Unhappyness

Jay Leno wrote something about how satisfied Americans are with the country. And he's right on a lot of things. We have so much food we are going obese with it, and a steadily rising industry ready to deal with that problem, too. We are a country of excess, and it's terrifyingly wonderful to live here. I suppose that some portion of the 67 unhappy percent are upset because we don't give enough to the rest of the world, but I doubt it.

I'm not angry at Bush for forcing our troops to fight in Iraq. As Leno said, any troops over there chose to enlist and serve the president. I suppose I should rephrase that. I'm not angry at Bush for forcing our troops to fight; I'm angry because he pointed them to Iraq. Something needed to be done after 9/11, that much is true, and Bush did a great job of focusing our power, anguish and rage, and directing it towards one place. Afghanistan was a good start. Other places, though, were not such wise choices, such as the USA PATRIOT ACT, secret prisons for anonymous "enemy combatants," and in general a disdain by the Executive branch for the rule of law in this country. Whenever anything comes up, 9/11 changed everything, we must fight terrorism, etc etc...

I'm glad I live in America, and the general scope of the country, when taken over the last century (let's face it, no matter how bad a job Bush did, he can't remove supermarkets in 8 years) has been good. But Iraq is, as many have described it, a quagmire. Actually, I think it seems much more like a tar baby - we attacked it due to a perceived threat, and the more we fight it, the harder it is to escape. Bush says that, given a chance to do it all over again, he would do it the same way. This is why I am dissatisfied with Bush's presidency. He has demonstrated on seemingly every possible occasion that he is unable to adapt or learn. Something tells me that he learned how to President (v) from his father, who rode the country through generally peaceful times, and invaded Iraq in a 30 day "war". Bush isn't trying to avenge his father. He is trying to mimic him, and he's doing a pretty poor job of it.

We should have stayed in Afghanistan, and that's all I'm going to say about the subject for tonight.

Money Money Money Muh-ney.... MONEY!

I've reached the end of my Spring term at ACC. Yay for that. Also, I'm apparently less than a week away from a promotion to "Electronics Specialist" at Target, which is a step up from my old position: Salesfloor Team-member who specializes in Electronics. Whoo pay raise!

Interestingly enough, I think I've already started spending my pay before I get it. In my head at least. I've decided (deep breath) to finally move out into my own place. It doesn't look like I'm going anywhere big for a while, I've got a steady job (and a shiny new promotion, as I mentioned), gonna probably do another semester or two of ACC until I find something that really grabs me more than the jangle of the games case keys in my pocket. So yeah, I'm gonna move out. And I've got my eyes on a big-ass HD TV set: only $600 for a 32" flat-screen - score! I'm also thinking of getting an X-Box 360 Elite, once the price drops. I'll check out this "HAY-LOW" thing all the kids are talking about, and also use X-Box Live as a sort of DVR for TV programs. That Zune I talked about earlier is still something I'm looking forward to, too...

Speaking of money, though... I walked in the door and saw a stack of twenties next on top of my Mom's checkbook. Any sane person would assume that she had simply gone to the ATM and taken out some cash for shopping the week. My mind immediately jumped to the idea that she had passed a large tile marked "Go," possibly at a right angle.

I Am Enjoying Pokemon

...Immensely.

EDIT: This post originally had two images embedded - Trainer cards. But the site I made them on underwent a reset, so they were lost. Hope theres not too much confusion.

Yeah, I picked a female character. (Note: The sprite in that picture is not the one that actually represents me in game, but I wish it did.) Why? Because the default boy looks like a total dork. Admittedly, I AM one, but when I'm playing a game, I want to pretend to be something I'm not. And I want to feel good knowing that I don't look like such a dork. Maybe in the next game Nintendo will let you pick from two or three sprites of each gender.
But I have been enjoying the game, regardless of gender confusion issues. I've even been doodling out a pokemon team to use once I've beaten the game and am ready to step out into the wide wide world of WiFi battling (they're on this second card, if you want a preview.) So yeah, I've got my friend code on there and everything. You should come battle me.

...Please?

How can you say no to that face?