I am watching Heroes Reborn, and listening to the dialog between Noah and Hiro, I realized that even if I had the ability to go back in time and change things, I wouldn’t.  They talk about the Butterfly Effect, and I believe in it.  I would never want to change anything, because it would destroy what my life is now.  I don’t want to not come out of the closet in 1999, never meet my husband, never get my job at Empire State Container​, never marry my husband, never buy my own home, never suffer the pain of losing people and pets that I loved.  Fate is real and never ending. What has happened in my life has shaped who I am now.  And I would never want to change that.

© 2015, Dean Basler

all rights reserved.

Now, I am about to piss off a few people.  Do I care?  NO.

I AM AN ATHIEST!

I do not believe in a higher power.

Someone in “heaven” who watches over us.

Who makes judgments on what we do.

Who defines us on who we love.

Organized religion is a con game.  It takes people’s fears and forces them to do irrational things based on writings that were written eons ago, which really have no relevance in the 21st century.  For the first 15 years of my life, I bought into this bullshit (through the Catholic Church.)  But like any rational thinking being, I began to question things.    Why do we have to do this?  What is heaven? Is there really a “God?”

Okay, one of the reasons that I realized that I was an atheist (in addition to accepting my sexuality) is because of the Internet (and the World Wide Web.) Once I became connected (in 1998,) there was a influx of information.  I had to learn how to discard the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.  I was finally able to make my own rational decisions about the existence of “God.”

One of the things that became apparent was that religion has always played a major role in war.  The Crusades.  The Spanish Inquisition.  The American Revolution.  And now we have ISIS, and their push to control the Middle East based on Sharia law.  Religion has become a cancer on the human race.  That is one of the reasons that the separation of church and state  was written into the Constitution of The United States.  Secular beliefs have no place in modern society.  But ISIS (in the Middle East) and the Conservative Right (in the United States) are trying to shove their agendas down our throats like the facehuggers in the movie “Alien.”

Now, I am not going to deride the people who do believe.  On the contrary, you’re more than welcome to worship a higher power.  When I see your posts on Facebook about “God,” I scroll past them and resist the urge to comment.  If you share it to my timeline, I will delete it.  BUT, if you start to push to me with it, I will NOT react very well.  Remember, I AM AN ATHIEST!

(A disclaimer:  For those who have seen my wedding video on YouTube, yes my husband and I were married by a Moravian minister.  He is a long time friend and was very honored to officiate at our wedding.)

Yes, I am sounding like an asshole, but I have become a little set in my ways about organized religion, based on my personal experiences, and all the information that I have read.  I am trying to understand what is going on, but I know one thing for certain:

I AM AN ATHIEST!

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© 2015, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

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I could be a be a total curmudgeon today about the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, but I am going to restrain myself.  All I have to say is, we as a species, continue to evolve.   Evolution in our views on what defines marriage is inevitable.  Ever since I met my husband in the May of 2000 (online of all places, on Gay.com) I have found that it is an uphill battle to become recognized as a couple.  When same sex marriage became legal in New York state in 2011, Dan and I knew that it was going to be inevitable that we would tie the knot.  I did so willingly, because he and I , even though we are exact opposites in a lot of ways, we are in sync about our relationship.  Yes, he and I did wait for a little over a year after it was signed into law.  But we were glad that we did so.

All I have to say to the same-sex couples that are contemplating marriage, don’t rush into it.  Plan it out.  Make sure that it is what you want.  Being married takes a LARGE commitment on both your parts.  (Besides, it gives you time to plan a FABULOUS wedding!)

The whole thing about being married is, you have someone who will be at your back when the shit hits the fan. Trust me, I needed Dan’s support when I had some health problems, and when I had issues at my job.  And I am there for him when he needs me.

So, with the SCOTUS ruling today, it gives everyone hope that there will be true equality for everyone in The United States of America.

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© 2015, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

I could be a be a total curmudgeon today about the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, but I am going to restrain myself.  All I have to say is, we as a species, continue to evolve.   Evolution in our views on what defines marriage is inevitable.  Ever since I met my husband in the May of 2000 (online of all places, on Gay.com) I have found that it is an uphill battle to become recognized as a couple.  When same sex marriage became legal in New York state in 2011, Dan and I knew that it was going to be inevitable that we would tie the knot.  I did so willingly, because he and II , even though we are exact opposites in a lot of ways, we are in sync about our relationship.  Yes, he and I did wait for a little over a year after it was signed into law.  But we were glad that we did so.

All I have to say to the same-sex couples that are contemplating marriage, don’t rush into it.  Plan it out.  Make sure that it is what you want.  Being married takes a LARGE commitment on both your parts.  (Besides, it gives you time to plan a FABULOUS wedding!)

The whole thing about being married is, you have someone who will be at your back when the shit hits the fan. Trust me, I needed Dan’s support when I had some health problems, and when I had issues at my job.  And I am there for him when he needs me.

So, with the SCOTUS ruling today, it gives everyone hope that there will be true equality for everyone in The United States of America.

