They're baaaaaaack..........

In 1990 I had more PCs than people in my house and spent WAY too much time online moderating forums, running my own BBS (for you youngsters those were the local networks that preceded the web) and being a regular poster on the (all text) internet. Fortunately, I also had a geek for husband who spent even more time in front of keyboards and monitors than I did.

Eventually, real life commitments, need for sleep and lack of finances weaned me away from uber-geekdom. And life was good.

But slowly the insidious web of connections crept back into my life. A static web site, turned into an interactive one. I tamed that monster, which once again is hibernating, only to be lured into the clutches of MeetUp and Yelp. If that was not enough contagion, I then succumbed to the infectious MySpace, Blogspot, countless personal web pages and forum, and finally the great time consumer, Facebook. Now, not only do I again have more computers at home than people, I even have their offspring invisibly leashed to me - the smart phone. Of course it is SMART; smarter than me. How else would it have insinuated itself so deeply into my existence?!

I used to fear becoming the old lady surrounded by cats. No more. I think it is more likely to be mechanized beings with AI that I will be surrounded with; strangling me with wiring instead of choking to death on feline fur.

SOALD .... oh, please.......

With all the acronyms we are being awarded when unable to function in society as the infamous “THEY” think we should, such as ADD, ADHD, SAD and PTSD, I am laying claim to my own. I suffer from SOALD. It is closely related to the more common known SOHSD, but differs in the manifestation of symptoms.

To spare you from a frustrating search through the net (does anybody use reference books anymore?), I will unscramble the alphabet soup here.

SOHSD (Seasonally Occurring Holiday Stress Disorder) The marked increase in stress experienced by individuals in response to society's prescribed holidays. Most commonly observed in 1st world countries. Symptoms & Ancillary Causes: Excessive spending, often beyond means; marked decrease in patience with the normal time tasks require; increased guilt and/or competition to display wealth, status or other indications of perceived success and/or happiness. Other symptoms have been noted such as retail stampedes, increased thefts, insomnia due to decreased evening darkness (see outdoor lighting), obsessive list use, and inability to concentrate (see Christmas music recordings).

SOALD (Seasonally Occurring Alternative Lifestyle Disorder) The marked increase in stress experienced by individuals in response to society's prescribed holidays. Most commonly observed in ostensibly conservative communities. Symptoms & Ancillary Causes: Withdrawal from community activities and large crowds, especially those directly related to the seasonal holiday in question; increased guilt and/or denial of any desire to participate in traditional observances; increased emotional response to societal issues (warning – politics or religion may trigger uncharacteristic outbursts.); increase identification with societal outsiders (alternative religions, liberal activists, any group identified as “excluded” or “oppressed” because of their cultural attitudes.); increased intolerance with those whose actions are in conflict with their expressed beliefs, increased pedantic or oratorical discourses on cultural diversity.

Yes, people, I am one of you. One who struggles to overcome a perceived disorder that is in reality just a matter of my being a normal human being following our biologic mandate for uniqueness and individuality.

I just happen not to believe in the teachings of Christianity and despise having months of a religon-based celebration of materialism overwhelm my existence. The decorations are pretty, the reminders of the need for peace are laudable, but the price is too high! And the disconnected observance of how most Christians despoil their own holiday is even more revolting. I used be become the ranting pagan, liberal around mid-December. But the media mentioning Christmas as early as Labor Day and Thanksgiving just being a feed while waiting for the stores to open, my SOALD kicks in earlier and earlier every year.

(DISCLAIMER: This is not to say there are not true mental disorders that need treating, those people do exist and deserve help. But of those I have met who are deemed to be ADD, ADHD, and so forth, damned few have anything more than a problem with those around them being inflexible or intolerant.)

Eye Candy for Thanksgiving

As one who has never really enjoyed the quintessential American holiday, Thanksgiving, I was surprised to find myself inspired to blog about something related to its primary purpose; being thankful. Even more surprised when my thoughts about this societal inducement were not particularly negative.

