I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS SHIT, part III

Today's entry is a fun little ditty by Mika called "Stuck in the Middle" (off the album Life in Cartoon Motion). Yet another bizarre song brought to my attention courtesy of MUZAK and the fact that I'm a captive audience at work. It's a playful, joyous song musically but comes across as a little dark lyrically. I like when songs fuck with the listener like that. Plus, some awesome piano work - I dare you NOT to bop along! :-)



I guess I've found my Saturday thing :-P

THIS STORY SOUNDS FAMILIAR...

      I got knocked the fuck out yesterday by some sort of cold. Fever, chills, runny nose, sneezing...the works. I actually called out of work for the first time this year too. I slept for over fourteen hours, though not in a row as I kept waking drenched in sweat or coughing every hour or so. I finally crept out of bed to find everything the way I had left it. Ugh...again? My last roommate did this to me too. Thanks for picking up the slack while I was laid out.

     The dishes from the night before were all still there, unwashed...along with some additional ones. The kitchen floor is still unswept, the stove is still covered in stains from HIS cooking. Somehow only I know how to cook without covering the stove in organic filth. The dining room, which I clean like clockwork EVERY Wednesday, is still a mess. The floor, which I also vacuum the same day, undone. He didn't even get the mail. Why would it be otherwise... What the fuck does he do all day?!!

     Why is it impossible for me to find people who grasp this ridiculously simple concept? I'm still not feeling well. My throat, while not sore, will likely get there as I am coughing more. I'm pretty sure I'm still feverish and I'm jumping between moments of being cold and sweating. I don't know when I'll be sleeping today but I'll have to. I can't call out again.

      And of course, it's not like the reason none of these chores were done was because he was out getting interviewed for work or even LOOKING for work. Just a lazy fuck sucking off the public teat. I don't really want to live by myself, but I can't wait to be living by myself...

I HATE THIS BULLSHIT...

      I just read this article about a cheerleader who was suspended (from cheerleading) for a photo posted of her on Facebook that suggests she is drinking alcohol. The school found out about this photo from an anonymous snitch. The parents are considering suing the school. I hope they do and more importantly, I hope they win.

      This girl should not have been suspended for what she was (or was not) doing during her free time. I'm tired of this bullshit. I've looked at the photo. She appears to be holding a bottle of beer (her mother says something else is actually holding it near her mouth - that person had been cropped out of the photo or was never in the original image). She isn't drinking from it and quite frankly, even if she were, it's impossible to know for certain what is even in that bottle. Hell, there's pictures of me from when I was fourteen or fifteen giving a cheers with a beer can with my Dad. Anyone who knows me knows I did not drink from that can. It's called a joke. I hate these humorless institutions.

 --- the photo in question ---

      If this cheerleader had been caught drinking alcohol on school grounds, then by all means suspend her, expel her, whatever the school policy is...go for it. That's totally their jurisdiction. However, what this girl (or anyone for that matter) does on their free time is none of the school's (or your employer's) fucking business...ever. The fact that this photo was reported to school administrators anonymously is even more infuriating. Not only is this girl not being given a chance to defend herself, she is also unable to face her accuser which, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought was a fundamental right in the court of law. I assure you now, to anyone out there, if I am ever planning to take you down for something you have done (or that I believe strongly you have done), you can be assured I will do so using my real name because I don't do that shit. Regardless of what happens, I hope this anonymous accuser gets unmasked so s/he can be publicly shamed for this uncivilized behavior. Fuck anonymous snitches.

      I don't want to hear that the internet is a public place. It is, but in the same way that parks are public places and that your front yard is a public(ly viewable) space. You can still be arrested for lewd behavior in a public park. The fact that it's public doesn't immunize you from prosecution. You can also peer inside windows of houses and apartments (especially at night) and look inside someone's house. No one will fault you for a glance. After all, we're only human. But if you linger, that's peeping and an arrestable offense even if the offense is committed from a decidedly public street or sidewalk (or even from the comfort of your own home if you happen to live across the street from such windows).

