11 O'Clock News

My girlfriend and I watched the 11pm news tonight, for the first time in many years. I must say, it's actually rather distressing when you look at it objectively.

When I was a child, the news had a fairly even balance. Bad news versus good news. Then I remember when The media started trying to be sensationalist about nonsense. "Killer Bees" became the buzzword. They started telling us how dangerous these Bees were going to be, how they were making their way towards our community and everyone was going to die.... From Bees.
Clearly they're full of shit, cause it's twenty years later and we're all still here.

Then 9/11 happened. And something change. We got so flooded with horrifying images that the whole country got desensitized to violence. It was horrible, but everyone was riveted to their TV's. And the media took notice. They realized that tragedy would bring in a larger audience than simply reporting the news. So instead of trying to improve everyone's moral they tried to hit us with even more tragedy.

Today when we turned on the news, every single story was a tragedy.

It's not the news anymore, it's a clip show celebrating all the worst things that happened recently. And they don't just report a tragedy once, they report it hundreds of times. They go behind the scenes and they interview the murderer's gardener and his pediatrician and damn near anyone they can find who ever met them.

Here's the truth:
We really don't want to get to know these murderers or terrorists. We want them stopped and we want their victims helped, rescued, or avenged.

But the media's fear-mongering has done more to help terrorists than any suicide bomber ever could.
They've spend years now campaigning for fear.

You want to really give a "Fuck you!" to terrorism?
Ignore them. They do what they do because:
A. We're doing something they don't like
B. We have something they want.
C. They want attention for their cause.
D. And they are batshit crazy.

Don't celebrate them.
Don't play their clips on the news.
Don't show their face.
Don't try to get their life's story.

Just stop them from doing it again, and move the fuck on.

It really irritates me that the NYC government dropped the ball at rebuilding the World Trade Center.
The best thing they could have done would have been to construct the buildings exactly as they were.
With a big-ass American flag in the courtyard.

Like saying to the world "Anything you destroy, we can rebuild. You're not stopping us. All you've done is piss us off."

Instead, with all the fear we get fed every day, the terrorists have won. We're scared. And the terrorists aren't even the cause. It's our own idiot media that's to blame.

The Fourth Estate has failed in it's duties.
It's not keeping the government honest, it's not even keeping itself honest. It's just one massive clusterfuck of skewed statistics and bullshit stories.

If you really want to hear the news, just watch the monologues of the latenight talk shows. They give you a concise digest of what's going on, but they keep it light hearted and brave. The Ruler of North Korea threatened to bomb us.
The media spread the story like wildfire and encouraged us to be afraid of this little man, with little bombs, in his little country.
The Late-night talk shows responded the proper way. They made fun of him. They pointed out how ridiculous the whole thing is.

We could turn that man's country into glass if he actually attacked us. But it's highly unlikely that he will, because he's on the opposite side of the world. He has much more danger from his neighbors to worry about. Attacking us would just be inviting his own destruction. But to remain safe from his neighbors he needs to look powerful. Which he apparently decided to do by trying to look intimidating to us.

And we let him. Our own stupid media backed the story and retold it constantly for weeks.

That's not news. There is always going to be some jackass saber rattling. If it's a real threat, tell us, but even then, it doesn't rate weeks of constant coverage. Cover the story then move onto the next story.

And while you're at it, how about doing some real reporting? Currently all of the TV stations run the exact same national stories. Does nobody pay journalists anymore?
I understand we're in the digital age, but that doesn't mean that everyone should stop doing their own research.

Get the facts straight, and stop trying to scare us.

Review of Sci-Fi's Defiance.

I'll preface this post with this statement:
HUGE GODDAMN SPOILERS.

If you don't want the series premier spoiled, stop reading now, watch the show, then come back and keep reading. Go ahead, I'll wait right here.


Back now? Good.

Ok, first off, despite the negatives I'll be discussing about this show, I'm still interested to see what they will do with it. It has an insane amount of potential, I'm just worried that they won't do anything good with it. The series has a vastly interesting world, much like the Harry Potter series, and like HP the writer seems intently focused on the least interesting parts of the story.