Just for a little background, I was the kid who after helping prepare the family feast, ordered in pizza for her meal. Regaling guests with the traditional glut of turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole and such is well within my skill, but please don’t ask me to partake. I will not eat turkey, unless under duress, for a variety of reasons beginning with the processing plants and ending with the taste (or lack thereof). Other than as tempura or chips, I will avoid sweet potatoes at costs. Potatoes are for salt and pepper; marshmallows belong with chocolate. We won’t even discuss the endless versions of poultry stuffing, none of which I care to ever taste again. And to this that the meal would also include rites that I was not comfortable with, since unlike my family, I am not Christian.

So what could ever lead me to thoughts of gratefulness at this time of year?
The realization that, as I have matured, my judgment of a man’s looks has become more and more influenced by his personality. Unconsciously, I have been skewing my visual perception according to non-visual data. Being painfully analytical (especially of myself), I was stunned this weekend when I became aware of just how strong the non-visual influence is.

Yes, we all base our attraction to others on the combination of looks and personality, and I have been clear on that since at least puberty, if not before. But I am referring to how I have actually begun seeing someone’s features differently, depending on their attitude and behavior.

Case in point. A month or two ago I was introduced to some guys by a friend of mine while we were out clubbing. First impression was that both were nice looking, but a short while later I was so unimpressed that I would not have recognized them later. Nothing remarkable, apparently. Then one of them joined us at dinner the other night. As the evening progressed I saw more of his personality come through during his interactions with those around me. By the time I left, I was wanting to spend more time just gazing at what had become (to me) a beautiful face. He was now physically handsome to me. But to clarify, my only interest remains a visual one. This was not a more classic, full scale, hormone induced attraction. I have indeed experience that sort of changes in perception of someone’s looks before. Who hasn’t?! This was just a new-found appreciation for his features.

So the source of my new sense of thankfulness is that this quirk in my brain is multiplying the available eye candy surrounding me. This makes a visually oriented person quite happy. It seems there are few places I go these days where I do not see people who make people watching a delightful experience for me, instead of merely an interesting distraction.

Many would say that I am being superficial and perhaps even crass, but I am acknowledging and accepting that there is a significant part of me that is visually oriented. Like someone who appreciates touring a museum to see fine art, it provides me with joy on a regular basis.
For this, I am very thankful.

I have believed in Karma ever since I can remember. I think it began as an extension of early science lessons on cause and effect in nature, but whatever its source, the belief is solid and will always be a part of me.

Over the years this belief has restrained my sadistic desires when faced with various evil doers whom I would otherwise have exacted personal revenge upon. It is this consolation of knowing that those who harm me (and those who merely try), will meet their own justice in due time without my assistance that helps wounds heal. And it has been the threat of encountering that same justice that kept me from straying too far myself.

Looking back on the past month or two has cause me to ponder the question of just what karmic debt am I paying back?!?!?! I must have really done something awful to someone that I don't realize or recall, or maybe something small, but repeatedly. One serious problem after another blasted me out of any feeling of security in this life and tested my composure and resourcefulness in the extreme. Someone or some force in the universe was sending me a message and made sure it got through to me in no uncertain terms that I needed to shape up a few things in my life NOW, not when I felt like "getting around to it".

Fortunately, I have apparently banked a bit of good karma along the way, because I survived the traumas and actually feel at this point that I have come out better than before it all started avalanching on me. I discovered that I have abilities I thought were fading and friends that were closer than I realized.

So why am I blogging about this? To acknowledge to whomever/whatever - I GOT YOUR MESSAGE!!! To publicly thank those who assisted me when their help was critical. And to perhaps jog your thoughts into considering the what sort of karma you are accruing these days.

Repairme (formerly known as August)

Why didn't someone give me fair warning that the 8th month of the calendar year had been renamed and designated for tithing repairmen?! Not that I would have saved much in anticipation, but at least I would have had a chance to prepare my finances or at least my mindset.

During Repairme I learned that squealing brakes on foreign cars do not necessarily mean a need for repair, but it does mean paying homage to a mechanic to decide whether you will tithe 25% to 75% of your monthly income to him. I suppose getting out for 50% and to know I was not truly risking collision from an inability to stop my vehicle should leave me feeling gratefully blessed. If you believe that, I have a few other evil concepts you should be introduced to for your entertainment and edification.

