Author Archives: SFA

MMA

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Tonight the topic of this weekends UFC MMA fight came up and another person that watches it was interested to know that two others of us also watch it. In the past I’ve tried to discuss this and many times it ends up feeling like I’m trying to defend why I watch it when I can. I know men who can’t stand it and women that yell right back at the screen.

Watching a MMA fight can be spiritual in its own way. For me this is gladiatorial. This is not a five on one situation. These are two men in a similar weight class that are going to pit skill against skill. One might be a better grappler and the maybe the other is a better striker. Each moment, strike, and breathe is important. One punch can knock the opponent off just enough to give the other an opening to literally jump onto. How well can someone handle and onslaught from a ground and pound? How strong is the chin to take blow after blow? Is your ground game good enough that if you are taken down or you take someone down that you can sink in your triangle or kamora to get yourself out. Once again a slight shift in balance or strength at right moment can shift the fight itself.

As them folk say, never leave it up to the judges. If you’ve ever watched a good matchup and you see the judges choose the one you thought obviously lost you can only imagine the feeling of the people in the cage whether in jubilation or disbelief.

Even writing about this I can feel my heart rate increasing and my blood pressure rising. The anticipation of a good matchup where they leave everything, everything in the ring. like the first bout between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. It was so impressive they were both given contracts to fight.

From one concept a one on one fight tests your own skills and abilities. Did you train hard enough? Were you prepared? Could you adapt to a changing situation to persevere?

From a different concept just get a weapon and take out your opponent. That’s not to say there wasn’t skill in using that weapon. Just that if you have something bigger/better/whatever and the proper knowledge to use it you can win against a large group all by yourself. Something that may take a skill set completely different from a one on one fight.

Regardless. If you don’t agree with the fights, watch or don’t watch. That’s your business but just don’t bother me when I am watching. I enjoy them and will continue to enjoy watching them when I can, reveling in the feelings of the test of skills before me hoping for a good matchup and not a very one sided battle that leaves one untested.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

cost and effect, part 2

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Return of the Money Pit

Value has its own place as a general concept but it’s hard sometimes to see why people do what they do or choose what they choose.

As a general idea/concept I can understand why we buy/obtain more than we need. I get it. You see or hear about something nice or cool and you just want it. But the part that I have trouble with is why ‘we’ buy/obtain things that we can’t afford. In same cases that is literal. You live paycheck to paycheck yet you upgrade your phone every chance you get. I am not advocating or saying that you can’t spend the money how you please but I think I don’t want to hear anymore that something else, probably more important and vital in my perception can’t be had because the money isn’t there.

Do you really need to spend $90/month on internet/cable? How about upwards of $200+/month on internet/cable/phone?

A new car every few years? The fancy car getting 15mpg when you could be driving one for half the cost and twice the mpg? Another coach/gucci purse because well because.

This also applies to eating out a lot, though sometimes one could argue you could save money by eating out instead of ‘wasting’ food at home (just throw non-meat things into the garden/compost).

I feel bad for those people on the home makeover shows or those who win a raffle for something expensive not realizing that they might be stuck with some massive tax bills that they have to pay. They couldn’t afford their current living style and now they might actually lose what little home they did have because of new bills. I don’t know if shows or raffles explains these things or not.

Dad taught that a check or credit card were essentially the same in concept. You don’t write a check if they money isn’t already in the bank and you don’t charge something unless you have the money or it really will be there when the bill needs to be paid. And it isn’t the minimum balance that needs to be paid, but the whole bill.

I’ve seen someone’s credit card statement (shown to me), the amount they still owe, and the time to pay it off with the minimums. That’s a long time and a lot of money.

I don’t know what it will take or even if ‘we’ will ever become more responsible for our own actions. I’m not talking business/corporate as they seem to be immune to many of their mistakes but as individuals honor seems to be missing more often.

Time to get back to cleaning and to increasing the things in the donation pile. Less sometimes is more.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

cost and effect, part 1

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Money.

What images already start to form in your mind? Do you see coins? Dollars? Hundred dollar bills?

In the book Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein the main character describes money as an incredible idea. The book is great by the way and is very buddhist to me if you catch the message. I digress.

Can we truly define money? It’s linen with the backing of.. umm.. the gold in fort knox?

