of it).

This post is not intended to be a history lesson, but rather to compare the tyranny of the medieval-minded authorities to the tyranny of modern neo-liberalism. When I was younger my dad used to go on about how all of the "Politically Correct" speech was just getting so out-of-hand, and how he could foresee a time when it might be absolutely ridiculous. Well, folks, we have arrived there. When twitter erupted with the proverbial pitchforks and torches in a cry to throw Steven Colbert out of the studio over a tweet he made, you know that society has gone too far. Look, of course there is polite conversation and not-so-polite conversation and then of course down-right-rude conversation, but whether you like it or not (and I'm of the opinion that a lot actually don't like it) we have something called freedom of speech in this country. You're supposed to be able to say whatever you like (crying fire in a crowded theater, when there is not a fire, notwithstanding), and not have to fear for losing your livelihood. But that's exactly where we've come to. Plenty of times in the last ten or fifteen years, people have said stuff that wasn't that bad in my opinion (but what do I know? I'm just an artist) who had their lives destroyed, their incomes vanish, their jobs taken away from them, because a bunch of stupid people couldn't, or wouldn't, go on about their lives without being upset over someone saying something that "offended" them. I didn't necessarily agree with what was said in those other cases, but I didn't get upset over it. But now we've all got to be righteously offended, and if we're not then we must be the bad guy (see: racist, sexist, fill-in-the-blank-ist). And when I say righteously offended, I don't mean offended over any real injustice. I just mean over fake, inconsequential, bullshit words on the page or screen. It isn't real people. Whether it's a joke, a book, a blog post, a game, a comic, or whatever, it in no way affects you unless you decide to look at it. In the meanwhile...

If you want to be offended over something, be offended that even though we live in the 21st century, that approximately thirty million people live in slavery and many more are victims of human trafficking. That fact alone kinda makes your "outrage" over Colbert, and even your "outrage" of the name of a football team pale in comparison. There's plenty of other things to be outraged about as well, and I won't deign to pretend that I could list them all here, from transgendered youth being beaten up and bullied, to people losing their jobs because of real racism (which has nothing to do with the name of a football team or what Colbert said). But what Colbert tweeted, isn't even at the bottom of the list. It ain't even on the list. Why not get off your computer if you're so outraged and go do something to help an actual person, instead of typing stupid crap on twitter? There are food banks that need volunteers, and elderly people who need help doing chores around their house, and the list goes on and on. I suppose it's easier to target inane things on the internet rather than risk your safety, or take up your actual valuable time (time that could be wasted on twitter!) doing something that might actually make the difference in someone's life. Am I minimizing your angst? Why, yes, yes I am. Because I think it's ridiculous. These little spoiled spoon-fed twenty-somethings that think they know something, going on about all of the things they see as injustice, when they haven't grown old enough to realize that the world doesn't really care what they think.

Also, I'd like to use this topic to inform you that I have come to the conclusion that the more times that the word 'privilege' is used in any manner than the traditional sense of the word, the probability that the writer is themselves a privileged jackwaggon (in the traditional sense of the word), approaches one. You can call that T's Law. Hope you're not outraged. If you are, I don't give a rip.

By the way, it was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining, we had a lovely dinner, and I have worked nearly forty hours this week. I'm serious, be thankful for what you have and get off the computer and go outside and play. What people write on twitter, is a tempest in a teacup.

