Recently in everyday life Category

I started my most recent tattoo last week. It's a big one. It's my 7th. I started getting tattoo'd when I was 20, and I've never really looked back. I've had pieces in magazines, placed in contests, and had internationally known artists work on me.

Then I read this article. Basically, according to Mr. Carpenter, I am a subhuman freak. On par with prostitutes, pimps, people with mental illness, and ancient tribal people. Frankly, I was offended by what he said. And I'm not offended very easily. While I understand everyone doesn't appreciate or agree with my choices of self-expression (my parents being in that category), it certainly isn't mutilation. And putting the artists in quotes, as to infer that they aren't indeed talented artists? I'd like to see him attempt to draw something with a vibrating pen on a squirming person.

But he can't. But he's too busy making broad judgments. Like assuming that Mike Tyson's face has anything to do with my ink (it doesn't) or that, in his own words, "No one can deny that the heaviest concentrations of tattoos occur in the lowest segments of society -- prostitutes, pimps, pugs, prison inmates, Ku Klux Klansmen and the members of street and motorcycle gangs." (they don't).

So basically, in Mr. Carpenter's world, I'm a freak. And yet, on any given day, Mr. Carpenter would have no idea I'm the kind of person he knows nothing about, yet feels the need to chastise. Heck, he may even think I'm a nice family man. As stated by one of my favorite bands, Good Riddance, "hatred is the stillborn child of ignorance and boredom". Sounds like Mr. Carpenter has too much time on his hands.

I saw the inside of a courtroom as a participant for the first time in my life today. Considering my previous life, that's an accomplishment within itself. However, I was there for a ticket I received in February. I won't bore you with the details, but I will share the best part (besides the no points, no class, and reduced fine):

The police officer, on his own volition, spoke on my behalf.

I was floored. As my attorney (the only one there with one, BTW) and the judge were going over some documents, the officer spoke up and said I was polite, easy to work with, and cause no problems whatsoever! Suffice to say, that's not my nature, as I dislike most authority figures simply by their nature. But this was nice. I followed the rules (since I was speeding), I calmly explained my case, and things worked out.

For those scoring at home, that's 6 in a row now. Wife passed bar + wife gets job + insurance pays sinkhole claim + interest check arrives + we get the house we want + I somewhat beat a ticket. Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Welcome back. Sorry for the lack of posting. Not only has this been a busy month (see below), but I'm in the process of moving this whole thing over to Movable Type. Now, before you all get all Wordpress on me, keep in mind that I run my own server at home (no hosting fees! WHOO HOO!!), and it's a Windows-based server. Wordpress doesn't like Windows, unless you layer Apache over it (which I don't want to do....yet). So unless any of you fellow geeks know how to get Wordpress working on a server running Windows Server 2003 R2 and IIS 6.0, MT is where I'll be. Now, here's my December:

• Got a rather large promotion, which includes an office with a window and a DOOR!
• Baby's first Christmas
• House is sinking....literally (long story, will devote more to this later)
• Wife is starting to work part-time
• Holiday crap

So by the first of the year, Restless Like Me will be back in full-force, complete with all the bloggidy goodness of trackbacks, permalinks, etc. Just as soon as I figure out the damn templates.

Bill Hicks said it best, so I'll let him say it.

"This is not a war. A war involves TWO armies."

If you keep up with the F*cking Old Xenophobes News Network (FOX for those of who didn't pick up on it. If you can call CNN the "Communist News Network", then I can use this), there is a war on Christmas. A war. As is, "people are getting shot" and "countries are being overtaken". There are books on the subject. People rant on and on about it. When Penelope Trunk writes a blog about how the holiday makes her pissed off (which I agree with on most points), she gets over 100 comments on a single day, with the vast majority calling her mean, rude, etc. and basically telling her to get over it and go with the flow.

Now, I'll preface this by saying that I am not a Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, Agnostic, or anything else. I believe there is a God, and I believe that I am not it. Beyond that, I couldn't care less. Also, my father is a minister and my mother is Irish Catholic. Both liberals.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get down to business. I have no fundamental problem with Christmas, based on what it really means. It was Christianity's way to import the existing Pagan festivals into the religion. Fine. No problem. And while I don't like the idea of obligatory gift giving, I do appreciate the time to spend with family and friends. But why the fight over this holiday? No one is fighting over Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Arbor Day, etc....

There's nothing quite like a polarizing issue to make the office unbearable. As we speak, there are doors in my office covered with wrapping paper and bows. The office "holiday" party (which is the PC way of saying "Christmas for everyone who doesn't hate Jesus") is this weekend, but I won't be attending due to babysitter issues. Now, do I mention to people that I don't really celebrate the holiday, and would like to be left alone? How about asking for my allocation of the holiday party budget in cash? Or maybe putting up a black tree just to really get people riled up?

I'm not. I'm going to just be quiet and do my job. I'm coming to terms with the fact that unless I want to start my own company, and only deal with people who agree with my politics and beliefs, then I'll have to put aside my own beliefs in order to just get the job done. Now, as far as my opinions on why people take issues and blow them out of proportion? Well, no one likes to get pushed around. And certainly no one likes to be singled out for being different. So unless I know I'm amongst friends (or want a good argument), I just don't talk about these things. Especially at the office, since they pay me for work, not opinions.