Holidays, End of 2025

Good evening, ladies and gents. I haven't written in a long time so I decided to take some time tonight to jot down some of my thoughts, ideas, activities on everything up to this moment in time-let's say the Holidays and the End of 2025. 

First, I'm glad 2025 is coming to a close. It's been rough for me, and more importantly, for America, and the world, as President Trump is pretty much taking an axe to The Constitution, the Government, and Our Way of Life [in terms of affordability and health insurance/jobs]. I had a bad year, came out of a twelve-year job unemployed for some months, and luckily I was able to land something in the same year because for a while I wasn't sure where I was going to get a job, cash, or even a good hot meal that wasn't ramen with hot dogs. 

And here's the thing, there are many more Americans that were dealt much worse than what I went through. Yeah, I lost my job and had no income for a while, but there are others with families who lost their homes, their jobs, their cars, had to live in shelters or their cars [or warehouses], and are still unable to get into a job. Also, consider the number of people who lost their homes in the Palisades Fire [here in CA]. So yeah, it hasn't been a cakewalk for pretty much every American citizen this year. I know for me personally, this has been the hardest year of my existence out here in California. 

I know for myself personally, I've had to go into hibernation mode and not really go out to too many places or spend too much cash. I only really go to restaurants when I'm spending cash. I haven't been out to the bar or a concert for a year straight. It's a bit like covid 2.0. My new job is okay but they only have limited hours but the volume of work is vast and unwieldy for anyone working there. The work itself isn't hard but the volume is difficult to deal with. This job has drastically changed from the summer up to now, vast changes that have made the work much harder, but I've been hammering through with it, because I know that there aren't really too many other jobs available at this time, and maybe not for months, if not years, especially with this current Administration.

As a result, going into 2026, it doesn't exactly feel great, for me personally, and for all of us Americans. I spent the entire year trying to catch up in terms of my finances and now I'm just barely catching up. And like I said, I think its worse for other Americans with more assets who have families, cars, houses, rent, upkeep, etc. The holidays didn't feel festive this year. My family didn't do gifts at all this year but that's not why it wasn't festive. It wasn't festive because everything has become  much more difficult and we notice it much more often nowadays, everything is out of control in terms of affordability, and things like health insurance might be impossible to get without getting it at a good company job. Like I said, its good to say goodbye to 2025, it was a bad year for our country, for us as Americans, and the word affordability is not a hoax. 

Second, I've been trying to wholly inrich my personal life with lots of literature because otherwise, what's a boy to do? I've been reading a lot and listening to a lot of music-mostly jazz livestreams from a nyc jazz club and a bit of classical like Mozart arias and Bach. I tend to think that without the reading and music my life wouldn't be quite so fun and engrossing. I read 49 books this year, the last book being Charles Dickens, a title called Hard Times, about people living in a lumber mill town. It's dark and gritty but doesn't quite have the strong influential characteristic Dickens voice of say A Tale of Two Cities or David Copperfield, yet it was great. This is an important part. Even when I was at my darkest points this year with little cash, I was still reading, still listening to music, still practicing music, still going to the library. I think that's what kept me resilient, even after going through one of the harder darker chapters of my life out here in California. At one point when it seemed like I wasn't going to find work, I thought about leaving California and moving back to the Midwest, where I'm originally from. But theoretically, it would be difficult to find a job there too, as its a much smaller pool with a lot less resources. You can't really win in terms of the job market right now. And what's crazy is that lots of people I know personally are struggling with work-getting fired, getting laid off, not able to get unemployment, struggling to find another job, forced to work a job that they're overqualified for just to pay rent, etc. The struggle is real right now folks. 

Third, here's a Christmas Eve story for you. I was working my new thrift shop job on Christmas Eve and there was this homeless lady yelling in the front patio area to the side of the front door of our place. A guy was riding his bike past her and she ran and threw him off the bike. He may or may not have been hurt, I didn't really see the full impact of the fall from the cashier stand. 

But he jumped on the homeless women, and beat the crap out of her with his fists pretty hard. He got in maybe 6-7 hard swings on her face, even pushing her down on top of a car while swinging at her. A man from inside my work ran outside and got between them to break up the brawl. The homeless lady sort of came to her senses after that. But Jesus Almighty, what possessed her to tackle a man off his bike? 

I don't condone the man's behavior but you have to admit, if some random lady threw you off your bike, and you were injured, you would probably want to take a few punches to her face, like he did. It was a pretty crazy incident. My co-worker called the cops but they didn't show up. The lady chilled outside for a long time and came inside the store, and just looked around for a bit, bought some clothing, and left. 

I tell this story online as a warning to people who work in stores and retail. At my place I was the only one there after a bit so there's not much I could do. Sometimes when you're dealing with these types of issues you don't want to get involved, especially if you're alone, but sometimes you're going to have to develop psychological tactics in order to deal with this sort of stuff. So when the lady came in I acknowledged her and made her feel welcome but also made her aware that I was there kind of watching. So yeah, that was my Christmas Eve...lol. 

Lastly, I think more and more, I'm beginning to realize that most of the content online in terms of social media, news media, even information from real friends on social media and irl, most information from people you know from your past, now, online, or irl [in real life], I'm beginning to notice that a lot of it is negative based doomer-maxxing sort of content/information. For example, yesterday, I was at the library reading the news and after maybe an hour of reading it, I just felt sick to my stomach, like it was just such awful information to absorb and take in, albeit it may have been important information like about how we were going to rain this week and stuff, although that was one of the less disturbing news even though it sometimes brings mudslides and floods. 

For example, just think about the people you know, knew, work with now/past, family, friends, co-workers, management, a lot of them are telling you some really bad stuff. For example, this might not be the best example, but I remember there were a few girls I was sort of infatuated with even though they didn't really have such nice or great personalities, but I just liked them, and I noticed in a lot of long conversations irl or online, they would often say some messed up stuff to me about myself, my personality, or how I'm too-this or too-that or that's why people don't like me, some kind of messed up doomer-maxxing type stuff. 

This was like a few girls I was in talking stages with. And then I thought maybe I'm the problem? Until I realized that wasn't actually the case, that in actuality everyone's different, and everyone's capable of being an asshole, even when you think they're a pretty girl and should have a nice perky personality. It took me a bit to really understand that. Even girls can be assholes too. I usually prefer to talk to girls and women. Hard lesson on that one, lol. 

Another example of this kind of bad stuff you hear from others is from your management at work. Hardly ever does the Manager or Boss tell you you're doing good, keep it up, and keep bringing the A-Game. Instead, you hear them nagging you, saying you're not doing this, you're not doing that, etc. They're telling you to do it their way and they're changing it all the time and then they're getting mad that you're not getting it, even though they keep changing everything. Another example is family. Family will always be there to tell you you aren't doing enough, you're not good enough, you should do this or you should do that, and then when you try something new they'll tell you, 'you can't be that.' 

