musings :: philosophy de la snarko!

It's E.A.S.T. Again

posted by snarko on Thursday, October 6 2011

East Side Studio Tours, from an artist standpoint

I'm holding a yard sale instead: you can buy my art at yard sale pricing: like $75 framed (was over $300), and $50 not (was over $100) for a 24x36-ish. Yes, I can take credit cards.

I'm kinda still sick and tired I didn't get into E.A.S.T., WHEN I AM EAST. It's my fault: I was too busy trying to make a living/money off my art to pay attention to this deadline, again!

BUT, this city drove all artists East; the only place in the city we can afford to live/have studios. This tour is supposed to show off the talent you're missing. It's our invitation to the supposedly dangerous Eastside of Austin (it isn't).

And now we've rich people from the West, whose fault this is, renting out studios from under us for JUST THAT WEEKEND. They don't represent the Eastside: they're phonies. And jacking up the rents, so the whole purpose of the tour is lost: the artists that live and work here can't afford to show. All is not lost...

If you do nothing else: HIT BALM STREET and the surrounding area. Guaranteed real artists and real music and real fun.

I, myself, am holding a yard sale instead as a kinda "FU". I'll have signs in my hood placed by the rich people who don't live here to my studio/house, which does.

Take Your Check and Shove It

posted by snarko on Wednesday, September 21 2011

for the retail slaves and customers who hate them

I personally believe in conscription. Not for the military: I think every, single person should be forced to serve one year as a retail cashier before any other job they hold, just to learn patience for the other poor person who has to later serve them.

I am guilty and I apologize: when I've personally been a cashier, I can't tell you how many times I've rolled my eyes when I've a line of 20 people grumbling how long it's taking, and senior citizen in front of me whips out a checkbook.

IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT. My eye-roll is at the situation, not you. I don't want to sound like a luddite (and I know I will), but this world has gotten way too fast. There is no place for an old lady to buy her milk, at her own pace.

They used to put it in her car for her.

Uh, that's not fair. She probably knows more than you reading Wikis about the world, lived it, happy to share knowledge, and you're frankly an idiot if you don't listen to what they have to say.

I'm kinda saying I respect older people than myself. I'm also saying: HAVE PATIENCE: they're not ADHD folks whose memory is divided between every Twit they just got. They take a bit longer. But not unreasonably long; it's just their pace (except a few: you have that in every category there is).

And what they say is far more important than a Twit.

YOU CAN WAIT 30 FUCKING SECONDS. COUNT IT, NOW:

....

..
,
..........
,,
..

OKAY, you can wait THAT long. QUIT asking people incapable of 26 Twits per minute to jump to it. And it's not their fault, when they hold a line up. You're an urgency addict.

If you actually counted that out for the 30 and have a tingle up your spine, else just scrolled past it: you have an urgency issue. Lose it.

All you lame people who've never worked a register and don't understand: not everyone in front of you has the same urgency addiction that you do. Some of those people are completely incapable of moving as fast as you think you need to. Have a heart, or at least a hair of patience. Or you're actually eventually giving yourself a heart-attack.

I recently couldn't believe the people in front of me at a stoplight were blaring their horn at some old guy with a cane trying to cross four lanes of traffic (it was his turn to cross, when he started crossing).

CHILL OUT. He's not purposely trying to ruin your day taking 30 extra seconds. He's also not purposely walking slowly: in fact, for his age/condition, I think he was "booking it" across the street.

And how much further down the road are you in 30 seconds? Let him cross the street.

This is set of by someone I personally think holding a line, that shouldn't. Everyone but me is angry with the cashier.

It's not the cashier. Quit bashing him.

She also doesn't fall into old person or something: she was buying $1 scratch-offs, and stood there scratching them, and handing them back for more, like this was her personal Bingo or something.

Backing a line to sixteen people, and he's the only person working the store. Have a heart; he just got the "weirdo"-- without my prescribed conscription you may not understand that one--and due to new corporate crap, he can't tell her to move outta the line to do that, else he's fired.

