Category: family

Why Some Introverts Hate Their Birthdays

I know I hate mine and it’s coming up, mostly the attention thing. No extrovert will understand this, but you should.

Anyway, here it is and boy is it right. Again, courtesy of Introvert Dear, link at the end

I’ve never really liked my birthday. In fact, it’s one of the days I dread the most. I hate all the extra attention and the pressure to make it a special day, usually with a party. It’s insufferable.

When I was a teenager, I used to have long, exhausting fights with my mother in the weeks leading up to my birthday. She always wanted me to celebrate with a huge party filled with family and friends. But to me, a huge birthday party is synonymous with torture, not celebration. Instead, I wanted something small, like going to the movies or the bowling alley with a few close friends.

No Birthday Party For Me, Thank You

More often than not, I used to win these fights and ended up doing what I wanted for my birthday. But all these arguments took a toll on my mental health and self-esteem. Whenever I refused to have a party or make a big deal out of my birthday, people called me a party pooper, a killjoy, and a downer. I didn’t have the words to defend myself (I was still a kid), so I internalized all those insults and convinced myself that there was something “wrong” with me. It took me years to realize and accept that there was nothing wrong with me — I am an introvert.

I am now a proud introvert who can defend the reasons behind my actions and behaviors. In case you’re curious, my relationship with my mother has improved, but I still hate my birthday. I believe a lot of the reasons stem from the fact that I’m an introvert.

Obviously, not all introverts hate their birthdays, but over the years I have noticed that a significant portion of the online introvert community feels aversion or indifference toward their birthdays. Here are a few reasons I believe some introverts (like myself) don’t like their birthdays.

Why Some Introverts Hate Their Birthdays

1. Too much attention

This one’s a no-brainer. Most introverts don’t like being the center of attention, so having an entire day dedicated to them can be quite uncomfortable. It’s especially tough when they are put on display in front of a lot of people, anxiously waiting to see their reactions while opening gifts or making a wish and blowing out the candles to the tune of “Happy Birthday.”

In my case, I especially hate all the attention I receive for something as trivial as turning one year older. I feel like I haven’t earned it, and I don’t know what to do with it. Being the center of attention makes me anxious, uncomfortable, and insecure. I always try to avoid it and redirect that attention to something or someone else. But when it’s my birthday, that is almost impossible to do because it’s “my day.”

2. The social exhaustion of a party

Birthdays and parties practically go hand in hand. When your birthday is coming up, everyone expects you to throw a big party to celebrate. Introverts tend to dislike parties because we don’t like big crowds, loud noises, and shallow socializing. This aversion to parties doesn’t change when the party is ours. If anything, it makes it worse.

When we throw a party, we might end up feeling anxious and worrying if everyone is having fun. It’s our party, so we feel the pressure and responsibility to be a good host and ensure everyone is enjoying themselves. But in the process, we sometimes forget to have a good time ourselves.

And don’t even get me started on surprise parties. It’s undoubtedly a nice gesture for someone to throw you a surprise party because it shows they care enough to go through all the trouble of organizing it. But a surprise party is practically a living nightmare for an introvert. If there’s anything worse than having a party, it’s not having knowledge or control over your own party.

3. The pressure to make it a “special” day

This is one of the things that bother me the most about my birthday. Sometimes, I just want to do something small to celebrate, like going to the movies or taking a long walk around the city. But the pressure from others to make it a “special” day can be too much. I get it, I was born on that day, but why does it have to be the most special day of my year? Why do I have to have the time of my life specifically on that day? That’s just setting myself up for failure because the expectations are always way too high. (And we introverts don’t like pressure anyway!)

Plus, when your birthday is coming up, it seems like everyone has their own opinion about how you should celebrate it. Instead of asking you what you want to do, some people tell you exactly what you should do. Whether it’s a party or going dancing at a club, your birthday might end up being about what other people want to do instead of what you want.

And God forbid you suggest you don’t want to do anything for your birthday — people might look at you as if you’re crazy. They will try to convince you that you’re wrong and that you will regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t do something special on that day.

4. All the phone calls and “happy birthday” messages

This one might come off as ungrateful because it’s undoubtedly nice to have people who care enough to wish you a happy birthday. But to an introvert, all that attention can be overwhelming.

Phone calls, in general, make some introverts uncomfortable. When the sole purpose of a call is to wish us a happy birthday, it’s even worse because all the attention is on us. After the “Happy Birthday”s and “Thank you”s, the inevitable small talk follows, making us even more uncomfortable. It doesn’t help that the people who usually call are relatives or friends you only talk to two or three times a year.

The same goes for the Facebook messages and texts you receive throughout the day. After the pleasantries and birthday greetings, you have to make small talk (again, in a different form) with all the people who wished you a happy birthday. This can be a bit too much, which is why I think some introverts hide their birthdays from their social media pages.

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5. The singing

Few situations are worse for an introvert than being in front of a cake while friends and family sing what feels like a three-hour rendition of “Happy Birthday.” I never know what to do or where to look when that melody starts, and suddenly I have a cake in front of me and dozens of eyes on me.

There is no appropriate reaction to that situation. Do I smile the whole time? No, that would look fake, and my cheeks would probably start to hurt after the third “Happy birthday to you…” Do I put on a poker face? No, that would probably come off as bratty and ungrateful. Do I sing with them? No, that would look awkward. Do I run away and hide in the bathroom? No, that would probably lead to a lot of questions. Whoever came up with this particular birthday tradition obviously hated introverts and wanted to see them suffer.

I Don’t Hate All Birthdays, Just Mine

I love celebrating my friends and family’s birthdays. I enjoy seeing them happy and buying them presents to celebrate another year of their lives. But when the spotlight is on me and it’s my birthday, I hate it. I hate the pressure, the attention, and the Happy Birthday song.

However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t enjoyed my birthdays before. The birthdays I have enjoyed the most are the ones when I did what I wanted to do, like going to the movies or the bowling alley with my best friends, not when I succumbed to the pressure from others and ended up doing what they wanted me to do.

So if you have an introvert in your life and you want to make their birthday special, just ask them what they want to do and respect it. Don’t assume everyone wants to celebrate with a huge party and be the center of attention.

And if you’re an introvert who hates their birthday like I do, there are ways to enjoy this “special day.” Set realistic expectations, put your foot down, and do what you want to do, whether that’s having dinner with your family, going dancing with your friends, or staying home with a good book and a Netflix marathon. I can’t promise you’ll start loving your birthday, but at least you’ll enjoy it more. And the good thing about birthdays is they only happen once a year.

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Happy Middle Child Day

History:

Middle children have a reputation for being ignored by their family, consequently growing up resentful, withdrawn, and disaffected. Although research shows little correlation between birth order and personality, the stereotype has persisted in pop culture characters like Jan Brady, who epitomizes the embittered middle child.

In fact, middle children might have some distinct advantages in adult life. The skills they develop as the “forgotten” sibling often translate into important qualities like empathy, diplomacy, and flexibility. In fact, over half of U.S. presidents were middle children, along with many other successful leaders.

Resourceful and independent but also cooperative and patient, middle children often grow up to be good leaders and helpful teammates. They can negotiate a variety of personalities but also do well on their own, and are known as risk-takers and independent thinkers. Because they’re frequently left to their own devices, middle children develop a self-sufficiency less common in their older and younger siblings.

Until the 1970s, American families had an average of 2.5 children. Today, due to modernization and economic and environmental pressures, fewer and fewer families have middle children, with the average American family having just under two kids.

