Culture | Piss and Moan

Projects

Posted on January 22, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi on Pexels.com

Ever feel like you just have too many? Projects, that is. Ever feel like you have so many projects going at once that keeping up on all of them takes enormous effort and time?

Yeah, me too.

I am not just talking about the ones at work. While there are lots of projects at work to always do, at least there I feel like I can block time effectively and focus on what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

I am talking about projects in my personal life.

Owning a home is a never ending project – improvements, maintenance, yard, cleaning and organizing. It just seems overwhelming at times because you can literally stand in one room and identify 17 things that need to get done or want to get done. There is never enough money and never enough time.

Social media projects. This is sort of a self-imposed problem. As you all know, there is absolutely no actual need for social media. It is there to distract and entertain (or infuriate) but there is no real need for it. But, blogs and Facebook and Instagram and Reddit and Snapchat and Twitter and [insert whatever else you have going on], can really take a lot of time. Am I right? Promotion of your businesses, blogs, ideas, etc. takes time and obviously it is something that needs to be done on a regular basis or you lose your following. I guess I am probably preaching to the choir here…

Anyway, I think my job is interfering with my creative side and completing those personal projects I have going on. Plates are spinning, and wobbling, and keeping up is a challenge.

I don’t have a solution. Just a whine. Just a complaint. Just general angst. I know it is all self-imposed, but I want to do a better job at it.

Anyone have any suggestions? How do you balance everything you have going on, outside of your actual job? I know, “first world problems,” right? I am open to suggestions….and if you just need to virtually slap me on the back of the head and tell me I’m an idiot because my self-imposed struggle is stupid, you can do that too.

Stolen retirement?

Posted on January 6, 2020 by backuphill

People who aren’t relatives, but look like their retired. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This morning’s irritation doesn’t really have anything to do with me, so much as it has to relatives. Well, this isn’t really an irritation for just this morning. This is an ongoing irritation that flairs of on a regular basis, especially when I feel like someone is being taken advantage of.

I have some family members who are generous people. They like to help others.

I have some family members who make poor choices and like to ask for help when things get tough.

As you can see, this combination of two types of family members makes for some behavior enabling and as a result, I don’t think anyone in the situation wins.

The biggest problem here, as I see it, is that the family members who think they are being generous and helpful are the grandparents of said family members who can’t seem to get their adult life and behavior figured out. Sure, the grandparents are free to spend their money as they see fit. They are adults and they are still of sound mind and body (at least as far as any of us are).

However, the issue I have is the frequency with which the grandchildren take advantage of their grandparents’ generosity. Less than six months ago, one of the grandchildren got a huge chunk of money (to the tune of about $3500) so they could move their family into a different rental house, one that was really beyond their means. Now that same grandchild is in need of a more fuel efficient vehicle (rental house is too far from job) and they don’t have the money for that either…and so an offer from the grandparents is on the table again…

I just can’t help but wonder if the grandparents are being robbed of their “golden years”? They live within their means and they obviously know how to manage their money, but we are often told they live meagerly and they can’t afford this or that, or they can’t get a better car for themselves, or they don’t go to doctor because they don’t think they can afford it. It’s stuff like that. Is that really how they should be living in retirement?

As the parent (step-parent/SNL, at that), when is it appropriate to say “Enough is enough” or to “Stop” or to “Step back”? Or, do I just stay out of it and let it go…none of my business kind of thing?

Self important?

Posted on January 3, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Riccardo Bresciani on Pexels.com

I keep seeing these videos on social media and its getting rather irritating because everyone knows they shouldn’t do it, but they do it anyway. What videos am I talking about?

I keep seeing videos of people driving. They are holding their phone (you can tell because the image “floats” and you can see the dashboard) while they drive and showing you the road, road conditions, night sky, etc. There may be music in the background or they are narrating something that happened. Whatever.

In a day and age where it is illegal (at least in my state) to have a phone in your hand while driving, you would think that people would not put themselves or others in danger by holding a phone while they drive.

It leads me to believe that they believe they are more important than everyone else. “I’m going to disregard the law and safe driving habits so that I can post a video of me driving on the road. Because, after all, everyone is interested in what I am doing and they should probably know the road conditions.”

Guess what? You ain’t that important!

I don’t care that you are on an open road, in the middle of the night, with no other traffic around you. I don’t care what the road conditions are. I don’t care that you need to tell your followers something. I don’t care that you have a song you want us all to hear.

