Beelzebuddy

31. Have you ever bought a product from an infomercial?

When I was a teenager I bought some subliminal cassette tapes which supposedly had positive messages on them.  I don’t remember all of the areas they covered, but I seem to remember the areas being along the lines of self confidence, memory, good health, and similar areas.  I don’t remember the purchase specifically, but I had to have paid by check, as I wouldn’t have had a credit card at the time.  So it’s possible it was a purchase based on an advertisement in a magazine, instead of something on television.  I have no idea if the tapes had any impact, and also have no idea whatever happened to the them.  I’m not likely to spend money frivolously on myself, don’t tend to be trusting of advertisements, and I’m not much of spontaneous shopper.

30. Name a TV series you didn’t enjoy until after it ended.
“Friends”.  I wasn’t a big fan of “Friends” while it was originally airing, and didn’t watch all of the seasons.  However, I have come to appreciate the series, and I’ve now watched it all the way through several times.

29. Would you call yourself/your family “middle class?”

I grew up in what I thought was a lower middle class family, although looking back I realized we were really upper lower class.  I still feel that I am lower to mid middle class.  However, in trying to answer this question I used the calculator at the Pew Research center (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/11/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/).

According to the calculator, I am in the upper income tier.  This is difficult to believe, as so many friends have higher incomes.  I live in a modest house, in a semi-rural area, in a school district that is middling at best.  I drive a entry-level sedan that is a few years old – it is my first car with a sunroof, and I love the car!  Unlike so many others I know, I have never been given money by my grandparents, or parents.  I graduated college with several years of student loans – which are now paid in full, and worked the entire time I was in college.  The only foreign county I’ve been to is Canada.  I don’t have much money in the bank.  The is no fine china, or silverware that needs to be polished, in my house.  I went to public school, and a public college. I’ve never traveled anywhere for Spring Break. How can this be any variation of upper income?

28. What’s your favorite hashtag to track? What’s a hashtag?

#See27of100

27. Of all the social networks in the world, why use Twitter?

I don’t use Twitter.  Perhaps if I did, I would love it.  While short statements are often useful, developing an entire social network based on slogans and catch phrases seems less than ideal.  Particularly given how divided our nation and our world has become, shouldn’t we encourage more communication?

26. Do you believe in a god?

I believe that all is a manifestation of the great universal force.  There is nothing other than this all encompassing energy, being, state.  Should this one be called “god” or “God”?  I suggest that it is irrelevant, because the situation is unchanged by the word(s) used to describe it.  If this one is indeed the foundation of all, then looking within yourself, and to others, can bring forth that which seems to us wisdom and growth.  We should practice love, respect, and compassion because all is a manifestation of the same one.  There is nothing to be gained by the one fighting itself. The you of your perception arises from the same energy that is the source of the perception of others.  While our perceptions make us seem quite disconnected, this is an illusion.  We are all inexorably connected, and are ultimately one.

25. If your partner wanted to wait until marriage before having sex, would you stay in that relationship?
Fortunately, as I met my partner several years before same-sex marriage was legal, the question doesn’t really fit the circumstance. Speaking hypothetically within the legal framework we have today, my answer would be, “No.” Because of my high respect for marriage, and the serious commitment a marriage should reflect, I don’t believe it is possible to know someone well enough to marry them if you haven’t had sex (assuming sex will be a part of your relationship.). Of course this is my opinion regarding my own hypothetical scenario. You and you partner(s) are encouraged to make your own decisions.