My Damn Opinion

Alright, I need to get something off my chest. I am very wary of making my LJ into a big pity party, so I often don't share this kind of information. If you don't want to look at this, ( skip it. )

1. My username is _____ because ____.

My username is Mighty BakuDan, although that's sometimes expanded to Mighty Mighty BakuDan. This stems from a joke from waaaay back in the AWOL days, one that I barely remember but that referenced the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I have stuck with it all these years because it's dang hard to find a recognizable but unique username out there on the internets, and in most places even plain ol' BakuDan is taken. I dropped one Mighty off the begnning because it started to be difficult to type that all the time. And most place won't let you make a username that's 19 characters long.

2. My name is _____ because _____.

My name BakuDan because that was given to me even further back in the AWOL days, when we had both myself and Durkin hanging about all the time. Katieya suggested it to remove confusion, because BakuDan means "bomb" or "explosive" in Japanese, and back in those days I was prone to violent outbursts when losing at video games, which is sadly pretty common. I have mellowed in my old age, however, and I only have violent outbursts when playing certain games.


3. My journal is titled ____ because ____.

My journal is titled My Damn Opinion because it mostly is. I once long ago had a basic personal website called My Damn Opinion, on which I would often spout forth my damn opinion, although I do that less lately on my LJ. My opinions change so often, because I try to examine them and question them and look a the opposite side of things.

4. My friends page is called ____ because ____.

My friends page is called Friends because....I'm lazy, and I didn't even realize I could change it.


5. My default userpic is ____ because ____.

My default userpic is Son Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form. I chose this pic because I am not only a DBZ fan, but the huge mess of blond hair resembles me, at least on occasion. And no one can say that Goku is not mighty. ^_^

So, I'm back in the school again, getting there early and getting it set up. It's not in the same location, but it's still a nice place with good benches and lots of space to work, and one wall all mirror. As I'm getting everything put together, students start showing up and getting ready, looking like a good size class. At one point, Mike and Phil and Ken all show up, and they're glad to see me, and glad that I'm teaching today so they can just work out. As usual, the whole place has the feel of waiting for Kenny to show up, but not really expecting him to. Maybe that feeling was always just in me....

Anyway, we have several new students in the class, and Phil & Mike are helping out, and one of them is a tall, athletic handsome-faced kid, looks like he's about 17-18, and he suddenly starts mouthing off to me. He figures he's a bad ass and he's not impressed with what I'm showing him. Mike and Phil back off like, "Hey it's your funeral, man", and I tell the kid if he's feeling so tough to go gear up and we can see who's bad ass.

I come out a bit later, and everyone else is seated around the floor waiting for the match, and the kid is geared up and looking confident. I come out with what little gear I usually wear, but I'm feeling less than confident. I know I'm out of shape, and this kid is strong enough that he might actually hurt me if I let him hit me. Mike starts us out, and I throw a simple test roundhouse, not even landing it, just coming close and making sure to catch him with the pad. And he suddenly stops, his face grows real pale and he takes off his gear and leaves. Mike shakes his head like "Whatever, kid", as he walks out the door and starts to help me take off my gear. But the whole time I'm watching this kid leave, I can't shake the feeling: was he scared and impressed with what little I did? Or was he disappointed and disgusted, and now doesn't want to waste time learning from me?

I couldn't tell as he was walking away.

Every now and then I head over to Steve Olsen's blog, because I really like 99% of what he has to say. He's an inspiring, no-nonsense writer, and has given me a lot of insights into my own mentalities and habits. He wrote a very good article for Craig Harper called "Why is it so hard to change?", something I have contemplated myself several times, especially recently. In the article he also recommends checking out Games People Play by Eric Berne. Reading the article really makes me want to get that book.

Check 'em out.

I'm probably a terrible person, but this made me laugh until I cried.

I suppose I'm not as big an asshole as some. ^_^

EDIT: You're not gonna wanna watch this at work. It has bad words and barely covered bewbs.

This has to be an April Fools Joke. It HAS to be.

Please...let it be an April Fools joke....it looks like a it was done by SciFi Channel or the USA Network. Oh God no....

Thanks a lot, sixtyforty. ( Thanks a lot. )

EDIT: For the record, despite the similarity, this is NOT a picture of me.

"A karate class is not a stage upon which the superior talent emerges and is dramatized.  The karate class is a community of mutual responsibility where the weakest are strengthened, not where the strongest are glorified.  The sensei creates within the class the commitment to cooperation and responsibility, and in this atmosphere is the greatest learning made possible."

 - Sadaharu Kurobane

The PSP is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Even though I walk through the valley of Silent Hill, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your sledgehammer and your shotgun, they comfort me.

You prepare a puzzle before me in the presence of creepy monsters; you have anointed my head with health drinks; my inventory overfloweth.

Hopefully goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the PSP forever.

Amen.

The Forbidden Kingdom, my friends. Jet Li as the Silent Monk, Jackie Chan as the Drunken Immortal. Fight Choregraphy by Yuen Woo-ping. Are you paying attention?!

