Is there any more passive-aggressive bullshit than this?
Out with it, or shut the fuck up.
Anything less makes you seem petty and disingenuous.
Target: 1600 words
Written: 1554 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Still Just A Geek, Wil Wheaton
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 43-44, Voodoo 1-2
Music: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas Soundtrack, Various Artists (there they are again)To all the mothers out there, human, dog, cat and other, we see you.
And to people who had shitty moms or absent mothers and love to point that out today, we see you as well, but maybe let the good mothers have one day. It’s no disrespect to you for other people to honour those that loved them.
It might be painful, but it’s not always about you; it’s hardly ever about any of us.
Target: 1600 words
Written: 301 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Still Just A Geek, Wil Wheaton
Comics: WildC.A.T.S./X-Men 3, Wildstorm Ultimate Sports Edition 1, Grifter v2 14, WildC.A.T.S. 42
Music: Father Of All Motherfuckers, Green Day (I'm not sure if this was appropriate today or not?)Be kind to your miniatures. For real.
The tiny clones of you running around that you whipped up in the lab? They may be driving wild like manic leprechauns, but they deserve your compassion.
They’re just wee, dontcha know?
I am terribly sorry. You have my empathy and compassion.
Target: 1600 words
Written: 2105 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Still Just A Geek, Wil Wheaton (so much to say on this, I think it'll have to be a post)
Comics: Grifter v2 12-13, WildC.A.T.S. 40-41
Music: The Fat Of The Land, The ProdigyLet’s start small. Yesterday, I had difficulty reconciling the lifestyle of kindness and compassion with the need to punch a Nazi in the nose (because that may be the kindest thing you can do for the world, and perhaps for them).
Today, I’m just thinking about little things, and mostly, it comes down to paying attention. Instead of living in our own heads, we focus outward and really pay attention to the people around us, the people with whom we interact. How are they responding to what’s happening around them?
Do they need help? A good chuckle? A hug? A pat on the back? Some uplifting words?
Or maybe they just need someone to sit with them and be there for them.
I’m naturally drawn to the underdog, the person everyone’s ignoring in place of the most obvious victim or the cause du jour. Caregiver burnout is a real thing, and I think it behooves us to show some grace to those who do the work.
It’s very easy to feel empathy for an aging mother whose mind is wavering, or someone in a wheelchair, and very easy to criticize those who are most responsible for their welfare, who have set aside their own wants and needs in order to take care of someone else.
And it’s easy to sympathize with those who are caregivers, except when they get frustrated or dare to take a little something for themselves. Then, it’s easy to criticize; they’re bad people for getting angry at their charge, for taking a few moments to collect themselves while a child or parent is screaming; the accused, seeing the press whirl up against them without any regard for fact or nuance.
It’s easy to judge, to write off, to label as mean, as a bitch, an asshole, an abuser.
It’s much more difficult to try and understand, and in that, there is kindness.
I guess this wasn’t really mini at all.
More on that another time.
Target: 1600 words
Written: 2094 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Still Just A Geek, Wil Wheaton
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 38-39, Grifter v2 11, WildC.A.T.S./X-Men 2
Music: Fat Music, Volume 5: Live Fat Die Young, Anti-FlagI’ll admit, this is the part of kindness where I struggle. I know, in Buddhist thought, Taoist thought, compassion is for everyone, no matter who they are or what they represent.
And I understand that. But I see kindness as having little effect on the authoritarians of the world, or on those who absolutely refuse to help themselves. In many cases, kindness is an enabling factor, not a mitigating one.
Kindness needs to be tempered with a resolve that doesn’t allow for bad behaviour to continue. Tough love, I believe it’s called, but I hate the concept itself – it’s so ripe for exploitation and coercion. Like so many great concepts “in theory”, there are always those who would twist the sentiment to their own end.
Tough love as the excuse for an abusive parent. Kindness as a shield for an exploitive guru. Compassion as way to enable another’s bad behaviour and thereby, avoid conflict.
It is not kindness to let people continue to behave poorly in their lives. Sometimes, the greatest kindness is letting go of that person, or devising a means by which their harm can be minimized (or eliminated altogether – and since I preach non-violence as much as possible, I prefer minimization – not ignorance, awareness without engagement).
