My life as an Atheist Part II: Eccentric Boogaboo

 

 

So last year, I did a post explaining my path to becoming an atheist. As of 2021, I am still an atheist and a no-good heathen. So let's continue where we left off.

I had moved to Savannah with my mother at the age of sixteen due to owning some property left by my grandmother who died in 2005. Getting down there, it was a gradual experience and I was slated to do my last year of high school there. It was around this time where I really questioned if god existed or not and doing my own research and looking at the state of the world, I ultimately decided that there was no god.

December 2008 was the moment I finally came out as an atheist to my mother. And that was a bad idea. As I learned years later, the black community in America and hell, most of the world are devout worshipers and blind supporters of an invisible man in the sky. I questioned my mother on why he exists and what has he really done. She simply told me "There is a god." 

That's it. That's no way to really explain it, but it also reminded me that most black people voted for Barrack Hussein Obama simply because...he's black. 

See the trend?

My mother never stopped loving me, and that shows that despite our differences, we still could come together and act as family. But I dare not mention this to my other family members, and thankfully she didn't either.

However, I made another mistake of trusting my beliefs (or lack thereof) with my brother, who came down to Savannah a year later. Around the area we stayed in, there were at least five churches within the vicinity. Yes, five. All within walking distance. We went to a church only two minutes away for a brown bag program, a program where you show your ID, sign a paper and get a grab bag of random food items donated. It was an ideal system for a newfound adult trying to find his own place and job, and the church makes an obligation to accept everyone through their doors...something that one church in South Carolina would regret many years later, but before I get to that, the incident with my brother.

I only went because of the free bag of food. I asked my brother if he believed in god and told him I didn't. Suddenly, he becomes biblical and starts questioning me ten times over. Fine and well. We had a brotherly conversation.

What I was not expecting was him telling a stranger about my lack of beliefs and then that stranger told her equally strange friend about my lack of belief. So I had to endure ten minutes of these two people who I never saw again basically chastising me for not believing in god. I expect this from my family, but some stranger, fuck that. And the worst part is this was someone I trusted. You don't do that to your own family. Personal matters like that should stay within the people you trust, not someone you barely talked to for a minute.

Thankfully, he didn't relay my lack of beliefs to other family members. But still, that was uncalled for.

Dialing back to high school, I casually mentioned that I was an atheist to some of my classmates. No fire or hell tossed my way, but I did get a very good insight on why people don't like atheists.

The phrase "Oh my god" is thrown casually among just about all of society, in varying ways. Saying the lord's name in vain is also present. So, to counter that and this was something that I did anyway, I told him that I would use substitutes in place of "Oh my god" or "Jesus Christ". Jiminy Cricket was one. At the time of my obsession with Pokemon, Arceus was also used in place of god. So you'd get "Oh my Arceus" or "Thank Arceus". It was fun. I never did this in public, but hey, if people can believe in a bearded man in the sky, celebrities or now, corporations in the same manner, what's the harm in thanking the Pokemon equivalent of god for the food I ate?

Give praise to The Original One

 

 

After the incident with my brother, outside of some isolated nagging from my mother, no one ever got on my case with my atheism, and I was smart enough to not show it or force it down other people's throats, the same way I didn't want Jesus shoved down mine.

And I really had to ask myself this, and I thank Tyler Perry for keying me on in this dilemma, though he supports it rather than try to address it. If we have so many damn churches on every corner of the black community, and all this money comes into said institutions, why the hell are the streets so run down and the 'communities' so barren and devoid of prosperity? Why is that pastor not actually putting money into programs or causes that could actually benefit us in the long run?

That's when I realized it, again thanks to all the black sitcoms and media: The Black Church is not a place to go for help, it is a front for the pastor to get money and access to the overwhelmingly female attendance. That scenario with the pastor making a pass on that woman I mentioned in the last post wasn't a sick joke, it was the norm. I also discovered deism was a thing, you didn't need to go to church to believe in a god or higher power. He's got a lot of names which should tell you how messy this whole scenario gets when wars are enacted over the interpretation of god. 

And frankly, my mother wasn't really going to church like that anymore. So hey, live and let live.

I did more research on the Black Church and came to find out some rather interesting information and this one affected me directly because of how profound it is. If I remember right, at least 80% of black women believed in god or identified as a christian. Hmm. For that many black women to believe in god means I have only 20% of the women to go to if I want a relationship with one.

But wait. These same holy women are also partaking in various acts that the church would normally denounce...but that would mean the pastor can't get his piece of that sweet hair pie. And even if you don't believe in god, you can still get with one of these women. The notion that having sex with a man will tame him and show him the right path to godliness.

Or so they think. The Black Church is overwhelmingly female, and those women seven times out of ten will have their children present. With no father. But then you see them in public with those same children...and no father. Some people will say "HE'S AT WORK" if you question them when they show up on the news being abused by whoever or whatever. So, why are these god-fearing women committing adultery and having bastard babies out of wedlock? Wouldn't this be the opposite of what a church would want? And why the hell are some of these women coming in the church dressed as if they were going to a strip club, which is right around the corner from a church coincidentally...

...or is it?

I question this because these same people who would ask you fifty questions about your lack of belief in god are also the biggest sinners to walk the earth. Kinda damning that the atheist shows more virtue than the ones who take the oath of virtue. Having kids out of wedlock, having affairs, prostitution, stealing from a store to support your bastards, worshiping a celebrity glorifying a destructive lifestyle and based on the outro of the single "None of Your Business" by Salt-N-Pepa:

So the moral of this story is: Who are you to judge?
There's only one true judge, and that's God
So chill, and let my Father do His job

Another quote that resonated with me was something Tupac mentioned about what Thug Life meant.

The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody. Thug Life.

Basically Pepa, because of your provocativeness and outward sexualized life at the time (And probably still living that life with that awful plastic body), you more or less gave the okay for young girls to do the same and while I'm not sure if you had any children or not, what you feed young minds as seeds will grow into the product you see in the future. And looking at the slut-shaming fiasco that took place in 2014, I'm inclined to say the people judging you were correct in doing so and in my case, because I'm not doing so around a basis of faith, but morals. There's too much spoiled fruit to go around and this is my time to harvest and there's nothing to eat. You bury spoiled fruit or feed it to the worms, as I did when I started composting back in the day.

But only god can judge you, right?

If these are the women I have to pick from, I'm good. Finding a black atheist woman is hard enough, but the few I've seen are very indistinguishable from the god-fearing black woman. In addition to the overwhelmingly christian populous, the majority of black women are overweight if not outright obese and you have the Black Church to thank for that.

