Monday, November 16, 2015

I've really grown tired of social networking. Mainly Facebook. It has really brought out the worst in people that you thought you knew. I suppose I should be thankful. After all, between the happy-happy-joy-joy people who can't allow even one ounce of negativity into their presence and those who spill their guts and whine about every little bad going-on in their lives, it allows people to flag themselves as fearful right-wing morons instead of having to wait to find out the hard way.

Nothing has amplified this more than the last 7 years of the current presidency. I mean, I was already quite aware that I was surrounded by idiotic rednecks still living in the 1950's in this area. But things like, for example, the recent terrorist tragedy in Paris, along with the Pennsylvania governor announcing that he has decided to take Syrian refugees into our state, really stirs them up and brings out the ugly hatred.

Uh, do they not get that these refugees left their homelands to *escape* ISIS? Sure, it does raise a bit of risk of some of the bad guys blending in with them to get easy access to our state and country for nefarious purposes. But living in fear of that and lumping them all in as one and the same is much like lumping all Christians in with the KKK.

Unfortunately, I suspect that many of them only mind such a comparison when it's pointed out.

Posted @ 07:09 PM EST

Thursday, October 1, 2015

I get really puzzled when it comes to thinking about what peoples criteria is for writing off someone as a "negative person" that they no longer want anything to do with. People claim they need to get away from negative people. They also claim to prefer people who are genuine over 'fake people.' People also tend to complain about people turning their backs on them whenever they are going through bad times when they may need support from other people the most.

I am not one to broadcast my problems publicly, especially on social networking. I prefer to talk about the things going on in my life privately with those who I feel I can trust, whether in person or through instant messaging. For the past several years, there have been quite a lot of things going on in my life that weren't quite the best of times. People who I would chat with would ask me what is going on, and I would proceed to tell them. Not looking for advice in most cases, I was just laying it out to them because they asked, and a listening, non-judging ear is always a good thing to help get things out of your system. I was being "genuine" to the people whom I felt I built up a level of trust with, and I would gladly reciprocate, listening to their problems. It seems as time passed, my conversations with these people became more and more brief. They would ask how I was doing, I would tell them, and usually get the standard "well I'm sorry you're going through that." type of response. Now, maybe this is just me, but, telling someone you are sorry for something that is happening to them that you are in no way responsible for, seems a little silly. But, not everybody thinks like I do I guess. Not to mention, venting about an issue does not necessarily require an apologetic response at all, other than maybe something along the lines of "oh, that sucks!" and perhaps discussing some of the details. So anyway, usually not long after I am done explaining the negative things that are going on in my life, something would come up on their end, with them saying "oh, hey, I've got to go take care of this-and-that, brb!" and they would never come back. In most cases, if not all, I would never hear from these people again until I tried to initiate a conversation with them again, which would usually go about the same way. Eventually, I gave up.

I can only assume I was being "too negative" for them, apparently bringing them down, and was eventually written off as an undesirable person to converse with. So, stay away from negative people... got ya. Must be cheery-positive all the time. The new status quo. OK. It's like proverbially saying "That old friend of yours that is going through hard times and just needs a listening ear? TO FUCK WITH THEM! They'll only bring you down!" Some of these same people, when they go through bad times or have an annoyance, promptly broadcast their issues all over social networking. And they do it often, in between posts and memes condemning negative, toxic people and spouting happy, everything-is-wonderful type posts. And they get all sorts of comments lending them support. Many of them of the "I'm sorry you're going through this..." sort. And then you see them and the people who support them also posting about others putting all their "stuff" out there publicly on social networking, being labeled as attention/drama whores. In other words, complaining about bad, negative people. Yet, they get all sorts of support. But I, someone who prefers to only disclose my happenings to a select, trusted few in private, being "genuine," am written off.

I don't get it.

Posted @ 08:35 PM EST

Sunday, September 20, 2015

It really sucks that you have to be either a bar-rat or pot-head to be relevant to your old friends who still participate in that lifestyle. Of course, it was incredibly silly of me to think that once I got out of that lifestyle, that the people I use to hang with would still want anything to do with me.

It sucks that I wasted so many years of my life with these people, when I could have been making more meaningful connections with people who don't partake. It's too late to do anything about that, unfortunately, since people who have their shit together don't really want anything to do with those of us who are still struggling. Welcome to old age.

Posted @ 02:27 AM EST

Saturday, September 19, 2015

So what the hell ever happened to good ol' instant messaging? It seemed to have died a very slow death starting around 2010 or so. Facebook happened, and after it's own built-in instant messaging took hold, it was the beginning of the end. It all started of course with ICQ in the late 90's. For me, it really took off around 2001, and was going strong for about 10 years. The last time I still had regular users on any of the common IM programs (Yahoo, AIM, etc) was around 2011. I still log in every so often, there's never more than 4 people online, and it's a pretty safe bet that they're all running the IM on their cell phone. It's just not the same. I fondly remember many a night hanging out on my computer, actively chatting with many people, who were doing the same. It even kept going strong through the MySpace era. Times changed, more and more non-computer/online-savvy people got online via Facebook, and suddenly people who avidly used IM's had many, many more options of people from different eras of their lives to chat with. The introverted nerd who socially thrived through IM's was left out in the cold.

Posted @ 11:40 PM EST

Saturday, May 2, 2015

It's interesting that I have never really shared much on my personal website regarding the progress of my musical pursuits over the years. It's especially neat to look back on pages such as this from a more desperate time time, before I picked up a bass and eventually became a better singer. Here is a brief summary:

So it started in 2005, when I joined up with an older couple I knew who both played guitar, and we formed the band Premonition. I started out as the singer, but soon switched to playing bass and singing after I bought a cheap bass to mess around with. After a few lineup changes over the course of a year, the band folded and I had already started playing with some guys I grew up with, and formed the band Thick as Thieves in 2006. We had played only 3 shows in early 2007 before that band folded, and I then joined up with another old friend and formed S.O.L. This has so far been the most successful band I have been with, being together from 2007 until 2013. The best year for the band was easily 2008. In the midst of my time with S.O.L., I also participated in another lineup of Thick as Thieves on and off, along with another project called Vice Versa. More recently, I've been working with a metal band called Brimstone, but I am currently thinking of taking a break from that and music entirely for a bit, and slowly start planning my next band.

Posted @ 12:47 PM EST