March Madness

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. How's it been? I've been silent on the writing since the new year. I feel the need to write as an outlet because I believe reading and writing is the greatest tool for communication as a medium. Sure, I talk to friends and family, but you just don't get to really say everything you want to say with friends and family. That's why I've had this blog for so many years. The blog is a good outlet not only for creativity but also to say everything I want to say. I haven't really been too busy or anything, but I do think I had some slight writer's block that lasted all of February. But I've been good. I've been reading, working, and tonight I was playing guitar and electronic keyboard, just practicing, and improvising. 

I've been on a roll since the new year 2026 reading a lot of books. So far already since January I've read 10 books: The Mammoth Hunters [by Jean M. Auel], Van Gogh The Passionate Eye [Pascal Bonafoux], Plato's Symposium, Caesar's War on Gaul, Lolita by Nabokov, Words of Wisdom, The Nibelungenlied,  Cousin Bette by Balzac, The New Grove Mozart, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I'm also currently reading The Portable Medieval Reader and A History of China. My reading has stayed mostly in the realms of fiction, non-fiction, western canon but I will sometimes still read science fiction, more modern day science fiction as well as the golden age sci fi stuff. 

All the reading has been keeping me sharp and keeping me going. The state of our country isn't good and now all of a sudden we're on day 5 in a war against Iran with our partner Israel. What does reading all these great books of the western canon tell you about the political nature of the times we're currently living in? As Hegel would put it, "We learn from history that we don't learn from history." As bad as Trump and the MAGA Republican tinfoil hat crowd are, we have seen this before and we have been here before. 

Even this war against Iran. We're shooting at them with all these airstrikes and we're hoping for a regime change with no boots on the ground as of yet, which is unheard of and has never happened before. Well, this scene looks a lot like Bush's declaration of war in Afghanistan, but at least Bush got approval from Congress to go to war. With Trump, he declared it and we were instantly in war. It's an interesting time to be alive in the United States, being someone of my age, of my education, of my economic and social class. 

You see, you could argue that Americans like me, American citizens with good education, good family structure, they're doing okay economically, they're eating well, they're exercising, they're getting entertained, they have friends and family, they read books, etc, well you might say that Trump, what Trump does, and the new war against Iran, maybe it might not affect them as much as you think. 

The reality is that the Trump regime has had a profound influence on practically every facet of American culture, politics, entertainment, and governance. I believe, personally, that ever since President Trump was elected, since even the first time, American culture has largely degenerated and gotten worse and worse. I could even see it among the largely minority employees and management at the retail grocery job I worked at for years. You could see that because they loved Trump and praised him, they wanted to become like Trump, which included becoming more hateful and full of cruelty towards others around them. For them Trump wasn't just a symbol of American conservatism, he was the example to show them that it was okay to be a racist, to be hateful, to be cruel, and show it anywhere and anytime they wanted. Yeah, it was that bad there folks. That was just a market. Imagine how people who love Trump would act in a mob [January 6], or in Congress as leaders in the White House. Houston, we have a problem.

Which brings us to the end of February 2026, a new war with Iran. This war is like the perfect foil for Trump because he was already in trouble for the killings of two US Citizens with his gestapo-esque police force ICE [Rene Good, and Alex Pretti who were called terrorists by Kristi Nome leader of Homeland Security] and in addition Trump was in trouble for his too close ties to child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Also, there's the fact that the economy under Trump has slowed down a lot, there's a lot less jobs, food and gas prices are very high, and companies are putting more and more money and effort into AI [stupid idea] when in reality, Americans are struggling to pay rent, eat well, and find a job that gives them enough cash to live in a house or apartment. Trump's problem as President as always, has been affordability, as Democrats would say. Trump inherited a robust economy from Biden, and now when you go to Fatburger you're paying $24 for a burger, fries, and a soda. 