One of the traditions of the church was to serve food after a service. This particular food isn't exactly something you'd eat every single day. You can eat it every now and again, but every day? That's where the problems kick in.

The food presented is indeed delicious. But to eat these meals every single day is not a good idea. The only healthy item present are the collard greens, and that's already fouled by the heavy amount of sodium and fat it's commonly mixed with. Take into account that the Black Church is overwhelmingly female, and you have a recipe for disaster. The worst part is, a lot of the fat that some black women have gets distributed to other areas. And I'll leave it at that, because it damn sure won't be leaving her anytime soon. So if I do find an atheist secular black woman, chances are she'll already be fat.

But reminder that I did say I lived in Savannah for eight years and everyone down there regardless of race is fat, overweight or obese. And I have seen many obese people walking around. I smelled them before I saw them. Southern cuisine is delicious, but it's not ideal nor sustainable for a healthy population.

Going back to the Black Church, the amount of infidelity and adultery that takes place can be deadly. It was a big story around 2013-14 and I can't find it anymore, but there was a man who killed the pastor of the church his wife went to. I imagine that the women at these churches are also in relationships if not married, and it's damning that these women talk a big game about serving a god, yet refusing to serve the man they choose to have kids with. That amount of hypocrisy would turn any rational person away from the Black Church and I sometimes ask myself if I'm being irrational or is the world around me irrational and I'm barely hanging on to my better judgement.

The black community's worship for god is an unhealthy one and now in this time we're in, it's proving to be detrimental. When there's some white person who will kill a black person or some police officer that kills a young black man or any black man, any bad scenario that you can think of, look at the comments section and you will have one individual that'll say something along the lines of "YAHWEH WILL TAKE CARE OF HIM" or "THE MOST HIGH WILL SOON TAKE CARE OF HIM"

Yeah. I'm sure he will. I go back to the Charleston situation with Dylan Roof. Said massacre claimed the lives of nine people. This man was able to go in the church, pray with those black people and then gun them down. And the kicker? The survivors forgave him. They forgave a man who killed their loved ones with absolute impunity. And this is not the first example of that forgiveness bullshit, plenty of news stories where a black person was attacked or killed and said person if still alive if not their relatives, forgave their attacker. Why??? And they were all non-black. How do I know this? If another black person even dared to attack them, they'd fight back, go for the kill or ask for the harshest punishment imaginable.

Yet someone who actively seeks to harm you, you either forgive or you do nothing but take the abuse. This is the supposed backbone of the black community? Then it either has arthritis or it was never there to begin with.

The pastor has so much influence yet very little power. He'll be the first one to join hands and pray but the last one to actually prepare the black community to fight. And the few men who are present in the church are either in on the system that he operates, inept or emasculated - and that is another can of worms altogether for another fishing trip - none of which are ideal for any community to thrive. And trust me when I say, a community is only as good as its men. If the women are being put into place where men should be, that's a problem. If the women choose to worship and stand by a fictional man in the sky over the men they can touch and feel, that's a problem.

If calling out this imbalance is met with jeers and scorn, that is a problem. The Black Church has done nothing to actually uplift the black community, a community that I am a part of. This is not the reason I chose to become an atheist, but it damn sure reinforced my leanings tenfold. This matriarchy does not work. Period.

I wonder if today's god-fearing folk realized that god and the bible were tools used to indoctrinate us during slavery. The belief that if they pray to god, something will happen. The notion that god made the white man superior to the black man.

 I'm surprised the episode that image originated from had Florida reject the initial image that was there, a black depiction of Jesus. The image above is the reality that has thrived with the black community since...slavery. Funny how it took her son, Michael to educate her on his actual appearance.

Revelation 1:15 - The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace.

Now he may not have been black (by black I mean the modern terminology of black). But he damn sure wasn't a white dude with long brown hair. Hmmm.

A fun fact about the image above me: It was framed on display at my second job and within five minutes of me placing it on the wall with the other images, it was on the ground, broken. Oh yeah. And I saw no black people present at the time. I also got a lot of donations, many books that talk about god and the scriptures/proverbs. All of those books went right into the salvage bin, along with any crosses or religious imagery unless it was a really nice-looking statuette or figure, that could have sold nicely. 

But to the point of the image of the black Jesus above and the old white person it pissed off, this is how far this parasite of religion goes. 

Which made this particular sitcom even more hilarious.

I question if any of these god-fearing folk even read their bible. I doubt it. It's bad enough that it's used in the actual justice system and is present on all of our money. But at least read it and see how inconsistent it is. It condones slavery, sexism, actual sexism and not the current brand of sexism repackaged as female empowerment and complacency, all which are contributing factors as to why the black community is in the state that it's in.

Even as a piece of literature, it's not well-written, and it's had so many revisions and re-releases that the only reason you would read the bible is to grab a few elements from it and put in your own work, not to push the message, but to give it tangibility. Someone being the walking representation of Jesus or Mary with an actual character arc and character development in a coherent plot has made the bible all but irrelevant.

I'm happy to see there are some more secular if not outright non-believing black people coming out thanks to the internet, and there is a chance that we can form an actual community with ideals, morals and principles with prestige and not a bunch of empty prayers and symbolism. But based on the image with Florida Evans and No. 46, it is going to be a very long time before that ambition is conceived, let alone fulfilled.

Dusting off the blog.

Man. It has been a while. So, I'll do a general tumult of topics.

-First, the Fighters Pass from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The pass finished in January and well, here's a rundown on things from my perspective.

Joker
Joker from Persona 5. While I am a fan of Shin Megami Tensei, I'm indifferent to Persona. I played Persona 3 and enjoyed it but and I have a copy of Persona 4 unopened but that is it. So, no connection to Joker. Neutral. I do get this little jingle if I play on Mementos with the P3 music, so there's one positive to highlight.

Hero
Hero was a pleasant surprise shown off at E3 2019. The default hero from Dragon Quest XI appeared at the start of Nintendo's presentation and with that hero come the protagonists from Dragon Quest III, IV and VIII respectively. As a Dragon Quest fan, I was hoping for the iconic mascot, the Slime but I call Hero a pleasant surprise because of their execution with having all the various spells from the series in their moveset. I won't get into too much detail, but Hero was a plus for me. I need to pick up XI.

Banjo-Kazooie 
Whoo. This one knocked it out the park for me. Not only was this reveal the highlight of the pass, it managed to overshadow the sequel of Breath of the Wild afterward. What is there to say? A literal never-ever pick comes to reality. I wanted Banjo-Kazooie in Brawl and my sixteen year-old self would have probably shit himself with hype.

