Sunday, February 3, 2008

Morons on Ice

As Pennsylvania is once again covered with ice and snow to a depth sufficient to fill Southerners with eternal horror, your gentle (but angry) Pyromage feels a burning need to once again rail against the greatest peril of the season: other drivers.

These past weeks, we had our first major snow/icestorm of the year. Oh, not that there hadn’t been snow before, but this was the first snowstorm that truly deserved the “storm” part. Blizzard Warnings, Blowing Snow Advisories, and all that. Which meant, of course, it was time for Morons on Ice (well, snow).
There is really only one rule to driving on snow: Change is bad. Speeding up, slowing down, turning, changing lanes—these things cause trouble. Remember that, and you’re fine. Forget that, and, well, you’re a moron. This means of course that you can drive 50 mph perfectly safely, if the road is straight, and you’re not surrounded by morons who don’t know about things like braking distance on snow and ice. It also means that you can drive 15 mph and be a complete hazard on the road…apparently a very popular option.
There is a certain type of driving moron who thinks that by driving 10-20 mph slower, they have somehow “paid their dues” to the Snow Gods and are thereafter absolved of any need to modify their other stupid driving habits. So they’ll slam on the brakes, jam on the accelerator, weave through traffic, take turns abruptly, fail to signal and do all the other things that actually cause accidents on snow, ice, or for that matter perfectly clear pavements under a sunny sky.
And, on snow, this has the added benefit of jamming up traffic behind these fools, since often it’s not possible to pass at all, much less safely, due to snow and ice blocking parts of the road or requiring a much greater amount of time and distance to pass cars safely. As I was reminded of why I hate driving to work in the snow (hint: it’s not the snow, the road, or the wind), I compiled this handy catalog of Morons on Ice:

The Scatterbrained/Ungoverned Venturers (S/UVs):
These drivers have chosen the “safest” vehicle for snow: a 4WD SUV of monstrous proportions. They then either drive that SUV in the exact same way they would on dry city pavements in Chicago—brake or gas pedal jammed to the floor at all times (these are the ungoverned venturers) or they creep along at 10 mph, despite having the vehicle best able to travel straight lines safely in snow (these are the scatterbrained). Since you can’t see around them, unless you too have decided to express your hatred of the Earth in your vehicle choice, you’re stuck wondering why they bothered to buy a huge SUV instead of the tiny rice burner they clearly think they’re driving.


The Oblivious:
These drive any sort of vehicle, though they seem to favor larger sedans. They drive fast or slow but either way have apparently decided that driving in snow removes any requirement to observe what other vehicles happen to be doing. I was nearly rear-ended by one of these while stopped, in the only open lane of a road, waiting for someone to turn left, at the end of a line of six cars! The moron never even stopped, but he was able to swerve left at the last moment, into oncoming traffic, and barrel past the line (including the left turning car, who had the presence of mind not to get in front of the charging idiot). You’d think that the driving conditions would indicate that you should pay more attention, not less, but you’d be wrong where these fools are concerned.


NASCAR Rejects:
Real NASCAR drivers are skilled professionals who are amazingly good at not crashing into other cars in the worst of conditions. But the rejects here drive like NASCAR drivers without the skill, training, or special tires. Every stop light is a starting line, and every intersection is a finishing line. Each start or stop requires full, pedal-to-the-metal acceleration or braking. Strangely this behavior doesn’t mix well with snow, slush, and ice. It does, however, lead to amusing results like fishtailing out of control and spiralling through an intersection into a ditch. Sadly, sometimes they wind up slamming into a car which is actually proceeding through the intersection in an orderly fashion.


The Post-Hoc Expert:
These are the morons who find themselves in an accident of any sort, clearly entirely their fault, and then make increasingly absurd arguments about why they weren’t really to blame and why they deserve a break from the usual consequences of being either stupid or unlucky on snow. Why everyone else should have to foot the bill for their driving habits is, of course, never addressed. They are the “whiny little bitches” of snow driving, and deserve the contempt reserved for such.