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© 2015, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

In all my time on Facebook, I have seen people who’s only purpose is to get way to places other than home. I don’t envy them. My life revolves around work and home. When I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in 2000, I was overwhelmed with the mass of people there. When I went to NYC Pride in 2002, I could barely stand it. When I went to Provincetown in 2012 for my honeymoon, the same thing. I am NOT a social person, I prefer to just deal with the simpler things in life. My interaction with the public in general is dealing with the mass of humanity that are on the cattlecar, and dealing with people at work. I guess that I am wired differently than everyone else. I do not make any apologies for that. Call me anti-social if you will. I am getting too old to change my ways.

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© 2015, Dean Basler, all rights reserved.

The Silly Season begins (a.k.a. “I really hate the holidays.)

Well, it is  hump day on this lovely fall day in late November, and it is filling me with fear for my sanity.  Why is that?  It’s what I call the beginning of “The Silly Season.”  What, pray tell is it?  Well it’s the time of the year where people lose all sense of reason and silly behavior results. 

A prime example:  People standing in line at major retailers to get “bargains” for Christmas.  I wrote this last year on November 30, 2013:

“Well, it’s the day after Black Friday, and as predicted there was violence across America as people stood in line to get *supposed * deals.  Myself, having worked in a retail environment (the back office of a department store chain over 20 years ago) knew that the “Black Friday” phenomenon is a case of catering to the fears and subconscious greed of the general public.  The fear of not having the latest and greatest things, and the greed of most people in general (the “I’ve got mine, now fuck off” mindset.)”

Well, it’s gonna get worse, folks.  A shitload of people are up in arms (mainly retail workers) because some major retailers are forcing their employees to come in ON THANKSGIVING DAY!  What the fuck, don’t these fucking greedheads realize that people want to spend Thanksgiving day at home with their loved ones?  You don’t see the fucking Walton family going into the fucking office on that day.  You don’t see the higher-ups at Sears-Kmart (who have threatened their employees with termination) or Macy’s going into the office either. 

And now with the added shopping day, more people are going to be short tempered and greedy.  They don’t give a fuck about the people who are forced to work on Thanksgiving Day and be away from their families.  They just want to satisfy their need to be there and score some “bargains.” 

And now another quote from last year:

“The so-called “Zombie Apocalypse?”  It ain’t coming folks.  It’s already here, and unless more people shake off the barrage of advertising and soundbites that mass media feeds us, then we are truly fucked.”

Wake up sheeple.  You’re better than that.

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© 2014, Dean Basler, all rights reserved.

Addendum: I just read this story on the website Addicting Info, where Walmart is refusing to pay a $7,000 fine in the trampling death of an employee in 2008.  This tells you how uncaring Walmart is when it comes to their employees.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/11/26/walmart-still-dodging-7k-fine-for-2008-black-friday-trampling-death-video/

Navel-gazing after work:

It’s less than a month before my 56th birthday, and while I was on the cattlecar on the way home, listening to Yes’s “90125,” I started to take stock of myself. These are some of the conclusions that I am making of myself. (I may be talking out of my ass.)

I might be a bit agoraphobic. I don’t like being outdoors during the daytime.  I do feel a bit of anxiety when I am out in public, that is why I have to do something to relieve the tension.  Most of the time, it is reading a book that I carry in my backpack.  Sometimes, it involves listening to music on my smartphone with ear buds in so I can shut out the world.

I am claustrophobic, I don’t like being closed in. This poses a major problem for me, because I have to depend on the cattlecar to get home from work. The one that I take is always packed full, and with some of the worst examples of so-called humanity that you will ever run across. Again, the music on my smartphone with ear buds helps in that regard. If I don’t hear them, then they don’t disturb me.

I am misanthropic.  I have disdain for people in general. Most of the people that I come across in my day to day life are so below me on a mental and emotional scale that I cannot feel any empathy for them. (Again, the cattlecar reinforces my misanthropy.)

Other conclusions that I have realized about myself:

I have become a creature of habit. Everything in my life has to be preprogrammed. From when I get up early in the morning, to when I get home in the late afternoon, everything has to follow a set pattern. Otherwise, I will not be able to function properly.

I hate taking time off from work.  Yes, I get three weeks of vacation off every year. I don’t like taking vacations. If I am not at work, then I am not accomplishing anything. I am slacking off. That also goes back to my agoraphobia. I hate traveling. When I am out of the house, I prefer the shortest distance between two points. I have to have a goal when traveling outside my comfort zone. (Things such as grocery shopping or buying specific things.  No diversions, no off the wall side trips. Point A to point B, that is all I want.)

I have become less tolerant of other people’s behavior.  Yes, I will be polite to everyone, but when confronted by someone who falls outside my concept of normal, I may be polite on the outside, but on the inside I will be screaming “ARE YOU FOR FUCKING REAL?”  It takes every shred of self-control to prevent me from bitchslapping them upside their heads with a two-by-four.

Have I become more of a headcase, or am I a product of this dystopian world that we live in now?

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© 2014, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.