#whereas i would be shit out of a job + my health insurance and probably my fucking house and whatever else

[spiral-wizard]

Nothing will teach you how to drive around excessive amounts of pedestrians like having a job that involves driving on a college campus.

[torispn15]

Warning long post ahead:

I have heard a lot from the news and from articles today. It can drive you crazy. So, I´m channeling my energy into explaining a couple of things about our (the US) political and economic system. It´s not perfect, as I put more emotion into this post than just straight logic. I have taken a politics 101 course and did a lot of studying and I am using basic common sense and empathy. At first I am talking about the Capitol incident and then it expands into more detail. If you don´t want to read, that´s cool. (I am not really gonna branch out into other countries on this topic. The main focus is the US) Anyways, here it is:

"A political philosophy and movement that is sceptical of authority and rejects all involuntary, coercive forms of hierarchy. Anarchism calls for the abolition of the state, which it holds to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful."

Does this sound like the behavior of the people that stormed the Capitol? No. It sounds like the opposite of what they want. I´ve seen a lot of news networks such as NBC, call the fascists, anarchists. That, above, is the description of anarchism.

Anarchists reject any hierarchy. They, the fascists, want government and they want Trump. So, calling them anarchists is very very not accurate.

"A form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy. They believe that liberal democracy is obsolete and regard the complete mobilization of society under a totalitarian one-party state as necessary to prepare a nation for armed conflict and to respond effectively to economic difficulties."

Does this sound more like the behavior of the people that stormed the Capitol? Yes. It does. That is the description of fascism.

"A fascist state is led by a strong leader such as a dictator and a martial law government composed of the members of the governing fascist party to forge national unity and maintain a stable and orderly society."

Remind you of anything??

Now, read this:

"Advocates the abolition of the state, capitalism, wage labour, social hierarchies and private property (while retaining respect for personal property, along with collectively-owned items, goods and services) in favor of common ownership of the means of production and direct democracy as well as a horizontal network of workers' councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"."

This sounds way better than the first two, right? This is the description of anarcho-communism. Which is what I, personally, align with most.

What about this:

"An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics include capital accumulation, competitive markets, a price system, private property and the recognition of property rights, voluntary exchange and wage labor. In this market economy, decision-making and investments are determined by every owner of wealth, property or production ability in capital and financial markets whereas prices and the distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services markets."

This is the description of capitalism, which is what we have now. But, what you have to understand is that capitalism usually leads to fascism. Late-stage capitalism is fascism. One core idea of fascism is capitalism. Which is one of many reasons why it´s terrible. Also, you live here. You know how bad capitalism is. It´s why you can´t afford to buy medicine or go to the doctors. It´s why people die of starvation. It´s not because people don´t work hard enough. There are people who work three jobs who are still low-income individuals and families. It´s because of capitalism. It doesn´t give you any freedom. It is the opposite of freedom. In the "land of the free" we have a political and economic system that enslaves us. Think about that. Think about how much freedom you actually have.

When all of this is put into frame, what are your thoughts? What sounds like a place you want to live in?

The way we are now, the reason why most of the garbage in this country happens, you can connect that to capitalism. You can trace what happened at the Capitol today to fascism and capitalism (Which are basically the same thing).

A lot of Americans work minimum wage jobs. Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, on average in the US. Assuming you work 40 hours a week, that equals 2,080 hours in a year. Your hourly wage of 7 dollars would end up being about $14,560 per year in salary. Even if you got $15 an hour, working 37.5 hours a week, you would still only make $29,250 a year. $15 an hour isn't enough to secure affordable housing in most US states. Nationally, someone would need to make $17.90 an hour to rent a one-bedroom apartment or $22.10 an hour to cover a two-bedroom home. In order to live comfortably, you´d have to get extra hours or a better job. Extra hours, is just slaving more of your life away to the point where it won´t matter how much money you earn. And it is very hard to get a job. Even if you go to college, you aren´t owed or guaranteed a job. You slave you life away. And none of this takes into consideration family members. None of this takes into consideration any children or people living in the household. You have to struggle all the time under capitalism.

You are in the top 1.8% of americans if you make more than 400k a year. So, no, not everyone or anyone can be rich or live nicely here. America loves to brand itself as a free country and the land of opportunity but, it has shown that is anything but. 30 million people in America, do not have health insurance. Do you know how much medical care costs without insurance? No one should struggle for basic medical care. Every human being deserves the basic necessities to stay alive. Every single one of us shouldn´t have to pay for food or water. We shouldn´t struggle to afford putting food on the table working two jobs while the millionaires and billionaires who sit on a yacht all day, who don´t earn a single cent, never have to worry about that. You wanna know how they make that money, you wanna know who gives them that money? You do. Your hard work and nights away from your family, earns them that money. That is your money. The system is set up for people like that to succeed and keep succeeding. The rich keep getting richer while you stay the same or even lose money. Does that sound fair or just to you? Life isn´t fair, no, but this isn´t life. This is a man-made system that we can fix. We built this and we can tear it down.

So stop being a bootlicker and sucking off capitalism just because there´s a small chance that, maybe, you will get rich. If you´re black in America, you have a 15.1% lower chance of becoming a millionaire than a white person in America. If you are white or asian with a college education, you have around a 20% chance of being a millionaire. But, if you can´t afford college, and you only have a high school diploma, your chances drop to a 2% chance. And most people who are rich in this country didn´t start out with a start-up company and worked hard. No. No. The majority of millionaires and billionaires did either one of these things or all of them:

⬤ Got lucky. By means of gambling, lottery, ⋆cough⋆ making a sex tape and it getting traction ⋆cough⋆...... things like that.

