Mumblings of a moron

Memphis by Tara M Stringfellow

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

If you have any emotions whatsoever, this book will smack each of them in the face with the power of the story and the writing. The story of three generations of a black Memphis family - mainly from the women's point of view - and how racism, violence, love and anger have driven the extraordinary mother's and girls to do the best they can.

The writing style is brilliant, extremely engaging. Local vernacular used as and when, and not overused to make it a difficult read as others have done. I believe the author is a poet in her other works, and whereas this is a full blown novel the descriptions of people and places were poetic in nature.

What a boring god-damned title. But unfortunately that’s what’s getting my goat at the moment.

Tomorrow is the local elections for the Surrey County Council - Woking currently has 6 or 7 councillors on the board with one Lib Dem. All over Surrey is something like 75% Tory.

And what have these so-called party of the people done for Woking, and Surrey as a whole? Carluccio’s, Bill’s, Las Iguanas and a nice square in Woking town. Whilst the roads around the town continue to deteriorate, or they get fixed and within a couple of months are back to coming apart.

I’m just a left leaning liberal from across the pond, but with the recent elections, and the run up to, everyone has an opinion on the shit that went down, is going down, and will continue to crumble down around you over the next four years.

First things first. Trump won. And he won based on the rules of American constitutional democracy. The collegiate voting system probably needs to change, but it hasn’t, so suck it up.

Now that this orange lunatic has got into power the people and the opposition has to hold him to account. Having violent demonstrations does nothing for the liberal cause, if anything it gives the Right even more reasons to look down on you with scorn.

But the Right really need to get the fuck off their high horse. “Whinging left wingers”, “cry babies” blah blah blah. Welcome to the world of The Donald Trump playground arguments. The “Hamilton” play situation highlights the bullshit sprouting from the Right. “How dare they speak to the Vice-President elect like that!”; “Obama never received anything like that!”. Well...I’m afraid Obama did. Far-right wingers and tea-partyites were burning effigys of Obama in 2008. The morning of the 2008 election, a noose was found hanging from a tree at Baylor University in Texas. A Wichita pastor had put up a sign on his church calling Obama a Muslim and said that his victory was a "sin." In the two weeks after Obama's 2008 win, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented hundreds of hate crimes against minorities by Americans outraged that a black man could be President of the United States.There were student protests in Mississippi in 2012. Pence walking into a theatre in NYC would be like Obama going to a Rodeo in Texas...image the response he woulda got there? Yeah...you can bet your bottomed out lowered currency dollar on he would have been received!

Although the actors stepped over the line by singling out Pence, what they had to say was genuine and delivered in a calm and clear way to the VP to be. And the First  Amendment is for the right to free speech, and that’s what the Hamilton cast utilised. Trump’s Twitter response, though, What a fucking nightmare that man is, and is the one of many aspects of his personality that screams he should not be the President of the United States. Having yet another online breakdown, not allowing anyone to dare question him and his allies, and making up lies (and deleting them - something about the cast forgetting lines...).

And today I see another story coming from the Right about a school in San Antonio who’s students did a skit around what would happen if Trump was assassinated. And the usual fake news/click bait sites are widely being shared on Facebook. Although Snopes have confirmed the story to be true, and apparently two students have been reprimanded, the Right is losing their shit about “liberals” yet again. There’s a ton of movies around fictional assassinations of Presidents (including those in office at the time) yet that’s all it is - fiction. This is not promoting violence. I think you’ll find Trump loves a bit of the old promotion of violence going by his rallies in the run up to the elections -  “There may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience,” Trump warned people at a rally in Iowa in Feb. “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.”  Trump has even threatened to personally get in on the action. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya,” he said of a protester on Feb. 22. Last year a video showed a gang of men kicking and punching a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama.When asked about the Alabama incident, Trump blamed the victim. “Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”

The problem with all this...we’re also seeing reports of Trump fans being beaten in the streets for wearing pro-Trump gear. This is just not on. The US is heading in a direction it hasn’t seen since the ‘60′s, and this time I’m not sure it’s gonna stop.

The Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) are literally on a kamikaze mission to defeat Corbyn and, ultimately, themselves.

