Og the Caveman

I have thought long and hard about this for a long time. How did we get to the point, where like it was said in Pirates 3: currency is the currency of the realm? Both me and my friend Ben have had issues with this, mainly because we both see the strange flaw with this: What is the true value of money? It is currency, but what does it stand for? Sure it was at one point based on gold, but what value does gold have? Sure, gold is rare, but what value does rarity have? there is less of it in the world true, but why does that make that item valuable? Sure, It is hard to get if it is rare, but why does difficulty indicate value? It involves a lot of effort and expense to the obtainer, that is apparent, but, why does expense and effort define value, when there are many difficult things in life I can place effort into, to obtain a rare product that is not valuable in the sense of currency or even product? This flaw is extended by the current dollar standard, the "Prosperity of the government" which refutes the rarity issue, causing the dollar, a printed bill, to be the new rare item, and thus regulated to keep its rarity, to make sure that there is less money in the world, to make dollars hard to get, to involve a lot of effort and expense. It is a simulation, a game that we as modern society participants play to validate a system to numerate our value and pretend that cotton with green ink is worth working at a job for, and thus validate the lifestyle of the modern man, and further validate the entitlement of a consumer culture.

I have once defined "Money" as an item with no value or intrinsic worth until exchanged for an item or service. A "wage" is a number that is arbitrarily attributed to the assumed value of ones time or (in the case of those lucky bastards with a salary) potential for work as expressed in money. The transitive property would then indicate that to work for a wage is to ask someone to quantify your time or effort into an item that is worthless until it is used for things that have worth relative to the consumer. So, the question remains, why do we work our lives to death for money?

I have heard it said that it is because we live in a cultured society and do not live like animals, who are ruled by survival of the fittest. These same ironic individuals are also not only benefiting from a society of culture and commerce, but are also contradicting themselves in the form of being "Politically Active" or rather, politically fueled by things that can cause arguments. Democratic politics by nature are dominated by politics by numbers; the largest piece gets the power. As in American politics, only a select few can really decide policy, and thus insures the dominance of the few over the many, perpetuating the strong over the weak, vis a vis, Survival of the Fittest. Thus the paradox is revealed. Wait, Ryan, I thought that everyone gets a voice in democracy, where do you get off by saying that only a few people get policies passed and insure Survival of the Fittest? As it stands, the system in place is the electoral college, who have political conscience; In other words, even if a majority under that Electoral official votes yay, that member of the electoral college can vote nay, and thus perpetuate his own dominance. Politics is, at it's foundation, the definition of organization with resources, (money) laws, (either pertaining to or issuing fees in connection with money) and military issues (getting money to end your life or another for the political gain of territory( resources(money)) or power(control of people (human resources (human money))) This is the kicker, are you ready? The value of a wage is only given if a person relinquishes a part of his freedom to the person who makes the wage. Transitively wage is equal to a worthless item representing worth of time or assets which are the equivalent of freedom, Let's go to the algebra:

Time or assets=Freedom
(time or assets)random(X)M..Wage
X=whim of person with power
IF Service = 0, then M..0
Else M..Random(Service)
(time or assets)=service

Therefore:

first Service=Freedom
and then
Freedom(random(whim of person with power))(random (Freedom)=wage

This makes little to no sense to anyone who won't look at it with an open mind, but what this tells me is a wage is the amount of freedom one chooses to relinquish to the scrutiny of a person with the power who judges what your freedom is worth. it's being a willful slave to a person who is more powerful than you and as a result, a willful disregard for how much your freedom is worth to you. By extension, Politics is the controlled stripping of that freedom. By choosing a politician to make policy, one is asking someone of more important power to decide their freedom, making freedom bondable under any "Civilized" society.

So, why money? It is control over those who don't have any. So, how does this work? How do we as those under the system, get into a place that our sweat becomes our own bondage? I think it began with Og the caveman.

Og the cave man was a man who should've died at about 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000BCAbout During the Godknowswhen period. Og was a genetically inferior being and in accordance to evolutionary advancement, was about to be expunged from the genetic pool. Moki the Huge and Smelly was a contemporary of Og and was about to participate in the natural selection process, as a genetic material filter, with a big bloody club. See, Moki was the biggest caveman in the settlement and as a result, could take anyone's game as he willed by killing the person who had the game and taking it for himself. Og was no big and smelly either, for he had asthma and a club foot, so it was hard for moki to gain his kill. Moki was raising his club wen Og pathetically said "Wait, Moki, Hear me out!"

