I wouldn't have 5 star feedback on Amazon if some sellers had their way...

This is the fact, from what I can see:
The free market world is run by greed and selfishness.  People don't donate, they buy.  They buy based on advertising, whether it be loud and obnoxious ads like TV & radio, or just posting a listing on eBay with the idea in mind that if you build it they will come.  The ads must be honest.  If not, the free market world is no longer anything of meaning, and people have no reason to keep shopping unless someone threatens their life or the life of someone they care about.  But that's not free market.  That's a sequel to Goodfellas.  Whoever reads this and doesn't get it, I guess you should be locked up and put away from civilization.  That probably won't happen though because the justice system has become too soft on crime, largely in part because society has become soft on crime, meaning that most people do not have a sharp sense of morality.  People keep bending the rules until the rules no longer exist.
  But as I was saying, the free market is not The Salvation Army of ChildFund.  The free market is people getting stuff they want or need in exchange for pieces of paper good for stuff the person/people selling the stuff-people-get might want or need.  In a market that is as strong as the USA's, it is illogical and harmful to the strength of the market to donate if you can barely make ends meet.  I only make $700/mo and I have in the past donated.  The market is a very complicated puzzle that I have spent lots of time pondering.  And what I'm writing here is what I have concluded.  And when I say "can barely make ends meet", I mean if there's stuff you want that you can't have, buy it first, then donate if you can.  Even if it's only a few cents, that can go a long way with 300 million citizens doing the same thing as dirt poor people are in countries that a lot of people in the USA have never been to.
  What really bothers me, as a member of the free market, is sellers who think buyers owe them something, like Best Buy and many sellers on eBay, and a lot of your Ma & Pa stores.  If someone buys something by mistake, either b/c they didn't read the fine print or b/c the product was advertised incorrectly, or a buyer ends up with something that breaks in a few months and they paid more than they would have expected to for something of such short longevity, the seller shouldn't act like the buyer promised the seller anything.  Re-stocking fees do make sense if the buyer is too stupid to understand or read the "Fine Print" or the item breaks down within what the buyer insists is an unfair amount of time for the price they paid for it & the seller begs to differ.  Of course, there's usually a "standard return policy" that big box retailers like WalMart, Best Buy, Target etc. have, and that should not include any sort of re-stocking fee, IMO, unless the buyer is just being wishy washy in their decision making and nonetheless opened the product and devalued it.  That's not to say the stores I just mentioned HAVE re-stocking fees toward buyers who open and use something they weren't even sure why they bought, but if they did, I wouldn't complain.  I would just be more careful about what I buy and why.  And I don't know if WalMart & co. have any sort of exceptions to the standard return policy.  They might have at one time or another, before they started waving their "extended warranty" coverage in buyer's faces, making it known that if you don't buy the extra warranty, you either need to pray that it breaks within 3 months to a year (depending on the product), or buy the warranty and know that in 3 years or whenever the extended warranty you might have bought wears out, you very well might need to buy another one of X item...kind of odd, IMO.  WalMart and all the big retailer giants have basically concluded that anything you buy isn't made to last more than 3 years.  Maybe 4 if you buy an expensive TV...seems kind of sad.
  So, yeah...anyway; for now I have 5 star feedback on Amazon b/c they don't count seller feedback.  Sellers have left me good feedback, but it didn't help my rating at all.  All it does is show people that I'm not a total con artist.  When you see people say that I'm difficult to deal with or some b.s. like that, just know it means that I am a buyer who does not put up with sHpit from sellers who can't keep their promises.  Word.

"Are you stupid or something?"

Ok, a Roku & a TV = Rdio & Pandora, not to mention NetFlix etc.  RokuLT $50.  A TV is $150.  Why would I get a new computer instead of those two things?

STALKING BOOKS AT THE COFFEE SHOP

Now that I have my Roku LT, I don't need to ever buy a single thing from Barnes & Noble or any other media retailer.  No longer shall I consume my delicious latte and pretend that sucking it from the accompanying cup is not the only reason I leave my house.
  Wait, it's not the only reason for leaving the house; I still need nutrients to keep my body going.  If I wasn't living on food stamps I could order them from Schnucks and have them delivered to my door.
  If I wasn't too stupid to read, I could go to B&N and buy brand new hardcover editions of books by my favorite authors.
  At least I know I'm stupid; brick & mortar store owners will soon have the ground removed from their feet and complain about it, coming off bitter and arrogant.  The obvious truth is they could have invested their $ in the stock market like Warren Buffet and Martha Stewart did.  They either have some undefined prejudice against doing so or are too stupid to know how to do it right.  People like that deserve the minuscule amount of money that welfare provides.  The sad fact is they'll have the ground removed from their feet and no one will help them stand up because selfishness and blind materialism are a virtues in the eyes of lawmakers.

all i want for the rest of my life is Rdio/Grooveshark (or equivalent) and the ability to use it!

No Blu ray player
No TV
No DVD player
No Roku

'nuff said.

I will not replace my computer usage with a Blu ray player
I hardly ever use my TV
I hardly ever use my DVD player
I will not replace my computer usage with a Roku

Maybe inner peace (ain't happenin', i don't think)
Or some sort of ultra-happiness, ya know?  Maybe in Heaven, later on?
Oh, and of course headphones, and a DVD/CD drive for the computer I might get
And some CDs and DVDs would be nice

That's all.

If I let myself die of the flue would that be good enough?