⬤ Scamming someone. By means of ponzi scheme, pyramid scheme, advance-fee scam, credit fraud, identity theft... things of that nature.

⬤ Other illegal shit. By means of embezzlement, hacking, robbing, selling counterfit goods (which can also fall into the scamming someone section), etc... you get the point.

And that doesn´t include being born into money and not paying any taxes as well. It usually doesn´t have shit to do with working hard. If working hard made you a millionaire, a hell of a lot more people would be rich af.

There´s also a lot more factors and circumstances to take into account. Even if I had time to explain, I probably couldn´t because, well, frankly, it´s impossible to go into every factor or circumstance especially since, I couldn´t possibly know every single one. This is a very basic and general post and I tried my best to explain some stuff. (some of the figures and percentages might be off by a percent ot two but, that´s easily searchable)

I do encourage researching, actual research. Because I, nor, anyone on this app are the authority for any topic. Never take anyone´s word for anything, especially not on this app of of all places. Please study and research. When you research, it is very important to check out the websites and sources for too much bias and make sure to fact check, such as comparing it to other websites and sources. Or maybe you could read different books about economics or politics and things of that nature. But, even for books, always fact check and check for too much bias. You can easily fall into traps if you don´t. I just started listening to an audio book titled: Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman. I am trying to learn more about anarchism and other political philosophies as well. I am most certaintly not a "political person" but, I do love to learn and I do love human beings and believe that human beings deserve basic rights which makes me interested in learning about different ways to improve our way of life.

So... that´s it.... I hope y´all have a goodnight/evening/morning! 💛

[nagdabbit]

A HANDY DANDY GUIDE TO WRASSLIN

For the lovely, the wonderful, the incomparable @gideongrace��� , may I present: Daggs’ Guide to the Wild Ass World of Professional Wrestling! (and it’s goin’ behind a cut because It Got LONG!)

So, here is the things. Wrestling is STUPID. And great? And fun as hell! And the most carny sport to ever exist. But, also SUPER inside baseball a lot of the time just because it’s got such a long goddamn history that it can seem daunting to get into. Like I’ve only been back into it the last four or so years, so there’s a lot of history that I’ve missed! There’s also a whole lot of gate keeping, just like comics or video games. There’s also the bitter truth that a lot of people in the industry are absolute shitheels that should have been fired long ago (and I’ll only be vague about a lot of that). So, yeah. A WHOLE LOT.

First things first: HISTORY. There’s just so much. But, conveniently? You don’t need it. It can be fun if you end up really like wrestling, but contrary to what a bunch of middle-aged, racist, misogynist and WILDLY homophobic, White American Men will tell you, you don’t actually need it to enjoy yourself. If you DO want history, might I suggest the How2Wrestling podcast! It is a cheerful, lovely show hosted by two goddamn delightful humans, Kefin and Jo (who are also just wonderful people to interact with in general)! There is also the Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling by Aubrey Sitterson and Chris Moreno, which is a great read! Wrestlesplania is another good show for history of the sport and the wrestlers! They’re definitely, uh, hornier, but v fun!

Secondly: On the subject of inside baseball, wrestling jargon is a whole thing. The ONLY part of wrestling history that is 100% important: it is a carny sport. Like, some side-show, vaudeville ass shit, yo. And it has never evolved from that, so there are a whole lot of terms used that are very specific to like... early 1900′s carnival culture. Here is a wikipedia article, but there’s also a wonderful How2Wrestling episode about it all! I’ll try not to use much!

Thirdly: We can’t talk about wrestling podcasts without mentioning Colt Cabana’s The Art of Wrestling. A lot of the archives are behind a paywall now, but the show is great. If you DO get into wrestling and start to find wrestlers you enjoy, I highly highly suggest checking to see if they’ve done an episode. Colt is a goddamn delight of a human, deserving of support and a great interviewer on top of it. Even if you just bookmark eps you’d wanna listen to and then start a free trial to marathon them all. (See also: the Colt Cabana & CM Punk lawsuit(s), in which Colt got royally fucked over.)

Fourthly: Nobodies Watching Wrestling. Drag Queens watching wrestling. That’s all you need to know. Even out of context, they’re goddamn delightful humans. Might I recommend this episode with EFFY, because I sometimes just watch it when I’m having a bad day.

Fifthly: Tights & Fights is a great weekly wrestling pod, and is how I keep up on a lot of things that I might not be watching. PLUS, diverse group of (wonderful) hosts: Hal Lublin, Daniel Radford, Lindsey Kelk, Open Mike Eagle, and producer Julien Burrell. They’re just great. And horny, at times, but in a charming and respectful way.

Now... The boring part. I’m just gonna get some of the popular company introductions out of the way, and then the fun part of So Many Match Suggestions at the bottom. But, business first! (The Big difference between Larger Companies and Independent Companies is that the big guys have a contracted roster of people who sometimes can work with other companies [unless they’re the WWE, who have exclusive contracts and still call their employees Independent Contractors so they don’t have to offer health insurance or a union], and indie guys contract people usually show-by-show. ALSO, there is intergender wrestling [men vs women, which does bother a lot of people. I do side with support of it, but I do totally get how it can be hard to watch] in indie shows, whereas there is NOT in 90% of the big companies.)

(And, honestly, if you wanna skip this part, you can, but if I don’t do it first, I’ll forget..)

