Blackmoor Vituperative

I am going to post a photo of a coffee mug every day in August, and talk a little bit about where we got it and why I like it.

This is a very large Star Wars mug, given to me by my mother for Christmas last year. I am and always have been a huge Star Wars nerd. I saw Star Wars (not “Episode 4”, not “A New Hope” — that crap came much later) when it opened, and over a dozen times more before I was 11.

As it happened, Susan and I watched the Phantom Menace this afternoon. First we watched the Red Letter Media review, which is both hilarious and insightful. Then we watched Hitler’s reaction to the Phantom Menace, which is, surprisingly, also hilarious and insightful.

In a strange bit of synchronicity, we had Black Swan (another Natalie Portman movie) on Netflix sitting here, so we watched that afterward. Strange film. It reminded me of American Psycho — what is real, and what is in the main character’s imagination? I won’t give anything away, but I will say that Black Swan is slightly less surreal than American Psycho.

Netflix recently announced that their prices will increase slightly in August, which is too bad, but not really a source of major concern for me. On the other hand, they separated the streaming cost from the DVD cost, and since Netflix foolishly and inexplicably uses Microsoft Silverlight for their streaming, their streaming service is unavailable to the bazillions of Linux users — including me. I was therefore able to cancel the streaming service (which I am unable to use), thus reducing the cost of my Netflix subscription ($3 less than its current cost, $8 less than its post-increase cost). In other words, Netflix lost $8 per month from me by not supporting Linux.

I love you Netflix, but crippling your service by using Microsoft Silverlight was a stupid, stupid move.

I took a brief break from my awesome (but slightly behind schedule) project this morning, and had a conversation about the Kentucky Fried Chicken “Double Down“.

Me: I still say the Double Down is not a new thing. It’s just two perfectly ordinary things eaten simultaneously rather than sequentially. It’s as original and innovative as eating french fries two at a time.

At which point I wondered: Why do I feel the need to mock something someone else likes? Why do I even care? When did I became so negative? Was I always like this? And the thing is, I think I was. I recall thinking this exact thing before: that I don’t want to be bitter. I have resolved to be more upbeat.. how many times?

It would be easy to blame the rest of humanity. There’s no shortage of people who are vapid, grasping, immoral, or irrational (or all four — but I’m not naming names). There’s plenty of ammunition for someone looking to complain.

But complaining about stupidity and evil certainly doesn’t make me any happier. And it doesn’t accomplish much. Complaining about other people’s irrational beliefs is as likely to change their opinion as complaining about other people’s driving is likely to get them to use their turn signals. Sure, it’s fun to read about clowns mocking racists, but there are beliefs every bit as irrational and reprehensible as racism that are far more common, but mock those and you’ll have family members and treasured friends un-friending you on Facebook. So what’s the point? You can’t change anything. It’s like trying to convince the winter to turn to spring. If it happens, arguing and complaining won’t make it happen any faster: it just makes the winter less pleasant while you wait.

And hell, I belief all sorts of nutty things. Who am I to judge?

When I was younger, being cynical made me feel hip and edgy. Now it just makes me feel old. But it’s a hard habit to break.

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
— Robert H. Schuller

Note to self: other people are probably happier not knowing what I am thinking.

It flabbergasts me that we went through the whole Y2K crisis, and narrowly avoided severe disruptions in our society thanks the hard work of many, many people, and yet some people seem to have learned nothing from it.

I encountered this date on something today: “09-12-10”.

What the hell is that supposed to be? It’s meaningless. MEANINGLESS.

Starting today, write all of your dates like this: 2010-12-22. YYYY-MM-DD. Year-Month-Day. Do it. Don’t argue with me. Just shut up and do it.

Geez.

Fun fact! Writer Richard Suflet recommended drinking large doses of strong vinegar with fleas to cure the illnesses that resulted from swallowing the horse-leeches that were common in drinking water.

“Anyone can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way — that is not within everyone’s power and that is not easy.”

— Aristotle (Greek Philosopher, Scientist, and Physician, 384 BCE – 322 BCE)

This blog was created more or less as a joke: a place to complain about the inane and ludicrous things that annoy me, so that I could get on with my life. Overhyped movies, governmental stupidity, human frailty… it’s easy to get caught up in the irritations of life. However, despite what this web site might lead you to believe, I am, by nature, not an angry or bitter person. I prefer to be upbeat and optimistic.

Life is too short to be pissed off all the time.

Here are some things I am grateful for, in no particular order:

• The love of my life, who makes me a better person through her example.
• My mother, for raising myself and my sisters to be relatively sane, relatively responsible adults.
• My sisters and sisters-in-law, for raising children who might make their generation something worth celebrating some day.
• That I am warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and dry when it rains.
• Water that is abundant, inexpensive, and clean.
• Work that I genuinely enjoy.
• That the worst thing I realistically have to fear while traveling is being treated disrespectfully by a TSA flunkie.
• Inexpensive, reliable electricity.
• That the people who staff our government are usually too busy fighting each other to pay much attention to the rest of us.
• That I am so wealthy that I can throw socks away rather than darning them, and not even think about it.
• That I still have friends, despite my boorish and inconsiderate nature.
• That I am not as boorish and inconsiderate as I once was.
• Medical care that is effective, inexpensive, and widely available.
• That I have traveled beyond the horizon in all four directions.

I am all alone in Sterling, VA, so I am treating myself to dinner and a movie. Dinner is spicy pork at a Thai restaurant which was highly recommended by the cashier at the theatre, and the movie is Resident Evil Somethingorother 3D, which is (amazingly) still playing.

Woke up sad today. Worked on my car and fixed something, and that made me feel better.