It's Been a Long Time

I haven't written a blog post on here in quite some time. When I started this blog, I had dreams of making it as a writer. Those dreams are long dead, but I am currently seeking my place in this world, and I've decided that it is no longer toiling away at some company. I used to be a hardcore capitalist, back when I still believed the lies that anyone could make it in this world. However, years of poverty have taught me otherwise. I'm college educated, with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science. There's no reason I should still be poor, were the lies true.

I am pursuing several possible career options, some of which arenot feasible in current covid restrictions. The primary focus, and the one I'm least excited about, but the one most likely to lead to an income stream in the near future is as a Personal Support worker. I was approved by the state of Oregon as a PSW for people with development disabilities in December. I just need one or more clients to continue down that path.

However, state rules and regulations for that path lead me to believe that I may not be much better off doing this work than I was at my previous job, a child care teacher. I often felt hamstringed in that job by rules and expectations on how things should be that I didn't feel I could do the job in a way that played to my morals and strengths. So I am pursuing other ventures related to my other skills and interests. The first and most exciting, but also the most challenging, utilizes my computer science skills in combination with my art and storytelling. I am currently teach myself game development using the Unity game engine. I want to create the games that I wish others would make. It has been a difficult journey, and I hope that I can be successful at it, even if it turns out to be nothing but a hobby.

The next project I have been working on is going through my backlog of pictures and working on them in Photoshop. I don't know that this venture will lead to any financial gains. I don't feel like my photography skills are good enough to make a career out of, but it is at least something that brings me joy. Maybe I'll revive my Exploring Oregon blog. I have thought about writing some informational books using my photos. Some of my ideas might have to wait until covid restrictions have lessened and travel is more of an option.

The next pursuit I want to continue is my webcomic. I started my webcomic in 2015 and posted to it regularly until I started working in child care, and no longer had the energy or time to work on it. I tried to do a revival of my comic at the start of the pandemic when I was laid off, but severe depression set in, and I couldn't find the energy or motivation to continue it. I owe it to my patrons to continue working on it. I don't have many, and they don't provide me with much money, other than enough to keep the website going. For those who haven't read it, you can find it at www.geekswillruletheworld.com.

Finally, the last venture I have in mind is one that I can't pursue until after covid restrictions have lifted. Before covid happened, I used to regularly attend karaoke at the bars, and I really loved it. I think that I would really enjoy being a karaoke jockey and running shows for people. However, this venture will require quite a financial investment to break into, not to mention that I don't really know how to learn the skills I need to choose and use the karaoke equipment that I need to be successful. Not to mention how difficult it is to understand copyright laws in regards to what music I am or am not allowed to play at karaoke shows. Lastly, a friend of mine does not think I can be successful at this unless I learn to drive and get a license, which in all honesty has been one of my biggest fears to starting a venture like this.

I suppose I should add this blog as one of my ventures as well. However, I'm not sure I'll ever have an audience large enough to make this worthwhile. I decided to revive this blog mostly as a way of making my voice heard. I have been censoring myself for far too long because I've been afraid of what people will think of me if I speak up, but I have bottled myself up for so long that I am angry and frustrated, and I need to let those feelings out and let them breathe. So I am taking the advice of my therapist and letting my voice be heard, and we'll see how long I decide to keep at this.

The Register-Guard Doesn't Publish Doonesbury Comics

This may be old news for many, but this week The Register-Guard showed repeats of classic Doonesbury comics instead of the current storyline related to the anti-abortion laws recently passed in Texas requiring any woman wanting an abortion to go through a thorough counseling that involves a required-by-law lecture by doctors, an invasive sonogram, and a 24 hour waiting period before an abortion can be performed.

I had heard that many papers around the country were not going to publish the comics this week or move it to a different section, but I was surprised when I discovered that The Register-Guard did not publish it when I read the comics at work this morning. I don't get the paper, and the only time I get a chance to read it is while I'm at work, which I didn't do until Saturday this week.

The story begins with a woman walking to a receptionist in a clinic asking if she was in the right location for the sonogram. The receptionist asks if it's her first abortion. She then hands the woman some paperwork to fill out and asks her to wait in the shaming room where a state legislator will be with her shortly.