I don’t care.

Get over yourself and drive safely. Period.

Newspaper paywalls

Posted on December 19, 2019 by backuphill

Bad Gateway…as in, “You don’t have a subscription.”

The Washington Post once was a paper that would be trusted to give you the news without commentary. Not so much these days, well to be fair, for quite a while. Commentary is a staple of its reporting, but I wanted to call attention (again) to it’s motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” *Sorry, it’s a little hard to read in the screenshot above.*

The story of how the motto was adopted can be found here, if you can get past the paywall. Many believe the motto was presumably adopted in response to Trump’s assertion that the media was an enemy of the people for their inaccurate and slanted reporting. The story refutes that presumption, though some still question the truth on that too.

To some degree, the motto is correct, though journalism and the media isn’t to only keeper of democracy. No, there are lots of sources from which information can be obtained these days. What there is a lack of, is accurate and fair journalism and media. Therein lies the death of democracy.

Media and journalists who report their bias, their slant, their take on the information “to inform” the public is killing democracy. In essence, the Washington Post is killing democracy in several ways all by itself.

First, there is, of course, the slanted and liberal bias the paper produces every day. This is not a debatable conclusion. It is fact. So let’s not quibble about this detail.

I would posit the next reason the “paper” (I say it that way because it isn’t a newspaper in the true sense any longer) is helping democracy die is that it has chosen to put its online content (or most of it) behind a paywall. I understand a paywall generates revenue, but doesn’t advertising do the same thing? The problem with the paywall is that it makes it so that only those who can afford to pay for a subscription have access the “the news.”

Is that really keeping everyone informed? Is that really making sure there is equal access to information? Is it equitable for all?

Access to information and access to sound, unbiased reporting is important. Hiding behind paywalls and having more journalism that is predominantly commentary, rather than facts (or a liberal spin on the facts), isn’t keeping democracy alive. It is actually killing it too.

Democracy certainly dies in darkness, but the darkness here is slanted journalism and a paywall.

Love is just a word

Posted on December 18, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Emre Can on Pexels.com

I am not sure if I have become jaded/cynical/pessimistic or just old. It’s likely that it is a combination of all of these things.

Anyone else feel like the word “love” is just another word these days? Like, people don’t actually know what it means and abuse the use of it all the time. Sure, they may technically be using the word correctly based on the definition, according to Webster, but just because the dictionary has put a definition to it doesn’t necessarily mean that people actually love. Splitting hairs here? Maybe. But I get really tired of hearing when it most likely isn’t really meant.

You hear it all the time but you probably don’t really pay attention to how it is used…because it is used all the time.

“I love this pie.” Do you really?

“I love the characters of this show/book/movie, etc.” No, no you don’t. Not really.

“I love that you work so hard at making a difference in the neighborhood.” Doubt it.

You get my point (or maybe you don’t). The abuse of the word is rampant. It’s irritating. Well, at least to me. It’s irritating to me.

Does anyone else find this even mildly irritating or am I alone in this?

I don’t love the use of the word love in common vernacular. It’s value is diminished when it is abused.

In the mirror

Posted on December 13, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Drigo Diniz on Pexels.com

Every stand in front of the mirror and wonder, “What happened?”

I mean, this is starting to become a regular occurrence for me. So, I wonder if others have a similar experience any time they are in front of a mirror.

I am not a good judge of myself, at least when it comes to appearance. I’ll say that right off the top. I am hard on myself. But, to be honest, I haven’t ever though that I fall in the “attractive” category. “OK” at best, but probably mostly “Fair” would be safe.

Anyway, the bathroom is becoming my enemy. Well, any place that has a mirror, but mostly the bathroom. Or, you could probably include any picture of me. Those suck too, but that’s a whole other story.

So, morning and night starts and ends in the bathroom for me. I have to “put in my eyes,” as I like to say it, in the morning and “take out my eyes” at night. Blind as a bat…but that too is a post for another day.

I watch my body change. I watch my face change. I watch what “used to be” become my “new normal” and I just wonder, “What the hell happened?” My face could scare small children (and likely does…though it doesn’t crack the mirror so maybe it isn’t that bad…) and my body could be used as a boat anchor, only I probably would still float too well. Aches appear from nowhere. Creaks and pops from the joints that used to be flexible and nimble. Bumps, lines, and spots appear on my face as though I am trying to win a topographical map contest. I stare at it and it stares back. Only the gaze that comes back is different than the one previously.