Moki stopped for a moment. His arm ached from the beatings from earlier and really was only gaining the game that Og had for a snack for the next day, so he listened. "Go on, weak and feeble one."

"I bet your arm is tired from beating the other cave men huh,"

"Indeed it is Og, in fact it is quite uncomfortable."

"tell you what, I love shiny pebbles from the creek over there. If you bring me a pebble, I will just give you the game I have."

Moki thought that this was a good alternative to working over this weakling for a piece of jerky, so he went to the creek and found a small pebble and gave it to Og. Og responded by handing the small game to Moki, just as was agreed.

The next day, the club was being raised, Og made the request for 1 pebble for his game. Moki took the offer and rested his clubbing hand for another day.

The next day came around, Og was vey hungry. Og had not eaten for two days now and the game he was getting that day was running faster than his slingshot could fire. Moki came around and said "Og, I brought you a pebble, give me your game"

Og knew that he would die if he admitted to not having any game, so as a distraction, he said "I don't like these rocks, I only want white rocks now." Knowing that white rocks were rare in the creek. This would keep big dumb Moki busy for at least 3 hours. Moki, to the surprise and shock of Og, found this new system to be kinder to his killing arm and thus went to look for a white pebble. Og, sllingshotted a few geese and came back. Moki paid one white shiney stone and went on his way with his snack geese.

The fourth day of this rolled around. Og was starving. Moki had returned with his usual request for Og's game. "I was looking for white stones in the creek. There are not any for me to give you."

Og replied "Here's what I'll do for you, If you go and kill an antelope for me, I'll give you four rocks that will have a scratch in them. These are just as good as white rocks. They have to have MY scratch in them for the trade to be good now, though. You get 1 antelope in exchange for four free meals.

Intrigued by the idea Moki goes off and kills an antelope for Og and returns. Og gives Moki four scratched rocks and, when Moki gives back one rock, Og gives Moki a piece of antelope, thus creating the first manager/employee relationship.

after Moki goes through those rocks, Og looks at Moki and says "Moki, The Item I want is far more rare now,"

"What is it" Moki said

"Teeth from other cave men" Og said

So, Moki ran arond beating up cavemen for teeth, all the while not seeing Og collect their game when they were dead. Moki gave Og the teeth and Og gave moki all the game that only a business week or two before, Moki could've got for free by doing the same thing he was doing. The difference is that Moki was now under the power of a crippled top man who convinced Moki that this system was beter.

One day, Moki ran out of people to take teeth from. "I want food Og" He said

Og replied "I want teeth"

Moki Replied "I don't have any"

Og said "What about yours?"

Moki, without hisitation hit himself in the face with his club, gave his own teeth to Og. Moki then during the course of a month, starves to death without the ability to chew the game he purchased, while Og sought out new areas to corporately expand. Thus beginning the struggle of the weak and powerful over the laborious and strong. Or maybe not, I don't know.

What I do know is that many of us have sold our teeth for a piece of meat. Many of us starve in our own participation in the system of clubbed footed asthmatic bosses and presidents who want power over us to do things that they can't do. I for one need metaphorical dentures many of an occasion.

So here's to you Og, for shifting survival of the fittest to the survival of the weakest and giving humanity the trait of decrepitude for eternity. Here's to evolution and what it has given mankind. Here's to natural selection turned on it's ear. Here's to God watching this unfold and asking for 10 percent of all I have every week, 10 percent of my power and freedom as an organism in this world. Here's to Og the caveman, may his ancestors be full, for the week he starved.

All your love is missing is hate

I was hanging with my friend a while ago at his place eating grilled cheese and tomato soup. Most people would associate the food with childhood, but for me, I never had a point in my childhood where I had such a combo. My grilled cheese was always served with pear halves and I never had tomato soup until I was twenty.

