J. Ojanpera

I was sitting in my usual writing spot today, bent on writing. I started to crank up my idea mill (no carbon footprint) but nothing came out. This is rare because there are so many things to write about. There is so much happening in this world that I can't see how anyone could run out of things to write. I was thinking about all of the needs that we have, and the needs that starving people have. I thought about writing a short essay on the mayor of Mobile, and how he is a bit of a dud. Hopefully he will lose the upcoming election. He was one of those guys who served in a previous administration that gave Mobile a new look, and basically set it up for what it is now, or could be. It was a case of riding the coattails of a great man who he happened to work with. When he was newly elected, there were some very worth while and overdue projects that came to fruition. He also built a $29 million cruise terminal with no contract from any cruise line. Carnival used Mobile Port for awhile ...

Tattoos have become a regular part of so many people's lives in my lifetime, that I must alert everyone to some considerations before going to subject yourself to a week of physical pain, and potentially a lifetime of emotional pain. If you think about it, every person that gets a visible mark on their skin has the potential to make possibly thousands of people think about them. I would say that easily 25% of carpool parents have tattoos. The tattooed notice the tattooed, and the one's that aren't notice the tattooed. First, there is always a reason for someone to seek out a tattoo. Whether it was an impulse at Panama City, an outward symbol of something dark inside, or a well-thought out masterpiece, there is always a reason . There are also different perceptions from the un-tattooed side. The consensus is probably that you are either a biker, a convict, or some other type of creature. I can't remember what it's like on that side, so my data could be flawed. Dang...

I have heard talk of Americans moving to another country because they are so unhappy. Most people threaten it, and have been for most of their lives. I have pondered the idea before, but not for religious or governmental reasons. I simply found a place that I would gladly move to forever, without looking back. The Americans who are disgruntled with the government may have sound reasoning, but there are some cautions that I would like to pass along. First, if you think your freedoms are being summarily executed because we have a Progresive in office, think again. He is not very different in policy from the redneck we had in office last time. He will never take our guns either; it might just be harder to find bullets. Obama loves the boost in the economy caused by the frenzy of one phrase; "gun control". Who doesn't want more money? Second, if you want to leave for religious reasons, like the pilgrims did, don't. They turned out to be homocidal xenophobes. Religion ha...

This morning I woke to a disturbing question, asked of my friend. My friend has been through war more than once. He is a US Marine, twice enlisted, and has served in the Coast Gaurd. War changes us. The changes don't end with the soldier; it ends when everyone the soldier knows has seen first-hand the physical and emotional toll the war has taken. We see the torment of a man who has buried multiple friends. We see the confusion of being alive, when our closest members have been killed, when he wasn't. The only thing we don't see are the actual life-changing events that took place when an enemy fired back. We never see what it was really like. Unless you know one of these warriors, you could never know what happens after experiencing the horror of war. Our minds are not designed to process war, so a soldier must do what it takes to find peace after having killed, and survived attempts on his life. There is no doctor on Earth who can heal some of these wounds. Back to my f...

Our progress has been less than stellar. We are deep into hour three of a two and-a-half hour drive, when an unfortunate thing happens. Somehow a small, muddy lake has settled right where the road we are travelling used to be, and the grand marshal of our gringo parade has apparently persuaded his driver to plunge the heavily loaded, pointy nosed mini-van into the impromptu lake. Of course they are stuck. There is probably about five tons of dried food and medical supplies loaded in that poor van, so they are stuck beyond bad. I am only a “kid” among men too, so I can’t possibly help. The women and children were ordered to just sit tight and let the men handle everything. I am disappointed though; we are on a stretch of road that is all but barren of bushes or trees. There is no chance of a smoke break here. On the bright side, it only took two hours to free the mini-van, and we are moving again. We found out during the wait that this lake was pretty much a permanent ...

