New Horizons, Incoming Labor Day Weekend

 

Hello world. How are you doing? It seems like the world has changed so much since even the last post early this month about the novel Three Body Problem. I was reading a lot of novels nonstop. In fact, this year, since January, I've read 25 novels. In addition, I've started using ChatGPT consistently. I try not to  use it as a crutch for writing and/or actual ideas I have but rather as a sort of backup/double check on certain things. 

For example, today my friend came over and was having an issue connecting his laptop to the internet web browser, and I asked it a few questions about possible fixes and troubleshooting. I also use it for questions about novels and albums of particular jazz artists and Zappa albums. It's gotten to the point where I'm using it more than google, which is downright fascinating but I'm aware that I'm becoming attached to it a bit too much. For example, I wouldn't want to use ChatGPT to write this blog post. That would be a bridge too far. 

Moving on, what I'm mainly posting about today is more about a change of seasons. I moved on from my retail grocery job of twelve years and am now working at a thrift shop. It's not a glamorous job but it is a big change and there is room for advancement into management in the future. Pay is what the market will bear but the hours are reasonable and usually I get home around 9 pm. That is a huge plus for me because at the grocery job I was working till 1 am nearly every night for twelve years. So there's some good change here. 

In addition, the place is small, only has a few employees [but will be hiring more soon], and you answer to one main manager, and another bigger manager above him. My coworkers are very nice and they've done their best to train me my first two weeks so far. There's still certain things I need to go over and really get down better but overall I really like the work. There's a cashiering element to the job but it's not as intense as grocery store cashiering. There's a daily nightly report that gets emailed to the bigger manager that I have to learn to write faster and get down better. But overall, it's a job, with opportunities for advancement, and because it's not a glamorous job, I think there's safety there. 

Also, I think I lucked out with this job because right now the job market is cooked, as Gen Z says. There was a report in the nytimes about how this past month, in New York there was only 1,000 jobs added, which is insane, because I think there are more people in New York than in LA, so we're probably not doing too well with adding and filling jobs in LA either. 

Moving on, I got laid off from my grocery store job back in January, around the beginning of that month. Keep in mind that I didn't quit or want to leave. They sort of forced me out, a sort of forced being laid off. So I've been unemployed for seven months. It was a rough period. I would say it was second worst time of my entire life. I went through a lot of severe depression and had constant nightmares. For about three of those months I could barely get out of bed.

My daily routine consisted of getting up as early as I could, cleaning up, looking/applying to jobs online, going to places in person and handing out my resume and asking if they're hiring [which most managers didn't really appreciate], and getting tons of rejection emails. Out of about 65 jobs, [15-20 of them being the same job applied to more than once over a period of a couple months], I got four job interviews, went to three of them, and got the fourth one at this thrift store. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to stay in retail grocery because that's my primary job experience but it just didn't work out. In fact, the first three interviews were all at grocery stores, and I think I would've been a bit happier at a grocery store but again, it didn't work out. So this is the next step going forwards. 

Lastly, as the job market, economy, government, immigration system, and healthcare system collapse all around me, all I have to say is that as bad as those seven months being unemployed were, it actual wasn't as bad as it could've been. I had some savings to buy food and live on. I've spent a lot of money on that and want to replenish some of my savings with this new job. But more importantly than saving money or having money, I think right now just having a job is more important than ever. 

I don't want to be all about doom and gloom but the system is collapsing. It has been for a while but most people are in denial about it and the government/news never say that we're in a bad depression right now. I think its a lot worse than it looks. There was a shooting at a Catholic school yesterday that ended with the loss of two young lives, that shook the nation. I don't think it will get better and I don't think there will be gun reform as a result of this incident. 

In the worst of my moments being unemployed I seriously thought about giving up my groovy lifestyle in California to go back to the Midwest and live with my Mom, and help her out, especially now that she's getting older. With the way things are going for me here, I still might do that in the end. I've found that people I knew and know here in California were nice people at the time and we might have been friends for a while, but not every friendship lasts. I happen to think that the friends I made out here in California are much more narcissistic than my friends from the Midwest. Not only friends but a lot of managers at the retail grocery job were narcissistic as well. It kind of makes you wonder if there's something in the air here in California? 