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BIG PLAYERS

WWE - Here’s the thing. The WWE kinda... is a terrible capitalist bastard of a company, run by a morally bankrupt, egomaniacal, shitstain, roid-rage cryptkeeper of a man. And, if you want my personal opinion, RAW and Smackdown are both (currently) TERRIBLE shows, despite having some truly phenomenal talent. BUT, but. NXT (and NXT UK) is probably the best, like, weekly wrestling show (on TV, at least, but we’ll get there). The talent is INCREDIBLE, the storylines are less bad bananas, and they’ve adopted a LOT of the best indie talent lately (because they want to directly compete with AEW, but that’s a whole other thing). WWE programming is also the easiest to get a hold of because they are the longest running and basically Disney, so there are some full matches on YouTube, and Raw and NXT are available on Hulu. They are also releasing a lot of free stuff on the WWE Network that you can watch without signing up for a paid account, but there is a lot of stuff behind a pay wall.

Cons: Real Talk, run by a bunch of terrible people. Responsible for covering up a lot of truly reprehensible crimes for which no one was held accountable, despite being well documented. A blatant disregard for the (physical and mental) safety and/or financial security of a lot of their roster--specifically the people you don’t see on TV. (If you want some history, you can look through the past tweets of the New York 64 Tournament, but a lot of it turned my stomach, so I would not suggest, but it’s there if you have the same morbid curiosity that I did)

Pros: The company might be run by terrible people, but their roster is good. A lot of my top wrestlers do work for the WWE, sure, but they do hire a lot of decent humans that I sometimes feel bad about not supporting. Also, it is the dream of a lot of people to join WWE simply because of the prestige, the massive audience, and job security. I might hate Vince but I can’t begrudge any wrestler currently working for them.

NXT Pros: On the subject of rosters, NXT is LIT. But they have also stolen some of the best indie wrestlers recently: Mercedes Martinez and Jake Atlas, two of my All Time Favs. Both of whom deserve the world, because being openly gay in the wrestling industry is the pits.

All Elite Wrestling - AEW is a very new company, and they are my favourite of the big promotions. They are a company run by wrestlers, rather than a millionaire with a writing staff. I like the wrestling style(s) better, I was a huge fan of a lot of their roster before they hit TV last October, and I like not giving the McMahons money. The storylines are better, if only because they don’t have a writer’s room dictating scripts and such, and the characters are more fun (for me at least).

Easiest ways to watch for free: Their YouTube channel! There you can find a lot of highlights, behind the scenes, AEW Dark (the “dark” matches, or the non-televised matches from TV tapings), PPV pre-shows and a lot of stupid stuff.

Cons: A bit of an issue offering equal match time to the women’s roster the way they SAID they would at the start. A bit more violent of a style as a lot of the wrestlers came up death match style wrestling, or are from Japan/wrestled in Japan and typically wrestle “strong style” (wrestling style with less theatrics and known for Real Real Strikes that Hurt A Lot), which some people can find off-putting. Also, they hired Jake Hager, who is a real piece of shit.

Pros: Have a wonderfully diverse roster. Orange Cassidy. Sonny Kiss. Good storytelling. Jake The Snake Roberts doing Hella Promos. The Dark Order, who we affectionately refer to as the Spooky Perverts. Chris Jericho yelling at a Drone, and Matt Hardy being a wizard. A bunch of wrestlers who are married to other wrestlers who work for WWE, and good jokes are made.

BUT THE BIGGEST PRO-AEW THING I CAN PROVIDE: NYLA FUCKING ROSE. They didn’t make her the first women’s champion like they should have, but they put her in the first championship match on the FIRST episode of the weekly show, Dynamite, and she is now the CURRENT women’s champion. I don’t wanna make a big deal, only it is a BIG DEAL, because Nyla Fucking Rose is the first openly transgender wrestler signed to a major promotion, and if you think I didn’t fucking CRY LIKE A CHILD when she won, you’re wrong. So, yeah, a NATIONALLY TELEVISED WRESTLING PROGRAM’S CURRENT WOMEN’S CHAMPION IS A TRANSGENDER, FIRST NATIONS WOMAN. NYLA. FUCKING. ROSE.

As of right now, AEW seems to be done filming, which is both Very Smart and also heartbreaking, but you can find all the ways to watch over here on their site if it looks like fun!

WOW Women of Wrestling - Have you seen GLOW? This is a show created by the IRL creator of GLOW (the promotion the show is based on, not the show)! And it is? Incredible? The characters are fun and portrayed as superheroes, the stories are CAMP af, and the wrestling is GOOD. They’re a non-traditional show, which is fun. Their roster is made up of wrestlers playing different wrestlers. Wrestling is a bunch of super talented people playing characters while doing acrobatics. WOW gives us people playing characters, playing other characters, while also doing acrobatics.

Cons: All male announce team? On an all women’s show? Excuse? And also: Tessa Blanchard who is, it turns out, a great big racist. Also a little harder to get full episodes it seems.

Pros: Literally everything else.

Ring of Honor - For awhile ROH was handily competing with WWE. And then they weren’t. And then they got better. And then they got worse. And now, currently, they are a company that I hate supporting.

Cons: Run by assholes who don’t care about worker safety, and don’t put anything into the women’s division.