At some point in history, millions of people made a decision. People are still making the same decision. The decision was made through suggestion, and the implied benefits of the suggested products. These products were sold to you while promising a better life. The consequences of this group decision are now coming to fruition. America has been lulled into materialism, and the marketing not only worked, it made sleepy citizens. The world does not sleep because we are. Things are happening all the time. Intolerable acts of our ruling classes don't really matter when you decide to opt out of the solution process. Some of us are informed enough to know that there are issues that need to be addressed concerning our society. Even with this knowledge, there is little mass action. I am not calling for revolution, but eventually the difference between trying to fix these ills now, and the crumbling of our framework will force us into a decision to stay asleep or act. We are in a state of...

Historically, I have had six consistent readers. I often have a spike in the numbers from day-to-day, but those same six always read my crap. Things change though, and I am formally reducing my consistent readership to 4.5. That number is consistent in other areas of my life as well. A good friend of mine, I'll call him "B", helped me develop the 4.5 system. We were standing around our fire pit, freshly started. We built the fire in the tee-pee style, which assures an eventual collapse. Over time -and many fires- we realized that it took 4.5 minutes for the wood to collapse. This concept was further ratified when I told "B" that I could beat him up in 45 seconds (in a friendly way). He replied by telling me that he could take me out in 4.5 seconds. We will never really know, but it was funny; if only you could have been there. The two of us would be in totally different fighting classes, and neither of us are fighters by nature. I'm not sure if "B...

When you get really pissed off at someone, and your only means of communication is electronic, the exclamation point might be your only resource to convey your anger! The writing community generally considers the use of (!) as un-proffessional. Unless you are writing fiction, it looks stupid, and is a sign of a small vocabulary! A state of anger has its own set of rules when dictated on the screen. You can call someone a "fuck-head", or an "ugly bitch" without getting slapped. Hitting shift + 1 only drives the point home even harder. You could type the word "boring", or "lethargic" and achieve greater excitement with an (!). Watch: Boring! Lethargic! It is truly a game changing punctuation mark. As usual, I have some unsolicited advice for the (!) users. If you are using a conventional keyboard, and you are using multiple (!)'s, be careful. If you let go of the shift key before you are done slamming the "one" key, you will wind up...

Anxiety is almost a prerequisite for adults in America. Luckily, these cool people in lab-coats and goggles make the most wonderful drugs for this condition. Wonderful because they offer a reprieve from dealing with stress. The down-side is the habitual nature of anxiety, and the drugs that follow. Doctors are important, and they generally want their patients to feel as good as possible. There is a screaming loud over prescribing of anti-anxiety medication, and someone has to be blamed. I choose the patients, and the doctors. The fault of the patient is two-fold. The first is education. The internet can tell you almost everything you could possibly want to know. So instead of looking up what anxiety is and how to get xanax; look up why you have unmanageable anxiety. Read about long-term use of a drug that should be used for emergencies, and people who have actual anxiety disorders. Find out the difference between habitual drinking and prescription drug use to escape. I think most of u...

On February 9, I took the last of what has been a truly awful medicine. I took it for almost five years for it's anti-depressant and sleep enhancing properties. Seroquel is classified as an atypical anti-psychotic, SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) No; I don't have a more in-depth explanation for that, but you can find one here . It is used to treat bipolar disorder, and has been described to me as "the big guns". That comment made me feel like a disheveled mental patient, but that is to be expected in the psychiatric community. If you are in a clinic or hospital the stigma of bipolar is slightly better defined by the professionals. I have a great doctor though, and he recognizes that some of us are actually functioning, intelligent people. His agenda is based on mine first. Back to the medicine. I decided one day that I had been on this drug for long enough. The side-effects were horrible, and I hadn't had a night of natural sleep in five years. It ...