In conclusion, I guess the reasons why I'm going into this sort doomer-maxxing type stuff topic is because I notice that this current paradigm of human history is mostly just that. As we go into 2026, you'll begin to realize that genuine people who are good, happy, and have the capacity for happiness have become fewer and fewer in number and you don't really see them in the big crowds or the club or the bar anymore. Maybe you'll only see them online in a post here and there. 

I feel like something has changed. And maybe its not, maybe its not even them, but perhaps just our society as a whole has sort of gone down the drain? You don't wanna go around blaming people even if they are unhappy saps or a-holes or lack a good personality, but after a certain while, if you're one of the good ones, then you're going to have to realize that you and them won't be compatible for long. 

This is a hard lesson for the die-hard good people out there, you know if you know. That girl you liked that called you out numerous times, yeah she's a rotten apple lol. That co-worker that you get along with but who complains to you 24/7, yeah you probably aren't good with that person in the long run. That management that ratted you out and got you fired, yeah there's a special place in hell for that guy. LOL, you get the picture. In a Matrix where everyone is doomer-maaxing/scrolling and complaining about every element of their life, be the child who has his own. 

If you don't hear back from me soon, happy new year! 

The Downward Spiral of the Times

Hello world. Here I'd like to write an improvisatory speel about the downward spiral of the times we're currently living in, in 2025. 

    First off, this isn't just hard times, this is weird. The amount of division within our society is so bad its almost like civil war in wherever you go, whatever you do, say, or think. That's a bit excessive but just look upon how the Trump administration has handled Charlie Kirk's death. Instead of simply saying prayers for the guy and saying he was cool for right-wingers, they've decided to make the man a martyr for their cause-the right wing agenda. Them doing so has sowed more division and discord, more than even the shooter simply shooting the guy. In fact, right now most people could care less about the shooter and why he did it and they're more focused on the fallout, including the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel for simply mentioning that the shooter maybe was MAGA. 

    Moving on, you'll find that the division doesn't simply stop at politics or the fallout of Charlie Kirk's death. You'll find that you maybe won't be able to get along with certain family members, friends, coworkers, managers, maybe even some stranger will look at you in public with the evil eye for no apparent reason. Now, I'm not saying that everyone hates your guts, but maybe if you're noticing that you're getting more dislike and hate from others around you, you need to realize that sometimes its not you, it's them, it's a symptom of the times that we're currently living in. 

    Next, maybe you've played the good guy so long that you know that there's no way anyone can really truly hate you, well, in this current climate of discord, you'll find that no matter how good of a person you are, you will receive hate from certain individuals around you and even from strangers. I would say you have to trust no one in this particular society and times. In a way you have to even be critical of yourself in certain moments and situations, not just others. You need to be extra critical of the people closest to you, and especially critical of people that know or knew you in the past, and even more critical of strangers, especially in public.  

    In addition, I'm a person consuming a lot of media. I'm on YouTube, video games, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, NyTimes, LAtimes, washington post, MSNBC, and a lot of the media people are consuming may not be good for you. In fact, a lot of media out there is downright brain rot. I don't want to be too critical of the news here as I think more young people need to watch/read the news, but I've noticed that a lot of the left wing news media has turned more to the right, which is a bit alarming. Especially since the Kirk incident. 

    Lastly, people that disagree with you, call you out and condemn you in super harsh ways for lightly expressing your opinions are probably the most dangerous to you. We all have a right to share our thoughts and express our opinions and if somebody doesn't like what you have to write/say, then there's plenty of other media for them to go to. But in today's age, you'll find that you personally won't really be able to fully express yourself anymore. Part of it is the fact that simply saying what you truly think or believe is dangerous, and the other part of it is that people that don't like it will hurt/harm you for doing so, if they are so inclined. 

    In conclusion, I would go so far as to say that most people out there [including friends/family/people that used to/know you now/meet in the future] will end up screwing you over and backstabbing you if you aren't watching closely and take a step away from them. Trust me, this happened to me with countless friends, family, managers/jobs, my old work union, and even newer current people in my life. I hate to say it but it's going to get worse. Try to find some peace. Peace is the way. 

Watch this space. 

Meet the new Boss, Same as the old Boss

Good evening, how are you? I wanted to do a bit of blogging, some improv, and just see what turns out. It's September 20th, 2025, about a week after the Charlie Kirk incident, which has captivated the media and the internet nonstop ever since. First, I'll start with my thoughts on the matter. 

Charlie Kirk wasn't my cup of tea. I put him in the same vein as Ben Shapiro, Nick Fuentes, and Candace Owens, so I see him as right-wing agitator. However, that doesn't mean that I think he should've been gunned down and although I'm kind of a hard leftist progressive [if you know anything about this blog and my life as a worker], I don't think people should be celebrating his death. In fact, I think the fact that people are celebrating his death is a little bit sickening. This is where we are in 2025 September 20th. 

Which brings me to my next point. The fact that the Trump administration flew his body back via Airforce 1, and the Right-Wingers [although its mostly the far right that are sprouting revenge and violence] have made him a martyr in their crusade against the so called woke liberal left. When you see your right-wing friends saying Kirk was a good man, a great man, and that he was peaceful, you know that they're only saying that because that's what they've been told to believe because the man was quite frankly, an asshole of a right-wing persuasion. On the opposite side on the left, you see the celebratory theme of Kirk's death as a sort of meme of pop culture, which they've been told to believe in. 

That being said, it doesn't take a genius of political ideology to tell you that these two different parties are just followers, believing in whatever the 'leader,' is telling them to believe in. Which makes you wonder, is anyone truly thinking for themselves anymore in 2025? We got people hooked in ChatGPT, taking pictures of them in their outfits and asking GPT if it goes hard? The people who do think for themselves are getting drowned out, belittled, and disgraced by the people who are just followers of whatever ideology they've been told to follow. Which begs the question, can anyone truly be an outsider in 2025? Maybe not. 

Moving on from politics, you find today that the Culture has been transformed into a video culture. Meaning that most people are followers following the trends and can't resist it. I remember working at the market and most of the employees there would always be on their phones watching TikTok on the sales floor and even on their break, phone in one hand, and food in the other. For women and girls it's TikTok and videos nonstop, for men it's endless video games and YouTube. If you say you prefer books, you are seen as an outsider by these groups. 

That being said, I don't think that will ever change. What we're witnessing now is the decline and fall of the American experiment, which lasted roughly 300 years. We consume so much stuff and media, its like a fat guy eating 20 hamburgers, it's become disgusting. Nowadays I sometimes find myself getting lost in the male video gaming meme culture and after a few weeks I catch myself and realize that I have to resign from it for a few months to recuperate. The consumption of mass media in this culture has a strong effect on the human mind. 

Now, I'm not saying you have to read books all the time. But perhaps it wouldn't hurt to read a book every now and then? And if you can't stand books, maybe do some kind of learning via the internet instead of endless TikTok or doomscrolling? This current American culture has become some kind of monster [metallica reference], its got to the point where everything and everyone has become fake and useless [now trending.] 

