The Many Golden Calves of Consumptive Behavior
Being a society founded almost entirely upon the idea of consumption, we are bound to be disappointed. Consuming creatures only thrive when there is more. Always more. Consistently more.
![I Believe… [Parts and Motivations Unknown]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1528310121530-D97U1GTKJP2VXBXPMU60/ibelieve....jpg)
I Believe… [Parts and Motivations Unknown]
…that Anthony Bourdain left this realm with the same guts and bravado as he did in life. On his own terms and in his own time. We may not understand the reasons but not knowing shouldn't lessen our respect for the life he led and lessons he learned and shared.
The Most Beautiful Thing Anyone Had Ever Heard
The city is a giant fishbowl of sound.
![I Believe… [A Cake By Any Other Frosting]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1527877807408-JOPT93G1ZR817AUYYXQP/ibelieve....jpg)
I Believe… [A Cake By Any Other Frosting]
…that there's a reason that the wealthy are most often portrayed as the villains in popular culture and it isn't envy. It's reality. If your motivations in life are a soup of individualism, competition, and materialism you are the villain.
Picking at Scabs Prevents Any Sort of Healing
I was never the bully that Johnny was and I was never the weak nerd that Daniel was but the amalgam of the two finds some sort of psychic purchase in my own assessment of self.
![I Believe… [Black Lives Matter But Not More Than Football]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1527184706491-MTVKUUUANG6IB6CI2MF6/ibelieve....jpg)
I Believe… [Black Lives Matter But Not More Than Football]
...that the simple answer is to not watch the NFL anymore. Yes, that would require so many to give up spectating a sport that exemplifies almost everything wrong with Americans in general (except for the sloth part): male, domestic abusing, drug addicts beating the shit out of each other for points and million dollar salaries.
Of The Seven, Americans Suffer Sloth More Than the Other Six
Sloth is commonly defined as laziness but that is not the Deadly Sin. The deadly sin is that of spiritual or emotional apathy. And America is an entire country filled with apathy. In our search for things to be easier, for things to be faster and more convenient, we stopped giving a shit. Sloth is, simply put, no longer caring enough to put in the effort.
Life is a Highway...
I like to drive. I like the freedom that hopping in the car and just heading out somewhere allows. My parents are currently on a random road trip through the western United States and the trip is classic in that they have no clue where they’re headed until the date before. Driving for hours to land at a hastily booked motel and seeing America. I love that.
![I Believe… [Let People Enjoy the Goddamn Wedding, Already!]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1526663253269-GA5OP3SLC0MKJ8R1JIXV/ibelieve....jpg)
I Believe… [Let People Enjoy the Goddamn Wedding, Already!]
…that, while I didn't watch the latest Royal Wedding, I'm not going to piss all ver people who love that stuff. The bitterness and acrimony of people who can't do anything but take a dump on someone enjoying the idea of romance and love in our crushingly depressing times is just more dung on the heap.
The Rise of the Ubiquitous Cult Of Personalities: Lil Tay is the Rule Rather Than the Exception
Arguably, our anserine president is only in the Oval because of his cult of personality and that is the harshest truth to swallow. So many in the world are celebrating their mediocrity, placing the highest of values on the least amount of skill or craft, seeking fame and notoriety for just being themselves, that we elected exactly who they strive to be and the irony of that fact is completely lost on them.
They Didn’t Vote For Trump. They Voted Against Us
Like me in high school, we aren’t learning that that smugness doesn’t win elections it merely makes us feel warm and fuzzy as if our ineffectual resistance will be noted by future historians as somehow significant when figuring out how to persuade those out in the world of real, flesh and bone humans separate from the avatars of the digital world that perhaps we might be able to work together for the better of everyone.
![I Believe… [Stop Calling the Cops on Black People, OK?]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1525875973975-6CWYVOIOCDRGQ30J3FRM/ibelieve....jpg)
I Believe… [Stop Calling the Cops on Black People, OK?]
...that calling the police should be reserved for genuine emergencies. Anyone who calls the police because they are uneasy or uncomfortable or slightly suspicious should be fined. It's a trigger that should be, like all fucking triggers, only pulled when all other options are exhausted.
She's a Real Mother!
Who was there when I, at three years old and with an aversion to baths, ran naked in the front yard wearing only a Smokey the Bear hat? All while the mentally disabled man across the street laughed at her, pregnant with my sister?
My mom.
The Downfall of Busey
Stories of Gary Busey out of control are as common as horrifying side effects of anti-depressant medications, but rarely do any of these stories get to the heart of why Busey has been so erratic. Some attribute his behavior to his 1988 motorcycle accident and the subsequent brain damage that was the result. While the accident is an obvious and convenient way of excusing the fall of a promising talent, the event that caused the true damage was due to ego rather than asphalt.
Your True Personal Story is About 60% Horseshit
Many in the storytelling scene tout the fact that the stories are true personal narratives. Some talk an awful lot about telling their Truth as if that is somehow more authentic or truish than truth. The fact is, they're all (mostly) lying.
![I Believe... [Trump & West Sell the Same Snake Oil]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1525290276602-7VL391FE8JUKB3GIJCAD/63D3D89E-A10F-476D-AACA-F8F058399C12.JPG)
I Believe... [Trump & West Sell the Same Snake Oil]
...that with the definition of service animals to include emotional support animals (previously known as "pets"), soon there will be a new classification — emotional support animals for emotional support animals. Your nervous chihuahua with the IBS and shivers needs support, too. Get him a pet gerbil for his emotional support and every anxious person in America will begin looking like fucking Dr. Doolittle.
Do Nothing. Try Something Different. Choose.
You are faced with a broken model of going about things. What the specifics of that model are are irrelevant. It simply is not working as either efficiently or pragmatically as you or everyone involved need it to be.
Humpty Dumpty Fell Off the Wall and Now Lives As a Paraplegic
An insidious side effect of social media is that, while in the world of flesh and bone I can craftily avoid those weaselly fuckers whom I find noxious and hateful, with the many fence-sitters on that Friends list, I am constantly surprised by things that remind me of them. The ease of not choosing online, of remaining detached and out of the line of fire, creates webs of connectivity with people whom we no longer want to be connected.
Comedy Is Supposed to Be Mean Unless It’s for Morons
The simple fact is that if someone laughs, it’s funny. Like that nutty dress that some people saw as gold and some saw as blue, comedy is really in the eye of the beholder and, if you can’t take being made fun of, best to quietly hide from the rest of society, content to be left out of the discourse and live out your life pain-free.
![I Believe… [Avengers: Infinity War Was RAD!]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1524831148632-2PVD0BFP1HQZ1ZHIU657/63D3D89E-A10F-476D-AACA-F8F058399C12.JPG)
I Believe… [Avengers: Infinity War Was RAD!]
…that Trump doesn't lie more than other presidents. Trump just doesn't give a shit if he is caught in a lie.
Just curious… Is Baron Trump registered for the draft? If not, it looks like he will be. I just hope he doesn’t develop bone spurs and can become the war hero his father views himself as.