Crossing the Rubicon..
Jan. 2nd, 2004 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
artemis42Well.. the next few weeks should be interesting, at the very least. Moving stuff out, cleaning, getting rid of that which is no longer a necessary part of my existence. Should be very purgative and good for me.
A note to my Brattleboro readers: I'll still be around, you know. No need to mourn my passing yet, I'm only going an hour or so away. Yes, I know I'm stepping back into the jaws of an evil state, but hell.. I came from there, didn't I? And I don't own an SUV, nor am I wealthy and bringing my fat troglodite children into the co-op in search of maple sugar candy (no native Vermonter actually eats that stuff, by the way. It's just for the tourists.) .... so there might actually be a few normal humans in that state.. just maybe.
A lot of folk up here suffer from the misconception that all people from CT are rich tourists.. because that's all we ever see up here.. the SUV model Connecticutian, complete with ski rack. However, allow me to clear the smog away by bringing this to light: Connecticut is the perfect model of capitalism and the free market economy at work. Defense contractors? CT headquarters some of the largest of them, EB and Pratt. CT is home to some of the wealthiest cities and counties in this country.. as well as the poorest. Check out Greenwich in all its expensive glory, then go hang out on a corner in Bridgeport or New Haven or even Hartford, and you'll understand what I mean without ever seeing the statistics. Stratification of wealth and power. Massive suffering under the noses of the very wealthy. Abuses of power in the highest offices, the 3rd worst air quality in the nation, rampant poverty, a crumbling educational system and slashed social services. The wealthy in CT are having a blast. Everyone else might as well be dying...and some of them are. This is what our systems are designed to do. Turn human beings into commodities for sale on the open market. If you aren't skilled enough or from the right class.. you have no market value and thus no value as a human. Society only reinforces these views with the negative stigma we attach to poverty. As though consuming less resources and being less of a burden on the planet was somehow a bad thing, and not something we should all be deliberately aspiring to. Frankly, there are a few crusty punks I know that I would feel much more comfortable hugging than any businessperson. At least I know that the crusty ones wear their garbage out in the fresh air. The businessperson kills people with exploitative practices and then goes about his day squeaky clean... I'll take the filth I can see over hidden rubbish any day.
*end rant of ignored truths*
Hmm.. that felt good. Hope it cleared some brain fog for someone. I'll figure out the best way to go low-impact myself.. breaking the cycles of debt is a start. This move will help with that, hopefully. Obviously I'm not moving for the economic opportunities I may find. In fact, I'd like to avoid corporate work altogether. I'd like to see them all drown in the mire they've created.. I'm certainly not interested in supporting their existence with my labor. We'll see if the Willimantic Food Co-op could use me at a decent rate.. I'd like to stay within cooperatives, and that's the only one in the state. :P In the meanwhile, I'll be staying at my job up here until I can find suitable replacement work in CT. At least until the middle of February, so I can pass my 2 year mark there.
I hope this move will find me in a better place all around, literally, financially, emotionally and otherwise. It will be nice to be close to my family again... yet not be living with them, which I hope never to do again. I love them to bits, but we don't get along well with 4 large egos under the same roof. :)
Who knows, maybe my love life can take a turn for the positive as well. Anything would be better than what I'm dealing with now, but I'll wait for the right time, not just convenience before I commit myself to anything again. Maybe I'll try dating casually. Who knows. Maybe I'll just try to get my friends to come visit and hang out with me more often. :)
I'll go get dressed now, finally.. been battling the sudden onset of a nasty cold since Tuesday evening.. sucked being sick for New Year's, but there was nothing I could do about it. I'm still pretty congested, but I can breathe again, and I feel much better than last night, even. I'm rather tired of being here by myself.. even though it's also been nice in a way. I've gotten through half of Prisoner of Azkaban, and padded about the house all day yesterday making tea and watching anime. Painted a few Warhammer miniatures just to gain a feeling of accomplishing something. Now I'm out of new anime, and I want to box up some of my junk and bring it with me to CT. I've got to be there for a family gathering tomorrow.. Xmas mark 2: the extended family version. So I might as well head out from here in a few hours.. then I can lounge about and be a lump at my parents' house. Make someone else bring me tea. :)
Later.
-Me.