Problem #1 with Defiance.
Dear god, soo many Tropes and Cliche's. It's like the writers went to TVtropes and hit random a bunch of times to decide on the themes of their show.
Listing off the tropes in no particular order, the wrong names, and with whatever evidence I feel like adding:

Gun-for-hire: The main character like Han Solo, Malcolm Reynolds, the crew of Cowboy Bebop, etc, is a wandering hired gun. This is a ridiculously common cliche.

Significant military marking: The main character has a tattoo that shows what famous military unit he was in. Just like Mal Reynolds, Han Solo, etc.

Let's visit the crappy town where I'm Famous: The main character randomly stumbles into town, not recognizing it. But apparently 15 years ago he fought a famous battle in this town and he is instantly popular because of it. Yet none of the residents recognize him, even though he's clearly important to them. This trope of course is famous in Harry Potter and Firefly.

Retired soldier: The main character is an ex-marine/military guy. Like Jake Sully in Avatar, Mal Reynolds, Han Solo, etc. Noticing a trend here?

Alien Side-kick:  Main character has an adopted alien daughter who is his accomplice in everything. Just like Chewbacca, Ney'tri, Ford Prefect, etc.

Side-kick is a kid: Just like in the first Indiana Jones movie, and Ed from Cowboy Bebop. I could list more but I'd have to look them up.

Romeo & Juliet: 30 minutes into the pilot episode it's revealed that there are two rival families and their children are of course in love.

You killed Tybalt!: The Romeo-esque character is accused of killing the Juliet-esque character's older brother. Who was an aggressive douchebag.

The Grand Vizer is always evil: An hour into the pilot it's revealed that the Mayor's aide/adviser is secretly evil and plotting her destruction.

Stop making me feel old: 1/2 hour into the pilot the ex-mayor makes a joke calling the new mayor "grasshopper". Which she doesn't understand (I guess grasshoppers went extinct?).

I was one week from retirement: The city sheriff gets killed and he's clearly really old.

Hooker with a heart of gold: The owner of the town brothel is the mayor's sister and one of the most blatantly obvious good-guys in the show.

The MacGuffin: Not only do they have the vaguely explained doomsday weapon that everybody wants, but's it's actually an Orb. How much more obvious can they get?

Reluctant lawman: After the sheriff is killed the main character reluctantly accepts the job. Just like Wyatt Earp.

I'm leaving you to die, just kidding: This happens twice. First the main character & sidekick leaves the town to be destroyed, then he has an attack of morals and returns with the MacGuffin but the sidekick leaves him to die. Then She has a whooping case of morality and she comes back at the last second with reinforcements who save the day and give the heroes enough time to activate the MacGuffin. This is most famously used in Star Wars a New Hope. Han Solo leaves the rebellion to die, then comes back at the last second, rescues Luke, who then blows up the Death Star.

I'm in it for the reward: Mal Reynolds and Han Solo own this trope. The main character promises to track down a murderer, as long as they pay him for it.

Jinkies!, It was that sneaky former ______ all along.: The villain who arranged most of the problems in the episode was the ex-mayor and mentor to the current mayor who is secretly a psychotic "evil plan for the benefit of all mankind" mastermind. The character was unmasked to the audience, but the protagonists remain clueless.

Problem #2
Please pick one plot and run with it.
The pilot episode had one A plot, which was a murder mystery that never gets solved but ends with a climactic battle. But it also had a dozen B plots, none of which went anywhere. I think they were trying to set up all of the A plots for all future episodes at once. Rather than doing the more standard formula of inserting the A plot for next week as the B or C plot for this week.

All of that being said, I'm still going to watch next week's episode. The writing is terrible, but the setting is amazing. I hope they some how figure out something good to do with it, but I kindof doubt it.

All video game characters are on PCP.

This has been bugging me for awhile and I finally decided to write about it.

Have you ever played a videogame where you are a melee character of some kind and an enemy starts shooting you with a gun or a crossbow or whatever? You know how it's a huge pain in the ass to running over to them so you can hit them while they slowly eat away at your hit points?

Well, this is only possible because your character is on PCP.

There are only a few instances in the real world where someone is shot and then proceeds to run up and murder the shit out of the person who shot them. Generally it's because the shooter only grazed them, or they are some combination of wall-humpingly insane or doped up to their eyebrows.

