There's a lot to discuss
It’s been nearly two years since I last wrote on my blog. Mind the dust. I have a large amount of thoughts that I’ll probably forget unless I write them down now. From environmental turmoil to pandemics to grocery prices to books I’ve read to my home to the upcoming election. Is this what Walt Whitman called “Multitudes” and Contradicting Voices? Before I continue, I ask that you read one of my favorite poems:
Song of Myself (1855), Leaves of Grass
“The past and present wilt—I have fill'd them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?
Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?”
I’ve written only for seconds and already I would rather have you read someone else’s work. I suppose writing’s a muscle and one I’ve neglected for a few years. Whitman’s poem reminds me of my contradictions and foresight, and my anxiety to speak up at times. These verses remind me that sometimes, it’s okay to observe rather than act, but not without consequences.
I’ve been observing for a long time now. Time to get back to work. I can’t promise a schedule or frequency of these releases as I often feel overwhelmed by many things outside of my control. These are some of the topics I’ll write about throughout the coming weeks.
The Internet peaked in the early 2000s. There used to be an overarching sense of community online and there still are some fragmented communities on Discord and various Forums, but the Internet I grew up with has long shriveled and died. The corporations won and the consumer lost. Ordering items at the touch of a button has not made your life any easier. Smartphones have destroyed a sense of community.
The prices of groceries and food in general have gone up significantly over the past decade. I’ll complain, but I’m willing to pay more money if it means shopping around fewer people. I don’t like the grocery delivery services as it’s hard to plan for recipes when you ask for coleslaw and they deliver lettuce instead. Meal delivery services can be helpful in catalyzing ideas for new meals, but are largely a rip-off. Costco’s stuffed peppers (or anything you can cover and toss in the oven) are a much better deal.
I got a promotion in February. It’s kept us in Los Angeles for a little longer, but hopefully we’ll make enough money to move out of LA in the coming years. The city has largely lost its charm. Learning a new position has made it difficult to write as I was exhausted for the first few months after the workday, but I’m feeling much more confident six months later. Writing is difficult when balancing the weight of a full-time job. I’d like to write more.
I’m anxiously awaiting the 2024 presidential election. 78 days to go. I was ecstatic to see Biden drop out and Harris take over, but I don’t necessarily like Harris given her record as attorney general in California or her lack of accomplishments as a California senator. I like her VP, Walz, far more, and think it would be wonderful to see a teacher in the White House. We don’t need any more attorneys from Ivy League institutions in positions of power. These lawyers don’t care about you. I’m waiting to see more of her policies and I’m hopeful for further student loan forgiveness, lowering the cost of childcare, lower taxes on the middle class while raising taxes on the upper class. Personally, Biden’s student loan reforms have saved my wife and I $2,500 in the past year. Education and Vocational Training should be free no matter the profession, but this amount is almost a month of our rent.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party is still beholden to their donors at Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, and Congress will never stop selling weapons to countries committing brutal human rights abuses abroad. I don’t expect a great unifier, but I see some widespread benefits in domestic reforms. Also, seriously, DNC, why hold it in Chicago after what happened in 1968? There is going to be widespread violence (not from the protestors of course; we know the cops will instigate).
On the other other hand, I get visibly angry whenever I see that couch-fucker J.D. Vance’s face. I don’t care if the rumor’s fake. He looks like a guy that would fuck a couch. Rubber glove, lubricant, and everything. This guy’s fucking weird. He spends his days in school fantasizing about that leather sofa. He can’t even jerk off like a normal teenager. If there’s anything that will increase my blood pressure, it’s this dude. Vance looks like everyone I went to high school with who peaked in high school. He wrote a shitty book that was turned into an even shittier movie. Amy Adams and Ron Howard couldn’t even save this movie. Vance would make a terrible VP and the people of Ohio should be ashamed for even voting for him in office.
Lastly, is the field of Economics any more legitimate than the Astrology that your ex lectured you about? Inflation’s mostly made up through corporate greed. Absolute Advantage and Comparative Advantage are just some bourgeois nonsense about beneficial forms of trade. Economists could have warned about the 2008 crash or maybe stopped it entirely if economics is a viable field. A better question might be why a Bachelor’s in economics degree is viewed with greater respect to a Bachelor’s in psychology degree. Math and Statistics are respectable fields, but Economics? Economics is just fancy psychology and should largely be absorbed by the psychology and sociology fields. What good is theory if these ideas are never applied?
I’ll write about some of these topics above in-depth. I have about 12,000 words for a book I’m slowly writing. We all contradict ourselves at times. We all contain multitudes. Don’t lose sleep over it. Thanks for reading. Hope to write more.