National Middle Child Day began in 1986 as a way to celebrate the siblings who feel left out or unseen and give them a special day of their own. Until now, it’s been celebrated on August 12.

source

It was no party for me. I got shit on growing up and my youngest sibling has been gone for 12 years. I hope it was better for some of you out there. Whenever mine had a chance to help, she took the choice to screw me over instead of be a friend.

Perhaps it made me tougher and I had to try harder.

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What’s The Most Money You’ve Ever Spent On A Meal – And Was It Worth It ?

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

When I started hunting, I had to buy a tree stand, camo clothes, a gun, and corn to grow to in a field to attract them. I then had to get the tools to process the deer after harvesting it and the same for my son.

I could have bought a venison dinner for under $50 bucks, but probably spent thousands on that first meal.

Absolutely worth it and every deer after that. I guess the cost of the above listed amortized over all the deer, but that first one cost a lot.

Why Some Introverts Hate Their Birthdays

I’ve never really liked my birthday. In fact, it’s one of the days I dread the most. I hate all the extra attention and the pressure to make it a special day, usually with a party. It’s insufferable.

Introvert Dear has a great article today. Here goes.

When I was a teenager, I used to have long, exhausting fights with my mother in the weeks leading up to my birthday. She always wanted me to celebrate with a huge party filled with family and friends. But to me, a huge birthday party is synonymous with torture, not celebration. Instead, I wanted something small, like going to the movies or the bowling alley with a few close friends.

No Birthday Party For Me, Thank You

More often than not, I used to win these fights and ended up doing what I wanted for my birthday. But all these arguments took a toll on my mental health and self-esteem. Whenever I refused to have a party or make a big deal out of my birthday, people called me a party pooper, a killjoy, and a downer. I didn’t have the words to defend myself (I was still a kid), so I internalized all those insults and convinced myself that there was something “wrong” with me. It took me years to realize and accept that there was nothing wrong with me — I am an introvert.

I am now a proud introvert who can defend the reasons behind my actions and behaviors. In case you’re curious, my relationship with my mother has improved, but I still hate my birthday. I believe a lot of the reasons stem from the fact that I’m an introvert.

Obviously, not all introverts hate their birthdays, but over the years I have noticed that a significant portion of the online introvert community feels aversion or indifference toward their birthdays. Here are a few reasons I believe some introverts (like myself) don’t like their birthdays.

story plus way more including the list of things that suck about birthdays for Introverts.

I hate it as it’s just another day for me. Now that I’m (much) older, it reminds me of how little time I might have left.

For Those Who Think Trump Says Bad Things About Females – Biden’s Radical Title IX Rewrite Goes Into Effect

Actions speak louder than words.

I catch a lot of shit from my family about the “mean things” Trump says about girls. Like Kamala is Indian, not black although he is repeating her words.

It’s the liberals who hate women and are ruining their ability to be women by loving the trannies. Fortunately, half the states won’t allow it. The coastal elites are the worst.

President Joe Biden’s administration’s rewrite of Title IX went into effect on Thursday, an effort that seeks to allow men in women’s private spaces, athletics, and educational opportunities.

The White House did not appear to issue a statement or weigh in on the rule going into effect, nor had Vice President Kamala Harris or Biden issue statements or social media posts on the matter.

“Today, the Biden-Harris administration‘s harmful Title IX rewrite goes into effect,” said Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer forced to compete against a man. “This rule says sex = gender identity. 52 years of progress & sex-based protections have been erased with the stroke of a pen.”

With this decision, you get this, a male boxer who beat the shit out of a female at the Olympics (many US-only examples, but this happened yesterday)

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So my family can stick it. They refuse to accept facts. They don’t understand how an Alpha Male thinks and acts. Real men ultimately favor the female sex.

It’s amazing how the libs are the child molesters and rapists, yet they get bent over “mean tweets” from 8 years ago.

So to the libs in my family – BIOYA

Fortunately, it is a woke idea. Woke has failed at everything it touches

Here’s How Many Hours Europeans Work Each Week

There’s an old joke: are you working hard, or hardly working?

“Hard work” is difficult to measure, but it is possible to know who’s working the longest.

This heatmap, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, visualizes the average hours Europeans work each week by country, as sourced from Eurostat’s Labor Force Survey (2023).

The dataset covers employed persons aged 20–64 in a “main occupation” and includes full and part time work.

The Balkans Work the Longest in Europe

Less wealthy countries of Europe (by per capita GDP) tend to have longer work weeks. For example, people in the Balkans—including Türkiye, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece, and Romania—all put in an average of 40+ hours a week at their main jobs.

RankCountryAverage Weekly
Hours Worked (2023)
1🇹🇷 Türkiye44
2🇷🇸 Serbia42
3🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina41
4🇬🇷 Greece40
5🇷🇴 Romania40
6🇵🇱 Poland39
7🇧🇬 Bulgaria39
8🇨🇾 Cyprus39
9🇱🇻 Latvia38
10🇱🇹 Lithuania38
11🇭🇷 Croatia38
12🇸🇮 Slovenia38
13🇨🇿 Czechia38
14🇭🇺 Hungary38
15🇵🇹 Portugal38
16🇸🇰 Slovakia38
17🇲🇹 Malta37
18🇪🇪 Estonia36
19🇪🇸 Spain36
20🇮🇸 Iceland36
21🇨🇭 Switzerland36
22🇮🇹 Italy36
23🇫🇷 France36
24🇸🇪 Sweden36
25🇮🇪 Ireland36
26🇱🇺 Luxembourg35
27🇧🇪 Belgium35
28🇫🇮 Finland35
29🇩🇰 Denmark34
30🇩🇪 Germany34
31🇳🇴 Norway34
32🇦🇹 Austria34
33🇳🇱 Netherlands32
N/A🇪🇺 EU (2020)36

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My wife’s European family loves to tell me how little they work. They are also paying 70% taxes. I wish I cared, but I don’t really even wish that.

What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

Making my kids eat everything on their plate.

I had to finish everything when I was young. My Dad would sit at the table while I chewed tough meat like I was chewing gum forever. This was after the others left.

Or my personal worst, choking down boiled okra. That slimy shit made me gag and I suffered through it until it was done. I think after a while my Mom had either mercy on me or tried to serve something I could finish.

I made sure my kids had enough to eat and that there was healthy food on their plate. When they were full and I believed it, I ended the pain for both of us. They grew up and survived, but then I guess I did also.

I always tried to learn from what they did right and wrong. There are lessons in both.

What Bothers You and Why?

What bothers you and why?

This goes like the line, how do I love you, let me count the ways. The list is endless and sometimes I feel like Clint Eastwood with, get off my lawn.

Rather than make a list, I’ll stick to my introverted life and go with small talk. Introverts have a low tolerance for conversation that isn’t meaningful or that isn’t going anywhere. When you are young, you might put up with it for a longer time or if there is a worthwhile reward (employment, sex, etc.). That reward is less as you move on in life.

Conversely, I love deep and engaging conversation, that is intellectually stimulating. Even then, there is a time limit and I need to recover.

I’ve learned to say yes, good, right, fine, good point, and anything that could end the conversation and not leave it open-ended.

Avoid Crowds And Stress, And Don’t Rush Around

What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?

Yes, it’s Introvert time again. I am more comfortable alone than I am among a lot of people. While it’s possible to be alone in a crowd (introvert strategy here), it still comes with stress.

I also hate deadlines and the stress that comes with making it. I try to get stuff done well in advance so I don’t have to deal with it at crunch time.

Oh, and avoid family reunions as much and as often as possible.

