u/Justcurious1138

Some of these recent news articles have annoyed me in their attempt at trying to make August out to be Summerween. These mainstream news outlets have just barely caught on to how many people enjoy getting into Halloween season as early as August. And they are just trying to capitalize on it. Meanwhile, us Halloween fanatics have been considering August as part of the season for a long time already. But here are these news outlets trying to frame it as being Summerween. I'm sorry, August is literally the start of the Halloween season. Maybe not in a die hard sense just yet, but it is certainly pre-Fall/early Halloween season. It's more of an in between transitional month than it is a summer month. Summerween is June/July and is a separate thing if that's what you enjoy doing. I really hope it doesn't become a thing where people who enjoy starting Halloween season in August become lumped in with just being Summerweeners and not the Halloween enthusiasts we truly are.

UBlog is reporting SDCC 2028 being in early August. Dates are not officially confirmed and for now are based on hotel speculation. And it's for good reason of course, because that's the year the Olympics are happening in LA and SD.

But to me that's kind of a crazy thing to consider since July and SDCC have become so synonymous. Almost feels like as significant of a change as the Covid cancellations. SDCC in August might feel a little off. Fortunately it's not a permanent change as it will be in July again in the years that follow.

As somebody in the medical field, the one I encounter the most are greater than (>) or less than (<) signs to determine patient treatments based on their vital signs. My teacher in grade school taught me that the number that is lesser always wants to eat more, and that's how you determine what the direction of the symbol means. I'm 40 years old studying to become an advanced level medical provider, and I still say that to myself when I'm studying protocols.

I couldn't believe it. I ran into Target to grab a few things. On my way out I passed the candy aisle and tossed a bag of KitKats into my cart. As I turned away I noticed the price was about 8/9 bucks. I stopped in my tracks to double check if that was right. I looked around at all the other bags of candy and they were all within that price range. For small sized bags of candy. I was so disgusted I couldn't even go through with buying the one bag I wanted. This is just straight gouging now. It won't surprise me if the large scale Halloween bags end up in the $40 range this year. And they know parents will still buy it so as not to deprive their kids of having a good Halloween.

I promise you this is not something rhetorical. It is literally the closest thing you will ever get to a real backrooms experience.

For context, most high rise office buildings usually have an overnight security guard watching over the building each night. It's a super easy gig, literally just sitting around all night and keeping an eye on the building. Mostly you are posted at a front desk on the bottom floor. But throughout the night you are required to make rounds on different floors of the building. Literally just walk around, again, for no other reason than to just keep an eye on things.

And it's when you make these rounds on different floors of the building that feel as if you are in the backrooms. Take the elevator to a floor, walk through the hallways, walk past numerous closed office doors, florescent lighting, it's all windowless because you are in the hallway, in the wee hours of the night. It truly feels as if you've no clipped into an entirely different reality. I'm not suggesting anything paranormal or dangerous about it, but there is just something so eerie about it. Especially knowing you are passing these empty offices during each round. I'm getting chills just writing about it. And what really highlights this feeling is when you get back to your desk on the bottom floor and you actually do feel like you've entered back into normal reality.

Even before I knew about Backrooms, this was always how I felt when I worked these security jobs. Every night felt like I was experiencing something so different in these buildings that very few people would understand. Just me alone in these high rise office buildings. It wasn't just one building that this happened at either. I had one security job where I had to drive to several office buildings throughout the night and make rounds in them. And it was always the same experience. Even finally getting to the bottom floor again and feeling that sense of relief that I've returned to normal reality. And when my shift would be over in the morning I remember always just carrying this heaviness because of the previous night's shift and always feeling this way throughout it.

There is truly something about it that you have to see for yourself if you want a real backrooms experience. Do it night after night. Don't vlog about it. Don't make up some narrative that isn't there. There's nothing paranormal about it. Just you alone making rounds on different floors of these entirely empty office buildings in the middle of the night. This is the absolute closest you will ever get to experiencing the backrooms.

