I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Pay day is coming up. Which is good. It means I have warded off starvation for another 2 weeks. It's also the first paycheck that reflects my promotion.

I woke up this morning. I had breakfast...and something warm and fuzzy rubbed up against my leg. At first I thought perhaps I left some clothes in the middle of the floor (when you live alone and you don't have a wife/mother telling you to pick things up, you dont). I looked down. "Meow" the object said. Appearently a stray cat wondered in to my home at night (I left the doors open to allow ventilation of the hot air to the outside). It stayed in my home over night and left, when I stomped loudly and startled it. In retrospect, that may have not been the idea. I have empathy for this cat. I think this cat should have been taken in, as it's got guts. I mean, say you were a homeless person, and you found a house with an occupant, and the occupant was sleeping. You figured "Hey, I'm not bothering anyone, I'll jsut sleep here on his couch"..and the occupant gets up in the morning, goes about his routine, and you look at them while they are eating breakfast, and say "Sup?". I mean, that would take guts. Most people admire things that take guts, and now I am admiring my vagabond cat in hindsight.

To people in Saskatoon who need to buy their own groceries: the Coop is having a warehouse sale, get in on the goods while you still can!

My sleeps have been somewhat restless. I have been drawing the short straw when it comes to dreams. I hate dreams. Dreams suck. Dreams take too much energy, for example a dream about building a Go-Kart with your high school sweet heart's younger brother. It takes too much energy. If I could, I would dream about watching me sleep. That would be more enjoyable than the latest bout of dreams, which all involve me, at work...working. Like what the shit? Is that all I can come up with. A limitless imagination, and all my dreams consist of is me working? I wonder....If I work while I dream...can I dream while I work?

Why you should never talk to cops.

The issue at hand is I can't leave well enough alone. For example, I went to the bank on Friday to sign Sonya up for a 1000 dollar visa card. After the application, I got a little gutsy and asked about a line of credit, based on the equity of the house I half own now, due to an increase in housing prices, but not my mortgage principal.  They ran some numbers, determined I have a B credit rating. Anyway, I am now in the process of getting a Line of Credit..a big one. One that I plan to use to upgrade the furnance and hot water heater to crazy 99 per cent efficiency.

I can't leave well enough alone. Yesterday I was poking around MLS.ca. I found a house just down the street from my old elementry school. I know I may not have the money to buy it, but can still look. Who knows what could happen if I put in an offer? So I contacted my realtor and am waiting for her to call back about a time that I can go see it. I am weary of the basement description...it said "other" which makes me wonder what it could be...I mean it could be ANYTHING. But I guess we shall see.

I could have spent this post discussing the economic ramifications of the Millennial generation on the workforce. I could also have discussed what that means for our post-Millennial kids, as our generation adopting birth control use, and fewer stigmas regarding abortion would perhaps lead to a small demographic, much like the Gen-X. Of course, this discussion would not be complete without asking questions about natural resources (like water, oil, energy) and advancing technologies.  But instead of having a meaningful discussion, I felt a more pressing need to trash the movie Juno.

 

What a load of crap. I will summarize the movie (WARNING, Plot details to follow).  Juno gets Knocked Up, and then Juno doesn't have sex with an older man. Juno gives the baby away. Roll credits. Juno sucks. I don’t know what everyone is in love with it. It’s the product of when mainstream tries to do Indie. It doesn’t work.

 

The movie starts out with some guy in a store trying to be black. She gets pregnant. She goes for an abortion then changes her mind. Most teens her age and style would probably go through with it. I mean, they are trying to portray her as someone intelligent. The tragedy is that her dialogue consists of how stupid people think smart people talk, like pricks.

People told me the movie is a comedy. In fact, that is what it says on the DVD box. I didn’t see anything funny about it.

Juno also apparently doesn’t own a cell phone as most of the phone conversations are done using a landline, stupid looking hamburger phone (perhaps the only element of the movie that resembles comedy?). She also appears to have an affinity for pop-culture references that happened before she was even born, as per the Thundercats reference (Thundercats ended in 1990). Now, I’m not sure how many 23 year olds today would get the reference, much less a 16 year old. It just cannot be believed.

 

Anyway, the typical uncomfortable scenes occur…telling the parents, trying to arrange an adoption (as the abortion didn’t occur for whatever reason), etc. I remember the scene where they are meeting the adopting parents, the attitude (see: how stupid people think smart people talk) she exhibited was inappropriate, and no one slaps her because she’s some sort of indie kid who talks like no 16 year old would talk, “fo shizzle yo”. The twist was this sort of subplot of sexual tension between Juno and the predictably rich yuppie man who was adopting her kid. That was probably the only thing that made the movie worth watching. I would have been happier if this line was explored further. It was not. Cut short by the child having a temper tantrum and storming out.