Nothing else to say here. This prompted me to buy the pass.

Terry Bogard
Terry hails from Fatal Frame, an IP by SNK Playmore. I've played their games so I knew who he was. A lot of the Smash Bros. fanbase however did not. You gotta love how quickly people were attacking Terry because they don't know anything about him. Even better when you hear the talk about 3rd party characters being more exciting and hype and then those same people get a very iconic 3rd party character added and then complain. Which is it, hype 3rd parties or boring 1st parties in their own words? It can't be what you want personally, and I'm guilty of this as well.

During Terry's initial reveal, Sakurai also dropped this as well.

Joy. More shitflinging.

That said, we come to the very last pick of this pass.

Byleth
Byleth hails from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Yep. ANOTHER Fire Emblem character, totaling to eight characters. Naturally, everyone was outraged. I wasn't mad. In fact I called it given Corrin in the last Smash Bros. game. Nintendo and even Sakurai himself are that conceited and out of touch to do it. And if the second pass is anything to go by, it's going to be the same with the last character. By buying the pass instead of each individual pack, I technically got Byleth for free. But that's like getting an extra skittle in a bag containing an average of forty or so candies with forty-eight being the max and then you get fifty-one in a bag. Not the best analogy.

I'm not buying the second pass until I see what they're showing, like the first. I may have to hold off on buying the pass, even if I see a Banjo-tier character.

With Smash out the way, let's change gears.


-Covid-19. Or the Coronavirus. The Coronavirus festered in 2019 and started to blow up around late February of this year. Since then, plenty of businesses shut down and millions of not billions of dollars were lost as a result. But for me, it was the people's reaction and response to the whole situation. As a recluse and introvert, I had no issue with staying inside. I've been doing so for the last...fifteen years. The amount of times I've gone out with 'friends' and associates can be counted on my hand.

But to those who can't handle a little bit of isolation is laughable, to some very hilarious results.
And this is not the only incident. Seriously, I could get outraged and pissed off, but I have to laugh at this. If at least the thought of a few months in isolation from a potentially fatal virus is enough to drive you to suicide, that only shows how weak your will is as a person. There are way more serious matters to deal with and you pick this as an excuse to kill yourself. Natural selection at work.

The virus itself, I'm sure I have. In fact, I know that just about everyone has it in some way shape or form. I had a stomachache around the time of cases popping up in the US and the following diarrhea that came with it was not pleasant. I may as well have been shitting out my stomach acid at that point. Covid-19 can kill anyone at any given moment, no matter what. I'll risk Covid-19 but I won't pretend I'm fully immune from it, and I know I'm not and wasn't. But I know I'm in a good spot due to one thing...

Years of eating right and exercise can do wonders for you. It's not just for wanting to live long and healthy, it's also to be prepared for situations like Covid-19 so that your body has the resources to fend off new and unknown threats. Covid-19 can be detrimental and fatal to those who have preexisting conditions. Of course with black people, at least in America, that is a very common factor. The Coronavirus should not have been the turning point where you eat healthy.

In good times and bad, you should be eating your vegetables. Matter of fact, fruit is a double-edged sword as it does contain natural fructose. Vegetables however have dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins needed for a healthy body and how coincidental that most 'adults' do not like to eat their vegetables.

Overall, I'm not bothered by this too much. Wearing a face mask is a bitch and a half but that's one inconvenience. This was a decent wake-up call for the world and the way things are set up. Perhaps this awakening will be the start of a new status quo.


-Third topic, I got fired recently from my job back in February, right at the doorstep of Covid-19 coming to fuck everything up. Let's just say this much about that job: I don't need it as much as some people would think. The work is too much for the little amount of pay you get and the work I was doing was far beyond what one person can do. Two and a half years of that shit. Never again. Covid-19 made me reconsider my stance on retail and working in general. A kick in the ass if you would, one everyone needed, me included.

I was ready to find a new job, but then quarantine happened and well...

I won't say that I won't work another job again, but I will say I'm at that point in my life where I can't stomach the bullshit that comes with a job. Keyword, job. A career is another story. I don't need to get into detail the situation that comes with a black man trying to get a job in this world. Last to get hired, first to get fired. I didn't get my job because I was hard-working, I knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy. That's it. I knew this for years, but I finally realized what came of that scenario and it shows.

You don't have to be competent at your job to get it or keep it. Competence means jackshit, just know the right person and you're in. That is it. Know enough people and you're set. For me being an introvert, that is a death sentence in this social world we live in. This is why I wasn't mad at being fired and this is why I enjoy the situations above with people committing suicide just because they couldn't socialize. Building a social network is beneficial, but working on yourself is a plus as well. Sometimes you just need to fall back and relax. Just chill out.

The general politics with working in retail irks me. I don't like most customers, I want to do my work, I don't do small talk and if I don't like a manager or supervisor, I really don't want to interact with you. I'm here to make money, not friends. And don't pretend I had a chance to grow, your actions say otherwise even if I don't tell you my actual ultimatum. The benefits of being an introvert, you can tell who's genuine and who's a goober. No offense to the candy.

For introverts like me, it was just another lonely day to myself. Some people will never have that problem and this pandemic forced the hands of a lot of people for the better. You can look at my past posts and see where I stand on social distancing.

So, that's that on my job. I won't go on detail with my scenario for now but I'm happily content with my current situation and will try to build my own brand and platform.


So, that covers up most of the relevant stuff. Will I go into dormancy again? I'm going to try to put some material on this blog if it's still around. May as well go for it.

Pay a visit to my site while you're at it. Volume 10 of The World of Mission is finally out!

Adult only in name: The legal children of society

Happy 2019.

This post is going to talk about something I've noticed and only come to the realization of fully as of last year. When you work a dead-end retail job, you're going to encounter every walk of life there is. And boy, are they something to observe. But as the years of work pile up, I see things for what they are and I see what these people really represent.

The title of this post is Adult only in name. Why do I say that? Well, I consider that even as an adult, I don't really feel like one. But I look at other adults like me and I see that maybe I am one, because the things I've heard and seen are beyond what I can comprehend.

First, working the jobs I've had, I've had to clean up after other people. It's not a pleasant feeling and I've had my fill of it. But I have to ask a question: What's wrong with just putting things in a trashcan? Are you that inept or lazy that you can't just do a simple thing like that? If this is how you treat other people's property, I don't wanna see your house. And why do you take things that you don't want and put them in places where they don't belong? Fun fact: Frozen foods and refrigerated foods are not one in the same. If you don't like something, fine. But don't leave the sample cup on the shelf half-eaten with whatever parasites linger in your mouth. That irritates me more than anything seeing food wasted.