Pros: Sometimes they partner with New Japan Pro Wrestling. They’ve recently released a lot of goooood old matches including some Kevin Steen (currently WWE’s Kevin Owens) vs El Generico (definitely, 100% not at all, no way, no how, of course NOT WWE’s Sami Zayn [he is, this is another inside baseball joke that I’m just obligated to make every time I mention El Generico]) matches which are BRUTAL. Oh, and Dalton Castle:

Impact! - It’s back! I don’t watch it, but they DO have Rich Swann, so they can’t be bad. There is an entire history to Impact that is BANANAS. Like AEW, a bit more rough and tumble, scrappy death match folks, and I like a lot of the roster, like Taya Valkyrie, Jessika Havok and Sami Callihan. Not a bad show, but the full show weekly doesn’t hold my attention.

Cons: Tessa Blanchard, mostly. She is an incredible wrestler, her matches are good, but.

Pros: Pretty easy to watch, actually? I believe they’re still on Twitch, and they have an entire channel on Pluto TV.

New Japan Pro Wrestling - NJPW is GREAT. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. The shows are long, and strong style just... hurts. Like, a lot of wincing on my end. But the wrestling. Oh, lordy, the wrestling is incredible. But it is brutal. Strong Style wrestling is much different than the typical American style that you see in WWE, and a lot more grounded than high flying lucha styles. (Though a lot of wrestlers do travel to Mexico and train in lucha style wrestling (which I am the least familiar with), so currently there is a lot of the very high flying flippty dos and the absolutely brutal strikes that you see in strong style wrestling.)

Cons: Show/match length is typically long and there is A Lot to See. The only way I know to watch full shows is through their streaming service.

Pros: Just the whole thing, really. They release a free match on YouTube every Monday. Also, Toru Yano, the best wrestler in the world.

Indie Promotions that I know less about because I can afford only so many streaming services

Firstly, here is a Wiki list of wrestling streaming services. I’m gonna name a couple below, but the wiki page has a handy list of costs of the bigger ones because capitalism knows how to get you. (Personally, I only use IWTV at the moment. They’re a good company run by good people, and a lot of indie promotions would have died out without partnering with/support from them)

Beyond Wrestling - Beyond is My Favourite Promotion To Watch, Bar None. Their weekly show (when in season), Uncharted Territory, is fantastic. Diverse talent, diverse styles. They do have a lot of death matches, which can suck to watch if you aren’t into that sort of thing. I am, it turns out, into that sort of thing. But listening to interviews with a lot of death match wrestlers, specifically Jimmy Havoc, can help understand the w h y of it all! Available on IWTV.

Chikara - Chikara is So Fun! They are a (mostly) family friendly promotion and training school. Their shows are filled with young/newbie wrestlers as they learn the tricks. Run by Mike Quackenbush, who is a delightful person, BRILLIANT wrestler/trainer, and someone who is willing to take the safety of his people into account. He’s good people, who trains good people, and supports good people, and gives them a safe, open place to learn. It’s also very fun! A lot of comedy matches. Watch on: CHIKARAtopia or some of their archive is on IWTV.

EVE - An all-women promotion, providing a safe working and training environment for women and girls. They have put their foot in it on occasion, but they seem to still be good people. (I would recommend the Tights & Fights episode with founders Emily and Dann Read for a little backstory on the company, but not needed.) Ways to watch.

RIPTIDE - YO, RIPTIDE IS DOING THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SHIT. Cinematic wrestling, and it is great. The matches are good, the promos are good, the people are good. But the way they film it oh my god holy shit. When everything is a little less hectic, they are people I am definitely gonna support as much as I can. Watch here.

A Matter of Pride - Here’s the thing. They have put on some very good, inclusive shows. However, some serious allegations have come out about Rick Cataldo, who is involved with the company, and I think it’s important to mention. They have done a lot of good in the world of prowrestling and they put on good shows and they have given a platform to people who might otherwise have been pushed aside, however bad things have still happened there. Watchable on YouTube.

OTHER NOTABLE INDIE COMPANIES

GCW (IWTV, Fite TV & Smartmark) * Black Label Pro (IWTV) * Prime Time Pro Wrestling (IWTV) * Uncanny Attractions * RISE (IWTV) * Bar Wrestling * PWG * Stardom * Bizarro Lucha (IWTV) * OTT

There is also NWA Power that is a good show on YouTube, however, they immediately hired (and now fired for being racist) Jim Cornette who is... just an absolute jackass. But I do feel I should mention them.

Is that over? Yes? Well..

NOW THE FUN PART. THIS IS MY MOMENT. THIS IS THE ONLY PART THAT REALLY MATTERS.

So. The thing is. Wrestling is A Lot. SO, I’m gonna give you as wide a variety as I can! I’ll point out some fun people, some fun gimmicks and HOPEFULLY won’t completely turn you off! If you enjoy any of these, then the dumb stuff up above is useful!

First! The most important wrestling match of All Time. Invisible Man vs Invisible Stan. This is everything you need to know about the beats of good wrestling, but also why wrestling is fun. There are two people in this match: Referee Bryce Remsburg and the audience. And that’s it. This is literally just a referee (but it’s Bryce, so the referee) miming a wrestling match, and an audience buying into the kayfabe wholeheartedly. (Inside baseball: Bad Boy Vision - “Bad Boy” Joey Janela’s [another wrestler] sunglasses)

One of my favourite matches in recent memory, AND one of the best matches sort of just in general! David Starr vs Jordan Devlin at OTT. Quintessential wrestling, fantastic storytelling, and one of the best promo packages I’ve ever seen. BONUS: David Starr is a GREAT human fighting day and night to unionize the wrestling industry. He’s the Bernie Sanders of professional wrestling.

