I've Discovered "Hyperbole and a Half"

A few weeks ago, a post by Mr. Sullivan led me to Hyperbole and a Half, and I spent much of the day giggling/LOLing uncontrollably at what I found there.

If you have not yet been to Hyperbole and Half, please go right now.

I think my favorite is "Why I'll Never Be an Adult". Like many of the 848 commenters, "I could have written that!":

I literally laughed for days, and still laugh every time I think of this highly personal vignette:

I begin to feel like I've accomplished my goals. It's like I think that adulthood is something that can be earned like a trophy in one monumental burst of effort and then admired and coveted for the rest of one's life.

What usually ends up happening is that I completely wear myself out. Thinking that I've earned it, I give myself permission to slack off for a while and recover. Since I've exceeded my capacity for responsibility in such a dramatic fashion, I end up needing to take more recovery time than usual. This is when the guilt-spiral starts.

The longer I procrastinate on returning phone calls and emails, the more guilty I feel about it. The guilt I feel causes me to avoid the issue further, which only leads to more guilt and more procrastination. It gets to the point where I don't email someone for fear of reminding them that they emailed me and thus giving them a reason to be disappointed in me.
(emphasis totally mine)

Then the guilt from my ignored responsibilities grows so large that merely carrying it around with me feels like a huge responsibility. It takes up a sizable portion of my capacity, leaving me almost completely useless for anything other than consuming nachos and surfing the internet like an attention-deficient squirrel on PCP.

"surfing the internet like an attention-deficient squirrel on PCP"!!! Is that not one of the funniest and most apt things ever written? Again, brilliant. Substitute chips & salsa or a Tombstone pizza (oh yeah, and vodka) for "nachos" et voila - c'est moi.

The final panel is perfect, and all too true.

OK, so as I write this it's only 10:35PM - but I've seen plenty of 3:17AMs in my time - and quite a few 5:17AM or 6:17AMs when I thought: Hey, it's getting light out there - should I go to bed?

Ah, technology.

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(It looks like some of the posts have been turned into YouTube clips, complete with Carmina Burana-esque scores - those literally had me in tears. I would link to them, but I've got a bit of the nv4_disp thing going on with this particular laptop at the moment, so I'm avoiding the YouTubes. Sorz. They are easily found, and worth it.)

For Scott G

Source: The incomparable Mangina Monologues.

Ian Welsh Sounds the Alarm

The headline reads: "When Medicare is destroyed is only a matter of when".

He predicts a future as slaves - yes, slaves, "in all but name" - for Americans too lazy, stupid, misled, or whatever to do anything to prevent it.

Given the unmitigated cruelty of the current band of Repulicans and the maddeningly wussy Democrats who "oppose" them (including our Bipartisan in Chief), I'm inclined to agree:

Welcome to the Repo culture. Everything you have, everything you are, can be taken away from you, and you are nothing but a series of revenue streams to your lords and masters. Fail to pay, and you won’t even be allowed to be a debt and wage slave, you’ll be in a cardboard box or a debtor’s prison.

Modern Americans are mostly descended from people who didn’t say “this pisshole country is worth fighting for”, they’re descended from people who said “screw this, I’m outta here”. Emulate them and leave, if you can’t leave do the other thing they were willing to do: prepare for a revolution and be willing to die in it.

Or accept your fate as slaves.

Your choice.