 

Then the uncomfortable encounters with the baby daddy, maybe the most intelligent person in the movie. He is the only one who sees that Juno is a bratty kid, and walks away from her and refuses to put up with her BS.  Of course she erases the BS attitude to talk to her dad about love (the incredible changing personality trait?).

 

She then glides through pregnancy (with no physical side effects, attending classes at 8-months), gives up the kid (with no mental/emotional side effects), and then ends with her singing nursery rhymes on the steps with the baby daddy, also not suffering emotional side effects of losing his baby to a wealthy divorcee with a control complex, or the slightest bit of concern over the BS she threw at him for 9 months.

 

Pure crap.

Yesterday was normal. Cleaned house while Sonya worked. After work her and I went driving to Gardener Dam, then to Riverhurst..then back home. On the way, shortly past Qu'apple Dam we saw (narrowly avoided) a moose. It made me think of Sweden for some reason. Anwyay, the scenery was nice, the weather was splendid.

In the meantime I bought a HD DVD player to go with my LCD TV. Quality is sexy.

On Friday night Sonya and I bought a shitload of DVDs to watch. In this was Sicko. It is a movie worth watching. It certainly makes me happy that many of the concerns it addresses are something I'll never have to worry about in my life...yet it's painful to watch knowing that in this western nation south of us, these are very real fears for many millions of people.

this leads me to my next thing, somewhat relating to health care. Sonya was going downstairs last night, lost her balance and fell down the stairs. I ran to check on her, and she was covered in blood, swelling up and bruising. Being uncertain of any injuries I called 911 and had an ambulance take her to St. Pauls. I drove there...and finally at 4AM I was informed there was nothing broken, and she is to just let the injuries fix themselves, which was good to hear. She may have broken her nose but the swelling was holding things in place so that's fine.

Today I spent at my parent's place. Sonya slept. Then we went home, and I hooked up her Playstation2 so she can play guitar hero.

Now I must retire to bed...as I work tomorrow, which was not supposed to happen, but due to staffing shortages they forced me to cancel my vacation time, and take some other time off in it's place.

I guess that's it.

So last friday I made my way to the SGI salvage yard. Anyway, my reasons for being there were to retreive articles from Crystal's Tempo which met it's demise some time ago. It actually looked in good shape...just old, rusty, etc. Anyway, to carry on, I was walking and saw a car...it caught my attention. ..




and of course, the remains of what used to be my fence...



I guess it's a small world or something.

I work. Get paid. Spend time with friends. Friday was odd. I invite one person over and they brought like a dozen people. I am not certain as to why my place has become the popular hang out. Oh well, saves me the costs of going out.

Yesterday I went to some church and twisted myself up until losing balance and landing on the floor on a platic mat with coloured circles. Several people, at various levels of undress, presumably from the summer heat, were joining me.

I also went to visit my parents who insisted I join them for supper. My issue with this is that it's like admitting that I cannot make it on my own due to one reason or another. We had a dispute about how I do not need their charity, and they insisted it was not charity. I ended up eating supper with them there as well.

I look out over the sea of traffic on 22nd St and wonder where everyone is going in such a hurry on a Sunday morning. I'm in no hurry, but I do have to be somewhere. I'm heading to Pike Lake today for a COPE 397 BBQ.  If I get a chance, I will certainly try to hit up Lake Diefenbaker as well today.

I jsut had a heart attack as a program I installed just closed firefox...firefox resumed my post without issue...I love you firefox 3.

So I walk through the neighborhood of City Park. I remember last year at this time being filled with questions. Will I go back to school? Will I ever own a house in today’s market? Will SGI keep me around a little longer? I looked at the homes and envisioned what it would be like to rent a place in that area. I know I would be able to walk to work so I could save gas. If I bought a house I’d have to be certain of myself, my security and everything. I wasn’t. I did it anyway (probably not a smart gamble, but it worked out). I bought a house (although in a different area of the city, so I still drive to work) with no expectation of being employed past that month. The chips, wherever they have fallen appear to be working out for me a year later. 6 months ago I got the key to this place. The laminate flooring, the painted walls, and what looked like a clean slate to call my own was so exciting. I had no landlord to control me. I had no parents to tell me what to do and to be honest; I could have sworn if I was told to make a poptart, I’d probably find a way to burn it. The scene to pumpkin pie filled the air from a glade plug in.  It was mine, and I couldn’t wait for everything to happen (for example, a car hitting the side of the house giving me a crash course on dealing with insurance 3 months in to the ride).  I think I’m doing alright.

Now instead of rambling on about my life, I will ramble on about the Gen X-ers...or more appropriately, those of us who are Gen Y/Millennial/etc. There has been a lot of discussion of 4 generations sharing the workforce, particularly in the corporate environment in which I work and the media.  The corporation has published 2 articles on the employee news distribution website on the topic. I have also recently noticed this appearing in the media.  For starters, a Generation Xer goes on about how life sucks at http://gjfreepress.com/article/20080528/OPINION/245262839. I recently watched this other video from CBS, http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4126233n&channel=/sections/60minutes/videoplayer3415.shtml about how we are requiring to be coddled in today’s workforce, and have no clue about the real world, etc. This reminded me of an email I sent an organizer of a local Community Based Organization about why they are having difficulty retaining youth employees.

