In a Drunken Galaxy Far, Far Away

It's no wonder that people have such a hard time allowing gay marriage. Especially when in some states like Georgia they are still quarrelling over whether or not to allow people to purchase alcohol on Sundays! A bone of contention with me when living in Atlanta. In the state of Georgia they still have not been able to smack down the Christian right-wing fools and "convince" the senate for Sunday sales.

It's another bleak picture for change. Just because most of the country is doing it does not mean that everybody is doing it! In Georgia there is nothing out of the ordinary about thinking you can't pick up a six pack of beer on a Sunday for your day at the park. It's as if it's normal for people to not be allowed to do this.

After living on the west coast it is unfathomable that such steep laws against alcohol sales even exist. What is the matter with people? What does the restriction of alcohol sales on a Sunday help to do? Aside from rape the state of beneficial tax revenue and many other fabulous benefits. The only thing it does is pack the liquor stores on a Saturday night with people stocking up for their Sunday festivities. That along with leaving some very depressed alcoholics on a Sunday who forgot or ran out of their life-saving beverage first thing Sunday morning. I know you're wondering how could someone dependent on booze forget to purchase it on Saturday, but trust me it happens.

Have they not learned yet that if someone wants to do something, they're going to do it? It doesn't matter what laws are in place or how many electric fences are erected to keep a person out. They're going to do what they want when they want. You can arrest, fine and lethally inject people to stop them from doing something, but there will always be someone else following right behind to do it anyway. Is that a good argument for letting people do what they want? Yes, in most cases. Especially when it comes to that wise logic of do whatever you will as long as it's not hurting anybody else.

The only defense they provide for not selling liquor on a Sunday is keeping people on the straight and narrow with the Lord Jesus Christ. Which continues to boggle the mind because in the real world there is no Lord Jesus Christ and anyone I've ever met on the straight and narrow are the crookedest folks you could meet.

Buying alcohol on Sundays will keep people "good." Don't let people do what they want. People can't be trusted to take care of themselves. Is that how it is? Protecting the sanctity of the good folk. Those whom button up those blouses and fasten their neckties real tight, worshiping false idols in expensive churches run by child molesters and slipping politicians bribe checks under bathroom stalls. Those whom go home and close the blinds to practice all the sinful atrocious acts they preach against. But that's alright, because they do it in private.

What is the matter with people?

The Hallmark Syndrome

Warmed-Over Salutations

Most people seem to be so blown away when I write a nice note of thanks to them. They are so taken by the sincerity that they act as if I just handed them a bomb. This has happened a lot to me because I am honest. People are so used to the vapid words of thanks. Thank You cards with pre-written messages in them. They don't know what to think when they get something that actually came from someone's own brain. I've never understood any card with any message written in for us.

Even those greeting card commercials admit to it. They help you say what you mean. How come you can't say what you mean by yourself? I've gone shopping with people who are looking for a card that says what they mean for them. An entire store packed with cards and it takes them hours to find something that "sort of" expresses what they had in mind. It's even more fascinating to me when someone in that situation will say, "None of these cards say what I wanted to say!"

If nothing expresses what you wanted to say then why didn't you purchase a blank card and write what you knew you wanted to say? Possibly because they subconsciously are afraid to say what they feel. Consider this: How would you feel if someone hand wrote the same pre-written sappy message in most cards? I'd be touched. I am not touched if that message is printed in the card by a machine. It's insincere.

A Note of Thanks for Stopping By

Which is why they freak out when I write a nice little note telling someone about how they changed the lives of others. A handwritten, "You're wonderful!" It seems to weigh on people. It's as if you told them you are in love with them. It's the same reaction. It shouldn't be.

It takes no time for me to throw away any cards without personal notes in them. A stamp and the knowledge you spent some money on a machine printed thought is not good enough. It is something, but it's not the level I'm looking for. I appreciate the thought of not being forgotten, but I needed more thought than that. Tell me how you really feel. Say hello in your own way, not the way they wanted you to. Express yourself in any way that they didn't want you to and I'll always appreciate it more.

10 Commandments of a Realist

1 - People should be able to live and work around each other knowing the what people really think about each other.

2 - Ethics should not be treated as laws that can be broken. People are too afraid of breaking some invisible line that people don't say this or just don't do that. Perfectly legal things, too.

