Drink,

when often taken to excess,
will convert everyday charm
into a wheedling oversensitivity.

You Too Can Find Your Inner 14 Year Old

And since the 1990s games have 'matured' to be even more addictive and time consuming. Now they are almost lifestyles in themselves....

Post-Modern Consumerism

How did we get from what was once
a solid cash economy to an imitation of life
where objects seem to float even as we are sold them,
only to lose most of their value the instant we own them?
How did we get to a place where the whole point of selling
is to create debt; that is the most profitable way of making money?  

An Old Joke Taken Seriously

When George Bernard Shaw wrote
'Those that can do, those that can't teach'
that was his idea of a dry joke, which proves
how some jokes age badly and still get retold.

But he was also reinforcing through the hope of art
that well known hierarchy where the rich and self educated
define everyone else, particularly the poor - whom they divide
between the worthy/semi skilled (the teachers) and the unworthy
(their pupils who for lack of space/materials will never be skllled)
all the better make pupil and teacher co-dependent on each other
and make each blind to how thoroughly they are divided from above.

All of this helps keep the riches of the wealthy well hidden
-except for when displays of old bling confirm old defferences.

Self Ceiling?

Ghettos are self limiting spaces
which reinforce themselves
by denying their occupants
the ability to imagine life outside.

Progress

Because the tempation towards dishonesty never leaves us
progress will always be measured by when we stop lying
and expand the breadth of the subjects we try to be honest about.
For trying we will often find ourselves falling short of achieving our intent.

Note To Self (4)

8, 9, and 10 are what I need to repeat most....