Part of the issue with money is the very very subjective idea of what something’s value is. As them folk, me in this case, say, “To the dying man water is worth much but to the drowning man he would gladly give it away.” (May 14th 0025, SFA)

Money is the short pocketable form of barter.. kinda. Old world style, you make someone a rocking chair and they pay you with lots of fruits and veggies or something like that. Now you just get something in your pocket or electronically on a statement.

We place our own values on things all the time. Do you really need to spend millions of dollars to have a private flight into orbit? How about being able to not have to decide between medicine for your child or dinner for the family? In the similar water analogy, the rich person may, or may not, be wasting enough food to feed said family and going into orbit sure won’t help them at all.

$1.99. It’s not $2.00. That’s too much. But you see that #1 and almost forget about the 0.99. They do it at the gas pumps. If you’re not sure just take a few moments next time and look closer at the prices.

We can also be tricked into the value of things. Retail price $1,000. On sale for $100.  Doesn’t it matter what it is? Not really. Most people I think would at least take a look to see what the great deal is. Amazon is great with showing the retail price that isn’t even the price in the store sometimes and then showing the percent off. Get’s your attention fast enough you might buy it without doing a price comparison.

We use money on a daily basis. We love it and we hate it.

As they say, “Money is the root of all evil,” I’d say evil is the root of all evil and money can be used like anything of potential power, for good or for evil.

Until part 2 where I shift thoughts,

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

 

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A Movie Post: Iron Man 3

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I saw Iron Man 3 this morning.

I can honestly say that Iron Man 1 (or just Iron Man) ranks as one of my all time favorites. I loved the dialogue and the character interactions. I think they did a great job. I loved the sarcasm from Jarvis. Anyway. Moving on.

Iron Man 2. Sorry. I had to pause as a shudder passed through me. It wasn’t horrible. It just wasn’t great. I do like the switch in Rhody (did I spell that right?). He might be smaller now but  Don seems more badass. There were definitely parts of the movie I thought were well done mainly the section where he figures out the new element and goes through that process. The flying and fighting were ok. The SHIELD stuff was meh. The characters delved into a new depth which I think may have caused others to not like the movie as much. I appreciate the depth and assumed it would be leading somewhere. Maybe that’s why I like a lot of the independent and foreign films.

Now Iron Man 3. I saw this in 3D. It wasn’t a gimmicky 3D as far as I could tell. It worked for me. I would have to see it in 2D to really tell if there was a difference but I’m fine for now. This wasn’t as good as the first one. But it was MUCH better than the second. Once again Downey Jr brings life to Iron Man. He is Iron Man. I can’t really see anyone else playing him now if he doesn’t sign up for a fourth one. I believe he did say he will do Avengers 2. We have a little more depth into the characters as basic sequel development will lead to. There were nice plot twists I didn’t see coming and I always appreciate not being able to anticipate where an american movie is headed. (Another reason I like independent and foreign films). I liked seeing Pepper become more of a badass herself and while she still had badass moments I’m hoping that a number four does get made and her role continues its expansion. At times there did appear to be more overt product placement and it was glaring and distracting for me at least.

So overall a good film. I’m glad I jumped at the last second to run and see it at 9:15 this morning. That’s really a great time actually. Very few people there and you can show up ‘late’, meaning all the time the trailers take up at the beginning. 15 minutes late and I still had several to sit through. I think there were maybe seven people in the theater. It worked for me. As a note, for non-3D films since those usually carry the discounts, the first showing of the day can be downright cheap and worth that extra early slot to see it. Just sayin’.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

 

benefit of the doubt

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We hear this phrase often. We teach it to kids. It’s in the legal system. We give the defendant the benefit of the doubt, presume/assume a well intention/innocence before thinking it is a bad intention/guilty.

I keep hoping one day that this idea is actually taken to heart. I’m not talking about full blown naivety and trust everything that people say and do. We aren’t that enlightened. I think it’s fine to take someone at face value to start with and using questions, experience, or other evidence, get a better sense of what is going on. What I am saying is that why do we constantly presume that what was said or done was ill intentioned before even trying to see it another way? I think sometimes I live with my blinders on too much trying to see the good in people. I try but other people sure make it a lot harder to KEEP them on.

Now with a random person you play it by ear as above. You take what they say and you pass it through your filters. We do profile and stereotype people. We do it each and every day to each and every person we meet. But we can still keep an open mind.

This brings me to another thought. The people you know. I’m not talking about the people you see every so often or just say hello to. This is for the people you see outside of work. You call or text or email or go to events with. Those people are probably even friends.

