The mistake that all people will make at some point in their lives is that everyone agrees with their arguments. Are they correct in thinking that? No. Are they so blinded by their own arrogance that they have no choice but to draw that conclusion? Yes.
They finally evicted these aimless fools from the public park here in Bellingham. Yes its public, and they have their right to express their opinion, but the occupy Bellingham movement is a private opinion that a lot of citizens agree with right or wrong, but not all. Now, when your person of average intelligence expresses their opinion, they usually have the comfort of their own fully developed ego to recognize that it is, in fact their opinion, and not an opinion regarded to be fact. I would have no problem at all with the protestors expressing themselves and taking advantage of their first amendment rights if there were a property owner that shared their opinion and let them stay there for as long as they want. There they could stretch their banners and shout until their faces were blue. Your rights are your rights and you have every right to exercise them until they infringe on someone else's. That's where the problem is, and that's when their arrogance gets the best of them.
I read about a gentleman walking his dog through the park, and he asked a protestor what exactly they were doing, and the response was basically, "We're fighting for you, brother." Really? I haven't heard a clear message from any of them other than they hate people with the ambition to make more money than they have. I can honestly say that whatever it is they are trying to stop with the ineffective method they are using is less important to me than the tax money spent to repair the damage and unsanitary conditions that will undoubtedly be left behind from their prolonged presence. The money in overtime and resources that the police force will have to use to correct their baseless "protest" is just wasted. They don't care about that though, as "those people" aren't sympathetic with them.
The point of all this is, they have their rights, but so does everyone else. If I wanted to protest the number of Canadians our Border Patrol lets through every day by sitting in Peace Arch park shouting, shitting, holding banners, and defying the law, I would expect to be hauled away just like this. Of course, I'm a reasonable person, and that's just my opinion.
Til next time.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Of Culture and Idiots...
I just started this blog, and I decided that one of my first topics should be one that is close to my heart. I don't say this because I favor idiots, or hold them in high regard, its just that as a keen observer of everyday stupidity, they remain an important part of my routine.
For instance, on my drive to work today I encountered innumerable fools that were apparently given state certification as well as keys to individual, fast moving, heavy pieces of metal on wheels. I would like to think that this would be the extent of the idiots I would encounter as I feel that my quota had been met within a mile of home. However, on the road I also came across idiots on foot, bicycle, skateboard, and a few idiots from the animal kingdom.
I have recently forgiven our Canadian friends up north and excluded them from this post. After all, upon reflection they've given us the McKenzie Brothers, Kokanee, The Raccoons, and some other stuff I'm sure. I see a lot of Washington plates driving like incontinent ferrets.
But this isn't about the drive as much as the destination - Bellingham is filled with what it perceives as culture; which would be correct if the definition of culture was to be overrun with urbanized trailer trash on one side, and entitled whining college baby bitches on the other. Seriously, juggalos (which I apologize to the lawnmower racing crowd here, still sounds like a clown's breast implants) look like painted turds that refused to flush, and juggalettes are even more depressing. When you itemize a list of culture, I'm guessing that a double digit IQ 19 year old 200 pound girl with two kids and an addiction to nicotine that is rivaled only by her devotion to wearing pajama pants in public is hovering somewhere around last place. Granted, kids SHOULD be exposed to living examples of arrested development shouting obscenities at each other and smoking weed at noon while still finding time to panhandle. Screw the museum, we have a sideshow here and admission is free!! Bellingham would actually fill its pink cotton pajama pants with a brown stream of consciousness if real culture were to visit here.