      I look at the internet very much like a person's front yard. It's private property but it's viewable publicly. Though it's not really a choice, I'm inviting you to see my house, but only from the outside. To see the inside, you must be invited in. Anything else is a violation of my privacy and personal space. Just because my windows are transparent doesn't give the right to peer through them. The same goes for sites like Facebook and (the ever-atrophying) MySpace. If I haven't friended you, it means that I have not invited you into my (internet) life. You are only permitted to see my "house" (profile) from the "outside" (publicly viewable profile page). The contents therein are not for you. Just because we have to deal with each other in real life does not mean you have been automatically granted access to my internet life and certainly not my private life. If you gain access to that information either yourself or through another (even if it's through my carelessness), you are no different from a Peeping Tom and should be treated thusly. The rules for search & seizure ought to apply here as well: if the information/evidence gleaned and/or received has not been obtained through proper channels (and especially not legally), it is inadmissible for prosecution and even consideration.

      Again, I don't mean to imply that we online should be able to act with impunity. If an employer doesn't allow its employees to do personal business online while they are on the clock (or with company equipment), I have no problem with that. A company has a right to determine acceptable behaviors for its employees during the time they are doing work for that company. It's only fair. It's the bleeding into our free time that's pissing me the fuck off. I am my company's bitch while on the clock but I belong to no one once my shift is over. The same goes for students and for law-abiding citizens.

      So, to all school districts, government agencies, and especially employers who use or threaten to use what we post for our friends online in our free time to intimidate us or threaten our jobs, schooling, or even freedom over...go fuck yourselves. And especially fuck anyone who snitches on another anonymously for any reason be it perceptions of moral righteousness, revenge, or simply to get ahead in the workplace. You should all be unmasked and have your secrets divulged publicly. If you don't respect my privacy, you don't deserve yours. If you have a problem with me or something I have posted, you come to ME first and foremost. You don't go bitch to management about my alleged online activities.

!!!!! BAD JOKE ALERT !!!!!

      Last night at work, a girl came in wearing a grey hoodie with the layout of a NES controller printed across it. The D-pad and BA buttons were over either of her breasts. Something tells me that entering the Konami Code would not have earned me 30 lives but rather, 30 to life...

IT'S OFFICIALLY OUT OF THE MYSTIC'S HANDS...

      The Laundry Girl (I'm presuming she'll get a more flattering alias in the future :-P ) responded to my e-mail and we're now "friends" on Facebook. I'm finding myself doing everything possible to remain positive which is, needless to say, incredibly difficult seeing as how I am quite nervous...and WAY out of practice...twelve years out of practice to be precise. Nervousness on my part tends to lead to pessimism at worse and cautious optimism at best. The girl is definitely pretty and we seem to have enough superficial interests to keep at least initial conversations going and I imagine those conversations will tend on the funny side as it is quite evident from her profile that she's got a good sense of humor. If anything, I'm just happy I passed the once-over test. I don't necessarily feel any better about my physical appearance but I cannot now feel any worse about it so...win? This is the best chance I've had since Digby 2½ years ago and the most realistic one since The Vegan back in college.

      I hate this part. I don't want to fail but victory means successfully challenging ingrained behaviors geared toward keeping me down and somehow getting it right the first time...that Billy Joel song really is my theme song, isn't it? :-)

      Even at this early point, I'm realizing just how used to it I am, being strictly friends with girls. I feel the powerful censor of my mind keeping me from saying flirtatious things. I wonder how (and if) that will be overcome in me? I'm certainly not used to being "allowed" to think that way about girls. Yes, I've wanted to think that way but every Potential has never quite worked out. I guess for now, fingers crossed...

I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS SHIT, part II

"Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior

This song is an earworm in the truest sense...at least for me. It's been stuck in my head since the MUZAK player in our store played it. I've only heard it this year, but it came out in 2002. It's hardly a work of art, but it's damned fun and right now, that's all that matters to me.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...

      Keeping in code is becoming more difficult the more people I start referring to on this thing. I'll just have to use alter-egos and hope they're not insulting :-)

      The Mystic is fast becoming a close friend to me. She radiates enormous amounts of positive energy and is ever thoughtful. This contrasts exactly with my Best Friend so if only for that, she gives me the strength I need to deal with the Best Friend in greater doses. I can only hope the positivity she exudes actually comes from within. It would break my heart to find out these were tears of a clown. But then I guess that's where I would come in as a friend. :-)

      I'm enjoying our growing friendship very much. She has a lot of love to give and I am happy to be a recipient of that love. She's even looking out for me and if I ever were to doubt that, I need only look to the events of the past few days to show otherwise.