In real life if you get shot, you don't charge the guy shooting you. If you are still able to move, you charge away from the guy shooting you.
Yes, if you get up close to him you could stab him or beat him with a shoe, but in the time it takes you to get over to him, you are becoming a much easier target to hit.
And with every shot you take, your ability and chances of reaching the shooter go down.

So why the weird logic in videogames?

Well, cause otherwise if you got hit once by anything, you'd be dead.
In videogames your health is graded by a health pool or hit points or whatever. In real life you have one hit point. In videogames you can have millions of hit points.

Ever see a level 1 character try to hit a lvl 90 character in World of Warcraft?
Short version, the lvl 1 character cannot possibly kill the lvl 90. Too many hit points and their passive health regen is higher than the lvl 1 can ever overcome, also the lvl 1 is missing almost all the time. And then the armor of the lvl 90 reduces all damage to 1hp.

So with no health regen and unlimited time (and replacement weapons, cause you'll break your weapons before you ever kill that 90) the lvl 1 could possibly kill the lvl 90. It would just take weeks.

Hit points make combat more complicated than "Who attacks first?".

When you have hit points using a sword to attack a guy with a bazooka makes perfect sense.

But let's look at this from the character's perspective.

Either all weapons are extremely shitty and take forever to even break skin, or everyone is hopped up on PCP so they can keep fighting even though they are rapidly bleeding to death.

That's another thing. "Bleed effects".
Unless someone is hitting you with elemental magic that doesn't create a wound, all attacks should cause you to bleed. Yet for some reason in WoW when I shoot a dude with my poison coated arrow they get the poison but don't bleed from the arrow wound.

Videogame combat mechanics cause the players to behave in a way that is completely opposite from the real world. You don't charge the guy with the bazooka, you run the fuck away and pray that he didn't see you. Cause holy shit bazookas can kill the fuck out of you.

Sexual Identity

Been watching alot of Youtube videos lately, and I came across a major revelation.

Americans tend to have no clue as to their sexual identity.

This is most obvious in how we treat those who are on the far edges of what we would consider "normal" sexuality.

First Example:
Transgendered people.
Americans seem really at a loss for how to react to these people. Much in the same way that we don't know how to react to transvestites. When you take away all of the paranoia and vague religious subtext, you simply have a person who is uncomfortable in their native gender and would prefer to be another gender. For transvestites it's usually less severe, they simply don't feel comfortable in the garb of their native gender and would much prefer to wear the garb of the opposite gender.

Realistically, this shouldn't matter to us as a country. If a little girl feels uncomfortable being a girl and would much prefer to be a boy, then why would we want to stop her?
If a man feels miserable wearing a suit and tie and would much rather wear a slinky dress, why stop them?

No-one is telling the general population that they are required to do this, they just need to tolerate other people doing it.

And this brings us to our first major point, Humans, especially in America, have a major gap between who they are and who they want to be.
Some of the problems are environmental and cannot be changed.

Second Example:
A woman might grow up poor but with the feeling that she would have been much better suited to being royalty or nobility or some such. That's a matter of who your parents are. You have no control over it and it cannot be changed. Just like how there are all of the people who become obsessed with another culture and wish that they were born into that culture. (Weebos obsessed with Japanese culture for example). If you were born a white man from Idaho, we can't exactly change you into a Japanese man from Tokyo. You can try to be as similar to that culture as possible, but you'll never be a native.

Other problems can be changed. If you were born poor and want to be rich you can work your ass off and possibly make it to wealthy before you die.

But the major issue is that America seems to fully endorse and encourage one shift and discourage and often outlaw others.

We endorse the concept that you should be Heterosexual, should seek wealth, should be religious, and should get married and have children.

But the supposed "American Dream" lifestyle is both unrealistic and doesn't account for all of the people who don't want it. Furthermore we have an entire culture of shame for people who reject the American dream.

What's especially sad is that the people who reject all or parts of it don't generally choose to, they were just born with brain chemistry that leads them to behave differently.

Atleast we live in slightly more enlightened times, in the old days people like this would have no option. They would be forced into their native country's lifestyle regardless of how they felt about it.

