Friday, November 19, 2010

I am sorry Arnold....but fuck California

Alright I am getting really fucken sick of San Francisco. Stop trying to protect people from themselves. You have no right to do it! San Fransisco has so far tried to ban toys from Happy Meals and now some people in the city want to ban the right of a parent to get a circumcision

Now this post is not to debate the pros and cons of circumcision. Nor is it to debate McDonald's corporate responsibility (although dude it has to do with parents buying McDonald's not them offering toys). This is about the rights of a people. Your a fucken town San Fransisco! Stay out of private citizens lives! If people want to have a toy with their happy meal you have zero right to deny them that! Stop trying to protect people from themselves and start trying to balance the budget and make sure children are getting the proper education. Stop wasting peoples time!

A better blog post is to follow, this just got me going

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Relax...your fine

So I had anew experience today, of which I am very glad. Usually when I get upset or annoyed about something I let it kind of run me for a bit. A good mood can go to a very bad mood quickly and it has always been very difficult for me to break out of that bad mood. Today I broke myself out of such a mood rather quickly, maybe 10 minutes.

I just stopped and took a second and it made all the difference. My mind can usually come up with things very quickly and my biggest problem when I get upset is that I don't slow my mind down at all. It jumps from one thing to the other, always getting more and more pissed off. Today I interrupted my mind by forcing it to focus on one thing, my little stone frog that I keep on my desk. By allowing it only to focus on the little frog my anger dissipated.

I took a deep breath and moved on. Sure I am still pissed off about some stuff, but it's nice to not get controlled by that anger.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What I would do in a Zombie invasion

So MW and I have been watching The Walking Dead and I have decided that the people who are writing the shows are probably close to the way people would actually react in a zombie apocalypse type of situation. This is causing me distress. I know that humans are animals that thrive on routine, but the thought that humans would just fall back into the social norms of every day life after a zombie invasion is just crazy.

In the show a medium sized group of survivors (from what I can see probably 6 guys, 6 woman and like 4 children) are trying to get through the zombie apocalypse. They seem to have fallen into gender driven roles (the woman clean and cook/ the men hunt and protect the group) Some of the woman are the show are clearly upset that the men hang around while the woman do nothing (understandable) Some of the men clearly do very little/nothing/dangerous stuff and don't help with anything (stupid people)

At this point it hit me. This particular group of people are just taking in random refugees? Why does that make sense. To me this is rule number one of survival. The social norms no longer apply, you need to look after your self and your loved ones.

In the show there is a guy who beats his wife and does no work to assist the group. Why would you allow him into this group? Just because he is a human doesn't mean he is going to assist you in surviving. If he/her isnt going to assist you then they can jog on. If the person reacts violently, than you must resort to violence or flee. This isn't down town Beverly man, this is survival.

The show also has two crazy guys that seem to have no want with people. Well then why the heck are they on the team? If that kind of situation you need people that will do work. not someone who will stand on a building starting fights.

Now thats also not to say that you need to like everyone in the group. So long as everyone is pulling their weight then that's what counts. If they aren't pulling their weight you have two options; leave or make them leave.

Friday, November 5, 2010

65 red roses....kind of an eye opening experience/ Hope

So MW posted a link on her twitter the other day that really gave me a kind of eye opening experience. The link was a news story on someone named Eva Markvoort. Eva was a 25 year old Canadian woman with Cystic Fibroses who live blogged her time leading up to a double lung transplant, her time after the surgery, her bodies eventual rejection of the transplant, and her eventual death.

Now I don't think of myself as someone who is easily taken aback or drawn into something, but this girls story just fascinated me. It also opened up a little more information in my eyes as to why someone would like blog/tweet a significant thing in their life, such as dying. This girls story has stuck with me now for three days and is really one of those things that remind you, no matter how bad things get, hope is still there.