As far as the whining college baby bitches, they are mostly just harmless ignorants being spoon fed bullshit from the wingnuts that unfortunately get jobs at WWU just because no one else would hire these people. I shouldn't complain about the professors as they are at least employed, and the sharing of their insane tendencies and sympathy affords their
students the chance to chain themselves to each other and sit on train tracks. Might this be to make a statement? No - I don't believe so as the places in town they have chosen to occupy are the only places in town that are the locally owned brick-and-mortar, ma-n-pa businesses left in Bellingham. I think the statement they're making could be summed up with the equally important message of the nationwide Occupy movement which is of course, let's get all the entitled left wing something-for-nothing crowd in various places to screw each other in public, smoke dope in the open during the day, and shit all over the place in city parks -- TAKE THAT CORPORATE AMERICA! Of course now, Bellingham can't even use plastic bags to clean up their leavings.
Yep - that sums up the majority of the people here. Not much in the actual way of culture, and this is a pretty accurate cross section of the people here which of course can be narrowed down into sub-idiot categories. We do have a pretty badass Oriental district though, if you count badass as sweet and sour chicken with 6 months of intestinal parasites from that place which is quite handily located by a public health office. What a beautiful melting pot. The best part about Bellingham is that I live 20 miles away.
Bellingham - please remember to close the lid as you leave.
Til next time -
For instance, on my drive to work today I encountered innumerable fools that were apparently given state certification as well as keys to individual, fast moving, heavy pieces of metal on wheels. I would like to think that this would be the extent of the idiots I would encounter as I feel that my quota had been met within a mile of home. However, on the road I also came across idiots on foot, bicycle, skateboard, and a few idiots from the animal kingdom.
I have recently forgiven our Canadian friends up north and excluded them from this post. After all, upon reflection they've given us the McKenzie Brothers, Kokanee, The Raccoons, and some other stuff I'm sure. I see a lot of Washington plates driving like incontinent ferrets.
But this isn't about the drive as much as the destination - Bellingham is filled with what it perceives as culture; which would be correct if the definition of culture was to be overrun with urbanized trailer trash on one side, and entitled whining college baby bitches on the other. Seriously, juggalos (which I apologize to the lawnmower racing crowd here, still sounds like a clown's breast implants) look like painted turds that refused to flush, and juggalettes are even more depressing. When you itemize a list of culture, I'm guessing that a double digit IQ 19 year old 200 pound girl with two kids and an addiction to nicotine that is rivaled only by her devotion to wearing pajama pants in public is hovering somewhere around last place. Granted, kids SHOULD be exposed to living examples of arrested development shouting obscenities at each other and smoking weed at noon while still finding time to panhandle. Screw the museum, we have a sideshow here and admission is free!! Bellingham would actually fill its pink cotton pajama pants with a brown stream of consciousness if real culture were to visit here.
As far as the whining college baby bitches, they are mostly just harmless ignorants being spoon fed bullshit from the wingnuts that unfortunately get jobs at WWU just because no one else would hire these people. I shouldn't complain about the professors as they are at least employed, and the sharing of their insane tendencies and sympathy affords their
students the chance to chain themselves to each other and sit on train tracks. Might this be to make a statement? No - I don't believe so as the places in town they have chosen to occupy are the only places in town that are the locally owned brick-and-mortar, ma-n-pa businesses left in Bellingham. I think the statement they're making could be summed up with the equally important message of the nationwide Occupy movement which is of course, let's get all the entitled left wing something-for-nothing crowd in various places to screw each other in public, smoke dope in the open during the day, and shit all over the place in city parks -- TAKE THAT CORPORATE AMERICA! Of course now, Bellingham can't even use plastic bags to clean up their leavings.
Yep - that sums up the majority of the people here. Not much in the actual way of culture, and this is a pretty accurate cross section of the people here which of course can be narrowed down into sub-idiot categories. We do have a pretty badass Oriental district though, if you count badass as sweet and sour chicken with 6 months of intestinal parasites from that place which is quite handily located by a public health office. What a beautiful melting pot. The best part about Bellingham is that I live 20 miles away.
Bellingham - please remember to close the lid as you leave.