Speaking of introductions to concepts, I have also been reintroduced to the true etymology of the term "technology"..... more correctly written for those of us with computer equipment either under the age of 6 months or over the ripe old age of 2 years as "techNOlogy". Yes, its technical - No, it doesn't work. As I allowed my aged desktop to limp along until the wallet recovered from the mechanic tithing, I relied on a laptop allowed to hibernate since my days as a traveling bitch with a calculator (aka auditor). I was unaware that it too was running on life support until last week. The funeral for it's HD and perhaps its memory too, is in the planning stages as I sit waiting on the prognosis from the surgeons in the techNOlogy ICU.

OMG, there are still how many days left before September?!?!?!

EL KREW de PESCADOS CRUDOS

If you didn't end up coming here from either Yelp.com or JapanForum. com then perhaps you aren't aware that I am a foodie. I don't watch cooking shows often, but I do check out restaurants, chefs and cook books. I only cook when inspired and rarely follow a recipe precisely after the first time I used it.

These days this is the crew I tend to gather for excursions in search of my two favorite cuisines - Asian (mostly japanese & korean lately) and Tex-Mex.

Procrastination!

We all do it at one time or another and I am no exception.

HOWEVER.....
I have little or no patience with people who procrastinate when others are waiting on them - especially at work!

It is inconsiderate in the extreme to sit on projects for days - even weeks - knowing that once your part in the process is done someone else will have to work on the next step(s) while facing an ever looming and unadjustable deadline.

I don't care if you are the GD King of the Universe, your selfish - me, me, me - attitude makes you the King of A_holes too! Some of us have jobs to do and they are more important than you catching up on your social life instead of completing what you are getting paid to complete in a reasonable time frame.

Yes, there are delays when data or resources are not available ( I am experiencing that right now thanks to the person inspiring this tirade), and even personal emergencies intervene. But YouTube and company gossip can damn well wait till you supply what I need to my work.

I can honestly say that my own instances of procrastination rarely impact anyone except myself and my own comfort. I wish those I have to deal with daily could say that!

What was I thinking?!?!

Or could this even be called thinking?

In a moment of unrecognized insanity or stupidity (still not sure which yet) I made a purchase on the net whose arrival was met with serious angst. But having paid good money that is not available in abundance, I decided to put the merchandise to use in a personal "grand experiment".

I purchased customized license plate holders. Nothing too odd about that. Its even less vain and less expensive than personalized license plates. One of them is fine. "MTSG" with "Taln's M6" is pretty tame. For those of you who might actually want those explained, MTSG are my initials and M6 is for my 6th Mazda.
You snoring yet?

The other plate, however, which should have had this blog's address, has my personal email address on it! Eeeek! Spam alert! Death threats from road ragers here we come! And worse - it was MY mistake, not the vendor's.

To reduce the glut of harrassment publicizing this information on a vehicle I trek through traffic in daily could incite, I have at least put it on the front bumper. I really don't want email from every tailgater in Texas! Let's see who is so determine to contact me that they can read a mirror image behind them while doing 70mph down the highway. I am sure someone will manage.

Cartoon Character Flashbacks

Though my childhood memories are filled with mostly with being outdoors, or at least active, its amazing how quickly an odd turn of phrase can bring vision to mind that I can only explain has having watched many strange cartoons as a child.

My generation was not doled out the pretty pabulum that seems to be children’s entertainment today, unless they are allowed access to the other extreme – violence and gore laden video games.

We did not have pretty pastel colored ponies and fluffy, pudgy, purple dinosaurs. Warner Bros. gave us roosters, coyotes, rabbits (hares, not cute bunnies) and my all time favorite – skunks. Disney gave us a goofy looking hound, dour ducks, mice and many humans that were fairly attractive villains (evil without the CSI level crime scene). I also remember the drunk mouse who had a singing electric razor for a pal (what a way to calm little boy’s fears of their first buzz cut!), a moronic but comical vulture and the owlet who became the crooner of swing dance against his family’s instance on opera. It seems a few studios, like Pixar, have attempted to continue the tradition of dancing and singing bugs and other amusingly distorted real world entities in order to bridge the chasm between sickeningly sweet cuteness and nightmare inducing horror.