      The place where she drops off her laundry has a girl working the counter. The Mystic, being a human being unlike me, struck up some conversation and found out that she's single and began talking me up. She made it a point to not get her laundry until she saw her again and ask her for an e-mail address in an effort to hook us up. I received that address yesterday and sent out a tentative e-mail just a few minutes ago. I wonder what will happen? I admit I fear that I may have been oversold. The Mystic told her that I worked overnights and thus had trouble meeting people among other things. Now the ball is in the Laundry Girl's court...

      The Mystic is not the first of my friends to try to set me up. The Ukrainian was technically first by offering up her best friend (at the time) but honestly I have to give full credit to the Mystic because I can't help but feel the Ukrainian's efforts to be half-assed. It's not as though her best friend had expressed prior interest. It felt more like, "Hey, she's single. Go for it!" with no effort to ascertain whether or not we might or might not be compatible and whatnot. The Mystic got into an accidental conversation revealing the Laundry Girl to be a college dropout like me (I will admit that I like knowing this as I take that as a sign of intelligence on her part) as well as a skeptic (which she revealed when the Mystic suggested the Laundry Girl be psychic for asking if the Mystic had any quilts when she didn't even remember bringing any). That suggests she's not likely to be religious which is good. I was told she was 24...a good age and that she's brunette (my favorite) and sexy-looking (can't go wrong with that!). The fact that the Mystic was inspired to do so on my behalf with a girl neither of us knew is what makes me give her the credit and recognition [and besides, if I need an historical precedent, I need look no further than my high school crush. I always refer to her as my first crush, but she was actually my second. She so outshone the original that she became the original...assuming that makes any sense].

      Amazing in my sixteen years of adult friendships (as opposed to childhood ones) that it's taken this long for something like this to happen (and this despite numerous aside-like promises over the years). This single act will cement me and the Mystic for a long time to come. I warned her that my mind and heart tend to be slow in accepting new people in my life. She may have just found a shortcut past those defenses. Why have I been getting so lucky lately? I admit I don't feel like I deserve it in the slightest...

WHEN DID THE WORLD BECOME ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY?

      I've had these thoughts before but with this past Columbus Day, I'm reminded of them. You'll tend to see in various posts people denouncing Columbus for raping and pillaging the Americas before additional Spaniards (and later the British) came along to finish the job. These posts also carry an air about them suggesting that had Columbus not made this voyage, that somehow no one would have found the Americas and everything would have remained hunky-dory with the natives. But that's a different idea for a different post (which will likely never come just to let those who wait in breathless anticipation for future posts of mine). What I'm talking about is, why should we care?

      Isn't that what we've done and continue to do as a species? Weren't we always competitive for land, raw materials, food, water, trinkets, and power? Does the slaughter of native peoples, who by the way DID defend their lands...just unsuccessfully, really surprise anyone? Our history is rife with such examples as it also so in the animal kingdom. Limited whatever leads to competition and in that competition there will be winners and losers. Yes, the losers tend to die, but that's what happens.

      I'm kinda new to this game and new in the sense that I am a nationalist. It wasn't that long ago that we groups according to communities or clans or simply families remaining suspicious of outsiders. Xenophobia is built in to practically all of life. Billions of years of evolution has tended to show species of all kinds that different is not likely to be good for you so sticking with your own kind was a safety net of sorts. As humans we have our own ways of determining sameness and differentness be it language, culture, religion, style, etc. It's modernized a bit from simple family units to include whole cities, states, and even countries.

      I'm not saying we ought to be going out of our way to murder other humans simply for the fun of it. I'm generally a live-and-let-live kind of man: you leave me alone and I will leave you alone. But cross that line and there will be hell to pay.

      The wars we fight today perplex me. It seems the last time we really fought was in Korea. Nowadays, politics gets in the way of winning a war. Wars, which by the way, I thought were about winning not these wishy-washy wars fought today where people still get horribly maimed or killed but don't get that sense of closure when it's all over. At least we defeated the Japanese, the Germans, the Triple Allies, the Spanish Empire, the Confederate States of America, Mexico, etc. (Korea remains a stand-off, the last war to be fought mightily but the first one to succumb to politcs) and those countries were defeated by killing as many of the enemy as possible until they surrendered (and in the case of World War II, surrendered unconditionally). That does not happen anymore. Wars are not fought with victory, total or otherwise, in mind and I don't get why. It only prolongs the conflict.