Watch this space.    

Siegfried comes to save Los Angeles

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

It's been a long time. Hello world. 

I've been okay. C'est la vie, as the French say. There's a lot going on in today's rapidly changing world. A lot of it is terrifying, especially for a 33 year old American male, but really, for anybody, the times they are a-change-in. 

We just came out of a terrible presidency by one of the worst people on the planet and Americans are still supporting him even to this day like he's God's gift to woman. America is becoming more and more totalitarian in every way, shape, and form, and believe me folks, its not just republicans who are Attila the Hun fans, it's democrats too. My work has cameras locked onto every cashier and in every aisle to make sure nobody steals anything. Sound familiar? 

On top of that there's record inflation, soaring gas prices, we can't afford rent, we can't afford groceries, our kids are continuously getting gunned down by madmen in schools, we can't afford children we already have, the climate has gone to the dogs, and the white people have decided to ban abortions but secretly allow their women to get abortion pills and stuff like that. Don't forget climate change. 

Covid isn't going away, and rather, is evolving faster than we can create vaccines for. The workforce doesn't quite know it yet, but they've been decimated by long covid and we don't know the full extent of the long term symptoms but one of them is being tired all the time and continuous brain fog. These victims can't even read a book, I'm afraid, they wouldn't have the attention span. On top of that, other countries are taking more control over the world and America has become a lesser. Trump made our country weak and Biden couldn't fix it. And now we're stuck. Interesting times. 

Companies are becoming less and less employee focused, even Union shops, and rather, instead, they've become more like sweat shops. Ironically, more like China. This has been happening since the American early days of the robber barons. 

Welcome to America, we're the gestapo now, and we support Atilla the Hun, and my name is Siegfried, I have blonde hair and blue eyes.

But seriously, what can one do with a mess like this one? 

There's nothing you really can do except vote Democrat for the Mid Terms. They're the lesser of the two evils, they at least attempt to do the right thing, although they're no angels either.

Part of the problem is that everybody is living in a separate world in this moment of time. Nobody reads the same news, nobody watches the same tv shows, nobody plays the same video games, nobody reads the same books, nobody can agree on anything, and most people aren't smart enough to take news, facts, and information and think for themselves, rather they believe what they hear and just naturally assume that's the way it is, that it is truth, that everything they see and hear is a fact. What happened to thinking for yourselves? 

I told my friends I take the bus in LA. They said, "Be careful! There's criminals on the bus who will rob you."

I said, "What criminals? Where? Did somebody rob you on the bus?"

They said, "No, but I just heard about it on the news."

Are they all really that scared? 

That's beside the point.

What we really need is a remote coalition government that isn't controlled by government, republicans, democrats, libertarians, socialists, communists, or our parents. We all need to come together to vote Democrat, a New Great Society, but only the true believers in the good are allowed in. Are you one of us? 

The end of the beginning. More work to be done tomorrow! 

We

We is a classic dystopian science fiction novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin, written in 1920-1921, published in 1924, via English translation in New York. Yevgeny was part of Russian proletariat writing groups and eventually requested to leave Russia as many writers were being persecuted, thus resulting in the death of their writing careers. In fact, when Zamyatin died, there was no mention of him in Russian papers. Most proletariat Russian writers made livings elsewhere like in Paris, England, and the United States. 

The novel depicts a world of harmony within a totalitarian system. There is freedom but only ruled by the Benefactor and activities are ordered along to the 'Table,' a system that controls every hour of everyone's day. In some respects, there wouldn't be a Brave New World by Huxley if it weren't for We. No 1984 by Orwell. No Handmaid's Tale. There wouldn't be all those tons of young adult dystopian novels either. We did it first. 

I will focus on the plot first because it's pertinent to the ideas therein. 

We is set in the future. Probably far future because they have space ships. It's said that there was a great war over something, which is only alluded to in the novel. A resource perhaps. It resulted in the use of weapons of mass destruction, leaving the world outside One State a post-apocalyptic landscape. 