But what got me pondering all this was not another session in front of a TV, which I apparently did more often than I realized, but a visit to my office by the maintenance crew.

They were on a pest control mission to rid of us some uninvited, non-musical ants. During the discussion it was mentioned that another office was experiencing “German roaches”. Now aside from never having bothered to learn the nationalities of said species of vermin, I really didn’t pay much attention to the comment until colleague asked what are German cockroaches. I chimed in with “They are the noisy ones in the corner going for the beer and bratwurst.” My quip may have been on the pitiful side of witty, but the vision in my head was straight out of a 1960’s black and white cartoon. It may be a good thing for my office that my drawing skills are even worse than my jokes.

Damen und Herren, presenting the Deutschen Shaben! The lights go up and the band starts as a line of cockroaches standing up on their hind legs, wearing lederhosen, and each carrying a stein of beer, dance their way onto the stage in a multi-legged version of a Rockette’s line.

And they say video games are corrupting the younger generations?!?!?!
I think I need one of those beers instead of my morning coffee!

More money than brains!

That's my usual explanation for bad drivers. This afternoon at lunch it was really true.

On my way to get my car out of the repair shop I am flying low on an interstate highway with traffic all around. Passenger cars, 18-wheelers, delivery trucks, SUVs - all kinds. Suddenly brake lights are everywhere and quickly I find myself fast approaching a rather bright and shiney new Hummer3 ..... STRADDLING two lanes and slowing down even more! As I pray no one behind me tries to turn me into the filling of a vehicular sandwich, I see a small dog in the window of the driver's side of the H3. Finally the problem child decides on a lane and as I speed past for my own safety I can't help but shout a few obsenities - even if only to vent my own consternation.

This idiot woman had a chihuahua on her shoulder AND was talking on her hand-held cell phone while driving! Or maybe she was only listening while holding the phone for the damned dog to take the call; I really couldn't tell.

I really think auto dealers should be required to qualify buyers according to an intelligence test instead of their credit rating! But then again most intelligence tests don't measure common sense, do they?

Bandwidth Noise

Having used the internet since before the ubiquitous “ www” became part of human communications, I am a veteran of flame wars, people who do not know how (or refuse) to edit what they quote/copy, and a myriad of other aggravations of communicating with strangers in public, text based forums.

There are days when my tolerance for those who have not progressed emotionally or intellectually over the last two decades become exhausted. I know this is my penance for succumbing to the temptation to participate in any forum labeled “Soc.(anything)”, but this also my blog and my place to rant if I so choose. And yours to read … if you so choose. (Here ends the warning)

As a regular reader and sometimes commenter on soc.culture.korean@googlegroups.com once in a while it confounds me as to why people will quote 3 screens full of a post to follow it with one sentence or question about what is often only one sentence from the piece they quote. Do you not have a DELETE key?!?!? The only thing more irritating is to read several of these inane posts in sequence. Today’s was capped off by having someone ask a question that was clearly answered in the material they quoted – if only they had bothered to read past the 1st sentence they copied.

I guess you can sum up my tirade as a general angst over people cluttering bandwidth with laziness. I truly hope it’s not a matter of ignorance if they have the income to finance an internet connection and the hardware & software to use it. It reminds me too much of the major television networks in the U.S., and I won’t even begin to address how moronic much of that is these days.

Be careful what you wish for ....

it may come back to bite you."
I can't be the only person who grew up with that saying, and like most of us I don't always heed it's message. But I usually recognize it's presence when I get bitten.
I am not sure whether the past week has been a case of this or just some minor karmic payback.
Unlike most my age I usually embrace change. The constant shifting of my environment and interests is something I have grown accustomed to over a lifetime and would probably miss if stopped. Even the caption on the signature line of my checks stay "That which does not change STAGNATES!" Well, they did say that before I stopped using them.
No everyone is fond of changes, even when an update or revision could enhance their situation.
I can understand insisting on the status quo when some something new clearly hasn't addressed the full range of its potential impact. Change just for the sake of change is just disruptive, and often nothing more than someone stroking their own ego.

My karmic payback? Well after being very willing to revise work material I found myself bombarded this week with changes to the previous changes for the last five days! Alright people! Think it through and decide what you REALLY want, before you ask to have it changed!!!