The World

The world is the United States president saying one thing, then another, then another thing. It makes only some people ridiculously happy because they get to speak about it incessantly.

The world is vehicles that become murder weapons throughout Europe… because why not?

The world is political figures constantly trying to one-up each other just to say they're better, even though when they die they'll all become dust.

The world is businesses that try to innovate even when they've reached maximum saturation. It's only because they feel they must always expand.

The world is taking advantage of debt, reselling it, gouging on interest, passing it around, and forgetting about it via bankruptcy.

People wonder when I hesitate to acknowledge others' thoughts that human beings are the pinnacle of creation.

Gender

I remember having a curt-yet-civil discussion with one of my cousins about gender. He wasn't the most flexible of people, but I actually felt glad that I'd had that discussion, especially knowing that both of us are cisgender males.

I've not had too much of a second thought about being male beside that I tend not to fit in a lot of the expectations this world seems to have for cisgender men: liking sports, going outdoors and doing things, breeding... Sometimes I've envied being a woman in the sense of seemingly greater insight into community, togetherness, existing without everything having to be a (physical or verbal) fight. Women have their complications, but transgender women and men have some shit sometimes this world throws at them.

It's not until I'd moved to Georgia that I've actually gotten to know transgender views; it seems they've been more frequent lately. Chelsea Manning, a few fraternity brothers who've become sisters, a few trans-men who've become brothers...

Then I've been hearing more about non-binary people and I can understand the confusion, and why some people refuse to deal with it. Making sure one recognizes everyone is a task.

That doesn't mean we shut anyone out, though, just to make someone's life seemingly easier. Let's see how much harder it gets.

Voting

So, I went and voted in today's special election for this district. It was because I felt I'd needed to (because I believe in voting).

Still, my fellow humans didn't make it easy.

Over the past week, this is my missed calls list: 

 

These were probably all people trying to "encourage" me to vote, and to remind me how "landmark" this election is.

I don't need anyone to tell me that. I realize the election is important, but not because of who's running or who's against whom. It's an exercise of a right, and one that puts someone in place who can vocalize my views (somewhat/somehow).

Having all these people call seemingly incessantly is just… rude. Having a mailbox, one day, with eight different flyers reminding me to vote is rude. And wasteful environmentally. Everything went in the recycling bin, yes, but goodness…

I don't even think I got this amount of grief in Florida when Obama was running.

I don't think other countries get nearly this invasive with elections, but I don't know. All I've seen of it is other countries sometimes have supremely high voter turnout.

But I voted. Now leave me alone.

International Elections

I'd had this thought as I was at work this afternoon to have separate blog entries where I try to look up information on various countries' elected leader candidates for their upcoming elections and then, basing it on what I've read and comparing it to my own beliefs and stances, I'd select the candidate for whom I'd most likely vote if I were actually able.

I was going to start with the French elections, but I was finding the research to be more of a challenge than the time or patience I have for it. It's kind of daunting just keeping up with one's own country's various jurisdictions and their electoral candidates to keep up with other places'.

So, I'd sworn that off.

Still, it's fascinating at least recognizing who these people are. Le Pen vs Macron vs Fillon vs whoever else (since these seem to be the biggest names I remember anyway) in France… And then I remember they'd elected Barrow almost 100 days ago in The Gambia… The Green Party candidate in Austria… What's his name again? Alexander van der Welle Bellen. I was kind of glad he won, from what I was hearing of his stances. I was pretty glad Justin Trudeau won in Canada.

I was more aware of the Canadian elections for a while than I was even the United States' until they'd winnowed down the candidate list.

I think Liberia is to elect someone pretty soon, and then Germany is going to have Chancellor Merkel defending her post yet again. Then the United Kingdom will be having general elections again pretty soon, so that's another thing.

I don't even know why these things fascinate me. It's not like I have anyone who shares this interest with me.

Soviet Jokes

#1: Yuri Brezhnev is at the Moscow Olympic Games and is giving a speech. He looks out and starts: "Oooooohhhhhh… Oooooohhhhhh…
Oooooohhhhhh… Oooooohhhhhh… Oooooohhhhhh…" His assistant walks up to him and says in his ear, "Sir, those are the Olympic Rings. You don't read those."

#2: A grandfather sitting down with his grandson, talking about Soviet history. His grandson asks "Grandpa was the Chernobyl accident really all that bad?" The grandfather responds, patting his grandson on his head, "No, son, it was not. We are all still here, aren't we?" The grandson then asks, "Grandpa, were there any bad effects of Chernobyl at all?" The grandfather says, "No, son, there were none at all." He then reaches out to pat his grandson on his second head.

#3: An aide runs to Vladimir Putin, exclaiming, "The polls are in and unfortunately Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party is up at 75 percent of the vote." Putin's eyes widen at this news. The aide realizes this and says, "Oh, don't worry, sir. You're beating him. You have *76* percent."