Heck in a handbasket

The world is going to heck in a handbasket real fast. What with the global economic depression and all the nonsense in Thailand, India and in the Gulf of frakkin' Aden it looks like we've finally lost our minds and we're bent on self-destruction.

Nothing makes sense. An unhappy political minority is destroying their own country because they got outvoted at the last election which they themselves forced -- and lost anyway. A bunch of teenage hoodlums plan and execute a most effective and heroic military operation against several non-military targets resulting in a most impressive kill ratio but only because their targets can't shoot back. I'm sure there's a medal there for you boys, though it'll probably be your parents who'll have to receive it on your behalf, posthumously. And over in the Gulf of frakkin' Aden grand-scale armed robbery has become a profitable multi-million dollar business. I suppose that's one outside-the-box means of protecting oneself from the financial crisis.

What do these people want? They want to be shot at. They're militants, they're prepared for war. They have the logistics, they have the ordnance, they have the strategy. Their only problem is that no one is shooting at them to justify their raison d'etre. So if the mountain won't come to them, they must go to the mountain. And unfortunately for us, to get to the mountain they have to get through us first.

It's stupid.

Belt-tightening

While I've been occupied with adjusting my life to accommodate new schedules and new living arrangements, my virtual life has been languishing. No updates here, my online pets are neglected and are probably starving to death right now, but I still can't muster enough will to care.

Too much is happening in real life, and perhaps I'm not as capable of adapting to all these changes as I might once have been. The current financial crisis necessitating all these belt-tightening fiscal measures makes me wonder if I've spent too much too quickly in recent months. I was counting on a year-end bonus to boost my bank balance to a more reassuring level, but that's not going to happen in this current atmosphere of pay cuts and other more drastic cost saving methods.

Still, as long as I have a job, money can be earned back. And I don't owe anyone any money that urgently needs repaying. That is to say, my installment plans are still manageable, so perhaps what I'm worried about is the lack of excess, resources set aside for a rainy day, mad money to throw away on frivolous expenses.

Still, it's a new lifestyle to adapt to, having to think twice about needs and wants. Learning to forego when we're so used to buying on impulse; making do with what works rather than trashing it for the sake of an upgrade; squeezing every last bit of value from every cent we spend; and making sure we do our jobs well so that what we demand of others we deliver to them as well in return; that's how we're going to ride out this long winter of discontent. Financially speaking, anyway.