Sometimes you might watch a TikTok or a YouTube video and it seems real and lifelike, but you find out later on that its AI voice generated video with real images, or that everything the person said or did in the video is all fake, not one tiny bit of it is honest or real in any way. This is where we are in 2025. From a young person's standpoint, it's almost frightening because young people are impressionable and a lot of them are going to believe a lot of what's online despite being told a lot of it is all fake. Now, I think the biggest skill for a young person to have is to be skeptical of everything and everyone around them, especially those closest to them. 

I worked at a grocery store in SoCal for a long time. In that time I probably worked with over 300 employees. And I was cool with almost all of them, cool as in I got along with them and we worked well together. But most of those people were fake and were always trying to do the bare minimum amount of work. This includes management and store directors as well. They were all, for the most part, not very good people, fake people, not hard-working people. They weren't evil people, but for the most part they were fake and useless. Most people don't tell it like how it really was and is, but I'm keeping it real and I might get flagged for this but most of them were bad people. Pretty much everyone at the market including managers, codirectors, and store directors were all not good people, very fake, and didn't do much work. I had one manager for 12 years, a Persian guy, who hardly did any work pretty much the entire 12 years, and hid in the back 4 hours a night. These people might be a good laugh to have a beer with, but they were not very good people. 

In conclusion, what's the solution? Well, I think you have to really learn to be skeptical of everyone and everything. As one of my managers said, "This is California, trust no one." As paranoid as that sounded to me he was right. I think today in 2025 you have to even be skeptical of little old ladies asking you questions on the street. Listen to your elders but don't take what they say to heart, because the future of the world is you, not them. The workforce people are all fake and they're probably going to do you in the first moment you say no to them or don't make the quota. Learn to build your own interior world. The world has become more and more fake. Everyone you knew in your past or from previous jobs probably treated you badly behind your back and you didn't realize it because if you're like me, you're a good spirit, even amongst demons. You tend to overlook that sharp eye of evil within your managers and coworkers. Yeah, it's in the eyes. 

As random and improvisatory as this long blog was, everything in it is connected. Brought to you via the government and workforce. Godspeed. Watch this space.  

"I couldn't say where she's comin' from, but I just met a woman named Dinah Mo Hum." 

Eliot's Renaissance Tempest: Romola's Moral Crucible

 

First, it may be surprising that, George Eliot, famous writer of 19th century English novels wrote one novel about the Renaissance period. Romola is George Eliot's fourth novel, a significant departure from all her other novels. Romola is set in Florence in the 15th century of Niccolo Machiavelli, [he's a minor character in the book], during Christian religious leader Savonarola's rise. 

George Eliot took meticulous notes on the Renaissance period for this novel and dives in deep to explore the themes of humanism and psychological human struggles. This is most likely Eliot's most intellectual novel, whereas her more popular books like Middlemarch and Mill On the Floss focus more on the intimate social realism of rural England in the 19th century, the core of all her writing and style. However, for the curious western canon reader, this book is not only important, but is a must read.

Second, Eliot uses the world of 15th century Renaissance Italy as more than a backdrop, it is a protagonist, the city itself comes alive almost like a character. This is one of Eliot's strongest stylistic writing skills. The political machinations of the city have it come alive like a person. The Medici's versus republicans, artististic ferment, impassioned religious leaders [Savonarola], and the passion of learning, ambition, and decline. The setting is important for the characters because it helps to explore the themes of humanism, faith, individualism, and communal duty. 

Third, Romola's journey from naive helper-scholar to her blind father to adept Holy Madonna is not only inspiring, it is downright transformative. Romola is one of Eliot's most well thought out characters, like Tito, her husband. Her duties were initially to help her blind-scholar father, her god-father, and her husband Tito, who she marries, but along the way she finds herself in struggle and contradiction. As every powerful character in Eliot's novels, she has to make tough decisions in order to find meaning in her life. She might be the most powerful and transformative character in Eliot's writings. 

Fourth, Tito Melema. Tito is a remarkable villain and, one of the best villains in Eliot's work. He's good looking, tall, dark, personable, intellectual, ambitious, but he's also backstabbing [marrying a peasant girl behind Romola's back and having two kids with her], he's so ambitious to the point of getting too involved in the internal politics of Italy [thus garnering him enemies], he backstabs his father who adopted him as a child, and because of that, his father ends up getting his revenge. Tito's Father's revenge is ultimately satisfying although not quite as action packed as one would think it would be. Most writers will never be able to write a better villain. If Romola represents Life and Holy Goodness, then Tito is Death and Intellect. 

Moving on, Savonarola plays a big role in the stage because of his strong religious fervor and influence. He's reacting against corruption of politics and the church, offering a powerful vision of moral renewal in Florence, Italy. You could say that because of Eliot's ideas on religion, she always has strong ideas of religious characters, ideas, and influence. You can say that she never has anything bad to say about religion. The role on religion on Romola is immense, to the point where in the end she finds a village suffering from the plague, and she ends up helping and saving a lot of them, thus becoming a Holy Madonna. 

Finally, putting it all together. Eliot's dense, allusive, descriptive, intellectual writing style in a psychologically penetrating prose style is what makes this book an amazing read. She's able to successfully and accurately use historical notes and detail without losing the narrative flow or psychological state of the characters. Her characteristic philosophical concerns are explored through this unique renaissance prism. The novel is considered Eliot's least popular novel and it was received with mixed reviews, but reading it in 2025 feels as fresh as a daisy, and I believe its a must read for the western canon list. 

In conclusion, like many historical novels of the western canon, this novel has epic scope. When the fires of belief and lightning of new ideas clash across Renaissance Florence, testing one woman's soul as kingdoms fall and fanatics rise, George Eliot's Romola forges a story so powerful it echoes through centuries, standing forever as a towering testament to how we hold onto what's true when the whole world shakes. The novel begs to ask the question, "How do we find meaning in our lives?" You could say that is what every George Eliot novel is really about.

Aw Snap, Here We Go Again

Hello world, 

Things are moving forward, but things are volatile. It's like a caffeinated squirrel running around a funhouse of mirrors. You really never know what you're going to get. That's where we are right now. I'm mostly speaking in terms of the bigger picture, not just my own individual life. Here I'd like to jot down some notes on what's going on, what I think is the answers to it or possible answers, and just a general outlined update on what I've been up to and what I've been working on. 

First, the turmoil surrounding the larger story arc of the world, Russia vs Ukraine, but right now I'm especially worried about the turning point in the middle east, as we have the Israelis causing chaos there. I believe the Israelis are causing all this damage right now because they are trying to force the US into a large scale war inside the middle east, and, this part is very important, they want to try to force a Trump victory this November because they know Harris won't support Israel's proxies and killings. The best thing we can do is deescalate and not send troops to the middle east. 

In addition, there's more to this of course. I believe the disconnection between Americans has become so great that not only is democracy at risk, I believe that in a way, the citizens have already lost, regardless of whoever wins the election. Walk outside your door on any day and you can see, think, feel, hear, and maybe even smell the differences between everyone and everyone within every facet of life that you may encounter on any other day. And guess what? Almost all of those people see other Americans in this divided categorical way. Why? Because that's how this country has made their impact upon them, especially foreigners but also just average Americans. We need to keep moving forward and learn to see each other as human beings, not as these divided categories. 