      But think of Afghanistan shortly after the September 11th terrorist attack. It was very cut-and-dry. Al Qaeda carried out the attacks; Al Qaeda was under the protection of the Taliban government in Afghanistan; the Taliban were given an ultimatum to surrender Osama bin Laden and his associates to us or there'd be war; the Taliban refused; there was war...sort of.

      See, this is where I'm decidedly "old school". We should've gone into Afghanistan with the idea of both destroying the country and its goverment and capturing Al Qaeda agents. Instead, it got political right from the start. First of all, there was no Declaration of War. Yes, it sounds quaint but it legitimizes the action and is the responsibility of Congress to do so in order to prevent the President from going off to war himself. Instead, President Bush got "permission" to attack from Congress. It's not as though we didn't have a target government which could surrender to us. I can understand not declaring war on the Somali pirates because they're not an organized nation-state but the Taliban was. Besides that douchey move, there was a rebel group called the "Northern Alliance" opposed to the Taliban which we gave entirely too much legitimacy to. I don't get why we didn't just invade and kill Afghanis until either we ran out of Afghanis to kill or they surrendered. It's not as though we wouldn't've been right to do so. Instead, we dropped humanitarian reliefs supplies on some parts of the country while dropping gravity bombs on the other. Instead of making a concentrated effort to take over the country by force and getting bin Laden, killing anyone who got in our way, we failed in that mission by December 2001 (and if you'll note, we're still there by the way rather than admitting failure and leaving).

      What I don't get is, why were helping the people and killing them at the same time? I don't want to hear about innocent civilians and whatnot. I'm sure a lot of Germans and Japanese were not supporting what their respective governments were doing at the time but from our perspective, they were all Nazis and Imperialists until the war was over. We used to have a saying in this country: Enemies in war, Friends in peace. I'm perfectly fine with making nice and helping rebuild after the treaties are signed but not before. Either flee the country or rise up and overthrow the government insisting on a ruinous war against a power fully capable of taking them all out. Yet, if you talk like today, you're considered a monster. The wars in Europe would've continued much longer than they had if we made such distinctions. It sucks to be you, but we didn't start this war, remember?

      Africa is the bleeding-heart capital of the world (in more ways than one) and again, why do we care what other sovereign nations are doing to other sovereign nations? Have any of them attacked us? Have any of them cut off trade with us (assuming we even need their trade)? I'm gonna venture no, so what business is it of ours to even butt in? A lot of countries have had their share of revolutions when the people could no longer accept the governments leading them. It's not our job to foment those revolutions or decide for these oppressed people that we'll revolt for them. If a million people die a year there, who cares? (and I'll remind you that that is below the replacement rate and that Earth's human population exceeds 6½ billion so we're not exactly wanting for souls here...)

      Illegal immigration in the United States. Protesters try to make it seem wrong to ferret out these people by depicting them as human beings. Again, I have to ask, what does that have to do with anything? Yes they are, but so what? They're not us. Why do we even have a Mexico, Canada, and United States of America if we're all human beings? Why have borders at all? The simple reason why is because we are not human beings: we're Canadians, Mexicans, and Americans and we can subdivide that further by region, culture, language, and whatnot. Poverty flows into wealth. It is not the responsibility of the USA to help all-comers nor is it our responsibility to accept all-comers yet those who feel we as a country have the right to regulate who may or may not enter are treated like they're bigots. Is it really in the best interests of the USA to accept all-comers? Why is it not the responsibility of Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, etc. to fix their own problems either at the national level or at the grass-roots level? Being permissive of illegal immigration would seem to prolong the problem as it would seem to me that those who are fleeing to live here are exactly those who might actually stand up to/fix the problems at home if they had no place to run to. It seems to me that it is precisely inhumane to let in those who come from impoverished and war-torn countries rather than the other way around.

      I am a nationalist and by that I mean I view the United States of America as a naturally superior nation and do believe it would behoove others to emulate our practices but I don't see it as our place to impose our values onto others. I believe that America is superior not by birthright but because it is about an idea rather than an ethnicity or place in time and is accepting of new ideas...(kinda like passive Borg). And as someone who views the USA as superior I do believe that we have both a right and a need to protect that at all costs. I don't see genocide as necessarily evil but more as a means to serve evolution: weaker groups die, stronger groups survive whether that strength is literal or cultural. A billion non-Americans could die tomorrow and it would not concern me in the slightest. Why? Because they're not us. That's what we are as a species. Pretending to be otherwise is simply self-delusion.