Perhaps The Bible says...I'm not interested enough in the various bits of subject matter contained in it to bother reading all 2K+ pages of it.  But just by hearing what people say, it's hard to tell.  On one hand, life is precious, yet on the other hand, this Earth is meaningless compared to the afterlife and all that lay ahead for humanity.  So if I savor what little beauty stand before my senses and let death take me away without fighting it, is that bad?  I don't see how that is.  I would think for a normal person, someone whose more in touch with society and love for their fellow man and all that, it might be better to spread their life around, in the spirit of giving etc., but I have nothing to offer my fellow man.  I have no interest in having anything to offer my fellow man.  Well, I do have some interest, but not enough to make anything of it.  I'm a drain on society.  All that I've done for my fellow man was be born so my mom would have a reason to keep living and eventually become ReBorn.  I'm guessing that was God's purpose for putting me here.  So, really, not committing suicide is a rather cowardly act.  It's based on instinct, self-preservation I guess...fear of Death more like it...but there's nothing to fear, right?  Based on observation, it seems like death is traditionally dealt with by force.  You don't call it, it calls you.  But I am not a traditional person.  Grg.

Things Shaped In Passing

Pandora plays me a Bank Of America ad.  Followed by a song titled "Seems Like Most Everything Used To Be Something Else".  Is this a subliminal stab at their own sponsor?  A little more subliminal is the follow up to THAT, a song "If I Still Still, Maybe I'll Get Out Of Here".  Both are good songs, BTW.  But still, ya gotta wonder...

the empire submits - godspeed you-u!

WOW.  I had heard 3 or 4 songs by these guys on my local modern rock station coupled with various online radio sources.
  THIS is AMAZING.  I listened to NEVER TAKE FRIENDSHIP PERSONAL (2005) and didn't really care much for it.  I checked NEW SURRENDER out from the library, was more fond of that, but THIS is AMA-ZING.  (emphasis on Zing!)
  (Zing!).
I sold THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 2disc limited edition yesterday, after having bought it a few hours earlier that day (yeah, you know, THAT day?...).  For those who aren't already fainting at those two facts put together, let me give you some back story.  George Lucas has committed himself to f*****ng up the STAR WARS legacy by making a 2nd trilogy and fidgeting around needlessly with the first one.  He gave in to fans demand for the ORIGINAL original trilogy to be released on DVD by releasing a somewhat shoddy master of the films on DVD.  But now they are out of print.  So the fact that I bought the 2nd installment of the original trilogy yesterday is amazing.  What's even more amazing is it was only $15 apprx.
  So naturally, since it was OOP, I made some profit.  Eleven dollars to be more specific.  Yeah, I could have savored the moment and bought RETURN OF THE JEDI and eventually A NEW HOPE (my local store that was selling ESB and ROTJ didn't have A NEW HOPE at that time...).  But A) I'm not a big fan of the STAR WARS trilogy.  I'm not a big fan of any movie.  There's movies I like, there's movies I like a lot, probably none that I HAVE to have.  GHOSTBUSTERS is a sound investment b/c it's become a part of me, after most of my childhood spent watching it and its sequel.  And it's a good++ movie so it's watchable on that level too.  Aside from that though there's very few movies I feel compelled to watch time and time again.  A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and THE EXORCIST are two (other) examples.  I sometimes enjoy Gregg Araki's 'nowhere' and Rankin/Bass' THE LAST UNICORN.  I probably re-watch those films more than most other films.
  So anyway.
  When the funds for ESB come to my bank acct, I can buy CITIES(!!).
  And...um...hmm...my roommate moved out yesterday.  I miss her already.  It was nice having her around.  Yesterday I was quite saddened.  I was fine today until I looked in the pantry and it was almost empty.  I almost cried, no lie.  CITIES brightened my spirits tho.  It's supposedly a Christian CD, but it sounds like regular music to me.  I'm not fond of Christian radio b/c the songs just seem to corny.  They have bland lyrics that don't mean anything to me in any way whatsoever and the melodies are almost as bland.  Maybe if I was one of those people that could honestly say I love Jesus/God, it might be different.  I don't hate God like I once did.  Sometimes I wonder weather I dislike him, but it really doesn't matter.  I don't like going to church/parties/social events, and aside from evangelical donations, there's really nothing I can do to prove myself in his eyes.  If I don't have enough faith or whatever it is that makes someone a "Christian", then I guess I'm going to Hell.  Not much else to it.  But I do like this Anberlin CD.  I'd call it a emo with a bit of pop/punk mixed in.
 

Too much sunshine

The sunshine screams through all windows of this house, this empty house, this big empty house
This house screams her name, begging her to come back, tugging at my soul, tearing at my eyes, demanding grief
I guess this is why I've been ignoring her, more or less
I knew this would happen
In a way it already had
Today it's official, but it's been this way for almost a week
I still get her mail
Sometimes it's hard to register these kinds of things

Nothing For Christmas

I guess I saw a future between us
I’m not sure what kind
Maybe a miniature friendship
I don’t hate you
I just hate how I feel when I think about you

You don’t deserve coal in your stockings
I wish you all the best
But I know I’ll never have
Anything to do with it

What the hell was I thinking
I’m not sure
 what if
Maybe you don’t give a damn
I don’t hate you
I just hate how I feel when I’m around you

You don’t deserve coal in your stockings
I wish you all the best
But I know I’ll never have
Anything to do with it

(guitar solo?)