Second, the disintegration of community within this country. Look around you everywhere you go. Everyone is all looking at something different; a different smartphone screen, a different political ideology, a different style of music, a different tribe in any and every way. This is almost too good to be true. How can a country be so mindlessly cast apart and separated as people? This is a question one should not answer, as I think there are many variables; infinite mass amounts of information, infinite mass amounts of bad and/or false information, and divide division and conquer tactics used by the boogiemen [like Trump and Maga Republicans] who are counting on their supporters to be a stupid b lazy c never change their opinions even though they know they are bad and/or wrong and harmful to their communities. 

Third, look at your own personal life for more examples of what I'm describing. I work at a grocery store where the division of work is highly routinized. There are clear divisions and separations between the hierarchy of the workplace. For example, on the front end where I work, there are from lowest to top; baggers, combos, cashiers, sales managers, front end managers, co-director, and store director. You find once you become ensconced in this line of work that there is a clear division and hierarchy. The managers at my store never once tried to lift me up and get me promoted for years even though I've stayed a very long time and showed my loyalty to the company through hard work, good work, and some customers may have even said that I've even had good cheer and all that good stuff. 

The problem is that through these divisions not everybody wants to see you succeed. In fact, a lot of people out there want to see you fail and lose everything; your wife, your children, your girlfriends, your job, your stuff, hour apartment, your home, everything. I've found that in particular, sales managers, front end managers, and co-directors especially have more than sometimes used their power to bring me down, take away privileges, write me up for bogus things, and in general try to get me not promoted to keep getting higher in the company. Why do you think that is? The answer lies in the psychological nature of the divided moment we live in. Even my co-director wants to see me fail, even he sees that because he is who he is with a better job and much more money and higher status, that whatever he says go and if I don't like it I would have to leave, and he doesn't see me as a good, hardworking, loyal employee, rather he wants to see me fail, and I would like to see him fail as well. 

Lastly, what does this mean? This means that the world that's described by the people you know or watch on TV or see on a smartphone or webpage screen is just one part of it; their world, but what is your truth, your story? No matter what ideological background that you originate from, most smart and good people want to bring more good to this world and keep working very hard to keep it good. But not everybody wants that. Like me, you might have a boss that wants to see you fail. I can respond by making his life hell in any way I can, but therein does not lie the true answer. The answer lies in fighting the good fight, fighting for what you believe in, and fighting to the very end. Those people out there, like the hateful boss, they want to see you fail, they want to see you give in to despair and become like many others or even themselves, who have given up with their lives in despair. Your life might not be great or even good right now but nothing lasts forever, even happiness. You might have to surprise yourself by how much fight you have in you, that you're actually made of much tougher stuff, and if given the chance, you would trounce any and all of your enemies in one attack like a ferocious lion. 

Take on thy sword of the spirit and fight on. Metaphorically speaking of course. Give them hell or worse. Replace their system with your own system, be more than a leader, be a creative leader.

Summer’s Last Caress: A Final Embrace of the Season

Happy August, everybody! It's nearly the end of summer, although summer is the hottest month in California, but the good news is here, temperatures are cooling down a bit, here and there, more or less. 

Here, I wanted to jot down some notes on the current state of affairs going on in my life, work life, recreational life, and the political affairs of the worldhood of the world. 

First, the democratic convention has been off to a great start. Trump failed to capitalize on his convention after he got shot at by an attempted assassin. I actually think Trump could have got much more leverage out of the shooting than he did. He could have appeared as a savior figure coming to face the United States of America but instead he played his same old playbook, yelling, complaining, and name calling any and whoever of his political enemies like a whiny brat. 

On the other side of the divide, the republican convention was a bore because it lacked star power other than Trump and Vance themselves. Here, with the democrats they really went all out. Even Oprah's speech was good. Bill Clinton. Obama. Michelle. Biden. And tonight at the end Tim Walz himself, the VP pick, who is now everybody's coach. I was trying to not really listen to every speech and everybody because I get tired of politics especially right now before the election but I have to say, some of these people and some of these speeches demand to be heard. I don't think you can say the same for the people who spoke at the republican convention. It's not an equal performance, the democrats looked, played it, and spoke much better with more depth, warmth, eloquence, and intelligence. Anyone who doesn't see that I reckon just isn't that bright. 

Moving forward, I'm not really the biggest Harris fan. I think she's what the democrats needed in the moment in order to keep up the momentum against Donald Trump and the MAGA wing of the republican party. However, I do think she represents the next step in the democratic party, she's the natural evolution, she's not an outsider, she's been in this politics business a long time, and she already has the skills to be a great president having served as Biden's VP. We know she's smart enough, we know she has the leadership skills, she speaks well, she appears in public, people like her, and she's a big hit with every crowd. 

In addition, Harris is definitely the choice. And if you're undecided just look back at what Trump did during his term. He barely built small sections of a wall, he did the Muslim ban, he called immigrants rapists and criminals, he did this stupid tariffs, he blamed covid on the Chinese and was very racist about it, he tried to persecute his political enemies even though he's the one who did all these crimes, and last but not least let's forget the Carroll case where he turned out to be a rapist, or slept with Stormy Daniels and paid her hush money, or said about John McCain being a soldier, "I like people who don't get captured, he's not patriotic," or the guy who said that soldiers who died were, "suckers and losers," the guy who helped cause the January 6 insurrection, and the guy who has 34 felony count indictments. This might be the worst guy ever to run for office ever. You don't have to be genius IQ level person to know that Trump doesn't care about working people and their families, rather, he cares about staying in office in order to hang onto control of his fate, because otherwise, he's probably going to be spending his final years in a prison cell with secret service watching him outside the door. 

Lastly on politics, I think republicans know that the Trump wave is over. They come out at the grocery store and when people steal they yell, "this is Biden's America," "only in Biden's America," they're quick to blame any of American's societal woes on the President when in reality that's not why people are going out and stealing groceries, they're stealing because they're struggling. Donald Trump isn't going to make things easier for the hard working families, rather, he's going to cut taxes for the wealthy, slap on tariffs, and increase your taxes. Donald Trump has promised to be a dictator on day one. We're here to make sure that doesn't happen. 

In other news, I've been working and reading a lot. I took a vacation a few weeks ago that was pretty satisfying. I read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and now I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities, so I've been catching that early 19th century British novel feeling. I think Dickens is sort of a genius inspiration. All his characters are relatable, mostly working class, although there's always a few rich people here and there, but for the most part he writes about everyday people of that era, and he sort of brings them life through the page in a very inspiring way. It's definitely not modern writing but the writing is so good that I'm surprised I haven't quite checked it out all before. I had always heard of Dickens but never checked him out until now. I know that his work is mostly assigned at the high school level for English courses. I might go through his catalogue, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield are on my list.   