I thought about putting an actual death match on the list, but the closest I will get is this Nick Gage vs Josh Briggs fans bring the weapons match. I chose this match because my very best friend does not like this style of wrestling at all, but he did enjoy this match. It’s a lot, obviously. But it’s not as bad as it could be, but there’s also no shame if it isn’t your thing. Hell, I don’t even know why it’s my thing! I don’t even like bloody horror movies! I will say that Nick Fuckin’ Gage is one of the most prolific death match guys still working today, and also one of the nicest, kindest, most beloved guys there is and I would die to protect him. MDK!

Okay, this is the single most beautiful match to exist. Cara Noir vs PAC (fka WWE’s Neville). This isn’t wrestling, this is art. Great story, no commentary, gorgeous camerawork. Bonus: Cara Noir has the most fantastic and well rounded gimmick (character) in the business. Have you seen Black Swan? That’s it. That’s his character. And it’s great. Nailed. It.

Oh, did you know David Arquette is a wrestler? HE IS! Here’s he and RJ City.

On the subject of WWE and NXT, this Halftime Heat match of Aleister Black, Ricochet & Velveteen Dream vs Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole & Tommaso Ciampa. These are six of the best wrestlers work, and definitely TOPS in the WWE system. SEE ALSO: Black & Dream put on a HELL of a program together at NXT, but it’s been boiled down to this highlight vid that gives me feelings. Gargano vs Andrade Cien Almas is one of THE BEST matches of all time and here is a shitty highlight reel, but it’s still good. Adam Cole is 1) incredible and 2) the prettiest possum in the Denny’s dumpster, have a Cole vs Finn Balor highlight reel. God, I wish it were easier to find WWE stuff on YouTube.. All these matches should be on Hulu, tho.

NEXT! Kris Statlander vs Davienne for Beyond. Kris Statlander is A Legend, despite being real new to the business. Currently wrestling for AEW, former stuntwoman and, most importantly, she’s an alien.

FREE FOR ALL TIME. Solo Darling vs Penelope Ford vs Veda Scott vs Ashley Vox. They didn’t have to go that hard, but they did.

SPEAKING OF. Kylie Rae, Penelope Ford, Kimber Lee & Skylar vs. Shotzi Blackheart, Harlow &Twisted Sisterz. I just? I love? All of them?

And not to mention Kris Statlander vs Priscilla Kelly. I mean, I mean. I cannot sing the praises of both of these women enough.

Okay, so I am really only passingly familiar with a lot of Japanese wrestling. Mostly got into it last summer, actually. I get it, I love it, but I’m not as well versed in the people involved. Two badasses I do know? Meiko Satomura vs Kana (WWE’s Asuka). Fucking legends, both of them. Hard hitters, too, jesus.

If you do get into NXT at all, Keith Lee and Donovan Dijak put on one fuck of a program together, but the story started long before they ever entered the WWE! Please enjoy this absolute hoss fight from a couple years back.

NOW, some intergender matches! If you think they aren’t your thing, feel free to skip!

A fun match of (current IRL romantic partners) Keith Lee vs Mia Yim from before either of them debuted at NXT. I believe they weren’t dating at this point, so the next part will really hit, cuz it’s romantic as shit... This was not the booked ending. Keith Lee didn’t kick out on purpose. (Which, I mean, is literally all wrestling endings, but.) Mia was booked to lose (at least they told her that), and he purposefully took the L and went out on his back, to surprise her and give her a MASSIVE push.

Leyla Hirsch vs David Starr. I just. I goddamn love Leyla Hirsch. A very young wrestler, very new to the industry and I just love her so much?

Two great, intense matches of Joey Janela, the patron saint of bad decisions. Versus Kris Statlander (I can’t get enough of her) and versus Jordynne Grace.

Orange Cassidy and Penelope Ford vs Shockwave and Veda Scott. Shockwave is a robot and Orange Cassidy is Paul Rudd in Wet Hot American Summer. I can give no other explanation.

COMEDY TIME, YO. Comedy wrestling is The Best. There’s a name, Orange Cassidy. Yeah, he’s very funny, and also the most divisive person in wrestling rn. He’s Paul Rudd. He knows he’s a wrestler. He’s lazy. And there’s one match that we need to get out of the way first...

Orange Cassidy vs David Starr. The thing is. Orange Cassidy can fucking wrestle. His gimmick might be that he doesn’t want to, but he can. And It. Is. Great.

Now we can get on with the funnies.

Orange Cassidy vs Colt Cabana. Not story needed. Just two dudes at a food festival. Oh, yeah, there’s also a Swamp Monster. We love Swampy.

Colt Cabana vs Toru Yano. It’s just. So. FUN.

You might know the name Joey Ryan as The Dick Flip Wrestler, or The King of Dong Style. His dick has magical powers, it’s a thing. Here’s he and Orange Cassidy.

Johnny Cockstrong is the opposite of Joey Ryan. Literally. Here’s him also vs Orange Cassidy.

Did you want to see a Dick Test of Strength between them? Well, it happened.

Back to RIPTIDE for (another intergender, kinda) Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae (the World’s Cutest Tag Team) & Colt Cabana.

Kinda almost but not really comedy but very funny and also full of good wrasslin’, here is EFFY vs Orange Cassidy. Pirated, technically, and in real low quality, but I Love It. EFFY is Daddy.

Now, you’ll notice not a lot of women in the comedy section. Real talk, women still tend to get treated as a joke by the wrestling industry at large, so they don’t get the luxury of being as funny as they want. But one woman out there doing the lord’s work is Session Moth Martina. Legend. Love her. Admittedly, another intergender match, but it makes me happy. Martina & Orange Cassidy vs Joey Janela & Penelope Ford (Janelope).