Never mind the children that put cold items on the shelves.

Why do I call them children? Because only children act that way. Only children would not know where to put things at. And only children react to being called out for it with a lie or a tantrum. A lot of those occur. Another example, not one of my own but one I saw many a time on the internet: When a comedian does a show, you may see a heckler or two making a commotion for various reasons. Regardless of what those reasons are, you have a supposed adult making a disturbance for everyone else just because the performer told a joke they didn't like or they feel like commentating on everything the person with the mike says.

And most of time, said disturbances are under the influence and I'll get to that soon in another example. But notice that when you see belligerent people like this they usually had a drink or two in their systems and act out? It's always funny to see a comedian handle them they way they do. Even better is when a heckler isn't malicious but just rambling on and both parties go back and forth playfully. The ones who aren't make it all the better when the comedian is witty enough to make an ass out of them without them knowing it. Pure bliss.

Some people can't go out in public without causing a ruckus. When I was younger and went wherever to whoever's house, my mother always told me "Yes, No, Thank You, No Thank You." To my annoyance. And I thank her every day for it. Same with my father when he took me to the store and told me to say thank you when I got my candy. It's amazing what manners can do for a person, and anyone who comes to a live show of any sort and disrupts the performance based on their own grievances and lack of self-respect really needs to be disciplined. These are also the types that can't handle the concept of an opinion. Online, you can have a person berate and harass you just because you don't agree with X or stand by Y. Internet has given these children a place to dump their mental garbage and it shocks them when someone chooses to keep a clean house and be respectful of another person's belongings. Sometimes, these are actual children. What does that tell you about the current generation and the generation to come.

But alas, they are adults and no one can tell them anything. I'm not saying this in the sense of I know it all, I mean in the sense of common, if that made any sense. No one should have to tell you to keep your voice down when you're in a library or to not talk during a live show of any sort. Only children do that, and even in that scenario they aren't being raised correctly. The legal children of society are now raising more children who will grow up physically but not mentally. Now, going back to my statement with alcohol, Something that needs to be told to every child in grade school and even college,

Doing adult things does not make you an adult. 


Take some time to process that. When I was still a child in school, I did want a girlfriend, but that was the result of my developing hormones, which I had no control over. I still watched cartoons and played video games, which is normal. I even watched PBS up until fifth grade, which is also normal. I'd wager some of these 'adults' could have used a few more years with the channel. When Arthur and Dragon Tales provide a more fulfilling experience than the cartoons they showed on the other channels, you know something went wrong. Around middle school is where all the so-called children tried to be adults, and it showed. Skipping school, fighting, talking about stuff that children shouldn't watch. I'm guilty of this, watching South Park and not knowing what a hummer or a clitoris is. 

On the other hand, I was weened off The Simpsons.

Anyway, middle school is where you start to see these teenage pregnancies and so on and in my school, one of the most notorious girls had vodka in a plastic bottle and was never seen again. Another girl gave a male student oral sex in eighth grade and she had a massive ass to boot. I was unconcerned about those events then, but now it resonates with me more; these are likely the adults who never grew up mentally. Puberty is a sign of physical development; it says nothing about your mental development. Who the hell knows what happened to the girl with the alcohol or the girl who was easy and loose? Never mind high school and senior year. These same girls were watching the music videos on BET and while the girls there are good for a session or two with Mylef Tahan, that's all it amounted to for me. Once I got that out the way, back to being a kid.

But some of these people, I may be hard on without knowing their situation fully. Some of these children either live alone by emancipation or they have to raise other children while being children themselves or even having their ailing grandparents raise them, forcing their development at a time when they aren't ready for it. I won't fault anyone that was put in that situation, but I can say that said circumstances could have been avoided by the previous generation.

In general, adult children tend to be the ones who start arguments over small stuff or become angry over a minor error at a retail store. Things aren't going to go your way every time, but starting a fight over a fixable error does nothing but put you in a deeper hole. Now you're in court because of the person you assaulted taking legal measures and now a blemish on your record lingers forever. As a teen, I stayed out of trouble and if that made me a 'punk' or a 'bitch ass nigga', so be it. I'm not the one in jail or on probation. It's okay to defend yourself, but only if you have to. If someone attacks you, that's a justifiable reason to attack, consequences be damned. 

But isn't it funny how even if you're in the right, you still get screwed over? Remember that most schools never punished the bully ('memba this too?), and in some cases even supported him? That bully never had to face any consequences growing up, hence his lack of mental development and learning the process of right and wrong. As an adult, what does that mean for the rest of society? This underdeveloped person feels he can do what he pleases and not face the consequences. Sometimes, he may just get his just desserts for the first time, other times he finds a means to get off scott free.

                                         


But back to the original subject, people like the bully I mentioned linger in society by the dozen. You can also add in the spoiled children who never worked a day in their lives in this article too. I probably hate those types more than the people I interact with daily. They aren't always necessarily well-off, mind you. These were the kids who were on reality television whining about not getting a red Acura or Mercedes or the kids today who cried about not getting a Galaxy 7 phone, going back to my previous statement.

But I've encountered people whose parents are actually worse than they are. One co-worker way back mentioned to me about how his mother talks about Africa having starving children and to eat everything on your plate when he was growing up. Now, this same parent is guilty of doing the same thing he did as a child. Even better is he cooks his own food,  his mother asks for some, she takes two bites and leaves it in the refrigerator, but I see that with my current set of co-workers to this day. Why buy a $18 meal and only eat half of it? You can tell they're well-off that they can do such an act. I repeat; wasting food is my biggest pet peeve. An adult picking at a meal like a child pisses me off. And you wonder why you have diabetes before thirty.

To end this rant, I wasn't dirt poor, but I wasn't rich either. But I can say that encountering these adult children matured me more than whatever my mom or dad taught me. Seeing the teenage parents and Maury Povich making money off their ignorance scared me straight, seeing adults act so recklessly with seven kids and no job really resonated with me when I moved to the south and seeing them now reminded me that maybe I'm not in such a bad position. It really could be worse. 

 

MUCH worse.

An alternative title for this piece could be, what defines an adult?

