I Have A Dream
I feel like I should have this feeling of euphoria that, 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech, Barack Obama will give his acceptance speech to the Democratic Convention’s nomination.
But I can’t get excited about a country that is so backwards that this is considered history. This should have happened years ago. We are a country where people come to break free of the tyranny of other countries, and yet we never elected someone other than a white male? 46 women have been leaders in the 20th century, and yet it’s history when we are practically nominating one? Nelson Mandela beat all odds and became president of South Africa after intense racism ruled that country for decades, and we’re just getting around to nominating someone whose skin “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills”?
And let’s not forget that part of this race has been whether Obama is “black enough” or “white enough”.
I’m happy that someone I believe in has become the Democratic nominee, and I won’t hesitate to vote for him in the general election, but this “history making event” has come too little, too late.
8/19/2008
OK, first let me say, I hate the word “staycation”. This word was thought up by someone who wanted to put a happy face on the fact that families can’t afford to travel this year (although you wouldn’t know about the lack of traveling from walking down any street in midtown Manhattan.)
It’s still called a vacation if you’re not doing what you usually do. Some of my better vacations were spent not doing much at home. I did go away to see my friend in Atlanta over the long July 4th weekend this year, but everything was done on the very cheap: I stayed in her house, the plane ride cost me $5 after I used frequent flier miles (using a credit card does have its benefits) and I didn’t do any shopping. And I was planning this trip since at least March. What I need now is time where I’m not going to work, not going to school, not doing anything I usually do but watch TV and play computer games for a week. That’s not a staycation, it’s a vacation from the everyday. If your home life is so boring that you can’t escape while staying there, you need to liven it up a bit, and pronto.
I also can’t afford most of the “staycation” NYC options anyway - go see a show, go out to dinner, go to a club, go to museums with $20 admissions (like MoMA). Yeah, I’d be “saving” money by not flying or spending time in a hotel, but $4000 off a $5000 trip is still $1000 I can better apply to my student loans. New York wants New Yorkers to spend money here to bolster the local economy. Nice idea if you can do it, and if you do it, won’t you tell me how?
No, I’m not trying to solicit sympathy, since it’s my own damn fault I have no money, and I know it. What I’m saying is that many of us don’t go anywhere in the first place, we don’t spend that much money when we do travel somewhere (via ZipCar and only over the weekend) and our idea of having fun is inviting friends over to drink cheap wine and beer and play board games or watch marathons of British TV shows (yeah, that’s really just my idea of fun.) It just makes me feel crappy for wanting to stay home when it’s the consolation prize of people who regularly travel.
And “staycation” is still a stupid word.
8/7/2008
Hot time, summer in the city…
In my walk home from the train station, I went to the drug store to get shampoo & conditioner.
-2 bottles, family size, Garnier (not very high end, and it’s becoming my one luxury item) - $16 and change
-Safety razors behind the counter because they’re “high theft”. I feel like I’m buying cigarettes.
-The razor I want isn’t made anymore, except for disposables. Apparently, women are wusses when it comes to shaving their legs and need all that extra moisturizer surrounding the blade, which I hate. Not that I shave my legs anyway, but I decide not to buy it.
Then I leave and am hit with the smell of dog shit all the way home. Apparently rich people don’t feel they need to clean up after their dog.
No wait, it’s not the rich people, it’s the rich people’s doorman. Today one was walking an ugly looking pug that’s the pride and joy of someone who makes 6 figures and can’t bear to do any of the “nasty things” for him/herself.
Yeah, I’m a little bummed.
8/5/2008
Just saying…
In this time of fiscal “responsibility”, where Joe Q Public realizes that America as a whole has to tighten its collective belt and pay down its debt, why can America as a government spend as much as it wants and not worry about, oh I don’t know, other people/companies/governments calling a collecting agency, like us poor schmucks?