Lady Gaga had a popular song about 15 years ago called “Express Yourself”. Wait, actually her version was called “Born This Way.” The song was about living your best LGBT life. Implicit in this song was the idea that a LGBT person was born that way, i.e. that god made them that way and they are therefore exempt from judgement from humans here on Earth. But in the spirit of things today, where yesterday’s accepted views are today’s outdated beliefs, I think we’re only 10-20 years away from Lady Gaga being called out to the carpet for this song. Soon we will have people deciding that one day they want to be LGBT, then changing back the next day, then switching again to LGBT whenever they feel like it. They will say that they can pick and choose on a whim whatever letter out of the LGBTQ stack they want to be. It will be their Choice, but people like Lady Gaga said that it wasn’t a choice; that you had to be born that way. So she will be derided as a Choice-a-phobe.

About 4 years ago I went out to the East Coast to attend a big meeting for work. My little group of 3 coworkers sat down to eat in the cafeteria and we were suddenly joined by Roberta (not her real name), a 6 ft. 2 ex-marine who could probably lift me over her head and body slam me. Roberta either used to be a man, or still was biologically, I’m not sure. It’s not an easy subject to bring up lol. Anyway, she leads the big employee group for transgendered people. It was nice to meet her; I think that everyone has a story or two to tell…everyone is interesting in their own way. I never knew Roberta under a different name so to me She is a She. I don’t feel compelled or slighted to have to refer to her under any different pronoun. She dresses like a woman and basically looks like a woman, no harm to me to use that pronoun for her.

One time I had to fly home through the Charlotte airport. This was right after they passed the Bathroom Law, where they said a person had to use the bathroom that matched their birth gender. They even had a bathroom attendant outside the restrooms that greeted everyone. Talk about a waste of money, paying for this guy. I think that if a person can reasonably dress like the other gender and fool everyone that they should be able to use the other genders bathrooms. It’s not like anyone really wants to see anything going on in a bathroom. Just do your thing and get out. The conservatives were in histrionics over this bogeyman they created of some dude dressed up like a woman, going into girls’ bathrooms to spy on them. I have kids, and I have to say that if anyone is trying to spy on them REGARDLESS of gender, then we’re going to have problems.

There’s an option at my work to put your preferred pronouns in your work profile and email signature for everyone to see. I don’t use it. Most people don’t. When I see a non-transgender person listing their preferred pronouns it just looks like virtue-signaling to me. I’m a fairly socially liberal type of person; I don’t care what life anyone wants to live, more power to them. But expecting everyone to change how they use pronouns is a bridge too far for me to cross.

Actually maybe I want to choose my preferred pronouns, but the only choices are he, she and they. What if I don’t identify as any of these three? I mean at this point we’ve already introduced the idea that human judgement is fallible, that the old way of using pronouns is incorrect. So what’s to say that having only three pronouns is correct? You know, here’s what I want. I don’t want to use any pronoun. I don’t want anyone referring to me when I’m not around. Just pretend I don’t exist lol.

If I had to choose pronouns I would use he/hers/them. As in, if I’m the subject of a sentence (I saw Tim today. He looked awesome.) then I’m masculine. But if I possess something then woo-boy lookout! Now I’ve morphed into a woman (Tim has a car. That car is hers). Finally by the time I’m the object of a sentence I’ve already split in multiple people (That bag of money is Tim’s. Give it back to them).

Here’s a short story that’s been percolating in my brain: A man is on his deathbed, surrounded by friends and family. They know it’s his last day. He passes away peacefully. When he dies he sees a light and is drawn towards it. When he reaches the end of the light he is awakened, fully alive and in his body, in what looks to be a waiting room full of other people sitting around. Everyone is wearing the same grey robe. He looks down and sees he is wearing a grey robe as well.

