“I couldn't live a week without a private library
- indeed, I'd part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor
before I'd let go of the 1500 or so books I possess.” ― H.P. Lovecraft

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

So it's that time of year again. That time when Christians the world over celebrate the birth of their peaceful spiritual leader and savior and honor his message of love by trying to kill each other in an effort to climb to the top of the collective consumer gang bang.

Seriously I had to go pay some bills the other day and a ten minute trip took over an hour. I didn't even go near the fucking mall, but the lane to get there was backed up clear across town.

It's a damn good thing for the population at large that I never got around to installing those fender mounted machine guns when I still had an income.

Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas, or at least the idea behind Christmas, but every year this shit gets more out of hand. Every year it shows that our national religion is Capitalism, our God the Lord Cash Almighty.

And I'm not knocking Capitalism outright. In fact, I feel it's probably the best system of government the world has yet produced as it's the most practical. It's fueled by the one human trait that cannot be eliminated or sated: greed. And yes, greed is indeed good, but Jesus people you don't have to fall for it every time the assholes in charge ramp things up.

Case in point, everyone heard about the fiasco over the PS3 this year I presume? Sony Entertainment intentionally under shipped units to this country to create artificial scarcity for their overpriced, over hyped, only one decent game having, hunk of crap.

Did people recognize this blatant ploy? No, they waited in line for a month to pay $600 for a machine that they then turned around and sold on eBay for two or three times that much.

Oh yeah, and some people actually got fucking shot. This is almost as disturbing as the fact that people are paying $1,500 and up for a goddamn PS3. They're fucking FESTERING to pay it

Look, I understand wanting to buy gifts for people. Hell, it's been years since I've been able to get anyone anything due to my situation and it sucks, but even when I could I never understood why everyone turns into idiots the day after Thanksgiving just because the media and retailers tell them to. It's getting out of hand and if we don't take steps to pull back a little then more and more people are going to get hurt.

There were actually X-Mas decorations in stores before Halloween this year. Honestly, why the fuck do they even take them down anymore? The X-Mas season is pretty much half the year now and to tell the truth I'm looking forward to when it becomes year round. Not because I like it, but because it'd be nice to be able to drive down Grand Central fucking Avenue in December without people actively trying to run me over to get to the new Cabbage Patch, Furby, Tickle-Me-Pokemon.

Am I against the idea of people getting hurt? Hell no. The guy that got shot for his PS3? I think that's goddamn hilarious. What I'm against is the idea of ME being one of those people. There's no reason why my ability to pay my bills should be hampered and hazardous just because the building I pay them at is within a square mile of the mall.

But enough of that rant. I'm repeating myself. This is mainly because I haven't slept in about three days. Don't worry, it's nothing serious and I'm seeing a doctor about it in a few hours. Despite this, I had a pretty good X-Mas this year and I hope you guys did too.

It was just a few days ago I was remarking to myself that December the 8th had slipped by me for the first time since 1997 when a fatal car crash took my Dad. I saw the day coming, but it didn't bring the same dread with it that it had in the past. I then forgot about it and didn't remember it till about the 12th.

Then on the 17th Skippy lost his father. This was shortly after the one year anniversary of Mike D and Victoria S having lost their father. I guess that's why I've been away so long this time. Between the business of the holiday and the melancholy moments I've just not been in the blogging mood. I wanted to tell you guys though, it does get easier, though I must admit that ten years later it's still kinda hard to write about here. If I can do anything for you guys, anytime, you have my number.

And good luck to all of you participating in the last throes of the consumer orgy over the next couple days. I promise to be back with a funnier rant in a few days. Till then, try not to get shot.