The lows are low, but the highs are home

This is a relatively short thought, but I wanted to have a public post and get reactions. There’s a part in Capitalism: A Love Story (that sadly I don’t have a link for - if you look for and find a clip, please do share) where they discuss how life was “back in the day” in regards to taxes and the economy - according to Wikipedia “ the past "golden days” of American capitalism following World War II". I guess it’s close to the start of the movie. Anyway, excuse the huge oversimplification, but from what I remember the basic gist was that the taxes were far higher but everything was just fine because you didn’t need as much money anyway. Then presidents got elected by promising tax cuts and etc. and now people have grown up with low taxes and feel taxes are evil and think the government is stealing their money.

        I know there’s a lot of economics and history missing from this (feel free to enlighten me, though) but just focus on the taxes aspect. Whether or not you agree with government spending policies or like the people in charge or whatever, just the part about your money and the government using whatever portion of it.

        If your government were to RAISE taxes, and put that money towards increasing your quality of life and generally taking better care of its citizens, how would you react? You and everyone else with a job might stand to lose as much as 20% more of your income, but the money would go towards cheaper/better quality education, lowered costs of living, governmental childcare, lowered sales tax and things like that. It could very well be that you come out of the equation with more disposable income.

        Don’t just respond and say “yeah sure” or ravage me for being a socialist and a tax-lover - what’s the logic behind your position? Why do you think (or, more likely, feel) that way?

        For my part, yeah, I’m sure I already sound pretty sympathetic in regards to this. But then I’m unemployed and almost all of the money taken off of my previous paychecks came straight back as a tax return. Plus my parents (both previously/presently employed for the Canada Revenue Agency) have handled my taxes for me in the past. I would be ok with this, though, because I don’t NEED a whole lot of money above and beyond my expenses - money is only a means to an end. Money pays for my food, money will in the future pay for my lodgings, and at the moment it pays for my education. Maybe if I were nearly bankrupt I would worry about how much money I have, but as long as I can afford to live, I’m doing alright. If I have extra, that’s great - but having $100 in the bank and $10,000 is emotionally equivalent for me.

        You may, of course, dismiss this as naive and nod sagely from your vantage point in “the real world.” I doubt I will ever value money, however. If that’s the case, I doubt I’ll change radically when it comes to taxes. But please do tell me if you believe I’m wrong, or right, or if you believe much of anything on the subject.

I went to fencing last night, and ended up going to bed around 10:30 - getting up at 6 am was hard for me this morning. I’m considering moving my alarm up to 6:30, because I don’t really need the extra time, but this is as good a time as any to make this post about how early I actually go to bed.

        My schedule this semester is this: I have class at 8:30 AM from Monday until Thursday. It can take a good 40 minutes to get to school, more if I get really unlucky, so it’s best to leave early - the other thing is that early in the morning, the buses are less busy because there are fewer people making their way to work. Busier buses means it takes a lot longer to get to school. So, that’s why I get up so early - I’d rather spend half an hour extra at school than half an hour extra in transit and get to class right on time.

        I happen to like getting up early, and don’t mind going to bed early to do that, which makes me the polar opposite of just about everyone I’ve ever met. A couple people barely every sleep, the rest are all night owls, and so I have this problem where every couple of night at 9 PM I get messages from people who aren’t going to bed any time soon. Maybe they have something important we need to talk about, maybe not, but of course I want to talk. Then I end up staying up for two hours and start getting ready for bed at 11 PM instead of 9, and then I end up crazy tired and it’s not really anyone’s fault. The thing is, I was likely online for hours, and they probably were as well, so why this almost always happens at 9 PM is a mystery to me.

        So here’s my request: By 9 PM, I’m already winding down for the night - I’ve been up for 15 hours already, and I need to sleep. Talk to me earlier. Talk to me at 5 PM. Just keep in mind that I have a totally different sleep schedule from you.

        Actually, there is another option - if and when I mention that it’s late/I’m getting ready for bed/I should sleep/any other not-so-subtle hints, tell me to go to bed and refuse to talk to me. It’s so incredibly nice for you to consider my best interests like that and I’m actually grateful towards the one person who ever does that for me. So that’s something else you can do that takes into account the fact that I may not be ready for bed yet.

————————————————

        Listening to an episode of the Hey Ash Whatcha Playin’ Podcast titled Come Here Uli, and here’s a brilliant quote about game design:

        “In a movie, you’re being asked implicitly to empathize with a character. In a game, you’re trying to do two things at once: you are trying to empathize with a character and to be a character at the same time. In something like inFamous, if you’re just trying to empathize with the character, when his girlfriend comes up like ‘raah I’m angry about stuff and later on you’re going to have to decide whether to save me or not’ then you can look at that passively, as in ok, we’re going to learn something about who this character is by how he decides to deal with his girlfriend. When you’re controlling him, and your girlfriend is like 'raah I’m mean at you for blowing up the city completely by accident and not your fault and later you’re going to have to decide whether to save me or not’ then it’s no longer a matter of 'what would Cole do, I’m interested to see how he grows’. It’s like ok, I guess what am I doing in this situation? I guess I’m supposed to manufacture a two year history, mentally, with this girlfriend I’ve just met, and in the entire time I’ve known her she’s just been a bitch to me, but I’m supposed to extrapolate that at one point this character, and therefore kind of me, but kind of not, once cared about her.”

