Not of my generation

All of my thinking about the success and failure of generations the last few days started me thinking. What defines a generation? Our parents were/are generally baby boomers, depending on their age. But us? I was unsure. So I pulled up the list of generations page at wikipedia. You can imagine my reaction when I found out that I am grouped with the MTV generation. Fuck. My generation is named after a tv channel best represented by brainless bimbos with fake boobs, willing to hump anyone in order to get their 15 fleeting seconds of fame. Great. Other option? The Boomerang generation, named after a group of people who moved in with their parents after college. No wonder I feel pessimism about my generation. We can't even figure out how to get our own apartments.

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I submit that if my generation has to be named after a tv channel, that it might as well be ESPN. At least I can feel a little ownership there.

More realistically, couldn't we be the CNN generation? I mean, isn't the onset of the 24 hour news channel more groundbreaking than the Real World? Maybe MTV was culturally important back in the days of Yo MTV Raps, and back when they actually played music videos? I mean, I still have fondness for a certain Chris Isaac video.

Seriously, I feel like we need a new label for people our age. The one thing that resonated in the description of the Boomerang Generation, was that we grew up during the onset of AIDS, and came of age post-9/11. Not that I want to be a part of the AIDS generation, or a part of the Police State generation, but at least I could relate to it.

State of the onion; taking a deuce

Debbie downer here, trying to bring a little optimism today. I just got out of a two hour conference call followed by a three hour meeting, so.. Acting out some optimism might be a stretch. Putzing around the house last night, I was thinking about what I wrote yesterday. And also thinking "Man are we fucked." And I still feel that way. At the same time, I couldn't help but think that there must be some things that have improved from our parent's generation to ours.

So, loosely defining these things as things that have happened since about 1955, I tried to come up with a list. It's not pretty, but hopefully it will at least in some ways balance my pessimism from yesterday.

• Medical Care has improved. I'm not talking about the cost of healthcare, or insurance, or even necessarily the availability. Nope. Those things have not, in my mind at least, improved. No, I'm talking about straightforward cures of diseases. At least in the US. If you live in Africa or parts of Asia, sorry, you're still fucked.
• Liz, if you know otherwise, don't tell me. I'm grasping at straws here.
• Access to information has improved. With the coming of the internet, anyone with access to a computer can get access to any information you could possibly desire. (Unless, of course, you live in China. Sorry, no free speech for you.) Of course, there is an equal amount of false information out there, and most people have a hard time telling the difference.
• Porn. This is one thing that has indusputibly improved. One thing the dawn of the internet has brought us is free access to plenty of smut. Even in Asia.
  
• More sports on TV. When our parents were our age, there was no ESPN, no NESN. There was one game on a week. Otherwise, you listened to the radio.
  
• Speaking of TV, our parents generation has brought us cable tv. Thanks to this wonderful invention, I can know see the truth being distorted on 15 different channels!

I'm really stretching it here... Thinking.... Thinking...

Seriously, there must be other things that have improved in the last 50 years, right? I mean, smut, sports and the world wide web are great and all, but as landmark achievements for a generation, I'm not so sure they're going to stand the test of time.

So much for optimism. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

State of the onion

I tried to watch the State of the Union. I really did. I spent part of the day preparing myself mentally for what I was going to hear. I bought some wine, you know, as a crutch to get through the applause. I even turned on the tv.

When it came right down to it, I just couldn't do it. Not because of the President's policies (which I by an large hate.) Nope. I couldn't subject myself to listening to one of if not the worst public speakers this country has ever had in a president. Look, Reagan had his faults as a President. (Actually, he had a shit-ton of faults as a president.) At the very least however, Reagan could deliver the lines that were scripted for him. Our current bad president can't even convince me that he knows what the words are he's reading. God I miss the days of Clinton. You could question his morality, you could question his politics, but you couldn't question his intelligence.

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So, what is the State of the Union today? Lacking a president with a firm grasp of his public, the task of assessing our countries mood falls, once again, to me. And in my mind, our country is in a very dangerous place right now. As a Super power, as a Democracy, you name it. For the first time since the founding of our country, our parent's generation is passing off to us a country that is in worse shape than the one they inherited. I dread seeing what we will pass on to our kids.

• There is a very real chance that free speech will be a historical anecdote
• We may live in a police state
  
• Given the way global warming is accelerating, we may need to put on SPF 100 just to leave the house.
• Finding a job and career path that can lead to financial security as well as personal happiness will be a fiction
• War may become just another part of the daily news, in addition to stabbings, murders, and drug busts.