The problem is that America is still clinging to this flawed idea of "Normal" far after it stopped being relevant. Christianity is no longer the one religion of the "civilized" world. It never really was in the first place. People have a wide array of religious faiths or even complete lack there of.
So trying to force the morality of one religion on the rest of the country is insane, because the majority of the country does not practice that religion.

This takes a step further into insanity when we examine sexuality and gender roles. The gender roles are supposedly equal now, but when you look at the statistics they really aren't. Women still make less money than men, they still have a harder time reaching positions of power and they are still treated like property culturally.
If a man were to cheat on his wife then society would roll their eyes and look the other way. If a wife cheats on her husband it turns into world war 3. The country is still trying to treat everything like an old boys club, they cling onto the idea that men are somehow superior to women, and they continue to encourage that behavior in each following generation.

Part of the reason there is so much opposition to homosexuality, transvestites, & transgenderism is that they blur the lines of gender roles. If a relationship consists of two men then they don't know who is supposed to be the dominant one. If a man marries a woman, but he prefers to dress as a woman, does that make him less dominant as a man? If a man transforms into a woman, is he giving up his dominant male power? and furthermore does a woman turning into a man gain his gender's power?

It doesn't matter.
Gender roles are archaic and stupid.
The fact that America still clings to this idea proves that we are too stuck on the past.

Furthermore, strict gender roles lead to unhappiness. Even in stereotypical American Dream families the gender roles are sometimes reversed. We've all seen families of subservient husbands and domineering wives. This isn't new, but for some reason we accept that even though it is just as opposed to the supposed gender roles as homosexuality or cross-dressing.

I often want to argue with especially obstinate religious folks that if a wife ever disagrees with her husband, then by their own religious laws she is being just as sinful as a homosexual and is supposed to be stoned to death.

This is clearly a insane and outdated idea (not that it ever made sense in the first place). You can't pick and choose which rules to follow. The bible says don't eat lobster and men shouldn't have sex with men? Ok, so are you planning to stop eating lobster any time soon? Also, your wife is supposed to be your slave, and if she comes anywhere near a male person while menstruating she is supposed to be executed.

They often reply that Jesus got rid of those old crazy laws.
To which I reply "So when exactly did he tell you that he hates homosexuals?"

Those that are up on their religious history point out that one of the apostles wrote about the subject.
To which I respond that he wrote that while in a Roman prison. Prisoners tend to have a very harsh opinion of anal rapists.

The argument ends and they don't have an answer for me. They are living a lie. They follow one part of the rules because it lines up with the stuff they were planning on doing anyways, they ignore the parts that condemn the stuff that they want to do, and latch onto the parts that condemn other people, who aren't even a part of their faith.

It would make more sense if the people they were attacking were a part of the same religion, but they aren't.

And here is the part where we feel bad for these people. Because of the faith that they have chosen, they don't get to live the life that would make them happier.
Sexual orientation has been widely examined and the major conclusion is that most people are not totally straight or totally gay. Like most things it's shades of gray.
Most Heterosexuals actually contain some homosexual impulses. A man may not want to have sex with another man, but he does want to kiss another man, or to embrace another man lovingly.

In older cultures this was normal. We didn't look down on men who were more open with their affections, it was part of being a man.
But we have developed such a taboo about homosexuality that even minor innocent acts such as these are scorned because they resemble homosexuality too much.

Thus America has become a country of people with pent-up sexuality or people scorned for their sexuality.

It really needs to stop. It doesn't mean anything. Even in the Bible Jesus kisses another man. How is it ok for god yet not ok for his subjects? "What Would Jesus Do?" if he met a male friend who he cared greatly for? He would hug and kiss that dude.

It's not gay, it's not awkward, it's simple affection, and we need to stop making such a big deal about it.

Furthermore, we need to stop freaking out about what other people do in the bedroom, or how they dress, or what gender role they live in.

It doesn't matter. All that matters is what works for our own lives.

I personally prefer to be an equal partner with my significant other. I don't really want either of us to be dominant of submissive. I don't especially want to dress in women's clothes, but I would like the freedom to use their accents (of style, not voice) without someone assuming that I must be a transvestite or a homosexual.

And even if I was, it's none of their business.

Move on, grow up, and stop worrying about what other people do.