So there we have it, a brief catalog of the worst offenders, who turn a Winter Wonderland into the Demolition Derby, and bring to every snowy intersection the level of stress of a trip “outside the wire” in Iraq. Come to think of it, that’s probably a good solution: ship these people to Iraq and force them to serve convoy duty. After all, there’s not a lot of snow there, and in sandstorms nobody can see anything anyway. And most of their bad habits could be an asset in driving supply convoys, where mad dashes through crowded streets are a survival habit, not a muderous rampage.
But whatever you do, get these people off the streets during Winter!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Sadness thoughts and rants

In this country, we believe in the right to pursue happiness. However, the pursuit of happiness is a difficult task to undertake if one does not understand the very concept of happiness. I doubt myself, my world, my existence. I try to talk to my friends about these doubts. Their well-intentioned idea of comforting me was telling me that I had a great family life, a good home, many talents, and a sweet spirit. They told me I should not feel sad because I had been greatly blessed. I agreed with them, knowing I had so much for which to be grateful. It was stupid to be sad. Nevertheless, the feelings remained. I told myself to never talk about them because it did not seem like they mattered. I felt that I had no right to be depressed, despite my uncertainty in my ability to find joy.Since then, time has passed, I have grown up, and the sadness still consumes me.

I am a friend of many whose emotional states echo that of the one I once had. I am a confidante, trusted with their stories because I can understand. Oftentimes, my sad friends pour out their feelings and then express guilt for them, saying they have no right to feel the way they do, like the comfort of their homes should be all that matters. I have never hesitated to tell them that the worst they can do is to keep their feelings to themselves. Doing that, they have the potential to let the sadness eat them through. There is more to life than a lack of shelter, stability, or what most people will look at from the outside and call the “perfect family.” People are different, needs are different; as such, there is really no accurate way to compare people to each other, and the reasons for depression are always different. Besides, life is, after all, very difficult to endure and understand at times. Thus, all people have a “right” to be sad. In fact, sadness affects many people. For most of them, it is actually a process of finding out why happiness exists.This process of finding happiness can be tedious and difficult. In my personal experiences with the subject, I have found that there is one factor that most cases of depression have in common—uncertainty. Many families endure problems of which non-family members never know; sometimes people strive to be the popular definition of “perfect” rather than becoming the person God intended him or her to be; some people have been abused or neglected; many feel that there should be more to his or her life than the immediate surroundings; altogether too many consider themselves to be nothing more than awful burdens to others. I have seen each of these scenarios; they are real, and any one of them could dishearten anyone. All those who are sad worry that they are not going about life the right way. All of them wish to find happiness but are unsure of where to look. It goes far beyond having a warm bed, food, and shelter. The homiest places in the world cannot make up for total lack in a sense of purpose and self-worth. The human body requires constant temporal nourishment, but the human soul is more eternal; it is not kept alive by bread, water, or blankets. It is kept alive by love and hope. When love and hope are lost, nothing is left to motivate a person to be strong and keep living. The sad become the way they do because for their own personal reasons, they lose all sense of purpose.

No one can say those people have no right to be sad. That is like telling a crying child in the middle of the woods that he or she has no right to be lost because he or she has a map. By saying that, one makes the assumption that the child knows how to read the map. Sadness does not make a person stupid—it makes a person lost. The reason that it is a “right” is because there is nothing else it can be; when it happens, it happens. Attempting to simply banish it by saying it should not be there is not the same as actually curing it. If ignored, it remains.Now that it has been established that sadness is a human right, it must nevertheless be made clear that the behavior of the depressed ought to never be excused. There are those who take out their frustrations on others in various ways, such as physical or verbal abuse, because they cannot think clearly enough to realize that there are more productive outlets, and besides that, they feel that they need something or someone to blame—a reason (which takes us back to uncertainty). There are those who hurt themselves, for they figure that by dealing with a greater pain than what they feel in their hearts, they may eventually become numb to pain altogether or because they believe they deserve as much pain as possible. Hurting oneself usually indicates a desire to escape or a belief that if they do not punish themselves correctly, no one will. There are those who shut themselves away and give the cold shoulder to anyone who might try to help because of pride, lack of trust, or not wanting to be an inconvenience. By no means do I wish to convey that any of these actions in response to sadness are acceptable. By spreading, numbing, or hiding the pain, the soul does not find the comfort it so desperately desires. It instead makes the situation worse, for rather than being dispelled, the pain is merely converted to different forms. It is not morally wrong to feel sad, but it is morally wrong to use the sadness as an excuse for poor conduct. Anyone has a right to be sad but not to deal with the sadness in any remotely harmful way.