First off we had the change in rules of who could vote in the Leadership contest. The Labour website clearly stated, well into July, that if you signed up to the Party there and then you were still eligible to vote. Then the PLP and NEC realised the hundreds of thousands of new members were mainly Corbyn supporters so they change the rules. You have to have been a member since at least January 12th 2016. This in itself was knocking on the door if illegality, with a couple of members winning in court, for the NEC to win an appeal and get the decision overturned. This then forced new members who still wanted a vote to pay £25 to be come a registered “supporter”. I was one of these people. I paid my money, received more than one email confirming my Supporter status was accepted and that I would receive a ballot for the vote. The deadline day to receive the ballot came and went. After chasing up I then receive an email from the NEC - my Supporter status has been revoked! For “social media support of the Green Party” - they have not provided any proof of this (as I believe they’re supposed to) and there’s no mention of a refund of my £25. I am chasing this up through various channels, but it’s an absolute bloody disgrace. Yes, I have retweeted messages from the Green Party over a year ago in the run up to the last General Election - there were probably a couple of Lib Dem posts as well as numerous Labour ones - but as Miliband couldn’t string a coherent argument against the Tories and the Greens were doing his job for him, am I to stay quiet and not help call out the Tories fuckawful policies? Miliband was too busy erecting his 10 commandments in stone…

What Labour and the NEC fail to realise with this purge is what the Private Sector already knows and is bread and butter for them. Any perceived slight against a member of the public is not just bad PR, but it’s turning away a potential customer. By purging thousands of members and supporters, some like me who historically hasn’t voted Labour in General Elections due to the candidates and their politics at that time, and who follow the core Labour values…well…you’re pushing us away.If this is the type of Democracy they want then they need to bugger off to Russia.

Which is kinda ironic when you think about it. Anti-Corbynism is always slanted to him being a commie, a red, a hard left socialist. And the new members signing up to vote for him, and people of the Momentum group, get “Trots” and “Trotsky's” thrown at them. And who was it that put down the Trotsky’s in the first part of the 20th Century? Stalin…that man who shat on democracy and pushed forward a fascist communism that killed and tortured circa 50 million people. So those shouting “commie bastard” are enacting the biggest commie bastard of them all.

“WHAT?!?!” This was pretty much the response from my boss at work when I said I’d signed up to the Labour Party to vote for Corbyn to remain as the Labour leader.

“All those voting for Corbyn are like the Brexiteers – they think they know what they want but there’s no leadership at all!”. By trying to fling me in with that Leave crowd was a tad harsh, but this just highlights Blairite and anti-Corbyn shit that has been sprouted by the Murdoch Media (that same media who wanted to LEAVE the fucking EU!).

“Corbyn is no leader”. What is a leader? Someone who gains respect from the man in the street? Someone who inspires the young , the working class, the anti-establishment? Well…our man ticks all those boxes so far. And when the Right Wing media want to take this man down so much it should make you stand up and question why…

Since he’s been the leader of the Labour party (which he won with over 60% of Membership vote) Labour maintained and won seats in the council elections (oh, and over 85% of Labour councilors back Corbyn, unlike MP’s who never wanted him there in the first place), beat the Tories to the London Mayor on the back of a very dirty Conservative campaign and defeated the Tories on cuts to tax credits and Personal Independence Payments for disabled people, as well as on their plans to force all schools to become academies.

What the PLP are doing to the Labour party right now is close on suicide. With Brexit, the Tory leadership ,Johnson and Farage and everything else…it was the time to get behind Corbyn to push the party ahead. MP’s are there to represent the people that voted them in…and the Labour membership overwhelmingly support Jeremy so therefore those Blairites should have got behind their democratically elected leader. Blaming the Brexit vote on a lackluster performance from Mr. Corbyn is not an excuse. Yes, he pushed for a Remain vote, most probably against his better judgement. But he backed Remain for the greater good of the party. And to be honest…who better to lead the country in negotiations than someone who’s been fighting for a better EU and rebelling against it for the past 30 years?

Back to Brexit. Didn’t Mr. Corbyn’s constituency actually vote to Remain, even though he’s been accused of not pushing for it? Of all those MP’s who’ve quit in the past month to pressure Jeremy out, how many of their constituencies voted to Remain? Pretty sure it’s damn low.