Age. Is. Unkind. It can’t be denied and it can’t be avoided. I guess there is some control over how it happens and how gracefully you can handle it, but in the end the end still comes.

Some days though, I can’t help but dislike what I see.

Monkeys all

Posted on December 9, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by kendall hoopes on Pexels.com

I think it is safe to say that Congress continues to demonstrate that we, the American people, have elected a bunch of monkeys to run the country.

I am having a difficult time seeing anything else at this point. Both sides, Republicans and Democrats, continue to live up to the old Mark Twain quote, “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”

I am just tired of it.

Nonsense, from everyone, though some seem to be more nonsensical than others.

Monkeys actually might be more civilized. I am sure there could be a serious debate on that point, but in my mind I think it’s probably true. There has to be a better option than the yahoo’s we have “running the country.”

Anyone else tired of this poo slinging behavior and really want them to get about the business of something other than party agendas and political sabotage?

Underwhelmed

Posted on November 29, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

I don’t know if this is possible, but I think it probably is.

Is anyone else so overwhelmed by the Black Friday sales and ads and commercials and flyers and emails….that they are actually underwhelmed?

There is so much! So much. I found myself going through emails yesterday morning and then actual printed ads yesterday afternoon (you know the ones that come in the paper?) and I just found that I was so overwhelmed that I was underwhelmed.

There just wasn’t anything in the ads that made me go, “Whoa! I gotta get that!” Nothing in the ads that made me want to get out of bed, to either go to a store or to shop online.

Anyone else feeling it too?

Like sheep

Posted on November 26, 2019 by backuphill

focus photo of brown sheep under blue sky

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

I was reading a little this morning and I couldn’t help but agree entirely with a paragraph in a book that was published in 2004. The commentary is just as relevant today as it was back then. Maybe even more so today.

…people [are like] sheep because we humans have a tendency to follow. “The crowd” has a very powerful effect on us, and popular opinion is far too effective in shaping our thoughts and behavior. We prefer consensus to conviction, tolerance to truth. We can even be persuaded to be critical of some of the most impressive things on earth.

How true it is that people tend to go along with the crowd rather than stand out and stand up for something they feel/believe strongly about/in. And even more true, people and society don’t want “truth” any longer. Instead, they avoid conflict at all cost and call it tolerance. We often hear people say, “It is MY truth.” Sorry, peeps, there is no such thing.

The paragraph caused me to ponder for a bit. Where do I fall? Am I a follower, just another sheep in the flock, or am I standing up for what I believe in? That can be a hard question to evaluate myself against. Sometimes, I don’t think I like the truth. But, the truth is what is most important.

In the context of the quote above, where are you? How do you see yourself?

Admission

Posted on November 1, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Anthony on Pexels.com

OK, I’ll admit it.

It’s hard for some to admit, because of their age, and likely it has also been hard for me too, but I have come to the realization that I jut have to admit it. I am 47, and coming up on 48 rather quickly and it is time for me to put it out there.

I like to play video games.

Well, let me rephrase that.

I like to play FPS (first person shooter) games.

Specifically, I really like the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare games. I have also played games in the Halo series (these were really what got me hooked), a few of the Ghost Recon series, and some in the Far Cry series. But, I would have to say my favorites out of all the games (at least of late) are Call of Duty:WWII, Call of Duty: Black OPs IIII, and now the new Modern Warfare.

Why? I don’t know really. I like the stories. I like the competition. I like the shooting and the challenges they pose. I like the temporary escape of being able to do something mindless for a while.

Am I a violent person? No. Do I know they aren’t real? Yes. Do they make me want to be violent? No. Do I know the difference between real and fantasy? Yes. Do I believe that it has desensitized me to violence? No.

Do I waste time doing it? Yes. Are there better things I probably could be doing? Yes. Do I care? No. I am able to balance my time and allot free time as necessary while still maintaining my responsibilities.

Am I very good at it? No. Am I competitive? Yes. Do I play competitively? No. I like the feeling of being able to improve and it is really a competition against myself and my own skills rather than other people, though I do play online with other live players.

Am I out of the ordinary? Maybe; but I have a feeling I am not.

What do you think? Am I alone in this enjoyment? Are there others of you out there that are “old” like me but still like to play video games? If so, what do you enjoy playing?