3 - If someone calls you an idiot you should have the ability to pause and honestly consider the fact that you may currently be acting like an idiot.

4 - Know yourself. Big meanies should be completely aware that they are indeed big meanies. Just as the meek quite mousy also need to realize.

5 - Love who you are. If you aren't happy with being a big meanie then why the hell are you being something you didn't want to be? It's terribly frustrating when someone rails against themselves their entire lives when they can be whoever they want to be. (They're just afraid to be it.)

6 - Don't be surprised. What's so surprising about it?

7 - They think what they think. You think what you think. Why are you both going back and forth telling each other how "it" is if you know that neither will ever change their tune?

8 - Stop wasting time! It's bad enough that most of the things inserted into life has been inserted with no other goal than to waste it. If you are allowing things within your control to waste your time you are an idiot.

9 - Social norms are far too normal to participate in. If you have been outcast due to not following along, please be thankful. If you can't be at least 75% of who you really are in everything you do, willingly or unwillingly, you should find something else to do.

10 - Being yourself, doing and saying what you want, walks a fine line with what the human race has decided to allow. In summary for this and all ten, quit being an idiot.

Wanted: Idiots

It never ceases to amaze me that an employer would rather hire a lying fake individual than a truthful candid one. Time and time again they hire the candidate who answers all the "right" questions and plays their game, only to find out months or even just a few weeks later that they've chosen yet another dud. Thus wasting time and money. To which the employer then exclaims, "I thought they were such a good fit!"

All because they found someone who answered all the right questions and stepped outside of the box at the times they thought the person should. If they seem too good to be true, they probably are. Personally, I'd rather hire the person who comes in a little disheveled. The person who doesn't go out of their way to disagree or challenge me at my own interview, but the one who seems to be talking freely without thinking I might be expecting constant scripted response.

Here's a thought for the employers out there. How about starting the interview out with, "Are you and idiot?" Maybe ask a question you don't want to hear the answer to. "Do you like my hair cut?" Perhaps, "Do you like my shoes?" All slightly good questions to determine if the candidate is in fact an idiot. For example if they like your hair and your shoes, they're probably lying. Who likes both your hair and your shoes? And if they really do, do you want someone on your team who likes you that much?

To me playing the game in an interview is the equivalent of all of Hitler's cabinet telling him there was absolutly nothing wrong with exterminating the Jews. It's why I never worked out with high level corporate position interviews. If you interview with HR and don't answer the cookie cutter question with one of their cookie cutter answers, you won't be getting that call back. Say what they will, but being inventive, nervy and cutting edge 95% of the time will not get you the position.

The only time being yourself gets you the position of your dreams is if you interview for those few legitimate Craigslist postings posted by employers who are "just like you."

In the world I live in (which has already been determined to not be the world you live in) it's better to fill your corporation with loose cannons than a bunch of bloody sheep afraid to step out of the box. However, on the level of the current reality it's much better to hire the sheep. The governments, corporations and religions of the world have already proven that the sheep are the best way to go. If we had a world run by free thinkers whom had free thinking assistants we might actually have dynamic change and interesting concepts. In the case of our current state of affairs it's much more simple to have the sheeple run by the sheeple. Just because it's easier doesn't make it right.

Perhaps what bothers me most are the ads looking for talented, free thinking, artistic individuals. When it turns out that they were just looking for normal follow-the-leader types pretending to be interesting. If they really want an interesting individual then they just need to sit them down and ask ... are you an idiot? Of course it helps if the hiring party was also not an idiot.

The inspirational portion of today's message, gentle readers, is that while I have kissed an abundant amount of ass I've never really been able to watch my mouth or conform to what they wanted. Yet I've always found myself eventually being the one conducting the interviews instead of the one being interviewed. Being myself to a point has landed me in rather good positions. It's a line I chose to walk and maybe I would have progressed quicker had I been the sheep, my predisposition to be "the wacky one" eventually panned out.

It may be the luck of the draw. The world needs sheeple just as much. The needs of the top would not be met without the worker bee buzzing below. We need the chanting folks who have dedicated their life to meditation just as much as we need the surrealist in town square. But we can't all be charismatic loud mouths. Oddly bringing me back around aching to make another Hitler reference.