The story continues with a balding middle aged man identifying himself as Sid Patrick and a co-sponsor of the bill asking her if she was new to the clinic. The woman replied that she was not a new client and she had been coming to the clinic for awhile for birth control. The man pauses briefly before asking the woman if her parents knew she is such a slut. This alludes to the recent news of Rush Limbaugh and his unfortunate comments regarding a young college student who spoke before a House Committee regarding birth control. He called her both a slut and a prostitute. The legislator himself seems to be an amalgamation of Texas State Senator Dan Patrick and State Representative Sid Miller, both of whom were contributors to the new law.

The next day we find the woman sitting in front of a doctor as he very obviously reads to the woman a scripted description of the procedure that she would be going through. When the woman asks the doctor why he's reading it to her, he reads from the script that her doctor "cannot be trusted" to provide her with all the information she needs to make an informed decision on the consequences of going through with an abortion.

The story continues with what is more than likely the most controversial of the strips for this storyline. The woman lies on a hospital bed protesting that she doesn't want a trans-vaginal sonogram. The doctor explains to her that since she is first trimester the law requires such a sonogram, which the doctor describes as a shaming wand. What the strip doesn't go into detail about is that while the law doesn't state what kind of sonogram to provide the woman, to fit the letter of the law, only a trans-vaginal sonogram will provide the correct images for a woman in her first trimester.

Next we see the woman still on a hospital bed talking to her doctor. He tells her that he is required to describe her fetus in real time. He points to portions of the screen saying that this dot could be one body part or another, alluding to the fact that the fetus is so underdeveloped at that point there's not much to see. He mockingly asks her if she'd like him to also describe the child's hopes and dreams.

Finally in the last panel we find the woman standing before the receptionist once more, having finally gone through the entire process, asking where she must go for the actual abortion itself. Much the to woman's chagrin, the receptionist informs her that she must wait 24 hours before she can have the procedure done to allow time for shame to cause her to change her mind.

I'm disappointed with The Register-Guards decision to censor these comics. While they did provide a link on their website to allow their readers to view these comics if they chose, this is still a cop-out. This is an important topic that should not be shied away from just because it is "not appropriate." This law is causing a lot of anguish to women already grappling with a difficult decision, as described in this article my wife found and posted on Facebook. I guarantee that is a heartbreaking story no matter what side of the argument you believe.

Black Friday Madness

I was reading an article in the Register Guard this morning about Black Friday. I've never quite understood the mindset of people willing to brave the crowds (or would mobs be more appropriate?) on the day after Thanksgiving just for door prizes and discounted shopping. As I've told people already this year on Facebook, if I could barricade myself in my house from Thanksgiving to the beginning of the New Year, I would. People get so crazy this time of year.

According to the Register Guard article, people lined up outside the malls for as long as 13 hours before the stores opened. Imagine that: 13 hours! I can't imagine any free prize or discount is worth that kind of time. Actually I'm sure of it. Oregon minimum wage is what, $8.50 an hour? So let's assume for the moment that we can price a person's time at minimum wage. (Alright, I know that a person's life is worth more than minimum wage, but for the sake of the math, just work with me for a second.) Ok, so that would make a wait time of 13 hours equal to about 13 X $8.50 = $110.50. Ok, going along this same train of thought this waiting also takes place on a holiday, so your time is worth time and a half. That would make the wait cost about this much: 13 X $12.75 = $165.75.

Really? You're going to find savings worth that much. And if you consider your time to be more valuable than minimum wage, you'd better come up with savings better than that. Personally my time (and my sanity) is worth more than I'd ever save at any Black Friday sale.

I know that our economy is based on buying stuff, and that holiday sales drives most of our economy for the entire year! It's sad. It's great that people are in a giving mood for the holidays, but we put too much stress on ourselves during this time of year to spend money to show our family how much we love them. I've got a suggestion for everyone for next year. How about instead of going shopping on Black Friday, you show your family how much you love them by spending some quality time with them?

Shopping can wait.

Cirque Du Soleil's Dralion (Spoiler Alert!)

I got tickets from my work to see Cirque Du Soleil's Dralion, and took Sarah to go see it for her birthday month. It was awesome! It opens with three clowns (in suits, no less!) interacting with the crowd. One of them pretends to marry a woman in the audience, and another greets a guy who appears to be a member of the audience and leads him to his seat. Eventually, they drag the poor guy to the stage and have him read the safety regulations (that fell from the ceiling!) while they comically torture and abuse him for the amusement of the crowd. The opening ends with the clowns stealing the guy's wallet and he chases them backstage.