The main character is D-503, a space engineer. People have no names, rather they are identified by number. It takes place in an urban society constructed of glass, which helps for mass surveillance. The people march in step with one another and wear uniforms.  Life is managed scientifically; everybody eats at the same time, works the same time, has recreation hours at the same time, and they even have scheduled times to have sex with partners they can sign up for, rather than of their own choosing. People think with science, logic, and reason above all. The formulas people use are ones devised by the One State, their form of government, lead by the Great Benefactor, their supreme leader.

One State has conquered the whole world. They're now building a spaceship in order to invade and conquer other planets, thus bringing One State across the universe, helping their cause, and increasing their numbers. The ship's project engineer D-503 writes a journal that is meant to be brought along the spaceship when they go to another planet.  

D-503 lives in a glass building like all the others. His partner, O-90 is deemed too short to bear children and is upset by this. His best friend is R-13, a guy who reads his poetry verses at public executions. On an assigned walk, D-503 meets I-330, who flirts with him without being properly assigned. I-330 is a careless free spirit; she drinks alcohol, smokes cigarettes, has casual [not assigned] sex. Every guy has met a girl like I-330, that footloose, and fancy-free girl. In short, she's doing everything that you're not supposed to do in One State. D-503 is appalled but intrigued at the same time. He continues to see her. 

D-503 starts to have a lot of freedom through I-330 and starts to have dreams, which the One State describes as mental illness. "What's wrong with me doc?" "You've found out that you have a soul, for which there is no cure." That's my favorite line in the book because it has that edge of snarky satire as well as philosophical ramifications that goes back to the Greeks. It works well. 

Slowly, I-330 reveals that she's part of an organization called Mephi, which plans to bring down One State. O-90 wants D-503 to illegally impregnate her but in order for her to stay with the baby, she has to leave One State and go beyond the wall, where primitive humans live, complete with coats of fur. 

The last journal entry details the 'Great Operation,' a brain surgery of sorts, that targets the brain with x-rays, so they can function as 'tractors in human form.' It basically makes you more of a vegetable. Removes imagination. Once D-503 gets the operation he runs to the Benefactor to tell him about the Mephi operation. I-330 and her associates are sentenced to death under the Benefactor's machine, which literally melts the human body. A  death ray.

But the novel ends on somewhat of a good note. The Mephi operation is doing well, birds are repopulating the city, and people start acting out against the regime. One State's survival is left in doubt. The book ends with a strong manifesto; just as there is no highest number, there can be no final revolution. 

 Now we get some ideas. 

First, the writing style can, at certain times, be quite a satire. There's one scene early in the book where a woman is playing the piano and people are watching and listening to her play. At one point during the impromptu performance, which is already rare in this society, D-503 starts laughing uncontrollably because music is such an unstructured improvised form that most of the citizens just aren't used to. 

The scene with the doctor is my favorite in the book. "You have a soul. There is no cure." That's a great satirical moment, a great laugh. Of course, it was true, D-503 had indeed, somehow developed a soul through his new girlfriend, I-330. 

The idea of having sex only with assigned partners and only at certain days and times is also a laugh. Did they also forbid masturbation?

There are philosophical ideas at work here too. In fact, the doctor scene isn't just a satire, there's a religious tone to it as well. The idea of the soul separate from the body and mind goes back to Plato and Aristotle. This is used in fiction to good effect. The fact that D-503 developed a soul rather than being born with one is another note on satire. 

The idea of a conformist culture where everybody is happy [for the most part One State is happy] should be considered utopian, right? Well, the thing that makes One State a dystopian novel rather than a utopian one is the fact that One State not only wants to take away freedoms [which is fine because most of the people are cool with that], but One State also wants to get rid of imagination. In We, imagination is the mind-killer rather. If the citizens of One State were allowed to imagine this would be an entirely different novel. 

Lastly, this is one of the important and critical works in science fiction, particularly in the dystopian canon. I initially read this on the recommendation of a Russian friend of mine. I'm glad I read it because it's truly a great story and it stays with you. This isn't something you read and forget about a few months later. It's that important of a book. Considering the way governments are run today you will find that Yevgeny Zamyatin's ideas still ring true to this day. For just as there is no highest number, there can be no final revolution.