      Okay, I'm done with this incoherent ramble now...

I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS SHIT, part I

My store has a MUZAK subscription. Despite the jokes, it's far superior to any radio station I've ever heard. Excellent mixes, doses of more obscure songs, and some "lost" hits...how can you lose? There's always some new song that I look forward to going home and looking up online. This is Jem and her single "Wish I" (off the channel HotFM). A mellow tune for sure, but it's the kind of mellow I can dig.

This is a calming song that puts me in a good mood whenever it comes on. Perhaps it will for you as well. :-)

Hey! It's not a bitching entry!

A SENSE OF URGENCY, THERE IS NOT...

      My roommate is still unemployed and I know he's not looking for work. I know this not because I've asked but because he's one of those "too much information"-type people.

      By default, he is primed to tell you things that have happened to him whether you've asked him or not. While this habit can be annoying to some, it's convenient for quiet-types such as myself.

      Had he been going on interviews, he would have been telling me about them or at least blogging about them. Had he been putting out applications without getting callbacks, his frustration about such a situation would be known. His silence regarding his job hunts is a damning one indeed.

      I'm annoyed that I gave him forms for the Census, only to have them be summarily ignored. I pointed out that my store was offering a position starting at $10/hr. He never filled out an application and now the job has finally been filled. I "love" his sense of urgency here. What an asshole...

      I don't know when his benefits run out or if he qualifies for an extension of them. I don't even know what to root for. If he gets an unemployment extension, he'll simply remain at home not looking for work because he's a parasite both to me as a roommate and to the system (your tax dollars [not] at work people!) and not look for work until it's absolutely necessary for him to do so which if I'm "lucky" will not happen until after the lease is up so I can get out of here [which I really don't want to do...I like it here and resent that he's effectively making me move...I have good neighbors...I have a nice, large, relatively problem-free apartment...he has no idea how much I resent him for doing this] but if I'm not "lucky", I'll get to watch him scrambling like a high school student on the night before his month-ago-assigned essay is due.

      If he's denied his benefits [which he really should be, if only for the sake of righteousness], then I'll be put in the position where he may not be able to pay his share of the bills and he'll either attempt to stay without paying [with me doing everything possible to deny him things like electricity, cable, and internet] or he'll flee thinking that if he doesn't live here that he will no longer be obligated to pay his half of the rent. Either way I'd have to sue him...a necessary, but not a desirable outcome.

      Then there's also his continuing "masseur business". I'm fairly certain he's still doing that one but this one he's not talking about. Since this "activity" does not receive broadbased support/encouragement from his friends (and especially me), he's grown quiet about it. His pattern is a simple one: if people are supportive [or at least neutral], the rule of TMI holds. Since there's no way he could expect to be supported by his friends that he is leeching off the system, he doesn't talk about the fact that he lazes about on the couch all day; that he's not looking for work; and that he's happy to let me do all the fucking work around here. When my roommate goes quiet, it's because he's doing something wrong. Ugh...I hate having to hope that this "work" will yield enough income for us to part amicably.

      Unless by a miracle he secures a job, I have no happy ending options...only frustrating ones. I don't want to live by myself. Doing so feels like an endgame for me...like my story is over. I'll feel as though I will have bottomed out with my life-options and never climb up out of them. A roommate affords me a more luxurious life but I've run out of people whom I can trust. Once I'm on my own, I can't see myself moving again except by miracle [read: move in with a fiancée] or by force or by poverty. Why would I want to take a chance on another roommate if it'll just mean moving again after a year or two? I'm tired of moving but I also don't look forward to officially living a lonely life.....

INIMANDVS VI

      I feel my heart growing bold again. The shattered pieces of confidence blown out from my heart fifteen months ago have begun to make their way back. They're moving slowly and quietly but are gathering strength. Now would be the perfect time to be distracted but I'm stuck still in that unenviable place whereupon those who would be good candidates to bring about my happiness is rooted in their sorrow. Not only do I not know mutual attraction, I do not know mutual joy. I have yet to be in a situation where I can be happy without first the girl I want would have to be made to be unhappy. How can I be a good man and wish for them to suffer simply so I can be happy? How selfish...

