Reap what you Sow.
So last night my wife and I were clicking between "American Idol" and a few other programs. I enjoy watching the continuous train-wreck of humanity that streams through the audition room. And last night did not disappoint me in the least. I know its a bit cruel to luxuriate in the thrill from watching the humiliation of people who believe they have marketable talent in singing. But from all all the bad performances and the melodramatics, my wife pointed out the one thing that was echoed over and over again by those that entered to audition, "I deserve to win because I want this."
Time out for a second. Before I go completely headlong into this, I would like to make a statement. A decent amount of the people who try out for "American Idol" are probably decent singers. They, like several of my friends, have some natural talent and maybe a few years singing in a church choir or school choir. They can carry a tune and are actually pleasant to listen to. These are people, who to their friends, do have a believable shot at making it past the first round. But in truth, the show is not looking for the average singer. They are looking for the truly great and the truly abysmal. Maybe they know this going into the audition, and they know this as they wait, but I respect them for taking a shot at it. If you have some talent and you don't try and use it to your advantage, you deserve to live a miserable life. Great things come to those who take the chances and fail and get up and try again an again. If I actually believed I had any talent at singing, and I am only a semi-decent singer, and I wanted to put the effort into being a better singer I would try for a chance to break into the big time. But back to the main subject of this rant.
Among the contestants on "American Idol" who were constantly saying, in one way or another, that they "deserved to be chosen because they really wanted this," there were two types of people. One was the insane and mentally unhinged people who Fox seems to enjoy humiliating to no end (another rant for another time) and the spoiled, lazy perpetual children wandering around in their own world lacking responsibility and common sense. It is to this second group of people, and the decent portion of our Western affluent society they make up that address these remarks . . . Shut the hell up and grow up! No one, no where, and for no reason deserves anything in this life just because they want it. Hell I want to be a multi-millionaire. I want to travel the world and not have a care in the world. I want to have kids. I want to be happy, and I want to be a published writer. But I don't deserve any of that. Just because I want it does not mean I have a right to it. I have to earn my right to those things through hard work, and so do the rest of you.
If you want to be a singer or a millionaire or a writer or thin or happy then you had better get ready to dig yourself through a giant shit pile and come out on top. The only thing you deserve in this life is where you are at now, because you lived your life to this point and you made it a great life, a good life, a mediocre life, or a hell hole.
"But my childhood sucked!" you are whining. Well so did everyone else's at some point. I had some bad times when I was a kid, but I learned that I don't have to be defined by that part of my life if I don't want to. I get to live my life everyday and I get to choose where I go. If I want more, I have to work at it. If I want a better job, I have to either go out and network my ass into it, or I have to pay my dues and work my way up. No one is going to walk up to your fat ass at Choke N' Puke while you order your triple patty grease burger and gallon of fries wave their wand and make you thin. It doesn't happen that way and it never will.
"But people get lucky all the time and win the lottery or get discovered in a diner in Hollywood!" Yeah, and they are broke within a year or become enraptured with their own celebrity and end up hating their life and hating everyone around them and becoming an empty shell that has no personal ambition and goals. Life has meaning and depth and beauty when you live it and you earn everything you get. My grandparents and parents understood this, but I see many of my own generation stumbling through life like a boat cut loose from its mooring.
This new generation of slackers out there seems to think they can ignore life and coast through until they are thirty-five. These Twixters (talk to Time Magazine, I didn't invent the term) jump job to job and live at home just enjoying the freedom their parents allow them to have because they can't find the career that gives them all they would ever want and that they think they deserve. Guess what, employers are not looking for a laundry list resume that portrays you as some ADD incompetent. And just because you can score platinum on Karaoke Revolution in your basement doesn't mean you can charm that viper Simon. You want to make something of yourself, Twixster, then work your way through that pile of shit life you've dug yourself into and take a damn shower.
Oh, and just for those too dense to realize it, I am not just talking to you wannabe starlets and singers. Just because you have an IT degree or an MBA, doesn't mean people are going to lay down the job offers like a red carpet at your feet. A degree is just a piece of paper that opens doors. You need to prove that you deserve a job by your skills and not your desires. If that means moving away from friends and family, then you have to do it. If it means working a crappy shift, then do it. If that means you have to start hauling rocks and cleaning up job sites and working your way up into management, then so be it. That is how I got my current job, and even though it isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, I at least have earned the right to a good wage and benefits, and now that I have that, I can pursue my dreams. And don't whine at me about that. As Dennis Leary says, "Life sucks, wear a fucking helmet."
I am all for you having dreams to chase after, but you cannot chase a dream if you are starving behind a Choke N' Puke because you can't swallow your pride long enough to flip a damn burger for a few months. If you really want your dreams to be a reality, you find something you can do and make a living at it and you chase your dreams after work. Successful people work 80 plus hours a week and only get paid for at most half of it. They deserve their success because they strive for it and work for it, and they enjoy it all the more because they know they earned it.
So, in conclusion, I have two things to say to all of you swimming endlessly in your irresponsibility, dreaming about having your dreams come true because you deserve to have a good life. One, you may believe I am not talking to you, and, for many, you will be right, but if you are having to convince yourself that I am wrong and that this doesn't apply to you, then it does. I'm not going to make you listen, or even try and cure you of your delusions. Go on living your life in a haze, it doesn't affect how I live my life. Two, "GROW UP, STOP WHINING, AND START LIVING YOUR OWN LIFE!"
