more catch-up
Tried to donate blood last night. Apparently, there's some health requirement that students can fulfill by donating blood, because the place was crowded as hell with an inordinately high number of freshman. Talk about feeling old! I signed in and sat down to wait to be called. The girls, in jeans, flip-flops and cute t-shirts ("Everybody loves an Irish girl" said one). Their faces are so young, still carrying a little baby fat, trying to sit up straight to look worldly or something. The guys sat together in packs, non-stop verbal banter -- attempting to make witty comments about every situation they're in and every topic that comes up. So wanting to be cool, yet doing everything that confirms how far they have to go to get there. Really gives me a better idea of why so many girls are attracted to older guys -- these young dudes reminded me much more of my 14-yr-old son than of the swaggering image of the carefree and available young college buck. Many of them were sporting those silly attempts at full beards that you see on young guys. Like their efforts to look cool, their baby-beards have the same effect -- instead of highlighting their masculinity and perhaps reinforcing their virtility, they look more like kittens. Just as I couldn't envision any of these young women taking a romantic interest in my eight-grade son, I couldn't imagine any of them taking an interest in these fuzzy babyfaced boys, either. How long do guys efforts to achieve one effect result in the opposite?? When's that stop? -- when you're in your mid-20's? Later?
So there's a positive thing about being older -- I'm past that shit. Now, when I'm cool, I'm cool. If I appear to be displaying cool detachment, I'm either not paying attention, or tired. When I convey an air of indifference, it's generally a pretty good sign that I really don't give a flying rat's ass. (Though pretty girls typically can draw me out.)
Damn. I had a pretty lengthy post about self-image here, but beloved f-in Blogger ate the whole damned thing. Sucks. Not feeling like recreating it either, at the moment. I'll leave you with this link to American Soldier -- amazing firsthand accounts of what our young enlisted men and women are dealing with.
And this sad, sad fact: Over 1,000 American soldiers have been killed in the Iraq conflict, and over 7,000 have been injured (with 1,000 of the injuries taking place in the past month alone). Over 10,000 Iraquis have been killed in the conflict so far. It's a true and awful mess.
Time for a change, kids. Time for a change.
9.08.2004
9.07.2004
catching up
Howdy, dear readers. Hope you had a pleasant and relaxing Labor Day weekend. Mixed it up a little here -- nothing wildly exciting, but kept busy. Saturday morning went to a John Kerry rally -- sad to say it was terribly boring. Stood with the masses for an ungodly length of time listening to a string of local politicos do their best to rev up said masses -- leading me to conclude that, if I plan to get serious about showing my face at such events, I may need to make some kind of donation so that I can at least sit when the show sucks. I don't mind standing, if the act is worth it -- but -- ~sheesh!~ this was tedious. And hot. And people were annoying. And ugly.
Kerry needs to do something. Seems like a nice guy, really. But, what is his plan? Says he's gonna make it so that Medicaire can get a bulk rate on drugs so senior citizens can afford their meds. Says he's gonna stop the hemorrhaging of American jobs -- how? Says he's gonna make taxes fair for the middle class -- how?? The whole platform at present seems to revolve around "Bush lied to us, so elect me." And, while that is, imo, enough of a reason not to re-elect Dubya, I think it may still be a little too abstract for your typical American. Like, they still want a plan. Trust me -- I was surrounded by these yokels at the rally. So many of them are broke-ass poor, if not unemployed and, if they are working, they're slogging away at some grueling soulless $7/hour factory stint, showing up for work each day paranoid that it may be their last, looking forward only to their lunch breaks so they can engage in the bonding ritual of the proletariat -- dissing management (still know to them as "The Man") for taking advantage of them, for screwing them, for getting fat off the sweat of their labor, blah, blah, blah.
Forgive my insensitivity. But, really -- wake up. Wake the fuck up. Ya know what, folks? -- the only way to ever really start resolving the true problems of our nation -- inequality, bigotry, poverty, hopelessness -- is education. I'm tired of hearing people talk about unions, and tired of hearing unions talk. Unions are on the way out. They've served their purpose (I mean, hell yeah, Workers of the World Unite!), but it's played out. All it is now is a sad, empty shell -- the Fat Cats haven't gotten any thinner, and Joe Six Pack hasn't gotten any more financially independent. It's just one more tool of The Establishment to keep the class system in place, and to keep the working class in its place. Which is, of course, at the bottom, doing the shit work for the owners. None of that has changed, and anyone who thinks it has is shortsighted. I stood there listening to all the pro-union talk, listened to the union reps make all the pro-American worker proclamations -- man, it makes me sad. Unions are a crutch -- they don't help anyone anymore, they just make people think that their intolerable situations are better than they are. It f'in blows.