The Labour membership has TREBLED over the past couple of months, and it’s Jeremy Corbyn that has given people hope and faith back in the Labour party. I personally have never voted Labour at a General Election, even though I’m the perfect Labour mold. South East England council estate upbringing to working class Irish Catholic’s…but my first General Election was 2001. I was not a fan of Blair in ’97 and his tendencies to be a Tory salesman with no depth didn’t endear him to me. Lib Dem’s got my vote. 2005 and I couldn’t vote for anyone as the options were just horrendous so I spoilt my ballot paper. 2010 and I still couldn’t vote for Labour under Brown. Himself and himself had hurt the country over the previous 10 years – global recessions didn’t help – so I went with the Lib Dems. Onto 2015 and unfortunately we had Ed Milliband as leader…he may as well have been under the Conservative party. The PLP dare to say Corbyn is no leader when Milliband was their previous choice? Crikey…

Innie or Outtie? Use your gut – vote based on your belly button. This might as well be the case with the campaigns of both the #BetterOffIn and the #VoteLeave campaigners. Unsubstantiated “facts” being thrown around by both sides which is either pissing off voters or bringing out arrogance.

When #Brexit first came on the agenda I was initially on the out side. Why? Mainly because I feel that any kind of revolution, especially against this Tory government and the so-called bureaucracy of Europe, can only be a good thing. But as I look into the arguments of both sides, even though a small part of me respects and appreciates a lot of the arguments of the outties, it only makes sense to stay in.

Immigration! Foreigners! Too many people screwing over the NHS and housing!!!! These are the only arguments of Farage, Johnson, Gove and the outties. These are all bullshit points that are easily debunked for the need to remain.

Close the borders! Immigration has been a key argument for the outers, although some of the rhetoric is clearly xenophobic and racist (Farage has just said on live TV that limiting EU migrants would help us get more black people in (speaking to a black audience member – he’s such a fucking moron)). If we pull out of the EU we WILL negotiate to trade with the EU…and part of having to trade with the EU means we have to agree to some form of free movement of people from EU citizens…! Yes – we need to revolutionize and reform the EU, and the free movement of people is one of them. But we cannot push for reform from outside.

£350M a week fees to the EU! I get annoyed with these massive figures being bandied around as how the fuck can we really relate to them? Also #voteleave know this £350M is a red herring, as it doesn’t take into account rebates and financial incentives etc. But to be fair, £200M a week is quite a bloody lot as well!!!!  Do you really believe if we pulled out that £200M+ would go straight into our public services?

 Immigration will barely change due to having to sign up to EU Single Market. We would have to agree to free movement of people (see Norway) so there goes those nasty foreigners. We will have to pay into that EU Single Market. So there goes some of that £350M.

 The NHS is under threat if we stay in the EU! TTIP!!!! A lot of people didn’t have a clue about TTIP until recently – I’m proud to have been sharing links and petitions on this for the past year. People power has brought this disgusting trade agreement into the public domain – and due to this the Tory Government has done one of the only good things since being in Parliament…got agreement that the NHS would not be affected if TTIP came into effect. Also France has now voted down TTIP so this is dead in the water.

The NHS is under pressure due to immigrants. I dunno about that…the NHS is clearly on its knees but I think that is down to cuts and closures forced on us by this dangerous government. EU Migrants have proven to be net contributors to the UK – they pay more in tax than they take out in benefits and the use of the NHS. Cameron has also got agreement from the EU that migrants cannot claim unemployment benefits if out of work and has to go home if no job within 6 months; they also have to work for 4 years before they can make in-work claims.

Farming and fisheries. These are probably the biggest arguments for voting out. Our farming industry gets massive rebates from the EU…but from what I understand this is money the UK put in in the first place! Our fishing industry is nothing what it was compared to 30 years ago as the EU has given “British” waters to other EU members to fish in, and imposed restrictions due to a decrease in fish stocks. This is where reform has to happen, but again has to come from within the EU.