I bought a Kindle copy of Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson and, thanks to that, managed to finish the book after… a year and a half. Below is a conversation between two characters near the end of the book that I really enjoyed, and reminded me of Socrates style philosophical dialogue. I’m posting it because I liked the book enough to buy it twice. So, yeah, I liked it a lot.

        ‘In the world, there are attackers and there are defenders. Most of us possess within ourselves elements of both, but in a general sense a person falls to one camp or the other, as befits their nature.

This is not to say that aggression belongs only to those who are attackers. Far from it, in fact. In my talent with the sword, for example, I am for the most part a defender. I rely upon timing and counter-attack – I take advantage of the attacker’s forward predilections, the singularity of their intent. Counter-attack is, of course, aggression in its own way. Do you see the distinction?’

        ‘I think so.’

        ‘Aggression takes many forms. Active, passive, direct, indirect. Sudden as a blow, or sustained as a siege of will. Often, it refuses to stand still, but launches upon you from all possible sides. If one tactic fails, another is tried, and so on.’

        ‘Yes. What you describe every child learns, at the hands of the bully and the rival.’

        ‘Excellent. Of course you are right. But bear in mind, none of this belongs solely within the realm of childhood. It persists and thrives in adult society. What must be understood is this: attackers attack as a form of defence. It is their instinctive response to threat, real or perceived. It may be desperate or it may be habit, or both, when desperation becomes a way of life. Behind the assault hides a fragile person.

Cultures tend to invite the dominance of one over the other, as a means by which an individual succeeds and advances or, conversely, fails and falls. A culture dominated by attackers – and one in which the qualities of attacking are admired, often overtly encouraged – tends to breed people with a thick skin, which nonetheless still serves to protect a most brittle self. Thus the wounds bleed but stay well hidden beneath the surface. Cultures favouring the defender promote thin skin and quickness to take offence – its own kind of aggression, I am sure you see. The culture of attackers seeks submission and demands evidence of that submission as proof of superiority over the subdued. The culture of defenders seeks compliance through conformity, punishing dissenters and so gaining the smug superiority of enforcing silence, and from silence, complicity.’

        ‘Is there no third way of being?’

        ‘In my long life, I have seen many variations – configurations – of behaviour and attitude, and I have seen a person change from one to the other – when experience has proved damaging enough, or when the inherent weaknesses of one are recognized, leading to a wholesale rejection of it. Though, in turn, weaknesses of different sorts exist in the other, and often these prove fatal pitfalls. We are complex creatures, to be sure. The key, I think, is to hold true to your own aesthetics, that which you value, and yield to no one the power to become the arbiter of your tastes. You must also learn to devise strategies for fending off both attackers and defenders. Exploit aggression, but only in self-defence, the kind of self-defence that announces to all the implacability of your armour, your self-assurance, and affirms the sanctity of your self-esteem. Attack when you must, but not in arrogance. Defend when your values are challenged, but never with the wild fire of anger. Against attackers, your surest defence is cold iron. Against defenders, often the best tactic is to sheathe your weapon and refuse the game. Reserve contempt for those who have truly earned it, but see the contempt you permit yourself to feel not as a weapon, but as armour against their assaults. Finally, be ready to disarm with a smile, even as you cut deep with words.’

        ‘Passive.’

        ‘Of a sort, yes. It is more a matter of warning off potential adversaries. In effect, you are saying: Be careful how close you tread. You cannot hurt me, but if I am pushed hard enough, I will wound you. In some things you must never yield, but these things are not eternally changeless or explicitly inflexible; rather, they are yours to decide upon, yours to reshape if you deem it prudent. They are immune to the pressures of others, but not indifferent to their arguments. Weigh and gauge at all times, and decide for yourself value and worth. But when you sense that a line has been crossed by the other person, when you sense that what is under attack is, in fact, your self-esteem, then gird yourself and stand firm.’

Over the holidays, literally half of my friends asked me about my “tumblr thing.” I’m glad that more than one person is actually reading it now, so to make sure everyone who finds my “tumblr thing” keeps reading, I’m going to lay out the three main ways to keep track of my new posts.

The simple way: Bookmark the site.

The convenient way: Make a Tumblr account and read it on your dashboard.

The nerdy way: Subscribe to the RSS feed.

        I’m sure you know how to bookmark a site, but the main problem with that is that you have to keep checking my ugly site and never know when there’s a new post. Eventually you’ll end up forgetting or just miss posts completely.

        The tumblr dashboard shows you all the new posts by the people you’re following, which is great, and that’s what I do. Probably what most people do. It’s easy to post your own stuff and follow a whole bunch of people and keep up with their posts.

        If I were only reading one person’s tumblr, though, I’d probably just use RSS. I think the easiest RSS reader to use would be Google Reader on a computer, but if you’ve got a smartphone of some kind I’m sure you have an RSS reader in there somewhere.

        As long as you check your RSS reader/tumblr dashboard, you’ll see the brand new posts at the top of your list and it’ll be great.