Month: February 2020

On God Part X- What if Fundamentalist Christians are Right?!

I recently put two and two together that this whole On God series is just me working through a lot of deep-seated religion-induced trauma. So, don’t mind me. I’ll just be over here making cartoons as a coping mechanism.

This is essentially my form of therapy and it’s just more fun when other people can get some enjoyment out of it. But also, I think a lot of people have similar mixed feelings about religion. Yeah, it’s a good thing in many ways, but man, there are some real negatives. Anyway. I hope you enjoy.

The Age of the Earth, colorized

Christians hold a lot of beliefs that non-Christians don’t. Many of them are mundane and don’t garner a lot of attention. One of these discrepancies is how differently scientists and Christians estimate the age of the Earth.

Science says the Earth is 4.543 billion years old. Christians say it’s around 7,000 years old.

Someone is wrong, right?

I had this sudden thought occur to me while thinking about just how wrong one camp has to be:

What if the fundamentalist Christians are right?

Continue reading “On God Part X- What if Fundamentalist Christians are Right?!”

How to Become Successful- Stop Blaming and Start Swimming

We all want to be successful. Life is inherently unfair and hard work isn’t always the determining factor in where we end up. Sometimes you work harder than the person next to you and they’re the ones who get the job. The world can be a cold mistress.

So what do we do, assuming we weren’t born with a silver spoon? This will border on being a controversial statement, but hear me out: Stop blaming society for your problems.

It’s not your fault, but you may as well take responsibility. Continue reading “How to Become Successful- Stop Blaming and Start Swimming”

How to Participate in the American Election Without Being a Bad Guy

This is the version where I replace inappropriate words so my mom can read it without thinking I’m a bad guy. Here’s the regular post.

I recently came to a revelation: We should be nice to each other this election season. Boom. I know. Let me explain how I got here.

So things are starting to heat up politically. There have been a lot of online discussions about which candidate is best. They mostly leave everyone feeling angry and unchanged. Part of the reason we leave angry is the other side rarely seems to even hear our reasons for why we see things the way we do.

A lot of people I know are planning to vote for Donald Trump. I think he’s an obvious cartoon Disney villain. But, I like a lot of the people who still feel compelled to vote for him, so I decided to really try and understand their side of things.

Full disclosure: I’m a left-leaning liberal, at least at this stage of life. I bring my own confirmation bias into this election cycle but I genuinely wanted to see what it would take to convince myself to vote for Donald Trump. It was a fun time. Continue reading “How to Participate in the American Election Without Being a Bad Guy”

How to Participate in the American Election Without Being a Complete Dick

I recently came to a revelation: We should be nice to each other this election season. Boom. I know. Let me explain how I got here.

[I made a clean version of this post. You can read it instead if you’d rather.]

So things are starting to heat up politically. There have been a lot of online discussions about which candidate is best and which ones are the worst candidates of all-time. They mostly leave everyone feeling angry and unchanged. Part of the reason we leave angry is the other side rarely seems to even hear our reasons for why we see things the way we do.

A lot of people I know are planning to vote for Donald Trump. I think he’s an obvious cartoon Disney villain. But, I like a lot of the people who still feel compelled to vote for him, so I decided to really try and understand their side of things.

Full disclosure: I’m a left-leaning liberal, at least at this stage of life. I bring my own confirmation bias into this election cycle but I genuinely wanted to see what it would take to convince myself to vote for Donald Trump. It was a fun time. Continue reading “How to Participate in the American Election Without Being a Complete Dick”

Choosing Family Over Finances Part IV- Montana Bound

I recently finished the last shift for my employer. As I drove home, an unemployed free-loader, I experienced that end-of-the-school-year feeling where suddenly all those papers you’ve been holding onto since September can be thrown away. The lists of projects, the work numbers, the future crawlspaces that would need to be cleaned out, none of that was my responsibility. My time with that company was over. I could feel Montana on the horizon. Continue reading “Choosing Family Over Finances Part IV- Montana Bound”

A Month Without- Finding Happiness by Being Miserable

I recently went on the personal vision quest where I went a month without alcohol. It was less fun than you might imagine. But, having that month in the rear-view has made me reflect fondly on the lessons it taught me. The most important lesson being not to commit to being sober for a month when you’re three drinks into the night.

Now that I’m allowed to drink again I think the month of sobriety was good stoicism training. The whole thing got me thinking: What else makes me happy that I can cut out for a month at a time? Continue reading “A Month Without- Finding Happiness by Being Miserable”

January- The Worst Month We’ve Had All Year

Happy February. I think we can all agree January was a complete shitshow from day one. I’m glad it’s over. In late December I decided that it would be super fun to remain alcohol-free for the entire month of January because I make poor decisions. Being completely sober is overrated and so was January. I have a lot of emotions heading into February. Let’s pretend January never happened. Happy February 1st, the unofficial New Year! Continue reading “January- The Worst Month We’ve Had All Year”