An insolvent business can either diversify or dissolve. The rate at which the US Postal Service is losing money is ludicrous at this point, but it's not all their fault. This short article from CNN Money sheds some light on the other factors. Congress. The USPS lost $5 billion in 2011, and $16 billion in 2012. I remember hearing about their massive losses for a few years now. They have been working on it since, through layoffs and rate increases to no avail. The forecast is for more, and we (taxpayers) will have to help them. It's another case of making a cut "here", all the while letting the deficit from "there" fall in the lap of our social net. Where do Americans go when they get laid off, with few real job options? Either way, we will be helping fellow Americans who have been strangled by our government again. The relationship between the postal service and DC is a slave/master type of thing. I'm sure all of that will all be worked out with little ...

Action is so exciting. The pursuit of action is exciting. Entertainment produces excitement. We must all have a need for action. Imagine all the ways we can find it. Imagine life without action. What if you were sitting in a dimly lit room, with all media turned off? No pc fans churning, no phone or music. Nothing. Is there any action? Do you hear anything?

Sleep has become a rare commodity. As soon as life hits you and stress is on the brink of becoming excessive anxiety, sleep becomes elusive. We all have different things that keep our minds racing, into the sinful hours of the night. Throughout my twenties and early thirties, I had to exhaust my body for ten or twelve hours a day so I could sleep. It worked well until my body began to break. We can only take so much, and I don't recommend that course of action to anyone past thirty. I have since been through MRI's, x-rays, huge needles, electro-shock therapy (not the kind for mental illness), migraines, and two rounds of physical therapy; one for a neck injury, and one for a shredded rotator cuff. I slept well before the physical toll caught up with me. Father time let me slide for a while, but then decided to hit me with age all at once. I have since made peace with him. There are hundreds of methods we can use to calm our minds. The easiest, not safest, would be medicine. ...

For all of the great examples of morality, commitment, and stability, we lost one. The pope quit. In ironworker speak, he "drug up". The stories say it is because of his health, but I think he wanted to quit before he became pope; he was 78 then, now 85. Despite the golden throne, they must not pay them much. Even Americans don't work to 85. I will go easy on him, because if I live to 85, I probably won't want to wave at anyone; probably will flip them off though. I have a few theories on why he really quit, and the impact it will have on society. First off, age, and the status of a Christian means nothing. If you are Catholic, and you believe that your priest is holier than you, you are believing a lie. He is a well dressed, partially concealed, therapist. Not that wisdom cannot travel alongside age, but wisdom and "holiness" are different. If confessing things to someone makes you feel better, then by all means take the free therapy. Other denominations d...

Japanese animation (anime) has a huge manga and television audience. Anime didn't really make a big impact where I live until the mid-nineties. It was everything we had always wanted to see, only it wasn't for kids. I watched Vampire Hunter D first, in 1995. It was made in 1985, so there was an obvious lag for it making it across the Pacific. American cartoons tend to be shallow, and most were conservative compared to the swords, ninjas, sex, blood, plots and suspense in anime. I guess we are just more wholesome in America. Funny. I have been actively watching anime since 2003. I had lost interest through my twenties, when one day L came to me and asked, "Will you just watch one episode of this?" She used that Southern accent that most Southern men miss altogether. It effects me; sometimes when I prefer another option. As usual it worked. I sat down to watch 1 episode of an anime called "Escaflowne", after much inquiry from her. After the twenty-four minu...

Yesterday, as my wife was describing me as a "pissed off teddy bear", I was going against the nature of my blog. I have maintained a high standard so far concerning the title of the whole blog; "Unrevised." I made revisions by someone's standards that, when pointed out, made me feel the need to change the title. After a short debate with the offended party, it was decided. The "revisions" I made were in the form of un-publishing certain posts I have made. I think there were 112 that I took out. At first I didn't think I was revising because I didn't edit any content; I merely changed the level of access to selected works. That sounds really serious. It's not, but if I wrote something three years ago that I think is too personal or just because I don't like title, then it goes away. Now the title needs revising. I will obsess until I find a new one. I will find a title that not even I can corrupt, or that will corrupt me. The wrong one...