Also, work has been on the usual side. Nothing exciting, but hey, no news is good news. Management still tries to get in your face and tell you off here and there, but you just can't let it get to you. There's a lot of internal politics there because lower management is union and upper management is not union, so there's always that us versus them element within this work environment. You have to lay low and sort of stay lowkey in order to protect yourself and try to keep rising in the company. It's a slow grind, a long burn. I've probably worked with over 100 employees going back to 2013, I've worked with over 6 upper management store directors and assistant store managers, so in a way that's a great sign, if I can't beat them in the game, I can surely outlast them, inshallah. But the work gig isn't really as important as the other things I'm doing, mostly reading. I've even been getting better at Spanish too, which has become very helpful at work with a lot of the Hispanic people that come through at self-checkout. I sort of see that with languages knowing the basics is easy, but most people talk about things using the basics, so I sort of see that other languages can be pretty easy sometimes, but not all times. 

Lastly, I think the hardest thing to do right now is to be successful. Most people are not successful. Nearly every guy I know or have known through work [mostly all retail people] or via mutual people and friends of mine are not successful and are not at their best at this point in their lives. I've been lucky enough to have found a little success in this cruel world and the truth of the matter is that once you get a little success in this world, most people are going to sort of bad mouth you or try to undercut you or devalue in some way, they want to bring you down, they don't want to see you rise higher and higher, especially because you're rising above them. 

I see men my age sitting inside in high AC just playing video games all day without a care in the world, they waste their creativity on being couch slugs, slurping down soda, energy drinks, booze, and smoking marijuana, and wondering why their wife or girlfriend is mad about them playing video games all the time. 

If you're anything of an intelligent man who's successful, even in a small way, these other types of not-successful guys [also women] will sort of hate on you via different ways; they'll bother you at work about your job performance or try to get you into some sort of trouble there, they'll belittle or give you back-handed compliments, they'll try to add you on social media and never post or comment on anything but try to watch your every move because although they don't like you, they want to keep tabs on you. 

I suppose what I'm saying is that once you find success in whatever way, shape, or form, you'll find that its very lonely because oftentimes, people don't want to see you, particularly you, in a better position than they are in. This goes back to the green-eyed monster. This goes back to the Trump thing too. The America that the media and more importantly, the right wingers are portraying is the us versus them America, yeah that theory works if you're not that smart, but the reality is that the worldhood of the world is much more nuanced, complex, and grey than what is normally seen in media, especially in right wing media. So yeah, if you're successful, you'll find that people around you won't be, because it's you. But more often than not, other successful people will find you and lend a helping hand here and there, because they're successful enough to do it. 

Fin

June Five, Minds Alive: Explorations in the Intellect's Dive

Good evening ladies and gents, 

Just wanted to write, about anything here. 

First, what I've been up to lately. I've been working a lot at the retail grocery job but I'm also producing a lot of ai generated art featured on my Instagram, which can be seen here. In addition, I'm reading a lot. Right now I'm reading through George Eliot's Middlemarch. I'm also still practicing instruments, mostly guitar and piano. It's all time consuming. Plus sometimes I go out to the bar after work and chill with people there. In between I try to stay updated on what's happening in the news and whatnot. 

Next, Middlemarch is a very dry book. It's fiction but its so dry its almost like reading Gibbon's History of the Rise and Decline of the Roman Empire, which I happen to also be reading, but on my phone when I'm on work breaks, traveling on the bus, or laying down before bed. In those moments I finished Gibbon's volume 1 of the series. Fascinating material. I mentioned the Gibbon book to a customer the other day and he said, 'yeah, but did Gibbon write about how the Romans debased the currency?' I thought it was a minor thing to mention considering all the other stuff they did, but yeah, I sort of felt like the guy said that because he's trying to somehow form and correlate a modern day theory that we're like the Romans because the government has, in its own various methods, sort of debased our American currency. It was an interesting comment for him to focus on, or so I may think. 

However, Middlemarch is much more dry than the Gibbon because fiction isn't supposed to be so dry, it's supposed to be lifelike, literally coming to life off the page, that's what people go to fiction for, its infinite mana, its endless creativity, that drives us to keep turning the pages. What can I say about George Eliot? She writes about well off British people in the country, their marriages, their relationships, their struggles and contradictions with everything including their own personalities and shortcomings. Eliot is so brilliant that she even writes about upcoming technology, factories, and agriculture within the book, which takes place in 1829. In a sense, I think Eliot is almost too brilliant to become a beloved favorite writer or author, rather it is her authority as a voice and her brilliant observations that command respect even if most people will never read the entirety of Middlemarch unless they're a English Graduate student. 

Next, work has been grueling. Working at the grocery store has its ups and downs, and interactions with customers can sometimes be less-than-pleasant, and even with your managers. The late night rush lasts a very long time till midnight sometimes. The customers are impatient and angry and are always willing and ready to start fights beginning with name calling and yelling and sometimes escalating beyond that if they feel so inclined. And boy do they steal. They expect quick service and when they don't get it they sometimes rage. There's a lot of disrespect from customers and managers alike. One common thing I notice is sometimes when customers are in the regular checkout lines they're being rung up, they're ignoring the cashier and they're on their phone yapping. 

In addition, there's the emotional labor within the job. The job is grueling and there's few people that are actually cool with you while you're there. Some of the closest associates and managers I've worked with for years I'm not really cool with them and in fact I think they're shirkers hiding trying to get out of work most of all the time. I usually ignore them and just do what I want. When managers are pretty dumb and not really taking care of business, you find that them doing that allows you to pretty much do what you want, albeit with some caution. 

Remember, most people, including your managers are too dumb and lazy to really pay too much attention, make the most of it. After working in this business for 12 years, you learn that most managers are fake and manipulative so you have to learn how to fake them out in order to do what you want. I had a friend who became a manager and he became another one of those managerial drones that hates his job, maybe his life, maybe himself, but boy does he love being a manager. They ain't reading Middlemarch I'll tell ya that. Another tip for working grueling jobs like this is that if everybody's having a bad day and the work is going to utter shite, and they're all bitching to you, remember you're still having a better day than everybody else so act like it. Act better, be better.

Moving on, the news has been pretty much what I thought it would be. There's really no new news, just more of the same, on a loop, on a 24/7 timescale. I don't care if you're a democrat or a republican, the media and the government has you believing that we're all divided, 'us versus them,' gay versus straight, abortion vs the family, rich versus poor, white versus brown, worker versus ceo, democrat versus republican, this versus that.' I sincerely believe that this is what the government, the media, TV. movies, music, this is what I think they're saying at this impressionable time period in American democracy. 

Just think about the fact that you probably don't even know about BarbenHeimer unless you are a person of a certain kind of persuasion, a certain kind of class, a certain kind of taste. Kind of a random thing to mention but I want to hate on BarbenHeimer because I think it caught the zeitgeist at an important moment in American history what with so much going on with politics. The average American probably saw Barbenheimer but what about the people that didn't? Are they not as American as the rest of them? It's an odd but important question I think for an important reason. Who are the other people? 

