Ramblings

At my work like many other business places things have been tougher over the last few months. There seems to be new bad news trickling down from our corporate parents every couple of weeks that results in us getting it in the shorts. At first everyone is pissed when a new piece of bad news falls in our laps. We are outraged then the next next everyone shrugs, says “at least we have jobs” puts their nose down and gets back to work. That is b.s. in my view. I think the higher ups are fully aware of this average reaction to bad news and are using the situation to chip away at their commitments to the employees while we are vulnerable. There is not much confidence in the economy right now but truly not much has changed from a few months ago. People are still making stuff and selling it to other people. The attitude has changed, working folks feel vulnerable and can be bullied a little bit without putting up a fight. I am new to the work force, but I am sure this method of peeling back wages and benefits is nothing new. It disturbs me to see this corporate reality and makes me wonder what is being done to people elsewhere who are more vulnerable who don't deserve to be pushed around. please note that I am equally incensed by dumbass employees who bitch about everything the benefits they think they deserve when they haven't done anything to earn it. Working at a business is very different than anything I have done before and is quite eye opening. It make academia seem removed. Everything is about profit of course, that is obvious. But in a company people are forced together and have to invent a culture that lets them get along. Maybe some companies pick people with a culture in mind, but large ones like mine just need qualified people. Give the surveillance tapes to a sociologist (or better yet a primate zoologist) and I bet we could learn a lot about human animal behavior.

It's a bone-chilling 66ºF currently in Austin, Texas. While it'll be a good while before I need to wear anything resembling a jacket, I got to thinking about jackets. Now that I'm an "adult" and have a "job" that requires me to dress slightly nicer than jeans and tshirt, I should probably have an adult jacket, but not sure what to get. The following is a timeline of notable jackets I have owned. **7th grade (1996-1997)**: Big Starter jackets were all the rage. I had a Dallas Stars jacket. **8th grade (1997-1998)**: I had a Longhorns Starter jacket. Not sure what I was thinking there. **9th grade (1998-1999)**: For Christmas I got an Adidas windbreaker that I was pretty proud of. **10th-12th grades and early college(1999-2004)**: I guess I mostly wore hoodie sweatshirts. **Late college (2004-2005)**: I got into vintage brown leather jackets in a big way, thanks to Fight Club. I got my first one in a thrift store in New Orleans. I found another in a thrift store somewhere else. Maybe the Left Handed Monkey. I also got into corduroy jackets. I had a brown corduroy number that hinted at being western. I also had a gray corduroy jacket with brown suede elbow patches that I called my professor jacket, but the back of it had some stains, so I only wore it to dark places. It looked especially quaint during the time I broke several toes and walked with a cane for a few weeks. **Grad school (2006-2008)**: I wore a casual navy blue zip-up American Eagle jacket that I got with a gift card someone gave me. An ok jacket, but a little preppy. Also the sleeve cuffs stretched out and became loose and floppy if I pushed my sleeves up for more than 5 minutes, which I did often. This jacket required lots of washing to reshrink the cuffs. I also started wearing flannel shirts in college on days that weren't freezing, but required something long-sleeve. **Adulthood (2008-????)**: Not sure what to get. I'd like something that says I'm an adult, well put together, but also young and fashionable and still with the indie crowd. Suggestions? What are some of your notable jackets?

Last night fellow rambler sam made an astute statement. once you are doing this adulthood thing many of us have recently engaged in that "there is always something." it feels like you always have a bunch of tasks that for legal/financial/employment/all-of-the-above reasons needs your immediate attention (and money). It is always something. You plan out your near future and figure out what needs your attention, thinking once that is done you will be able to relax a little. but as soon as you are done something else just as demanding pops up. i have certainly found this to be true. i started writing this with intentions on bitching, but i won't. i think while writing this i came to terms with the fact that "it is always something." that is just part of the background noise of adulthood. now that i have accepted that fact i think i can deal with it better. maybe i can relax even when there is "something." if i don't well then i guess i can never relax. tangent! do y'all smell things in your dreams? i rarely do but now and then i remember smelling things in my dreams. it surpises me a little that i dont more often because smelling is so intimately tied to memory. i could smell my car (the thing i was going to bitch about) in my dream last night. it was cool. i usually see and hear things in my dreams. rarely smell. never taste or feel (i guess that is why i have never had a wet dream). so tally please. how often do you smell things in your dreams?