Think about that list. How many of those things have we improved upon in recent memory? How many of those things are already a fact of life today?

So.. What is the State of our Union today? Pretty fucking weak if you ask me.

Screw you Persia

Debates are fun, debates about whether or not Iraq is Persia are not.

From Wikipedia:

"The Persian empire has become as what we know today as Iran."

Sorry Joey. I didn't particular have an opinion on the debate, but I did have enough curiosity to spend five seconds looking it up.

Fighting my own apathy

Reading Johnson's blog entry the other day made me wonder what's wrong with me. Once upon a time, and it wasn't that long ago, I could watch the news and have an opinion about quite a few of things going on. Not only could I have an opinion, but I could generally articulate an argument.

Now? I can't recall the last time I watched the news. It's been even longer since I've watched the news and felt anything resembling surprise. Amish student brings gun to school, shoots 10. No reasons given. Huh. Bush eats a piece of shit he found on his farm? Not surprising. California fell into the Pacific, Republicans feel this helps them in the upcoming Presidential election. I believe it. Seriously, I think the only thing left that could surprise me is if they started telling positive stories on Cable News. Teacher loved by his students. That's a headline that would surprise me, unless of course it was closely followed by, He loved them a little too much, if you know what I mean.

Where did all my apathy come from? Could be 9/11. In a very real way, that was the last time I actually engaged myself in the news. Could be Bush's re-election in 2004. The amazing lack of historical perspective that went into the inasion of Iraq is a distinct possibility as well. In all reality though, I'm sure it was all of these events and their coverage, combined with a couple of other factors that led to my general not-giving of a shit.

1. The collective dumbing down of conservatism. Seriously, the fact that people think being against gay rights or abortion makes them politically conservative is disgusting to me. (Never mind the fact that in the year 2007 we are still having debates with supposedly intelligent people arguing over whether or not a segment of our population has the right to marry eachother.) This is not to say that liberalism is in better shape, but liberals piss me off less than religious zealots masquerading as a false conservative.

2. It's becoming increasingly obvious to me, that my vote does not matter. At least I don't live in a state like Ohio or Florida, where peoples votes aren't even being counted before they're ignored.

3. My job bores me.

Throw all those things in a blender. mix until smooth. What have you got? Me asleep on the couch, feet up, mouth open, puddle of drool forming, remote in hand, thumb permanently on the channel up button, with dreams of sugarplums floating in my head.

Aww, screw it. I'm going home.

Last gasp of the twenties

Hard as it is for me to believe, I'm turning 29 this year. I'm looking smack dab in the face of the end of my twenties, and the beginning of my thirties. Just seems like this should feel different somehow, more momentus. I mean, shouldn't the world stop and look and collectively gasp at how such a young looking individual as myself could possibly be entering the tail end of his late twenties? "Can't be!" people should be saying, or "He doesn't look a day over 22!"

I'm waiting people.

OK, it's possible that the sideburns going gray, and the hairs falling out of the top of my head are giving people the physical reminders of what my years are. But mentally? Surely people all around the world should be stopping and taking notice of my boyish personality, my gawkish innocence, my... OK, that seems a stretch.

Looking back a decade seems an eternity. I was 19, and getting ready to enter the second semester of my second year at UMaine. I was living in the dorms in a double-single, and no doubt trying to convince myself that this, THIS! would be the semester when I would finally (re)dedicate myself to my classes. Also, as it is 3:10 on a Friday, I was probably already well into a case of busch bar bottles (our afternoon beers) in Robinson's room, passing time playing NBA Hangtime until the dining commons opened for dinner. Oh, and I had a beard and long hair. Surprisingly, I was single.

Now? I'm getting married in June, and to be honest, the thought isn't really all that scary anymore, in fact it's more reassuring than anything. I own a house, a truck, and a dog. I've worked for the same place since April 2000, and have been promoted a couple dubious times. If my hair gets longer than two inches, I start to feel shaggy, and I shave once a week whether or not I need it.

Looking forward to ten years from now, I'm not sure what would surprise me. Kids? Wouldn't surprise me. New job (s)? Hell, if you offered me one today I just might take it. Same truck? Why not? It's a toyota. Hair? Yup, having hair in ten years would surprise me.

Oh well, I'm off to enjoy the last gasp of 28. By which, of course, I mean that I'm going to go play some raquet ball.