So what bugs me and I have a hard time understanding is why those people, assuming you are worth trusting, will assume something you said or did was with malintention instead of stopping for a moment and saying, “hmm.. this person is usually nice. maybe i misunderstood something.” Of course this goes back to other posts and thoughts that in general people suck at communication. But now I wonder about these people and sometimes I feel really bad for them. Have they had a life and continue to have this life where maybe they can’t trust people? Where they were wronged so many times or so deeply that they choose to no longer want to see good?

Recently I asked someone that I thought trusted me if they were planning on coming to trivia again. I have a group of friends I go with frequently but we were going to be taking a break for a few weeks. This someone has been once. Just once but expressed an interest in coming back sometime. The following are my message and the response I got back.

ME:”honest question: are you ever planning on coming to trivia again? just asking to know if I should tell you when we aren’t going to be there.”

THEM:”Honest response: you don’t have to invite me to things if it is irritating.”

I didn’t think I had said something bad. And yes, while I do see that I could have worded it differently, I thought my intention, whatever their perception, was clear in what I did say. I didn’t want this person showing up and finding out we weren’t there. If others read this and think otherwise, I’d like to know. From my end the kicker is that I don’t think I ever treated this person badly before or lied or ever was intentionally rude. And although I tried to say these things, alas I have not heard back yet.

It does bother me thinking that this person’s first response was to assume I was irritated with them. I try and be open and honest with people and continue to realize people just aren’t able to handle it. Unfortunately, I have a hard time not being honest. You try and think good about others and you forget that other people may not think good things first.

I had a similar honesty situation also recently. (I have a lot of these in general by the way. I’m just pulling these two out.) There was a potential opportunity to catch up with someone and I voiced an honest concern. The immediate response back was a presumption that my honest thought was a recognition or perception of a problem instead of the actual statement I made of being aware that issues might come up.

Why and how to people go through life like this? This automatic assumption that people, including those people you know and hopefully trust, are meaning something bad when they talk to you. Do a certain degree I really don’t understand it. I’m actually trying to and it’s frustrating. If you try and keep an open mind about the possibilites in life, how do you then go about closing your mind? Like many people I know in my heart that there have been times I have been accused of something I didn’t do. We all know that pain inside, I hope. That idea that you know you didn’t do it or say it and now the situation is getting out of hand. Maybe at some point the truth surfaces and people try and apologize or make amends.

It’s that type of situation that SHOULD force people to try and keep an open mind afterwards. Maybe what you perceived as an angry or hurtful statement from the person you are communicating with didn’t really mean you thought. How much heartache could be saved if we just took a few moments to stop and ask what they really meant? That best friend of yours… the one you got angry with… if they are normally saying rude and mean things, then sure, they probably did again but if they are almost 100% of the time nice and pleasant and they said something you thought wasn’t nice and pleasant then I implore you to react in a new way.

STOP

DROP (THE CLOSE MINDED THOUGHT)

LISTEN (WITH AN OPEN MIND)

Those few seconds of pause might mean the difference between the real meaning of what they said and weeks of anger. I’m not saying they didn’t slip from 100% with their first mean words. They may have. But if you have that open mind added with your experience maybe they are going through some deep shit so bad that they lashed out. If you stopped for that pause and thought, “this isn’t like this person. maybe there is something else going on,” the world might start becoming a better place and you might start becoming a better person.

So no, I will probably not try and become close minded again. I will continue to try and stay open minded and honest to myself and others even when they don’t know what do with it. I will continue to hope they people won’t always look for a deeper meaning in honest/truthful statements. I will continue to stay frustrated not understanding why people (especially the ones I care about) will presume a negative meaning instead of pausing to review any past interactions to see if they make sense with what they know from before. I will continue to hope that one day one person will read one thing I’ve written and be changed for the better.

May we seek the divine within us to become more enlightened.

Namaste.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

 

The A – Team

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The emergency contact is an interesting thing. I understand the need for it. You are somewhere where something could happen and for liability they want to know who to contact, other than 911 that is if they are allowed to do that. Do you have just one contact you always use? Is it situational? For each place you go do you actually think about who you want to list down as the contact choice? I have a hard time coming up with one sometimes.

You decide you want to go rock climbing. They need you to fill out the waiver form and lo and behold they want to know who to contact if there is an emergency. Now the dilemma begins. You aren’t married or with someone significant enough yet. No family around. Do you pick a friend? Like a reference on an application do you need to contact your friend first for permission to list them? Do they even want to be listed? What if you are a recluse and have no friends or really anyone that you could list. Maybe I’m the only one that can agonize over something that should be simple. This isn’t a living will or power of attorney I understand.

