Category: philosophy

truth telling

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I mean, I know we all think we know the truth, but the reality is that the truth is what it is and we are not always aware of all of the aspects of it. Multiple things can be true at any given time.

I have not lived an exemplary life. I’ve lied, I’ve cheated (my family and all my friends banned me from playing Monopoly) and probably worse, if I’m honest about it.

I am still not entirely honest with myself and the people around me, because I feel rejection. I have issues with insecurity and depression.

None of these things means I’m a horrible person by necessity, but neither do they make me an exemplary one.

Truth and perspective are the two things I chase most in my life, and as I get older and open myself up to that more, instead of living in safely comfortable fictions and denial, I find the truest thing I know is that truth and perspective are often not in accordance, but more of one inevitably creates more of the other.

Enough perspective and truth is revealed; how could it not be?

Truth knocks us out of our fictions, our blind spots; it provides perspective where none may have existed.

More truth. More perspectives. These are the only things that matter.

There is truth. There is perspective.

These things are not mutually exclusive. But one perspective, held without truth…

Well, there’s the rub, isn’t it?

Target: 1400 words
Written: 791 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Prozac Nation, Elizabeth Wurtzel
Comics: Fables 5-8
Music: Working Class Hero, Green Day (by way of John Lennon)

reminders

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This book is reminding me of why I love the Hip, and Gord Downie in particular, and why my heroes went from being rebels who gave everyone the finger, to nice people who weren’t afraid of hard truths and dark places.

Loudmouth boors be damned.

Give me a soft-spoken purveyor of real things, dark and light, any day.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1407 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Never-Ending Present, Michael Barclay
Comics: Youngblood v6 4-7
Music: Without You I'm Nothing, Placebo

remember

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Now, more than ever.

Remember.

When the masks come off, it will be the face of the hopeful that shine, and the face of the condemned that bleed with fear.

Remember.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1623 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Quiet: The Power Of Introverts, Susan Cain
Comics: Shattered Image 1-2, X-Force/Youngblood 1, Extremely Youngblood 1
Music: Wild Horses, The Rolling Stones

how proper can we get

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How precious? How far are we willing to sacrifice our happiness to hypocrisy, cruelty or outrage?

How many concessions must we make to others’ feelings?

Is there a limit to empathy? Is there a limit to courtesy?

Sometimes, joking about farts or shit or cum or dicks and boobs is just fun.

What happens when we live for the microaggression, so we can live for our offense? So we can satisfy the dragon of outrage?

Or should the focus be on live and let live, taking a stand when it truly matters, like ICE or concentration camps or the oppression of the minority vote?

Sometimes, a U-turn is strategic, not sexist. That’s all I have to say about that.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1275 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Faded Sun: Kesrith, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: Bloodpool 2, Riptide 1, Youngblood v2 1, Chapel v2 3
Music: Who's Next, The Who

downtown trick-or-treating

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That’s actually a cool idea, kids getting to go store to store and stores get good PR and publicity and karma (and maybe sales) by doing it. I wonder why we don’t do that here? It was a real hit in Belleville.

Plus, they had Burger Revolution, which somehow equated Che Guevara with dead cow.

I’m torn on Guevara. I know he’s an icon for t-shirts and all, but he wasn’t exactly a great guy. I mean, he was Castro’s right hand man, and Castro was a piece of shit. Death squads by both and the whole bit.

Sort of a nice in theory, terrible in execution icon, like communism itself or vegans.

Anyway, fun day. Good burger. I love me some caramelized onions.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 697 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Faded Sun: Kesrith, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: Brigade v2 25, Violator Vs. Badrock 3, Bloodstrike Assassin 2, Chapel v2 1
Music: Who's Last, The Who

you know what would be cool?

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If there were like, only a few million people on earth. Enough so you’d have someone to talk to, and stuff to trade, but otherwise, you’re mostly left alone to do the things you want or need to do.

Also, if they could all be cool, that’d be great.

It is an issue, though, this overpopulation. We’re breeding ourselves out, and we’re ignoring it completely.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 2672 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, Farley Mowat
Comics: Bloodstrike 18, New Men 10, Brigade v2 16, Team Youngblood 17
Music: The Who By Numbers, The Who

edith, you tear me apart

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I’m torn between Edith Piaf songs. Mon Dieu or Le Vieux Piano?

Which has cachet?

Which is a starter?

Which would you use on opening credits, for a book about fighting and dichotomies, and things that could never end well, because militancy rarely does?

Moderation in everything, save freedom, which is inevitable anyway.

We are all free, always.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1324 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, Farley Mowat
Comics: Brigade v2 15, Badrock And Company 5, Extreme Sacrifice 1, Supreme 23
Music: Who Are You, The Who

goodbye, jan

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It will never cease to feel strange when you realize that someone who’s been part of your life will nevermore be.

They will exist in memory, but eventually, even those will fade.

Our lives are sparks for the ones that remains behind; inspiration to keep going, to be better, to live.

Sometimes, that’s as a cautionary tale; others, it’s a set example.

I pray mine will be both, and in that, can avoid pillory or pedestal to maintain humanity, even when I’m nothing left but a thought.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 957 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Bloodstrike 17, Team Youngblood 16, Youngblood 10, Youngblood Strikefile 10
Music: WHO (Deluxe & Live At Kingston), The Who

wake

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My aunt died. I’ve only got two; this is the one on my dad’s side and the one that lives near us.

We’ve spent a fair amount of time with them over the years, the kids were all close, even if I wasn’t particularly with her.

Different styles. She was a teacher, very prim and proper; my family torched her family’s house back during the teetotaler’s movement. We were upset (and probably a little drunk) about their attempts to ban our firewater.

And while obviously, that’s all ancient history, it’s funny how that kind of attitude filters down, even if her love of red wine was almost as great as my own.

In any case, we’ll miss her, but it’s been a long road, post-polio, cancer, all that, and she deserves the rest.

We’ll miss you, Jan. I’m sorry you had to to go through all that. I’m sorry my ancestors burned your ancestor’s house down.

Raise a glass of merlot, then. À la santé, and we’ll see you again.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1397 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Brigade v2 14, Youngblood Strikefile 9, Badrock And Company 4, Battlestone 2
Music: Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston (I... have no excuse.  The worst, right?)

dot dot dot

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I’ve been thinking about corpses all day and it’s something I’d rather not.

It hasn’t left me with a lot to say.

I’ve seen too many, and too far gone. Death is a part of life; if you believe the anti-immortals, it’s what gives meaning to life; mostly, I think it adds time pressure, an urgency we don’t always feel.

So many of us don’t feel it at all, do we?

What a waste, man. What a waste.

Target: 1300 words
Written: 961 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magician's Gambit, David Eddings
Comics: Troll: Once A Hero 1, Youngblood Strikefile 5, Badrock And Company 1, Bloodstrike 14
Music: White Light, White Heat, White Trash, Social Distortion