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt. 5

Here we are. We've arrived at part five of our series. Here I'd like to jot down some general notes and ideas on the current state of affairs during this historic moment. Mostly of a personal nature. I've saved part 4 for detailing the historical aspects and news headlines. Reading through those headlines in part 4 really gives you the wider picture beyond me and my now solitary life. 

First, my life has fundamentally changed. Maybe not forever but for the indefinite future. No more guitar and singing at open mics. No more hangouts with friends. Now I live the humble life of a guitar playing, writing, gaming, grocery store worker. It ain't much, but it's a living. But at what cost? 

Some of my relationships have been put on hold. Others have gone south in some aspects. A friend of mine wants to hang out but he's got a weak immune system so I dare not hang out with him, lest I unknowingly spread the virus to him, and kill him. Another friend of mine got into it with me over comments on social media, saying that I was being delusional. I'm not going to be seeing any friends anytime soon. That much has sunk in. I've started a new life, not without them, but away from them, temporarily. 'Social distancing!' Once this thing blows over, I believe my friendships will be stronger than ever. But in the meantime, the distance has brought a rift between us. I feel sad about it, but alas, this is the fate of all. 

Well, that's grim. But remember this is only temporary. But until then it is indefinite. These are the facts, the new reality, the brave new world. Let's see how brave we really are. I'm going to keep practicing social distancing and avoid going out of the house except for work. I can't risk spreading the virus to my family, friends, or even coworkers really. Which brings me to my next point. 

Although my personal friendships are going through some rough patches I have to admit that my relationships at work with customers and coworkers have improved a hundredfold. The staff, employees, and management have really come together, showing me that even if my own friendships are put on hold, at least I have my coworkers to depend on. We've really come together at that little store. There have been so many changes, so many alternating managers and employees, that we have no other choice but to come together. Showing the power of human solidarity, our workplace is a great example for others, a beacon of hope.  We will get through this and prevail.

Lastly, I can't say that personal life has improved. It's become more solitary. More hermit-like. I really only talk to or hang out with family and coworkers. I do talk a lot to friends online on social media but social media isn't like real life. You can fake being happy or sad on social media or texts. It's artificial.

I've spent a lot of time in isolation writing nonstop. I'm going through a creative spike. I've also been playing a lot of guitar. Listening to a ton of new music via YouTube, especially classic jazz albums from the 50s and 60s that I've missed over the years. I've been reading a lot and posting my book reviews on Goodreads. Currently, I'm ranked as a #12 Reviewer in the US, ranked #19 in the world. Not too shabby for a guy who loves to read and write. You can view my ranking here. Keep in mind you have to have an account to see view it. I've also been gaming a lot to relieve the pandemic stress. I believe that nowadays more than ever we should have a good amount of time just for dumb fun. Now more than ever. 

Until the next post in this series. Keep the faith. 

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt. 4

So far I've been writing about the virus from a more personal perspective. Here I'd like to jot down some of the more world and/or historical facts and headlines. Keep in mind that we're somewhere in the middle of week four of the zombie apocalypse virus, our facsimile plague. I believe the one very sad thing about this historic moment other than the deaths and the continuous spreading of the virus throughout California, America, and the world is the fact that most people aren't taking this seriously. 

Not even close to taking it seriously enough. A lot of my friends are still congregating, eating together, drinking together, smoking together, partying together, and gaming together. Not good. The President's thoughts seem to tell the American people that this will be over in two weeks, fourteen days, that's when he wants to reopen everything again. Hence the lax citizens continuing to party. Anyways, here are some headlines that will put more of a worldly context on my series entitled Plague Journal, or you might recognize more as part of Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus Parts 1-4, so far. 