So, union people, listen up: You want improvements? Get educated. Support education. Build education opportunities into your labor contracts so that your members can free themselves from this archaic form of oppression. You wanna help the working class? -- you oughtta be advising them to get out of the fucking union, not trying to convince them to join one. You oughtta be getting them pumped up to take some personal responsibility for improving themselves, and their own existence -- instead of conning them into thinking that if they are loyal, if they pay their dues, if they work hard enough that you're gonna take care of them. Because you aren't, and you won't. Unions are institutions, and institutions in our capitalist democracy exist to take care of themselves, not their members.
Cynical? Perhaps. But, hell -- I've never been in a union in my life, and I've done alright for myself. Not as well as I'd like to, but better than just about every single person I've ever met or known who is part of a union. I know you hate to hear this -- sounds like one more elitist voice from some privileged rich kid. Makes you wanna tell me the way it is and maybe kick in my face for emphasis. I'm sorry about that, and I wish you didn't feel that way -- and not simply because your assumption is wrong (I've worked hard to get where I am, and the only people who ever gave me anything were my parents, god bless them). I'm afraid that on this point, I'm stone-cold right. You're living in denial if you think otherwise. If it's too late for you to do anything about your own situation, then at least for crying out loud emphasize the importance of getting an education to your children and your grandchildren. Get over yourselves and your blue collar pride and at least make sure your kids won't be sentenced to the same sorry-assed existence that was passed on to you.
[~exhales~]
Saturday evening, went to a county fair with my seester. Was fun to spend some time with her.
Sunday, spent the bulk of the afternoon in the woods, hiking around a bridle trail. It's been a good summer that way -- I've spent quite a bit of it outdoors, mostly in the woods, hiking, largely by myself. This I enjoy. Communing with nature -- giving my regards to the trees and the streams, the turtles and the deer, the ducks and the hawks, the chipmunks and the squirrels. It's also why I so love the summer, and so do not enjoy the winter. Daylight's already fading, which means that if I don't pretty much fly out the office door by five, the window of opportunity for my daily three-mile hike is already closing. I like to get out there for at least two hours, I like to work up a sweat, I like to feel it in my legs and in my knees when I'm done, like to feel like I've actually managed to do something after having spent yet another eight hours mostly sitting on my ass in front of a PC (at my safe professional non-union solidly middle-class job).
Yeah, in many ways, I've got the dream job. You know -- nobody breathing down my neck, having more people reporting to me than I have to report to, pretty standard hours, safe office, no dangerous work, and a staff of basically-good-if-boring/annoying-in-that-conservative-traditional-midwestern-family-values-kinda-way. And -- you've heard this before -- it mostly drives me nuts. Very often has me questioning what I'm doing with my life, even though I'm confortable knowing that I am helping to make a difference (I raise money for higher-education) in our little part of the world, in our society, in the lives and experiences of current and future students. But -- g-a-w-d! I so wasn't born to spend this much time indoors, let alone sitting in an office, let alone sitting in an office in the friggin' midwest! But here I am, making the most of it, as I have been doing for close to twenty years now.
Damn. "Close to twenty years" -- now, there's a statement that makes me feel old. At 42, I really don't consider myself to be "old," though I'm certainly no spring chicken (am i?).
More to add here, but I'm gonna go try to donate blood. We'll try to pick up this thread soon, using the metaphor of time passing like sand through the hourglass, except the sides of the hourglass are actually lenses, with the perception of the Self changing over time, depending on which area of the hourglass you happen to be looking through as you examine your own life at different points in time...
-- and more on this, too, because I was watching this. plus some recent shows I've seen but neglected to tell you about.
Howdy, dear readers. Hope you had a pleasant and relaxing Labor Day weekend. Mixed it up a little here -- nothing wildly exciting, but kept busy. Saturday morning went to a John Kerry rally -- sad to say it was terribly boring. Stood with the masses for an ungodly length of time listening to a string of local politicos do their best to rev up said masses -- leading me to conclude that, if I plan to get serious about showing my face at such events, I may need to make some kind of donation so that I can at least sit when the show sucks. I don't mind standing, if the act is worth it -- but -- ~sheesh!~ this was tedious. And hot. And people were annoying. And ugly.
Kerry needs to do something. Seems like a nice guy, really. But, what is his plan? Says he's gonna make it so that Medicaire can get a bulk rate on drugs so senior citizens can afford their meds. Says he's gonna stop the hemorrhaging of American jobs -- how? Says he's gonna make taxes fair for the middle class -- how?? The whole platform at present seems to revolve around "Bush lied to us, so elect me." And, while that is, imo, enough of a reason not to re-elect Dubya, I think it may still be a little too abstract for your typical American. Like, they still want a plan. Trust me -- I was surrounded by these yokels at the rally. So many of them are broke-ass poor, if not unemployed and, if they are working, they're slogging away at some grueling soulless $7/hour factory stint, showing up for work each day paranoid that it may be their last, looking forward only to their lunch breaks so they can engage in the bonding ritual of the proletariat -- dissing management (still know to them as "The Man") for taking advantage of them, for screwing them, for getting fat off the sweat of their labor, blah, blah, blah.
