Picking your battles

Ramblings Post #3
It's time for a school update. Yeah, this is the third week, but I've had other things on my mind and other foolishness to focus on, and they didn't give back the final tests - with explanation - until right around now. So the fear is over. The fear that I've wasted my time...and money, and now I'm stuck. Read on Macduff.

Well, finally all the grades are back and it's official...I didn't fail the first semester!

I know, I know, that's a fairly low standard to meet, but I for one am letting the non-alcoholic sparkling champipple flow. For a guy who hadn't been in a classroom of any kind in 6 years - tech certification - or in a classroom where I didn't already know all the answers in 15 years, I like to think I did fairly okay. Okay my writing, um..my legal writing needs a bit of tightening up, but everything else I did fairly okay in.

Trust me, how I write is not any way shape or form a "legal" style.

I didn't really apply myself like I should have, at first feeling that I could do this much like I'd done high school - nearly all last minute - and like I had done while in college - mostly last minute - and like I had done the LSAT that got me into this mess - five or six days of studying, maybe two hours a session. That's not gonna cut it. I need to ramp it up. So I'm going to start doing it like I should have done it ALL of last semester, not just the end, and start with concentrating on the weekends with a bit more verve. Unlike say, this weekend.

I spent most of the weekend futzing around trying not to do my homework. I may have to start leaving the house so I can concentrate. I would sit down and read the case, decide to get some kool-aid, while I was up make a sandwich, then since I couldn't eat and study, find something else to do while I ate, then since I was already taking a break, I may as well check my email, and etc and so on. Getting kool-aid would turn into 45 minutes. True, I got some laundry done, cleaned out the fridge, and got a few other things done, but I can't do that anymore. Okay, I will still do laundry and clean out the fridge, but the other stuff. Gotta stop.

I'm go do the right thing. Meet all my profs...get some tips and pointers, bring it all up to snuff. I'm already down one heck of a student loan, and too many folk already know. I'm in this trick now!

And paying attention in class wouldn't hurt either, since the break is over.

Barkeep. One long tall five hour energy drink and a book of black letter law. I be ready!

A Quick Restaurant Review - Gato Bizco

Ramblings Post #2
The return of something I really liked to do, go new places and see what the food is like. Sure I generally order the same things, but it's off a different menu. And just like your scrambled eggs don't taste just like your mom's scrambled eggs, it's all a little different. I like to think of it as finding the variations. Don't snicker.

It was Saturday, I needed to do two hundred things and work on the first draft of my brief, but I'd promised Schmoopy we'd have brunch this weekend. I had not seen her in the new year, so it would be a treat. When I asked if we were still on Friday afternoon, she already had the spot picked out. One of those hidden Atlanta gems that you almost have to be from here to know about, a spot called Gato Bizco.

The spot is over near Little Five points, actually right across the street from another Atlanta gem, the Flying Biscuit.

From the BBerry. I'm getting a real camera, I swear. Soon.

It was odd. There was a line outside of the Biscuit when I walked into Gato, but I've eaten both and food and service is much better at Gato. First, however, let me say this: It is a closet. Four or five booths, and maybe 10 stools at the bar. That's the whole place, all of it. The staff is comfortable cool, with piercings and tattoos, but friendly as all get out.

We arrived right on time, as three booths opened up and all three waiting parties, we were the third, sat down less than five minutes after we got there. I watched through the window as people stood waiting in the cold for Flying Biscuit. I know the Biscuit is good, but is it that good? Then I got the look that told me I was in the right spot. That look from a regular patron that says they're scared the word is getting out.

The menu isn't deep, but then they only have the one cook and she needs to focus on what she's doing. Schmoopy had the Huevos Rancheros and a Sweet Potato Pancake. I tried a bit and it's good, with a just a hint of cinnamon. I went with the grits and eggs, a side of bacon (you gotta order meat separate) and a regular pancake.The food showed up quickly and the Ranchero(s) was/were huge and as usual, my lil buddy was stuffed after eating only half of her plate. Not that she didn't stop trying to eat the other half. Let me tell you now, three of these pancakes and you'll have to just go back home and go to sleep.

Two more things. The orange juice is fresh squeezed. I mean like from actual oranges so don't expect minute maid flavor, expect Orange Juice. And they do know how to make sweet tea.