I’m sure others have much better strategies to increase their comfort, but here’s my .02.

What Is Your Most Memorable Vacation?

Describe your most memorable vacation.

I’ve been on vacations as a kid, with that family growing up. I was kind of a tag along and did what my parents decided mostly. We went to the beach a lot growing up in Florida. That meant I grew up next to Disney World. Heck, we didn’t even have Disney until 8th grade for me. My memories there are of playing alone next to the ocean in my own world.

Then came vacations with a different family, my wife and kids. We traveled around the world. They were good times that I’ll remember while taking one kid fishing everywhere and the other doing anything to keep her from being bored. There was no time to recover or recharge my social battery.

Later in life I did stuff like sailfishing in Costa Rica or going to F1 in Italy and again they were good, but stressful trying to catch planes and waiting in huge crowds. I still had to rush to catch planes and was a mule hauling luggage around the world.

As always though, my introvert self comes out. Vacations where you are always on the run and trying to make everyone happy wore my social battery out to the point that I’d need a vacation to recover from vacation.

Now, I just go to the mountains where there aren’t many people and I can relax without having people acting like tourists or waiting in line. I have my stuff in my place and I can do gardening and tree trimming out in field with no one telling me what to do.

Not having the next deadline or trying to catch the next plane is my favorite.

Half Of EV Owners Want To Switch Back To Standard Cars

More sheep have woken up I suppose. There is no good reason or argument for them in their current configuration. They are expensive, hard to charge (compared to an ICE), cost more to insure and are limited in range. I’m not going to get into the socialistic forks in the road like the government kill switch because it just isn’t a very good product yet. There isn’t enough electricity for what they have planned along with AI and all of the restrictions on energy sources

Most buyers thought they were helping the environment or being progressive or tech savvy. I’ve got news for you. This isn’t the answer you were looking for, just money thrown away to feel or look good.

So now we have buyers remorse.

My wife’s nephew in Europe is a big show off with these. For being an engineer, he hasn’t thought this one through, but I’ll always think of him as a jag off. It’s easy to be smart when the pool of people in your country is only 5 million, but then he didn’t think through that either.

Nearly half of American electric vehicle (EV) owners want to buy an internal combustion engine model the next time they buy a car, according to a new study from McKinsey and Company, a leading consulting firm.

Approximately 46% of Americans who own an EV want to go back to a standard vehicle for their next purchase, citing issues like inadequate charging infrastructure and affordability, according to McKinsey’s study, which was obtained and reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The study’s findings further suggest that the Biden administration’s EV push is struggling to land with American consumers, after 46% of respondents indicated that they are unlikely or very unlikely to purchase an EV in a June poll conducted by The Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.

Moreover, 58% of Americans are very likely to keep their current cars for longer, and 44% are likely to postpone a possible switch to EVs, McKinsey’s study found. Consumers’ concerns about EV charging infrastructure are notable given the slow rollout of the Biden administration’s $7.5 billion public EV charger program, which has so far led to the construction of only a handful of chargers in nearly three years.

More

give me the sound and smell of a big V-8, or if I was in Europe a V-12 any day. That is a real engine. Grunt that can be felt by all of your senses.

How Did I Want To Retire? Early

How do you want to retire?

I knew in my 30s that I wanted to retire early. I enjoyed my work, but it was getting in the way of my life. I had stuff to do I still do.

So I had to prepare and live my life accordingly by these principles. Now I’m the king of retirement. I love waking up, knowing I don’t have meetings, email, texts, presentations or travel for business. Everything is paid off, and I can enjoy life more.

My mom told me she taught each of her kids financial independence, saving and spending. The rest of them are broke or died broke.

I respect people who love to work. I had a lot of other things to do in life also. I’m taking care of that now.

My Favorite Season Of The Year?

What is your favorite season of year? Why?

Look, I grew up in Central Florida without air conditioning. It was summer 51 of the 52 weeks of the year.

One of the best things in life for me was getting out of that state. It may have a great political climate, growth, no state taxes and other positives, but dreading to go outside because it’s so hot isn’t worth it.

Any of the other three seasons is great for me.

The quality I value most in a friend? Loyalty, maybe above everything else.

What quality do you value most in a friend?

I don’t mean the Batman and Robin type of a friend and loyalty. I just want somebody that I know I can trust, and not betray me. It’s like your girlfriend or wife not sleeping around behind your back.

What I ask is not too much and I don’t think it’s that hard to do. I know I give that to those that are really my friends. Being an introvert, I only let a very few people to the innermost part of my life. That’s a lot for a person like me to do so respecting that isn’t too much to ask in return.

Do I have any collections?

Do you have any collections?

Yes, memories lots of them. I write down as much as I can remember about my life and then if something pops up, I’ll insert where appropriate.

Sure, I have stuff on the wall, pictures on the phone and even photo albums that remind me of times that I’ve spent. It’s the words that I write down though which create the more vivid image in my mind, and experience the emotion of when it happened.

27 Ways To Tell If You Are A Toxic Person

I’m was related to one. She fit a lot of these but is fortunately now gone. I lived though a lot of this and it’s not pretty.

“Am I toxic?”

Toxic is a word that’s thrown about a lot these days.

But how do you know if you are a toxic person?

What are some things that you might do that cause you to be a toxic influence in the lives of others?

That’s what we’re going to explore.

Speak to an accredited and experienced therapist to help with any negative personality traits you might have. You may want to try speaking to one via BetterHelp.com for quality care at its most convenient.

What Does It Mean To Be Toxic?

In the general sense of the word, something that is toxic is harmful to a person upon exposure.

A toxic person is one who causes harm to others through their words and actions.

There are varying levels of toxicity.

Some may just be bad behaviors, others can stem from personality disorders, and some may be rooted in a mental health disorder that can be physically damaging as well.

Toxic people leave others worse off than before they met or interacted with them.

Sometimes this harm is felt instantly. Other times, it builds slowly with time and repeated exposure.

With this in mind, how can you tell if you are the toxic person in your life?

Here are some of the signs you can look out for.

27 Signs You Are A Toxic Person

1. You are emotionally manipulative and controlling.

You seek to make others your pawns and have them do as you wish.

You boss people around, micromanage situations, and use various forms of emotional blackmail to ensure you get your own way.

Subtlety is not your forte. You can be very blunt and rude to the point where it shocks other people.

Alternatively, you may feign upset and use tears as a way to guilt people into doing what you want.

When other people realize this about you, they may experience anxiety whenever you are around for fear of being targeted.

If this is something you do to one individual a lot, it can even result in depression and the destruction of their self-confidence.

Click here for rest of the list. It is a bit too long for me to put it all here but I bet everyone that reads it has someone that fits this.

Where Unsold EV’s Go To Die

I’ve already posted today that EV’s are not a solution to anything. My wife’s relatives in a Scandinavian country have them, but they continue be on the side of wrong for just about anything. I’ve learned to go against what they choose and I’m usually on the right side of most things. They are proud of their decisions and have no idea that they are so far from the truth.

(ZeroHedge)—Ten years ago this week, we posted one of out most viral stories, highlighting the over-capacity in the auto industry: “Where the World’s Unsold Cars Go To Die,” which highlighted the ‘endgame’ of automakers’ ‘channel stuffing’ efforts to disguise the sudden lack of demand for all the exciting new models that they had forecast would boom to the moon…

And now, as MishTalk’s Mike Shedlock reports, we are seeing similar pictures across Europe…

“Some are parked here for a year, sometimes more.”

