Stuff filed under "bitching"
Western PA, I love you, but yinz gotta get over the Steelers. Seriously, it’s fucking July. Just like 2 or 3 months out of the year, wear something without the logo, take the sign out of the front window (or front yard), pull the decal from the truck.
It’s ok, they’ll still be there this fall and they’ll still kick ass.
(I identify a little less with ‘home’ every time we go back)
Awesome post from Carrie. Go read it.
I want to touch on one little thing about it:
Bringing this back full circle and making this long story longer, yesterday six of my former colleagues from the project I was working on were laid off. They were all people who had no work to do and were not placed into new positions. They were given busy work for the past two years and that work finally came to an end.
I will also add that two of those people have said in my presence, “I don’t think I’ll be let go. They let me sit here and do nothing for six weeks after the project ended. I don’t see why they won’t do that again.”… and, “I’m more than willing to go find a corner to sit in and ride out my days until retirement.”
I don’t wish unemployment on anyone. It’s a terrible time to be out of work. But while others are wanting to wring their hands in worry and sadness for these people, going on about the hard times and the loss of benefits, I really want to say, what the fuck have they been doing for the past two years? Why did they think they wouldn’t have to be productive in any meaningful way to continue to be employed here?
I’ll go a step further and guess that these are also the type of people that will complain about how screwed they got and how other people always get the breaks and they just keep having shit thrown on them.
I’m pretty sure I touched on a similar thing in a post somewhere on this blog that I can’t seem to find right now.
Nevermind, I found it right here.
I don’t have a point. I read Carrie’s blog and it made me think of my own and then interject my own angle into her writing. But I suppose you could still take her title and apply it to my general ideas as well.
It’s just a pet peeve of mine (that general attitude). Fuck those people.
We took the annual June trip last week. Actually we left the evening of the 17th and rolled back in the night of the 26th, so it was more like 10 days than a week. We used to fill these trips with as many parks as possible, now we split park time with time doing other things at a pretty even split – and at the parks we don’t even ride all the coasters anymore. (I just realized this week that I’ve photographed about 100 more coasters than I’ve ridden – sure, some of that is kiddie rides, but most is just, “Meh. Don’t care if I ride it.”)
At first I thought I would write a long detailed remembrance of our east coast trek, then I noticed that the weird online aversion thing that happens after extended periods away from being online is really strong this time. Like I’m finding it hard to sit in front of the computer for any period of time. Online feels really stupid right now. I go through this every time we go somewhere and I have limited online time. Couple that with the fact that my interest in parks and coasters and stuff seems to be at an all time low (and that much of my online time revolves around those things) and I just have no desire.
But I digress.
Our vacation in a nutshell:
Thursday – We drove to Hagerstown, MD. Google severely overestimates drive times both online and on the Droid navigation app. Stupid Google. Unfortunately, the weather channel doesn’t overestimate temperatures and it did apporach three digits for most of the week. Stupid weather.
Friday – Washington D.C. isn’t much fun in the heat. The Hilton Garden Inn Arlington isn’t nearly as good as the online reviews would lead you to believe. Stupid Hilton Garden Inn.
Saturday – Washington D.C. is actually kind of boring. Stupid Washington D.C. The thai food I got for dinner was simultaneously delicious and replusive. I want more.
Sunday – Ocean City was fun for all the wrong reasons. The Bay Bridge is terrifying. Stupid Bay Bridge.
Monday – Six Flags America doesn’t deserve the reputation it has. Stupid coaster enthusiasts. Second best park of this trip.
Tuesday – Kings Dominion resonates with the same ‘meh’ tone that Kings Island does for us. Intimidator 305 was a big disappointment. Stupid I305. We cut out relatively early to eat steak in Williamsburg.
Wednesday – Busch Gardens crushed it. The coaster tour was awesome except for missing the Alpengeist ERT. Stupid Alpengeist. The food at Das Festhaus was equally awesome. Nice day at a nice park.
Thursday – Long drive to Charlotte. I actually like driving vacations – good times. Wouldn’t trade the memories for the convenience of flying much of the time. 4 tickets for Toy Story 3 IMAX 3D, 4 medium drinks and 2 large popcorns retail for $99.50. It cost just $20 more for tickets and unlimited drinks at Six Flags earlier in the week. Stupid movie prices.
Friday – Carowinds fail. Cedar Fair really is light years behind other park chains in so many areas. Stupid Cedar Fair. We were gone by 4pm. (where the thermometer in the car read 110 when I started it to leave)
Saturday – Drove home. Hit ridiculous and unnecessary traffic on I-77. Stupid tourists. Highlight of the trip? Our stop in Chelyan, WV. I hate to use something as easy as the banjo joke, but I really do think I heard banjos…and I think one guy told me my mouth “sure was purty.” That and I was kidnapped and tortured 70′s horror movie style by an bizarre family of hill people. Luckily I escaped to write this blog entry. Stupid blog.
(I was going to add some photos, but two days later I still haven’t gotten around to looking at them, so no photos – maybe I’ll add them later…or to Facebook)
I’ve wonked a few times about the devaluing of music as a product. About how multi-millionaire artists give away so-so releases and claim they’re sticking it to the man and tout the greatness of the internet as a tool for musicians of any level to get in the game and all that crap. You can go back and check those posts out if you’d like:
November 6, 2007 – Your Music Is Worthless
November 8, 2007 – Your Music Is Still Worthless
May 6th, 2008 – NIN The Slip
February 2, 2010 – The Plan To Save The Music Biz
What can I say? It irks me that this mentality took hold.
Today I saw this story showing how much (or rather how little) musicians earn online and what they’d have to sell to make minimum wage.
From the article:
If recording artists ever go the way of the blubber merchants, it won’t be because there’ll be no demand for their product. It will be because making recordings makes no economic sense.
Here’s the same info in chart form if you’re illiterate or like pink circles.
I dunno. It’s a pet peeve of mine. Mostly because something like music seems to me to be one of the most valuable things there is. I know it sounds weird to say I think there needs to be an incentive to create art, but I do.