Lastly, to wrap things up, we're living in a timescale where pretty much the only way to be safe from most harm in the world, is to have money. Either be born rich, get rich, or work your whole life till you accumulate enough of it because the way the world is going now, the world is turning itself into a money empire, money is the only thing that is important. I think, at this current juncture. I have my hippie element at times, because I'm a musician, but most people would agree with me, that money has pretty much taken over as the most important value of a thing in this world. It's bleak, man. 

Here's a story about money. I have a friend who's rooming with an old friend of ours for $1,000/month but he doesn't want to be there, and he wants to get out, but he can't go back to his parents out of fear or shame, and he can't afford to live on his own, and he prefers not have roommates so he's rooming with our old friend and its not going good. These are the real modern day American problems that the media doesn't talk about. My good pal is stuck with this other guy, supposedly a pal, but he's really an asshole and my guy wants out but he's stuck because the American economic system is setup so that you can't really move out of your parents place unless you have a very good salary at a good job with 40 hours plus benefits or more. That's the reality the media doesn't talk about, instead they usually just force-feed the 'us vs them,' slogan repeatedly. Of course, most conservatives would say my friend isn't doing enough to help himself and that he might need two or three jobs, but at that point, even if he did get his own place, that would be putting an even higher price on life, wouldn't it? 

In conclusion, time to wake up. Only caring about yourself will only get you so far, usually in an organization, but in real life, outside the workplace you have to learn to think smarter and harder about how you can improve the world around you, and think for yourself, rather than listening to the media, your parents, your boss, your friends, your acquaintances. You have to learn to think more about how to correctly justify the differences between right and wrong, and the moral grey. I'm telling you right now, most people don't know how to do this, even some people I know in their 40s and 50s, who you would think would have become smarter by now but it's already too late for them. They've been indoctrinated into their systems of belief, usually the wrong system, you can tell because they're still fucking up even if you don't know or hear about it too often. They're fucking up in the shadows, lol. 

ps, covid might make a comeback this summer in LA

may gloom, june bloom!

Goodbye May gloom, hello June bloom! Looks like even the weather's trying to keep up with my mood swings. What can I say, I'm feeling kind of blue. But this too, shall pass.

Here we are in May. Six months from now we will have a new American President. I think Trump will actually win the election. The court cases and the sensational news about it, every excruciating detail even the stuff about Stormy Daniels, has somehow made Trump even stronger. I think his base are more fired up than ever, and they're around me everyday at the supermarket. Woe is me. Hopefully violence doesn't break out. 

Why I think this. Well, for starters, I think Biden has alienated a lot of his base. People like me, young people, people of culture who vote and think and read and have jobs and families, people who usually always vote democrat, I think Biden has really messed with this set of peoples. However, I think one part of his base that will remain loyal to him no matter what is black women, a large portion of the democratic base. 

I don't want Biden to be President, and I think he's doing a disservice to the world community by funding and sending arms to Israel to use against the war in Gaza, but to be fair, what it really has become, is the Israeli military beating and blowing up Gazan civilians and destroying their infrastructure, now leading to famine. 

I think the outrage and disgust against this war will ultimately result in the loss for the democrats and lead to the takeover of America by the republican party, sponsoring Trump to rule as a fascist despot in the guise of a republican party leader. Almost like some bad nazi won the war movie. That's worst case scenario. And I know you know and think that Americans don't want this. But what if they 0 don't consider swing voters enough 1 don't show up to vote 2 vote for trump 3 end up being okay with being run by a fascist despot, because after all 1 i got mine and 2 those other people don't matter and 3 they should work harder. These are things you've got to think about if you're being realistic. 

Next, the pressing issue of people in today's society and culture. Now, it seems to be that most people out there are not taking care of business. Your parents aren't taking care of business, your managers aren't taking care of business, your friends aren't taking care of business, you have to take care of business yourself. 

So this means you can't just turn on, tune in, and drop out like Timothy Leary. Although many of the older American friends of mine have turned on to this decadent hippie lifestyle. What they'll do is find a way to finance themselves in the easiest way possible, barely work, have a house for them and a girlfriend/wife, and just coast while drinking a lot and perhaps indulging in some occasional recreational drug use. 

Keep in mind I work at a supermarket so I can see and tell you that there alcoholics that come to me to purchase liquor everyday at the same times and they're hardcore alcoholics and it's like a way of life to these people. They come to me to ring it up every time possibly because they think I won't judge them as harshly as the other cashiers, I'm known to be something of a Papa Genu. 

My point; when you have a society, an entire culture wasted by alcohol and recreational drugs like marijuana and cocaine, you have a recipe for mental health disaster. We have not reaped the benefits of the so-called acid generation. In fact, they're a big part of the problem since the 1960s. I'm not saying the conservatives were right, but I'm saying there's been a big problem with the entire liberal agenda, the entire scene, it's all wrong-headed and stupid, and has contributed to moral hazard. 

After all, I am a moral conservative. But one that isn't closeminded to change or adaptation to change. I think change is a big part of the culture, history, society, and government of the United States. I think one of the biggest problems in America today is that we aren't open enough to change. How can you explain the fact that its election 2024 Biden versus Trump yet again. These guys have one foot in the grave and we're giving them a chance to run for president yet again? What does that tell you about us, as a society, as a people, as a culture? 

We live in a society where the culture goes anyway the wind blows. A pop culture, where the average student is weaned to become a consumer of almost any type of goods from any country. When you walk down the street or go to businesses there's more often than not, people making a spectacle of themselves for some reason or other. I see it almost every night at work. These are like happenings, but not the good type of happenings like a concert in the park on an afternoon.

The culture has become debased. We have young people tuned in on video games, tiktok, porn, TV, movies, social media, alcohol, drugs, but not really making the money needed to live a better life or the life they want. They don't contribute to the society in any meaningful way expect putting their hard earned money back into the economy, allowing the invisible hand to do what it will. We have so much of everything that it's literally hurting us to the point where people can not and will not think for themselves. 

Every time you get in an argument with your parents, your managers, your friends, your so-called acquaintances, think about why they were angry and think about the fact that they're not taking care of business. Why should you explain yourself to someone who's completely tuned out and isn't taking care of business? So you see there is a sort of hypocrisy there. 

But wait, there's more. There's still hope yet for you. Through change. Change is the total mass retain. By change you will come to who you are, see things for what they are, and hopefully come to some understanding to develop strategies into which you can transform your world, your environment into whatever you want it to be, leading through your own personal example, but also by going in there and breaking things. The right kind of outside character already knows this, the outsider. But not all of us are outsiders, some of us are children of the wasted acid generation, who didn't have a clue and still don't, especially now that they're getting older. 

The last part here is the most important. You have to learn to think for yourself. Question everything, question even what I have written here, question yourself, question your own thoughts and ideas, but keep a reality principal, make sure you understand and know what is real and what is not, learn to become smarter so you can more easily define and compare good and evil. I know this is basic but you would be surprised how many people don't know this because they think doctors, lawyers, parents, wives, girlfriends, or therapists will help them and somehow they'll 'figure it all out.' 