The use of the Internet has greatly shifted the economy. Growing up in a world without boarders (mostly dissolved due to the exchange of ideas and culture via the Internet) has lead to a more tolerant and accepting generation which is open to interracial relationships, women in non-traditional roles, etc which has forced our generation to rethink a lot of things, for example a 2002 IPSOS-Reid survey in North America claimed that 44% of respondents considered that people had a better chance of finding a partner online than in a singles bar. The use of technology also shifts where we place priorities in terms of work. The "always on" nature of technology and computers has driven us, not to be lazy, but to want to work when we want to. Why should it matter to a boss if I work 6 hours one day, and then 10 the next, or 8 hours every day? Why should I not be allowed to work from 1 PM - 9 PM if I want to, as my services are demanded around the clock anyways, etc.? The internet and the information contained within changes what our employment expectations are...from being what you can do (welding, carpentry, typing), to what you know (programming languages, research, etc). This is why if you want to hook young people a business should offer to pay for/subsidize/accommodate/provide education, as knowledge is worth more in the world of the personal computer than traditional "hard work".

Last year I was staying in Regina for a youth conference. A reporter for CBC was speaking, and he told me that in our world putting "Computer Skills" or "Microsoft Office Skills" on your resume makes about as much sense as putting "proficient in the use of pen, excels in white-out error correction" on a resume, and no decent employer would bother to look at that when you applied, It would be just assumed you could use most computer software with minimal instruction.

If multimedia is your style check out the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U  - Shift Happens 2.0: an updated version of the original which posed the question "What will the world will be like in another 10-20 years?" which prepares us for what the Gen-Y’s children will be growing up in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE - The Machine is Using Us: a video that's close to me, as it outlines the evolution of the internet

SHIT! I lost it.

So I got pulled over by the police today, while driving around in my dad's crown vic. Anyway, I was lucky to have the cameras rolling or it could have been a messy encounter. Check out this video!

This is certainly not the Mario I remember.

So this is typically the first quiet I've had in a long time. No friends over. No one staying the night at my party house. No loud noise happening outside. I really sort of missed this. I work tomorrow. The reason why I'm looking forward to it is because it's back to switchboard for me (I'm done paying bills now).

Today we went to Wakaw. I became ill, so I was unable to participate in any farm related adventures and opted to sleep on the couch.

Yesterday, I went to Don Morgan's BBQ. There he told Jae and myself that he tried to buy a shirt for David Duke, a former Louisiana State Representative, a candidate in presidential primaries for the Democratic and Republican parties.

Anyway, a quick check on some things this Duke fellow has said:

“These Jews who run things, who are producing this mental illness - teenage suicide... all these Jewish sicknesses. That's nothing new. The Talmud's full of things like sex with boys and girls."

“The truth is there are two hundred white women raped in America by a black man for every one black woman raped by whites.”

“Russia's biggest problem is organized crime and its leaders are influenced by the Russian mafia. But it's not right to call it a Russian mafia, it's a Jewish mafia.”

now, I'm not going to make any judgements here but it sounds...well....unfortunate.

So FRiday I headed to Drayton. I brought Sonya back with me. Things are looking like there my be success in the future with this. The first night began with a car wash...then another, as the initial wash was on board the failboat. Then we hung out at my place.

Yesterday was interesting. I spoke to someone with PC financial and they told me to submit new paystubs and they'll increase my limit and drop my interest rate on my line of credit accordingly. We also went grocery shopping. I have food now. After supper Sonya and Caroline went to Bingo. Sonya won. We went to the bar and then Sonya bought lottery tickets from the room with the VLTs at Clarks Crossing. She won that too. This is a nice change from the usual with her, where bad luck follows me around while she's near (such as car problems with my own car like heater failure in winter, or car problems with other people's cars for example being embedded in my house's foundation).

We went to Denny's. Its always a little more upbeat than Grasswood, which is good when you aren't in a brooding mood.

This morning I woke up. Checked my insurance institute marks. I passed all my classes, so that means I'll be getting an educaiton bonus, as well as course reimbursement. This excites me. I also need to dig up savings bonds and cash them in at the bank.

There was an accident outside my place. I swear to god my house is better than TV.  this one didn't involve my fence. Anyway, I digress, this is the 4th time I have seen the police on the corner of M and 22nd. I enjoy the safety they offer.

I came home. It was what I do. Now Bromwyn and Jae and their friend are here in my living room listening to Tiffany. It makes me concerned.

I was at the Co-Op yesterday...and in line at the check out I saw this....somethings need no explanation.