Schoompy claims she has no prospects on the romance front. I found this hard to believe. She had the puppies out for some reason, and - so she can read this - they were very, very distracting, so that idea that no acceptable guy is interested is highly unlikely. She claims she'll be joining e-harmony soon, as she's tired of the same old dating scene and the younger men who keep trying to date her. I'm not sure why she keeps acting like she's so old, her young ass, she looks all of twenty three. Other that, she's just holding it in the road so to speak - work, work, work. She also told me two things I'll need another woman to explain - she feels fat AND she's a size zero. I don't get it either.

My old soul and good table manners had me bussing the table to help out the servers. They brought me a wet cloth from the back and told me to help myself. They even offered to let me wash dishes if I wanted. You don't get that in every restaurant.

this about 40% of the spot in this one pic.

Also, across the street from Gato, just down from the Biscuit is this little art store that everybody needs to stop in after they eat at either place. Had to toss that in, as the lady there treated us like old friends. I can't remember the name of it though, but I am going back.

So Gato is a definite plus. I read up on it afterward and people who love the biscuit try to down play it's homey charm, but as I've said, I've had both and whereas it doesn't knock out it's larger competitor on it's butt, it's a definite, welcome, slightly better, change of pace.

Barkeep. Some of that fresh squeezed OJ.

Obama should do what?

This is a political post.
I swear I'm going to stop doing these. I'm starting to believe it comes in waves, where all I'm talking about are my relationships, then all I'm talking about is school, then all I'm talking about politics. I do have a one track mind, now don't i? And I used to multi-task so well. Just like your basketball great losing a step, I need get back on the track...well in real life too... back on the mental track and start working my brain out. Again.

This question was posed to me this week:

Question: Now that we have a Black President (that sounds so good to me), should he make changes to the laws that will force companies to hire “Qualified Blacks”, or should he tell us that if we work hard we can one day reach goals like he did, based on hard work and not hand outs?

Funny how all the black questions suddenly come out. A large number of Black folks seem to believe that Obama was play acting, saying the things necessary to get into office, but will change and be their for the "brothers" now that he's in.

I would encourage those Black people not to hold their breath.

Here was my response to that question:

"The measure of a man is what he does when he has the power. If he squanders in on petty grievances, then perhaps it should not have been his power to control, and he will find that power slipping away. If he uses it constructively, then as such he may find he earns more."

Me. I just said that. Put my name in it and smoke it.

A law to hire "Qualified Blacks" smacks of a favoritism that Rosa sat down to oppose, Martin marched to oppose, and Barack ran to indicate such thinking was wrong. It is and idea dressed up nicely, and has good intentions, but it is the idea that we are a special group that HAS to be employed waters down the concept that we can make it. It diminishes our accomplishments. It is affirmative action on steroids, designed to elevate, not equate. And who decides what is "qualified"? I mean really?

Blacks fought the only revolution in history not to lead or takeover, but simply to be counted as equals.

In most cases, the fence we must climb, the mountain we must conquer, the obstacle we must overcome is in our own mind. Concepts like "the man is keeping me down" or "a black man can't get ahead" all just got disproved. Emphatically. Dramatically. Obama admitted to the weed back in the day, so don't say you're wrecked because you're not on the straight and narrow. He made it thorough hard work and dedication. He stopped making excuses, climbed his own fences, and did it.

I'm sorry, but boys and girls, the game just changed. You just ran out of excuses. Stop begging. Stop whining. There is no try. There is only getting it done.

So go to school. Learn your lessons and you to can achieve greatness, you can go far in life, in the world, in family. Prosperity doesn't just appear, it is earned. And then we can pass it on to our children. Just like the man in the White House.

Smooth as silk on the surface, kick like the devil underneath.

Barkeep. I need a tall glass of ice water, and this fool here needs three fingers of Everclear.

Why does Rush Limbaugh Hate America?

This is a political post
I'm going to start winding these down, or at least spacing these out, or start writing these cross eyed or something, because they are starting to take over my little corner of the web. Okay, I'll try to at least make them funnier. If they can be made funnier. Or something. I dunno.

