It… Depends. There are ways of having a productive discourse. But it’s slow, and it doesn’t work well online.

Should have had them directed by Quentin Tarantino.

It’s been years since I had glög; I should make that again since it’s starting to get chilly.

Unfortunately, part of living in the US is that most people aren’t exposed to other languages to any significant degree. If you are a native American English speaker, and grow up in a large city, you might hear enough Spanish to learn it, but that’s about it. I learned Spanish in school, but there was no opportunity to practice until I moved to a large city close to the Mexican border.

I watch one season of some show in a language I don’t understand

I wish my brain worked that way; I’d be watching Finnish television and movies all day, every day.

I watch a fair number of shows in Swedish or Norwegian, and I’ve never picked up anything from what they’re saying. I always have to have subtitles.

The reason I did it was to see if I could endure it. It was a matter of facing something that scared me because I knew that it was going to hurt, and still passing through. I’m not a stranger to pain–I’ve had well over 100 piercings, and currently have about 25 or so remaining–but a suspension is on another scale.

I guess you could say that it was a ritual for me, similar to many coming-of-age rituals that are done in tribal societies, such as some of the tattooing in the Maori culture, or the scarification done by certain tribes in Africa.

Some people say they experience transcendence; that the pain puts them in a euphoric state. For me, the swinging motion just made me motion sick.

I should have been a little more precise; 1923 was, IIRC, when he’d consolidated power. It wasn’t an instant process as soon as the tsar and his family had been murdered, and the government overthrown.

That’s a dumb take, given that the two largest communist countries so far were both founded before the CIA ever existed. Lenin started the authoritarianism of the USSR by 1923 (not terribly long after WWI, although the Bolshevik coup took a while to consolidate power), and the revolution in China that put Mao Zedong in power in 1945, shortly after the end of Japanese occupation. But, as with the Russian revolution, the Chinese revolution had been going on for some time prior to WWII.

Meanwhile, the CIA didn’t even exist until 1946. The predecessor to the CIA, the OSS (Office for Strategic Services) was founded in 1942, specifically as part of the wartime effort.

Moreover, the US fought in two wars to prevent communists from taking over, since the communist governments were unfriendly to US interests, notably Kim Il-Sun in North Korea (took power in '48), and Ho Chi Min in Vietnam (took over part of Vietnam in '45). Additionally, Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban gov’t led by Fulgencio Batista; Batista had the support of the US, and was friendly to US interests in the region, while Castro was decidedly not. The US attempted multiple time to overthrow Castro, and failed each time.

So the idea that the CIA is appointing the heads of communist countries is simply not supported by facts.

The gun charge was a sham. Yes, lying on form 4473 (firearm transaction record) is a federal crime. It’s also one that has historically never been prosecuted on it’s own; it’s always used as part of another prosecution, such as bank robbery, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and so on. You can count the number of times where that’s been prosecuted on it’s own on the fingers of one hand, in part because it really doesn’t come to light unless you’re caught committing another crime while also possessing a firearm that you can’t legally have. The justice dept. was originally going to drop that charge altogether, until pressure was applied from the political right. (Also, maybe don’t write a memoir where you admit to crimes, unless you’re past the statute of limitation on those crimes.)

The tax charges were pretty legit though. Depending on sentencing guidelines–which are quite complicated–the odds are pretty good that he would have ended up with large fines and penalties, in addition to having to pay the back taxes with interest that he owed.

They can’t find your house, but somehow they know your phone number…? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had to use a person’s email address or phone number when I was mailing them a letter or package, just their physical address or post office box.

Sometimes it breaks the relationship

My parents and I had a very strained relationship for a long time. It took them a long time to accept that I had not only left their religion, but had converted to Satanism (the atheistic version). Interestingly, Trump in '16 broke a certain amount of their social conservatism, and may have turned them off to Republican governance entirely, because they saw–for the first time–just how awful the political party they believed in had become. They’re old–both in their 80s–but they’re finally starting to ask some of the fundamental questions about following authority for themselves.

recognize where the boundaries are to forgive yourself and others

That’s the tough one, isn’t it? I know that when I was a believer, I said and did some pretty awful shit to other people, shit they absolutely didn’t deserve, because my entire worldview was warped. Sure, it wasn’t my fault I was raised that way, and sure, it’s hard to really question the foundation of your upbringing, but at the same time, I caused real harms even though I didn’t intend to. You can’t change the past; the best you can do it apologize where you can, and try to do better in the future.

treat them how you wish you were treated.

I try. And still, even 30 years later, in the heat of them moment, it’s hard to be empathetic. It takes a degree of mindfulness that’s hard. I continue to work on it.

Never.

My parents at the time were religious conservatives, and authority was expected to be followed. He did say that members of their religious organization had served as Nazis, because they had been drafted by their government, and that it was morally correct for them to have served their country, just as it was morally correct for American members of their church to also serve their country, and for both of these people to try their level best to kill each other at the behest of their respective countries. “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.”

It wasn’t until I had a nervous breakdown in my very early 20s–due in large part to the extreme cognitive dissonance caused by membership in that religious organization–that I started to seriously question authority.

How have you forgotten Remedy, with Alan Wake, Control, and Quantum Break?

I feel like Finland might be where I belong. If only I could realistically learn Suomi…

Lots of weirdly emo ballads, TBH. The metal is good, but it’s still pretty niche from what I understand.

Nope, not today, glowie.

Ironically, after working in production for over a decade, I’m hoping to go back to school for business management. Because it turns out that there’s zero career track and advancement potential if I stick with what I already know. Depressing shit.

Paul is 9-1, the one loss being a split decision, and 6 of the wins being knockouts. He’s inexperienced, but that doesn’t mean he’s not good.

I want to see Tyson knock him out in under ten seconds. But I don’t think I’ll get my wish.

Eh. I dunno. Tyson is in his 50s, and has a much shorter reach than Jake Paul. As much as I’d prefer to see him win, I don’t think that Tyson is gonna pull this off.

If I drop that name, that gives people enough to figure out which school I went to, what years, and they can correlate that with my post history to figure out exactly who I am IRL.

I’ve probably posted enough already that someone with a large enough database could do that already, but dropping names would make it much easier for just about any schmuck with an internet connection and decent search skill.

(And believe me, I would love to tell people the name of the pretentious dick that was the head of the department, but… Aaargh.)

I went to school for fashion design. (Hence interacting with a famous designer in school. Come to think of it, the head of the department at the time was someone with a significant international reputation. And I still think he’s a pretentious dick.) These days I do industrial print media, because I burned out hard in school, due to a combination of raging, untreated ADHD and 48+ hour days working in studio.

I would not recommend fashion design to anyone that has any interest in a healthy work/life balance, and fast fashion has absolutely gutted anything domestic that’s of any interest at all.

I… Can’t do that without giving away far too much personal information. Unfortunately.