I notice some families keep bats or other weapons in strategic locations in case there's some sort of home invasion. My family however leaves shoehorns hidden around house in case there's an emergency.

Peguero: I feel like we can do better than Butternuts.
Me: All I can say is at least we're better than Massachusetts. Essex? Really? That's the best you can offer? They're probably spending all their time trying to remember how to spell their state that they can't do anything else.
Me: Oh wait, that's Connecticut. Well, my statement still stands.
Peguero: Fetchville isn't any better.
Me: What is that even? Sexually?
Peguero: I don't know! If that's the worst they've got, I am not impressed.
Me: Connecticut and Massachusetts, most boring states?
Peguero: The whole of the Northeast is a disaster. Must be a puritan thing.

Trump tried to roll out and failed in passing his own health care act, which made a lot of people on the program sigh a breath of relief, mostly because a lot of them would be thrown off. The bill fell through in part because of the Freedom Caucus, a vestige of the Tea Party, who thought even with the removal of so many provisions, it wasn't bleeding Obamacare enough.

Regardless of what you feel about Obamacare, the Freedom Caucus had a point: We are $19 trillion in debt, and the majority of it goes to social security or healthcare. There is no way this is sustainable. Fixing the problem is to raise revenues and cut costs, but how? Revenue is taxes — and we already have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world — but what about the costs? If we're throwing more people onto Medicaid, costs are going to increase exponentially.

We're going to have to make many tough decisions in the future, and quite frankly Congress (understandably so) doesn't want to deal with it. But it's better to deal with it now than later when the entire government is imploding after it runs out of money. I'm not certain kicking millions of people off Medicaid like the Freedom Caucus wants is the correct decision. Perhaps we could do better examinations like why healthcare is so goddamned expensive (e.g. not being able to determine prices of doing blood work between different locations, making hospitals more efficient). Either way, this decision is on the horizon.

Supposedly Uber drivers in NYC still have to pass some sort of livery test, but I wonder sometimes. I mean, I've gotten a driver who went 29 up the Henry Hudson Parkway, another dude who didn't know how to merge onto a highway, and yet another who refused to inch past a double-parked car. Yeah, we all complain about taxi drivers, but I feel they were more competent than this. 

Me: Yeah, they've been adding a lot more different fighting styles to Street Fighter. Like Hakan, he's a Turkish oil wrestler.
Harlan: Turkish oil wrestling? What's that?
Me: Oh, it's a bunch of dudes who get into tight, leather shorts and douse themselves in oil. And because their bodies are so slippery, all you can really get purchase on is the dick. So it's basically watching these dudes in leather shorts grabbing each others' cocks.
Harlan: No way. You're making that up. There's no way this is real. (looks up videos on youtube) Oh my god. Oh my god, what are they doing? This is a terrible idea. This is a horrible idea.

A story from my mother: "I dreamed that Tita Tita gave me a get well card. Well, in reality she did give me one, and I thought how nice it was to have someone praying for me. But in my dream, my doctor then emailed me:

"Dear Lord,
Please deliver my patients from their Christian relatives. And please save them from the bacteria in the water that's given to them from Lourdes. And protect them from the rags that were rubbed against the decaying body of Father Pio. And guard them from these crucifixes that were touched by a thousand different hands. Amen."

Jesus Christ, even in her dreams mom is merciless!

If you don't know what muesli is, it's a Swiss cereal with mostly oats and other items like seeds, dried fruit or other grains. Other people find it dry and bland, but I think it's palatable. Audrey bought it as a breakfast dish, which led to this statement:

Mom: Muesli... of course it's a German dish. If the French looked at this, they'd say, "Feed that to the horses. It's not meant for human consumption." That's why the Germans would like something like this. They like torturing people.

This weather needs to atop seesawing. if it wants to stay cold, then stay cold. Don't warm up and wake up all my plants just to kill them a few days later.