Til next time -
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Bumper Stick It.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a considerably low tolerance for stupidity and generally slow witted behavior. This makes my life quite difficult as it has all been spent here, in Bellingham, in the People's Republic of Washington State. You can't swing a cat without hitting a Subaru Outback with an Obama/Biden bumper sticker or some entitled hipster drinking a latte. This town just banned plastic bags for Christ's sake. Near as I can tell, the best thing about working in Bellingham is that I live 20 miles away. That of course doesn't mean I'm against a good face-to-face discussion with an intelligent liberal - in fact, I hope to meet one some day.
But anyway, the irritation I'm concerning myself with today is this - I can put up with Canadians driving 40 in a 50, or pacing me in the passing lane, suicidal cyclists going between being a pedestrian and a vehicle, people blocking an intersection trying to beat the light, and many other things (though not necessarily quietly). However, when I see those goddamned white die-cut vinyl "family" stickers, I see RED. Why in the hell would you want to advertise an obvious lack of understanding of how babies are made? It is a seriously strange fixation that some people suffer from. The stickers are impersonal, hopefully no one in these families resemble the stickers, and sometimes they even drag the beloved family pet into it. What the hell is going on? I never thought I would miss the "baby on board" signs.
Then again, there is something worse still -- that is the crooked bumper sticker. Even if you drive a 1977 Corolla there is no excuse to not just try to put a sticker on straight. I may be extremely sensitive to this, having spent basically my entire career in the sign and lettering industry, but still. I don't even care what your message is or where your sympathies lie, you will look stupid or incompetant if you are unable to straighten your bumper sticker. Much like twitter, facebook, and texting has created lazy English, it is hard to take your opinion seriously if you can't express yourself in the simplest manner by SPELLING THE WHOLE FUCKING WORD or STRAIGHTENING YOUR STICKERS.
The subject of bumper stickers has come up because some worthless, ineffective Occupy Wallets protester wrote nasty things on the wheel cover of my car assumably because he or she disagreed with my NRA-second amendment support displayed on the windows. I would like to read their environmentally friendly messages on their cars, but what the hell, they put them on crooked and they're black from diesel anyway.
Its been fun - Til next time...
But anyway, the irritation I'm concerning myself with today is this - I can put up with Canadians driving 40 in a 50, or pacing me in the passing lane, suicidal cyclists going between being a pedestrian and a vehicle, people blocking an intersection trying to beat the light, and many other things (though not necessarily quietly). However, when I see those goddamned white die-cut vinyl "family" stickers, I see RED. Why in the hell would you want to advertise an obvious lack of understanding of how babies are made? It is a seriously strange fixation that some people suffer from. The stickers are impersonal, hopefully no one in these families resemble the stickers, and sometimes they even drag the beloved family pet into it. What the hell is going on? I never thought I would miss the "baby on board" signs.
Then again, there is something worse still -- that is the crooked bumper sticker. Even if you drive a 1977 Corolla there is no excuse to not just try to put a sticker on straight. I may be extremely sensitive to this, having spent basically my entire career in the sign and lettering industry, but still. I don't even care what your message is or where your sympathies lie, you will look stupid or incompetant if you are unable to straighten your bumper sticker. Much like twitter, facebook, and texting has created lazy English, it is hard to take your opinion seriously if you can't express yourself in the simplest manner by SPELLING THE WHOLE FUCKING WORD or STRAIGHTENING YOUR STICKERS.
The subject of bumper stickers has come up because some worthless, ineffective Occupy Wallets protester wrote nasty things on the wheel cover of my car assumably because he or she disagreed with my NRA-second amendment support displayed on the windows. I would like to read their environmentally friendly messages on their cars, but what the hell, they put them on crooked and they're black from diesel anyway.
Its been fun - Til next time...