Finally, the real show begins, and the dancers come out. The costumes were gorgeous. They appeared to be a mix of Asian (both Chinese and Indian) and African. The first woman to come out appeared to be either overweight or pregnant--although that may just have been an effect of her costume, but it was still amazing to watch. Over the course of the show we see them dance and perform circus tricks, including an appearance of one of the dralions (multiple dralions appear later in the show), which appears to be the head of a Chinese dragon on the body of a lion. We watch several feats of trapeze artists before we are entertained by a dancing juggler. He juggled at least four balls before switching to six (unlit) torches, ending the act juggling seven balls. It was amazing!

This leads to an awesome display of trampoline work by at least three men and three women (it was hard to tell in the end how many there were because they had swapped a few in and out). The men had so much momentum on their jumps that they actually appeared to be walking on the walls. I couldn't believe my eyes!

The first act ended with another round with the clowns. This time revealing that the man who they abused earlier in the show was actually in on the act!

After that, they held intermission for 20 minutes. Sarah and I used the opportunity to go to the concession stand. Seeing as this was Mathew Knight Arena, the prices were over-the-top. (A bottle of water was $4! I highly recommend if you go, to bring your own water. They allow factory sealed bottles to enter the arena. Don't open it before you get there.)

The second act of their performance didn't disappoint, either. They began it by dancing and swinging from the trapeze while behind a curtain. The shadows that appeared for the audience were so massive that it felt as if Hindu gods and goddesses were performing for us. This was further brought to life by some of the performers dancing in a line, and the shadows appeared to have multiple arms.

The climatic scene of the show ended with a group of dancers performing advanced jump roping techniques--from break dancing while jumping rope to jumping the rope while supporting each other. It ended with twelve men jump roping at once--six in one large pyramid, and six in two small ones.

There are still 3 showings of Cirque Du Soleil here in Eugene. One tonight, and two tomorrow. If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. If you miss them this time, definitely catch them the next time they're in town.

Inactivity at Civic Stadium

I've been silent over the issue of Civic Stadium, but after hearing reactions to the recent decision of the Eugene school board to reject all three offers on the property, I have decided to discuss the issue with my readers.

With those unfamiliar with the issue, here's the rundown of the situation: Civic Stadium was built in 1938, and the land was given to the Eugene school district to care for. For many years, the Eugene City Emeralds played baseball there until they moved to the University of Oregon's newly built PK Park. Since then, the stadium has sat unused.

The Eugene school board received offers from 3 groups to purchase or lease the property. The first was from the group Save Civic Stadium who planned to remodel the stadium to coax a professional soccer team to play there. However, this group had the least resources of the three groups, and had the least to offer the school district.

The second group to offer a deal with the school district, was the YMCA who wanted to build a replacement for their aging facility. Under the YMCA's plan, they would raze the stadium to make room for on-site housing. Next to save Save Civic Stadium, this group had the most support in the neighborhood. However, the offered less money to the school district than the third group.

The third and final group to offer a plan to the school district was developers Steve Master and Peter Powell who wanted to raze the stadium and build a new Fred Meyer shopping center. They offered to lease the property from the school district for $330,000 a year. However, they were the least popular option in the neighborhood, although it did have support from the Eugene school district superintendent George Russell.

However, just a few short days from the deadline for the school board's decision on which offer to accept, Market of Choice owner Rick Wright made an offer of $250,000 a year for 3 years for the property. He told the school board that he intended to use the time to work with both Save Civic Stadium and the YMCA to work out a deal that would enable them to reach an agreement that would enable both of their goals. While his offer would still be less than that of Master and Powell's, it would be better for the school district in the short term because the developers wouldn't be able to pay the full $330,000 a year until they had received all the proper land use permits--a task which could take years due to the heavy resistance to their development plans by the neighborhood and the Eugene city council. However, the school board could not move forward with Wright's offer unless they rejected all three offers since he had missed the deadline to make an offer.

So on June 1st, the school board rejected all 3 offers made on the Civic Stadium property, making way for another long bidding process. No mention of Wright's offer was made at the school board meeting, and the board members who voted against the three offers did so because they did not want to make a decision that would divide the neighborhood.