Super Smash Bros.: A Retrospective Part VII: The Final Stretch

So, everything was going well. I was on top of the world and everyone was getting excited for who would be next to be revealed. You really had to have been at the center of all the Brawl hype to understand why these characters were wanted and why King K. Rool's conclusion was so important: With him in, it seemed like relevancy was no longer a factor in deciding the roster. You could finally get Skull Kid, or Isaac from Golden Sun, or even Lip, Ray-01 and possibly Black Shadow. Everyone was excited, especially Golden Sun fans. But before that, lemme post that trailer again:

This trailer, by far got the most views from all the newcomer trailers. Not only that, but it's singlehandedly produced so many memes and image macros/jokes/etc. Even King K. Rool's render generated a lot of funny stuff.

If this doesn't tell you how big his return is, nothing will.

To see Rool finally get in line with all the silly fun shit you see online was heartwarming. Smash is the defacto kingmaker. If your character gets in the roster, he or she will become an instant star and have a lifetime of insurance. But funny enough, all the haters are now pretending that he was obvious as a pick and that now there aren't any more Nintendo characters to add at this point. Funny how that works huh? Never mind all the leaks that popped up yet King K. Rool was not leaked, making him a genuine surprise and all the more satisfactory to experience and enjoy.

Now then, I mentioned Golden Sun earlier and I wanna say that I have played the first title and while I didn't care for it much, I do admit the characters and lore are interesting enough. After King K. Rool's reveal, a new trademark was filed for Golden Sun along with other IP's alongside it. Coincidentally, King K. Rool had a trademark filed three years ago. Not to mention this tweet with this image:

Now, you can't blame people for drawing conclusions. On the other hand, it was also a damning piece of evidence for what would come...but first things first: A new direct was coming our way early September...until an earthquake at Hokkaido caused a week-long delay. Some people thought it the tweet and the delay was tied into Isaac's potential reveal with his Earth Psynergy. Instead, what we got was this:

This was shown at the end of the direct, after a confirmed rewrite of script due to the delay. This was also a reveal for a new Animal Crossing for the Switch. But overall, you already knew this was coming with the "Not actual gameplay footage" message that every fucking trailer has to have because people are idiots. But that's not even the worst part; the trailer was just boring. Everyone knew SHE was the pick, so get on with it already. Yes, Isabelle was the next newcomer and she was a clone to boot. Not that it was a problem but coming off King K. Rool and the Belmonts, it was such a drag. And the week-long delay did not help either. So, there it was; our next newcomer. And with that was the collector's edition of Ultimate shown with all the characters on the boxart, leading to another theory: There was only two spaces left and people were anticipating them to be Ken from Street Fighter and Gen VII Fire-type Starter Incineroar from Pokemon Sun and Moon. People expected Ken due to the Echo Fighter thing, but a lot of people didn't like Incineroar.

I still haven't played Gen VII, so I withhold personal opinion on this. It does tie in with the "Don't expect too many newcomers" line and a lot of people wanted to believe otherwise, like Sakurai did with the rusing of K. Rool. So the wait began. And the leaks kept popping up. Every fucking hour a new 'leak' popped up. It was just annoying but sometimes it was fun. Sometimes. Some images appeared, and some were convincing, others were bullshitty. But among the leaks, there was a supposed true leak that appeared among the fake ones.

It was very hard to debunk this one, so people took it as fact. But a few weeks later, another 'leak' showed up and man, this one stood out.

The infamous Grinch Leak, named for the promo clip of The Grinch at the corner of the top corner image. If you can't see, on the banner to the left is the supposed final roster, with Isaac, Shadow the Hedgehog, Mach Rider, Ken, Chorus Kids, Geno and fucking Banjo-Kazooie. What.

What indeed. But a post from /v/ foreshadowed it. Now, at the time, you'd think seven characters was too much. it was
But look at it this way:

Inkling
Daisy-e
Ridley
Simon
Richter-e
Chrom-e
Dark Samus-e
King K. Rool
Isabelle
Isaac
Shadow-e
Mach Rider
Ken-e
Chorus Kids
Geno
Banjo-Kazooie

Of the sixteen characters, six were Echoes. Ten newcomers weren't too much if you go by Melee's additions. So it fit. Right? Well...

WELL...

I was skeptical. But I gradually grew hopeful. This was a good balance of fan picks, a retro rep and a shock rep. It hit all the right spots. Geno, the REAL never ever and Banjo-Kazooie, who had Phil Spencer's support going back into 2015. Many people tried to debunk it, but failed. A lot of people were against it and and some 'supposed' insiders were angry. On that note, good. I'm glad they were shaken up. Leakers spoil things for people and the hype/surprise is dulled just because they want Twitter followers and likes. King K. Rool to this day remains a joyful surprise. But there was too much to talk about with that leak and it was a LONG week. But November 1st was the day of the final direct but beforehand, our buddy Vergeben claimed that Isaac was an assist trophy once more. People were yelling at him, hyped over the Grinch Leak. All that was left to do was to see it through.

So, Sakurai starts things off and shows off a final trailer.

Boxing ring with Little Mac fighting...you guessed it, Ken. Ken more or less was Ryu's echo fighter like people expected. But midway, a pair of eyes showed up in the shadows of the entrance.

At that point, a lot of people realized it: The box theory was true: These was our last two fighters. Incineroar appeared and took out Ken. With those two, the final roster was complete. Yeah, I was pretty stunned myself. So that meant that everything that was shown over that week was just a ruse. Someone played everyone for a fool. The work done on the leak was better than anything else before. I tip my hat to that man. But let's try to break down some highlights of this presentation.

First, the green section of the menu. Spirits: A new way to experience characters. Or what everyone saw: Stickers: The Sequel. These spirits were an attempt to add all the heavily requested characters on the ballot to the game somehow, someway (Speculation on my part). Black Shadow? Lip? Isaac? Captain Syrup? Anyone you can think of?

Well, here's their 'spirit': A still image with an added rainbow aura around it. Whooooooo. And worse: Trophies were gone. On a claim that there were too many to add. And to an extent that was true. But this spirit shit was not a suitable replacement. On the other hand, you avoid THE EMBODIMENT OF GROSS DID I MENTION HE'S GROSS. But the real purpose of the mode was to have these characters represent a special set match with a set gimmick based around that character. Basically event mode but bigger. And more tedious. And before long, this showed up:

Yep, that's her.

Lip...as a Mii costume. JOY. But wait, there's more.

Well, the trademark confusion is put to rest.

Still, ouch. Ten minutes later...

"Damn it." - Shadow

Well, Shadow wouldn't have made a good echo fighter anyway. At least -

OUCH.

