After a lot deliberation and preparation, at the moment I finally launched my Patreon account – the first real way for readers and viewers to help my online work because it began nearly a decade ago. Compulsive gamblers play with a set of signifiers – the dots on a die, the go well with on a card, the symbols on a slot machine – which in themselves are utterly meaningless. They ask of those signifiers a question – what am I? what is my destiny?” – and so they stake their being on the answer that those signifiers give. And when the answer isn’t what they needed, they ante up; and when it is what they needed, they ante up once more, as a result of this struggle is timeless, everlasting. They get an odd pleasure from betting all the things, tied to a horrible guilt over the money owed they accumulate. After all, in the long run the home always wins: and that’s the reply given to the compulsive gambler. You are a loser, and your future is to die.
I began as a leasing agent in the multifamily division at Trimark Properties in Gainesville, Florida. I labored half-time … Read More