2020 in our sights

Greetings, readers of the interwebz. 

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I'm glad 2019 is almost over and that 2020 is about to begin. A lot of the chaos stems from political turmoil in America. Mainly, that the President is using the highest office of the land for his own personal political gain. It's infuriating and it's despicable. We have one party in government that is completing undermining American democracy just because the President is 'their' guy. Simply put, it goes without saying that if Obama got caught doing the quid quo pro, he would've been impeached by now. Democrats would've defended him but they wouldn't have defended him to the death like the Republicans are clinging to Trump? Why? Because they have values still whereas the Republicans today lack that. 

The division and spread of hate via politics have become mainstream. People are identified by what 'tribe' they are in. Trump's base versus Americans who think he's undermining American democracy. There is no in-between. We'll have to wait until Congress comes back from their holiday recess to see what will inevitably end up happening regarding the Trump impeachment. Merry impeachment, happy new year, new year, new President? Something along those lines would be nice. 

I got a lot of reading time this year. According to my Goodreads account data, I read 26 books over 11,000 pages. I've spent more and more time each day reading rather than playing computer games or hanging out with friends. Also, I can finally play through Sequenza for guitar by Luciano Berio [though not that well or fast]. That took me about a year to do that. Also, I've finally adjusted to a diet where I eat less food at night and eat less overall, while not starving myself or doing complete fasting. Rather its an overnight fast, fasting when I'm sleeping. I've been playing in a straight-ahead jazz duo for a year straight and I've learned a lot about jamming, jazz, and improvisational music through all those performances and recordings. I've accumulated all my best sound recordings on my Soundcloud and put it out there for the world to hear. I've been working nonstop at the same place for seven years straight. These are great accomplishments. 

When I think of what I was missing out on there are a few things I can think of. In 2020 I want to play more guitar, learn more songs, hang out with more new people and friends, who are more into art/music/literature, as well as write a lot more. I mainly want to write more short stories and develop a short story collection as a novel. I'd also like to finish up on my novella, my memoir, which I started a year ago and sort of finished but didn't edit very well. I want to learn more about technology and science to use that knowledge in my own science fiction stories. Things like that. 

When I think of the world/country/city/general life in general as opposed to my own personal well being/job/friends/family/hobbies/life I would say 2019 had more downs than ups. But I'm an optimistic guy. "It's getting better all the time. Me used to angry young man..." As the Beatles sang life does indeed get better. I get really down on my luck regarding the job and the rising inequality of the middle/lower classes in America but I'm still very hopeful of a better America. Maybe not in 2020, maybe not in five or ten years, but in a future where I'll be older, smarter, and hopefully working an office job. 

I think progressive politics scares a lot of people still because it's associated with the 'dirty' word socialist. However, the way things have gone down in America it only makes sense to start using more socialist policies. In a way, I feel that capitalism has run its course. Of course, it could never be completely abolished. Rather, there would be a future where there are fewer capitalistic systems and more socialist ones. In five-ten years down the line, I could see a guy who has similar policies as say, Andrew Yang, get elected. The old school Republican versus Democrat has just got to go. 

So 2020 is in our sights. Let's all make these last few days of 2019 good. Remember how tough it was this year. For the world in general. And look forward to things getting better.

The Obama legacy ends, enter the Trump era

President Obama did a great farewell address last night in Chicago. He mentioned a lot of important details about his presidency such as the Affordable Care Act and how the economy improved. It was a great speech. As we leave the Obama era and enter the Trump era there's a lot to think about.

What will happen to our so called post-racial society? What about the illegals and the so-called wall? What about the increasing gap between the poor, middle class, and rich? What about the economic crisis? And lets not forget all the environmental problems that the United States faces. What about terrorism and especially Syria? And the fact that Russia hacked the election?

These are all important questions that will hopefully be answered during the Trump administration. I'm not optimistic about Trump whatsoever. He's already shown what kind of person he is in all his speeches. As Obama said a lot during his presidency and even about the Trump campaign, "that's not who we are". Right now I'm watching his first press conference as president-elect and its interesting but I can't help but find everything he's saying to be idiotic. The way they're explaining what's going to happen with his assets is a bit asinine. He's giving control of all his assets to his family but who's to say he won't have a say in whats going on when he's President? They are family after all so they will always be in complete communication. Just not cool.

Having a billionaire President isn't cool. It's very douche-y as the kids say. He's out of touch with the American people in terms of wealth, intellect, and political views. The fact that he won the election shows how out of touch the American people are with politics. I don't mean to put on a top hat and say I'm smarter than thou but I would say Americans are so stupid that they're stupid enough to vote for someone who will lead them to ruin.

However, I believe that stupid people can become smart. And that's my hope. Obama ran as president on hope in 2008 and he won. My hope is that Americans, (my people, that's my heart) realize that they picked the wrong man, get smarter, and pick a better leader in the future. I'm not against the Republicans totally. I think there are a lot of smart Republicans in Congress. But I don't want them running and ruining my life or my future with their terrible ideas. And their ideas are terrible.

In eight days we will have a completely new political spectrum. It will be an interesting four years. Get ready for change.