3/24 Headlines
Trump, defying experts, talks of easing restrictions by Easter.   
People who left N.Y.C recently are asked to self-quarantine. 
China to ease lockdown. 
Bernie Sanders to participate in the next debate. 
Some pregnant women in New York City will have to deliver babies alone. 
US and U.A.E troops hold major exercise amidst the virus and Iran tensions. 
Women should have to register for the military draft, Commission tells Congress.
States say some doctors are stockpiling trial coronavirus drugs for themselves.
Density is normally good for us, that will be true after coronavirus too. 
Virus knocks out thousands of healthcare workers in Europe. 
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas said he and other grandparents might be willing to die to keep the economy going.
Terrence McNally, Tony-Winning Playwright of Gay Life, Dies at 81. [from the virus]
Nearly a million children left behind in Venezuela as Parents Migrate. 
Here's how to give your space a makeover while you're homebound.
Olympians have another year to prepare, a blessing and a curse. 
Prime Minister of India orders total lockdown of India, including all 1.3 billion Indians. 
Facebook is "just trying to keep the lights on" as traffic soars. 
Waves of suspect websites look to cash in on pandemic. 
Helping your neighbor could hurt the neighborhood. 
For abused women, a lockdown holds dangers of its own. 
How to stay sane when the world seems crazy. 
Why mundane moments truly matter. 
Be more productive in 7 days. 
Burnout isn't just in your head, it's in your circumstances. 
A D.I.Y dance for your home. 
The Doctor and the "Apocalypse." 
Young adults come to grips with the coronavirus health risks. 
What does our body temperature say about our health? 
Share blood with your friends for vampire bats, it's good manners. 

3/25 Headlines
Senate approves a $2 trillion-dollar economic stimulus package. 
New York City has over 20,000 confirmed cases, and the death toll stands at 280.
13 Deaths in a day: An 'Apocalyptic' surge at an N.Y.C. hospital. 
Calls for federal intervention as the need for ventilators grow.  
The fine print in the bill contains special industry deals.  
Can you become immune to the virus? 
Governors tell outsiders from 'hot zone' to stay away as virus divides states. 
"Hi, please cancel our cleaning for tomorrow." Undocumented household workers are being cast out with little help. 
Europe's leaders ditch austerity and fight pandemic with cash. 
A deluged system leaves some elderly to die, rocking Spain's self-image. 
Arts groups, facing their own virus crisis, get their own piece of the Stimulus. 
Food supply anxiety brings back victory gardens. 
Even before coronavirus, the U.S. population was growing at the slowest rate since 1919.  
How to see the world when you're stuck at home. 
How to get more sleep tonight. 
Britain enlists an army of volunteers to fight the outbreak. 
Sanders is ready to debate again. Biden says, "We've had enough debates." 
White Supremacist Pleads Guilty to New Zeland mosque killings. 
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe wins a victory in the Pipeline case.  

3/26 Headlines
Markets shrug off jobless claims; Pelosi predicts bipartisan aid vote. 
S&P has the best 3-day run since 1933 as U.S. deaths top 1000.  
Jobless numbers convey the scale of economic wreckage. 
With a doctor in Brooklyn E.R.: "We're in disaster mode." 
Wallstreet shakes off the unemployment report as aid nears. 
Will I get some money? How much? And when? 
6 die as coronavirus races through an upscale retirement community. 
Europe fumbled coronavirus at first. Can it manage the pandemic now? 
Louisana may be experiencing the world's fastest growth in new cases. Mardi Gras may be why. 
Japan's virus success has puzzled the world. Has its luck run out? 
Trump wants to 'reopen America.' Here's what happens if we do. 
How to look your best on a webcam. 
What you can do about coronavirus right now. 
The baseball season opens with a dash of imagination. 
A promoter's screen test involved sex on camera, lawsuits charge. 
Venezuelan President is charged with drug trafficking in the U.S. 
Jane Goodall is self-isolating too. 
Life on the planet Mercury? It's not completely nuts. 
Take steps to counter the loneliness of social distancing.