Stick to worrying about what you do.

The un-examined life

As you read this, you probably consider yourself to be a good person.

But here is a fact. You are probably a bigger douchebag than you'd like to admit.

Think about your life, think of the good things that you've done.

Now take money out of the equation. Don't count the times you gave to charity, don't count the time that you paid for your friend's dinner. Don't count the time you gave your friend a ride somewhere.

Those are things you did with money. Money is a relative qualifier, a millionaire has plenty of money to be generous with, a beggar has very little to be generous with. The only way we could equally value good deeds that involve money is it we consider it as a percentage of your total income, minus the amount of money you need to survive.

If we do that, suddenly the millionaire donating $10,000 to charity doesn't seem like much when it's like 1% of his total income.

Money makes charity and kindness hard to judge, so we're discounting it from this test. We're judging you, not your money.

Now, without money, what good things have you done for people?

Not as much now I'd wager.
Now you need to look for moments of selflessness. Introducing your friend to his future wife, despite you being single yourself? That is a charitable act.

Spending all night helping a friend or relative deal with an emotional problem despite have much "better" things to do? Damn right that counts.

Ok, we're all probably feeling a bit better about ourselves now. We can all name a few instances where we were really shining examples of humanity.

But now come the bad part, now we weigh our sins.

Count all of the times you were a bastard to someone. Every time you fucked someone over for your own gain or just for the lulz.

Now add in the minor fuckery. The times that you got two slices of pizza when everyone else only got one. The times when you cut off that other driver because you didn't feel like letting them pass you.

So you now have a small pile of selfless acts, and a shit-ton of selfish acts.


Now, what does this mean?

It means you're human. Selfish acts is your nature looking out for yourself. You taking the extra pizza was you making sure you had enough to eat. When you stole your friend's girlfriend, you were attempting to preserve your own genes over those of your friend.
But the moments of charity and kindness? Those are you attempting to preserve the human species. We exist as individuals because we look out for ourselves, we exist as a species because we actually want to help other people when it counts. This is the same drive that causes someone to dive onto a grenade to save his friends. (along with enormous brass balls).

We're all fuckheads, but we're not entirely without merit. We have to have both.

Someone who only cared for themselves would be a sociopath. Completely without care for the rest of humanity.
Someone who only cared for everyone else would starve to death because they don't think to take care of themselves.

To be human, you need both qualities. The Bastard and the Saint.

Don't dwell on it, just try to be less of a bastard when you have no possible gain from the situation and try to help people more when you can. Start with those you care about. It'll make the acts much easier to come by. Giving money to the poor is one thing, but can you imagine yourself spending days of your life physically cleaning up a homeless guy and helping him work through his problems?
Probably not. Start with the people you already care about.

Mary-Sue, that might be You.

For those of you who don't know what a Mary Sue is, here is a brief overview of the term:

Back in the early days of geekdom, before nerdry became mainstream, there was Trekkies. And there was Trekkie Fan-fiction.
Mary-Sue was an original character that a fan-fiction author inserted into the original series of Star Trek. The character was supposedly real "normal" and boring, yet all of the title characters were falling over themselves to hook up with her and do things for her. She would randomly experience Sherlock-Holmes level deductions where she would be the only one who knew the answer to whatever problem despite having others in the crew who specialized in that particular field.

Since then the character of Mary-Sue has come to mean any ridiculous non-canon character whom has been inserted as some sort of author superhero substitution.

There is also a vast genre of "Canon-Sue's". Which are characters who are native to the fiction, but are equally ridiculous.

Most heroic characters wander dangerously close to Sue-land.

Harry Potter is a Canon-Sue. Despite being a supposedly normal British boy, he has an entire culture obsessed with him, fangirls flock to him everywhere due to his fame. Damn near every character is obsessed with him in one way or another. The entire third book was devoted to his Godfather's obsession with him.

Clearly, a Mary-Sue.

This is a startlingly common trope in fiction. And it's easy to understand why. When authors are trying to make the main character interesting, the easiest way to do that is to make all of the other characters interested in them despite not having a good reason to do so.

Bella in the Twilight series is another great example. She is described as very plain and awkward, yet she is instantly popular and has creepy stalker men obsessed with her from day 1. They made people interested in her because they couldn't figure away to make her someone worth being interested in.