One of my All Time Favourite Matches to date, EFFY and Danhausen (Gaytanic Panic) vs Chris Dickinson and Pinkie Sanchez (Team Pazuzu). Yes, this is a Halloween show. Yes, the Ref IS dressed as Chris Dickinson. There are teeth, Jesus resurrects someone, Danhausen is in fishnets and Effy is in face paint. It’s great. Love that Danhausen.

And there we have it! A whole lot of information and a bunch of matches and some stuff. It’s real dumb, and sometimes the industry is dark, but there’s a lot of hella good people doing dumb things. I hope this was helpful?? And Fun! (But my feeling won’t be hurt if it wasn’t fun, I promise!)

I leave you with this, RJ City making coffee in his underwear with Danhausen. Completely out of context. Because I love it.

[ultimatestudyabroad]

Health Insurance: Adding Insult to Injury

Not only have I been unemployed and homeless since I arrived back in America, but I’ve also not had any health insurance. So, on top of worrying about how long I can make my money stretch and stressing about whether anyone will ever hire me, I’ve had this nagging voice in the back of my head: You’d better not get sick, Mel. You’d better not need a prescription filled, Mel. Don’t go ice skating with your friend, Mel. If you break your ankle, you don’t have health insurance.

I feel the need to pause here and clarify for my Australian friends: no health insurance = no health cover of any kind. This isn’t a “I don’t have private insurance, but Medicare still covers me” situation. (Note: universal health care in Australia is called “Medicare” whereas “Medicare” in the U.S. is primarily for the elderly – this can admittedly get confusing). In the United States, if you don’t have a job, you don’t have health insurance (unless you buy it yourself, but we’ll get to that). There is no automatic social safety net.

When I was younger, I would simply take the risk of not having insurance in between jobs. In retrospect, I was lucky nothing serious happened. But now, I’m older, wiser, and only two years away from the age my mom was when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, so no insurance is no longer a risk I’m willing to take. Before I left Australia, I tried to figure out how to get some insurance until I get a job. I didn’t have much luck. Because here’s another oddity in America: you can only buy/make changes to your health insurance at certain times of year, the “open enrollment period.” There are exceptions to that, of course, for major “life events” like getting married, etc. and it turns out that returning from living abroad is one of them. However, outside the open enrollment period, options are scarce. They are also tied to the state you live in and I wasn’t sure where I was going to live! The only plans I could find were so expensive and so crappy that I decided against buying “real” insurance and instead obtained emergency cover through a travel insurance plan for expats returning from abroad. I figured I just needed something to cover me in case I was in a car accident or I needed an emergency appendectomy or something like that. I figured I’d only need it a few months and then I’d have a job (hahahahaha, joke was on me). I bought the plan and extended it once. Then open enrollment hit and I still didn’t have a job, so I knew I needed to bite the bullet and get some health insurance.

Some of my friends in Australia assumed that Obamacare gave all Americans health insurance and I had to explain to them that it merely required us all to have insurance; it didn’t give us anything. It did add some regulations to make our health insurance plans suck less and it created the marketplace, a website where individuals could go purchase their own health insurance if they didn’t have any through work. And this is where I went to buy my insurance plan, an eye-opening experience. I entered in some demographic information and where I lived so that the system could identify plans I was eligible for. I got to a screen that asked for my anticipated 2020 income. I entered “$0.” I mean, the whole reason I have to go through this is that I’m unemployed! In return, I got the message that, based on my answer, I do not qualify for subsidies to help cover the cost of my insurance. What?! How can someone with no income not qualify for the assistance the law provides for the insurance the law requires people to have? Oh well. I wasn’t terribly surprised by this. I’d already made weak attempts to see if I could qualify for any kind of social welfare program. Unemployment? Nope. Medicaid? Nope. For food stamps, I was at least asked to provide some additional information, but after that, I never got any kind of response…

Anyway, I cursed the heavens and clicked through to see my plan options. Words cannot express how shit these plans were. As I report on this, bear in mind that I am a healthy, non-smoker with no pre-existing conditions. Plans that were affordable – around $250-300 a month – had deductibles upwards of $8,000! Meaning, I would need to utilize $8,000 worth of medical services before my insurance would kick in. Now, I neither intend to need $8,000 worth of medical services nor do I have $8,000 to spend on medical services. Some of the more affordable plans also had no cap to the out-of-pocket expense. For example, if once I had met my $8,000 deductible, I ended up in the emergency room, I’d still be responsible for, say 50%, of the total cost. For other kinds of treatment, insurance might pay 80% and I’d be responsible for 20% (again, this is all after I’ve met my deductible). Two things make these kind of plans a very bad idea. First, as I mentioned, I have a family history of breast cancer. My boobies are most likely going to turn on me one day. I don’t just need insurance; I need cancer-quality insurance. This fact was vividly driven home to me in the month before I went on the marketplace, when two people I care about were diagnosed with breast cancer. Crappy insurance is not an option for me.

Secondly, health care in America is expensive. How expensive, you ask? Check out this thread of responses from when Bernie asked the same question. From personal experience, I’ll give one example. Before I moved  to Australia, I’d been having annual breast MRIs as part of my preventative care.  My GP in Australia wanted me to continue that type of screening, but warned me that my overseas student health cover (basically, the equivalent of Medicare) didn’t cover MRIs. I immediately refused the test and we got in a bit of a spat over why I was refusing her recommendation. I told her I could not possibly afford an MRI out of pocket. We went back and forth a few times before she finally looked up the price: $500. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR AN MRI! The total cost of this test in the U.S. is $3,000-4,000. I told her that. She almost fell out of her chair. This kind of experience happened to me several times in Australia. I’d be having a disagreement with someone on health care and there’d be this sense that neither one of us really knew why we were so opposed to each other and the reason turned out to be that we were operating from two completely different frames of reference. To close the story, I had my MRI (and my OSHC surprisingly ended up covering it! This – paying less than what you think you’re going to have to pay -- is something that never happens in America!)

