The Dark Furie

My body is revolting. Hey, stop that. That's not what I meant at all. It's not funny!
*sets a trap on the yes smiley so everyone who uses it swaps genders, especially if they have whiskers*

8% Hypochondriac

While your physical health isn't always perfect, you don't freak out about it. You know there's only so much you can do, and worrying doesn't change anything. Your mental health is in check... which is key to having tip top physical health. There's no way you're worrying yourself to death!

Take This Test Yourself

As I was trying to say, my system is revolting against me and has been these past few days. I've had constipation and diarrhoea on and off, sometimes at the same time which is just unfair. Waves of nausea keep hitting me, usually at mealtimes which is again unfair. I've also been experiencing a lot of lower back pain. The whole thing has pretty much left me wiped out (in more ways than one) these past couple of days.

That's the funny thing about pain. I'm in almost constant pain due to a back injury from years ago but because it's constant that has become my normal state and, if it stopped I'd probably feel worse before realising I was better. Unfortunately it takes a lot of concentration and effort to control this amount of pain, something that has become second nature and not really a conscious act. This means that I can lead a pretty normal life but, when I'm hit with other pains if they're large enough they divert my energies and every pain comes back as if new again, including my old back injury. Bit of a bastard really.

Anyway I'm mostly over what's been affecting me these past few days and the pain is starting to subside. I managed to enjoy a perfectly cooked roast chicken dinner earlier and that's what this post is really about. In between munching succulent chicken skin soaked in delicious gravy, I remembered the thing that made me realise that genetically engineering animals is a good thing for the future. It was the image of a chicken with six legs. For all my talk of growing replacement transplant parts on the recipient, all I really want is a chicken with extra legs. Embarrassing eh? You guys ever realise the reasons behind your standards and morals are a little more self-centred than you thought?

You there, come closer and listen to my tale. Hurry up, I don't have all day and it's very rare that I'm this open about myself.

On November 12th 1977, the world changed and, for me at least, turned inside out. A storm raged over the Irish sea and a small ferry was rocked by the waves. As thunder crashed around and lightning briefly illuminated the coast, I was born screaming into a world that had long gone mad.

My intellect began to show through early on. By the time I was three years old I'd taught myself to read from newspapers and when I was five I joined the local library, taking the three minute walk up there two or three times a week and spending hours in my bedroom reading anything I could get my hands on. Despite being as intelligent as any adult I met, school was difficult for me as I had more than one confrontation with teachers due to questioning them beyond the bounds of their knowledge or paying little attention in class as I had already found out what they were teaching on my own. Later on a teacher in middle school would take an interest in me and put me through an IQ test during one of my many detentions. The results would show me to have an IQ of 195, almost twice the national average and this teacher approached my family to talk about further opportunities open to someone like me. They laughed in his face and my mind was left to ferment.

As I got older still, the television age slowly ended and the internet age began, progressing slowly to the point we're at now where all the horrors of the world are pulled into the living rooms of young and old alike. I embraced the web early, entering chatrooms to find like-minded individuals that I could have conversations with, about anything but the He Man and Thundercats based ones my own age group predominantly had. The small amount of subject matter on the web in those days meant there wasn't much to talk about, unlike today when you can find anything you're interested in online. This helped me find new interests and hobbies, with me becoming interested in things mostly so I could hold interesting conversations about them, and these hobbies have stuck with me throughout my life as my passion for them grew. I discussed science-fiction television shows with Americans I'd soon learn lived in basements of their parents house and had the same job they got in high school, and had lively debates about the possible realities and impossibilities of comic books with a group of people who would later become briefly famous for proving something actually exists instead of being a theory. Despite being the youngest member of those groups by far, my confidence and strong views caused me to be treated as the patriarch of most groups I was involved in, settling arguments between and giving advice to people who'd scoff at me in real life. The experience bred lifelong interests as well as exposing me to how the human mind works without physical preconceptions getting in the way, and those are lessons I've carried with me my entire life.

I suppose a lot of our early life gets taken with us that way, whether we realise it or not. Like many young boys I always wanted to be a cowboy when I grew up. While most kids who wanted that just wanted to shoot guns and be a hero it was more than that for me. I felt destined to be that straight-talking lone voice in the desert, fighting corruption wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth, justice and all that I believe in and hold dear. Even now, as I see in my 32nd year, I still hold onto that ideal as I ride ever onwards into the setting sun.
*whistles a mournful little tune*

It's Haunted Fridge night today folks, the first day of the Halloween celebration. As tacky as this celebration has become, I still love this time of year. Of course, by the time some of you read this it'll actually be Halloween for you. Have some Halloween themed comics from around the web.

Read more...

A majority of Americans (hell, lets not single them out when most of the world has such problems) are in trouble. They've built up credit card debts that are barely managable, are just clinging on to their mortgages, and praying that their jobs will remain secure in the coming months. It's a common problem everywhere and I understand the fear. All it takes is for that source of income to be suddenly reduced or taken away and it all starts falling apart. If only there were a way to get rid of money altogether, take away that worry, comfort that fear.

Daniel Shellabarger was thinking about these problems back in 2002 and came to the exact same conclusion - eradicate money. Since that day he hasn't spent any money at all and, for the past three years he has lived in a cave in Utah, in a beautiful canyon lined with waterfalls. He's usually filthy and smells like he has been for a long time. His hair has collected various forms of trash in it. He begs for food and warm clothing on the streets of Moab, a small town about an hours walk from his cave, eats roadkill and takes leftovers from trash cans. Occasionally friends in the town will feed him, something he freely admits while boasting that he's never missed a meal. Basically Daniel is a regular hobo, so why am I writing about him like he's different and how do I even know about this man? Under the name Daniel Suelo he updates his blog using the computers at the public library in Moab, keeping people informed about his quest to live without money, his methods and what led him to this decision.

When I lived with money I was always lacking. Money represents lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present.

So he's insane then? Not really, more that he's better educated in the ways of the world and a little bitter (aren't we all?) about how people destroy themselves. You see, Daniel has a degree in anthropology that saw him joining the Peace Corps and monitoring the health of an Ecuadorian village for two years. During that time he saw the people of the village adopt new methods of economy, selling the excess food grown in their fields for cash and using the cash to buy things they hadn't needed until they were offered them - televisions, junk food, etc. As he measured their health he saw that his charts showed their health steadily declining as they spent more money on these things. In his own words, "It looked like money was impoverishing them". It was a turning point in the way he viewed the world. Ten years, a bunch of charity work and one Buddhist monastery later Daniel decided that in order to have a happy life he needed to live a free life and not be involved with money at all - a Sadhu in the most capitalist country in the world, in his mind.

But is money that easy to get rid of? While Daniel sees himself apart from the capitalist world he still lives off of its scraps, taking what others have left behind and wouldn't have had if money wasn't involved. And that's probably the reason I felt compelled to write this post and point out this man. A man who preaches regularly about the good parts of living without money, the character building toughness of it all, how it brings you closer to grace and therefore closer to God. A man who is as much a part of the system he reviles as any of us simply for the way he's chosen to opt out. A man who seems to have missed the point.