There is a very simple way to test and see if your character is a Mary-Sue.
1. If the character is socially popular or notable, did they do anything to deserve this popularity or notoriety? If the answer is no or simply weak then your character is a Mary-Sue. Re-work them and figure out if their popularity is a requirement of the character, and if it is, come up with a good explanation for it.  If you want them to be an "average joe" who is popular, perhaps add to their backstory that they used to be popular, but then lost their popularity for some reason.

2. If the character is especially powerful, do they really need to be that powerful? Stories where the main character can easily curb-stomp the villain are not interesting. Ideally a protagonist should be just powerful enough to defeat the villain, or even not powerful enough, and only becomes powerful enough briefly to defeat the villain.

3, Does the character know too much? Data from TNG is a classic example of this. He is a walking computer with damn near limitless knowledge. Sherlock Holmes is a worse example of this, because he didn't have the excuse of being a android to explain his vast knowledge. If the answers come too easily to the protagonist then he becomes too powerful. Modern versions of Holmes have given him severe social problems to counter-act his uber-powered intellect. The storage of all knowledge character is an easy writers tool for getting plot secrets to the protagonist. (Hermione Granger, Mr. Universe, Professor X) Yet again, it's because the writer is stuck. They can't figure out a way for the protagonist to learn the secret, so they introduce a character who already knows it, and just needs the protagonist to ask them.
This is the "Old wise man on the mountain" trope.

The reason Sherlock Holmes knows everything, is because the writers work backwards from the solution to the problem. This is why Holmes makes outrageous jumps in logic, because they are working the problem backwards.

For a better character, try to work out the problem the real way. It makes it harder to deceive the audience, but much more impressive when you do so.


It's very hard to break the mary-sue habit. Eventually you have confront the fact that as an author, it's your job to fuck over the protagonist. If you become too attached to the hero, then you'll be constantly fighting the drift into Mary-Sue.

What I really want to see is an author who is willing to go balls-out and actually kill the protagonist. It happened in Game of Thrones. But they kill off everyone in that series.

No I want to see a heroic sacrifice by the protagonist. Not the redeemed villain, not the anti-hero, not the side-kick. The Hero. The hero always survives the story, almost without exception.

Ironically, until they bribed Holmes's author, he had the distinction of being the only real heroic sacrifice. He died defeating his greatest enemy. It was a worthy death, and the audience loved him even more for it. But they wanted him back.

Don't be afraid to break the audience's heart. If you kill the beloved hero and keep him dead, that character will become truly immortal. An act of sacrifice so perfect that despite their cries to change it, doing so would be a disservice to the character.

What if? America became Hyper-socialist?

Just a preface on this. Unlike most of my writing on this blog, this is actually a work of fiction rather than a opinion piece. The main narrator of the story is me but in a theoretically future somewhere around 2030. I kept all names out of this story with the exception of a fictional cat. Hope you enjoy it. Leave a comment and let me know if you want to read more of my fiction in the future.

The street lights began to flicker on as I exited the rail station. I lived on Pico & Union but I

work on Sunset & Vine. So I have a short train ride to and from work every day. I’m a producer over at Channel 93. These days producers don’t need to worry about money, instead we’re in charge of babysitting the project from script until broadcast.  I was actually really happy to get a channel below 100. I started my television career on Channel 497, one of the porn channels. At least it was less sleazy since they added the pornography regulation and safety laws.

Regardless, I am much happier at Channel 93. We create Sci-Fi and action films. Which is a bit more difficult these days with the strict budgets. Basically it means all of my actors are actually stuntmen, all of my actresses are hired for stunts and tits, and none of them were hired for their acting ability. All of the good actors are on the lower channels, but occasionally we get a good actor who does the movie because they like it.

As I approached my apartment building I reflected upon how much I like this neighborhood. The artistic neighborhoods may be kinda loud, but they are still much better than the technical neighborhoods. I even managed to be in the same building with some of my old friends. My “Life Partner” and I share a double. A nice 10’x15’ space for my spouse and I instead of the standard 10’x10’ single. I always argue that that logically couples should have a 10’x20’ space since singles get 10’x10’ but they never seem to agree with me.

