I walked past my city’s Cathedral, yesterday. Clearly, in the past, this week would be the second busiest week of the year, for the (Anglican) bishopric, but there was barely a peep out of it…

Some very needy, QR-code-involving signs, but no real decoration, no one going in or out… And this is the largest church in the whole state…

Some photography group was taking photos of the outside, but that’s about it.

Then I went to a Christmas “food market”, and it was, well, the closest it got to “Christmas” was decorations, an appearance by Santa (initially hidden in a giant paper candle, while he was wheeled in, lol), and a jazz band of danger hairs performing woke, “Christmas-adjacent” songs (“Christmas in LA”, anyone? Erykah Badu, anyone?)…

Aside from that, it’s like the city (with a Greens council, no less) barely cares anymore. Everything is “Season’s Greetings”, “Happy Holidays”, or, like, “Happy Summer”.

People really only care about being able to make money out of it, getting a few days off, a fucking yacht race, and a Summer food festival that starts on Tuesday… In fact, I would say there is more New Years’ stuff around, than Christmas, sadly…

Some of this is symptomatic of being in the Southern Hemisphere, granted, but it’s interesting that in places with higher numbers of first-gen British expats in Australia, which are also more conservative (notably Perth, but also Brisbane and Sydney), I’ve seen much more “Christmas-ness”, I suppose…

But I also don’t remember it being like this when I was a kid, or even like a decade ago, so… It’s just a bit weird, to me, I guess.

Anyone else have this sort of “less Christmassy Christmas”, where you are..? It’s probably mostly an Anglosphere problem, but I feel like somewhere like California (or maybe even Scotland) is probably just as bad, if not worse, lol…

Mine… Is really not good. Like, even by my standards (which some of you have seen, lol), this is really, really bad.

I think there’s a few things at play, there: realizing I’m even worse “off”, in terms of “life progress”, than I thought. Realizing my financial and social situation is worse than I perhaps realized. Spending even more time around family that I obviously do not get along with (I’ve dreaded Christmas Day for the entire year, let’s be clear about that), or just… The supreme feelings of crushing loneliness and… “Emptiness” that this time of year tends to stir.

I’m sure I’m not alone in some of that. I think it’s a well-observed “phenom” that this time of year is awful, for mental health, for many people. So I hope you’re all doing ok in that regard.

On a more “political” note, seeing as we tend to prefer that here, lol, I’ve realized this week, perhaps, just how powerless we all are, to fight back against the worst of this dystopian corporate bullshit we all find ourselves amongst.

Like, I was even talking to, in essence, “leftists”, online, earlier this week, and even they think what is happening, with our corporate-tech-overlord-virtue-signalling dystopia is getting out of hand… And that’s in places with “left wing” governments, too. Even then, the problems have become so apparent, that leftists will begrudgingly acknowledge that something is wrong, even if they won’t admit the source…

No one will do anything. It really feels like we can’t do anything. Even working for, or being a client/member of, one of these corporations/banks/entities, you realize that you basically cannot do anything at all…

Maybe that contributed to the “badness” I have been feeling this week. Maybe not. But yeah, just thought I’d share, in case anyone else is “going through it”, this week.

You’re not alone, if so.

Keep it real.

Just that.

I’ve personally been hit by some unexpected shit, this week, particularly financially, but hearing the neighbours up the street party it away, all day and all night, yesterday (and yes, I really, really considered trying to crash it. Just ended up feeling more alone, though, lol), reminded me, perhaps it did in the same way as one of you the other day, that this is a time that really brings people together, and is about far more than spending money and decorative seasonal tat. Today, in Aus, so happens to be the solstice.

I don’t know “where” I’m going with things, and I don’t know what my Christmas will be like (thrifty, if nothing else, lol), but I sincerely hope you all have good, relatively smooth and unstressful Christmases (or whatever you celebrate) and New Years. Remember what the holiday was supposed to be truly about.

That’s all. Keep it real.

There are a number of caveats to this. I appreciate that. But it is actually quite funny seeing this occur, across the "West", pretty much in most developed countries now, not just in the "Anglosphere"...

