(no subject)
"The working class is the productive and creative class; the working class produces what material wealth exists in the country. As long as power is not in their hands, as long as the working class allows power to be in the hands of the managers, in the hands of the speculators, in the hands of the landowners, in the hands of monopolies, in the hands of foreign or national vested interests while armaments are in the hands of those in the service of the vested interests and not in their own hands, the working class will be forced to lead a miserable existence no matter how many crumbs those interest groups let fall from their banquet table."
- FIDEL CASTRO
It has been about a year since I posted anything here. I suppose I owe you an update.
Life in this tundra is bleak and cold, white and lifeless this time of year. So...I'm sitting at a computer for once. I would like nothing more than to grab my bike and go bomb down a few trails, or kick a soccer ball around right now, but no. I've had 59" of shitty midwest snow this year to rob me of my love of the outdoors. This is not the nice, fluffy snow they get out west that's great for snowboarding. This is crunchy, icy, and good for absolutely nothing.
On another note entirely, things are looking up in my personal life. I quit my well-paying job that made me absolutely miserable and went back to what I used to think of as retail hell. You see, when I was younger, I thought of my job (and my pay) as a reflection of my worth. I was constantly trying to climb the ranks, trying to find side jobs, better positions, clamoring for more respect, more attention, higher accolades, something--anything--that might resonate and make me feel successful. Now I see my job for what it is -- 40 hours a week (and not a minute more) of necessary evil. Might as well make it a little fun, eh? It's incredibly refreshing not having a job that I take home with me. I feel alive again. It's good to be back.
More and more, I am considering ditching my plans for finishing my degrees and going into biomedical ethics and law. I just want to graduate with a BA/BS in near anything and try to find a job abroad. Yes, I'm bloody sick of the states. When I was single, I was planning for a while on moving to Prague to teach English as a friend of mine did. That idea has resurfaced a bit and somehow, strange though it may seem, it has completely drowned out my previous aspirations of making six-figures a year by flexing my gray matter.
Or, perhaps I have just settled down too much. How long has it been now since I woke up on my day off and randomly drove as far as I could for breakfast or lunch, taking in the sights, meeting new and very real friends for the first time somewhere along the way-never to see them again, with all the freedom, ideals and dreams of a modern Dean Moriarty, and all the adventures of a Tom-Sawyer-meets-Hunter-S.-Thompson? Too long, I say.
Some of the best days of my life were spent driving to New Orleans for lunch and alligator taunting, to spur of the moment camping trips to the mountains in Oklahoma, to Mexican border towns, to Austin for barbeque and blues, to see friends in Houston, to do hallucinogens in the El Paso desert, to explore the unknown in the strange beast that is the deep south, to experiencing the entire southwest to northern California and back in a week flat...
Come to think of it, we live on a mighty continent, and I've only really really explored the southern half of our ridiculously large country... Perhaps I need more time here after all.
Enough for tonight.
In closing, I have but one thing to say. If you can't vote for a decent candidate Tuesday, then you have but one choice: REVOLT!
- FIDEL CASTRO
It has been about a year since I posted anything here. I suppose I owe you an update.
Life in this tundra is bleak and cold, white and lifeless this time of year. So...I'm sitting at a computer for once. I would like nothing more than to grab my bike and go bomb down a few trails, or kick a soccer ball around right now, but no. I've had 59" of shitty midwest snow this year to rob me of my love of the outdoors. This is not the nice, fluffy snow they get out west that's great for snowboarding. This is crunchy, icy, and good for absolutely nothing.
On another note entirely, things are looking up in my personal life. I quit my well-paying job that made me absolutely miserable and went back to what I used to think of as retail hell. You see, when I was younger, I thought of my job (and my pay) as a reflection of my worth. I was constantly trying to climb the ranks, trying to find side jobs, better positions, clamoring for more respect, more attention, higher accolades, something--anything--that might resonate and make me feel successful. Now I see my job for what it is -- 40 hours a week (and not a minute more) of necessary evil. Might as well make it a little fun, eh? It's incredibly refreshing not having a job that I take home with me. I feel alive again. It's good to be back.
More and more, I am considering ditching my plans for finishing my degrees and going into biomedical ethics and law. I just want to graduate with a BA/BS in near anything and try to find a job abroad. Yes, I'm bloody sick of the states. When I was single, I was planning for a while on moving to Prague to teach English as a friend of mine did. That idea has resurfaced a bit and somehow, strange though it may seem, it has completely drowned out my previous aspirations of making six-figures a year by flexing my gray matter.
Or, perhaps I have just settled down too much. How long has it been now since I woke up on my day off and randomly drove as far as I could for breakfast or lunch, taking in the sights, meeting new and very real friends for the first time somewhere along the way-never to see them again, with all the freedom, ideals and dreams of a modern Dean Moriarty, and all the adventures of a Tom-Sawyer-meets-Hunter-S.-Thompson? Too long, I say.
Some of the best days of my life were spent driving to New Orleans for lunch and alligator taunting, to spur of the moment camping trips to the mountains in Oklahoma, to Mexican border towns, to Austin for barbeque and blues, to see friends in Houston, to do hallucinogens in the El Paso desert, to explore the unknown in the strange beast that is the deep south, to experiencing the entire southwest to northern California and back in a week flat...
Come to think of it, we live on a mighty continent, and I've only really really explored the southern half of our ridiculously large country... Perhaps I need more time here after all.
Enough for tonight.
In closing, I have but one thing to say. If you can't vote for a decent candidate Tuesday, then you have but one choice: REVOLT!