This one made me yell in anger. He knew people wanted him but pulled this shit. You get cut from For and return back to the role you previously held. Another suggestion was Black Knight as an echo fighter to Ike. Yeah, eight fucking Fire Emblem characters, but he got put in the corner as well. And if that wasn't bad enough...

Some characters weren't even shown, Dillon and Skull Kid. Shit. Atop of that, you had the Moon, Shadow and Skull Kid all in one. The moon as an assist would have gave Skull Kid a reason to NOT appear as an assist and even jump up to playable. And Spring Man, bigger ouch. A hot new IP that was successful, but nope, assist. And there are more of them than there are Pokemon. How? Why??? Frankly, I see a lot of newcomer potential in this picture. But not as much as the spirits. Way to squander your newcomer potential, Masahiro. This wasn't gonna please anyone, and he knows it. But to top this shitshow off just right...

Yep. DLC. And you don't even know who you're going to get. He even told you not to get it unless you have faith in what they'll be putting out (And I don't). Everyone fears that this will be composed of adverts and shill picks. But then comes another surprise...

Yes, that is a Piranha Plant and yes, it is a playable character. Yes, Sakurai picked it on the grounds that it was more well known than certain main characters from certain series (You can decide who they are). Your most wanted was shafted for a Mario drone. And yes, that is a surprise character, Sakurai. No amount of dolling up will say otherwise.

And finally, comes this.

World of Light: Another instance of Sakurai's original creations coming in towards the things that people come to Smash for. Smash itself seems to have its own narrative and that's cool and all, but people come for the characters, not some shitty concept that never made it in Kid Icarus: Uprising and for damn sure not your interpretation on what some characters should be in your eyes. And the little cinematic at the end showcased Kirby being the sole survivor of the attack. Cute. He even tried to justify it and did a bad job at it.

Cut the shit Sakurai, you have some bias and preferences. You're only human. Admit to them. The damn fans sucking you off doesn't help much either. And on that note, he also seems to be pissy about criticism. Lemme tell you something, no matter how hard you work, no matter how much soul your pour into something, when you are putting your creation out there with a price tag no less, it stops being charitable and becomes a business.

I repeat: When you put a price tag on your hard work, it is business. And if you do not deliver on your end, or if I see that your product is not to my standards, you get nothing and I take my business elsewhere. That is basic economics. I pay for your game, I see something I don't like, I critique it. Not because I'm entitled, or ungrateful, but because I want to see you improve on things I feel could be addressed. Again, I pay money for your game, you get my money in your wallet and do whatever with it and at that point, I see what it's all about.

By the way, I brought Kid Icarus: Uprising on release. It's shit. That plastic stand stayed in my bathroom cabinet for YEARS. Any game that requires a piece of shit like that isn't worth hurting your fucking hand over, you piece of shit.

Enough of that, the highlight of that trailer was the vocal arrangement of the main theme for Ultimate. Pass. The E3 arrangement was better. But I admit the montage of characters is nice to see and it IS a celebration of Smash from past to present. And I saw this shot and it reminded me of why I brought the damn game in the first place:

King K. Rool standing among Bowser, Mario and every other Nintendo character front and center. You damn right I'm giving this a shot. And you wanna know what true entitlement and ungratefulness is? Him adding King K. Rool, but me not acknowledging what he did with him and just saying "Too little, too late." 2016, I'd have been at that position. You can enjoy a game or a book but still criticize certain aspects of it. To not do that and to pretend it's perfect the way it is is tantamount to fanboyism.

But two years and moving on with life later, I came back and gave it one last chance to see if my vote mattered.

And it did.

...In more ways than one.

So, with that direct out the way and emotions cooling down, I was still set on buying Ultimate and it was just a matter of waiting. Right on the eve of Ultimate's release, we got a surprise at the Video Game Awards (Hahaha).

Joker joins the battle. Not Joker from Batman, Joker from Persona 5 just so you don't get confused. Didn't play it. Eh. One neutral, four to go.

But at last I got the game. And with that, we can end this little journey into my personal experiences  with Super Smash Bros., spanning nearly twenty years, from a curious start to a period of insomnia and lack of sleep to a broken heart and angry fanboyism and coming full circle and finding peace with the series to an extent. A decade long wait for a character I really liked and a request from my final moments as a teenager fulfilled at last. I'll keep my eye on the DLC and give some updates on it when it's all over and said and done. But until then, have a Happy New Year and visit my website for my main focus: My books and overall career path. 2019 will have something to look forward to and I'll be sure to update this blog with more material alongside it.

Fin~

Super Smash Bros.: A Retrospective Part V: Vote or Die

Months pass and Nintendo releases another direct in April of 2015. Things start off with Iwata in his final appearance on camera showing off Mewtwo's reveal trailer and release and we also get two more announcements...

Lucas returns to Smash and the biggest announcement of them all, and what I consider to be Iwata's Swan Song for what made me come back to this skeleton:

The Super Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot. A suggestion box where people could vote for the character they wanted to see the most. For me, I was still speculating on who could be added. I didn't want Lucas cut and I was happy about Mewtwo returning. Who did I vote for? I voted twice on my phone and my computer. First vote:

I made a specific statement on why King K. Rool should be added in Smash For and I remember filling out a Club Nintendo survey for Ganondorf's skins in Hyrule Warriors and mentioning King K. Rool as well as Donkey Kong's lack of reps while Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus had more despite the lack of sales or games. Donkey Kong Country at the time outsold ALL of Fire Emblem and I need not mention the latter. I was apeshit over the lack of Donkey Kong reps and I was gonna make damn sure that something came from this. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who felt this way:

From the original thread on the Smashboards, a massive 1200+ pages of support for the Kremling King. I was there already back in 2014, but the increased support gave me a second home. I was at the DKVine as well and still pop up from time to time. It's one of the biggest threads at the time and still is. But on to my next pick:

I was a big fan of Mother 2/Earthbound and felt that Paula could be a neat little dessert, utilizing her PSI better than Ness could at the cost of power and weight. Maybe she could have a gauge showing how much PSI she had to use so you could balance things out with replenishing your PSI and using bigger attacks for more PSI. That's really it.

