Fighting Years

Lately I've had this horrible feeling that grown-ups really hate kids. Specifically the selfish baby-boomer generation. They don't want us to succeed, they think of us as competition, like we are trying to steal what they built. Maybe they are right. The children are coming of age and wondering what they are inheriting. There is nothing obvious left for us to colonize, we can't join the Queen's army and move to India to exploit 3rd worlds countries and make our fortune (teaching english in Korea doesn't pay that well, I don't care who you ask). We can't forge a new life by moving west, we can't even create new technology empires because Bill Gate's generation has the cash cow by the teats.

According to Naomi Klien's No Logo, the largest growth in jobs as of late has been in the service industry. The aged hippies just want us to wait on them. Sure I'm a waiter, so my perspective might be skewed. But haven't you (under 29ers) felt it? A kind of contempt and thinly veiled ill will disseminating from our parents generation. The baby boomers were known for hating their parents' generation...they seemed selfish in their desire to steal power from the establishment. Now they are the establishment and not letting go. The greedy mother fuckers. Every once in a while I get a feeling that adults simply don't give a fuck as to what I do. As far as they're concerned they wouldn't mind if I disappeared. There are no mentors helping and hoping for my future. The political mantra about "doing it for the children" (often used in connection with arguments infavor of saving the environment) seem more like attempts to wipe clean guilty consciousness, rather than actually help kids live better lives.

Even in my internships where I feel I am supposed to meet adults who care and want to help me on my future career (as I do their dirty work for free) I mostly just get the feeling that I'm getting fucked over and exploited. This feeling was affirmed today in France where despite millions of young people taking to the street the country's government decided to accept a law that would take away the rights of all workers under the age of 26. The law makes it easy for employers to fire young workers for no reason after 2 years, just because they want to. Which means they can use us while we're cheap, and then fire us and get some other young shmuck they can exploit. It is older people making their own laws to keep their own jobs, and exploit others. It is what Bush is trying/already doing in the US with immigrant labor, and it seems in the spirit of Jim Crow Laws: they (blacks, latinos, women, youths, gays, etc) aren't really people...at least they're such a small minority they don't count, so we can use them to build and protect our own wealth and power, while at the same time they should be gratful that we are giving them opportunity to work (even if it is as exploited slaves)."

The politician who introduced the bill in France are seriously arguing in this vein. He claims that this bill will help end the 22% unemployment rate for people under 26. What logic...it is already hard as hell for us to get jobs because the babyboomers won't die, they just want to hold on to power, and now they're trying to screw over the rest of us that can't get jobs, in essence making us a disposable work force with out rights. They might as well pass another bill while they are at it, one that takes away the rights of young people to vote, because heck turn-out hasn't been as good as they'd like at the polls, so why not just make the number of people who can vote smaller, and limit it to those who already have a lot of power. Makes a whole lot of sense.

Half Viewers

In the early eighties and late seventies my Nana and Papa used to take cruises. Where I don't know; all I do know is that they got suckered into having their pictures taken and put into key chain scopes while on the dance floor and while on the deck in polo shirts. These key chains remain the only lasting memory I have of those ephemeral cruises. I love them!

It is not simply that Nana and Papa were good looking with their tinted glasses, hair spray, and graying hair---the attraction lays in the privacy and secret aspect of the half viewer. No one knows what is inside until they close one eye and put the tiny hole up to the one good eye. It could be your cousin at the beach, puppies in spring, or slutty porn...there is no way of knowing what is inside, and no one really knows what you're looking at (unless they've seen it themselves before). It is like stepping into your own private movie theatre where a still movie is playing.

Last night Rebecca and I bought 100 half-viewer key chains. If you have any pictures you need glued inside a scope style key chain let me know.

Don't Get Snippy and Don't Fight Back

Sunday Brunch often feels like war. Customers saunter in either out of it because they partied so hard the night before, or sad and bitter because they didn't go out for a good time the night before and now it is too late (their life sucks, they feel lonely, time is wasting, and it is practically Monday). Either way they are ready to be served on hand and foot...feel they deserve it because heck that chick gets $3.90/hour plus 10-20% in tips...she can bring me more toast and jam whenever. And heck I paid $2 for this coffee that bitch had better refill it even if I have to flag her down and yell "sarah" across the crowded dining room. "because I deserve that 7th cup"

The men in the Kitchen keep yelling FUCk like the world is really trying to screw them specifically and no one else. After everyone leaves the ladies get sat down for a few pointers, "If you get yelled at by the kitchen do not get snippy, do not yell back...it doesn't help matters."

While riding my bike home in a busy intersection a red GMC suv in front of me decides to give a girl getting into a cab a lecture on how to open doors correctly. He parks during the green light and I ask him to move, along with all the honking horns behind us. He says, "I didn't ask you. So mind your own business you fat fuck."

I want to throw my bike down pull him out of the car by the shoulders and say "OK fag brows and ugly ass hair plugs. This is it. Don't call me fat, because I'm not. I don't care if you're wearing a diamond earing on the left." Maybe I'd headbutt him with my stupid bike helmet finally making itself useful, definitely punch him in the stomach and maybe break his nose.
Instead I slipped through traffic between cars and rode home wondering where all my aggression came from. The worst part was I caught myself wishing I was a man so I would get more respect.

Squid and Whale

I recommend this movie not because of its keen link to the aesthetic hipness of Wes Anderson or its setting coinciding with when I was growing up (the graphic overlay that states "it is 1984" is less than best). But it (a)has good characters (b)makes you feel shitty about life (c)creates an uneasy feeling re: anna campbell as a creative writing student/slut.

all of these are things a good movie should do.

If you or anyone in your family plays tennis: see this movie.
If you have a sibling: see this movie.

I wonder if a Philistine would like this movie?

If you want to get that Philistine joke: see the movie.

the Dark Eyes

Tonight a boy got on the city bus with me. He looked like a mix between Charlie and Brian. It was a mix of the pale pale skin and the dark shadow eyes that are sunk in and look perpetually sick. Maybe it is the jewish/irish catholic mix of blood that creates this dark cloud of eyes. I think I have a bit of the look. Politely called "deep set". I prefer the term: sunken-in. I have been wondering what I would look like with fake eyelashes. I've been wondering what a lot of people would look like with fake eyelashes.

I am very very tiered. relevant information

A Lion From Judha

This is what they eat for breakfast in Jamaica. . . the blood of white men