A systemic failure

The opinions that follow are my own, and nobody else's.

On Friday, May 23, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed three people to death at his apartment in Isla Vista, California. He then got in to his car and drove, fatally shooting three more people and wounding 13 others, primarily attractive women, until he killed himself via gunshot. He left behind more than 100 pages of ramblings blaming everyone but himself, how he planned to destroy "everything he cannot have" because he was, in his words, a "kissless virgin."

Rodger's idea of a dream girl (Google Image)

Since then, all I have seen is anger. 

Don't get me wrong, anger is certainly justified in this case, but I have seen many forms of anger. Anger at the act, anger at the lives lost, anger at the male-centric culture that would produce someone like Rodger, who apparently believed women have no use outside of being a pretty possession to be owned. 

People are going to be angry, because anger is part of the mourning process. It's how the human animal deals with and reacts to shock. However, it cannot be all we have. 

Friday Youtube Rundown - May 23

Few people know this, but this is my second attempt at blogging.

The first one lasted for two weeks in 2010, and crashed and burned for two main reasons:

1) I was getting back in to school at the time, and was often too distracted to maintain it.

Listening to 12-year olds hurl racial slurs can be very distracting. (Google Image)

2) I tried to keep to a daily publishing schedule, and I quickly burned out.

That first failed attempt to enter the blogosphere did have a feature I liked, and now that I'm foisting my thoughts and opinions on the Internet-At-Large™, I thought I would bring it back.

Follow past the page break for stuff I like on Youtube.

4 things to know about Seattle

Compared to the Bible Belt, the Pacific Northwest really is a different kind of beast.

I think they have a word for it...(Google Image)

Despite both places being states in the good ole' U. S. of A., the differences between Oklahoma and Washington are much more extensive than a change of weather. 

That said, there are a few things I wish I knew before I got here...

4) Coffee really is serious business

Seattle's stereotype reputation as America's coffee mecca is not undeserved in the slightest. More coffee is consumed in Seattle than any other American city. 

One year ago...

In my last post, I had mentioned that before leaving Oklahoma, I was a managing editor of a newspaper.

That newspaper was the Newcastle Pacer. A small, weekly community paper serving the rapidly-transforming city of Newcastle, Oklahoma. Population: 8,000, give or take.

At this time last year, I had been with the Pacer for a little over two months, and its managing editor for only a few weeks. I was still learning the ropes, getting used to the workload and working on repairing the paper's soiled image with the population it served.

I must be crazy

So, as a short introduction, I should introduce myself.

Yes, I know that is what introductions are for.

My name is Bryan. A few months ago, I decided to quit a job I loved doing, one I was quite good at, and moved from Oklahoma, my birthplace and home for the past 20 years, give or take.

Later, cowboy. (Google Image/Wikipedia Creative Commons)

In late April I decided, with a little money and the entirety of my life packed into a beat up Chrysler PT Cruiser, to travel west, then north, then west, then north some more, and so on ad nauseam...

After three days, I arrived in my new home.