Busy, Distracted & Disgusted

So, I was supposed to try to write something here everyday but I didn't. This last week was busy, busy, busy. The in-laws made it back just fine. I'm glad they're back, their dogs were about to drive me crazy. They'd like to inform the world that buying a SIM card from Wind in Italy is a rip-off. In fact, I think that most of Italy is a black market of underworld shenanigans. Is that accurate? I don't know, I'm tired and not thinking all that clearly, but I do love Italy anyway. And why am I (mentally & emotionally) tired? Some of my students this semester are thick headed, you can explain something to them that the average person ought to understand at first glance and they look at me like I have three heads. You can demonstrate something and in three seconds they don't remember where I told them to click. Are they all on Statins or something? I bring that up because on the radio this evening on the way home, the news came on, and they were announcing how great it was that more Americans could be on Statins now, since they've lowered the threshold for acceptable cholesterol. Never mind that cholesterol is important for brain function and cell wall stability, or that statins are associated with muscle degeneration and transient global amnesia, and also with Alzheimers, but never mind that! We're going to save everyone from the dreaded heart disease, even if it means turning everyone in the country into stupid, sickly people. Ever seen the movie Idiocracy? Yeah, um, when I first saw that, I thought it was absurd, but now, now I'm not so sure that that isn't where we're going.

I'm tired, teaching wears me the hell out, especially when I have to repeat myself like a broken record because people are incapable of taking notes. Don't get me wrong, I like teaching. That is, I like teaching when I have students who look like they have half their act together and pretend to care. I saw the other day something about free college tuition for community colleges, where anyone and everyone can go for free. Yeah, then community college education can be as good as our free public high school education. I'll let you take that one to it's logical conclusion. Eventually, I figure that a college degree will be about as worthwhile as a high school one, because gosh darn-it don'tchya know everyone gets a trophy and everyone can do anything they want. Bull hockey sticks. Some people shouldn't be in college, it's not for them, and they're pushed into it anyway, and then they wind up tens or even a hundred thousand dollars in debt and not even a degree to show for it because they couldn't make it through the program. And if they do make it through the program, they find that they're not cut out for whatever it was they studied, because the real world doesn't give a flying fuck what piece of paper you have, if you can't take a shower, show up for work on time, and meet deadlines. And the little darlings, starting in grade school, are lied to, and told that if only they have a piece of paper everything will work out for them. Hard work, work ethic, and responsibility are not the words du jour.

I'm going to take a shower and go to bed before I tell you how I really feel.

When in Rome...

Maybe you don't want to do what the Romans do?

The in-laws spent the last three days in Rome. They're back in Venice now, and they said they didn't really care for Rome very much. I happen to like Rome personally, I thought for a big city, it wasn't that bad. That said, since it is a big city, I consider it a place to visit for a few days, but not to live in. I much prefer the countryside myself as a place to be most of the time.

They took a very early morning train from Venice and arrived fairly early in the day on Thursday. Apparently, the first thing they saw when they stepped out of Termini, was a woman who squatted down in the middle of the street, in the crosswalk between the side entrance of Termini and the McDonalds, and proceeded to pee(!) in the middle of the road. I've been a lot of places, I've never personally witnessed anything like that.

After that excitement, they went to the Colosseum and the Forum/Palatine Hill. They did like the hostel I told them to book a room at. The Alessandro Downtown is one of my favorite hostels. They booked a private room obviously, and said that the staff were lovely.

The second day they got up early to go to the Vatican, and the father-in-law got his pocket picked on the metro. Luckily all he lost was a small coin purse with about five euros in it. There were men on the metro who were pushing into them, and of course, they were thieves. When I travel, I don't let people touch me. If you're touching me, you need to back the flip off or I'm gonna stick my hiking boot up your arse! And I don't care how crowded the train is either. You can keep some space between us.

Eh, but when I travel, I look like a poor backpacker, so no one's bothered (that I know of anyway) to pick my pocket. If they had, they'd have not gotten anything. 

Anyway, the mum-in-law enjoyed the Vatican. She said she loved the hall with all the animal sculpture and then she joked that when she becomes Pope she's going to live there, in the hall with the animal statues. I thought that was pretty funny. They walked back to the hostel from the Vatican, about a three mile walk, and I had written down for them how to get to all of the sites they ought to see, like the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. I'm assuming their walk back to the hostel was uneventful, although the mum-in-law did mention that the Spanish steps were over-run with Carabinieri, which is a good thing. Gotta keep the criminal scammers in check, or you scare away all the tourists (something that Pisa could stand to learn from). I just did not feel safe walking around Pisa with all of the scamming men running around shoving fake goods in my face.