It's partially a consequence of 'Rona, and the government policies that various countries went for, in response to that. It's partially because of vaccine mandates. It's partly because, so we're told, a bunch of Boomers used 'Rona as the final push they needed, I guess, to retire, and get out. As a result of all that, though? Massive labour shortages, almost everywhere you look.

Media orgs and governments never admit this, but one of the only reasons that this situation can possibly exist is that young people are, increasingly, hugely overqualified, and are unwilling to take positions that they feel are somehow "beneath" them, or basically anything that they might consider "working class" or "unskilled"...

Previous to now, you also had employers not hiring people, because they were "overqualified" (amusingly, had that problem myself. Not anymore, lol), but now, most are seemingly so desperate that this excuse has gone out the window...

In essence though, in much of the world - the US, Australia, the UK, Canada, NZ, Germany, et al, society has spent the last 30-40 years telling young people that the only way to succeed is to: get a degree, probably get another degree, become a "professional" and fuck and/or backstab your way "to the top"...

No wonder young people have become so deluded as to think that manual labour, manufacturing, agriculture, whatever, is all beneath them. Especially when, in Australia at least, you still need to get qualifications, in order to do pretty much any of those jobs...

This was never sustainable. Nor were the ever-increasing levels of "student debt", across much of the West. Yet only now is it seemingly really coming home to roost, and still, it's pretty unlikely you will see anyone with power or influence admitting to any of this...

Personally, I can't wait until the day that this entire (economic, societal, political) house of cards comes crashing down.

There’s been a shooting of cops (and one civilian) in regional QLD, Australia, in the last couple of days…

Allegedly one of the perps, a former school principal was “active online”, involved in “online conspiracy theories”, and, in essence, according to the media, forums a bit like this one, and almost certainly 4Chan…

Naturally, the media is using this opportunity to attack people “whose online behaviour raises questions”, who “don’t believe the official narrative around the massacre that led to Australia’s gun laws”, and, because of course, “the wearing of camouflage materials”…

This will be used to bring in new restrictions. As Christchurch was. As Port Arthur (the massacre I mention) was. I don’t think you have to be a “conspiracy theorist” to see that…

My parents, in response to this, accused me of “being too active online”, “just like the murderer”, lol… NPCs actually believe that. Crazy…

So yeah. Just wait until you hear about “new laws” that will no doubt follow this, which most of the population, including my own family, will doubtless cheer on as “necessary” and “completely justified”…

Wiew. What a time to be alive…

The news in Australia was very keen to tar them as “antivaxxers” and “conspiracy theorists”, even though they clearly came from disparate backgrounds and ideologies…

The whole thing reeks to high heaven. The first thing I thought when I saw it was “they’re getting rid of anyone who would oppose them”. Yet if you talk to “normies” about it, they’ll very likely just give you the same pre-programmed response along the lines of “They’re Nazis, and they deserved it”, just like with the Capitol “Riot”…

Funny how, yet again, we’re told “Protests in dictatorships good. Protests in “democracy” bad!” and expected to not question it, once again…

Along with the extremely selective interviews they showed with “ordinary” Germans, the whole thing is just… Very dodgy, lol.

Fear porn ads on TV and radio are still a thing. States have brought back indoor mask “recommendations” (but not mandates). My parents are still nuts about the entire thing. So much so that my father obsessed over the state’s “death count”, and uses it to slam me for “not caring enough”…

My grandmother has had, like, four booster shots (because fear). My cousins rarely ever go out, and almost never without a mask…

But it’s not just my family. Someone told me today that he is no longer doing his job for the year, and all his colleagues have taken “an extended break until next year”, because “Covid means we are focusing on only essential services, not anything else”. And this is in the healthcare sector…

It’s insane. It’s been nearly three years. Less than 500 people have died, here. And yet, still this continues…

“Hospitalizations!” “Daily infection numbers!” “One more person died!”

I honestly don’t see them giving this up, or masks and boosters going away, probably like ever, here…

Which is just sad, frankly.

I assume other parts of the world have moved on, largely?

Certainly not Asia, notably, or fucking New Zealand of course, but I would hope that other parts of the world have, at the very least…

My family is... Not a healthy or happy one. I imagine most people know this by now. Yet, for reasons that I honestly do not understand, my parents are still together. Toxic, painful, continuously arguing, but still together...