There are people out there who know me, and those who do not. Who I am writing about doesn't really matter, unless you "find yourself" in it. My thoughts are subject to interpretation, and I generally don't have one person in mind when I concoct a recipe of words. I believe that there are issues common to all of us, and sometimes reading about those things helps others. I do not pretend to know who that is. I like to talk about the things that matter to me and my friends. I also prefer salty food over sweets. Some days I write a story that has nothing to do with anyone. Other days though, I use use real life situations to make a point, but I do not hurt animals in any of it. With that said, there is a comment box at the bottom of everything I write. I am not afraid of criticism. If I was there would not be a comment box, and I would be writing in a paper journal instead of publishing this. Apparently, there are a trio of kids out there who take exception to some thin...

While you were sleeping, events transpired that have changed some things in our world. Don't be alarmed that you missed it though; you have been given a gift. Before I tell you, I want to explain where you are, and the reason for this tent. We are living in a new place that requires us to move carefully through the cities. I tried to tell you for years that my work and research would lead us to this place, but you were sleeping and it all happened just like we said it would. The resistance that I am part of is the reason the sleeping are alive. We planned for it. When one system fails, another must take it's place. Our place is still being built, but the resistance is great, and what was the central power is in a state of confusion. Only a fraction of their military keeps them alive; the rest, numbering close to 1.5 million have defected to the side of the citizens. We knew that a certain percentage of them would turn their backs on the chieftains, but when the last straw was...

I regrettably de-activated my fb page about four months ago. Since then, I have used the time I saved for other things. I mostly write. Blogging takes up about an hour a day, and whatever hours I have aside from family are spent writing. What I am working on is a secret to most, and talking about it can sound a little grandiose. I'll spare those details for someone else. This morning, I was thinking about fb, and how much fun it is. I miss the attention grabbing statuses, the stupid pictures smattered all over my news feed, the fights, the name calling, the religious crap, the stupid political arguements, and most of all, the guys who like to be chatty with other guys wives. It is enough to make any man wonder what might be going on. (inboxes are great too; they are so private) Watching it is also enough to drive you insane. I am not suggesting that I am in this position, but it happens. My girl is friends with whom she chooses, and we have trust between us, not other people. Fac...

I'm sure that the whole "submit to your husband" has an effect greater than the voices of insecure preachers, and men who know very little about women. I can imagine the relief a man must have when his preacher spits about this on Sunday morning; even though lunch is foremost on his mind. It has permiated and clouded the minds of women as well. This is typically a religious issue, but the implications that the church has added and misconstrued make me gag, so aside from one bible verse, this is not a religious article. The verse is what started it... Ephesians 5:22, some in between, and 5:33. Wives submit to your husbands...  For the husband is the head of the wife...  ...so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything... However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Taken at face value, that sounds like sexism at it's pinnacle. The problem is that the message there is so grossly taken out of...

We have to make money. Apart from the Amish, and maybe survivalists and cults, we have to produce cash. There are a million jobs you can pick from, and sometimes we pick the one that suits us perfectly. Jobs and the people that have them rarely make enough money to support their lifestyles. Living beyond one's means is the new American dream. The worst part is when you have to be charged usury from the kind banks that extend credit to us. The illusory nature of credit is something that most never try to solve. The fact is that it is a losing game. The magical properties that banks use to artificially boost your net worth are actually not magical at all. It's basic math. It is also a cycle that is hard to get out of; especially when you have to resort to credit to buy gas, or pay a bill that should already be part of your regular budget. I don't mean to give financial advice, I have just seen too many people go under for credit, and the endless pursuit for more money. When...

This update is being brought to you because I just read a story from a writer for The Mobile Press Register. I found the article while researching a completely different matter; but for some reason my great city, it's newspaper, and the site, AL.com have an issue with public information. Specifically, where archives are concerned. For some reason I thought that microfiche had gone digital. I used to spend hours at the university library, looking through volumes of the newspaper dating back 100 years or more. I'm not doing that today. I should be able to find archives on the internet in 2013. The one article I found was written in January, so at least they still had that available. It was mostly irrelevant. The thing that made me throw my topic down was the way the article was written, and how in the world it got published in a newspaper. The writer said, "is the reason why" in the first paragraph, and then again in the second paragraph. There are a few basic rules t...

