6 Years…

Just a quick note about yesterday:

Reblog from Kelly’s Quest

I’ve been a bit wrapped up with real life the last couple of days. This however seemed particularly relevant to my last few posts on lies and manipulations. That on top of being yet another example of excellent sage advice found at Kelly’s blog.

Nightly Spiritual Quote #691 Buddhism

Blog Plans

Greetings Everyone. I felt that after a few days of dwelling on the negative topic on manipulation and how widespread it’s become, I should spell out the overall plan for the blog moving forward. There’s more planned for sure. 🙂

First, yes I am going to put more focus on social issues now. That will all be tackled from the prospective of taking a middle ground and working toward real, long lasting solutions. My goal is to do something about the sea of negativity society is drowning in. While I intend to be positive, I also can’t pretend that I our leaders on both sides aren’t spreading the hate to keep the spotlight off of them.

The bottom line though is that most people are genuinely good and have been goaded and fearmongered into believing that they’re doing something noble by hating those who disagree with them. I want to change that in my own small way. I’m hoping it will ignite a spark also, much like the candle lighting on Christmas Eve used to demonstrate at the church I used to go to:

Now this is sort of slow going because this particular video is back before the fire marshal decided that many real candles in one place was a fire hazard, lol. Set aside the specific religious references if that offends you. Focus instead on the idea that doing good, speaking kindly, etc… promotes others doing the same. If we do it enough, soon we’re no longer the lone candle in the dark.

Other Plans:

I also want to address consumer and privacy issues. We’re living in a time where it’s harder and harder to find good products, avoid getting scammed, or use an electronic device that doesn’t spy on us in some way. A little awareness can go a LONG way in that regard.

Beyond that, there are old topics I used to blog about:

Creative Writing: That was the original purpose of this blog, and I’d like to get back to that as well. I have a half dozen or so story ideas that II started here but always let self-doubt and distraction get in my way. Anything I do here will be strictly anywhere from G to the soft side of a PG-13 rating (to put it in US movie rating terms).

Cooking was a fan favorite here. I’m no master chef, but occasionally I do even amaze myself. Sadly this one is on the shelf until my wrists finish healing and our finances clear up a little.

Personal Posts are something I’m going to work away from. There have been too many of them and I’ve sunk into the habit of using the blog to vent.

Martial Arts is something I’m likely to do on a once a week basis. They are something I enjoy doing and writing about, and the discipline that comes with them is something that got me through some very dark times in the past, including an UGLY two year long divorce.

I *may* restart my “Friday Night 80s” posts also, but with fewer music videos per post. Sometimes you just need something fun after all.

I may also dabble in spiritual posts. For a brief time, I had a separate spiritual blog. It’s still up, even though I haven’t posted there in years. Self doubts on numerous levels caused me to stop there, but I’ve always been drawn to the spiritual.

Soliciting Opinions

Today I’m taking a quick break from my new theme, for lack of a better word, and I’m trying to get some input on a couple of real life choices. I’ve tied this twice before and gotten literally nothing, but maybe third time’s the charm. 🙂

Two Related Decisions:

What I’m weighing seems simple on the surface, but it’s less so on an emotional level. It’s whether to continue the fights regarding work and our house debacle. Straight lawsuits are impossible in the case of work, and already lost in the case of the house. Alternate paths are what I’m contemplating now.

In the case of work, my only real option is trying to draw down federal regulators on the company. It’s a slam dunk that they’ve violated HIPPA Laws in a few ways. Insurance fraud complaints are another option. Likewise I can file complaints with the medical license review board for the company doctors, their hired goon of an outside specialist, and the workman’s comp insurance company.

With the house, I believe I’ve got enough evidence of fraud or misrepresentation that I can file a judicial misconduct complaint against the judge for not even allowing a hearing on said fraud… among a few other ideas that stay within the bounds of the law.

