Michael Kindt's Blog, page 73
February 6, 2016
"Success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill
February 4, 2016
The Redundancy of Names
Article I wrote for CLASH on sports team names, I think. Maybe I was just randomly writing. Still, “Redskins” is pretty damn blatant, don’t you think?
Don ended up leaving.
He hated the drugs. They made him feel dead inside.
I’m not sure what that feels like, but I can’t imagine it’s nice.
I saw him with his gym bag heading out the door.
“You outta here, man?”
“Yeah, I can’t take the drugs.”
“What about life?”
He shrugged.
I’m gonna miss him. We almost had a conversation. In this place no one talks to anyone. The talkers, they talk to everyone. They just talk, not saying anything, to anyone, to the air really. They brag.
The guys are really tuff, they’ll talk to anyone who’ll listen. Mostly guys talk. It’s weird to see how mental illness works on a co-ed basis.
The women are quieter, more withdrawn, much more paranoid. None of them have loud mouths like some of the men do. They sit alone quietly, for the most part.
I’m not sure co-ed is the best set-up because I really see a difference between mentally ill women and men. Mostly we are separated. Our group sessions are sex based and any trustee activity is too, but there’s a few hours every evening when we’re all in the dayroom together and the women do not seem comfortable.
Unlike at Regional West, there is plethora of orderlies. They are everywhere, men and women, all, seemingly, quite fit. The few conflicts that have arisen since I’ve been here (all between men), they have been immediately squelched.
In a few hours, we’re having Salisbury steak.
Hells yeah.
Oil Rout Threatens Vicious Cycle for Economy
Nah. Oil tanking means a giant transfer of wealth from the oil companies/ countries to the consumer. I read somewhere that the savings for the average American at the gas pump now averages some $700 a year. This means millions of people have an extra $700 to spend on things which will eventually drive the price of oil back up: everything you buy requires oil–trucking and shipping. Plastic is made from petroleum. Ford showed a surprising increase in sales of gas guzzling trucks in December and so on. The present cheapness of oil is now rivaling that of green energy, which has yet to be truly cheap. The conspiracy theorist in me says that oil is cheap for this very reason. It’s competing with green energy…and winning.
But I ignore that guy. Conspiracy theorists are dicks. Haha.
But ain’t capitalism beautiful? (I’m not being facetious. I actually think it’s beautiful).
So a guy comes up to me as I was standing under a tree and says "I feel dead inside."
“I wrote a joke about that once,” I told him.
“Are you a comedian?”
“No, I’m a writer, but the ten or twelve people who read me on the internet think I’m fucking hilarious.”
“These drugs make me feel dead inside. It’s weird. There’s….there’s just nothing there. I want off them. I would rather be nervous and paranoid all the time than dead. My name’s Don.”
We shook hands and he lit up a cigarette. “So what’s the joke?”
“How come you never see golfers smile?”
“I don’t know. How come?”
“Because they’re all dead inside.”
Don looked at me like I was crazy, which I was, officially and everything. “That’s supposed to be funny?”
“I laughed when I wrote it.”
“Don’t quit your day job.”
“Already did. I’m in a mental health facility, ain’t I? No one’s paying me to be here.”
“This place makes money hand over fist,” Don said. “Everybody’s crazy.”
“My pills make me feel kinda drunk, not dead inside. I’m a little dizzy and relaxed.”
“I’m totally dead inside.” He looked up at the tree we were standing under. “My soul is a tomb,” he said.
February 2, 2016
One of the unique things about psychiatric drugs is how drunk they make you feel.
I am impressed with the efficiency. Swallow a pill: get drunk.
With alcohol, there’s a whole nother process. And besides, as a non-sanctioned drug, you’re an alcoholic, or at least have a “drinking problem”. If you eat psychiatric drugs, you are mentally healthy.
I do miss a good sharp shot of whiskey. These pills have no character. When a man does a shot of whiskey, he KNOWS he’s takin’ a drug.
Well, I am out of Regional West and am now in a long-term care FACILITY. The pamphlet uses the word FACILITY like a hundred times.
Those all caps aren’t actually in the pamphlet. The place is called Golden Brook, a pristine, rural FACILITY, one half of which is dedicated to rehab. where people who take incorrect, untaxed drugs are fed correct, taxed drugs that benefit corporations and the government. The other half is for people who are just plain nuts, like me. Of course, we too get our diet of corporate drugs.
The pseudo-science of psychology is really great drug marketing. I am impressed. Humbled, even. Not to mention stoned.
By the way, there is no brook here, golden or otherwise. I have a lot more freedom. Regional West, it turns out, is a temporary place. No one stays there much more than a month, unless they are Disturbed–in which case they are locked behind steel beige doors. Here, you can wander around outside. The internet is still heavily filtered, but you have pretty much unlimited access to it, except at night. There is a croquet field, which at the moment is covered in snow.
It’s a really beautiful setting, actually. About a dozen miles outside of town, down a long, lonely, winding road, in a little valley between two mountains. There’s forest and snow. Today is perfect: 30 degrees, with light snow falling.
Winter is so beautiful. God. Once I get out of here I’m totally moving to Alaska.
Speaking of totally, I totally think I could get all mentally healthy and shit here, especially with all these corporate drugs.
Fuckin’ A.
Obama is not even remotely a Democratic Socialist. Neither is Hillary. It’s all about Grandpa Bernie.
Instead of paying carrot farmers to keep growing carrots, even when it’s unprofitable (like FDR), ObamaCare forces the consumer to buy carrots, even when they’re too expensive….and then fines them if they refuse.
Fucking bullshit.
Here’s my article The Case For Grandpa Bernie
So are you a Trump guy or a Sanders guy?
I’m, truly, neither. I view it all as spectacle. I’m just hoping for a good show! Both Trump and Bernie are putting on a good show, so I’m rooting for both, like I said in my article.
As a person who has actually experienced ObamaCare, I can say that it is a horrible idea. Contrast it with the brilliance of FDR, who paid carrot farmers to keep growing carrots because we’ll always need at least some carrots, no matter the price of carrots. Obama FORCES you to buy carrots and if you don’t, you get FINED.
What enormous non-socialist bullshit.
He will be gone soon, in less than a year, and our long national nightmare will be over.
Kegger at my place!
February 1, 2016
The Case for Grandpa Bernie | Michael Kindt
I am, indeed, a capitalist, but I consider myself a reasonable one. America is a capitalist nation, at it’s heart, but we have embraced socialistic tendencies and thought on numerous occasions before. Generally, it was all brought about by the great FDR and the even Greater Depression.
Do you realize that our agriculture/food production is essentially socialized? Farmers are paid by the government to keep growing unprofitable crops. This makes no sense from a capitalist standpoint, but does from a societal one.
It’s because of the way food works. You can’t just magically create food. You have to grow it. It takes at least a half a year, sometimes longer. Since it’s no longer profitable growing this particular food, in a pure capitalist situation, everybody would stop growing it. Over time, you are left with shortages.
