As you've probably noticed, it's been sometime since the last entry. You'll also notice, I'm sure, that every few months, I post an entry that's quite like this one: Me saying very simply that I haven't posted an entry in awhile. You gotta love redundance.

In any event, I don't really know why it's been so long since my last post. I guess I've just been working too much. I wake up, go to work, come home, watch T.V., and go to bed, waking up to start all over again. Occasionally I'll get online and peruse a few things, or I'll play a game, but little else. Most of the time I'm simply too tired to think.

I worked a rather long shift today - 11 hours - so I'm a bit too wound up to be tired right now. I still don't feel like thinking a whole helluva lot, but I figured I'd better at least let my two readers know I'm still alive.

Anyway, they passed another stupid law in Michigan. Effective May 1st, smoking will no longer be allowed in bars or restaurants. Many people will undoubtedly disagree with me, and that's fine. But I say let the free market take care of it. If people get tired of going to bars and restaurants that allow smoking, they'll go somewhere else, and there are plenty of choices. This is just another unnecessary law; another unnecessary government intrusion.

Well, that's all I got. LOL.

After watching a special on T.V., I am prepared to say that I am, by definition, an alcoholic.

I don't know how I feel about that. Could I really be an alcoholic?

Let's see.

I drink despite the negative consequences of drinking - such as being arrested...twice. That's obviously not a positive thing.

I consume considerable amounts of alcohol when I drink, because having just one is silly. I'm an alcoholic. I can't have just one drink. I don't understand people who have just one drink. I don't understand people who leave half a glass of wine on the table. I don't understand people who say they have had enough. How can you have enough of feeling like this? How can you not want to feel like this longer? I just don't understand it, and I never will.

So by those standards, I guess I am an alcoholic. And I don't know if I care.

I do not consume alcohol everyday, so perhaps my "alcoholism" has been overestimated just a bit by the experts. Of course, these are the same people who make a living explaining to you your woes. These are the same people who, undoubtedly, crack open a few bottles after a hard day's work.

I just don't know.

Cheers.

Last week, Jaclyn, the kids and myself were in Virgina. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post an entry while I was down there, but I was considerably more occupied enjoying a place which, when I left, felt a lot like leaving home; a home you love. I was sad to go.

Everyone seems to believe that when you spend a significant amount of time in any one place, any new place, no matter how desolate, is great in your eyes. I don't believe this. My sister, for example, has lived in Florida for over 20 years, and she refuses to move back to Michigan, period. The place which was new 20 years ago is still better in her eyes than Michigan. And I guarantee Virgina would be in mine.

I've been trying to figure out exactly how I feel since it happened, and further, to put that feeling into words.

I don't think I have either task completely licked just yet, but holding it off any longer seems just plain absurd. 

So, first of all, Michael Jackson was the best musical talent since Elvis Presley, period. I listened to him quite a lot when I was an ankle-bitter, and my siblings listened to him even more. We all believe his death is a tragic loss, and I believe I know how my father felt when Elvis died. 

The life led by Michael Jackson receives mixed opinions. Some do not recognize his rather difficult childhood, which, for all intents and purposes, produced an individual seriously emotionally harmed. This is lucid when one considers all of the cosmetic surgery Michael had done. It's in fact quite common for those with such emotional problems to constantly change their appearance via cosmetic surgery, especially if they have the means to do so. 

It was this difficult childhood, I believe, which attracted Michael Jackson to children. And I don't mean in a sexual way; I mean emotional. He cared about children so much because of his childhood. He wanted, in his mind, to live his own childhood through them. I do not believe for a second he harmed children in any way, shape, or form. I think human beings are disgustingly similar to flies: Speaking philosophically, when shit appears, we're attracted to it - regardless. 

Either way, it's a great a loss. And I think if people understood a few things, they would look at Michael Jackson and his short life with a bit more compassion.

If you read my blog at least once or twice a month, then you know I'm a freelance writer, having done work for a variety of different people and businesses. I've written business letters for Catholic organizations; I've written medical articles for doctors; I've written book reviews for editors; and I've written a ton of marketing articles on products, services - such as London Escorts (not one of my finer moments, I admit) - and innumerable pages of website content aimed at making a sale.

Sometimes I get paid by the hour, and other times I receive a fixed price. Well, after receiving $25 to write five articles and five press releases (450 and 350 words a piece), I realized I was spending too much time writing stuff I didn't care about. That's not to say I wasn't motivated to do a good job, because I always am. I was just spending too much time doing something I did not enjoy. So when the same fella asked me to write some website content for him - well over 3,000 words - I increased the fixed rate a little bit. Rather than $25, I decided to charge $100; still an incredibly fair deal.

The buyer would have none of it. It was too far out of his budget, he claimed, and said he would only pay $50; I declined.

I'm working way too many hours cooking in a restaurant and writing dog-tired to even consider doing 3,000 words on an ungodly boring topic for a measly $50, with a required turn-around time of two days. Piss on that.

It just amazes me how cheap some people are. They want their businesses to succeed, yet they aren't willing to pay for someone who can write decent content. I may not be the best writer out there, or anything close, but I can write decent content. I've received nothing but perfect feedback ratings from every buyer I have worked for, and some of those buyers were in fact magazine editors. So when more than one editor gives you glowing feedback, you know you can't be too bad.

Anyway, I don't know what the point of this post is. I'm bored; it's early; I'm pissed; I'm thirsty; I'm going to drink some water; I'm tired; I'm going to bed.

If you watch the news, you've probably heard of President Obama's recent act of animal cruelty. This inhumane, volatile, disgusting, and appalling act is indeed quite distressing. Our President, our leader, our representative to the world swatted a fly - and worst of all, he did it on camera.

Oh, the horror! The horror!

Okay, you've now realized I'm jivin'; that I'm making fun of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), one of the most ridiculous groups in the history of the world.

Here is what they said in response to Obama's murderous act: "We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals,” a PETA spokesman said. “We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals.”

Oh piss off.