Without equivocation, Rush Limbaugh hopes that Barack Obama's plan fails. His exact words were "I hope he fails" in regards to Mr. Obama's economic plan. I understand Mr. Limbaugh's need to cling to the principles of a conservative mindset, and his right as a citizen to do so, but the concept that he has not been denounced roundly...that no one has asked the question "why does Rush Limbaugh hate America" speaks volumes about the changes we've gone through in the last 120 days.

The old rhetoric no longer works, or can be applied. Thank God.

Mr. Limbaugh's real argument, or rather his professed argument, is that Obama's plan for rebuilding the economy with do too much harm to private business, that the plan engages too much oversight and places the government in charge. The rotund conservative pundit would rather unfettered business be allowed to operate.

Apparently Mr. Limbaugh doesn't quite understand what happened here. Or the depth of the problem.

Unfettered and unregulated industry has proven time and time again that we are not "gentlemen" or good "stewards" of finance. We have been and still in large part are greedy, egotistical, short sighted pigs who have little to no regard for anyone else or the future. Going back as far as Richard Whitney, in the 1930s, former head of the NYSE who was incarcerated for embezzlement, to modern day Enron, whose leaders built a culture that literally ate itself as rapacious traders already wealthy scratched for every nickel more of profit while driving customer costs up, up to the fraudulent Ponzi-esque investment schemes of the Madoffs ($50 billion) and Nadels ($350 million)of today, our system without oversight or strict monitored rules by which to play has a tendency to create or allow the creation of disaster. Sorry folks, I calls'em like I sees'em.

It was the lack of oversight by disinterested parties that allowed people with two foreclosures in the same year to be able to finance a third house, interest only, that let them walk away with a house and twenty thousand cash. It was the lack of oversight, or worse yet, the REMOVAL of oversight, that first...allowed multi-billion dollar firms to built on assumptions and let them suck in millions of real dollars that got us into this mess. We unfortunately need controls, need rules, need enforcement of those same rules, and an end to the conservative cronyism style of business that continues now, even in the clean up, as the middle class bails out the "captains of industry". I mean they did so well with our money before, let's give them more! No, Obama's call is really for accountability, and that's what has Rush riled up.

For the past eight years, accountability has been un-American.

No, I do not believe the esteemed gentleman from Florida has a good grasp on the situation. I don't think he understands the gravity of the situation. That failure means in large part, the end of great deal of the way of life as we know it.

One that will doubtless affect him as well. Even in his little enclave of conservative values.

Gee. I just realized. Doesn't Rush sound an awfully lot like a another little ranter living somewhere in the hills of Pakistan?

I'm just saying.

Barkeep, can I get a vanilla shake? I am dying for a vanilla shake.

Notes on the Inaugaration

This is a political post
On January 20, 2009 at Noon, Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th president of the United States in America. Who knew that the country was ready to be lead by a black man with a Muslim name? Nine months ago, the idea that we as a people were ready to judge someone by "the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin" was something I wasn't quite sure was going to happen.

Photo courtesy of AP

On the day of that which is more American than anything else, the quiet and peaceful change in direction of it's leadership at the behest of it's citizens, a few thoughts spring to mind.

During the election, his opponents took great issue with his status of "celebrity." Which strikes me as odd. In a right thinking society, the people who control our lives...the real role models... shouldn't they be the one's idolized? Should they not be celebrities? In a day and age when people confer celebrity status on people who play games, toss a football, dribble a basketball, appear in a film, why would it be wrong to confer such status on those with high mental skill, with the ability to lead us against real problems, and not just fourth and inches or needing a three to get it into overtime? Would his detractors rather us NOT pay attention to those who can, and lately have, toss billions upon billions of OUR dollars about recklessly?

I wonder.

We have a new president. Who for a lot of the wrong reasons and for more than a few of the right reasons will be watched with a scrutiny normally reserved for sterile rooms at the CDC or fish frying. The Onion lead with the headline on Nov 5th, "Black Man given America's Worst Job" and they weren't that far from the truth. He has in my opinion, a hard row to hoe. As he alluded to in his speech, his to do list is long. The economy, the war in Iraq, our global prestige, fiscal irresponsibility, Israel and Gaza, and it just goes on. One can only hope a well thought thru management style with professional people can cut through the dross. Please don't let me their be a Brownie (FEMA) anywhere.