Anyway, my friend has an amazing impediment. He cannot make grilled cheese. It's an ailment likened unto Derik Zoolander's left turn disorder. Try as he might, he just cannot do it. His girlfriend had to boot him out of the kitchenette and save the would be Dorito flavored charcoal bits, earning him beration and harassment of the culinary sort. The cute chattiness and whimsical insults made the scene endearing as she scraped the leftover cheese flakes from the pan into the garbage and handed me a plate with a delectable trinkets of flavor. During the serving, my friend looks at me and says "Don't we act like a married couple?"

I thought about it. I looked at it. I compared my marriage to the cute little exchange I just saw, and felt as tough there was something missing. there was a piece that Karen and I have that seems to make us, for a lack of a better term, less whimsical, yet stronger...

"I don't see enough hate," I said. This brought a strange look from the two of them to me. I could see the narrative "Hate... Is he telling us a joke? Isn't hate the opposite of love? Huh? Did we spike the tomato soup? He might not be used to all the Lycopene. We've been brought up with this stuff, he's been eating tomato soup for only 4 years now, he might be getting drunk.

"I'm serious" I said, "you need more hate I think." An uncomfortable chuckle emerged from the two of them.

HATE! yes hate. A marriage is strengthened by hate! Now let me explain: If everyday, day in day out, a couple is constantly enthralled in constant bliss, that means only one thing... They are lining to each other. even entropy dictates that nothing is truly constant, thus flux is always occurring in everything in the fractal of life. Therefore, to be happy all the time, is impossible. As Dennis Leary once said, "Happiness comes in small doses, it's a chocolate chip cookie, a cigarette, or a 5 second orgasm: you cum, you smoke, you eat the F*****g cookie and shut the F*** up!" Being constantly happy would in essence be an IV drip of those small doses, and more work that it would be worth. Bottom line: Bad days happen! Bad days happen more than good! Bad days are a constant! And given the chance of there being one day a week that is good... a generous assumption to be sure, that is one day a week for two people that is good. Odds are 1 in 7 that a married couple will have the same good day (86% chance of failure) and thus the good day will be destroyed by the bad day, and lets not forget the 6 bad days that overlap, giving two bad days for the price of one most days. Those are grounds to snap. explode, scream, swear, throw things, spit, splash, tear, dismantle, set up sleeping bags, make hotel arrangements, wash the blood from your gashed, vacuum dented forehead, rinse and repeat at least 6 times a week. This is only the natural progression of the entropic world. Anyone who pretends that a world like that is happy all the time is being dishonest.

By hate, I'm not talking about disdain, or angst, or disgust... all of which are reasons not to get married. I'm instead talking about hate in terms of honesty. Many would argue that honesty is what a marriage should be based on. I would take a stronger stance on that and say that pure honesty is a most powerful force in the human social world and that it must be tamed and used in order to be able to even consider marriage. To be honest with ones self is most vital. To know ones own weakness, to know the limits of ones strengths, to understand that despite the fact you might be right in the argument, the fight will continue until you are not, and to know that being wrong is not necessarily incorrect, though your weakness is exposed, is but scratching that surface of honesty's submission.

One must be comfortable with ones honest self to then be able to be honest with a partner. Once you do get married, You find that honesty with money and time becomes the next big hurdle that must be jumped. Many people would say that after you get married, it becomes about money. I say that it becomes about time and money. Money, by my own definition, is an object that has no worth unless it is exchanged for something else. Money is also an arbitrary value placed on a man's time and effort. T$=Money(rnd(infinity)). There is a relationship of time and money that is expressed in, more or less, the fact that one sacrifices time to make money. the honesty comes with what we sacrifice our money on. Video Games, Movies, Accent Clothes, Restaurant Food, these things that bring single people pleasure, now brings strife to the couple and to be honest that these things are a waste would clear up a lot of pain. But to change is to acknowledge in some way that the old way we were was wrong, and that attacks pride. Pride can be one of the biggest nails in the coffin of honesty, and as a result, the level of anger and hate gets pushed to the bottom of the pile serves as an agitator, churning other things into the top of the slurry, and making truly ugly reactions occur, like abuse and passive aggression. The explosion is what ultimately makes a marriage unhealthy.