There are ways to deal with depression. In the most drastic cases, therapy of some kind is recommended. However, in most instances, the teamwork of friends and family is required. While it is true that people have the ability to determine their own attitudes, no one can deny the influences of other people. The sad need to feel loved and understood; by feeling a sense of hope, they can feel more inspired to reach out and serve others. Likewise, if a sad person were to initiate the service, he or she would find service knocking at his or her own door as well. To love and be loved—both concepts go hand in hand. They inspire each other; each is caused by the other. At its deepest roots, depression is usually a natural self-absorption, a preoccupied and unhealthy anxiety about one’s life; it makes sense, then, that the cure would be selflessness, both given and received. The act of serving cannot help but inspire great spiritual growth. When there are so many different possible ways to heal, no sad person has the right to be selfish and hurtful. That would be like the child lost in the woods crying about being unable to read his or her map when he or she refuses to listen to someone trying to teach him or her how to use it. The sad must seek help both from others and from themselves; otherwise, they risk always being lost.After all, sadness is about trying to find a way to live, not being stupid or troublesome.

Do not tell a depressed person that he or she ought to appreciate his or her blessings; gratitude or lack thereof usually is not the issue. Sadness is simply the absence of happiness; happiness comes from many sources, but the most basic, common denominator is love, hope, and meaning. When found, however, the concept of self-worth is understood at a far greater scale than before. Once sadness is comprehended and cured, happiness is deep and all the more wonderful. Surely, like all people have the right to be sad, they have the right to pursue happiness as well.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Where have I been?????

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been busy working... although they do not have my computer yet to do engineering things... I cant just stand/sit around and do nothing.. I need to feel productive...

So what do I do as productive? My happy little ass is out in the metalworking shop... doing welding, spring compression, testing materials, driving forklifts, smelting metal, forging steel, playing with 20 ton cranes..... hell.....

Yeah

That's right

A woman

you got a problem with that?
Now if only I could get rid of the cat calls and whistles LOL

Yeah I'm not afraid to do work.. infact I love it.. Hell I fix my own vehicles.. But anywho just figured I'd let you all know I'm still alive...

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Visiting old friends and phone calls

Well I went out to visit an old friend of mine at his shop. I got there and we started talking and he had a laptop that someone had brought in and he asked me to take a look at it. So I fired it up and the screen was nearly blacked out. Ended up fixing that and next thing I know my mother calls me and tells me I need to come home right away and call the place I went to an interview yesterday.

As I arrive home and walk in the door I picked up the phone and called them. Turns out they want me in for a second interview on friday! w00t! So I'm going in on friday to meet with the project engineers to hopefully sell my skills to them and start working again! I'm so excited right now I can barely contain myself. Full benefits, Aflack, Life, Health, Dental, 401K (which I'm probably gonna have to roll over since it isn't with Merril Lynch).

I don't know which way to turn now lol.


In other news............
I was talking to my mom the other day about my friend Nicole, and the topic was depression. I have this twitch problem, and Nicole twitched while in her therapy lesson, well the psychologist thought that a bit weird. She thought it was a sign of depression. I told my mom this in a totally joking way, saying "maybe i have depression!" Mom said that I had most of the symptoms of depression. But that's just shit, i mean i'm crazy all the time! I'm always goofing off and having a good time with my friends. Yeah, i seem sad and stuff sometimes but, doesn't everyone? I mean i'm just an adult for goodness sake. After all this had been happening she dropped the bomb. I was going back to therapy. For those of you who haven't been to therapy let me tell you, it sucks. You have a total stranger thinking that they relate to you oh so much. And they just don't. They think they can solve all your problems by saying "and how does that make you feel?" Gets pretty fucking annoying after awhile. And they make you do all these retarded excercises like drawing your family tree. That was the most retarded one i have ever had to do. Or another making you think of what flower you most seem like. Anger management is another good one, i've been there a couple times. That was fun. Not. Just made me angrier if you ask me. Ah. On top of my usual drama and crap, my dad is becoming someone i completely hate. He's a fucking moron. And he tries to act nice to me and i can't stand him. I usually wish he would just leave me alone but, noooo he has to talk to me making me get annoyed and being rude. Which in turn makes my mom yell at me. I think me and my mom have gotten in so many different fights its crazy. Close to fist fights a few of them. Not very pretty. We used to be really close and we did things together all the time but not anymore. We hardly ever do anything because we're arguing. And the thing is they all blame all of this on me! Which is totally not cool. My family blames everything on me. Quite annoying really. I mean bad for your mental health right? Totally.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