A few things that I've found on the internet make me even more excited:

"I have not worked with someone whom I’m comfortable with, in terms of movements, rhythm and natural reactions, in the last 10 years. I have done many fight scenes with others but there were usually more than 10 takes, which is a waste of time as the person may forget his moves and unnecessary injuries. When I fought with Li, our actions were quick. We also didn’t have to do the same stunt over 20 times"

- Jackie Chan, on Jet Li

"The screenwriter is a good friend of mine and we have been sparring partners for the past three years. I was among the first to get hold of the story and later we were joined by Jackie and others. The screenwriter and I discussed how to turn the story into a fantasy and dream-like film. He is a superb screenwriter and has been learning Chinese martial arts for more than 10 years. He has roughly put across in the film some of my basic understanding of martial arts and principles of Buddhism."

- Jet Li, on the plot


I am positively a-quiver with delight.

Check out the Metroid Gallery. Holy. Crap.

Many thanks to wilder_hiryu.

Maybe this is my fault. Who knows? But here's the situation I found when I came home.

I snagged my mail out of my mailbox as I was walking in, hoping to finally see my Federal Tax refund. I need that to go towards a deposit on a new place so I can get the hell out of here. I was forced to mail it because when I attempted their bullshit online tax filing, the return was rejected because they "didn't like the pin number I created for their website." Yes, that was in the message they sent me. Whatever, screw you. The CO State IRS website worked like a charm and I had my refund in something like two weeks, it was awesome. But if you all want to fuck with me like this, fine.

So I grab my mail, and I'm walking back in and I realize that I'm holding my Federal Tax Return envelope in my hand, only it's had a few additions to it. When I pulled it from the booklet, it had the address of the IRS office conveniently pre-printed on it, so all I had to do was attach some exorbitantly high postage to it, and send it away. However, I find that it's been returned to me now, and I am concerned as to why. I check the corner - still has the stamps on it. I check the other corner - addressed with my return address, otherwise they couldn't have gotten it to me.

Anyone care to guess why it was returned?

NOT DELIVERABLE AS ADDRESSED.

I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet that the IRS Return processing office gets more mail than any other location in the United States. I'll bet the post office handles millions and millions of those envelopes. It's the single most mailed item in the country. Those envelopes are pretty distinctive, because they're a little bigger than most, and they have the address preprinted on the front.

So now, having been robbed of my postage, I will be going to a goddamn fucking Postal counter tomorrow and I'm going to put this envelope in a Post Master's hands, and I'm going to have that person inspect it themselves and confirm that it is fit for delivery. I'm sure that will cost me several dollars, but whatever extortion I need to pay to get this shit done, I guess I'm going to have to deal with.

"There were geometrical forms for which an Euclid could scarcely find a name -- cones of all degrees of irregularity and truncation; terraces of every sort of provocative disproportion; shafts with odd bulbous enlargements; broken columns in curious groups; and five-pointed or five-ridged arrangements of mad grotesqueness."

 - H.P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness"

Check this out.

Now if only we can use that to plot the route from Denver to Mars, that would be cool. ^_^

Normally, I would post something snarky or obnoxious today. But I don't feel like it.

Here's a beautiful dream that nomadphoenix shared with me. I think I'd rather have that.

But I don't have any faith.

So, I'm at my mother's house again, up on the 2nd floor where I lived for so long. There's a lot of people there. Mar'questor still lives up there, but jontheunlucky lives there too. angry_joe_buss is also living up there, although I'm not sure where. He's examining the wiring in the house, telling us that we either need to run new wiring or start running extension cords through the place to run all our computers and stuff like we did last time (although that was at Greenwood, not my mother's house.) jontheunlucky has suggested that we all go see a movie we'd been excited about, I think it was a new Firefly film which I would love to go see. annoyed_person and a few others are ready to go, but first I have to fix the roof on the garage, and I just leap from the back porch roof over to the garage, easy enough.

Now I'm trying to get ready to go, but wilder_hiryu is playing in Mark's room on his computer while he's not there. I know this is going to piss Mark off, it always did. I go into Mark's room to find him and drag him out, and he's not there but he's left the computer running, playing a Blade game of some kind. jontheunlucky has made some kind of taco dish which everyone says is good, but you need to crunch up the taco shells before eating it, and you need a bowl to eat from. So I snag one from Mark's room and get my share. It's smaller than I thought, but it's good.

Finally, everyone's waiting on me, but I have two things standing in my way: first, I need to wash the bowl I borrowed and sneak it back into Mark's room without him knowing. I figure I'll wash the silverware of mine at the same time. And secondly: Fuji is coming over. She wants to see me because she's been drawing comics about our relationship. And this time, she's way thin, way hawt, and is wearing a schoolgirl outfit. Even in my dreams, this makes me stumble in my tracks. And everyone is waiting outside for me to hurry the hell up and leave with them. But I can't leave until the bowl is cleaned and put back in Mark's room, and Mark is not standing in the hallway with his laundry, making it impossible to sneak back in his room. And then Fuj is at the front door, looking up the stairs to see if I'm coming. And from the look on her face, I can't tell if she's happy to see me or not.

