There are a few random things I have been thinking about a lot lately, I guess because of interactions I've had with people recently. I just think these things are kind of funny.
1. Don't you love how people with a poor dating history who get lucky and get married suddenly become "experts" on dating/marriage, and then decide to give everybody dating/marriage advice?! It is highly irritating. The people who have done this to me have always done it in a very condescending way too. They are like, "here, let me show you how to be less of a loser." I personally think that if you have been married for less than 10 years, you should never try to give marriage advice. And even then, you should rarely give dating advice.
2. When I was a teenager, people would call other people "posers" a lot. The people I would skateboard with would call those who dress like a skater, but have no skating skills, a poser. I was thinking - there are a lot of people I would call posers in regards to being a good person. These are the people who advertise themselves very noticeably to everyone else. I think of them as modern day Pharisees and Sadducees. They are everywhere in Provo. They do things like talk about how good they are, and then screw people over with their "business" that is very shady. Or they drive like a maniac and almost run you off the road, and then pull into the temple. Posers.
3. I was thinking about the economy. A lot of people have said, "I wish it was the late '90's again when everybody was rich." How quickly people forget how much they were living past their means in the '90's, which lead to the problems we are facing today. When I was in high school, the average family debt was somewhere around $50,000. When I started college, the average individual student debt was around $10,000, not counting student loans - just personal debt. That means for every person like me who had zero debt, there was someone else with twice the average. And people wonder why we are in such a mess now. Add to that the fact that this is the first time in history where we have four generations in the work force. Older people did such a crappy job of saving money that they have to keep working now. This doesn't help the younger generation any because now there are fewer jobs available. The sad part is, it is mostly the Baby-Boomer and X generations that caused the problems, but the people of Generation Y are feeling the consequences the most. In most states, the average unemployment is still around 10%, but it is close to 25% for people in the 18-30 demographic. And yet, older people still feel the need to lecture our generation about working and saving money. It is kind of a "do as I say, not as I do" situation.
4. Have you noticed how being "indie" is the popular thing? Isn't this a major contradiction? "I am so independent, I do everything that is popular." First of all, the term "indie" at one point referred to bands that released music independent of a major label. Now, most "indie" bands are on a major label. "Indie" also refers to a style, usually marked by lack of hygiene, wearing tight pants, v-neck shirts, beanies, and listening to awful music. If you want to see what "indie" is, go to Velour in Provo on any given night. Everybody looks the same, and all of the bands sound the same. The bands don't even use distinct choruses or melodies in their songs - I guess because they are too cool for music theory.
5. I don't understand party loyalty in politics. Both major parties have become very corrupt, and people within a party don't even hold the same stance on issues as other people in the same party. The two parties basically get people to fight over smaller issues, which distracts everybody from seeing how badly politicians are screwing over the country.
All of these random thoughts have kind of got me thinking, where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?