Le Monde reports Belgium’s ports drowning under glut of Chinese electric cars: ‘Some are parked here for a year, sometimes more’

Due to China’s overcapacity in production – as it aims to capture a quarter of the European electric vehicle market – the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge are inundated.

You probably need to see it to appreciate the challenges the automobile industry faces in transitioning to electricity. You also need to come here to understand how the Chinese industry’s overcapacity has flooded the European market. That morning, as the sun unexpectedly lit up the maze of highways leading to this remote arm of the port of Antwerp, Belgium, a huge cargo ship from the Norwegian company Höegh Autoliners unloaded thousands of cars at one of the terminals of International Car Operators (ICO), a subsidiary of the Japanese group Nippon Yusen Kaisha.

Quartz reports Cars are piling up at European ports at an alarming rate

Imported vehicles are seriously piling up at European ports, turning them into “car parks.” Automakers are distributors are struggling with a slowdown in car sales as well as logistical bottlenecks that make it hard to alleviate the buildup of new, unsold vehicles.

Some Chinese brand EVs had been sitting in European ports for up to 18 months, while some ports had asked importers to provide proof of onward transport, according to industry executives. One car logistics expert said many of the unloaded vehicles were simply staying in the ports until they were sold to distributors or end users.

“It’s chaos,” said another person who had been briefed on the situation.

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Any time I Can Be Alone Is My Favorite Day

What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?

I’ve always had a problem with attention on me or the hustle and bustle of holidays.

It’s counterintuitive to me that people act one way because someone said a day is different and then revert back when it was over.

I learned that it’s because of my introverted nature that causes me to process things differently than others.

It’s why days alone to recharge are better for me. They are my vacation and holidays.

I never got birthdays either. It’s just another day for me. I prefer not being the center of attention.

I’m glad others get excited about it but it’s not for me.

Anything deep, I’m an introvert and avoid small talk.

What topics do you like to discuss?

I’m not afraid to discuss anything that’s interesting. I can cover a large range of topics and do when prompted.

What is difficult for me is small talk. The banality of it is a painful exercise that I have to go through.

So my talking skills are good with deep conversations and any distraction to end small talk and my having to suffer through it.

The Two Types Of People In An Introvert World

Most people are temporary because it takes a long time to get to know someone and it’s hard to find the traits that are important. Loyalty is usually the final demarcation line for me. If they cross it and are disloyal, it’s over for me.

Take my college girlfriend who turned out to be a traveling slut (stewardess). Even though I didn’t find out until afterwards that she was sharing herself with others, that eliminated her from the permanent people pool. I didn’t have to feel the hurt and pain during the relationship, but the dishonesty got me out the door early.

I had acquaintances all throughout my life, but it’s hard to call them friends. The extroverts in my life meet and talk to someone for more than 5 minutes and it’s their new friend. Those are just temporary people for me. It takes a long time and a lot of things in common before they make permanent status. Very few make it.

You have to build a relationship and that is hard enough for me (and I’m guessing other introverts). We’d have to share something in common long enough to see if there is anything there. It still takes a long time for the walls to come down. Then there is the trust tests. I don’t dream them up, but they present themselves in life. I’m usually forced into a situation, but you can tell if a person is going to stick with you or stick it to you.

Even my siblings were temporary. They are around, but don’t count for me as permanent people for the loyalty reason. One can only take so much screwing over growing up and then the walls come up.

There’s your thought for the day.

A much deeper dive can be found here. It is by Introvert Dear who I’ve linked to on the home page describing why introverts don’t consider everyone their friend. It is a special to us and this article tells you why a lot better than I do.

Describe A Risk You Took That You Don’t Regret – Moving to a new state site, unseen

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

When I was living in South Florida, I had started a family. There parts of Florida that are better than others. I was in a place that wasn’t family friendly.

I wanted to move back to the south having grown up there (south Florida is the north), So I got a job and moved to the Carolina’s.

New job, new state, new life, all in a couple of weeks, just like that.

It turned out to be one of the best moves for my family and me economically.

Now, parts of the Carolina’s have become the north. It’s like déjà vu, all over again.

I had to move again to get back to the south.

The times I didn’t say no

Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?

It’s more than one time, but it’s the same thing. I got asked to do something, go somewhere or be with some people that I shouldn’t have.

It was about setting boundaries. I remember the feeling or not wanting to be there, we’re doing whatever we were doing, saying the things I said or being with the people I was with.

If I had learned to say no, instead of going with the crowd, a lot of things would’ve turned out differently. I would have gotten in a lot less trouble, not done as many stupid things and would have not been in situations I didn’t want to be in.

I learned the hard way to protect myself from these instances and people, and as a result of gotten in to a lot less trouble.

Admitting Failure

What makes you nervous?

I reached a point in life where I have learned enough that I shouldn’t make bad mistakes or faux pas, yet I do.

It’s difficult enough to express your real feelings, compounded by knowing you’ve let somebody else down is soul crushing sometimes.

I can make it worse by rehashing it in my mind over and over until the point I have to admit it or ask forgiveness.

Question For The Day – Describe a Decision You Made In The Past That Helped You Learn Or Grow

Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.

When I stopped caring what people thought of me. It was incredibly freeing when you don’t have to worry about your image in other people’s minds.

I heard of saying that went like this, “you’ll stop caring what other people think about you when you realize how little they do “.

Describe a positive thing of family member is done for you

Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.

This is counterintuitive, but a sibling leaving was the most positive thing for me. Growing up, I had a sister that fought with my parents and caused all kinds of consternation in the house.

Fortunately, she got married early and when she left the house got quieter and all of our lives got better.

Happy National Sibling Day

I know mine made my life a lot harder than it needed to be growing up. When we could have bonded, I got someone who was actively against me doing well, instead of being supportive. It must have been insecurity, but trying to bring someone down to build yourself up is no way to live.

My other sibling has been gone for 12 years. We didn’t grow up together and there was no bonding because she was pathological. It’s a good thing I found out how to be alone in life and not worry about others.

See Eating Alone as an Introvert a couple of posts down and you’ll know why.

Eating Alone As An Introvert

This will seem matter of fact for those who are introverts because it’s as normal as waking up. I thought that I’d write down the journey that I took to discover this pleasure.

Before I knew I was introverted (although I suspected it) I was traveling for business in the IT industry. My job rarely required a team so I found myself traveling alone a lot. While there was some sense of anticipation before the trip (that I’d learn to loathe), the return home was a recover trip from the people I had to deal with either in groups or one on one.

Inevitably, this would find me in an airport lounge/restaurant or a hotel before or after my business meeting with no one else in town. I’d already flown for hours while reading a book (before movies on flights and well before wifi), so dinner was just an extension of that.

I suppose I could have sought out others, but it was simpler and easier to eat and go back to preparing for my meeting or whatever the agenda was the next day. The people I was meeting usually lived in the city I was visiting so they had families. Once business was done, I had wrapped up any further association in my mind. If I had multiple meetings, I needed to plan for the next day so it was dinner alone usually.

I love to read and books have been my best friend before video games or electronic distractions on trips (and still are). I’d get lost on a spy novel and was identifying as the protagonist by mid flight on my way out of town. I was imagining myself as Edward X. Delaney, Jason Bourne or Mitch Rapp depending on the decade

To continue reading while eating seemed normal to me. I didn’t know it wasn’t, until people I worked with thought it was odd for me to order a table for one. Some of them refused to eat if they had to do it alone, but I wanted to eat and to not be bothered by conversation that was just banter. I could also be finished on my schedule rather than putting up with someone else’s agenda.