GET OUT OF LINE, scratch that, and get back in. Don't hold a line!

Respect your service workers; you'll get back better service. I swear.

Every service worker is nice to the person who doesn't make their hell day for minimum (not living) wage worse.

WTF is wrong here?

If you've no idea what I speak of, then you need to do that job for a month. It's sheer hell: be nice to them, and don't blame them when they have a bad day.

The person who sells you cigarettes is still a human being. They love and hate what you do. Quit being so nasty to them.

Devil's Night Radio

posted by snarko on Saturday, July 23 2011

if you hate sucky music, this online station ROCKS!

I've tried like 100+ internet radio stations, finding one I could just live with and stay on without changing the station whilst doing other work.

It claims to be something to the affect of, "the best dive-bar jukebox you ever heard." Well, it actually DELIVERS on that claim...

It's under "alternative", where most the stations play nothing but what I like to call, "whiny boy bands". Devil's Night Radio IS THE SHIT.

All time periods, all genres, all bands: they're the best and weirdest and hardest picks of each.

Also: I've been listening three months, and have NEVER heard the same song twice. Same artist, yes, if they're weird enough. But not the same song.

They've introduced me to at least 30 performers I didn't know about, and now love. They also play rare ones from people you do know.

IT'S THE SHIT!!!

Dyslexic is Not a Curse

posted by snarko on Thursday, July 14 2011

It's Just a Different Way of Thinking

[written in defense of everyone dealing with a dyslexic treated like they're "dumb"...]

I admit I have a problem with the physical shape of numbers. I can't see up from down; to me, they are completely relative.

I'm better at reading words, because if it doesn't make a word, then I know it's wrong. But that's not true of numbers. They could be anything at all.

1-4-7, 3-8, 2-5, 6-9. Come on: look at them! I have to repeat a total of a sale at a retail store like three times if one the combos is in it, to make sure it's right. I am not stupid: the direction of the object (in this case, a printed number) is relative to me.

But I have NEVER made a mistake at a cash register in my LIFE. And I do know math, well. I just can't see the number on a printed page that well: takes me a second.

You can slow down, and give me one... fucking... second.

I've a perfect on SAT as well as on the entrance exam to my college (separate tests) in math. I was pissed later someone didn't teach me the word, "clep"; I'd have clepped the math class in college I had to take.

I paid $3,000 for a college math class I already aced in 10th grade. Same book, even. Why didn't anyone say, "clep it"?! I digress.

Dyslexics are NOT stupid. We'll beat you on anything that isn't linear... we'll even beat you at chess. It's just a different way of thinking (you never saw that chess move coming: you're too linear).

Like, to me, north-east-south-west is RELATIVE to where I'm standing right now. The way I'm headed is always north.

I am always going "up". I don't consider that a bad thing.

And we'll SLAUGHTER you linear people on any X-Y-Z test question. I'm sure you hate those; we naturally understand them.

I can tell you, right now, how many jelly beans are in that jar, by like plus-minus of five. I got tested by my webmaster once (Daevid Vincent) who could not believe this.

He picked up everything in the store, and asked the count, given the size of the first object (I occasionally asked for it as I didn't know the product, at all). He did it with like 60 things: I was never wrong, plus or minus maybe two, AT A GLANCE.

We understand space versus size BETTER than linear people.

Dyslexia is not a curse; it's a blessing in disguise. Just means you're better at abstract thought and jumping from A to C and spatial considerations than linear thought, all of which is declared "stupid" on tests by the linear people who wrote those tests.

I have to admit: cooking is annoying. I LOVE to cook; I hate this stove.

Cuz my choices are LR, RR, RF, LF: I seriously have to do the "Pledge of Allegience", which is muscle-memory, to understand left from right.

To me, those are relative, and it makes no sense.

I still get the burner I want wrong, half the time.