It almost seems at times like what Trump does is seemingly random. Which makes you wonder what is really going on in this world, what systems are controlling what's going on behind the scenes. For example, you notice how not once has Trump pushed back against Putin despite Putin's war crimes against Ukraine. So it makes you wonder, what does Putin have on Trump? Is Trump really a pedophile rapist like the newly reported story said? If its true, then we have to seriously discuss and decide what kind of a country we are and what kind of a country we should be. Because if we allow a guy who's done that to be our President and get us into a war then we have fundamentally failed as a democratic experiment. 

It helps to be somewhat of a cynic right now. In a way, to stay informed, you pretty much have to read the news every 24-48 hours or watch the news on TV daily, just to stay up to date on basic information, but in reality, you still have to question everything, not only Trump and his administration and their actions, but also the news and media itself, as well as yourself. Henry David Thoreau has this great quote where he says all the news stories are all things that have happened in other super old news stories from other times and years. That was a stunning revelation because in some sense, yes, it's very true. 

But why is this, why is that quote true? I think a small part of being a cynic is the feeling and knowing that something is amiss, something is not right, even though you don't know what it is, something like a conspiracy, who's to say that there isn't something like that going on right now and/or has been going on since the foundation of this state. Like I said, you have to question everything, even yourself and your own beliefs, even if you have a low education level, play videogames, and are more concerned about being 'turnt at da club.' There's something undeniable about the current times we're living in that has an eerie similarity to the past, something we don't understand, or perhaps will never be granted the right to understand. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Hegel: Outlines of the Philosophy of Right

I read this book directly after reading The Phenomenology of Spirit. It was a great, smooth transition. Also keep in my mind that because I've read Kant, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger, and a little Fichte, this makes a lot more sense that if I had gone in not knowing much about German philosophy, particularly the style known as German Idealism. Hegel is dense reading but his ideas are truly thought provoking and exciting for those who are curious. This is truly fascinating reading during the coronavirus pandemic of January 2021. What a great way to spend quarantine. 

Anyways, Hegel would say I have a good life because I have a job under a corporation, that is under a government, that is under a nation, we as a people all are one people together, and as individuals we mere atoms, nothing. However, there is a clear and important discussion about we the people, and how important the universal will is, how important it is to see the good, and make the world a better place. But remember that is only the universal will, and that the state must act in whatever ways it may, such as by fighting wars or making peace in the world, increased taxes, and such.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

Spirit is Artist. Hegel describes daesein and spirit. Difficult but not if you've already read Kant, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. The world is what it is, this being the case, Hegel is a true philosopher of dialectic. This is one of the most interesting philosophical works.

2020 First Post

2020 is here finally. I took a long break away from writing or blogging and only just now decided to write with only a wee bit amount of time before work. 

The retail gig is going alright but somehow I'm finding myself more and more willing to quit and do something else. It's interesting because my friends in the office job world don't seem to be faring too well either. "You want a real career. You need to go back to college or trade school." This is the kind of advice I get from my superiors and peers. The thing is that most of them are in the same boat as I am...yadda yadda. 

I've been chilling with a lot of friends. The power of friendship as they say in the Yugioh! hit anime. I've also been reading a lot. I just finished reading Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, where he goes into many different concepts, ideas, logic, including metaphysics and the existence and/or nonexistence of God. It took me about three weeks to read. Even longer to grasp the concepts, some of which I'm still digesting through lectures on YouTube and philosophy forums. 

The power of philosophy never ceases to amaze me. Kant's categorical imperative, something as the Catholic, do others as you would unto yourself, really puts intellectual curiosity in the best light. This is that no matter no smart we are, no matter how much we know, we are to use that knowledge to make ourselves and the world better. Make the world a better place, and be a better person. 

I've been getting interested in other countries' philosophers, like the French, but for the moment I've been focusing on German Idealism, which primarily concerns Kant, Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel. 

On another note, Christmas was good and my dad got me a really great science fiction novel called Engine Summer by British writer John Crowley. From 1979, the book isn't your typical science fiction fanfare, meaning its a much more serious, artful, delicate sort of reading. Some of it seems quite pretty and childlike but I have to finish it to find out more. Although the book is an average length I'm taking my time with it because it is something that you want to enjoy. The writing has more of a laid back yet still elliptical sort of style. Not elliptical like William Gibson but still elliptical. Some of the concepts remind me of American science fiction but yet this is fundamentally different. 