There is a noise to his left. He turns and looks to see what looks to be a human. This person is pushing a cart, handing out pamphlets to everyone. The man takes a pamphlet from the humanoid form. On the cover it says “you are here to be judged”. So, the main thinks, this is it. This is Heaven. It doesn’t look like Heaven. It’s definitely not hell. Maybe it’s some sort of purgatory. His mind is racing. This is a lot to take in; the last thing he remembers was being surrounded by his family, then going towards a light.

He opens the pamphlet and reads the inside. “This is the year 2094. You have previously died but this is not the afterlife. You are still on Earth. Technology has advanced so much that society has been able to recreate your body and consciousness based on DNA extraction from your corpse. You are here today to face judgement! Judgement for the sin of “owning” animals! Be prepared to face justice!”

Armed guards show up and direct the man and the other 20 or so through a set of doors. They leave the waiting room and enter a chamber with 4 or 5 pillars on the sides. At the top of each pillar sits a human-type figure.

“You have all been brought here to face judgement for your horrible transgressions!” booms one of the figures. “You all thought that you could own animals for your own use! Or companionship! Or….for Food!!!!” At this last word all the other humanoids recoil.

“What?” said the man. “What is all of this? I thought I was dead.” Some of the other people surrounding him murmured and agreed with this statement.

“You thought death would be the end of your crimes?” said one of the pillar-bound justices. “You shall be made to suffer, just like you made countless animals suffer during your lifetime!“

“Hey, I didn’t make any animals suffer. I love dogs and cats! I cared for them like they were part of my family”

“Love? Love!? It’s people like you that led to the creation of the Animal Sentience Act of 2073. You think that you’re so superior to other creatures on Earth. Ha! You and your kind led to the mass slaughter and personal gain from animals. It is time that you received a tiny fraction of the pain and suffering that you’ve caused throughout your former life….”

“Wow. Well, hey judge, it’s cool and all that animals have all these rights and sentience and what not. But I didn’t know about any of this when I was alive. I mean, it’s seems kind of cruel to bring me back to life and judge me for what is now a popular belief. Couldn’t you have just let me rest in peace?”

“How foolish of you to believe that Death would be an escape from your crimes! You must be made to pay the price!”

“Um, ok. Hey, howabout since I’m alive now, you let me go free, and I can….I dunno….go live my life among the animals and be a better person and learn from my past and all that? I can treat all creatures with this new found respect.”

“Yes indeed. You will soon live among the animals. You will serve them they way they were made to serve you previously. But you will not at all be free!”

And with that statement the man and the others around him were led out another set of double doors. They were loaded in a cart and sent to work on a farm, breaking ground and planting crops with crude hand tools. They were forced agricultural labor, slaving away for some other unseen force or people or who knows what. They shared the ground with cows and pigs and dogs and cats that were able to roam free.

The man may have worked on the farm for only a couple of days before he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He doubled over and panicked as he couldn’t catch his breath. Armed guards rushed over from a foggy perimeter to lift him up but to no avail. He passed then and there.

After he passed he was greeted by a bright light. His body was drawn toward the light and when he reached the end he found himself in a drab, dreary waiting room. There was maybe 20 or 30 other people in there with him. They all had on drab grey robes. He had on a grey robe.

A humanoid type person came by with a cart. The person was handing out pamphlets to everyone. The man took one and it read “you are here to be judged“.

He opens the pamphlet and read the inside. “This is the year 2123. You have previously died but this is not the afterlife. You are still on Earth. Technology has advanced so much that society has been able to recreate your body and consciousness based on DNA extraction from your corpse. You are here today to face judgement! Judgement for the sin of destroying sentient trees for housing and furniture! Be prepared to face justice!”

And so on and so forth….

The Wife made biscuits and gravy today and it was the best she’d ever made. [<- this is the sentence that I had to provide]

[Below is the sentence that WordPress AI generated]

The other night Elsa created a game for the wifey and myself, which was basically The Newlywed Game. She asked us questions about ourselves and the spouse, and then brought us all together to compare answers to see who knew more about the spouse.

