The "Entitlement" Generation

While I don't necessarily believe that we are "lazy", I do think our instant gratification of workplace success and the searching of a new kind of work certainly does define a segment of our generation.

The Inevitable?

I got a call from the State Department on Monday, inquiring as to whether or not I wanted to interview with them for a job I applied for back in May. I called them back after I thought about it for awhile and told them "no, not at this time". I'm just not sure, the State Department would be nice, but the thought of moving back east to Washington, DC, just doesn't gel right now. It's so difficult to know what is the right choice and what isn't. Timing has everything to do with it. Still, it seems that one day the move out east will be inevitable..

Santa Catalina, Take 2

Yesterday marked the 2nd trip I've made off the mainland to Catalina Island since December. This time, instead of just

getting loaded in Avalon and riding bikes around, Jam and I decided to take a tour into the interior of the island. The views were absolutely spectacular and it was nice to get a glimpse at what mainland California must have looked like in the past. Catalina has a very unique and interesting history, including indians, smugglers, moviestars, "exotic" animals (bison were imported onto the island during the making of the "The Vanishing American", or so they say..), and wealthy business men-most noticably William Wrigley Jr.-who bought the island in 1919.

I'd really would like to go back and do some camping there.

"ladies and gentlemen, if you look around the vessel, you'll see there are dolphins all around us"
"Over to your left you'll see some buffalo laying in the sun being lazy"
"Jam, is that sunblock, or did a bird just sh*t all over your stomach..."

HAhhhhhh, priceless memories. I'd be lying if I said it didn't sometimes feel like a permanent vacation out here...

Vegas Vacation and What-Have-You...

With the threat of June Gloom hanging over our heads (it actually was a perfect weekend along the coast), the plans called for a trip to Vegas. Vegas, baby, Vegas! I wanted some heat! Besides, Jam is in town from Miami and she needs to see some sun, baby!

Vegas. Haha! What can you say? I always feel out of sorts in that town. Maybe it's because you feel like you landed on the moon, nothing seems real and all sense of time is lost..maybe it's because the air is so dry AND HOT (105F+, 40C+). Maybe it's because you're drinking too much (of course I didn't, I'm a lightweight, right Saki?). Maybe's it's the constant drone of slot machines and crap table cheers. It could be the unending flashing and flickering of thousands of bright lights...perhaps that lounge singer singing Nelly's "It's Getting Hot In Herre"..or the prostitutes and the drive-thru marriage "chapels", but I think it's quite possibly that tree there...yeah that one with the electrical outlet on the trunk, did the Statue of Liberty just wink at me? AM I LOSING MY MIND? Let's get in that taxi for some A/C...yeah that one driving through the Sphinx's ass...

I've talked in recent posts about happiness and Drew's mention of what gives a place soul, and I can't determine what gives a place soul, but I do know that I've come to the conclusion that Vegas has no soul. It's a souless city. It's so souless you can't help but like it, but in very small doses. There are those who go to Vegas, "To Do Vegas". I've never done that. I've always looked at it as more of an anthropological expedition, observing one the strangest cities on God's green earth.

GONZO: I hate to say this, but this place is getting to me. I think I'm getting The Fear.
DUKE: Nonsense. We came here to find the American Dream, and now we're right in the vortex you want to quit. You must realize that we've found the Main nerve.
GONZO:That's what gives me the fear.

-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas



A brief, unexpected, Vegas reunion took place when I met up with my friend Hud (we drove out to Vegas from Michigan back in 1999) . I think he summed it up best: "We took the Eiffel Tower, shrunk it down, made it plastic, drilled a whole in the top, and filled the damn thing with booze".

Classy. "Americans are marketing geniuses!", sez Burcu. Anyway, good to see ya Hudson, if you're reading this, we gotta hang from some streets signs soon!

All in all, it was an awesome trip. Jam and I braved the sorching heat and headed over to Lake Mead and then down to the Hoover Dam. I've always seen documentaries on it, but quite honestly never thought I'd go there. It seems so, so, Chevy Chase and Lampoonish. That's probably why I liked it. It was just families and retired grandparents. The young and single demographic was surprisingly absent..haha. Random factoid..did you know: About 25% of the energy produced by the Dam goes to Southern California? We're always stealing other states' power and water. It makes me proud;)



On the way home we impulsively took a detour off of I-15, and headed south to the mountains, where the temps quickly dropped from 100+F to a cool and comfortable 75F...in the matter of 30 minutes. It was so beautiful up near Big Bear Lake, and highway 18, which traverses the mountains in San Bernadino National Park, made me say under my breath..almost in utter disbelief, "this is the most beautiful drive I've ever had"....flashbacks came to me quick..the cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea in Turkey, the rolling hills of western Austria, the Rockies in Colorado..but this just seemed better.

As we decended down into the valley, the snow capped mountains disappeared, and I watched the thermometer rise...75..85..95..104 degrees! We were entering Los Angeles city limits, and within minutes we were stuck in a traffic jam, smog, and six lanes of traffic...and strangely enough, I was glad to be home.

On Gov't Aid..

"It always amazes me that people are willing to shove huge amounts of money out the door" to pay for wars, "but are often unwilling to provide tiny amounts to prevent them," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.