This isn't meant as a rhetorical doom and gloom post about how bad the job market in California is. And I'm not seeking personal career advice. But I think it's time to address this. Because I'm genuinely wondering now what is realistically going to happen in the near, intermediate, and long term future. We know that the market is oversaturated with EMTs. We know that positions are becoming fewer and farther between. And it's only going to stay like this for any foreseeable future. And yet, more and more people are going to continue getting their EMT license and become licensed in the state. I know the obvious career advice is to move away. But that's not going to stop people from getting their license. And I don't blame the schools, although I do think they need to start being more honest with students nowadays about the job market. But we're coming on a year now of it being like this with no end in sight. Four years ago it would be absolutely ludicrous to suggest that your average throwaway IFT job would become a highly coveted position in this field.

What are the state and county EMS authorities going to do about this situation? Can they realistically put a limit on how many EMT licenses that can be granted per year? Are they going to have put a cap on the amount of students that EMT schools can enroll per year, which could possibly make getting into EMT school its own competitive process? Is this being looked into at any level?

I'm amazed that there are this many people who still need to have their big fan moment to be able to show everybody else what a big Star Wars fan they are. That's what is driving so many of these extreme reactions to the Celebration ticket fiasco. I can't help but think it has way more to do with wanting to be seen and known for attending the event, rather than a genuine desire to just be there. This fanbase is so performative in everything they do now. It's always just this competition for who can be the biggest fan and how can they show everybody else what a big fan they are. You see it all the time everywhere now, even for simple everyday things like watching the latest release or visiting Galaxy's Edge. And missing out on this upcoming Celebration denies people a huge opportunity for being able to display their fandom. That's what this is really about. The FOMO is very real. I'm not trying to denigrate anybody's fandom. But like I said, I just can't believe there are this many people out there who still feel this way. Especially with the way the franchise has gone over the last ten years.

Towards the end of the 2010s and the first half of this decade, it really seemed like the discourse around the UFO phenomenon shifted into serious discussion. We even changed the term from UFO to UAP as a way for people to take it more seriously and not automatically dismiss it as some kooky paranormal conspiracy topic. There were a handful of heavy hitters who were leading the discourse in the right direction and getting more and more people to look into it in a serious way. It also seemed like it was becoming more acceptable for people in legitimate positions behind the scenes to come forward with what they know and what they have experienced. And for the first time, this phenomenon was actually being taken seriously in a modern context.

Fast forward to today, and that seems to have all gone sideways as of very recently. It seems like we are back in an era of docufiction and 1950s style tabloid headlines.

Every politician talks about it in this smug "If you only knew what we knew, trust us, we're working on getting the information out there" condescending tone. Some of them are starting to seem like grifters themselves in the way that they continue to hint at things, but then provide nothing substantial to back it up, while also never having to refute what they are hinting at because they never make any substantial claim in the first place. But people will just run with it as if this politician totally knows something and is making an effort to inform us about it.

Any new headline now just gets hijacked by every pop culture, political, or dude-bro podcast and completely makes a circus out of it for views. I was on Youtube the other day, and there were just dozens of videos showing up in my algorithm that literally reminded me of that scene in Men In Black where the tabloids keep getting stacked on top of each other and each one has a more absurd headline about aliens and UFOs. Then they'll bring some guest on that says "it's not what everybody thinks it is, let me tell you what it really is..." and tries to appear as if they are offering some definitive answer. When in reality it's just another unsubstantiated claim that provides no further clarity. And it's all for views and clicks.

People are still making documentaries that seem more like early 2010s docufiction, rather than being anything substantial about something that we aren't already aware of. Then there is the film being released later this year that people are somehow convinced is totally a slow drip disclosure and isn't just going to be some psuedo intellectual commentary on modern society and how we've been the aliens all along.

How did we get here when it seemed like not that long ago this topic was being taken quite seriously and actually moving forward with something substantial?