The Drawbacks:

The first and biggest drawback is the emotional and mental drain the fight will cause and has already caused over the last few years. Movies and TV shows always make trying to be the hero look glamourous. The fact is, it’s alot of work that takes a great deal of energy on every level. I’m not sure it’s worth the figurative beatings anymore.

I never really wanted to play superhero anyway, just simply to live a quiet life where I was treated reasonably fairly.

An even bigger concern is that I may create more trouble than I fix. In both cases, the problems are systemic in nature; they’re part of the culture here. Even if I succeed, there’s no telling what sort of retaliation I could end up dealing with.

Half of me has my Scots-Irish and German blood ready for a fight. The other half realizes that for all Leonidas’s bravado, “No Retreat, No Surrender” still got him killed.

The big counter to all the whining is something I’ve always believed though:

I guess the real question is then “Do I really have any power to change it?”

Lesson 1, Part 2 – The Psychology to Reinforcing Lies

As promised yesterday, I’m going to continue by talking about the psychological manipulations used by people to help sell and reinforce lies.

This could be a never ending post, given how many tricks there are out there. Fear not however. Typically there are only a handful of tricks needed or used. With that in mind, let’s dive straight in. First is one that’s been around forever. It’s even a cornerstone of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie:

What I’m talking about is flattery. The idea of flattery is as old as time but Carnegie helped legitimize it as a tool, and show the masses how to use it effectively. Now psychology has a few different terms for it: “The Warm Glow Heuristic”, “The Complimentary Glow Effect”, etc… The point is, it works. Even when the person knows it’s being used. The only real exception is if the speaker is being completely artless and self serving.

The point is that making a person feel smart, that they’re admired regarding something, etc… builds rapport, and lowers defenses.

Now Add Some Benefits to Society into the Story Behind the Lie:

As cynical as my personal experiences the last few years have made me, the fact remains that most people are truly good. Given the opportunity, they’ll do what they can to help others. This is why the vast majority of con artist schemes involve stories of somebody needing help. True of the infamous Nigerian Prince email scam all the way down to somebody needing a handout because their car ran out of gas while traveling out of town

Helping others and doing the (perceived) right thing makes people feel better about themselves and the world. So, when a lie or manipulation involves the above two elements, there’s a good chance it’ll be believed. Watch every TV show or movie con used to get past guards into a secure building. It’s almost always using those two tools. It’s so effective that social engineering to gain physical or electronic access is even more popular than outright hacking with hackers. Just go to Google or YouTube and search the term. It’s amazing how many videos will come up.

Social Engineering is something to be covered separately however. There’s too much depth to the specific topic. For now, just know there are similarities between it and other forms of lying and manipulation.

Likewise, if a “bad guy” can convince a person that their desired actions are a benefit to society, or that not following the suggested path is harmful to society, they are more likely to believe a lie or manipulation.

Next Add a Villain to the Mix:

This is primarily seen in efforts involving widespread lies. It serves primarily as a distraction, keeping the victim focused on the supposed wrong doer instead of on the actual liar.

Examples of this are legion. The easiest and most readily acknowledged is how countries will dehumanize an enemy country during a war. That’s usually not done with truly evil intent however. It’s about troop morale and making it easier to fight an enemy.

Let’s stick with the truly dark side of vilifying a group though. Probably the most notorious example I could use is Hitler and Nazi party vilifying Jews and other groups as the cause of all of Germany’s woes during the 1930s. It’s outright horrifying how easy it was for them to sell attempted genocide to a desperate, scared and starving German public. All the elements above, along with the lie being repeated often enough, were in play.

False Duality of Choice:

This should probably be higher up on the list. TV shows and movies are full of this concept as the writers try to steer characters down a path that fits the desired outcome to the story. It’s used in real life constantly as well. Let’s take an extremely easy example from the Nigerian Prince scam: Either you give the people access to your accounts to help hide the Prince’s funds, OR he’ll go bankrupt (if he’s not killed), and the country will suffer horribly as a result. Obviously there are tons of other options IF the situation had been real. The earlier manipulations help add to a false sense of urgency and cloud the target’s logic, keeping them from looking for other options.

