The Man is nothing compared to The World

Anyway, at the time of me currently writing this, I am thinking two things: I'm better than I was throughout parts of the last two weeks, and secondly, I'm going to try to write this entire little clip of writing without omitting too many of my thoughts, so in other words, if I write it, I'm going to try my best to keep it public, instead of deleting it.

The baseball season is in pretty much full swing now, and every day is a roller coaster of emotions for me, based on the outcomes of how the Braves play. I know it's silly, but like I've said many times, it's one of the few things I vest complete interest in, and I have a high standard of expectation, and I expect the Braves to get wins against crap teams like the San Diego Padres and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

One of my best friends, however has a different approach to willing his team (The Washington Nationals) to victory; tempting fate. Now the Nationals aren't expected to be a major threat this year, but as the two of us, as educated fans realize, that they have a whole lot more potential and talent to be more than just a doormat for everyone else, and as it stands, we're not totally wrong. Anyway, my friend, as shown above, in an IM conversation we had, decided that if the Nationals were to get a win, that he would ... well, it's written right there - he would kill his wife, and his best friend (me) on the day of his wedding.

The funny thing? It was a game against the Braves that I attended in Atlanta - the same night John Smoltz got his 3,000th strikeout. My friend believed that there was no humanly possible way that the Nationals were going to get a win on a night of history. Funny, how he thought that, considering on the night Barry Bonds hit his 756th, record-breaking home run, the Nationals prevailed and still won the game.

The Nationals won the game. Despite John Smoltz's history-making 3,000th strikeout, the Nationals held their lead and beat the tar out of the Braves in the late-innings to win the game. So as it stands, I am supposed to be killed sometime in January next year. He has rescinded that claim, but an action such as that is alone to tempt fate in itself. So, if I'm dead by February 2009, it'll be obvious. Because the Nationals beat the Braves on a night of history.

So early on during my funk, I couldn't quite figure out what was bugging me. I thought it was personal problems, people not realizing that I exist, or something as silly as that, but the more and more I thought about things, I realized that it was something extremely simple, and very much material.

The cost of fuel. The high cost of gasoline is what is making me upset.

Not necessarily because I don't like to fill up my tank anymore, well actually, I really don't, because my "economic" 33mpg car still requires to be filled up every 3-4 days based on the sheer volume of driving I do, but it's really more elaborate than that.

Fuel is just the snowball that once rolling, turns into, and creates an avalanache of chaos that generally makes the world a worse place than before it started.

Taken on November 28, 2001.
We will never see anything like this again in our lifetime. I bet my European Title on it.

Every time gas prices spike to new record levels, I think back to these two pictures, and feel an incredible amount of depression at dread at just the state of our country. I most certainly took it for granted back then, especially when I tacked on 50,000 miles within seven months of having my car. That is most certainly a lot of fucking miles to put on a vehicle, and even more fuel to burn through. And why not? It was so cheap, I could just fill up for less than $15 any time I needed it. The worst part is that, I just know that not only will never get better, they are going to get worse, far worse, than we are seeing today. I think it was in iRobot, Will Smith passing a gas station that was selling fuel for like $6.00+something a gallon. As far in the future that movie was supposed to take place, I can see those prices in modern future, very soon.

The plague known as fuel spawns several different negative thoughts in my head, which I'm trying to absolve by getting them out in the open, and not just swirling round and round in my head here.

1. I hate to sound all anti-establishment, or what-may-call-it, but I can't help but wonder how much profit the major fuel companies need to make? Yeah, the price of crude per barrel has gone up to astronomical prices, but at the same time, I don't believe for a second that the fuel companies aren't taking advantage of the situation either, seeing a great opportunity for profits. The difference between fuel grades used to be $0.10, but for some reason, it's now $0.15-0.20 differenciating 87, 89, and 93 octanes.
   
   There is an analogy I use, and I've expressed it to many of my confidants. It especially hits home with the younger demographics that I don't necessarily fall into myself, but basically...
   
   Young adult works job, and makes a $21,000 salary. It's tough, but he is able to pay bills, car payments, and cut into car loans and student loans. One day, the young adult decides to test the market and see if he can make more money. It turns out he can - he finds a job that is offering a $30,000 salary. Wow. A nine-thousand dollar difference! And with him so used to living on a $21,000 salary, that $9,000 is certainly going to turn into a whole shitload of new toys and spoils!
   
   At first, it's great. Eating out more, spending a little bit more on material posessions here and there. And still making sure the bills and expenses are paid for.
   
   But six weeks later, young adult's friends call, and ask if he wants to go on a weekend excursion. Young adult suddenly realizes that he doesn't really have the disposable income to go out and play, so he must decline this invitation. He wonders where all his money is, and he realizes that despite that when the year is over, he may have $9,000 more dollars to his name, but for the time being, he doesn't have the spare cash to throw around for a weekend excursion. Young adult feels diluted, and for the first time, unhappy with the situation. Surely, he must have more money.
   
   At this point, young adult has two options - re-assess the financial situation, and be smarter with his money, to make sure that he can see the financial advantage to his new income, and then play it smart. OR, he can seek out a new job, and attempt to make more money. More often than not, the young adults will see out more money, and until they really mature, and figure out the game of life, it is an unending cycle that escalates to dangerous territories.
   