By now, I’d realized that if I ate alone, I didn’t have to mess with others during or afterwards. It started to become a pattern for me.

I also worked on the trade show tour, meaning you’d have to spend a week with people you never associated with back in your home city. It seemed obvious to me that I didn’t really want to eat with them, although protocol forced me to at times.

Since trade shows tended to be in towns with night life, like Las Vegas, at the end of the day the extroverts couldn’t wait to rev up to some drinking, gambling and other cavorting. I’ll get to that later.

As I transitioned to Analyst Relations, there were conferences that resembled the structure of a trade show. Work all day together and then be stuck in a city not home to anyone and most gravitated to socializing including eating together.

DRINKING

Alcohol is the grease in the gears of socializing. It turns introverts into extroverts if only even for a night. I did imbibe early in my career, but life decisions caused me to stop. It changed my socializing as dramatically as that decision.

I’d also gotten married by then and saw first hand the shenanigans that went on during travel. Almost 100% was fueled by drinking and nothing would have happened sober. So I looked at this as just another opportunity to be alone.

LET’S GO OUT!

At the end of the day in trade shows, in fact before the end of the day the topic of conversation was what bar, party, other place (strip club for some) they would all go to. While still a reader and having my social battery worn down by the end of the day (and knowing I’d have to face these people the next day(s)), I had to think of an escape to be alone. It of course was to recharge and to get away from people if only for a short time.

My counter offer was who wants to work out. I’d wait until they were neck deep in wanting to order their first drink so I knew full well I’d be rebuffed. Never once did anyone take me up on it. By then, my goal was to eat alone, not to accidentally wind up that way.

Now, even though I’m retired, I actively try to eat alone on travel, but also at home. I enjoy the nightly meal with the family left in my house, but I’m still as happy to read while eating. It doesn’t seem strange to me, but my extrovert friends and family don’t and never will get it.

Things I’ve learned.

  1. It’s just fine to eat alone. Don’t be shamed into thinking there is anything wrong with it. Just like some people have to small talk or have company, others prefer the opposite.
  2. You are never alone if you have a book. Surfing the web is quick and random. A book draws you out and can take time to develop the characters and affect your emotions.
  3. If you learn to be ok by yourself, life will be a lot easier to manage.

I’m Traveling To Hell This Week

When I say hell, of course I mean Portland. It’s a shithole now. Oregon is beautiful, but for some reason all the shit not in California or Washington is in Portland. It’s the required trip to the family.

All I hear or read is about problems with Boeing jets, DEI in Air Traffic Control and parts falling off of jets because maintenance workers require diversity. I don’t want to get on a plane, but there is no way out. I figured the statistics are with me and if some shit does go down, my rare flights should exempt me.

When I get there, I’ll get to deal with a city rampaged by Antifa, BLM and many other miscreants. Other than SF, it is the homeless capital of the world, not to mention walking on the streets to the freak show and shit on the sidewalks.

I’ve scheduled some posts and meme’s to enjoy, including stories and observations of mine. It’s a look into my head when I put these out. I’ll cover introverts, the gym fashion show, sibling hell, lots of meme dumps and other stuff.

I may get a post in about my adventures while there, but no promises. Maybe I’ll keep some readers, like Ellie K, a new subscriber. With all the shit I post, I’m surprised she’s still there, but there you go.

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

Coffee, breakfast, something to read, and please quiet, lots of quiet.

On the remote chance, the dog gets up, I’ll take care of him. He doesn’t talk back.

What about you?

How Often Do You Say “No” To Things That Would Interfere With Your Goals? Not Enough

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

I’ve only learned later in life to prioritize myself for my mental sanity. A lot of my life growing up was not saying no enough it was a price I paid while growing up.

The goal I think of here is trying to set boundaries. If I’d have done it earlier in life, a lot of crap I deal with now wouldn’t be still bothering me.

What Activities Do You Lose Yourself In?

What activities do you lose yourself in?

Let’s see, over the years it’s been fishing, hunting, karate, racing, tennis, Biking, and then there was kids and Life, and other stuff, and the next thing I knew I’ve lived in seven decades. I mostly do introvert stuff now so I get lost in my mind a lot.

The Real War On Women

We girls in the Cascade Bridge Club listened incredulously as Marge told us that her daughter, Esmeralda, had just shed her bigtime Assistant Manager job in some e-commerce corporation and had gone home to “have babies and make a home for my husband and my children!” “Why?!” we asked. Marge explained, “She says she is finally happy, that this is what she has always wanted to do, and that she was deceived into a career!” Stunned, we mumbled at each other, “Esmeralda has joined the tradwives? What’s going on?”

At this point in the development of the Elites’ plot to rule the planet, we understand the essence of their strategy is to make us all dependent upon them. As Cheryl Chumley points out, this means destroying all existing economic and cultural institutions, including food production, so the slate is clean for the Masters to scribble on.

The war against the family, therefore, is so central to the strategy of the Elite Masters that they campaign against the family on four fronts:

  • Promote sexual libertarianism to tempt men with affairs.
  • Promote feminism to tempt women away from their maternal and family instincts.
  • Promote transgenderism to confuse the children.
  • Promote no-fault divorce to eliminate the institution of marriage itself.

rest of the story

Of course it from the left. Part of the communist manifesto is to destroy the family and make people dependent on the state. It’s the same equation to get rid of God. It’s been the same throughout history, people doing anything they can for power.

And I Have To Go To This Shithole Soon

Portland, here is what happened when they de-funded the police. They turned make Portland weird into make Portland a crime zone.

I have a relative there and have to go in a few weeks. I can’t say how little I’m excited to go travel.

Hopefully, I’m not on a Boeing plane that is missing bolts or stuck next to traveler who starts a fight. Both seem to be a trend lately.

When I get there, the homeless and the crazies have destroyed the city, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to that either.

Like all trips, the best part is leaving and coming home.

As for being an introvert, as soon as I committed to going, my irritation level shot up. My social battery is not able to recharge because it can’t knowing I have to face this. A countdown to leaving (to come home) automatically begins in my head, I can’t stop it from happening.

It will be over in a bit, but for now I’m suffering until it is over and I’m back home.

Things That Say Why Disney Sucks, Musk Helps Sue The Mouse

The Tragic Kingdom continues to go down the toilet. 

The good news is that Elon Musk is in with people that want to sue Disney.

Gina Carano Sues Disney Over ‘Mandalorian’ Firing in Lawsuit Funded by Elon Musk: (click for full story)

In an escalation of a standoff over her firing from The Mandalorian, Gina Carano is suing Disney and Lucasfilm for discrimination and wrongful termination in a lawsuit that opens another front in the battlefield for influence over Hollywood that has drawn in corporate America.

Carano, in a complaint filed Tuesday in California federal court, alleges she was fired for voicing right-wing opinions on social media and seeks a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her. Elon Musk, making good on a promise to foot the legal bill for users who claim they have been discriminated against due to their activity on his platform, is helping fund the suit through X.

In other news: Disney+ Loses 1.3 Million Subscribers After Price Hike

Disney+ has reported a 1.3 million drop in global subscribers in the final three months of 2023.

The Walt Disney Company’s streaming platform—which includes brands like Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic—lost about 400,000 subscribers in the U.S. and Canada alone, per a press release. Its losses were even greater internationally, amounting to 900,000.

In total, subscriptions decreased from 112.6 million to 111.3 million at the close of its first fiscal quarter, which ended on Dec. 30 (The Walt Disney Company’s fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to Sept. 30, per the Securities and Exchange Commission.)

