To get some of the more distasteful subjects out of the way first:
- Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused to grant marriage licenses to LGBT couples months ago. The Supreme Court made its ruling about gay marriages… and Davis refused to grant the licenses, based on “religious freedom”. She and her attorney appealed; a Circuit Court judge ruled against her. She still refused to grant the licenses and appealed to the Supreme Court. The SCOTUS rejected her appeal; she still refused to grant licenses. As an elected official, she cannot be fired. HOWEVER, that’s now 4 times that she has directly defied a court order. Why has it taken the ACLU of Kentucky – or anyone else – so long to bring up Contempt of Court charges on her, which they filed a motion in federal court for Tuesday morning?? I’m not going to get into the merits of her religious beliefs; it’s not my place to praise or condemn her for those. I will say, however, that if I had violated a direct order from federal judges 4 times, I would be in jail, trying to figure out how in the world I was going to pay off the hefty fines I accumulated….
- Apparently, Kanye “The Voice of a Generation” West announced at the VMAs, while high, that he would run for president in 2020. Let this sink in for a second:
Kanye West: Presidential Hopeful.
We are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for Presidential candidates these days. - Until a few weeks ago, I thought that the post-2008 Election Republican supporters overtook the 2000 Election Democratic supporters (of which I am not afraid to admit that I was one, before changing to Independent years ago) for the most obnoxious political group in the country, especially on social media. The majority of Donald Trump supporters have blown both groups completely out of the water. If you want to support someone for their policies, more power to you! Please don’t bombard me with stuff like: “[Trump] is going to reverse the damage that Obama did to the country!”, without FACTS. FACTS from non-conservative blogs or FACTS from non-conservative talk shows! I am not in the habit of hiding or blocking people from my social feeds but the itch to do so is growing because of posts like the previous example; it’s also mow coming from the Bernie Sanders followers… and it’s still over a year away from the Election. OY.
Now that I’ve regurgitated that set of thoughts, on to topics that aren’t nearly as likely to cause me to throw chairs or tables:
- If you are ever in the Louisville, Kentucky area in late August, stick around for the Zombie Walk. It is absolutely crazy to see 30,000 people… er, ZOMBIES, walking down one of the busiest streets in town, complete with live music, food, and drink specials, all along the route. You can join in or just stand back and watch it unfold!
- Speaking of Louisville, the major road and bridges construction projects seem to be progressing nicely. We have an area, just east of Downtown, called “Spaghetti Junction”, where Interstates 64, 65, and 71 all converge; one of the big projects is to ‘unravel’ that mess. The untangling is part of the larger projects of adding another Downtown bridge over the Ohio River (a 2nd bridge for I-65; it and the older Kennedy will each be one way in and out of Louisville) and an East End bridge, connecting the Kentucky and Indiana versions of I-265. It has caused traffic nightmares in and around downtown but it will be worth it, once all of this is finished sometime early next year.
- I recommend you watch or read the documentary “Eyes on the Prize”. A very powerful and informative documentary.
- The college and pro football seasons are finally about to start! I would love to watch either of my favorite college teams (Louisville, Purdue) play live but if I can’t, it’s always nice to go to a friend’s house, when possible, and watch with a handful of other friends. Louisville especially has the potential to have a decent 8 to 10 win season this year. I doubt they will make college football’s playoffs but a good bowl would certainly be nice!
- This will probably be a longer, future post, once I figure out how to word it better (it’s past 3 AM here – the brain isn’t running quite up to full power):
Listening to conversations at one of my jobs, at Team Trivia, at school, and a handful of other places, I don’t understand the games-playing, hidden nature of those who are looking for a relationship vs. those who want to date casually vs. those who want casual sex. If you want to go out with someone (especially if you know them previously), ask! No need to spend months “talking”, IMO, if you are just wanting something casual. If you are looking for casual sex: if you are 2 consenting adults, with protection for at least one of you, and you BOTH know what you are getting into, then that should be fine. There shouldn’t be stigmas on those who want to have sex outside of a relationship… or on those who want to wait until marriage. Again, I will probably expand (and reword) this down the road. This IS supposed to be a “short circuit”, after all. 😉On the personal level:
- I dropped to 230.4 pounds a few days ago, putting me just under (-35) since 7/29/2014
- I keep getting told by people that I look taller or ‘much taller’. Can you have a 2nd growth spurt at 37 years old?? I don’t mind being over 6’1″ but it seems unusual to me that some friends and family have all mentioned it.
- Comparing the Python and C# programming languages, 3 weeks into the classes for both of them, to C and C++, I’m beginning to think that C++ and C# were written by sadists. Python’s syntax is so much simpler than C++. C# isn’t horrible but there are some parts of it’s syntax and terminology that is making my eyes water and twitch.
- Speaking of those classes: they, along with my Public Speaking and Game Development classes are going well, even with a mad 3-day scramble last week to get everything finished before the deadlines. I loved the fact that I got to play 3 video games, 4+ hours on each, and review them, as an assignment in the Game Development class last week! The work load in the Speaking and Python classes cranked up this week, mainly in the form of projects and speeches. I haven’t seen what the Game Development and Python classes have in store (the professors haven’t uploaded the lecture notes or weekly assignments yet).
- The summer job at the campus book store is over; it was surprisingly pretty enjoyable! I had burned out big time on retail a few years ago, mainly due to policies and hours. At the book store, there was no forced selling of credit cards or replacement plans; I mainly showed students to their books, gave some new incoming freshmen advice and tips, if they had a class or professor that I had previously, stocked and zoned the shelves, and occasionally answered the phones. It was nice, simple, BUSY, and good.Time for bed. I think the brain is finally rid of the random thoughts floating around in it.
The Nexus 