But back to the Marketplace. I ended up choosing a plan that had an out-of-pocket maximum. I’m not interested in going bankrupt because of medical bills. I also chose a plan with $0 deductible because the difference in cost between low-deductible and no-deductible plans was fairly negligible. So, my plan isn’t that bad (or, I should say, it doesn’t seem to be. We’ll find out when I actually try to use it). What’s this costing me, you might be wondering? $580 a month! Please recall that my income is currently $0. I do not have $580 a month, which is only $139 less than what my mortgage was before I sold my house! Americans reading this are most likely thinking, “yeah, that sounds about right” whereas my Australian friends are probably a little shell-shocked.

To give my American friends some context … When I moved to Australia, in order to get my student visa, I had to pay for 46 months (the duration of my visa) worth of health cover up front. At the cost of my new American health insurance plan, that would have amounted to almost $27,000. Instead, I paid $1,893.12! That’s just over $40 a month. And for that, I got amazing health care. I went to my GP all the time because it was so easy and it was free. The only time I ever had to pay was $35 for a blood test that wasn’t fully covered (and I got part of that back from my insurance within a WEEK of submitting a claim!) My OSHC didn’t cover prescriptions or routine dental, but both of those things were cheaper fully out of pocket than they are in America with insurance. I once had to take an American study abroad student (who had no Australian health insurance) to the equivalent of urgent care for strep throat. He waited less than five minutes without an appointment (can’t remember the last time I waited less than 20 minutes in the U.S. even with an appointment). He paid $50 for the visit and $10 for his antibiotic with – I repeat – no insurance.

I listen to the Medicare for All debates in the Democratic primary and my first reaction is to be completely flummoxed that anyone (other than a health insurance executive) could be against it. But upon further reflection, I think that Americans are just so used to being screwed by their health insurance that they find it hard to conceive of an existence in which they are not. We are so conditioned by the structures that run our lives that a functioning system seems fanciful. Once I got to Australia, it took me some time to believe. During pretty much every encounter with the Australian health care system, I was confused/surprised/skeptical that it really was that easy/quick/cheap. Now that I’m back, I’m equal parts a) dreading the reverse culture shock that will occur when I need to go to a doctor and b) pissed off that the “richest country on earth” extracts so much profit from the health of its citizens. So to my fellow Americans I say: support universal, single-payer health care! Trust me, you’ll love it.

[attractiverubble]

[day 128] - unassailable

I’ve gotten away from titling each blog post with a vocab word I want to hold onto for myself. I think a good vocab word for every 3 grafs you write is good. You never want to just vomit out words you took from a thesaurus to sound like you’re something smart and special, but still a lot of these words have a very exact definition that fits perfectly with the thought you’re trying to express. And using one of those every so often is a great skill to have as a writer. 

I sometimes want to sit behind a dictionary and learn every word of the language, and hold onto the ones that can be useful. I’m sure I could learn another 1000 words or so, and know them forward and back. 

there’s still so much shit to be discouraged about with the state of affairs, and it turns larger on the daily. I can only hope that the investigators are doing their due diligence. But i’m certainly desensitized to try and explain to my parents why this shit is so damn thick and what is happening, mainly because I’ve given up on them every trying to learn something new.

[god give you what you can handle]

Though it is cool to see how cultural critics and tastemakers are starting to, now, move past the overwhelming nature of the administration—how much bullshit that shows up. Not that they are necessarily resigned like I am, but the opposite.

They are certain this whole nightmare will be over before it can truly damage people. Not that it hasn’t already and hasn’t truly disrupted our foreign relations, but the sort of fear of unquestioned authoritarianism that popped up between 11/9 and the new year seems a little bit more far off now than it did then.

Its clear exactly how dumb and incompetent the people in power are, but they are still capable and able, and have already done so, of fucking people over.

My point I’m working toward, though, is that yes, things are somewhat fucked, but we shouldn’t be all that fearful. Stay vigilant, be aware, speak up and speak out. 

Yes, trump is certainly a symptom of our society/culture, one that will be overcome soon enough. But the underlying disease that brought us to this point will remain, and we have to start battling that, not just trump.

So the cultural critics have now discredited the authority of the potus, mainly because the current potus is an insatiable fool, and we don’t let him affect us much anymore. We have no loyalty to him. So now we’ve moved back to regular cultural reflection and study.

Something I noticed over the past week is the analysis of that lizzie goodman book about indie rock in nyc in the early 2000′s. She sat in with Ezra Koenig’s beats 1 radio show last week, and they mostly talked about the initial reaction to this one minor excerpt about the strokes. Basically how people reacted to what was shared, and how Ezra - himself a subject in the book and someone who came along a bit after the initial upstart of this era - took from reading the excerpt, what he was somewhat scared to see about him and his band later on in the book, and also from the reactions of people over the past few weeks.