Disney+ partially attributed the losses to the “substantial price increase” it implemented that same quarter. On Oct. 12, the company raised the price for its ad-free Disney+ Premium plan by $3, bringing the cost of commercial-free watching from $10.99 to $13.99 per month. The price of Disney+ Basic, which includes ads, remained the same at $7.99 per month. 

story

It’s not the price hike alone, it’s the quality of the entertainment and just how far Disney can go woke, hating America and morals the whole way.

I have a cousin that has seasonal passes, but then she informed the family that she was a Biden supporter, so I guess the 2 go hand in hand.

They might surpass Bud Light on the get woke go broke list. #FAFO

My Message To My Younger Self

I suppose everyone says this. I can’t change anything so I’m not going to try to. I’m just trying to enjoy these times. If I’d told myself what to do/not do, it would have turned out different. It might have changed the whole space/time continuum, and I don’t want to tempt God or the Sci Fi world.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and the present is gone in an instant.

Are Men Smarter than Women?

  1. In adulthood, men score about 2-4 IQ points higher than women. Selection bias might account for around 1-point of that.
  2. This gap may be said to not reflect underlying intelligence differences, but something specific about the tests. Yet that conclusion is based on complex methods that depend on assumptions made by the researcher and have questionable real world application. I’m not an expert in these methods, but I’m skeptical of them.
  3. All of this is despite the exclusion of spatial ability from IQ tests, where the male advantage is particularly large. There are some female favored traits excluded from IQ tests, but as far as I can tell none are as g loaded and therefore theoretically as likely to influence true g, to the extent we are comfortable thinking about the concept in this way.
  4. The debate about true g might matter to psychometricians, but there seems to be no reason it should to normal people using the common sense definition of “intelligence.” Men are better at problem solving and know more things, so can be said to be more intelligent in the collective understanding of the term even if women are just as smart in some sense that doesn’t predict performance in the real world.

The definition of “intelligence” does not come from nature. Scientists have constructed various tests designed to measure what people commonly mean when they use the term. The idea that intelligence exists in a meaningful sense comes from the finding that how well individuals do on all kinds of mental ability examinations are correlated with one another. Psychometricians therefore talk about the g factor, which is a mathematical construct that refers to the underlying ability to think abstractly and solve problems.

The most common intelligence test for adults is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (for those 6-16 years old, there is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)). It traditionally has had two main sections: Verbal and Performance, or non-verbal.

So in conclusion, yes.

Despite what many hereditarians believe, the idea that men and women are of equal intelligence appears unlikely to be true. That doesn’t hurt my feelings, because I love truth, believe in liberty, think individuals should do whatever they want, and that society should be completely indifferent to disparate outcomes between groups. When arguing with social engineers, however, higher male IQ serves as one more thing to beat them over the head with.

The short answer is yes.

Full story here

I know that the spacial ability part is true. I can look at a group of items and know exactly how to pack them. The same with a dishwasher. I get it in the dishes in the unit with a pattern that fits more and cleans better. I can look at a parking space and know to the inch how to get in. The females in my family can’t park, brake too late and pack the dishwasher like a kindergartner, despite multiple tries at doing it. 

In playing a trivia game with the question what trait did you inherit, the thing I got from my dad was spacial awareness. The rest of the family readily admitted that they don’t have it and don’t see how things fit in a coordinated manner. 

It’s why I see patterns in life also, like not taking the jab because the evidence of fraud were there all along and that the election was rigged, as was January 6th.

And Epstein didn’t hang himself.

Happy World Introvert Day

May we celebrate together, but alone and separately. Talk to you tomorrow because I’m not talking today.

It’s my favorite holiday after just suffering through Christmas and New Years. I can be alone today. Somewhere out there (although probably quiet) my fellow souls finally have some joy. It’s doubtful others will hear about it as we don’t boast, and other times you can’t get a word in edge wise for all the yapping.

I know and so do others.

PS, I’m not an INFJ.

This next one is me. I’m always in the back, next to the door so I can leave if I need to escape or panic

A Life Lesson About Tomorrows. How Many Are Left?

What does tomorrow mean to us? I thought about that today. It occurred to me that I don’t have as many tomorrows left. As endless as they used to be, I’d grab at a new handful of them. For now, I’m glad to have the next one. They grow fewer every day (sorry, I had to put that in)

Young

When I was young, I never thought about tomorrow. It always came. Some took forever like when I cared about my birthday, and others flew by.

When something has an endless supply, the value is less. It’s economics. I never considered that I’d be working, or retired, or would have kids, a mortgage or any responsibility. Live for today. It was all about today. I had no real yesterday’s to learn from yet.

If I did think about tomorrow, it was the kid dream about being an astronaut or pilot (what I thought about).

That was so long ago and the days between now and then are so numerous that it seems, like another life for me. I’ve lived many different lives within the one I chronologically am still in.

School

I recall sitting in the classroom watching the clock ticking away. Tick, tick, tick towards when I’d be able to go home. Time was endless on those days, and this was just between 2 and 2:15 in elementary school. The only good tomorrow started on Friday.

By the time I got to college, I was aware that life was right around the corner. Still, I enjoyed the day without a care. I ignored that inevitable tomorrow. When it came, it was in the form of an exam, or a girlfriend or another event in life. It was finite and had little consequence as to what my next day held. Still, I had no real cares and a lot of what tomorrow brought was a new experience.

Letdowns started to happen, but the ocean of tomorrows never crossed my mind as I did stupid stuff. I think I lost a few tomorrows by taking too many risks. Somehow I survived and was able to live to the next day, always another tomorrow. It was expected.

Responsibility Years

Life marched on and I grew up, bought a home and started a family. Tomorrows always came, but now they came with other’s problems also. It wasn’t the carefree days when your kid is sick or in trouble. I didn’t have time to think about tomorrow as today brought 10 tons of manure in a 5 ton truck.

So much is happening in your life you take tomorrow for granted or you are too busy to think about anything but today. If you do, those thoughts are invaded with things you have to get done or do for others.

I did notice one thing. I was starting to have a lot of yesterday’s. Some of them happy and some sad. There were lessons learned on both.

The ocean of tomorrows was still seemingly full as it (now) quickly drained away.

Deaths

The first reminders of fewer tomorrows happened here. Those you used to know have run out of tomorrows.

When you are young, say at a grandparents funeral, you can’t comprehend time not being endless for you. By middle age, you know it is closer, but most choose to ignore the reality of time slipping away.

Growing Older

Rarely, do tomorrows bring something new to me. Occasionally, I get a different version of something I’ve been through. I have many more yesterdays now than the number of tomorrows remaining.

The kids are grown. The mortgage is paid off. I no longer work. I’m among the oldest of my relatives now. It brought me to how many tomorrows there will be. Among those, how many will be good or bad? Will there be tough times?

I try to enjoy the days, even if the tasks are mundane. I have less patience for things that don’t seem meaningful to me. My meaningful scale has changed dramatically over life.

From time to time (becoming far too common), people I know run out of their tomorrows. As I sit at the funerals, life comes into perspective for me, at least the part on Earth.

Tomorrows aren’t endless. You only come with so many. Some have more than others and some enjoy them more than others.

Most of life’s struggles are over, except what happens when the tomorrow’s are running out.

Here’s hoping for another tomorrow, and that it doesn’t suck for me.

A Truth About People At Christmas

This much attention is overwhelming for an introvert. i can’t wait for it to be over. I can’t hear another Christmas song on the speaker anywhere.