A note to my Brattleboro readers: I'll still be around, you know. No need to mourn my passing yet, I'm only going an hour or so away. Yes, I know I'm stepping back into the jaws of an evil state, but hell.. I came from there, didn't I? And I don't own an SUV, nor am I wealthy and bringing my fat troglodite children into the co-op in search of maple sugar candy (no native Vermonter actually eats that stuff, by the way. It's just for the tourists.) .... so there might actually be a few normal humans in that state.. just maybe.
A lot of folk up here suffer from the misconception that all people from CT are rich tourists.. because that's all we ever see up here.. the SUV model Connecticutian, complete with ski rack. However, allow me to clear the smog away by bringing this to light: Connecticut is the perfect model of capitalism and the free market economy at work. Defense contractors? CT headquarters some of the largest of them, EB and Pratt. CT is home to some of the wealthiest cities and counties in this country.. as well as the poorest. Check out Greenwich in all its expensive glory, then go hang out on a corner in Bridgeport or New Haven or even Hartford, and you'll understand what I mean without ever seeing the statistics. Stratification of wealth and power. Massive suffering under the noses of the very wealthy. Abuses of power in the highest offices, the 3rd worst air quality in the nation, rampant poverty, a crumbling educational system and slashed social services. The wealthy in CT are having a blast. Everyone else might as well be dying...and some of them are. This is what our systems are designed to do. Turn human beings into commodities for sale on the open market. If you aren't skilled enough or from the right class.. you have no market value and thus no value as a human. Society only reinforces these views with the negative stigma we attach to poverty. As though consuming less resources and being less of a burden on the planet was somehow a bad thing, and not something we should all be deliberately aspiring to. Frankly, there are a few crusty punks I know that I would feel much more comfortable hugging than any businessperson. At least I know that the crusty ones wear their garbage out in the fresh air. The businessperson kills people with exploitative practices and then goes about his day squeaky clean... I'll take the filth I can see over hidden rubbish any day.
*end rant of ignored truths*
Hmm.. that felt good. Hope it cleared some brain fog for someone. I'll figure out the best way to go low-impact myself.. breaking the cycles of debt is a start. This move will help with that, hopefully. Obviously I'm not moving for the economic opportunities I may find. In fact, I'd like to avoid corporate work altogether. I'd like to see them all drown in the mire they've created.. I'm certainly not interested in supporting their existence with my labor. We'll see if the Willimantic Food Co-op could use me at a decent rate.. I'd like to stay within cooperatives, and that's the only one in the state. :P In the meanwhile, I'll be staying at my job up here until I can find suitable replacement work in CT. At least until the middle of February, so I can pass my 2 year mark there.
I hope this move will find me in a better place all around, literally, financially, emotionally and otherwise. It will be nice to be close to my family again... yet not be living with them, which I hope never to do again. I love them to bits, but we don't get along well with 4 large egos under the same roof. :)
Who knows, maybe my love life can take a turn for the positive as well. Anything would be better than what I'm dealing with now, but I'll wait for the right time, not just convenience before I commit myself to anything again. Maybe I'll try dating casually. Who knows. Maybe I'll just try to get my friends to come visit and hang out with me more often. :)
I'll go get dressed now, finally.. been battling the sudden onset of a nasty cold since Tuesday evening.. sucked being sick for New Year's, but there was nothing I could do about it. I'm still pretty congested, but I can breathe again, and I feel much better than last night, even. I'm rather tired of being here by myself.. even though it's also been nice in a way. I've gotten through half of Prisoner of Azkaban, and padded about the house all day yesterday making tea and watching anime. Painted a few Warhammer miniatures just to gain a feeling of accomplishing something. Now I'm out of new anime, and I want to box up some of my junk and bring it with me to CT. I've got to be there for a family gathering tomorrow.. Xmas mark 2: the extended family version. So I might as well head out from here in a few hours.. then I can lounge about and be a lump at my parents' house. Make someone else bring me tea. :)
Later.
-Me.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-02 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 10:10 am (UTC)The trick is whether or not people are buying it out of season. If they're looking for it in June, then no. In April, it is an acceptable treat. You also have to consume it slowly, by either a series of licks, or a slow sucking method. Biting off the head of one of those scary little maple sugar pilgrims is asking for trouble. And a sugar headache.
Just thought I'd toss in a cent or two.
--K
no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 10:12 am (UTC)-me
no subject
Date: 2004-01-03 02:26 pm (UTC)I dunno...if you ask a native [I've taken to calling them OSVs..."Old Skool Vermonters"] many of them think that if it's not Vermont syrup or sugar, it's not "real" maple syrup or sugar. :-)