Your very own Pocket Simon™️

This is what is meant by “breaking in shoes”. You don’t need to return them. Just wear them and they will relax. You can take a pumice or nail file to any truly stiff or rigid edges. You can also wear bandaids on the blistered areas. There are also gel inserts that are sticky on one side that can be adhered to the inner surfaces of the shoes to act like a cushion until they are broken in

I recommend watching spider videos on youtube to learn about their behaviors and their better attributes.

Education removes fear.

jamisings:

simonalkenmayer:

“Let me tell you something. China will never rise to power or do anything important. You know why? Because China is run by Chinese people.”

– Some racist jackwagon

Let me explain something to you…

If you have to discount a rival or enemy by saying “they cannot possibly ever do something because I have a broad and inaccurate assumption of their character based on stereotyping” you are an idiot and you are so weak, anyone with two brain cells to rub together will crush you.

“Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”

-Some Chinese General (AKA Sun Tzu “The Art of War)

I’ll frankly never understand racism. It’s so stupid. You judge a person by their character and personality, not by their looks. 

And while I have met many racist atheists, so many more people who claim to be Christian are racist even though the Bible and Jesus himself flat out says “No, don’t be fucking racist.” I mean, what do they think the parable of the good Samaritan is about? It’s about not being a fucking racist. If Jesus was willing to spend three days sitting around braiding a whip just to use it on some money lenders, what do you think he’d do to someone who’s racist and sitting in “his Father’s temple”? Hm? 

Now now…that’s a bit of prejudice showing.

I’ll grant you that I’ve noticed a trend in the types who pick up religion, but I won’t make sweeping generalizations.

I’ll do you one better on the first point–You don’t judge a person by your presumptions of their “people”, their culture, their ethics or any other set that encloses more than that one person. Let’s talk about that one person. That group contains fifty people? One hundred? A million? Better not judge the person by the group. Judge by their own actions, alone. Period. (I will allow that in some senses, choosing to be a part of a group is indeed an action that can count against them. I have difficulty understanding how anyone who claims to be a good person would say something like “I’m a nationalist” but I will still hear them out and attempt to discern if they simply lack comprehension.

One can be open and take each person as they find them and at that same time, be aware of cultures. It is possible. You can meet a person different to you, get to know them personally, while still being considerate of the norms, religions, and traditions of their proclaimed culture. 

You meet a person who says they are jewish. You get to know them for their actions and judge them based on the product of their character, while still asking “Do you eat Kosher? How devout is your observation of the Sabbath, in case I need to plan something?” And so forth. You meet person who is from Iran. You can judge them based on their actions and still say to them, “What Muslim traditions do you observe, so that I am respectful”. It can be done. It isn’t difficult, but then again, it requires something from you: work…some measure of involvement. 

So the only generalization I feel comfortable in making is that racist people are lazy. The only sweeping descriptor I feel comfortable declaring with all due irony, is that people who rely on their assumptions of groups rather than their experiences of each individual, cannot be bothered to put in effort. I will include myself and my generalizations about humanity in that. Sometimes I am just too tired from dealing with you to take each of you as I find you. Sometimes I want to lay waste to your species and I don’t have the energy to think “Now but stop that you. You’ve lived too long and been misinterpreted yourself, so knock it off.” Sometimes I too, am lazy.

It’s not a good thing. It should be stopped whenever you catch yourself doing it.

That’s a basic tenet of compassion and polite behavior, I think.

Eh…

I have many pipes and many tobaccos. I prefer more aromatic blends, though a good cavendish is hard to beat. I tend to prefer briar pipes to meerschaum as they can crack. I also prefer cigars to pipes, as it has less cleanup and so forth. I prefer more aged cigars, darker, usually with a goodly chunk of Nicaraguan tobacco. Currently, I enjoy the AJ Fernandez cigars, and the La Hernancia Core.

levinea-yuuki:

simonalkenmayer:

levinea-yuuki:

simonalkenmayer:

Good lord how I miss tobacco as a cultural element.

I sincerely do.

I miss the days I could walk into a room and be hit with all the smells of all the cultures and areas of the world, all the toast and leather and manure. I miss the sweet aromatics and the clouds. I miss them so.

Obviously I recognize the health benefits for people, but I do so much those days.

You should visit my great grandpa’s house.

More people saying “Simon, you’re like my grandpa”

Put on a sweater and get off my lawn.

Unfortunately, he was nothing like you. Or should I say he lacked the kindness and patience that you have.

He was old. And falling apart. I’ll grant you that aging with compassion is preferable, but it is also very difficult and I can completely understand why some people fail at it.

vulpesnoctem:

simonalkenmayer:

levinea-yuuki:

simonalkenmayer:

Good lord how I miss tobacco as a cultural element.

I sincerely do.

I miss the days I could walk into a room and be hit with all the smells of all the cultures and areas of the world, all the toast and leather and manure. I miss the sweet aromatics and the clouds. I miss them so.

Obviously I recognize the health benefits for people, but I do so much those days.

You should visit my great grandpa’s house.

More people saying “Simon, you’re like my grandpa”

Put on a sweater and get off my lawn.

So the hookah lounge comment in the notes reminded me one time we were walking along The Strand in Galveston. My mom saw the hookah shop as we were passing and joked about it. A table of bros smoking hookahs heard us and made 420 jokes at us. They were chill. Nice dudes.

For clarification: hookah isn’t marijuana. It’s fermented tobacco with flavoring. It can contain hashish or other marijuana type additives, or be marijuana, but a hookah is essentially a pipe or a bong. It’s just a tool. It can smoke anything.

I’m not very large. You could wear my sweaters.

Humans like larger sweaters, don’t they? They like to be wrapped in warmth and fluffy things. Don’t they?