Decode DC: Hey Tea Party, meet your lefty cousins

While listening to this podcast, I could feel pain start welling up in my heart as I thought, "Oh Jesus, please not again." Dealing with the Tea Party during the Obama years, particularly during his first term, was really fucking frustrating because they would block law after law if it didn't pass their strict litmus test for their ideals. And now this dude is trying to do the same thing except for the left. After spending years railing against Bush and then the Tea Party for not willing to compromise, I'm really frustrated that this is now continuing. What happened to all those words we said about each side giving and taking? For example, we live in a country with a shit ton of racists. I don't like it, but I have to recognize they're citizens like me and have a voice. If liberal says we have to immediately let any and all people who want to enter the US to do so and have a quick path to citizenship, the racists are going to push back. Hard. So in order to make both of them happy, both sides have to give up something they want. We don't round up all the illegal immigrants, but we strengthen the border. We don't make it easy to enter and become a citizen, but we don't make it impossible either. That way a group of people — who can form a solid voting block — isnt't felt completely left out. That way as a country we aren't torn apart and slowly we move society away from racism. That's what happened with gay marriage; in the 80s gay marriage would be impossible and even though much of our country is still uncomfortable with it, it's now much more accepted. And yeah, there are some things that shouldn't be compromised: We're not going back to Jim Crow, abortion shouldn't be completely banned. But that's how negotiation and compromise work. Each player figures out what the priorities are and what can be sacrificed. No one comes out happy, but if you expand your list of non-negotiable items, then we're gonna continue to be in this gridlock that we've been in for the past eight years.

Sorry, super busy today so here's a video of our dear Pope Francis:

I think Looney Tunes should be sued for false representation because they always have these women leaving pies out to cool on the windowsill without telling us it takes a fucking master baker to create that pie crust and makes it seem like something people just do easily. It nearly brought Audrey to tears today.

Harlan: Wait, Orthodox women wear wigs? Why?
Me: Because there's a rule in the Bible that you have to cover your hair. Israel's in the Middle East; it's like the Virgin Mary covering her hair.
Mom: You Jews, do you find hair erotic?
Dad: It's just a rule.
Mom: (starts shaking her hair at dad) Do you find this sexy? Ooooooooo! Does this turn you on?

Harlan: You're telling me the minister next door is only twenty-five? Who is he to give me life advice? Seriously? The priest at our church growing up, he used to tell stories of working in 'Nam. He would parachute out of airplanes and then deliver last rites to people on the front lines. And if I were there, I'd be like, c'mon man. Fucking do something useful. Pick up a gun. Shoot something. You're telling me you took up precious space in the plane for this? I could've had a bro instead who's helping. C'mon, do something. Anyway, I can respect that. That priest can tell me what to do.

The Fed's main jobs are keeping inflation in check and lowering unemployment. They use various techniques to do this, and one of those are raising the interest rates when they think the economy is moving too fast. To talk about this really simply, if interest rates are high, people are more likely to invest or keep their money in the bank than spend it. But it's interesting to see how far the Fed's reach extends. Although it's focused on the US economy, in a weird way it's also the world's central bank. The interest rates affect everyone; when Yellen announced what the Fed was doing, it made every business section of newspapers across the world. When US interest rates are low, investors are more likely to throw their money outside of the US in developing markets like Malaysia or Brazil because the US won't give them a good rate of return. But when it's higher, they pull their money back and can wreck emerging economies.

Also, pretty much everyone trades in dollars. So when the interest rate raises and the dollar looks stronger, lots of people sell off other currencies and lowers their values. So let's say you're a shop owner in Mexico. You were importing goods by exchanging your pesos for dollars. Because the dollar was weak, you could buy more with your pesos. But suddenly the dollar is stronger and you can buy much less with it. You may have to raise prices in your store, and suddenly people can't buy staples like rice or potatoes.