And I like that Obama is touting this as the age of responsiblity. Our former leadership seemed to believed that the status quo had to be maintained. The very idea that the rich could be held accountable - why is Bernie Madoff still free on bail? - for gross mismanagement seemed to anathema. The idea of failing upward seemed to be the norm if you knew the right people. I'm sorry, but some people need to go to jail. Seriously. Millions of people suffer due to the greed of the few. And not a country club jail, Maximum security. And I hope that he starts holding some people responsible. In little rooms. Hey, I think I just figured out what we can do with Guantanamo.

So we're on a new path. It's a not a pretty route, but it's the one we have to travel. So let's get it right and get it moving.

And next time, somebody tell Aretha not to wear that hat.

Barkeep, a round of drinks for everybody on me...and big glass of red koolaid for me.

The White House - 8am - Jan 20th. 2009

The funny part is that is was originally published November 5th 2008

Why I'm not going to inaguaration

I think the tickets I was gonna get, the seats were in Philadelphia.

(I thought this cartoon was so apt even last November)

The real question is, where is Oprah sitting on dias? You know you wanna know. My bet is on the right side of the stage, just like on her show.

Bad Photography

Ramblings Post #1
It's a new year and I'm changing the title of the posts that don't directly deal my issues in relationships or about relationships, or anything like that into my brand new category - ramblings from the mental broom closet, which aptly enough is right down here on the dark end of the bar. Damned convienent. Or Ramblings because I really don't feel like typing all that out every time. Well, here goes.

I've been trying to do one of those self portraits lately. The ones where you hold your arm out with the camera, snap a photo of your mug and it comes back looking like your stylist did an extra good job. My shots look like I'm someone's perverted uncle or should avoid church towers or dark spooky castles lest I be pressed into service.

Or so I think.

I've been told I have soulful eyes. I've been looking in a mirror lately. Maybe she needed glasses.
Okay, there are days I think I'm not doing too bad. True I need to get back in the gym or on the track, but this first year of school has been hell on my schedule. It's not crazy bad because my pants are still falling off my shrinking ass, indicating what little rear I did have may be leaving. And trust me, my ass is spectacular.

I was home over the holidays and my father - who thinking of engaging in a new career in public speaking - was able to take self portraits that didn't look half bad. My father who I think can now actually legally be considered elderly is able to shoot the cool self shots and I can't. What the hell is going on here? What about that picture - or mental image - just doesn't sound right.

The real issue that we, or rather I, normally do not see myself. There is the glance in the mirror in morning as a brush the teeth or comb the hair, but not the scrutiny of others observations. So seeing the shape of my own head form a different angle, the idea that no I do not look quite like I imagined is actually slightly disturbing. I could have sworn I looked better than that. It's got to be the lighting.

Or my camera. Cause it damn sure ain't me.

Cause I am good looking.

My momma told me I was. And my mother wouldn't lie to me. So there.

Barkeep. Let me a have a tall mango juice with a strawberry blend.

I Got Extras!

Vent Post #3
The following is a vent post, where for the purposes of venting some frustrations I will roll over a point in my mind that strikes me as silly and rant over it for a few lines. Breathe it. And for the sake of argument and in the interest of full disclosure, they'll usually be directed at one of the great mysteries of my life: women. If I happen to step on a metaphorical toe, it might means your mental feet aren't where you thought they were.

So Slim, who I hadn't spoken to in a minute calls with what else - man problems. All my women friends appear to have these issues with the men they choose, but Slim's seem to currently be more pronounced than the rest. Though Spanky is giving her a good run for her money.

So in the course of the chat Slim tells me that one point when the guy was supposed to call and didn't or sent a text for like the 100th time that day (damn an unlimited plan!) that she had left the country. Curious I asked and she told me she'd gone to Cozumel, Mexico for the New Year. Wowzers. She's going at it Big time. Then she hits me with that statement I hate:

"I had an extra ticket. I should have called you."

How do you have an extra ticket to Cozumel? You have an extra ticket to the movies. You occasionally have and extra ticket to a concert. You got extra coupons all the time. But an extra ticket to Mexico? Okay once in college someone had an extra ticket to Paris that could have been mine if they had known I was in town, but ...oh, never mind, but anyway, I told her I was going to pretend that she didn't just say that.

How do you have an extra ticket to a resort? That bugged me so much. I didn't bring it up again in the phone call, but that really really bugged me. Really.

I mean it bugged the shit out me.

