too true

via Schneirer:

Part of the debtor mentality is a constant, frantically suppressed undercurrent of terror. We have one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world, and apparently most of us are two paychecks from the street. Those in power -- governments, employers -- exploit this, to great effect. Frightened people are obedient -- not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally. If your employer tells you to work overtime, and you know that refusing could jeopardize everything you have, then not only do you work the overtime, but you convince yourself that you're doing it voluntarily, out of loyalty to the company; because the alternative is to acknowledge that you are living in terror. Before you know it, you've persuaded yourself that you have a profound emotional attachment to some vast multinational corporation: you've indentured not just your working hours, but your entire thought process. The only people who are capable of either unfettered action or unfettered thought are those who -- either because they're heroically brave, or because they're insane, or because they know themselves to be safe -- are free from fear.
Quote is from The Likeness, a novel set in Ireland, by Tana French.

Funny that this wholly logical analysis is an old zen idea- that true mastery of any art (and thereby life itself) is freedom from fear. It's particularly apropos because I'm getting about 5 calls a day from various debt collectors with delusions that I have the ability to pay them. Man I need a real job.

just some photos....

The Party that Grant Built

I don't know about everybody else, but this looks more like Charlie Chaplin than anything else:

This purse, it went so well with his shoes, he just had to try it on.

And I'm too lazy to caption the rest.

Silly Rabbit, Tricks are for bikes

So, I've been a little lax in posting photos the last few days. Chalk it up to new year depression. January always gets me down, and it takes a few days for all the old habits to kick in and pull me out of my funk. It's been a good couple of days though.

Sarah and Damaris see the green fairy:


I'm officially a pedicab driver:

Add to that the other new job, the one where I'm officially a professor, and it couldn't get more ridiculous. Unless of course you're Steves with a tablecloth on your face:

The litter box session was pretty good too:









The next night, at the ever popular 3020:

Karaoke at the raintree:

This last one comes with a public service announcement. There is a reason Old Milwaukee is so cheap. Do not try to play asshole with that shit unless you're prepared for a monster hangover.