Category Archives: Rants

When the spirit takes you,
When life just does not seem fair,
When it is the time we are all waiting for,
Subconsciously, deep inside,
We all do it…throw our toys out the pram.
Only difference is
I do it online! :)

a day in the life, Dating, Infarticles, mE, Random Thoughts, Rants

Excercise in futility; aka the dating game

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Having completed Tinder, OkCupid, Match and Bumble, I can honestly say I prefer GTA4.

The rules of the game are simple; “swipe until it’s empty”.

I have done that at “Boss” level. It’s not difficult. Just takes loads of time. Time I clearly had.

I have a whole method for efficient swiping… It’s tap tap tap… Swipe.

Any sedated tigers, chihuahuas, pouting, or loads of gym photos, or a guy’s name on seemingly a woman’s photos, or all serious photos with no smiles, swipe left.

The slightest possibility I might be attracted to them and they seem normal and their smile actually reaches their eyes, swipe right.

Works just as well as randomly swiping left and right with my eyes closed (I have tried it).

And you have to have lots of uncomfortable chats where you try way too hard to be charming and funny – think pickup lines without the alcohol and background noise to distract from the utter awkwardness of it, a few slightly awkward dates (now video calls, which is the “advanced” level difficulty), and end up realising you can’t work out the most basic reason people are attracted to one another – that magical unknown quantity of “chemistry” – without actually meeting the person in person.

It is at that point that you “complete” the dating app.

And, just because we are creatures of habit, we then go try other dating apps, because maybe, just maybe, doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is not the definition of insanity.

Once we have completed all available dating apps, and come to that same realisation time and again, with friends and strangers egging us on the whole time by dangling that “I have friends who met online and got married and are really happy” magical power up in front of us, do we officially “complete all levels” in the online dating game.

There is no winning. It is realising that we are simply confirming the uselessness of it all that means we have “leveled up”.

That is why it is called “gamifying”, or the “gamification” of, dating.

It’s a game, and the only ones to win are the companies that make money from us endlessly swiping.

So we get frustrated and delete the apps, only to return a few months later in desperation, hoping against hope that, somehow, this time it will be different.

For proof of this, just see how many profiles say, “I had deleted this app but I am back now hoping to delete it again…”

I think we need a “Dating Apps Anonymous” group.

Infarticles, mE, Rants

“Illegal immigrant” is a bigot’s term

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To all the so-called US patriots (and other “patriots” of other countries):-

Labelling a human being “illegal,” is by its very nature dehumanising them.

So let’s start with terminology.

I think the word we are looking for is, “undocumented” immigrant.

According to the US Constitution, there is no such thing as an “illegal” immigrant.

That is a term used by conservatives, right wingers, racists, and bigots to dehumanise other human beings, to justify treating them inhumanely. (See Nazis for labelling Jewish people “it” rather than “him” or “her,” to dehumanise them to make it easier to justify murdering millions.)

With regards to UNDOCUMENTED immigrants, they are actually legally protected under our US Constitution;

“As an undocumented immigrant, you do have constitutional rights here in the United States,” she said, “and that has been said over and over in the courts, that they do have constitutional rights.””
(http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2017/mar/29/florida-immigrant-coalition/do-undocumented-immigrants-have-constitutional-rig/)

Therefore, anyone spouting a “send them back where they came from” blanket response to UNDOCUMENTED immigrants is counter to Constitution law precedent, and therefore fundamentally unAmerican, and therefore the opposite of the patriotism one purports to feel towards America. (In other words, the very use of the term “illegal immigrants” is unpatriotic, as well as bigoted.)

We can all have an opinion, but please avoid selling happy horseshit as fact.

ANYONE using the term “illegal” when applied to human beings (or any living being for that matter) is a bigot (either unknowingly, or, having read this post, on purpose).

Here is some info on why labelling anyone “illegal” is wrong, from a technical standpoint – http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/21/immigration-debate-the-problem-with-the-word-illegal/ …

And from a linguistic standpoint – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/06/illegal-immigrant-label-offensive-wrong-activists-say

a day in the life, Poems, Random Thoughts, Rants

Confusion

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I look around,
And wonder why
So many people
Have pushed the button
On self-destruct.

I know human beings
Can be selfish and mean,
Horrendous and spiteful,
Then turn around, and
Blow us away, with
Blazing insight and
Unbridled compassion.

So why is it,
That all that I read,
In the main-stream news,
Are idiots’ views, the selfish
And mean, close-minded, hateful
Meme, of the “us” and the “them,”
Strident voices of ludicrously short-
Sighted hate, self-aggrandising voices,
Who, in their inane chatter,
Drown out common sense,
Insensing the followers,
And anti-followers alike,
This great brain-washed subconscious leakage,
Global in spill,
Human-kinds current poison of choice,
Our very own,
Mass-home-made,
Species’ suicide pill.

I watch,
And I listen,
To all those who whisper,
And shout,
The calm
And the strident,
And all in between.

The lovers,
The fighters,
The meek
And the mean.

And all I really take in,
The rhythm beneath the noise,
Is the growing pains
Of a world at war
With itself,
The birth of a new global order,
Unfortunately grasped
As is usual
By the furiously greedy few,
Who see the opportunity,
To screw everyone who isn’t them,
Using mass fear, and racial tension,
To pull the wool over the majority’s eyes,
While they busily reshuffle the deck,
Prep for check-mate,
Before moving in for the kill,
So sure of themselves,
And their control (money) over free will.

What these same arrogant,
Power-grabbing,
Self-satisfied few
Have forgotten, is that
Tens of thousands of
Years ago,
In humanity’s beginning,
Even those who imagined
An all powerful being,
In whatever shape, form, or number,
The one thing that omniscient presence
Could not control
Was free will.

And to the powers that be,
In light of the truth,
And all that has led
To the hear and now,
Beware
Your time is coming.

For in the fertile earth,
That you till, taking more
Than your fair share,
Trodding over all other living things,
You also plant the seeds
Of your own destruction.

So,
Like I said at
The beginning, the sorrow
I feel
As I watch this global car crash
In slow motion
Extends to those
Who believe that they are in
The driver’s seat;
You know not what you do.

And to the rest;
Open your eyes,
Hope and believe,
Open your heart,
Be compassionate,
Empathise,
For love and an open mind
Will be all the power any of us
Have left
When the dust settles.

Here’s to hoping
That we stop the train,
Or at least slow it down,
Before our world becomes a train wreck,
And we all suffer equally
For the greed of the few.

a day in the life, Lyme Disease, mE, Poems, Random Thoughts, Rants

Mustn’t grumble

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As old ocean
Grumbles, deep down joints
Are scanning for movement
Not the way it used to be,
When all was young and new,
And lateral movement a daily joy,
Untainted by fear of damage, break-
Age, or flipped wrong-side-up ligaments,
Tendons squeak tensional protest, as
Old edges to a young body complain,
The gym a place of self mutilation and
Torture, eagerly and easily signed up for,
We pay for the privilege of suffering
In company, misery does not want to be
Alone, and so it is, I push my aching muscles and
Protesting joints to their limit, knowing
That body beautiful is not important
Yet being healthy is. Bow down to the
Shrine of self-flagellation that is called
Fitness, bow down and be counted
Head-low, for this is the new age of
Old timers getting into the swing of
Things, oldtimers no longer rule the
World, but we sure as hell can crowd
The gym!