A free ticket to Cozumel? I mean I know me and Slim ain't like that, but we're both grown. We could have shared a room for a week and nothing would have happened. Or I could have scooped a room when I was down there. I'm broke but ain't nobody that broke. I mean damn. Okay if she cooks - oddly for vegetarian she cooks meat all the time - if she cooks she will call for me to get a plate, so I shouldn't be complaining.

I shouldn't but I am. Cozu-freaking-mel? As much as need a vacation too? I only had how much time off?

I wish I was drinking.

Bartender, how about a big vanilla shake. Extra whipped creme.

The Office Moguls - Part 2

Mental Rehab Post #48
Before the madness of school kicks back in, and this becomes a virtual montage of griping about having no free time and I can't believe they want us to do all that, I gonna halfway empty my mind (partially to make space) and because the foolishness around me just won't end.

"My new plan is to make 3% per day."

This is an actual statement made by one of my co-workers, one of the new age super day traders who apparently don't actually read the finance pages. Makes you wonder what the hell the old plan was, because this is his revised low key edition. The "office moguls" lately have been lamenting so lesser than stellar portfolio performances, and the talk is now a bit more subdued. One almost hopes they'll reconsider and actually start doing their jobs.

The three percent per day plan is leaps and bounds past what Ponzi master Bernie Madoff was selling, and if you could make 3% a day trading stocks reliably the term "finance guru" would be used to describe the people who listened to the guy who washed your Porsches on Thursdays. The guy who washed the Ferraris on Friday would be an actual financial genius. It's like they don't understand math.

I'm not against the dream. I told my older brother years ago that we obviously had no real desire to "get rich," as we both knew how to do it but were chasing other endeavors. But even the methods we were aware of involved hard work, research, dedication and time. My question to the office moguls is, if it was so easy just trading stock part time...then why isn't everyone doing it? Do they think they've discovered something or realized something nobody else knows? I like to think of it like Texas Hold'em poker. For a hot minute everyone was playing, then suddenly it was over. And since the market really is a big casino - I won't even get into that - this really is a form of gambling. Which is worse.

Also, my brother got a guitar for Christmas and I'm almost certain his acoustic album will be out next winter, so look for it.

Now my favorite of the office moguls didn't even understand that trades have to settle before he can use that money to buy a new stock until last week or so. He really didn't get it that when they confirm a sell order it doesn't mean that stock sold at that very second and money changed hands. He did it on the internet ya know, and if it happened on the internet it must have been instant, he's sure, and they're just holding his money to spite him. Yet he KNOWS he can make 1% per day for a few years. The 3% claim is from the guy who advises my favorite mogul, and also invests. They're a matched set.

All I can say is that somebody better save Social Security, because these folks are gonna need it.

Barkeep, I'll have a smoothie with that B-12 kick, my friends here will need something stronger.

The Truth shall set you free

Mental Rehab Post #47
There things you don't realize you can't do until you try to do them. I know I'm not a great dancer because well, I've tried. I can move to the beat, in a crowd, and once took ballroom dancing lessons. But I'm not a middle of the dance floor, "hey watch this", dancing with stars wanna-be type of cat. And then I realized something else.

I can't do days off

This past year was an odd year for me. The holiday season year afforded me the longest stretch of off time in nearly six years. I had nine days total - five days after Christmas and four days after New Years. I spent Christmas with the family, but New Years was right here in Atlanta.

I don't know if I can ever do that again.

Sporty used to razz me about vacation time. She utilized hers to the fullest when we worked at the same company, but she knew I never used any of mine. Any. A quick look in the system today, courtesy of a person who formerly worked personnel, showed that since 2003 I've taken only 15 days. That would 5 days in 2005 for a car accident, and 10 days this year mostly for school. Yeah, in 2004, 2006, and 2007...I took no days off. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

That means for roughly 1320 days -the six years I've been here - I've taken off 15 or 0.0113 percent. I would be at work 98.8% of the time.

Sporty may have been right. I may have forgotten how to vacation.

Given all that time off, I woke up one day at three in the afternoon. I played video games until sunrise the night before because I didn't have to get up for work. I ate snacks and lunch meat sandwiches, because with the exception of Spanky telling me she was going to run through, I didn't want to be bothered to heat up the stove. I relished any function that got me out of the house because it gave me direction and something to do.