Sometimes, the most kind thing is to recognize that the person you need to be kind to is yourself, and that the person who you believed deserved your kindness is not of more consequence than that. If compassion for another is killing you, it flies in the face of compassion. Compassion does not equal martyr.
Then again, maybe I just don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. Perhaps I’m only saying this because I feel on the verge of breaking, and am putting up walls to allow myself time to rebuild, refocus and rest.
Thus, it’s back to the Buddhist texts and a continued re-reading of Tao Te Ching. Kindness, empathy, compassion – the structure is in there somewhere.
And I’ll get it eventually.
I hope.
Target: 1600 words
Written: 1369 words, novel: Father Lightning (and the tradition of missing my updated target on the first day continues)
Read: Still Just A Geek, Wil Wheaton (wait, is this a rewrite? Ugh.)
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 37-38, Grifter 9-10
Music: Fashion Nugget, Cake (wickedly underrated band)I mean, it is, but if you went by all these 911/CSI/NCIS shows (the U.S. Navy must have the highest peacetime mortality rate of any branch of service in the world), or by the local news, you’d swear you were about to get ganked around every corner.
I think there’s a lot more kindness happening than that.
Although… why is this newslady smiling about the murder/suicide that resulted in an apartment building half-burning down?
This is a twisted planet.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1400 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: On Cats, Charles Bukowski (I'll admit, I teared up at the Manx)
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 34-35, WildC.A.T.S./X-Men 1, Grifter v2 8
Music: Far Side Of The World, Jimmy Buffett (and now you know why I'm chill today)Is this still a thing? I feel like maybe I could get more into kindness if I could just scream it out first.
Or a rage room, but that seems like it’s: a) creepy and b) likely to cause me injury.
After all, I can dislocate a toe by pivoting on one foot, or throw my back out tying shoelaces.
Smashing shit with a sledgehammer seems maybe a bit fraught.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 897 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Interview With The Vampire, Anne Rice (fucking brilliant)
Comics: Grifter 6-7, WildC.A.T.S. 32-33
Music: Famous Monsters, The MisfitsI don’t necessarily agree with some of the stuff he’s doing (too corporate-leaning for me), but his ability to make deals and get us away from our dependence on the States (which is something I’ve advocated since Bush Jr.), it’s impressive.
Dude’s a force of nature, very quietly and clearly cutting the United States out of the equation, insulating us against their insanity.
So, credit where credit’s due. On that front, he’s fucking brilliant.
And Pierre Poilievre can shut the fuck up until he has an actual idea to make Canadian lives better, instead of trying to create controversy by bitching about everything and slagging Canada as horrible.
You want to represent a country? Maybe don’t constantly complain about it, Pierre.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 2084 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Interview With The Vampire, Anne Rice
Comics: Grifter & The Mask 1-2, Grifter 4-5
Music: Family Tree - CDs 1-6, BjorkI’m not a crazy retro gamer like some people, but I enjoy revisiting classics – things I played like Final Fantasy or Metal Gear, and things I missed the first time around, like the early Elder Scroll games.
Unfortunately, my lack of free time makes grinding in RPGs a long haul, a total slog I can’t get into for five minutes here or there.
On the plus side, I managed to finish Final Fantasy III (actual 3, not the American 3) and man, what a long time coming. It’s taken me over 2 years to get through the first three, plus Metal Gear (which went pretty quickly).
Hopefully, the next ones, I can find some more time for it.
Or give up and dedicate myself wholeheartedly to life, but what fun is there in that?
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1764 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Interview With The Vampire, Anne Rice (modern classic, up there with all the other modern classics)
Comics: Grifter v2 1-3, WildC.A.T.S. 31
Music: The Family Tree, The RamonesI’ve no desire to watch any of those types of show, but I think I would if they were based on the ones that were considered the “worst” 9-1-1 calls.
Like the one complaining that their neighbour is wearing too much cologne.
Or there’s a domesticated-looking bunny in the park.
That motherfucker. How dare he?
Target: 1500 words
Written: 720 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Interview With The Vampire, Anne Rice (I'm so into this; I forgot how fucking good it was)
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 29-30, Spawn/WildC.A.T.S. 4, Grifter/Shi 2
Music: Family Man, Black Flag