Today the in-laws went to Ostia Antica. It's a very nice place and they did enjoy it, although they said that a lot of the site was closed, possibly because of the weather, or winter. They saw all they could and spent the better part of the day there. They went back a little early and the hostel let them stay in the common area, which I told them was quite common with hostels, they often will let you make use of the common area on your day of arrival before check-in and on the day of departure after check-out, because quite a few backpackers like taking night trains to their next location.

They said the train was packed on the way back to Venice. Trenitalia had been offering 2 for 1 fares on Saturdays, so I suppose a lot of people were taking them up on that deal.

They come back on Tuesday evening and I'll be glad. We're watching their dogs while they are gone, and I gotta tell ya, their dogs are annoying little bastards. Especially the pug Auggie. The chihuahua Rosie isn't much better. I don't care for chihuahuas, never have. I prefer labs, because they are loving and sweet. Chihuahuas just want to eat your face off and yip annoyingly for no apparent reason. I've never met a chihuahua that wasn't neurotic.

Offer for a Loan at 30% Interest

The other day I got a loan offer in the mail from some company called Springleaf (if it looks like a payday lender, and sounds like a payday lender...) They say I can borrow $5,250 at get this - an interest rate of 29.43 percent. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I'm still laughing like two days later. Who in their right mind would borrow money at that interest rate. Actually, if you're borrowing money at any interest rate you need your head examined, but nearly 30%?! LOL What do I look like? Stupid?

I thought about sending the thing back to them with something funny written on it, but that would cost me a stamp, and I don't think it's worth that. Speaking of profitable, this company would exist if people didn't borrow money from them. People, people, people, you're not broke because you don't earn enough money at your job. You're broke because you keep giving the banks, the payday lenders, the mortgage company, the car loan company, the credit card companies, the Dept. of Education servicer, the loan sharks, etc. ad infinitum, all of your disposable income, and then some! Just STOP IT!

Makes me think of this:

 

"The borrower is SLAVE to the lender," and this is not rendered obsolete by the Thirteenth Amendment. When you are in debt up to your eyeballs, the debt informs your life, your choices, your career opportunities. The debt is your master, literally, and you, it's slave.

Daylight savings time... ugh!

I hate it when they change the time. Even though it's only an hour, it throws me completely off. As if that wasn't enough, I had just gotten everything cleaned up from the dogs, fed them, and made breakfast when my sister-in-law called me to tell me that there was a break in the water line up at the pump house. So we were without water for most of the afternoon. Luckily, my brother-in-law knows how to fix a pipe, and he got to work on it and after a trip to the hardware store got it fixed up (in the rain no less). It hasn't rained much in forever, and it rains today. It never fails that every time the in-laws go to Venice, something goes wrong.

At breakfast I read an article in the paper about how terrible it is that poor people have to pay more for college than rich people. I call shenanigans. That and I wonder what people are thinking when they have no money and go to a private school to get a degree they could have gotten at a State school. I wouldn't know anything about that /snark. To be fair though, when I got my degree, one could not get a degree in animation just anywhere. The choices were limited. Now however, they are not. Plenty of public universities offer degrees in animation/3d imaging/etc. And it's sheer stupidity to go to a private school when you are poor, unless you are getting the majority of it paid for in aid/grants that don't have to be paid back. IT'S STUPID. And I should know.

I forgot to write here the last couple of days because I've had my nose stuck in ancestry.com. I probably shouldn't have, but it's Spring break, so I signed up for a month of access. I have an interest in genealogy and every once in a while take another stab at where I left off. The only problem is, the more you research, the more people wind up in your tree, and the more work it takes to get back another generation. It's all exponential after all.