I greeted my wife as I entered our room. She was sitting at her desk writing with our cat on her lap. She leaned back to kiss me and I absently scritched the cat. She asked me about my day while I set my work supplies down on my desk. She’s a novelist so all of her work takes place at home. She likes to hear about my work. The prima-donna actors always make her laugh.

We don’t use money anymore, at least not on a personal scale. Economy is compared by what each state produces and we use that to buy goods and services from each other. My state is comparatively wealthy. We produce a large portion of the technology and entertainment for the rest of the world. we also have the massive solar energy farms out in the desert. So mostly we just buy food and water from the other states. We could use the desalination tech on the ocean, but fresh water is simpler. We turn them on during droughts to provide water for our plants. Helps us keep the price down from Colorado.

We’re not entirely without currency. The government instituted a “Luxury credit” system. Everyone gets a little fun money every year for extra goods or services. Difficult or dangerous jobs get a little more luxury credits than other jobs. It’s the incentive for people to become doctors or lawyers or underwater welders. Of course the luxury system has led to a black market for illegal goods or services. Drugs and prostitution  may be illegal, but if you have luxury credits you can still get them.

I relaxed in my chair and clicked on the TV. The world had changed a lot from what I remember. There are 40 million people living in this state, but our way of life is much different. Before the corporate riots of 2017 and the socialist secession of 2023 the country was bloated with middle managers and people whose entire job was just the manipulation of money. After the riots corporations were outlawed. Wall Street was burned to the ground. Those were some dark days. Many people were killed. Drastic economic upheaval. Most of the corporations were absorbed and repurposed by the U.S. government. It was a major injection of wealth for the government, but most citizens survived on welfare.

The Socialist Secession changed all of that. We re-defined ourselves as a country. When we got rid of money a lot of people were suddenly unemployed. We never thought about it before, but half of American workers made their living manipulating money or separating people from their money.

Overnight we got rid of all salesmen, stockbrokers & telemarketers. Drastic changes had to be made to employ all of these people. First the government started the great public works projects. Cities were torn down and rebuilt, the public rail system was installed. Cars still exist but mostly they are used for cargo and emergency services. Everyone else walks and takes the train.

Next there was the suburban withdrawl. All of the pointless suburbs were replaced with solar fields or wind fields. Everyone moved into the much denser cities. It took awhile. First the cities has to be rebuilt before everyone moved. But it’s a much more stable lifestyle now.

Eventually the major public works projects ran down and we were left with another surplus of workers. So we did two things. First we re-established American manufacturing. American goods are built to last and cost a pretty penny on the foreign market. “Made in America” actually means something again.

Secondly we shifted to a 30 hour work week. I work from 10am until 5pm, Monday through Friday with an hour for lunch. So everyone has more free time. Amusingly, resorts like Disneyland are flourishing in the new system. They provide a much desired service. They entertain us. It also led to the explosion of LA media. When I was younger everyone was outsourcing entertainment away from LA because it was cheaper. Now we’re back in LA because cost is no longer a problem and it’s much more efficient to have us all centrally located.

My station for example is producing movies year-round. We film them either in our building or on location nearby. Then it’s sent across town for editing and FX. Then back to our building for broadcast rotation. Every time we make a new movie it’s added to the rotation. Newer films get more frequent placement but all of our movies get seen.

I look over at my wife and smile. I’m discouraged from calling her that. The definitions of marriage were altered drastically with the new system. The government decided that if two consenting adults want to live together, then fine. Whatever. Sign the paper and here are the keys to your joint apartment. There are even some threesome and foursome life partners. The hardcore religious folks weren’t happy about this, but the concession was made that they can still have their religious husband and wife ceremony. It’s just that in the eyes of the law they are just life partners.

I don’t really care either way. I married my wife before all of the social reforms. I can call her what I want. Or at least what she’ll let me.

The country isn’t entirely socialist. Some of the smaller rural communities  still use money for trade in their town. And of course there is still Las Vegas. People gamble with their luxury credits out there.

Eventually my wife informed me that she was getting hungry so we went downstairs and walked to one of the neighborhood diners. We decided on Chinese tonight. The diners function basically like always active cafeterias, but since money was taken out of the picture the quality of food has been up across the board.

