The Biggest Wuss

Okay, maybe not the biggest…

I'd lost power two days ago because of Irma, and the way I'd spoken about it, bearing in mind there are other people who'd had it worse or who go through worse, it was almost a tragedy. One could interpret my words that way, at any rate.

Realizing that, I'd felt like a wuss. I'd felt like, me having grown up mostly in the United States, having accustomed myself to the conveniences of coming home and having a relatively set routine with relatively no interruptions, I was not adapting well (even though I suppose I somewhat was; my sister had told me not to be hard on myself).

I'd made a Facebook post about marveling that I'd still had some hot water though the power had gone out. The next day I didn't have that fortune. I'd gone to bed early because there was very little to do, and I was conserving my phone's power. I didn't have my podcasts. I had little light to read the few books I'd elected to keep after purging my collection.

I'd felt like the type of American person Jamaicans scorn as being soft and inflexible. I didn't/don't want to be that person. I don't want people thinking I don't or couldn't measure up.

The power returned yesterday, and so continues my life of relative comfort. #firstworldproblems

Being a Man

I've been thinking the last few days about the word "man", and how I've been reticent to use it when taking about myself. Sex-wise, I'm a male. Gender-wise, I suppose that's the only time I may use the word "man" since it's clinical: "I'm a cisgender man." It may be because I use cisgender with it.

Otherwise, I'm a guy. I very rarely call myself a man, and O wonder why that is.

Is it a lifetime thus far of seeing images of what Western society sees as a man and somehow not feeling I'm up to that level? Is it because I tend to be very non-committal in language because there's "always something that could undo it". I tend to be rather careful with absolutes, and I suppose I may view "man" as absolute. It's rigid. It's hard.

"Guy", that's flexible enough. It evokes some sense of softness that I definitely do have.

And I suppose, Daniel Jackson, you have your answer.

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.

In Pursuit of Sex

I had started to muse on the drive of men to have sex why they may do things the way they do, including rape  and then some more facets of this theme came up a few times last week as I was listening to podcasts.

One was about Kurdish women who had taken up arms to defend their lands against Islamic State. One of them had described conditions under them, her describing them having the women disrobe so a doctor of theirs can validate their physical virginity. Then these women who are virgins, the Islamic State leaders would have, still naked, go to a building where men would select these naked women and go off to have their way with them.

Then there was another story that had included an anecdote of men who marry underaged girls. One of the girls who had spoken of her experiences remarked that it was probably because the guy thought he would never again be able to have a wife. My thoughts veered more towards his believing he needs to be in a marriage to have sex, that he shouldn't masturbate, and that he would never be able to have sex again if he loses her.

There was yet another anecdote among the discussion of India's censorship board attempting, ultimately unsuccessfully, to ban (essentially) a film, Lipstick Under My Burkha, that they'd described as too "lady oriented". The woman describing the situation brought up the fact the board is exclusively male and that they would have no problem if the women were their definition of attractive and dressed the way they want (scantily sometimes, perhaps).

These men, it's sickening. It's sickening how these regimes they make sometimes seem to make it so they can satisfy their sexual urges under their terms whenever it is they want. It's sickening how sometimes they have such narrow views of how sex can and/or should work, and that women should have no say. I hate that some see masturbation as desperation. I hate that women in some places and some times, even in the United States, have no authority to decide what happens with their bodies.

Sometimes men suck.

Trump ends White House tradition of celebrating end of Ramadan

Trump ends White House tradition of celebrating end of Ramadan

From Eid al-Fitr, a Flipboard topic

US President Donald Trump broke a two-decade-long tradition this weekend by not hosting a White House dinner to celebrate Eid, marking…

Read it on Flipboard

Read it on france24.com

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.

Repetition

“To a reporter from Reuters this week, though, Trump had a slightly different assessment of the presidency.

‘I love my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life,’ Trump said. ‘I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of a ... I'm a details-oriented person. I think you'd say that, but I do miss my old life. I like to work so that's not a problem but this is actually more work.’”

I have a few pet peeves. One is repetition.

I've accepted that this guy, Donald Trump, is this country's president, and that as much as his bearing, mannerisms, and facets of his personality irk me sometimes, I've done my best to not speak ill of him.

I wish, though, he'd take notice of the things he does and says. He's seventy years old, so changing is not easy. His penchant for repeating things over and over in one sentence really bothers me, though. It's almost as if he can't think of things to say off the cuff, so he repeats himself until he can think of something else.

I hope he can do better extemporaneously as he goes through his presidency.

Separation

US Considers Separating Kids And Adults At The Mexico Border

Here's what it's about:

Typically, adults who illegally enter the U.S. with children are released from detention while they wait for a court hearing.

Another means of forced dissuasion. This one, it actually seems a little cruel, but rather pragmatic.