Anyway, my spirit was revived with new Smash characters coming in. Dixie could have a shot at long last and it was speculated that Roy and Ryu were next on the list. I guess Roy was another instance of bringing back a popular character but Ryu was interesting: I felt that Mega Man was added due to Capcom arranging Ryu to appear as well. Basically you want our character, you put in this character too. I had no issue with him funny enough. The way he plays is tantamount to an actual Street Fighter game, inputs and all. Said IP was also a prominent game among my friends and family too. So overall, I was enjoying the game with the additions and the one new character but I couldn't help but notice something:

 

Lyn aside, this was getting a little out of hand. Sakurai boasting his love for Fire Emblem when he explained Lucina's inclusion led to four reps instead of three and with Roy, you have two Marth variants. Marth did change from Brawl and For so Roy was more or less his Melee counterpart with some tweaks here and there and also why Ultimate's picks are the way they are. But never mind that, Fire Emblem is now at five reps, six if you use any Robin with custom moves. A bit disproportionate but there was still some hope, right?

Right???

"Has your Mii Fighter always dreamed of being king of the Kremlings? Now your Mii Fighters can realize their true destiny with this King K. Rool costume!"

...
End of July, this popped up via tweet, a costume for the Mii Brawler. This as far as I was concerned was the killing blow for King K. Rool in Smash For. And this also proves the Smash Ballot was taken into consideration with this costume. You think this was added by coincidence? I gave up hope at this point. Dixie wasn't coming if this character who had way more momentum was regulated as a costume.

Yeah, that was it. And the ballot was still ongoing for a bit, so way to kill the hype for me, Mii costumes. I didn't like them because they took up so much time to develop according to Sakurai with their custom moves and then you can't use them online and now, this gave me even MORE reason to hate them. It's no better than Assist Trophies in my opinion. Begrudgingly, I kept my eye on For to see what was gonna come of this whole ordeal. Fast forward to November, and...

Fucking hell. The one character a fair chunk of the Smash Bros. community really didn't expect or even want. But here you go. I gave no fucks about Cloud and I sure as hell wasn't buying him. Top off the shit sundae, The stage he came with had only two tracks. It doesn't help that I only saw him as a character used from Ike's base model. The damn Final Smash even looks similar to the Aether. That overall left a nasty taste in my mouth and there was more to come. Awaiting December, the final Smash Direct arrived.

The last direct and the would-be results of all that ballot stuffing. How do you start things off?

With another Fire Emblem character, of course! What better way to ensure the upcoming title's success than to use Smash Bros. to promote it? So, that leaves us with six characters from Fire Emblem, and they all use swords. But you can also play as the female version of Corrin too. Now you can do an eight-player Smash with all Fire Emblem! Cool, right? Only two minutes in and the entire internet was in an uproar. Next was Cloud's explanation and his release after that direct. But then came another unexpected surprise in that same video: Geno from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars...as a Mii costume.

Good glory. Geno was a character up there with King K. Rool and Ridley and countless others requested since 2006 and this was Sakurai's way of trying to add some compromise for that. at the time I was neutral to him, but in retrospect, I've grown to respect his fandom and overall character. It helps that I did play Super Mario RPG and consider it a unique game among the Mario RPG games.

This is also the one time I can't attack Sakurai directly; this is all on Square. Why they own the character but are so anal with it is beyond me. When are they gonna use Geno again, in the next Dissidia title? What a laugh. After some more Mii pelts, we finally saw the results of the ballot...

Yep. Bayonetta* according to the final direct was the winner of the Smash Ballot.
*Among realizable choices

Now that particular asterisk rose some question, a lot more than I care to explain. Exactly what did realizable mean? What the dev team could do on such short notice? Who Sakurai wanted personally? Other circumstances? Either way, I refuse to believe that Bayonetta* won the ballot and she was cherrypicked among many other characters. Like Cloud, I didn't buy her or Corrin. It's not because I hate her character, as I do own both Bayonetta games and also the PC version of the first game, but the reasoning behind her. It doesn't help that the final three are disgustingly overpowered and Sakurai admitted that you have to buy them to beat them. Bayonetta* in general being by far worse than Metaknight in Brawl. Funny enough, combos were downplayed in Brawl onward but Bayonetta* brings them back and look at the results.

In general, Smash For to me is the low point of Smash Bros.. Brawl was coming off Melee's reins and Brawl had divided the community severely and no one wanted a sequel to it. The fanbase was already fatigued from it and Smash For on the surface seemed like a different game but playing it, it was more or less Brawl but even more stripped down. Content was spread between two games and I wasn't buying both games for one mode, but I had the game with the shittier mode, go figure. Collecting trophies was fun in Melee and even Brawl had more to play with albeit with model ports and so on. But For?

Wario

A living embodiment of gross, this villain hates Mario and loves money. He claims to have known Mario since childhood, but who can tell if that's true? In Smash Bros., he's a seriously agile heavyweight fighter. He can store up his trademark Wario Waft for explosive results. Did I mention he's gross?

Pokemon Trainer
 
Pop quiz! What do Misty, Brock, Cynthia, Iris, and Ash all have in common? That's right-- they're all Pokémon Trainers! This Pokémon Master in the making is the same. Back in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he fought to be the very best-- like no one ever was. To smash them was his real test-- to launch them was his cause!
I'll leave it at that, as there are enough examples to pick from, but that first one rubbed me the wrong way. Not a mention of WarioWare even. Wario may as well be a Smash original. And that trophy section of his in Brawl and For were a joke. Same with Mother and Yoshi. How the fuck does Melee have more variety in trophies with the latter and even the former if you don't count alts? You can tell that For was done out of obligation and not by passion but here it shows more. With that direct to an end, I gave the game away to my nephew and cut my losses. Under twenty hours played. What a joke.

At that point, I cut Smash out my life completely and wanted no more to do with it. There were other games I cared for and other series I liked. I'll end things with a piece from my old diary, typos and all. Take note of the section I underlined:


6/8/11
So Nintendo finished their conference yesterday. They announced some things along with their controller for the new console(They didn't show it just yet). Two things related to
Pokemon was Smash Bros.(Two titles)and a 3D Pokedex. The latter has 3D renders for Gen V Pokemon, and it's free(for a limited time, I bet). Kinda cool and I bet these models'll
be re-used for the 3D console Pokemon game that's sure to come. It saves time and money.

Now for the former, ugh. I've gotten tired of Smash Bros. Brawl was THAT draining and infuriating. And since playing Pokemon, I haven't looked back. I bet you there'll be some
more Gen I/II worship for this game. Zoroark is the only good thing that'll inevetably happen, maybe Black to replace Red. People want Blue(not Gary, fuck him)to return with yet
more Gen I Pokemon to use. Sadly the developement teams might feel the same way. I hate the nostalgia that Gen I and II generated and I especially hate the fans. Here's some
fairness for all sides: Get a rep for every Gen, bring back anyone that was cut from the last game, don't cut any characters at all and just lessen the bullshit factor. That's
what gradually killed the game for me.

