I am going to keep this one uncharacteristically vague because I am living in some wild times. I know nobody reads this blog but I do worry it gets search engine indexed and leaks containment to an unexpected audience of people who do not love what I have to say.
I don't stir the pot on here. I don't voice my opinions on here because I like to focus on the "me" here. I don't get the opportunity to do that anywhere else so it's all I really want to write about on this blog.
Unfortunately, things are getting very weird around me. Nationally, regionally, internally. 2025 is exhausting. I will not be able to keep this up.
I should have written about this in the heat of the moment but at the time, it didn't feel quite as impactful as it ended up being. September 11th happened, which I usually do some tongue-in-cheek jokes about the day while keeping reverent enough of the day that it doesn't come off as outright disrespect. I remember in 2001, I followed the crowd and America'd up my then personal website. Because that's just what you did in September 2001.
Tuesday, I was picking back up on my Madden Automation project. I was making unique, incredible, and slow progress. A huge boost from the glacial pace I've maintained on it for a year and a half now. I was making this progress, doing my actual job, checking social media in the between of all that. Boy, what a day it would have been to just turn the computer off and go hiking. What a good week it would be to canoe out to the middle of the ocean. What a good week to be marooned in space. Anything but being online.
We saw a specific act of incredible violence. The likes of which hadn't been seen in a long while. At least not so in the open. Now my government is making it their normal duty of taking stock of what happened and making it as bad as they possibly can for their political rivals or anyone that does not toe the line. It feels like things are locking down around me and anyone not in march-step with the worst ideas you've ever imagined suffers real consequences. Not a great time to be a journalist, entertainer, or public figure of any kind. I'm ignored online, known to nobody, and you can tell from how I'm talking here that I'm petrified.
It just keeps getting worse and worse. The worst people you are aware of are making some really good points for once because it's gotten too far for even them. But the plan stays the same and we all suffer infinite consequences. Political ideologies get worse, economy gets worse, odds of me having a job and home in a year are nullified.
On a totally different note, I'm learning quite a lot about local government corruption! A former extended member of my family (divorced cousin-in-law?) was involved in an incredibly violent act last year and it seemed like nobody was going to do anything about it. Until this week. And from what I learned about the case, it seems like the local DA was going to sit on the case until the statute of limitations was long gone because someone asked the Commonwealth about what was happening with it and he mobilized. The guy was arrested the next day. Charged with some very, very heavy stuff.
I have no strong feelings on the matter. From the facts I have heard about it, it sounds like he did all they are saying he did and the evidence is strong. I have no strong feelings about the legal process but it's causing havoc for some kids in my family. My kin. That's where my problem lies.
I guess my other problem lies in seeing crime be legal all around me nationally, nobody who deserves consequences ever seems to get them. And now it is happening on the local level, too? The only winning move is not to play. I swear to shit, something is gonna hit me and I've done nothing wrong. That'll be the thing, won't it.
I'll be back to blog some more soon. I don't expect to go anywhere unless things crash. But I'm realizing that when things do crash completely, we won't be rebuilding society in any ideal I've ever stood for. Let's hope we can look back on this and feel as silly as back in 2010 when we used to sit around talking about zombie escape strategies.