Thursday, October 30, 2008

Life Rant...

**Editors Note** I wrote this post very late last night so this is the dormant side of me that only tends to come out when I am extremely tired! Kind of like the friend that tells all when they get drunk I guess... Please just keep that in mind as you read. Thank you.

I don't know much about politics or why people do/say the things they do. I don't like obnoxious loudmouths that think their word is law. I try to learn what I can in life to make myself better. I do my best to have an open mind to those who have different beliefs than I do but at the end of the day I am a small fish in a very large pond.

Politics: Throughout my measly 25 years of existence, Politics has played a small role in my life. In grade school and on into Middle and High School you had social politics. I always kept myself out of the political running, involving myself in many different social groups. Looking back on it of course there were things that I would have done differently. Keeping my nose out of the clouds and close to the ground however I would do again. As I have grown older I've noticed that "Politics", a word I used to think only existed on CNN and the evening news, was apparent in every aspect of life. For example, Office Politics. I don't think it matters where you work, Circuit City, New York Life or even Wendy's, Politics is present there too. Then there's the obvious Politics that are especially prevalent now when considering a candidate for president. I've tried to educate myself, so that I can be a responsible citizen and let my voice be heard. The more I've learned however, the more I've realized that my voice is going to get lost. Lost in the sea of every other American Citizen who wants the best for themselves, their family and their country. I've also realized that the more I learn, the more I want nothing to do with Politics of any kind. To the point that I'm not going to vote. I know some of you may be appalled by my decision but it is mine to make. I know that a lot of people feel the same way but society has come up with a clever way to make us feel bad for feeling this way.
"If you don't vote, then you don't have any right to complain."
I guess my time machine worked and I'm back in High School with the "Popular" kids telling me that I have to do and say what they think is right in order to fit in. Well guess what? I don't want to fit in. Send me back to reality where if you tell lies, you're going to get your a$$ handed to you on the playground because you screwed over your friend. I didn't need you to listen to me anyway, I've got my faithful reader to listen to that.

Global Warming: I know this is a topic that has died down in recent months with the upcoming presidential elections but I just want to say that I don't appreciate being told that I'm destroying the planet. I know some people really truly believe that in a couple of years, we are going to be floating around in some sort of "Waterworld". If that is the case, bring on the gills baby I love the ocean! I know others think that it is a crock and just another way the "Liberals" are crying out for Political Correctness. This is like Politics and I'm just going to walk away. I'm going to do what I can to make sure that conserve energy, of course! Am I going to do what I can to help the environment? Sure, when I remember to. Am I going to go around telling everyone to stop farting because they are ruining the ozone layer? NO! I know butt doctors would be fine with that because they'd have a huge jump in business with all the guys that stopped farting. Off topic and crude I know, I'm sorry. But I don't think Mother Earth voted so I guess she doesn't have the right to complain...?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

In short... hopefully...

So those of you who might check this blog on a semi regular basis might be wondering why I haven't dropped any new material lately. Well let me give you the low down and hope that by dumping the past few months of happs I can actually get some ideas flowing.

First thing I'll dump is Landlords... Crappy landlords to be exact... about 3 months ago most of you know that my family moved into a new house in a great area. The house itself wasn't ideal, but it fit our needs and was in a reasonable price range for the area. We live right down the street from the prophet of our church, close to family and friends and a nice little yard. All the pro's however great, didn't outweigh the biggest con and I mean Con in every sense of the word. Our landlord. Of all the landlords I've had this guy takes the cake as the king of all the douchebags. No wait, I take that back as most of you are thinking, "but Richard, I thought you said _______ was the king of the douchebags?" and you are right, that person still remains on top for reasons best left off of the blogsphere. So this guy I guess in realistic terms isn't the biggest db ever, he just gives your average db a run for his money but I digress. I'll refer to said db landlord as dbl from here on (if I remember). So dbl has been giving us crap ever since we moved in. From mold problems to locks to broken sprinklers to smoke detectors (which we still don't have) and the list could go on for another 10 minutes. The previous tenant even gets involved because of the dbl and things start to get hairy. Two and a half months of crap ensues and just when things start to look like they're getting better my wife gets a knock on the door. Turns out its the new owners of the home and they've come to serve a notarized copy of the sale and to let us know that we have 30 days to get out. Needless to say, the wife and I have been spending the past month trying to decided if we're going to rent or buy, we decided to buy and we've been trying to find a place. Therefore, no time for ideas.

So with my works annual convention approaching the work load is getting heavier and so is the stress. So I took on a second job to help relieve some of that stress. I know, I know... "but Richard, wouldn't a second job bring you more stress?!" and the answer would be "yes" in most cases but not this one. Not when the second job is at a Gun store! So now the wife is happy because I don't spend extra money that we don't have on guns, instead I work for store credit and get to learn a lot every time I work about guns and stuff like that. I know most people don't find that interesting like my wife doesn't but oh well you're still reading so I'll keep writing.

So as far as the book goes I haven't made too much progress considering all the b.s. that has been going on and the lack of input and interest from any of the excerpts that I posted.

Business Ideas keep coming and going. Finding people to pursue the ideas with me is sometimes as hard as coming up with the ideas to begin with. ~Side Note~ I've realized that in Utah the culture here makes doing things hard. For example, a friend of mine recently took a trip to Mexico to purchase some rare pottery. I thought it sounded really cool and something fun to do and a great thing to have in your home. Not only as a conversation piece, but also as a form of culture from outside of the norm to break up the monotony of life. He brought me back a little pot and told me that I was the only one that even showed a hint of interest in his expedition. We then proceeded to talk about how our culture is cheap. I'll bet for as long as I have that pot displayed in my home I will have only a handful of people ask me about it. And most of the others will assume it was something that my wife bought from Pier One... Music is very similar. I'm not talking about how its cool to know the band before they "made it". I'm talking about symphonies and Operas and forms of music that have been around for centuries. The kind of music that is present in modern pop music or even hillbilly rock. I think that it's that kind of mentality that keeps people from taking risks with what they do for a job. I know that I'm talking big for one who's worked at the same place for three years and complained about it for two years and 11 months but hey I'm trying to think outside the box here. I know that having a family changes our priorities and I have to be considerate of them so that I don't do anything to compromise their well being. But I will find a way, I will find a means to provide for them in a manner that makes me happy and provides me with a sense of accomplishment. I will find a way to help my friends out of jobs that they hate and give them a working environment that they truly enjoy, that they love and respect. I will create a sentinel for people to feel safe during troubled times, to know that no matter how bad things get everywhere else, that they've got an income and don't have to fear for their job. I won't let unreasonable fears cloud my vision for this future I crave. I won't let the world tell me it is impossible. I will... I won't... I must.