Tag: The List

The List

A long time ago, my friend Rob (aka Loki) and I began a list.

It was a list of people that simply needed to stop existing within our world…in any capacity. We had one rule..think globally, act locally. Essentially it’s a standard of friendship that mandated people we kept around us had something to offer the human race at some level in a positive manner. This offering could in fact be overshadowed by continued lack of morality, lack of self-respect, lack of respect for others, no respect for freedom, and/or worst…an inability to understand and thus modify their impact on the world.

The people that by virtue of existence, action, or personality provide the worst examples of human beings. An epitome of what we as growing and open-minded individuals, should either avoid or endeavor to re-educate.

Come on…you know people like this in both directions…most politicians…Dentists in Highland Park…jerkoff sociopaths in Austin with zero self control…people that change lanes without signaling…people that jump in your lane and slow down…people that get in your lane at all…people that think it’s cool to give things to their loved ones and take it back when they get mad…people that buy Audi’s and don’t bother paying for their kid’s food, boarding, or even clothes…people that have sex in your bed and deny it later…people that don’t accept you for who you are…people that think that change is impossible therefor not worth the effort…people that don’t courtesy flush…people that look up hookers on their wives laptop…

You know…those people.

So, if you have someone that really deserves to be on The List, feel free to send me all the dirt at thelist@tonytown.com.




Just thinking…

Famous I don’t know about. It’s hard to be famous and alive. I just want to play music every day and hear someone say, ‘Thanks, that was great, here’s some money, same time tomorrow, okay?’
-Terry Pratchett, Soul Music, page 151

I think Terry has the right idea.

Some people do what they do in life because thats what they’ve come to be good at and have found a comfort zone that they don’t really have to leave to maintain.

Some people find what they like, roll with it and with a smidgeon of luck, are able to do what they love so much that their comfort zone follows them.

For me it’s not about the comfort zone. It’s about being happy. I’ve been presented with that warm blanket of security so many times that now when it’s right in front of me I completley overlook it.

Back in my first year of college, I remember making a list of everything I wanted to accomplish in my life, and all those not requiring travel…I’ve done, but now I’ve also have time to realize that the list changes. Don’t get me wrong. I will still get my zen on a Great Pyramid…I will still get my dance on the Great Wall…

…now it’s getting time to add to the list… because the list needs to be about experiencing a smile in a million different places or scenarios.

The list really is about being happy.

…yeah…not much of a rant eh?

…the book is on that list too…halfway done…only took a few years right?

πŸ™‚




The Way of the Dodos.

Okay, to explain to everyone far to lazy to type in “dodo” on Google…seriously:

The dodo is a bird that has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity, hence the phrase “going the way of the Dodos.”

More importantly, when I am saying it…it means that in order to survive…mankind has forced X to cease existing. This methodology by us (i.e. – humans, here…on earth) could hardly be attributed to natural selection as much as our collective inability to retain knowledge and exhibit wisdom en mass.

You see, we’re pretty self destructive. We’ve got peeps that are going out and killing others for virtually any reason you can come up with. Little children think its fun to scorch ants with magnifying glasses. Bigger children light firecrackers to their pets…and even adults seem to think it’s somehow okay to shoot wild animals for nothing more than the accomplishment (to be clear, I don’t have a problem with peeps that eat what they kill, but the rest are killing for pleasure…again see the title of this little note if you’re wondering where I think those people should end up.)

You see, even I am in that mass selection. I may not see fun in game hunting, but I would find immense satisfaction (and humor) in seeing a lion or bear whip out a glock and cap some game(trophy) hunters.

So here we have it…things go the way of the Dodo all the time. Mainly because we’re a bunch of ignorant gits, but every once in a while because Mother Nature in a fit of self-awareness says “WTF?!” In the end, we’re pretty likely to make it out alive now…as a matter of fact we’re finally becoming keenly aware of our own mortality as a species. Doesn’t stop us from trying pretty hard though.

Example: We figure out that our current methodology of energy production is not only finite, but dangerous to our health. What do we do? We hoard it and act like nothings wrong. We find out that this awesome product (plastics) is useful on like 1000000000 ways and jump on the production bandwagon and don’t spend any time whatsoever one the technology to cleanly dispose of the product.

I think I want to start my own town (yeah TonyTown!) and make laws that make sense…like all retail products in town must be sold in recyclable containers/packages. Grocery stores aren’t allowed to use plastic OR paper bags (reusable cotton ones). Public transportation is 100% emission-free and in use everywhere inside the city limits. Criminals are put into forced labor and no fines would accrue, you get busted, you work for the city…period. Paper products would only be allowed if made from hemp1. People that like to shoot animals for fun are to be ridiculed by law. People that think skin color seriously makes a person different have to deliver babies of a different color for a year without screwing it up. πŸ˜‰ People that think SyFy is a good replacement for SciFi are to teach science classes for 4 years to advanced students.2 People that don’t like the Transformers movies have to wear a Decepticon tattoo on their forehead for a year. Everyone that ever said something ugly to Natalie Tran (CommunityChannel) has to wear a tee shirt that says “I got owned by Natalie Tran” right near their bum.3 Everyone in the city would be required to have an iPhone handy and would be required to take lessons on usage from Alyssa Milano in hopes that some of her ethics would rub off on them.4 ISP’s would be held accountable for spam…

Wow…I kinda went on a tangent here didn’t I?

Bottom line. Don’t go the way of the Dodo…and don’t make others think you should.

-T πŸ˜‰

Show 4 footnotes

  1. Just so you know. Originally hemp production initiatives in the states weren’t obstructed by drug enforcement, but by textile industries that didn’t have the lands necessary to compete with strong hemp farming. You see, hemp doesn’t deplete soil(tree farming does), hemp produces roughly 4x the amount of raw paper material that trees do per acre. This allows a farmer to cultivate a dual crop, paper and food if they like. Bottom line, I am not interested in smoking it in the least, but it’s readily as usable as cotton and easier to grow.
  2. I have an opinion about “SyFy” right HERE.
  3. Natalie Tran is a rather popular VLogger. I am a big fan, she has the absolute best sense of humor in the world…watch her vids HERE. Unfortunately, a huge amount of people have what is known as keyboard courage and say some pretty mean things to her…those guys get the afformentioned forced labor πŸ˜‰
  4. Sounds silly, but I think everyone should be following Alyssa Milano on Twitter, they might learn a thing or two about being a good person πŸ˜‰