      Since I am still in love with her, this budding confidence will only be used on her when I have both grown stronger from it and find an opportunity. I am already seeking them. I can feel it. I'm trying to talk to her again but still tentatively. I can't move quickly. It's been fifteen months since the last time I felt strong enough to try [and twelve months before that before she stood me up and two months before that when she first cancelled on me...who knows how long it would be before I could try anew if my confidence were obliterated now.....]. The imagery in my head is that of the Shadows returning to Z'ha'dum. Nothing good can come of it. I am clearly insane in the Einsteinian sense [doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result]. I don't know why I still want her after all this time but I so clearly do. I don't feel "meant" for her. I just feel we would be good for each other and it torments me so that I haven't figured out a way for her to at least let me TRY to show her. I am so certain I'm right. Although I am 99.9999% sure she wants nothing to do with me, that 0.0001% has so far proven enough to be motivating.

      I don't know how long it will be before something happens. As certain as I am of what will happen, that microscopically thin veneer of hope remains. This would be the perfect time for a girl to come out of nowhere and take a liking to me. I have the gathering strength to be both receptive to her and the wherewithal to let go of the current one. It's the ultimate in, but I have no candidates [though there are a few "on the radar"] and the random forces of chance have not blessed me since 1998. So the future is known. I don't know when it will happen but I can feel in my heart the embrace of the allure of the miracle it would take to get her to give me that chance I have so eagerly wanted since October 2007.

     I wish the attraction weren't so powerful, so certain. She's the second "genetic attraction" I've had and the first person I'd be willing to leave New Jersey for (since I know she desires to return to be the country girl in Pennsylvania where she was born and grew up as).

     I define a genetic attraction as one where my very DNA calls out to the person desiring to merge with hers. It's a selfish attraction not unlike a lustful attraction. I would be perfectly willing just for her to surrogate the child and leave me with him/her after it's born. I feel like I'd be creating a worthy, "perfect" human if my DNA and hers were to be merged [to contrast, in a lustful attraction, all I want is to fuck the girl...if I never even learned her name, I would be cool with that. I've had three of those]. It obviously goes beyond that since I genuinely want to be with her, take care of her, and see to her wants/needs/desires. My attraction to her is exceptionally powerful, more powerful than I think even the First One [which was technically the second one, that's how powerful SHE was ;-) ] so it lingers; it persists despite all logic telling me otherwise. Three years I've wanted her. Three times I've tried to date her and failed. And now my confidence is restoring itself. My heart is growing bold.

      This will end badly.....

I WISH I STILL HAD MY LIGHTZAPPER NOW...

      I just caught the following in a comment thread after reading a Cracked.com article on video game Easter Eggs that went undiscovered for, in some cases, ridiculously long times. From drysart on Reddit.com

That's not actually how the light gun works; as evidenced by the fact that if you point it at a light bulb and pull the trigger, every shot is a hit. If it was based on timing the electron scan, as you say, then it'd always be seeing light instantly from the lightbulb when the trigger's pressed, which would lead to the gunfire being registered as being in more or less random place on the screen (whereever the electron scan happened to be at the instant the trigger was pulled), and as a result, would more often than not miss the duck.
It's much more simple than that. The gun detects light. Not color. When you pull the trigger, the screen goes black for a single frame except for the hit region where the duck is, which is white. If the gun sees the light of the white hit region (or the light emitted by the lightbulb you're pointing at instead), it registers a hit. If the gun doesn't see the light, it registers a miss.
Any display where the dark is sufficiently dark and the light is sufficiently light, and the refresh rate is fast enough to show the hit detection frame without bleedover from the previous frame would work. Electron scanning beams not necessary.

How neat it would've been to have figured that out as a kid!

MY CHARMED, ALBEIT BORING, LIFE...

THE RULES:

1. You can only answer "yes" or "no."

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages/comments you and asks. And believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming. Even then, you are allowed to refrain from answering if necessary.

3. It's harder than it looks, but NO explanations! Just don't!

4. You must populate this rules section with "rules" that are either not a rule, or a restatement of the previous rule.

AND THEY'RE BACK...

      So Opie and Anthony have signed another 2-year deal. A mediocre one in Opie's words. I hate to admit that I'm feeling a little disappointed. It feels like I'm turning my back on a friend; but I have to admit that I was looking forward to some time off. Two more years of the same now.

      Oh well. It's not like this is a bad thing in the end. I like the humor. I like the laughing. So it's not really a loss to me. I really should be more responsible. I guess it'll be easier when I'm living alone since then it'll all be on me officially rather than being resentful that it's all on me now when it shouldn't be.