Ridiculous Opinions #251
It’s Saturday and school is winding down. This means that I am settling down from levels of massive stress and experiencing new levels of exhaustion, as are most other teachers around the world. But we trudge on.
Exhaustion for me means that I am looking to have my brain engaged in some form or another so that I don’t have to think…so that I can just exist. This is, of course, the way that most people function all the time. This is why people are constantly on their phones or why there is always an airpod in their ears. It is the low hum of distraction that keeps people from engaging in their own thoughts.
And really, why wouldn’t they? If you were trapped with your own thoughts all of the time, then you’d have to question life. You’d have to think about the state of the world or your relationship to others or how to occupy your day-to-day. That’s an awful prospect for most people, so it is better to be distracted.
Usually, I am not like this. I have my creative things and I do them happily. But occasionally, I get so exhausted that the only cure will be an hour straight of playing Strategery on my phone to help settle my brain. I don’t do this all of the time, but I do engage with my phone in such ways.
This morning, I slept in until 8:30 AM. That’s not normal for me, but I’m tired. (Not as tired as Tracey, but tired nonetheless). I tried to chat with my wife, but this was what happened:
After a phone call with my daughter, I have spent the last hour or so being distracted by ANYTHING that would keep me from having to come up with yet another idea for this newsletter.
So, in the spirit of full disclosure, we will have an OPEN TABS session today, where I will show you the tabs that are open on my computer so that you might see where my brain is at.
First…I have spent the last hour looking at videos from this guy:
Yes, I watched the WHOLE video. And to be honest, I learned a lot. Occasionally, I fancy myself as wanting to play guitar better than I do, so as I was watching, I was daydreaming about being a better guitarist by practicing more and buying this effects pedal. With a bit more time and energy, I could do great things.
(Narrator: He won’t)
Next, I have this link open.
It’s for a Steam game called Animal Well that I’d like to download. Of course, I have no way to play Steam games, so that leads to the thought that eventually, I will buy this.
That’s right. I want to buy a Steamdeck. Will I? I don’t know. But it’s on my list.
Also open is a link to this article about Frank Miller. I haven’t read it yet, but I will say that Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is one of the greatest works of literature I’ve ever read. (It’s a Batman comic, for those who don’t know). I recently reread the whole thing and I have to say that it holds up remarkably well for a 40+ year old comic. Quite nice.
The next tab I have open is this. Basically, it’s a review of a book called Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic Against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back by Elizabeth Anderson
The best way to sum this up is this quote:
Hijacked makes a compelling case that the work ethic was at its Puritan inception largely a progressive force. Her task is to lay the ground for a rapprochement between liberals and the Left. Throughout the long history of the work ethic, conservatives have reinterpreted the concept and turned it against workers and the poor. These narratives live on today in neoliberal policies and discourse that have overseen rises in inequality whose analogy can only be found in the gilded age of robber barons.
Heavy reading, but Elizabeth Anderson has, strangely, popped up several times in my life over the last week, so perhaps the internet gods are speaking to me.
Yes. I am weird.
Here’s an article about China’s largest natural waterfall…and the pipe they built to feed that waterfall. The world sucks.
The last tab that I’ve had open all week is this.
Basically, this is a stock index that is tied to stocks that are purchased by U.S. congressmen and special interest groups. If you ever want to invest, it might be a good idea to follow those clowns.
So, with all of these things, you can probably see where my mood is at.
But even as I am writing these things and decrying the awfulness of the world around us, I am reminded that things are not all bad. As I’ve been sitting here, a bird landed on the window sill behind me and has been chattering away this entire time. I don’t know what this bird was trying to tell me, but I suppose it was something along the lines of, “Chill out, man. Life’s not all bad.”
And I guess that bird is right.
Here’s a strip from this week’s Maurice Comics. We now have a new character in the strip. Some of you might recognize him as one who has just come into the public domain:
Enjoy your weekend!
