Why is it so hard? That's what she said.

DISCLAIMER: this blog is mine & mine alone. Thou shalt not blame family nor friends nor employer for what you may read here.


I couldn't resist the reference to Michael Scott of The Office.  On a total aside & totally unrelated to what I was originally going to write, I'll be interested to see what this show is like once Steve Carell leaves.


Now back to the regularly scheduled programming.


Like (most) everyone else in the US, I'm getting ready to do my taxes.  I've used Turbo Tax for the past few years, and it works well.  But it begs the question: why is the US tax so fucking complex, so damn hard?  It's like Chinese math.  I'm a college grad, and I consider myself pretty smart, with occasional moments of brilliance.  And even tho I'm a man, I'm pretty good about reading directions.  Especially if said directions will prevent the IRS from giving me a rectal audit.  So with all this going for me, shouldn't it be feasible for me to do my taxes by hand?  Before I bought a house & built some menial investments taxes were easy, 1040EZ or whatever, done by hand, easy peasy.  But now?  I wouldn't dare.  Wouldn't it benefit everyone (save for the IRS) to simplify the tax code?  The Congress could use time spent debating & studying tax codes on other efforts.  Like getting along for one.  We could downsize the IRS & save money in the federal budget.  I guess all the tax prep services like H&R Block would be pretty pissed, CPA's might become extinct (most are boring as shit anyway), and the rich would bitch about not having loopholes to exploit, but I won't cry for them, Argentina.  So I'm all for it.  Implement a flat tax for all & get on with it.


If you haven't seen the show Accidental Genius on the NatGeo channel, you should. Here's the show's web site.
It's a very cool show, and really made me think about the wonder of the human brain, and how little we really know about it.  You should definitely watch the episode about the guy that bonked his head while diving into a swimming pool, and after which he was a musical savant.  I meant to recommend this show cuz it is well-done & provocative, but it's also a segue to (or maybe from) another thought I had.  And that is: how do we wake up with certain songs in our heads?  Five days a week my alarm goes off & I get outta bed.  And somewhere within the first five minutes of being awake, I have a song running through my head.  Often it's a song I haven't heard in quite some time.  It's not like I wake up to the last song I was listening to on my iPod, or some ditty from a TV advert.  So I gotta wonder, where does this come from?  What is it in my brain that recalls this particular song when it does?  Super-duper trivial I know, but it still makes me wonder.


I fuckin' hate to do this, but I'm ending this blog entry....now.  My thoughts just aren't flowing as they should, and putting together something that I think is informative & entertaining is a struggle today.  So before I just spew more bland, perfectly average bullshit, I'm gonna stop.  I'll try better next time, I promise, and hopefully have something more worthwhile & cogent to contribute.