Forgive my insensitivity. But, really -- wake up. Wake the fuck up. Ya know what, folks? -- the only way to ever really start resolving the true problems of our nation -- inequality, bigotry, poverty, hopelessness -- is education. I'm tired of hearing people talk about unions, and tired of hearing unions talk. Unions are on the way out. They've served their purpose (I mean, hell yeah, Workers of the World Unite!), but it's played out. All it is now is a sad, empty shell -- the Fat Cats haven't gotten any thinner, and Joe Six Pack hasn't gotten any more financially independent. It's just one more tool of The Establishment to keep the class system in place, and to keep the working class in its place. Which is, of course, at the bottom, doing the shit work for the owners. None of that has changed, and anyone who thinks it has is shortsighted. I stood there listening to all the pro-union talk, listened to the union reps make all the pro-American worker proclamations -- man, it makes me sad. Unions are a crutch -- they don't help anyone anymore, they just make people think that their intolerable situations are better than they are. It f'in blows.
So, union people, listen up: You want improvements? Get educated. Support education. Build education opportunities into your labor contracts so that your members can free themselves from this archaic form of oppression. You wanna help the working class? -- you oughtta be advising them to get out of the fucking union, not trying to convince them to join one. You oughtta be getting them pumped up to take some personal responsibility for improving themselves, and their own existence -- instead of conning them into thinking that if they are loyal, if they pay their dues, if they work hard enough that you're gonna take care of them. Because you aren't, and you won't. Unions are institutions, and institutions in our capitalist democracy exist to take care of themselves, not their members.
Cynical? Perhaps. But, hell -- I've never been in a union in my life, and I've done alright for myself. Not as well as I'd like to, but better than just about every single person I've ever met or known who is part of a union. I know you hate to hear this -- sounds like one more elitist voice from some privileged rich kid. Makes you wanna tell me the way it is and maybe kick in my face for emphasis. I'm sorry about that, and I wish you didn't feel that way -- and not simply because your assumption is wrong (I've worked hard to get where I am, and the only people who ever gave me anything were my parents, god bless them). I'm afraid that on this point, I'm stone-cold right. You're living in denial if you think otherwise. If it's too late for you to do anything about your own situation, then at least for crying out loud emphasize the importance of getting an education to your children and your grandchildren. Get over yourselves and your blue collar pride and at least make sure your kids won't be sentenced to the same sorry-assed existence that was passed on to you.
[~exhales~]
Saturday evening, went to a county fair with my seester. Was fun to spend some time with her.
Sunday, spent the bulk of the afternoon in the woods, hiking around a bridle trail. It's been a good summer that way -- I've spent quite a bit of it outdoors, mostly in the woods, hiking, largely by myself. This I enjoy. Communing with nature -- giving my regards to the trees and the streams, the turtles and the deer, the ducks and the hawks, the chipmunks and the squirrels. It's also why I so love the summer, and so do not enjoy the winter. Daylight's already fading, which means that if I don't pretty much fly out the office door by five, the window of opportunity for my daily three-mile hike is already closing. I like to get out there for at least two hours, I like to work up a sweat, I like to feel it in my legs and in my knees when I'm done, like to feel like I've actually managed to do something after having spent yet another eight hours mostly sitting on my ass in front of a PC (at my safe professional non-union solidly middle-class job).
Yeah, in many ways, I've got the dream job. You know -- nobody breathing down my neck, having more people reporting to me than I have to report to, pretty standard hours, safe office, no dangerous work, and a staff of basically-good-if-boring/annoying-in-that-conservative-traditional-midwestern-family-values-kinda-way. And -- you've heard this before -- it mostly drives me nuts. Very often has me questioning what I'm doing with my life, even though I'm confortable knowing that I am helping to make a difference (I raise money for higher-education) in our little part of the world, in our society, in the lives and experiences of current and future students. But -- g-a-w-d! I so wasn't born to spend this much time indoors, let alone sitting in an office, let alone sitting in an office in the friggin' midwest! But here I am, making the most of it, as I have been doing for close to twenty years now.
Damn. "Close to twenty years" -- now, there's a statement that makes me feel old. At 42, I really don't consider myself to be "old," though I'm certainly no spring chicken (am i?).
More to add here, but I'm gonna go try to donate blood. We'll try to pick up this thread soon, using the metaphor of time passing like sand through the hourglass, except the sides of the hourglass are actually lenses, with the perception of the Self changing over time, depending on which area of the hourglass you happen to be looking through as you examine your own life at different points in time...
-- and more on this, too, because I was watching this. plus some recent shows I've seen but neglected to tell you about.