The EU makes all our laws! Again, there’s a lot of stats and figures being spouted from between 20% to 70% of our laws coming from Brussels (or is it Strasburg?). But some of those laws that have come into effect: paternity and maternity leave; sick pay; holiday pay; equal workers rights for part timers vs. full timers; health cover when on holiday within the EU; compensation from flight companies for delays/cancellations; consumer rights; cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime; mobile phone tariffs on holiday in the EU

The UK pays more into the EU than any other member state...overall we’re second in terms of net contribution behind Germany. But on a per-head basis we’re 8th, so no, we’re not the biggest spenders. Leavers say that UK money is propping up the poor eastern European countries within the 28 members...this point makes me think of our own income tax. Do you think higher earners should pay more tax to help subsidize our welfare state? Because that’s how I view these stats on membership payments.Oh, and another piece of shitty scaremongering from the outers is the threat of Albania, Turkey etc. joining the EU. They’ve been on the table for 10 years and are nowhere near closer to joining. It will not happen. Get over it,

Last July I was taking the family for a three week trip around Ireland - literally around the whole thing. With such a trip in mind you don’t want any stress just before, and during, the flight over.

Now, this post isn't *just* slagging off of BA in general...we use them a few times a year going to Ireland plus numerous work trips. But their behaviour and lack of responsibility in this case is outstanding.

The main issue is partly my fault - I hold my hands up to that - but at the end of the day BA’s site is not clear on certain things and they need to admit this.

Passports for infants: the main section of the BA site does state that passports are required for under 2′s; however there is no mention of this in the UK and Rep. Ireland section. They then link off to the IATA Travel Centre for those who are not sure...and this site states children up to/incl 16 can enter under their parents passports.

Now...the timeline of fuck ups: Flight due to Dublin early Friday morning. Get a text Thursday afternoon to say flight was cancelled (no reason why - although a friend at BA insinuates they didn’t have enough planes available that day); checking online they've rebooked us for an afternoon flight on the Friday - but we needed to be at a wedding at 1PM...manage to get a flight that night, Thursday. With 4 hours notice, a 4 year old running riot and a tired, hungry 6 month old, 2 empty suitcases and me to deal with  - the wife managed to get us all sorted. Get to the airport in good time (now check this out) we check in at the desk, the lad (literally must have been 18) hands over our boarding cards and sends some luggage down the chute...THEN asking us if the baby has a passport. “Of course not!” I reply, “We’ve done this flight before with an infant, no problems. Plus your site didn’t specify anything”. After a phone call to Immigration he insists we cannot fly to Dublin without one. “Fuck my life”, I may have mumbled moronically under my breath (see that? Mumbled moronically??!! Mumbling moron!?!?! ahem). “But you’ve also sent our luggage down!”. Well...tough was the reply, pretty much. We could hang around an hour or so and wait for them to be sent back up. Standing there trying not to blow a goddamned fucking fuse and jump over the desk to pound the ackney ridden little twat around the face...I took a deep breath...and had a brainwave. Belfast. Were there any flight that night for Belfast? Unfortunately not, only the first one out the next morning. So with some bags already heading to the plane, the mother-in-law also waiting for us the other side of security...I took the decision to send the wife and the boy (4 yr old) off to Dublin that night, and I would fly with my little princess to Belfast the next morning, drive down to Dublin and be in time for the wedding! Christ sakes...wasn’t even like it was my own big day, but...you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes! So BA rebook me for the next day (nice lady at the desk to be fair), say goodbye to half my family then cab it back home to Woking with the little lady. Now...she was still partly breast fed at this point so was a bit of a worry, but thankfully she went down fine with a bottle (and was fine with one in the morning - not sure it was so easy for the missus!).

God bless Hertz for 1) changing my car hire from the Friday to the Thursday with short notice 2) then changing it again back to the Friday morning but to Belfast instead!

I contacted BA that Thursday night stating out the balls up, and was expecting some sort of reply before I got home three weeks later. And did I? Nope, don’t be silly. Manage to get a direct customer service email address, start tweeting them but still another 2 weeks before I even get a response. And did they accept responsibility for the unclear online info re: infant passports? No. Did they accept responsibility for the lad at the desk for not doing his job properly in the first instance? Nope. Did they bring up the initial cancelled flight? Nope. After months of either no or slow response, and no acknowledgement of the above two points I again bring up the cancelled flights. They agreed to pay 50% of the max compensation available (max is €250 per person) for wifey and the wee man. Scarlett wasn’t valid due to the passport issue. And I apparently wasn’t valid as I never flew to Dublin - although my flight was still cancelled! One last point on the cancellation compensation...I mentioned the mother-in-law. She was on the same initial flight, which got cancelled, and was then on the wife’s flight. She claimed comp after finding out we got some, and she was declined. I then gave her my case references etc. and they then paid her. Absolute scumbags for trying to flog her off.