Utterly disgusted with the state of civilization,
The Great One
Time out for a second. Before I go completely headlong into this, I would like to make a statement. A decent amount of the people who try out for "American Idol" are probably decent singers. They, like several of my friends, have some natural talent and maybe a few years singing in a church choir or school choir. They can carry a tune and are actually pleasant to listen to. These are people, who to their friends, do have a believable shot at making it past the first round. But in truth, the show is not looking for the average singer. They are looking for the truly great and the truly abysmal. Maybe they know this going into the audition, and they know this as they wait, but I respect them for taking a shot at it. If you have some talent and you don't try and use it to your advantage, you deserve to live a miserable life. Great things come to those who take the chances and fail and get up and try again an again. If I actually believed I had any talent at singing, and I am only a semi-decent singer, and I wanted to put the effort into being a better singer I would try for a chance to break into the big time. But back to the main subject of this rant.
Among the contestants on "American Idol" who were constantly saying, in one way or another, that they "deserved to be chosen because they really wanted this," there were two types of people. One was the insane and mentally unhinged people who Fox seems to enjoy humiliating to no end (another rant for another time) and the spoiled, lazy perpetual children wandering around in their own world lacking responsibility and common sense. It is to this second group of people, and the decent portion of our Western affluent society they make up that address these remarks . . . Shut the hell up and grow up! No one, no where, and for no reason deserves anything in this life just because they want it. Hell I want to be a multi-millionaire. I want to travel the world and not have a care in the world. I want to have kids. I want to be happy, and I want to be a published writer. But I don't deserve any of that. Just because I want it does not mean I have a right to it. I have to earn my right to those things through hard work, and so do the rest of you.
If you want to be a singer or a millionaire or a writer or thin or happy then you had better get ready to dig yourself through a giant shit pile and come out on top. The only thing you deserve in this life is where you are at now, because you lived your life to this point and you made it a great life, a good life, a mediocre life, or a hell hole.
"But my childhood sucked!" you are whining. Well so did everyone else's at some point. I had some bad times when I was a kid, but I learned that I don't have to be defined by that part of my life if I don't want to. I get to live my life everyday and I get to choose where I go. If I want more, I have to work at it. If I want a better job, I have to either go out and network my ass into it, or I have to pay my dues and work my way up. No one is going to walk up to your fat ass at Choke N' Puke while you order your triple patty grease burger and gallon of fries wave their wand and make you thin. It doesn't happen that way and it never will.
"But people get lucky all the time and win the lottery or get discovered in a diner in Hollywood!" Yeah, and they are broke within a year or become enraptured with their own celebrity and end up hating their life and hating everyone around them and becoming an empty shell that has no personal ambition and goals. Life has meaning and depth and beauty when you live it and you earn everything you get. My grandparents and parents understood this, but I see many of my own generation stumbling through life like a boat cut loose from its mooring.
This new generation of slackers out there seems to think they can ignore life and coast through until they are thirty-five. These Twixters (talk to Time Magazine, I didn't invent the term) jump job to job and live at home just enjoying the freedom their parents allow them to have because they can't find the career that gives them all they would ever want and that they think they deserve. Guess what, employers are not looking for a laundry list resume that portrays you as some ADD incompetent. And just because you can score platinum on Karaoke Revolution in your basement doesn't mean you can charm that viper Simon. You want to make something of yourself, Twixster, then work your way through that pile of shit life you've dug yourself into and take a damn shower.
Oh, and just for those too dense to realize it, I am not just talking to you wannabe starlets and singers. Just because you have an IT degree or an MBA, doesn't mean people are going to lay down the job offers like a red carpet at your feet. A degree is just a piece of paper that opens doors. You need to prove that you deserve a job by your skills and not your desires. If that means moving away from friends and family, then you have to do it. If it means working a crappy shift, then do it. If that means you have to start hauling rocks and cleaning up job sites and working your way up into management, then so be it. That is how I got my current job, and even though it isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, I at least have earned the right to a good wage and benefits, and now that I have that, I can pursue my dreams. And don't whine at me about that. As Dennis Leary says, "Life sucks, wear a fucking helmet."
I am all for you having dreams to chase after, but you cannot chase a dream if you are starving behind a Choke N' Puke because you can't swallow your pride long enough to flip a damn burger for a few months. If you really want your dreams to be a reality, you find something you can do and make a living at it and you chase your dreams after work. Successful people work 80 plus hours a week and only get paid for at most half of it. They deserve their success because they strive for it and work for it, and they enjoy it all the more because they know they earned it.
So, in conclusion, I have two things to say to all of you swimming endlessly in your irresponsibility, dreaming about having your dreams come true because you deserve to have a good life. One, you may believe I am not talking to you, and, for many, you will be right, but if you are having to convince yourself that I am wrong and that this doesn't apply to you, then it does. I'm not going to make you listen, or even try and cure you of your delusions. Go on living your life in a haze, it doesn't affect how I live my life. Two, "GROW UP, STOP WHINING, AND START LIVING YOUR OWN LIFE!"
Utterly disgusted with the state of civilization,
The Great One