I thought my wife’s favorite movie was Miss Congeniality, just because we watched it before we were even married. I completely forgot that either The Princess Bride or Roadhouse were way better answers. But in my defense I thought Citizen Kane was my favorite movie. I didn’t know really what my favorite was. My wife said Blade Runner was my favorite and she’s completely right. She knows me better than I know myself.

Having said all of that, Blade Runner is an awesome movie! Hell, even Blade Runner 2049 was a great movie.

I hate reading something where it says “Let’s Goooooo!” instead of “Let’s Go!” Or someone asks a question of everyone and then says “And goooooo!!!!!” I know they’re trying to extend the o sound in “go” but to me it looks like it’s pronounced goo instead of go. So I hear someone saying it like “Let’s Gewwwwwwwww” which is kinda disgusting.

It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea.

– Robert Anton Wilson (and J.K. Rowling)

Last night I dreamt that I started a new job. I was asleep (in my dream) and my new boss woke me up at 3:30AM to start working. So I spent the whole morning troubleshooting circuits and really stressing out, trying to make a good impression on my first day.

Then my alarm went off and I had to go to work for real after working all night in my dreams. I would like to complain to whoever is in charge of dreams.

I’m making a real concerted effort to learn C++ this time. It’s still the most popular and powerful computer language. I took computer science classes in college before but they all used Java, which I guess was because Java is “easier” to use and learn. But to me Java is just C++ with all the safeguards removed.

The difference between when, in the past I’ve tried to learn C++ and now, is that Youtube exists now. There is an amazing Youtube channel that I’m subscribed to where the guy really knows the ins and outs of C++ and he demonstrates it well on the screen.

I don’t have a real reason to learn this or any computer programming now other than for my own satisfaction. I’ll most likely never ever have a job where I program just because I don’t have the experience. I don’t even have an idea for software to make. I just like to learn.

Man, if I would have had the internet and Youtube when I was a kid, I would rule the world now lol. When I was young I had to go through the card catalog at the library looking for subjects that piqued my interests. I remember staring at my GameBoy and wondering how would this thing hook up to a computer for game design. I just stared at it, for a long time. There was no way I would even have known where to begin to look for answers. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I was trapped – a victim of my own time and space.

Now that I’m an adult I don’t have any excuse for not pursuing the knowledge that eluded me when I was young. I literally have the world at my fingertips with the internet. Only now I don’t have the time or the requisite boredom needed to put on the blinders and delve into a topic for days on end.

I know soon enough I’ll get bored with computer science and move on to some other obsession; I always do. I always latch onto something for a week or two, then get antsy to do something else. But I don’t worry about this like I used to. Every time I get really into something and then move on I carry more and more of that knowledge with me. So my mind is now a giant salad full of chunks of knowledge from lots of different subjects and disciplines. Maybe it will all coalesce into one giant endpoint some day. Like, if Chicago Bears great Walter Payton can take ballet lessons to make his receptions and runs better, then maybe my level of knowledge about computer programming will make my other hobbies better.

It’s funny that in High School I only took typing classes to make my guitar playing better, you know, with better finger skills or whatever I was thinking. Then I took computer applications classes because I did well at typing. Then I took a computer science HS class because I did so well in Computer Applications. I loved the idea of computers having their own language that I had to know to program them. I built a classroom grading program in Basic that worked great. I was proud of it! So then I went to community college for more computer classes. Then I took French because I liked computer languages so much that I thought I would like real languages.

People who support Ukraine just call it “Ukraine”. People in Russia call it “The Ukraine”, as if it’s still the Ukraine region of the larger Russian country.

One little definitive article can tell you what a person’s politics are. Language is powerful.

Someday soon AI will be advanced enough to tell you just who the hell all these random people are in the background of your old photos. Imagine being notified that you were in the background of Joe Schmo’s Disneyworld photo from 2018.

The Super Bowl food was great this year, like always. I ate a metric ton of wings.