It's crazy to think of this, but when you hear shit like the Fed's raising their interest rates by 0.25%, you may think, "So what?" but it literally could wreck countries. I'm certain there are those who say the world should have its own central bank instead of the Fed, which is only answerable to the US, but Jesus that would be insane.

If you've been in the presence of my father for any extended period of time, you'll notice he'll talk to himself a lot. Just start narrating anything he's doing or spend minutes discussing some tangent without realizing people stopped paying attention long ago. It must be genetic because Harlan has the same habit, except his stuff is completely nonsensical. Today alone he just kept on singing over and over, "Would you punch a child?" or "My ears smell weird." Or he'll just walk around muttering, "Baby klep" or "dat shit cray" or "crime. Crime syndicate. Crimea." I'm not certain which is worse, dad's annoying narration or Harlan's insanity.

My sleep schedule is normalizing and I'm feeling sleepy by 22:30. I'm getting up and actually accomplishing large tasks in the morning. It's disgusting, it's unnatural, and I don't like it.

I don't know why, but there's a surge in Korean yaoi recently (do we even have a Korean term for that?). It's possible that it's been there all along and only now are there groups dedicated to translating that. Either way I feel like I'm in middle school again, learning all the honorifics and their nuances, but as I've complained before no one seems to know how the fuck to spell this shit properly. Is it hyung? Or hyeong? And because I'm still not used to Korean names, if the honorific is not a spelling I'm used to, I think it's a part of the name.

How is it after all that shoveling I only got half of my movement on my Apple Watch done for the day?

Alex:
Alex: This raised the question for me.. what is $30 worth in Gil?
Me: Uhhhhhhh... a villa cost like... 300,000 gil, right?
Me: But we don't know what real estate is in Cloud's world.
Alex: Demand is probably through the roof.
Alex: There's only 1 vacant property in the whole world
Me: So 300,000 gil = billions of dollars?
Alex: Unless you count Nibelheim
Alex: But nobody wants to live there
Me: Yeah, Shinra Mansion.
Me: Thirty dollars is probably... 0.01 gil?
Alex: That's some Korean won type of shit right there
Alex: Though at least it's not Vietnamese dong bad
Alex: this opens up a whole can of worms
Alex: Cause that means a potion is 3,000 dollars?
Alex: How much is a ticket to golden saucer?
Me: I mean, that shit instantaneously can heal being stabbed in the face by a SOLDIER.
Me: That's not that bad.
Alex: And how money did we really throw away gambling on chocobos
Alex: Then also consider that when I was a kid I sold Ifrit for 0 gil
Me: How much money did we invest in all those greens raising chocobos?
Alex: Jesus christ
Alex: The entire GDP of the Midgar continent
Alex: Golden saucer is 3,000 for single entry and 30,000 for a lifetime pass
Me: That's..... pretty fucking expensive.
Alex: That would be $900,000 for single entry?
Alex: No... 9 million... For single entry
Alex: What the fuck is Disney doing?
Me: And lifetime would be...
Alex: 90 million
Alex: That also makes a lifetime golden saucer pass only 1/10th the cost of a luxury beachside villa.
Alex: Can you imagine that?
Alex: Honey, the kids have been really good this year... I think we should take them to Disneyland as a reward.
Alex: You're right honey... but hmm, should we go to Disneyland... or should we make a down payment on this beautiful beachside mansion?

When I first heard about Trump's travel ban I came under the impression this was indefinite until further notice, but then I found out they're only for 90 days (120 for refugees). That's inconvenient but not forever, unless Trump plans to keep on extending the limit indefinitely. Still, considering this dude ran on a platform of keeping out people from those countries, three months doesn't seem like much for his constituents. I wonder why he made that or if there was a legal limit. I've been poking around (admittedly not too deeply) but no one has an answer to this or even mentioning this. Like... what is Trump's plan after the ninety days are up? Do we just go about our lives afterward?

