haddadadad

As a bit of a humanist, I avoid political sides as to focus on the main points I care about. Ignoring the rest of the razzle dazzle is optimal. I look for facts while respecting the beliefs of others as long as they do not harm people or animals. Unfortunately, other people are not so moderate, rabidly defend one side or another. The U of I area brings left-wing, almost libertarian flack in the midst of flat out gun-toting farmers, while heading into Pittsburgh means preparing myself for a lot of right wing bullshit.

I spent the holiday weekend in Pittsburgh with my family. It was a good visit. My grandma is fucking old and has, among other things, scleroderma, a disease that will end her life. She doesn’t seem to grasp that part so it’s hush hush. Even if we told her she’d forget anyway. Scleroderma is a tightening of the derma on and in your body; your skin as well as the “skins” of your organs will be affected.

I try to take it easy around her, giving her mind some breathing room when it comes to what she says. The last time I had been home was for a funeral over a month ago, ie lots of sad things and crying. This past weekend was especially trying because we kept talking about the news. In response to her yammering on about the only news is bad news now I said to her, “Well, there are other networks out there you can watch other than Fox News.” She spit back — and I mean FLUNG it like an angry poo — “You radicals don’t get it! THEY’RE the only ones telling the TRUTH!”

…Okay, nice to see you, too.

The next day she mentioned how her 89-year-old sister, forever a democrat, did not vote for Obama-Biden and instead voted for McCain-Palin. She never said “My sister won’t admit she doesn’t like Obama because he’s black,” but she meant it. Closet racists are good at wording. Which led us to:

“I like that Sarah Palin.”

“Sito, she’s not very bright.”

“Oh yes she is! Very intelligent. The media just made her look bad.”

“But she puts her daughter all over the networks to get attention.”

“I don’t understand that! Who cares about that stuff anyway?! I don’t care if she gets back with the father of her child. Why do they have that in the magazines at all?”

“She also, during the campaign, was known for her ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ catchphrase. When that oil rig busted in the Gulf of Mexico, that was an American rig leased to BP. Sarah Palin went on about how foreign oil is bad, but it was in the Gulf!”

“Well… she misspoke. I like her.”

That’s how a severely right wing octogenarian reasons about subject matter. At a certain point when given facts, she just sort of blanks out and stops receiving the information. She agreed about the bad steps Palin took, yet still likes her and refuses to believe Sarah herself had anything to do with her daughter being plastered all over the media. It’s rougher when it’s a person that is young and active in the world and still holds this belief that the right is always right, and when a conservative does something stupid is was just a simple misstep, forgivable and human. HOW CAN YOU DEAL?!

Treat her like an old person no matter her age. The only thing keeping me from yelling at my grandma was remembering she’s really, really old and her tape recorder has run out of fresh tape. Give the most basic reasoning with specific examples of counterargument and hope for the best. If it doesn’t work out, remember that you aren’t crazy, and she is stuck in a time from before that never actually existed, where all races keep to themselves, gay isn’t real, and women aren’t as capable as men.

Now then, our friends on the left.

I was having lunch with some friends at a diner about a month ago, and one of them, Al, was the special guest as he lives in Washington, DC. His fiancee texted him that on her airplane, some WWII vets were present and the crew thanked them for their service. She basically wanted to throw up, saying how very Texas such an announcement was (I believe she was connecting in a Texan airport.) Al relayed the message to us in disgust. How could anyone celebrate a person who killed people? he wondered aloud in so many words and curses.

Last time I checked, a shit-ton of people who served in World War II for the United States were drafted. They defected or were jailed if they didn’t want to report for duty. Your service was mandatory back then, not like the optional signups now. He then laughingly made a curt statement: there’s nothing after death, you’re just dead. That’s how it is and believing anything else was stupid beyond belief. Nevermind that I’m fairly certain at least two people at our table believe in some form of afterlife and one of those people is Catholic. He said it was stupid to believe in an afterlife in front of the Catholic who has never pushed his beliefs onto anyone.

Our lefties are brash intellectuals who make you feel stupid, effectively shutting you up instead of having an actual conversation on the issue. HOW TO DEAL???

Remember these people, as children, may have been pushed around for being a dorky smartie. As adults they are using their brains to logic out anything into their favor. Even if that isn’t true for each individual, it allows you to prepare for the type of attack. At times these types can be dealt with. You have to side-swipe him first. He can’t see it coming. Calling him a “stupid poopyhead” is a good way to start. Get his brain to stop for a moment, then give your opinion on the matter calmly while still complimenting him on his own beliefs. Hopefully this will lead to a thoughtful conversation where he will ingest your arguments and at least respect them. Hell, use the word “respect” when he’s saying you’re an old stuck-in-the mud for believing anything he doesn’t believe. Remind him that the whole idea of having freedom of religion and everything else was to be able to hold different ideas and still be friends or at least be able to work with one another. Unfortunately, I was so shocked by his asshole comments I did react properly to the situation, looking down at the table to keep from exploding. He was pretty callous.

When I replay that moment back in my head, I call him a poo face for being so callous towards his friends’ beliefs, and I remind him that military service used to be from mandatory drafting — while he can’t change the past, he can at least acknowledge the now old men who gave up their most energetic years so that their families can stay alive. Slamming people doesn’t really help a situation unless you’re drunk, at a bar, and need something to rant about. Seriously, you just made the 45 minutes your friends spent with you a terrible experience. How is that a good thing?

