303 in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

If I were the type to believe in omens; this would be a bad one.

Last night… couldn’t sleep. Legs were in significant pain. But there was also something else. Something worse.

Saturday night, my wedding ring and my wife’s wedding ring were on the island in the kitchen. Neither of us took our wedding rings skiing. Last night, neither of us could find our wedding rings. They were no longer on the island in the kitchen. They were not anywhere on the floor in the kitchen. We searched… and could not find them. I knew they were not stolen (as nothing else was missing that we are aware of) and there were no signs of a forced entry… so logically they had to be around somewhere. But… it was frustrating and worrisome. And contributed to a sleepless night… of which I’ve already had far too many. At around 3 am; I realized that if we were looking down to search, we would miss things that were up. I checked the tops of shelves and other places; and located the rings. Hooray. But… boo… because I was already feeling significant body pains… and if I was awake at 3 am… it wasn’t like I was going to get a lot of sleep! :( At 6 am, I woke up with my body just intensely aching. One theory of Fibromyalgia is that the body does not reach “healing sleep” so that it takes longer for the body to recover from things. Even as little skiing as I did; with consistent lack of sleep… it is like I went skiing full bore and never healed. SO… foolishly, I texted Ran and told him I was doing a half-day. Then I went back to sleep. Yeah, my body certainly needed the half day… and it isn’t like there is enough to do at work to justify me doing a FULL day. But… I already need to do a half-day on Thursday for my interview. And… yeah, I’m the type of guy who thinks “If you aren’t giving your all to your job; you are letting people down.”

So I went in to work after the lunch hour (and after running a few Honey Do errands). Ran had not been in to the office yet. Hooray. He had a trial an hour away to wrap up his Private Business. So I got in… and literally a few minutes later, he comes in. I realize that in some jobs honor, integrity, authenticity, and honesty can be punished. But my father once told me: do always what you feel is most ethical; for you are the only one that has to live with the consequences of going against your own code. So, I knocked on Ran’s door and thanked him for his understanding about me not coming in this morning. I waffled a little and then confessed that I would be gone on Thursday as well. Ran had no problem with it, was fine, and I (feeling it was the ethical thing to do) told him it was for an Interview. He was thrilled. Asked if I’d put him down as a reference. Was impressed that it was an International Firm. I attempted to downplay, of course. Telling him that since it was international, I wasn’t likely to get the job; but the interview experience would certainly be useful. He was encouraging. He is understanding of needing to leave an area and encourages me to go where I need to be. So I also let him know that he may need to look for a new assistant before the end of the year; telling him that mid summer was about as much as Wife was going to allow. He was okay with it. Ultimately, Ran is/seems like a very genuine and authentic Good Guy. I just hope that he can survive this County’s Corruption without being swallowed, destroyed, or otherwise made numb.

So then… back to… work? A defendant called. I kid you not… this was his question: “Do I have to do the 24 hours in jail?” What? Wait… what? I cut a deal with your attorney… minor fine, 24 hour jail (required by law), and we’re good. I’m even letting him choose WHEN those 24 hours are! I… seriously… what is with people? How have we gotten to a point where consequences don’t register anymore?

After that, I pulled up the Court Calendar aaaaaaaaaand… nothing. There is literally nothing on tomorrow’s court docket. Which… on the one hand, of course there isn’t. This town… seriously, man. Lets do a statistical analysis. Take the 5,000 people in this county and remove towns where there are no police presence and no Sheriff Patrols. That brings us down to about 3,750 people. Now consider the age demographics. In the last census; 25% of all individuals were 65 years of age or older. Let’s generally assume that half of that demographic should not be considered for Likelihood of Serious Crime. So, 25% of 3750 is 937.5. We can remove “1.5” to accord with potential hospice individuals and divide 936 in half. So… one demographic included is 468. In the last census it was declared that 25% of the county was under the age of 18. Under the age of 18 means that they are juveniles and only seen once a month. So we can remove 937.5 people from our original 3750 number. So… take the 3750. Remove 937.5 for children; remove 937.5 for elderly; then add back in the 468 for “potential elderly hardened criminals.” That means… assuming everyone between the age of 18 and 65 have the potential to commit serious crimes… we are looking at a pool of 2,343 potential criminals at any given time. In comparison… that number is only slightly bigger than my entire high school. Thus it is no wonder there is nothing going on with the courts around here. Oh… but while we’re looking into statistics… an important (and shocking and sad) one to point out… the Per Capita Income of this county? $17,000. So… a lot of poor people… and yet… the county went 70% to Trump. These are the people that are so willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

In that vein… some terrible things:
I honestly overheard this shocking and obvious bullshit: “Liberal morons’ll get us killed. 99% of all immigrants hate this country and the Muslims won’t be happy til we’re dead and sharia law is put in place.”
I refused to engage with that person. Because that is a logic flaw akin to dividing by zero. First of all, there is no WAY you have any research or facts to back up a claim that 99% of all immigrants hate this country. And I understand, these people would see research and facts as “elitist bullshit” but still… you can’t INVENT a statistic for your argument. Especially one that is so easily disproved. Legal Immigrants make up 13% of the population (according to 2014 statistics). You really think 13% of this population… left their homes… went through the vetting processes… took the citizenship tests… and decided to raise their families here… because they hate this country? How broken does your mind have to be to believe that?!

Then… the thing that has been going around like wildfire. “We should put veterans before immigrants!” Okay… here’s my response to that: “It is happening again, as it always does. This time, most notably, with Immigration. “Instead of hiring immigrants, lets hire veterans.” “Instead of welcoming immigrants, lets house veterans.” But then… when we discuss Homeless to Housed projects… you say no. When we discuss financing programs to help with retraining… you say no. But more ashamedly… instead of using veterans for your causes… look into what this administration is doing/has done to veterans. Don’t use veterans for your convenience.”

Te death of logic… the slaying of compassion… the disrespect for truth, information, and education…