Change? Really?

The republicrats just won't give up. And here I thought the new president was not going to do stuff like this. I think people have been "hope-notized":

White House Drafts Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects

SC governor: he dropped out

The Associated Press: SC governor's whereabouts unknown, even to wife: "'He was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids,' Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press while vacationing with the couple's four sons at their Sullivans Island beach house. She said she didn't know where he was, but wasn't concerned."

Wow...I can't wait to see what happens next.

Happiness.

Happiness. What is it, really? At freedomainradio.com, there is a video podcast entitled "Happiness, pt.1." Stefan Molyneux says that happiness is derived from living a moral, honest, self-actualized life, and appreciating the people that are part of that.

Happiness is not "stuff," nor is it money...it's being honest with yourself in your life. So I've been thinking more about this (arg, she's thinking again!). Am I being honest if I don't have my name on this blog? Am I missing out on deeper happiness by not identifying myself?

I've never put my name on this blog for two main reasons. My first reason was that when I started writing this, I lived in a small town that was prone to violent reprisals against outsider non-Mormons that were critical of anything going on there in any way. I didn't want to put my property, my dog, or my business at risk of unnecessary idiocy (dog killings were a common manner in which to settle perceived slights in Escalante). The second reason I didn't want to attach my name to this blog was that I owned a business that relied heavily on people that were more liberal than conservative, and this blog is undoubtedly more conservative than liberal (although, ironically, in the Southwest my beliefs are considered more liberal).

So am I less happy because I have not honestly identified myself here, in this e-place? I've been nothing but honest here. This blog is a complete testament to the human being that I am--the good, the bad, the weird. I am a modern transcendentalist, a freedom and liberty lover, and a believer in the lessons that being in nature can teach you.

Everything here is me. If you are scared of me, or don't agree with some of the things I've written, then I haven't lost anything by not identifying myself in a more open manner here. Now, let's say I had put my name on this, that everyone in the whole wide world knew that "DFSLD LFRVN" wrote this funny, weird blog and talked about her thoughts and the world, and her perception of it. And let's say that, for the sake of a more interesting argument, that my boss is really, really liberal, and maybe petty enough to, let's say, look for other reasons to let me go from my job, but that the real reason was because I wrote this blog and it was easily identifiable. It may be a far-fetched scenario, but these days, not really. What favor would I have done for myself by honestly putting my full legal name here?

I would have done no favors for myself by doing that. I am not a public person, per se, with the exception of the blog here. I am not on TV. I am not trying to get people to look at me, follow me, read me, or any of the above. This blog is not monetized. It is just the outpouring of writing that I do because I love to write, and I am not bad at it.

People may draw all kinds of conclusions by my writing. But since my name is not on it, I've not lost anything by sharing this with strangers who have not yet met me, and perhaps never will. My friends and my family are the only people that read this regularly, and they know me well and love me anyway. My relationship to them is non-negotiable. We love each other for who we are, differences and common ground alike. In that manner, I have lived, and continue to communicate, in the most open and honest way that it possible. When you read something that is written, you are literally in that person's mind as you read their words. In that regard, if true happiness is derived from living and communicating your personal truth, I should be the happiest person on the planet! I have been writing this blog for five years and have ranted, raved, bitched, moaned, complimented, loved, and self-realized via my words the current events, people, places, politics, economics, religion, and state of the planet through the filter that is my soul.

I am very proud of my writing, too. Sometimes I go searching for an old entry I wrote, and I get lost reading other stuff in my blog because it's interesting and entertaining. I've been exceedingly honest here, and that makes me very happy.

I've considered seriously, at other times in the past, about putting my name on this blog because I am proud of it in a certain way. But I always end up deciding against doing it because I am a paranoid person at times, and I would be worried all the time about what people thought about me, and I would wonder if people treated me a certain way because of something I wrote last week. That would not make me a more happy person...I would be miserable and possibly living a personal hell.