Back in the day, the Boy Scouts were founded based on traditional values, and it really is a great American cornerstone. The teaching and hands on training they offer are hard to find outside of the church. There has always been a religious element in the Boy Scouts, but it has evolved over the years, and is now affiliated with the church mostly via funding. Teaching boys relevant principles that will enrich their lives' are good; especially today. The outdoor skills are priceless. Because of our mass urbanization, boys need to have access to basic survival skills and first-aid. The Scouts have a long history in America. It was incorporated in 1910. There is a wealth of information on the internet, outside of the news, that can fill in any gaps that I am intentionally going to leave. Some noteworthy statistics can be found here . The Boy Scouts have produced many great American men. It truly was and is a great organization. The greatest part is that their funding comes from donat...

I read an article this morning (Sunday) about Mr. LaPierre, his psychotic ideations, and how he was made to look like an ass again. The cool part was that Chris Wallace of Fox News did it for me this time. I can't really say anything new about Wayne at this point; I have called him names (inderectly I hope), I have pointed out how far from present reality he is, and I have often wondered why he still has a job with the NRA. Every time he speaks, something truly ridiculous comes out. The article link is a good summation of his general narrow-mindedness. Do all 4.5 million NRA subscribers really follow this guy? Are they allowing him to speak for them? If so, we can carve off 4.5 million people from the population that are not willing to think or speak about something other than the three things coming out of Wayne's mouth. How did that many people become complicit with his message? Wayne has taken the purposes of his organization -the good parts- and made them even further fr...

Pick any day, sunny, rainy; hot or cold. That will be the day that we will be playing croquet. We are “Wickets and Mallets Division”, or “WMD”. I, Proctor Tori created a croquet league. It consists of six man teams, and fierce tournaments every Tuesday afternoon and Saturday nights. We play on my pitch most of the time because I take meticulous care of it. There aren’t many teams that can beat us because we practice three times a week. I only started the league two years ago, so it is still in the development stage and we don’t have any other teams yet. A neighborhood boy of fourteen has expressed much interest in building a team though, and I feel like it will explode to an epidemic level any time now. Croquet is a tough sport for tough players, and I know that it will catch on with the proper marketing tactics and my determination to be the best. From there the sport speaks for itself. My dream is to create a croquet frenzy; something like what h...

Note : No part of my research included you; I understand how vital Facebook is for so many great people, and what a wealth of wholesome, time worthy activities it provides. Facebook can be a very competitive place. Whether you get into a political discussion with a one-dimensional bigot, or if you are sending a declaration of fb war to a family member, there is always a current of wanting to win. Even a simple status needs to be thought out carefully. The unwritten law is to say the thing that could possibly go viral; shares, likes, google+, tweets, re-tweets... Hell, I might even blog about a great status. (that would reach 6 people!) I have this girl that I hang out with, and she keeps me somewhat connected to fb culture. Lately though, I have noticed that the statuses have kind of lost their edge. I have stewed on this long enough, and I feel like I need to intervene. Your status has to grab people by the throat and say, "You stupid liberal!" or, "Don't be inbo...

Even though the "gang of eight" is hard at work trying to fix a "problem" that has been a "problem" for well over one hundred years, I have little faith that anything meaningful will come of it. First off, people are never a problem. Even habitual criminals have rights in this country. The taxpayers feed them, clothe them, and house them. On average, it costs us $24,000 per year, per prisoner (statistics vary wildly). There are 2.5 million people incarcerated in the US, and of those, 62% of them are either non-violent, or petty drug offenders; most of whom do not belong in a place that offers no healthy social structure, no meaningful education, and no chance to produce something of value to society. By the numbers, American taxpayers -unwillingly- spend $60 billion per year on the imprisoned. If we were able to sort the 62% of prisoners from the ones that should be there, and set them free, we would alleviate the incarcerated population by 1.25 million. ...