Reality is that there’s always a middle ground, win-win option to any situation or disagreement. Greed, fear and ego get in the way though. Duality of choice, something being an either or situation, is always a sign that someone is being lied to and manipulated.

Lastly There’s Herd or Mob Mentality and Aversion

Mob or Herd Mentality shouldn’t take much explaining. Once a movement, (good or bad), truly gets going, a desire to fit in can overcome common sense. Doubly true when there’s a belief that the overall goal is something good. Otherwise decent people will suddenly find themselves more open to the idea that the ends justify the means, even to a ghastly level at times. This is also part of the reason the German public went along with Hitler’s insanity.

Aversion is only a little more complex of a topic. Essentially you make the issue or situation so toxic that the average person just doesn’t want to deal with it, leaving the extremes on either side to stand as the defenders of their imagined truths. It sadly comes about naturally when one really pushes the envelope on vilifying others. In extreme cases, it can even become unsafe for people to speak out. They become labelled as a part of the vilified group.

Now let’s put it all together.

Modern, Real World Examples:

The easiest to give but hardest to accept example is our current political environment, both here in the U.S, and elsewhere if much of what I read is to be believed. Look at any given political speech or commentary, almost any discussion of any social issue, the vast majority of media coverage of any of those items… by ANY given side of the topic. You are almost guaranteed to find all the elements I’ve listed the last two days being used:

Misinformation based on partial truths

Talking points being repeated over and over instead of debated

Puffing up the audience’s self esteem or ego

Convincing the audience that they’re doing something good by following the speaker

Vilifying and dehumanizing the other side of the issue

Presenting the issue as only having two possible choices or only one choice with everything else being equally bad.

Encouraging the herd mentality and making the issue too toxic for anyone who doesn’t blindly follow.

People who are quick to say “that’s the other side, not MY people”, should find themselves stepping back and objectively analyze what they’re being told. Democrat or Republican, while the actual stance and rationale may vary, the overarching tactics used to promote the agenda are exactly the same.

I’ve challenged several people over the last 5 or so years to show me a single example of a news story, commentary or political speech that doesn’t have all these elements. All I’ve ever gotten back is “well, not my people”. Nobody has yet to show me said example.

It makes me wonder about the state of society in general when everybody from big business to the green movement is willing to use the exact same tactics that Hitler used to promote the final solution.

The only way it’s ever going to change is if people start developing a conscience and say enough is enough. You can’t legislate true morality though. What’s worse is that morality and values have become dirty words, poisoned by all the above tactics.

Lesson One: Walter’s Confession

I promised last time that I was going to jump into lessons on how to spot all the disinformation and lies being thrown around by all sides nowadays. I’m going to start with a simple demonstration on how easy it is for people with no morals to twist the truth. It’s from the TV show Breaking Bad.

Walter, the main character, is the Meth kingpin of the Southeast. His brother-in-law Hank has found out that Walter is the bad guy he’s been chasing for 4 1/2 seasons, and has confronted him about it. Walter knows that Hank doesn’t have enough evidence yet to outright arrest him though. THIS was his solution:

Walter didn’t bother to fabricate a new story. What he did was something far more sinister. He took the truth and completely twisted the the circumstances around actual events over the course of the last year. Those of you who have watched the show know the real truth. For those who haven’t seen the show, the truth is exactly the opposite of what Walt presents.

Walt gets pulled into a ride along with Hank and sees all the money confiscated in a raid on a meth house. Walt’s greed, resentment at selling out his partnership in a company now worth billions, and a desire to provide for his family after he gets a cancer diagnosis all lead to him becoming a meth manufacturer. As he’s working his way up the criminal ladder, his actions lead to Hank getting shot. His wife, who recently found out about Walt’s activities, forces him to pay for Hank’s medical care. Beyond that, anything else that Walt blames on Hank in the video is actually Walt’s doing, including bombing a nursing home to eliminate Gus Fring.