Of course, today, anyone with an iq above 28 is a threat to society and is automatically labeled an outsider, even if he knows it or not. Why? Drugs and alcoholism has taken over critical thinking in the younger classes and disillusionment and powerlessness have overtaken the older generations to the point where most of them are tuned out to the pop culture world and live in a small capsule. 

Is this the end of civilization part III? 

Retail Report January 2023

Good Evening, 

How is life treating you? In this crazy, topsy, turvy world one can sometimes not tell. Here I'd like to jot down some notes of what retail grocery has been like so far, this being the end of the first month of 2023. 

First, business is booming but inflation has hit our store shelves harder than ever. These are the most egregious prices for food that I have ever seen in my entire life. Many customers complain about the prices all day long and honestly, I can't blame them. We are, at this moment, selling a carton of eggs for $9.99. Meat prices are also very high. Most people stock up on the cheap stuff: grains, noodles, junk food like chips and soda, beer and wine. I don't think Americans are eating very well. And on top of that, a lot of them are beginning to become obese. Only in America. 

Second, this is sort of minor but it's little things like this that get ignored that eventually grow into bigger issues getting ignored. The store's front door that opens and closes electronically when customers walk through has been broken for the last ten days. Meaning it won't open/close electronically anymore, therefore, the store manager has decided to leave the front door open at all times. Now, this isn't too big of an issue if you're a customer going for a quick beer run but for us employees this has become a big issue in the middle of winter, where cold windy air blasts are hitting you while on the checkstand, some nights its been like 47 degrees. You can justify the fact that the door's been like that for ten days anyway you want, but I see it for what it is, cutting costs at the employees' expense. Brrrrrrrrr! 

Also, on top of that there's always the covid issue. Most management and both upper management have not been wearing facemasks since the beginning. This set a bad precedent for all the employees, so that when covid hit our store hard, many employees simply didn't even come back and we lost a lot of workers. At one point there was some 32 employees sick with covid. I was surprised but at the time the vaccine was out so I felt safer, especially with mask wearing. 

In addition, another bad precedent that the upper management set was that they decided very early to remove the plastic barriers guarding between the cashiers and the customers, both inside the checkout lanes and on the side self-checkout lanes. This is especially bad because covid isn't over and most customers don't wear facemasks, meaning they could easily spread particulates into the air by talking loudly. Although we have vaccines there are some employees and managers that don't have the vaccine, and have been infected with covid several times over, making the store still a potential place to catch covid.   

Third, business is booming and the lines are never ending, leading to tiring, long work days. Despite high inflation prices, the work is still intense and nonstop. I would say the work became much more intense since covid 2020, and has stayed that way ever since. As a cashier who mostly works self-checkout most shifts, I would say the work is at its most intense, since I've started back in 2013, shockingly. Although the work is easy and self-explanatory in most cases, overall, when you consider how many customers I'm going through and helping individually, it's a nonstop never-ending rollercoaster. 

In fact, I've had to take more time to rest and sleep longer during the day to deal with it. All my shifts are usually 330pm-12am shifts so working late all day and staying up half the night doesn't help. I'm getting older, but getting older doesn't hit you this fast. A part of it is the fact that the work I'm doing is intense, nonstop, and very fast. Most of the day you don't get time to think, reflect, or have time to think of things to say to people, including the people you're helping in the moment in real time. You learn to sort of grunt or say stock phrases and just press buttons, thus making the job more manageable. Life in big city.

Lastly, the good thing about my retail grocery gig is that I'm full time, I'm in the Union, and I've created a work persona that's somewhat popular over there. I mostly just get brownie points for being an agreeable guy and helping customers but I've become so good at it and so well known, that even my management and upper management commend me for it, whereas in the past, that wasn't always the case. Sometimes it takes a while to win over your bosses. But it is my capacity for happiness that is carrying me through what is an obviously grueling job day in and day out. 

Sometimes I think about doing other things: going back to college, getting a degree, doing something with it, going to trade school, doing something with a trade, or working harder on music and a band and touring, or just writing like I am now, only writing books and selling them. There's a myriad of things I could do, or not do, but none of that changes my degree of happiness or capacity for happiness. Surprisingly, I'm happy doing what I'm doing now. I sort of see that the work has become a one-note samba, but I won't let that discourage me from my path. The only path I see right now, is the path moving forward, into tomorrow. 

image ai generated 

The Age of Voltaire by Will Durant

 

The Age of Voltaire is volume 9 of Will Durant's Story of Civilization series. So far I've read four of Will and Ariel Durant's Story of Civilization series of books: The Italian Renaissance, The Life of Greece, The Age of Reason Begins, and now finally I've read The Age of Voltaire. 

Closing this book, I felt that this was an extensive and comprehensive history of the age right up to and leading into the French Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment in France, roughly 1680s-1780. Voltaire was born in 1694, ensconced in education through the Jesuits. The Jesuits were the main educators in this period and had a lot of influence over schooling of children [boys and girls] and even sometimes in government and various occupations. They were known for being very educated and lenient towards their people, although they themselves were also quite dogmatic about Christianity and its spread throughout other parts of the world like in Latin America and even China. Despite this early great education from the Jesuits, Voltaire grew to increasing dislike the Church as he gained more fame and influence. He spent a lot of time running around to different homes and even the home of Frederick the Great because of his critiques of the church and nobility.  

However, there was a lot more going on in the Church other than Jesuits. There was the growing disputes between church, the peasantry, the aristocrats, the nobles, and the church's feuds with protestants [Jansenists], Catholics, and atheists from the philosophes, the intellectuals [writers, philosophers, scientists, artists, mathematicians, playwrights] like Voltaire, Diderot, Rosseau, Montesquieu, and d'Alembert. These named in particular would have the greatest influence on France and in the world. 

It should be named that being a philosopher in 18th century France isn't the same thing as being a philosopher in the 21st century. These intellectuals delved and wrote in a variety of fields and styles in order to reach their audience in the best ways they could. Voltaire didn't think much of giant books like the Encyclopédie [famous 18th century book from France by the philosophes], rather he thought that small books easily concealed would serve him better. So he ended up writing a lot of small works that contributed to his vast body of works. So Candide ended up becoming his most famous book.

But not every intellectual was an expert in a particular field. Rather a philosophe, was someone who was expected to know a little bit about every subject, even if they themselves weren't a master in each field. In order to write the Encyclopédie, the writers utilized and employed different philosophes for different phrases and words that they didn't feel adequate enough to cover themselves.

What caused the French Revolution? This book doesn't entirely aim to answer this question, rather it focuses more on historical detail. But after reading The Age of Voltaire, you can figure it out.

France was deep in debt from wars and the debt fell upon the peasants more and more, as the nobility became more and more corrupt. Tensions increased between the nobles and the church, and eventually even the Jesuits who had educated all the best minds of the time, were expelled from France. On top of that, the educated people were being more and more exposed to the works of the intellectuals of the time, the philosophes, and now, more than ever, people were more willing to become atheists, little by little, influenced by these great men with big ideas, ideas that changed the world, would eventually lead to the world we live in now. A world of more religious toleration, human rights, democracy, and equality.