That radio show was last sunday. Then on thursday, LIzzie goodman sat in with Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan’s “The Watch” podcast to talk about the entirety of the 600 page book. While they did somewhat touch on what it was like to write about this music at the time and how we look at it now (and I actually only made it halfway thru the podcast, so they could have talked about that much more later on and done so with some sense of objectivity), they basically just reminisced about their younger days around these up-and-coming bands and what life was like in Lower Manhattan for someone in their 20′s in the aftermath of 9/11 during the Bush years.

And they were very smart and very enlightened about all of the different factors that went into this scene. (I think Andy Greenwald’s definition of “scene” in this podcast was spot on, too). Ezra’s discussion with Lizzie was good with that as well.

[They - Chris and Andy and Lizzie - also talked about how none of this stuff is possible anymore, which is something I will tackle in more depth sometime soon]

These were two different programs, on two separate coasts, with 4 different people all talking about the same set of circumstances and people and quotes and places - Manhattan and the later on move to brooklyn. But they all spoke of a very similar feeling and time and place. Specifically stuff that was a bit before my time.

I remember first watching VW’s oxford comma after I finished eighth grade and was thrown into this world of indie rock. It took me a while to become familiar with all of the major players, and that’s why talk of the strokes and interpol and tv on the radio was all definitely before my time. I only started listening to them after they all reached their peak and people were hoping that the magic could be rekindled. But it never could.

That is to say that, starting now, there will be some sort of young cultural music movement that will somewhat define the generation. There’s been an emo revival recently, plus there’s all the good rap/trap music being made by new people. Perhaps that’s where indie music is now, I don’t know.

And it is kinda impossible to rekindle that original magic, because the way music is made and distributed is completely different, and the way it is covered is completely different. 

Perhaps all of the cultural art is dead now - music/theater/art/sports. It is entirely possible the innovative, “progressive” field in the world right now is in the tech sector. That’s where you will find the interesting characters to write about for the next 30 years. “rock stars” were the stuff of legends for over 30 years, and so much has been inspired by them and their lives. But that lifestyle is over now, for the most part. There will still be super popular musicians/artists, probably even more famous than in the past, but not the overall amount there was during the golden age [Ezra touched on this very well in his time crisis radio program].

This all affects me in two ways. One: I want to be part of whatever cultural revolution there will be for people of my age. I want to be where it it is taking place. Certainly not in the suburbs, and definitely not in a city like New York or Brooklyn. This desire is simply self-indulgent. I want to have these great memories when I’m 50; be able to say “i was there.” 

[total aside - my one co-worker said earlier this week how - as a writer - you have to go out and take chances and encounter experiences that will offer subjects to write about. She’s right, but something stuck in my craw. She mentioned how she’s now living in this suburban apartment in an office job she doesn’t really like, whereas before she lived in a downtown city setting (philadelphia) and she was a freelancer. She had great freedom and a great lifestyle for where she was at in her life. She had finished a master’s degree and was now creating her professional life, but she changed it all so she could get some security and health insurance, because she was turning 26 and would be kicked off her parents’ health insurance.

Anyway, she said how she sees this whole year - this whole experience of living in the suburbs and working some job she doesn’t really like - will one day turn into an essay for her to write. Something probably like 2000 - 5000 words, to be self-indulgent to herself {i’m probably at 2000 words right now in this post. Talk about self-indulgence}, but if she wants it to be published in some way, it will be capped at 1500 words. Heavily edited in a way she’s not happy with.

And that’s if it gets published in some sort of magazine or journal. Her initial premise was so fucking dumb - being 26 and living in the suburbs. As if there aren’t a million people doing that already. Perhaps that will be her audience, but she talks about only being a non-fiction writer, and being unable to write any sort of fiction. It makes me want to vomit, that she thinks her true life story about living in the suburbs at 26 is something compelling. Sounds exactly like something my parents told me to write about - living at home after finishing college. There’s nothing exciting about that, nothing that can possibly be important for historical records that can be truthful to one life. Fiction can take a lot more liberties and cover a lot more characters and perspectives and themes - a non-fiction essay just can’t. {sorry about this - I’m just trying to say that not everything should be a personal essay, or can even be transmuted into a personal essay. and her naïveté about the style is just frustrating to listen to}]

The second way up-coming music and culture affects me is that I want to be able to write about something novel. Something unique and innovative. Again, super self-indulgent and builds off my first way all of this change affects me, that I just want to be part of “the scene.” If you’re a journalist covering “the scene,” you’re not only part of it and can reminiscence later on, but you also determine how exactly the masses remember the moment and what it all meant. And, as I mentioned above, the tech sector has certainly been innovative over the past 5-10 years. I think it is actually starting to take a downswing, since it’s become abundantly clear that no matter how many great apps or platforms or products are on the market, the world will not be made a better, more just place. And there’s no more enthusiasm in the tech world. 

Perhaps that is something I can cover, the last night of the tech sector, much like the last night of the yankee dynasty. A eulogy for big tech, if you will. Much like how this lizzie goodman book looks at the LCD Soundsystem final shows at MSG in 2011 as the final night of “indie rock,” or like the “Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty,” when they lost the 2003 world series and looked absolutely beaten and dejected at the end of that series.

Not that this is something I can necessarily start working on next week; I want to finish up this internship at the end of this year. See what sorts of changes pop up over the summer.

My main goal really should be getting back to school and getting myself focused. Put myself on a path that I can later add onto as I see fit. 

I should start actually doing all of that work, and then after a bit, I can attempt to start pitching actual pieces of work - while also writing my own fiction. I still have this whole publishing schedule in place and a bunch of ideas to flesh out and put on a digital screen to then use as part of an application.

But I hate fucking around; I have a lot of work to do. I turn 23 in two days.