And then I wake up. And I'm fricking freezing underneath my new (formerly) toasty warm blanket. WTF?

So, a few months ago I tried to sell some things on Ebay. I've always had pretty good luck getting rid of things this way, and helping other people get rid of things this way, and it's a good way to make some money on the side. However, after spending an afternoon creating several listings, I tried to post my auctions and was told that I could not, that my account was frozen. This was news to me, as I had been repeatedly logging in and out of my account, looking for prices and whatnot. I had even gotten some auction notices.

When I dug a little deeper, I found that my Paypal account had been frozen too. I'm fairly certain there was no money on it, I never leave more than a dollar or two, but I was not able to get a response from Paypal or Ebay as to why I had suddenly been blocked and cut off. To this day, I have never gotten a response. Frustrating, but whatever.

Then I read this. If this is accurate, and I will freely admit that I have not delved deeply into the announcements to extract every piece of data, Ebay is attempting to ruin themselves by financially screwing over everyone who keep their business running: their sellers. I encourage you to  read it yourself and come to your own conclusions. However, my conclusion is this: I am done with selling or buying on Ebay. I know that I have had those "psycho sellers" the author writes about, and I have had negative and even neutral feedback left for me unfairly. (That's right jackass, it's not MY fault the postal service wrecked your shipment. I am NOT postmaster general, and leaving me negative feedback doesn't afftect the USPS at all.)

Over the years, Ebay and Paypal have screwed me royally. Mostly Paypal, I admit. The single biggest sale I ever did on Ebay was to the tune of about $600, and the money was transferred from my Paypal account to my bank account at the time. At least, it was in theory. In reality, the money disappeared from my Paypal account and never showed in my bank account. To this day, I have gotten no response from them regarding that money. But when money donated to charity for Hurricane Katrina victims vanished from Paypal as well, I felt at least a little vindicated - they really were stealing from people. When Paypal finally bought Ebay, I knew nothing good could come of it. And now we see the results.

I will not be partaking in the strike that the author is mentioning, but not because I don't support them. It's because I am going on to Ebay and deleting my account right now. There are a plethora of other auction sites, as well as standard retailers and even local frigging stores that can provide you with the wonderful things you seek. Ebay, however, has decided that their reputation is such that they can act any way they please, and the sheep will keep coming back.

As with every other corporation that has tried this tactic, the real effect is only this: the beginning of their death spiral. Farewell.

UPDATE: Funny....the link on Ebay labeled "Close my account".....is a 404. Seriously....this is kind of childish.

UPDATE AGAIN: Okay, so after some digging and following dead links, I found the real Ebay cancel page. I walked through about five steps asking me if I wanted to cancel my account. Taking a bit of artistic license, the conversation went something like this:

D: Cancel my account.
E: We're sorry to see you leave. Are you sure you want to quit?
D: Yes.
E: Are you sure?
D: Yes.
E: Are you really sure?
D: Yes.
E: Are you really super-secret-sugar-swear-sure?
D: YES.
E: Well, you can't. Not yet. You have to wait 180 days before we will cancel your account.
D: ...Six. Months. Why do I have to wait six months to cancel an account?
E: Because you might have auctions still up. Or maybe some bids out on something.
D: Your auctions last a maximum of seven days. That does not explain the six months.
E: You might have a balance on your account.
D: I don't. I can't sell anything on your site, so I couldn't have a balance. You have computers that can tell you this. In fact, they don't need to tell you, you are the computer.
E: You still have to wait six months. Would you like to know why?
D: Yes, please.
E: Here's an email explaining that you have to wait six months.
D: I already knew that, it doesn't explain why.
E: ....
D: Hello?
E: ....
D: Hellooooo?
E: ....
D: ....
E: We're sorry to see you leave. Are you sure you want to quit?

More than ever, fuckass. More than ever.

mightymightybakudan: ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mightymightybakudan: LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mightymightybakudan: OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mightymightybakudan: http://edibleanus.com/
mightymightybakudan: http://edibleanus.com/
mightymightybakudan: http://edibleanus.com/
mightymightybakudan: http://edibleanus.com/
mightymightybakudan: http://edibleanus.com/
mightymightybakudan: http://edibleanus.com/!!!!!!!
mightymightybakudan: They have wHOLEsale pricing!!!
Shiloh: Right up your alley.
mightymightybakudan: can't type
mightymightybakudan: laughing too hard
mightymightybakudan: vision blurring
mightymightybakudan: stomach
mightymightybakudan: vomiting
mightymightybakudan: I am totally getting you one of those sterling silver anuses.
Shiloh: rofl
mightymightybakudan: I'll have it mounted on our wedding ring
mightymightybakudan: When we get married by a Shriner dressed as a catholic schoolgirl
Shiloh: rofl
mightymightybakudan: and witnessed by a flock of goats
mightymightybakudan: For the man who has everything.....
mightymightybakudan: So, if you lost your anus in a duel, could you wear one of these like Tycho Brahe?
Shiloh: Yes.