   And that is what I theorize is the simplified equivalent to the fuel situation. Let's use ExxonMobil for example: They are selling unleaded fuel for $1.79/gallon. The cost of crude jumps up from like $40/barrel to $50/barrel. Oh shit! That most certainly cuts into profits. Better increase the cost of fuel. Ahhh, much better. Oh shit! It's time for annual raises! All 68 of our regional AVPs need their raises! Umm... let's raise the cost of fuel to make up for it. Fuel is now at $1.97/gallon, for the same shit it was two months ago.
   
   It makes me ask the question, just how much profit do the major fuel companies need to make? At what point does another million make a difference to the several other billions in the vault already? The ants of the world aren't making more money to keep up with the cost of inflation of fuel, and very much sooner, than later, the reprecussions of all this inflation are going to actually, legitimately affect daily society. If it already hasn't, that is.
   
   
2. Because of the cost of fuel, everything's getting more expensive. Food, material goods, services, pretty much everything. And the worst of it, which was the root of all my initial despair, was the inevitable increase of the cost of airline travel. It's no secret that I love to travel, and throughout the last two years, I've been doing quite a considerable amount of it. And much to my benefit, I have been doing it quite cheaply, by taking strategic flights, as well as being flexible.
   
   Now, no matter how flexible I bend, the cost of airfares just aren't yielding any better results. I'm lucky that some of the flights I have planned for the remainder of this year are cashed in vouchers and offers, but after all of those are gone, I'm pretty much fucked. Already, I've cut back on my travels, because I simply don't want to pay these alien numbers for trips that were significantly cheaper just months ago.
   
   Initially, this is what upset me, because I began to feel trapped. Going to the store on a whim wasn't feasable anymore, because all the stores are at least 15 miles from my house, which would mean at least a 30 mile round trip, which translates into practically an entire gallon of gas, to which my car can house 13 gallons tops. Now, I have to plan even the mundane trips, and if multi-tasking is not an option, I generally try to turn it into one.
   
   So if I can't drive anywhere, I'm going to take to the skies! Or maybe not. I can't even fly back to Virginia on off-peak times roundtrip for under $200 anymore, which to me is blasphemous. I used to be able to get roundtrips from Atlanta to Virginia for like $140. The fact that I can't just up and go home for a little bit bothers me, and I realize that if I am going to make it work, I'd have to go for longer than a weekend. Sometimes I enjoy being home for a while, and sometimes I just want to get back to Atlanta. The fact that I'm losing my choice is a bummer.

Look at all this shit - all because of the cost of fuel. And like I mentioned earlier, I don't think this is going to get any better, by a long fucking shot. And that thought as well as the many other things, is simply depressing. This country, if anything is going straight to another level of hell even deeper than the former.

Anyway, enough of all this depressing bullshit - I just wanted to get that off my chest here.

I'm going to California at the end of the month to do some Best Man duties for my friend, as well as tour some new ballparks, go to Tijuana or something, and then topping it off with Las Vegas. So come June, there will be plenty of pictures, maybe some stories and writing, and most certainly updates to Real Men Don't Wear Small.

And to end it on a funny story...

In the sixth grade, I had a buddy. He, like me, was an avid wrestling fan, but the difference with him was that he actually wanted to be a wrestler when he grew up. Naturally, a lot of people laughed at him, but it never dejected him one bit. He was a phenominal athlete, extremely acrobatic and agile, but he never played any organized sports. We went to middle school, and high school together, and although we didn't have any classes together, we even went to the same college at certain times.

Well, if there's ever an example of what might occur if one were to follow his dreams, it's this guy. On Thursday nights on SpikeTV, he can be seen on TNA Wrestling's IMPACT program, flying around as one of the X-Division talents.

I know what his real name is, but naturally, I won't mention it here. But he goes by Sonjay Dutt.

Why am I bothering to bring this up?

Which one is the real Sonjay Dutt?

Because apparently, there is someone at my workplace that looks just like Sonjay. So much, that I thought it was him, and actually went up to him, and asked him if he was him. He claimed mistaken identity, but I seriously didn't believe him. I thought it was really Sonjay, and he was using a fake pseudonym to get me off his back, and so he could continue working out without a wrestling nerd hanging around. I really didn't believe him, to the point of where I got in touch of a friend of a friend, and tried to get back to Sonjay, to find out if he were hanging out in Atlanta for any reason, likely a taping. TNA films in Orlando, Florida, and Atlanta wouldn't be too much of an unrealistic stretch, especially if he was en route back to Virginia.

Through my friend, I found out that Sonjay was most definitely still in Virginia at the time of my encounter with his doppleganger, but that still didn't change the fact that there was a Sonjay clone out there. The above picture doesn't really do justice, but from every angle, and even his voice was the same as Sonjay's. I got to talking with the Fake Sonjay again, and through a friend, found out the real Sonjay's thoughts, and a picture was taken, and some comments were swapped. Apparently, real Sonjay isn't convinced that they look alike, but other peoples' opinions I've surmised would swear that the two pictures were of the same guy.

So, somewhere in my building is the clone of Sonjay Dutt, and I find that tremendously amusing.