The immigration issue, I have mixed opinions. I often wonder what I'd be like today if I grew up in Jamaica or the United Kingdom instead of the United States. As far as living here, I'll just say that it probably wasn't the most kosher way of doing things. I'd have preferred proper channels.

If they forced me to move, I suppose it would be inconvenient, and I suppose I'd have to think about alternative plans.

Proper channels themselves are up to debate at the moment, and constantly in flux. I wonder, though, how traumatic it would be for the parties to have themselves in separation. It beings to me an image of Nazi times where they'd done the same thing, separating parents and children, but it seems they'd done it more for cruelty (because the people had no choice in their relocation) than to actually try to stop people who (debatably) have a choice in their relocation and migration patterns.

Their options may not be ideal (and thinking about it might cause some people to think I'm supporting it instead of completely dismissing it), but they seem to have alternative options that might not be timely but there.

It does sadden me some that they have to consider this.

Tax Day Honesty

I'd seen this weeks ago, but it's only appropriate to post this today, being the United States' Tax Day.

I'd discovered Pearls Before Swine through my My Yahoo! page and it's been quite giggleful, actually. This one made me think, though, because a lot of people kind of have this mindset: "me make lots monee" but "guvmint you no geet any".

Yes, there are cases of government overreach, mismanagement, and perhaps at times overregulation. People don't seem to realize the things they take for granted their taxes pay for, though…

So, pay your taxes, and vote to make sure management of taxes happens properly.

[accent]Stupid Americans[/accent]

Piers Morgan and CNN Plan End to His Prime-Time Show
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/business/media/piers-morgan-and-cnn-plan-end-to-his-prime-time-show.html

Okay, yes, I'm bi-national. I'm a British Citizen who received his US naturalization in 2006. I've grown up in the United States primarily, and being an anthropologist have observed all the little things that make United States Americans proud and whatnot, as well as what leaves others wanting more.

This, however, is an example of that. Americans don't want to accept anything that makes them think about anything other than the United States except for when it's convenient, trendy, or what "everyone else" is doing. So, when Piers Morgan confronts them obliquely, debating as he does or, apparently as this article states, doesn't cover what "Americans want to hear", shutting him down is a problem.

Accepting that shutting him down because he runs his show the way he does and that "everyone" flees to other networks because of that is a problem. Full disclosure: I've never watched Piers Morgan Tonight. I've never been one for talk shows period, so pretty much any of them I've stayed away from, daytime or primetime. I, therefore, have no idea if the show is (or was) any good. My judgment lies solely with the article's claims. I'd like to believe my knee-jerk feelings have some merit, though: Americans on a majority do not want to hear about things that make them change their minds.

This is sad. This is why this country is so messed-up, and this is why it makes me smile sometimes when other countries put this one in its place. The United States' priorities skew completely waywardly most of the time, and yet it expects the rest of the world to bend over and take it whenever it wants a piece. If Piers Morgan helped the United States in some part during his tenure to see that there are things beyond being the third-largest country (debatably) and the third most populous, that there are people dying *everywhere* while the majority of US residents were in their homes watching a bunch of people vie for twoish-pound pieces of metal medallions, then bully for him.

Yes, there are other countries, mostly European, that just about force their naturalized denizens to become French (or Italian, or German, or whatever) culturally and shun them if they don't adapt and make 100% a part of them all the trappings of Frenchness just as this article asserts CNN and the viewing public expected of Piers Morgan. If the United States is such a world leader, then shouldn't it lead with the example that some Britain-born dude on a US prime time show can be what he is, and shouldn't we "enlightened" Americans accept him for it? Yes, it's ratings. Yes, this is idealistic.

But this is why this country is filled with stupid people. 

Political Dashboard

2008 Presidential Election on Yahoo! News: A prognostication... It's rather interesting to just go through the map, thinking about it all, taking it all in...

Seven days left and then we'll all be able to put this year and a half to rest.

Thank God.

2008 Vice-Presidential Candidate Debate Thoughts

I caught it a little late because my computer was defragmenting, but when I did, I was glad I stayed to watch it. It's the first thing I watched as a person newly without cable!

I liked this one better than the Presidential Candidate debate #1 because they actually interacted. They weren't (completely) hostile, though Sarah Palin sounded scripted. Glad to see she doesn't change very much, eh?

The only thing about Joe Biden is that he kept pronouncing things really... interestingly. On pronunciations, Sarah Palin says "nucular" instead of "nuclear."

I liked that they were rather light-hearted. They both smiled, and took strides with it. There were a few jabs, and even a low blow that had me going "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH" out loud, but it was good.

During the debate I was drawing Sarah Palin's U.S. flag pin because I liked the design. I'm a horrible artist, but it gave me a chance to test out my new (and by new I mean second-hand) graphics tablet. I like it so far. Hopefully I can develop another side of my creativity.

So, there's my horrible artwork up above! Toodles!