Forward to Happiness

I realized a lot of this a long while back, but it is much more relevant, now.  So, I'm going to go through what I believed (and many still do), what I learned, and why it is important to our age. I grew up in a Southern, conservative area... albeit still very Democrat but that would shift... the party, not the culture.  It was pretty universally believed that a man should take care of a woman... providing for her.. defending her.. and making it so she "didn't have to" work.  Her place, it was believed was in the home, raising children.  I know you might be saying it's a lot like that, now... and I'll get to that. So, the idea that a woman would be working was back then a sign of shame... this was before it became the norm for both to work.  Indeed, as women began to work, shows like Laverne and Shirley and others of career women were viewed by many as "Feminists" that were avoiding their household responsibilities and ruining families.  If a lot of ...

I think I have told the story, before... but it seems relevant to the conversation, again.  A long time ago, I was standing in formation in my active duty Army artillery battery, and pur gunnery Sargent turned around and looked at his unit in the battery and did a double take and then said, "man... we are racist as a motherfker."  I turned to look at what he was seeing.  The entire first row (each row was a self propelled gun) was Hispanic.  The second row/gun was all white.  The third was all black.  There were no exceptions. We are seeing this more and more in society.  You have companies.. like those under Elon Musk (grandfather was an active supporter of the racist apartheid in South Africa that held down Nelson Mandela and the black majority) whose companies and especially management are overwhelmingly white and male.  However...less prevalent but I have gone into several restaurants and stores and noticed they were all black or all Hispanic ...

Since happiness is a part of the political process, this blog does have an overlap and application.  Happiness is, after all, what motivates most to vote. I feel the need to address one thing being repeated by the right, because I cannot tolerate hypocrisy or bullshit.  In a very real way, the right's leaders are saying, "Why did you let me screw you?"  I will explain with logic and facts beyond dispute. First, we need to be specific and detailed... not broad strokes of assumptions.  It is not bad for everyone.  The rich have literally never been so rich.  Why?  They didn't suffer like the rest of us.  They got government bailouts, which enabled them to set higher prices without being sensitive to the lower incomes of customers.  Housing values rose, and real estate investments paid off big.  Slum lords like Sean Hannity from Foxnews cashed in on the backs of poor people.  Let's also not miss that those businesses that was propped u...

 I used to say that fear is stupid, but rather I'd say it is a poor substitute for wisdom.  In the body, it is meant for an immediate reaction to an immediate danger that is clear and present.  Neither your body or society is meant to use it long term and doing so will do grave danger to both. Fear cannot exist in the same place as logic or freedom... or hope or happiness for that matter.  So, choosing to live in fear is choosing to surrender all of the above. Fear makes you do things you'd rather not do, overlook warning signs that you would normally avoid to end up in situations or relationships you'll later feel was a mistake and feel imprisoned. So, I'll keep this short, because even though I could give a hundred examples of this from my own life that taught me, you have plenty of your own.  Just remember, if you intend long term success and happiness, never allow fear to take the reins from a life of experience or a desire for freedom and stability.

I've noted this before, but it's been a while.  So, it's a good offset to the accounting post... since both are important. When I was taking my auditing course in my accounting study, I remember being fascinated by the fact that we had a whole chapter on what was called "acceptable risk."  The point being that an environment that was completely safe was also one that didn't grow and often collapsed.  So, you have to take chances.  But, being wild about it is also a formula to collapse.  So, you had to determine how much risk you were willing to take that would also not upset your foundation.   It's exactly why I'm not dating til I get my paychecks going.  Dating is expensive, especially for men.  I don't want to put my budget at risk, til it is safe. Afterwards, I plan to start using dating apps and inviting people out for company having fun to the things I am already going to be doing.  I don't anticipate a lot of lack if I'm like... he...

I'm what I guess of late to be an evangelist of disorder.  In reality, it's an objective observationalist that states reality, even if... sometimes especially if.. people would prefer the rosy prediction.  It has come from a life of living with those rosy expectations and facing a life of disappointment, instead.  It has helped me craft a more logical and progressively improving life, as well.  Someone one time praised my budgeting ability to make it through my periods of sparce resources and unexpected expenses, and I explained that it... and all my accounting ability.. was refined over many years by seeing assumptions fail, so I determined that I must KNOW things to protect and guide myself. It's also, I think, helped others I've counseled in their lives after failures and disappointment hit their lives, as well.  Being factual doesn't mean I'm not emotional.. quite the contrary.  I don't believe it does anyone good to lie and promise rosy days, if that...

For those that don't know, my career outside of food delivery in periods between jobs is accounting.  It's a natural career for me, because it aligns with several qualities that I have, which I think is actually very needed and often lacking in the world, today.  Stick through the first paragraphs to get to the larger application. People think accounting is about math or numbers.  Those are some expressions of it, sure.  But, I worked one accounting job for oil and gas supply where a whole section of the company accounted for barrels of oil transferred... no money accounted in that process.  Others would handle that.  Accounting was and is about first getting an accurate understanding of what it is you have, got, or sold.  There are no assumptions.. no we thought we had, or we thought it was worth more.  If it is not accurate, it is not accounting. In order to be accurate, it MUST be seen objectively.  Your job is not to please the management...

In the conversation with my mentally ill ex when she was cutting me out of my child's life based simply on her not thinking I was a good influence, she said many hurtful things in true modern Christian fashion (she pretends to be holy).  One of them was to tell me to "be a man," when I was objecting to her actions.  I think that's a good launching point for this topic. Be a man... what's that mean?  After all, according to the rigid right, gender is not a behavior construct.  If you are born with a penis,  you are a male and vagina female.. unless your political supreme leaders say your not a female boxer, I guess.  So... how can one act like a male or female.  If you have the equipment from birth... it's settled, right? Of course, they don't believe that.  You have to act like a man or woman, too... follow the proscribed way of acting... jobs or lack of them, house parent or not, visual appearance, etc.  That's, I think, the biggest problem ...

My friends and online acquaintances have to think I am crazy.  I tend to speak about whatever I like, even if it offends some people.. especially in some cases.  Think of me like SNL.. if I haven't offended you about something,  yet.. give it time.  So, they have to think I don't understand that keeping that inside will attract more friends.. or more.  But, I'm very aware. First of all, my goal in life is not "or more."  I've been there, done that.  I know better than most how to act in a way that people would accept me.  I've had many successful dates and two marriages (I could give Ryan Reynolds a run for his money), but I learned long ago that getting someone on a false image or muted one will end up causing problems when the real me comes out.  To be fair, they also didn't give an accurate depiction of themselves, either. And, friends is similar, except you can generally be friends with someone that only shares a few interests and limited...

Not the blog post I was expecting to write, but it's one necessary to be written in our age and with the last year of falsehoods and anger and even violence that results from the ignorance.  I have had experience and learning and considering on the subject, both from my child and from my own exploration and consideration on the subject.   My child is no longer reading my posts, and my exploration determined it was not necessary or accurate to change, so neither is fueling this, but I tend to rise up when I see oppression... so, here's several things I learned about gender and transgender.  I'm not saying it to criticize anyone... my estimation is most people never gave these points a thought, because it didn't apply to them and makes them feel uncomfortable to think some of their foundational "truths" are as shallow as following the crowd.  But... here we go. The loudly spoken objection to transgender is that someone is messing with "God given nature...