Mandaris

50. Write about a news event from when you were still in school and how it made you feel.

One news event that I haven't written about is the California Energy Crisis of 2000. It marked the first time that I heard the word deregulation and will always have negative connotations for me.

For me, I didn’t suffer too much as the occasional blackout only inconvienced me. For some, such as people connected to devices that needed constant power or were hit with rates that lead to financial instability, it was devastating.

In addition, it lead to a recall of the governor that lead to an absolute joke of a political race that still echos to this day.

49. Do you have a set of rules or guidelines for your life? Did you write them? Why do you use them?

One of the key guidelines that I’ve set for myself is that I treat people the way that I want to be treated. People should be treated with the respect and dignity of being a human being and an understanding that you will not know what their story in life is.

I know at one point it time, I wrote down a series of principles that I’ like to strive for in my day to day life. Unfortunately, it’s in a folder somewhere that I can’t find. I think I should start scheduling time to go over these things in the future.

I’m also getting back into using themes in my life and recently [wrote about my desire to be more intentional.](Intention - Mandaris) How am I going to go about that? I haven’t quite planned, I have the concepts of a plan.

48. Have you ever had a brush with celebrity? Write about It.

I once met Arj Barker after one of his comedy shows in Sacramento, CA. I used to follow him a little bit on twitter but haven’t looked into what he’s been doing since I stopped using the service.

It looks like he’s got a new comedy album, so I’ll queue that up for my drive to work.

47. Do you consider yourself to be an international person? Why or why not? If so, write about people you know or have known from other countries.

No.

Most if not all of my identity is made from the influences in my vacenity. Although I do read some comics made in other parts of the world, most of what I work with is local.

Now, I do have some friends that I interact with in different parts of the world, but most of their life is outside of what we talk about.

I tried doing a pen-pal thing this year but it hasn’t really worked out like I thought it would.

Maybe next year, but I don’t think I’ll have any margin to do much as I’ll be too focused on local politics and the fact that my oldest daughter will be graduating high school

46. What is your all-time favorite story to tell from all the jobs you’ve held?

It was New Year's Eve of 1999. I was working the night shift at a grocery store and it was packed with people buying last minute necessities for when the world shuts down.

It would echo again during the shutdown in the heights of Covid.

I think it was one of the worst days working there as I helped people fill their carts with gallons of water at the same time that they grabbed 2 liters of caffeine free diet coke and Twinkie’s. Honestly, if all the computers went down, I don’t think we would make it too long. I haven’t done anything to change it and have hidden away that fear and just hope things don’t go down that road.

45. What do you remember being a big deal to adults during your childhood or teenaged years?

The first thing that comes to mind is the OJ Simpson trail. I didn’t know who he was at the time. All I knew was that he was driving on a white truck down the freeway with the police following him.

I feel that it’s partially because of the verdict that came after the Rodney King beating that some people feel that this was win for us.

But I don’t know who us was in this discussion.

I feel that the discussions about the case have made me a better person as I was learned about different topics related to it. For example, marriage equality and what things do we bring and take away from a relationship; how someone can be found guilty or innocent and continue to have legal issues related to the matter; what is legal and what is justice.

There have been many jokes related to this trial and I’m sure that there are a lot of different takes on it and sadly many similar cases that don’t have the same media coverage.

So, it’s still a big deal to this day.