I'm not hiding anything. I don't have dangerous, extremist, violent tendencies (unless thinking that people having more freedom is considered extremist). My family is not necessarily worried for me, or think I'm too crazy (a little crazy, maybe). I am all that can be read in this blog, and of course, even more than that in person. But I am who I am, and I have realized that I cannot "go there" and put my real, whole name here. I just can't. Is it being dishonest? Perhaps some people think so. But it doesn't make me any less happy.

Go check out some of the podcasts at Freedomainradio.com. You may not agree fully with Stefan, but you will be entertained, and intrigued.

Gold...what's the deal?

I met a few people last year that were stricken with a very human (and very real) condition known as gold fever. They were passionate, earnest, and very serious about their belief that gold was the only thing that investors should be buying.

What is it about gold? Why isn't foil more valuable? It certainly has more uses. Why do people like yellow shiny stuff? What is this obsession? I can't feel the same about gold that most people do. I'm not a big jewelry fan (it's not the kind of real estate I prefer). To me, gold is okay, I guess. It's metal. It's shiny. It's pretty. To others, it's precious. Pressssssshhhhusssssssss! I find it strange--strange!--that people are so enchanted by this metal; the attraction seems so primordial, so animal.

Everyone that has gold fever has their reasons for buying it. If people are buying gold as something that could be used in lieu of currency in a crisis situation, I'm not sure that walking around with a bunch of gold to buy water, money, or medicine would really work out if society was falling apart. Sounds dangerous. It also sounds like a stockpile of antibiotics might be much more valuable.

If people are buying gold as an investment, they need to consider that its value is connected to retail prices indirectly. If you take into account that the price of an ounce of gold has roughly equaled the price of a really nice suit throughout most of the 20th century, the fall of the Men's Warehouse (MW) stock last week might be an indicator that the price of gold might be coming down. Or maybe its value is only the cost of labor to dig it out of the ground and melt it into a pretty coin or a ring, but the cost of that is going down, too. It's rarely used in durable goods. Mostly, its value comes from the retail value of jewelry, a luxury item. Folks seem to be cutting back on the purchase of luxury items of late.

It is possible that the purchasing pandemic that is gold fever may have finally broken. But as long as humans have a need to possess shiny metal stuff, there will be a market for gold.

I want to move again.

I suppose, since I have no children, moving is alright. I've been in Louisville now for just over two years, and after a two week escape to New Mexico, I am ready to move again.

Moving is stressful. Moving is a pain in the ass. Moving with three cats is crazy. And stressful. I said that. I know.

But the genteel-southerner-meets-white-bread-mid-west vibe and the horrible allergy nightmare that is the Ohio River Valley have both my husband and I ready, willing, and able to jump ship--and we're looking hard at the southwest. Again (Utah not included).

I appreciated the New Orleans genteel southern vibe. There was a dark, Caribbean flavor to it that made me hot and willing to just hang out in New Orleans to see what unfolded--crime be damned. I could have lived there in a heartbeat.

Not my husband. So we're here in Louisville because of his family. Now he can't wait to leave. It's so ironic.

And this after I've found the coolest corporate job ever...minus the problem of being laid off on Fridays due to lack of jobs coming into the firm. I am still a huge fan of my current employer and am so happy to have had this incredible experience. If we move, leaving this company will be a sad regret, I think. I will make every offer and do whatever is in my power to stay on.

So we explored southern New Mexico on our road trip, the stomping grounds of my husband's youth. We saw mesas and mountains, white sands and blue creeks, bright sun and gray rain. We wandered the Gila. We looked at Silver City, Tularosa, and even stopped in Ruidoso Downs to check in on some family-held real estate that no one had been able to find for a few years. Turns out the street's name had been changed to--get this--Escalante. You could have knocked us both over with a feather. We had a good laugh.

Ruidoso did not make the top of our list, though. Silver City did with its sweet university, happening business district, and proximity to the nation's oldest wilderness area.

We will keep an open mind, though. Because we do want to start our own business again, and location will have to be a key factor. The town will matter--we learned that the hard way in Utah.

However, a small gnawing question has been pressing on me lately. I'm not sure it really matters, but...a part of me wants to go and see what's going down in New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die state. I can feel that it might be a great place to land, winter notwithstanding, for someone with my particular political leanings.