stuff

According to my original paperwork, the desktop computer I'm using has officially turned eight years old today. How old would that be in computer years? I should note that she's still purring like a kitten. A sluggish, obese, gassy kitten.

I'm also driving a pickup truck which is going on 20 years old and has more miles on it than hairs on my fursona. It's grey with... uhh... rust... discoloration. Much like my computer, it looks as attractive as a sack of rotten potatoes, but it gets the job done. I'm content with that.

However, I am facing pressure by the media and high-tech consumers to purchase myself a brand new flat-screen 1080p LCD HDTV that measures at least 50 inches. That sounds like true happiness right there. You know what they say about a man with big appliances. Then I'd get to buy HD programming, a high-definition player, movies formatted to take full advantage of the high-definition player, and uh, pay it all off next year. Then true happiness will just sit there collecting dust as I work 60 hours a week just to pay off all the interest and finance charges on all the materialistic indulgences I have to have sitting in my room to make a statement about my place in society. Well, never mind.

I find greater happiness riding my bike around town in the rain in the middle of the night. Last time, though, a drunken idiot in front of a bar made a little remark as I passed him by: "are you crazy, man? You're riding in the rain?" What struck me is that it didn't just seem like a predictable sarcastic quip from a person with reduced inhibition. He seemed sincerely shocked. Oh, sir, if only you had some clue about who I am or some of the other things I do in my life. That would surely make you faint. Riding my bike in the rain, through public property, with clothes on even, is tame, tame stuff.

It reminded me why I'm usually avoiding people. Many of them are fine, but others can't seem to mind their own business. I don't really care too much about how they regard me, and they can gawk at me as much as they want, but it would be nice if they could keep their annoying judgmental remarks to themselves.