 I only had a little freelance today, and no school this week, so back to genealogy... maybe I should look at getting paid to research stuff LOL

Cooking Day

Today I didn't have much freelance, and spring break is coming up and with the in-laws out of the country, I decided to do some cooking. We made what I call my 'pot of stuff'. It's an easy thing that started out years ago when one evening I didn't know what to make, and so I threw some stuff into a big pot. It so happened that it came out really tasty. The basics that you must have are onion, bell pepper and ground meat. The bell pepper is not optional ever. It's not the same without it. Everything else is negotiable. Here's what I put into my 'pot of stuff' tonight:

"Pot of Stuff"

a few tablespoons of bacon grease
1 onion - chopped
2 green bell peppers - chopped
2 lbs. venison (yes I hunt)
1 lb. wild pork 
2 cans of black-eyed peas
1 can of Rotel (or chopped tomatoes)
1 can of green chilis
1 can of corn 
2 potatoes

Basically, you fry up the onion and bell pepper in the bacon grease and when they are soft, you put the meat in. I also put spices on it, but I couldn't tell you how much because I never measure. I usually put garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a little cayenne pepper. After the meat is cooked, I put the rest of the stuff in and let it simmer for a while.

I usually don't put corn in (don't usually eat grains), but it was in the cabinet and usually I put pinto beans in, but we didn't have any, and since the mum-in-law wasn't here, I put it in (she can't have any grains at all because she has Hashimotos). See, it's whatever you have on hand. It doesn't take any time to make really and you can walk away from it if you're busy. Just make sure the temperature isn't too high and cover it.

Then as if that wasn't enough, I decided while looking to see if we had any pinto beans, that I was tired of tripping over canned pumpkin. We have so much canned pumpkin in the cabinet that it's ridiculous. I don't know why we have it but it's been in there forever, so I decided I needed to make something that would use it. I'm allergic to dairy and soy, so I can't make your typical pumpkin pie or bread. I looked around online at what generally goes in pumpkin bread and looked through some cookbooks here, and came up with the following recipe:

Dairy-free Pumpkin Bread

 Bowl 1:
1 1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 c. coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp all spice

Bowl 2:
2 large eggs
1/2 c. non-hydrogenated pure lard (melted)
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp molasses
1 c. splenda
2 packets stevia

1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts 

Grease a 9" bread pan with lard.

Whisk Bowl 1 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk Bowl 2 ingredients together in a second medium sized bowl. Whisk until smooth.

Fold Bowl 1 into Bowl 2. Cut in pecans/walnuts.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Let cool on wire rack after.

The bread came out a little moist, but the hubby approves. I think it tastes very good. Next time I might try putting just a little more coconut flour in so that it might hold together a little better. At any rate, I'm completely stuffed now.

It's the Debt, Stupid

I'm a big Dave Ramsey fan. Thanks to Dave, over the last year we have paid off our car and two of our small student loans. We still have two bigger loans that are going to take a while to pay off. Since I have a long drive to the college where I teach, I listen to Dave on the radio on the way there.

Something today clicked in my head while I was listening to his show. I'd known all of the facts for quite a while, but my brain hadn't put it together until now. Do you know why we are losing the middle class in this country? It's not the government, it's not that CEOs are making too much money, it's not a conspiracy theory (welllll...), it's not what the talking heads are telling you, it's not what you think. We are losing the middle class in this country because of debt. The middle class is up to their eyeballs in it. And when you're in debt, where is all your money going? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out! The American middle class has blamed the banks for the housing bust and Wall Street for a crappy economy. It's kinda like blaming the Grand Canyon for being a big hole in the ground. You're missing the real culprit. The Grand Canyon is a huge hole in the ground because the Colorado River running through it made it that way, much the same way that the middle class is becoming impoverished, being worn away, because of their embracing of debt.

Debt is not a tool. Paying hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands a year in INTEREST to the BANKS is not a useful tool. It makes you a tool maybe. But it is not one. This acceptance of debt is fairly new. Our ancestors didn't do it, because you could go to debtors' prison if you didn't pay. Our parents didn't do it either, even though debtors' prison was long since gone. Back when my parents were young, you couldn't get a credit card unless you had a very high income, beyond what the middle class made on average. You couldn't get a mortgage unless you had 20% down and a steady job for three years. Student loans were only for certain programs. There was no way you could possibly live beyond your means. No one would loan you the money to do it.

