Hello folks. I've been away from the site for awhile trying to put my money where my mouth is, all the while feeling like a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. Needless to say, it's been a losing battle day in and out trying to win that contest! I've gotta admit it, I'm fuc&!$* frustrated and the feeling is becoming a bit of a sore point to my already bruised ego. Getting a job being an ex-con is really a trial. I hit up a construction site on my side of town today looking for a job (I'm not making this up either. I'm just proving how unbalanced the system is right now), and the guy I spoke to, a sub-contractor as kindly as he could, told me that he already had enough help. The "help" he referred to were Hispanics with a non existent command of the English language. When I switched to Spanish, those guys really shut up then! But I'm not mad at them for working. No. If anything I'm glad they're trying to take care of their families. They probably lost something or everything when Harvey rolled his happy ass through tearing up the Texas coast. No. What I'm pissed about is that I can't get a fair chance, even from the Waste Management co., after twenty years of prison! And to make it a laughing matter, they've got a post about banning the box. Oh I love it. And I don't want this to come off sounding like I've got a "woe is me" complex, because feeling sorry for myself is the last thing I want to do. When I get low enough I'll sleep it off for eight hours and get over it. Again, I am pissed. I am at that point where I have had about all that I can take from this society. But then I remember that while I am the one who did time in prison, they're the ones stuck in a prison and they're completely unaware of how caged they are. Do I want to get to work and stop filling out applications? Fuck yeah. Do I want to choke the yokels who can discriminate from behind a screen without fear of reprisals for that discrimination? Uh, yeah. But it's not going to get me or anyone else who feels the same way, anywhere closer to where we're really trying to go. But I know that I came from good solid stock and that I can take on the world each and every day. I am bruised, broken, bleeding and sore, but I am unbowed. And I will not let life, society, or my fears hold me down and back from what my ultimate goal is. So? Bring it y'all. Texas born Taurus on board and I don't take shit from myself ! Imagine what it's like for the next person.

Peace y'all.