Welcome to the Humdrum in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

Hrm.

My phone died in the middle of the night. Apparently, I did not set my alarm clock. BUT I did take my work stuff home with me last night.

So… when I woke up at 9:45… shit! But hopefully, Cecilia noticed that all of my belongings were out of the office and figured I was working from home this morning. It probably helps that I had to take my car into the shop, so if I need an excuse I can use that as well. But herein is the dichotomy of this place and me. ANY other place… showing up two hours late would (1) get noticed; (2) be a problem. Neither is the case here. Completely unnoticed. Completely no problem. And with me? ANY other place… I would go out of my way to do a good job, be on time, present myself professionally… but when none of that matters here? I’m simply not motivated to present myself that way. Ultimately, it reads as thus: this place doesn’t want me, I don’t want this place… so I do my best to “fill the role” until both of us find a better fit. But I do worry somewhat that while I fill this role, I’m losing myself. It’ll never happen completely. I was the little boy that gave business meetings as playtime; but it is something I worry about a little.

The day itself has been… pointless. As so many of my days are here. The “proper” and “intelligent” thing to do was to buckle down, figure out my case deadlines and push forward. Tedious. Tedious bullshit that Computers have been taking care of for a decade. And that is what I look forward to, someday, if/when I get to work for ACTUAL lawyers. A computer system that acts as secretary… or an actual secretary. When I come in to work and open my 5 Required Webpages; the computer chimes in with “Hearings and Deadlines”. Seriously. The lack of resources around here… and the refusal to modernize… drives me right round the bend.

In other news: Gary Johnson. I realize that not everyone in America knows about the World around us; and there are millions of Americans who view that ignorance as a strength. “America should focus on America before looking into the rest of the world.” It is why I had to (attempt) to convince my brother why pulling all military and humanitarian aid from foreign nations would be globally devastating. Especially to Japan… who would be taken by China within the decade if the US pulled 100% of its support. Hell, a few weeks ago I had to tell my wife what Aleppo is and explain to her the horror of how the Syrian conflict is focusing so much brutality on that area.
Well, when Libertarian Presidential Hopeful Gary Johnson was asked what he would do about Aleppo?

Granted; a few hours later he tweeted a response

But I still think… In Gaffe Management; I appreciate that Gary Johnson admitted that he should have recognized Aleppo but “thought it was referring to an acronym.” That being said… his statement makes it seem like Aleppo is “another city in Syria.” There are two cities in Syria that, if you wish to be President, you should know. Aleppo and Damascus.

Interestingly enough… as someone who has not abandoned Patriotism or Love of Country but still believes examining other nations may be in our best interest in some important ways… here’s a Cracked.com article about Foreign School Rules and Policies for the United States to consider. And of course… I love every single one of these and would love to see ANY of these attempted.

And as I’m on another of my Cracked.com kicks… another Cracked.com article on Gun Control in America.
Some Highlights:
(1) “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the AR-15 is a good thing, but as this Salon.com article put it, banning the AR-15 to stop mass shootings is like “regulating drunk driving by banning Scotch.” You’d get damn near the same results doing nothing at all.”
RE: BTW… it should come as no surprise that my brother owns an AR-15
(2) “Do you know what accounts for the most gun deaths in this country? It’s suicide, and I can assure you almost none of those tragedies involve some despondent soul putting the business end of an assault rifle in their mouth. If we really wanted to cut down on the number of deaths caused by guns in this country every year, we’d spend a little more of our resources on seeing what we can do to stop people from killing themselves with handguns.”
RE: This sobering fact is why I get outright furious at people who only mention gun control after a mass shooting. Mass Shootings may be dramatic; but not even close to the deadliest use of guns in America
(3) “In other words, it doesn’t matter what kind of laws we enact to make it harder for criminals to buy guns, because criminals don’t work within the framework of the law. As long as there’s a hole in the market, someone will find a way to fill it. Even if we did somehow legislate our way into stopping the flow of illegal guns into major cities, we’d still have to figure out what to do about the illegal guns that are already there.”
RE: I realize this comes off as “Outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns” but there is a bigger element here called “Gang Violence and The Market.” As someone who dealt with the gang problems in Omaha, trust me on this… gang members GET guns. Criminalize as hard as you want; if guns exist, the gangs will have them because the other gangs will find a way to get them. It is a miracle that gang violence hasn’t escalated to explosives yet but I have a feeling that is merely a reflection of Gang mentality. MOST of the shootings in Omaha (remember, record murder rate last year) happened with guns that were initially purchased legally and then sold illegally. Here’s the rub there… the person who sold it illegally rarely faces any punishments. So, it is a prime example of how we need to create laws that work and prosecute on laws we have… before leaping immediately to Gun Bans.
(4) “Do we go door to door and take the guns by force? Fine, where do we start? Seems most logical that we’d start in areas that are most impacted by gun violence. Raise your hand if you’re comfortable with the idea of sending the ultra-militarized police forces of this nation into high-crime areas in large numbers to round up all the guns.”
(5) “Basically, no one at any level of our current gun crisis is going to part with their weapons as freely as Australians did. Gun violence of all sorts was already on the decline in that country when the stricter laws were put in place. Whether the stricter gun laws even had an impact on homicide rates still seems like a question that hasn’t quite been answered yet. They don’t have the problems with gang violence that we have. They don’t have the right to form a militia and take up arms against the government written into their Constitution.”
(6) “So that and other programs of the like are one thing we can do to address one part of the problem. Combine that with some sort of meaningful mental health reform that manages to reduce the number of suicides we put on the books each year and we’d already be well on our way to at least stopping the bleeding a little bit. Hell, that mental health business might even stop a mass shooting or two. Maybe we could toss a few mandatory safety features onto the guns we sell going forward to make them safer to keep around the house, thus (ideally) reducing the number of accidental gun deaths each year as well.”

ANOTHER Cracked.com article. I told you… today was pointless. And while I understand that it would be wonderful to visit Disney World with my wife (who has never been) or with my niece when she is one day old enough to attend. I have heard the horror stories. As bad as it was in the 90s, last time I went… the exponential increase in selfish, aggressive douchebaggery seriously concerns me.

To End This.... because even at 2 in the afternoon, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that this day is a waste… my wife and I each separately have our own issues with anger. Thus, this Cracked.com photoplasty is brilliant. 31 Inconsequential Things That Make You Insanely Angry. Any examples shared below are because they certainly apply to my wife or I.

31)
30) Technically, I only really care when it is 5 or more things over
28) Oh this one pissed me off recently. Outside pay required, did everything, selected to get my receipt and THEN it tells me that receipts must be distributed by cashier indoors. WHAT! Oh, I was mad.
25) I understand if you are disabled or trying to corral kids; but if you’re slow poing it across because you are on your cell phone, I want to hit you with my car!
24) Somehow, sadly, this is even happening to us via Netflix on our PS4!
23) Perfect Example: I wanted to punch the TV last week. We were watching a Zoo show and all of the keepers and animal experts said Tapir the way I’ve heard it my whole life. They even talked to people from other countries who all said it the way I’ve heard it my whole life. But the narrator kept excluding the first vowel so he always said T’pir. OH it got me angry.
21) As recently discussed. Hell, some movies NEED to be remade; but… just gr!
20) OMG, yes! Sidewalks should be considered like roads. Lanes. Coming Lane, Going Lane and if space a fast and slow lane. DON’T TAKE UP THE WHOLE SIDEWALK!
13) This will forever drive me insane. I have, honestly, decided I no longer wanted to be associated with someone because of constant open mouth eating. For god’s sake; have some self-respect and decorum!