Total lack of suckage in a busy day!

Late Thursday as I rearranged novel bits I discovered several bits having an argument about who came first. All for of them thought they did, and it got confusing. I had only ever looked at them individually before. Now I have to separate them out, and do so carefully, as it will totally affect the ending. I'm pretty sure I know how I want to arrange it, now I just have to do it.

As you will recall my last run sucked very badly, but this morning I woke up knowing I'd have a good run. Funny how that is sometimes. I made some coffee and ate breakfast, thinking about where to run, and how hard. After that settled I started warming up, then headed out while it was still cool. Lots of things to do so I couldn't wait for the warm part of the day.

Those 3 K in the middle are probably the most overall consistent 3 K I've ever run. That pace used to be a fast race pace, but today was a nice relaxed run. Even the really fast bit in the middle didn't feel all that fast. My feet and legs felt relaxed and happy. I could easily have run further at that pace, but I had other things to get on with. Not quite so much of a stretch after as I normally do.

I was pleased to discover that I have to pay business tax. That means I got to keep all that money earning interest for me, rather than the government deciding to give some back, after I prove it owes me. Shortly I'll have to write a cheque or transfer money to several places, but that's just fine.

Taxes are the price of a civilized society. That's a bedrock principle for me. There are too many benefits of living in the modern world to list them here. Nobody would read a blog that long. These things cost money. Plain and simple. If you want to be part of this society, you should be paying to support it. (With a recognition of special circumstances for some.)

If you want a team of people standing by that are both willing and able to deal with a house fire, for example, should you be so unfortunate as to have one, you have to pay them for the time they are not putting out fires, as well as training to deal with fires, and their equipment, and a system that coordinates their response with other emergency services. It's all of a piece. You can't just pay for the time they spent on your house.

We don't have children, yet I recognize that having well educated children leads to well educated adults, and a much safer society because they are more likely to earn a living legitimately, rather than stealing from me. Schools cost money, which comes from my taxes. I'm pissed off that a public education is gradually becoming less public because of ever increasing fees. It's already reached the point that some people can't pay. The whole point of a public education system is that it should be public, there should be no additional fees for the basic service.

I get really annoyed when I see people piecemealing up their taxes, and saying they don't want to pay any of them because they disagree with how some of them are spent. That seems to me like someone buying a condo on the first floor, and not wanting to pay for elevator repairs because they never use it, or roof repairs because no water is coming into their unit. Idiots. The USA has a really bad case of this.

That isn't to say that governments should be allowed to spend willy nilly. There should be oversight. Like those thieving bastards in the Senate. Every one of them should be audited to within an inch of their financial lives. What they've been doing is theft, and any other employer would have fired them long since. Think of the charity you most support, and think of what a difference it would make to them to get the money stolen by the political Senators. 100K each times 108 is nearly $11 million. Maybe some of them are innocent, clean as driven snow. I won't believe it till they are audited. Then once they get up a head of steam they should start on the House of Commons.

When you come right down to it, the reason I have to pay tax is that I earned an income that generates a tax payment. I've been very fortunate the last few years in my work life, and since from a banking perspective I work for myself, paying personal or corporate taxes is a bit of a 6 of one half dozen of the other kind of affair. There are ways I can legitimately reduce the amount of tax I pay, and I take conservative advantage of them. It takes me a couple of work days to pay for my accountant to do my corporate taxes, and it's probably the best money my company spends in the year. The last thing in the world I want is to trigger an audit because some computer program thinks my expenses are too high or my deductions are just a bit too creative. I'd rather pay a bit of extra tax.

How many of you have been to a function where many people have to split a large bill, and the contributions come up short? Yes, all of you. I thought so. The price of the meal is a certain amount, and even though it's detailed on the bill, people always seem to underestimate their portion. They "forget" drinks, or grandly say their part is $x, and leave, or make a "mistake" in their calculations. Or they piss and moan about the automatically included gratuity because these big groups are hell on the restaurant, and say they never tip that much. Suck it up assholes. This is why the tax system is structured the way it is.

I don't mind at all paying my share. The system should be able to show what my fair share is. The same goes for our other goods and services. They all cost something, but often it's so complicated that nobody knows what anything actually costs now. That, and a recent mindset that thinks that everything should always be cheaper, has led to a society where fewer and fewer people actually want to pay for anything. This will quickly turn into anarchy.

Then I dropped Linda off, and headed for my massage. There has been steady progress since early this year, with my body gradually relaxing. AE is doing amazing work. If you're looking for a good massage therapist in Calgary, ask me nice. Now I'm running again, and I'm still less tight than I was (last week excepted). Yay me! The only surprise was just above my right knee. It wasn't bothering me even a bit, but it was surprisingly sore.

Then I got Linda again, she was done early. She is fine and happy. You don't want to know any more than that.

Now we're having a nice evening, getting into the long weekend. Life is good.