The series makes a big deal of Walt’s progression from school teacher to drug kingpin, but at the end he does finally confess to his wife that it was always about his need for power and control more than his family’s wellbeing. There’s a secondary lesson in that regarding ego and lies told for the sake of maintaining an image.

Back on Topic

The bigger point or lesson here is that the best lies; the kind you’ll see all over media from Fox News to MSNBC and various factions all over the internet… Those best lies are always based on partial truths. Isaac Asimov had the best variation on this idea:

I put Walter’s video up here to help illustrate that point. It shows how easy it is to twist narratives to the point of even being the complete opposite of the facts. Twist the truths that you do cherry pick, discard a few inconvenient pieces of the full story and then hammer away at your narrative.

Another Key Element Here

The old Joseph Goebbels quote:

It’s a tactic we see on everything from talk radio to TV daytime talk shows all the way to all news outlets. There’s rarely anything remotely resembling debate or an honest presentation of the other side, just a hammering of the “facts” and mocking the opposition. The worse part is that everybody knows it also. They will only acknowledge it in the other side and turn a blind eye to it when it comes to their own beliefs. Why, you ask? Because it would involve admitting they made a mistake. It’s not all on them though. That’s where we get into a handful of broader psychological manipulations to help sell the lies. THAT is on tomorrow’s posting agenda.

Yes, I could cover those points now, but my hope is that readers will take the time to really ponder how artfully Walter White twisted a few key facts and was able to completely upend the truth.

Wrapping It Up for Today

Aside from hoping all of you will find yourself deeply contemplating what was presented here today, I’m also trying to keep things easy for all of us. Smaller, more easily absorbed bits of information, and a little less writing for me each day. This will also give me more time to spend on research so that I can be accurate and clear.

Tomorrow’s post is going to cover how manipulators play with their targets’ egos, dehumanize their opponents, and play off of people’s innate sense of fairness and desire to do the right thing. Promise it will be fascinating reading AND help protect you from the sharks out there.

Life Goes On

I’ve been trying for almost two weeks to get this written. Even a more catchy headline has eluded me. For the sake of getting it out and jumping back into writing, I’m simply going to spit it out… “It” being a few things actually.

First an Update on the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

As reported in my last post, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists while at my job. At this point, I’ve mostly recovered. My right is 95% back to normal. The left still has minor weakness as well as numbness and tingling all the way up to the elbow. Occasionally it even makes it to the shoulder.

Lest I be be overly dramatic (which I’m trying to avoid), my left arm is ok unless I do something that requires more than casual wrist strength. I can type just fine, for example. Same with pushing a shopping cart. Using our heavy cast iron cookware is uncomfortable though. Even that seems to be VERY slowly improving with time.

Corporate Doctors and Lawyers Absolutely Suck

I previously mentioned (last post again) that I was having trouble finding a doctor that wasn’t BSing me; either telling me I’m fine or crippled for life. That on top of the company doing everything they could to avoid even the slightest level of responsibility for the situation. It was quite reasonably suggested in the comments section that I get a lawyer.

Believe me, I tried. First around town and then later elsewhere within the state. My initial assumption was simply that my employer had the entire town in their pocket, like something out of a 1920s story about company towns housing coal miners.

It actually turned out to be something even worse. In 2014, lobbyists for big business persuaded the Tennessee state legislature to all but do away with Workman’s Compensation protections within the state. The only way a person has a prayer of getting any money from an on the job injury is if they’re killed or dismembered.

In fact, per those changes, even death or dismemberment are problematic for any claimant (or their survivors):

C. An injury causes death, disablement or the need for medical treatment only if it has been shown to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that it contributed more than fifty percent (50%) in causing the death, disablement or need for medical treatment, considering all causes;

Net result: every decent sized company has unethical doctors in their pocket who will find a way to blame the condition on something else. In my specific case, it was blamed on pre-existing arthritis and a completely fabricated previous injury. Lawyers can rarely do anything to help the general public with any sort of workman’s compensation problem in Tennessee.

