Greetings from Satan

Sometimes, I cannot believe the conceit of the West.... actually, likely most of the time I cannot believe our conceit.... for really, why do we count our lives as so terribly valuable? That's the paradox... our lives mean very little to nothing at all at the end of the day, yet we are (why? That is an infinite mystery...) infinitely valuable. However, our lives really do mean little more than our fellow Sudanese, our fellow Lebanese, our fellow Somalians, our fellow Cambodians, our fellow Shiite Muslims from Afghanistan... yet HOW did we become so conceited as to believe we as the West are more important? That we have a greater right to live? How have we been so coddled, so dulled, so indoctrinated in the life of ease and leisure (would someone PLEASE shoot all Christians in the West who talk about how they are being 'persecuted' for their faith, how they are 'suffering'????) that we somehow think that is what we are OWED?
Certainly, I fall faaaarrrrr short of this. I too, at the end of the day, don't want to be gang-raped, have my tongue cut off so I won't scream, hacked to pieces starting with my limbs and then ending with my head, and have my corpse being eaten by dogs (well, actually, that last bit doesn't actually bother me very much). I too, would like to live in a cozy nook, with a cup of tea and a good book, surrounded by adorable grandchildren at my hearth, telling me where I left my glasses. However, the conceit, the conceit, the conceit.... the selfish abandon with which we pursue such things... under the guise that they are 'blessings from God'...

Happy birthday to the Pole

That's all I really had to say...

Working, 9 to 5....

You know, all I really want to do (well, at least just work-wise, and at least just for now) is just go to work, have some fun for the day and not want to pull out my hair or scream (much), and then come home. Is that really too much to ask?
I don't go to work so I can deal with politics and pettiness and money grubbing and power struggles and stuff like that; in fact, I PAY MONEY so I DON'T have to deal with that kind of stuff.... why is it chasing me down and stuffing me into its gullet?
I can't figure it out; is it because I'm fairly low maintenance? Is it because people get greedy? Is it because I'm not paying enough money to get people to please stop complaining? Is it because I'm part of the problem? Part of the 'man', the 'system'?
Bah. I think it is in the nature of man to complain. I think also, different things irk different people at different intensities. I mean, I am all for being treated fairly and being compensated fairly for work one does and all, but I think also that there are some things that are probably not worth getting all riled up about.
Bah.

Patmosian paradise

Do you suppose that this is the beginning of the end? That the cities of Tyre and Sidon are again overtaking the Israelites, that the cows of Bashan are going to try to take back what is theirs? Certainly, if the mutterings of Syria and Iran, let alone the rest of the Arab world is any indication, then perhaps, just perhaps... If so, despite how lukewarm and spittable I might be, maranatha....

Worst-Case Scenario Handbook

So the government's sent me this HUGE package in the mail to my house, containing, gowns, gloves, face masks, antiseptics, and who knows what else, in case of an "outbreak".... now, tell me if I'm wrong, but SARS was about four years ago now.... (now who says government isn't efficient?!? Yippee for civil servants... they obviously know how to respond to the pulse of the population... they are SO SMART! I can't stand it! ) ... also, I am not entirely sure what exactly I'm going to do with them in the house... We could wrap the plants, deck them out in gowns and gloves, or maybe some of the furniture, but heck, this house will be prepared in case an outbreak of disease X should occur.... perhaps I should consider adding it to my everyday wardrobe, to protect against overblown diseases like West Nile... or bubonic plague... or Ebola virus...

Italian Patient

OK, so another two stories to add to the pile... and people wonder why I'm so terribly cynical...

It's all a big conspiracy!!!

Hmm, it's difficult, the choice between acne or suicide... it's not as clear as it looks...