House Panel Votes to Cut Foreign Aid Plan

Whole Lotta Shakin Goin' On...

There I was laying in my bed, listening to a conversation my neighbor was having on the phone (tight quarters) when it struck..hahaha...5.6 Hmm....

Another Year. Another Riot.

Happy Birthday, Bro.

Ding Dong Vs. The Rat Race

Let me first premise this post by saying I am talking in terms of the general public. Of course there are always the outliers who jet-set from place to place and not really affected by economic hardship;) see: Orange County.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about common measures of success and fulfillment (as it appies to countries on the whole). It's a really interesting debate. Those who have traveled to areas of the world that are "poor" monetary, yet "rich" in culture, family, religion, etc. often raise an eyebrow in their economics class when the professor starts talking about Standards of Living tiers in "GDP/capita" rates. It's like when I spent one Friday afternoon laying in the sun, in the heart of Budapest on Margaret Island, listening to beautiful classical music, GDP per capita WHAT? Suddenly, the poor unemployed guy next to me, yeah that one kissing on that beautiful girl with a beer in his hand, well his life didn't seem so bad...

But I think Digs' email drives home my point a lot better. Yesterday he had me laughing..haha..only Digs..

"I have a buddy, crazy ol' Ding Dong who lives on Tioman island, wakes up on Sunday morning and starts drinking / singing / and motor biking at the same time. It's like Tom Cruise's "Cocktail" to the nth degree. The guy is broke as sh*t but has more fun than Trump on TV saying "you're fired."

Are we really just being naive romantics or are we perhaps missing the boat? An interesting POV comes from Robert Pirsig. He writes:

"Its sometimes argued that there's no real progress; that a civilization that kills multitudes in mass warfare, that pollutes the land and oceans with ever larger quantities of debris, that destroys the dignity of individuals by subjecting them to a forced mechanized existence can hardly be called an advance over the simpler hunting and gathering and agricultural existance of prehistoric times. But this agrument, though romantically appealing, doesn't hold up. The primitive tribes permit far less individual freedom than does modern society. Ancient wars were committed with far less moral justification than modern ones. A technology that produces debris can find, and is finding, ways of disposing of it withouth ecological upset. And the school-book pictures of primitive man sometimes omit some of the detractions of primative life- the pain, the disease, famine, the hard labor needed just to stay alive. From the agony of bare existence to modern life can be soberly described as upward progress, and the sole agent for this progress is quite clearly reason itself."

So maybe the rat race and jobs isn't so bad after all? Or maybe it is? I don't pretend to have answers. When Saki was over a couple of weeks ago we had an interesting discussion about GDH/capita. The Gross Domestic Happiness (or Gross National Happiness) of a country. It's an interesting concept although I've yet to see how it's actually measured and if anyone actually cares. Maybe that's the problem, it must be difficult to measure! But certainly, something other than money, education, life expectancy, (e.g. the normal measuring sticks) etc. could be used. It reminds me of Drew's blog about a place having "soul". I don't know how to describe it, but you know it when you see it.

Well, I really don't have a lot to say about the topic, I'm still bouncing thoughts around in my head. I'm was always struck when I saw poor Mexicans working in the US for low wages. Why would you ever leave your culture and family (extended) to have such a tough life? I guess it boils down to providing a better life for your family..and maybe the returns on your investment won't come this generation, but perhaps your children's generation...and I guess in that sense, it makes more sense. But, as we all know the grass is always greener on the other side, and we should always, be careful for what we wish for. With that, I will offer these parting words to all the Turks dreaming of better days in Germany: Twirling Dervishes Aren't that Bad!

Balboa Bashin'

From raucous Sunday-Fundays to being the biggest surfing posers (but we have the little "surfer trot" down pat) on the peninsula...double Drakes equals Double-trouble.

The Power of Stars...

Your Life is a SnowGlobe.

(The small town of Greenville, Michigan (pop: 10,000). I lived here from 1992-1998).

Michigan was well, Michigan. Both brothers had very life changing experiences. The older one John was married and flew off to Hawai'i..honeymooning now..the younger one Dave flew over with me after spending 6 months in S. California (the longest both of us had been away)..seeing for the first time in his life what Michigan really was...and in some cases what it really wasn't. I can't tell you when exactly it "hit" me (sometime in college), or how it even happened..but it did, just like it happened to Dave. "I can't believe I used to have so much fun partying here [MSU]...we're in the middle of cornfields". "Why are there so many domestic cars?""The air is so crisp""The trees are so Green"...

One thing is for sure, when it does hit, it's for real and there's really no going back. Heading back is always sort of a culture shock for me, interesting times spent relating to some of my family that hasn't really left the State, so it was nice to be able to share those experiences with Dave...his eyes are opened a bit wider now. If I could just get him to see the US in the same light as he sees Michigan..an outside perspective, for what it really is, and not for what we're constantly being told it is ...that task is a bit more difficult, but we have time, and he's open minded..

Anyway, I digress, Michigan for me was relaxing..it was and always will be where I spent the majority of my time growing up, where my roots are, where an establishment called the Peanut Barrel pushes 2 dollar shots of jack on you at 1pm on (Monday's Special), where it's so quiet you can hear the wind, where I can read anyone like a book and speed down the highway as fast as I desire..