And you know what? Even if Smash Bros(Or rather the team behind it)doesn't fufull this quota, the main games that have no relation to Smash Bros. will. Black and White, you've
done well. Gray will do even more and GameFreak will always deliver. Short version: Fuck Smash Bros. Stick to the games that it borrowed elements from it. That said, the 3DS
and the Wii U(Sillier than the Wii itself, no?)will both get a Smash Bros. and they'll connect to each other somehow. The one thing I'm worried about is how much money this'll
all cost. Damn. Again, there's some optimism to be had, but I'm in no rush to get excited. My tastes have changed.

Shit that annoys me

-People who don't turn off their phones in the library.

-Painted toes. I don't know why, but I just don't like seeing toes painted. It's not a turn-off. Except on fat women. Vanity is a liability.

-On that note, fat women being mislabeled as plus size or thick. The two mentioned have more to them, while still showing some level of fitness. Fat women are fucking fat and have no appeal at all. If you're into that, good. Just call it what it is: Fat.

-Ever dealt with that one person that lingers behind you when you're working, and they just HAVE to see what you're putting out? Get outta here, I'm working.  Even worse, when they ruin the shelf you neatly organized. If you want something, SPEAK.

-When I'm in the grocery store, and I see a white person coming the opposite direction, they'll grab something off the shelf, and turn their cart around. Gotcha, motherfuckers. You didn't think I knew that, huh? And I've ONLY seen white people do it. Busted. Next time I see you pull that trick, I'm calling you out for it.

-When I download an MP3 file, and the artist and album information is either left blank, or the person who ripped the music puts their name in. I make it a rule to acknowledge the composer for their work. Music is just important in a game as the director and producer. When I download an MP3 file, I expect the uploader to put the title and the album information in the properties. Over 50% of the time, this does not happen. And don't leave yourself as the artist, you only ripped the files, you did not compose the music yourself. Put that in the comments section (And even then, don't do that.).

-Mainstream movies. Don't care for them. None are made with my best interest, and the ones that are, are obnoxious. Fuck Tyler Perry.

-Politics. The American political system was not made with me in mind. Whoever wins, I still lose. In a way, it's actually liberating. The less I have to worry about, the better.

-Bars and restaurants. Why waste $80 on poor quality food and drinks when I can get a week's worth of groceries with that? I could pay a bill for that amount. It's much less expensive to cook your own meals. But this generation doesn't know how to work a stove. For that matter, neither does a chunk of people I see.

-Add clubs, too. Just what I wanted, loud music and out of shape wenches with muffin tops and rose tattoos on their ankles. Another one, the ankle/foot tattoos. Stop. Those aren't sexy, all those tell me is that you're sexually liberated and need to show off something in an attempt to lead a guy on to you. I bet you're regretting that tattoo now that the guy you fucked is out of the picture and you have another mouth to feed. Any tattoo in general makes my eyes roll, especially if you put it on your stomach or back. Can't wait to see what it looks like when your body loses its luster, and it will.

-Drunkards. This is why I don't drink. Too expensive, the taste is off putting and I tend to drink in bulk. You can't do that with alcohol. So, that is off the books. Plus, you don't need it. I get the world is fucked up and people have issues, but drinking your problems away will only cause more pain, and I don't feel the need to take the brunt of your negligence, be it at work or on the road. Take a breath and reflect on your options.

-People who critique you for your own beliefs and don't practice what they preach. All of a sudden, you're religious or spiritual when I make the option not to be. If you were really as spiritual as you make yourself out to be now, don't get on my case for being an atheist and then you go on and do the exact opposite of what you told me. Stop policing people.

-Long intros to YouTube videos. A simple three second intro is all you need. I do two-second intros. When half your video is the fucking intro, you're getting a dislike from me. I don't even like the obnoxiously flashy one with dubstep.

-I hate those stupid dog faces that Facebook user put over their photos. Those are fucking stupid. Facebook is just as stupid, but that little add-on is annoying. Even worse than the collage of hoodrats with fancy text.

-Sites blocking you from articles because you used an Adblocker. Look, there's a reason I don't want to have some video pop up in the far corner at the bottom of the page and slow down my browser if not outright crashing it altogether. People don't want to see ads. They're annoying. Unskippable ads are very annoying. Make a compromise. You give the notice, but allow us to keep browsing your clickbait site. When you don't give that option, I don't visit your site anymore. My only regret is that I didn't get Adblocker sooner. But some videos put them in with the actual content, making you skim through until it returns to the content and as of late, ads are still present in the form of images. They're getting smarter...

-The absolute butchering and raping of the English language. I am not an expert on grammar and writing, nor I do not claim to be one. I'm just a simple writer who writes what he knows and learns more words in the process if I'm struggling with something. You can put the extra effort into putting that period at the end of your sentence. If that comes off as tryhard and dickish, so be it. This generation doesn't read anyway let alone write. Too many idiots looking at a phone screen while walking. I have the urge to slap that thing out someone's hands one day.

-Idiots who don't put things back where they found them. Working my dead-end job, I wonder what makes people the way they are. I'm convinced the majority of the world are adults with underdeveloped minds, or just adult children.. I've had the notion for a bit a few years back but now I'm convinced 100% the majority of people are idiotic or have don't give a fuck tendencies, more likely the latter. Who cares about being courteous? I'm the customer, they have to serve me. Not really. I have my limits and my integrity is more important than monetary compensation. Going to the next point:

-Anyone who detracts from an important or serious subject. If there's something serious going on, it helps to understand if you have anything valuable to say that contributes to the discussion. If you don't, just listen. Even if you feel the need to speak which you shouldn't, just listen. That's all you have to do. Too many people speak and not listen or observe. Take the person in question's words, process them and after he's done speaking, then release your brain trash. If the only thing you have to say is the guy's shoes don't match his suit, you probably should go to the corner and stand there for ten minutes.

-Cutscenes in video games. Remember when a game was simple to start and you started at level one and then played straight to the final boss? Cutscenes were regulated to the start of a game and the ending. They were special. Now it's just a way to artificially stretch the game's duration. I watched Final Fantasy XIII twice, seven hours of cutscenes. Pretty neat movie but I'm not sure about it as a game. I tried watching XIII-2 and dropped it an hour in. I think it was thirteen hours long. Yikes.

-YouTube clickbait. Thumbnails were a mistake. Just what I wanted to see, some obnoxious people making excited faces with the title in ALL CAPS. Disgusting. I'm glad I dropped making videos. All that work for no acknowledgement. I do enough of that at my jobs.

Whoops.