One must always be honest. One must always be comfortable with their honesty. One must be able to sit down and have a brutal reaction with a bad day. Those who convert time into money see to it many times that one will have a bad day, and a marriage that is honest will allow for someone to sit on their couch, rant and rave, yell at each other over bills and housekeeping, and in the end have that hatred going for them.

"I think that for a marriage to work, someone has to take into an account the person he or she loves. If that person is someone you honestly cannot be without, even if you hate that person with every fiber of your being, and that sentiment is shared, that couple is ready to work at that marriage, and it might not be the easiest thing, but at least both people will have the drive to keep the marriage alive; The couple must be attractive to each other especially when they repulse one another." That was the only reply I could muster, then I finished my sandwich. It was a sandwich type I was not used to eating with tomato. and while the notion of fruit soup and buttery sandwich seems repulsive, they have been a loving marriage for generations.

Many Leaders, no Leadership

Many of my entries have been about work as of late, and I'm beginning to understand that If one works in a place he or she does not have the heart to work in, then that place can be hell. Or perhaps put another way, heaven and hell might in fact be one in the same, depending on what life you have led. If a choir of angels singing about God is excruciating, imagine living that through eternity.

My point being, I want to be a band teacher. I've wanted to since the first day the Russ Newbury shook my hand and told me "good work" on a piece I wrote my senior year in high school. I wanted that kind of experience, to be able to shake the hand of a student of mine, say well done, and influence them on their otherwise unresistant ambitions.

I work at a restaurant. (Not quite a band teacher, is it?) This restaurant happens to have some fine workers in it. Some fine workers are the store leaders. The basic tenants of being a leader is to be able to lead. This is where the logic falls apart. These people cannot lead to save their worthless hides. Final syllogism: The restaurant has leaders that don't lead (once again, if you follow the math on this crap, that is W sub r/(leaders+(-leaders))=undefined quantity: because one cannot divide by zero.) In essence, this place runs itself on pure pissy ego and not so much on strong foundations.

I was in an unpaid for meeting yesterday about our current progress in the store over the past year. It was about 1 million dollars off projected due to a few undeniable factors. The city of Bozeman is pretty much anti-big box store. In order for Wal-mart to expand their store, the needed to jump unreasonable hurdles, including funding a mass transit system to compensate for the jobs that the city would lose and gain from having the store open in town. By making the claim that Wal-mart would kill 100 jobs in the city, they forced retribution on the store, which they replied that they would add 200 jobs to compensate. The rebuttal was that the 100 unemployed would work for the Wal-mart and have no way to get there, thus mass transit was necessary for the whole city. and Like a gay guy telling me about his plight with his lifestyle change, Wal-mart said "fine, you win, I'll agree with you," not so much because they had a point, but because you can only take this crap for so long before you get tired and cave.

so, back to the subject, 1 million dollars off. Joe cut his losses. He has been here a year and expects to turn a profit. no one makes a profit in the first year, any economy wise human being can tell you that. He then explains the accountability aspect of the job. "I am a nice guy, and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but when you walk on me, I'll drop the hammer." I think if you talk in metaphor cliches, you need to be beat and told how to convey words with real thoughts and not broad speculations. either way, he did have a point, show up for your scheduled time and work hard. However, this accountability should run both ways and doesn't. Joe shows up every day, I'll give him that, but the fact that I had to scour up someone myself and get a day off that I requested a month ago indicates to me that he is not putting in his fair share of the work. I am also confused on many job operations and timing issues that I must be able to accomplish. Ask questions, he says, Joe, i tried, you told me that you would get to it in a minute and that you had something more important to do. You did, yea, I'll give you that, but you never got back at me with any answers, so I stop asking. What's the point of asking when I have to find the answer my fricken self anyway? I have been "instructed" 6 different ways on how to close my station, all of which seem to conflict with one another. I never have a free moment and yet I'm always the last to leave. I don't know what they want clean at any given point in the night, don't know when to close a fryer, don't know where things are in the walk in cooler, and really, it's because no one has stood up, taken any sort of leadership role and made sure that standard practice is followed. It's absolutely irritating to have a damn cheerleader pretending to be a coach, waving her damn pompom and cheering "let's get this kitchen clean" instead of running practice, going over the plays, giving push ups to the slackers and giving instruction to the ones who need it.

I wish I was doing what I want to do now. But I do what I must.