What I hate the most is how people change and act different when I know damn well what asswipes they are the rest of the year. I hate their fake attitude because it’s the Christmas spirit, or whatever lie they are telling.

I like the meaning of Christmas, but the crap that people do around it, compounded by the commercialization since September and I want to pull my hair out.

This is true every year. I can’t wait for it to be over so we can go back to being who we really are.

We Are Not Made Equal

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” — Aristotle

I have to deal with Scandinavians I’m related to by marriage. They believe in the concept of Janteloven and continually use it to trash the USA. Mostly they try to justify that their country is better. Fortunately, I can almost gauge what is the wrong thing by them telling me what they believe in and that is it. Their country is of course held up as the model of socialism by Bernie, the Squad and other idiots. That’s just more proof for me to intuitively know it is wrong.

I call BS on it because history says otherwise. Did the USA go to the moon because of equality or exceptionalism? How about helping the rest of the world with medicine, discoveries, advancements in technology and improving the quality of life around the world. What has Jante given the world other than stopping being conquering Vikings?

Now this evidence on it’s failure:

School Boards Accelerate Race to the Bottom

School board administrators in their mindless pursuit of “equity” have decided to eliminate honors English classes in a prestigious academic district where parents would be delighted to enroll their children: Santa Monica High School.

The sentiment behind the initiative was best summed up by Sarah Rodriguez, an English teacher at the high school. She, and others involved in the 1½ year pursuit of the initiative, wanted to be “fair” to all students, and not make anyone feel left out or marginalized.

“This is not about labeling students or labeling classes,” Rodriguez says. “What we’re doing is, we’re saying this is a new paradigm.” Her overview of this new paradigm — she insists — is about “all of our students (being) capable and we’re going to meet them where they are.”

It’s a beautiful sentiment, but lacking in reality of what’s going to happen to the bright and gifted students’ opportunities for advanced education. She failed to mention how the initiative would “meet” their needs in a dumbed-down curriculum.

Parents have made it clear to administrators that they view the “equity initiative” as another example of administrators being shortsighted, if not blinded, by the end results of their bad decisions. “A race to the bottom,” is now a popular term used by parents to describe this and other diversity programs contributing to the eroding academic standards in public schools.

“We really feel equity means offering opportunities to students of diverse backgrounds, not taking away opportunities for advanced education and study,” says parent Joanna Schaenman, who spearheads an effort to reinstate honors class at a school where her child attends in Culver City.

The one-size (academic curriculum) fits all students, Schaenman says, is not beneficial for the students who are willing to work harder and achieve higher academic outcomes.

This parental push back is popping up at school board meetings at different high schools operating in one of the nation’s most “progressive” regions: Los Angeles Unified School District.

“I have a child in high school,” one mother told the school board in Culver City. “It is too easy in his classroom” since the elimination of the honors classes. “They (administrators) say it’s equity, they say that’s the reason and therefore it’s okay,” she added. It is far for “okay,” she says, pointing out her son is “no longer challenged in class.”

This complaint is shared by many parents who are watching the decline of their children’s education. Now my son is “bored in class,” offers another parent.

Sensitivities expressed by the administrators in the interest of underperforming students does not appear to extend to parents of the more accomplished students. Parents objecting to the “dumbed-down” curriculum have been subject to slurs and insults by faculty and administrators: “Racist” is a common fallback term used by administrators to label parents objecting to the “equity initiatives.”  At one school board meeting in another district, Asian parents were met with a sign that read: “Leave your Asian privilege at the door.”

It is now becoming harder to tag the parents as racists.

Many of the upset parents are immigrants themselves who appear as dark as the students who are underrepresented in the honors classes, primarily including Hispanic and black children.

Pedro Frigola, who is from Cuba, has two daughters attending Culver City High School. He claims the school is “performing a disservice to the students and community” with the elimination of advanced instruction.

He pointed out in a Fox television interview that the administration put forth the claim that the initiative is hatched in the name of “equity,” but “it’s not defined,” The parent stresses the necessity to provide equal opportunity for all students, but not remove opportunities for students who are excelling in their studies.

“Achieving equal outcomes at all costs,” says Frigola, is an ideology that results in holding many children back, That’s not the only drawback. Students now cannot list “advanced placement” (AP classes) on their applications when applying to Ivy League colleges, placing them at a distinct disadvantage.

This reality isn’t getting in the way of administrators championing their cause. They claim that teachers — who work with students day in and day out — are completely supportive of this “equity initiative.” That has not been Mr. Frigola’s experience when he has discussed the issue with teachers at his daughters’ high school. He reports they have expressed their concerns about the detrimental effects this initiative will have on the high-achieving students. “Of course they’re afraid to speak out because they don’t want to be reprimanded,” he says. “They have their careers to worry about.”

Mr. Frigola, who had grown up in Cuba, thought he had left behind the communist culture of censorship and fear of expressing a dissenting voice, but he was wrong.

In the meantime, embattled faculty and teachers have become more firmly entrenched in espousing their ideology. Rhetoric is becoming more harsh, with administrators now claiming advanced English classes were “perpetuating inequality.” They tend to rely on statistical data verifying black and Hispanic students are underrepresented in the honors classes. Of course, Asian students — who score consistently higher — remain overrepresented in percentages enrolled in advanced courses vs. make-up of population.

Less accomplished students appear to be picking up the messages of victimhood from the faculty. One student described his feeling as “unable to break out of the mold” and another as feeling inferior “because of the segregation” of honors from regular English classes.

“Whatever happened to the concept of working hard and earning a place in an AP class,” one parent commented on social media. “Are we teaching these children to whine rather than work hard?’

It is fair to wonder whether today’s educators are failing to prepare students for their matriculation into the real world. Students who were coddled and protected — from revamping curriculum for “equal outcomes” to handing out “participation awards” for non-athletic winners — will be sorely disappointed when they enter a merit-based system and find themselves at the end of the line for a salary increase or promotion up the corporate ladder.

I lost the link to this story, if anyone has it I’ll give it retribution.

Destruction Of The Family

Check out the marriage rate. It’s what the communists have wanted all along and is in the manifesto. Make the Government your family and your religion, then you are dependent on the state. 

We have been under attack for decades, but this sign of the war for our survival as a country is disheartening at best, dangerous at worst, deadly if it continues. Look up the great reset to see what else they are trying.

It’s A Dog’s Life

 

I got good response on my dog, Boxer Rebellion as well as my interview series, so I thought I’d interview her by describing her day.

Here’s how it goes…..

Wake up, Oh boy, it’s Christmas day, every day! my favorite!
Go for a walk, Oh boy! my favorite!
Eat Dog Food, Oh boy! my favorite!
Play with my toys, Oh Boy! my favorite!
Bark at the kids leaving for school, Oh boy! my favorite!
Nap, Oh boy! my favorite!
Lunch with Dad, maybe some people food, Oh boy! my favorite!
Go for a walk, Oh boy! my favorite!
Bark at the mailman, Oh boy! my favorite!
Kids come home from school, Oh boy! my favorite!
Nap, Oh boy! my favorite!
If I’m good, I get a treat, Oh boy! my favorite!
Dog food, Oh boy! my favorite!
Bark and play with my toys, Oh boy! my favorite!
Go for a walk, Oh boy! my favorite!
Time for bed, sleep on Dad, Oh boy! my favorite!

Constant Christmas Music, Too Early, Too Often, Too Much

I heard it back in September when the first Christmas decorations came out. One of my relatives, Meathead, plays it constantly. It just becomes noise in the background. He hates God which is confounding.

I wish we could keep it to a celebration instead of an Ironman Triathlon.