I understand kids have their parents as the emergency contact. The parent is legally responsible for them and bills at the hospital and so forth if they happen.

Maybe this is one of those times when you just want to fall back to an “I want my mommy” moment, someone that you can hopefully rely on to get you clear from whatever situation you’re in.

Things to ponder.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

Put up or shut up!

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Talk is not cheap.

Words are not inexpensive.

Passion behind words can be just as draining as a physical activity. Many of us have had to speak in front of a group and felt drained after.

A speech from someone can invigorate your soul, emotionally charge you, give you energy and maybe even help heal you.

We read quotes, hear speeches. The pep talk can place you into a new mindset where the impossible can now be realized.

The energy given by one person multiplied again by each person that it touches. That which can motivate to a positive change or enflame people into a mob. History determines the outcome.

We have phrases. “Put up or shut up.” “The deeds make the man.” “The pen is mightier than the sword.” “Do or die.” “Actions speak louder than words.”

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

http://www.quotegarden.com/action.html

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/actions

Quote after quote tries to give the idea that the end action is the important aspect no matter what is said or thought.

But what about one who has ill thought and does an action that appears good. Is that person now good? What if the action that was done was not intended for good but the end effect was good? History may count that person as having done a good deed. Do those actions speak louder than words?

The wise thing to say would be to keep our thoughts and actions both good but even that is not enough when you see that these are still subjective notions we are trying to apply.

Perhaps my action was in the writing and hopefully these words aren’t cheap.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

in and out

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Like many others this winter traveling season I got stuck in an airport with a canceled flight. It sucks. There’s no way around it. Your gate gets switched three times and you have to pick up your stuff and move each time since the announcements are only there in the new area. There goes my plug I was charging from.

Once things seem stable they announce they are ready to board the plane. First class, families, elderly, etc, then the other people. Most airlines have reassigned seats. There is only one that I know of that you pick the seat you find once you’re on board.

You file in line in whatever queue fashion is established by the airline. You board, hope you have overhead space for your carry on and you get yourself strapped in. I remember reading in the past of a better way to board a plane that had to do with seating windows from the back to front first then moving in or something like that. I don’t think this would be a problem if there was enough overhead space so people could make sure their carry on could make it. People could just be assigned an actual order number to board instead of scrambling to be the first in your group. Of course there is also the issue of people bringing a large carry on and a large personal bag and trying to jam them in. Maybe make people use the space under the chairs as well and not just stuff everything overhead? Just thinking. Moving on.

But when we disembark (?unboard?) why don’t we do this in reverse of how we boarded?  You were in say group B or 2 but your seat is over the wing for a more stable flight and got all of your things on. Now you’re stuck waiting for everyone else to get off before you can get out if you aren’t in the aisle. Why do we wait for person after person to leave before we get up?

I’ve seen people in the back just walk up as far as they can as soon as the signal came to unbuckle and leave. They may have had a small carry on and the rest checked in and could move faster to leave. People look super pissed that someone broke the normal order of things. Maybe they were that first person to board in that broup B/2. Does that then give them the right to move out as fast as possible? What about those people that needed the extra time getting on? Should they need to wait until all the faster people are out? Maybe those who only have carry on get to leave first and those that have to wait for checked in bags leave after? If you are on a flight where you stay on the same plane, they ask that you wait until everyone else leaves before leaving so they can get a head count. Then you can leave to get a bite to eat or just stretch. Perhaps I’m giving too much credit to people to be good to one another.

It really was interesting to see the reactions from the people as this well dressed man walked with confidence from the back to just ahead of where I was seated. I was more amused than even bothered. It was a direct flight. I had nothing checked in. I just needed to get off the plane. Maybe if I had been on the aisle I would have done the same and just pushed up. Wouldn’t that have been more efficient also? Less time and space being used as I see it. Maybe I will the next time I have a chance. If someone is picking me up, they don’t have to wait so long either.

Ultimately, I can’t see us being this good and kind to each other just yet as far as how to board and getting off. Even though we board differently, there is a sense of social order involved with getting off. A time and place make us feel comfortable. Disrupting that might make people feel unequal. Almost as if you were the last person to get on and had to put your carry on in the last row even though your seat is up front. That just plain sucks. You can’t do anything until everyone else is off. You might have even saved time by checking it in although that would be an issues of time vs money.