The same cannot be said for extended family. Divorces everywhere. A number of children out of wedlock. Painful intergenerational relations on both side. Lots of "not talking". Lost of... Honestly, relationships that are far more negative than they are positive. As the black sheep "loser" of the family, I can't tell you how shit my relationship with nearly all my cousins is, right now. I could, I suppose, blame myself for that, but I really don't think it is that simple...

I actually don't think this is that uncommon, where I live. Sure, most people don't have family quite as toxic as my own, however divorce is utterly ubiquitous. Siblings not getting along is probably more common than not. And honestly, it feels like people almost expect families to behave like this - not communicating, not really talking, and generally... Not behaving like civilised adults. At least amongst the majority "white" population, in addition to the "blak" population (among whom it is most definitely even worse, lol), this is... All too common.

Thoughts? What's it like for you lot, where you live? Do you get along with your extended family? Are you close to them? I realise that I am almost certainly an outlier, where my family are fucking shit, in addition to being the "black sheep loser to end all black sheep losers", but... I'm just curious.

I like the idea that "family is the people you choose to include in it", but I am yet to find my... "One". I'm honestly yet to really find anyone. So I don't have that to have as my "core". I'm sure it's very different for those that do. Unfortunately, though, I'm not sure I will ever even find that...

So yeah. Pretty blackpilled about "family", at the moment, after mounting betrayals, I have to be honest. Would appreciate some... Alternative insights, if your life experience differs in that way.

This is just an observation. YMMV, of course. But I've noticed this with increasing frequency in recent years...

It's not necessarily a "new" thing. Lying certainly isn't new. But I imagine there must have been a time when, hypothetically, you could make plans with someone, or discuss something, and they would damn well hold to it/keep their word...

Like, in my observation, this happens all the damn time: people flake, people change their mind at the last minute, people ghost (and I do it, too), people, worst of all, change plans, or change their mind, and don't even tell you...

I'm not talking just with women, either. My male "friends" do this. My family does this. Constantly. Randoms I meet, and plan to meet up with later, do this too. And sure, I'm a common factor, but I see this happening more generally, to all manner of people I know, too.

I really, really wish that we "as a society" hadn't normalised this... "Flaky", noncommittal, "my needs come first, always" bullshit...

I really, really do.

If there's a culture where keeping your word and actually committing is still the default, I look forward to one day finding it. Because I am yet to really... Ever experience that. And I've travelled fairly widely and met a lot of people.

Seriously, whether it is for AWS, or for “free delivery on Amazon products”, their ads are absolutely terrible…

And it’s not like Coca-Cola’s “we don’t need to try” shitty ads (e.g. “My pizza goes best with a coke”) - these are some of the worst “big budget” ads I have ever seen…

Is this the norm, for Shittyzon..? Or is this just a thing here, where they have less competition perhaps..?

It’s weird. Surely, AWS doesn’t even need to advertise, yet they put out these terrible, nonsensical, extremely cringe ads, lol…

I suppose the Georgia runoffs should be a future focus, but really… You have at least two more years of this administration, and of, uhh, obvious mental decline all round…

Electoral “democracy” clearly ain’t working (I’m not sure why anyone thought it would), and I imagine at least some… Subsets of “globohomo” are going to be rather emboldened by this result, so…

What plan now? Do you feel that there is anything you can do to change the current direction of your country and/or states, pre-2024, or is it essentially a case of “strap in for the ride”..??

I’m essentially merely an external observer, here. I don’t really have any skin in this game, lol…

As the title says.

Like, nothing against the guy, necessarily, but it is pretty clear that he cannot even speak with full mental function, let alone making important decisions and the like...

It just seems like a really bad idea to elect someone who is clearly... Not well. Let alone the likelihood that being in that position will make his health outcomes worse...

I understand that D's felt like he was their best chance, and that they needed to win that seat, but it just seems irresponsible all round, for all parties involved, no?

How are voters so dumb that they saw all that, and went "Yup, that's the guy I want representing me, right now!"

Sad...