After dinner we joined our friends in our building’s rec room to chat for a couple hours. My wife brought her computer down for a bit so she could chat with her internet friends while remaining social with our real life friends.

Some people like to bitch about our way of life now. They say it’s too restrictive and they miss the opportunity to be a billionaire. I disagree. The way we used to be, we were miserable. 99% of us never had a chance to be a billionaire. It just wasn’t possible. We worked and slaved all day just to get by. Now we have options. Tomorrow I could decide that what I really want to be is a lawyer. I could quit my job and enroll in law school and my quality of life wouldn’t change. I’d just change my job title from “Producer” to “full-time student”. Or if I wanted to work in two fields, I could split my hours. I could work 20 hours a week at my current job and 10 hours a week writing a book, or teaching, or whatever I want.

Regardless of what I do, my life remains the same. The only people who are screwed  are those who refuse to take a job of any kind. Even being the primary caregiver to children is considered a full-time job. As it rightly should. If you are too lazy to do anything, then I have no pity for you. I’ll wish you farewell when the government deports you for being a shithead. Hell, there are plenty of people who are registered permanently disabled/ invalid for work. Usually people with severe mental handicaps. Those people get full government support and are accepted into our society. Yes they are a drain on our resources, but we support them because if we were in their shoes we’d want the same support.

Criminality has also changed drastically. Everyone has to have a job of some kind, but criminals tend to do their illegal activities in addition as a way to increase their luxury without paying luxury credits. Theft is especially common in certain neighborhoods. Some people are too trusting of their neighbors and leave their doors unlocked while they use the restroom or take a shower. My wife and I have a cat, so we’re especially cautious about locking our door. Yes, if the cat goes missing the government will replace it. But it won’t be the same cat.

Specifically irreplaceable items we especially like to keep safely secured. Most of my belongings are easily replaced, but some of my items from before the secession you just can’t find anymore.

Eventually the evening began to wind down. The Mrs. and I made our way back to our room. I changed into PJ’s and she went to go shower.

I will admit, the public restrooms were the biggest change to get used to. The shower and toilet stalls all have real doors and real locks on them. They’re just communal. So you don’t have a bathroom in your own apartment, but there is a bunch of communal toilets just down the hall. Our building has a special courtesy sign on the doors. You flip the sign over to signify that you left some foul odors in that particular stall, or some ridiculous mess. Everyone is suppose to be responsible for their own mess, but sometimes you need to run downstairs for the cleaning supplies.

I will say, the small changes make all the difference. Because the buildings weren’t constructed by the lowest bidding contractor, they were actually built properly. All the walls are properly insulated and have sound dampening. It makes it feel like when you close your door, that you are actually alone, despite sharing the floor with 30 other people. The standardized features also help. All buildings have laundry, air-conditioning, high-speed wifi, Hard line TV, etc. Our building even has a roof garden to cut down on the heat during the summer. And due to the Americans with disabilities act, all buildings have working elevators. Granted, we only live on the third floor so we usually take the stairs, but moving is much easier with elevators.

Although moving is much easier now. Last time we moved we just grabbed a moving cart from the basement of our new apartment, loaded it with our duffle bags, computers, cat carrier and musical instruments. And we were good to go. We pushed the cart two blocks to the rail station, took the train to our stop, then pushed it another block to the apartment. The whole process took less than an hour. Once we got here my wife set up the room and unpacked while I went down to the basement to return the cart and acquire our bedding and towels. By the time I got back Artemis, our cat, was already lounging on the bed, like she was claiming it all for herself and we humans could sleep on the floor.

Artemis was rather put out when we made her move.

Curling up in bed with my wife, I talked with her about how much our lives had changed. We’re old enough to remember the bad times. We remember the riots, we remember the constant poverty. But we were young enough that we could adapt to the change. Much of the older generation retired early or moved to rural communities because they couldn’t handle the new lifestyle.

But we could. We got through it and now we enjoy our lives. My wife is almost finished with the first draft of her new book. Once she finishes we’re going to use our mandatory vacation days and go on an adventure. And our only concern is whether to bring Artemis with us or leave her with one of our friends.

I can live with that.