What bothers me most about this situation is that the same neighborhood that resisted the Fred Meyer plan--which would have resulted in a hefty windfall for the school district is the same neighborhood that overwhelmingly supported the recent failed attempt to tax the income of city residents to support schools. An income of $330,000 a year would have gone a long way to help our schools, and now the school district gets nothing--losing money, in fact, due to maintenance costs for the stadium and property. While I would certainly like to see our historic stadium saved, sometimes reality needs to come before the things we want.

May Ballots Are Arriving

I got my ballot for the May election yesterday, and I figured it'd be a good time to weigh in on the Eugene city income tax debate. I'm as concerned about schools as anyone else. Sarah and I have had lengthy debates on whether we'll send our future children to public schools or if they'd get a better education if we home-schooled them instead. So I say with a heavy heart that I don't support this income tax.

Let's look at the reasons why. When I was trying to do some writing for Eugene Daily News, I was asked to watch the February 14th meeting of the Eugene City Council where they decided to place this measure on the May ballot. My impression of the meeting left me feeling that this measure is a knee-jerk, panicky reaction to a bad situation. It's never a good idea to rush such an important decision, and that's exactly what this is doing. Even the Chamber of Commerce agrees. Even though more money in schools will help the economy, they believe that the process was rushed and needs more debate and clarification before we make such a monumental decision.

I also read an article in the Register Guard today about a debate between a proponent of the measure and an opponent. A central argument in this debate is whether throwing more money at the problem is really going to help. Many opponents believe that school finance reform is the answer. Schools need to learn to work with the budget they have, and not beg for more money every year. In the debate talked about in this article, the proponent of the measure states that the school's budget is not the problem. That "the district spends more than 70 percent of its budget on educating students, and about 14 percent on central administration and principal’s offices."

However, I read recently that the new superintendent Sheldon Berman will be receiving an annual salary of $180,000 a year—a salary that is $35, 839 greater than the annual salary of current superintendent George Russell. That difference is enough to pay a $17/hour, 40 hour a week job—enough money to cut 1 or 2 teacher positions. Obviously our school districts have priorities that don't involve keeping our teachers and limiting class size with decisions like this one.

Complications in the Wedding

A couple of weeks ago we got hit with a double whammy about the wedding. Sarah had placed an invitation notice to our wedding guests on Facebook. RSVPs were due soon, and she wanted to remind them. Her dad, not realizing what it was, said that he was attending. He called her the next day asking what the event was. When Sarah told him it was for the wedding, he said that he accidentally clicked yes he was coming, when he and Sarah’s mom were, in fact, not going to be able to attend. Sarah was understandably upset. However, she wanted to confirm it from her mother.

That confirmation came three days later. Her mom called and told her that they couldn’t afford to come up for the wedding. Sarah was so upset that she wanted to get out of town for a bit, so we got in the car and drove to Crater Lake. It was great fun, and we took some pictures. Since it was still April, Crater Lake Park was still covered in snow. We posted pictures on our Facebook profiles. However, the trip also served for us to have some good conversations along the way, and Sarah came to accept some things about her parents. It was very healing.

However, our wedding troubles weren’t over yet. The next day, we got a call from the minister performing our wedding—Reverend Alicia Forsey, interim minister for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Eugene. She was under a great deal of stress, and her doctor told her she was overcommitted and needed to drop some of her scheduled activities. She would be unable to do our wedding.

Sarah took this news pretty hard. It was totally unexpected, and it also left us in quite a bind. We had made an arrangement with Reverend Forsey that she would waive her usual fee for performing the ceremony if we donated money to the church. As it turned out, we had donated that money the week before. We didn’t have any money left to pay a new minister’s fees.

Reverend Forsey was kind enough to find us a replacement—a kindly lady from the church who was also one of the worship associates. However, her fee was $450, although negotiable. I explained the situation to her, and we worked out a deal. If we paid her $100, she would perform the wedding. She would get all of the details that we worked out with Reverend Forsey, and perform the same ceremony.

So even though complications came up, Sarah and I were able to overcome those obstacles together as a couple. It’s good practice for how things will work as a married couple. Next time, I’ll tell you about our wedding rings—such an important part of wedding traditions that we decided we’d keep it for ours.