Friday, December 16, 2011
Signs, Signs, Everywhere is Signs (Unfortunately)
A lot of my friends from the sign industry like to discuss the value, importance, and effectiveness of a good sign and the serious positive impact it can have for a business. Its an important stamp or brand that easily identifies your place in the busy sea of commerce. A good sign is easy to read, and a great sign will bring people stampeding through your door. There are a lot of wonderful and easy to recognize logos and brand names that people constantly see and stand head and shoulders above their competitors. These are the things you hear from the people that research and sell signs. It's a good story, it really is - and for the most part, it is true. Where the problem lies, from my unique perspective, is every fucking idiot until that blissful moment of completion runs their eyes across the painful design process and has two cents to toss into the hat.
I understand that I'm not paying for this expensive item, so my contentment is of miniscule importance to the uninformed jackass with the balls and capital to undertake something as impressive as opening a store. I respect them for that - I just wish that they respected my professional status as a designer of such things. For example, who, seriously, has a better idea of what will work for your sign - me, with years in the field, or Wilma the lonely old woman who lives by herself with 27 cats and does all the homeowners' association notices because people like what she can do with a mean Word document. Or, worst case scenario, someone has an 8 year old daughter that did a real cute picture of a puppy or a kitty. Looks cute on the fridge, not lit up on a wall for a pet store. If you stay in business long enough (God willing) with something that hideous on your wall, you'll be lucky if your daughter speaks to you from all the psychologically harmful years of looking up at that snapshot from her childhood advertising your business. (This of course leads to the sub-discussion about no one thinks your kid is as cute as you do).
Back to signs. Its bad enough that you run the gauntlet with customers appreciation - coworkers that rivet stuff or punch calculators will throw their opinions at it unwarranted as well. This means very little to me as they aren't the ones paying for the sign, and fortunately since no one is perfect opens the door for me to make sport of something they have done in the past that I have stowed in the memory bank with the sole intent of reminding them with later. Some would say that's what makes me an ass, but in this industry, that's what makes me a designer.
Signs can be fun, beautiful, effective, and even inexpensive relatively, but only if people could sit back and let us do what we do best. The customers that trust me to do my job and do it well are always the most fun and rewarding people to do business with. I've run the whole spectrum of passive aggressive, "I like it, I would just like to change the color, font, and shape of the logo, but then I think you got it," people, AND the ones that tell you, "I like it, just let me see what my wife thinks of it," people. Maybe that's why I get so angry - apparently there's a lot of designers out there.
Til next time....
I understand that I'm not paying for this expensive item, so my contentment is of miniscule importance to the uninformed jackass with the balls and capital to undertake something as impressive as opening a store. I respect them for that - I just wish that they respected my professional status as a designer of such things. For example, who, seriously, has a better idea of what will work for your sign - me, with years in the field, or Wilma the lonely old woman who lives by herself with 27 cats and does all the homeowners' association notices because people like what she can do with a mean Word document. Or, worst case scenario, someone has an 8 year old daughter that did a real cute picture of a puppy or a kitty. Looks cute on the fridge, not lit up on a wall for a pet store. If you stay in business long enough (God willing) with something that hideous on your wall, you'll be lucky if your daughter speaks to you from all the psychologically harmful years of looking up at that snapshot from her childhood advertising your business. (This of course leads to the sub-discussion about no one thinks your kid is as cute as you do).
Back to signs. Its bad enough that you run the gauntlet with customers appreciation - coworkers that rivet stuff or punch calculators will throw their opinions at it unwarranted as well. This means very little to me as they aren't the ones paying for the sign, and fortunately since no one is perfect opens the door for me to make sport of something they have done in the past that I have stowed in the memory bank with the sole intent of reminding them with later. Some would say that's what makes me an ass, but in this industry, that's what makes me a designer.
Signs can be fun, beautiful, effective, and even inexpensive relatively, but only if people could sit back and let us do what we do best. The customers that trust me to do my job and do it well are always the most fun and rewarding people to do business with. I've run the whole spectrum of passive aggressive, "I like it, I would just like to change the color, font, and shape of the logo, but then I think you got it," people, AND the ones that tell you, "I like it, just let me see what my wife thinks of it," people. Maybe that's why I get so angry - apparently there's a lot of designers out there.
Til next time....
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