interviews interviews

Well well well, today was a decent day for me.. I woke up and looked out the window at the snowstorm and thought to myself.. "This drive today is going to suck". Lots of snow everywhere and I had to go east from home about 40 miles to an interview.

So I hopped into my lil sportage, Tossed it in gear and did a 180 to head down the road, Well unfortunately the 180 became a 360! I looked down and popped it in 4H and locked the hubs and took off down the road. As I got to the interstate I flipped 2 switches and turned on my fuzz buster and CB radio. Got to my interview and had a good conversation. The lady interviewing me told me that out of the 15 people she had interviewed so far, I was the only one she is going to recommend for a second interview. :D That made me happy!

So now it's a waiting game. They are gonna call me back sometime this week and I'll go back and hopefully get the job and make a decent living for once. The company has been in business since the 1950's and they have a good repuation. **coughs** I'll be supporting the nuclear industry, designing all kinds of fun technical stuff.

Well that's it for now. I think I'm gonna go play some games and zone out for a while.. I've had to much of people for the day.

Love you all!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Another sunday

Well here is another sunday in my life.
Today I was dragged to church. /joygasm
Came home and went up to my room and logged into WoW. Tried to say hello to people and see how they were all doing.. but as usual a certain few chose to say nothing. So I played my rogue for a bit.. got her to 42 :D Then I logged onto my mage and helped someone to get some holy waters. Then I logged out and ate dinner.. After dinner I was feeling a bit paniced and decided to go out and visit my little brother at work. :) So when I got there there was a strange dude there who was preaching at everyone who came in the door. The guy was there for an hour and a half then finally walked out to his truck to put the gas in that he prepayed for so long ago. Well after he filled up his truck I looked at my little brother and said.. "Hes gonna come back in, and complain about the gas."

Sure enough the guy comes in and says Hey I paid you 7.07 for gas.. and the pump says 2.13. Meanwhile with my math background I'm sitting there trying not to laugh my ass off. So they argued for a while and he finally walked out the door again. 2 minutes later the guy walked back in again! He then asked for a gallon of water. And proceeded back out to his truck. 15 minutes after he went back to his truck.. he finally left.

So I stayed with my little brother for another half hour after that just to make sure. (He cant fight, never could defend himself lol) So I was there to protect him. **giggles**

Now I'm sitting here.. reinstalling Halflife 2 because I have not played it in many years. Maybe I should reinstall the originals too. That would be so much fun... Maybe those of you who do play HL2 might see me online and get sniped mwah hahahahaha. I used to be so evil at that game.

It might take my mind off of feeling alienated from friends. I just want to apologise to all of my guild if I have done anything to cause problems with you all. I love all of you. You are my family. I wish I could take back some of the things I have done or haven't done.. I don't know anymore. but i just want everything to be the way it once was when Prophecy was young. I Miss that so much. Anywho enough of my mindless ramble.. I've got a half life to kill again!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Hello!

Hello everyone.
I am a crazy person who loves to play world of warcraft.
I love my guildies in prophecy, although I have not been quite myself lately.
For those of you who want to know why I have not been myself lately, I give you this link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoaffective_disorder Welcome to my world. I have been dealing with alot of things lately, and I am trying to straighten myself out.
This is my first attempt at a blog. I am quite shy and don't do much. Except for my music and poetry.

I myself do not like conflict and lately I have been running from it. Personally I think it's about time that I start speaking my mind more. Yes I know it may hurt some people, but pent up feelings have been slowly tearing me down and destroying me.

I know this was a short post.. but I'm trying.
Love you all.