I have a lot of library books checked out at all times. I have a very strong focus on reading. I only read one book at a time and I usually finish them. After Engine Summer I'll probably get to Kant's Critique of Judgement, his philosophy on art and beauty. Which, ironically, I found that many philosophy YouTubers focused more on Kant's Critique of Pure Judgement than his Critique of Pure Reason, when talking about his general concepts a general introduction to him. I found that interesting, considering that I thought Critique of Pure Reason was the more serious discourse. As you can see I've become very interested in philosophy. In a way, I've gone from a more typical reading background based on science fiction to a more classical aesthetic. I'm very proud of that and hope to learn and understand more. 

The first post in 2020. Glad to have made it to 2020. There's still struggle and contradiction but at least there's great literature to keep me going. More posts incoming. My break on writing is over.

Dialectics of a modern proletariat

Here we get to the crux of the matter that I was trying to get into in the last post, entitled Black Metal October, the dialectics of a modern proletariat. Oh boy...here we go. 

Clearly, I haven't read enough Marx and Engels, or Hegel to truly discourse on said subject, so instead I'll do a write up on my personal views towards the matter. 

Work is a wonderful thing. In moderation. Even when you're too entrenched for free time sometimes. I've been in the working world for some thirteen years now. It's had its ups and downs, but mostly its been the same since day one when I was nineteen years old in Wisconsin. "Same shit, different day," as the snarky co-workers like to say.  Touche.

The thing about work is that when you consider that you're going to the same place every day and working for money, that is actually a purpose-driven life [john grisham], in and of itself. That alone is satisfying enough for most people to even consider their job their actual status in life. "I'm a banker." "I'm a doctor." "I'm a cashier." "I'm a warehouse worker." And they would never even question trying to be/label themselves as something else like a guitar player [my own personal circumstance], or a writer [me again], or a painter, comedian, actor, gamer, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, mechanic, etc.  

The hardest thing about work [for me] isn't the work in and of itself. I've worked hard for thirteen years straight with only six months off. I've only been unemployed for six months since I was nineteen. Anyways, the hardest thing for me is keeping a good attitude on the job. It's always a good attitude thing on the job, as opposed to when you're off the job, because when you're off the job who gives a shit, right? 

So the question then becomes how do you stay positive in a working experience? I'm not quite sure there's any real answer to this. For me it always goes back to myself, my own inner mind, my mind's eye if you will [happy Halloween!]. As you can tell, I'm a pretty down to earth guy who's been around the block, seen some shit, met a lot of interesting 'characters', if you will. But again, it always stems back to personal experience. How do you stay happy when you're working all the time? 

The truth is I'm not really sure. But I have some basic ideas. You have to enjoy all your free time away from work to the max, 100% overload. Work hard, but play much, much harder, so hard that if people from work chilled with you outside of work they'd have no idea of the 'real' you, you're ultimate persona [don't ask, its a California thing]. 

So for me, this would include hanging out with friends, guitar playing, music listening, writing, and reading a lot, performing at open mics. If I skimp on these other things for whatever reason I can't be chipper at work, it just will not work. Why not? Who knows, I'm not a psychologist, I'm more of a philosopher, an avid amateur one at that. 

The other side of the work coin that we haven't spoken of is one of metaphysics. Because you are working at whatever job it is that you do, you are fulfilling a job that is key in the universe, you are taking a position that is important whether you know it or not. Phillip K Dick has a novel where this guy is doing crossword puzzles [or something of that nature] and without his knowledge, because of the fact that he is doing these puzzles, the government is taking his answers and using them as coordinates to help stop an alien invasion. Talk about a great concept. Consider this. Because you are doing whatever it is that you are doing in your life, you are filling a void that is missing in the universe. When you leave, that void goes unfilled and could potentially cause disorder, decay, maybe even chaos. You're actually important even if you're a pencil pusher. How about that?