Random Observations IV - A New Dope

Hi everyone. I know, it’s been far too long. Well, when you get married 2500 miles from where you live, spend a week honeymooning, and then the ensuing 3 months preparing to completely uproot your life and trying to find a new one, you tend to get far busier than you expected. But fear not, while the world has kept on turning, much of the nonsense that occurs on a daily basis has not gone unnoticed.

Do you know when you have really reached adulthood? When you realize you no longer have the time to indulge in the impetuous of youth. You’ve hit adulthood when you can no longer spend some time being melancholy and sad because you heard a sad song. You can no longer revel in euphoric joy because you achieved a minor victory. Nor can you spend a day in deep contemplation regarding the nature of humanity or why we exist because these questions confound and interest you. No, now you have responsibilities and obligations that require tending and you no longer have time or luxury to explore and delve into emotions and contemplations for the sake of it. Well, you don’t unless you’re rich or spoiled.

What is it about people who feel the need to tout generalized statements about the obvious yet do nothing? I saw some douche bag on road recently who wrote in the dirt of his car that he thought War Sucks. Well, duh. I have yet to meet anyone who thinks war is cool. But what is he doing about it? This is why protests never work. People just go out there and protest what they hate, getting themselves worked up into a nice froth and go home feeling vindicated that they’ve made their voice heard. But they have accomplished absolutely nothing. They have not stopped what they so vehemently oppose, they have not change the world and most likely they have not changed even a mind. All they have done is screamed themselves hoarse, made a big stink and tied up traffic. That’s it. Sorry to point this out, but it’s true.

A recently married friend gave me this advice near the date of my wedding. Find an answer to this question, how does it feel to be married. According to him, this is the most annoying question he’s been asked. I figured out the answer. The best response is: It feels great. I no longer need to worry about impressing the opposite sex or be concerned of what they think of me. I only need to worry about impressing my wife and of what she thinks of me. It’s a very liberating feeling.

I figured out why people keep acting stupid, and why that general attitude toward life is getting worse. It's being rewarded! Between frivolous lawsuits, companies advertising not to worry about the details of life because they'll take care of everything, the government bailing out those who’ve made stupid financial decisions, be them individuals or corporations and a general attitude that conveys the ideal that as long as you are confident and cool, you need not know anything of substance, people charge into life with no knowledge or perspective. This general attitude keeps people being clueless and dumb. It’s vogue to be ignorant. The saddest part of is that we eat it up!

Speaking of which, I have a great observation to pass on that I heard recently. Why is it considered socialist if a government to give money to the people to prop them up, but when they do the same thing for corporations it’s called a bail out.

Just an impression I had– The business and legal worlds – these worlds/professions/industries seemingly were created by bored individuals who decided to create new and fresh hoops through which to jump. A person’s word or handshake somewhere lost its luster, and a long, drawn out machination of nonsensical language and rules took its place. Why? Because this new paradigm they created would make the system and process more logical, honorable or intelligible? No, because it allowed more people to have pointless jobs that created more billable hours. I bet I get sued for this one.

Why do corporate training sessions incorporate things like attendees reading documentation aloud? All this does is generally spotlight shy put people on the spot, slow down the proceedings and give previously mentioned people serious stage fright.

I’ve said for some time that the only way we will ever see real movement in the realm of alternative energy sources, IE wind power and solar power, is when oil companies and oil barons find a way to make a profit from these endeavors. Well guess what? It finally happened and here is the proof.

Really? The International Olympic Committee needs to request the International Gymnastics Association to investigate the age of Chinese women’s gymnasts? A pair of eyes is no longer good enough to know those girls are far under the required age of 16? I’m not sure which I am, too cynical or too full of good old fashioned common sense.

Of course this will never happen. Far be it for anyone to upset the Chinese government. If they did, they might be shunned from peddling their products to the one billion plus consumers encased in the borders of China. How horrible would that be?

I have three letters for Usain Bolt. W-O-W. Usain, just a piece of advice. I know more than a few people have been giving you static about showboating at the end of the 100 meter dash. They can cram it with walnuts. When you are that much faster than your closest competition, you can showboat all you want and tell everyone else, over your shoulder of course, to suck eggs.

Michael Phelps may be the most decorated Olympian of all time, but that does not necessarily make him the greatest. I think the groundbreaking contributions of Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Babe Didrikson, Tommie Smith and John Carlos might skew the argument. While those athletes may not have as many medals as Phelps, how they changed the games and the world puts them squarely in discussion of the greatest Olympian of all time. And while Phelps’ accomplishment is monumental, the previously mentioned Olympians, and others as well, may have done more to further the games themselves and equality in society at large.

Has anyone noticed how fast food restaurants try to make their product sounds so much better by souping up their advertisements? Does anyone really believe that these “restaurants” are seriously offering breakfast meals that offer contain farm fresh eggs, their lunches have sun ripened vegetables and whole grain breads or their dinners contain 100% beef or farm raised oven baked chicken? If so, I have this bridge for sale, it’s located in Brooklyn, just email me…..

The fast food chain Carl’s Jr. lately has been advertising natural cut French Fries. I’m just curious, so I’ll throw this out to anyone who can answer, but what exactly is an unnaturally cut French fry?

Here is yet another reason why I’m so very glad to have left Los Angeles. According to one of the local Los Angeles news stations, Lily Tomlin’s fight with her neighbors about trimming trees is headline news. And here I was like a fool thinking there were really big problems in this country and the world at large that needed to be focused upon.

I had a very interesting political discussion recently with a new acquaintance, and a few things came to light. Don’t blame politicians, only human. The current crises are our fault. We do not get involved. It’s our own fault those in charge behave this way. We bitch, moan and complain about their behavior, but never truncate it by voting them out of office. We reward it by continuing to give them their jobs back. If any real change is ever to occur, we need to get involved. Write, email and call our representatives and demand more. Vote them out if they do not perform. Start doing things for ourselves. Get involved by learning the issues, become educated and be able to form an intelligent opinion and make a stand. If we as a people do not get involved to make a difference, and casting a vote is no longer enough, then we deserve whatever comes to us.