Please, do not let these people drive you crazy. Remember, the internet has all of their opinions and everything in between and beyond. The library has all the knowledge of all the cultures of the world at your fingertips. Card Catalogs! Hope for the children! And for us. We have to at least try.

It’s happened. I’ve been gifted a Mac product.

I’m not denying this is a pretty piece of hardware. It’s sleek and has been designed to handle images and music in the most awesome way possible. Its top-of-the-line inner things maximize the battery life. The part I loathe is that all the cool stuff costs money and there are no USB or firewire ports. The only way into that thing other than the magical one little dock/port/soul suck thing under the home button is… i can’t find a way, nor a way to easily go “back,” and the wireless picker-upper isn’t as powerful as my laptop’s.

With this all in mind, I’m going to do my damnedest to make use of this giant iPhone that can’t make calls. Somehow this iTouch without a camera will become part of the business side of Haddadadad. My aunt meant well when giving me this really really nice and trendy computer screen, and I should use it. There’s bound to be good uses photography-wise.

I’m all for paying for quality programs that help me actually do something useful, like a Photoshop dealy or a music editor with tons of options. Paying for instant messengers, RSS readers, most games, and photo trinkets are not on my list. The only free multi-platform messengers are made for iPhones for now.

Palringo shows up tiny on the screen. It’s kind of adorable and sad and annoying at the same time. The important thing for now is the application works! Woohoo! Communication.

I still can’t find my battery charger.

(12:54:50 AM) Lygi: well i need to go to bed now cuz i have class tomorrow…it’s my last first day of class
(12:54:52 AM) Lygi: ever
(12:54:56 AM) KGB1: gasp
(12:55:00 AM) Lygi: of undergrad anyway

Sunday.

After a lovely breakfast with the cuz, she showed us around Pacific Beach, drove through Mission Beach, and attempted to go to Ocean Beach — I love these names — but had to cut short our tour due to homework. Pacific and Mission both look like the beach towns in Delaware: a bit cluttered, a little worn, a lot of people, funny-named shops lining the main streets. After our good-byes, Mom and I headed to the main city. It was overcast.

I asked Chelle where we could find the gay in town, and she suggested Five Point and Gaslamp Quarter. We walked around the Gaslamp Quarter mostly and drove through random sections of town while looking for it. Most things are painted fruity colors and in different shapes. It makes for fun visuals.




There don’t seem to be a lot of fast food restaurants. At least, there aren’t many national chains. San Diego keeps it classy with the Hooters.



After walking around the shops of the area, we decided to head back to San Diego International Airport early. I was able to catch up on internet things there as they have FREE WIRELESS HUZZAH. The airport is nice in other respects: good food selection, nice people. The bad: not enough seating room or power outlets. The chairs are comfortable if you can get them.

We flew to Albuquerque last night and were waited on by Christian Bale-a-like-circa-american-psycho. He was super nice and gave me his number if I wanted to get in contact with an art professor he knows. I discovered the Jackie Earle Haley-a-like from the plane is actually a lot older when the lights came on. Still cool. Very friendly and has a Tigger jacket. Yes.

We got to our Albuquerque hotel last night in the wee hours and slept for ten hours. Hell yes. Next up: Santa Fe.

San Diego is a nice place with nice people. It looks to be very people-centric with lots of shit to do. All the clothing shops I saw were super pricey and very surfer-oriented like Quiksilver. Plenty of people were outside running or biking or skating, and the majority of the people I noticed were fairly fit. I didn’t get to see the older parts of town nor did I notice any thrift shops. Chelle did show us the nicer parts of the area, though. There was a clothing resale shop or two, similar to Plato’s Closet only more vintagey and upscale. The house trend is ranch-style and long with little or no yards. The geography has both flat spots and mountainy hills, and the shorelines are kickass. It’s a cute place.

Saturday the cuz showed us the beach towns around the San Diego area. Beach towns are little places along the shore that have their own bit of beach land to their name; they’re like little suburbs of the greater San Diego area. We began our journey in the little shopping area near chellchelle’s apartment. She gets a fancy pants McDonald’s. No really! It’s a working concept model McDonald’s. We were assured that no matter how fancy this McDonald’s is, In-n-Out Burger’s taste will win our hearts and tastebuds over. Sure, Chelle. If you say so. After nomming bagels, our tour guide took us to the beaches. Stores, restaurants, bars, and galleries galore. There are a LOT of art galleries in these places. Some were super upscale, others were more crafty and cut it close labeling themselves as actual galleries. I think those ones called themselves malls of some sort to cover their hides. We visited Del Mar, La Jolla, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Solanas Beaches. Encinitas was the most intriguing to me, but La Jolla has seals. Lots of seals! and mussels as we caught the shore at low tide.

Only after hanging out with the seals did we see that we are to be warned! They are quite ferocious!



After our beachy endeavor, Chelle took us to the best place she knew: In-n-Out. Mom and I had been told repeatedly how wonderful the fresh made burgers are, how awesome the special sauce tastes, how yummy the fries are, and our final decision?



AWESOME SAUCE. It’s a great burger. The menu has three burger choices: the double double, the cheeseburger, and the regular hamburger. These burgers taste like the kind you make on your grill in the backyard with a hint of “this was made in a fast food joint.” The big thang with these guys is they don’t freeze their meat. Unfortunately for people like me, In-n-Out is a California-based restaurant, as in only in California.

So ended our Chelle-hosted tour, day one and a half of San Diego’s beach communities.

Here’s a map for those of you who are keeping score at home!