Tennessee also has a rule that says any workplace injury must be reported and seen by a company approved doctor within 7 days (that’s if I recall the time correctly, it MIGHT be 14 days), and if you go to an outside doctor, the workman’s comp is forfeit. One of my coworkers was turned away three times within that 7 days and was forced to go see an outside doctor to prevent losing his foot. Why in the hell he’s even still with the company is completely beyond me.

The Death of the House Drama

Long time readers will recall my spouse and I got screwed on a house purchase in neighboring Georgia. It all started almost 2 years ago with our realtor, the home inspector and the seller all conspiring to hide defects (a few were major) and other pertinent information like water and power easements on both sides of the house.

We had to work like hell to find a lawyer. Most didn’t want to put in the work. Ambulance chasing is easier after all. Georgia also has a “caveat emptor” set of laws for house sales. It takes actual work to undo a screw job. Even moreso if you’re talking about the corrupt backwaters of the state outside of the 13 metro county greater Atlanta area.

Long story short, the lawyers defending the home inspector’s insurance company even went so far as to argue hiring the home inspector was NOT due diligence and there was no detrimental reliance on the inspector after he represented himself as an expert. In the end, despite pictures showing the court that the Inspector had grossly misrepresented the condition of the house, AND that the Inspector’s company didn’t have a business license or tax ID on file with the state (meaning they’re not paying taxes)… The judge ruled that there was no fraud involved, that there were no other issues and threw the case out.

There’s the far right’s idea of making America great again for you.

Left, Right… It’s ALL the Same.

I lived in California and watched the state government flaunt federal law on immigration when federal law is supposed to supercede state and local. California was even part of the coalition that pushed the federal government during the Obama administration to block Arizona from making it’s own immigration and border control policies.

I also watched California allows forests to become overgrown, catch fire thanks to PG&E not maintaining their power lines, and then blame the fires on climate change. Likewise I saw Sacramento county openly violate state law and push a tax increase into effect after it was voted down during the 2020 election cycle. That’s just fort starters.

The bottom line is the entire system is completely broken. The only difference is who is benefitting from all the corruption. In left leaning states, it’s the corporations (like PG&E and Tesla) that back the Democrats and give them kickbacks. In MAGA territory, it’s old money and the good old boys network throwing money at Republicans.

In both cases, it’s the general public that gets screwed. In both cases, the politicians and by extension their corporate cronies, avoid any fallout for their robbing the treasury and hurting the public by playing them off against the other party and their supporters. It’d all be good if we just got rid of those evil bastards on the other side!

The bigger problem isn’t the politicians though. It’s not even the corporations. It’s the mentally lazy public that’s too concerned with sports and reality TV to even think about what they’re being shoveled.

It’s as true now as it was during the holocaust.

I guess I lucked out. I had a high school history and sociology teacher that taught his students to question everything. A far cry from today’s schools that train sheeple. Luck is all relative though when you’re watching Western civilization destroy itself over ego driven fear and and anger… and can foresee the long term consequences.

The Future of the Blog:

I’ve branched off in several directions over the years as I’ve tried to find something that I could write about and entertain my readership. The trouble has always been I’ve been writing from a place of fear (of losing readers or not having enough depth of knowledge on any given topic), so I haven’t brought a high enough level of authenticity to the blog.

There’s been quite a bit of anger over personal events that’s spilled over into the blog as well. I’ve tried to avoid it, but stress is a bitch and if my life was any bigger a train wreck, it’d be a telenovela.

Well, I’m going to be working hard at getting the personal life in order, AND to try to avoid any stress from spilling over into here. Without a calm, rational presentation, I’m just one of an infinite number of angry voices out there, and indistinguishable from all of the empty headed hate.