Why I Like To Be Alone

It’s not that I don’t like others, just not all the time. Actually, I’d rather be alone most of the time. I don’t even miss others or think about missing them. Most of the time, they let me down or make the time spent together difficult. My appetite for that is over.

People drain me and consistently let me down. I’m sure I let them down when they think I should act like an extrovert, but then I don’t force myself on others.

Small talk is the most draining thing during the day. I know as soon as I get into it that it’s going to be a dreadful and useless conversation. Society expects you to go through this ritual, but that doesn’t make it meaningful or any less painful.

Give me meaningful and deep discussions and you have my attention. Otherwise, I’m happiest writing in my diary and reading.

Not caring what others think about you is a blessed relief. It’s the same when they don’t think of you also, like the remote parts of your family that are annoying.

Some Things I Just Can’t Explain To The European Side Of My Family

They don’t get guns. They are afraid of them, yet they get robbed and live in one of the countries that the culture enrichers (Muslims who want free money) are invading. I don’t bother trying to explain it as they want to be morally superior, but are intellectually understated.

They live in a socialist country anyway.

They love to trash the US and pick any gun issue to pontificate. Well, there are over 300 million weapons in the hands of private citizens and over 1 trillion rounds of ammo. If there was a problem, you’d know it. The real problem is that they read the left dominated news and believe the lies. The propaganda arm of the democratic party wants to take guns away.

They also drone on constantly about free education, medical and pension. It’s free because someone who worked paid for it. They don’t like to talk about the 70% tax rate.

I’ve tried to explain this, but they only read the liberal press that also trashes the US. They got rolled over by the Nazi’s in about 6 hours because they can’t defend themselves.

So here you go because I learned from history and am not afraid to defend myself and family….

The police response is under 30 minutes. The response from a gun is instant.

It’s why the people who came our country continued to prosper. Some of the countries had their weapons confiscated. We know how that turned out. Ask the Cubans, Russians, Chinese, Cambodians, Germans in the 1930’s……It will be you next.

hat tip busted knuckles.

An Introvert’s Perspective Of Family Gatherings

My mom told me I had to stick with my family and put up with gatherings because they are blood. She was right on most things in life, but not this one.

I look at them like I look at most people. If we were friends or wanted to see each other, we’d get together. Now, it’s just weddings and funerals, and I avoid those if possible. I missed the last one that made me the patriarch of both sides of the family now. That’s not a burden I relish or will give any attention too.

Besides avoiding both sides of my family whenever possible, my wife’s family doesn’t live in my country, so I have it easy there. They sit around and trash the US to feel morally superior so I don’t want to be a part of that.

Best of all, I stopped drinking a while back. Most of them drink a lot when they are together, so I don’t get invited to almost everything. I think I make them feel uncomfortable. They are happier to be around people who drink a lot without feeling guilty. I don’t get invited and it’s one of life’s blessings.

I treat others like they treat me. Fortunately, most of them don’t want to talk and I keep my head as low as possible so I don’t get in their line of fire.

Still, leaving is always my favorite part of getting together, family or otherwise.

Life These Days, Introverts And Social Media

It’s like this sign below

The world and the media and especially Social Media is trying to tell you how to live, what to say, what is politically correct and so forth. It’s so much shit that you don’t know which way to turn.

I’m finding that staying to myself makes it easier. I don’t have to fit into the world’s definitions of what I should be doing instead of what I want to do. It used to be a lot easier before the Karen’s and Chad’s tried to build their power base by judging others. I got fed up enough of that crap with the high school childish games we suffered through.

I decided to grow up and make my own rules. It’s because I’m an introvert and didn’t do stuff like get the Covid Jab. I’m not as accepted for what I believe, but like Groucho Marx said, I’d never belong to a club that would have me as a member. It’s made my life a lot easier.

This is the way they want you to behave on social media now. I had to eliminate that to not drive myself nuts. I got the added benefit of not having to find out what others did to try and make themselves feel better when they got likes. My favorite benefit was re-losing people I was able to move on earlier in life. They found me on social media, but I already removed them once for a reason.

The way I looked at it, if I wanted to stay connected (or we wanted to together) we would have. Not for likes. I guess I just don’t care enough what they did after we parted ways all those years ago. I got to lose family that made life difficult also.

I get some love to reconnect and rehash things, but I already did that in my private journal. If it was that good, I wouldn’t need social media to see what they ate or drank while doing stuff I didn’t care about.

This version of non English is how social media is. Almost non-sequitur.

With all the bullshit with the lying about the politicians and covering up by the media, if I get too involved with it, this happens to me

I can always revert to my introverted life and spend time alone with my thoughts and pets. That way people aren’t ruining my life as much.

Intelligence, IQ And Pattern Recognition

I found this definition of intelligence when I was reading an article on why smart people got the mRNA Covid-19 Jab. For me, I knew it was a lie almost from the beginning. FWIW, my whole family, friends and acquaintances all got jabbed.

I’ve always believed that patterns are there if you look for them. It’s putting pieces of information together to develop a vision or a solution. It is the key to opening doors in life, or it has been for me. I’ve known too many people with high IQ’s, but no common sense or good decision making who were only book smart. Being intelligent is more than scoring high on a test.

Here is what I found from John Carter.

Intelligence really just boils down to the ability to extract meaningful patterns from information. The more rapidly this can be done, the more complex the patterns that can be discerned, the higher the intelligence. As a rule this means that intelligent people are capable of learning more rapidly, since learning is itself essentially a pattern recognition process in which the meaningful is abstracted from the meaningless and therefore more easily stored away for future reference. Hence ‘crystallized intelligence’, the sum total of the information that someone has acquired over their life, is usually a reasonable guide to how intelligent someone is. Early IQ tests relied to a large degree on tests of knowledge for this reason, until researchers realized that this measure was useless for cross-cultural comparisons, including comparisons of subcultures that had differential access to educational materials, at which point they ultimately settled on pattern recognition tests as an objective measure.

One Of My Worst Introvert Nightmares

I hate this.

I’m not able to process the attention that others force on you. To me, it’s just another day and I wish others would treat it that way. I want to crawl in a hole and not come out until it is over.

When I was a waiter, we’d sing the song to the birthday person. Almost always, a drunk table nearby would want it and would ask for us to sing it to them. One time, a party was so belligerent about it, instead of Happy Birthday dear (name), we sang eat a big one you asshole, HBTY.

Back to the point. I never understood why it was such a big deal. I didn’t know it was OK to hate your birthday until I talked to other introverts. It was painful for years. When I found out you didn’t have to suffer through this, I got my family to swear they’d never put me through the fake festivities again.

I think parents are so overboard on their children’s birthdays that they set this false expectation that it’s a real holiday. It was painful for me and I never knew how to act. The kids come to count on it like it is going to make them happier because they got stuff.

The extroverts in my family expect the attention, but it’s difficult for me to sit through that also. I want that to be over as much as when it happens to me.

In my life, charade has taken over any holiday. People get worked up and claim they are happy because of a day that is supposed to be celebrated. I’ve grown to loathe big family gatherings and the month long Christmas ordeal. I see how unhappy they can be. It’s because people set themselves up for false expectations that some holiday or gathering is supposed to make them feel better. Take away their alcohol and it’s a whole different thing.

I can’t buy that nonsense as there are other days in the year that make me happier, but it is organic rather than manufactured. I can even take (a small amount) some celebrations if spontaneous and real.

At this end of my life, I don’t like having another birthday so fast. It just reminds me that that I’ll be crossing the checkered flag in life soon.