Dislike vs Suck

For those of you wondering what the difference is between you disliking something, and something sucking:

You may dislike Miles Davis as a trumpet player, but should be able to appreciate his skill at his craft.

But put a trumpet in my hand and I suck.

Land of the hissy fits

I'll be honest, not because of some high moral standard, or desire to live a holier than though existence. But because it is more fun that way.

For example. While dining in a restaurant, when the server asks you how things are... 99.99999% of the time you will just say "fine" and continue on with your meal and conversation. Even if the meal is not "fine".

Of course there are people who will complain even if the meal is in fact "fine".

Both of these are dishonest answers. But imagine truly honest answers:

"The meal is not quite good enough to get me laid tonight without winning over my date with witty repartee"

"This Steak is so good I need to complain about the lack of parsley instead."

"The meal is fine, just quietly refill my drink so I can continue reading my book."

"I'm not even sure if this is what I ordered, but I'm eating it."

It is the honest, true reactions of people that I like. Not contrived pre-planned scripted responses to stock questions.

2012: A year in review

It may be a bit early to start looking back at the best parts of 2012, but I've decided that this year I would be a trendsetter.

Of course the biggest news was the election. Last minute cliffhangers in the primaries, a couple scandals with voter registration efforts, Millions of dollars spent on advertising... and most of the people that voted couldn't tell the candidates platforms apart from each other because it was all mudslinging and blame laying from May to November.

Hollywood had a great year. Releasing a record setting (for the millennium) five movies that were not based off of previously works in other mediums. Four of them were nominated for best picture, and two of them even turned a profit.

Apple of course released the ipad "SJ" in a somber matte black donating all profits from its sale to cancer research. Microsoft immediately instituted an all black theme for its Windows "8ish" platform.

Fortunately the economy rose steadily throughout the political campaign season, although unemployment remained high, and wages low.

In an unforeseen turn of events Websters dictionary began parsing chat rooms to determine the most common spellings and uses of various words, and it is now permissible to use "epic" to describe a children's book aimed at 3 year olds without a hint of sarcasm.

The hacker group Anonymous had several of its most ambitious efforts rewarded when it managed to hack into every newspaper in the world and insert the word "grapefruit" as the 4th word in the third column on page 6. Supposedly this was a Secret service codeword for the presidents morning meal. Our world is safer due to their diligence. Thank you Anonymous.

As I'm in Chicago, some local news. The Cubs finally took a good, long, hard look at their record and realized that all the people in the stands were die hard optimists. They then attempted to sell said fans a bridge.

But most importantly the world did not, in fact, end simply because we reached the end of a timekeeping cycle. This time. But watch out for 2013...

Amusing scam

Been looking for work recently and have run across three versions of the same scam. What amuses me is how poor of a job they do hiding the fact that they are in fact a scam. For your amusement, I'm reposting the latest one so you may laugh at these morons as well. This one was sent from a "Victor Wainwright" When you see how it's signed, you'll laugh even harder.

Thanks for applying for the post. Actually the position for a Personal Assistant is opened now it would be a great pleasure to have you as my assistant.

My name is Ben Johnson and i live with my lovely wife and have 2 Beautiful daughters but they are presently in Bahamas on vacation. Am a Commercial Interior Designer....I design healthcare/medical spaces, commercial office space, hotel renovations, multi-family / condos. I'm looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable to work very well and with good understanding.

Basic wage is $700 weekly ($2,800 monthly)

Duties and Requirements:

Available during regular business hours Organized and able to take instructions well Dependable, Reliable, Trustworthy a must Excellent English language skills (both spoken and written)

Must have good attention to detail
Must be a problem solver and not a problem maker
Have great work ethic and attitude, as well as people skills
Pay-attention to details, capable of multi-tasking, and works well under stress at times.

Benefits:

- Yearly performance bonus
- Paid vacation/sick/personal days
- Medical benefits

This position is home-based and flexible part time job, you can be in any location because you will be working from your home doing all the activities....Am out of the state for a business trip and i will be back before the end of the Month, Pending my arrival i want you to start working for me and i do have a number of things you could help me with this week or next week if you will be available to start. This can act as a stable foundation to our working relationship.