Fast forward to the nineties, and cheap and easy credit is everywhere. You can run up all kinds of debt. You can get a car loan, a house loan, a second mortgage, hell why not a third mortgage, a student loan, enough credit cards to fill in the Grand Canyon, and if you hit the limit, don't worry, the bank will raise your limit (especially if they're a predatory lender). Eventually, you over-extend yourself, and they raise your interest rates, and now a large portion of your income is going to the banks. You apply for more credit cards to cover the shortfall in your income, and then eventually you wind up filing bankruptcy. But it doesn't end there. After you file bankruptcy, you can get yourself right back into the same mess again. You'll get credit card offers in the mail almost immediately, and they'll give you more credit. Isn't that brilliant?

And the crazy thing is, that this mentality of debt being acceptable has worked its way so thoroughly into the psyche of the middle class (and even the so-called working poor), that they don't care how much interest they are paying, just tell them what the payments are and they'll see if they can squeeze it into the amount that they are capable of paying out each month. A good example of this is the conversation I had with one of my students. He said he was going to go buy a used car that cost probably about the same as what he makes in a year. He had no idea what the interest rate was going to be (it's usually very high on a used car). All he knew was that the payments were affordable. I tried to talk him out of it, but he didn't understand what the problem was. After all, he said he could make the payments with no problem. The idea of saving up and buying a car outright was a foreign concept. Another student told me she had no problem making payments on a bedroom set and some other furniture because, "the payments aren't much." The rich are getting richer because they're investing their money. The poor are getting poorer because they're giving all of their disposable income to the banks!

Debt has allowed the majority of the middle class to live beyond their means and give a hefty percentage of their income to the banks. If you're in debt, add up what you're paying in interest every year. And then go stick that number into a mutual fund calculator with returns showing thirty or so years. Try not to cry. As is so often true in life, if you want to know where the blame lies, go look in the mirror.

They're off... (in coach class that is)

I took the in-laws to the airport this morning and they are now on their way to Venice, Italy. Their flight was delayed and they nearly missed catching their connecting flight to Frankfurt in Houston. Oh, the joys of travel. LOL

Speaking of, I read an AP article the other day about how the First Class passengers on international flights get the perk of being separated from the unwashed masses (which for any of you who have traveled internationally in economy, you will think this sounds like an awesome thing). At any rate, while the article is interesting, the writer couldn't resist throwing in your usual drivel about how this just further widens the gap between the uber wealthy and the rest of us.

"It’s one way that a gap between the world’s wealthiest 1 percent and everyone else has widened."

The fact that the First Class passengers are subsidizing the cost of air travel is lost on the droll thought process of the sorry-excuse-for-a-journalist who churned out the article. If you're trying to make me jealous, it's not working. And if they're making you jealous, you should stop. Just stop, right there. Do you like travel? It's already pretty expensive right? Well, if the extremely wealthy weren't willing to pay $15k and get some perks along with it, and more than just leg room (because do you really think a little more leg room is worth that much?), none of us plebes would be traveling anywhere!

"At big carriers like American Airlines, about 70 percent of revenue comes from the top 20 percent of its customers."

Chew on that for a while, and instead of being jealous, be thankful. Thankful that rich people do want to pony up the money that winds up subsidizing your ticket in chattel class. Yeah, economy sucks, but the end result is usually something you really want, like visiting far away places that you've only read about.

I'm annoyed at the author for throwing that in, and intrigued that rich people get to ride in luxury cars to/from their plane. I'd like to do that sometime. If I ever win the lottery I just might try it once.

Winter Summer Spring Fall...

...all in the span of three days. On Sunday I woke up late, it was warm, then by late afternoon it was very cold, about twenty-five degrees. The hummingbird food froze yesterday morning then it warmed up to about forty degrees. Then yesterday afternoon it rained, but only for a few minutes. We really need more rain.