I wonder if the people in first class feel the same if they are row 3 and have to wait to get off. Hmm..

An interesting thought from an interesting situation.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

fortune

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Today’s topic is inspired as most of my other musings by an interesting event. Ok. Maybe not that interesting to someone else but I was amused. I recently got a fortune cookie without a fortune in it. The first thought that struck me was, “huh? did it eat it somehow?” but I only just cracked the cookie like a wishbone.

Then the mind went (over)active. Was my life was going to come to a sudden end? Do I have no future as no fortune was granted me? Or perhaps my life has been blessed by the gods and is going to be so awesome that a fortune isn’t needed.

Fortune cookies, palm reading, divination, astrology/horoscopes (sometimes horror-scopes from some that I have read), zodiac signs, crystal balls, tea leaves, mojo, etc

Where is this belief system coming from? Is it our continued want for an explanation of the universe? Is there any validity in any or all of this?

Why do some aspects carry more weight than others? Many of us know someone or ourselves that half-jokingly will talk about our astrological sign and kinda mean it. I’m in that same category. You could remove the name of the sign and start reading descriptions and you still might pick your own. For ‘research’ I picked a random astrology site and essentially did a n=1 study. Yeah. Pretty much holds true for me. I’m on a cusp and those two signs blended together speak true to me. I did go through each and every sign. There were some that were outright not me and others that got close but just missed the mark. Something to ponder. My element and the stone or actually the color of the stone were accurate as well.

We do the same thing with the horoscopes based on our signs. I think most people would agree that horoscopes tend to be vague enough that they can apply to just about anyone. Let me try… “You will meet someone soon that will have an impact in your life. You may not notice it in the immediate but this person will help guide you on your path.”

What about your biorhythm? I remember having a program (things called apps now) on my Palm Treo 755P (loved the device!!) that would show my biorhythm. I can’t say that it seemed very accurate but then I didn’t remember to use it often and I’m sure at some point I got rid of it to make room for something else.

Do we create our fortune based on these perceptions? If your fortune, in whatever form, indicates to you that you need to step up and be more aggressive to secure a new position and you actually do, then what? You fulfilled a prophecy of sorts because of what you read and you believed and acted, assuming that not acting you would not have gotten the new position. A deus ex machina vs carpe diem paradox? Thought to ponder.

Can lines be drawn? What I believe is true and what you believe is rubbish? Who could fathom believing in something ‘out there’ that has control over the future? Maybe it doesn’t have control and we are on our own. Maybe the future is predestined and that’s why people can make predictions about things outside of themselves. Maybe it is just two universes rippling and in that moment of contact between the two giving us insight (a real idea).

I can be honest with myself that I have experienced events in my life that I can’t rationalize in a logical manner and that I have learned to accept as a part of my past, present and probably as a part of my future. I don’t know where some of these insights came from about the present (at the time) and the future but they proved real.

We believe what we choose. That knowledge can come from others, books, media, our own experiences and anywhere/anything else that can communicate something to us. It all still seems to boil down to one thing. Faith. No. It doesn’t have to be faith in a god or higher power. It doesn’t even have to be complete faith. But at some point we do choose to believe in things that we may not be able to prove on our own. Is time linear or not? Will the sun come up tomorrow? Do UFOs exist? I choose to believe that the sun will shine on my side of the earth again tomorrow and that it won’t disappear before then. Statistically, there is a chance of other life, sentient or not, out there somewhere. I choose to believe a lot of things because it’s just plain easier than to question everything. Pick and choose the battles of faith as it were.

Maybe I’ll have no future because of that cookie. As Worf would say, “Today is a good day to die.” But I’ll believe for the moment that there was glitch in the processing plant and I just didn’t get a cookie with a fortune stuck in it. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel

legal prostitution? sexist?

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I was taking a break at work the other day and decide to catch up on some news. I was either on MSN or CNN. Whichever. So I come across this article talking about these women who join a website to have a man, probably older, help take care of them in exchange for something. This isn’t a vague wink wink type of something. Dinner, lunch, talking on the phone, being arm candy. Of course maybe more happens in a private situation. By the way, these aren’t necessarily single men on this site either. The article was talking about men paying for rent, college tuition, gifts, vacations, jewelry, breast surgery, and I’m sure there are probably other things as well.

It validly brought up that this could be considered prostitution although the men are encouraged to not give money every time or to be careful how they do it. Maybe even how they keep records.