3/27 Headlines
Trump signs a $2 trillion dollar coronavirus relief package.
Some U.S. cities could have outbreaks worse than Wuhan.
'White-collar quarantine,' Virus puts a spotlight on the class divide.  
'We take the dead from morning till night." 
I became a disciplined investor for over 40 years. The virus broke me in 40. 
'The other option is death,' New York starts sharing of ventilators.  
Blood plasma from survivors will be given to coronavirus patients. 
In the U.S., luxury brands board up the store.  
These stores are deemed 'essential' in the pandemic but not everyone agrees. 
The U.S. now leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases. 
Updates: States plead for more federal help. 
'It's a wreck,' 3.3 million file unemployment claims. 
How the largest stimulus in history united a polarized Senate. 
$1 Billion price tag for ventilators gives White House second thoughts. 
A nurse dies, angry co-workers blame a lack of protective gear. 
Trump says he will label regions by the risk of coronavirus threats. 
The stimulus package will fundamentally transform the government.
Fact check: Trump's claim that recession will be deadlier than the virus is baseless. 
I was an accidental playboy pinup.  

3/28 Headlines

• President Trump says he is weighing enforceable quarantines for hot spots like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as U.S. cases pass 104,000.
• New York State’s primary is delayed, and New York City may fine those who break social-distancing rules.
• Federal civil rights office rejects rationing medical care based on disability or age.
• As deaths surge, Spain and Italy look for signs of a turning point.
• Ireland enters a strict lockdown, and the U.K. checks its rule book.
• Japan is ‘barely holding on,’ Abe says, but declines to order a lockdown.

Don’t overlook the good news (yes, there is some).  

3/29 Headlines

• C.D.C. issues a travel advisory for the New York region, after Trump backs off his quarantine threat.
• U.S. civil rights office moves to prevent discrimination over who gets lifesaving care.
• A sudden lockdown in India leaves hundreds of thousands of migrants homeless and jobless.
• Illinois reports first known U.S. coronavirus infant death; Louisiana inmate dies.
• A surgeon on the front lines dies as Britain is warned of a ‘significant’ lockdown.
• America’s lost month: How the U.S. fell behind on coronavirus testing.
• Wealthier Europeans escape to second homes, stoking fear and anger in smaller communities. 

 3/30 Headlines

• As the virus’s impact expands, Washington mulls more emergency measures.
• Roughly three out of four Americans are under orders to stay home, or will be soon.
• China says it’s halting the virus’s spread. Is that true?
• Agony in Spain and Italy as deaths climb and lockdowns are extended.
• “Doctors are getting sick everywhere.” Health workers confront fear as colleagues fall ill.
• As the virus spreads behind bars, there are calls rising to free inmates.

The virus sweeps into Detroit, a city that has seen its share of hardship.

4/3/2020

• New York State records its biggest daily death toll, and pleads for the nation’s help.
• Should you wear a mask? The White House and public health officials are debating the advice.
• U.S. tries to bar 3M from exporting face masks.
• With joblessness soaring, Pelosi says it’s time to “go bigger” on another economic relief bill and wait on infrastructure.
• Half the planet is on lockdown, but not every U.S. state.
• Britain has its deadliest day as the government races for an “immunity passport.”
• Small businesses seek a share of $350 billion as some predict a chaotic process.

4/9/2020 

• As millions more Americans lose their jobs, more aid from Washington is uncertain.
• European officials agree to spend more than half a trillion euros to blunt the economic effects from the virus.
• OPEC and Russia reach a deal to cut oil production, as the pandemic drives down demand.
• New York State and Pennsylvania set new single-day records.
• In California, Newsom defends his decision to send ventilators to other states.
• In the race for virus drugs, a scientist on the front lines is urging caution.

The outbreak spreads to the South, home to some of the nation’s poorest states.

5/1/2020

• As many businesses open their doors around the country, some governors face growing resistance.
• W.H.O. extends its declaration of a global health emergency.
• Labs across the U.S. join a federal initiative to study the virus genome.
• As stay-at-home orders lift, individuals are wrestling with decisions that feel life-or-death.
• Mnuchin says private schools with large endowments should return funds.
• Texas moves aggressively to restart businesses, with restaurants, malls and movie theaters all open.
• Schools across N.Y. State will stay closed through the end of the school year, Cuomo said.