Although the Age of Voltaire was published in 1965, it seems to somehow resonate in the scatter-brain afterimages of 21st century 2023. There's something there in this book that has an everlasting effect on the time it is describing, the time it was written in, and the time I live in now as I write this. It seems that now, more than ever, we're living in a world increasingly fraught with the same problems, plus a bunch of new additional ones, that weren't quite resolved from the French Revolution and perhaps never will be solved.

It has occurred to me after reading four volumes of Will Durant's Story of Civilization series, that the problems of any age seem to follow and recur in many others. There's always an endless cycle; renewal, back to the classic ages, onto a newer more advanced, more intellectual more philosophical more scientific less God, then an eventual regression back into a simpler mode of civilization, except we never really find out or perhaps we never can find out, that the civilization itself has already and always collapsed, only to be rebuilt by other people anew.

It is said that on his deathbed, Voltaire, when asked to return to the faith of his fathers and renounce the devil, responded with, “This is no time to be making new enemies.”

2022's Grand Exit, Happiness

Hello Readers, 

It's the end of the year. Wow! What a year it has been. Let's go over things I did and worked on this year, changes in the work place that occurred, and some thoughts on happiness and wellbeing. 

First, things I did. I worked a lot. I was promoted to full time cashier, got increased pay plus hours, so that's been a big change for me. For years I was only part time which meant I had a lot of discretionary free time to do whatever I wanted. Not so much these days. I work forty+ hours each week. Not only that, but the job has become more demanding in some respects because what with covid not going away, it has been nonstop busy even when the holidays aren't around. 

Second, I worked on a lot of language learning. I've been learning a lot of languages ever since 2020 but I've become fairly proficient in Spanish, but I also know a lot of French, Italian, German, and a little Portuguese. These are the languages of the Hanseatic League, merchant guilds from central and northern Europe, going back to the 1400s. I'm the best at Spanish and French as my mother spoke some French and Creole around the house when I was a boy, and co-workers speak Spanish nonstop all day at work, so those two are fairly easy for me to pickup as I have heard it often. 

My accents became better when I combined learning words from reading in the languages on Kindle, then practicing with audiobooks in those languages. It was a combination of both. I would say its easy to start learning but difficult to keep up your motivation and go beyond basic phrases. At this point, I can understand Spanish well, and the rest decently, although I can probably read all of them better than I can speak them. It's been an engaging endeavor and I look forward to learning more in the future. It's an ongoing enterprise. 

Third, I've learned drums and piano. I started learning drums in August and I've become good. I can play rock and jazz styles primarily. On piano, I focus more on a jazz style, with lots of chromatic chord changes, a la McCoy Tyner. I even learned how to play a bamboo flute. There's always new things with music but sometimes I get in these lulls where I'm not playing live very often and not doing jam sessions at the house, so I stay engaged by learning new instruments. That being said, I've spent too many months at different instruments and will focus this year on guitar. At heart, I'm a guitar player. 

Alongside music and writing, my other creative pursuit has been AI art. You can see my best works here https://www.instagram.com/jazzerrocker779/. I've had a lot of friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and more give me a lot of crap for using AI to create art. But the fact of the matter is that real artists are already using it, selling art with it, and making money.

The best AI art generator is called the DALL E 2, which uses openai.com's source code. You can buy from openai.com a low resolution image of your own creation for 8 cents, a better one for 16 cents, and an even better one for 18 cents. For that low cost even I could buy images if I knew I could make a return in my investments by selling them to others. Some artists are doing just that. 

The openai team that created DALL E 2 just released openchatGPT, which is a huge gamechanger in the world of AI. I'll be using it in this blog.  

I've been using a free AI art generator made by two guys who are using the Stable Diffusion AI art generator source code, it's called mage, you can find the art generator at www.mage.space. It's been so satisfying that I nearly quit playing video games to focus on reading books, music, and using mage to create art. My favorite thing about mage is that I don't have to actually have any art skills, I only need ideas. It works by having the user type in any words or numbers and it generates images based off that. Although I can't draw, I know the western canon, art history, and the Italian Art Renaissance period. So I can still can get great results. Take a look on my Instagram. 

Fourth, a lot of things happened this year. In particular a lot changed in the world of retail grocery, my job. 

"The retail grocery industry saw significant changes and disruptions in 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the major developments in the industry include the following:

1. Shift to online grocery shopping: The pandemic led to a significant increase in online grocery shopping as people tried to reduce their exposure to the virus by avoiding physical stores. Many grocery stores and retailers introduced or expanded their online ordering and delivery services to meet this demand.

2. Changes in shopping patterns: The pandemic also led to changes in shopping patterns, with people stockpiling certain items and shifting towards buying more pantry staples and frozen foods. This led to disruptions in supply chains and product availability.

3. Increase in demand for home delivery: The pandemic also led to an increase in demand for home delivery of groceries as people tried to minimize their in-store shopping trips. This led to an increase in the use of delivery services such as Instacart and Shipt, as well as the expansion of home delivery services by grocery chains.

4. Changes in store operations: In response to the pandemic, many grocery stores implemented changes to their store operations, including increased cleaning and sanitation measures, limits on the number of customers allowed in stores at a given time, and the use of face masks and other personal protective equipment by employees.

5. Impact on small and local businesses: The pandemic also had a significant impact on small and local grocery stores, which faced challenges in adapting to the changing market conditions and competing with larger chains that had more resources to invest in online and delivery services. Many small and local stores had to rely on community support to stay in business." [openchatGPT]

Lastly, although I've spent a lot of time logged in at work, I've also spent a lot of time thinking, learning, pontificating on the future. I've learned that I'm still happy despite losing friends, work getting tougher, people being more rude, and pay only barely improving. Of course, it helps to be the child who has his own. And not only that, but sometimes I'm the child who plays the Shakespearean Old Fool. And not only that but I also play the Voltaire Satirist Philosopher at Check Stand 9. All the worlds' stage. Life in its rich tapestry. 

What will happiness be like in the future?

"It is difficult to predict what happiness will be like in the future, as it is influenced by many complex and dynamic factors, including societal and cultural changes, technological advances, economic conditions, and personal experiences and circumstances.

Happiness is a subjective and personal experience, and what brings happiness to one person may not necessarily bring happiness to another. Some people find happiness in material possessions, while others find it in relationships, personal achievements, or meaningful experiences.

In the future, it is possible that advances in technology and medicine could lead to improvements in physical and mental health, which may contribute to greater overall happiness and well-being. However, these advancements could also bring about new challenges and concerns that may impact happiness in different ways.

Ultimately, happiness is a complex and multifaceted experience that is influenced by a wide range of factors, and it is difficult to predict how it will evolve in the future."

"Happiness is a state of mind, with joy that we find." [openchatGPT]

image ai generated