So from my first contact to receiving some form of compensation (but no apology or acceptance in their part of the crap) it only took 3 1/2 months, 20 odd tweets and 5 direct messages, plus around 10 mails either via their online form or emails. 

Moral of the story - don’t get fobbed off by BA. If a cancelled flight falls within the compensation criteria (http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm) then make sure you take time out to put a claim in.

Bush to Obama it really don’t matter, The guns keep on booming and the masses just chatter. Left wing, right wing – accusing mutters. At the end of the day we’ve all got nutters.

Blair to Cameron, they’re literally the same. They’d fuck your wife, shit on your kids and give you the blame. Whilst all the same, shaking your hand saying “ economy’s well” When all they want is the sick, poor and disabled to go to hell.

Along comes Corbyn and Bernie Sanders too, Lets say to the Establishment – FUCK YOU. Some of their policies might make them seem like wankers, But at least they’re not giving a handjob to the bankers.

“What’s the point in voting? The same old pricks just get in power anyway”

Well...if you don’t bother getting off your fat arse to go to a polling station and put a little X next to the *person you want to represent you in Parliament then fair enough. If you don’t vote then you've veto’d your right to bitch and moan about the scumbags at the top.

Now - I just said the person you want to represent you. Unfortunately the way it goes in the UK is people end up voting for the “party” they want to run the country - even if their local representative is a complete twat. How does the political landscape currently look in the UK? Well - here’s my take on the main parties:

- Conservatives: complete Eton, public school boy toffy nosed rah rah twats. However, they've done a sterling job at bringing our economy out of the global recession and the economical fuckup left to them by Labour. BUT the working class are proper being screwed over, the middle class seem to be business as usual and the upper class are rolling in more dough.

- Labour; same old Eton, public school boy toffy nosed rah rah twats. But the history of the Labour party is to fight for the rights of the working class - although if you check what Labour MP’s have voted for over the past 5 years it’s not been that different than the Tories. Their big manifesto claim right now is to save the NHS from privatization...HOLD UP! Who was it that first sold off 5% off the public services of the NHS? What? The Labour party in the last government? Cazart! Now shut the fuck up Milliband, stop patronizing people with your “ain’t gonna do this, ain’t gonna do that” speak you absolute tool. If there was another leader in place Labour would likely get my vote...

- Liberal Democrats; I quite like their party political broadcast around “look left, look right, X the middle”; i.e. forget the left and right loonies, vote in the Lib Dems to maintain the middle ground, and give them enough votes to help sway a decision in a hung parliament. The unfortunate thing is they’ve just had 5 years to sway the Tories away from some of the harsh cuts and hacking away of social care...plus there’s that “ we will not raise University tuition fees” which really blew up in their face. Again, Lib Dems would possibly get my vote if they hadn’t fucked up so much with the tuition fees

- Green Party; I really like a lot of their policies - extremely liberal who go against the grain of normal stuffy politics who have some great ideas, and not just around the environment. Proper campaigners for the NHS, against TTIP (which no one else is talking about) and against Trident (the nuclear weapons we have to put people off nuking us...yes...of course....) Just a shame the “leader” is a tad lame with an annoying voice who is always on the cusp of tears

- UKIP; not even going to give these scumbags any of my time. If you vote for them you are a Sun/Mirror/Express reading fuck-knuckle who believes any anti-immigration story because you are inherently racist

Fuck all that. We need proportional representation....but until that happens you should be voting for the MP who you think will best cover your needs locally, not the party they work for. I’m voting Green: our current MP is Jonathan Lord, ultimate Tory boy FOR TTIP and more NHS privatization and frankly doesn’t give a fuck about the Tory council threatening to force me to sell my home so they can knock down my estate to rebuild more expensive houses to get rid of “scroungers” they don’t want living on their watch. If they can do this to Sheerwater (knocking down 600 houses (150 private) to build 900 (450 private) and moving those single dwellers to other areas then it can happen to you. Even if you’re in a mainly nice area.

This leads me on to the local council elections. I’ve been helping the Independent candidate, Ian Vousden, to campaign with flyer drops, as he is actively fighting the “redevelopment” aka social cleansing - and who else should represent the public on the council than a member of the Public?