Content-wise, I’ll almost certainly mix it up to a degree, but I want to primarily focus on commentary on what I see going on. I also want to start going into all the communications tricks and other forms of subtle manipulation that I see being used everywhere today. My hope is that once more people are aware of them, that they will be on guard against them and be able to make some value judgments about the people and organizations that use them.

Still I Rise

Just a quick post for those wondering if I died (LOL). The drama (as reported last time) sadly continues. That hasn’t helped my stress level for sure.

Added to that mess, I got carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists due to my job and it’s inflexibility about work assignments. It’s kept me down for the last few months. Work finally sent me out for X-Rays a week back, and they’re trying to pass it off as arthritis. *rolleyes*

Never mind I’ve never had a lick of trouble out of my hands despite a ton of typing and otherwise working with my hands in the past. Never mind there’s no inflammation accompanying the alleged arthritis. Never mind several inconsistencies there actually.

The X-RAYS (without any dye administered) supposedly picked up tendon damage on the right hand and they sent me for MRI verification on that hand only (the Left is now supposedly my problem). The MRIs turned up a torn ligament and a few severely strained ones due to dislocation.

All of this is hearsay however. Nobody will let me see any of the images or read the reports. My right hand is also in better shape than the left, and it’s the left wrist that hurts, not the fingers where the arthritis was allegedly found.

If it Quacks Like a Duck:

Then it must be a doctor on the take… or outright incompetent.

If that sounds harsh, understand that my experience with medical professionals has been almost as dismal as with laywers. The doctor that wanted to do surgery on my knee decades ago (it got fine on it’s own) was arrested and sent to prison for insurance fraud, for unnecessary surgeries. The oral surgeon that pulled my wisdom teeth left shards of broken teeth in my gums, and my dentist refused to believe me or the X-Rays.

Despite having MRIs and X-Rays showing my back was a train wreck, the state employed medical doctor handling my disability claim denied there was anything wrong with me as well. That worked out for the best, since the spinal decompression I got restored my back and made me active again, BUT that doesn’t change the fact that doctor was only there to deny claims. My lawyer said she was so corrupt I’d have been better going to my disability hearing without seeing her.

And now I’ve got paid stooges working for my employer saying there’s nothing wrong with one hand except a little arthritis, and referring me to some likely hack who will want to chop up my right hand for a fat paycheck from my employer and workman’s comp.

As it stands, I’m under medical orders to not use my right hand for anything. Good thing my employers don’t read WordPress, LOL.

Taking time off to allow the wrists to heal is why I’ve been away, and likely will have a limited presence for the near future.

Personal Update: From All Sides They Came

So where to begin? Oh yeah:

It’s been almost a month since I posted anything here (or at the other self-hosted blog). I’ve intended to post several times, but as reported last post, work has been exhausting me. After that last post, I got curious about how much of the fatigue was real and how much was mental, so I wore a pedometer to work. What I found was that I alternated between a brisk walk and a light jog for 13,842 steps that day. Most websites say that converts to 6.5 miles or 10.46 Km. Never let anyone tell you an assembly line isn’t work.

Granted, that “light jog” of 6.5 miles isn’t much if you’re in great shape. I hadn’t been for a long time thanks to my spinal problems. The decompression therapy I did about 2 years ago really helped, but attempts at rehab after that resulted in me hurting myself a couple of times. Long story short, I started the job at far from ideal physical shape for the job.

I had a couple other strikes working against me also. First is I had BAD shoes pushed on me by the company store. They were not only really heavy, but hurting my feet badly also (serious neuropathy). Last week I went out and bought new shoes and I’m getting feeling back in my right foot. The left wasn’t as bad to start with.

THEN CAME RED-S

My biggest issue turned out to be a more subtle one. I was coming home increasingly tired and in greater pain each morning (I’m now on graveyard shift). My sleep pattern was almost nonexistent as well. LONG story short, alot of research turned up that the problem was that I wasn’t getting enough calories and especially protein to keep up with my new activity level. This can create a condition that looks superficially similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that’s called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports or RED-S.