A few months ago Faith, a regular commentor on Ramblings, turned me on to The Postal Service; (the band, not the people who handle mail), and subsequently Death Cab for Cutie. I quickly became enamored with one of Death Cab’s albums, Plans. I recently decided to buy their latest album, Narrow Stairs, and I must say I am impressed. I know that many of you longtime Death Cab fans will lambast me with claims that their old stuff was way better, and more power to you. I’m focussing this post on their current work. Aside from a few extended instrumental parts that I could take or leave, the whole album is strong, but I have a few favorites. Lyrically—and lets face it, all of Ben Gibbard’s projects are stronger lyrically than musically—the strongest tracks are “Bixby Canyon Bridge”, “Cath…”, and “Grapevine Fires”. There is one track that really strikes a chord (lol) with me, “Your New Twin Sized Bed”. The singer describes a scenario wherein a queen-sized bed owner decides that—since the other side of it never gets used—that it should be dispensed with in favor of a more realistic size, namely a twin. It is essentially a song about giving up, I’m not sure why I like it so much, but I do (maybe it reflects my own defeatist attitude). One thing I could do with is the hypnotic repeatitious parts of the album, such as those featured at the end of “Pity and Fear” and “Bixby Canyon Bridge” (once again, I’m sure longtime fans will have something to say here, but I don’t care for it). This complaint doesn’t extend to the 4 minute intro to “I Will Possess Your Heart” though, I think the radio edit loses a lot of the tension and anticipation that the album track has.

i have an awesome apartment in a great location, at a great price. it used to be a very low key complex, in an otherwise bustling area. my own oasis. recently i have been disturbed by the number of young college types that have moved into my apartment complex. really i am concerned by the number of incosiderate people moving in. we used to never hear a peep (except when our former neighbor was doin' it) from the outside world. now we have upstairs neighbors who get drunk and have silly fights ("you don't understaaaaaaand waaaaah"). they listen to the same two hendrix and nirvana albums over and over. the other night at about 4am they and all their buddies hung out on the stairs and shouted outside our window all night. there is another group of about 10 people who use the pool all afternoon every freaking day. they have cases of corona and all their dogs in the pool. both of which are not allowed in the pool. people, i don't want to swim in your dog water! then they leave their trash piled up by this tiny trash can instead of walking 40 feet to the dumpster. cleaning up after them is not the custodians job. this isn't a college apartment, it is a real world apartment. *bitch and moan* my 29 year old neighbor (who is a college student, and a very considerate one) and i wear complaining to each other about the shift in the vibe in the complex. bastard making us feel like the old guy who keeps the frisbees that land in his yard. it isn't that they are young, they are just plain inconsiderate. should i figure out who is leaving the bottles, bag them all up and drop them on their door step? should i say something to the landlord (who is super nice) or just leave them be?

Thou shall remove thy lint from thine line trap upon removing thine garments. Seriously people, if you share a laundry room with strangers have the decency to clean out the lint trap when you take out your drying. In fact you should do it before you take out your drying otherwise you end up getting lint on your clean clothes. I do not want to take out your pubic hair clogged lint ball before I dry my t-shirts. No one does. Except [Rachel](http://www.ta73.com), she loves lint traps. So sayeth the Lord.

During the long spring and summer months I spent living alone I almost forgot the neverending joy that comes from sharing a domicile with two people in love. The flirty laughter, the sound of tender kissing, and carressing two feet directly to my left exacerbates my solitude orders of magnitude at once. Furthermore the constant presence of a girl that is wholly off limits is infuriating at best. Don’t mis-understand me, I think the both of them are great when separate, and they are fun in public situations, but when the two of them are alone—with me—they are unbearable. I’m sure it is easy to lose touch with reality and not realize how grating you are being, and I’m sure that someone will quickly point out that I’ve never been in love so I have no perspective; but I know that it is possible to keep yourself in check for I have lived with a couple who were able to keep their dealings to themselves. Oh well, I’ve got new headphones so I needn’t hear them anymore, or at least I can drown out the sound of my teeth grinding.

Shakespeare (and Geddy Lee) says: > All the world’s a stage, > > And all the men and women merely players: > > They have their exits and their entrances; > > And one man in his time plays many parts… He goes on to describe the seven ages (acts), but that is outside the context that is necessary. It seems throughout my entire adolescent/adult life I’ve been stuck in one part. I’ve been playing the lovable friend who—while is important to the plot—is utterly unimportant to the other characters, namely the heroines on the stage. This post was brewed in the wake of yet another platonic pseudo-date with a spectacular girl that I will never make a move on because I: a) choke on my own fear of rejection; b) have a self-sabotaging lack of spine. The two qualities previously mentioned added to the fact that none of the spectacular girls I’ve tried courting are the least bit interested in me romantically adds up to a recipe for ‘single guy with a boatload of female friends a la mode,’ which, conveniently enough, can be prepared in the microwave. I’m getting another beer, post over.

The other night at the the local watering-hole I worked up the nerve to ask a lovely young lady out, and while she didn’t say no she didn’t exactly say yes. Her response was “I’m willing to date, but I’m not looking for a relationship,” which my mind immediately translated to “You can spend money on me, but you will be wasting your time.” Maybe I’m just cynical, but what’s the point of dating if you aren’t looking for something more serious, but perhaps I’m over-thinking what was just a kind rejection. Oh well.