Don't worry. I'm not going to kid myself that I'll be able to keep up a daily blog for a year; to have the audacity to think that people would want to read the shit that dribbles out of my fingers, or to be able to even amuse myself.

But I have the rage. And the urge to write. Something...anything! So coming soon: Life update from this buffoon; dry January; drivers who don't know how to fucking drive; Local councillors and CEO's of councils and anything else that erupts from the grey matter scattered between my ears.

Suicide. Mental Health. Issues which are touchy subjects and tend not to get discussed. Which is a bad thing, as it shouldn't be a taboo subject. But...when things are no longer taboo then generally they're open to jokes, which is some people's way of dealing with it or desensitizing it.

Now, twice in three days I've been delayed on the trains due to jumpers, Not people getting their pullovers trapped in doors, or their Angora-haired top falling on the line (better excuse than leaves on the line I guess). Apparently both "fatalities" where jumpers - people who couldn't live with themselves or others anymore and wanted to take an easy way out. Or driven by mental health.

I didn't complain either time, just commented on the fact there would be delays. And on Saturday I was pretty fucking annoyed as the train I was waiting for finally arrived....only to then change the service and wouldn't be stopping where it was suppose to. I got a bit of flack off of some moron's on Twitter as they perceived me to having a whinge.

"

Paul Hayes ‏@Paaaaaaaaaul5 Oct

@SW_Trains my train from woking to fboro arrives, 45mins late. Then they announce its no longer stop. at fboro. #scumbags"

This is what started off some "banter" from @Orient_Spidey who took that as being pissed off with the jumper. We should be thinking of the poor soul that jumped, and his/her family. And it's selfish to want to get on with your own life. No. No. And no. What about the poor driver who's going to feel forever guilty? What about the passengers that just seen/heard/felt someone get run over? Oh, sorry. No, We must ONLY think of the selfish person, albeit who's clearly drowning in their own despair. 

Counselling doesn't work for everyone. Even after sessions people still have the need to take their lives. And this is a sad fact of life. I've had a friend who's tried to commit suicide, who disappeared for over a week and we had to get a police search. Counselling has done him wonders, but I know not everyone is the same. Another school friend did take his own life, and it's so upsetting. But life, for the rest of us (including the victims' family) HAS to go on.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this now; apart from if you feel you have nothing left, nothing to live for and death is the only release...why do it in such a way which impacts hundreds of people! 

"Why are you annoyed that you weren't invited? You're the one that left the company..."

One of the responses I've had when voicing my displeasure at being un/not invited to the Holiday Autos final party. Originally I was apparently on the invite list, as someone who had left within the past 12 months. But on the condition that I don't "rile other people up" and not take the event for what it is: a celebration of people and a company. Although most of the people still there have only been there a few years and haven't a fucking clue what it means to be proud of HA.

Anyway. It then turns out I wasn't invited at all. It was changed to current staff and those that had left in 2013. So...I was a month and a bit too early in leaving! Although I was told I could "sneak in" later in the night as long as I "respected the cause and not speak out". The fucking cheek of it.

Why am I annoyed? 'cos I was still more passionate about that company and brand then some of the people so-called running the thing, even after leaving. 11 years of my time went in to that place, and a little bit of recognition at the end woulda been nice. Yeah, I'm an egotistical fucktard as well as a mumbling moron. But hey, who isn't? And I only left due to the lack of respect (including pay) from the management...which apparently was on purpose to ensure I got out of there and wasn't dragged into the redundancies (if you can believe that! 10 years of under-paying is pretty good planning on their behalf!).

I may have had a wee rant here and there about how Holiday Autos and it's employees were treated (like mushrooms are treated, in shit), but I've spoke and drunk with quite a few of the people there since the announcement and I'm pretty sure no one's said anything against me. So here's the ironic part. I abso-fucking-lutely take it personally when I hear shit like this said about me. But....BUT!...anything I write on here is purely frustration, and my little place in the world to rant away. And not to be taken personally. 

Anyway, come October there's apparently a proper HA reunion being planned. Let's hope it is. Real, that is, with some proper old school faces who gave and still give a shit about what it meant to be apart of brand HA. And not some job-hopping prick that was there for a year or so...