Alex: http://www.gameskinny.com/86y1l/ffviis-gold-saucer-a-stand-alone-economy
Alex: Um...
Me: You know, I feel like Gold Saucer should take a few notes from Disney.
Me: Because they did everything in their power to keep their customers from feeling sad.
Me: Like, how much does it hurt business knowing your customers have to walk through a tent city to get to your entrance?
Me: How many were robbed?
Me: How many took one look and walked away?
Alex: It would be like opening a Disneyland in a Brazilian slum
Alex: But after reading that article, it seems like Disney is slacking in some key ways
Alex: Like by allowing their employees to leave
Alex: And not having a monopoly on games.
Alex: And gambling, and ghosts
Me: I'd say, "And not owning a giant prison," but I think I've heard rumors of a detainment center in there... although they can't hand out life sentences.
Alex: Imagine that?
Alex: They give you the electric chair and everyone is wearing Mickey ears
Me: Goofy is the one who pulls the switch.
Alex: Uh-hyuck! Aw shucks fries prisoner

Because I casually asked Harlan's girlfriend how good the FitBit is, of course they got me an Apple Watch. I look at this and wonder how the fuck do I wear this as well as my regular watch? I really like that. But I have to keep the Apple Watch on because she's monitoring my exercise now. Supposedly the screen of the Apple Watch will light up if it realizes you're lifting your wrist to check it, but I've found this only works half of the time, and when it does there's a good chance the time won't be the default screen. I just was asking about the FitBit! I wasn't making definite plans.

On the other hand, it's pretty hilarious that the first day I wore this I worked off 984 calories whereas Harlan's girl only got 313. Any ideas on how accurate these things are?

One of the kids I babysit bought a new book, and at some point his father was writing something on top of it, leaving an impression on the cover. Upon seeing this he had a complete, utter meltdown. Clearly I'm not a good person with kids because the conversation went like this:

Kid: The cover is ruined!
Me: There's literally nothing I can do.
Kid: I want it to go away!
Me: OK.
Kid: Make it go away!
Me: I can't. Yell at your dad when he gets home, he'll apologize, and then live with it.
Kid: It'll still be there!
Me: Yep.

Earlier in the conversation I gave him solutions, like ask if his dad could do an exchange, but once he completely flipped out I couldn't really express sympathy. I don't really know what you're supposed to do in that situation, so I told him to go lie down on the couch and cry it all out if he wants. I do that sometimes when I'm upset. But that apparently made him angrier because he didn't want to admit he was crying. But seriously, I just ride that shit out, but am I supposed to do something else?

My mother: "Before, nurses had that crisp, white uniform and the little hat. Now with what they're wearing I can't tell if they're a nurse or a cleaning lady."

On the back of the Breath of the Wild box:

What does "answer the call" mean? "Breath of the Wild"... Call of nature? Is that what you're implying? I mean, it does look like Link desperately needs to shit and is running to the nearest copse he can find.

Apologies for the crappy picture. Couldn't find one online, and the iPhone refused to focus properly.