Maybe I'm just not a self starter.

Okay, I used to imagine vacations with well, you know who, where we would travel and do things, vacation type things, but now I wonder if I could manage free time like that. And if that isn't a troubling statement, I don't know what is.

Barkeep...I'm getting back on the smoothies! Let me get that Pineapple with Passion fruit.

New Year - Same Stuff

Mental Rehab Post #46
At this time of year we tend to look forward to better tomorrows, usually to find that by mid-February that the days look just like the ones from last year, and that health club membership doesn't work because they don't have the ice cream and that exercise machine is misnamed because you still have to the exercise yourself. But this year I'm not worried. Because I won't have time.

The first grub of 2009

I eschewed my traditional first meal at the Waffle House - a long standing tradition going back 20 years - and instead, er...stayed home. It was freaking Wednesday night! Seriously I was not feeling it. I had tickets to the thing at Utopia, could have gotten in at the Fox, knew of at least two house parties but instead just turned on the lap top and a got at it.

It being Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC. I've been playing for the past three weeks since school started and will have to stop when school starts, barring the occasionally need to vent frustration. I had heard horrible stories about the PC port - but mine runs great. I figured out that the folks complaining are the most part mad that that can't dial up the detail to "awe-inspiring" and have to settle for plain ole "incredible".

Now around 10pm New Year's Eve, Spanky calls up and asks me to bake biscuits for breakfast. She and a friend who is a model are going to hang out but will stop by after for eats and on the phone they plead with me to cook. I reluctantly agree and thus ring in the New Year on the stove. I know exactly how fast a New Year's party can break up once the clock is hit, so I go through my shelves and put out a pretty nice spread - Fried some fish, grits, hash browns, sausage, bacon, egg, the biscuits and I am getting into it. Man I love cooking.

But one comes and no phone call saying they're on the way. Then two comes. And three. Here is where I get pissed.

Spanky shows the next AFTERNOON hungry. Alone so I don't even get to meet the model friend.

Spanky is on my less than happy list.

I spend most of Thursday and Friday playing GTA. Per the game I'm now at Fiend addiction level. The game don't know me. I'm geeking out something fierce.

Saturday is the Pajama party. The less said about that the better. The phrase I'm going to use is the ratio was wrong for conducive good times. The reality is that it was becoming a "hard leg" convention. They're were a couple of stunners, dont' get me wrong - but PJs tend to not have pockets and if you've ever been separated from your keys for a long period of time.

And that was it for the break.

The second semester starts Jan 5th, and that good feeling I had when I walked out the finals will evaporate into a haze of I could have sworn I knew what I was doing. I find it funny how fast my brain just clicked back over when I logged in to make sure my financial aid was in line, my classes were straight and what I needed to read for the first day. I'm hoping my brain continues on this line as I get deeper into the process.

Well Barkeep...You know what time it is. Sweet Tea and slice of lemon.

What I learned 2008

Our current President for the next few weeks said when they realized the economy was taking a bad turn that we'd just hit a rough patch. Well, quite frankly for me, all of 2008 was a rough patch. A whole lot of things I didn't think would happen occured, a few things I didn't want to happen took place, and a few turns I never intended to take got, well...tooken. No, there isn't a better word for that. With any luck...okay, let's be honest, it can't get too much worse without hospital time...with any luck, 2009 will be much better. My horoscope even said so!

Love is hope.
More times than you know you'll have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. So get ready.
Every ache and every pain means something.
Just when you thought you knew, you don't.
People give advice for a reason. Most times it's because they see things you don't.
I'm beginning to think God really doesn't like me.
Little things lead to big things. Occasionally it just takes a while to get there.
Real Love doesn't ever end. Ever. You might be able to hold it in, but's always there.
Every relative older than me I've known my whole life. This one I had to think about.
Just because you think it's impossible, that doesn't mean it can't happen.
No lie hurts worse than the one you've told to yourself.
You don't have to take every opportunity, but you can't miss them all either. Regret is hell.
There is a point you realize all your dreams aren't going to come true, and that its okay. I'm not there yet.
It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all is a very stupid concept.
Vanilla ice cream. Sometimes you have to get back to the basics to appreciate the complex.
My passions scare me with their intensity.
Swagger is a lot more important than you think.