I’m not sure what it is about that dark clad garb, face tattoos, and the little pointy horns but it seems to be drawing out some supporters from the evil villain community. Well, the intelligence challenged evil villain community anyway. Yesterday in Salt Lake City some Darth Maul wanna-be killed a corrections officer and led a police pursuit around town until he was taken down by some old man at an Arbys restaurant. I say Darth Maul wanna-be because at first glance the guy looks like he started to do the DM impression but got sidetracked and just started doodling all over his face like teenagers do on their school notebooks… except that the doodling wasn’t very good. I can only guess that his original intention was to make himself look intimidating – you know, like Darth Maul – but it ended up looking kind of like he’d stuck his face through one of those pie tin booths and got hit with a plate of ink instead.
I wonder if this is the start of some new evil villain fad… will the next freak to escape and be apprehended by the elderly have Joker tattoos? You know one thing that I would love to see is an Incredible Hulk wanna-be! Yeah, some guy with his entire body tattooed green trying to make a fierce looking face while doing his villainous deeds. Hahaha! Man, I think it’s time to open a new category for the Darwin awards this year.
A good friend of mine is involved with a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to helping educate the children of Haiti. He has developed some strong ties with the country and it’s people over the last couple of years, and I know that his interest in this organization is genuine. He and his wife have adopted a little boy from Haiti, and his wife works with many agencies in that country through her job.
If you need to give away some money for tax purposes, or just want to help a really good cause, I highly recommend you look at their web site to get more information. It is really cheap to sponsor a kid for one year of school, and that education – even a little – will help the next generation of Haitians to make something of themselves and end the cycle that too many people in that country find themselves in. It’s a pretty noble thing they are doing with this organization, please help them out. The web site has a lot of information.
I don’t suppose anyone’s ever heard of it, it’s a small town in Nebraska. But it’s where I’m headed next weekend for a three day reenactment. I’m not sure why I’m going, it’s a long – very, very long – drive and I’ll be trenching through mud and cold and sleeping out in the freezing night air. To top it off I’ll be wearing boots that I have never tried on before, and borrowing half of the gear I need to look authentic. I should probably scream and run away.
Consumer debt really does suck. It’s great for the people I work for – the blood sucking vermin of the modern age – but for the average Joe it is a demoralizing and difficult reality. To be in debt is to essentially sell a piece of one’s life in exchange for a temporary (sometimes not-so-temporary) loan.
I’m not sure why most of us can’t keep ourselves out of debt. It’s something we all know about and hate, but at the same time can’t resist taking upon ourselves – kind of like the forbidden fruit. It looks so easy and promises us everything we desire… all at just a minimum monthly payment! I guess that as we get older we get wiser as the saying goes. I can remember my first credit cards back at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. The reps for the various companies were giving away t-shirts (T-SHIRTS!) to everyone who applied for their card. I applied for 7. Yes, that’s seven different cards, and I got them all in the mail. Ugh, what a disaster that was.
At this point in my life I am trying to rid myself of any unnecessary credit. I have experienced as most people probably have the sting of consumer debt and the long road to recovery. It is not fun, but it has taught me an extremely valuable lesson about the value (and non-value) of money. There are a few good reasons to get one’s self into debt, but a billion more to stay away from it.
Remember, you will always have to pay back the entire amount, plus interest. It is really not worth it. Fuck the Joneses.