Break Almost Over

My break for the summer, which has become somewhat of a ritual, is almost over. Check her for updates and juicy new posts. What will I say next?

Potatoes.

Today I am Ozymandias.

That is, Ozymandias the character from Watchmen. Not Ozymandias the Egyptian ruler-slash-pseudo-god.

This is a reference to the scene (in both the book and the film) in which he is sitting before a wall of television screens, watching them in unison, observing the subtle messages and suggestions of the programs and adverts, and forming not only a strong hypothesis, but an accurate forecast of society and the directions it's following.

And now, with thirty-some browser windows open, iTunes engaged, two chat windows open, two word files open, the television on, and my phone receiving texts, I AM HE.

If only I had the time and dedication to take this habit further and push myself into achieving 100% potential. I could be the strongest man, the smartest man, the wealthiest, and own a truly superior playlist.

And my alien squid monster will solve the cold war crisis.

Letter to a dear cousin...

Dear Cousin,
Today I graced my countenance with a beauty mark. Not in vanity or in virility, but to hide the sore left on the corner of my grin from the appliance of salicylic acid; that due to the location and appearance of which suggests foul oral behavior. I prefer it better the public look at me with the thought, “this man is surely a narcissistic madman with ill thoughts,” than the alternative: “This man is a herpes-infested charlatan wretch. With ill thoughts.” I wore the tiny blot proudly in the cafeteria while I enjoyed a particularly delightful bowl of tomato bisque.

Speaking of the cafeteria, it is my philosophy that the hired staff of said locale be best kept on their toes at all moments. Never an idle moment for the underpaid or underlaid. I saw a young woman of large proportions standing behind the counter, doing nothing of hospitable significance, staring at my fellow students and I as we filled our trays with the day’s culinary fare, an air of discomfort radiating from her idiotic gawk, her mouth agape. I demanded she fetch me some sweet and sour dressing for my salad immediately and she scurried forth on the task bestowed.

I was courteous about it of course, not wanting to come off as mean or dispiriting, but firm nonetheless. Her thin-boned coworker watched the whole scenario, and so I suggested she help her in my aid. Soon nearly the entire kitchen staff- 6 or 7 in all, including the manager- was frantically searching around to where they may have placed the illusive sweet and sour. Ten minutes past before I was granted my request. Though I may have acted a smidge sour, the outcome was certifiably sweet.

How are things in your neck of the tundra? What little we convey in our texts together is hardly enough to develop an image of the lives we lead. I imagine you spend your days building large, elaborate forts of piled silk pillows, wearing long flowing robes and carrying a glass scepter, threatening any who enter aforementioned pillow castle with penalty of castration and penectomy before an audience of Filipino orphan boys; bastards doomed to follow in their image. As I am a horrible predictor of human nature and societal tendencies, I will dismiss this notion as a figment of my own insecurities, and draw this letter to an abrupt close with the phrase, “Build it and they will Cum.”
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run...

There is nothing more primordially evil than the very concept of hate; remnants from the days whence man evolved from demons and ascended from hell to mate with those in the lineage of angels. Man's nature allows for the potential for both, equally, and unequivocally. To oppose something so strongly it is in their fiber to impose destruction. Is it wrong to hate? I do not hate people who use and spread hate, and I don't disrespect them for such usage. However, I feel it is still a problem and needs to be stamped out in permanence. I hate it.



What is hate's relation to love? The obvious reaction is perception of a spectrum. Love is the most positive feeling a person can experience just short of divine ecstasy. Hate is negative in its natural, undiluted form, at the opposite end of the scale. With this information, one would assume hate and love are polar opposites, inexplicably connected, yet indelibly divided, always and forever. Yet cannot one hate love, and in turn love hate? Oy vey...

It seems we are not dealing with a scale or a spectrum, a cycle or a span. The complex mysteries of man do not leave room for the simplifying and summarizing of concepts so ancient and sacred. To break it down to manageable terms only dissolves the very importance of it to whom we are as a race, a species. This sort should not be dissected, its purity is at stake.

If love is the answer, then is hate the question? Philosophically worded, yet comprehensively nonsense. If hate is a question, an answer to which is "not here, not now." But at the same time, love is the answer to everything. Isn't it? John Lennon?

Hate comes in many forms, from the most simplest-- animosity towards an opposing agent; which really isn't hate in its purest meaning, but dissent-- to the most extreme-- absolute abhorrence. Hate can be directed towards everything from a concept or idea, to an entire nation of people. This last form seems to be the most prevalent in today's global society. Generally spawned from centuries of misunderstanding between cultures, hate makes itself most apparent in bigots, racists, religious fanatics, and xenophobes. The function in our minds that causes the ignorant-minded to kill spiders and fear the dark is the same that creates tension between peoples at odds. Avoid what we cannot grasp. Kill what we cannot avoid.

The smaller incarnations of hate are seen less in the media, but closer to home. People tend to hate one another, for reasons other than what they stand for-- either as an individual or member of a group. This usually stems from some misdeed or misdoing performed in someone's personal history. And it's the number one cause for homicide. Always has been. Forgive and forget, live and let live, lessons often forgot.

In conclusion:
In the beginning there was Man, there was love, and there was hate, and Man's desirable need to find middle ground in every situation accounts for the plethora of emotions, consciences, reactions, relations and states of metaphysical being available for consumer use today. With so many alternative options, what continues to drive us to hate, I wonder? I can honestly say I've never been compelled to feel such virulence towards anything, man-made or Mankind or other-otherwise. Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe I haven't the opportunity. Maybe I'm out of my element and should stop playing with fire.

My God It's Hot in Here

So this is hell, eh? I expected all kinds of sordid amusements and forms of torture. Spring break was one thing, but this is boring. There's no fire, brimstone, or ABBA to speak of. Although it is hot in here. Hot as hell. Is this what the future is supposed to look like?