I haven't done anything useful in the past few days except read some stuff. I did read one book that was interesting, called Whole Grains, Empty Promises, by Anthony Colpo. It's a good source for looking into studies that show that whole grains are really a load of bunk.

I need to fill up the deer feeder but haven't gotten around to it.  I need to get the oil changed in my car, but it always takes so long I've been putting it off. And it's so coooollllddddd... *brrrrrrr*

The in-laws are leaving for Venice, Italy tomorrow. I have to take them to the airport. They go every year and rent an apartment for a week and a half. We have to take care of their dogs while they are gone. The dogs are a pack of idiots. A couple of them are crazy, especially Rosie the chihuahua. Of all dogs, chihuahuas are my least favorite. They're so yippy. I love labs, they're quiet and sweet and want to cuddle. Chihuahuas want to rip your face off. The dogs are really a handful, but we love them anyway.

Rosie, eating licking my nephew's face

Sammy our sweet & adorable lab

Cold Front

I woke up this morning (actually it was after noon, on Sundays I don't set an alarm and get up when I wake up) and realized that I really needed to blow out my computer with some canned air. The thing attracts dust like there's no tomorrow. I took it out on the porch, and it was looking like it might rain. It was about sixty degrees. I came back in and cleaned off my desk, for the first time in months. I should really keep it cleaner, but I've always been the sort who 'has better things to do' than clean. After breakfast I noticed that the temperature had dropped to fifty-five. Right now, it's thirty degrees, and I just checked the weather and it's supposed to be twenty-five tonight! It was nearly ninety the other day. At any rate, good thing I cleaned out my computer first thing. We didn't get any rain, which really sucks. We need rain badly.

That is all I have accomplished today. Breakfast and cleaning my desk and computer. I feel like I should do something, but it's cold outside. That's a good excuse right?

Transcribing the Past

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with bad stomach pains. They were still around this morning, but I'm feeling better now. Have no idea what I ate that would cause that.

I spent all day putting my transcribed journal from my 2012 trip onto my Backpacker's Anonymous blog. Take a look at it. It's fun stuff cheap! I've included some of the best pictures that I took. If you like archaeology, or art, or history, or want to go backpacking, it's a good read, I think anyway.

Reading all of what I wrote makes me want to travel again, even the really bad days don't deter me. I shudder at the thought of having to endure the plane ride, but I know in the end, it's completely worth it. It's so much fun to see how other people live, and see things that you only read about in books. I'd travel more often, if only I'd win the lottery LOL

Europe and Donkeys

Why do we idealize Europe? Our ancestors fled from there in the face of oppressive class-ism and religious wars. While the religious wars may be gone, the class-ism sure isn't. Don't get me wrong, I like traveling in Europe. It's fun. But would I want to live there for any long length of time? Not no, but hell no. A year or two maybe, but to live on top of each other like rats in cages for your entire life, like the majority of Europeans do (unless of course you're wealthy and your family has land). Uh, no. Right now I think our neighbors are too close, mainly because I could easily hit their houses with a high powered rifle. (Gun safety rule number 2 of 4: Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction.)

I bring this up, because I saw a book at the Half Price book store tonight, extolling the virtues of how we should try to be more like Europe, and how we lack high speed rail, and should therefore use Spain as a model of progress. I checked the date, and saw it was published before Spain went broke and had riots and horrendous unemployment. How's that high speed rail working out for them now? I'm sure it takes them quickly to their non-existent jobs.

Where we live, down the road, are some donkeys. They often have their head sticking out of the fence, munching on grass by the road way. People come flying around that corner, but the donkeys don't seem to mind. They like the greener grass outside the fence. I hope you see what I did there.

I'll keep my derriere in the country,  thank you very much, and the hipsters can keep their 'green' cities, and keep talking about places they've probably never even been to and subjects they obviously know nothing about (see: history and economics).