This leads me to something that has always fascinated me about younger people, hope. MW and I were talking about this while watching the hockey game the other day, it seems so easy for children and younger people to have hope. We talked about the fact that a 40 year old who loses a limb often is depressed and has a huge issue adjusting (if they ever do). Why is it that a child of 4 or 5 can have a horrible thing happen to them and retain so much hope. It's a question that is very fascinating to me and I'm not sure I quite have an answer.

So keep hope my friends... its one of the most important things we as humans have.

I leave you with a quote that many of you will appreciate. We all know that I am a bit apprehensive about machines taking over one day. Maybe its the lack of hope and compassion that makes me the most nervous. I know this has been a bit of a disjointed post, but it's the end of the day Friday. I really encourage people to read Eva's story, if anything it's a story that will open your eyes a bit.

I leave you with this scene from I Robot

"Susan Calvin: What happened to you?
Detective Del Spooner: Headed back to the station. Normal day, normal life. The driver of a semi fell asleep at the wheel. Average guy, wife and kids, working a double. *Not* the devil. The car he hit, the driver's name was Harold Lloyd. Like the film star, but no relation. He was killed instantly. But his twelve-year-old was sitting in the passenger's seat. Never really met her. Can't forget her face, though. Sarah.
[fingering the necklace]
Detective Del Spooner: This was hers. She wanted to be a dentist. What the hell kind of twelve-year-old wants to be a dentist? Yeah, um... the truck smashed our cars together and pushed us into the river. You know, metal gets pretty pliable at those speeds. She's pinned, I'm pinned, the water's coming in. I'm a cop, so I know everybody's dead. Just a few minutes until we figure that out. NS4 was passing by and jumped in the river.
NS4 Robots: [from flashback] You are in danger!
Detective Del Spooner: [from flashback] Save her!
NS4 Robots: [from flashback] You are in danger!
Detective Del Spooner: [from flashback] Save her! Save the girl!
Detective Del Spooner: But it didn't. Saved me.
Susan Calvin: The robot's brain is a difference engine. It's reading vital signs. It must have done...
Detective Del Spooner: It did. I was the logical choice. It calculated that I had a 45% chance of survival. Sarah only had an 11% chance. That was somebody's baby. 11% is more than enough. A human being would've known that. Robots,
[indicating his heart]
Detective Del Spooner: nothing here, just lights and clockwork. Go ahead, you trust 'em if you want to."

mmm sleep

So I am not sure why, but the past 2 weeks I have had the hardest time staying asleep at night. I can think of one night in that time frame that I haven't woken up at least twice in a night. I am not sure why and no matter what I have changed it has stayed relatively constant. The only factor that seems to have affected my sleep was when I took some time walking Maddie to just think and reflect. Not worry about anything and just take a breath and relax. So that is my focus tonight, lets see if it works.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

what do you want...a cookie?

Dear facebook/twitter/foursquare/friends-
I feel we must talk. First off I am very happy that we live in a land where you can vote and politicians are not chosen for us by the goverment. Let's get that straight right off. However I am getting a bit sick of being told by people to vote. Whether I (or anyone else) votes is not the concern of the public. Voting is a right, not a requirement. In fact I would be so bold as to say if you don't have an opinion, or if you like none of those running, not voting is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

I am not sure where this push to have everyone in the country vote came from. I know that my mom and grandmother would always say you need to vote! Here is my question to all, why do I need to vote? Thats part of what makes America amazing, the fact that you do not need to vote to have a part/opinion/bitch about the government.

Now I am also not saying that I don't like to vote. I really and truly love to vote if I am informed on the issues being voted on. Nor am I saying whether or not I voted last night, I don't feel its really anyones business. All I am saying is that it seems to me we should encourage discussion and interest in political issues and activities instead of just saying go vote.

So please stop letting me know you voted on Facebook, I really don't care. And please don't give me shit if I DECIDE not to vote, its my right.

Love
Chris

Ps. I love debate so feel free to leave a comment if you feel that voting is something that everyone should be doing in all elections. I am not saying mine way is the right way, just that it's what I like best.