I have the first task waiting for you; i just need to know if you are ready to work.

I have been checking my files and what i would want you to do for me by next week is to run some errands out to some Foster Homes, You will be making some donations to them as i always do every month. I just want to use this to test your efficiency and know how active you are. Funds required to make the Donations will be sent to you from my client in any form of Payment mostly in (Money Order/Cashier's Check). I guess you will make some arrangements by buying some stuff for the kids in the nearest store around you and mail them out to any given information i provide for you or you will send the funds in cash to them.

TO START JOB.

All the Requirements below should be sent to: benjohnson4545@gmail.com

FULL NAME
FULL MAILING ADDRESS
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE
HOME PHONE NUMBER
MOBILE NUMBER

Once I have received your contact information, I will get back to you with the task for this week, Understand you will also be paid as well as its important for me to make the necessary steps before i get back from my business trip back to the states.

I will await your response.
Ben Johnson

I did delete the phone number at the end in case somebody ends up with that number. But definitely led me to laugh quite a bit. The first two versions I received at least had matching names. Amusing as hell to me, not to mention frustrating.

Wow, I remembered my password

I lost the password for this site a while ago, then encountered a sort of e-purgatory where the mail containing my "password reset" kept getting lost along the way.

Then I simply forgot about it.

Now I'm back.

Very long time, no post

esentially, I've been just using one online journal, and have been too damn lazy to learn the code to just tie them all together.

Since my last post (In no particular order):

My Grandfather passed away
I put a ring on My girlfriends finger
I moved
I built a new computer
I saw many movies
I started watching tv again
I stopped watching TV again after Sarah Palins GOP Con speech made me physically ill
I met Warren Ellis
I've read a metric shit ton of books. (slight exaggeration.. it was only an English Standard Shit-ton)
I've been all but strip searched by airline officials. (Apparently buying an airline ticket the day you plan to fly triggers an auto check. Which is extremely annoying when you're on your way home due to a death in the family)
I regained the weight I had lost
I have a monkey. (Rug, under the coffee table in my living room)


But the most important thing I've done this year, is continue to breathe. Two more years and I beat Jesus.

CTA is celebrating V-day

It's true, on my way to work today I discovered that amorous attraction on this day is not limited to the bedroom, or even dingy hotel rooms.

The first train that I was supposed to get on was driven by a guy. I know this because he came to soon and left in a hurry.

The train I got on was truly a romantic since it was fucking slow.

Then I got past these idle musings and started walking to work from the station only to come across a guy taking a dump under the overpass.

skipped a month

and didn't realize it.

One quick question.. Can we please, please, please get over this obsession with mentioning that Barack Obama is black in every news story mentioning him?

Thank you

Wow that was quick

back to the safety of the familiar.

and the topic: the WGA strike.

For those of you who think that Unions are outdated and have no place in an intellectually based economy. Witness the current strike by the Writers Guild of America. the main issue is how writers are getting paid for their work. Some writers are paid one lump sum, and see nothing else, other writers see continued royalties on future productions or programs in syndication. Which raises the entire question of how writers get paid for a existing program or script being presented in a new medium.

the internet is a new medium for media. Until recently high speed broadband connections were rare, and expensive. The internet was used primarily for text and data transfer. Now that the average person can afford a connection fast enough to make webcasts and video download tolerable, they are becoming more common. But how do you pay the writer for them? Does each individual download count as a broadcast? Or each day, month, year?

So to those on strike: make the bastards pay for making us watch "Dancing with the Stars".

I only wish I was in an entertainment Union so I could go on a sympathy strike. Actually, I've got this week off... Screw it, I'm on strike too!!

long time- no post

I've realized I've pretty much stopped updating this Blog, and am using only my myspace blog at the moment. But updates wil continue here once I grow bored there and turn back to the safety of the familiar.