Well this seems like a great idea. No joking. The next thing I had to do was check out the flip side. Where’s my sugar mamma?! I like to travel and have lots of hobbies. Who wouldn’t want to retire right now. I may not have a pool boy body right now but if I was off and had the resources to indulge my whims, she can pay for a personal trainer and really healthy food to get me into shape. That doesn’t seem like a bad trade off so far.

This new set of thinking started a whole new set of tabs in my browser. Of course if there is a market someone will come up with a website. Yes, you too can participate in this with just a little google search. I did keep seeing the terms cougar and cub come up instead of the flip side of sugar daddy and sugar baby. I think I prefer the cub term for myself anyway instead of sugar baby. It already sounds more masculine even if a cub is small. Those cubs are still strong and dangerous.

Think about it. Whatever your profession/stage in life is be it student or employed, you might be able to hook up with someone with the means to help support you in something just for company. Maybe even just have you as a partner for vacations or dinners or events. I’m still having a hard time seeing the negative of being on retainer to do things I might enjoy. However there is a possible undertone of expected sex/sexual favors and depending on how desperate you are, there could even be control issues at play. Both people exert control I think.

Another thought/response. On the male site, there was a statement (paraphrased by me) saying something against the detractors that dealt with the idea that some marriages in a way could be considered legal prostitution since they are in a similar situation. A housespouse, to be gender neutral, with or without kids but without a well paying job even if there is one, maybe in school, being supported by the other spouse. Food, car, gasoline, vacations, gifts, you name it. Depending on the joke of the day one could say you might be getting even less sex in the marriage than from the sugar situation. If you give a gift on valentines with the idea that the better the gift/day is, the higher your chance of getting fucked that night, isn’t that an exchange of money/gift for sex? The definition for prostitution usually includes a stipulation for it being outside of marriage though.

If you say that in the marriage at least it’s for love, we know that’s probably full of crap. The CDC has this table and with note that it isn’t all the data, the divorce rate looks higher than 50% since the divorce data was missing more states. There would also stratifications for first, second or third marriage divorce, plus/minus kids and by age group. Someone else can write about that.

So.

Marriage. Prostitution. Sugar(insert type).

All three of these have their own soapboxes on both sides.

Marriage: Some people believe that marriage is the simple commitment bond between two (or more to some) people. Others would argue that it is the joining of a man and a woman under the eyes of god. Others would call it just a legal thing. Or a social thing acknowledgment.

Prostitution: Happens in every state. Legal in a part of Nevada. Legal in various forms in many parts of the world. You can look at the socioeconomic/trafficking/disease/religious/etc issues.  ‘They’ also say it’s the oldest profession and provides a service. I remember seeing the rooms in Pompeii and being told that they were for prostitutes. They even have the pictures still on the wall. That’s old. I’ve included the two most family friendly pictures I took.

Santas Fallen Angel -0646 Santas Fallen Angel -0643

You could find many sides to debate on the pros and cons of legalized prostitution. I believe it’s legal in all or parts of Canada.

I’ll leave this as a soapbox perhaps for another day.

and finally…

Sugar(insert type): Married or unmarried benefactor providing support/goods to someone else for any number of reasons, some more socially acceptable than others. Most of the time I would say that I’m attracted to older women. Before it was always a situation of stability be it in life or emotionally and maturity. Now that I’m older the age range is narrower but the qualities are still important. How would I really tell the difference between two older women if both are richer than me and want to help provide for me? One from a cougar site and one from a more traditional dating site. I don’t think you can make the argument that one type of site vs another is geared toward hook ups vs relationships. I hear the sly comments about some of the more open popular sites as being places for finding someone to sleep with and maybe date. Is this idea of the sugarperson simply just a societal way of pointing out a disparity? People still want ages to be somewhat close together. If you see a 20 year old with a 40 year old, most would assume something is amiss. Now, for yourself, just take a pause for a second to look into yourself. Did you assume/think the 20 year old was male or female? Just pointing it out. Cougar/cub or sugar daddy/baby or just two people for whom the age difference didn’t matter?

We are changing. There’s not a choice. Good and bad can be applied but those are too subjective. Change simply is what it is. I couldn’t even begin to say what it would be to be “Enlightened” as a people. More arts? More technology? Some moral stuff? Less baser things like sex? That may not go over too well. A lot of us might hang around with the less enlightened folks having more fun.

Things to think about.

-Santa’s Fallen Angel