As the name would imply, it’s a condition that’s most common in athletes, especially endurance athletes like triathlon competitors and marathon runners. It can occasionally impact people like me who are working at a physical job but not getting enough quality food to support the job’s demands also.

The frustrating part is that my body wasn’t telling me I was hungry. That MAY have been at least partially due to how much water I was drinking (80 to 100 ounces a shift) to stray hydrated though.

At any rate, I’ve modified my diet the last almost a week and have been doing alot better. Less body aches, better sleep, etc… so life is better in that regard. The biggest challenge moving forward is figuring out enough healthy food that I can bring to work to eat on breaks to keep in shape. It’s not like I need a ton of food, but junk food definitely will NOT fit the bill here.

THEN THERE WAS THE HOUSE THAT WOULDN’T DIE:

Long time readers will recall our battles here over a house that we were defrauded on. The home inspector we hired apparently conspired with one or both of the realtors involved in the sale to completely mislead us on the condition of the house. THEN we got defrauded by a lawyer who took several thousand dollars from us and after 10 months hadn’t even filed motions for initial discovery in the case. That’s the first step in a civil lawsuit here in the US for those who didn’t know. Essentially, you present the other side with legal documents requiring them to officially identify themselves for the purposes of the trial, and to give the very basics of their side of the issue.

Well, after running out of money and figuring the case was dead months ago, the home inspector’s lawyer recently filed a motion to dismiss the case against them and included a falsified home inspection as a part of the motion.

In said report the inspectors claim they documented numerous deficiencies in the home, that it was unsafe, they strongly advised us not to buy it and we did anyway. Also, that it was our fault we were stuck with a structurally unsound, asbestos and radon contaminated house with numerous building code violations.

Do I even need to say THAT got my temper up? Guess they didn’t read the warning label:

I’m doing my best as a non-lawyer to answer the summary judgment request and request that the court charge the inspectors and their attorney(s) with Perjury and Fraud on the Court. I think I’ve also got the evidence now to go after the inspectors’ and realtors’ professional licenses by using the falsified evidence as proof of fraud on their parts, MAYBE even conspiracy to commit fraud.

Am I optimistic? Not really. More like neutral. The laws in Georgia are so crooked that I have doubts that even with all this evidence that I’ll be able to get ANY level of justice from the system. I’m going to at least try though. If I don’t, these people will take it as a free pass to lie and cheat everyone they come across.

And If That Wasn’t Enough Drama…

I find out my half-sister outside of Nashvillle possibly has advanced breast cancer, AND missed her appointment to get proper screening and verify what it is (and thus enable her doctors to work up a treatment plan). In a bit of irony, I was catching up on the last couple of episodes of Superman and Lois on the CW Network the night before I got her email. Lois was similarly skipping chemo treatments for her breast cancer. Unlike Lois in TV land though, missing the appointment cost my sister another month before she got a new appointment.

She misses the next one, it’s going to be boots to asses:

I’ve got enough drama to deal with without my sister being too afraid to get her butt into the doctor before it becomes something that medicine can no longer overcome despite all the advances the last decade. Selfish? Yes, somewhat. Just once, I’d like to make a personal post here and NOT have to detail about some aspect of my life being out of control. She has young kids she needs to think about as well.

Still Standing

Well, despite all of that, I *AM* still standing.

Getting stronger by the day as well.

I Survived!

Yes, that’s what the last week and a half have felt like at the new job. It’s manufacturing (which is all I’ll say to protect my privacy), AND I have to be up at 3:30 AM to be there on time. New trainees also have to go through 3 weeks of hour long workouts before work.

So yeah… When I got home each day, I didn’t even have enough energy to check email, LOL. It’s slowly been getting easier each day though.

I can’t guarantee how much I’ll write the next two weeks as training finishes up, but I’ll do what I can to make an appearance here when possible.