Me: Son, this lemon Sanpellegrino genuinely tastes awful.
Me: Oh shit, wrong person.
Me: Oh well, whatever.
Me: It tastes awful and don't ever drink it.
Me: What's good with you.
Reggie: yo
Reggie: lemon san pellegrino
Reggie: is not too bad
Reggie: but the orange one is a lot better
Reggie: so I half agree
Me: YO, BLOOD ORANGE IS THE SHIT.
Me: SO FUCKING GOOD.
Me: That's why I'm disappointed with this lemon one.
Reggie: yeah blood orange is pretty amazing
Reggie: yeah that I can see
Me: The chasm between the blood orange and the lemon is as great as I can imagine.
Reggie: the blood orange sets such a high standard
Reggie: that the lemon being average makes it feel worse than it is
Reggie: I dont know if they have any other flavors
Reggie: do they?
Me: Yeah, my deli likes stocking them. There's orange, pomegranate, and I wanna say pear too.
Reggie: whoah
Reggie: you tried the others?
Me: Nah, I just see them each time I go in. They have them in boxes near the cash register.
Me: My mom usually buys blood orange, but this week she actually got the lemon and.... god, I actually had to throw it out.
Reggie: lol damn
Reggie: I never seen those others ones though, pls try them?
Reggie: and give me your report?
Me: Oh god.
Me: All right.
Me: I can imagine it though:
Me: Day 1: This shit is still not as good as blood orange.
Me: Day 2: Jesus, I wish this were blood orange.
Me: Day 3: I probably shouldn't've started this journey with blood orange. Best for last, son.
Reggie: lol
Reggie: thats how I do it too
Me: Man, I didn't even know. I just drank whatever mom brought home.
Me: I thought they'd be of equal quality.
Me: Clearly I was wrong.
Reggie: lol your expectations clash with reality.
Me: Surely Sanpellegrino has an R&D department. They should just up their game. They've won in the blood orange department, but there's no competition there. If they can win the lemon market, they're basically ruling the world here.
Reggie: lol
Reggie: maybe they held back
Reggie: because they didnt want such a responsibility
Me: Such power corrupts, but they're also withheld great satisfaction to tastebuds the world over. Such a waste.
Reggie: with great power
Reggie: comes bad lemon juice

I can't believe I actually went on that quest and tried every flavor. Grapefruit and clementine aren't that bad! Not as good as blood orange, but I wouldn't turn my nose up to it.

What the Tales series needs to stop doing: Not allowing healing if you have an abnormal status. I've never seen this in any other game. Yeah, there are abnormal statuses like Wild ARM's disease that stop healing, but there mere fact I have something like paralysis or slow shouldn't prevent me from using First Aid on someone. I thought this was gonna be a one-off in Zestiria but now that it's in Berseria too I hope this doesn't become a thing from now on because it's incredibly annoying.

The people who are fleeing Syria and headed toward Europe and beyond are called (in English anyway) migrants. I've seen people complain about this term for a number of reasons. For one, it seems like calling someone a "migrant" is demeaning and doesn't fully encapsulate their experience. For two, a migrant implies they intend to live at their destination for a bit before moving on, which is not the case for many of them who want to live in their new land permanently. And for three, "refugee" provides people with a better chance for an asylum as opposed to a migrant who may be coming in for work.

However "refugee" is probably the worse term. Although you are given easier access to cross the border, many people don't realize that refugees aren't allowed to work in the countries they enter. We all agree that letting people who are fleeing a deadly situation in their homeland is moral, but that doesn't mean when they arrive the natives will like them and citizens will petition their government to stop any competition in the job market. Refugees can stay in camps for years and years and years being given small allowances from the government or UN to survive but little else. Being called a "migrant" is better in those situations since you're allowed to find employment.

Sorry, lost track of time so I can't type up a long post. Here's something:

Also, I figured out the problem from yesterday. You have to download these "catalogs" first, which are basically advertisements for the DLC, before it'll unlock. Why the hell am I required to do this when I've already bought it?

I downloaded some costume DLC for Tales of Berseria but for some reason it would not install properly. I bought it and it's listed in my library as "installed," but when I check the download list it's not there and it won't show up in my game. I've reset the licenses and rebooted the system. Nada.

But as I was poking around the internet I noticed this. The cover of my collector's edition looks exactly like the European edition, not like the American editions. Did Namco sell the extra European editions from the American online store? When I look at the back of my disc box though it says Bandai Namco America though. And if I download a skit set, it goes through fine. Either way, I'm worried because none of this makes sense.

One thing about ikebana, literally one of the most important things, is being able to bend the stems to get shape you want. That is a skill I just don't have despite my best efforts. Either I spend like ten minutes holding this shit in the angle I want and the moment I let go it just bounces back to the original position, or I snap the damned stem in half. I'm watching youtube videos on this shit and I still can't do it properly. Well, if there's one thing sports animes have taught me, you gotta keep trying.